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 DA 87.1.N42S72 1891 
 
 Life of Nelson / 
 
 3 1924 027 919 160 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027919160 
 
LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
V 
 
 ■^'l 
 
LORD NELSON. 
 (After the portrait by Sir William Becchey, R.A.) 
 

 
 THE 
 
 LIFE OF ISTELSOK 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT SOUTHEY 
 
 
 WITH A PREFACE BY J, K. LAJJGKTON. 
 
 "... Bursting through the gloom 
 With radiant glory from thy trophied tomb, 
 The sacred splendour of thy deathless name 
 Shall grace and guard thy Country's martial fame. 
 Far-seen shall blaze the unextinguished ray 
 A mighty beacon, lighting Glory's way; 
 With living lustre this proud Land adorn, 
 And shine and save, through ages yet imborn." 
 
 Ulm and Trafalgar. 
 
 CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited: 
 
 LONDON, PARIS ^ MELBOURNE. 
 
 1891. 
 
f^^-:M. 
 
 
 i 
 
 * ;- 
 
 fS^yoCpo^^ 
 
 
JOHN WILSON CROKER, Esq., 
 
 LL.D., F.E.S., 
 SECRETARY OF THE ADMIRALTY, 
 
 WHO, 
 
 BY THE OFFICIAL SITUATION WHICH HE SO ABLY FILLS, 
 
 IS QUALIFIED TO APPRECIATE THEIR HISTORICAL ACCURACY J 
 
 AND WHO, 
 
 AS A MEMBER OF THE REPUBLIC OF LETTERS, 
 
 IS EQUALLY QUALIFIED TO DECIDE UPON THEIR LITERARY MERITS, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 BY HIS FRIEND 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 When >Soiitlicy died, in 1843, lie Avas known as tlie 
 Poet-Laureate and a voluminous writer in prose. 
 Now, at the end of less than fifty years, he is 
 scarcely remembered except by the virulent abuse 
 which Byron lavished on his name and works, and 
 by his " Life of Nelson." 
 
 This Life has had a strange fortune. Written 
 originally in 1810 as a mere ephemeral article in 
 the Quarterly Revieiu, it caught the public favour, 
 and at the suggestion of Mr. Murray, was expanded 
 into the two small volumes published in 1813. 
 Though nearly eight years had then passed since 
 the death of Nelson, his memory was still green 
 in the hearts of his countrymen. The war with 
 France was still raging ; Napoleon still dominated 
 Continental Europe ; and the thunders of Trafalgar 
 still rang in the ears of a people gratefully conscious 
 of the priceless boon Avhich the hero, in his death, 
 had secured for them. They had been ready to 
 welcome any memoir, even when written in defiance 
 of all canons of taste, style, or proportion ; and the 
 admirable little Life Avhich Southey furnished them 
 with had an immediate and distinguished success. 
 
 Almost at once it was recognised as an English 
 classic, and this position it has held ever since, 
 through now close on eighty years : to such a degree, 
 
viii LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 indeed, that, whilst on the one hand we know that 
 it is mainly the grandeur of his subject which has 
 given this lasting repute to Southey's work and to 
 Southey's name, it might, on the other, be main- 
 tained, without any extreme paradox, that some part 
 of Nelson's enduring fame is due to the fact that 
 Southey wrote his Life. 
 
 Vixere fortes ante Agamcmnona 
 Multi : 
 
 and there have been in the English Navy com- 
 manders whose deeds are worthy of being named 
 even in comparison with those of Nelson : 
 
 sed omnes illacrymabiles 
 Urgentur, ignotique longa 
 
 Nocte, careiit quia vate sacro. 
 
 Nelson's naval contemporaries were doubtful 
 whether, in the future, his fame would overtop 
 that of St. Vincent or of Howe ; but to most readers 
 of the present time, these two, and Hawke, earher 
 and greater than either of them, are little more than 
 names, while Nelson's glory remains, greater, grander 
 than ever, and his name is established as the syno- 
 nym for loyalty, devotion, and naval achievement. 
 
