with France, which he half desired, and the enforced
neutrality which disgusted Naples in December. Milan
had fallen. Piedmont had been Buonaparte's latest
democratic experiment. The Austrians, led by Wurm-
ser, were failing in combat, as their court by the
first month of the next year was to fail in faith.
Naples was fast being isolated both from Italy and
Britain ; small wonder then that through Acton's earlier letters of 1796 there peers a sour smile of cynical
desperation. But directly he realised the full force of
the Franco-Hispanian complot, and the stress of re-
verses to the allied arms, he changed his ply. ^ He
avowed himself ready " to break the peace " ; he rejoined and rejoiced the Queen; he again looked to
England. As Grenville waxed colder, the more
warmly did Acton compete with Hamilton in egging
on the British Government by disclosing the hard facts
detected. Hamilton, however, forestalled him. He,
Emma, and the Queen had throughout been in frequent
confabulation, while the Hamiltons were also in close
correspondence with Nelson. But it was Emma, not
her husband, that was daily closeted with Carolina,
i So EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
whose letters to the ambassadress prove how well she
was informed of Spain's machinations. So early as
June, 1793, we have seen Emma already politicising.
In April, 1795, she reports once more to Greville:
" Against my will, owing to my situation here, I am got into politics, and I wish to have news for my dear,
much loved Queen whom I adore." She had already
transcribed a ciphered communication from Spain as to
King Charles's probable defection from the alliance.
She now definitely advances towards the political foot-
lights.
The preceding year had settled the habit by which
the Queen conveyed secret documents to the friend
who as regularly copied or translated them for her hus-
band. 1 So far the chief of these had been the " Chiffre de Galatone " transmitted to England at the close of April, I795- 2 All of them, however, principally related to the Spanish peace with France then brewing in
Madrid, of which the British Government had gained
other advices from their representative at the Spanish
court. That even this, however, was not quite a
1 On April 21, 1/95, fc> r example, the Queen sends three papers
" confidentially," " which may be useful to your husband." Cf.
Professor Laughton's article in Colburn's United Service Maga-zine, April, 1889, and for the famous letter of April 28, cf. also Eg. MS. 1615, f. 22, containing another example. It is needless to multiply instances. One citation only will illustrate Emma's initiative. In Hamilton's despatch of April 30, 1795, he says,
" However, Lady Hamilton having had the honour of seeing the Queen yesterday morning, H.M. was pleased to promise me one, etc." In another of the following year he speaks of documents being " communicated " to him " as usual."
2 Cf. Emma's copy of the Queen's note forwarding it to her, Eg. MS. 1615, f. 22, and Emma's reference to the courier and her having "got into politicks," April 19. Morrison MS. 263.
On June 9 she copied another despatch from presumably Galatone (Prince Belmonte), ibid. 265. Later in the year the Queen communicated information about Spain and. in another letter, rumours about Hood having got out of Toulon, Eg. MS. 1617, ff. 3, 4-EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 181
secret de Polichinelle, is likely from the scarcity of
references to it in the Acton correspondence with Ham-
ilton about this time. Nor is it any answer to Emma's
activities, even in this and less material years, that
she voiced the Queen's urgent interest, because it is
abundantly manifest that the Queen, in her need, did
for Emma what she would never have done for Ham-
ilton apart, while in return Emma doubtless com-
municated also Nelson's Mediterranean information
to Maria Carolina. She had suddenly become a safe
and trusted go-between, and none other at this junc-
ture could have performed her office. The supine Sir
William had at last been pricked into action. He had
now every incentive to earn the King of England's
gratitude. In a private missive to Lord Grenville of
April 30, 1795, alluding to the communication of this
very " cipher of Galatone," he himself asserts, " Your Lordship will have seen by my despatch of 2ist April
the unbounded confidence which the Queen of Naples
has placed in me and my wife." Emma could now
advantage not only herself and her country, but her
royal friend and her own husband Tria juncta in
uno.
But the position in the later summer of 1796 was
far more serious both for Naples and England than
it had ever been before. Acton had been dallying.
During the interval Ferdinand seems to have been
pelted with letters from Charles, menacing, cajoling,
persuading him. Already in August Hamilton had
communicated secrets respecting the movements of the
French and Spanish squadrons. Every one knew that
Spanish retirement from the European Coalition was
soon to be succeeded by some sort of league; but no-
body, either at Naples or in England, could ascertain
its exact conditions revealed to Ferdinand alone. If
it was to be (as it was) an alliance of offence, the is-
182 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
sues must prove momentous for Great Britain. All
was kept a profound secret.
