JOSEPH KING OF NAPLES.
1803-1807
Rupture of the Peace of Amiens.--Conspiracy to assassinate Napoleon.
--Arrest of the Duke d'Enghien.--Joseph's Interview with Napoleon.
--Conflicting Views.--Madame de Stael.--Execution of the Duke
d'Enghien.--Statement of Joseph Bonaparte.--Statement of Count Real.
--Expulsion of the English.--Conquest of Naples.--Debasement of the
Neapolitans under the Old Regime.--Debasement of Naples.--Administration
of King Joseph.--Embarrassments.--Philanthropic Labors.--The
Lazzaroni.--Vigorous Measures.--Letters from Napoleon and others.--The
British Fleet.--Brigandage.--Success of the new Measures.--Ancient
Corruptions.--Prison Reform.--Financial Reform.--Encouragement to
Education.--Opposition to Reform.--The Fine Arts.--Monasteries.--Debate
in the Council.--Reform of Monastic Institutions.--Ecclesiastical
Reforms.--New Public Works.--Report of Joseph to the Emperor.--Letter
from Napoleon.--Letter from Meneval.--Letter from Joseph to his Wife.
The peace of Amiens was of short duration. In May, 1803--but fourteen
months after the signing of the treaty--England again renewed
hostilities without even a declaration of war. This was the signal
for new scenes of blood and woe. Napoleon now resolved to assail
his implacable foe by carrying his armies into the heart of England.
Enormous preparations were made upon the French coast to transport a
resistless force across the Channel. Joseph Bonaparte was placed in
command of a regiment of the line, which had recently returned, with
great renown, from the fields of Italy.
In the midst of these preparations, which excited fearful apprehensions
in England, the British Government succeeded in organizing another
coalition with Austria and Russia, to fall upon France in the rear. The
armies of these gigantic Northern powers commenced their march toward
the Rhine. Napoleon broke up the camp of Boulogne and advanced to meet
them. The immortal campaigns of Ulm and Austerlitz were the result.
Incredible as it may seem, England represented this as an unprovoked
invasion of Germany by Napoleon. This incessant assault of the Allies
upon France was a great grief to the Emperor. In the midst of all the
distractions which preceded this triumphant march, he wrote to his
Minister of Finance:
"I am distressed beyond measure at the necessities of my situation,
which, by compelling me to live in camps, and engage in distant
expeditions, withdraw my attention from what would otherwise be the
chief object of my anxiety, and the first wish of my heart--a good and
solid organization of all which concerns the interests of banks,
manufactures, and commerce."
While Napoleon was absent upon this campaign, Joseph was left in Paris,
to attend to the administration of home affairs. This he did, much to
the satisfaction of Napoleon, and with great honor to himself. Napoleon
was now Emperor of France, and the Senate and the people had declared
Joseph and his children heirs of the throne, on failure of Napoleon's
issue.
A gigantic conspiracy was formed in England by Count d'Artois,
subsequently Charles X., and other French emigrants, for the
assassination of Napoleon. The plan was for a hundred resolute men,
led by the desperate George Cadoudal, to waylay Napoleon when passing,
as was his wont, with merely a small guard of ten outriders, from the
Tuileries to Malmaison. The conspirators flattered themselves that
this would be considered war, not assassination. The Bourbons were
then to raise their banner in France, and the emigrants, lingering
upon the frontiers, were to rush into the empire with the Allied armies,
and re-establish the throne of the old regime. The Princes of Conde
grandfather, son, and grandson, were then in the service and pay of
Great Britain, fighting against their native land, and, by the laws of
France traitors, exposed to the penalty of death. The grandson, the Duke
d'Enghien, was on the French frontier, in the duchy of Baden, waiting
for the signal to enter France arms in hand.
It was supposed that he was actively engaged in the conspiracy for the
assassination, as he was known frequently to enter France by night and
in disguise. But it afterward appeared that these journeys were to visit
a young lady to whom the duke was much attached.
Napoleon, supposing that the duke was involved in the conspiracy, and
indignant in view of these repeated plots, in which the Bourbons seemed
to regard him but as a wild beast whom they could shoot down at their
pleasure, resolved to teach them that he was not thus to be assailed
with impunity. A detachment of soldiers was sent across the border, who
arrested the duke in his bed, brought him to Vincennes, where he was
tried by court-martial, condemned as a traitor waging war against his
native country, and, by a series of accidents, was shot before Napoleon
had time to extend that pardon which he intended to grant. The friends
of Napoleon do not severely censure him for this deed. His enemies call
it wanton murder. Joseph thus speaks of this event:
[Illustration: JOSEPH AT MALMAISON.]
