The National Register.
London, England, 1811-10-27 00:00:00

NAPLES.

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.
" PALERMO, 44un. 14.—The news from Naples represents
that city and kingdom in a most wretched state. Italy is fast
approaching that barbarity of the dark ages to which Bonaparte
threatened to reduce all Europe. Th.: landed proprietors pay
upwards of 801. per cent. of the produce of their estates to the
Government. The large palaces of the nobility are rapidly fall

THE NA'

ing to rain, the streets unpaved, every appearance of a city sack-
ed by its enemies, and of all the brilliancy and splendour that so
distinguished it formerly, nothing is seen but the equipages of
the French Generals and Commissaries, and the immediate "
officers of its Court. The taxes and duties levied on the produce
of the country are positively stated at twice the amount of its
first cost, which with the same or a still nvire ruinous course of
exchange than prevails here (I believe rather less than three
dollars per pound sterling), prevent foreianers from purchasing,
which annoys Murat, as he is subject to a heavy expenditure;
indeed, to tell truth, it is not to him that these circumstances are
to be attributed, but to the eternal orders he daily receives
from Paris ; for individuals, it appears. are rather attached to
him than otherwise. being r. ighty fond of playing the King, and
sportiag his figure in theatrical dresses, such as the old Spanish
dress, Roman hoots, Ste.; yet we may form a clear idea that
his actions and his intentions are not in unison; fur in his reply to
the Deputations of Merchants, who entreated some relaxation
in favour of commerce, he roundly declared, that if he were at
the head of 20 ,eOO bayonets, his conduct, as a Sovereign, would
be quite ditierent: it would appear that this, or some such ex-
pression of his genuine sentiments, is the cause of what is now
reported, viz. that Buonaparte is determined to remove him
from that kingdom, either by deposing or translating him to
some other soil already ruined by the paternal cares of the
French troops. This, at least, is the news of the day, and it
would appear that the wiley Corsican has deliberately matured
his plan, as in having- withdrawn almost all the French troops
from Naples, he has provided against any resistance to his ca-
prices that his brother-is law% might be inclined to make against
an order for re-transportation. As for the Neapolitan soldiers,
they are good for 11-t!iing, as he well knows, and according to
the experience of ages. In the only two allusions to that coun-
try in the Expose to the French Legislative Assembly, a coin-
cidence with this report n:ay be observed ; for when the Mi-
nister speaks of the Romans interfering with the tommnnication
of the troops in Upper and lower Italy, one might suppose that
Naples was an integral part of the Frenet Empire already, and
not an independent state, with a distinct Monarch. On the al-
Iwion to the non-perfo mance of Murat's contract to build six
ships of the line and six frigates, there is what must be under-
stood as a threat by all who can decypher the chief tyrants lan-
guage; it is cruel enough to harass his kinsman on the subject of
ship-building, of which we may well suppose a cavalry officer
like Murat rather uninformed. As of the only line of battle
ship he has attempted, we should properly be regarded as the
Alarplots by liuonaparie, in having intercepted all the copper-
sheathing in one expedition, and all the masts, ya rds.fac. in another
lately. Our young stud, nts of the Thames frigate and Cephalus
brig, had even the indelicacy to go on score for 10001. worth of
this stuff, which they deliberately attoched to 2.5 gun and other
boats, with oil, wine, Etc. to the admiration of several hundred
military spectators on shore, and brought them here."