The National Register.
London, England, 1811-11-17 00:00:00

NA •

the QUEEN, therefore, sits pi supreme in all Coun-
cils, and that all business is transacted by her. The
two Ministers at the head of affairs fled : the Minis•
ter of Finances and the Secretary at War are her fa-
vourites. One of them is a French intriguer, and
not unreasonably supposed to be in the pay of Buo-
NAPARTE. The other is a man of greater talents,
but totally involved in his pleasures which he is
said to share with the QUEEN. Between the mis.
chievous activity of the one, aad the indolent suf-
ferance of the other, the affairs of Sicily have
taken a manifest French turn, and it has become
an avowed maxim in the Court, that even an al-
liance with France, and the acceptance of any in-
demnity which NAPOLEON might be disposed to
offer, would be preferable to the overawing tone
which the British Commander-in-Chief thought
proper to adopt. The indisposition of Sicily to
England is thus stated to have originated in these
mixed causes of jealousy accl intrigue. The
QUEEN, a daughter Of MARIA THERESA, and
a sister of the late QUEEN of FRANCE, is naturally of
too high a spirit to brook any controul in dominions
which she justly considers as here own, and her
French favourite l.'s had dexterity enough to im-
prove upon this jealousy. The necessities of mili-
tary command in the immediate vicinity of
the enemy on the coast opposite Calabria, have
sometimes required the British Commander
to exert his authority with some abseltir-
ness ; and as the peasantry of the country
have perceived that their sole hope of safety
lies in the English Army,. they have followed the
yety reasonable impulse of implicitly obeying those
upon whose skill and bravery they felt they depend-
ed. There is a very natural transition from alliance
in one cause to association in all. When the Court
of Palermo, therefore, in order to supply its neces-
sities, imposed a heavy contribution on their lands
or goods, they presented a memorial of their griev-
ances to their English friends, and besought their
co-operation in the means of redress. The English
Officers, seeing a manifest grievance, and not being
accustomed to find such thing in their own country,
have sometimes intemperately, but certainly gene-
rously, espoused their cause, and hence another
source of jealousy to the Sicilian Government.—
From all these causes, has risen the present state of
I , umstances in that island, and it requires a very

I '
1K
;e4 trA

INN

•

.

20

.I.llErqlk

dexterous management on the part of this Govern-
ment, to reconcile our dignity and our .interest.
It is our interest' to have as many Allies as pos-
sible against NAPOLEON ; and, on the other hand,
it is an obligation incumbent upon us on the score
of our ,iignity, not to suffer our Ministers
to be insulted, and .our merchants to be in-
jured. We have only to express our hope that
our Govermiient will act with their usual humanity,
and not resent even the manifest injuries of a
weaker Power with the same rigour, which it would
be necessary for them to display towards a stronger.
It is sometimes one of the best advantages of a
great Power, that it can lift itself above the insults
of an inferior. It can have no apprehension of an
imputation of _cowardice ; its forbearance, there-
fore, can only be ascaihed to its generosity and
humanity. It does not resent, because it is not
willing to crush.