Francis, having acknowledged Joachim’s sovereignty, pledged himself to obtain the renunciation of it from Ferdinand (as though the consent of that individual made any difference to anybody!), while Joachim promised, on his part, to indemnify Ferdinand, thereby acknowledging that his own claim was that of _force majeure_ and nothing else; and yet the principle of Ferdinand’s Divine Right was never called into question! But at the same time Murat was in correspondence with General Miollis, commanding the French troops in Rome, and with Barbou and Fouché, assuring them of his devotion and attachment to France, and endeavouring to explain away his treaty with Francis on the ground of political necessity! Miollis withdrew into Sant’ Angelo, and the Neapolitan troops forced the little body of French under Lascolette to shut themselves up in the citadel of Civita Vecchia. But now, after having inaugurated his campaign, Murat’s indecision prevented him from giving any definite orders, and his generals instantly began to suspect him of playing them false. Proceeding into the States of Rome, he found anarchy prevailing in every direction, and, already torn with conflicting emotions, he found himself the target of generals, magistrates, and Austrian ministers, who maintained that he had not acted up to his part of the treaty. That roused him, and he woke up from his lethargy long enough to start the Neapolitan troops forward and to settle the civil administration a little. A good many Frenchmen still remained in the Neapolitan army and, in order to retain them, and have some company in his matricidal course, he assured them that the treaty was a feint and that he was working heart and soul for his beloved country. But he so entangled himself with lies that he presently found it difficult to move in any direction without finding the net of them about his feet. The Neapolitans disliked and distrusted the French, because they saw in them a drag upon Joachim’s wheel. The French despised the Neapolitans and presently departed, seeing clearly whither they were being led. Since the only officers of any value in the Neapolitan army were these Frenchmen, Murat was now compelled to rely upon the Germans—that is to say, the very men he had fought against in the preceding year. The French were not in sufficient numbers to offer any real resistance and it was not long before Civita Vecchia, Sant’ Angelo, Florence, Leghorn, Ferrara, and Ancona were in Murat’s hands. Bentinck presently landed at Leghorn with fourteen thousand Anglo-Sicilians, and Eugène, the Viceroy, found himself with fifty thousand men opposed to forty-five thousand Austrians, twenty thousand Neapolitans, eight thousand Germans under Murat and Bentinck’s Anglo-Sicilians.