Star.
London, England, 1814-02-01 00:00:00

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SICIL r.

we bye from time to tine inserted tonamunications reer.ved
from Sicily, respecting the very unfortunate dissentions which
.have Wren place between the Government And the Legiolative
Body. The following extract of a letter, evidently written by
a partizan of the latter, will give our itsadprs some idea of their
wore than unmeant,* Chili-ours. They are mad to think that

the power of the Government should pA adios to defeat even,
4culect %proud aitiost it, eves whom carried on under colour
of attachment w the Canting:so.
17.
tt.E.VItAcT OF;41. LETTER FROM rithi4frntraix,
Diovetnhie ia, 11813.
" I have titian Attained some account of the posi-
tion of affairs
rin Palermo, and' I tate this opposeuaity
of giving you the result.of my iinqui:ties.,
••• As.SOOll es Lord Wu. Bantu:clic had departed
for Spells. its May list, Mr. SgITH was called fro Mt
Sardinia, in order to fill the place of Secretary under
General Lord Mot:roma/tin. The Queen, in a very
bad state of health, was made to depart from Sicily
for Zante, on the 14th of June, and from thence, for
Constantinople, on the 3d of August last.
Tlite Parliament was summoned according to the
new Constitution; but the elections did not turn out,
in the Members returned, according to the wish of
the Ventimiglia party. During the first sittings after
'the meeting, which took plaee,ou the Bth of July.
some symptoms *ere observed 'of a disposition to
'throw elf the Baronial yoke, and arrange the state of
affairs in such a way, as that instend of one King,
they should not now be subject town hundred tyrants,
The speeches of the Members of the House of Com.
mons were full of energy, apd I assure you that

could nevei have imagined that Sicily produced men
of such abilities and such patriotism.
.4*. The Treasury Neas tpiNe alai/fled, aid as Lord
William was absent, who had hitherto supported the
Covettunent by loans from England;iif the instance:.
Eof Ventimiglia and his party, Castelnovo, the Mini.
'suer of Finances, brought forward his budget, which,
to say the truth, was not a budget, but a plan of new
impositions, imagined and dictated without any one
principle of political economy. .The author of this
scheme thought to Anglicise, without having the
,smallest idea of die-principles of Finance as under-
stood among the English: Here you sea taxes im.
posed. an horses, Mnles, asses, servants, and carriages;
but in spite of this English varnish, it was easy to
perceive the ancient systern hitherto so oppressive to
the lower orders of society : the tax ottiour was ad-
:vanced to sixteen tari the !alum (quarter), a -F'arlia.
mentqry tar unheard of in Sicily, not even in the
most unhappy times, before this beneficial undertak-
ing of the British Cabinet : for, besides this general
tax, the townships are'obliged, for their current ex.
'peaces, to burden the grinding of core with additional
duties. • Palermo must he charged with twelve taxi,
since for die two last centuries the tax has been said
to the creditors of the township, who receive their
dividends, and are denominated Birnestranti.
sina must be charged with other thirty tari on the
salm, on the tax alienated and funded in the same•
manner, so that the tax would amount in Palermo to
twenty-eight sari, and at Messina to forty-six.
While the Minister of Finances was asking for
an augmentation of the taxes, to the amount 431 half
a million and upwards, he never considered it as his
duty to give any account to girliAment of the em-
ployment of the funds granted the foregoing year.—
Ile House therefore resolved not to enter into the
question of fresh . grants, until the accounts of last
year's•expendituretad been laid before them.
The Parliament displayed some firmness in re-
ducing the pension of the Duke of Orleans, which had
been most prodigally granted to him through the in.
Auence of the Ventimiglia party, to the proportion of
the dowry of his wife, the Princess Amelia. And I
cannot but acknowledge that an assignment of
24,000 ounces per annum, which, according to the
present exchange, is equal to alflB,ooo sterling, was
a burden beyond the powesrof the kingdom to bear,
especially if we consider that, by the Civil List, the
King and Queen were allowed no more than 15,000
ounces per month, with the obligation of paying their
whole Court.
" This being the state of the finances, the Minister
;committed 'two acts of- the most despotic nature.—
r These acts, in the sight of a free people, ought to be
:subject to an impeachment on the strongest grounds.
The first of these was an order of Council, in a case
where the object of it could not be considered as a
political regulation, but as a law, and at the same
time a judicial decision, .was in favour of the Prince
of Castlenovo, the Minister of the Finances, and one
of the Members of the Privy Council, by which it was
(ordered that he should obtain the inheritance of the
estates of the Duchy of CILIUM.. In this manner
the Privy Council saperceded the courts of justice :
they not only assume a legislative power with the
judicial, by superseding the authority of the tribunals.
but have openly attacked the very vital principles of
.a free government, and have done what would never
be permitted in England, not excused even in a court-
try Justicrof Peace.
"" The English Minister has never remonstrated
against this flagrant contempt of the Constitution, but
admitted as a principle that Members of the Privy
Council may assume the right to decide in causes
where their own interests are concerned.
" The other act. was on account of a slight popu-
lar commotion (which I find has been magnified in
the London Papers) on account of the high price of
povisions; a riot took place in the public prisons.
but the prisoners neither escaped, nor was any one
'killed among the people, nor wounded, except a few
pacific citiaens. killed by the soldiery. The Privy
Council, of their own authority, and without passing
any Bill in Parliament, as would have been constitu-
tional with you, placed the City of Palermo under
military law, investing General Boureard, a Swiss,
at the head of a Military Court, with fall authority ;
this is another violation of the Constitution, as no to-
,reigner, according to it, can hold-any employment.
civil or military, This Junta was empowered to try.
in a summary manner, and punish immediately, and
,without appeal, all persons connected with the tit-
'oinks ; 111 this, without any authority from the Le-
gislature, is a pretty specimen of the English Cow
.stituticsa."

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