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Frances Nelson would be puzzled to account for Lady Hamilton as a <( mainspring" in political matters. She had as yet no idea of the exuberant vitality of the British Minister's wife. At Palermo, as at Naples, Lady Hamilton was in the centre of the stage. Was it business and the fate of dynasties, Emma must be consulted; was it pleasure, no child there gayer than she; was it sickness, there was no nurse so kind. Nelson found her on every side. She could never have so won him had she been merely a beautiful woman, or merely a clever and capable one. It was the combination of her many qualities that stole away the heart of the great and simple admiral.
But susceptible as he was by nature to feminine influence and feminine charm, Nelson was not lightly turned from the paths of honourable and upright dealing between man and man, and man and woman, which he had followed all his life. Within a few months of seeing Emma constantly it is evident that she had made a tremendous impression upon him, that she had begun to cause him a certain uneasiness and unrest of conscience. But for a considerable period he took her enthusiastic friendship, which was as welcome to his parched spirit as water in the desert, as one of the gifts the gods provide. In the sunny atmosphere of Sicily, amid an easy and kindly people, stern questionings as
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to the future seemed needless, and Nemesis far away.
So for a time neither Nelson nor Emma asked whither their growing admiration of each other, their growing desire for each other's presence, might be leading. Nelson might call her the "one rose" in a thorny and difficult situation, but for several months his thoughts and his time were far more taken up with the Neapolitan Jacobins, who were the thorns, than with the rose.
CHAPTER XI THE JACOBIN RISING
MEANWHILE much had happened in Naples. When the Court fled on the 23rd of December, 1798, the King had left Prince Francesco Pignatelli as regent in his absence. This was a post that in the threatening aspect of the time needed a very strong man; but Prince Pignatelli was weak, drifting from one side to the other, a tool in the hands of the self-elected, self-styled " Patriots"—even as a tool not a sound one, but apt to break in the hands of those who used him. He made treacherous advances to France—he who had been left to guard Naples— and then, in fear at the consequences, deserted both the French and the Neapolitans, and fled to Sicily.
The Lazzaroni were loyal, and had no dealings with traitors ; but with the Neapolitan government in the hands of the so-called " Patriots," and with the French in possession of the principal provincial fortresses, it was little they could do to oppose treachery within Naples and disciplined armies without. There were riots, seizure of
" patriot" arms, looting of the palaces of Jacobin nobles, but the end was inevitable. It must be remembered that throughout this Jacobin rising in Naples it was the upper classes, the educated and well-born, who were the Jacobins and " Patriots/' who cultivated French sympathies, and combined fine sentiments with traitorous deeds and oppressions. Some of them were really under the glamour of the early stages of the French Revolution, for as Carlyle says, " How beautiful is noble-sentiment: like gossamer gauze, beautiful and cheap; which will stand no tear and wear! Beautiful cheap gossamer gauze, thou film-shadow of a raw material of Virtue, which art not woven, nor likely to be, into Duty; thou art better than nothing, and also worse ! "
The Lazzaroni were not touched by " noble-sentiment ;" they were loyal, conservative, fierce when roused, good-humoured when let alone, contented with their easy, coarse-grained monarch; superstitious, under the thumb of the Catholic Church, regarding "Jacobin" as a word synonymous with "atheist," and showing all the intolerant violence of an uneducated and priest-ridden people. But the faithfulness of the Lazzaroni to their Church and sovereign—a faithfulness not of words merely—stands out in admirable solidity amid the shifting sands of passion, greed, self-interest, and treachery, which marked the rest of the Neapolitans at the beginning of 1799.
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But Lazzaroni loyalty did not hold the reins of government. In January Naples was surrendered to the French General Championnet; and after the fashion of the Directory, with the planting of trees of liberty, and much talking of " noble-sentiment," the Parthenopean Republic was proclaimed—so for a time the Bourbon rule in Naples came to an abrupt conclusion.
These events naturally caused much distress to the self-exiled King and Queen at Palermo. England and the British fleet seemed the only help and the only hope. "Our country," said Nelson to St. Vincent, "is looked to as a resource for all the difficulties of this." And Acton wrote to Nelson in his own curious English that " remedyes to oppose so many evils depend and will principally raise and be employed by the forces under your command on whose assistance his Majesty places all his hopes and comforts."
In view of the expected and promised aids from Austria and Russia, the measures taken for the recovery of Naples and the expulsion of the French were two—one by land, and one by sea. When the loyalty of the lower classes and the insecure foundations of the Parthenopean Republic were realized at Palermo, the King appointed Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo to raise an army among the peasants, and all who would fight on the royalist side. The choice was a good one, for Ruffo was a man of considerable force and ability,
LADY HAMILTON AS A "SIBYL
GEORGE KOMNEY
J-/
owning great estates in Calabria, and great influence with the peasants of those estates, who, in themselves, as Mr. Gutteridge says in his invaluable " Nelson and the Neapolitan Jacobins," were "almost equal to an army." His influence, 'oo, as a Cardinal of the Roman Church, was a >*ry important consideration in raising the so-called " Christian Army "—an army which quickly attained formidable proportions, and in spite of its professed "Christian" character, was in many respects a ruffianly horde. But the Cardinal and his army were welcomed as deliverers by the people who flocked to his standard, and in spite >f raggedness and lack of discipline, the " Christian Army" drove the French from the outlying provinces till the Parthenopean Republic was shrunk to the city of Naples itself. King Ferdinand had invested Ruffo with almost unlimited powers, telling him in his commission, "You may adopt to any extent all means which loyalty to religion, desire to save property, life, and family honour, or the policy of rewarding those who distinguish themselves, may suggest to you, as well as the severest punishments. . . . You may make any proclamations you may consider likely to bring about the end you have been ordered to attain."
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
204 NELSON'S LADY HAMILTON
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
THE JACOBIN RISING
205
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
206 NELSON'S LADY HAMILTON
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
THE JACOBIN RISING 207
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
208 NELSON'S LADY HAMILTON
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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