NAPLES. £43 
for the glorious entry of the French troops, who, pro¬ 
tected in a peculiar manner by Providence, had come to 
regenerate the nation, and confolidate its happinefs.” 
The venerable prelate did not fail to intimate, at the fame 
time, that St. Januarius had greeted their arrival in the 
kindeft manner 5 “ his blood having miraculoufly liqui¬ 
fied on the very evening of that day on which the repub¬ 
lican forces had taken up their abode in the capital.” 
After aflifting, with every appearance of the molt edify¬ 
ing piety, on this folemn occafion, Championnet changed 
the appellation of his troops into that of the “ Army of 
Naples,” and addreffed an able and feduftive proclama¬ 
tion to the inhabitants, in which he inveighed bitterly 
againft the tyranny of their late king, offering them li¬ 
berty at the fame time, in the name of his own common¬ 
wealth. “ You are at length free,” fays he; “ your love 
is the only price which France defires to obtain from you 
for your liberty, and the only claufe of the treaty of 
peace, which the army of the republic comes to ratify by 
a folemn oath with you within the walls of the capital, 
and on the fubverted throne of your laft monarch. Mi- 
l'ery be to the wretch who fliall refufe to fign with us this 
honourable compaCt, in which the fruit of victory is given 
to the vanquiflied, and which only leaves to the conqueror 
the glory of having confolidated your happinefs ; he (hall 
be treated as a public enemy, againft whom we remain in 
arms. If there are ftill among you hearts fo ungrateful as 
to reject that liberty which we have gained for you at the 
expenfe of our blood; or men fo infane as to regret a king 
deprived of the right of commanding, in confequence of 
his violating the oath which he had fwarn to defend 
them ; let them fly for protection to ftandards which are 
difgraced by perjury! War fhall be profecuted againft 
fuch to extermination. Republicans, theeaufe in which 
you Have fo generoufly fuffered is ultimately victorious. 
What the brilliant victories of the army of Italy have not 
been able to accomplifh, has been happily effected by the 
blindnefs of your laft king. Let him blame then his own 
mad pride, and his audacious aggreftions, for the happi¬ 
nefs of your fate, and the difgrace which he has expe¬ 
rienced ; but let him be juftly punifhed for having at¬ 
tacked, againft the faith of oaths, a nation in alliance with 
him, and for having attempted to deprive a neighbour¬ 
ing people of their liberty ; let him be punifhed by the 
lofs of a crown which he has difhonoured, and by the 
chagrin of having been the principal inftrument of mak¬ 
ing you free ; let no apprehenfion embitter the fentiment 
of an happinefs fo unexpected. Let the republican au¬ 
thorities, which are about to be eftablifhed, reftore order 
and tranquillity on the bafts of a paternal adminillration ; 
let them diflipate the idle alarms of ignorance, and op- 
pofe the fury of fanaticifm, with a zeal equal to that 
which has been employed by perfidy to increafe them; 
and, in a'fhort time, the feverky of difcipline, which re- 
eftablifhes order with fo much facility among the troops 
of a free people, will not fail to put a period to the crimes 
produced by hatred and revenge.” 
Immediately after this, Naples was proclaimed a com¬ 
monwealth, under the defignation of the Parthenopean 
Republic; and the provifional government confided to 
twenty-One citizens, chofen by the French general. 
Thefe were enjoined to draw up a plan for a new confti- 
tution, worthy of a free people ; and, while money was 
levied for the payment of the army, the eftates of the 
clergyand the domains of the crown were declared to 
appertain to the conquerors. But, although Championnet 
took care that his troops fliould not be a burden to the 
mother-country, he at the fame time reftrained 1 the fpolia- 
tions of the agents of the directory, and not Only fuf- 
pended them from the exercife of their functions, but 
obliged them to return home, declaring that the public 
faith pledged by him fhould not on any account be vio- 
lated. At the head of the new adminiftration was placed 
Charles Laubert, a man accufed of jacobinical principles ; 
and none of the reft pofielled the confidence of the nation, 
except Dominico Cirillo, a celebrated phyfician, and 
Flavio Pirelli, formerly a prefident of the royal chamber. 
