ot. At the beginning of May, 1800, the legion, consisting of six
thousand men, marched into Switzerland, and crossed the St. Bernard.
They were detached from Napoleon's army during the battle of Marengo,
but distinguished themselves at the fight of the Jesia, and in the
Valteline, until, by the truce which followed that memorable campaign,
Pepe again found himself without employment, and in depot at Pavia. His
restless spirit would not tolerate repose, and he entered the service of
the Tuscan republic, where he continued until the truce of Luneville. An
amnesty for Neapolitan political refugees being a condition of the
treaty between France and Naples, he might now have returned home; but
his hatred of the Bourbons indisposed him to such a step, and he
resolved to enter the French army serving in Egypt. Murat was then
commander-in-chief of the French troops in central Italy, and to him the
young officer applied for a commission. He received that of a captain,
and was about to start for Alexandria when his purse was emptied at a
faro table. This compelled him to visit Naples for fresh supplies, and
owing to the delay, before he could embark, the French had received
orders to evacuate Egypt.

Notwithstanding the presence of the French troops, who by the treaty
concluded at Florence, on terms ignominious for Naples, occupied several
Neapolitan provinces, the patriot party again began to conspire against
Ferdinand, and in their machinations Pepe, in spite of his youth, soon
took a prominent share. His aversion to the Neapolitan Bourbons was only
equalled by the indignation with which he saw his native land garrisoned
by foreigners, feeding upon its fatness. Murat, who at first had viewed
him with favour, soon looked upon him as a dangerous political agitator.
At Rome he was imprisoned, but obtained his release through the interest
of a friend. All warnings were unavailing; he was foremost in every
plot, until at last he was arrested at Naples and sent to the Fossa del
Maritimo. He gives a striking description of this horrible place of
confinement. Opposite to the city of Trapano in Sicily, at a distance of
thirty miles, is the small island or rather the barren rock of the
Maritimo, "a Sicilian anagram of Morte-mia, a name quite characteristic
of the horror of the place. Upon a point of this island stands a castle
where, in former days, watch was kept for the approach of the African
pirates who infested the Sicilian coasts. U