Caracciolo.
Right glad were we when on June 24th, 1799, we bore up to Naples and
anchored in the Bay with a noble fleet of eighteen sail of the line,
which were joined on the next day by two-and-twenty gun-and-mortar
vessels, that had been lying at the Islands. These sail of the line
for the most part had assembled off Maritimo, the little island at the
west point of Sicily, where the fate of a Punic War was settled in the
battle of the Ægatian Islands, so fatal to Carthage. Maritimo, the
chaplain was careful to impress upon us, was one of them. We left
Palermo for Naples the first time on June 13th, with the Hereditary
Prince on board to accompany the Admiral, and represent his father at
the imminent occupation of Naples. But that evening of the 13th, at
nine o'clock, a lieutenant arrived who had been landed westward of
Palermo by the sloop of war _Petrel_, which had not been able to beat
up to the city against the stiff easterly breeze, any more than we had
been able to get away from it. So that there was nothing for it but to
put back to Palermo on the 15th, land the Prince and all the troops we
had taken on board, and on to Maritimo, whither the Admiral bade
Captain Ball from Malta and Captain Troubridge from Naples to join him
with all their ships. I believe the _Petrel_ carried the orders to
Captain Ball to raise the Malta blockade; and to Naples, there being
no fear of the enemy, there was a constant run of small craft. Our
news was that the French had passed the Straits, and been seen off
Minorca--nineteen of the line. On the 20th we had a despatch from
Admiral Lord St. Vincent that twelve British ships of the line had
entered the Straits from the Channel, and were standing for Mahon,
whence they would at once start off in search of Bruix, who had
disappeared. We learnt also that Lord Keith was the new
Commander-in-chief, Lord St. Vincent having resigned.
The Admiral was convinced that Naples was the destination of the
French, and at once started to throw himself upon them. He was equally
convinced that no harm would come to Sicily, with Keith's fine fleet
in hot pursuit of the French, and wrote to Sir William that he should
be back in eight days and to calm Her Majesty's distress. He was his
old self again, almost back to health, and full of spirits at the
prospect of meeting the French fleet. With Admiral Lord Keith behind
him to look after the future of the two Kingdoms, he was ready to
fight the French till every ship he had was sunk.
We were off Palermo on the 21st, but did not enter the harbour; we
only lay to for a couple of hours, while the Admiral went ashore to
see Her Majesty and afterwards brought Sir William and Lady Hamilton
on board, the latter with baggage. Nor could the Admiral's expectation
of finding the French fleet at Naples bring a shadow of anxiety to her
rosy, laughing face.
"If the French are there, Nelson," she said, "there will be another
Nile, and we shall be there to see it this time."
I do not know if such a prospect had any particular attraction for Sir
William, but he did not show the white feather. Possibly he thought
that the French fleet would be in no hurry to put themselves in a trap
at Naples, but that there might be need of a diplomatist who
understood the value of conflicting Neapolitan promises. However, My
Lady was all for a battle: a battle she longed for, with her dear
Admiral distributing thunderbolts. Then we resumed our voyage, making
Naples on the 24th.
Off Ischia we had the news that put the Admiral into a fury we were
glad to see him in again. He did not make the innocent suffer in his
furies, and he had not had the health for the like for months past.
There was no French fleet at Naples; and Cardinal Ruffo, who commanded
the Army of Vagabonds, the only people who were worth anything in the
Kingdom of Naples, had made a most unintelligible treaty with the
rebels, allowing them Heaven knows what.
It was a strange voyage that. Here were we, eighteen of the line, just
outside the Bay, where we were in full expectation of finding
five-and-twenty of the French line. We had not had a bulkhead in the
ship for many weeks past. Even the cabin occupied by Sir William and
My Lady was made of canvas screens; and yet when the boat came aboard
us off Ischia, here was this beautiful woman, in the costly and
delicate costume which befitted her as a Court lady, standing beside
the Admiral, who had gone forward to receive the messenger. She
certainly did say, "I will interpret for you," as a sort of
explanation or excuse for her presence. I, of course, was only in
attendance to take orders.
