cess as carried on against the prisoners; for the culprits are seldom present while the trial is proceeding. By the Judge’s account, he is making a rapid progress: several of the villains are very rich.”
Some of the loyalists, with the characteristic impetuosity of Italians, did not wait for the decision of a Judge, as appears by the following extraordinary letter which Captain Troubridge received early one morning, with his usual basket of grapes for breakfast, from the shore:
Salerno, April 26, 1799. Sir,– As a faithful subject of my King, Ferdinand IV., whom God preserve, I have the glory of presenting to your Excellency, the head of D. Charles Granozio di Giffoni, who was employed in the administration directed by the infamous Commissary Ferdinand Ruggi. The said Granozio was killed by me in a place called li Puggi, district of Ponte Cagnaro, as he was running away. I beg your Excellency to accept the said head, and consider this operation as a proof of my attachment to the Royal Crown. I am with due respect, the faithful subject of the King, J. M. V.”
So wretchedly were the affairs of the Sicilian government administered, that although the number of loyalists in Procida and Ischia, including emigrants from the main, amounted to at least 50,000 persons, a considerable period was allowed to elapse before any attention was paid to their wants, and had it not been for the flour with which they were supplied from the squadron, and the private stores, which the officers humanely distributed amongst them, many of those poor suffering creatures must actually have perished through hunger; all supplies from Naples and Castel-à-mare having been suspended immediately after the arrival of the British.
“The distress for bread is so great,” says Captain Troubridge, “that it would move even a Frenchman to pity. I am fairly worn out with fretting for the breach of my word given to the inhabitants, in consequence of her Majesty’s promise to me. Cannot a subscription be opened? I beg to put my name down for twenty ducats; I cannot afford more, or I would give more. I feed all I can from a large private stock I had, but that will not last long. No fault shall attach to us. Palermo is full of grain, as is the neighbourhood: the French, I fear, have more interest there than the King.” * * * “I know Strabia, and feel much hurt that I am made the tool of his deception. In short, my Lord, these islands must return under the French yoke, as I see the King’s Ministers are not to be relied on for supplies. I trust your Lordship will pardon my stating the case so plainly; but I think I should be highly culpable, if from delicacy I were to sacrifice the lives of 50,000 inhabitants.”
Even Nelson’s remonstrances on this occasion proved
