The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1849-12-27
Kingdom of kspIrS

Kingdom of Naples.
The baf1ed attempt al atrerolutiou IN the
kingdom Of Naples has materially agra
waited the political abuses Il was intended
70 destroy The concessions which were
made by the King have all been either re-
fracted Or neutralized BY new assumptions.
The constitution stlu exists IN form, but
only as q testimonial of royal perfdy. and
a monument Of popular instability. Il Is
no more the real law Of the land than the
Koran Il gave the people representa-
tive Parliament; but that Parliament, after
many OF Its principal members had been
arrested, was arbitrarily dissolved, and no.
thing but the royal fat VII ever speak
another into existence. The liberty Of
conscience, the liberty Of speech, and the
liberty Of the press, which the constitution
created, the King has annihiIated. The
prison moi only awaits every man who
gives expression 10 free sentiments. bu1
frequently Is the doom Of him whose ONLY
crime IS silence, and for months he laws
without trial Or he least observance Of the
most ordinary forms Of Justice. Bibles
are excluded with greater rigor than ever.
and al Other books oi liberal principles.
Foreign journals, except those Of high
monarchlcal lone, arg contraband. OF al
the Parlslzn papers, The BOurbonist Jour
nal deS DebQts and the LegitImist .7SSea2-
biee AGtsOlGle, are the only ones that find
admI1taDce- A severe censorship Is exer-
Clsed over all domestic publications., and
ID the whole kingdom no liberal press, nor
any hing wearing Its rsmofest semblance.
exists L he popular journals have al
been eXlermInated, and the three or four
others are but placards Of royal edicls,
and Wretehed, garbled compends Of for
elgn news, In not one Of them have ]
YET seen Al article lending IN the least 10
enllghten and ennobie the people. Men
OF nigh standing are arrested on the wan
ion denUncIatI0n OF aHy malicious street
vagabond; letters are intercepted Il tfls
postofhce on the slightest suspicion; dom
1cIllary visits are constantly made and the
closest Surveillance Is maintained over the
whole face Of society. l had not been In
the city week, before ! was kindly eau
toned by our consul, 10 take heed lest nv
public correspondence involve me IN trou-
bic with the civil authorizes A quaran-
tine OF fourteen days has been established
against every person coming from Rome
by land, and Of twenty-one days against
all arriving by wafer from Malta Or Mar
seilles, Or from any Of the ports Of Upper
Italy. lis ostenslble object Is 10 guard
against the cholera, but everybody here
understands thai us real design Is 10 shu1
ont all political infection.
Is II possible that this state OF things
viii soon be changed? By no means
hing Ferdinand Is a man Of narrow mind
and contracted views; and the advisers In
whom he most confdes are persons who
have lately been recalled, and restored TO
all their former privileges. Bigotry, iutol-
erance, machIavelism, and consummate
selhshness possess both the ear and the
heart Of the King, and II Is idle 10 pre-
sumo that he VIII voluntarily part with ms
irresponsible power. But what force can
compel himy The same army which saved
him from the fate Of his kInsInan, Louis
Philippe, Is az loyal as ever. and ready 10
support him IN every emergency Il NUM-
bers fifty thousand men, and Is daily IN
creasing. Finer troops ! have not seen IN
Europe, and no popular demonstration
could STAND day against them. But there
Is another tact, which decides the question
more coDcluslFely than either the mon
arch's disposition or the soldiers sword
Il Is the character Of the people themselves.
The populaee, as has lately been the case,
may be seized with momentary passion,
and By violence attempt 10 right their
wrongs; but, IN the mass, they are SO be-
nighled as to be los1 10 every noble sentl-
ment, and utterly below every truly lofty
enterprise, and all sustained herolc exer-
/ uon- They are as incapable OF self-guI-
dance as the cattle of the field; they must
either be driven by po1entaies, or he'd By
dem3gognes; inconsistent the wind, to
day, led by hunger, they yell, "Cp fclfh
! The barr5cGde8.r' and Tomorrow, llckled
with some state pageant. they shout :. Long
kUe the King
The higher classes make tiaeir ostenla-
hon their glory, and pleasure their god.
1 Their time. their fortunes and ihelT talents
are squandered n frivolitv. Their hfe Is