HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
-which had entered Naples.. No 
stand seems to have been made by 
the Neapolitan generals, till they 
reached the frontiers of Calabria ; 
but having taken a strong position 
at Lago Negro, they determined to 
Wait there the approach of the ene- 
my. An action ensued, in which 
the Neapolitans, after attempting 
in yain to defend the passage of a 
small rivulet, were driven with 
great loss from their position. This 
action, which seems to have been 
obstinately disputed on the part of 
the Neapolitans, was fought on the 
6th of March. On the two follow- 
ing days Regnier continucd to ad- 
vance, driving small parties of the 
Neapolitans before him, and on the 
9th he attacked their army in its 
entrenched position at Campo Te- 
nese. According to the I*rench 
accounts, the Neapolitans behaved 
most shamefully on this occasion, 
They are said to have fled at the 
first onset, abandoning their can- 
non and baggage, and about 2000 
‘prisoners to the enemy; and to 
have dispersed after the battle so 
completely, that general Damas was 
unable, in his flight, to collect to- 
gether more than 900 infantry and 
50 horse. ‘This account of the ac- 
tion at Campo Terese, we have no 
particular grounds for calling in- 
question ; but we have understood, 
in general, that the disasters of the 
Neapolitan army in Calabria, were 
Owing more to the want of skill 
and courage in their leaders, than 
to any misconduct in the troops.— 
The battle of Campo Tenese, if it 
deserves the name, put an end for 
the present to the war in Calabria. 
Regnier advanced to Neggis at the 
extremity of the peninsula, and 
placed a French garrison in the 
fort of Scylla. Another diviston 
137 
of the French army marched, with- 
out opposition, to Tarento, and 
took possession of that important 
city, the most conveniently situated 
of any in the kingdom, for menacing 
at once both Sicily and Greece. 
The whole kingdom of Naples 
had now submitted to the French 
arms, except Gaeta and Civitelle del 
Tranto, in the farther Abruzzo.— 
Gaeta,which is situated on the point 
of a rocky promontory, washed on 
three sides by the sea, and on the 
fourth joined to the continent by a 
narrow isthmus, strongly fortified, 
was still held by the prince of 
Hesse-Philipsthal ; and such was the 
strength of the place and resolution 
of the governor, that the French 
had no chance of -becoming mase 
ters of it, without a regular siege 5 
which, for want of battering can- 
non, they were unable for some 
time to commence. But, though 
no enemy appeared against them 
in the field, the country they had 
subdued was far from being tran- 
guil, Assassinations, robberies, and 
other disorders, inseparable from a 
dissolution of government, broke 
out at Naples and in other parts of 
the kingdom, and required for their 
suppression, the most rigorous and 
vigilant police. These disorders, 
which filled the better sort of Nea- 
politans with the most dismal ap- 
prehensions, were fomented by the 
partizans and emissaries of the old 
government, who thought to dis- 
tress the French, by exciting dis- 
turbances in the country. But, 
such wretched policy had no other 
effect than to alienate still farther 
from the exiled family, all persons 
of rank, property, or considera~ 
tion at Naples, and to attach them 
more firmly to the French interest, 
from the predominance of which 
3 only 
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