About September, 1796, apparently, Charles the
Fourth's final letter reached the hands of his Neapol-
itan brother. But his coming alliance with France
had already been notified by Acton to Hamilton. The
murder was out. The compact between the two courts
was fixed as one of war to the knife against the allied
powers, among whom England was wavering and
Austria on the verge of concluding a scandalous peace.
Ferdinand, who alone knew what was impending, must
have chuckled as he thought how he had worsted his
masterful spouse. If Emma could only clear up the
mystery and the uncertainty, England might be fore-
armed against the veiled sequel of that long train of
hidden pourparlers which she had been able to dis-
cover and announce during the previous year; and in
such a case she counted with assurance on her coun-
try's gratitude towards her and her husband.
How the Queen or Emma, or both, obtained the loan
of this document, whether out of the King's pocket, as
Emma avers in her Prince Regent's memorial, and
Pettigrew, with embellishments, in his Life of Nelson;
or whether, according to the posthumous Memoirs of
Lady Hamilton, through a bribed page, does not con-
cern us. Such strokes of the theatre are, at any rate,
quite consonant with the atmosphere of the court.
The sole question is: Did she manage to receive and
transmit it?
The letter to which I apply her pretensions was in
Spanish a " private letter " or a " letter," as Emma and Nelson respectively describe it, and not a " letter in cipher " like the one received from Galatone in the year preceding. The problem's intricacy defies a real<
br />
solution. In the main, habit and motive only can be
urged for Emma's use of the Queen's friendship in
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 183
this instance also. What she had done in the one year,
she may well have done in the other. On the other
hand, there is no definite document that she can be
proved to have procured.
Is there any distinct circumstance in her favour to
counterweigh the hypotheses against her? One such
exists of some weight. It relates to her statement that
a messenger of her own was despatched with the docu-
ment to London.
Sir William Hamilton gave wind of the critical news
in a " secret " despatch to Lord Grenville. It is dated September 21, 1796; and the bearer of it seems to have
started on the 23rd. It should be observed that this
official missive appears exceptional in only trans-
mitting the purport of the letter, and not, as repeatedly before and afterwards, either copies of hazardous
documents, or, in earlier cases, the originals them-
selves.
On this very September 2ist the Queen of Naples
wrote to thank Emma for putting at her service the
unexpected medium of " the poor Count of Munster's
courier," available through his employer's misfortune.
She says that she and the General will profit by the
opportunity, and that Emma shall receive " our
packet" the day after to-morrow (mid-day, Friday).
Acton, once more addressing Hamilton on September
22, and before this special courier had started, begged
him to include both his and the Queen's despatches
to Circello, Ambassador at St. James's, " by the courier which goes to-morrow for London."
On this identical September 21, 1796, once again
Lady Hamilton herself sat down for a hurried chat
with Greville. " We have not time," she says, " to write to you, as we have been 3 days and nights writing
to send by this courrier letters of consequence for our
Government. They ought to be grate full to Sir Will-
184 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
iam and myself in particular, as my situation in this
Court is very extraordinary, and what no person [h]as
yet arrived at." She adds, " He is our Courrier."
The coincidence of these combined statements of two
successive days suggests the " poor Count of Mun-
ster's " courier as the possible bearer both of official despatches and of any copy of the King of Spain's most
crucial declaration, that Emma may have made.
It is only fair to state that another contingency pre-
sents itself. Emma's service may really have amounted
to little more than having been the means of procur-
ing a prompt courier for this urgent despatch. If,
however, she also got the original document, or even
a copy, forwarded, Hamilton's omission to include it
in his despatch is explained. In any case it is material.
He may have feared to do so, or she may not have
been allowed to retain it long enough, in which case
Emma could truthfully describe his brief summary of
its pith as the King of Spain's letter.
Professor Laughton has urged with force' that no
Treasury minute relating to Emma's service is to be
found. But must it be assumed that the bare absence
of such record is fatal to her case? It might further
be urged that no copy of this particular King of Spain's letter exists in our archives. But has every important
document mentioned in the despatches of this period
invariably come to light?
That the Spanish letter may have arrived about a
month earlier than the date of the despatch, and that
Acton also may have gleaned its contents, appears from
the close similarity between Acton's two letters to
Hamilton of August 18 and 21, and the spirit of Ham-
ilton's short summary in his communication of Sep-
tember 21 to Lord Grenville. Hamilton wrote that the
King of Naples was " bitterly reproached for acting constantly in opposition to his brother's advice," and EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 185
was warned that Charles would " soon be obliged to
take another course with him." Acton wrote of the
King's " odd and open threatenings to his brother,"
and in his first letter that Spain had " certainly signed a treaty of alliance with the French," and was to " join with them even against us. We are assured of this
by threatenings even not equivocal."
