Nelson's Lady Hamilton by Meynell, Esther (cheapest way to read ebooks .txt) 📗

and as "the firm and unalterable opinion of a British Admiral, anxious to approve himself a faithful Servant to his Sovereign by doing everything in his power for the happiness and

STUDY OF LADY HAMILTON

GEORGE ROMNEY

security of their Sicilian Majesties and their Kingdoms."

In passing, it may be said that it was less the business of a British admiral to push their Sicilian Majesties into a war for which they were not fitted, than to attend to his own affair of punishing the French. But already Nelson's vision was a little clouded—not so much by the flatteries as by the appeals of the Neapolitan Court, represented with so much ardour by Emma —and the tangled web in which he involved himself when serving Maria Carolina was already subtly closing round this simple-hearted British admiral, who, all unconsciously at first, was being led by the silken thread of a woman's influence.

His letter to Lady Hamilton explains the situation and his own views upon it:—

" MY DEAR MADAM, —The anxiety which you and Sir William Hamilton have always had for the happiness of their Sicilian Majesties, was also planted in me five years past, and I can truly say, that on every occasion which has offered (which have been numerous) I have never failed to manifest my sincere regard for the felicity of these Kingdoms. Under this attachment, I cannot be an indifferent spectator to what has and is passing in the Two Sicilies, nor to the misery which, (without being a politician,) I cannot but

see plainly is ready to fall on those Kingdoms, now so loyal, by the worst of all policy—that of procrastination. Since my arrival in these seas in June last, I have seen in the Sicilians the most loyal people to their Sovereign, with the utmost detestation of the French and their principles. Since my arrival at Naples I have found all ranks, from the very highest to the lowest, eager for war with the French, who, all know, are preparing an Army of robbers to plunder these Kingdoms and destroy the Monarchy. I have seen the Minister of the insolent French pass over in silence the manifest breach of the third article of the Treaty between his Sicilian Majesty and the French Republic. Ought not this extraordinary conduct to be seriously noticed ? Has not the uniform conduct of the French been to lull Governments into a false security, and then to destroy them ? As I have before stated, is it not known to every person that Naples is the next marked object for plunder ? With this knowledge, and that his Sicilian Majesty has an Army ready (I am told) to march into a Country anxious to receive them, with the advantage of carrying the War from, instead of waiting for it at, home, I am all astonished that the Army has not marched a month ago. . . . But should, unfortunately, this miserable ruinous system of procrastination be persisted in, I would recommend that all your property and persons are ready to embark at a very short

AFTER THE NILE 169

notice. It will be my duty to look and provide for your safety, and with it (I am sorry to think it will be necessary) that of the amiable Queen of these Kingdoms and her Family. I have read with admiration her dignified and incomparable Letter of September, 1796. May the Councils of the Kingdoms ever be guided by such sentiments of dignity, honour, and justice; and may the words of the great William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, be instilled into the Ministry of this Country—' The boldest measures are the safest!"

Such was Nelson's advice; and it is significant that he wrote this letter to Lady Hamilton, and not to the British Ambassador, trusting to her influence with Sir William to urge the case upon him and upon the Court. In pressing for war, Nelson may have considered that he was justified by his instructions from the Admiralty—part of his duty as set forth by My Lords being " The protection of the coasts of Sicily, Naples, and the Adriatic, and in the event of the war being renewed in Italy, an active co-operation with the Austrian and Neapolitan armies."

His natural instinct as a sea-officer was really the true one, and that turned towards the scene of his great battle. To Lady Hamilton he wrote, on the 24th of October, when off Malta, " I feel my duty lays at present in the East." But his judgment was perverted, and his course turned

170 NELSON'S LADY HAMILTON

by what was in reality an unscrupulous appeal to his chivalry. A few days later he was writing to his Commander-in-Chief: "I am, I fear, drawn into a promise that Naples Bay shall never be left without an English Man-of-War. I never intended leaving the Coast of Naples without one; but if I had, who could withstand the request of such a Queen ? "

Once having made up his mind, Nelson's temper was always for instant action, so the delays and hesitancy of the King of Naples before the somewhat nerve-shaking prospect of making war on the French were intensely irritating to his vehement spirit. " Naples sees this squadron no more/' he wrote (before the date of his promise to the Queen) to Lord Spencer, " except the king calls for our help, and if they go on, and lose the glorious moments, we may be called for to save the persons of their majesties."

Meanwhile, Nelson had an ardent ally in Emma Hamilton, who, after his departure from Naples on the isth of October, had gone to Caserta to be near the Queen. She wrote to him on the 2Oth—

"