Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-06-17
THE LATE KING OF NAPLES.


After a lingering illness, attended with the
most fearful sulfcrings, the King Of Naples,
Ferdinand II. has died. \ report Of his death
months ago, and the obituary notices that his
rumorcd disease then elected proved clearly
how he was regarded By the civilized world
a few of the ultramontanc journalists, will be
found to lament the late king or speak y kind
word for him now he is dead.
Ferdinand Charles H.. King Of the Two Sic
lilies and of Jerusalem, Duke of Parma, Pui-
sancc and Castro, and Hereditary Grand Duke
of Tuscany-he claimed more titles than he
had any right to-waS born January 18th,
1910, and in 1890 succeeded his father To the
throne of Naples. In Isl! he married the
Princess Marie Christine, of Sardinia, Il cori>in
of the present King. The ISSUE OF this mar.
riage was one son, Francis Leopold, now King
of Naples. Marie Christine dying in lS3G,
Ferdinand, in 1881. married Marie Theresa,
Isabella, an Austrian princess, by whom he
had ten children. The eldest OF these * Il
young man about twenty years Of age, and it
was the cherished ambition OF his mother to
have him placed on the throne instead Of the
legitimate heir, Francis Leopold.
King Ferdinand had occupied such an UNI
pleasantly prominent position in the history Of
Europe for the last twenty years that his ca
rccr is tolcrably well known. Tyrannical and
crafty, his exactionS in 1913 aroused the people
Of Sicily almost to rebellion, but the King anti
cipatcd the coming storm and tried to shelter
himself under Il constitution. \ liberal charter
was published and sworn to by Ferdinand on
the 9th of February, 1913. His subjects,
however, demanded further concessions, and
even a participation in the war then raging
between Lombardy and Austria. To some Of
these demands the King acccdcd, but the conn
try was too ripe for Il revolution, and on the
18th Of May an instruction broke ont at Nh
pies. The constitution was ovcrthrown, others
offered, but for a year the country remained in
a state Of anarchy. Ferdinand bolnbarded his
own cities, slaughtered his subjects, anil finally
by the force of arms rcgained his sway. Ills
v%engcful spirit vas fully aroused by what he
considered, perhaps with some reason, an abuse
Of the privileges he had at first granted. lie
was now hated by his people, and knew it. lie
had been dubbed with the title Of King Bolnba,
and if he was TO have the reputation of a ty-
rant, he seemed fully determined that he should
deserve it.
-hihtIOtSh - sup SSitIJuS lSai HiN't''''' ''''
from shedding blood, he inflicted punishuentS
almost as fearful, and many Of the prominent
liberals of the country, including some Of those
who had assisted him in the preparation of the
constitution, and toward whom he even affected
personal friendship. were imprisoned in the
foulest dungeons. These incarccratiOns were
carried on in the most wholesale manner, the
number of political prisoners being estimated
at one time as high As thirteen thousand. Not
content with irnprisoning these unfortuaatcs,
bodily tortuc was often resortcd to. 1t is but
a short time since the newspapers contained an
account of the cap Of silence a head-dresS
Of iron 50 arranged as TO be tightly compressed
on the head with screws, preventing the victim
from uttering a cry while undergoing torture
by excessive heat or otherwise. The Neapoli-
tan court papers, however, declared the whole
story 10 be u fabrication.
There is, nevertheless, too much undeniably
known to allow any sympathy to be felt at the
death of the late King Of Naples. Mr.. Glad.
stone, Lord Clarendon, Lord Palmerston and
other English statesmen have repeatedly called
the attention Of the British government and
the world at large, to the awful outrages com.
mitted by Ferdinand. The recent release OF