CHAPTER VI.

1799.

With my fellow-prisoners I am led to the Ponte della Madalena-Strange spectacle in the place where we were confinedI become acquainted with Vincenzo Russo-Antonio Jerocades -Some madmen of the Hospital of Incurables are arrested with us-Situation of my brothers-The patriots in the two castles of Naples fight with unexampled valour-The powdermagazine of the Castel Nuovo threatened with fire-The Cardinal proposes to the patriots to capitulate-Capitulation of the republican Government signed by Cardinal Ruffo-The Capitulation is annulled-Weakness of Nelson-Execution of Admiral Caracciolo, and infamous proceeding of Nelson-The Conte de Ruvo beheaded-I embark in the corvette Stabia, am conducted to the Junta of State, and by order of the Judge Speciale, am imprisoned with chains on my feet, in a cell in the VicariaMy father sends my eldest brother to Naples to obtain my liberty-I am exiled.

Ar break of day, on the 15th of June, a company of the Cardinal's troops entered our prison with orders to lead us to the Ponte della Madalena. Our number had been greatly augmented during the night, by the arrival of many other officers of Schipani's band, who had been captured by the enemy. What with the fatigues of the preceding day, the want of food, and the wounds from which, more or less, we were all

suffering, few of us were capable of standing erect, far less of walking. Seeing the state in which we were, our jailers recognised the necessity of giving us some nourishment, and we were, accordingly, provided with a small ration of bread and water each, with which to restore our strength.

A wound I had received on the forehead, from which the blood had trickled, mingling with the smoke and dust, had so begrimed my face that I could scarcely open my eyes. Fortunately, my wounds were not very serious, and I believe that the copious loss of blood they occasioned tended greatly to prevent their having any serious result. Several of our companions were so much hurt that they could not rise from the ground where they had fallen, and were left there to perish. Before we started upon our march, the miscreants sent to conduct us stripped us of every thing we had, except our shirts. I recollect too, that one of them, observing the difficulty with which I extricated my legs from my boots, proposed to shorten the operation by cutting off the leg itself, so rapaciously did he await the possession of the boots. We were fastened two by two, and marched towards the capital.

At the outset, we found the walking barefooted most painfully fatiguing; but before we had proceeded far we became so inured to this mode of marching, that it almost seemed to me as if I had been accustomed to it all my life.

The greater part of us did not believe in the downfal of Naples; but this illusion was soon dispelled by the mournful spectacle which presented itself to our gaze, and which I believe very rarely has been equalled. Men and women of every condition were being barbarously dragged along the road, most of them streaming with

blood, many half dead, and stripped of every article of apparel, presenting altogether the most deplorable sight that the mind can conceive. The shrieks and howlings of that ferocious mob were such, that it seemed to be composed, not of human beings, but rather of a horde of wild beasts. They cast stones and every species of filth at us, threatening to tear us to pieces. Strange was it to behold those once honest lazzaroni with their open countenances, accustomed to shed tears of tenderness while they listened to the mountebanks, as they recited the misfortunes of Rinaldo and of Buovo d'Antona, guilty of such acts of barbarous cruelty! But so it was; and one of the chief causes of the change which had taken place in their nature may be attributed to the clergy. These holy men, fearful of losing their acquired property, in the new order of things, became from the very first the ministers of the regal Government, insinuating themselves everywhere, and under the cloak of religion instilling into the credulous multitude ideas not only opposed to Christian charity, but even devoid of the spirit of common humanity.

I was cast, together with my companions, into a large room on the ground-floor, opposite the public granary, and there again we beheld scenes of cruelty, the remembrance of which makes me shudder. I still have a vivid recollection of remaining at first a stupified beholder, rather than one of the victims, of what was going on around me. I beheld many persons of note, men of birth, education and fortune, confounded with the multitude. Priests, laymen, monks, friars, artists and officers of every rank might be recognised in this crowd. Many of them, as I have already stated, were in a state of nakedness; others were disguised in clothes that had been put on to conceal their real condition and

to shelter them from the horrible persecutions of the popular fury; amongst the latter was a young man from Catanzaro, by name Gaetono Rodino. He was attired as a priest, but his garments were literally torn to pieces. I recognised amongst others the Padre Cavallo, a learned Oliventano monk, and a professor at the University; likewise the father Belloni, a Cordelian monk, and one of the preachers in favour of the republican cause, who was afterwards condemned to death. Whilst some of our fellow-captives were being conveyed to the neighbouring granary, we heard a sudden discharge of musketry fired against the patriots who had just appeared at the Ponte della Madalena. uncertainty we naturally believed it to be an attack upon our comrades, and at once inferred that a similar fate. awaited us. The timid began to recommend their souls to father Cavallo, entreating his blessing, which he charitably bestowed upon them; but the greater number preserved the calm, steady demeanour of men above the chances of fortune, and ready to meet the death which awaited them. Some few there were who loudly accused the Chiefs of the Government, to whose weakness and inefficiency they attributed the death they supposed awaited us.

In our

It was during this imprisonment that I first became acquainted with Vincenzo Russo. This young man was richly endowed with learning and eloquence; and was moreover a zealous republican, was a nephew of the Cavalier Vicenzio, protho-notary of the kingdom. He, overcome by the exhortations of his uncle, had been induced much against his own inclination to procure political evidence, under promise that his name should not be revealed. But when, two years later, he beheld himself included in a proclamation to appear,

together with two hundred and fifty others, before the Junta of State, to confirm what he had before advanced, he fled first into Switzerland, and then to Milan. The life he led during this period of exile, was so pure and irreproachable, that he became a model of probity and virtue, so much so, that he obtained the appellation of Cato. The rule of life which he had laid down for himself was exemplary that it created in those who did not know him well, a suspicion of his sincerity. He returned to Naples as soon as the kingdom had been formed into a republic, and in one of the latest ordonnances issued by the Commissary of the French Directory, Abriel, he was created a representative of the legislative body. Russo had proposed to reduce the salary of the members of that body to a few ducats a month, and he himself individually refused to accept any pecuniary remuneration for the office he held. For some years, he had lived with such extreme frugality that his whole daily nourishment consisted of a piece of dry bread and a few chesnuts. He had been seen the preceding day fighting upon the bridge of the Madalena, and being one of the last to retreat, had been taken prisoner by the lazzaroni.

We were soon removed from our place of confinement, and conducted by small parties of ten and twenty at a time to the public granary. Although the distance thither was but short, many perished by the way under the brutal assaults of the ferocious populace. This horrible butchery took place within a few steps of the abode of Cardinal Ruffo. The vast halls adjoining the public granary and destined to contain corn intended for the consumption of the city, were converted into prisons. The utter want of