son, to deliver the blessed territories from their accursed hands, and to revenge the insults which they have offered to mussulmen, no delay whatever is to take place for the arrival of the new vizier; but the most vigorous measures must be pursued to attack them by sea and land. Wherefore, by a deliberation with the illustrious lawyers, ministers, and chieftains, our subjects, you must, with a full confidence in God and his prophet, fix upon the effectual means of freeing the province of Egypt from the presence of such wretches. You will acquaint all the true be lievers in the respective quarters, that we are at war with the French, and, turning night into day, will apply your utmost efforts to take re venge of them."

Such was the resentment of the Ottoman Porte against France, which found an advocate in the emperor Paul, who became an active member of the new confederacy. The late Empress of Russia, Catherine II., whose death we have already mentioned, had been so occupied about the extension of her empire, even to the remotest period of her existence; that, instead of zealously entering into a contest which had proved unsuccessful to other powers, she contented herself with occa sionally publishing manifestoes, and protecting the most distinguished emigrants, on whom she liberally conferred favors and pensions. Her son, however, Paul Petrowitz, a monarch of a different character, and anxious to distinguish his accession to the throne of the czars by some splendid: action, evinced his readiness to oppose the new republic. A Russian squadron, of twelve sail of the line, under Admiral Ouschakoff, was permitted, for the first time, to sail through the Dardanelles, for the purpose of reducing the Venetian islands, in conjunction with their new allies the Turks. The success of this expedition we must, for the sake of chronological order, reserve for a future chapter.

This alliance against France was strengthened rather by the activity than the power of the King of Naples, who, contrary to the third article of the treaty of peace which he had lately entered into, admitted the hero of the Nile and his victorious fleet into the bay of Naples, September 22. His Sicilian majesty instantly went on board the admiral's ship, attended by a numerous train of barges and boats, with colors and music, the whole of that natural amphitheatre being crowded with spectators. Also when Rear-admiral (afterwards Lord) Nelson returned the royal visit, every mark of attention and respect was shown to him, and a new confederacy against France began to be publicly and confidently talked of. "Fire but one gun," said the Chevalier Acton, first minister to the King of Naples," and the congress of Rastadt will be dissolved."

The King of Naples entered into engagements

1798.

with the courts of Vienna and London, and was BOOK III. promised by the former a reinforcement of 16,000 troops, and by the latter the protection of a naval CHAP. VII. force and a subsidy. Having, in the mean time, obliged the convents and clergy to furnish him with money, he had recourse to new levies, and soon obtained a numerous, though not a formidable army. He also applied to the emperor for a commander, and obtained the assistance of General Mack. His majesty, notwithstanding, determined to place himself at the head of his troops, with the laudable hope of relieving the people of Rome from the rapacity and injustice of the invaders, avenging the cause of the dethroned pontiff, and liberating Italy from her oppressors. A manifesto was accordingly published by Ferdinand IV., dated at San Germano, Nov. 22, in which, after stating to his subjects" that he was about to march at the head of the brave defenders of their country, full of confidence in the Lord of Hosts," he told them, he had left "his dear and well-beloved consort regent during his absence," and observed," that it is better to die gloriously, for God and our country, than to live shamefully oppressed." The metropolitan troops, accompanied by the monarch, commenced their march against the Roman republic on the following day; and the time chosen was peculiarly auspicious, as the attention of the directory was entirely occupied by the movements of the Russian troops.

The imperial general, Mack, sent a formal summons to General Championnet, who commanded in this quarter, to withdraw his troops from the Roman territory. To which Championnet replied, "that such a summons could only be regarded as an act of aggression, and a direct violation of the subsisting treaties." In reply to this declaration, General Mack, on the 25th of November, signified to General Championnet, that his Neapolitan majesty had, in person, passed the frontier on the preceding day, to take possession of the Roman territory, revolutionised and usurped since the peace of Campo Formio. The number of French troops in the Roman state did not exceed 10,000; and so little political discernment had the directory, or so defective was their information, that these were very ill armed and provided. The public magazines were empty, Civita-Vecchia itself left defenceless; and the invasion of the Neapolitans, who had collected on this occasion their whole military force, consisting of 60 or 70,000 men, without skill or discipline, was evidently, to the French government, a most unwelcome and unexpected measure, productive of great political embarrassment.

