this Tribunal has a control over all the corporations in the kingdom, it has multiplied its regulations and orders so much, with respect to the privileges of each town, that though these are clear and explicit, and though the law prescribes the extent of their powers, the Tribunal has by degrees caused every thing to be referred to itself; this has been done in order to multiply fees and writings; and it has so well succeeded, as to cause all the confusion which at present reigns: the suppression of papers and documents, which are wilfully set aside, so that delay, discouragement, and ruin, are and have been the inevitable consequences.

Corn Laws. It is impossible to give a distinct account of the corn laws of this kingdom, as they differ so widely in one place from those which obtain in another. The general idea, allowing for particular exceptions, is nearly as follows. The Tribunal of Patrimony annually gives an order, not only to the corporations of the demesne, but also to those of the baronial towns, to provide at harvest a supply sufficient for the whole year; this of course forms a complete monopoly of corn in every part of the kingdom. The jealousy of each corporation in the material concern of provision for the year, causes the most prohibitory orders to be issued in every township.

As the country is very various in its surface, so the abundance of the harvest is often partial, nature generally providing more than sufficient in one district, and leaving but a scanty allowance in another. In the abundant districts, the corporations, after they have obtained enough for their own supply, forbid the exportation of the overplus; the holders of the corn must therefore sell it to the neighbouring districts by stealth, or give a share of their profits to the corporation, which turns the right of prohibition to its own advantage. In the district where the scareity is felt, the corn for the use of the town is bought at a high price: and when the demand is satisfied as to the quantity required, or that the corporation have a sufficient supply to go on for a time, the holders of corn find means to sell it to the traders in those towns where it is still at a high price. Here begin the endeavours of the corporation to prevent its sale, and the diligence of the merchants to deceive their vigilance; for, should the price of corn fall after the corporation has laid in its stock, they would either not be able to sell at all, or sell at a loss, They are obliged to make up the loss to the Patrimony, or capital of the township, and the Tribunal holds them answerable for the same. In one town, the flour was sold by the corporation for eighteen taris the tumolo, while in the neighbourhood flour of the same quality was distributed at twelve to the people.

Another law is in force in Sicily, with respect to corn, the absurdity and barbarity of which is unknown in any other part of the world, which, however, it has not been possible to get rid of. In every township, with the exception of a very few, the corporation takes an account at harvest, and obliges every farmer, renter, or landholder, to give in a declaration of the quantity of corn his lands have produced; the price of grain is fixed by an assize on the 15th of August; at this price the holder is obliged to deliver in to the corporation the third part of the produce of his estate on demand, notwithstanding the prices

may have risen considerably. Sometimes the corporation, after having given permission to the landholder to sell his con off, saying they had a sufficient quantity, two months after has called upon him for his quota, and he has been obliged to buy the quantity required, late in the season, at a loss of 30 per cent...

In abundant years, the surplus corn which cannot be consumed, and is intended for exportation, is carried to the caricatori, or places destined for a depôt. The possessors who then deposit their corn hold it as joint stock By an abuse in the officers who preside over these, it is necessary frequently to transfer the stock from one name to another in the books, otherwise its existence is forgotten or denied, and it becomes lost to the owner. He must then recur to the tribunals in Palermo, where in the space of two or three years, and after he has spent the whole value of the object in dispute, he gains his cause; by that time the officers of the caricatori have been changed or dismissed, and their successors do not hold themselves answerable for the malversations of their predecessors, though these very caricatori are under the faith of the crown; and thus the farmer or merchant is reduced to beggary...

Revenue. According to the original constitution of Sicily, the three houses of parliament have the faculty of granting supplies to the crown; but the majority of two houses is sufficient; by which means the house of commons, or demesnial assembly becomes totally nugatory, and the lords and ecclesiastics, after generously granting the supplies, throw the whole burthen of them on the commons. Whatever remonstrances are made, the matter is left to the decision of those who have done the evil, and the mischief is thus perpetuated.

