Full text of Memoirs of Emma, lady Hamilton, the friend of Lord Nelson and the court of Naples;

by Yelena Kopylova

to co-operate with the Russians in the Neapolitan

  blockade. He does not seem to have been told by

  Ruffo who had already received the second of several

  warnings that since the insurgents had rejected

  initial offers, no armistice whatever could be enter-

  tained. In the event, Ruffo and the Russians over-

  bore him.

  Already, on June 13 and 14, Foote had been assist-

  ing Ruffo and his generals in a series of battles on the 284 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON

  coast, all of which had proved decisive discomfitures

  for the rebels. Throughout, Ruffo trembled not only

  for the town, but lest the Franco-Hispanian fleet should be on them like a thief in the night. In disorder both

  of troops and plans, amid Jacobin advisers, he tem-

  porised, and pressed on Foote the need of terms. He

  also dreaded the results of the mob-violence displayed

  in those awful scenes on the Ponte Maddalena. " The duty," he informed Acton on June 21, just before the capitulations were signed, " of controlling a score of uneducated and subordinate chiefs, all intent on plunder, murder, and violence, is so terrible and compli-

  cated, that it is absolutely beyond my powers. . . .

  If the surrender of the two castles is obtained, I hope

  to restore complete quiet." He may have used the

  imminence of the French fleet as a bogey to. frighten

  his coadjutors, and the imminence of his own attack

  on St. Elmo as a lever for persuading the French com-

  mandant into assent. Fear for the city, for the situa-

  tion, possessed him. St. Elmo was his object, but he

  dreaded the danger from its guns. He deemed his

  unauthorised compact warranted. Two days before it

  was in train Foote had offered asylum on board the

  Seahorse to the Dell' Uovo garrison, then about to be

  stormed. Its answer was an indignant repulse : " We want the indivisible Republic ; for the Republic we will die! Eloignez-vous, citoyen, vite, vite, vite!" The same day Ruffo himself told Foote that St. Elmo must

  be assailed; it was useless now to think of capitulation.

  He had previously hoped that both French and rebels

  might surrender to the sailor, though they disdained

  an ecclesiastic. And yet within the next few days he

  was in close if unwilling league with Micheroux (the

  King's minister attached to the Russian forces), whom

  he feared to disoblige, and had sanctioned his arrange-

  ment with the rebels, which was subject to Mej can's

  EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 285

  approval. On June 21 he told Foote that the terms

  were settled, yet he then wrote to Acton that he did

  not know them. He kept the court in long ignorance

  of his manoeuvres. The strain of difficulty told on

  his nerves. Whatever his motives and they were

  suspected his action, though far less than Miche-

  roux's, was plainly equivocal, and while he mys-

  tified Foote, he failed to give any clear lead to the

  loyalists.

  There is not much material to explain the tortuous

  negotiations of this period. The clue to them may per-

  haps be found in a desire to accord the patriots the

  same honourable terms as would be due to the French.

  If the rebels could secure these they would be more

  than satisfied, while Mejean trusted to time and the

  chance of the French squadron's arrival. Another

  motive was supplied by the hostages (including

  Micheroux's brother and cousin) and the refugees in

  the castles, among whom was Caracciolo, who, how-

  ever, fled. Some amount of underhand collusion

  seems to have taken place now as afterwards. Foote

  was perplexed both by Ruffe's contradictory letters,

  and by Micheroux, whose authority he refused to

  recognise. On June 19, by invitation, Micheroux at-

  tended a conference at St. Elmo, with Mejean, Massa

  (commanding the Nuovo Castle), and Ruffo. A draft

  capitulation was signed with an armistice afterwards

  extended to the French which was to last till the ar-

  rival of the boats at Toulon, conveying such rebels as

  elected to go there, was notified. The whole affair

  was probably engineered by Micheroux in close touch

  with Mejean. Ruffo's compliance may be attributed

  to the necessities of his position and the importance of the Russian troops. He and Micheroux alternately

  laid the blame on each other's shoulders. By the 23rd

  the capitulation itself reached Foote, who was the last

  286 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON

  to sign, and did so under a protest as to anything which might prejudice his king and country.

  The document itself was most peculiar, considering

  the conditions of hostile and insurgent garrisons in the face of a successful conqueror. While it was conditional on Mejean's approval, it contained no mention

  of St. Elmo, and it was attended by a concurrent

  armistice, unspecified in it but very material to two

  of its main provisions. The truce's tenor may be gath-

  ered both from allusions in letters and from Nelson's

  emphatic memorandum, written before he had seen it,

  but read to and rejected by Ruffo. One must feel

  for the " patriots " in the mass, since they seem to.

  have been ultimately deceived, and many of them were

  noble. One must detest the vindictiveness with which

  the royal house pursued its triumph, though all that

  Jacobinism meant at .the time should be recalled. One

  must condemn the violence of the mob, for it was

  general and indiscriminate. But both the duplicity

  and the brutality were the outcome of the two despot-

  isms which had so long been pitted against each other.

