capitulate, on condition that they should be allowed to march out of the castles Nuovo and Uovo, with the honors of war, and be provided with vessels to transport themselves and families, with their property, to France. This treaty his Lordship set aside, as his Sicilian Majesty had ordered that no terms were to be entered into with the rebels, but that their surrender was to be unconditional. They were accordingly brought into the fleet, disarmed, and their leaders placed in irons.
The enemy still retaining possession of the castles of St. Elmo, Gaieta, and Capua, preparations were instantly made for their subjugation; and on the 29th June, the trenches were opened before the former fortress, under the direction of Captain Troubridge, who had been selected to conduct the operations on shore; and the place was summoned to surrender; but the Commandant, M. Mejan, determined to stand a siege. At first, Captain Ball, of the Alexander, was second in command; but that officer’s services being required at Malta, his place was most ably supplied by the subject of this memoir.
On the 3d July, a battery of three 36-pounders and four mortars, was erected about a hundred toises from the walls of St. Elmo; also a battery of four 36-pounders was constructed at the opposite angle, by a body of Russians belonging to the army of General Suvorof. Some Turkish auxiliaries were at the same time employed in guarding particular depôts, and in the main behaved very well.
It was the intention of the British commander to storm the castle in different places, as soon as practicable breaches could be made. On the 5th, another battery of two 36-pounders was opened. In the mean time, the three-gun battery being entirely destroyed, and the guns dismounted, Captain Hallowell was directed to erect another at the distance of ninety toises from the walls. The quick and well-directed fire of this new battery (which was admirably constructed, and cost immense labour[1],) aided by a smart cannonade from the
- ↑ In front of one of the embrazures of this battery stood a tree, which it was necessary to remove. The Neapolitan labourers did not at first like to expose themselves by going to cut it down. Captains Troubridge and Hallowell, with Colonel Tchudy a Swiss, and M. Monfrere, an emigrant of
