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    THE SICILIAN REVOLT.

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    of Mr Tooke , who condemn the Act without giving very satisfactory reasons for the alterations they propose ; but while it o-ave freedom to the Bank , it would leave other banks fettered , and increase the monopoly still conceded to it . . The eleventh section of the same Act enacts , " that it shall not be lawful for any banker to draw , accept , make , or issue in England or Wales , anv bill of exchange , or promissory note , or engagement for the payment of money payable to bearer on demand . " This is a monstrous restriction on the natural liberty of existing bankers and of all men who might like to become bankers , and it would be necessary that this restriction should be abolished by leaving the - word ' " ¦ not" out of this clause . Such a violation of freedom

    makes the Act passed in 1844 a greater disgrace to . the Legislature than the corn law passed in 1815 . On the same ground the two Acts of 1845 , regulating the issue of notes in Scotland and Ireland , would require , in the former an omission of the word " not " in the tenth section ; and the substitution of the word " may , " with corresponding alterations , in the latter to restore freedom to the banking business , and keep the action of the Bank of England sound by healthy competition . All the many other little restrictions and regulations of the Banking Act may be left for future revision ; all that is now necessary is that the Legislature should take into consideration the great inconvenience it causes , and make the small alterations we have

    suggested .. . . We are aware that bankers and money dealers may not like these changes * but we look less to their gratification than to get rid of the inonstrOus invasion of our ancient liberties and our national freedom , which was first enacted in 1844 .. We are not idolaters of Peel nor admirers of Doctrinaires . We ; speak for free trade in banking , because free trade in corn , confirming anticipations , in the order of nature

    has been amazingly beneficial . Being , the gold discoveries , which have brought the Act of 1844 to shame , have only increased the manifold , advantages of free trade , The opinions of classes , whether bankers or landlords , are to be heard with attention , but laws are to be made for the public good ; and iii the course of our reading and experience we have never met with a single example of its being prompted by a law which , like the Apt of 1844 , interferes with trade , and violates the liberty of individuals .

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    T HE eyes of the rest of Italy are anxiously turned at the present time towards Naples . and Palermo . Every man who thinks , every heart which beats with patriotism , feels that the destinies of new Italy are intimately connected with the struggle which is now .. going on in the southern portion of the Peninsula . The grand events commenced last year upon the Po , by which the scattered members of Italy , Tuscany , Modena , Parma , Lpmbaidy , the Bomagna , and Piedmont were united in one body , must eventually embrace Naples . The national independence will be a truth and a fact only when Naples and Sicily , numbering some ten millions of Italians , shall be included in the other parts already liberated , and with them form the great Italian kingdom . When Italy is free frpm the Alps to Cape Liliboeurn , then and not before can it be affirmed that national independence is established . The facts which are now occurring in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies arouse the greater anxiety and attention in that , they are felt to be connected with the future fate of the entire Peninsula . Will the present revolution succeed ? and what are the elements of success which it

    embraces ? ' —are questions of constant recurrence and vital importance . By some it is felt that the Neapolitans and Sicilians can never free themselves from the Bouebon yoke unless a helpinghand is held out to them . They say the Government is strong and well armed , the people weak and helpless , and , worse still , divided into two parties , the Hoyalists and the Liberals , who are at deadly feud between themselves . Then comes the question , Whence nre the Two Sicilies to look for help ? Not from Piedmont certainly . She has sufficient work in prospect for some time to come , in arranging her new territory , setting it in order , and , perhaps we may bo forgiven for insinuating , in

    protecting it against those who hnvo hel p ed her to wm it . The European States regard the aggrandisement of the House of Savoy with considerable jealpusy , and accuse Piedmont of employing unjustifiable expedients to obtain Tuscany and the iEmilia . The Subnlpine policy will therefore be compelled to maintain a very strict reserve . Its study must be to demonstrate that it is not Piedmont which absorbs the other Italian States , but that it is the JtnHnns who , on slinking oil' the yoko of their taskmasters , choose to range their common country roxmd the Piodmbnteso monarchy . If prudence forbids that Piedmont should aid Naples in avjiining freedom , and some aid is indispensable , it would follow that

