Nelson: The Essential Hero (41 page)

Keith magnanimously commended Nelson for his conduct in the affair - despite the fact that Nelson was under the impression that he had once again disobeyed orders by leaving Keith without making his intentions clear by signal. The Commander-in-Chief now sailed north to prosecute the blockade of Genoa, leaving Nelson in charge of the blockade in Malta. Before leaving he pointed out that Syracuse or Messina would be far better bases for the conduct of operations than Palermo, his remark tallying with Nelson’s earlier expressed opinion that he would make Syracuse his home port. But that had been before Emma Hamilton had come upon the scene, and before his infatuation as a man had overcome his judgement as a seaman. There can be no doubt that he was at this time in his life extremely ill; run down physically, and no doubt in a fever of mental torment about the situation in which he and Emma found themselves. Despite Troubridge’s plans for him to stay behind in command of the blockade he sailed back to Palermo. Once there, he transferred his flag to a transport lying off the Palazzo Palagonia and sent Berry
⁷
back to Malta in command of the
Foudroyant.
By doing so he missed what would indeed have been the crowning glory to his Mediterranean career. Berry reached the Malta station just in time to fall in with the
Guillaume Tell
trying to escape, and captured the last of the ships that had survived from the Nile. Nelson immediately wrote to Berry with that enthusiasm and responsive recognition of others’ achievements which always endeared him to those who served under him. ‘Your conduct and character in the late glorious occasion stamps your fame beyond the reach of envy. . . .’ It seemed that, with this elimination of all Brueys’ battle fleet, his last link with the Mediterranean was severed. He had already applied to Lord Spencer for permission to return to England. ‘My task is done, my health is lost, and the orders of the great Earl St Vincent are completely fulfilled.’ Palermo had begun to disgust him. He saw it all now, as he had first seen Naples: ‘a country of fiddlers and poets, whores and scoundrels’. His feelings were reinforced by the marriage, by special dispensation, of Sir John Acton, aged sixty-four, to his niece, who was three months under fourteen. The comparison between this cynical, indulgent world and that of his sea-officers must have been in his mind when he wrote to Lord Keith in praise of the recent action : ‘I thank God I was not present; for it would finish me, could I have taken a sprig of these brave men’s laurels. They are, and I glory in them, my darling children. . . .’

On 23 April, the
Foudroyant
sailed from Palermo bound for Syracuse and Malta. Sir William had by now presented his letters of recall and it was thus possible for him to take a short holiday at sea with his friend. Apart from Emma there were four others in the sightseeing party, one of whom, Cornelia Knight, the daughter of an admiral, has left a vivid account not only of this cruise but also of other aspects of Nelson’s life during these Mediterranean years. After calling at Syracuse and inspecting the ruins, the great theatre, and all the other evidences of that classical world which Sir William valued more highly than the one in which he lived, the
Foudroyant
crossed the Malta-Sicily channel and joined the blockading squadron off Valetta. The flagship came under fire from the guns of Valetta and, unlike the occasion of the action against
Le Genereux
, Nelson was not at all in a congenial mood at the whistle of shot as the French ranged on the
Foudroyant
- for it bore the precious burden of Emma. ‘Lord Nelson was in a towering passion, and Lady Hamilton’s refusal to quit the quarter-deck did not tend to tranquilize him.’ Emma, who generally professed not to like the sea, enjoyed it on this occasion : the reason was not hard to find. Whatever dates may be put to the beginning of their love affair, there can be no doubt that they were now lovers, for a year later from the Baltic Nelson was to recall the ‘days of ease and nights of pleasure’ that unfolded during the three weeks that they spent in Maltese waters. The
Foudroyant
lay for most of the time in the large southern harbour of Marsa Klokk where a house is still pointed out as that in which Nelson and his party stayed when ashore. Commodore Troubridge and General Graham, who entertained them several times, were eager for Nelson to stay on longer to witness the fall of the island, which then seemed imminent. During this period Ball, who was ultimately to become Malta’s first governor, received the decoration of Commandeur Grande Croix from the Tsar (who had become Grand Master of the Order of St John after the knights had fled the island) while Emma, in recognition of her supposed services to the islanders in procuring grain supplies for them, was made a Dame Petite Croix. Everyone was happy, and Sir William could revel in an island which had been involved in the history of the Mediterranean ever since the Phoenicians had first established a trading post in the very harbour where the
Foudroyant
now idled at anchor. Nelson, however, was not destined to see the capitulation of the French, for Valetta under General Vaubois held out until the autumn - and by that time he was far away. It is very probable that Emma conceived during this Maltese holiday, for it was exactly nine months later that her daughter Horatia was born. On the return voyage to Palermo she was unwell, of a fever it was said, and Nelson had the ship run off before the wind at night so that she could rest more easily, as well as ordering silence to be observed so that her sleep should not be disturbed. Midshipman Parsons cynically referred to the
Foudroyant
as ‘this Noah’s Ark’.

