Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/185

THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM NAPLES. 159 States, who became a formidable enemy when unit- chapter ed in his rear. He did not even avail himself of '. his temporary acquisition of Naples to gather sup- port from the attachment of his new subjects. Far from incorporating with them, he was regarded as a foreigner and an enemy, and, as such, expelled by the joint action of all Italy from its bosom, as soon as it had recovered sufficient strength to rally. Louis the Twelfth profited by the errors of his predecessor. His acquisitions in the Milanese formed a basis for future operations ; and by ne- gotiation and otherwise he secured the alliance and the interests of the various Italian governments on his side. These preliminary arrangements were followed by preparations every way commensurate with his object. He failed in the first campaign, however, by intrusting the command to incompe- tent hands, consulting birth rather than talent or experience. In the succeeding campaigns, his failure, though partly chargeable on himself, was less so than on circumstances beyond his control. The first of these was the long detention of the army before Rome by cardinal D'Amboise, and its consequent exposure to the unexampled severity of the ensuing winter. A second was the fraudulent conduct of the commissaries, implying, no doubt, some degree of negligence in the person who appointed them ; and lastly, the want of a suitable commander- in-chief of the army. La Tremouille being ill, and D'Aubigny a prisoner in the hands of the en- emy, there appeared no one among the French