Of these supplies, or donatives, as they are called, some are ordinary, and others extraordinary. The ordinary are in number thirteen, and in order to divide the burden, the deputation of the kingdom makes a census of property, and a numeration of subjects. With respect to the barons, who pay nothing, no notice is taken of them, nor are their feodal estates calculated, which in Sicily form the principal part of the whole landed property in the kingdom. The property of the parliamentary prelates is not properly assessed, notwithstanding they contribute not to all the thirteen, but only to eight, and an arbitrary quota of the contribution for seven of them: they pay only the sixth part of what is due from them for these, and even something less. The city of Palermo, taking the numbers of its citizens, and not making any assessment of the property situated within its own territory, is considered as the tenth part of the whole kingdom. Messina, on the contrary, notwithstanding the numbers are taken, as well as the assessment of property, is considered as two thirds of a tenth of the whole kingdom. All that remains is raised on the other corporations of the kingdom....

The extraordinary donatives are five in number; each of these is rated differently from the other on the several classes which are rateable, whose contributions thereto are fixed by an assessment entirely arbitrary. The barons contribute their share of the extraordinary domatives, some more and some less: which in the whole amounts to a sixth part of the burden. This sixth, however, they do not fully

discharge; their share of the tax being diminished by obliging those persons to contribute, who, without possessing any estates, are decorated with the titles of prince, duke, &c. &c.

No land tax wh-tever is imposed on the great landholders, who are thus exempt: and those fiefs, which have no town or village in them are also exempt The royal town in whose territory these are situated assesses them in the following manner. A calculation is made of what land is cultivated and grazed; of course what number of people are variously employed on the estate. From this another estimate is made of the quantity of bread consumed annually in it. this is called consumo and the renter pays the amount according to this assessment. Besides these, there is a tax called il pelo, which is levied on all cattle bought and sold. There is also a duty on the cheese which is manufactured; and these duties fall on the husbandman, as he is forced to indemnify the renter for the money advanced on the consumption of flour. He also pays it on his cheese; and also on the ox which he buys to till his ground; while the lord who receives the revenue is exempted. The duty on the macina, or grinding of corn, is the principal source of revenue in Sicily; all flour which comes in from the mills pays at the gate of the city. In those places, where the farmers make their own bread, they are obliged to pay a tax which, as above observed, is called il consumo, which is a commutation for the flour excise duty, and is farmed out. The farmers of the tax go from house to house to examine the bread which the unfortunate husbandman makes, and he who should sell a loaf to a hungry traveller would subject himself to fine and imprisonment.

The

Parliament of Sicily. The parliament of Sicily, consists of three houses, viz. the barons or lords, and such only as possess fiefs, including within their limits a town or burgh. A baron has as many votes in the assembly as he has villages or towns on his various estates. next is the ecclesiastical assembly consisting of archbishops, bishops, the heads of monastic orders possessing lands, abbots, &c. &c. Next in order follows the demesnial house, or the representatives of the towns of the royal demesne; but there are no provincial repretentatives, nor are any of the baronial towns represented. There are no elections for members in the towns, nor have the inhabitants any share in chusing the deputy. The corporation nominates him, and he is in general their attorney in Palermo. Thus a single man is often representative for several different places at once; and as these men are lawyers dependant on the nobles, the house of representatives is never convened but its vote is obtained as a matter of form. The parliament of Sicily has no legislative power, and the only influence it has therein is by the usage of tacking laws to money bills, to which the assent of the crown is obtained as a favour, in consideration of the supplies granted; nor do the members possess the right of deliberating, or discussing the measures of government as in England. As all taxes are laid on for three years, the parliament is convened at the end of that period, to renew the old supplies, or grant new ones, in case the necessities of the government require it....

Army. Of the younger branches of the noble families few individuals have entered into the army, the officers for the most part consisting

of an inferior class of inhabitants of Palermo, and other cities and towns. Among these are mixed Neapolitans, Swiss, Greek, and Italian adventurers. As the pay they receive is trifling, they cannot appear like gentlemen; hence the envy and hatred they bear to our troops, among whom opulence and splendour are so conspicuous. In such a state, the military profession can scarcely be in high repute; and such men can hardly feel either the stimulus of professional ambition or the charms of glory. The discipline of the troops is in consequence much neglected, while the contractors for provisioning the army reduce the soldier to a very miserable state. The officers know their inferiority to ours, and give us their hatred on account; and we may venture to say, that almost the whole of the Neapolitan and Sicilian officers would prefer joining the French, to defending their sovereign in conjunction with the British army. Their recent behaviour in Calabria, under the prince of Hesse, has fully evinced the truth of this opinion.