Nelson had hoped to return to England together with the Hamiltons aboard the
Foudroyant
, but he was to find at Palermo that the usual state of confusion was even more compounded by Queen Carolina’s decision to travel to Vienna with her family. King Ferdinand had no intention of returning to Naples and he was eager to be rid of his Queen for a few months. The burden thus fell on Nelson of transporting the Hamiltons, the Queen, her younger son, three unmarried daughters (the future Queens of France, Sardinia and Spain), as well as a retinue of fifty or more. His own decision to return home was further reinforced by a letter from Lord Spencer, in which the latter hardly bothered to conceal his disapproval of all that had been happening in this southern court: It is by no means my wish or intention to call you away from service, but having observed that you have been under the necessity of quitting your station off Malta, on account of the state of your health, which I am persuaded you could not have thought of doing without such necessity, it appeared to me much more advisable for you to come home at once, than to be obliged to remain inactive at Palermo. ... I am joined in my opinion by all your friends here, that you will be more likely to recover your health and strength in England than in an inactive situation at a Foreign Court, however pleasing the respect and gratitude shown to you for your services may be. . . .’

Keith meanwhile had written giving express orders for the
Foudroyant
and the
Alexander
to return to the station off Malta. But before the message reached Palermo, Nelson, together with the Hamiltons and the royal party, had already sailed north for Leghorn. For the
tria juncta in uno
the Sicilian and Neapolitan episode was finally and forever over.

On 14 June, Nelson and his party arrived in Leghorn aboard the
Foudroyant.
On that very day, although the Austrian-born Queen could not yet know it, Napoleon had resoundingly defeated her countrymen at Marengo. Once more the whole of Italy lay at his feet and, in the armistice that followed, all of the Italian provinces west of the Mincio river, including Genoa, passed under French control. In one stroke he had shattered the optimistic combination against France that had stemmed from the Battle of the Nile. He had shown that, whatever the British might do afloat, the French were supreme on land - and it was on land that the decisive victories were to be won. He could now look south towards Naples and Sicily, for, as he remarked : ‘There is one power still in Italy to be reduced before I can give it peace.’

Under these circumstances it was hardly surprising that Lord Keith felt that he could not spare the
Foudroyant
‘to take the Queen to Palermo, and princes and princesses to all parts of the globe’. He was rightly concerned that the French fleet might now decide to enter the Mediterranean and capture Sicily. With Malta still in French hands, the British would then find that they had no hold anywhere in that sea other than Minorca. To the Queen's pleas that she be allowed to rejoin her husband aboard the
Foudroyant
he turned a deaf ear and made his decision quite explicit by ordering the ship to Minorca for repairs, whither the
Alexander
was also told to report. In view of the circumstances, it was considerate of him to offer Nelson the
Seahorse
frigate (in which he had returned to England after Tenerife) to transport himself and Sir William and party to England by sea. Alternatively, if the frigate was not large enough, Keith offered them a troopship out of Malta. Further than this he could not go and, since his private opinion was that ‘Lady Hamilton had had command of the Fleet long enough’, his behaviour was magnanimous. Lady Hamilton, however, was still to show that, if she had lost command of the fleet, she still commanded Admiral Nelson. She now announced that she detested the thought of travelling by sea and, in the words of Miss Cornelia Knight, ‘wishes to visit the different Courts of Germany’. There was only one encouraging note at this nadir of Nelson’s personal reputation, a letter delivered to him shortly before he left the
Foudroyant.
It read : My Lord, it is with extreme grief that we find you are about to leave us. We have been along with you (though not in the same ship) in every Engagement your Lordship has been in, both by Sea and Land; and most humbly beg of your Lordship to permit us to go to England as your Boat’s crew, in any Ship or Vessel, or in any way that may seem most pleasing to your Lordship. My Lord, pardon the rude style of Seamen, who are but little acquainted with writing, and believe us to be, my Lord, your most humble and obedient servants - Barge’s crew of the
Foudroyant.

