Carlo Filangieri Carlo Filangieri ( May 10 , 1784 – October 9 , 1867 ) , prince of Satriano , was a Neapolitan soldier and statesman . He was the son of Gaetano Filangieri , a celebrated philosopher and jurist . Biography . Born at Cava de ' Tirreni , near Salerno , at the age of fifteen Filangieri decided on a military career , and having obtained an introduction to Napoleon Bonaparte , then first consul , was admitted to the Military Academy at Paris . In 1803 , he received a commission in an infantry regiment , and took part in the campaign of 1805 under General Davout , first in the Low Countries , and later at Ulm , Maria Zell and Austerlitz , where he fought with distinction , was wounded several times and promoted . He returned to Naples as captain on Masséna ' s staff to fight the Bourbons and the Austrians in 1806 , and subsequently went to Spain , where he followed Joseph Bonaparte in his retreat from Madrid . After having slain General François Franceschi - Losio in a duel he was sent back to Naples ; there he served under Joachim Murat with the rank of general , and fought against the Anglo - Sicilian forces in Calabria and at Messina . On the fall of Napoleon , he took part in Murat ' s campaign against Eugène de Beauharnais , and later in that against Austria , and was severely wounded at the battle of the Panaro ( 1815 ) . On the restoration of the Bourbon king Ferdinand IV ( I ) , Filangieri retained his rank and command , but found the army utterly disorganized and impregnated with Carbonari sm . In the disturbances of 1820 , he adhered to the Constitutionalist party , and fought under General Pepe against the Austrians . On the re - establishment of the autocracy , he was dismissed from the service , and retired to Calabria where he had inherited the princely title and estates of Satriano . In 1831 , he was recalled by Ferdinand II and entrusted with various military reforms . On the outbreak of the troubles of 1848 , Filangieri advised the king to grant the constitution , which he did in February 1848 , but when the Sicilians formally seceded from the Neapolitan kingdom Filangieri was given the command of an armed force with which to reduce the island to obedience . On September 3 , he landed near Messina , and after very severe fighting captured the city . He then advanced southwards , besieged and took Catania , where his troops committed many atrocities , and by May 1849 , he had conquered the whole of Sicily , though not without much bloodshed . He remained in Sicily as governor ( the exact Italian title was Luogotenente generale dei reali domini al di là del Faro , meaning Lieutenant - general of the royal domains beyond the Lighthouse ) until 1855 , when he retired into private life , as he could not carry out the reforms he desired owing to the hostility of Giovanni Cassisi , the minister for Sicily . On the death of Ferdinand II ( May 22 , 1859 ) the new king Francis II appointed Filangieri premier and minister of war . He promoted good relations with France , then lighting with Piedmont against the Austrians in Lombardy , and strongly urged on the king the necessity of an alliance with Piedmont and a constitution as the only means whereby the dynasty might be saved . These proposals being rejected , Filangieri resigned office . In May 1860 , Francis at last promulgated the constitution , but it was too late , for Garibaldi was in Sicily and Naples was seething with rebellion . On the advice of Liborio Romano , the new prefect of police , Filangieri was ordered to leave Naples . He went to Marseilles with his wife and subsequently to Florence , where at the instance of General La Marmora he undertook to write an account of the Italian army . Although he adhered to the new government he refused to accept any dignity at its hands , and died at his villa of San Giorgio a Cremano near Naples on 9 October 1867 . Filangieri was a very distinguished soldier , and a man of great ability ; although he changed sides several times , he became really attached to the Bourbon dynasty , which he hoped to save by freeing it from its reactionary tendencies and infusing a new spirit into it . His conduct in Sicily was severe and harsh , but he was not without feelings of humanity , and he was an honest man and a good administrator . His biography has been written by his daughter Teresa Filangieri Fieschi - Ravaschieri , " Il Generale Carlo Filangieri " ( Milan , 1902 ) , an interesting , although somewhat too laudatory volume based on the general ' s own unpublished memoirs ; for the Sicilian expedition see V Finocchiaro , " La Révoluzione siciliana del 1848 - 49 " ( Catania , 1906 , with bibliography ) , in which Filangieri is highly criticised .