which fell into the hands of the Austrians. General Bianchi followed up the victory by a pursuit of the flying foe within his own territories.

Tolentino is situated on the left bank of the Chienti, and at no great distance from the coast of the Adriatic. On the evening of the 4th, the Neapolitans still had possession of San Guisto and Civita Nuova; and it was of the utmost consequence that they should maintain this latter position, as the greatest part of the Neapolitan General Carascosa's division was yet on the left bank of the river. On the night of the 4th, the Neapolitan army was in full retreat, and soon the fury of the elements contributed to render its rout and dispersion complete: for at night-fall a dreadful storm rose on the sea-side: the waves, violently driven by the tempest, covered the road which runs along the coast, rushed into the mouths of the rivers, destroyed the bridges, and swelled the smallest rivulets to such a height that the passage of them could not be attempted but at the peril of life. Rain fell in torrents, darkness augmented the terror and the danger, and the passage of the Chienti became frightful. Entire ranks of soldiers, and a multitude of carriages with women, children, sick, and wounded, were washed into the sea by the fury of the waves. The shrieks of these miserable wretches resounded along the banks of the river, but in vain! no one thought of any but himself; all the links of subordination and even of affection were burst asunder. The morning of the 5th broke indeed with something of diminished horror, but it exhibited in full view the utter disorganization into which the army had been thrown. Troops of different divisions were every where intermixed : each individual pursued his own route: orders for arrangements were either not given or not obeyed; and the passage of the Tenna, of the Leta, of the Aso, of the Monocchia, and of the Tesino, was effected only under the most appalling difficulties. On the evening of the 5th, the exhausted fugitives, after a painful march of almost twelve leagues, reposed themselves near San Benedetto; the road which they had passed from Porto de Fermo being covered with stragglers, and a great many having dispersed among the mountains. General Carascosa, who led the rear-guard of this shattered army, took his position near Fermo, on the right bank of the Tenna, with about 3000 men, two pieces of cannon, and a few hundred cavalry. On the morning of the 5th, the Austrians marched into Civita Nuova and San Guisto.

The Austrians also entered the Neapolitan territory on the 12th of May. The retreat and the pursuit continued as far as the Volturno, which was reached on the 20th ; and at this time the army of Murat may be said to have been annibilated. He had himself gone to Naples, and a military convention was settled at a house on the Volturno, called Casa Lanza, by which all the citadels, fortresses, arsenals, and ports were ceded to the allies, to be restored to Ferdinand. This treaty was ratified by Carascosa on the one side, and by the British minister at the court of Tuscany, and Bianchi, on the other. It had been preceded by another on the 13th between Prince Cariati, on the part of Caroline, Queen of Naples, and Captain Campbell, of the Tremendous English man-of-war, then lying in the gulf of Naples, who had threatened the city with a bombardment. The Lazzaroni had broken out with great exasperation against the government of Murat after his defeat at Tolentino; and the queen, being in much personal danger, now sought shelter under the protection of the British flag: she and

her four children accordingly went on board the Tremendous, and were carried to Trieste, under a solemn engagement not to return either to France or Italy, except with the permission of the Austrian government.

Possession of Naples was given to the Austrians on the 22d. Murat had left the army and gone thither three days before; and having taken leave of his wife and children, disguised in a grey coat, and with his hair cut close, he left his palace on foot on the 21st, and, going on board a boat with two or three officers, he escaped to the island of Ischia. Here he remained three days in disguise; and walking on the sea-shore, on the fourth morning, he saw a small vessel under full sail, belonging to the Duke de la Rocca Romana, his grand equerry, who with his aide-de-camp, the Marquis Giuliano came to join him. They immediately steered for France, and Murat landed at Cannes on the 29th of May, without an army, without money, without power: but, being no longer of any use to Bonaparte, he could not obtain from the implacable emperor even permission to proceed to Paris.