The Admiral first smiled, and was then very much perturbed as she
translated the message to him from the Cardinal, which informed him
that there were no French or rebels, except in the castles and the
citadel and one or two unimportant fortified points. So far so good.
But the Cardinal went on to say that he had concluded a treaty by
which the patriots----
"Patriots!" cried the Admiral. "May he be d--d with these vile
homicidal rebels!"
"----by which the _rebels_," her Ladyship corrected herself, "were to
evacuate the castles within twenty-one days unless previously relieved
by the French fleet; they marching out with all the honours of war,
and the British Admiral providing vessels to take them to Toulon free
of all charge, and giving hostages to the French in the citadel for
the safe deliverance of the same."
"A pretty treaty!" shouted the Admiral: "what's Foote doing?"
"And no news," continued My Lady, not heeding the interruption, "of
the French fleet, so evacuation now only waits the providing of
suitable vessels."
"Ruffo hadn't the power," said the Admiral; "it was expressly reserved
from him. I shall see to this; but I suppose it's only another of
their d--d scheming tricks. Foote will have something to say to it.
Troubridge has wrote that the Governor of Procida is an honest man,
etc. I hope he may be. If he is, he is the only one in the two
kingdoms. Trinder, ask the captain to crowd on all sail, and tell Mr.
Vassall to signal it on to the fleet."
Presently we swept once more between the Islands into that glorious
Bay which we had left under such inauspicious circumstances. What a
difference now! Then we were, with a few Portugals and transports,
helping the hapless Court to fly for their lives; now we were eighteen
of the line, standing proudly in, the tack as we passed the Islands
giving us the favour of the breeze. Soon we were near enough to hear
from Captain Foote, who, on His Majesty's frigate the _Sea-Horse_, had
been commanding the gallant little squadron of bombs and small craft
which had been maintaining the blockade since Captain Troubridge
joined us off Maritimo, to give us every available ship against the
overpowering force of the French.
Captain Foote confirmed the Cardinal, and added that though the
evacuation had not yet begun he had vessels nearly sufficient to take
the evacuating force to Toulon.
"Evacuating force!" shouted the Admiral. "By G--d, they shall never
evacuate, except as the unconditional prisoners of His Sicilian
Majesty!" And Captain Troubridge, who had come on board, and never
concealed his opinion for any man--indeed, we had seen but lately how
he had upbraided the Admiral himself--was quite agreed.
"Trinder," said the Admiral, "tell Mr. Vassall to signal that the
truce is at an end, and no one will be allowed to leave the castles."
"Begging your pardon, my Lord, the Cardinal considers it a treaty, not
a truce."
"The Cardinal may consider it what he chooses. Neither he nor any man
here had the power to make a treaty; and the armistice, I take for
granted, is, that if the French and rebels are not relieved by their
friends in twenty-one days from the signing of the armistice, they
shall evacuate Naples, in this manner infamous to His Sicilian Majesty
and triumphant to them, as stated in the Article."
"Those in the castles, my Lord, are preparing to evacuate in a day or
two at the latest. They look upon it as a treaty, not as an
armistice."
"He could not make but an armistice, sir," said the Admiral; "and all
armistices signify that either party may renew hostilities, giving a
certain notice fixed upon by the contracting parties. In the present
instance, I suppose the Cardinal thought that in twenty-one days he
had not the power of driving the French from the Castle of St. Elmo,
or the rebels from the lower Castles of Uovo and Nuovo. The French and
rebels thought that if they could not be relieved in twenty-one days
they could, when unable to remain any longer, covenant to be removed
to a place where they may be in a situation to renew their diabolical
schemes against His Sicilian Majesty and the peace and happiness of
his faithful subjects. And their removal was to be at the expense of
His Majesty, and those enemies and rebels were to be protected by the
fleet of His Sicilian Majesty's faithful ally--the King of Great
Britain. Therefore, evidently, this agreement implies that both
parties are supposed to remain _in statu quo_; but if either party
receive relief from their situation, then the compact of course falls
to the ground, and is of no effect; for if one party can be liberated
from the agreement, it naturally implies that the other is in the same
state. And I fancy the question need not be asked whether, if the
French fleet arrives this day in the Bay of Naples, the French and
rebels would adhere one moment to the armistice? 'No!' the French
Admiral would say, 'I am not here to look on, but to act.' And so says
the British Admiral; and declares on his honour that the arrival of
either fleet, British or French, destroys the compact, for neither can
lay idle."
