FERDINAND I: (1751-1825) King of the Two Sicilies 1816-25 (upon his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars) and previously, as Ferdinand IV, King of Naples 1759-99, 1799-1806, 1815-16 and, as Ferdinand III, King of Sicily 1759-1816. A fine A.L.S., Ferdinand D[e] B[ourbon], one page, 4to, Palermo, 27th June 1799, to an unidentified correspondent [Sir John Acton?], in Italian. The King informs his correspondent that a frigate has arrived from Naples with an 'inexpressible consolation', continuing 'I hear the well worthy and faithful Admiral Nelson happily arrived with his crew. I have read the statement that he sent you in the form of observations, which could not be more wise, reasoned and adapted to effect and truly evangelical. I have no doubt that you will have immediately complied with it, otherwise it would have been the same as declaring yourself a rebel too, which is never possible after so many reproaches in the past given me of fidelity and attachment'. With blank integral leaf. A letter of good content for its reference to Lord Nelson. VG Sir John Acton (1736-1811) French-born English Admiral who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Naples under Ferdinand IV during the turbulent times when French Revolutionary fervour under Napoleon was sweeping across Europe and threatening to extinguish the monarchy he served. Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) British Vice-Admiral who achieved a number of decisive naval victories during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798 had extinguished French naval power in the Mediterranean, thereby saving the Kingdom of Naples from naval conquest by Revolutionary France. However, this did not prevent the French armies entering the north of Italy and achieving some successes. In response, and on the orders of Nelson, in December 1798 King Ferdinand, Queen Maria Carolina, Sir John Acton, Sir William Hamilton (and his wife, Emma Hamilton, Nelson's mistress) were evacuated from Naples and taken on board HMS Vanguard to the Sicilian capital of Palermo. Freed of the royal presence, during the first months of 1799, the Neapolitan citizens and aristocracy sympathetic to the ideals of the French Revolution promptly established the short-lived Parthenopean Republic with the help of the French and an uprising of the classes who had supported King Ferdinand was violently suppressed. Nevertheless the monarchy was restored in Naples five months later when Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo, with the King's permission and support of Nelson, led the 20,000 strong Calabrian army ('Sanfedisti') against the French occupation. Acton re-established order in Naples with the creation of the Junta of State, a reign of terror during which many prominent citizens were imprisoned or executed. King Ferdinand rewarded Nelson's services by granting him a title of Sicilian nobility, Duke of Bronte, which he accepted without his own King's approval.