1799. whom as parties a treaty could not exist. Some July. stress has also been laid upon the circumstance of lord Nelson's arrival within 36 hours after captain Foote had subscribed the treaty in question. Had his lordship arrived at the end of one hour, the signature of all the parties had already stamped upon the capitulation its sacred character. But, in fact, two of the articles, the 5th and 9th, had begun to be acted upon the transports were getting ready, and the prisoners in the forts either had already been, or were about to be, set at liberty. Even after lord Nelson had arrived, and by signal annulled the truce, the articles in the treaty were made use of to inveigle the garrisons out of the forts; and that, too, solely for their destruction. If captain Foote, in signing the treaty, had exceeded his orders, he should have been tried and punished; but, even then, the faith of the nation, having been once solemnly pledged, ought not to have been compromised. Every tittle of the treaty should have been executed.

In answer to the question, why captain Foote himself did not demand to be tried, that ill-used officer says thus: "I was inclined to request, that a public inquiry should take place, upon what concerned my signing the capitulations. But, before taking this step, I understood from a naval member of the admiralty, and many other respectable friends, that, by urging a public investigation, I should act injuriously to my country, and, in some measure, attach myself to a party; for which there seemed to me to be good ground, in consequence of the speech which the late honourable Charles James Fox made on the 3d of February, 1800, on the address thanking his majesty for refusing to negotiate." Respecting the policy of agreeing to a capitulation with the garrisons of Uovo and Nuovo, captain Foote remarks: "These facts and reasonings may show, that there was nothing so very weak, or senseless, in agreeing to such measures as tended rather to reconcile men to each other, than to urge them to. a

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savage fury, to which all were at this time so fero- 17 ciously bent; and this may be further corroborated by the situation of the castle of St. Elmo, which so completely overlooked and commanded the whole city of Naples, that the fire of that castle could have reduced the greatest part of it to a heap of rubbish. The French, at the time of the capitulations in question, were in possession of this castle, with no probability of being forced to surrender, and the arrival of their fleet being expected, whilst I was in daily expectation of being compelled to make a precipitate retreat."* Let us now quit this painful subject, and hasten to narrate occurrences, more creditable to the character, and more congenial to the habits, of the officers and seamen of the british navy.

Since the surrender of the castles of Nuovo and del' Uovo, the french troops had evacuated the city of Naples; but a detachment of them, amounting to about 800 officers and men, under major-general Méjan, still garrisoned the fort of St.-Elmo. An immediate attack upon the latter was therefore resolved upon; and on the 29th captain Troubridge, having two days before landed at the head of a detachment of british and portuguese marines, with a part of which he had since garrisoned Nuovo and del' Uovo, opened his trenches. A summons was then sent to the commandant of fort St.-Elmo; but the latter expressed his determination to stand a siege. Captain Troubridge, on the other hand, was equally determined to storm the fort, as soon as two practicable breaches could be made. Accordingly, on the 3d of July, he opened a battery of three 36pounders and four mortars within 700 yards of the walls, and, on the 5th, another battery of two 36pounders. On the same day the Russians, under captain Baillie, an Englishman, who had entered the russian service at the conclusion of the first american war, and at this time commanded a ship of the line,

* Vindication, pp. 8 and S3.

1799. opened against the angle opposite to that which the July. British were attacking, a battery of four 36-pounders and four mortars; to which four more mortars were subsequently added.

