It appears, however, that Lord Nelson, though he would not sanction an armistice which he considered as dishonouring the sovereign for whom he was acting, had not the smallest desire to interfere with the disposal of the rebels whom he was so anxious to secure.  It was not for their punishment, but for the security of those whom he feared they might contaminate by their principles, that he resolved to keep them in safe custody till the farther pleasure of his Sicilian Majesty should be known; and, in this, even Cardinal Ruffo, it seems, at length, reluctantly acquiesced.

On the morning of the 27th, having embarked all the principal rebels in the several ships of the British squadron, and the rest in polacres anchored under their care, his lordship ordered Captain Troubridge to land with a detachment of troops, for the purpose of cutting down “the infamous Tree of Anarchy,” which was immediately burnt before the king’s palace.  His Sicilian Majesty’s flag was now every where flying in Naples, except on the Castle of St. Elmo.  This fortress still remaining in the hands of the French, Captains Troubridge and Ball, who had now, in some degree, conciliated the cardinal, taking with them thirteen hundred men from the ships, five hundred Russian troops, and a considerable body of royalists, proceeded to invest it.

As there could be little doubt that this place, though exceedingly strong, must in a few days yield to the vigorous operations of the brave and skilful officers by whom it was besieged, which would complete the repossession of the Neapolitan capital, Lord Nelson wrote to General Acton; requesting that his Sicilian Majesty would come into the Bay of Naples, as well as the general, to sanction and direct, by his royal presence, and their united councils, the requisite measures for completing the important business now in so fair a train for being happily concluded.

At the surrender of the castles, Carraccioli had effected his escape; but he was soon apprehended by the royalists, who were clamorous for his execution; and, on the 29th, after a fair trial, by a board of naval officers of his Sicilian Majesty, for rebellion against his lawful sovereign, and firing at his Sicilian Majesty’s frigate La Minerve, he was hanged at the fore-yard-arm of that ship.

Lord Nelson greatly lamented the fate of this unhappy man, though he could not deny the justice of his sentence; and he would, undoubtedly, have recommended him as an object of mercy to his Sicilian Majesty, had he not well known that such an interference, in the then temper of the people, must have rendered himself an object of their suspicion; and thus have operated against the king’s interest, without finally preserving the culprit from the worst effects of their fury.  When it is considered that, a very few months before, Carraccioli had received, at Palermo, the supreme command of the small remains of his Sicilian Majesty’s fleet; that, on his departure for Messina,