blood is obdurate, and still monarchical. Macdonald
holds a concealed but significant pistol. Championnet
whispers, your miracle or your life! The terrorised
ecclesiastic announces the prodigy to the crowd. St.
258 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
Januarius, then, is a democrat. The Lazzaroni shout
in their thousands, " Long live St. Januarius ! long live his republic ! " The trick is palmed off successfully on the credulous populace, and Championnet with Macdonald returns chuckling to St. Elmo. But miracle or
no miracle, the end of this coarse jugglery was civil
war.
The two intervals must now be briefly supplied.
On January 12 Pignatelli, from the first hampered
by the Deputies, negotiated secretly and in panic with
the enemy, by this time possessed of the chief provin-
cial fortresses, as the " patriots " were of the Neapolitan. The Lazzaroni, however, were staunch, so that
the French commissaries despatched next day by Cham-
pionnet to receive their first payment were forced to
return. The whole first episode is the triumph of the
Lazzaroni. Reinforcements, under General Naselli,
reached them from Palermo, and they attacked the
quailing " civic guard," composed mainly of " intellectuals " and professionals. They seized the " patriots' " arms, the troops and the castles surrendered to them; they opened the prisons and the galleys. They
dismayed the " patriots," while the town shuddered under the license of their patrols. On the whole, however, their moderation at first was extraordinary. Pepe, himself their captive, bears it especial witness in recounting how they disdained the money offered by his
relations and released him unharmed. The Lazzaroni
adored Prince Moliterno and his colleague in leader-
ship, the Duke of Roccaromana. They would gladly
have died for these, as for the Duke della Torre and
Clemente Filomarino, their associate. But when they
discovered that the leading magnates were already
treating with the national foe and combining to yield
General Championnet and his French troops admit-
tance, their wrath knew no bounds. It was fanned by
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 259
the priests, who vociferated against the Neapolitan foes of Naples from their pulpits. Even Moliterno and
Roccaromana were now suspected by their mob-fol-
lowers of Jacobinism. In an access of mad resentment
the Lazzaroni fired the Duke della Torre's palace, piled and burned its treasures, and dragged forth both him
and the luckless Clemente Filomarino, to be roasted
alive on the pyre. These atrocities culminated in the
first scene that has just been described.
The Lazzaroni's suspicions were well founded. On
January 19, their hitherto trusted Roccaromana him-
self betrayed them. By complot with the " patriots "
he entered the fort of St. Elmo, and won over its com-
mandant to his stratagem. The Lazzaroni garrison
were sent out of their quarters, ostensibly to buy provisions for the approaching siege. On their return they
were suddenly disarmed. The tricolor standard was
hoisted as a signal to Championnet, encamped with his
legions in the " Largo della Pigna." By Pepe's own confession, the Lazzaroni, deserted and defrauded,
evinced a " marvellous intrepidity." Against desperate odds they stood their ground. Only a fortnight before, they had seen of what poor stuff the " civic
guard " had been made. But sturdier " patriots " than weak-kneed students now garrisoned St. Elmo. Over-whelming numbers soon closed the conflict.
Meanwhile Championnet had waved his flag of truce
in response to the three-coloured ensign, and while the
Lazzaroni hung back tricked and abashed, he entered
the city. He at once made " an affectionate discourse."
Everybody was promised everything : he had come for
all their goods. The " patriots " loved the people, and to himself both they and the Lazzaroni were brothers
more in hearts than in arms. He was there to eman-
cipate them all; a golden age was at hand. His army
was not French but Neapolitan.
Memoirs Vol. 14 9
260 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
The Lazzaroni, gullible and volatile, believed him
and cheered ; mob fury was allayed. " God save San
Gennaro!" burst from every lip. "God save San
Gennaro ! " reiterated Championnet and Macdonald.
Before a day had passed they should see a sign from
their saint. And then followed the solemn juggle of
our second act. Relics were very helpful to the Direc-
tory, and for a moment those who had panted to ex-
terminate the French welcomed them as brothers under
the celestial portent. The " Parthenopean Republic "
was proclaimed. The poets burst into song, the pam-
phleteers into doctrine, the journalists into execration of monarchy and eulogies of Reason and the Millen-nium. The printing-presses could hardly cope with the
demand, and their muse the tenth muse " Ephemera "
was the fair Eleonora Fonseca di Pimentel, who had
been allowed to republicanise unmolested, and was now
editress of the new and ebullient Monitore. Its amen-
ities did . not compliment the self-exiled court at
Palermo. Of Nelson and the Hamiltons as yet there
was no abuse. But Ferdinand was called a " debased
despot," a " caitiff fugitive," a " dense imbecile," and a " stupid tyrant," while, so far, Carolina fared better as "that Amazon, his wife." It was not long before the middle-class phase of the movement retaliated on
the notables even more violently than on the sover-
eign. "Duke" was derived from coachman ("a ducendo "), " Count " from lackey ("a comitando ") ; epithets were actually changing the nature of
things.
