IN THE MEDITERRANEAN--AND AT HOME
After the battle Nelson sailed for Italy. On this voyage he became
seriously ill, and for eighteen hours he was not expected to get
better.
Feeling his end to be near, he wrote to the chief he so loved, Lord
St. Vincent, bidding him farewell.
"I never expect, my dear lord, to see your face again," he said. "It
may please God that this will be the finish to that fever of anxiety
which I have endured from the middle of June"--during the search for
the French fleet. "But be that as it pleases His goodness. I am
resigned to His will."
The voyage, however, seemed to do him good, and on arrival at Naples
a splendid welcome cheered his drooping spirits.
The Queen of Naples--who was a sister of the unfortunate and
beautiful Marie Antoinette, the queen whom the French had
beheaded--greeted him with every show of joy and delight.
"O brave Nelson! O God! bless and protect our brave deliverer!" she
said. "O Nelson! Nelson! what do we not owe you! O conqueror!
saviour of Italy! The whole of the sea-coast of Italy is saved; and
this is owing alone to the generous English."
The people of Naples had all along had kindly feelings to Great
Britain, but they had been afraid of seeming too friendly lest they
should offend the French.
The latter had now overthrown the Pope and his government, and put in
their place a Roman republic. This was a constant danger to the
kingdom of Naples. Not only were they frightened of being attacked,
but they also feared that the people would follow the example of the
French, raise the standard of revolt, and perhaps treat the king and
queen as the French had used their royal family.
At the advice of Nelson, and urged thereto by the queen and Lady
Hamilton, her great friend, the wife of the English minister, the
king at length made war on the French, and his army marched on Rome.
Nelson in the meanwhile promised that the Bay of Naples should never
be left without an English man-of-war to protect the royal family.
At first the Neapolitan army did very well; after some skirmishing
they forced the French general to leave Rome, and they then entered
the city in triumph.
This was, however, the end of their success. The army was composed
of fine stalwart men, and in their bright uniforms had at first so
pleased Nelson that the great seaman compared them to the finest
troops in Europe. They were, however, useless when it came to hard
knocks and real fighting.
When they attempted to follow up the retreating Frenchmen, the
latter, though outnumbered by two to one, turned at bay.
The result was not long in doubt; the well-trained French soldiers
utterly broke and beat them, and sent them flying back like a flock
of sheep to Naples.
The town was in a state of panic, and unsafe for peaceable people.
The king and queen were in great danger, and Nelson determined to
rescue them from their rebel subjects.
Lady Hamilton, with no thought for the danger she was running, found
out and carefully explored an underground passage leading from the
palace to the seashore. Through this passage the royal treasures, to
the amount of two millions and a half of money, were secretly
carried, and safely put on board the British vessels.
On a wild stormy night Nelson himself landed and brought off the
whole royal family in three barges, which in face of the storm and
heavy sea reached the _Vanguard_ without accident.
For two more days the _Vanguard_ waited in the bay to rescue any such
people as felt they were in danger. The property of all British
merchants had been saved, and they were offered a refuge on board any
British ship in the squadron.
At length, when everything had been done to save our countrymen in
peril, the fleet sailed; and after meeting the worst storm Nelson had
ever sailed through, after a three days' stormy passage, landed the
rescued royal family at Palermo, where they were safe from all harm.
All through this exciting time Nelson acted with the most cool
bravery and perfect tact. His presence of mind never left him;
sailor and fighter first and above all things, he was at the same
time bold and skilful in dealing with affairs of state.
"You are as great in the Cabinet as on the ocean," was the praise
given by Lord St. Vincent.
"The world knows that Lord Nelson can fight the battles of his
country," said Lord Minto; but he went on to say that besides his
skill and courage as a seaman, Nelson possessed judgment, ability,
and patience, with which to protect his country's honour and
interests--qualities "_not always allied to the sort of spirit which,
without an instant's hesitation, can attack the whole Spanish line
with his single ship_."
The power of the French in the Mediterranean was now greatly
weakened. Their army, watched by the English fleet as a cat watches
a mouse, was not allowed to leave Egypt. In Malta they were being
sorely pressed, and to make matters worse, the Portuguese made an
alliance with Great Britain, and sent their fleet to be under
Nelson's orders.
The British admiral was determined to destroy their power still more.
"_Down, down with the French!_ is my constant prayer," wrote Nelson.
"_Down, down with the French!_ ought to be placed in the council-room
of every country in the world."
Meanwhile, the French, though so thoroughly beaten at Aboukir, had
not altogether lost heart, and on the 12th of May news came to Nelson
at Palermo that a French fleet had been seen off Oporto, heading
towards the Straits of Gibraltar.
The admiral, who had been in poor health and low spirits, fretting at
the idle and peaceful life he was leading, on the instant became like
a new man.
"Not a moment shall be lost in bringing them to battle," he joyfully
exclaimed.
"Your lordship may depend that the squadron under my command shall
never fall into the hands of the enemy," he wrote to St. Vincent;
adding, "and before we are destroyed I have little doubt that the
enemy will have their wings so completely clipped that they may be
easily overtaken."
The words, "before we are destroyed," show the sort of fighter Nelson
was. He did not fight only for victory and when he felt sure of
beating the enemy. For the good of his country he would have hurled
a few ships on the whole fleet of the foe, satisfied if he made the
enemy suffer--"clipped their wings," to use his own words.
At this time Nelson received a strange present from a Captain
Hallwell, in the shape of a coffin made out of the mainmast of the
French flagship which blew up at Aboukir. Nelson was greatly pleased
with the gift, which he had placed in his cabin just behind where he
sat at dinner. "We shall have hot work of it, indeed," the crew
said. "You see the admiral intends to fight till he is killed; and
there he is to be buried."
