which the Spanish ambassador had, with wise foresight, provided for him. The Austrians, who continued to advance, met in no quarter with any opposition from the inhabitants; and the war (if such a name can be given to the triumphal march of an invader, who found submission to his sword outstrip the utmost speed of his troops) was terminated on the 20th of March, by a convention, consisting of the eight following articles: 1. There shall be a suspension of hostilities on all the points of the kingdom. "2. Hostilities shall also cease by sea, with as little delay as possible. Orders to this effect shall be immediately dispatched by the two armies. "3. The Austrian army shall occupy Capua, To-morrow, the 21st, its posts shall occupy, but not pass, the town of Aversa. "4. The occupation of the town of Naples and its forts shall be the object of a particular convention. "5. The Austrian army shall respect persons and property, whatever may be the particular circumstances of each individual. "6. All royal property and property of the state existing in the provinces occupied by the Austrian army, or which it may occupy; all arsenals, magazines, parks, dock-yards, manufactories of arms, &c. belong of right to the king, and shall be respected as such. "7. In all the places and forts occupied by the Austrian army there shall be, independent of the Austrian commander, a governor in the name of the king. All the materiel of war, in as far as respects the administrative part, On the 23rd a convention was signed for the occupation of Naples and its fortresses by the Austrians, and for the surrender of Gaeta and Pescara. In this convention it was provided, not merely that the capital and principal fortresses of the kingdom should be delivered up to the invaders, but that the Neapolitan troops should be subject to the orders of Frimont, and that the civic guard should not have the power of taking up arms, or performing any service, without a previous requisition from him. The Neapolitans felt no humiliation at the occupation of their beautiful me tropolis by the barbarians of the north. They assembled in immense crowds to enjoy the spectacle of their entrance into the city, and received them with joyous acclamations. On the same day, by virtue of a royal ordinance, dated on the 15th at Florence (where Ferdinand now was), a new provisional government entered upon the exercise of its functions. The marquis Circello was at the head of it: the marquis Andrea was entrusted with the finance department; Vacchiani with the ministry of the interior; and general Fardella with the ministry of war. A proclamation of the prince regent communicated the answer, which the king had returned to the letters, of which Fardella had been the bearer.* The parliament had hitherto continued its sittings from day to day. Finally, on the 24th of March, while the Austrians were entering the capital, twenty-two of the deputies assembled in the usual place of meeting; and, being too few to deliberate, waited for their colleagues till two o'clock, the time at which the morning sittings commonly terminated. They then separated. Within an hour afterwards an armed force entered the hall, which was shut and sealed by order of the police. *This Answer was in the following terms: "Dear Son;-I have received the letters you intrusted to general Fardella, and I learn, with great sorrow, by the contents of those of the 13th, all that you have explained to me respecting the state in which my wellbeloved subjects are placed. The reasonings into which you enter would seem to point at me as the cause of the evils of the war which afflicts my kingdom. It was precisely for the purpose of avoiding those evils that I employed my cares, and that I wrote to you from Laybach the letter dated the 28th of January, to which unfortunately no attention was paid. Hostilities have been committed by our troops, without provocation, and even in contempt of my proclamation of the 23rd of February. The troops of my august allies arrived as friends; the sovereigns had declared it. I explicitly announced their intentions and mine. To whom ought the disasters to be attributed? To whom does blame attach ? "The allied powers and myself did every thing in our power to render evident the unfortunate circumstances to which my people were exposed. We offered the means of avoiding them, and made known that the wel The provisional government proceeded without delay to annul, by its decrees, all the late innovations. The prince regent was no longer mentioned in any public ordinance; and the formula of "king by the constitution ceased to be used. All appointments of officers, all grants of rank, all diplomatic nominations made by the late government, were declared void. Penalties were denounced against all persons who should favour, either directly or indirectly, secret associations, or have in their possession, papers, emblems, or books connected therewith. Every individual, possessing arms or ammunition, was, within three days, to deliver up the same to the ap fare and advantage of my kingdom required, and that reason dictated, the immediate abandonment of all the innovations