"The catastrophe of the Duke d'Enghien requires of me some details
too honorable to the memory of Napoleon for me to pass them by in
silence. Upon the arrival of the duke at Vincennes, I was in my home at
Mortfontaine. I was sent for to Malmaison. Scarcely had I arrived at the
gate when Josephine came to meet me, very much agitated, to announce the
event of the day. Napoleon had consulted Cambaceres and Berthier, who
were in favor of the prisoner; but she greatly feared the influence of
Talleyrand, who had already made the tour of the park with Napoleon.
"'Your brother,' said she, 'has called for you several times. Hasten to
interrupt this long interview; that lame man makes me tremble.'
"When I arrived at the door of the saloon, the First Consul took
leave of M. de Talleyrand, and called me. He expressed his astonishment
at the great diversity of opinion of the two last persons whom he
had consulted, and demanded mine. I recalled to him his political
principles, which were to govern all the factions by taking part with
none. I recalled to him the circumstance of his entry into the artillery
in consequence of the encouragement which the Prince of Conde had given
me to commence a military career. I still remembered the quatrain of
the verses composed by the abbe Simon:
"'Conde! quel nom, l'univers le venere;
A ce pays il est cher a jamais;
Mars l'honore pendant la guerre,
Et Minerve pendant la paix.'[K]
[Footnote K:
"Conde! what a name! the universe reveres it;
To this country it is ever dear;
Mars honors it during war,
And Minerva during peace."]
"Little did we then think that we should ever be deliberating upon the
fate of his grandson. Tears moistened the eyes of Napoleon. With a
nervous gesture, which always with him accompanied a generous thought,
he said, 'His pardon is in my heart, since it is in my power to pardon
him. But that is not enough for me. I wish that the grandson of Conde
should serve in our armies. I feel myself sufficiently strong for that.'
"With these impressions I returned to Mortfontaine. The family were at
the dinner-table. I took a seat by the side of Madame de Stael, who had
at her left M. Mathieu de Montmorency. Madame de Stael, with the
assurance which I gave her of the intention of the First Consul to
pardon a descendant of the great Conde, exclaimed in characteristic
language,
"'Ah! that is right; if it were not so, we should not see here M.
Mathieu de Montmorency.'
"But another nobleman present, who had not emigrated, said to me, on the
contrary: 'Will it then be permitted to the Bourbons to conspire with
impunity? The First Consul is deceived if he think that the nobles who
have not emigrated, and particularly the historic nobility, take any
deep interest in the Bourbons.' Several others present expressed the
same views.
"The next day, upon my return to Malmaison, I found Napoleon very
indignant against Count Real; whose motives he accused, reproaching him
with having employed in his government certain men too much compromised
in the great excesses of the Revolution. _The Duke d'Enghien had been
condemned and executed even before the announcement of his trial had
been communicated to Napoleon._
"Subsequently he was convinced of the innocence of Real, and of the
strange fatality which had caused him for a moment to appear culpable in
his eyes. In the mean time, resuming self-control, he said to me,
'Another opportunity has been lost. It would have been admirable to have
had, as aid-de-camp, the grandson of the great Conde. But of that there
can be no more question. The blow is irremediable. Yes; I was
sufficiently strong to allow a descendant of the great Conde to serve in
our armies. But we must seek consolation. Undoubtedly, if I had been
assassinated by the agents of the family, he would have been the first
to have shown himself in France, arms in his hands. I must take the
responsibility of the deed. To cast it upon others, even with truth,
would have too much the appearance of cowardice, for me to be willing to
do it.'
"Napoleon," continues Joseph, "has never appeared with greater eclat
than under these sad and calamitous circumstances. I only learned,
several years afterward, in the United States, from Count Real himself,
the details of that which passed at the time of the death of the Duke
d'Enghien. It was at New York, in the year 1825, at Washington Hall,
where we met, by an arrangement with M. Le Ray de Chaumont, the
proprietor of some lands, a portion of which he had sold to me and to M.
Real, that he informed me how a simple emotion of impatience on his part
had very involuntarily the effect of preventing the kindly feeling
which the First Consul cherished in favor of the Duke d'Enghien.
"M. Real, one of the four counsellors of state charged with the police
of France, had charge of the arrondissement of Paris and of Vincennes. A
dispatch was sent to him in the night, informing him of the condemnation
of the prince. The police clerk, attending in the chamber which opened
into his apartment, had already awoke him twice for reasons of but
little importance, which had quite annoyed M. Real. The third dispatch
was therefore placed upon his chimney, and did not meet his eye until a
late hour in the morning.
"Opening it, he hastened to Malmaison, where he was preceded by an
officer of the gendarmerie, who brought information of the condemnation
and execution of the prince. The commission had judged, from the silence
of the Government, that he was not to be pardoned. I need not dwell upon
the regret, the impatience, the indignation of Napoleon."
