refuge, which was prolonged, notwithstanding the attempts of the French commandant of Bastia to secure his person, until he heard the final resolution of the allied powers on his behalf. This had been solicited at Paris by one of his former aidde-camps, an Anglo-Italian, named Macirone, through whom Murat desired permission to reside in England. The request was most prudently rejected on the part of Lord Castlereagh. The British laws, customs, and particularly the habits of the people, render our island a most improper place of residence for persons whom it is desirable to seclude from political intrigues, or from unrestrained intercourse with the rest of Europe. Murat, in the power of the allies, must always have been regarded as a prisoner of state, although at large, and on his parole; and such a prisoner can be only kept with perfect safety under a government, which possesses strong powers of coercion, in case the personal freedom permitted to him should be found liable to abuse. There was, however, due respect paid to the misfortunes of a king, who had once been the ally of Britain and Austria. The agent of Murat was supplied by Prince Metternich with a note of the conditions, upon compliance with which the EmSept. 1. peror of Austria was willing to grant an asylum to King Joachim. I. That he should assume the name of a private person; and that which the queen had adopted was proposed to him. II. That he might chuse his residence in any town, either in Bohemia, Moravia, or Upper Austria; or should he prefer a country residence in any of these provinces, his wishes would not be opposed. III. King Joachim was to engage his word to the emperor, that he would not quit the Austrian states without his express consent, and that

he would live as a private individual of distinction, subject, however, to the laws of these states. On these conditions he was offered a passport to proceed to Trieste, for the purpose of joining his wife and family.

More mild and honourable conditions were surely never proposed to a man in Murat's situation, and they were such as he would gladly have accepted, when he transmitted from Toulon to the hands of Fouché his resolution to submit his person to the disposal of the allies. But upon his arriving at Corsica, he had unfortunately found about four hundred of his followers, chiefly officers discharged from the Neapolitan army, or who had fled upon the return of Ferdinand. A desperate man, surrounded by desperadoes, he now assumed once more the regal character, took possession of the town of Ajaccio, and proceeded to levy soldiers with the avowed purpose of an attempt to recover Naples. For this purpose, he purchased five small vessels, and a quantity of arms and ammunition. Macirone, the bearer of Prince Metternich's proposal, found Joachim at Ajaccio in mimic state, having sentinels mounted, and his colours displayed before the door of his house. His reception of Prince Metternich's articles plainly shows, that his offer to retire into England was with the secret purpose of waiting a favourable opportunity again to assert his supposed right to his kingdom. But Austria afforded no facilities of this kind: There was there neither an opposition, to whom he might appeal,-nor a disaffected jacobinical faction, with whom he might intrigue,-nor the opportunity of maintaining a correspondence with the malcontents of France and Italy. If Murat accepted the terms of the emperor, it could only be with the certainty that he would not be permitted to elude them in letter or

in spirit. Life, safety, opulence, all to be enjoyed in the society of his family, seemed tasteless to this victim of ambition, who, having experienced that chance could raise to a throne the waiter of a pot-house, was unwilling to admit that fortune could resume the grandeur she had Sept. 25. conferred. While, by a letter addressed to Macirone, he pretended to accept the conditions proposed to him, by anoSept. 28. ther, dated only three days later, he refused them with contempt. "I will not accept," were his expressions, "the conditions which you are charged to offer me. I perceive nothing in them but an absolute abdication, on the mere condition that I shall be permitted to exist, but in eternal captivity, subjected to the arbitrary action of the laws under a des potic government." He expressed himself confident in the attachment of his army. "I am going to join them-They are all eager to see me again at their head-They, and every class of my well-beloved subjects, have preserved to me their affections-I have not abdicated-I have a right to recover my crown, if God gives me the force and means."