• Education and Character of the Nobility. As soon as the son of a nobleman is old enough to be taken out of the hands of the nurse, a priest is hired to teach him his letters, to give him the rudiments of writing, and to attend him when he is out walking. As the salary allowed to this tutor is from sixty to a hundred dollars per annum, and his board, it is not likely a man of learning will undertake the drudgery of this office. It sometimes happens too that he acts as house-steward, and is even the confident of the master or mistress in their amours. If he has some humour, he becomes the butt for every to one to pass their jokes upon; familiar with the heads of the family, he is also the confessor and spiritual comforter of all the servants. Under such a preceptor, the young nobility of Sicily learn to write and read, with some rudiments of the Latin tongue; but a principal part of their education consists of religious doctrines, and they are early initiated with all the immorality of the catholic persuasion.* When they are old enough to be sent to college, they are again put under the direction of priests, who teach them theology, the history of the saints, a smattering of the Roman history, but not one science which can be of use to them. When a lad is arrived at fourteen or fifteen, he comes home to his parents, where he enters into the routine of elegant society at Palermo. The females are kept in a convent till they are married, whence they sometimes come out without knowing their letters; and there are many women of the first rank who can neither read nor write.

From such characters, with the exception of those foreign adventurers whom we have above described, are chosen the subaltern officers under the government, from men who have no sentiments above their servants, no application, no acquired knowledge, no firm and manly sentiments of honour or virtue, no military spirit, no ambition to be distinguished but by their liveries and equipages. These, with a few exceptions, are the nobility of Sicily. Yet these men are to wield the arms of the executive power, to preside over the finances, to administer justice, to distribute the public burdens; and with such men

must

It is not difficult to make out what Mr. Leckie means, but it must be acknowledged he has rather a singular way of expressing himself.

a British minister concert measures for the defence and independence of Sicily!....

Character of the Middling Ranks. The middling ranks of people mostly live on the fruits of their small farms, and by renting the larger estates of the nobility. All classes inhabit towns and villages, and there is scarcely an example of a family above the meanest rank living in the country. Of course rural economy is at its lowest ebb. We do not find the simplicity of manners to be met with in those nations which have a contrary usage. From the manner in which the government treats its subjects, these naturally acquire much low cunning and selfishness. No traits of generosity, no public spirited ideas, no thought of general improvement, and but few of the refinements of life are discovered in them, and they are totally strangers to the literature of the continent. Marriages are contracted by interest alone, and often a girl comes out of a convent to be a bride when she has hardly seen her intended husband; of course little or no domestic happiness, and less virtue fasting and religious observances make up for all deficiencies; and when the Sicilian is not endeavouring to overreach his neighbours, he is either at his devotions in a church, or following some scandalous intrigue. In a word, he possesses the vices of a civilized people, without their virtues; the defects of a barbarian, without that courage and candour which can alone make up for the rudeness of his state. All this results from the corrupt administration of justice, the stupidity and ignorance of the clergy, and the total want of public education

State of the Poor. From what has been observed on the finance. of this country, it is almost needless to touch on the subject of the poor, as the principal sources of revenue arise either from the excise on flour, or the duty on corn, wine, oil, flesh, fish, pulse, &c. and the providing of corn is in every corporation the exclusive privilege of the giurati, or senators. As it has been seen that there is no free trade, so there is no object for the industry of the poor; and as the corporation, if they lose by the corn they buy, must make it up to the public capital, so, in times of scarcity, all attempts to alleviate the distresses of the poor by the methods employed in England, are here contrary to the laws, destructive to the corporations, and of course impracticable; for, should the senate permit others to sell cheaper than themselves, the public capital would suffer, nor would the Tribunal of Patrimony pass their accounts. Here are then in one point of view, the defects of the public economy, the absolute impossibility of manufactures, and the misery and ruin of the people. In Sicily and Spain this system obtains; and it is from this source that all the sordid beggary results which distinguishes these countries from the rest of the world. The 'people groan under the most oppressive monopolies; those articles of primary necessity which are objects of commerce and gain to the lower orders, are here the only sources

*Of the clergy, whether secular or regular, all orders are, with few exceptions, illiterate, ignorant, and immoral. Miracles and noisy declamations, addressed to the passions of the hearers, with a view to excite their indignation against heretics, form the principal topics of the sermons given from the pulpit.'