 We may, then, admit that the reputation of each 
 — of writer and of hero — owes something to the 
 other; a mutual reaction which has given rise to a 
 very general opinion that the book is to be ranked 
 as a nearly, if not absolutely, perfect biography ; and 
 so, in fact, it has been described by some of the 
 greatest writers of the century — notably by Lord 
 Macaulay, who was better ^ qualified to speak of its 
 ^terary than its technical merit. But this very high 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 estimate is not accepted by those who, by professional 
 knowledge or special study, are best able to form an 
 independent judgment. We have in it, it is true, a 
 cultivated style, a lucid arrangement, a glowing en- 
 thusiasm ; but these are by no means the sole re- 
 quisites of a perfect biography; full knowledge and 
 a correct appreciation of the subject must be added. 
 These we have not ; and the want of them, while it 
 allowed the author to slip into many trifling errors 
 of fact or inference, so also it led him at one time 
 to magnify and extol his hero as a faultless monster, 
 and at another, with equal exaggeration, to disparage 
 him when he found him transgressing the simple 
 code of every-day morality. There are many, more 
 familiar than Southey was with the ways of this 
 wicked world, to whom the fault will rather endear 
 the memory of one who, while a hero, was still a 
 man ; but Southey, horror-struck at the lapse of his 
 idol, was ready to believe any further iniquity which 
 spite or malice could suggest. He seems to have 
 argued that, as Nelson was capable of adultery, he 
 was capable also of falsehood, treachery, and murder. 
 
 The difference in the conditions of the two men 
 was, in fact, excessive. The retired scholar, eminently 
 respectable in his private life, and as free from pas- 
 sion as from genius, whose daily routine ranged 
 between his study table and a walk on the slopes 
 of Blencathara, had little in common with the rest- 
 less sailor, whose life was spent in the turmoil of 
 war, whose every thought, whose every action was 
 aglow with the fire of passion and of genius. Of the 
 world in which Nelson lived and worked and died, 
 Southey knew nothing except by hearsay, and that 
 
X LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 very imperfectly. The circumstances under which 
 he wrote intensified the effect. He was reviewing a 
 number of early biographies, differing only in their 
 degree of clumsiness, ignorance, and misrepresenta- 
 tion ; and with all his literary instinct, he had not 
 the knowledge required to guide him in the selection 
 of his material from the inchoate heap before him. 
 He had neither time, nor opportunity, nor means of 
 obtaining more exact information, but took what 
 came readiest to hand ; and where somethmg else 
 seemed wanted, he found it in Miss Williams's 
 " Sketches of the State of Manners and Opinions in 
 the French Eepublic " and in Captain Foote's " Vin- 
 dication," both of which, as might be expected from 
 the character or the situation of their authors, 
 are replete with falsehoods and misstatements. 
 These Southey has accepted as authentic history, 
 and has given their calumnies and hes a currency 
 which they could never have otherwise obtained. 
 It must therefore be stated plainly that whatever 
 Southey has written about the conduct of Nelson 
 at Naples is from a tainted or polluted source, and 
 is unworthy of credence, except so far as it is sub- 
 stantiated by other evidence ; and notwithstanding 
 what he has said .on the surrender of the Nea- 
 politan forts, there is an alternative — a plump and 
 positive denial. This is not the place for a lengthj" 
 examination of what actually took place; but those 
 who would note the practical working of a moot 
 point of international law, in accordance with which 
 the capitulation of the forts was annulled and Carac- 
 cioh, or rather — as the name should be spelled — 
 Caracciolo, hanged, will find a very full discussion 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 in the Appendix to \o\. III. of Sir N. Harris 
 Nicolas's " Dispatches and Letters of Lord Nelson," 
 which in an abridged and Hghter form has been 
 reproduced in a chapter on Caracciolo in Mr. John 
 Paget's " Paradoxes and Puzzles." 
 
 But Avhen all this has been, said, and although 
 Southey " walked among sea-terms as carefully as 
 a cat does among crockery ; " although he wrote in 
 ignorance of naval discipline, naval routine, naval 
 tactics, and naval strategy, and above all, without the 
 assistance of Sir Harris Nicolas's truly monumental 
 work, the fact remains that, in spite of many at- 
 tempts to supersede it, this '' Life of Nelson " is still 
 pre-eminently the popular favourite ; is still, to Eng- 
 lish people, the best interpreter of Nelson's character, 
 and, not unworthily, the herald of Nelson's glory. 
 
