That these did not trust Ferdinand’s eloquent vow to abstain from retaliation against those who had served Murat was made plain in the very beginning of the negotiations, for they refused to take his personal word for the fulfilment of any part of the treaty, and demanded the guarantee of the Emperor of Austria. It was little security enough, in all conscience, for the guarantees of Francis had been the jest of Europe for years past, but they seemed to think that it might bind the hands of the “Butcher King” for awhile. On the same evening that the treaty was ratified Joachim departed incognito for Pozzuoli. From there he went on to Ischia, where he was received with all the respect due to a monarch, and on the 22nd he sailed for France with a few friends. Caroline, as regent, still remained in the palace, and the Neapolitan populace in the absence of the troops went off their heads. They had been hard held lately, and now they made up for it. They broke open the prisons and committed atrocities that do not bear writing about. Even the presence of 300 marines from the British fleet could do little to control the mob, but they produced a temporary calm, during which Caroline embarked on one of the British men-of-war with Macdonald and two others. CHAPTER XVI MURAT’S LAST DAYS No sooner was Caroline on board than the city broke out again and anarchy reigned, until the Austrians sent in some troops in answer to the frantic appeals of the magistrates, and these, with the British Marines, set upon the mob, killing a hundred or more of the worst of them before order was restored. The riot and the subsequent slaughter had apparently no effect upon the people’s feelings, for on the very next day they illuminated the city gorgeously, and the sound of their merriment could be heard out at sea. All the ships in the harbour were dressed, even that one which sheltered Caroline and her followers, and on the 23rd the Austrians entered with Crown Prince Leopold of Bourbon at their head, who graciously acknowledged the howls of the crowd. Everything that suggested Murat—flags, statues, pictures—was destroyed, and Caroline, from the deck of the British ship, watched the general jubilation over her husband’s fall. Joachim, passing Gaeta, saw his standard still flying from that fortress, and, even then, would have landed and joined the garrison had he been permitted to do so, but the port was blocked up with vessels and he was forced to proceed on his way.