Nelson's Lady Hamilton (22 page)

Besides his official instructions Cardinal Ruffo, during the progress of his campaign, was con-• stantly receiving letters of command and encouragement from both the King and Queen of

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Naples. Emma Hamilton's admiration of the Queen was so indiscriminate and all-embracing that she could see nothing save the utmost grace and charm and tenderness in Maria Carolina— even her anger was always virtuous and admirable. But the Queen had another and darker side to her character; there was a marked strain of cruelty in her nature, her ambition stopped at nothing, and at times she was almost ferocious in her desire for vengeance. The violence of her passions is shown by some of her letters to Ruffo. " I wish to warn you about another matter," she tells him on the 5th of April, " Rebellious Naples and her ungrateful citizens may make no terms. Order is to be re-established in that monstrous city by rewarding the faithful and inflicting exemplary punishments on the wicked." In another and later letter she says, "I am full of admiration for the depth of your thoughts, and the wisdom of your maxims. I must nevertheless confess that I am not of your opinion as to the advisability of dissembling and forgetting, or even of giving rewards, for the purpose of winning over the chiefs of the rogues. I do not hold this view from any spirit of revenge; that is a passion which is unknown to me. If, through anger, I speak as if I were possessed by that spirit, I feel that I have in reality no vengeance in my heart, but that I am carried away by my great contempt and indifference for these scoundrels.' 1

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In spite of the disclaimer of any motives of venge, it is an angry and passionate woman ho speaks in those letters. The stupid, heavy Ferdinand had more generosity of feeling towards is rebellious subjects; he winds up a long pistle to Ruffo by saying, " It is my intention thereafter, in accordance with my duty as a good Christian, and the loving father of my people, to forget the past entirely, and to grant to all a full and general pardon, which will protect them all from any consequences of any past transgression. I shall also forbid any investigation, believing as I do that their acts are due, not to natural perversity, but to fear and cowardice."

While Ruffo and his army were marching about Southern Italy, Nelson and his ships had been fully engaged. Nelson, unfortunately fettered by promises, was himself unable to leave Palermo; but his was the guiding head and hand. "My public correspondence," he wrote, "besides the business of sixteen sail-of-the-line, and all our commerce, is with Petersburg, Constantinople, the Consul at Smyrna, Egypt, the Turkish and Russian admirals, Trieste, Vienna, Tuscany, Minorca, Earl St. Vincent, and Lord Spencer. This over, what time can I have for any private correspondence ?" He had ordered the Portuguese squadron under his command to Messina to guard against the possible danger of a French invasion ; to Ball he had entrusted the siege of Malta; and

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when the time was ripe he sent Troubridge with a small squadron to blockade Naples. Thomas Troubridge played a considerable part in the anti-Jacobin crusade, and also later on had something to say as to Nelson's relations with Lady Hamilton. He was a very upright English gentleman, and so good a sea-officer that Nelson said of him, when he had the maddening misfortune to run his ship the Culloden on a shoal in Aboukir Bay just before the Battle of the Nile, " Captain Troubridge on shore is superior to captains afloat!" On another and later occasion he said, "Our friend Troubridge is as full of resources as his Culloden is full of accidents ; but I am now satisfied, that if his ship's bottom were entirely out, he would find means to make her swim." That was one of Nelson's generous little exaggerations; but another admiral, one more given to sarcasm than praise, stern old St. Vincent himself, said of Troubridge, that he was " the ablest adviser and best executive officer in the British navy, with honour and courage as bright as his sword." Troubridge was imbued with all Nelson's hearty hatred of the French ; to him, as to his admiral, the name of Jacobin was anathema, and he needed little pressing to bear in mind, as Nelson instructed him just before sailing, that " speedy reward and quick punishment is the foundation of good government." The appearance of the ships under Troubridge

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off Naples was a sign of hope to the loyalists and Lazzaroni, and a warning to the Jacobins that the days of the Parthenopean Republic were numbered. The islands of Ischia and Procida in the Bay were occupied in the name of the King of the Two Sicilies. The turn of the tide was soon visible. Troubridge wrote to Nelson—

"A person, just from Naples, tells me the Jacobins are pressing hard the French to remain ; they begin to shake in their shoes. Those of the lower order now speak freely. The rascally nobles, tired of standing as common sentinels, and going the rounds, say, if they had known as much as they do now, they would have acted differently."

So much for " noble-sentiment"!

On the 22nd of April the French evacuated Naples, only leaving behind a garrison of five hundred men in the Castle of St. Elmo. In communicating these doings to Lord Spencer, Nelson said, " I am not in person in these busy scenes, more calculated for me than remaining here giving advice; but their Majesties think the advice of my incompetent judgment valuable at this moment, therefore I submit, and I can only say that I give it as an honest man, one without hopes or fears; therefore they get at the truth, which their Majesties have seldom heard."