 J. K. Laughton. 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 -*o«- 
 
 Many lives of " Nelson " have been written : one is yet 
 wanting, clear and concise enough to become a manual for 
 the young sailor, which he may carry about with him till he 
 has treasured up the example in his memory and in his 
 heart. In attempting such a work I shall write the eulogy of 
 our great Naval Hero ; for the best eulogy of Nelson is the 
 faithful history of his actions ; the best history, that which 
 shall relate them most perspicuously. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Nelson's Birth and Boyhood — He Sails in Captain Phipps's 
 Voyage of Discovery — Goes to the East Indies in 
 the Seahorse, and Returns in Ill-health — Expedition 
 against the Spanish Main — Sent to the North Seas in 
 the Allxnaarle — Services during the American War . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Nelson goes to France during the Peace — Re-appointed 
 to the Boreas, and Stationed at the Leeward Islands 
 —His Firm Conduct Concerning the American Inter- 
 lopers, and the Contractors — Marries and Returns to 
 England— Is on the Point of Quitting the Service in 
 Disgust — Manner of Life while Unemployed — Ap- 
 pointed to lh.Q Agamemnon on the Breaking out of 
 the War of the French Revolution . . . ,31 
 
xiv LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Agamemnon sent to the Mediterranean — Commence- 
 ment of Nelson's Acquaintance with Sir W. Hamilton 
 — He is sent to Corsica to Co-operate with Paoli — 
 State of Affairs in that Island — Nelson Undertakes 
 the Siege of Bastia, and Reduces it — Takes a Dis- 
 tinguished Part in the Siege of Calvi, where he Loses 
 an Eye — Admiral Hotham's Action — 1^\\q Agamemnon 
 Ordered to Genoa to Co-operate with the Austrian 
 and Sardinian Forces — Gross Misconduct of the 
 Austrian General - . .54 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Sir J. Jervis takes the Command — Genoa joins the French 
 — Buonaparte Begins his Career — Evacuation of Cor- 
 sica — Nelson Hoists his Broad Pennant in the Mhierve 
 — Action with the Sahina — Battle of Cape St, Vincent 
 — Nelson Commands the Inner Squadron at the 
 Blockade of Cadiz — Boat Action in the Bay of Cadiz — 
 Expedition against Teneriffe — Nelson Loses an Arm — 
 His Sufferings in England, and Recovery , . .94 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Nelson Rejoins Earl St. Vincent in the Vanguard; sails 
 in Pursuit of the French to Egypt ; Returns to Sicily, 
 and Sails again to Egypt— Battle of the Nile . . 125 
 
CONTENTS. -XV 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Nelson Retur)\s to Naples — State of that Court and King- 
 dom — General Mack — The French Approach Naples 
 — Flight of the^Royal Family — Successes of the Allies 
 in Italy — Transactions in the Bay of Naples— Expul- 
 sion of the French from the Neapolitan and Roman 
 States — Nelson is made Duke of Bronte— He Leaves 
 the Mediterranean and Returns to England . . 157 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Nelson Separates himself from his Wife— Northern Con- 
 federacy — He goes to the Baltic under Sir Hyde 
 Parker — Battle of Copenhagen, and Subsqeuent 
 Negotiation — Nelson is made a Viscount , , .212 
 
 CHAPTER YIIL 
 
 Sir Hyde Parker is Recalled, and Nelson Appointed Com- 
 mander — He goes to Revel — Settlement of Affairs in 
 the Baltic — Unsuccessful Attempt upon the Flotilla 
 at Boulogne — Peace of Amiens— Nelson takes the 
 Command in the Mediterranean on the Renewal of the 
 War — Escape of the Toulon Fleet — Nelson Chases 
 them to the West Indies and back ; Delivers up his 
 Squadron to Admiral Cornvvallis, and Lands in Eng- 
 land 252 
 
xvi LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sir Kobert Calder Falls in with the Combined Fleets — 
 They Form a Junction with the Ferrol Squadron, and 
 get into Cadiz — Nelson is Re-appointed to the Com- 
 mand — Battle of Trafalgar, Victory, and Death of 
 Nelson 295 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 -*<>♦- 
 
 Lord Nelson : after a portrait by Sir William Beechey Frontis. 
 Burnham Thorpe Rectory . , . . to face page 48 
 
 The Bay of Naples ,, 157 
 
 Lady Hamilton : after a portrait by Romney . „ 183 
 
 Copenhagen „ 217 
 
 Cape Trafalgar ,,289 
 
 The Fiic^or?/ at Portsmouth ,^ 295 
 
 Nelson's Tomb ...... „ 325 
 
THE LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Nelson's birth and boyhood — He is entered on board the Raisonnable 
 — Goes to the West Indies in a merchant- ship ; then serves in the 
 Triumph — He sails in Captain Phipps's voyage of discovery — Goes 
 to the East Indies in the Seahorse, and returns in ill-health — 
 Serves as acting lieutenant in the Worcester, and is made lieu- 
 tenant into the Lowestoffe, commander into the Badger brig, and 
 post into the Hinchinhrook — Expedition against the Spanish Main 
 — Sent to the North Seas in the Albemarle — Services during the 
 American war.- 
 
