extensive country was kept under control by only five thousand men, the greater part of whom were Italians. If in the time of Massena, the Calabrese had been united and assisted by the English, that brave warrior with sixty thousand men could not have resisted them; such are the vigour and ardour which exist in the breasts of the Calabrese. My regiment was always in motion, first to the right and then on the left of the Ebro. Once I was placed under the orders of General Severoli of the kingdom of Italy. On quitting Aragon this officer wrote to General Pâris who commanded that province, "Confide in Colonel Pépé; let him act according to his own judgment, and you will be satisfied with him."

It was the month of April of the year 1813, when I received orders from the Neapolitan Government, which were approved by Marshal Suchet, to leave only one battalion in Spain, and to proceed with the remainder of my troops to Naples: the cavalry, however, was to remain in Spain. I was allowed full scope to manage this operation. All my followers wished to return to Naples. They were attacked by the malady called nostalgia, or home sickness, which was perhaps increased by seeing realized in them the adage, that "the absent are always in the wrong." On this occasion, I determined upon consulting solely the advantage of the Neapolitan army. I selected to accompany me as many corporals, sergeants, and officers as I could, about three hundred in number; always letting my choice fall upon the most deserving. I made but one exception to this rule. I left Major Staiti in Spain, although he was a more valuable officer than the other major. I felt that it was my

duty to leave my fellow soldiers under the command of the more able of the two superior officers. This proceeding of mine was, however, injurious to that excellent Commander, who being away from Naples, although engaged in a campaign, received his colonelcy after the other major I had taken with me. Staiti died without attaining higher rank, although his colleague was made a General of Brigade. I quitted my beloved veterans with my eyes suffused with tears, and with a heavy heart, as the thought arose that few among them would ever again behold their native land.

I had scarcely left Spain, and set foot upon the French territory, when I separated myself from my small column, followed only by my servant on horseback that I might enjoy the pleasure of being alone, which I could now do without danger; a luxury unknown in Spain at that period, when it was impossible to stir unless escorted by a detachment of troops. On arriving at Pau, I sold my horses and such other things as I could not take with me at a low price, and purchased at a very high one a travelling carriage to convey me on my way. I then took leave of my three hundred fellow soldiers, and leaving with Major Lubrano full instructions how he was to proceed on the three months' march which was to take them to Naples, I ordered post horses, and travelled full speed day and night, until I reached Milan, where I hoped to learn some intelligence of my brother, on whose account I experienced such cruel anxiety as to feel certain at times that he was no more. At Milan, Baron Trecchi took me to some friends of his connected with the war department; but my heart sank within me, when I found that they could give me no tidings of Florestano.

Here I saw for a moment a literary man named Salfi. He was a native of Cosenzo in Calabria, and resided at Milan, where he received a pension from the government. I remarked to him that his talents were precious to the south of Italy, and that I would request the King to give him an employment at Naples. Salfi accepted my offer, as if he did not greatly reckon upon its result. I departed from Milan in the greatest haste and anxiety of mind, hoping, yet sometimes fearing, to gain intelligence of my brother in the kingdom of Naples.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1813.

I reach Naples-State of the army on my arrival there-Merits and faults of King Joachim-I am promoted to the rank of Major-General-Secret negotiations of the King with the English-His departure for Dresden-I am sent with my brigade into the Abruzzi, and a little later to Ancona-Perplexity of Joachim whether to declare for France or Austria.

ON his return from the unfortunate campaign of Russia, the King received me with the greatest kindness, telling me I should find an 8th regiment of the line three times as numerous as the one I had left in Spain. "There may be more men," was my reply, "but not more soldiers." In point of fact, there had been formed in the kingdom another regiment of infantry named the 8th of the line, as though the one in Spain. no longer existed. On reviewing it next day, the appearance and number of the men gratified me, but on examining them more minutely, my pleasure was changed into pain. It was quite impossible for the King properly to organize an army. There existed no fixed laws for the choice and promotion of officers, or if some few did exist, they were evaded that the King might satisfy his favourites of both sexes.

Murat was a Charles XII. in the field, but a Francis I. in his Court. He would have regarded the refusal of a favour to any lady of the Court, even though she were not his mistress, as an indignity. Besides, the French admitted to serve in the Neapolitan army were mostly men of little value, the more meritorious being employed in France, and those who served in Naples aiming at nothing beyond leading a joyous life and making their fortunes. As the greater part of these held high situations, which they in no manner deserved, the result was that the army was going to ruin. The troops were paid with great regularity, but the private administration of the different corps was as bad as possible, being totally without order and discipline. In organizing my regiment properly, according to my own ideas of the matter, I needed all the authority possessed in Spain, an authority which I did not enjoy in Naples. My wishes were there at once understood, not only because I had to deal with veteran soldiers; but for this powerful reason, that the further a man is from his home, the stronger are his feelings of patriotism. When I quitted Spain, I was full of political hopes, but on beholding the advantage that the King derived from the independence he had acquired by the misfortunes of Napoleon, I fell into a state of such profound sadness, that I was upon the point of quitting the army altogether. It is certainly not a vain boast to affirm that I served as a citizen and not as a mercenary, although almost all my father's property at that period, was to devolve on my eldest brother, as, while the Code Napoléon had dissolved the law of primogeniture, it did not operate in the person of my father himself, but on that of my brother.

In a few days I was made a Major-General, and this