    assistance must be sought frOm a foreign land . In that case , Southern Italy would belong , with more or less of right , to the power who befriended her , which would be inconsistent with the views of national freedom and independence . so ardently nourished by the whole Peninsula . A divided Italy , or- an Italy subjected to strangers , can never be an independent Italy . If , then , help is not to be looked for from within , and to look for it from without would only perpetuate many of the evils under which they are now labouring , it would seem that the Neapolitans have nothing but their own-efforts to depend upon , saving always the moral support of those nations and individuals who abhor tyranny , and love and follow out liberty and enlightened progress . Should the day come that Southern Italy frees itself frpm the Bourbons , Sicily and Naples would be annexed to the rest of Italy , the Peninsula would suffice for its own protection , and the Italian question would cease to imperil and perplex Europe . Most ardently , therefore , must the friends of Italy desire that the present movement may be fostered , and carried on by the people themselves with all the ardour compatible with prudence and common sense . At first , sight , the kingdom of the Two Sicilies seems , as if Heaven had expressly made this natural paradise to be a prey to civil suffering arid calamity . The Bepublics of Naples and Amalfi were no sooner founded than they disappeared for sevencenturies ; afterwards , they had no empire of their own , and that of others was not lasting . Among the continual vicissitudes which they underwent , they had more and more cause to complain of each siieceeding change . The monarchy founded by the Normans , after fifty-nine years , passed to the German house / of Swabia , who only held it seventy-seven years . The eivil ' enlightenment arid grandeur which this Royal , house was introducing , was extinguished by the pestilential influence of the House of Anjou , and the hundred and sixty-five years of war , both foreign and domestic , which they brought with them . No less terrible wars and misfortunes accompanied the rule of the Aragonese , who dominated rather short of sixty years . Finally , arose the abominable Viceregal doiniriation , the like of which the sun has scarce ever seen , and which brought all kinds of wretchedness and misery to a climax during two centuries of provincial servitude . This constant succession of misfortune was due in part to the natural position of the territory , which is so temptingly and invitingly exposed to foreign conquest , but still more to P the pretensions of the [ Roman Curia , who summoned pne foreign power after another , and gave and took the crown from each according as it exhibited more or less deference and obedience to the Papacy . A ray of light broke this thick and inveterate darkness when the Bourbon race , at the beginning of the eighteenth century ,, were compelled to unite . with . their people and accede to some of their requests , in order to lessen the intolerable . weight of clerical and baronial authority . Charles HI ., with the counsel and aid of his minister Tanucci , did more than almost any other prince to curb the clergy and vindicate the liberty of the Crown . He introduced many . excellent regulations , which were continued by Fjejidinand , who did away with feudal servitude , and who , hod it not been for the influence of his wife and the conservative ministers by whom she surrounded him , wpuld have pursued the path of reform . But the seed sp \ vn was npt lpst . The principles of libe rty were more warmly greeted in Naples than hv any other portioiv of the Peninsula , and bore more hpnpurable fruit . Never were mpre wise and virtupus men assembled tpgether tl . mn thpse who constituted the Parthenopinn Republic ; never did a city display more undaunted courage in fighting for its liberty , than Naples in repulsing the cruel bands of the ferocious Cardinal llurro ; never did blood more honourable and pure stain the scaffold ¦ than that of Makio Tagano , Domenico CntiLLO > Francesco CoNFOiiTi , Cauaffa , and Sekio . Under the reigns of Joseph Bon apatite and Joachim Muuat , the Neapolitans obtained such civil laws and franchises as were compatible with absolute sovereignty ; and during these ten years the Neapolitan military forces so conduoted themselves ns to win glory and renown in foreign lands . The Napoleonic laws and institutions took such deep rpot that even when the old Government was restored they were preserved to an extent unknown in any other part of Italy . One reason of a constitution being so ardently desired was to guarantee them . The changes of 18 £ 0 were effected by moans of Carbonarisin in the army , which was rather Muratist than Bourbon , and in consequence of the disposition of the people , who since their ta ^ sto of civil government wore more desirous than ever of . progress . But after the death of Feiudtnanw , in 1825 , and tho accession of his son Fhanois , the destinies of the country again ohnnged for the worse Priests ,, underlings , and sbirri , had the management of everything ; tho taxes were augmented ; the public debt increased 5 the deficiencies in the treasury supplied by means of the most

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    394 The Reader andSriurday ^ natysL [ A pril , 1860 .

    The Sicilian Revolt.

    THE SICILIAN REVOLT .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1860, page 394, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2345/page/6/