 Horatio, son of Edmund and Catherine Nelson, was 
 born September 29, 1758, in the parsonage house of 
 Burnham Thorpe, a village in the county of Norfolk, 
 of which his father was rector. The maiden name 
 of his mother was Suckling, her grandmother was 
 an elder sister of Sir Kobert Walpole, and this child 
 was named after his godfather the first Lord Walpole. 
 Mrs. Nelson died in 1767, leaving eight, out of eleven, 
 children. Her brother, Captain Maurice Suckling, of 
 the navy, visited the widower upon this event, and 
 promised to take care of one of the boys. Three 
 years afterwards, when Horatio was only twelve 
 years of age, being at home during the Christmas 
 holidays, he read in the county newspaper that his 
 uncle was appointed to the Raisonnable of 64 guns. 
 "Do, William," said he to a brother who was a year 
 
 B 
 
2 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 and a half older than himself, " write to my father 
 and tell him that I should like to go to sea with 
 Uncle Maurice." Mr. Nelson was then at Bath, 
 whither he had gone for the recovery of his health : 
 his circumstances were straitened, and he had no 
 prospect of ever seeing them bettered : he knew 
 that it was the wish of providing for himself by 
 which Horatio was chiefly actuated, and did not 
 oppose his resolution ; he understood also the boy's 
 character, and had always said, that in whatever 
 station he might be placed, he would climb, if 
 possible, to the very top of the tree. Accordingly 
 Captain Suckling was written to. " What," said he 
 in his answer, "has poor Horatio done, who is so 
 weak, that he, above all the rest, should be sent to 
 rough it out at sea ? But let him come, and the first 
 time we go into action a cannon-ball may knock off 
 his head, and provide for him at once." 
 
 It is manifest from these words, that Horatio was 
 not the boy whom his uncle would have chosen to 
 bring up in his own profession. He was never of a 
 strong body ; and the ague, which at that time was 
 one of the most common diseases in England, had 
 greatly reduced his strength ; yet he had already 
 given proofs of that resolute heart and nobleness of 
 mind, which, during his whole career of labour and of 
 glory, so eminently distinguished him. When a mere 
 child, he strayed birds-nesting from his mother's 
 house in company with a cow-boy ; the dinner-hour 
 elapsed ; he was absent, and could not be found ; and 
 the alarm of the family became very great, for they 
 apprehended that he might have been carried off by 
 the gipsies. At length, after search had been made 
 
EARLY BOYHOOD. 3 
 
 for him in various directions, he was discovered alone, 
 sitting composedly by the side of a brook, which he 
 could not get over. " I wonder, child," said the old 
 lady when she saw him, " that hunger and fear did 
 not drive you home." " Fear ! grandmamma," replied 
 the future hero, " I never saw fear : what is it ? " 
 Once, after the winter holidays, when he and his 
 brother WilHam had set off on horseback to return to 
 school, they came back because there had been a fall 
 of snow ; and William, who did not much like the 
 journey, said it was too deep for them to venture on. 
 " If that be the case," said the father, " you certainly 
 shall not go ; but make another attempt, and I will 
 leave it to your honour. If the road is dangerous, 
 you may return: but remember, boys, I leave it to 
 your honour." The snow was deep enough to have 
 afforded them a reasonable excuse ; but Horatio was 
 not to be prevailed upon to turn back. " We must go 
 on," said he ; " remember, brother, it was left to our 
 honour 1 " There were some fine pears growing in the 
 schoolmaster's garden, which the boys regarded as 
 lawful booty, and in the highest degree tempting : but 
 the boldest among them were afraid to venture for 
 the prize. Horatio volunteered upon this service : he 
 was lowered down at night from the bed-room window 
 by some sheets, plundered the tree, was drawn up 
 "with the pears, and then distributed them among his 
 schoolfellows, without reserving any for himself 
 " He only took them," he said, " because every other 
 boy was afraid." 
 