The national guard, however, boafted of the firft gran ¬ 
dees; as contained„the princes Della Torelli and Rocca, 
both knights of St. Januarius, and the two richeft indi¬ 
viduals in the kingdom. The prince of Moliterno was 
appointed commander-in-chief, and the duke de Rocca- 
romana offered to levy a regiment at his own expenfe. 
An affembly, reprefenting the piazze, or ancient parlia¬ 
ments, was foon after convoked ; and care was taken to 
admit two reprefentatives on the part of the Lazzaroni, 
who ftill continued to poffefs conliderable fvvay in Naples, 
while their former leaders were inverted with employ¬ 
ments, or gratified with penfions. 
But the dream of republicanifm was foou to be at an. 
end. In a few months afterwards, the great 1 'uccefles of 
the Auftro-Rufiian army entirely changed the afpect of 
affairs ; and general Macdonald was ordered to retreat 
from the foutli of Italy, leaving, both at Rome and at 
Naples, thofe who had taken part in the late revolutions 
there, to the moft terrible refponfibility. That general, 
however, having left garrifons in the caftles of St. Angelo 
and St. F,lmo, as well as at Capua, Cartel Mare, and 
Gaeta, feveral of the patriots retired thither in confe¬ 
quence of the commotions originally excited by the rapa¬ 
city of the French commiffaries; and now greatly in- 
creafed, partly by the fucceftive defeats of the republican 
armies, and partly by the attachment which many of the 
people ftill entertained for the ancient government; for 
Ferdinand, although he had abandoned his capital, was 
not wholly forfaken by his fubjeCts. The inhabitants of 
the provinces in particular, ftill retained an affection for 
their abfent king, and were ready to facrifice their lives 
in his defence. 
Thefe fentiments had been carefully cherilhed by car¬ 
dinal Ruffo, one of the moft extraordinary men of the age. 
This fingular ecclefiaftic, in confequence of fome dis¬ 
putes with the pope, had taken refuge in the court of 
Naples, where he exercifed an employment but little fuit- 
able to the dignity of the Roman purple. Having accom¬ 
panied the king to Palermo, at a period when all the 
courtiers defpaired of the reftoration of the monarchy, he 
obtained leave to repair to Calabria, on purpofe to ereCt 
the ftandard of royalty there. Although accompanied by 
five perfons only, when he landed at Scilla, this fortunate 
adventurer was foon joined by numbers of the inhabitants, 
headed by don Reggio Rinaldi, reCtor of Scalca, who 
had already organifed an infurreCtion, and waited only for 
the arrival of a chief. 
The warlike cardinal, after collecting a number of new 
levies in the capacity of general, recurred to" his holy 
functions as a prieft, on purpofe to aroufe the fanaticifm 
of a people whom he knew to be both fuperftitious and 
barbarous in the extreme. Accordingly, in virtue of his 
fpiritual authority, he excommunicated all thofe who 
would not take up arms, while he enjoined every true 
catholic to wear a red crofs in his hat, as a fignal of faith ; 
and promifed fuch as might die in battle the immediate 
enjoyment of paradife. In addition to many of the pea- 
fantry, his eminence was loon joined by a multitude of 
galley-flaves, criminals imprifoned in the gaols, and rob¬ 
bers who had infefted the highway; thefe were immedi¬ 
ately formed into divifions, under three chiefs, every way 
worthy of their followers. The firft of thefe was called 
Fra’ Diabolo, a monk who, after being expelled from his 
convent, became the leader of a defperate band of free¬ 
booters ; the fecond was the gaoler of Salerno, who 
marched at the head of his prifoners ; and the third, rau- 
zanera, of whom it is reported, that he had committed 
fourteen homicides. Such were the talents and good for¬ 
tune of this martial prelate, that with troops fuch as thefe, 
on whom he had conferred the appellation of “ the Chrif- 
tian Army,” he attacked, feized, and plundered, the 
towns of Crotona and Catanzaro. 
Having overcome the detachments fcnt ag.-.inft him, in 
feverai 
