Nelson's Lady Hamilton by Meynell, Esther (surface ebook reader txt) 📕

A proud and justifiable boast. But consider the situation of England when the British fleets were withdrawn from the Mediterranean. The French had tried an invasion of Ireland, which had failed; but a junction of the French, Dutch, and Spanish fleets was planned, from which great

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events were expected—this threatening danger was only averted by the defeat of the Spanish contingent off St. Vincent on St. Valentine's Day, 1797.

Emma Hamilton persuaded herself—and later persuaded Nelson—that she had a direct share in making this victory of Sir John Jervis's possible, owing to the warning of Spain's defection from the Coalition in 1795, and alliance with France in 1796, which the British Ambassador at Naples was enabled to transmit to his own Government at home, through his wife's influence and intimacy with the Queen of Naples. It was a large claim for Lady Hamilton to make, and though early knowledge of Spain's intentions was very valuable, even Nelson did not consider that her information, though forming part of her " eminent services " to her country, led directly to Jervis's battle with the Spanish fleet.

At this time there were two influences pulling in different directions at the Court of Naples. Ferdinand's brother, King Charles of Spain, was doing all that in him lay to coax and bully the little Kingdom of the Two Sicilies into the arms of France. Ferdinand himself, with his pro-Spanish tendencies and a certain obstinate satisfaction in directing the affairs of his kingdom in his own way, and against the known wishes of his Austrian wife, was hesitating over the question. Naturally he was anxious to keep the

Spanish correspondence from the eyes of the Queen, of Acton, and of Sir William Hamilton. But the astute Maria Carolina was not so much in the dark as he imagined: she had her own methods and her own channels both of information and communication. The principal latter channel was Lady Hamilton. The habit she had fallen into of writing frequently to the British Ambassador's wife on matters of no moment, now proved of extreme value when she was dealing with matters of very considerable moment. It would not have been possible for her to confer constantly with Sir William Hamilton without arousing conjecture and suspicion. But Lady Hamilton was different. All the Court knew of her attachment to the beautiful English woman— if letters were constant was it not the way of women, even of Queens, to write much about trifles ? Here is one of Maria Carolina's simple little notes, written in April, 1795—

" MY VERY DEAR LADY, —My head is so confused, and my soul so shaken, that I know not what to do. I hope to see you to-morrow morning about ten o'clock. I send you a letter in cypher, come from Spain, from Galatone, which must be returned before twenty-four hours, in order that the King may find it again. There [are] some facts very interesting for the English Government, which I wish to communicate to them, to

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shew my attachment to them, and the confidence I feel in the worthy Chevalier, whom I only beg not to compromise me."

The game was already begun. Ferdinand believed that he was successfully deceiving his clever Queen, while she did not scruple to abstract his secret documents and hand them, through Emma, to the British Ambassador to be forwarded to London. Lady Hamilton played a valuable part in this diplomatic business; but, as she herself failed to see, it was a subordinate part. She copied, she translated, she transmitted; but it is impossible to believe that Maria Carolina would not have done exactly the same, though with more difficulty, had Lady Hamilton been nonexistent. The Queen of Naples was not a woman to be turned from her aim by small obstacles; the absence or presence of the ardent and accommodating Lady Hamilton was not a vital matter to her political schemes, which were based on self-interest, hatred of the French, and the ambition natural to the daughter of Maria Theresa. She had a real liking and admiration for Emma, it is true: if Queens have friends she regarded Emma as one, but though friend, she was tool as well. Emma was peculiarly fitted to be the tool of ambition, for where her affections were engaged—especially where she could flatter herself that she was playing a brilliant and

exciting part in the full glare of the historic searchlight—she never stopped to ask for secret and subtle motions, to question whether she was being used. The mental attitude of the fly on the wheel, pleased at the dust he thought he was raising, is somewhat typically her own.

But once admitting that Lady Hamilton was not so paramount and so indispensable as she tended to imagine, the fact remains that she was in the very thick of political events of great importance to England and to Europe. Among the Morrison Papers is a copy in Italian of the King of Spain's letter to his brother Ferdinand, transcribed by Lady Hamilton and endorsed in Sir William Hamilton's handwriting : " Copy of the King of Spain's Letter to the K. of Naples, Augt. nth, 1795, having made Peace with the French Rep." As the letter is important, it is given nearly in full:—

" In my letter of 2 April I wrote to you that I was thinking of doing what would be possible for me to hasten on a solid and permanent peace which might enable mankind to pause from the horrors of a war so cruel and devastating as the present. The sad experience of three campaigns totally fruitless; the utter ruin of the Jacobins, the sworn foes of God and of all