sons took place after Nelson's declaration to them, dated
June 25th, in which he said "he would not permit them to embark or
quit those places. They must surrender themselves to His Majesty's
Royal mercy." Captain Foote, who had signed the capitulation that
Nelson condemned, affords evidence which, though not conclusive, is
corroborative of the above. Writing to Nelson at 7 A.M. of the 24th of
June, fourteen hours before the fleet anchored, but only eight before
he knew of its approach, he says: "the Republicans are about to
embark," and again, "when the Capitulation is put into effect;" both
which expressions show that up to that moment the agreement had not
begun to receive execution. On the 22d of June Ruffo wrote to Foote
that there were no vessels in Naples on which to embark the
revolutionists, and requested him to furnish them; a request that
Foote referred to Count Thurn, the senior Neapolitan naval officer,
for compliance. It is therefore antecedently probable that the vessels
could not have been collected from other ports, and prepared for an
unexpected voyage of at least a week's duration, before Nelson
arrived, forty-eight hours later.

Hamilton's despatch contains another mistake, affecting the order of
events, so circumstantial that, taken with the one just discussed, it
shows his accuracy on such points was more than doubtful. "Admiral
Caracciolo," he says, was hanged, "the day after the King's squadron
came to Naples;" the fact being that the squadron arrived on the night
of June 24-25, and that Caracciolo was executed on the evening of the
29th. This error was not a slip of the pen, for he characterizes the
alleged fact as "so speedy an act of justice" as to elicit loud
applause from the concourse of spectators surrounding the ship in
boats.

Hamilton was not only nearly seventy, but he was worn out in health
and constitution. Writing a fortnight after the events, and having
passed that time in the turmoil and confusion attending the
re-establishment of order in Naples, it is not wonderful that he ran
together incidents that happened in rapid succession, and failed to
realize the importance which might afterwards attach to the date of
their occurrence. "I am so worn out," he tells Greville, "by the long
despatch I have been obliged to write to-day to Lord Grenville that I
can scarcely hold my pen;" and again, "My head is _so confused_ with
long writing on this subject that I must refer you to my lette