The Roman republic had long exhibited at scene of dilapidation and oppression beyond example. In what proportion the public distressTM was to be ascribed to the French commissioners, e

1798.

BOOK III. or to the government of Rome, established and supported by the power of France, is of little CHAP. VII. importance to ascertain. Probably the balance of injustice would be found, on examination, very equal. The disastrous measures of finance adopt ed by Faypoult, the chief of the French commissariate, were productive of ruin to individuals; and the plunder and corruption of the subordinate agents completed the picture of the public misery; and, together with the persecutions exercised against all who showed any disposition adverse to these proceedings, excited continual disturbances and insurrections, and destroyed every hope of establishing any rational system of liberty. The venerable names of senate, tribunate, and consulate, served only to remind the inhabitants of Rome of their degraded condition, and answered no other purpose than to add insult to injury, and contumely to oppression.

The state of things in Europe, since the vietory of Aboukir, had also a great effect upon the mind of the Sardinian monarch, in whose dominions evident symptoms appeared of a counterrevolutionary spirit. Couriers were known frequently to pass between the two courts of Naples and Turin, and letters were intercepted which plainly proved the good understanding subsisting between them. In one of these, dated October the 2d, written by Prince Pignatelli to the Chevalier Prioca, his Sardinian majesty's minister, the arrival at Naples is announced of the Baron D'Awervech," the secret agent of his Britannic majesty, who," said the prince, "seems to multiply himself, that he may be present wherever he can serve the cause which is to unite all the princes of Europe against France. You will see that fortune must cease to rebel against us, if we have only courage to follow her. The genius of Prince Repnin, seconding the vast conceptions of the cabinet of St. James's, is preparing to convert into mournful cypress those laurels with which the republicans have covered Italy."

The Baron D'Awervech himself, in another letter, addressed nearly at the same time to the Governor of Turin, thus expressed himself: "The ambassador from the court of London to Berlin has just concerted with Prince Repnin a measure, the most bold that modern diplomacy could suggest in the present circumstances, to put an end, as it were, by force, to the indecision of Austria. They will cause hostilities immediately to be commenced by the court of Naples. A treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between these two powers, will authorize his Sicilian majesty again to call to his aid the Austrian contingent. Then all Europe will be put in motion upon the shores of the Bosphorus, as well as upon those of the Danube, upon the banks of the Nieper as upon those of the Rhine, in order to precipitate themselves, en masse, upon that nation

of usurpers.-Such, sir, is the plan concerted by the vast genius of Prince Repnin, and of which you now see the first openings.'

As soon as the intelligence had reached Paris that the Neapolitans had passed the frontier, war was declared in form against their Sicilian and Sardinian majesties, the directory denouncing in their manifesto "the long train of perfidies of which the court of Naples had been guilty, and which were now brought to the height by an audacious attack upon the French republic; a court which, during the whole course of the war of the coalesced monarchs, distinguished itself by the most insensate fury against the republic, notwithstanding which, the French government made no other use of the superiority which victory gave them, than for the purpose of moderation." They then enumerated the recent instances. in which the court of Naples had shewn its ingratitude—“ inciting and encouraging the Romans to revolt, and displaying its hostility to the Ligurian and Cisalpine republics. While she dared not openly to deelare war against France, she sought to destroy in Italy all the free states which were under her protection. Instead of inflicting signal vengeance for this conduct, the directory did not oppose the taking possession of the duchy of Benevento; they offered their mediation to deliver the King of Naples from the feudal pretensions of Rome. They sent to Naples a new ambassador, (M. Garat,) furnished with the most amicable and conciliatory powers, and were anx ious to give satisfaction to his Sicilian majesty respecting the object of Bonaparte's expedition. In return, the fleet of Admiral Nelson was ho norably received at Syracuse, and was re-victualled in that port. It even received stores from the arsenal of the king, pilots to clear the Straits of Messina, and whatever was necessary to secure the success of the attack against the French. If, too, we recollect the inconceivable joy which. was manifested at Naples on the sight of the English fleet, the public honors which the court. itself lavished on Admiral Nelson, in going out to welcome him, his triumphal entry, the large rewards granted to the messenger who brought the first account of this victory, and the illuminations and rejoicings which took place on this occasion ;-if it be remembered that, from the time of this victory, the audacity of the Neapolitan government has known no bounds;-if all these circumstances are considered, it must be allowed that more hostile sentiments were never manifested on one side, nor more patience shown on the other. The guilt of the Sardinian government, as an accomplice with Naples, is manifest from a thousand circumstances;-its sentiments, its language, and even its actions, in proportion to its means, have been the same; and its artifice and hypocrisy exactly resemble that of Naples.