That this battle never took place was due to no fault of Nelson, who
waited eagerly for the enemy at Palermo.
At this time he learnt to his great grief that Lord St. Vincent, his
old chief and firm friend, was going home.
Admiral Keith, the new commander-in-chief, found a splendid force
under him when he took command. This was divided into two
divisions--thirteen ships under Nelson cruising in Sicilian waters,
while his own force of twenty ships was off Toulon.
Had Nelson's squadron been stronger, he might have forced the enemy
to fight, but even Nelson shrank from the foolhardy attempt of
wilfully attacking twenty-two French sail with a very much weaker
force.
He therefore made up his mind to wait for more ships before going in
search of the enemy. Should the French, however, approach either
Naples or Sicily, he was ready to fight to the death, and at least
damage their fleet so much that they could do no further mischief,
and be quite unfitted "even for a summer cruise."
As the enemy made no attempt on either Naples or Sicily, Nelson, with
the help of his squadron, began to restore order in the former place.
Troubridge fought manfully in driving out the French. The fighting
was for the greater part on shore, and Nelson laughingly called the
brave seaman "a first-rate general."
He replied to those who thought naval officers ought not to be used
in attacking fortifications, "We have but one idea--to get close
alongside."
"None but a sailor would have placed a battery only 180 yards from
the Castle of St. Elmo" (a fortress in Naples), he wrote. "A soldier
must have gone according to art, and the wwww way"--making with his
pen these zigzags like four w's, to show a roundabout way of attack.
"My brave Troubridge went straight on, for we had no time to spare."
Soon the whole of the French force was driven out of Naples and the
royal family were able to return. They showed how grateful they were
to the brave Englishman who had not only saved them from danger, but
restored them to their rights, by making Nelson Duke of Bronté, with
a property of about £3000 a year; and from that time Nelson signed
his name "Nelson and Bronté" in all letters and despatches.
While the British squadron was in the Bay of Naples, Caraccioli, the
head of the rebel Neapolitan navy, was captured.
He had been a commodore in his country's navy, but when the rebellion
broke out he deserted his king and joined the rebels. On being tried
on board the _Foudroyant_, he was found guilty by a court-martial of
his fellow-countrymen. He was plainly a traitor, and he suffered the
end of traitors, being by Nelson's orders hanged at the yardarm of
the _Minerva_, his betrayed royal master's frigate.
For this act Nelson has often been blamed, but we must remember that
the man was a traitor; it was necessary to make an example, and the
crime of which Caraccioli was guilty was one hateful to all seamen,
and to all loyal men.
Keith had now gone back to England, and it might have been expected
that Nelson, now an Admiral of the Red, would remain in chief
command. But the Admiralty had other views, and shortly afterwards
sent Keith back to command in the Mediterranean. Nelson felt this as
a slight put upon him.
"Greenwich Hospital seems a fit retreat for me after being evidently
thought unfit to command in the Mediterranean," he wrote.
Another event took place which caused him much sorrow and regret.
Bonaparte, who had always said, "We will arrive safe; Fate will never
abandon us; we will arrive safe in spite of the enemy," made good his
boast by sailing from Egypt in spite of all the watchfulness of the
British, and landing safely in France on the 11th of October.
Nelson, who wished that not one Frenchman should be allowed to leave
Egypt, was much annoyed at this escape; for had Bonaparte been caught
the war would probably have ceased, and the whole course of history
been changed.
It was no fault of our admiral's, for his ships were being used in
the blockade of Malta.
"If I could have had cruisers, as was my plan, off Cape Bon," he
said, "Mr. Bonaparte could not probably have got to France."
Soon after Keith returned, Nelson, "the heaven-born admiral," as one
of his captains called him, aided by luck, had a triumphant ending to
this period of his career in the Mediterranean; for both _Le
Genereux_ and the _Guillaume Tell_, the two French ships which had
escaped the battle of the Nile, were captured by him.
During the fight with the former, a shot passed through the mizzen
stay-sail of the admiral's ship. Nelson, patting one of the
midshipmen on the head, asked him laughingly "how he liked the
music." Seeing the boy looked rather alarmed, he spoke kindly to
him, told him that Charles XII. ran away from the first shot he
heard, though afterwards he was called "The Great," from his bravery.
"I therefore," said Nelson, "hope much from you in future."
With the capture of the last of the Nile fleet Nelson felt that his
work was for the time being done. "My task is done, my health is
lost, and the orders of the great Earl St. Vincent are completely
fulfilled," he wrote.
Having obtained leave to go home, he started to travel through
Germany, where he was treated as a popular hero, and taking ship from
Hamburg, he arrived at Yarmouth on the 6th November 1800, two years
and eight months from the time he left Spithead.
On going on shore the admiral received a splendid welcome. He was
the idol of the whole nation, his name on every one's lips. The
freedom of the city was presented to him; at night bonfires and
illuminations were lit in his honour.
His whole journey to London was a triumphal procession, and when he
arrived the mob insisted on taking the horses out of the carriage and
drawing him in state to the city.
After a short time in London, Nelson went to spend Christmas with his
friends, the Hamiltons, at the country house of Mr. Beckford, a
mutual friend.
During this visit a curious tale is told by his host of Nelson (as
showing what different forms courage may take).
The latter, in order to show his famous visitor some distant part of
the estate, took him for a drive in his mail phaeton, drawn by four
horses.
The horses were quite under control, but, being fresh, rattled along
at a good pace.
Nelson sat in silence for a time, with a fixed, drawn face. Finally
he could stand it no longer, and saying quietly, "This is too much
for me; you must set me down," he insisted on getting out and walking
the whole way home.
The man whose whole life was a record of daring and bravery at sea
and in action was, after all, only human!