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

and shut up in the castles of Uovo and Nuovo, but this Spartan Queen had no special feeling for her own sex: " The females who have distinguished themselves in the revolution to be treated in the same way, and that without pity." She says these things are "not pleasant, but absolutely necessary," and goes on, "Finally, my dear Lady, I recommend Lord Nelson to treat Naples as if it were an Irish town in rebellion similarly placed. ... I recommend to you, therefore, my dear lady, the greatest firmness, vigour, and severity; our future tranquillity and position depend upon it—the faithful people desire it. I solicit frequent news from you, for you cannot conceive the anxiety I feel, and believe me for life your most tenderly attached and grateful friend."

The Queen's temper is sufficiently shown in these extracts from her letter to Emma; but in

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the British Museum there are her notes on the treaty of capitulation with the Neapolitan Jacobins, signed by Ruffo and Captain Foote, before Nelson reached Naples. Her overwrought feelings express themselves in marginal notes opposite the articles of the treaty. To Article One she writes in a kind of breathless rage, "To capitulate with one's rebel subjects, who were without force, without hope of succour either by sea or land! With persons who, after the clemency displayed to them by their king and their father (who promised to pardon them), fought desperately, and are now only brought to terms by fear! I feel it to be dishonourable to treat with rebels ! They ought either to have been attacked in full force, or else left alone till a more favourable opportunity presented itself." Article Two is " a real insult; the rebels address their sovereign on equal terms, and with an air of being his superiors." The Third Article is " so infamous and absurd that it revolts me even to speak of it." She considers the Tenth Article " the culmination of disgrace," and at the foot of the capitulation writes her final exclamation of rage : " This is such an infamous treaty that if by a miracle of Providence some event does not take place which will break and destroy it, I look upon myself as lost and dishonoured. . . ."

But while the Queen stormed in her palace at Palermo, Nelson was acting the part of the

"miracle of Providence." He too considered the treaty " infamous/' and, in spite of Ruffo, insisted that it should be annulled. As the result of his determination, the garrisons of Uovo and Nuovo surrendered unconditionally on the 26th of June—the second day after the British flagship and squadron sailed into the Bay of Naples. By this act Nelson brought down a storm of obloquy on his own head. Both during his lifetime and after his death he has been accused of conduct impossible to him of all men. Southey's denunciation is famous: he calls Nelson's treatment of the Jacobin rebels " A deplorable transaction! a stain upon the memory of Nelson and the honour of England ! To palliate it would be in vain; to justify it would be wicked : there is no alternative . . . but to record the disgraceful story with sorrow and shame."

But, as Professor Knox Laughton says, with magnificent decisiveness and point, "Southey is wrong. There is another alternative. We neither palliate, nor justify, nor record : we deny. The story is a base and venomous falsehood."

As this is a matter that concerns Nelson's professional career, and does not specially affect Emma Hamilton, it is not necessary to go into the lengthy documents bearing upon the question as to whether Nelson was guilty of treacherous conduct to the rebel garrisons. Professor Laugh-ton's denial is emphatic, and in itself will be

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sufficient for most students of naval history. Without wandering into a labyrinth of controversy, it is enough for the purpose of the present narrative to say that Nelson had full powers to annul a treaty which Ruffo and Foote had really no authority to make. The rebels in the castles of Uovo and Nuovo were informed that the treaty was annulled, and as it had not begun to take effect, they were not caught unfairly or trapped into a position of military disadvantage; it was simply a restoration of the status quo thirty-six hours before Nelson's arrival in the Bay. By all the laws and usages of war traitors and spies are not entitled to the same treatment as the ordinary man under arms, and with them Nelson would not parley or grant terms; he would accept nothing save unconditional surrender. Of course by so doing he became hated by all the Jacobins of Europe: the facts were darkened to the blackest possible aspect; and it was upon this tissue of misrepresentation that good and patriotic Southey felt compelled to censure the great admiral he admired. But it was not by any public and professional act during the whole of his career as a seaman that Nelson laid himself open to the tongue of the scorner. Achilles had only one vulnerable spot.

In Nelson's conduct at this time it may be admitted that there is a distinct trace of something like fanaticism. To him it was a sacred

crusade to crush the French and all who were tainted by Jacobin ideas. In this age we cannot realize the brooding terror that hung over Europe —to each king and kingdom French armies and French watchwords stood for " red ruin and the breaking up of laws." We now see the new freedom of man that struggled to the light amid the horrors of the Revolution, and through the democratic and military tyranny that followed. To us Ferdinand is not an admirable monarch