over as rebels to the vengeance of the Sicilian court. A
deplorable transaction! a stain upon the memory of Nelson and the honour
of England! To palliate it would be in vain; to justify it would be
wicked: there is no alternative, for one who will not make himself a
participator in guilt, but to record the disgraceful story with sorrow
and with shame.

Prince Francesco Caraccioli, a younger branch of one of the noblest
Neapolitan families, escaped from one of these castles before it
capitulated. He was at the head of the marine, and was nearly seventy
years of age, bearing a high character, both for professional and
personal merit. He had accompanied the court to Sicily; but when the
revolutionary government, or Parthenopean Republic, as it was called,
issued an edict, ordering all absent Neapolitans to return on pain of
confiscation of their property, he solicited and obtained permission of
the king to return, his estates being very great. It is said that the
king, when he granted him this permission, warned him not to take any
part in politics; expressing at the same time his own persuasion that he
should recover his kingdom. But neither the king, nor he himself, ought
to have imagined that, in such times, a man of such reputation would be
permitted to remain inactive; and it soon appeared that Caraccioli was
again in command of the navy, and serving under the republic against his
late sovereign. The sailors reported that he was forced to act thus; and
this was believed, till it was seen that he directed ably the offensive
operations of the revolutionists, and did not avail himself of
opportunities for escaping when they offered. When the recovery of
Naples was evidently near, he applied to Cardinal Ruffo, and to the Duke
of Calvirrano, for protection; expressing his hope that the few days
during which he had been forced to obey the French would not outweigh
forty years of faithful services; but perhaps not receiving such
assurances as he wished, and knowing too well the temper of the Sicilian
court, he endeavoured to secrete himself, and a price was set upon his
head. More unfortunately for others than for himself, he was brought in
alive, having been discovered in the disguise of a peasant, and carried
one morning on board Lord Nelson's ship, with his hands tied behind him.

Caraccioli was well known to the British officers, and had been
ever highly esteemed by all who knew him. Captain Hardy ordered him
immediatel