  Nor should it be forgotten that, as already noticed,

  Ferdinand himself had no objection to treat with the

  French, if only they would hand over St. Elmo to the

  loyalists. What he had strictly and constantly for-

  bidden was any sort of capitulation for the rebels.

  And lastly it should be emphasised that, since on a

  previous occasion the rebels had broken a concluded

  truce, they might well repeat that perfidy. The city's

  horrors had been swelled by the reprisals of the

  Jacobins. They were now, in Hamilton's words, " re-

  duced to a shabby condition," and it was this that led them to listen to the persuasions of Micheroux and the

  dictation of Mejean.

  The terms of the armistice, according to Nelson's

  version of it, seem to have been as follows:

  EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 287

  It provided for a truce of twenty-one days, by the

  expiry of which the French and the patriot garrisons,

  if unrelieved, were to evacuate Naples. From Sac-

  chinelli's account of the preliminaries, their transport was to be free, i.e. at the King's expense. No wonder that Foote found the terms of capitulation " very favourable to the Republicans," though he based his consent on the express grounds that Ruffo was Viceroy, and that St. Elmo could not " with propriety be attacked " till advices were received that the Republicans had reached Toulon.

  Nelson, however, took a much stronger view of this

  transaction. All armistices were reciprocal; if either

  party were " relieved " or succoured within a given time, a status quo must result. This armistice
, however, provided, and on the most monstrous conditions,

  for the interruption of hostilities pending the mere

  chance of the enemy being relieved. If the French

  fleet had appeared instead of his, no one could sup-

  pose that the rebels would keep their word. If, on

  the other hand, the King's army were, as it was now

  being, " relieved " by the British squadron, the truce was ipso facto determined. The very presence of Nelson's ships, therefore, annulled this armistice.

  So much for the truce. Now for the capitulation.

  The troops composing the garrisons were to keep

  possession of the forts till the boats for their safe-conduct to Toulon were ready to sail. They were then

  to march out with all the honours of war. Should

  they prefer it, they were granted the option of remain-

  ing " unmolested " at Naples instead of proceeding by sea. These terms were to comprise all prisoners of

  war. All hostages were to be freed, but Micheroux's

  brother and cousin, the Bishop of Avellino, and the

  Archbishop of Salerno, were to remain in St. Elmo

  and in Me jean's hands, until the arrival of those sent

  288

  to Toulon should be ascertained. Every condition

  was subject to the French Mejean's approval. " They demand," wrote the raging Queen in her indignant

  comments, not " the approval of their sovereign, but the approval of a small number of Frenchmen. . . .

  What an absurdity to give hostages as though ^ve were

  the conquered ! "

  This luckless .treaty it was that intensified the mor-

  bid paroxysms of royal vengeance, for it converted the

  rebels of Naples into a foreign enemy. By insisting

  on amnesty as a right, by leaguing with the common

  foe, by rejecting more than one previous offer of

  clemency, by demanding their very utmost, they for-

  feited the least right to a grace which, however, it

  would have been far better in equity to have accorded.

  Ruffo, by owning himself unable to govern, by his

  helplessness to stem the riotous anarchy of vanquish-

  ers maddened by the suspicion of a second betrayal

  to the French, by his oblique manoeuvres, by his open

  breach of the royal trust, endangered not only himself

  but the countrymen whom he had so bravely led, and

  whom even now he desired to benefit.

  Such was the state of affairs when Nelson, round-

  ing the Posilippo point with his nineteen ships, sailed

  into the bay, drew up his fleet facing the harbour, and

  eyed the white flags flying from the castle towers. The

  Foiidroyant was hailed as an ark after the deluge. The

  quay was thronged with cheering loyalists. Ruffo,

  however, at his post by the bridge, must have been ill

  at ease. Nor could the Russians have been pleased,

  as they had reckoned on reaping the sole credit of a

  clever pacification. The poor patriots skulked and

  trembled in their fortresses. By night the whole city

  was all joy and illuminations, for Naples during the

  last few years had proved a kaleidoscope of massacre

  and merry-making. Not a minute was wasted by Nel-

  EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 289

  son. He instantly signalled that the truce was ended.

  To Ruffo, through Hamilton, he communicated his

  fixed resolve " on no account to remain neutral." In accord with the Queen's advice, first to require a voluntary surrender, he further proposed to him that within

  two hours the French should be summoned to sur-

  render, in which case they should receive a safe-

  conduct to France, but " as for the rebels and traitors, no power on earth " should " stand between their gracious King and them." He sent Ball and Troubridge with both these missives to the Cardinal, who

  flatly refused assent or concert. Next morning he

  sent them again, with no better result. He therefore

  himself notified to Mejean his curt summons to sur-

  render, and to the rebels in the two castles that they

  must yield, and were forbidden " to embark or quit

  those places." The supple Cardinal, in his haste, had not only exceeded his commission, he had violated his

  express directions. Next evening Ruffo and Miche-

  roux (who was not admitted) visited the Foiidroyant

  to confer with Nelson. During the whole of this stormy

  interview the Hamiltons were present, Emma acting

  as interpretess. Nelson flatly repudiated all the subtleties of one called by Hamilton the pink of Italian

  finesse. He stood by the law that kings do not capitu-

  late to rebels, and he dismissed Ruffo with his written

  opinion that the treaty needed to be ratified by his

  master. An Admiral, he added, was no match in

  such matters for a Cardinal.

