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FERDINAND II., KINQ OF NAPLES. wo. i. Th...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Admiralty Dilatorinuss. As An Instance O...
V 0 ooie "class has an interesfin'perpe ^ u ating the tin'• -jforfctinate repugnance . We are taught to believe , ! ^ jylthe remarks © F ^ theTimes , that the . Admiralty itself ^ the ' appointer , patron ,: feandt protector of all * the tyrants and ¦; " alt the tyranny "that have ever '' existecl in 1 ; he Navyj- ^ is ; freeAfrom . blame . In truth , ¦ 'howererV the' Admiralty ; Tvas : the author and up-r '• $ & 6 tdeie of the system' in ; -pasti times , the effects of - ''Jwhich'iiO ' W-cause ' the " -tinfbrtunate renugoance . " * > Wbub the ' i Admiralty'pushed itsi inquiries , to their-• ^ appropriate end , "/ it •> < would have > ascertained this ^ 'f aet . : ¦ : ; Having--known its existence for many years , ^ we must'suppose thai ? the Admiralty-ought tovhave
cbwrect the evils which flow fronr its . own :: enactments . Naval men will not - readily resign the power of . flogging ; it must ^ be withheld . -Lords of tlie Admiralty will- not easily forego the ^ delightful privilege of providing for their relations and friends without regard to merit ; the-legislature must impose : strict limits on their . patronage , and devise a scheme of equitable promotion , to . ensure a sufficiency of good officers , instead of having , as at present , a much greater number , , of doubtful efficiency ,. than can ever be employed . The Royal Navy belongs to the nation ; it is formed and regulated entirely by the authority of the Legislature , and it is consequently the business of the Legislature and of the public to deal with it justly , and make it what it ought to be .
' -known it , though ' . it did -not avow . that , its ^ own > conduct was- the- < jause - of the unfortunate '• repugnance . '¦ '• In-private lif & when , an individual ¦¦ "finds -an unfortunate > repugnance in another j to deal ^ 'with him , oi ? -have' any eommnnation with him , i / and-he wishes to conquer this repugnance , he en-; ^ eavoura -to : ascertain , whether it be the natural and necessary consequence of his own conduct . If it . ¦ be , -he 'frankly avows his error or his : fault , as- the "first'Step to obtain -what he wishes . JDoes the > Admiralty act rationally in this manner ? . ¦ liTo . ¦ "Sheltered behind its official dignity ? it cannot think iof acknowledging errorand say , as a man would
, ;» s ayi it » will do so no more . It still keeps the . old " . tyranny-in its hand , prides itself on its old error , and implies that it i » - still at liberty to be as it has • been , stupidly tyrannical . It does not brand 'impressment and ¦ the ' lash ; it preserves the use -of-the latter , and intimates , through . Captain s Pim , that * it may again possibly have recourse to i ; he former . It contents itself with deprecating ^ smartness in the officers ; it instructs them to be : careful in teaching the new men their duties ; how . to tlash their hammocks ; stand steady at quarters , and submit quietly to all the fiddle-faddle—tantamount to pipe clay and chokers for the . army——which
Admiralty martinetism . calls disciplinism . So , instead of removing or lessening the . unfortunate repugnance , it will , in all probability , continue ; . it , in spite of its admissions ; and the present great experiment which is sure , to be followed , according . to . the Times , by important consequences , is likely , unless the old . and scandalous injustice he distinctly disavowed and publicly given up , to end in disappointment . There is just now no question of more importance than the manner o £ treating our seamen . On this depends whether we shall freely have their services or . not when , . most required ; and on it ,
therefore , depends the safety of the country . According to the systenx adopted to obtain and govern them , will be their . character . Officers and men , though in different directions , are influenced if not moulded by it . The former are made careless and tyrannical , and kept ignorant of the most useful facts ; and the latter , tainted with all the vices of slaves , are so much governed by others that they rarely acquire the art of governing themselves . The system , affects the whole of our maritime population ,, and the captains and seamen of meiS chant ships acquire the -tyrannical and slave-like habits that are formed in' our men-of-war . After the experience wo -have had of the slowness of the Admiralty in acquiring useful knowledge , and of the dUatorinesa of all official men in giving eilect to truths with which the public are familial ' , this great cause cannot be entrusted implicitly to their cave . For the benefit of tho seamen the public must continually goad the Admiralty forward in the right path , ¦ Into details it cannot . enter ; but it can enforce on the reluctant officials an adherence to sound principles . Tho circular admits , by implication , the necessity of compelling the captains to be just ; but who shall compel the Admiralty or tho Legislature to bo just , if the public neglect the task P There is no other means of accomplishing this essential work , and , if > the
. public neglect it , it will not be done . ' Session after session the Mutiny Act is passed * aa- a matter of course , and this Apt is yot tainted "With all the vices thai wore prominent hi the legislation of the last century . In order that justice ¦ fee-done-to the seamen , and the naval sorvice roni-• 'fterbdi ' agreeable to our population * the Mutiny Aot ' roust bo amended . The root of the evil is in our ¦ ign orant'legislation . To amend this the publio ••^ usMnteyfero . It cannot interfere with stowing : hammocks , giving-men bnge , and placing thorn in - « »" ' ^ eB 8 » , but It-can loll the Legislature that '* t , * ww * Bt > 'mo-4 ongev -entrust the Admiralty and -fttlmu-ala and captains -mth undefined * fcrbi-? tiwry -power , "It > must -call on Parliament to
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Ferdinand Ii., Kinq Of Naples. Wo. I. Th...