The crown of Lombardy was, about this time, offered to Joseph, which
he declined, as he did not wish to separate himself from France. The
kingdom of Naples was now influenced by England to make an attack
upon Napoleon. The King of Naples supposed that France could be
easily vanquished, with England, Russia, Austria, and Naples making a
simultaneous attack upon her. But the great victory of Austerlitz, which
compelled Austria and Russia to withdraw from the coalition, struck the
perfidious King of Naples with dismay. France had done him no wrong, and
the only apology the Neapolitan Court had for commencing hostilities
was, that if the French were permitted to dethrone the Bourbons and to
choose their own rulers, the Neapolitan might claim the same privilege.
A few days after the battle of Austerlitz Joseph received orders from
his brother to hasten to the Italian Peninsula, and take command of
the Army of Italy, and march upon Naples. The King of Naples had, in
addition to his own troops, fourteen thousand Russians and several
thousand English auxiliaries. Joseph placed himself at the head of forty
thousand French troops, and in February, 1806, entered the kingdom of
Naples. The Neapolitans could make no effectual resistance. Joseph soon
arrived before Capua, a fortified town about fifteen miles north of the
metropolis of the kingdom. Eight thousand of the Neapolitan troops took
refuge in the citadel, and made some show of resistance. They soon,
however, were compelled to surrender.
The Neapolitan Court was in a state of consternation. The English
precipitately embarked in their ships and fled to Sicily. The Russians
escaped to Corfu. The Court, having emptied the public coffers, and even
the vaults of the bank, took refuge in Palermo, on the island of Sicily.
The prince royal, with a few troops of the Neapolitan army, who adhered
to the old monarchy, retreated two or three hundred miles south, to the
mountains of Calabria. On the 15th of February, Joseph, at the head of
his troops, marched triumphantly into Naples. He not only encountered no
resistance, but the population, regarding him as a liberator, received
him with acclamations of joy.
On the 30th of March, 1806, Napoleon issued a decree, declaring Joseph
king of Naples. The _decret_ was as follows:
"Napoleon, by the grace of God and the constitutions, Emperor of the
French and King of Italy, to all those to whom these presents come,
salutation.
"The interests of our people, the honor of our crown, and the
tranquillity of the Continent of Europe requiring that we should assure,
in a stable and definite manner, the lot of the people of Naples and of
Sicily, who have fallen into our power by right of conquest, and who
constitute a part of the grand the empire, we declare that we recognize,
as King of Naples and of Sicily, our well-beloved brother, Joseph
Napoleon, Grand Elector of France. This crown will be hereditary, by
order of primogeniture, in his descendants masculine, legitimate, and
natural," etc.
The former Government of Naples was detested by the whole people. The
warmest advocates of the Allies have never yet ventured to utter a word
in its defense. Even the grandees of the realm were heartily glad to be
rid of their dissolute, contemptible, and tyrannical queen, who regarded
the inhabitants of the kingdom but as her slaves, and the wealth
of the kingdom but as her personal dowry, to be squandered for the
gratification of herself and her favorites. With great energy Joseph
immediately commenced a reform in all the administrative departments.
He carefully sought out Neapolitan citizens of integrity, intelligence,
and influence, to occupy the important public stations. Accompanied by
a guard of chosen men, he made a tour of the country; thus informing
himself, by personal observation, of the character of the inhabitants,
and of the wants and capabilities of the kingdom. It was indeed a gloomy
prospect of indolence and poverty which presented itself to his eye,
though the climate was enchanting, with its genial temperature, its
brilliant skies, and its fertile soil. The landscape combined all the
elements of sublimity and of beauty, with towering mountains and lovely
meadows, streams and lakes watering the interior, and harbors inviting
the commerce of the world. But the condition of the populace was
wretched in the extreme. The Government, despotic and corrupt, seized
all the earnings of the people, and consigned nearly the whole
population to penury and rags. King Ferdinand and his dissolute queen,
Louisa, made an effort to rouse the people to resist the French. Their
efforts were, however, entirely in vain. Joseph issued the following
proclamation to the Neapolitans, which they read with great
satisfaction:
"People of the kingdom of Naples; the Emperor of the French, King of
Italy, wishing to save you from the calamities of war, had signed, with
your Court, a treaty of neutrality. He believed that in that way he
could secure your tranquillity, in the midst of the vast conflagration
with which the third coalition has menaced Europe. But the Court of
Naples has zealously allied itself with our enemies, and has opened
its states to the Russians and to the English.
"The Emperor of the French, whose justice equals his power, wishes to
give a signal example, commanded by the honor of his crown, by the
interests of his people, and by the necessity of re-establishing in
Europe the respect which is due to public faith.
"The army which I command is on the march to punish this perfidy. But
you, the people, have nothing to fear. It is not against you that our
arms are directed. The altars, the ministers of your religion, your
laws, your property, will be respected. The French soldiers will be
your brothers. If, contrary to the benevolent intentions of his majesty,
the Court which excites you will sacrifice you, the French army is so
powerful that all the forces promised to your princes, even if they were
on your territory, could not defend it. People! have no solicitude.
This war will be for you the epoch of a solid peace, and of durable
prosperity."
