A quarrel arose between the Republic and the Kingdom of Naples in 1782. The Neapolitan Government, for some unknown reason, suddenly claimed to revive its old rights over Ragusa, and demanded the privilege of appointing a _Governatore delle Armi_ in the town and a Neapolitan official as Resident. These requests being refused, it tried to enforce them by placing an embargo on the Ragusan ships in the ports of the Two Sicilies, and seizing all Ragusan property in the kingdom. The Ragusan Minister at Vienna, Count d’Ajala, induced Count Kaunitz, Austrian Minister at Naples, to intercede in the Republic’s favour, “as energetically as was consistent with the good relations between the two Courts.” But the Neapolitan Government held firm for the time. Eventually a compromise was arrived at, the embargo was removed, the confiscated property restored, and a _Governatore delle Armi_ appointed on condition that he refrained from interfering with the affairs of the Republic. The salary paid to him was 30 soldi a day and an old turret to live in.[499] The peace was again disturbed in 1787 by a new war between Russia and Turkey, Austria siding with the former. This time the Republic was more circumspect, and through the ability of d’Ajala suffered no harm beyond a little plundering. More serious trouble arose in 1792, when war having been declared by the European Coalition against the French Republic, the Court of Vienna complained that Ragusan ships were carrying grain to French ports. The Senate protested that such acts had been done against its orders, and that it had no objection to the punishment of Ragusan captains caught in the act. It is the same old story—Ragusan seamen profiting by foreign wars, while the Government casts off all responsibility. [Illustration: MOSTAR IN THE HERZEGOVINA]