FERDINAND II ., KINQ OF NAPLES . wo . i . The long , protracted sufferings of the King of Naples have at length terminated in death . Sunday , the 22 rid of May , 1859 , witnessed his final struggle . At half-past one , p . m ., his spirit departed . Well for him that the judgment and condemnation ^ of his fellow creatures are now powerless against him ! The execration of men has done its worst . He has lived a stranger and died estranged from all but a very few with whose will and inclinations his own did not happen to clash . By the- unthinking
nand , rthe tyrannical sportsman , the president «* the Congress of -Laybach , , the WdetSK kingdom of the two Sicilies , reposed his hope ? £ his grandson , because his vulpine wiliness 5 isco vered in him the qualities necessary to rcaK ^ fusion of two different ¦ kgiAfioo ., Sxia ^ 1 constitution sworn to by the kings of Sicily fnt seven centuries , . and which its suppressor hunsetf had not the hardihood to extinguish at a blow The educators of Ferdinand II . were the famous Scina , Nas , Michelangelo Monti , Monsignor Balsamo , Padre Piazza , Niccolo Cacciatore Ferdinand II ., of an ardent imagination , lively concep tion , ready utterance , masterly tergiversation and
, with extraordinary powers of persuasion , so far from disappointing the hopes of his instructors surpassed their utmost desires and expectations ' At the age of nineteen he was quite competent to govern . The counsellors selected by him afford proof of his intelligence . Nunziante and Andrea , men of sixty or seventy years old , well known for their attachment to the royal cause and for their governmental capacity ,. were the rfriends of the heir presumptive to the throne- and chosen by him from amidst , the . crowd of courtiers who surrounded
mm . Monsignor Cocle was his confessor;—confessor 6 f the king ! ^ That is , under ordinary circumstances , an exterior method employed to feign religion in those who do not feel it , and -who in fact disbelieve it , but who are obliged to maintain its appearance . At the age of twenty Ferdinand H . was king of the most beautiful part of southern Italy , and of the . queen of the isles of the Mediterranean—Sicily . So gentle in his manners , so easy of access , and so fascinating was he , that he inspired the most paternal and friendly regard in those about him , and his inferiors saw in him not a
king , but a father . To the insane prodigality of his grandfather and the stupid administration of his father succeeded a-wise and just economy which , regulated by himself , made the royal administration a type of the useful'combined with the pleasing , and filled the sovereign ' s private treasury , which had been impoverished and embarrassed by the tWo former kings . In IS 35 . Ferdinand II . had paid all the debts contracted by his immediate predecessors ; his exchequer was improved , and ^ tlie royal possessions , instead of being an expense without profit , brought in large sums of money . The
carbonisation of the woods of Ficuzza , the plantations of olives , almonds , and vines of Favorita , Boccadifalco , Portici , Castellamare , all royal domains , and various other sources of revenue xmcared for . previously , -were turned , to account by Ferdinand . His race of horses and his mules for the artillery trains , the resumed activity of the silk machines of San Leuco , and of the cloth manufacture of Suva , the excavations of Ileroulaneum and Pompei , and the Casale railroad , brought him in immense treasures , and rendered hhu one of the
richest capitalists of Europe . In 1832 Ferdinand married Christina of Savoy , a beautiful and good Italian princess . The virtues of this , lady wove true and striking . f MuftUy beautiful and modest , she loved Fordmrmd 11 . with sincerity and tenderness . He was less the king to her than the young husband of twenty - five , born beneath a meridian sun , beautiful asin PalGrmitmi landscape , srav as the bright SKV
beneath which ho was brought up . She was oallecl to hev eternal repose Jan . 19 , 183 G , three dnys after ¦ having given birth to Francis , the heir presumptive to tho throne . Ferdinand 11 . sincerely loved his wife as a young husband loves a young , good , and beautiful woman ; and truly did nc mourn her loss . The dreadful ravages of the cholera in 1837 inaugurated his second marriago with nu Anotmn