Ferdinand, upon retiring to the island of Sicily, had swept the
continental coast of every vessel and even boat. Joseph thus found it
quite impossible to transport his troops across the strait of Messina to
pursue the fugitive king. He, however, made a very thorough survey of
the continental kingdom, and having planned many measures of internal
improvement of vast magnitude, which were subsequently executed, he
returned to Naples. He was here received with congratulations by all
classes of his subjects.
The clergy, led by Cardinal Ruffo, and even the nobility, vied with each
other in their expressions of satisfaction in a change of dynasty. The
great majority of the most intelligent people in the kingdom were weary
of the corrupt Court which, swaying the sceptre of feudal despotism,
had consigned Naples to indolence, dilapidation, and penury. Joseph
immediately selected the most distinguished Neapolitans as members of
his council. He made every effort to introduce into his kingdom all the
benefits which the French Revolution had brought to France, while he
carefully sought to avoid the evils which accompanied that great popular
movement.
Though Joseph soon found himself firmly seated on the throne, war still
lingered along the coasts, and in the more remote parts of his kingdom.
The fortress of Gaeta, almost impregnable, was still held by a garrison
of Ferdinand's troops. Marauding bands of Neapolitans, lured by love of
plunder, infested and pillaged the unprotected districts. The English
fleet was hovering along the coast, watching for opportunities of
assault. It landed an army at the Gulf of St. Euphemia, and discomfited
a small division of Joseph's troops. Thus the kingdom was in a general
state of disorder wherever the influence of Joseph was not sensibly
felt.
But the wise and energetic measures he adopted removed one after another
of these evils. He found but little difficulty in persuading all those
who co-operated with him in the government, both French and Neapolitans,
that the interests of each individual class in the community were
dependent upon the elevation and improvement of the whole country; and
it is a remarkable fact that the principal noblemen in Naples were
among the first to appreciate and adopt the great ideas of reform which
Joseph introduced. Influenced by his arguments, they, of their own
accord, relinquished their feudal privileges, and adopted those
principles of equal rights upon which the empire of Napoleon was
founded, and which gave it its almost omnipotent hold upon popular
affections. Even the ecclesiastics, men of commanding character and
intelligence, who had been introduced into the Council of State, voted
for the suppression of monastic orders, and for the use of their funds
to place the credit of the kingdom upon a solid basis.
Reform was thus extended, wisely and efficiently, through all the
departments of Government. And though the masses of the people, being
illiterate peasants, incapable of any intelligent administration of
public affairs, had but little voice in the Government, every thing was
done for their welfare that enlightened patriotism could suggest. All
writers, friends and foes, agree alike in their testimony to the wise
measures adopted by Joseph. He founded colleges for the instruction of
young men, and many other institutions of a high character for male and
female education. Splendid roads were constructed from one extremity
of the kingdom to the other; manufactories of various kinds were
established and encouraged; the arts were rewarded; agriculture received
a new impulse; the army was efficiently organized and brought under
salutary discipline; a topographical bureau was created, the whole
kingdom carefully surveyed, and a fine map constructed. The mouldering
ramparts of the city were rebuilt, and new fortresses reared.
Naples had for ages been filled with a miserable idle population, called
lazzaroni. They infested the streets and the squares, and were devoured
by vermin, and half-covered with rags. With no incitement to industry,
indeed with hardly the possibility of obtaining any work, they had
fallen into the most abject state of vice and despair. These men, in
large numbers, were collected, comfortably clothed, well fed, well paid,
and were employed in constructing a new and splendid avenue to the
metropolis. Made happy by industry, and inspired by its sure reward,
they became contented and useful subjects.
The Ministry of the Interior was confided to Count Miot. It was his duty
to devote all his energies to promote the interests of agriculture,
commerce, manufactures, the arts, the sciences, public instruction, and
all liberal institutions. The country had been filled with brigands,
rioting in violence, robbery, and murder. To repress their excesses,
Joseph established a military commission with each army corps, whose
duty it was to judge and execute, without appeal, the brigands taken
with arms in their hands.
The English fleet commanded the Mediterranean. The Neapolitan troops,
under the command of Ferdinand, had fled to Calabria, and, under the
protection of the English fleet had crossed the straits of Messina to
the island of Sicily. The British squadron then swept the coasts of
Calabria, applying the torch to all the public property which could not
be carried away. While these scenes were transpiring, Napoleon wrote to
Joseph almost daily, giving him very minute directions. He wrote to him
on the 12th of January, 1806: "Speak seriously to M---- and to L----,
and say that you will have no robberies. M---- robbed much in the
Venetian country. I have recalled S---- to Paris for that reason. He is
a bad man. Maintain severe discipline."
Again he wrote on the 19th: "It is my intention that the Bourbons should
cease to reign at Naples. I wish to place upon that throne a prince of
my family; you first, if that is agreeable to you; another, if that
is not agreeable to you. The country ought to furnish food, clothing,
horses, and every thing that is necessary for your army; so that it
shall cost me nothing."