which had been made. But I found, to my deep regret, that the magnanimous voice of the august congress and my paternal wishes were not listened to, and that a blind obstinacy has caused the most fruitless and most fatal resistance to every thing suggested for the safety and true interests of the state. "For once listen to the voice of an affectionate father; such I have always been, and such, my well-beloved subjects will always find me. Do not lose sight of my exhortations, of the desires and the wishes I have expressed to you. My letter from Laybach and my proclamation contain every thing necessary as a rule for that conduct which the interests of the kingdom, the wishes of the good, and those which I constantly form for the tranquillity of my state, require. I am confident, my very dear son, that you will on your part contribute to the accomplishment of that object, which cannot be separated from your prudent and ardent desires. I embrace you tenderly I bless you. "Your very affectionate father, "FERDINAND." "Florence, March 19," pointed authorities, under pain of five months imprisonment and a fine of fifty ducats for every weapon concealed. The printing and publication of journals, pamphlets, and books, was placed under the most severe restraints. All students were ordered to quit Naples, and such as should be found there after eight days had elapsed, were to be treated as vagabonds. The heads of schools of every kind were to present a list of the names of their pupils, with an exact statement of the religious, moral, and political conduct of each; and the intendants of provinces were to exhort fathers to extirpate from the minds of their children all traces of perverse doctrines. For the punishment of those who had taken an active share in the innovations of the former year, a commission was appointed, consisting of three magistrates, and an Austrian assessor, who were to inquire into the cases of persons under arrest, and either direct them to be liberated, or send them to be tried before the proper judges. Rewards were also offered for the apprehension of some of the keen partisans of the late revolution. These measures were deemed not sufficiently energetic; and therefore, by a fresh ordinance of the 10th of April, the crimes of belonging to the societies of the Carbonari, of attending any of their meetings, or of carrying prohibited arms, were to be punished capitally, and the cognizance of them was transferred to a court martial. The police were particularly active, in enforcing the execution of the ordinance for disarming the people; and for some weeks, the streets of Na ples exhibited from time to time, the spectacle of both men and women, flogged publicly, for having been more or less adherents of the Carbonari. On the 15th of May, Ferdinand returned to his capital amid the acclamations of the whole population. No scenes of cruel vengeance followed. On the 1st of June, a general amnesty was granted to all the sect of the Carbonari; "it being understood," says the decree, "that we only exempt them from corporal pains and penalties, and not that we hereby restore them to the enjoy ment of offices and situations." Those who had been thought worthy of punishment, were doomed either to exile or to imprisonment, in different parts of the Austrian dominions. Several of them were sent to Prague. The presence of a considerable Austrian force, secured the tranquillity of the country for the remainder of the year. Sicily had all along been in a state of considerable ferment. The revolutionary government, had never been popular in that island; and even after the reduction of Palermo, it had been found nearly impossible to collect the taxes, and not a little difficult to keep the military in subordination. The Sicilians submitted quietly to Ferdinand; but the spirit of independence was still at work among them; and it was thought prudent towards the end of May to send a force of between four and five thousand Austrians into that island. For the payment of the expenses of this war, and of the army of occupation, a loan was contracted for in April, the yearly interest of which amounted to 450,000 ducats; and in November, a further loan was agreed 'on, which burthened the country with a fresh annual payment of 432,000 ducats. The interest of the public debt of Naples, at the beginning of the year, was three millions of ducats; at the end of the year, it was, 3,882,000 ducats. The annual cost of the army of occupation would amount, it was supposed, to ten millions of ducats. The revenue for 1821, was estimated at about nineteen millions and a half of ducats, of which Sicily contributed little more than a ninth part. vanced to the frontiers of Naples, and the Piedmontese conspirators saw that they could no longer delay the execution of their enterprise; they were also convinced, that to accomplish so great a change without a civil war, it was necessary that it should be brought about by the troops. It was therefore agreed, that several colonels or commandants of regiments should march their corps at a fixed time on the capital, where the guards and the regiment of Aosta were in garrison. The