The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-22 00:00:00

MANIFESTO OF THE KING OF NdPLE

The following is the text of the Manifesto which,
as announced by telegraph, has been addressed by
King Francis 11. to the people of the Two

Sicilies :

" Gaeta, Dec. 8.
" People of the Two Sicilies,—From this place, in
which I defend more than my Crown—the indepen-
dence of the country—your Sovereign raises his
voice to console you in your sorrows, and to promise
you happier times. Equally betrayed, equally de-
spoiled, we will rise together from our misfortunes.
The work of iniquity has never lasted long, and
usurpations are not eternal.
" I treated calumnies with contempt, and regarded
treason with disdain, so long as they were directed
against me alone. I have fought, not for myself,
but for the honour of the name we bear. But when
I see my beloved subjects a prey to all the evils of
foreign domination—when I see them, a conquered
people, carry their blood and their property to other
countries, and behold them trampled under foot by
a foreign nation, my Neapolitan heart beats with
indignation in my breast, and I am consoled solely
by the loyalty of my brave army, and by the spec-
tacle of the noble protests which are made ht all
parts of the kingdom against the triumphs of vio-
lence and fraud.
" I am a Neapolitan ; born among you, I have
never breathed any other air, never seen any other
country ; I know no other country than my native
land. All my affections are in the kingdom ; your
customs are my customs; your language is my lan-
guage ; your ambition is my ambition. Heir of an
ancient dynasty, which for long years reigned over
these beautiful provinces, and re established their
independence, I do not come, after having
despoiled orphans of their patrimony and the
Church of its possessions, to seize by foreign force
the most delightful part of Italy. lam a prince
who is yours, and who has sacrificed everything to
his desire to preserve peace, concord, and prosperity
among his subjects.
" The entire world has seen that, in order not to
shed blood, I have preferred risking my Crown.
Traitors, paid by the foreign enemy, seated them-
selves in my Council by the side of faithful ser-
vants; but, in the sincerity of my heart, I could not
believe in treason. It was too painful to me to
punish ; I suffered at the idea of opening, after so
many misfortunes, an era of pet secutions ; and thus
the disloyalty of some and my clemency facilitated
the invasion which was accomplished by means of
adventurers, and by paralyzing the fidelity of my
people and the bravery of my soldiers.
" Although the object of continual conspiracies, I
have not shed a drop of blood, and my conduct has
been accused of weakness. If the most tender love
for my subjects, if the natural confidence of youth
in the uprightness of others, if an instinctive horror
of blood merit that name—yes, assuredly I have
been weak. At the moment at which the ruin of
my enemies was certain I held back the arm of my
Generals, in order not to consummate the destruc-
tion of Palermo. I preferr=ed to abandon Naples,
my home, my dear capital, without being driven
away by you, in order not to expose it to the hor-
rors of a bombardment like those which subse-
quently took place at Capua and Ancona. I be-
lieved with good faith that the King of Piedmont,
who called himself my brother and my friend, who
protested to me that he disapproved the invasion of
Garibaldi, and who negotiated with my Govern-
ment a close alliance for the true interests of Italy,
would not have broken all treaties and violated all
laws, for the purpose of invading my States in full
peace, without any motives, and without any de-
claration of war. These are my faults ; but I prefer
my misfortunes to the triumphs of my adversaries.
" I gave an amnesty ; I opened the gates of the
country to all exiles ; 1 accorded a constitution to
my people; and assuredly I have not violated the
promises I made. I was prepared to guarantee
to Sicily free institutions which, with a separate
Parliament, would have consecrated her adminis-
trative and economic independence, and removed
at once all motives of distrust and discontent. I
summoned to my councils the men who /seemed to
me the most acceptable to public opinion under the
circumstances ; and, so far as the incessant aggres-
sions of which I have been the victim permitted,
laboured with ardour in effecting reforms, and in
promoting the progress and prosperity of our com-
mon country.
" It is not intestine discords that have wrung
from me my kingdom ; but I am vanquished by
the unjustifiable invasion of a foreign enemy. The
Two Sicilies, with the exception of Gaeta and
Messina, the last asylums of their independence,
are in the hands of Piedmont. And what has the
revolution procured for the people of Naples and
Sicily ? Look at the situation which the country
presents. The finances, formerly so flourishing, are
completely ruined, the administration is in chaos,
individual security does not exist,the prisons are full
of persons arrested on suspicion ; instead of liberty,
the state of siege is established in the provinces :
and a foreign General publishes martial law, and
decrees that all those of my subjects who do not
bow before the flag of Sardinia shall be immediately
shot. Assassination is recompensed, regicide obtains
an apotheosis, respect of the holy worship of our
fathers is called fanaticism ; promoters of civil war,
traitors to the country, receive pensions which the
pacific citizen has to pay. Anarchy is everywhere.
Foreign adventurers have laid hands on everything
to satisfy the avidity or the passions of their com-
panions. Men who have never seen this part of
Italy. or who, from long absence, have forgotten its
wants, constitute our Government. Instead of the
free institutions which I gave you, and which I de-
sired to de velope, you have had the most ruthless
dictatorship and martial law now replaces the Con-
stitution. Beneath the attacks of your dominators
disappears the ancient monarchy of Roger and
Charles 111. and the two Sicilies have been declared
provinces of a distant kingdom. Naples and
Palermo will henceforth be governed by prefects
coming from Turin.
" There is a remedy for these evils, and for the
still greater calamities which I foresee—namely,
concord, resolution, faith in the future. Unite
around the throne of your fathers—let forgetful-
ness cover for ever the errors of all ; let the past
never be a pretext for vengeance, but a salutary
lesson for the future. I have confidence in the jus.
tice of Providence, and whatever may be my fate I

will be faithful to my people and to the institutions

which I have accorded to them. Administrative

and economic independence of each of the Two Sici-

lies, with a Parliament for each, and a complete

amnesty for all political acts—such is my pro-

gramme. With -any other bases than these-the

country will be plunged into despotism and anarchy.
" Defender of the independence of the country,
I remain and fight here i❑ order not to abandon a
trust which is so holy and dear to me. If authority
return to my hands, I shall employ it to protect all
rights, to respect all property, to guarantee the

- - -
persons. and possessions of my subjects against op-
pression and pillage. If Providence in its profound
designs permits the last bulwark of the monarchy

:o fall beneath the blows of a foreign enemy, I

will retire with a conscience without reproach,

with immovable faith, with unchangeable resolu-
tion ; and while waiting for the veritable hour of

justice, I will offer most fervent prayers for the
prosperity of my country, and for the felicity of
those populations who form the largest and the
dearest portion of lily family-
" May Almighty God, and the immaculate and
invincible Virgin, the protectress of our country,
support our common cause. " FRANCIS."

UNBAPTISED CHILDREN.—A. correspondent writes
to us from Elham, says the South
_Eastern Gazette, re-
questing us to state that recently an inhabitant of that
place lost a young child by death, who had not been bap-
tised. The consequence was that the clergyman, when
requested to do so, refused to read over it the burial ser •
vice, and would not even permit it to be buried in the
churchyard till after dark, as though the infant had com-
mitted fel° de se, or the burial ground was the property of
the officiating minister for the time being, instead of be-
longing to the whole body of the parishioners, who have
had to pay for it 20 times over. In a neighbouring parish
a similar incident lately occurred, when the clergyman
there told the mother that all unbaptised children " become
hobgoblins after death," and are not permitted to go to
heayen,