"And what am I to tell Captain Foote, my Lord? He has to communicate
with the Cardinal."
"Tell him that the British Admiral proposes to the Cardinal to send,
in their joint names, to the French and rebels, that the arrival of
the British fleet has completely destroyed the compact, as would that
of the French if they had had the power (which, thank God, they have
not!) to come to Naples."
"And what measures is Captain Foote to take, my Lord?--or I should
say, What proclamation is he to deliver in pursuance of your
Lordship's orders?"
"Tell him to send to the French in the citadel that they shall give
possession of the same citadel or Castle of St. Elmo to His Sicilian
Majesty's faithful subjects, and the troops of his allies; on which
condition alone they shall be sent to France without the stipulation
of their being prisoners of war. That as to rebels and traitors, no
power on earth has a right to stand between their gracious King and
them; they must instantly throw themselves on the clemency of their
Sovereign, for no other terms will be allowed them; nor will the
French be allowed even to name them in any capitulation. If these
terms are not complied with, in the time above mentioned--namely, two
hours for the French, and instant submission on the part of the
rebels--such very favourable conditions will never again be offered."
That evening word came back that these orders had been read and
explained at great length to the Cardinal, and had been rejected by
him. Accordingly, the next morning we ran right into the Bay, and
anchored in close line-of-battle before the city, at the same time
calling up the two-and-twenty gun-and-mortar vessels from the Islands
to rest on our flanks. After which the Admiral sent two summonses to
the Cardinal, to be by him delivered to the French in the citadel and
the rebels in the castles. From the first, who had not treated in any
way yet, he demanded an unconditional surrender. His summons to the
rebels ran:--
"His Britannic Majesty's Ship _Foudroyant_,
"Naples Bay, 25th June, 1799.
"Rear-Admiral Lord Nelson, K.B., Commander of His Britannic
Majesty's Fleet in the Bay of Naples, acquaints the rebellious
subjects of His Sicilian Majesty in the Castles of Uovo and
Nuovo, that he will not permit them to embark or quit those
places. They must surrender themselves to His Majesty's royal
mercy."
These summonses the Cardinal refused flat out to deliver. "If," he
said, "the Admiral chose to break the armistice between the signing
and fulfilment of the capitulation, he must do it by himself. The
Calabrian army would assist neither with guns nor with men. For
himself, the Cardinal was sick of the whole matter, and he should be
pleased for the Admiral to do what he liked."
There never was any doubt of the Admiral's doing what he liked; for,
unless he provided transports, there was no means of evacuating the
castles. To leave them on the land side, when the _lazzaroni_ had the
countenance of the English fleet, would mean being torn to pieces. As
for transports, no one could provide them but with the Admiral's
leave; and even then they would be under the guns of the fleet.
The motives of the Cardinal have never been quite fathomed. He had
done the King good service by clearing the rebels out of the places
south of Naples, and out of Naples itself save the castles, and up to
this he had acted like a straightforward, honest man; but what was his
thought now? "Did he," as the Admiral said so bitterly, "think one
house in Naples more to be prized than his Sovereign's honour? Was he
now engaged in the act of collusion or treachery, to which every
native subject of the King seemed to come sooner or later? Or was he
now remembering his office in the Church, and anxious, even to the
manifest detriment of the Kingdom, to avert the cruelties which the
exasperated Loyalists of Naples would be sure to wreak upon their
beaten foes?"
It was difficult not to feel sorry for these scoundrels. The worst of
them were, like the Prince Caracciolo, of the principal nobility, and
they had had to put up with treatment from the French as bad as if
they had been their enemies, and not their friends. Men of the highest
rank were ordered to the long hours and exposure of the work of common
sentries, to save private soldiers in the army of the French. They had
also been stripped of their property to keep the French going till
they should have time to capture the property of the Loyalists.