In fact, they have never ceased to make war in every way which their imbecility and their cowardice suffered them to put into execution. The Piedmontese troops marched towards Loana at the same moment in which the Neapolitan army attacked the French;-and in the same moment also it was that the Sardinian government dared to require the evacuation of the citadel, and the diminution of the French troops in Piedmont."

General Championnet, conscious that he could not defend Rome, left a garrison in the castle of St. Angelo, and immediately retreated towards Civita-Castellana. He was followed by the consuls, the senators, and the tribunes of the new republic; and, on the 29th of November, the King of the Sicilies entered Rome, and took up his residence at the palace of Farnese, whilst the combined fleets of England and Naples took possession of Leghorn. His majesty now appeared so conscious of the stability of his recent conquest, that he invited the pope to return from Tuscany, and take possession of his capital. His holiness, however, foresaw that the triumph of this monarch, who had not yet been able to subdue the fortress of St. Angelo, would be but of short duration, and wisely declined the invitation.

During the occupation of Rome by the King of Naples, different detachments of the Neapolitan army had been defeated by the French Generals Lemoine and Rusca; and reinforcements now arriving from all parts, a general attack upon the Sicilians took place throughout their whole line of posts. In the various combats which ensued, the army of Naples suffered immense loss, 12,000 prisoners falling into the hands of the French, and 100 pieces of cannon. His Sicilian majesty evacuated Rome with the great est precipitation, and was pursued with equal vigor by the French. On the 31st of December, an armistice, limited or illimited, was offered by General Mack, in a letter written from Capua, on pretext of the severity of the weather and badness of the roads. General Championnet returned for answer, "that, as his army had so far

overcome the difficulties both of the way and the BOOK III. weather, he should not halt till he made his entrance into Naples."

Soon after this interchange of messages, the strong post of Gaeta was taken, containing im mense magazines and stores of every kind: another body of troops, under General Duhesme, which had forced its way with great resolution and success along the line of the Adriatic coast, through a country intersected with rivers, and guarded by troops which might have disputed every step, after gaining a complete victory on the banks of the Vomano, took possession of the important maritime fortress of Pescara.

Thus, in the course of a few weeks, that monarch, who proved a temporary victor, and offered to restore the popedom, was constrained, on the last day of the year, to abdicate all his continental dominions, and, with his family, seek refuge, as will be shown in another chapter.

The fate of the King of Sardinia was, however, more deplorable. In consequence of the disputes which had arisen between his majesty and the new Ligurian republic, about some territories, this monarch became an object of suspicion to the French government; as may be seen in the quotations which we have given from the manifesto which the directory issued. Though the conduct of his majesty appears to have been exempt from reproach, yet, apprehensive, no doubt, of being sent a prisoner into France, he agreed with General Joubert, on the 9th of December, to sign an act of abdication; and stipulating only for the exercise of the catholic religion for his subjects, the security of his own person, and the enjoyment of his liberty and property for the Prince de Carignan, the ill-fated monarch was pleased to renounce the exercise of his power and authority, to order the Piedmontese army to consider itself as a portion of the French troops, and "to surrender the citadel of Turin, as a pledge that no resistance whatever should be attempted against the present act, which has emanated purely from his own will.”

CHAP. VII.

1798.

THE offensive operations of Great Britain, in the course of this year, were chequered with a variety of good and bad fortune. In the month of May, an expedition was fitted out against ma

ritime Flanders; not with the hope of being able to restore that country to the emperor, but to interrupt the internal navigation between Holland, Flanders, and France, by destroying the basin,

1798.