Again, on the 27th, Napoleon wrote from Paris: "I have only to
congratulate myself with all that you did while you remained in Paris.
Receive my thanks, and, as a testimony of my satisfaction, my portrait
upon a snuff-box, which I will forward by the first officer I send to
you. Tolerate no robbers. I have just received a letter from the Queen
of Naples. I shall not reply. After the violation of the treaty, I can
no longer trust her promises."
Again, on the 3d of February, 1806, he writes: "Believe in my
friendship. Do not listen to those who wish to keep you out of
fire, _loin du feu_. It is necessary that you should establish
your reputation, if there should be opportunity. Place yourself
conspicuously. As to real danger, it is everywhere in war."
The Prince-royal of Naples wrote a letter to Joseph, with the hope of
regaining his crown. He stated that the King and Queen had abdicated
in favor of their son. Joseph replied that he could not listen to the
appeal; that he could only execute the orders which he received, and
that the application was too late.
The city of Gaeta was one of the strongest positions in Europe. The
troops of Ferdinand maintained a siege there for many months. They
were very efficiently aided by the British fleet, which brought them
continual re-enforcements and supplies. Its capture was considered one
of the most brilliant achievements in modern warfare. There was now
not a spot upon the Continent of Europe where a flag floated in avowed
hostility to France. Ferdinand of Naples, with a small army, had fled
to the island of Sicily, where, for a short time, he was protected by
the British fleet.
In the mean time King Joseph was devoting himself untiringly and with
great wisdom to the development of the new institutions of reform,
and of equal rights for all, which everywhere accompanied the French
banners. Marshal Massena was sent to the provinces of Calabria to put a
stop to brigandage. The brigands were merciless. Severe reprisals became
necessary. The British fleet, under Sir Sidney Smith, hovered along the
shores of the gulfs of Salerno and of Naples, striving to rouse and
encourage resistance to the new Government.
There was a renowned bandit, named Michael Pozza, who, from his energy
and atrocities, had acquired the sobriquet of _Fra Diavolo_, or brother
of the devil. His bands, widely scattered, were at times concentrated,
and waged fierce battle. Gradually French discipline gained upon them.
Large numbers of the Neapolitans, hating the old regime, and glad to be
rid of it, enlisted in defense of the new institutions. The robbers were
at length cut to pieces. Fra Diavolo escaped to the mountains, where he
was taken and shot. In this warfare with the brigands, the Neapolitan
troops, emboldened by the presence and protection of the French army,
displayed very commendable courage.
While engaged in these warlike operations, through his able generals,
Joseph was much occupied with the employment, more congenial to him, of
conducting the interior administration. It was his first endeavor to
eradicate every vestige of the old despotism of feudalism--a system
perhaps necessary in its day, but which time had outgrown. The whole
political edifice was laid upon the foundation of the _absolute
equality of rights of all the citizens_--a principle until then unknown
in Naples. There had been no gradations in society. There were a few
families of extreme opulence, enjoying rank and exclusive privileges,
and then came the almost beggared masses, with no incentives to
exertion. The enervating climate induced indolence. Life could be
maintained with but little clothing, and but little food. The cities
and villages swarmed with half-clad multitudes, vegetating in a joyless
existence.
Joseph gave his earnest attention to rousing the multitude from this
apathy. He thought that one of the most important means to awaken a love
of industry was to make these poor people, as far as possible, landed
proprietors. The man who owns land, though the portion may be small, is
almost resistlessly impelled to cultivate it. His ambition being thus
roused, his intellectual and social condition becomes ameliorated, and
he is prepared to take part, as a citizen, in the administration of
affairs. A new division of territory was created into provinces and
districts, in which the prominent men, who were imbued with the spirit
of reform, were appointed to the administration of local interests.
Still many of the old nobility struggled hard to maintain their feudal
power. But resolutely Joseph proceeded in laying the foundations of a
national representation, derived from popular election, which should be
the organ of the whole nation, to make known to the King the wishes and
necessities of the people.
This was an immense stride in the direction of a popular government It
endangered the feudal privilege, which upheld the throne and the castle,
in other lands. Hence it was that the throne and the castle combined to
overthrow institutions so republican in their tendencies.
The whole system of administration had been awfully corrupt. Justice was
almost unknown. All the tribunals were concentrated in the city of
Naples. There were tens of thousands of prisoners, very many for
political offenses, awaiting trial. In the provinces of Calabria Joseph
appointed judicial commissions to attend to these cases. In three months
about five thousand prisoners had a hearing. Many of them had been
detained over twenty years. Not a few were incarcerated through
malicious accusations. Those guilty of some slight offense were
imprisoned with assassins, all alike exposed to the damp of dungeons
and infected air.