One thing is certain: that, of the Neapolitan Loyalists, the Cardinal
alone was for the carrying out of the arrangements with the rebels
which had been interrupted by the arrival of our fleet. What the
Admiral urged, that Buonaparte would have considered such a treaty
abrogated by the arrival of an overwhelming force, is beyond dispute.
It is also beyond dispute that the Cardinal had not a man of his own
army with him in this matter. Only he, and the commander of some
Russian forces, who was none too anxious to play into the hands of the
British, and Captain Foote, who had been cajoled into giving his
signature to that of which he did not approve, stood for the treaty.
The next morning the Cardinal came on board himself, and was received
with proper ceremony and a salute of thirteen guns. The interview, at
which Sir William and My Lady were present to interpret, lasted for
hours; and I have it from the Journal, which we have found so correct
wherever we had the opportunity of testing it by our own private
knowledge, that "... the Cardinal and myself have begun our career by
a complete difference of opinion. _He_ will send the rebels to Toulon.
_I_ say they shall not go." "We came very near high words," writes the
Admiral. "I used every argument in my power to convince him that the
treaty and armistice was at an end by the arrival of the fleet; and
this the Cardinal had come with the determination not to see."
The Cardinal went as he came. "On the 27th," says the Journal, "the
rebels came out of the castles as they ought, and as, I hope, all
those who are false to their King and their country will, _to be
hanged_, or otherwise disposed of, as their Sovereign thought proper."
They were placed in transports and brought under the sterns of the
men-of-war, where we could see the leaders--as they were discovered by
information--having irons put on them to be brought for safe custody
to one of the men-of-war. They were embarked altogether in fourteen
_polacres_, a kind of craft much used on the Italian coast.
In the matter of the capitulation the rebels clearly protracted the
negotiation for twenty-one days with the idea that the French fleet
would arrive and _ipso facto_ cancel the treaty. This provision was
perfectly natural, for unless the English fleet arrived, Captain
Foote, with his weak squadron, and the Cardinal, with his rough
levies, had hardly the means of reducing such strong places as the
Citadel and the Castles. Therefore, unless the English fleet arrived,
Captain Foote did well enough in getting such strong places on terms.
When the English fleet did arrive, I have no doubt that what did
actually happen was what both French and rebels expected to happen.
And if it had not happened, they would have laughed at the simplicity
of the English in feeling bound by an arrangement which no French
commander would have entertained under the circumstances. And neither
Captain Foote nor the Cardinal had any more power to conclude a treaty
than a serjeant commanding a picket of a regiment would have to make
arrangements binding on his Colonel. Moreover, as the capitulation was
not to take effect until the forts were evacuated, and evacuation of
the forts had not commenced when the Admiral proclaimed the treaty at
an end, it never came into effect at all.
The same day the Admiral landed thirteen hundred men from his own
ships and those of Her Most Faithful Majesty to besiege the French in
St. Elmo, giving the command to Captain Troubridge, and appointing
second in command Captain Ball of His Majesty's ship _Alexander_, the
same that had had the command at Malta. With them went Will, of which
going I shall have much to say anon; but here I shall go a little out
of the order to describe an event which has had far more importance
conferred on it than it deserved, by a malignant Opposition having
made it their dagger to stab our great and good Admiral in the back.
I refer of course to the affair of Prince Caracciolo.
It was not more than nine o'clock on the morning of the 29th, when a
_barca_ full of villainous-looking Calabrians--"the Christian Army"
they were called--pulled alongside. In their midst was a short,
thickset man, with his hands bound behind him, in such rags, so
emaciated, so smothered in dirt, with his hair and beard so clotted,
that I did not at first recognise our old enemy of the Trattoria at
Resina.
These Christian Calabrians had found him hidden in a cave. He had been
one of the chief in authority in the Castle of Uovo, until it became
certain that the English fleet was approaching and not the French,
whereupon he fled incontinently, knowing that our Admiral, though he
was in every other respect the most kind-hearted of men, had only one
recipe for mutineers--the yard-arm. But he had reckoned without his
host in thinking to get away. The Calabrians, led by innumerable local
chiefs, had really fought very well in their advance up the Peninsula,
though it is true that they had not met many "regulars"; and now that
the approach of our fleet had paralysed the enemy, they were engaged
on a duty for which their training thoroughly fitted them--the
hunting-out of fugitives skulking in the mountains, which is the whole
history of brigandage.