But Championnet's deeds were to refute his words.
A few days of paper systems were the parenthesis be-
tween a spurious peace and a civil war.
A bad harvest served Championnet as excuse for dis-
persing the Lazzaroni to their homesteads; a bare
treasury soon caused him to levy toll. A general in-
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 261
surrection ensued in the provinces, repressed by a fresh
" National Guard " wearing the cockade and commanded by the once loyalist Count Ruvo. The cloven
hoof of French " emancipation " soon discovered itself.
The Directory acquainted Championnet that, since
" right of conquest " had prevailed, the vanquished must pay for the luxury of defeat. Commissary-General Faypoult was already on his road from Paris as
collector of taxes by special appointment. His orders
were to expropriate even the palaces and museums, to
loot the very treasures of Pompeii. The General him-
self kicked at such exactions. He protested and was
recalled to Paris. General Macdonald, who, as creature
of the Directory, had perhaps anticipated his own ad-
vantage, promptly stepped into his shoes. The Direc-
tory forwarded more " commissaries," with orders from the " patriotic associations " to pillage the provinces and to " dictate Republican laws." The French troops dared not linger too long at Naples, and eventually their whole garrison only amounted to two thou-
sand five hundred. But their brief sojourn was long
enough to denude the city. They were billeted in Sir
Wil
liam's houses, among the rest, and did infinite dam-
age to his treasures. Emma his " Grecian," as her husband delighted to call her rued the vandalism
which now terrorised the town.
The lack of the Parthenopean Republic was an or-
ganised army with a capable leader. Calabria and
Apulia were at this very moment overrun by Corsican
adventurers, one of whom assumed the title of Prince
Francis, and pretended that he was the lawful heir to
the throne.
It was at this juncture that the King designated
Cardinal Ruffo his Vicar-General in place of Pigna-
telli, the absconder, and invested him with supreme
military command, although, at the same time, he em-
262 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
phatically bound him not to do more than suppress the
rising, without previous consultation with his master;
nor was he on any account at any time to treat with the
rebels.
It should be noted at this his first introduction on to
our scene, that so early as June 17, Hamilton and Nel-
son seem to have lost all confidence in him; and his
behaviour a week later was to justify their discern-
ment.
This singular priest-militant, whose rugged hardi-
hood concealed astute subtlety, and who was at once
Legate and Lazzarone, landed on the Calabrian coast
to proclaim " a holy cause." He was the royal Robin Hood, while his Friar Tuck was the Sicilian brigand,
Fra Diavolo. His cardinalate alienated from the
" patriot " cause many of the priests, who by this time had joined hands with the insurgents; for they could
never forget how the Queen had once withstood the
Pope. The raising of his standard, and the co-opera-
tion of the Russian and Turkish frigates from Corfu,
soon forced the French into an active provincial cam-
paign. The Bourbonites had secured the fastness of
Andia. The French stormed and took it. Their mal-
treatment of young girls had rendered them abominable
even in the eyes of their better " patriot " allies, one of whom on this occasion, Prince Carafa, heading the
" Neapolitan legion," chivalrously rescued a girl victim from their brutality. A long sequel of sickening
butcheries on both sides followed. The French and
the " patriots " shot down even old women. Ruffo and his savage bandits gave no quarter ; yet they were welcomed as deliverers from rapine and murder. One
by one the hill-strongholds, that France had taken, were seized by Ruffo for the King. By June the Republic
had become limited afresh to Naples, and " patriot "
Naples itself smarted under the greedy despotism of
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 263
" commissary " Abrial, who now reigned in Macdonald's shoes, and chastised them with scorpions where
the others had chastised them with whips.
The Royalist counter-stroke of April, with Ruffo for
instrument, and subsequently a new " extraordinary "
tribunal as executive, was long kept a secret, but it was divulged to the Jacobins through a remarkable woman
Luisa Molines Sanfelice. She and her cousin-hus-
band had long before been banished for extravagance,
but they had both been able to return in safety when
the Revolution began. Her passion for a loyalist
member of an Italianised Swiss family, Baccher, in-
volved the wife in sedition. To her Baccher confided
the King's commission, and the secret thus became dis-
closed to Vincenzo Coco, the Jacobin historian and ren-
egade, who afterwards attached himself to the Bour-
bons. " Cherchez la fcmmc," indeed, is an adage exemplified throughout a rebellion abounding in " the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle "
' ; Oh wild as the accents of lovers' farewell,
Are the hearts which they bear, and the tales which they tell."
