near the centre of affairs; and in his apprehension everything then revolved about the Kingdom of Naples.  There can be no question, however, that all his faculties were constantly on the alert; and that his administration of the station until Keith’s return was characterized by the same zeal, sagacity, and politic tact that he had shown in earlier days.  It is admirable to note the patience, courtesy, and adroit compliment, he brings into play, to kindle, in those over whom he has no direct control, the ardor for the general good, and the fearlessness of responsibility, which actuate himself; and at the same time to observe how severe the strain was upon his nervous and irritable temper, as betrayed in comments upon these very persons, made in private letters which he never expected would see the light.

The points of principal importance were the consolidation of the royal power in the continental territory of the Two Sicilies, the reduction of Malta, and the retention of the French army in Egypt in entire isolation from France.  For the first, Nelson entirely failed in his efforts to induce the King to trust himself again in Naples, as the Hamiltons and he had expected when they came back to Palermo.  “My situation here is indeed an uncomfortable one,” he said to Earl Spencer; “for plain common sense points out that the King should return to Naples, but nothing can move him.”  “Our joint exertions have been used to get the King to go to Naples,” he wrote to Troubridge, “but of no avail; the Austrians will be there before him.”  Although the French had been expelled from all the Neapolitan dominions, the presence of fifteen hundred in Rome and Civita Vecchia served then as an excuse.  Nelson implored the commander of the British troops at Minorca to spare twelve hundred of his men, to aid Troubridge on the Roman coast.  “Sir Charles Stuart,” he tells him flatteringly, “by his timely exertion saved this Kingdom [Sicily] from anarchy and confusion, and perhaps from rebellion.  So it is now, my dear Sir, I trust, in your power (and I have assured the good King and Queen of your readiness to serve them and the good cause as much as Sir Charles) to send for the taking possession of Civita Vecchia and Rome; this done, and with my life, I will answer for the success of the expedition.  All would be quiet and happy; and their Sicilian Majesties might return to their throne without any alarm from mobs....  I am sure I need not venture to say more on the subject.  Your Excellency’s judgment and heart will point out the necessity of the measure if it can be accomplished.”  “Our King would be much gratified that Britain not Austria should reinstate the Pope.”