Mr. Jeaffreson has further dwelt on the unlikelihood
of such a sum as Emma names being spent on retain-
ing the messenger out of her private purse, when her
allowance was limited to 200 a year. But this al-
lowance seems to have been only nominal. From the
Morrison Collection it would appear that for some time
she had been authorised by her husband to overdraw
her account in view of increasing requirements. Then
there are the minutiae about their health in 1795 and
1796 to show that the former year better fits her claim.
These would seem indecisive, considering his constant
ailments. But a strange confirmation of her story re-
mains in the fact of a locket given by Nelson to Emma
in 1796, and recording the date. Such a present from
one who had never seen her since 1793 may well be-
token a real service. Everything, it must be conceded,
remains inconclusive. All rests on circumstantial evi-
dence merely, but apart from the problems of 1796, it
will be owned that she succeeded in serving England
during 1795.
During the following month of October, Emma is
still to be found transcribing documents and endorsing
effusive gratitude on one of the Queen's letters. She
had exerted herself, even if she exaggerates her exer-
tions. It is perfectly possible, of course, that her
memory, in confusing the events of these two years,
may have also confused the date of her husband's ill-
ness. But that her story, stripped of accidentals, is a
myth, I cannot bring myself to believe. Even Lord
186 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
Grenville, thirteen years later, did not apparently
specify fabrication as his reason for rejecting her
claims. That during her future she proved often and
otherwise blameworthy, that her distant past had been
soiled, are scarcely reasons for discrediting the sub-
stance of her story, though her efforts passed unheeded
by the Government ; nor should Greville's repeated ac-
knowledgments of her natural candour be forgotten.
To every motive for political exertion had now been
added immense opportunity. There is ample reason
why she should have used it for her country's ad-
vantage. She was no dabbler. She had wished to
play a big part, and she was playing it. She had every
qualification for acquitting herself well in the arena
where she longed to shine, and promptitude alone could
ensure success.
Gloom deepened with the opening of the year 1797,
but it riveted the Neapolitan House faster to England.
The many French immigrants exulted. The pro-Span-
ish par
ty and all the Anglophobes became confident.
Austria had ignobly desisted, and her ministers were
rewarded by diamonds from the Pope. Great Britain
hesitating though she seemed remained the sole
champion against Buonaparte. Lord St. Vincent's
name and Nelson's rang throughout Europe on the
" glorious Valentine's day," and Emma infused fresh hope in the downcast Queen. She delighted to vaunt
England's sinew and backbone. She prevented Ham-
ilton from relaxing his efforts, and kept him at his
post of honour. She was already ambitious for Nel-
son. Maria Carolina at last divined that Buonaparte's
objective was the Mediterranean. But Nelson had di-
vined the aims of France earlier, when he wrote in Oc-
tober, 1796, "We are all preparing to leave the
Mediterranean, a measure which I cannot approve.
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 187
They at home do not know what this fleet is capable
of performing; anything and everything." But
Downing Street, in the person of the narrow-sighted
Lord Grenville, still closed its eyes, shut its ears,
and hardened its heart. At Rome the French repub-
licans organised an uprising, and were driven for shel-
ter into Joseph Buonaparte's Palazzo Corsini. He
himself was threatened, and Duphot was killed, by the
Papal guard. Eugene Beauharnais made a sortie of
vengeance. Napoleon utilised the manoeuvre to
despatch General Berthier against the Pope's domin-
ions. By the February of the ensuing year the Castle
of St. Angelo was taken. On Ascension Day the Pope
himself, in the Forum, heard the shouts of " Viva la Republica ; abasso il Papa ! " He did what other weak pontiffs have done before and since. He protested his
" divine right," took his stand on it and fled. Ousted from Sienna by earthquake, he retired to the Florentine
Certosa, where his rooms fronting that beautiful pros-
pect may still be viewed. Hounded out once more, he
was harried from pillar to post from Tortona to
Turin, from Briangon to Valence in the citadel of
which, old and distressed, he breathed his last.
At home Maria Carolina now reversed her policy of
the knout. Vanni, the brutal Inquisitor of State, was
deposed and banished, the diplomatic Castelcicala was
given a free hand. All the captives were released.
The Lazzaroni cheered till they were hoarse over the
magnanimity of their rulers.
Full text of Memoirs of Emma, lady Hamilton, the friend of Lord Nelson and the court of Naples; Page 21