oubridge then proceeded to Capua, and took the command of the motley
besieging force. One thousand of the best men in the fleet were sent
to assist in the siege. Just at this time Nelson received a peremptory
order from Lord Keith to sail with the whole of his force for the
protection of Minorca; or, at least, to retain no more than was
absolutely necessary at Sicily. "You will easily conceive my feelings,"
said he in communicating this to Earl St. Vincent; "but my mind, as your
lordship knows, was perfectly prepared for this order; and it is now,
more than ever, made up. At this moment I will not part with a single
ship; as I cannot do that without drawing a hundred and twenty men from
each ship, now at the siege of Capua. I am fully aware of the act I
have committed; but I am prepared for any fate which may await my
disobedience. Capua and Gaieta will soon fall; and the moment the
scoundrels of French are out of this kingdom I shall send eight or nine
ships of the line to Minorca. I have done what I thought right--others
may think differently; but it will be my consolation that I have gained
a kingdom, seated a faithful ally of his Majesty firmly on his throne,
and restored happiness to millions."

At Capua, Troubridge had the same difficulties as at St. Elmo; and being
farther from Naples, and from the fleet, was less able to overcome them.
The powder was so bad that he suspected treachery; and when he asked
Nelson to spare him forty casks from the ships, he told him it would be
necessary that some Englishmen should accompany it, or they would steal
one-half, and change the other. "All the men you see," said he, "gentle
and simple, are such notorious villains, that it is misery to be
with them." Capua, however, soon fell; Gaieta immediately afterwards
surrendered to Captain Louis of the MINOTAUR. Here the commanding
officer acted more unlike a Frenchman, Captain Louis said, than any
one he had ever met; meaning that he acted like a man of honour. He
required, however, that the garrison should carry away their horses,
and other pillaged property: to which Nelson replied, "That no property
which they did not bring with them into the country could be theirs: and
that the greatest care should be taken to prevent them from carrying it
away." "I am sorry," said he to Captain Louis, "that you have entered
into any altercation. There is no way of dealing with a Frenchman but to
knock him down; to be civil to them is only to b