The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-11-10 00:00:00

311.1114 T'S AND PERM ‘,l AD'S GOVERN..
MEATS CONTRAS I IsD.

I ''. "

I Nothing could afford a stronger contrast than
' Murat and his competitors. his competitors descend.
ed froM the Houses of Austria aty.d Mombasa. Murat
'wet (they say) the son of a Postmaster of awful'.
Murat was irresolute in Council, and hold in the
field. His rival was violent enough in his measures
till it was necessary to defend them by arms, When
he always slunk away from the contest, as his father
Charles 111. did from the riots of Madrid, and his
cousin Innis XVIII. last spring from l'aria. Fer. '
• diessiA, sueceediog to an hereditary crown, has con.
fiscated more prop-rty, imprisoned and esocuted
more of his subjects, than 'any Prince at Naples
since the contest of the Anget ins and Arrsennese.-e
Murat,. on the contrary . taised to a foreign crown by
conquest, and bolding
it during a period of inveterate
war, lint only inviiroverl the general administration of
justice, but scarcely shed any blood, except in the field.
Murat was a freemason, and conniver! at and even en.
counted different religions in hi...kingdom. Ferdinand
made freemasonry a capital reestablished the
'Jesuits, w nom his father suppressed, and persecutes all
those who dissent from the Kemal* Catholic Church.
Moral, though his education was low, prided himself
in encouraging ores, literature, and science, employ.
ed the sculptors and painters, pensioned the pools '
and autitnrs, and drew ter his Court mei distinguished
by their learning for the purpose of educating his
children, his nobles, and his people. Ferdinand :
lived with the fish% amen and rite Lazgartme. Murat i
corrected the ineteiici.y of Naples and never appear.
ed in public but sumptuo•rsly clothed and mounted ;
on a fiery horse, wi It all the attendance and pa., p
of royal and military splendour. Murat was aar•
rounded and beloved by the nobility--Fetdinand,
with some few excevtions, had. and has, no partisans
hut among th, Priests and the very dregs of the peo.
ple. Indeed the situation of the upper ranks was
not leits'eontra,teri wider the two dynasties than the
characters of (Ire Sovereigns. One instance may
suffice :—The Duke of R— R...., a Nobleman of
vast poyarasiona, great strength, personal *crow.
pli.hmersis, wird, above all, signal courage, was at.
tacked some years ego in the streets of Naples by
three ass.issists. He killed Iwo, slid, though slightly
wounded. compelled the third to save hinsrlf by
titg•ir. He afterwards ascertained that the ruffians
had been hired by the Court to murder him, and it
may easily he supposed that he was not among the
last to hail a change, of dynasty, and to serve King
Joseph and King Joachim witty zeal and ability. In
the last campaign this same Nobleman its passing a
rapid river, the UM4IIO, near Alacerata, fell from his
horse and was carried away by the violence of the
current. Murat perceived him and, all accoutred at
he was, plunged into the water and sawed his faith. j
ful arthprem from the stream. The agriculture, the
public works, the police, the system of finance, the
and the morality of the people, were all
improved under the short reign of Kiug Joachim,
and though the commerce and coasting trade of the
kingdom were interrupted during the greater part of
the time bv the state of war. Ferdinand will find,
if he is indeed capable of attending to such matters,
that the mutat' and the riches of his kingdom
have increased under a Government which may have
been jacobinical, but which was impartial, vigilant,
and intelligent.