 Early on a cold and dark spring morning Mr. 
 Nelson's servant arrived at this school at North 
 Walsham with the expected summons for Horatio to 
 B 2 
 
4 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 j^oin his ship. The parting from his brother William, 
 who had been for so many years his playmate and 
 bed-fellow, was a painful effort, and was the beginning 
 of those privations which are the sailor's lot through 
 life. He accompanied his father to London. The 
 Raisonnahle was lying in the Medway. He was put 
 into the Chatham stage, and on its arrival was set 
 down with the rest of the passengers, and left to find 
 his way on board as he could. After wandering about 
 in the cold, without being able to reach the ship, an 
 officer observed the forlorn appearance of the boy, 
 questioned him, and happening to be acquainted with 
 his uncle, took him home and gave him some refresh- 
 ments. When he got on board Captain Suckling was 
 not in the ship, nor had any person been apprised of 
 the boy's coming. He paced the deck the whole 
 remainder of the day, without being noticed by any 
 one ; and it was not till the second day that some- 
 body, as he expressed it, " took compassion on him." 
 The pain which is felt when we are first transplanted 
 from our native soil — when the living branch is cut 
 from the parent tree — is one of the most poignant 
 which we have to endure through life. There are 
 after-griefs which wound more deeply, which leave 
 behind them scars never to be effaced, which bruise 
 the spirit, and sometimes break the heart : but never, 
 never do we feel so keenly the want of love, the 
 necessity of being loved, and the sense of utter 
 desertion, as when we first leave the haven of home, 
 and are, as it were, pushed off upon the stream of life. 
 Added to these feeUngs, the sea-boy has to endure 
 physical hardships, and the privation of every com- 
 fort, even of sleep. Nelson had a feeble body, and an 
 
ON BOARD THE ''TRIUMPH:' 5 
 
 affectionate heart, and he remembered through life 
 his first days of wretchedness in the service. 
 
 The Raisonnahle having been commissioned on 
 account of the dispute respecting the Falkland 
 Islands, was paid off as soon as the difference with 
 the Court of Spain was accommodated, and Captain 
 Suckling was removed to the Triumph, 74, then 
 stationed as a guardship in the Thames. This was 
 considered as too inactive a life for a boy, and Nelson 
 was therefore sent a voyage to the West Indies in a 
 merchant-ship, commanded by Mr. John Kathbone, 
 an excellent seaman, who had served as master's-mate 
 under Captain Suckling in the Dreadnought He 
 returned a practical seaman, but with a hatred of the 
 king's service, and a saying then common among the 
 sailors — "Aft, the most honour; forward, the better 
 man." Rathbone had probably been disappointed and 
 disgusted in the navy ; and, with no unfriendly 
 intentions, warned Nelson against a profession which 
 he himself had found hopeless. His uncle received 
 him on board the Triumph on his return, and 
 discovering his dislike to the navy, took the best 
 means of reconcihng him to it. He held it out as a 
 reward, that if he attended well to his navigation, he 
 should go in the cutter and decked longboat, which 
 was attached to the commanding officer's ship at 
 Chatham. Thus he became a good pilot for vessels 
 of that description from Chatham to the Tower, and 
 down the Swin Channel to the North Foreland, and 
 acquired a confidence among rocks and sands of 
 which he often felt the value. 
 
 Nelson had not been many months on board the 
 Triumph, when his love of enterprise was excited 
 
6 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 by hearing that two ships were fitting out for a 
 voyage of discovery towards the North Pole. In 
 consequence of the difficulties which were expected 
 on such a service, these vessels were to take out 
 effective men, instead of the usual number of boys. 
 This, however, did not deter him from soliciting to be 
 received, and by his uncle's interest he was admitted 
 as coxswain under Captain Lutwidge, second in com- 
 mand. The voyage was undertaken in compliance 
 with an application from the Royal Society. The 
 Hon. Captain Constantine John Phipps, eldest son of 
 Lord Mulgrave, volunteered his services. The Race- 
 horse and Cavcass bombs were selected, as the 
 strongest ships, and therefore best adapted for such 
 a voyage ; and they were taken into dock and 
 strengthened, to render them as secure as possible 
 against the ice. Two masters of Greenlandmen 
 were employed as pilots for each ship. No expedition 
 was ever more carefully fitted out : and the First 
 Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sandwich, with a 
 laudable solicitude, went on board himself, before 
 their departure, to see that everything had been com- 
 pleted to the wish of the officers. The ships were 
 provided with a simple and excellent apparatus for 
 distilling fresh from salt water, the invention of Dr. 
 Irving, who accompanied the expedition. It consisted 
 merely in fitting a tube to the ship's kettle, and 
 applying a wet mop to the surface as the vapour was 
 passing. By these means, from thirty-four to forty 
 gallons were produced every day. 
 