The truth was, that, forgetting alike the difference of times, circumstances, countries, and personal talents, Murat had imagined to himself the possibility of effectuating a second revolution in Naples, such as Buonaparte Sept. 28. had so lately accomplished in France. For this purpose, he sailed, with his flotilla of five vessels, with the purpose of disembarking at Salerno. In imitation of his grand prototype, he had prepared a proclamation, which might almost be regarded as a parody on those of Buonaparte. "He had determined," he said, "to retire from public life, when he learned that the insulting term 'hostile banditti,' had been applied to

that Neapolitan army, which was composed of the flower of the nation. He then resumed his resolution, and, heading the brave men who had formerly fought under him, was come to maintain the honour of the army, and his own rights." The nation was exhorted to fly to arms; the amaranth was appointed as the national colour, and the Neapolitan ladies were invited to adorn themselves therewith. The proclamation would not have been faithful to the style of the great original, had it not exhibited a sufficient portion of falsehood. The Neapolitans were thereby assured, that the allied powers would not again arm themselves against King Joachim. The emperor, formerly deceived with respect to the real political state of Naples, would now, it was averred, become his ally, and it would be an insult to the good faith of the British cabinet to suppose it would hesitate to repair the injury it had done, by taking up arms against the rightful sovereign of Naples. All this eloquence, and much more to the same purpose, was doomed to reach no farther than the deafened and thankless ears of a few rude Calabrian fishers. A storm dispersed the five small vessels in their passage from Corsica to the coast of Naples, and when it subsided, Murat found the felucca in which he was embarked separated from the others, and atthe entrance of the Gulf of St Euphemia. The chance of any force he might obtain by waiting to collect his flotilla, was not to be balanced with the risk of delay. Joachim, dressed in a rich uniform, and attended by about thirty officers, among whom was General Franceschetti, disembarked at Pizzo. On his entering the market-place of the little town, numbers came to gaze on him, but none to join him. He collected horses, mounted his retinue, and proceeded towards Monteleone, the ca

Oct. 8.

pital of Calabria. On his way, he met a colonel of gens d'armes, by name Trentacapelli, whom he commanded to follow him. The officer eluded the request, afraid, probably, of being detained had he given a direct refusal. "My king," he replied, "shall be he whose flag shall be displayed on the castle of Monteleone.' Murat permitted him to proceed on his journey. On arriving at Pizzo, Trentacapelli found the inhabitants taking arms in the cause of Ferdinand, under command of Seignior Alcala, the steward of the Duke del Infantado, to whom the village belongs. Colonel Trentacapelli put himself at their head, and hastened to pursue Murat, who was already half way on his journey to Monteleone. With the fool-hardy infatuation that seems to have characterized most of his measures, Joachim concluded that the strong party which advanced from Pizzo, were following with the purpose of joining him, and determined to wait their arrival. On their approach, the shout of Viva il Re Gioachino! which was raised by his attendants, was answered by a volley of musketry. A smart skirmish ensued, in the course of which Murat fired his last pistol in the face of Trentacapelli, but without killing him; and at length, breaking through the enemy, with about twelve followers, all of whom, save himself, were wounded, he regain ed, at full gallop, the sea-beach, near the place where he had disembarked. Here all hopes of escape terminated. The commander of the felucca from which he had disembarked had taken the alarm on hearing the firing, and, giving up Murat for lost, bore away from the coast. Joachim threw himself into a fishing-boat, and endeavour ed to get it launched. The fisherman and his comrades pulled the boat to the beach, and surrounded him. As a last effort, he produced the passport for Trieste. It was too late. A female

rushed upon him, and tore off his decorations, and he was conveyed before General Nanziante, the commander of Calabria, where he underwent a short examination.

-News of the capture of Murat was carried to Naples by telegraph, and by the same expeditious means an order was conveyed to the commandant of the military district in which he had landed, to subject him to a trial by martial law. His trial and condemnation were very summary; for the lot of a captive and defeated pretender is seldom long dubious. He was found guilty by the court-martial, unanimously, of having attempted to excite rebellion and civil war, and the president, General Nanziante, passed sentence of death accordingly. The justice of this doom is vindicated by the general law of nations; yet, considering that Murat, though now unquestionably a private man, had been so lately numbered among those who make peace or war at their pleasure, a firm government would have disdained, and an humane monarch hesitated, to execute the sentence. It is said, accordingly, that Ferdinand expressed some scruples at signing the fatal warrant, until reminded that the unsettled state of his newly recovered kingdom did not permit him in prudence to spare the forfeit life of his unhappy rival. The sentence of death was executed in the same day. Murat made it his request that he should be shot by a party of his own guard, which was of course refused. With unnecessary cruelty, the Neapolitan officer denied him the use of scissars to cut off his hair, which he wished to send to his family. At the last fatal moment he behaved with the courage to be expected from Le beau sabreur, placed on his breast a picture of his wife, refused to have his eyes bandaged, or to use a seat, received six balls through his head, and fell without a