In September, 1800, this Luisa, well surnamed " the hapless," was to be respited by the Queen's compassion on the eve of her death-sentence. The King, however,
in defiance both of his wife and of the amnesty which
he had then solemnly proclaimed, refused to commute
the sentence.
Except for Ruffo's commission, we have been too
long absent from Palermo.
Nelson's thoughts were for the hard-beset Malta, the
Neapolitan succours for which continued most unsatis-
factory. Now, as a few months later, his endeavour
was " so to divide " his " forces, that all " might " have security." To Ball, with characteristic generosity, he entrusted the Maltese opportunities of distinction. He
264 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
was still uneasy and unwell; and he was deeply dis-
pirited, after his recent strain, at the home-slight of-
fered him by the appointment of Sidney Smith to a
superior command, with Lord Grenville's orders for
his obedience, though on this point Lord Spencer soon
reassured him. His stepson's ill-behaviour, though he
excused it to his wife, proved a fresh source of annoy-
ance. His Fanny, too, began to wonder at his neglect
of home affairs. " If I have the happiness," he answered, " of seeing their Sicilian Majesties safe on the throne again, it is probable I shall still be home in the summer. Good Sir William, Lady Hamilton and myself are the mainsprings of the machine which manages
what is going on in this country. We are all bound to
England, when we can quit our posts with propriety."
The " we " and the " all " must have set her wondering the more.
The freedom of Palermo, among other honours, was
conferred on him in March, but the unfolding tragedy
of Naples added to his general discouragement. He
was preoccupied in many directions. The establish-
ment of (in his own phrase) " the Vesuvian Republic,"
Pignatelli's armistice with the French, " in which the name of the King was not mentioned," the surrender of Leghorn to the French, boding a Tuscan revolution, incensed him as much as it did the royal family. Sicily,
he thought, would soon be endangered. The French
successes at Capua, their installation at Naples, so af-
fected him, that he inclined to vindicate the royal
honour himself. " I am ready," he wrote in mid-March, " to assist in the enterprise. I only wish to die in the cause." Jacobinism, he repeated, was terrorism. The agreeable surprise of General Sir Charles
Stuart's arrival in Sicily with a thousand troops, that
secured Messina against invasion, relieved and elated
both him and the court. He even believed for his
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 265
wishes ever fathered his thoughts that these might ex-
pel the French from Naples.
France, indeed, was on his nerves and brain. So
soon as he learned that the hero of Acre had given
passports freeing the remnant of the French fleet off
Syria and Egypt, he was beside himself : at any mo-
ment a new squadron might effect a junction with the
Spanish frigates and bear down on the two Sicilies.
By the close of March he had already despatched the
truculent and sometimes ferocious Troubridge to Pro-
cida for the blockade of Naples. Much was hoped,
too, from the co-operation of the Russian and Turkish
fleets. It was quite possible, even now, that Britain
might restore the Neapolitan monarch t
o his people.
And in the meantime, with eyes alert to ensure pre-
paredness in every direction, he mediated with the Bey
of Tunis and freed Mohammedan slaves.
Nor below this tide of varying emotions is an under-
current lacking of inward conflict. In his own heart
a miniature revolution was also in process. The spell
of Lady Hamilton was over him, and he struggled
against the devious promptings of his heart. To pro-
tect Naples and Sicily against France had been the de-
clared policy of his Government ; to exterminate French
predominance was his own chief ambition; he chafed
against the survival of a single ship. " I know," he was soon to write, " it is His Majesty's pleasure that I should pay such attention to the safety of His Sicilian Majesty and his kingdom that nothing shall induce me
to risk those objects of my special care." Every public motive riveted him to the spot where fascination
lured and tempted. It is a mistake to imagine that
Emma held him from duty; all his duties were per-
formed, and to her last moment she protested to those
most in his confidence, and best able to refute her if she erred, that her influence never tried to detain him. It
266 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
was duty that actuated him a duty, it is true, that
jumped with inclination, and fatally fastened him to
her side. Such was his health, that he had desired to
quit the Mediterranean altogether. Away from the
Mediterranean coasts, he could have steeled himself at
any rate to absence, if not to forget fulness. In the
very centre of the seaboard that embodied the true in-
terests of his country, and to which his instructions
tied him, he was in hourly neighbourhood of his idol.
She interpreted, translated, cheered, and companioned
him. She contrasted with the soullessness of his wife.
She was often his as well as her husband's amanuensis.
She drank in every word of patriotic fervour, and re-
doubled it. Her courage spoke to his ; so did her com-
passion and energy. Together they received the
Maltese deputies. Together they listened, in disguise,
to the talk of Sicilian taverns. Together they also
went on errands of mercy. From the Queen she car-
ried him perpetual information and praise. Through
her and her husband he was able to work on Acton.
Every British officer that landed with advices or des-
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