 They sailed from the Nore on the 4th of June ; 
 on the 6th of the following month they were in lat. 
 79^ 56' 39" ; long. 9" 43' 30" E. The next day, about 
 
EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH POLE, 7 
 
 the place where most of the old discoverers had been 
 stopped, the Racehorse was beset with ice; but 
 they heaved her through with ice-anchors. Captain 
 Phipps continued ranging along the ice northward 
 and westward till the 24th ; he then tried to the east- 
 ward. On the 30th he was in lat. 80° 13' ; long. 18° 
 48' E., among the islands and in the ice, with no 
 appearance of an opening for the ships. The weather 
 was exceedingly fine, mild, and unusually clear. 
 Here they were becalmed in a large bay, with three 
 apparent openings between the islands which formed 
 it ; but everywhere, as far as they could see, sur- 
 rounded with ice. There was not a breath of air ; the 
 water perfectly smooth ; the ice covered with snow, 
 low and even except a few broken pieces near the 
 edge ; and the pools of water in the middle of the ice- 
 fields just crusted over with young ice. On the next 
 day the ice closed upon them, and no opening was to 
 be seen anywhere, except a hole, or lake as it might 
 be called, of about a mile and a half in circumference, 
 where the ships lay fast to the ice with their ice- 
 anchors. They filled their casks with water from 
 these ice-fields, which was very pure and soft. The 
 men were playing on the ice all day, but the Green- 
 land pilots, who were farther than they had ever been 
 before, and considered that the season was advancing, 
 were alarmed at being thus beset. 
 
 The next day there was not the smallest opening, 
 the ships were within less than two lengths of each 
 other, separated by ice, and neither having room to 
 turn. The ice, which yesterday had been all flat, and 
 almost level with the water's edge, was now in many 
 places forced higher than the mainyard, by the pieces 
 
8 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 squeezing together. A day of thick fog followed ; it 
 was succeeded by clear weather ; but the passage by 
 which the ships had entered from the westward was 
 closed, and no open water was in sight either in that 
 or any other quarter. By the pilots' advice the men 
 were set to work to cut a passage and warp through 
 the small openings to the westward. They sawed 
 through pieces twelve feet thick ; and this labour 
 continued the whole day, during which their utmost 
 efforts did not move the ship above three hundred 
 yards, while they were driven, together with the ice, 
 far to the N.E. and E. by the current. Sometimes a 
 field of several acres square would be lifted up 
 between two larger islands, and incorporated with 
 them ; and thus these larger pieces continued to gTOw 
 by aggregation. Another day passed, and there 
 seemed no probability of getting the ships out, with- 
 out a strong E. or N.E. wind. The season was far 
 advanced, and every hour lessened the chance of 
 extricating themselves. Young as he was, Nelson 
 was appointed to command one of the boats which 
 were sent out to explore a passage into the open 
 water. It was the means of saving a boat belonging 
 to the Racehorse from a singular but imminent 
 danger. )Some of the officers had fired at and 
 wounded a walrus. As no other animal has so 
 human-like an expression in its countenance, so also 
 is there none that seems to possess more of the 
 passions of humanity. The wounded one dived 
 immediately, and brought up a number of its 
 companions ; and they all joined in an attack upon 
 the boat. They wrested an oar from one of the 
 men ; and it was with the utmost difficulty that the 
 
EARLY ADVENTURES. 9 
 
 crew could prevent them from staving or upsetting 
 her, till the Curcasss boat came up ; and the 
 walruses, hnding their enemies thus reinforced, dis- 
 persed. Young Nelson exposed himself in a more 
 daring manner. One night, during the mid-watch, 
 he stole from the ship with one of his comrades, 
 taking advantage of a rising fog, and set out over the 
 ice in pursuit of a bear. It was not long before they 
 were missed. The fog thickened, and Captain Lut- 
 widge and his officers became exceedingly alarmed 
 for their safety. Between three and four in the 
 morning the weather cleared, and the two adven- 
 turers were seen, at a considerable distance from the 
 ship, attacking a huge bear. The signal for them to 
 return was immediately made ; Nelson's comrade 
 called upon him to obey it, but in vain ; his musket 
 had flashed in the pan ; their ammunition was 
 expended ; and a chasm in the ice, which divided 
 him from the bear, probably preserved his life. 
 " Never mind," he cried ; " do but let me get a blow at 
 this devil with the butt-end of my musket, and we 
 shall have him." Captain Lutwidge, however, seeing 
 his danger, fired a gun, which had the desired effect 
 of frightening the beast ; and the boy then returned, 
 somewhat afraid of the consequences of his trespass. 
 The captain reprimanded him sternly for conduct so 
 unworthy of the office which he filled, and desired to 
 know what motive he could have for hunting a bear. 
 " Sir," said he, pouting his lip, as he was wont to do 
 when agitated, " I wished to kill the bear, that I might 
 carry the skin to my father." 
 
