250 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



liberate choice, by all tUe orders of 

 the state, of Bernadotte, to the 

 exclusion of all the royal family 

 from the succession to the crown, 

 was an indelible stain on the 

 Swedish nation; and above all, 

 on his uncle, the Duke ofSuder- 

 mania. 



So much for the Swedes. For the 

 Danes, they were employed with 

 great activity in fitting out frigates 

 and gun-boats for annoying our 

 trade in the Baltic. The Danish 

 nation seem to have returned to 

 their old trade of piracy, which 

 they pursued with great courage 

 as well as assiduity, and no small 

 success. 



Mighty preparations were made 

 this year by king Joachim Murat 

 for an invasion of Sicily. In the 

 beginning of July he had col- 

 lected 37,000 troops on the Cala- 

 brian coast, opposite to the island, 

 and 208 gun-boats, and 700 boats 

 of other descriptions. The troops 

 were practised daily in embarka- 

 tion and debarkation ; and Murat 

 declared that it was his intention 

 to be at Palermo on the 15th of 

 August. And he issued a procla- 

 mation to the Sicilians, announc- 

 ing thiit he was coming over with 

 40,000 brave French troops, to 

 drive away the English. While 

 Sicily was thus threatened, it was 

 very discouraging to the English 

 to find the backwardness of the 

 court to assist in the general de- 

 fence. The people were all very 

 well disposed towards tiie British 

 troops, and attached to the com- 

 mon cause of Sicily and Great Bri- 

 tain. Nothing indeed could be 

 more natural than an alliance be- 

 tween Britain and Sicily, situate at 

 the opposite extremities of the 



French empire. But the people of 

 Sicily frequently asked our officers, 

 what was to become of them it 

 they should be exposed to the re- 

 sentment of the French, and then 

 abandoned ? Sir John Stuart, with 

 his little army, was left alone, 

 either to take the best measures 

 for resistance, or to secure his re- 

 treat. The general did not hesitate 

 to make his option. All our 

 troops were drawn together; gun- 

 boats fringed the coast ; batteries 

 rose as by magic; fifteen thousand 

 British troops, distributed in pro- 

 per places, but all on a line of 

 easy and rapid communication, 

 were opposed to the threatened 

 invasion of 40,000. The Neapo- 

 litan array was encamped on the 

 heights above the castle of Scylla, 

 and the gun-boats and small craft 

 anchored under cover of heavy 

 batteries, which constantly threw 

 shot and shells into the English 

 quarters in Sicily. Sir John Stu- 

 art's army was encamped all along 

 the Straits from Messina to the 

 Faro Point, a distance of tenmiles. 

 Four line-of-battle ships, with 

 some frigates and sloops, were 

 moored within the Faro. Daily 

 skirmishes took place between the 

 Sicilian flotilla prejjarcd by sir 

 John Stuart, and that of King 

 Murat. And as the sea between 

 Sicily and that part of the conti- 

 nent where the Frcncli army was 

 posted, is scarcely, where narrow- 

 est, two miles, the beauty of the 

 scene was admirable ; particularly 

 at niaht, when showers of shells 

 and red-hot balls Hew through 

 the air with a very little actual da- 

 mage to the combatants on either 

 side. It was more like an enter- 

 tainment at Vauxhnll than ascourge 



