But the contest was already over; for on the 11th of April, 1814, Napoleon signed, at Fontainebleau, his act of abdication. Upon receiving this intelligence, Eugène attempted to secure Lombardy for himself. The senators declined to comply with his wish. A riot ensued, in which Prina, the unpopular minister of finance, was torn in pieces by the mob, and Méjean with difficulty escaped. The viceroy sought refuge with the king of Bavaria, one of whose daughters was his wife. German armies forthwith took possession of all the chief towns and places of strength in the peninsula.
In the course of the same year, the legitimate princes of Italy returned one by one to their thrones, as the congress of Vienna settled their claims. But the history of Napoleon’s empire will not be closed until we have anticipated a period of some months, in order to behold the fall of the last of those sovereignties which he had erected on the south of the Alps.
This was Naples, which for some time remained in an anomalous position. The emperor Francis, however desirous he might be, durst not break his own engagements; but France, Spain, and Sicily protested against all resolutions of the congress, so long as Joachim should be permitted to retain his kingdom. His own imprudence soon removed the difficulty. In March, 1815, on hearing that Napoleon had left Elba and effected a landing, he offered to Austria to join in the war against him, on condition of receiving a general acknowledgment of his title. The answer was evasive, and he hastened to gain for himself all he could. With an army of fifty or sixty thousand men, ill-trained, and not well inclined, he marched as far as Ravenna, whence a German force of ten thousand drove him back within his own frontier. He fled by sea, while his metropolis surrendered to the English fleet; and, in June, 1815, Ferdinand landed at Baja, and took possession of all his old provinces on the mainland.
After the battle of Waterloo, the dethroned Joachim wandered through France, and crossed to Corsica; whence, with about two hundred followers, he sailed for Italy, in the chimerical hope of conquering his lost kingdom. He landed in Calabria, where the soil yet reeked with the blood shed by Manhés; the peasants seized him, and delivered him to the military. A court-martial, receiving its commission from Naples, convicted him of treason; and on the 13th of October, 1815, he was shot in Pizzo, meeting an inglorious death with the same courage which he had always shown in the field of battle.[d]
FOOTNOTES
[23] [“This general, later Napoleon’s jailer, surrendered and was released on parole.”—De Castro.[g]]
[24] [Of Joachim Murat’s administration of Naples, De Castro says: “Joachim’s government, assisted by good and energetic ministers, amongst whom was Ricciardi, Count di Camaldoli, proposed to enforce and amplify the good laws of Joseph, and to impress upon the Neapolitans the duty of improving themselves. At the same time, the necessity of punishments being less, they wished to modify the rigours of the law, and obliterate if possible all traces of past storms. Many partisans of the Bourbons, or accused of being so by the authorities, were released from prison and returned from exile. The education of the young was provided for by the establishment of a suitable college at Naples, and a school for girls was opened in every commune. There were to be four universities, Naples, Attamura, Chiti, and Catanzaro, each one with a faculty of five. New professorships were established, lyceums and schools were founded according to the promises of the previous king. Elementary education became widespread, replacing the confusing and superficial encyclopædia instruction. Inspections and examinations were combined with great prudence.”[g]]