 A party were now sent to an island, about twelve 
 miles off (named Walden's Island in the charts, from 
 
10 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 the midshipman who was intrusted with this service), 
 to see where the open water lay. They came back on 
 the 6th, with information that the ice, though close 
 all about them, was open to the westward, round the 
 point by which they came in. They said also, that 
 upon the island they had had a fresh east wind. 
 This intelligence considerably abated the hopes of the 
 crew, for where they lay it had been almost calm, and 
 their main dependence had been upon the effect of an 
 easterly wind in clearing the bay. There was but one 
 alternative ; either to wait the event of the weather 
 upon the ships, or to betake themselves to the boats. 
 The likelihood that it might be necessary to sacrifice 
 the ships had been foreseen ; the boats accordmgly 
 were adapted, both in number and size, to transport, 
 in case of emergency, the whole crew : and there were 
 Dutch whalers upon the coast in which they could 
 all be conveyed to Europe. As for wintering where 
 they were, that dreadful experiment had been already 
 tried too often. No time was to be lost ; the ships 
 had driven into shoal water, having but fourteen 
 fathoms. Should they, or the ice to which they were 
 fast, take the ground, they must inevitably be lost ; 
 and at this time they were driving fast towards some 
 rocks on the N.E. Captain Phipps sent for the 
 officers of both ships, and told them his intention of 
 preparing the boats for going away. They were 
 immediately hoisted out, and the fitting began. 
 Canvas bread-bags were made, in case it should be 
 necessary suddenly to desert the vessels; and men 
 were sent with the lead and line to the northward 
 and eastward, to sound wherever they found cracks in 
 the ice, that they might have notice before the ice 
 
ICE-BOUND. 11 
 
 took the ground ; for in that case, the ships must 
 instantly have been crushed, or overset. 
 
 On the 7th they began to haul the boats over the 
 ice, Nelson having command of the four-oared cutter. 
 The men behaved excellently well, like true British 
 seamen ; they seemed reconciled to the thought of 
 leaving the ships, and had full confidence in their 
 officers. About noon the ice appeared rather more 
 open near the vessels ; and as the wind was easterly, 
 though there was but little of it, the sails were set, and 
 they got about a mile to the westward. They moved 
 very slowly, and were not now nearly so far to the 
 westward as when they were first beset. However, 
 all sail was kept upon them, to force them through 
 whenever the ice slacked the least Whatever exer- 
 tions were made it could not be possible to get the 
 boats to the water-edge before the 14th ; and if the 
 situation of the ships should not alter by that time, it 
 would not be justifiable to stay longer by them. The 
 commander therefore resolved to carry on both 
 attempts together, moving the boats constantly, and 
 taking every opportunity of getting the ships through. 
 A party was sent out next day to the westward, to 
 examine the state of the ice ; they returned with tid- 
 ings that it was very heavy and close, consisting 
 chiefly of large fields. The ships, however, moved 
 something, and the ice itself was drifting westward. 
 There was a thick fog, so that it was impossible to 
 ascertain what advantage had been gained. It con- 
 tinued on the 9th ; but the ships were moved a little 
 through some very small openings ; the mist cleared 
 off in the afternoon ; and it was then perceived that 
 they had driven much more than could have been 
 
12 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 expected to the westward, and that the ice itself had 
 driven still farther. In the course of the day they 
 got past the boats, and took them on board again. 
 On the morrow the wind sprang up to the N.N.E. 
 All sail was set, and the ships forced their way 
 through a great deal of very heavy ice. They fre- 
 quently struck, and with such force, that one stroke 
 broke the shank of the Racehorses best bower-anchor; 
 but the vessels made way, and by noon they had 
 cleared the ice, and were out at sea. The next day 
 they anchored in Smeerenberg Harbour, close to that 
 island of which the westernmost point is called Hak- 
 luyt's Headland, in honour of the great promoter and 
 compiler of our English voyages of discovery. 
 