From this time, Murat's adventures would adorn the wildest pages of romance. He remained a few days at Toulon, and then secreted himself in a country-house, not far from Lyons: but, as soon as the news had reached him of the destruction of the French army at Waterloo, he resolved to proceed unknown to Havre de Grace, and inplore the protection of the allies. With this view he freighted a vessel at Toulon, and his suite, consisting of those friends who came with him from Ischia, his baggage, and all the property that he had brought away, were put on board : but, by some fatal accident, the vessel set sail without him, leaving bim in a state of such entire destitution that he had not even a change of linen. Alone, on the sea-shore, as he strained his aching eyes after the distant vessel, he saw a fishingboat; this he hailed, and threw himself into it with the hope of rejoining his friends: but the wind freshening he was obliged to abandon the pursuit, and return to shore. In despair, hungry, and exhausted, he bent his steps as chance suggested; wandering about the woods and vineyards, unsheltered, and with scarcely any sustenance, for several days and nights; till at length, overcome with fatigue, he entered a farm, the master of which was absent. The old woman of the house, taking compassion on his situation, was preparing an omelet, when the farmer returned home: he had never seen the king, but he had remarked his portrait in the Marshal's saloon at the Tuileries, and on the Neapolitan coins. Impressed with the resemblance, and having likewise heard that he was somewhere lurking in the vicinity and that his place of concealment was the object of keen search, he immediately challenged his guest as being the royal fugitive in disguise : adding at the same time that, so far from taking advantage of the discovery which he had made, his house, person, and fortune were at the king's disposal, and should freely be risked for his protection. Murat remained here several days: but, having reason to suspect that he was discovered, he was obliged to quit this hospitable asylum for another. Here he was soon hunted out. On the night of the 13th of August, a detachment of sixty men, headed by one Mocau, the avidity of whose search was stimulated by a report that the king bad an immense amount of gold and jewels about his person, silently and under favi of midnight darkness approached his retreat. The house was situa

on an eminence, and here again he was saved by the vigilance and fidelity of an old woman, who brought his provisions. As usual, she was keeping a sharp look-out while Murat slept, when she observed a light which the party had imprudently brought with them, moving along the hill that led to the house; and she instantly awakened the king, who was sleeping in his clothes with his fire-arms beside him. He snatched his pistols, slipped out at the back-door, and concealed himself within thirty yards of the house among a thick foliage of the vines. The troops examined every hole and corner of the house and garden; and Murat frequently heard them pass and repass him, venting their disappointment, and expressing their murderous hope that they might yet have the pleasure of cutting him to pieces and dividing his plunder.

As this sort of life was intolerable, he now resolved to escape to Corsica, and departed with three faithful friends in an open boat on the 22d of August: on the 24th they were overtaken by a storm which threatened their destruction; and on the following day they hailed a Corsican packet-boat, which they had scarcely boarded when they saw their own frail vessel sink to the bottom. Arrived at Bastia, he im. mediately proceeded to the village of Viscovato; where the mayor, having received no instructions to the contrary, allowed him to reside. The commandant of Bastia, however, proclained him to be an enemy to the king of France, and required his surrender at the head of a strong detachment of soldiers : but, to his surprise, he found Murat defended by 600 men in arms, to whom 200 veterans, chiefly officers who had formerly served under him, soon joined themselves. This circumstance contributed to the fatal delusion which he entertained, that, notwithstanding his late disasters, he was adored by the Neapolitans; and he quitted Bastia, went to Ajaccio, and purchased five small yessels, with an abundance of arms and ammunition. While making these insane preparations for war, his old acquaintance and aide-de-camp, Captain Macerone, landed in Corsica; stating that he was charged with a mission on the part of Austria, and authorized by the Emperor to offer Murat an asylum in his dominions, provided that he would take the title of the Count of Lipona, as his wife had already taken that of the Countess. He was at liberty to choose for his residence any town in Bohemia, Moravia, or Lower Austria: but he was to engage his word of honour not to quit the Austrian states without express permission, and to live in obedience to the laws. This note was given at Paris, September 1st, 1815, and signed on the part of the Emperor by Prince Metternich. After having contemplated the offer, Murat replied, “ That it had come too late: that his destiny was cast: that he had waited in the midst of peril and distress, during three months, for the decision of the Allies; and that he had now resolved, by force of arins, to reconquer his kingdom or perish in the attempt.” On graver reflection, however, he acquiesced in the proposals, and in consequence received an Austrian passport for Trieste, that he might rejoin his late Queen, now the Countess of Lipona. Weakly vacillating, however, and trusting to his good fortune, he returned to the mad resolution which he had just before abandoned.

