an audience of the King, and entreated that he would fulfil his promise of giving me the command of a regiment in Spain. He reproached me slightly with wishing to quit him, to which I replied that the kingdom being now quiet, I was eager to exert myself in the duties of my profession, to be the better worthy of his esteem. He then assured me that I should have the best regiment in his army, which was composed of the remains of three regiments well-inured to warfare from having passed a long time in Spain. Besides these, there were two squadrons of cavalry, so that I would have the command of a brigade. This more than fulfilled my wishes. Tommaso Susanna, whom I almost venerated, and who had been formerly my superior in the Military College of Naples, vainly opposed my departure on the plea that no man of courage and honesty should undertake a war in itself unjust. My reply was, that the Neapolitans needed an army, which could only be formed by service in the field, and that a soldier could never benefit his country unless he had been practised in war. At the end of the year I quitted Naples and reached Pau, the capital of the lower Pyrenees.

CHAPTER XVII.

1811-1813.

I proceed to Spain, and meet my brother at Saragossa, who was on his way to France with the Spanish General-in-Chief, Black, who had been taken prisoner, and who was in his custody— Condition in which I find the remains of the Neapolitan division-Remarkable events which occur to me during two years passed in the kingdom of Valencia and in Aragon-My patriotic opinions are reported in a vindictive spirit to Marshal Suchet, who causes me to be arrested and confined in the citadel of Valencia-I resume the command of the Neapolitan Brigade-My return to Naples.

I WAS detained at Pau a few days purchasing horses and other necessaries indispensable for the campaign upon which I was about to enter. I had besides to make arrangements with two merchants of that city who undertook to forward to Spain linen, shoes, and other articles of wearing apparel for the corps I was going to command. The merchants of Pau were as rapacious as Jews, and charged me for everything at least twice its value.

On my departure from Pau, the snow was so deep that I experienced considerable difficulty in crossing the Pyrenees. However, I succeeded in reaching Yacca,

where I found a General and several French officers of rank in the service who were waiting the arrival of a strong detachment to proceed to Saragossa, the road to which city was constantly threatened by numerous bands of Mina's followers. This state of things reminded me of the insurrectionary war of Calabria, although the latter seemed to me to have been far more vigorously carried on, considering that in point of extent, when compared with the provinces of Spain, our own presented the same difference as is to be found between a miniature and a full-sized portrait. On arriving at Saragossa I met my brother Florestano. He was

conveying to Paris the Captain-General Black, who had surrendered his army besieged and shut up in the city of Valencia, and twice as numerous as that of his adversary, to Marshal Suchet.

The siege of Valencia took place immediately after the battle of Merviedo, in which the small Neapolitan and an Italian division under the command of General Palombini bore a part: the latter indeed decided the fate of the battle by routing a numerous body of the Spanish cavalry.

Florestano was held in high esteem by the French; and it was no small testimony of the confidence reposed in him by Marshal Suchet that the safe custody of the prisoner Black and his staff should have been confided to him. On this occasion Suchet recommended my brother warmly to the notice of the Emperor, who wrote to the King of Naples, enjoining him to promote Florestano to the rank of MajorGeneral. My brother exerted himself to the utmost to mitigate the vexation of General Black during their journey. Ten years later, when I reached Madrid as an exile, the Captain-General proved that he had not

forgotten my brother's generous conduct, and evinced his gratitude by kindness towards myself.

Florestano informed me that the Neapolitan corps, destined to compose my brigade, was as brave as might be wished; but that it was wofully deficient in military knowledge, in discipline, and in interior economy, and that he pitied me that I was about to undertake such an office. The reader can readily conceive with what regret we again parted at Saragossa. After bestowing upon me a great deal of useful information respecting the Neapolitan officers, my brother took leave of me, and continued his route towards Paris. On his arrival there he saw the Emperor, and on his subsequent return to Naples, King Joachim promoted him to the rank of major-general.

When the remains of the five Neapolitan regiments arrived at Saragossa, I went out to meet them in private clothes, the better to preserve my incognito, and that I might make my observations with more freedom. The condition of the two squadrons was not so bad as I had supposed; but the three regiments, forming six battalions, were in a most woful state. They were ill-clothed, and marched in the most disorderly manner, and to crown the matter, they were followed by a crowd of women, equal, if not superior to them in number. When I first saw them I was filled with sorrow, but I did not lose heart. I said to myself: "what an act of patriotism it would be, could I succeed in bringing these troops into an effective condition, in a foreign land, and in the midst of sanguinary and incessant warfare !" and from the bottom of my soul I adopted my companions in arms as my children. The wretched state of these troops had been caused by King Joseph, and by

Murat, who had been compelled by the Emperor to furnish troops which they looked upon merely as "food for powder," and for which accordingly they took small care. These regiments had been fighting in Catalonia, Aragon, and Valencia, without at any time receiving any fresh supplies of men; but those who still remained, being inured to the severest warfare had become first-rate soldiers. General Ferrier, an excellent officer, who commanded at that time the Neapolitan brigade, and who soon after left Spain, caused me to be recognised by the troops as their chief.

On drawing them out in order of battle to review them under the walls of Saragossa, I was struck by their stern and martial appearance. But when I ordered the commonest evolutions, they could only execute them in a slovenly and inexact manner. The soldiers were unprovided with le livret, so that there was not a shadow of regularity in their accounts. To crown all, the officers were imbued with an universal feeling of discontent, produced by Murat's reckless and lavish promotion of officers at every review in Naples, totally forgetting the claims of those who were shedding their blood in Spain. The two squadrons of the two regiments remained almost in the same state as I found them, and the six battalions of the three regiments were reduced to three battalions and one regiment, which took the name of the 8th of the line, of which I was Colonel. In order to carry on their operations with a certain degree of regularity, I found it indispensable to labour the whole day; in the evening, I assembled the officers at my residence, in order to explain to them the theory of the école de bataillon et de ligne. They were all brave and honour

VOL. I.