outline of occurrences in that quarter, between Nov. 1798, and October 1799.
After the establishment of the blockade of Malta, and the surrender of Gozo, an adjacent island, in Oct. 1798[1], the Minotaur returned with Nelson to Naples, where she received on board part of a Neapolitan army, destined to occupy Leghorn, at which place she arrived in company with the Vanguard, Culloden, and Alliance, towards the latter end of November. A summons was immediately sent on shore, in the names of the allied commanders; and no resistance being offered, the troops were soon landed under General Naselli, who took possession of the town and port, whilst the squadron secured two Genoese armed vessels, and several others loaded with corn, which were found lying outside the mole.
The occupation of Leghorn was undertaken by Nelson with a view to frustrate the machinations of the French emissaries then at Florence, and thereby preserve Tuscany from the anarchy and plunder to which that fine country was shortly afterwards subjected, through native treachery and Sicilian imbecility[2].
In December following, the French army having invaded the Neapolitan territory, and the superior inhabitants of the capital displaying strong symptoms of disaffection, his Sicilian Majesty found it expedient to embark in Nelson’s flag-ship, and to proceed with his family to Palermo[3], at, which place he was landed in safety on the 26th of the same month.
- ↑ See Vol. I. note † at p. 838.
- ↑ The principal Tuscan traitor was the Marquis Manfredini, who endeavoured to make his countrymen believe that all the horrors of war and the loss of their property were inevitable, if the good will of the “Great Nation” were not purchased. This jacobin had been tutor to the Grand Duke, and was at that period his Prime Minister.
The disgraceful flight of the Neapolitans from Rome, to which city they had advanced for the avowed purpose of restoring the Pope, has been briefly noticed in our memoir of Sir Benjamin Hallowell, K.C.B. See Vol. I. note † at p. 472.
- ↑ General Championet entered Naples on the 23d Jan. 1799, but not without great opposition on the part of the Lazzaroni, who although half-starved, nearly naked, wholly undisciplined, and without a leader of the least rank, displayed considerable resolution, even when the republican army and its artillery had obtained possession of the principal streets.
At this critical period, Championet thought he might meet the super-
