Robert Southey, man of letters and poet-laureate, was born at
Bristol on August 12, 1774, and received at various schools a
desultory education, which he completed by an idle year at
Oxford. Here he became acquainted with Coleridge; and Southey,
who had practised verse from early boyhood, and acquired a
strong taste for the drama, being also an ardent republican
and romanticist, was easily enlisted by the elder poet in his
scheme for a model republic, or "Pantisocracy," in the wilds
of America. They married two sisters, the Misses Fricker, and
a third sister married Robert Lovel, also a poet. The
experiment of pantisocracy was fortunately never carried out,
and Southey's career for the next eight years was exceedingly
fragmentary; but in 1803 there was a reunion of the three
sisters at Keswick, though one of the husbands, Lovel, was
dead. Here Southey entered steadily and industriously on the
life of an author for livelihood; it was by no means
unremunerative. Southey's output of work, both prose and
verse, was very voluminous, and its quality could not but
suffer. He was appointed poet-laureate in 1813; and received a
government pension of £160 a year from 1807, which was
increased by £300 a year in 1835. He died on March 21, 1843.
In a prefatory note to that peerless model of short
biographies, the "Life of Nelson," which appeared in 1813, and
is considered his most important work, Southey describes it as
"clear and concise enough to become a manual for the young
sailor, which he may carry about with him till he has
treasured up the example in his memory and in his heart."
_I.--A Captain at Twenty_
Horatio, son of Edmund and Catherine Nelson, was born on September 29,
1758, in the parsonage of Burnham Thorpe, a Norfolk village, where his
father was rector. His mother's maiden name was Suckling; her
grandmother was an elder sister of Sir Robert Walpole, and this child
was named after his godfather, the first Lord Walpole. Mrs. Nelson died
in 1767, leaving eight children, and her brother, Captain Maurice
Suckling, R.N., visited the widower, and promised to take care of one of
the boys.
Three years later, when Horatio was twelve years old, he read in the
newspaper that his uncle was appointed to the Raisonnable, and urged his
father to let him go to sea with his Uncle Maurice.
The boy was never strong, but he had already given proofs of a resolute
heart and a noble mind. Captain Suckling took an interest in him, and
sent him on a first voyage in a merchant ship to the West Indies, and
then, as coxswain, with the Arctic expedition of 1773, when Horatio
showed his courage by attacking a Polar bear.
A voyage to the East Indies followed, and gave him the rank of
midshipman. But the tropical climate reduced him almost to a skeleton;
he lost for a time the use of his limbs, and was sent home as his only
chance of life. He returned under great depression of spirits. In later
years he related how the despair was cleared away by a glow of
patriotism, in which his king and country came vividly before his mind.
"Well, then," he exclaimed, "I will be a hero, and, confiding in
Providence, I will brave every danger!"
On April 8, 1777, he passed his examination for a lieutenancy, and was
appointed to the Lowestoft frigate, Captain Locker, then fitting out for
Jamaica. Privateers under American colours were harassing British trade
in the West Indies, and Nelson saw much active service. He was removed
to the Bristol flagship, then to the command of the Badger, then to the
Hinchinbrook, and before the age of twenty-one he had gained a rank
which brought all the honours of the service within his reach.
An expedition was at this time projected to seize the region of Lake
Nicaragua, and thus to cut the communication of the Spaniards between
their northern and southern possessions; and in pursuit of this policy
Nelson was sent with a small force, early in 1780, to Honduras. Here,
after deeds of great gallantry, his command was almost annihilated by
the deadly climate, and he himself was so reduced by dysentery that he
was compelled to return to England.
His next ship was the Albemarle, twenty-eight guns, in which he was
kept, to his great annoyance, in the North Sea for the whole winter of
1781-2, and was sent in the spring to Quebec. The Albemarle then served
on the West Indian station until tidings came that the preliminaries of
peace had been signed, and she returned to England, and was paid off in
1783.
"I have closed the war," said Nelson, in one of his letters, "without a
fortune; but there is not a speck on my character. True honour, I hope,
predominated in my mind far above riches." He did not apply for a ship,
because he was not wealthy enough to live on board in the manner which
was then customary.
But, after living for a time in lodgings in St. Omer's in France, he was
appointed to the Boreas, going to the Leeward Islands, and on his
arrival in the West Indies in 1784, found himself senior captain, and
therefore second in command on that station.
The Americans were at this time trading with our islands, taking
advantage of the register of their ships, which had been issued while
they were British subjects. Nelson knew that, by the Navigation Act, no
foreigners, directly or indirectly, were permitted to carry on any trade
with these possessions; and also that the Americans had made themselves
foreigners with regard to England.
