to be able to attack the French general before his reinforcement arrived, Sir John Stuart, on the morning of the 4th, commenced his march. But General Reignier had been joined the evening before, by the expected division, and now had under him at the least 7000 men. Desirous of bringing his cavalry into action, and, perhaps, underrating the military prowess of his enemy, General Reignier descended into the plain in front of his position. Here was fought the famous battle of Maida, in which the British bayonet, almost before a thrust had been made by it, won the day ; and that with so trifling a loss to the British as one officer, three sergeants, and 41 rank and file killed, and eleven officers, eight sergeants, two drummers, and 261 rank and file wounded : whereas the loss of the French, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was estimated at nearly 4000 men.

The consequence of this victory was the possession by the conquerors of all the forts along the coasts, and of all the depots of arms and ammunition prepared for the attack of Sicily. By the end of July the whole of the British army was withdrawn from Calabria, except the garrison of Scylla, and a detachment of the 78th regiment under Lieutenant-colonel M'Leod, which had been detached in the 32-gun frigate Amphion, Captain William Hoste, to the coast near Catanzaro, in order to encourage and assist the insurgents in that quarter. By these two officers an attack was made, on the 30th of July, upon the important port of Cotrone ; and, owing greatly to the judicious manner in which Captain Hoste placed the Amphion and some Neapolitan gun-boats that were under his command, was attributed the surrender of that fortress, with all its stores and magazines, and upwards of 600 French troops.

Shortly after this the French evacuated both Calabrias ; but neither the victory of Maida, nor the subsequent successes of the British, could save the fortress of Gaeta. The gallant Prince of Hesse, having received a severe splinter wound, retired to Palermo for his recovery, leaving the command of the post to the lieutenant-governor, Colonel Hotz. Against that officer the French, having brought their artillery to act, eventually succeeded ; and on the 12th of July the fortress of Gaeta surrendered by capitulation. The reaction that followed this success restored to the French, before the end of the year, nearly every important post in the two Calabrias, except Scylla ; which was still in the possession of the British, and, united with their occupation of Messina, on the opposite site of the Faro, gave them the entire command of the strait.

Among the places which Austria ceded to France by the treaty of Presburg was the province and noble harbour of Cattaro in Dalmatia, situated about 24 miles to the southward of Ragusa. By the terms of the treaty, the French were to take possession in six weeks after the ratification. The time expiring without the arrival of any officer from France, an agent of the court of Russia succeeded in persuading the inhabitants, who

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