On the 11th, the three-gun battery having been entirely destroyed, the guns dismounted, and the breastwork knocked down, by the fire of the besieged, captain Troubridge directed captain Hallowell, in the absence of captain Ball, the second in command, to construct another battery of six 36pounders within 180 yards of the walls. Between this battery and the fort some trees intervened, which it was necessary to fell, before the fire of the former could be opened with effect. This was a service of such danger, that none of the labourers could be induced to perform it. Captains Troubridge and Hallowell, along with colonel Tehudy, a Swiss officer, whose regiment formed part of the besieging forces, and M. Monfrère, an emigrant of great merit and abilities, advanced before the works, to cheer the men by their example. While here, a gun, loaded with grape, was levelled at them with such precision, that the shot actually cut the boughs, and struck the ground beneath their feet, and yet not one of them was hurt. A second battery of one 18-pounder and two howitzers was also getting ready, at the same short distance. After a few hours' smart cannonade from the six-gun battery, an officer appeared on the walls of the fort with a flag of truce. At this time most of the guns in the fort were dismounted, and the works nearly destroyed. A capitulation being then agreed to, the garrison marched out with the honours of war, and, in this instance, were honourably conveyed to Toulon, the stipulated french port. The loss sustained by the british, russian, and neapolitan forces amounted to five officers and 32 rank and file killed, and five officers and 79 rank and file wounded. Among the former were lieutenant Milbanke, of the artillery, killed by a musket-shot while reconnoitring

the castle, and two neapolitan officers in one of the 1799. mortar-batteries, who fell by the same cannon-ball.

The fort at Capua, a small town situated on the river Volturno, and distant about 15 miles from Naples, became the next object of attack. On the 20th captain Troubridge, with the english and portuguese troops, the former consisting of about 1000 seamen and marines from the british fleet, marched from Naples; and, having rested awhile at Caserta, encamped before Capua on the morning of the 22d. On the same day a bridge of pontoons was thrown across the Volturno, to facilitate the communication between the different detachments of the army; and batteries of guns and mortars were immediately begun to be constructed within 500 yards of the works of Capua. On the 25th a battery of four 24-pounders, another of two howitzers, and a mortar-battery, commenced playing upon the fort, and were answered by a fire from 11 guns with equal spirit. On the next day, the 26th, fresh trenches were opened, and new batteries begun, within a few yards of the glacis. This induced the besieged to propose terms of capitulation. These were rejected, and others sent back by captain Troubridge; to which, at length, the french commandant agreed.

On the morning of the 29th the french garrison, numbering 2817 officers and men, under brigadiergeneral Girardon, marched out as prisoners with the honours of war, and were afterwards conveyed to Toulon. The subjects of the sicilian monarch, according to an article of the treaty, were delivered up to the allies. The fort was mounted with 108 pieces of ordnance, exclusively of 10 that were unserviceable; also 12000 muskets, 414000 filled musket-cartridges, and 67848 lbs. of powder. The allied forces do not appear to have sustained any loss. It certainly would have been more creditable to the french general, if, with such a force at his disposal, he had insisted a little more strenuously,

July.

1799. that the lives of the neapolitan insurgents in the fort should not be sacrificed.

July.

Aug.

The surrender of Capua was followed, on the 31st, by that of the neighbouring fort of Gaeta, although the latter had not been regularly besieged, but only blockaded. On this account, chiefly, the french garrison, numbering 1498 officers and men, obtained leave to march out with their arms and personal effects, and, on being sent to a french port, were not to be considered as prisoners of war. Here again, the poor neapolitan insurgents were handed over, without an effort on their behalf, to those who, it was well known, would soon be their executioners. The same general Girardon who had signed the capitulation of Capua, negotiated and signed that of Gaeta; on whose walls were mounted 72 pieces of cannon, including 58 brass 24 and 18 pounders, and 13 heavy mortars, and whose magazines contained an immense quantity of powder and other garrison stores.

About the 11th of August captain Troubridge, by lord Nelson's permission, sent the Minotaur, and one or two smaller vessels, with a summons to the republican commandant at Civita- Vecchia. Some delay occurring in the transmission of the reply, the Culloden herself went off the port; and, on the 29th and 30th of September captain Troubridge, with 200 seamen and marines from his two ships, landed at Civita-Vecchia, and, aided by a detachment of neapolitan royalist troops under general Bouchard, took possession of that town, Corneto, and Tolfa. The same treaty by which these places were surrendered, gave up Rome; which was taken possession of by general Bouchard, aided by a detachment of seamen under captain Louis, of the Minotaur. The last-named officer rowed up the Tiber in his barge, and hoisted the english colours on the capitol. Thus were Naples, Rome, and Tuscany, (Leghorn had been evacuated since the 17th of July,) freed from