The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-05 00:00:00

ADDRESS FROII 711 E PRO-DICTATOR

OF SICILY.

The following letter has been addressed by the
pro-Dictator to the Secretaries of State :

PALERMO, 'Oct. 22.

" Gentlemen,—As the time of parting with you
draws near, I feel it my duty to address you a few
words of affection and gratitude.
" You have been my faithful companions, my wise
counsellors, in one of the most arduous missions
which history could record; and it is in a great
measure due to you if I have succeeded in conduct-
ing public affairs to a happy issue.
" Sincerity of intention, frankness of speech,
together with the love of conciliation, conveyed by
constant care from words to facts, and unremitting
exertions in promoting the public weal, were the
only expedients which I conscientiously pointed
out, and which you diligently followed.
" Now that an admirable, universal concord binds
to one single object all Sicilian minds and hearts—
now that all have a claim to victory, and none
need fear defeat—it is now more than at any pre-
vious time that we can appreciate the dangers we
have incurred, the difficulties we have surmounted,
congratulate ourselves on the present, and with
confidence cheerfully look forward to the happy
future of this our dear island.

" The only thing we may regret is the stern
swiftness of time, which has not allowed us to
accomplish the glorious task left us by Garibaldi.
At all events, no consideration whatever has hin-
dered us from boldly undertaking the work of a
great social and civil reform in behalf of a land
destined by nature to the most flourishing civilisa-
tion, but which the iron hand of tyranny has too
often contrived to hold in a state of abject barba-
rism.
" But although we were necessarily compelled
from the beginning to abandon the gratifying idea
of perfecting the reorganisation of the State, we
have, nevertheless, found in our hearts and in our
convictions sufficient strength to avail ourselves of
a rare opportunity for establishing at least and
practically introducing some great principles of
civil government. We have accordingly scattered
by handfuls and without hesitation the fruitful
seeds of the improvements required by the present
conditions of Sicily, trusting that the Government
of Victor Emmanuel would with alacrity continue
our work, which, however, is to be finally sealed
by the great National Parliament. •
" We have provided for equality by destroying
the last relics of undue privileges, for fraternity by
rendering pardon the noble instrument of civil
restoration on the one hand, and of internal secu-
rity of the State on the other, for authority for
reorganising governmental administration in the
provinces and districts,' reconstituting magistracy,
placing upon a solid basis the institution of royal
carbiniors and of guards of public security, for
popular education and public instruction, by endow-
ing them largely, foundin asylums throughout the
island, ordering the formation of schools for boys
and girls in all the communes, and academies, lyce-
ums, institutions of arts and sciences, agricultural,
nautical, veterinary, and the reform of the throe
Universities of Palermo, Catanio, and Messina. We
have provided for their material well-being by dis-
burthening the communes in order to gradually
open the way to the suppression of the consump-
tionth
duties, which weigh heavily on e poorer
classes of society, by abolishing tithes, decree-
ing the sale of the landed property of the State,
gaged
leasing(an )h
te
all Int
property, y ,establishing, under
soundest principles of public economy, a bank of
discount, of emission, and circulation.
" We have effected all this in the short space of a
month without taking
which we have highly honoured
.into account private probity
pivot of civil administration,
aanndd pesutbeleinic hed onesty,
th e
without referring to our national regard towards
our glorious brethren wounded in the immortal
battles of liberty, for whose future wants we have
provided
o deservedm o t i on s the
without most
legitimate and pensions
by grantingth
the
em
bestr
referring to our acts of public beneficence, visiting
with affectionate care the numerous establishments
which derive their name from it in Palermo, and
helping and relieving unmerited poverty wherever
we could discover it.
" There is likewise an act of Government which
I must not omit calling your attention to—l mean
the creation of an extraordinary and temporary
Council of State charged to investigate and repre-
sent to the King's Government what in the consti-
tution of the great Italian family should be the
orders and institutions demanding special attention
as best suited to meet the peculiar exigencies of
Sicily, harmonising at the same time with the
general requirements of the unity and prosperity
of the Italian nation. Now, if the Sicilians will
listen to me, I believe I have offered them in the
extraordinary Council of State such an argument
of concord, such a field for fraternal industry, such
411 advancement towards a bettor future, as cannot

fail to prove that the authoritative result of its
I labours, though merely of a consultive character,
may elicit the most serious consideration from the
King's Government and the National Parliament,
and produce a free and extensive development of
the territorial requirements of the island in perfect
harmony:with those of our common mother country.
" Gentlemen, I am sure that you, like myself,
do not entertain the mean pretension of having
invariably with unerring hand steered through
the course of our common duties, but that you
as well as I feel perfectly conscious that the
goodwill which I promised on assuming the dicta-
torial powers has never wavered ; that we have
never been a party Government ; and we have never
flagged in those efforts which we considered condu-
cive to the public weal.
" For our labours we have been amply requited
by the satisfaction that public tranquillity has been
as firmly maintained as though we had been acting
in the most normal times. I am unwilling to appeal
to the evidence of others, as I should in this case
blend together friends and adversaries ; but though
silent on this subject, it is my duty, as pro-Dic-
tator of a people who no sooner enter a state of
liberty than they rise to greatness, and promise to
take the lead before the oldest of free nations, it is
my duty to summon. before the tribunal of the
public opinion of Europe the testimony of all the
foreign consuls resident in this city. By such an
appeal, made before the light of day, the dense and
dark mist .which clouded Sicily in the eyes of
Europe will be dispelled, and I abandon to the
judgment of history the insinuations of those who
astonished Europe by the statement that, in the
name of the most virtuous and purest of men, I had
rendered hateful the government of a generous
people, and by evil artifices and terrorism opened
my way to treason.
" A still greater and more handsome reward,
gentlemen, we obtained yesterday. The people—.
whom I love because I know them—having been
left by me masters of themselves, have vindicated
their own as well as your and my reputation by
the noblest demeanour that history could record.
It was a day worthy of the brightest times of
ancient Greece and Rome, and I know that the
whole island has afforded to the world the same
noble example.
" Gentlemen, I congratulate you on these great
achievements of the policy which it was my for-
tune to inaugurate in Sicily.
" I congratulate and thank you, because by your
aid I shall soon be able to deposit into the hands
of the gallant personage who comes to represent
the Re Galantuomo' in Sicily, with all its pres-
tige, the dictatorial authority' confided to me by
Garibaldi.
" Accept, gentlemen, the assurances of my grati-
tude and of my esteem.
" MORDINI, Pro-Dictator."