to send them, hostages and all, to Old Nick, and surprise him with a
group of nobility and republicans. Meantime," he added,"it was some

satisfaction to perceive that the shells fell well, and broke some of
their shins." Finally, to complete his character, Mejan offered to

surrender for 150,000 ducats. Great Britain, perhaps, has made but too
little use of this kind of artillery, which France has found so

effectual towards subjugating the continent: but Troubridge had the prey
within his reach; and in the course of a few days, his last battery,

"after much trouble and palaver," as he said, "brought the vagabonds to
their senses."

Troubridge had more difficulties to overcome this siege, from the
character of the Neapolitans who pretended to assist him, and whom he

made useful, than even from the strength of the place and the skill of
the French. "Such damned cowards and villains," he declared, "he had

never seen before." The men at the advanced posts carried on, what he
called, "a diabolical good understanding" with the enemy, and the

workmen would sometimes take fright and run away. "I make the best I
can," said he, "of the degenerate race I have to deal with; the whole

means of guns, ammunition, pioneers, &c., with all materials, rest with
them. With fair promises to the men, and threats of instant death if I

find any one erring, a little spur has been given." Nelson said of him
with truth, upon this occasion, that he was a first-rate general. "I

find, sir," said he afterwards in a letter to the Duke of Clarence,
"that General Koehler does not approve of such irregular proceedings as

naval officers attacking and defending fortifications. We have but one
idea--to get close alongside. None but a sailor would have placed a

battery only 180 yards from the Castle of St. Elmo; a soldier must have
gone according to art, and the //// way. My brave Troubridge went

straight on, for we had no time to spare."
Troubridge then proceeded to Capua, and took the command of the

motley besieging force. One thousand of the best men in the fleet were
sent to assist in the siege. Just at this time Nelson received a

peremptory order from Lord Keith to sail with the whole of his force for
the protection of Minorca; or, at least, to retain no more than was

absolutely necessary at Sicily. "You will easily conceive my feelings,"
said he in communicating this to Earl St. Vincent; "but my mind, as your

lordship knows, was perfectly prepared for this order; and it is now,
more than ever, made up. At this moment I will not part with a single

ship; as I cannot do that without drawing a hundred and twenty men from
each ship, now at the siege of Capua. I am fully aware of the act I have

committed; but I am prepared for any fate which may await my
disobedience. Capua and Gaieta will soon fall; and the moment the

scoundrels of French are out of this kingdom I shall send eight or nine
ships of the line to Minorca. I have done what I thought right--others

may think differently; but it will be my consolation that I have gained
a kingdom, seated a faithful ally of his Majesty firmly on his throne,

and restored happiness to millions."
At Capua, Troubridge had the same difficulties as at St. Elmo; and

being farther from Naples, and from the fleet, was less able to overcome
them. The powder was so bad that he suspected treachery; and when he

asked Nelson to spare him forty casks from the ships, he told him it
would be necessary that some Englishmen should accompany it, or they

would steal one-half, and change the other. "All the men you see," said
he, "gentle and simple, are such notorious villains, that it is misery

to be with them." Capua, however, soon fell; Gaieta immediately
afterwards surrendered to Captain Louis of the MINOTAUR. Here the

commanding officer acted more unlike a Frenchman, Captain Louis said,
than any one he had ever met; meaning that he acted like a man of

honour. He required, however, that the garrison should carry away their
horses, and other pillaged property: to which Nelson replied, "That no

property which they did not bring with them into the country could be
theirs: and that the greatest care should be taken to prevent them from

carrying it away." "I am sorry," said he to Captain Louis, "that you
have entered into any altercation. There is no way of dealing with a

Frenchman but to knock him down; to be civil to them is only to be
laughed at, when they are enemies."