Arcliduchees . Hers is such as tho Gorman ohaTactor ever is in Italy . Her natimil d 'W * tion is roBorvod , and she is vindictive and avnucioufl . A very numerous family has been tno rea . ult of this second miuTiuijo . 1 r ° ' " ' ^ always personally superintended thoi education w his children , and had hte instructions » n vuei once to it carried out under his own eye . «» ohildi-en wore treated by him with truly P » J «™ J affeotion , and are , in the strict sense ? f ™ } ° ™} . Z exemplary family with regard to union and domes
tic concord . The royal pr inops oeoupioa H ' ^ ra apartment . 3 immediately contiguous w 'SMi ' jL bed chamber , and with Mm . led a > fo ofnnj JJ ? and ftaniliarity like the most humble puvaw famiUes . Attention , care , and t « ou S 1 l TT { ^ his the chai-acteristio qualities of Ferdinand 11 . » M 1 B
and ignorant- —r-a large proportion of the subjects of every sovereign—who were quite content to live , for the present , unmindful of any higher aim or destiny than the mere enjoyment of animal gratifications and love of ' ease , he was enthusiastically beloved . Yet the news of his death will occasion an universal sensation of relief , as if mankind at large , and his own subjects in particular , had obtained release from a frightful incubus . The following sketch will enable our readers to appreciate the kingly and domestic character of the departed tyrant .
The biography of Ferdinand II . naturally divides itseU" into two clistinct parts—his public and his private life . Perhaps it never was necessary , with regard to any man , to keep the two phases _ of character so widely apart , to render the distinctions between them so clearly denned . It is , in fact , utterly impossible to form a correct idea of the sovereign and the private individual without becoming familiar with details onlv accessible to those who have had the opportunity of personally
studying his contradictory characteristics . In 1 ? erdinand were united all the virtues of a private man , as husband , father , and master , with the regal iniquities of Caligula , Maximilian , Diocletian , Donutian , and Antonine . It was impossible to approach Ferdinand without loving him as a man . As a king , every day , every hour , everv minute , every thought of his reign is marked in history as an cr $ of blood , falsehood , and abomination . We shall therefore treat of his public and his private life as if two clistinct individuals were in question . PRIVATE XirJG . Ferdinand was born Jan . 12 th , 1810 , at Palermo , the capital of Sicily—a kingdom independent ana constitutional , from tho days of Roger the Nortaan . His ¦ supposed father was Francis I ., hereditary prince ; his mother was the famous Isabella Boiirbon of £ > pain . That Paolo Monti was in reality his father can be proved by a variety of facts each and all decisive and irrefutable , ana all borne out by the extraordinary similarity existing between the King and Monti in person , voice , and manner . The first years of his life passed like those of nil other royal princes . At tho age of six he was authorised . by his grandfather to represent him in the procession of tho Immaoulato Conception- —n festival in which , the Court is obliged to follow tho statue of tho Madonna on foot . The mother and
father of the writer have repeatedly described to him the remarkable rippearanoo of this child of six , clothed in tho xiniform of a colonel of the Lancers , decoratod with the order of St . Januarius , marching in step , with head erect and stately bearing . The people who took part in the religious'function , were solely occupied in watching this child who at ) bo tender an age , oould thus replace the sovereign and play his part in a manner to leave nothing to be desired . I have seen the representation of this circumstance in the dressing-room of Ferdinand I . in tho villa of Real JPavorita , painted by tho celebrated Patania , and bearing the'short inscription , ordered by Ferdinand ! I ,, ** My ' Ifope . " Pordi-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 28, 1859, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28051859/page/18/
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