ngs must happen to the King, and he had his choice,--'Either to
advance, trusting to God for his blessing on a just cause, to die with
_l'epee a la main_, or remain quiet and be kicked out of your
Kingdoms.'" Thus rudely adjured, the King decided to be a hero after
the pattern of Nelson.

On the 22d of November a summons was sent to the French to evacuate
the Papal States and Malta, and a Neapolitan army marched upon Rome,
commanded by Mack in person. At the same time Nelson took on board his
squadron a corps of five thousand, to seize Leghorn, the possession of
which, with control of the sea, was not unjustly considered
threatening to the communications between the centre of French power,
in Northern Italy, and the exposed corps at the foot of the peninsula.
After landing this body, Nelson again went to Naples, leaving
Troubridge in charge at Leghorn, with several ships; directing him
also to keep vessels cruising along the Riviera, and before Genoa, to
break up the coastwise traffic, which had resumed great proportions
since the absence of the British from the Mediterranean, and upon
which the French army in Piedmont and Lombardy now greatly depended.

On the 5th of December the "Vanguard" once more anchored at Naples.
Nelson's estimate of affairs as he now found them, is best told in his
own words. "The state of this Country is briefly this: The army is at
Rome, Civita Vecchia taken, but in the Castle of St. Angelo are five
hundred French troops. The French have thirteen thousand troops at a
strong post in the Roman State, called Castellana. General Mack is
gone against them with twenty thousand: the event in my opinion is
doubtful, and on it hangs the immediate fate of Naples. If Mack is
defeated, this country, in fourteen days, is lost; for the Emperor
has not yet moved his army, and if the Emperor will not march, this
country has not the power of resisting the French. But it was not a
case of choice, but necessity, which forced the King of Naples to
march out of his country, and not to wait till the French had
collected a force sufficient to drive him, in a week, out of his
kingdom." It is by no means so sure that no other course of action had
been open, though Nelson naturally clung to his first opinion. By
advancing, the King gave the French occasion, if they were seeking
one; and the Neapolitan army, which might well have deterred them, as
it had embarrassed even Bonaparte in his time, had its rottenness
reve