the 29th September, he accordingly embarked with ***** 30 officers, in six gondolas, with the design

ont ten leagues from Naples: but a tempest 11

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dispersed the little fleet, and exposed him to the danger of being captured by some Barbary corsairs which were cruising in those parts. However, on the 6th of October, he landed with General Francichetti, one colonel, and about 150 men, a very short distance from Pizzo, at the mouth of the gulf of St. Euphemia, some 50 leagues from Naples. He was received with acclamations, and encouraged to proceed to Pizzo, many of the inhabitants saluting him as King, and offering to share his fortunes. The Podesta of Pizzo he knew to be one of his most zealous adherents; and, as he was absent when Murat landed, the latter had sent to inform him of his arrival. In the mean time, marching with his little band on Monteleone, he met a colonel of gendarmerie, named Trenta Capelli, who was going to Pizzo. Him Murat saluted, and invited to join his standard: but the officer respectfully refused the invitation, and, pointing to a town with his finger, said, “That he knew no other sovereign than him whose flag was lying on that castle.” Murat committed the unaccountable blunder of suffering this officer to proceed on his route: for no sooner had the colonel reached Pizzo, which Murat had just left, than he assembled a numerous party of peasantry, put himself at the head of it, and marched in pursuit of the invader. The latter, seeing a body of men coming up to him, thought that it was his friend the Podesta whom he expected with a reinforcement to join him before he reached Monteleone, and accordingly prepared to receive him. How great was his consternation and dismay, when a shout of “ Viva il Re Gioachimo!” from his own party was answered by a discharge of musketry, which killed some and wounded others of them. At first he put himself on the defensive, but, finding that he was on the point of being surrounded, he endeavoured to regain the vessel from which he had landed: as however it was anchored too distant from the shore, he threw himself with about a dozen of his followers into a small boat, by means of which he hoped to reach the other in safety. This boat likewise was at anchor, and the fisherman to whom it belonged, fearing the loss of his property, seized the helm, while one of his comrades endeavoured to secure the person of Murat. Trenta Capelli's detachment, having now come up, seized their unhappy prisoner, and conducted bim without delay to the governor of Monteleone, General Munziante, who shut him up in the citadel. Murat now showed his Austrian passport for Trieste, and unavailingly demanded his liberation. The intelligence of his capture was transmitted by telegraph to Naples, and in two hours the military commandant at Pizzo received, by the same means, an order "to summon a court-martial instantly for the trial of the prisoner. On the 13th, he was brought before a council of war;--the proceeding was very short;-he was condemned to death, and shot on the same day at four o'clock, in the trenches of the citadel.

Thus perished Joachim Murat, an intrepid soldier and a skilful general: : but the crown of Naples was to him a crown of poppies, and its sceptre a torpedo: the decision of his character was lost, its vigour extinguished, its genius quenched. He was a Frenchman by birth, and a Frencbían also in his heart: but, when he became King of Naples, if the interest of his adopted country interfered with the interest of that which merely gave him birth, his line of duty was palpable and not to be mistaken. When Austria, united with the great powers of Europe, was marching on France, it was impossible for the King of

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Naples for Murat at least-to be neuter: their failure or their success was equally his destruction: whichever party prevailed, it would dethrone him for his neutrality. He made his election reluctantly, not heartily, and joined the Allies. The momentary success of Bonaparte unsettled him: his old connexions, feelings, and friendships revived: neither party trusted him: he hesitated, temporized, and was destroyed. There was something base and unmanly in presenting the Austrian passport at Monteleone for his liberation, after he had obtained that passport surreptitiously, under false pretences, and had broken the terms on which it had been granted by a mad appeal to arms against the power which gave it; and his life was the forfeit of his folly.