CHAPTER XIV.

1807-1808.

My arrival at Corfu-I am sent to occupy the Isle of Fano-My departure for Santa Maura-I am shipwrecked near PrevesaMeeting with Poqueville-Intentions of Ali Pacha-I return to Corfu from Santa Maura-Explosion at the palace of Saliceti, Minister of the Police-After a year's absence, I return to Naples.

THE very intensity of the love I bore my country compelled me to fly from it. King Ferdinand, after having dissipated its wealth, had dishonoured the army, and by the cowardice of his conduct finally lost the crown and plunged the country into the bloodshed and misery of a civil war. The humiliations entailed upon us by the French were made more poignant by their excessive pride. All that remained of the wealth of the State, and all the offices were lavished upon persons totally unworthy of them; a partiality and an injustice which of course tended to increase the miserable condition of the kingdom. Adherents of the Bourbons, supporters of the French, passive spectators of the contending parties-each and all were equally culpable in the eyes of the Government. Nevertheless, there had been nothing for it but to adopt one of three

courses, for it was out of the bounds of possibility to unite at once against the French and the Bourbons. Had there existed the remotest chance of resisting at the same time the tyranny of Ferdinand and foreign invasion, I should not certainly have been wanting in will to be amongst the first to raise the standard of our national regeneration.

All the French troops and ammunition sent by Napoleon to the Ionian Islands were embarked for Corfu at Otranto, which is only about sixty miles distant from the former place. To avoid falling in with the British cruisers, it was usual to set sail in very rough weather. This dangerous practice was not of course always successful, for on nearing the snowy mountains of Albania, the sea was often quite calm, and vessels of war were therefore liable to fall into the hands of the enemy. I embarked towards evening with a high but favourable wind. After ten hours' sail I landed at Casopo, which is at a very short distance from Corfu. I have already said that the Governor-General of the Ionian Islands was Cæsar Berthier, brother of the Prince of Neufchatel. The latter had been the companion-in-arms and the inseparable friend of Napoleon as long as fortune smiled upon him.

Owing to the favourable account given of me by General Donzelot, and to letters of recommendation from General Lucatte, General Berthier received me in the most flattering manner. He immediately confided to me the arduous and difficult duty of proceeding to the Island of Fano, there to fortify the bay which protects the Isle of Corfu. For this purpose he placed at my disposal two hundred Frenchmen, and a battalion of Albanians, several thousands of whom had entered the service of France. These troops, with the

VOL. I.

M

artillery and the necessary ammunition, were to be shipped at Casopo on board merchant vessels convoyed by a gun-boat. Although Fano lay at a very short distance from Casopo, we were obliged to set sail with a very strong but favourable wind, to avoid falling into the hands of the English. It was essential that no time should be lost in getting thither, for should the English possess themselves of that station, they would cut off all means of receiving provisions and ammunition from Apulia.

General Berthier wrote to me bidding me lose no time in hastening the expedition, but, at the same time to leave nothing to chance; two injunctions utterly inconsistent, for had the English taken possession of the island before we could get there, the cause would have been imputed to me. I therefore came to the determination of setting sail at sunset, and the following morning at break of day we landed. I was ever extremely exact in the execution of my military duties; but now, finding myself with French troops, a feeling of nationality stimulated my zeal to the utmost. We were proceeding to place our artillery upon the batteries, when an English frigate approached within musket-shot, and began to fire its cannons at us. We were obliged to suspend our operations, which were resumed as soon as the enemy's vessel was out of sight, and in the course of a very few days all the orders entrusted to me had been carried into effect.

General Donzelot, who commanded the Island of Santa Maura, wrote to General Berthier to request that I might join him. Such a wish, expressed by so estimable a man as Donzelot, impressed such an opinion of me upon Berthier, that he desired I should remain under his own immediate command; neverthe

less, he yielded to a second request urged by Donzelot, and I started for Santa Maura with General Camus and several other officers, some of whom were to accompany us, whilst others were proceeding either to Zante or Ithaca. We arrived at the Isle of Paxos in a gun-boat. What with the tediousness of General Camus' conversation on political affairs, and my fear that our boat would be taken by the English, I was induced to embark upon a small Santa Maura vessel, the captain of which had the reputation of being an experienced seaman. He promised, moreover, to conceal me in some secret part of the ship in the event of our falling in with the English. We were then in the month of February; it was just midnight, and the wind blew a sharp, though favourable gale, when the man at the helm mistaking the course he should have followed, dashed the vessel against the rocks of Prevesa. The shock was so violent, that I rushed upon deck from the captain's cabin to inquire what had occurred. The vessel filled so rapidly with water, that I was unable to descend again into the cabin even to save my money, so that I remained with only a thousand francs in gold, which I had concealed in my boots. We all hastened into the long boat, which by good fortune had been towed by the vessel, instead of being put on board, as is generally the case.

The wind was so boisterous, and the sea so rough, that our situation was extremely critical, and we were in imminent danger of foundering; however, by dint of rowing, and after many dangers we were finally cast upon a rock close to the shore. The cold was so intense, that had I not been fortunate enough to secure a sailor's cloak, I must have been frozen to death. I learned from our crew that we were at a distance of

about two miles from Prevesa; but that when day dawned, we should run great risk of being attacked by the Turks, who would be on the look-out to appropriate to themselves the remains of the wreck. I offered a handsome reward to two sailors to induce them to proceed before daybreak to Prevesa, to request the French Consul's assistance for a superior officer of the Staff of Corfu, who had been shipwrecked.

Day had scarcely dawned before people arrived to our aid from Prevesa. They had been sent by the French Consul Pouqueville, who was afterwards better known as the author of a history of the Greek Revolution. When I reached his house, the Consul told me that my shipwreck would prove of great utility to the French Government in the seven islands, for that he had communications to make respecting the perfidy of Ali Pacha of Yanina, that he durst not write, and that fearful of arousing the suspicions of that astute person, he could not cross the sea himself to reveal them. requested me to inform General Donzelot, that Ali Pacha was on the point of joining the English, and of attacking the neighbouring Island of Santa Maura; and that, although he might not perhaps openly declare himself against the French, he would not fail to assist clandestinely the taking of Santa Maura, Zante, Ithaca, and Cirigo near the Morea, of which his son was Governor. The Consul concluded by stating that he was quite certain that before long the enemy would

land at Santa Maura.

He

I quitted Prevesa the same day, and proceeded to Santa Maura. I found General Donzelot extremely disturbed by what he himself saw of the state of things, nor was he less so when I made known to him the tidings of which I was the bearer, and which made