o, however, with an
enemy that was not only powerful, but wily and unscrupulous; one whose
action would be governed wholly by considerations of interest and
expediency, not by those of right. Great Britain could not, probably,
keep the French out of Naples, but she could out of Sicily, provided,
and only provided, Messina was adequately garrisoned and held. If,
however, there was any hasty overt action taken, looking to the
security of Sicily, it might merely precipitate the seizure of Naples
and the entire conquest of the King's continental dominions; or, "ten
times more humiliating," leave him "an odious commissary to raise
contributions from his unhappy subjects for the French." On the other
hand, if, to avert suspicion, there was too much slackness in the
measures to guard Sicily, Messina might be suddenly seized, the gates
of the island thus thrown open, and, Sicily once lost, "_Naples falls
of course_." "It is a most important point," he wrote to Elliot soon
after, "to decide when Sicily ought to be placed in a state of
security. For the present, I am content to say that Messina need not
be taken possession of; but the strictest watch must be kept by Sir
John Acton that we are not lulled into a fatal security, and thus lose
both Kingdoms. To save for the moment Naples, we risk the two
Kingdoms, and General Acton must join me in this heavy
responsibility." "My whole opinion rests in these few words--_that we
must not risk Sicily too far in trying to save Naples; therefore,
General Acton, yourself and myself must keep a good lookout_."

This summed up the conditions for Naples during the long two years of
watching and waiting, while Bonaparte, concentrating his purposes upon
his invasion scheme, was content to leave things quiet in the South.
To check, as far as might be, the designs of the French towards Morea
or towards Sicily, on either side of the central position they held at
the heel of Italy, Nelson employed a proportionately large number of
cruisers--five--between Messina and the mouth of the Adriatic; while,
to provide for the safety of the royal family, he kept always a
ship-of-the-line in the Bay of Naples, the British minister holding
orders for her captain to embark them at a moment's notice, and take
them to Sicily. "I have kept everything here to save Italy, if in my
power," he wrote Elliot two months later, "and you know I was ordered
to send a squadron outside the Straits. Fourteen days ago, a Frenc