BOOK III. gates, and sluices of the Bruges canal. An armament accordingly sailed for this purpose, from CHAP. VIII. Margate Roads, May 18, under Captain Popham, with a body of troops commanded by Majorgeneral Coote, both officers of distinguished merit. On its arrival before Ostend, the necessary preparations were made for a descent; and while the Wolvereen, Asp, and Biter, returned the fire of the batteries, the Hecla and Tartarus bombs threw their shells with such rapidity and precision, that the town was set on fire in several places, and some little damage done to the ship ping.

In the mean time, May 19, by five o'clock in the morning, a landing was effected to the northwest, notwithstanding the violence of the gale; and many of the troops had actually disembarked before an alarm was given. General Coote now burnt several boats, demolished the sluice-gates, and soon after ten effected a grand explosion, by which he hoped to have destroyed a grand national work, which had cost the states of Bruges an immense sum of money, and occupied the labor of five years to complete. Having performed this arduous task in the best manner possible, about noon, the commander-in-chief attempted to retreat; but the surf unfortunately ran so high, that it was impossible to re-embark. Hereupon it was deemed necessary to occupy a position on the sand-hills, at a little distance from the beach; and, as a feint, in order to gain time, a peremptory summons was sent to the governor of Ostend, to surrender that important place; but the answer was, "this would not be done till the garrison were buried under the ruins."

The English, to the number of 1200, were attacked early the next morning by a very superior force, moving in different columns. The English were completely hemmed in, and after a short but gallant contest, were completely overpowered; their front being broken, their flanks turned, and General Coote severely wounded. In this dilemma, the invaders were unhappily compelled to surrender. Captain Popham endeavoured, without effect, to obtain an exchange of prisoners; and it was at first the intention of the French government to oblige the captive troops to labor at the reparation of the works they had demolished; but the damage, though thought considerable, was in a few weeks perfectly repaired.

An expedition in another quarter, which was undertaken early in November, proved more fortunate. To wrest the island of Minorca from the Spaniards being considered an object of great importance, a small squadron was detached for that purpose, under Admiral Duckworth, and the command of the land forces conferred on the Hon. General Stuart, an active and enterprising officer. A division of 800 men having effected a landing in the bay of Addaya, the Spaniards,

who had previously evacuated a small battery at the entrance, and spiked the guns, soon after abandoned and blew up the works at Fornelles. About 2000 of their troops then approached in different directions, and threatened to surround the English detachment; but they were repulsed with some loss on the left, while the guns of the Argo checked a similar attempt on the right flank; and sufficient time was thus obtained for the rest of the land-forces to disembark.

Notwithstanding the badness of the roads, and the disagreeable intelligence brought by deserters, that the force on the island exceeded 4000 men, General Stuart detached Colonel Graham to seize on the important post of Mercadel. On learning soon after, that the town of Mahon had been left almost destitute of troops, Colonel Paget, who had advanced with a body of 300 men, summoned Fort Charles, and made the lieutenantgovernor of the island and some officers prisoners.

As the commander-in-chief received intelligenee that the Spaniards were throwing up works and forming an entrenched camp in front of Cindadella, he determined to attack them there. He accordingly obtained the assistance of some seamen and marines from the squadron, and, advancing in two columns, forced the Spaniards to retire within the walls.

Propitious, however, as were these events, yet, had the place been defended with any degree of resolution, it certainly could not have been carried; the troops being deficient in heavy artillery, and every thing necessary for a siege. When the governor was summoned, he hesitated, apparently restricted by a mere point of honor, from delivering up the island immediately. He took the preliminary articles into consideration, and seemed to be in doubt whether the investing force was superior to that of the garrison. In the course of the following night, two batteries of three twelvepounders, and three five and a half inch howitzers, were erected; and, though it was evident that such light metal was inadequate to the capture of the place, these hostile preparations had the desired effect; for only two eighteen-pound shot having been fired by the besieged, a capitulation was immediately entered into, and the English consequently became masters of Minorca.

About this time, however, the English were obliged to abandon the island of St. Domingo, in the West Indies, for the possession of which so much blood had been spilt-so much treasure expended! As it could no longer be retained without immense sacrifices, Brigadier-general Maitland agreed, on the 9th of May, with Toussant L'Ouverture (then commander-in-chief of that colony, where he had been formerly a slave) to leave the island, and deliver up the parish of Arcahaye, and the towns of Port-au-Prince and St. Mark, on condition of guaranteeing the lives