Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/411

Rh effect much, under the present king. He alone is the ruling power in a more than common degree, and will continue so; he will not therefore allow his ministers to be called ministers, but simply directors. They have only to obey him, he is the chief director, decides alone on all business which is brought before him, and appears to have a more than usual ability and facility in its dispatch. But these he employs solely to keep things in statu quo, so that nothing can advance; he has merely an object in view, that of preserving his throne and his life. Therefore he shuts his eyes to the most unheard of peculation in the public management, and makes thousands unhappy rather than displace a few by severe justice. What I here relate, I have heard from Neapolitans, from men who are perfectly acquainted with the state of things. Generally speaking, the educated Neapolitans really feel a necessity to give expression to their bitter dissatisfaction with their government; they say that they are surrounded with spies, and yet they speak with astonishing boldness and candor. It is only a few evenings since when I heard a high civil officer express himself thus:— “Every thing, every thing, in the government is managed by his malversation. The system of government is corrupt, and designed to enslave the people, and the priesthood extend a helping hand to the rulers in this respect. The priests, who in the year 1848, labored to introduce a better state of things, now occupy the prisons on the islands Nisida, Procida, and Ischia, as well as at Salerno. Freedom of the press does not exist in Naples, nor can be permitted