NAPOLEON'S THREATENED INVASION OF ENGLAND
As soon as peace had been made with the Danes, the British fleet set
out for the Baltic, with the object of finding the Swedish squadron.
Nelson had in the meantime shifted his flag to the _St. George_, and
as some repairs had to be made to this ship, he was forced to remain
behind till she could be got ready.
"We have reports," he had written to Lady Hamilton, "that the Swedish
fleet is above the Shallows. All our fellows are longing to be at
them, and so do I, as great a boy as any of them, for I consider this
as being at school, and going to England as going home for the
holidays; therefore I really long to finish my task."
Before his flagship was ready for sea a report came that the Swedish
admiral had sailed.
The idea that a fight should take place, and Nelson himself not be
present, was not to be thought of. Instantly he ordered a boat to be
lowered, and in this he started off to join the fleet.
His only feeling was one of fear lest the fleet should have sailed
before he got on board one of the ships.
So great was his hurry that he would not even wait till his overcoat
was brought to him.
"No, I am not cold," he kept repeating: "my anxiety for my country
will keep me warm."
"Do you think the fleet has sailed?" he added; "if they are, we shall
follow them to Carlscrona, by Gad!"
In the words of one of his officers, "The idea of going in a small
boat, rowing six oars, without a single morsel of anything to eat or
drink, the distance of about ten leagues, must convince the world
_that every other earthly consideration than that of saving his
country was totally banished from his thoughts_."
About midnight the tired rowers reached the _Elephant_, up whose side
Nelson clambered half dead with cold after his five hours' row in the
bitter northern night.
Next morning the Swedes were seen, but they quickly retired into
shelter behind the batteries of Carlscrona.
After some letters had passed between them, Parker saw that the
Swedish Government sincerely wished for peace, and he gave orders for
the fleet to sail to the Gulf of Finland.
They had not got far on their way, however, when a despatch-boat from
the Russian ambassador at Copenhagen overtook them. This boat had
been sent to tell the British admiral of the Czar Paul's death, and
to say that the new emperor had accepted an offer made by Great
Britain to end the dispute by agreement, without actually coming to
blows.
The fleet returned to Zealand on hearing this news, and cast anchor
in Kioge Bay, where they remained till despatches arrived from home
on the 5th of May, recalling Parker, and making Nelson
commander-in-chief.
Left to himself, the new commander-in-chief was not long in getting
to work. First he politely but firmly told the Swedish admiral that
his fleet must remain in port. Next, by going to Revel as soon as
Parker had left, he let the Russians see that for their own sake they
had better stay where they were.
"I shall now go there as a friend," he had written; "but the two
fleets shall not form a junction, unless my orders permit it."
On his arrival with his twelve ships of the line, he went on shore
and paid an official visit to the authorities, and the presence of
the mightiest seaman of the day, backed as he was by a fleet, had the
wished-for effect.
The British ships with their goods and their crews were instantly
given up; all Nelson asked for was promptly granted, after which the
Czar most prudently, to use Nelson's own words, "begged that he would
go away."
Soon after this, to his great delight, now that there was no more
fighting to be done, he was relieved, and bidding farewell to the
Baltic on the 19th of June, he landed at Yarmouth some three weeks
after. "To find a proper successor," St. Vincent had written to him,
"your lordship knows is no very easy task, for I never saw the man in
our profession, excepting yourself and Troubridge, who possessed _the
magic art of infusing the same spirit into others which inspired
their own actions_."
On arrival at Yarmouth he was received by vast crowds, who did all
they knew to honour the conquering admiral.
Nelson never halted, but quickly making his way through the dense,
cheering throng, he went straight to the hospital, where lay so many
of his men, wounded in the late battle.
Stopping at every bed, he spoke a few words to each sailor.
"Well, Jack, what's the matter?" he asked of one.
"Lost my right arm, your honour," came the answer.
Nelson stopped, then holding up his own empty sleeve, shook it at the
sailor, and said playfully--
"Well, Jack, then you and I are spoilt for fishermen. Cheer up, my
brave fellow."
At every bed he came to he said something kind and encouraging. And
the surgeon said the admiral did more good than a doctor; every eye
seemed to sparkle, and every sufferer to forget his pain when Nelson
spoke to him.
Before leaving for the Baltic, Nelson, who, after the Nile, described
his career as having been far beyond his greatest hopes in the way of
honour and rewards, had serious thoughts of giving up the sea and
settling down to a life of peace on shore.