A system of very effective prison reform was immediately established
by Joseph. The prisoners were placed in apartments large and
well-ventilated. They were separated in accordance with the nature
of the offenses of which they were accused. Distinct prisons were
appropriated to females. Hospitals were established for the sick of both
sexes, with every necessary arrangement for the restoration of health.
A thorough reform was introduced into the finances. Under the old
regime, all had been confusion and oppression. The only object of the
Government seemed to be to get all it could. In the country the people
often were compelled to pay their lords not only money, but also very
onerous personal services. This was all remedied by the adoption of an
impartial system of taxation. And it was found that the new imposts,
honestly collected, were far less oppressive to the people, and more in
amount.
The overthrow of the feudal system placed at the disposal of the State
a vast amount of land which had been uncultivated. This was divided
among a large number of people, who paid for it an annual sum into the
treasury. Thus the welfare of these individuals was greatly promoted,
and the resources of the State increased.
And now Joseph turned his attention to public instruction. The last
Government had been opposed to education. It had entered into open
warfare against the sciences, prohibiting the introduction of the most
important foreign publications. Joseph immediately established schools
for primary instruction all over the realm. Normal schools were
organized for the education of teachers. In the smallest hamlets
teachers were provided to instruct the children in the elements of the
Christian religion, and school-mistresses, who, in addition to the same
lessons, were to teach the young girls the duties proper to their sex.
This impulse to education spread rapidly through all the provinces. The
free schools established in Naples were soon so crowded that it became
necessary to add to their number. The university at Naples, frowned
upon by the former Government, had fallen into deep decline. Nineteen
chairs of professors were vacant. Others were occupied, but their duties
quite neglected. The university was reorganized in accordance with the
enlightenment of modern times. New professorships were endowed in the
place of those which had become useless. Especial efforts were made to
secure learned men for those chairs from the kingdom of Naples. But
education was at so low an ebb that it was necessary to obtain several
professors from abroad. Everywhere a thirst for knowledge seemed to
manifest itself.
These reforms were exceedingly popular with the great majority of the
Neapolitans. But there were not wanting those who opposed them. There
were those of the privileged class who had been enriched by the
ignorance and debasement of the people. These men began gradually to
develop their opposition. Joseph had endeavored to employ Neapolitans
as much as possible in the Government. He employed Frenchmen in the
military and civil service only where he could find no Neapolitans equal
to the post. Some of the Neapolitans, jealous of French influence, while
also secretly clinging to ancient abuses, began cautiously the attempt
to retard these reforms. Joseph listened patiently to their objections
in cabinet council, and then said:
"I have carefully followed a discussion which relates so intimately
to the public welfare. I had hoped to hear reasons. I have heard only
passions. I look in vain for any indications of love of country in the
objections to the proposed laws. I must say that I see only the spirit
of party."
He then examined, one by one, the objections which had been brought
forward, and added, "Do you think, gentlemen, that I am willing to
sustain these exclusive privileges? We have not destroyed these Gothic
institutions, the remnants of barbarism, in order to reconstruct them
under other forms. And can any of you cherish the thought that this
resistance, which ought to surprise me, can induce me to retrograde
toward institutions condemned by the spirit of the age? No; too long
have the people groaned under the weight of intolerable abuses. They
shall be delivered from them. If obstacles arise, be assured that I
shall know how to remove them."
The fine arts were also languishing, with every thing else, under the
execrable regime of the Bourbons of Naples. But the taste for the fine
arts survived their decay. The new Government instituted schools of art
under the direction of the most skillful masters. Painting, drawing,
sculpture, engraving, all received a new impulse.
There were difficulties to be encountered in this attempt to regenerate
an utterly depraved state more than can now be easily imagined. He who
should attempt to erect a modern mansion upon the ruins of the Castle of
Heidelberg would find more difficulty in removing the old foundations
than in rearing the new structure. Thus Joseph found ancient abuses,
hallowed by time, and oppressive institutions interwoven with the very
life of the people, which it was necessary utterly to abolish or greatly
to modify. The monastic institution was one of these. The land was
filled with gloomy monasteries, crowded with idle, useless, and often
dissolute monks. There had been in past ages seasons of persecution, in
which the refuge of these sanctuaries was needed, but the spirit of the
age no longer required them. They had rendered signal service in times
of barbarism, but it was no longer needful for religion to hide in the
obscurity of the cloister.
"Altars," said Joseph, "are now erected in the interior of families. The
regular clergy respond to the wants of the people. The love of the arts
and of the sciences, widely diffused, and the colonial, commercial, and
military spirit constrain all the Governments of Europe to direct to
important objects the genius, activity, and pecuniary resources of
their nations. The support of considerable land and sea forces involves
the necessity of great reforms in other departments of the general
economy of the State. The first duty of peoples and princes is to
place themselves in a condition of defense against the aggressions of
their enemies. Still we do not forget that we ought to reconcile
these principles with the respect with which we should cherish those
celebrated places which, in barbaric ages, preserved the sacred fire
of reason, and which became the depot of human knowledge."
