Advice of Napoleon.
"The fate of your reign depends upon your conduct when you return to Calabria. There must be no forgiveness. Shoot at least six hundred rebels. They have murdered more soldiers than that. Burn the houses of thirty of the principal persons in the villages, and distribute their property among the soldiers. Take away all arms from the inhabitants, and give up to pillage five or six of the large villages. When Placenza rebelled, I ordered Junot to burn two villages and shoot the chiefs, among whom were six priests. It will be some time before they rebel again."
Where there is this energy to punish crime, the good repose in safety. This apparent inhumanity may be, with a ruler who has millions to protect, the highest degree of humanity. When a lawless mob is rioting through the streets of a city, robbing, burning, murdering, it is not well for the Government affectionately to address them with soothing words. It is far more humane to mow down the insurgents with grape and canister.
The English Fleet.
The English fleet still menaced and assailed the kingdom of Naples at every available point. It held possession of the island of Capin, near the mouth of the gulf of Naples. There was a Neapolitan, by the name of Vecchioni, who had professed the warmest attachment to the new government, and whom Joseph had appointed as one of his counsellors of state. This man entered into a conspiracy with the English, to betray to them the King to whom he had perfidiously sworn allegiance. His treason was clearly proved. But he was an old man. His life had hitherto been pure. The tender heart of Joseph could not bear to inflict upon him merited punishment. He said compassionately, "The poor old man has suffered enough already. Let him go." To govern an ignorant, fanatical, and turbulent nation swarming with brigands, requires a character of stern mould. But for the energies communicated to Joseph by Napoleon, Joseph could not long have retained his throne. The Emperor at Saint Helena, speaking of his brother, said:
Testimony of Napoleon at Saint Helena.
"Joseph rendered me no assistance, but he is a very good man. His wife, Queen Julia, is the most amiable creature that ever existed. Joseph and I were always attached to each other, and kept on good terms. He loves me sincerely, and I doubt not that he would do every thing in the world to serve me; but his qualities are only suited to private life. He is of a gentle and kind disposition, possesses talent and information, and is altogether a most amiable man. In the discharge of the high duties which I confided to him, he did the best he could. His intentions were good, and therefore the principal fault rested not so much with him as with me, who raised him above his proper sphere. When placed in important circumstances, he found himself unequal to the task imposed upon him."
The Napoleon Brothers and Sisters.
On another occasion, the Emperor at Saint Helena, speaking of the different members of his family, said, "In their mistaken notions of independence, the members of my family sometimes seemed to consider their power as detached, forgetting that they were merely parts of a great whole, whose views and interests they should have aided, instead of opposing. But, after all, they were very young and inexperienced, and were surrounded by snares, flatterers, and intriguers with secret and evil designs.
"And yet, if we judge from analogy, what family, in similar circumstances, would have acted better? Every one is not qualified to be a statesman. That requires a combination of powers that does not often fall to the lot of one. In this respect, all my brothers are singularly situated. They possessed at once too much and too little talent. They felt themselves too strong to resign themselves blindly to a guiding counsellor, and yet too weak to be left entirely to themselves. But, take them all in all, I have certainly good reason to be proud of my family.