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

Kingdom Of Naples.
The batfied attempt atrevoluti0u in the
kingdom of Naples has materially aggra-
yated the political abuses it was intended
to destroy The concessions which were
made by the King have all been either re-
tracted or neutralized by new assumptions
The constitution still exists in form, but
only as a testimonial of royal perfidy. and
a monument of popular instability. 1t is
no more the real law of the land than the
Koran. 1t gave the people j representa-
tive Parliament; but that Parliament, after
many of its principal members had been
arrested, was arbitrarily dissolved, and no.
thing but the royal fiat will 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 annihIated The
prison not only awaits every man who
| gives expression 10 free sentiments, but
| 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 all other books OF liberal principles
Foreign journals, except those of high
monarchIcal tone, are contraband. OF all
the Partisan papers, the BourbOnist Jour-
nal deS De6dts and the Legitimist assem-
| 6lee NGtiOa0te, are the only ones that find
admlttance. A severe censorship is eXer-
clsed over all domestic publications, and
IN the whole kingdom no liberal press, nor
anything wearing its remotest semblance,
exists. The popular journals have all
been eXterminated, and the three or four
others are but placards of royal edicts,
and wretched, garbled compendS of for
elgn news, In not one of them have |
/ yet seen an article tending in the least to
! enlIghten and ennOble the people. Men
OF high standing are arrested on the wan
I ton denuncIatIon of anv malicious street
| vagabond; letters are Intercepted at the
| postoflice on the slightest suspicion; DOM
IcIllary visits are constantly made, and the
closest surveillance is maintained over the
whole face of society. | had not been in
! the city a week, before | was kindly eau
| toned by our consul, to take heed lest nv
| public correspondence involve me in trou-
BILE with the civil authorities A quaran-
tine of fourteen days has been established
against every person coming from Rome
by land, and of twenty days against
all arriving by water from Malta or Mar
seilles, or from any of the ports of Upper
Italy. Its ostenslble object is to guard
against the cholera, but everybody here
| understands that its real design is to shut
out all political infection.
Is it possible that this state OF things
will soon be changed! BY no means.
King Ferdinand is a man of narrow mind
and contracted views; and the advisers in
! whom he most conlides are persons who
| have lately been recalled, and restored to
all their former privileges. Bigotry, intol-
crance, machiavelsm, and consummate
selfishness possess both the ear and the
| heart of the King, and il is idle to pre-
sumo that he will voluntarily part with his
! irresponsible power. But what force can
compel him! The same army which saved
him from the fate of his kinsman, Louis
! Philippe, is as loyal as ever, and ready to
support him in every emergency. 1t 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 fact, which decides the question
more conclusively than either the mon
arch's disposition or the soldiers sword
ii is the character of the people themselves.
The populace, as has lately been the case,
may be seized with momentary passion,
and by violence attempt to right their
! wrongs; but, in the mass, they are so be-
nigh,ed as TO be lost TO every noble sentl-
ment, and utterly below every truly lofty
enterprise, and all sustained heroic exer-
ton. They are as incapable of selt-gui-
dance as the cattle of the field; they must
either be driven by potentates, or led by
demagogues; inconsistent as the wind, to
day, led by hunger, they yell, "Up ,otth
the bdrricddeSr and tomorrow, tckied
with some state pageant, they shout"Lo"S
Hve the King"
The higher classes make their ostenta'
ton their glory, and pleasure their god
Their time, their fortunes and their talents
are squandered i'll frivolity. Their LIE Is