The debates upon this subject in the Council of State were long and
animated. The peasantry, ignorant and superstitious, clung to their old
prejudices, and could not easily throw aside the shackles of ages. Many
of these religious communities were wealthy, the recipients of immense
sums bequeathed to them by the dying. There was no _legal_ right, no
right but that of revolution and the absolute necessities of the State,
for wresting this property from them. But it was manifest to every
intelligent mind that the Neapolitan kingdom could never emerge from the
stagnation of semi-barbarism without the entire overthrow of many, and
the radical reform of the remainder of these institutions.
At length a law, very carefully matured, was enacted, suppressing a
large number of these religious orders, and introducing essential
changes into those which were permitted to survive. The possessions of
those which were abolished, generally consisting of large tracts of
land, reverted to the State, and were sold at auction in small farms.
The money thus raised helped replenish the bankrupt treasury. The poor
monks, expelled from their cells, with no habits of industry, and no
means of obtaining a support, received a life pension, amounting to a
little more than one hundred dollars a year.
The three abbeys of Mount Cassin, Cava, and Monte Vergine contained very
considerable libraries, and were the depots of important records and
manuscripts. These were intrusted to the keeping of a select number of
the most intelligent monks. It was their duty to arrange and catalogue
the books and manuscripts, and to search out those works which could
throw light upon the sciences, the arts, and the past history of the
realm. They retained the buildings, the necessary furniture, and
received a small additional stipend.
There were some passes through the mountains which were perilous in the
winter season. Upon these bleak eminences houses of refuge were erected,
to shelter travellers and to help them on their way. In each of these
twenty-five monks were placed. Their labors were arduous, as often all
the necessaries of life had to be brought upon their backs from the
plains below. They received a frugal but comfortable support.
The salaries of the hard-working clergy were increased. The vases and
ornaments from the suppressed convents were distributed among those
poorer parishes which were in a state of destitution. The furniture of
the convents was transferred to the civil and military hospitals. The
pictures, bas-reliefs, statuary, and other objects of art were collected
for the national museum which the King wished to establish. The
mendicant friars, who had sufficient education, were intrusted with the
instruction of the children.
The number of priests under the old regime had increased to a degree
entirely disproportioned to the wants of the community. They were
consequently wretchedly poor. A fixed salary was assigned to the
rectors, that they might live respectably, and the ordinations in each
diocese were so regulated that there should be but one priest for about
one thousand souls.
It is not to be supposed that such changes could be effected without
much friction. Not only bigotry opposed them, but there was a
deep-seated, though unintelligent religious sentiment, which
remonstrated against them. The advocates of the old regime availed
themselves, in every possible way, of this sentiment, while the British
fleet, continually hovering around the coasts, and occasionally landing
men at unguarded points, contributed much toward keeping the spirit of
insurrection alive, and preventing the tranquillity of the country.
New public works were commenced in the capital, to employ the idle and
starving multitudes there. The country roads, so long infested with
robbers, were in a wretched condition. The entire stagnation of all
internal commerce had left them unused and almost impassable. The old
roads were repaired, and new ones vigorously opened. The inhabitants of
the provinces, and even the soldiers who could be conveniently spared,
were employed in these enterprises. The soldiers, receiving slight
additional pay, cheerfully contributed their labors. French officers of
engineers, of established ability, superintended these national works.
King Joseph was but the agent of his brother Napoleon. Though himself a
man of superior ability, and imbued with an ardent spirit of humanity,
in these great enterprises he was carrying out the designs with which
the imperial mind of his brother was inspired. Thus the kingdom of
Naples, in a few months, under the reign of Joseph, made more progress
than had been accomplished in scores of years under the dominion of the
Neapolitan Bourbons.
On the 8th of May, 1806, Joseph wrote to Napoleon: "My previous letters
have announced to your Majesty that perfect order is restored in the
Calabrias. I am not less pleased with the inhabitants of Apulia. They
are more enlightened, less passionate, but equally zealous with the
Calabrians to withdraw their country from the debasement into which it
is plunged. I am particularly satisfied with the priests, the nobles,
and the landed proprietors.
"I now fully recognize the justice of the principles which I have so
often heard from the lips of your Majesty. And I confess that experience
has proved to me how true it is that it is necessary to see to every
thing one's self; that not a moment of time must ever be lost; that we
can not rely upon the activity of any person, and that every thing is
possible, with a determined will on the part of the chief. I say to
myself, ten times a day, the Emperor was right.
"I have established in each province a president, or prefect, who is
entirely independent of the military commandant. I have decreed the
formation in each province of a legion whose organization I will soon
send to your Majesty. It is not paid. It is commanded by those men who
are the most opulent, the most respectable, and the most attached to
the present order of things. In each province I form a company of
gendarmerie, composed of Frenchmen and Neapolitans. It is with some
pride that I see that all the measures which your Majesty has prescribed
to me I have adopted in advance.