Contrary to the orders both of the admiral and of the governor, he
insisted that our ships of war were not sent abroad to make a show of,
and seized four American vessels at Nevis; and when the matter was
brought into court at that place he pleaded his own cause, and the ships
were condemned.
While the lawsuit was proceeding, Nelson formed an attachment to a young
widow, Mrs. Nisbet, niece of the President of Nevis, and was married to
her on March 11, 1787. She was then in her eighteenth year, and had one
child, a son, Josiah, who was three years old. They returned together to
England and took up their abode at the old parsonage, where Nelson
amused himself with farming and country sports, and continued a
relentless campaign against the speculators and fraudulent contractors
attached to the naval service in the West Indies. After many vain
attempts to secure a ship, he was at last appointed, on January 30,
1793, to the Agamemnon, sixty-four guns.
_II.--In the Mediterranean_
The Agamemnon was ordered to the Mediterranean under Lord Hood, and
Nelson was sent with despatches to Sir William Hamilton, our envoy to
the court of Naples. Sir William, after his first interview with him,
told Lady Hamilton that he was about to introduce a little man to her
who could not boast of being very handsome, but who would one day
astonish the world. Thus that acquaintance began which ended in the
destruction of Nelson's domestic happiness, though it threatened no such
consequences then. Here also began that acquaintance with the Neapolitan
court which led to the only blot on Nelson's public character.
Having accomplished this mission, Nelson was sent to join Commodore
Linzee at Tunis, and shortly afterwards to co-operate with General Paoli
and the Anti-Gallican party in Corsica. At this time, 1794, Nelson was
able to say, "My seamen are now what British seamen ought to be, almost
invincible. They really mind shot no more than peas." And again, after
capturing Bastia, "I am all astonishment when I reflect on what we have
achieved! I was always of opinion, have ever acted up to it, and never
had any reason to repent it, that one Englishman was equal to three
Frenchmen." The Agamemnon was then dispatched to co-operate in the siege
of Calvi with General Sir Charles Stuart, at which Nelson lost the sight
of one eye; and later played a glorious part in the attack by Admiral
Hotham's squadron on the French fleet. This action saved Corsica for the
time.
Nelson was made colonel of marines in 1795, a mark of approbation which
he had long wished for; and the Agamemnon was ordered to Genoa, to
co-operate with the Austrian and Sardinian forces. The incapacity and
misconduct of the Austrian General de Vins, however, gave the enemy
possession of the Genoese coast. The Agamemnon, therefore, could no
longer be useful on this station, and Nelson sailed for Leghorn to
refit, and then joined the Mediterranean fleet under Sir John Jervis.
England at that time depended too much on the rotten governments of the
Continent, and too little upon itself. Corsica was therefore abandoned
by Britain, and Nelson, after superintending the evacuation of Corsica,
was ordered to hoist his broad pennant on board the Minerva frigate. He
then sailed for Gibraltar, and proceeded westward in search of the
admiral.
_III.--St. Vincent and the Nile_
Off the mouth of the Straits of Gilbraltar he fell in with the Spanish
fleet; and on February 13, 1797, reaching the station off Cape St.
Vincent, he communicated this intelligence to Sir John Jervis, and was
directed to shift his broad pennant on board the Captain. On the
following morning was fought the battle of Cape St. Vincent. The British
had only fifteen ships of the line against twenty-seven Spanish ships,
but Britain, largely through Nelson's intrepidity, secured an
overwhelming victory. The commander-in-chief was rewarded with the title
of Earl St. Vincent, and Nelson was advanced to the rank of rear-admiral
and received the Order of the Bath.
Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson was now removed to the Theseus, and was
employed in the blockade of Cadiz, where he went through the most
perilous action in which he was ever engaged. Making a night attack upon
the Spanish gunboats, his barge, carrying twelve men, was attacked by an
armed launch carrying twenty-six men; the admiral was only saved by the
heroic devotion of his coxswain; but eighteen of the enemy were killed,
the rest wounded, and their launch taken.
Twelve days later Nelson sailed at the head of an expedition against
Teneriffe, and on the night of July 24, 1797, made a boat attack on the
port of Santa Cruz. On this occasion he was wounded in the right elbow,
and the arm had to be amputated. The small force, which had made its way
into the town, capitulated on honourable terms, and the Spanish governor
distinguished himself by the most humane and generous conduct to his
enemies. There is no doubt that Nelson's life was saved by the careful
attentions of his stepson, Nisbet, who was with him in the boat.
Nisbet was immediately promoted, and honours awaited Nelson in England.
