claimed a right to occupy so long as Great Britain should hold Malta.

The greatest consternation prevailed at Naples. The King, Ferdinand IV., afraid of admitting the British minister to his presence, had retired to Caserta, leaving the hereditary Prince to represent him in Naples, and only consented with difficulty to return there on the insistance of Mr. Elliot that his credentials should be received by the King himself. "It was right," he said, "to show that the presence of a British minister in the capital of Naples, a British man-of-war in the harbour, and of Lord Nelson's fleet in the Mediterranean, were circumstances calculated to restore confidence to the King."

The Queen, Caroline, daughter of Maria Theresa and sister of Marie Antoinette, "the only spirited character there," possessed great ability, activity, and energy; but these qualities were so mixed with violence and indiscretion, that her conduct was at the mercy of those who knew how to take advantage of her weaknesses. At the mature age of fifty-two, she had formed an attachment for a French emigrant officer, le Marquis de St. Clair, which had led to her being surrounded by a knot of his countrymen, among whom were some who cloaked dangerous objects of their own under the name of French emigrants-" a title which,” wrote Mr. Elliot to his Government, "no longer denotes any real degree of hostility towards the Government of Bonaparte. I must confess that the First Consul cannot make use of any better channel to forward his

own purposes than that of French emigrants at foreign courts."

"The Queen herself," he wrote to Lord Nelson, "is well inclined towards us; yet she is continually drawn into scrapes and inconsistencies by these designing people, who are in their hearts equally hostile to Great Britain and to General Acton."

General Acton,1 highly trusted by the King, and in Mr. Elliot's estimation the only man in the kingdom capable of forming and sustaining such a policy as would ensure its independence, had by his constant assertion of the rights of his sovereigns, and his resistance to the unjust and arrogant demands of the French Ambassador at the Court of Naples, become an object of persecution to Bonaparte, who never failed to insist upon his removal from the high situation he had held for more than twenty years. Unfortunately General Acton was old and infirm, and his opposition to the Queen's schemes for the aggrandisement of her French favourites had rendered him obnoxious to her; while "her experienced management of every female wile and snare, of which the constant

1 Sir John Acton, Bart. of Aldenham, born in 1726, was for many years the Neapolitan prime minister and commander-in-chief of the land and sea forces of Naples. Though he had succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of a cousin in 1791, he is invariably styled "General Acton" throughout the correspondence, both in official and private letters. "General Acton," wrote Mr. Elliot in one of his despatches, "had in early life passed from the service of the Great Duke of Tuscany into that of his Sicilian Majesty, for the purpose of reforming and directing the Neapolitan naval department. His subsequent rise took its origin as much from the Queen's known partiality towards him as from the King's favour."

practice of a life spent in the pursuits of pleasure and ambition have made her so consummate a mistress, enabled her to soothe, deceive, and master him whenever it suited her so to do."

The finances were verging on a state of bankruptcy, the army was ill paid, the nobility were disaffected, the people indifferent, the mercantile classes in despair; and, in hourly expectation of the closing of the ports, some of the English merchants had taken to flight before the British minister arrived. Such was the condition of things at Naples when Mr. Elliot entered on the task which had been intrusted to him—namely, to sustain, if possible, the independence of the Two Sicilies, by encouraging the Government to persevere in a system of strict neutrality, and by aiding them to make military preparations for resistance in the event of an invasion of their dominions.

The defence of Sicily was an object of paramount importance with the British Government, and in case of danger in that quarter, Sicily was to be defended "with or without the concurrence of His Sicilian Majesty."

With these objects in view, Mr. Elliot set himself to gain the confidence of the Queen, to support with all his

1 "The kingdom of Naples once lost, that of Sicily may be preserved; if Sicily were once lost, the loss of Naples would infallibly follow. The first, therefore, though a great evil, would still leave an asylum for the royal family, and would ensure an important security to the interests of His Majesty in the Mediterranean. The last would prove the irretrievable ruin of their Sicilian Majesties, and would afford to the French Government a dominion in that sea, which they have hitherto endeavoured in vain to obtain."-Despatch to Hugh Elliot, November 11, 1803.

influence that of General Acton, and to instigate the Government to various military preparations, such as arming the inhabitants of Calabria on the pretext of self-defence against Tunisian cruisers, and the restoration of the defences of Messina under the secret superintendence of English military officers, and by means of English money.

The natural consequences of this vigorous conduct ensued. Acton and Elliot became equally obnoxious to France, and the drama enacting at Naples was thenceforth marked by a double plot :-the external struggle between Bonaparte and the sovereigns of the Two Sicilies, and the internal struggle between the Queen and Sir John Acton.

It was Mr. Elliot's opinion that if the Queen had understood the true interests of Naples as thoroughly as she comprehended and hated the objects of Bonaparte, much might have been done to save her country; but her passions were too strong for her judgment, or, as he wrote, "the judgment of the sovereign was warped by the frailties of the woman;" and to procure the fall of Acton, she did not disdain to make use of Bonaparte.

In August 1803, two months after Mr. Elliot's arrival, she desired him to wait upon her at seven o'clock in the morning, in her private apartments. "She was much agitated, and it was some time before she could speak on public affairs; at length, however, she did so, with more than usual animation, and, having occasion to mention Bonaparte, his name was always accompanied with some appropriate epithet."

Mr. Elliot expressing some surprise that Her Majesty should be so incensed against him at a moment when he had graciously condescended to bear part of the expenses of his troops in the kingdom of Naples, the Queen replied with vivacity—" Mr. Elliot, I must make you the full confidence of what we have received from him, though we have not ventured to show his letters to General Acton." The Queen then led Mr. Elliot into her cabinet, and laid before him three letters, of which he was permitted to send home copies, "to be communicated solely to the King's confidential servants." The first was from herself to Bonaparte, imploring, as the mother of her family and of her people, that he would relieve the kingdom of Naples from the burden of supporting his army; the two other letters were from Bonaparte to the King and Queen. In the second, the most important of the two, he wrote to the Queen as follows:

"Bruxelles, le 9 an. 11.

"J'ai lu avec la plus grande attention la lettre de votre Majesté.

"Je la prie de rester persuadée qu'après lui avoir fait beaucoup de mal j'ai aussi le besoin de lui être agréable.

"Dans les conjonctures actuelles, il est de la politique intérieure de la France de consolider la tranquillité chez tous ses voisins; il est de la politique extérieure d'aider un étât plus faible, dont le bien être est utile au commerce de la France, mais je veux répondre par une confiance sans réserve à celle de votre Majesté. Com