The Neapolitan government now threw olF the mask, andi without any intimation of hostility to Admiral Mackau , thenFrench ambassador at Naples, despatched an expedition toassist the British and her allies in the spoliation or defence ofToulon . Upon witnessing this breach of solemn treaty,
: Mackau demanded his passport, and taking with him thei mourning widow and the daughter of Ugo Basville, whohad recently been murdered by the papal myrmidons atRome, returned to Paris .
The exploits of the Anti-gallican allies in their occupation,defence, and disastrous expulsion from Toulon , derive pecu-liar historical importance from one name, which has sincefilled the world with awe and admiration, having been then,for the first time, sounded by the voice of fame. NapoleonBuonaparte commanded the artillery, which retook theplace. The real character of that great man, as well as hisreal and ultimate views, have yet to be fairly portrayed.Had he ever had the fortune to read a few chapters ofBentham, he would have given liberty to Europe by a farbriefer process than that which was interrupted by the frostof Moscow , and the apathy of his enriched marshals in 1814and 1815. What ill-placed clemency, his re-establishingand forming alliances with those rotten despotisms which herepeatedly overthrew!
The Neapolitan contingent of troops, under the orders ofGenerals Fortiguerri and Pignatelli, arrived at Toulon aboutthe 10th September, 1793. The Spanish General O’Hara,
! commanded in chief the allied forces, which occupied thej city and the forts, and, in rotation, performed the service ofi defence.
I From various parts of the republic, troops of the line, and' national guards, arrived to besiege the intruders, and expelthem from the soil. Four months had elapsed since the dayof occupation; and although some partial attacks had been ofvol. 1 . h