But the month of May brought great news, and Nelson was released from distasteful coast-defence at Palermo—for distasteful it was, as his

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letters of this time show, in spite of the glamour and the sunshine of Lady Hamilton's presence. Waiting about a Court was little to his liking, even when seasoned with ardent flatteries and attentions. But on the i2th day of May came the call to action, and Nelson was himself again. A brig arrived at Palermo with the news that a French fleet had been seen off Oporto, making for the Mediterranean. Rumour for once understated fact, for the first intelligence said nineteen sail-of-the-line, whereas it later proved to be twenty-five. Here was an emergency and a danger after Nelson's own heart, and he made all possible dispositions to meet it; but his fettering promise to the Queen of Naples still shackled his own actions. To St. Vincent he wrote, in great anxiety—

" Should you come upwards without a battle, I hope in that case you will afford me an opportunity of joining you ; for my heart would break to be near my commander-in-chief, and not assisting him at such a time. What a state I am in! If I go, I risk, and more than risk, Sicily, and what is now safe on the Continent; for we know, from experience, that more depends on opinion than on acts themselves. As I stay, my heart is breaking; and, to mend the matter, I am seriously unwell."

Troubridge and his ships being summoned from Naples Bay, Captain Foote, who later signed

the articles of capitulation with the rebels which caused Nelson such trouble and vexation, was left behind as senior officer.

The safest way to guard the Two Sicilies was to look for the French at sea, and Nelson broke away from the nervous Court and decided to cruise off Maritimo with his squadron. From there he would cover Palermo, which he swore "should be protected to the last."

He was much missed by his two great friends, the British Ambassador and his wife. Sir William Hamilton wrote to him with a pleasant sincerity : " I can assure you that neither Emma nor I knew how much we loved you until this separation, and we are convinced your Lordship feels the same as we do."

On Nelson's side the feeling was certainly not less; indeed, for one of his two friends it was already much more warm than wise. He wrote to her on the iQth of May—

"To tell you how dreary and uncomfortable the Vanguard appears, is only telling you what it is to go from the pleasantest society to a solitary cell, or from the dearest friends to no friends. I am now perfectly the great man —not a creature near me. From my heart I wish myself the little • man again ! You and good Sir William have spoiled me for any place but with you. I love Mrs. Cadogan. You cannot conceive what I

feel when I call you all to my remembrance." p

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Alas ! poor Nelson ! He was rapidly nearing the point where one face and one voice could alone content him—and that face and voice fenced off from his need by a double debt of honour, she a wife and he a husband. See the change, too, in his temper. A year ago he had not written of the cabin of his flagship as a " solitary cell;" a year ago he did not speak of himself at sea as having "no friends," but said that he was surrounded by a " band of brothers."

But now the thought of Emma was becoming entangled with all his actions, and even when watching for the French fleet he had to stop and draw up a codicil to his will—as he was to do on the last day of his life six years later. " I give and bequeath/ 1 he said in this first codicil, "to my dear friend, Emma Hamilton, wife of the Right Hon. Sir William Hamilton, a nearly round box set with diamonds, said to have been sent me by the mother of the Grand Signor, which I request she will accept (and never part from) as a token of regard and respect for her very eminent virtues (for she, the said Emma Hamilton, possesses them all to such a degree that it would be doing her injustice was any particular one to be mentioned) from her faithful and affectionate friend."

Nelson was disappointed of the French fleet. Rumour flew along the Italian coast telling many tales—the French were coming to Naples, to

AS "CASSANDRA"

GEORGE ROMNJiY

Alexandria, they had gone to Toulon, or had effected a junction with the Spanish ships. Nelson returned to Palermo at the end of May, and a few days later he was joined by Duckworth with welcome reinforcements, and he then shifted his flag from the hardly seaworthy old Vanguard to the Foudroyant —the very ship he was to have had when he re-entered the Mediterranean in the spring of 1798. News came that Lord St. Vincent, the commander-in-chief who understood him, intended to return home. " If you are sick," Nelson wrote him, " I will fag for you, and our dear Lady Hamilton will nurse you with the most affectionate attention."

The time, like all times of uncertainty, was full of tongues, each telling a different tale—real news mingled inextricably with baseless rumour. Conflicting issues were rendered yet more confused by the fact that Maria Carolina suddenly turned round, and from having begged Nelson to remain with her at Palermo entreated him to go to Naples. A letter of Lady Hamilton's to Nelson, dated June 12th, gives some explanation:—

" I have been with the Queen this evening. She is very miserable, and says, that although the people of Naples are for them in general, yet things will not be brought to that state of quietness and subordination till the Fleet of Lord Nelson appears off Naples. She therefore begs, intreats, and conjures you, my dear Lord, if it is

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possible, to arrange matters so as to be able to go to Naples. Sir William is writing for General Acton's answer. For God's sake consider it, and do ! We will go with you, if you will come and fetch us. Sir William is ill; I am ill: it will do us good."

Neither the entreaties of the Queen nor the illness of Sir William and herself were sufficient cause for undertaking the expedition; but Emma was always given to seeing things through the personal medium. Her own wishes, or—just as frequently—the wishes of those she loved became transmuted by some subtle alchemy into political reasons! But when dealing with the emotional Emma, the astute Queen adopted the reverse method, and presented her political schemes under the guise of personal desires. It is true that Maria Carolina was passionate and impulsive, and her passions sometimes got the better of her schemes, but in general her head ruled her heart quite successfully.