As soon as Captain Hardy was informed who the prisoner was, he was at
once released from his bonds and conducted to an officer's cabin,
where he was given every means of freshening his appearance, and had a
proper meal, of which he seemed in great want, placed before him. But
of this he refused to partake, showing a spirit in his last hours
which might have saved him and brought him great honour if he had
shown only a part of it at the beginning.
The Admiral at once issued the following order to Count Thurn,
Commodore and Commander of His Sicilian Majesty's frigate _Minerva_:--
"By Horatio Lord Nelson, etc., etc., etc.
"Whereas Francisco Caracciolo, a Commodore in the service of His
Sicilian Majesty, has been taken, and stands accused of
rebellion against his lawful Sovereign, and for firing at his
colours hoisted on board his Frigate _The Minerva_, under your
command: You are, therefore, hereby required and directed to
assemble five of the senior officers under your command,
yourself presiding, and proceed to inquire whether the crime
with which the said Francisco Caracciolo stands charged, can be
proved against him; and if the charge is proved, you are to
report to me what punishment he ought to suffer.
"Given on board the _Foudroyant_, Naples Bay, the 29th June,
1799.
"Nelson."
And the Court, assembling at once, sat from 10 a.m. till noon. The
charge was found proved, and the Admiral then issued this second order
to Count Thurn:--
"By Horatio, Lord Nelson, etc., etc., etc.
"Whereas a Board of Naval Officers of His Sicilian Majesty hath
been assembled to try Francisco Caracciolo for rebellion against
his lawful Sovereign, and for firing at His Sicilian Majesty's
Frigate _La Minerva_;
"And whereas the said Board of Naval Officers have found the
charge of rebellion fully proved against him, and have sentenced
the said Caracciolo to suffer death;
"You are hereby required and directed to cause the said sentence
of death to be carried into execution upon the said Francisco
Caracciolo accordingly, by hanging him at the fore yard-arm of
His Sicilian Majesty's Frigate _La Minerva_, under your command,
at five o'clock this evening; and to cause him to hang there
until sunset, when you will have his body cut down, and thrown
into the sea.
"Given on board the _Foudroyant_, Naples Bay, the 29th of June,
1799.
"Nelson."
During all this time from the reception of the prisoner to the
carrying out of his sentence, which took roughly from nine of the
morning till five of the afternoon, the Admiral remained in his
state-room, closeted with certain of his captains, and denying himself
to all save those who came to him on important military business, as
when the officers composing the Court Martial came to bring him their
report. My Lady was on the poop, as I have occasion to know, for I was
in attendance on her. Sir William remained in his cabin. He had, I
fancy, been thrown a good deal into contact with the Prince, and was
inexpressibly pained; though, knowing him to be a double-dyed villain,
it did not seem possible for him to interfere.
My Lady too was very much affected: not that I think she had any great
liking for the Prince, for he was of a dour disposition, but because
she had a generous, sympathetic woman's heart. Twice she attempted the
Admiral's state-room, but was denied by the sentry; and when Captain
Hardy came on the poop to give some order, she had a long and earnest
conversation with him, which I took to be entreaty that he should
carry her intercession to the Admiral--and this though Caracciolo was
the worst enemy of the great Queen, for whom My Lady had such a
passionate attachment. Perhaps I am wrong in imagining that she was
interceding; but this I know, that she could not have influenced the
Admiral in the pronouncing of the sentence, because she never saw him
from the time that Caracciolo was brought on board, which was before
she had left her cabin in the morning, until after the execution had
been carried out.
The Admiral has been much blamed for this same execution of
Caracciolo; though we who were present on the fleet and, above all,
those who were on the flagship, do not see how, with the rules he had
laid down for the Service, he could have acted otherwise.
