Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, on…

Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, on succeeding his father Francis to the throne in 1830, had published an edict in which he promised to give his most anxious attention to the impartial administration of justice, to reform the finances, and to use every effort to heal the wounds that had afflicted the Kingdom for so many years.

His goal, he said at the time, was to govern his Kingdom in a way that would bring the greatest happiness to the greatest number of his subjects while respecting the rights of his fellow monarchs and those of the Roman Catholic Church.

In his early years, he had been popular.

Progressives had credited him with Liberal ideas and in addition, his relaxed manners endeared him to the so-called lazzaroni, the lower classes of Neapolitan society.

The early years of his reign have been comparatively peaceful: he has cut taxes and expenditures, has had the first railway in Italy built (between Naples and the royal palace at Portici), his fleet has had the first steamship in the Italian Peninsula, and he has had telegraphic connections established between Naples and Palermo.

However, in 1837 he violently suppresses Sicilian demonstrators demanding a constitution and maintains strict police surveillance in his domains.

Progressive intellectuals, motivated by visions of a new society founded upon a modern constitution, continue to demand that the King grant a constitution and to liberalize his rule.