Their plea was to go unanswered, for Lord Nelson was not returning to England in any ship or vessel. Obedient to Emma’s wishes, he was going to travel overland across a continent that was increasingly troubled by the rising tide of Bonapartism, and where the route to Vienna was at one stage to take his party within only a few miles of French outposts. If his life or his career had ended at this moment, he would have been remembered only as an admiral who, after one astonishing victory, had compromised his whole reputation by an adulterous affair with the wife of his best friend.

Nelson’s
departure from Leghorn was hastened by news from ashore that pro-French elements constituted a threat to the Queen, while loyalists, on the other hand, were eager to detain Nelson so that he might lead them in person against the French - who were no more than thirty miles away at Lucca. The royal party, shortly followed by Nelson and the Hamiltons, left precipitately, travelling in a convoy of fourteen coaches and three large baggage-vans. Sir Edward Berry saw his chief go with deep regret, and not without misgivings that he might well be captured on his way through Europe. The atmosphere of
opera bouffe
which had prevailed ever since Nelson’s first arrival in Naples was to be maintained to the very end. Only Emma’s mother, the indomitable Mrs Cadogan, seems to have preserved any element of practicality. Sir William was so ill that he thought he was going to die, while Nelson was at a loss when coping with shore travel. Emma - despite the fact that Nelson was still thinking of making use of the
Seahorse
for his return home - adamantly refused to travel other than on land. The Queen, encumbered by her children and retinue, had no thought but to get to Vienna as fast as possible and exert her influence upon her daughter and son-in-law not to conclude a peace with the French. General John Moore who was present in Leghorn caught the atmosphere in his diary: ‘Sir William and Lady Hamilton were there attending the Queen of Naples. Lord Nelson was there attending upon Lady Hamilton. He is covered with stars, ribbons and medals, more like the Prince of an Opera than the Conqueror of the Nile. It is really melancholy to see a brave and good man, who has deserved well of his country, cutting so pitiful a figure.’ From Florence this strange cavalcade proceeded to Ancona where an Austrian frigate, the
Bellona
, awaited the Queen to transport her to Trieste. Nelson, observing that most of the guns had been removed to make way for silk hangings and beds for the royal party, and hearing that the crew had recently mutinied, advised against it. A Russian squadron, consisting of three frigates and a brig, provided a more suitable alternative and, although Nelson could not help but compare the ships unfavourably with the British, they transported the travellers safely to Trieste. (The
Bellona,
which the French had long had their eye on, was captured in the Gulf of Venice.) At Trieste, safe now from any French threat, the party, with the notable exceptions of Nelson and Emma, nearly all collapsed with ill health, and it was not until a fortnight later that they could proceed on their way to Vienna. The British Ambassador in the Austrian capital, Lord Minto, viewed their arrival with considerable unease. He knew all about the Nelson-Emma imbroglio, and he found the Queen’s presence more than embarrassing, for she had appropriated a sum of British money, designed for the defence of Naples, to her personal use. While both he and Lady Minto feared the worst from this visit (‘He does not seem at all conscious of the sort of discredit he has fallen into’) they were to find that Nelson himself, except for his dog-like devotion to Emma and his propensity for orders and decorations, was the same as ever. They found in fact that, so great was Nelson’s popularity with the Austrian people, he served as an immense advertisement for their country at a time when Britain was not regarded with all that much favour in the court or country. ‘You can have no idea of the anxiety and curiosity to see him,’ Lady Minto wrote.