It is most instructive and convincing to read what the Journal says
upon this much debated point. The Admiral seems to have had either an
instinct that the virulent enemies to whom his success was such a
disappointment would fasten on this execution for what is called a
"cry"; or perhaps, and more probably, he is only recording the
struggle which he had with his own humane spirit.
After recounting the circumstances of his having been brought on
board, and of the ordering of his trial, and his sentencing, and the
carrying out of the sentence, with the brevity of a ship's journal, he
continues:--
_Extract from the Admiral's Journal, June 29th._
"I am much exercised over this matter of Caracciolo, but I have done
my duty.
"If an English officer had behaved like Caracciolo--if, for instance,
Captain Foote, when left behind by Captain Troubridge, on the latter's
departure to Maritimo, had acted as Caracciolo did and fired upon the
English flag, or even upon the flag of the Two Sicilies, could any one
doubt that I should have court-martialled him, and hung him on the
spot? Well, I am Commander-in-chief of the Two Sicilies as well as the
English here; and Caracciolo being a Sicilian subject made this
difference only: that I had him tried by a Court Martial composed of
Sicilians alone, not using my authority as Commander-in-chief, except
to declare the verdict of the Court. So Caracciolo had in effect a
further chance to what an English officer would have had.
"And this Caracciolo was a most double-dyed villain. Ever one of the
most disaffected nobles, he did accompany the Royal Family in their
flight from Naples to Palermo, as I firmly believe, to see if he could
carry the seeds of treason from Naples to Sicily. Finding that the
Sicilians, from their hereditary hatred of the French, and because of
the continued presence of an English squadron, were not to be
involved in the infamous Parthenopean Republic, he applied to their
Majesties for leave to return to Naples 'because his property was in
danger,' As soon as he got there the French relieved him of all his
property, save his land (which would have remained to him in any case
had he continued loyal), and subjected him to all the indignities of
mounting sentry and the like, which in their scorn and perfidy they
imposed upon the other traitors; and this they did out of
consideration for his being their ally and a good Republican, instead
of worse things, such as death or torture, which they reserved for the
Royalists.
"In spite of these indignities he became an out-and-out Frenchman,
which men found so difficult to believe of a Commodore in His Sicilian
Majesty's Navy. Troubridge himself wrote to me on April 18th: 'I
enclose your Lordship one of Caracciolo's letters as head of the
Marine. I hope he has been forced into this measure.... Caracciolo, I
am assured by all the sailors, _is not a Jacobin_, but forced to act
as he does. They sign his name to printed papers without his
authority, as they have, in my opinion, the Archbishop's.' That was on
April 18th; but on May 1st Troubridge wrote again: 'I am now satisfied
that Caracciolo is a Jacobin. I enclose you one of his letters. He
came in the gunboats to Castel-a-mare, himself, and spirited up the
Jacobins; though he seems to have had so much conscience left that he
saved Sorrento and Castel-a-mare from being burnt, after they had been
taken and plundered.'
"This is all bad enough, but there was worse to follow. For on the
28th of May Capt. Foote wrote to me: 'Caracciolo threatens the second
attack, and on the 13th his gunboats annoyed the Royalist forces
attacking the fort of Villema and the bridge of Madelena a good deal.'
Caracciolo had thus fired repeatedly upon his Sovereign's flag, and
was by everybody recognised as the Commander of the Rebel Navy. His
condemnation therefore was inevitable.