  All that day of June 25, letters, conferences, in-

  trigues, confusion proceeded. From Palermo Acton

  wrote thrice. The foreign signatories entered a

  formal protest, probably arranged, and certainly car-

  ried by Micheroux to Nelson, who refused to recog-

  nise either it or him. Ruffo threatened to withdraw

  his riotous troops, and advised the rebels to profit by

  290 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON

  his treaty and retire by land a course fatal for them.

  By night a trumpeter had even announced that this

  move had the sanction of Mejean, who had told

  Micheroux that if war was resumed he would not be

  answerable for consequences. Massa, who asked for

  a conference, however, repulsed all Ruffo's overtures

  as coercion. The whole of Naples lay between two

  suspended fires; and yet Ruffo, afraid of St. Elmo,

  now besought Nelson to land the troops, the offer of

  which he had put off that very morning. By the next

  evening the two castles had unconditionally sur-

  rendered. The royal colours streamed from their tur-

  rets. The loyalist nobles of the " Eletti " had started to implore the King's presence, and Ruffo, leagued with

  the feudal barons, must have trembled. Feux de joie

  blazed in all the streets, and from every window, side

  by side, waved the British and Neapolitan flags.

  In the meantime neither had Emma's energy been

  dormant; she did more than copy, and interpret, and

  translate the patois. She was a woman of action.

  Her enthusiasm spread among the common people, who

  adored her. She conjured with the Queen's name :

  " I had privily seen all the Loyal party, and having the head of the Lazzaronys an old friend, he came in the

  night of our arrival, and told me he had 90 thousand

  Lazeronis [-sic] ready, at the holding up of his finger, but only twenty with arms. Lord Nelson, to whom I

  enterpreted, got a large supply of arms for the rest,

  and they were deposited with this man. In the mean

  time the Calabreas [sic] were comiting murders-; the

  bombs we sent . . . were returned, and the city in con-

  fusion. I sent for this Pali, the head of the Lazeroni,

  and told him, in great confidence, that the King wou'd

  be soon at Naples, and that all that we required of him

  was to keep the city quiet for ten days from that mo-

  ment. We gave him only one hundred of our marine

  Lady Hamilton at the spinning wheel.

  From the ori
ginal painting by George Romney.

  EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 291

  troops. He with these brave men kept all the town

  in order . . . and he is to have promotion. I have

  thro' him made ' the Queen's party/ and the people

  have prayed for her to come back, and she is now

  very popular. I send her every night a messenger to

  Palermo, with all the news and letters, and she gives

  me the orders the same [way]. I have given audi-

  ences to those of her party, and settled matters between the nobility and Her Majesty. She is not to see on

  her arrival any of her former evil counsellors, nor the

  women of fashion, alltho' Ladys of the Bedchamber,

  formerly her friends and companions, who did her dis-

  honour by their desolute life. All., all is changed. She has been very unfortunate; but she is a good woman,

  and has sense enough to profit by her past unhappiness,

  and will make for the future amende honorable for the

  past. In short, if I can judge, it may turn out for-

  tunate that the Neapolitans have had a dose of Repub-

  licanism. . . . PS. It wou'd be a charity to send me

  some things; for in saving all for my dear and royal

  friend, I lost my little all. Never mind."

  Bravo ! Emma, rash organiser and populariser of

  the Queen's party, bold equipper and encourager of

  Pali the Lazzaroni, who, when the King at last came

  to his own again, brought all his ninety thousand men

  to welcome him at sea. We shall hearken to Emma

  again ere long. For the present, the recital of sterner

  events must be resumed.

  The plot, then, to place Naples at the mercy of the

  French had been foiled. The question that was to con-

  vulse the city on the following day was, On what terms

  had the castles surrendered!'

  In trying to disentangle the difficulties of the next

  few days, a distinction should be borne in mind be-

  tween the armistice made by the Cardinal with the

  rebels (and afterwards with the French), and the

  Memoirs Vol. 14 10

  292 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON

  capitulation itself, which it was designed to further.

  It would almost seem as if some of the rebels had al-

  ready contrived to escape from the convent of St.

  Martino, though not under the capitulatory clauses.

  Nelson would be most unlikely to reconsider any of

  these clauses, which he had peremptorily cancelled.

  But it might be thought possible that he would respect