Star.
London, England, 1821-06-22 00:00:00

-

.

Officers of the Crown would now give their attention
sink! proceedingisaf this Society.
bENIRAT. DESFOORNEAUX. CLAIM.
Mr. BROGDEN presented the Minutes of Evi-
dence taken before the Committee appointed to con-
sider the claims of this individual.
Mr. GRENFELL took this opportunity of repeat-
ing all his former arguments against this claim.
Mr. MARRYATT also opposed this claim ; he had
large connections with Guadeloupe, and had been
there, yet had never heard of these claims of Gene-
ral Desfourneaux. An Hon. Friend of his, who sat
near him, was in the same situation, and therefore
he could not but look at this claim with a suspicious
eye.—The Paper's. were ordered to be printed.
AFFAIRS OF SICILY.
Lord WILLIAM BENTINCK rose to submit
the motion of which he had given notice respecting
the affairs of the kingdom of Sicily. The Noble Lord
began by observing that he felt very great pain in
bringing orward the present question, from his re-
collections of the country to which it referred. He
was well aware that it would be better advocated by
many Members in the House ; but it was impossible
that it could be transferred to any Member with that
weight and authority which it deserved, fromhis lo-
cal knowledge and experience. Nor could airy other
Member have the same feeling and interest with re-
spect to the question that he had who witnessed the
cordial co-operation of the Sicilians in the cause of
liberty—(Cheers). The Noble Lord then proceeded
to comment on the severe treatment which the Sici-
lians had met with from the Neapolitan Government,
after the country was evacuated by the British troops.
The motion which he had to propose was not, it was
true, in accordance with the spirit of the Holy Alli-
ance, or the Laybach Manifesto ; yet, if antiquity
could be urged in favour of political rights, the peo-
ple were placed on equal terms with the Allied Sove-
reigns—(Hear, hear). He could assure the House
that it was not from any solicitation on the part of
the Sicilians that he brought the subject under con-
sideration ; but from a sense of what he owed both
to them and himself, in consequence of the pledges
he had formerly given. It was with the deepest re-
gret he found himself obliged to declare that a more
complete annihilation of freedom had never taken
place in any country than had occurred in Sicily on
the re-establishment of the old Neapolitan Govern-
ment. 'The loss of liberty was followed with injus-
tice, cruelty, and oppression, to a degree from which
the mind of every feeling man must revolt—( Hear).
The Noble Lord next adverted to the occurrences of
1805, when the King was driven out of Naples, and
sought refuge in Sicily, under the protection of an
English force. He contended that the Neapolitans
had never shewn the same zeal in defence of their
country that the Sicilians evinced. In the year 1808,
when the Neapolitans received a subsidy of I:300,000,
what return did they make for it to the British Go-
vcrnment ? Nothing but distrust, and even positive
hostility—(Hear). At that time, when Murat was
about making a descent upon Sicily, Sir John Stew-
art could only get a single regiment of Neapolitan
cavalry to join him ; while the Sicilians voluntarily
offered themselves to repel the invaders. The Noble
Lord iheu referred to the old Constitution which Si-
cily had enjoyed for centuries; and though he was
aware it would bear no nice comparison with that
which other more favoured countries possessed, yet
at least it established the claim of the Sicilians to
their independent existence as a separate Govern-
ment ; it entitled them to have a Constitution of their
own, and a Parliament of their own. While the Par-
liament sat it had the superintendence of the public
money, and it had the power of appointing a Depu
tation of Senators, who had the superintendence of
the public money during the intervals of its Sessions.
Such was the Constitution which the Sicilians en-
joyed when, in 1810, the Barons agreed to surren-
der up their old feudal rights, and established a Par-
liament of tn o Houses like those of Great Britain.
They further agreed, that whenever they were un-
der the necessity of departing from the spirit of their
own Constitution, they would adopt the principles of
that which Great Britain enjoyed. Thus things went
on down to 1813, 1811., and 1815, when the King of
the Two Sicilies resumed the reins of Government,
and renewed his oath to preserve the Constitution.
About the Ist of May in the folic:ming year, Murat
left Naples, and the King went there. But pre-
viously to hisleaving Sicily a memorandum was left
there in 1315, to the same effect as the instructions
which were sent out in that year by the Noble Lord
to the British Minister. Of these instructions he in
every respectapproved, and if he had had the framing
of them himself; they could not have been more con-
formable to his ideas. The instructions were received
in Sicily about the end of l)ecember, and it would
shew how far they were attended to by the King,
that they were soon followed by a Decree of his Ma-
jesty uniting the two countries—thus abolishing al-
together the Constitution and all the rights and pri-
vileges of the Sicilians—(Hear, hear). Sicily was
thus made a province of Naples, and this relation
ss as the more degrading and painful, as it could not
be concealed that the greatest antipathy had always
prevailed between the two countries. Even in the
hue events their interests were totally opposed.—
The insurrection in 6icily differed altogether in its
object from that of Naples. All the Sicilians wished
for was the reservation cf their original iiedependence,
and this very fully appeared from a pamphlet which
General Church had lately published in his own jus-
tification ; and he was happy to say, that, in his opi-
nion, it established in a very satisfactory manner that
gallant Officer's innocence throughout the course of
those transactions. In that publication he acknow-
ledged that he had refused to join in the cry of Mire
In Conxtitazione ! But he justified himself in that
refusal fiorn the well-known feelings of the Sicilians ;
for, lie said, " everybody knew that for a great
length of time the Sicilians were desirous of a change,
and that the discontent was profound and general."
After some further remarks, the Noble Lord said
that his great object was to regain for the Sicilians
those great privileges which this country had acquired
for them, and he concluded with moving--
" That an bumble Address be presented to his Majesty, re-
presenting to him that we feel greatly mortified in learning that
attempts have been.made by the King of the Two Siciliei to re-
duce the privileges and rights of the Sicilians to such a state as
would expose the British Government to the reproach of having
contributed to a change which would impair the freedom and
happiness of the Sicilians ; and we therefore pray his Majesty's
interference in such manner as the honour and good faith of this
absolutely requircs.".--(l.lcar,

khk,