"I should not be surprised if some one were put up by an enemy to ask
why I ordered the sentence to be carried into immediate execution. It
may be said that there is no parallel to be drawn between this and
Admiral Lord St. Vincent's instant execution of two seamen taken in
the act of mutiny. There was more than a parallel--there was
necessity. The situation, which has been blinked at by some, is that
there are in the Neapolitan State a vast number of persons neither
actively loyal nor actually indisposed to the Crown, whose main idea
is to save their skins and their own goods, and if they can, get as
much as possible of other people's. So far, the lesson before these
jackals has been that to be loyal means exposing yourself to every
kind of danger and ignominy, and the almost certainty of being
abandoned to your enemies without a finger raised to save you or
punish evil doers; while if you are disloyal, though you may be
plundered and ill-treated by your new allies, you are not in danger of
death or torture, nor precluded from robbing, maiming or slaying your
private enemies. Every coward, therefore, and that means a large
proportion of the population of Naples, feels bound to be a rebel; and
the little risk there might have been attached to rebellion is removed
by the treachery of the Royal commanders, who, having no foreigners at
their elbows, are indulging in the other Neapolitan weakness of
selling their country. All the way along it is 'Heads, I win; Tails,
you lose,' against the loyal, until the belief begins to grow that
nothing serious can happen to a rebel. It is to combat this feeling
that I dealt sharp swift justice to Caracciolo. I wish the rebels to
know that those who are caught red-handed will be executed before they
have time to buy their escapes; and this effect I hope it will have,
coupled with the proclamation I have drawn up:--
"'Foudroyant,' Naples Bay, _29th June, 1799_.
"'Horatio, Lord Nelson, Admiral of the British Fleet in the Bay
of Naples, gives notice to all those who have served as
officers, Civil or Military, in the service of the infamous
Neapolitan Republic, that if, in the space of twenty-four hours
for those who are in the City of Naples, and forty-eight hours
for those who are within five miles of it, they do not give
themselves up to the clemency of the King, to the Officer
commanding the Castles of Uovo and Nuovo, that Lord Nelson will
consider them still as in rebellion, and enemies of His Sicilian
Majesty.'
"I was glad to see that the Prince had the honour not to claim to be
included in that infamous capitulation; for I hear, by all accounts,
that he was out of the Castle before Foote signed at all. In his plea
for mercy to the Duke of Calviranno he rested his plea entirely on his
former services, without allusion to the capitulation; and though he
showed a brave man's firmness during his actual examination, gaining
thereby the esteem of such of my officers as were present--the
ward-room, as customary, being open to whoso chose to enter--he made
at least three attempts to throw himself upon my mercy, which shows
that he would willingly have saved his life if he could.
"In the period between the passing of the sentence and its carrying
out, he was in the charge of Lieut. Parkinson and a guard; and at his
request Lieut. Parkinson came to me first to demand a second trial,
and afterwards that he might be shot. I was much moved by the wording
of his second application: 'I am an old man, Sir,' he said to Lieut.
Parkinson; 'I leave no family to lament my death--I therefore cannot
be supposed to be very anxious about prolonging my life, but the
disgrace of being hanged is dreadful to me.' Fortunately I remembered
that the excuse upon which he had obtained leave from the King to
return to Naples was that his property might not be confiscated _and
his family ruined_. I was therefore able to do my duty and
reply--'Caracciolo has been fairly tried by the officers of his own
country; I cannot interfere.' But he had so worked upon Lieut.
Parkinson that, with a disregard of etiquette for which I forgave him,
he repeated Caracciolo's request. I had some difficulty in doing my
own duty and bidding him--'Go, Sir, and attend to your duty.'
"Caracciolo then, I am told, as a last hope, asked Lieut. Parkinson
whether he thought an application to Lady Hamilton would be
beneficial; upon which that officer went to the quarter-deck, but I am
thankful was not able to meet with her. For this is what I dreaded.
Dear Emma has such a soft heart that, having known the Prince as a
friend, even his perfidy and wickedness to her beloved monarch might
not have been able to shut up her bowels of compassion. For this
reason I sat in my state-room with the door guarded by a sentry, and
would see none but my officers until the sentence had been carried
out. And I allowed time for Caracciolo to be stone dead before I would
see Emma. From the hour that he was brought on board in the morning, I
could not trust myself with her tender heart.
