aled as only trial can reveal. When reviewed, it had appeared to
Mack and Nelson a well-equipped force of thirty thousand of the
"finest troops in Europe." Brought face to face with fifteen thousand
French, in a month it ceased to exist.

Upon Mack's advance, the French general Championnet had evacuated
Rome, into which the King made a vainglorious triumphal entry. The
French retired to Castellana, followed by the Neapolitans; but in the
campaign that ensued the latter behaved with disgraceful cowardice.
Flying in every direction, with scarcely any loss in killed, and
preceded in their flight by the King, the whole force retreated in
confusion upon the capital. There revolutionary ideas had spread
widely among the upper classes; and, although the populace both in
city and country remained fanatically loyal, and hostile to the
French, the King and Queen feared to trust their persons to the issue
of events. Powerless through suspicions of those around them,
apparently well founded, and through lack of any instrument with which
to act, now that their army was destroyed, their one wish was to
escape to Palermo.

To do this involved some difficulty, as the mob, like that of Paris,
was bitterly opposed to their sovereign leaving the capital; but by
the management and determination of Nelson, who was greatly helped by
the courage and presence of mind of Lady Hamilton, the royal family
was embarked on board the "Vanguard" on the evening of December 21st.
During several previous days treasure to the amount of two and a half
millions sterling was being conveyed secretly to the ship. "The whole
correspondence relative to this important business," wrote Nelson to
St. Vincent, "was carried on with the greatest address by Lady
Hamilton and the Queen, who being constantly in the habits of
correspondence, no one could suspect." On the evening of the 23d the
"Vanguard" sailed, and after a most tempestuous passage reached
Palermo on the 26th. The youngest of the princes, six years old, taken
suddenly with convulsions, died on the way in the arms of Lady
Hamilton, whose womanly helpfulness, as well as her courage, came out
strongly in this trying time. Nelson wrote to St. Vincent: "It is my
duty to tell your Lordship the obligations which the whole royal
family as well as myself are under on this trying occasion to her
Ladyship." These scenes inevitably deepened the impression she had
already made upon him, which was not to be lessened