every thing he did, not only through the public papers, but in his private correspondence; one day treating him as a King, and the next scarcely showing him the respect due to his former aide-de-camp. The following particulars were related to me two years later, by the Duke of Campo Chiaro, who was at the head of the 'police.

Joachim wrote to the Emperor that he had thirtythousand men ready to support their common cause. Napoleon answered that the thirty thousand men were to be sent to the banks of the Po, where they were to await his further orders. This notification reached the King whilst he was visiting Pompeii with the Queen. Murat tore the letter in pieces, threw it on the ground and stamped upon it; then gathering up the scattered fragments he returned in haste to Naples and assembled his ministers, to whom he said: "Gentlemen, the Emperor ill-uses me in the most unwarrantable manner, and treats me with no more regard than if I were a corporal." If instead of acting in this cavalier manner, the Emperor had excited the self-love of Joachim by his usual praise, and put him at the head of all the Italians as well as of the French, then commanded by the Viceroy, to whom he might have given some other charge, the heroic King of Naples would have startled Vienna with an army of a hundred thousand men. But such fortune was not in store either for Italy or for France, inordinate ambition having already damped the genius of Napoleon. The year before, the Emperor, in a remarkable order of the day had vaunted Prince Eugene to the skies at the expense of Joachim, and now he left these two rivals in Italy, where their mutual jealousy paralyzed the power of almost a hundred and fifty thousand men obtained

out of the whole Peninsula, and of about thirty thousand Frenchmen stationed in Lombardy. The abovementioned forces under the command of an able General, might have entirely changed the destiny of the empire of France.

We were in the month of November, and the Neapolitan army, composed of about twenty-two thousand men, had begun to march towards Rome and Ancona. The second division of infantry, of which I commanded the first brigade, was directed to the latter place. My anxiety for the instruction, discipline, and efficient administration of my brigade was now become notorious. I always marched in the middle of the ranks, and for the better instruction of my column I exacted that it should always proceed as if the enemy were opposed to it. Although Napoleon was not quite certain of the fidelity of Joachim, he had given orders that we should be well treated both in the Papal and Tuscan States, and accordingly the second division was better received in Ancona than usual. This place was commanded by the General of Division Barbou, who was extremely astonished when he beheld the Neapolitans halt at Ancona, instead of proceeding onwards towards the Po. For my own part I regarded this halt with some suspicion, and the indecision of Joachim, coupled with his former disputes with Napoleon, were subjects on which I reflected deeply. Happening one evening to speak upon the subject to General Ambrosio, who had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General, he laughed at my suspicions, which he looked upon as the effect of my aversion to the French. In the meanwhile, I lost no time in so disposing things that two select companies of my brigade should occupy the Castello de Cappucini, which

was held in such little regard by Barbou, that he had only a sergeant stationed there with a few soldiers. This precaution on my part was the means of our easily becoming possessors of Ancona some time afterwards, because the castle in question commanded not only the city but its fortress. In the midst of these uncertainties, which were to decide the fate of the South, and perhaps of the remainder of Italy, the year 1813 came to a close.

CHAPTER XIX.

1814.

Treaty between Joachim and Austria-Siege of the citadel of Ancona - Expedition to Macerata and Fermo - The King arrives in Ancona-Incidents which occur between him and me-I bring about an association of Generals to force the King to grant us liberal institutions, and to dismiss all the foreigners employed in the civil and military administrations in the kingdom-I approach Parma in order to support the AustriansRetreat Our columns continue to advance-Combat before Reggio-I enter that city-My brother arrives there from Dantzic-Lord William Bentinck arrives-Secret treaties between Joachim and the Viceroy-Movements of the Carbonari in the Abruzzi-I resume the command of the vanguard-In sight of Piacenza, we receive the unfortunate intelligence of the fall of Paris.

WE had reached the month of January of the year 1814, and the King was about to form an alliance with. Austria. This latter power engaged itself to maintain an army of sixty thousand men in Italy; the King of Naples thirty-one thousand. I could never bring my mind to conceive how any man could be induced to take up arms against his own country, neither could I believe it possible that an absolute King, the ruler of a people over whose lives and property he had full and

unlimited sway, and who boasted of being as a father to them, could ever act in open opposition to the interests of his subjects.

Since the extraordinary resolution of Napoleon had prevented Joachim from putting himself at the head of all the Italians and French in the Peninsula, and from threatening Vienna with them, by which means he might perhaps have saved both Italy and France; it became urgent that this Prince should turn his whole mind to the fate of the Neapolitans, and to the preservation of his own throne. Had he granted to his people those liberal institutions so often demanded by them, and formed a true and genuine alliance with England and Austria, exacting from them strong guarantees for the consolidation of his constitutional throne, he would most probably have remained in possession of the crown, and the Neapolitans of their liberty, which in the course of time would have extended itself as far as the Alps. By such a measure, he would have aided efficiently the South of Europe against the northern

powers..

In every view of the case, it was apparent that Joachim was reduced to such a condition, that had he declared himself against the allies, he would have been deprived of his crown in less than a fortnight. My opinion on this point is formed from profound conviction, and from thorough knowledge of the tendency of the people and army of our kingdom.

General Macdonald arrived in Ancona with his brigade, and I had orders to proceed to Pesaro with mine. There I received, on the same day, directions from General d'Ambrosio to march towards Bologna, and a letter from Macdonald, stating that he found