There was yet, however, much of his finest work to do.
Lord St. Vincent had from the first begged him not to retire, and
events abroad were in such a dangerous state that Nelson could not
possibly leave the service and desert the country he so well and
bravely served.
Baffled in his attempt on India, his fleet destroyed at the Nile,
Napoleon had declared that he had no choice left but to make a
descent on Britain.
To meet this danger the presence of the great admiral was of the
greatest importance. The knowledge that he was at the head of the
plans made for the defence of his country would alone calm the public
mind. At the same time the very name of Nelson was enough to make
the enemy think twice before making any attempt in which they were
likely to meet him in battle.
In answer to the call of his country, Nelson undertook its defence,
and, as usual, entered on his task with energy and zeal.
He found the country quite unprepared to meet an invasion.
"Everything must have a beginning," he wrote to Lord St. Vincent,
"and we are literally at the foundation of our fabric of defence."
Calais, Boulogne, and Dieppe, although the ports nearest to England,
were not in Nelson's opinion suitable for the embarking of troops;
that the attack would come from Flanders he thought more likely.
"Great preparations at Ostend," he writes; "Augereau commands that
part of the army. I hope to let him feel the bottom of the Goodwin
Sand."
That Napoleon thought of making a serious invasion of the country
seemed scarcely possible. That he might be able to land some troops,
and with them make a dash on London, both Nelson and the nation
thought possible.
The aim of the British defence was, as it is to this day, to keep the
enemy away from our coasts and attack them the instant they came out
of port.
Should the French get a calm day they would most probably row over in
boats, in which case our fleet might not be able to get at them, with
no wind to fill their sails.
In that case the British were to attack them in small boats, no
matter how great the enemy's superiority in numbers might be.
"The courage of Britons," Nelson proudly boasted, "will never, I
believe, allow one Frenchman to leave the beach."
The boats would take some twelve hours to row over from France.
Although they started in a calm, a breeze might quite well spring up
in this time. In that case the British fleet were to make an
onslaught on the small craft and transports. Their cannon would mow
through the ranks of transports, the loss of the enemy would be
terrible, but, as Nelson grimly said, "No delicacy can be observed on
this great occasion."
"Whatever plans may be adopted," he wrote, "the moment the enemy
touch our coast, be it where it may, they are to be attacked by
_every man afloat and on shore:_ this must be perfectly understood.
_Never fear the event_."
England was now like a large armed camp; the great shadow of invasion
was hanging over the country. "Bony" himself, with whose name nurses
were used to frighten children, was coming over to try and conquer
Britain as he had conquered Europe. Small wonder that the whole
country sprang to arms!
Having drawn up his plan of defence, the admiral, only three weeks
after his return, again hoisted his flag, this time at Sheerness, on
the _Unité_ frigate.
No time was lost; in all his actions he used every haste, "in order
to give an example to the country and the service of the advantage of
all getting to their posts as speedily as possible."
Nelson never spared himself. One day he would be at Sheerness
inspecting the thirty ships there under his command; two days later
he would hold a review on land of the "Sea Fencibles," a force newly
raised to meet the invasion; again he would appear off Boulogne,
where the French admiral, La Touche Tréville, with his fleet, lay
moored.
On August 15 an attack was made on Boulogne with fifty-seven boats.
The British fought gallantly, but luck was against them, and they
were beaten back.
Nelson, however, had seen enough of the French flat-bottomed clumsy
craft to feel sure that they would be no match at sea for his own
swift cutters. He also saw that there was little on a great scale
that could be done, and that owing to tides and sandbanks any attack
on the enemy while in port was scarcely worth the risk of so much
loss of life to our brave seamen.
At length the French also saw that the invasion of England was too
difficult to be thought of, and peace was made.
Nelson, though his flag still continued to fly as commander-in-chief,
went on shore and took up his abode at Merton, an estate which he had
newly bought, and which was the only home of his own he ever had on
English soil.
That the peace would last he never for a moment thought likely. And
though he might long for quiet and rest, still he was ready at the
call of his country. "Whenever it is necessary, I am your admiral,"
he wrote to the Prime Minister.
Already there had been some talk of his returning to the
Mediterranean. His very presence there would, in the words of Lord
Minto, "show Bonaparte, if he hoists his flag, it will not be in
joke."
On the 16th of May war was again declared, and four days later Nelson
sailed in the _Victory_.