In this matter, for once, the King and Queen of Naples were united, and it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that they both used Nelson to accomplish their own ends, irrespective of his country's. They were to remain in security at Palermo while he thoroughly cleared Naples of rebels—and a very dirty business it was to prove, in which a name that outshone all the royalties of Europe was to get unfairly smirched. Nelson,

,

who was usually so quick to condemn any symptom of cowardice, seems to have been curiously blind to the unheroic conduct of the Sicilian sovereigns.

Perhaps to cover his own conduct, the King sent his son to the flagship and gave Nelson most extensive powers. The fourth article of the Instructions runs : "All the military and political operations shall be agreed upon by the Prince Royal and Admiral Lord Nelson. The opinion of this latter always to have a preponderance, on account of the respect due to his experience, as well as to the forces under his command, which will determine the operations, and also because we are so deeply indebted to him for the zeal and attachment of which he has given so many proofs."

Nelson sailed from Palermo for Naples on the 13th of June; but when off Maritimo he heard definitely that the French fleet had left Toulon and was bound southwards, so he returned to Palermo to await Ball's and Duckworth's reinforcements. The Queen was much disappointed to see him again so soon. Writing to Ruffo on the 14th she says—

" The ill-luck which never deserts us has obliged the English squadron to return this morning to Palermo. It started yesterday with the finest wind possible. We said good-bye about eleven, when it was already under sail,

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and at five o'clock the squadron was out of sight. The wind was so propitious, that it would have been at Procida to-day; but it met two English ships halfway, coming as reinforcements, inasmuch as the French squadron had left Toulon and was approaching the southern shores of Italy. A council of war was held, and Nelson decided that his duty was to think in the first place of Sicily, then, getting rid of the passengers, troops ; and artillery which he had on board, to hasten to meet and to seek to beat the enemy. They returned with this intention. I can hardly tell you how grieved I was at this disappointment The squadron was superb, beautiful, imposing."

To Emma the Queen wrote on the same day—

" MY DEAR MILADY, — I am going to the Colli to take Francis to visit his father, and to give him an account of everything. I was exceedingly surprised to see the squadron return, though I felt sure that under the leadership of Lord Nelson it could only be on good grounds. I am sure to return at sunset, and I hope to have the consolation of seeing you and assuring you of my constant friendship. I am grieved at the news concerning your health. A thousand compliments to the chevalier, and to our brave and virtuous Admiral, from whom I expect great things."

A few days later Nelson learned that Cardinal

Ruffo — the Eminence whom Maria Carolina so flattered in her letters—had actually concluded an armistice with the Neapolitan rebels. As he held no powers to treat with the rebels, indeed had been expressly instructed not to do so, this behaviour wore a distinctly suspicious air. Nelson and the Hamiltons had always entertained doubts of Ruffo, and this piece of news, combined with the Jacobin taunt that he had returned to Palermo for fear of the French fleet—for Nelson was almost absurdly sensitive in regard to his professional honour, even when he had placed it at a height above the reach of mortal malice—decided him to make sail at once for Naples. Sir William and Lady Hamilton went with him in the Foudroyant. It may be imagined that Emma was eager to be with the admiral in the British flagship, in the very thick of stirring events, and it is evident that he did not oppose the wish—indeed, he had written to her a few days earlier—

"It gave me great pain to hear both Sir William and yourself were so very unwell. I wrote to Sir William yesterday that if you both thought the sea air would do you good, I have plenty of room. I can make for you private apartments, and I give you my honour the sea is so smooth that no glass was smoother."

Evidently his promise of fair weather was fulfilled, for Sir William Hamilton wrote to Acton, when off Ustica, on the 22nd of June—

" We are stealing on with light winds, and it is very pleasant, and our admirals and captains are impatient to serve his Sicilian Majesty and save his capital from destruction. I believe the business will be soon done when the fleet appears in the Bay of Naples."

But when the Foudroyant sailed into the Bay Nelson saw the white flag of truce flying from the castles of Uovo and Nuovo, where the Neapolitan Jacobins had betaken themselves, and the same flag flying on board the Seahorse frigate, Captain James Foote. Captain Footewas the senior British officer left behind by Troubridge, and on the very day before Nelson's arrival he and Cardinal Ruffo had signed a treaty of capitulation with the rebels, granting them all the honours of war. On learning these facts Nelson acted with his usual promptitude. Armed as he was with powers from the King of Naples beyond any that had been granted to Ruffo, he at once signalled to annul the treaty, which he declared with vehement vexation was "infamous." He considered, with the practical justice of a seaman, " that the arrival of the British fleet has completely destroyed the compact, as would that of the French if they had the power (which, thank God, they have not) to come to Naples." He was willing to grant terms to the French garrison in the castle of St. Elmo, if they would surrender the stronghold within two hours of being summoned,