former of these corps was commanded by major Montiremolo, a man wedded to old prejudices, and a bitter enemy of revolutions. The latter, was under the orders of colonel Cilavegna, who was undecided as to the party he should embrace, but promised, that he would make no resistance to the proposed innovations. The artillery officers, encouraged by signor Colligno, a friend and confident of the prince of Carignano, were, with few exceptions, inclined to the change. In the preceding year, the chiefs of the Neapolitan revolution had sent colonel Pisa to Turin, to sound the dispositions of that people, to make common cause with the southern Italians. The report which Pisa brought back was, that no aid could be expected from Piedmont. Revolutionary views had, however, made great progress among the officers, and among many young men of high rank; and a plot was formedfor The 6th of March arrived, the the establishment of the Spanish last day of the Carnival, and it constitution. The prince of Ca- was determined to display the rignano, the nephew of the king, constitutional standard on the 7th, is said to have concurred in it, at day break. The regiment called and to have protested his readi- the king's dragoons, commanded ness to shed the last drop of his by captain count Lesio, a gallant blood in so glorious a cause. He young man, much beloved by the was afterwards accused of having military, was stationed at Pinerevealed the secret of the revolu- rolo. The queen's dragoons, tionists to the other party. The were in Vercelli; this regiment probability however, seems to be, was commanded by major-general that he was not accessary to the Sambugo, who was to be sucplot, and therefore, could not be- ceeded by lieutenant-colonel tray the persons engaged in it. count Cavaglio, the eldest son of His dubious, and vacillating con- the marquis di St. Marsan, miduct might arise from mere nister for foreign affairs. At Veweakness and indecision of cha- neria, about three miles distant racter. The Austrian army had ad from Turin, was quartered the Piedmontese cavalry regiment, in which were many officers who were accessary to what was going on. At four o'clock the cavaliere Colligno, in concert with some artillery officers, and other officers of the regiment of Aosta, in the citadel, was to make himself master of that fortress. They were then to draw the artillery out of the arsenal, pass the bridge over the Po, and encamp on the mount of the Capuchins, which commands the city, on the east. This was the point at which all the friends of the constitution, soldiers, and citizens, were to rendezvous. At the foot of this hill, the three regiments mentioned above were to unite, as they arrived from Pinerolo, Vercelli, and Veneria. To this force some companies of light infantry, commanded by captains Bianco and Ferrero were to be joined. Some companies of artillery, and a number of young men not on military service, were destined to arrest count di Revel, the governor of the city, general Vinanzone, commandant of the division of Turin, and major Montiremolo of the guards, in order to prevent the possibility of a sanguinary resistance. At the same time colonels Ansaldi and Reggio, belonging to the garrison of Alessandria, were to seize upon that citadel, and secure the person of count di Voras, the governor. This plan failed. Colligno was unable to make himself master either of the citadel, or of the arsenal. The failure was ascribed, by some, to the want of the cooperation of the prince of Carig nano. The principal confederates met again, and, after due deliberation, determined to attempt the com pletion of their designs, on the 10th of March. Circumstances once more baffled them, and, deeming the undertaking desperate, they agreed to lay it aside, till fortune should seem more inclined to smile upon them. Their partisans had been more bold, and more successful in Alessandria. On the morning of the 10th, the citadel was occupied, the tri-coloured flag hoisted, and the Spanish constitution proclaimed. This was effected by a part only of the garrison, aided by some of the citizens. A great part of the troops kept altogether aloof from these proceedings. The colonel of the Savoyard regiment of infantry (about 1,500 strong) would take no part in the movement, and gave his troops leave or a command to disperse: the regiment of Genoa was equally wavering and uncertain. The Savoyard regiment, being abandoned by their colonel, did not know what side to take in question on which they had no information, and, therefore, many of them resolved to take neither, but to retire to their homes. They accordingly set out from Piedmont in considerable numbers for their native mountains, quite bewildered in opinion; and their behaviour in the circumstances in which they were placed was truly wonderful. Though released from military discipline, because there was no competent authority to claim their obedience; though allowed to retire with arms in their hands and without money in their pockets; though compelled almost to beg their subsistence home, through solitary villages, which they might have laid under contribution, they behaved in as |