The freedom of the cities of Bristol and London were conferred on him,
and he received a pension of £1,000 a year. He had performed an
extraordinary series of services during the war; including four actions
with the fleets of the enemy, three actions with boats employed in
cutting out of harbour, and in taking three towns; he had commanded the
batteries at the sieges of Bastia and Calvi, he had assisted at the
capture of twenty-eight ships of war, and had taken and destroyed nearly
fifty merchant vessels; and had been engaged against the enemy upwards
of a hundred and twenty times, in which service he had lost his right
eye and right arm.
Early in 1789, Sir Horatio Nelson hoisted his flag in the Vanguard, and
left England to rejoin Earl St. Vincent. He was dispatched to the
Mediterranean, to ascertain the object of Bonaparte's great expedition,
then fitting out at Toulon; and sailed from Gibraltar on May 9 with
three ships of the line, four frigates, and a sloop. The Vanguard was
dismantled in a storm, but was refitted in the Sardinian harbour of St.
Pietro, and was joined by a reinforcement of eleven ships from Earl St.
Vincent.
The first news of the enemy's armament was that it had surprised Malta,
but Nelson soon heard that they had left that island on June 16, and
judged that Egypt was their destination. He arrived off Alexandria on
the 28th, but did not find them; returned by a circuitous course to
Sicily, then sailed to the Morea, where he gained news of the French,
and on August I came in sight of Alexandria and the French fleet.
"Before this time to-morrow," he said to his officers, "I shall have
gained a peerage or Westminster Abbey."
Bonaparte's ships of war, under Admiral Brueys, were moored in Aboukir
Bay in a strong line of battle; and the advantage of numbers, both in
ships, guns, and men, was in favour of the French. Yet only four French
ships out of seventeen escaped, and the victory was the most complete
and glorious in the annals of naval history.
Nelson was now at the summit of his glory; and congratulations, rewards,
and honours were showered upon him by all the states, princes, and
powers to whom his victory had given respite. He was created Baron
Nelson of the Nile and of Burnham Thorpe, with a pension of £2,000 a
year for his own life, and those of his successors; a grant of £10,000
was voted to him by the East India Company; and the King of Naples made
him Duke of Bronte.
_IV.--Lady Hamilton_
As soon as his shattered frame had sufficiently recovered, Nelson was
called to services of greater importance than any one in which he had
been hitherto employed.
The kindest attentions and warmest affection were awaiting him at
Naples; the king, the queen, and Lady Hamilton, who was the queen's
constant favourite, welcomed their hero and deliverer with the most
splendid festivities. General Mack, with whom Nelson was to co-operate,
was at the head of the Neapolitan troops; and while he marched with
32,000 men into the Roman state, 5,000 Neapolitans were embarked on the
British and Portuguese squadron to take possession of Leghorn.
Nelson's fears of the result were soon verified. "The Neapolitan
officers," he said, "did not lose much honour, for God knows they had
not much to lose--but they lost all they had." The French in the Roman
State routed the cowardly Neapolitans. There was a strong revolutionary
party in Naples itself; and it was agreed that the royal family must
seek safety in flight. Their secret escape, with much treasure, on board
the Vanguard, was conducted with the greatest address by Lady Hamilton,
and Nelson conveyed them through a wild storm to Palermo.
He had by this time formed an infatuated attachment for Lady Hamilton,
which totally weaned his affections from his wife. He was dissatisfied
with himself and weary of the world. But, in accordance with his
principle of duty "to assist in driving the French to the devil and in
restoring peace and happiness to mankind," he at length expelled the
French from Naples and restored Ferdinand to his throne. Weak in health,
dispirited, and smarting under a censure from the Admiralty for a
disobedience to orders, Nelson resigned his command, and reached England
in November 1800, having travelled with Sir William and Lady Hamilton.
The great admiral was welcomed to England with every mark of popular
honour; but he had forfeited domestic happiness for ever. Before he had
been three months at home, he separated from Lady Nelson, vowing that
there was nothing in her or in her conduct that he could have wished
otherwise.
In January 1801 he was sent to the Baltic as second in command under Sir
Hyde Parker. Russia, Denmark, and Sweden had founded a confederacy for
making England resign her naval rights, and the British Cabinet decided
instantly to crush it. The fleet sailed on March 12; Nelson represented
to Sir Hyde Parker the necessity of attacking Copenhagen; and on April 2
the British vessels opened fire on the Danish fleet and land batteries.
