--The best of the
Neapolitan Bourbons is dead.
The last foreign news announces the sudden death, by apoplexy, of the
Count of
Syracuse.
This was an uncle of the young ex-King of
Naples, Francis II., and a brother of the late
king.--His name was
Leopold Benjamin Joseph, and he was the third son of King Francis I. He was born May 22d, 1813, and married in 1837 to the Princess Marie, of Savoie-
Carignan, who survives him, without heirs.
The
Count of
Syracuse has always been liberal in his political views, and if his counsels had been listened to by Ferdinand II.
and Francis II., the Bourbon throne would probably not have fallen.
Besides being liberal in politics, the deceased prince was a generous patron of the fine arts and literature, and a zealous antiquary.
For years he had devoted much time and money to excavations and explorations in
Southern Italy and
Sicily, with the most successful results.