The whole kingdom of Naples was thus delivered by Nelson from the
French. The Admiralty, however, thought it expedient to censure him for

disobeying Lord Keith's orders, and thus hazarding Minorca, without, as
it appeared to them, any sufficient reason; and also for having landed

seamen for the siege of Capua, to form part of an army employed in
operations at a distance from the coast; where, in case of defeat, they

might have been prevented from returning to their ships; and they
enjoined him, "not to employ the seamen in like manner in future." This

reprimand was issued before the event was known; though, indeed, the
event would not affect the principle upon which it proceeded. When

Nelson communicated the tidings of his complete success, he said, in his
public letter, "that it would not be the less acceptable for having been

principally brought about by British sailors." His judgment in thus
employing them had been justified by the result; and his joy was

evidently heightened by the gratification of a professional and becoming
pride. To the first lord he said, at the same time, "I certainly, from

having only a left hand, cannot enter into details which may explain the
motives that actuated my conduct. My principle is, to assist in driving

the French to the devil, and in restoring peace and happiness to
mankind. I feel that I am fitter to do the action than to describe it."

He then added that he would take care of Minorca.
In expelling the French from Naples, Nelson had, with characteristic

zeal and ability, discharged his duty; but he deceived himself when he
imagined that he had seated Ferdinand firmly on his throne, and that he

had restored happiness to millions. These objects might have been
accomplished if it had been possible to inspirevirtue and wisdom into a

vicious and infatuated court; and if Nelson's eyes had not been, as it
were, spell-bound by that unhappyattachment, which had now completely

mastered him, he would have seen things as they were; and might,
perhaps, have awakened the Sicilian court to a sense of their interest,

if not of their duty. That court employed itself in a miserable round of
folly and festivity, while the prisons of Naples were filled with

groans, and the scaffolds streamed with blood. St. Januarius was
solemnly removed from his rank as patron saint of the kingdom, having

been convicted of Jacobinism; and St. Antonio as solemnly installed in
his place. The king, instead of re-establishing order at Naples by his

presence, speedily returned to Palermo, to indulge in his favourite
amusements. Nelson, and the ambassador's family, accompanied the court;

and Troubridge remained, groaning over the villany and frivolity of
those with whom he was compelled to deal. A party of officers applied to

him for a passage to Palermo, to see the procession of St. Rosalia: he
recommended them to exercise their troops, and not behave like children.

It was grief enough for him that the court should be busied in these
follies, and Nelson involved in them. "I dread, my lord," said he, "all

the feasting, &c. at Palermo. I am sure your health will be hurt. If
so, all their saints will be damned by the navy. The king would be

better employed digesting a good government; everything gives way to
their pleasures. The money spent at Palermo gives discontent here; fifty

thousand people are unemployed, trade discouraged, manufactures at a
stand. It is the interest of many here to keep the king away: they all

dread reform. Their villanies are so deeply rooted, that if some method
is not taken to dig them out, this government cannot hold together. Out

of twenty millions of ducats, collected as the revenue, only thirteen
millions reach the treasury; and the king pays four ducats where he

should pay one. He is surrounded by thieves; and none of them have
honour or honesty enough to tell him the real and true state of things."

In another letter he expressed his sense of the miserable state of
Naples. "There are upwards of forty thousand families," said he,"who

have relations confined. If some act of oblivion is not passed, there
will be no end of persecution; for the people of this country have no

idea of anything but revenge, and to gain a point would swear ten
thousand false oaths. Constant efforts are made to get a man taken up,

in order to rob him. The confiscated property does not reach the king's
treasury. All thieves! It is selling for nothing. His own people, whom

he employs, are buying it up, and the vagabonds pocket the whole. I
should not be surprised to hear that they brought a bill of expenses

against him for the sale."
The Sicilian court, however, were at this time duly sensible of the

services which had been rendered them by the British fleet, and their
gratitude to Nelson was shown with proper and princely munificence. They

gave him the dukedom and domain of Bronte, worth about L3000 a year. It
was some days before he could be persuaded to accept it; the argument

which finally prevailed is said to have been suggested by the queen, and
urged, at her request, by Lady Hamilton upon her knees. "He considered