A treaty of peace was concluded with the French republic while the TENTH were in Egypt; but hostilities had recommenced before the regiment arrived at Gibraltar, and in 1804 a second battalion was added to the establishment. The head-quarters of the second battalion were fixed at Maldon in Essex; it was formed of men raised in Essex, for limited service, under the Additional Force Act, passed 20th July, 1804, and was placed upon the establishment from the 25th of December, 1804. [Sidenote: 1805] [Sidenote: 1806] The first battalion was stationed at Gibraltar during the years 1804, 1805, and 1806. In the meantime numerous changes occurred among the states of Europe, and the great success which at this period attended the French arms, enabled Napoleon Buonaparte, who, in 1804, had been invested with the title of Emperor of the French, King of Italy, &c., to assume the position of a dictator: his conduct towards the royal family of Naples occasioned the history of that court to become connected with the services of the TENTH regiment of foot. When war recommenced between Great Britain and France in 1803, Buonaparte occupied a portion of the Neapolitan territory with his troops. In 1805 a treaty of neutrality was concluded between the French Emperor and the King of Naples, by which the former engaged to withdraw his troops from the Neapolitan territory, and the latter was bound not to admit the fleets or armies of any of the states at war with France into his ports or territory. The conditions of this treaty were, however, violated by Ferdinand IV., who admitted an English and Russian armament into the Bay of Naples in November, 1805, and a body of British and Russian troops was landed at that city. The conduct of the King of Naples excited the indignation of the French Emperor, who concluded that this little kingdom was united with his enemies, and on the morning after the signatures were affixed to the treaty of Presburg, Napoleon issued a proclamation declaring that "the Neapolitan dynasty had ceased to reign," and denouncing vengeance against the family he had thus resolved to dethrone, in terms which left no hope of accommodation. The Russians withdrew from Naples, leaving the court to its fate. The British, under General Sir James Craig, were too few in number to defend the Neapolitan state, but they took possession of the island of Sicily, which they preserved in the interest of King Ferdinand IV. The armies of France, under Joseph Buonaparte, invaded the kingdom of Naples in the early part of 1806; the King and Queen fled to Sicily, which the British preserved as an asylum for their Majesties; they were accompanied and followed by part of the Neapolitan army, also by a number of persons connected with the court, and they took up their residence at the city of Palermo, situate in a bay on the northern coast of the island, where they received pecuniary aid from England.