assailants. They were aided by the republican or patriot party, who
delivered up to them the fort of St. Elmo. By this party, then a very
small minority in Naples--much the greater part of whose population,
ignorant, fanatical, and worked upon by wily priests, were frantic in
their hatred of the French, and of the Jacobins, as they called the
liberal section of their own countrymen--the triumph of the invaders was
looked upon as a temporary evil, trifling when compared with the
advantages that would result from it. Amongst the most enthusiastic
liberals was young Pépé, who had already conceived that ardent love of
liberty, which, throughout life, has been his mainspring of action. He
hailed with delight the publication of the edict by which Naples was
erected into the Parthenopean Republic. He was eager to enter the new
army, whose organisation had been decreed, but his tender age made his
brothers oppose his wish, and he was fain to content himself with a post
in the national guard.

The new republic was destined to a very short existence. The provisional
government, consisting, in imitation of the French system, of six
committees, displayed little activity and still less judgment. It
neglected to conciliate and win over the popular party, which remained
stanch to the Bourbons and absolutism; it took little pains to convince
the bigoted multitude of the advantages and blessings of a free
constitution. The treasury was bare, the harvest had been bad, the coast
was blockaded, and their difficulties were aggravated by the heavy
taxes imposed, and rigorously levied by Championnet for the support of
his army. These impositions, and a decree for the disarming of the
people, produced discontent even amongst the friends of the new
institutions. Nevertheless, Championnet, by showing an interest in the
rising Republic, had gained a certain degree of popularity, when he was
recalled to Paris to be tried by a court-martial, for his opposition to