 The accession of Ferdinand II as king of the Two Sicilies in 1830 was hailed by Sicilians; they dreamed that autonomy would be returned to the island and the problems of poverty and maladministration of justice would be tackled by the count of Syracuse, the king's brother and lieutenant in Sicily.The royal government in Naples saw the problem of Sicily as being purely administrative, a question of making existing institutions function properly.Neapolitan ministers had no interest in serious reforms.