1889.] on ''MarJced Unexplored:' 667 



compromise himself in any manner." " Eefused to comj)romise 

 himself," by obeying the orders of his sovereign. 



Mr. Graham, on our side, arrived at Naples on the 5th of January, 

 was conveyed in a royal carriage to the Due de Gallo's, where he met 

 Count Noipperg and Menz. They naturally supposed that Graham 

 had come to sign the treaty on Bentinck's behalf; but when it was 

 presented to him, Graham said that he had no instructions. The 

 Austrians stared at him, and naturally wondered what in that case he 

 had come to Naples for. They did not suspect Bentinck's perfidy. 



After a few days of dining and feting, Mr. Graham had another 

 interview with Count Neipperg. Count Neipperg was completely 

 bewildered at (I'raLam's attitude. The question, he said, had been 

 settled by Lord Aberdeen and Prince Metternich, acting under the 

 ordi^rsof their soveieigns, and neither he nor Lord William Bentinck, 

 still less Mr. Graham, could pretend to any discretion in the matter. 

 They were merely agents. Graham was a loyal private secretary, and 

 struggled hard in an impossible situation. At length he dro])i)ed a 

 word in favour of King Ferdinand, and Neipperg flashed out at him, 

 " It was absurd," he said, " that a useless monarch should stand in the 

 way of the peace of Europe ; and Austria," he went od, was quite 

 prepared to lorce Ferdinand to renounce Naples if he did not do so 

 of free will. 



"A u-rcless monarch" is a remarkable expression v\lien applied 

 to a Bourbon sovereign married to an Austrian archduchess, and 

 applied, too, by the ambassador of the Austrian Emperor. I thipk 

 it shows how determined Austria was to establish the throne of 

 Murat. For the rest the epithet is entirely in place. Never was 

 there a more useless monarch than Ferdinand of Naples. 



Neipperg summoned up the resolve of his court in these words : 

 *' Wherever we can find a soldier to oppose to the French armies, we 

 shall buy him at any cost," and " King Joachim must now have a 

 better military frontier." That is a well-known diplomatic phrase, 

 and, of course, implied a large addition to his territory. Thus the 

 intentions of Austria were manifest. Murat, on his side, by the 

 mouth of the Luke of Campochiaro, stated plainly that his deter- 

 mination was to be the leader of United Italy; that in that cause 

 lie had no desire for any ally except England : with himself on land 

 and England in alliance at sea, he said, United Italy was a certainty. 

 He was so well aware, he added, of the hopelessness of ever rivalling 

 Euglaud at sea, that he was ready to hand over all his ships to 

 England at once. So near as this was Italy to being unified in the 

 year 18 U. 



Giaham, on his part, would say nothing definite, listened to 

 everyone, reported to Bentinck, and even went so far in dissimulation 

 as to arrange an imaginary campaign, with King Joachim command- 

 ing the centre of the Allied Army, and having Bellegarde on his right 

 wing and Bentinck on his left. So loyal was lie in a disloyal cause. 

 He then extracted the passport for the Neapolitan Ministry for 