The Danes, in return, fought their guns manfully, and at one o'clock,
after three hours' endurance, Sir Hyde Parker gave the signal for
discontinuing action. Nelson ordered that signal to be acknowledged, but
continued to fly the signal for close action. "You know, Foley," he
said, turning to the captain of the ship, "I have only one eye; I have a
right to be blind sometimes!" Then, putting the glass to his blind eye,
in the mood that sports with bitterness, he exclaimed, "I really do not
see the signal. Keep mine for closer battle flying! That's the way I
answer such signals. Nail mine to that mast!" Admiral Graves disobeyed
in like manner, and the other ships of the line also continued the
action. The victory was soon complete, and Sir Hyde Parker heartily
expressed his satisfaction and gratitude.
For the battle of Copenhagen, Nelson was raised to the rank of viscount.
Had he lived long enough, he would have fought his way up to a dukedom.
After holding a command in the English Channel, to watch the
preparations which were being made at Boulogne for an invasion of
England, Nelson retired on the conclusion of the Peace of Amiens to his
estate at Merton, in Surrey, meaning to pass his days there in the
society of Sir William and Lady Hamilton. Sir William died early in
1803, and, as the government would do nothing for her, Nelson settled on
Lady Hamilton a sum equal to the pension of £1,200 a year which her
husband had enjoyed. A few weeks after this event the war was renewed,
and the day after his majesty's message to parliament, Nelson departed
to take command of the Mediterranean fleet.
He took his station immediately off Toulon, and there, with incessant
vigilance, waited for the coming out of the enemy. From May 1803 to
August 1805 he left the Victory only three times, each time upon the
king's service, and on no occasion for more than an hour.
War having been declared between England and Spain, the Toulon fleet,
having the Spaniards to co-operate with them, put to sea on January 18,
1804. Nelson, who was off Sardinia when he heard the news the next day,
sought them in vain through the Mediterranean, until he heard that they
had been dispersed by a gale, and had returned to Toulon. On March 31
they emerged again, and passed out of the Straits of Gibraltar, but the
British fleet was kept by adverse winds from reaching the Atlantic till
April 5.
The enemy had thirty-five days start on their run to the West Indies,
and Nelson, misled by false information, sought them among the islands,
until he learned at Antigua on June 9 that they had sailed again for
Europe. He made all speed across the Atlantic, and again sought the
enemy vainly, until he joined Admiral Cornwallis off Ushant on August
15. The same evening he was ordered to proceed with the Victory and
Superb to Portsmouth.
_V.--Trafalgar_
Here, at last, he heard news of the combined fleets; Sir Robert Calder
had fallen in with them near Finisterre and had fought an indecisive
engagement.
On September 14, 1805, he passed through the crowds at Portsmouth, many
of whom were in tears, many kneeling and blessing him as he passed. He
arrived off Cadiz on September 29 with twenty-three ships, and on
October 9 he sent Collingwood his plan of attack--what he called "the
Nelson-touch." These tactics consisted in cutting through the line of
the enemy in three places.
On the morning of the 19th the enemy came out of the port of Cadiz, and
all that day and night, and the next day, the British pursued them. At
daybreak of the 21st, the combined fleets were distinctly seen from the
Victory, about twelve miles to leeward. Signal was made to bear down on
the enemy in two lines, and all sail was set, the Victory leading.
Nelson now retired to his cabin and wrote in his diary a prayer
committing himself and the British cause to Heaven, and then wrote a
memorial setting forth Lady Hamilton's services to Britain, and leaving
her and her daughter Horatia as a legacy to his country.
Villeneuve, commanding the enemy, was a skilful seaman, and his plan of
defence was as original as the plan of attack. He formed the fleet in a
double line, every alternate ship being a cable's length to windward of
her second ahead and astern. Nelson, certain of triumph, issued his last
signal: "England expects every man to do his duty," which was received
throughout the fleet with acclamations.
The English lines, led by Nelson and by Collingwood, swept down upon the
hostile fleet, the Victory steering for the bow of the Santissima
Trinidad. At four minutes after twelve she opened fire, and almost
immediately ran against the Redoubtable. Four ships, two British and two
French, formed as compact a tier as if they had been moored together,
their heads all lying the same way.
At a quarter past one, a ball fired from the mizzen-top of the
Redoubtable struck Nelson on the left shoulder, and he fell on his face.
"They have done for me at last, Hardy," he said; "my backbone is shot
through." He was carried below, laid on a pallet in the midshipmen's
berth, and insisted that the surgeon should leave him--"for you can do
nothing for me." He was in great pain, and expressed much anxiety for
the event of the action, until Captain Hardy was able to tell him that
fifteen of the enemy had been taken. Repeating that he left Lady
Hamilton and Horatia as a legacy to his country, and exclaiming, "Thank
God, I have done my duty!" Nelson expired.
He cannot be said to have fallen prematurely whose work was done.
* * * * *