"Whatever I may say, your Majesty can form no conception of the state of
oppression, barbarism, and debasement which existed in this realm. And I
can assure your Majesty that the Neapolitan officers returning to their
homes become well pleased in witnessing the spirit which animates their
fellow-citizens. I derive much advantage from the knowledge I have of
the language, the manners, and customs of the country. The inhabitants
of the mountains and of the villages resemble closely those of Corsica.
And I do not think that I can be mistaken when I assure your Majesty
that the people regard themselves as happy in being governed by a man
who is so nearly related to your Majesty, and who bears a name which
your Majesty rendered illustrious before he became an emperor, and which
has for them the advantage of being Italian."
On the 22d of June, 1806, Napoleon wrote to Joseph, "MY BROTHER--the
Court of Rome is entirely surrendered to folly. It refuses to recognize
you, and I know not what sort of a treaty it wishes to make with me. It
thinks that I can not unite profound respect for the spiritual authority
of the Pope, and at the same time repel his temporal pretensions. It
forgets that Saint Louis, whose piety is well known, was almost always
at war with the Pope, and that Charles V., who was a very Christian
prince, held Rome besieged for a long time, and seized it, with every
Roman state."
On the 28th of February, 1806, M. de Meneval, the Emperor's secretary,
had written to Joseph, "The Emperor works prodigiously. He holds three
or four councils every day, from eight o'clock in the morning, when he
rises, until two or three o'clock in the morning, when he goes to bed."
Napoleon well knew the fickle, unreliable, debased character of the
Italian populace. He was sure that Joseph, in the kindness of his heart,
was too confiding and unsuspicious. He wrote reiteratedly upon this
subject: "Put it in your calculations," said he, "that sooner or later
you will have an insurrection. It is an event which always happens in
a conquered country. You can never sustain yourself by _opinion_ in
such a city as Naples. Be sure that you will have a riot or an
insurrection. I earnestly desire to aid you by my experience in such
matters. Shoot pitilessly the lazzaroni who plunge the dagger. I am
greatly surprised that you do not shoot the spies of the King of Naples.
Your administration is too feeble. I can not conceive why you do not
execute the laws. Every spy should be shot. Every lazzaroni who plies
the dagger should be shot. You attach too much importance to a populace
whom two or three battalions and a few pieces of artillery will bring to
reason. They will never be submissive until they rise in insurrection,
and you make a severe example. The villages which revolt should be
surrendered to pillage. It is not only the right of war, but policy
requires it. Your government, my brother, is not sufficiently vigorous.
You fear too much to indispose people. You are too amiable, and have
too much confidence in the Neapolitans. This system of mildness will
not avail you. Be sure of that. I truly desire that the mob of Naples
should revolt. Until you make an example, you will not be master. With
every conquered people a revolt is a necessity. I should regard a revolt
in Naples as the father of a family regards the small-pox for his
children. Provided it does not weaken the invalid too much, it is a
salutary crisis."
Such were the precautions which Napoleon was continually sending to
Joseph. His amiable brother did not sufficiently heed them. He fancied
that the most ignorant, fanatical, and debased of men could be held in
control by kind words and kind deeds alone. But he awoke fearfully to
the delusion when a savage insurrection broke out among the peasants and
the brigands of the Calabrias, and swept the provinces with flame and
blood. Then scenes of woe ensued which can never be described. It became
necessary to resort to the severest acts of punishment. Much, if not all
of this, might have been saved had the firm government which Napoleon
recommended been established at the beginning. It is cruelty, not
kindness, to leave the mob to feel that they can inaugurate their reign
of terror with impunity.
The following extracts from a letter which Joseph wrote his wife, dated
Naples, March 22d, 1806, throw interesting light upon the characters of
both the King and the Emperor.
"I repeat it, the Emperor ought not to remain alone in Paris. Providence
has made me expressly to serve as his safeguard. Loving repose, and yet
able to support activity; despising grandeurs, and yet able to bear
their burden with success, whatever may have been the slight
differences between him and me, I can truly say that he is the man of
all the world whom I love the best. I do not know if a climate and
shores very much resembling those which I inhabited with him, have given
back to me all my first love for the friend of my childhood; but I can
truly say that I often find myself weeping over the affections of twenty
years' standing as over those of but a few months.
"If you can not come to me immediately, send Zenaide[L]. I would give
all the empires of the world for one caress of my tall Zenaide, or for
one kiss of my little Lolotte. As for you, you know very well that I
love you as their mother, and as I love my wife. If I can unite a
dispersed family and live in the bosom of my own, I shall be content;
and I will surrender myself to fulfill all the missions which the
Emperor may assign to me, provided they can be temporary, and that I may
cherish the hope of dying in a country in which I have always wished to
live."
[Footnote L: Zenaide and Lolotte (Charlotte), the two daughters of
Joseph.]