"Knowing well the objection of a British Government to its officers
being mixed up with foreign executions, I nevertheless gave orders for
a Court Martial of Sicilian officers to be assembled on this ship for
the trial of Caracciolo, for several reasons. In the first place, the
good King had made me his Commander-in-chief of the whole expedition
or campaign for the reconquest of Naples; and it therefore fell on me
to take the steps to show the rebels that leading against their King
would be visited with condign and summary punishment. It was necessary
that the trial should take place, if anywhere, on a British ship, both
for the prisoner and for his King. For the prisoner, because he had
already been nigh torn to pieces by the Royalists, maddened by their
wrongs; and for the King, because no Neapolitan, when left to himself,
can be relied on not to sell his country. As to the other reason
advanced, for its not being held on _La Minerva_--that it would have
been dangerous to have ordered a Court Martial to assemble on her,
from the love which Sicilian seamen bore to Caracciolo, and the fear
of mutiny--it is not to be entertained, when _La Minerva_ was under
the guns of a British ship. I am convinced we had nothing but
treachery to fear. Besides, though the _Foudroyant_ is a ship
belonging to His Britannic Majesty, it is also, for the time being,
the seat of the Neapolitan Government. To the prisoner, at all events,
trial on a British ship was an advantage, for where there were a
number of British officers with free access to the trial, there could
be no question of unfairness or violence.
"The prisoner, I am told, objected that Count Thurn, the senior
Sicilian officer, who presided over the trial, was his personal enemy;
which Count Thurn, as Commander of the Sicilian Navy, could not fail
to be to a rebel. And as Commander of the Sicilian Navy it was
impossible for him not to preside at the Court Martial. None of my
officers who could speak Italian considered that Thurn showed the
slightest unfairness; they were all agreed that Caracciolo bore
himself well from the point of courage, but that his answers were
vague, and supported by no evidence whatever--the last efforts of a
man striving to save his life.
"He claimed that he had been forced into the Republican service, had
been compelled to perform the duty of a common soldier for a
considerable time, when he was offered the command of the Republican
Neapolitan Navy, _which necessity alone had at length compelled him to
accept_. But it was clearly demonstrated that he had enjoyed
opportunities of escaping, and on frequently being asked why he had
not embraced these opportunities, no satisfactory reply was made. His
silence on the point when his life was at stake can only be attributed
to his conviction that he had no right whatever to claim protection
from the capitulation. In all circumstances men are likely to be
competent judges of what may best conduce to their own safety; and it
is perfectly incredible that, if Caracciolo thought himself entitled
to the benefit of the capitulation, he would not have referred to it.
"The prisoner was charged with rebellion against his lawful Sovereign,
and for firing at his colours, hoisted on board his frigate _The
Minerva_. He stood further guilty of killing and wounding the
subjects, both of his own Sovereign and His Britannic Majesty. When
the court was cleared and sentence of death passed on the prisoner, it
was duly transmitted to me by the President. I issued the order for
its being carried into execution on the same evening at five, at which
time he was removed from the _Foudroyant_ and hanged at the fore
yard-arm of the Neapolitan frigate _La Minerva_.
"I was shocked for Caracciolo, not sorry, for he was a traitor, and,
as such, died the death. But that any man, after living for seventy
years and serving his country faithfully (which here means only until
temptation arises) for forty of them, should from fear of death, or as
he confessed, from fear of the loss of property, turn traitor, seems
to me so terrible that I own that his being hanged for it is less
shocking to me than his offence."
* * * * *
One more brief extract I must give from the Journal--the last, I
think, which will enter into this narrative from these remarkable
volumes. I give it because it was written on the same night as the
foregoing, and therefore goes to prove that the Admiral regarded the
execution of Caracciolo as a plain ordinary duty upon which his mind
was perfectly made up. Which being over, he turned for relief to her
he loved best in the world, whose gracious sympathy had so often been
his haven of refuge when he was overwrought.
* * * * *
"_June 29th._--Since I wrote the above I have been walking the deck
under the beautiful Neapolitan night with dear Emma. It makes one sad
to think what these nights--as beautiful as anything under
Heaven--have seen. To-night I would not think: I gave myself up to the
soothingness of her light hand within my arm; I have no doubts now of
the innocence and beneficence of this friendship. Innocence does not
signify abstinence, but the absence of that which is bad for one. And
how could such a friendship be bad? The affection and sympathy of a
good woman are the best gifts that God bestows upon man. To man it is
appointed to go forth into the vineyard to work, and to fight if need
be, and woman is given to him to make him a home. For a home lies not
in the four walls of a palace, or a cottage, but in the woman's heart
who makes of mere wood and stone an abode of rest and happiness."