 Here they remained a few days, that the men 
 might rest after their fatigue. No insect was to be 
 seen in this dreary country, nor any species of reptile, 
 not even the common earthworm. Large bodies of 
 ice, called icebergs, filled up the valleys between high 
 mountains, so dark as, when contrasted with the snow, 
 to appear black. The colour of the ice was a lively 
 light green. Opposite to the place where they fixed 
 their observatory was one of these icebergs, above 
 three hundred feet high : its side towards the sea 
 was nearly perpendicular, and a stream of water 
 issued from it. Large pieces frequently broke off, 
 and thundered down into the sea. There was no 
 thunder nor lightning during the whole time they 
 were in these latitudes. The sky was generally 
 loaded with hard white clouds, from which it was 
 never entirely free even in the clearest weather. 
 They always knew when they were approaching the 
 ice, long before they saw it, by a bright appearance 
 
VOYAGE TO THE EAST INDIES. 13 
 
 near the horizon, which the Greenlandmen called 
 the blink of the ice. The season was now so far ad- 
 vanced that nothing more could have been attempted, 
 if indeed anything had been left untried : but the 
 summer had been unusually favourable, and they 
 had carefully surveyed the wall of ice extending for 
 more than twenty degrees between the latitudes of 
 80° and 81°, without the smallest appearance of any 
 opening. 
 
 The ships were paid off shortly after their return 
 to England; and Nelson was then placed, by his 
 uncle, with Captain Farmer, in the Seahorse, of 20 
 gims, then going out to the East Indies in the 
 squadron under Sir Edward Hughes. He was sta- 
 tioned in the foretop at watch and watch. His good 
 conduct attracted the attention of the master (after- 
 wards Captain Surridge), in whose watch he was ; 
 and, upon his recommendation, the captain rated 
 him as midshipman. At this time his countenance 
 was florid, and his appearance rather stout and 
 athletic, but when he had been about eighteen 
 months in India he felt the effects of that climate, 
 so perilous to European constitutions. The disease 
 baffled all power of medicine ; he was reduced almost 
 to a skeleton ; the use of his limbs was for some time 
 entirely lost ; and the only hope that remained was 
 from a voyage home. Accordingly, he was brought 
 home by Captain Pigot, in the Dolphin; and had it 
 not been for the attentive and careful kindness of 
 that officer on the way. Nelson would never have 
 hved to reach his native shores. He had formed 
 acquaintance with Sir Charles Pole, Sir Thomas 
 Trowbridge, and other distinguished officers, then, 
 
14 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 like himself, beginning their career : he had left them 
 pursuing that career in full enjoyment of health and 
 hope, and was returning from a country in which all 
 things were to him new and interesting, with a body 
 broken down by sickness, and spirits which had sunk 
 with his strength. Long afterwards, when the name 
 of Nelson was known as widely as that of England 
 itself, he spoke of the feelings which he at this time 
 endured. " I felt impressed," said he, " with a feeling 
 that I should never rise in my profession. My mind 
 was staggered with a view of the difficulties I had to 
 surmount, and the little interest I possessed. I could 
 discover no means of reaching the object of my am- 
 bition. After a long and gloomy reverie, in which I 
 almost wished myself overboard, a sudden glow of 
 patriotism was kindled within me, and presented my 
 king and country as my patron. ' Well, then,' I^ 
 exclaimed, ' I will be a hero ! and, confiding in Provi- 
 dence, I will brave every danger ! '" Long afterwards 
 Nelson loved to speak of the feeling of that moment : 
 and from that time, he often said, a radiant orb was 
 suspended in his mind's eye, which urged him onward 
 to renown. The state of mind in which these feelings 
 began is what the mystics mean by their season of 
 darkness, of aridity, and of desertion. If the animal 
 spirits of coarser enthusiasts fail, they represent it as 
 an actual temptation, a snare of Satan. The enthu- 
 siasm of Nelson's nature had taken a different direc- 
 tion, but in its essence it was the same. He knew 
 to what the previous state of dejection was to be 
 attributed; that an enfeebled body, and a mind 
 depressed, had cast this shade over his soul, but he 
 always seemed willing to believe that the sunshine 
 
SECOND LIEUTENANT. 15 
 
 which succeeded bore with it a prophetic glory, and 
 that the Hght which led him on Avas "light from 
 heaven." 
 
 His interest, however, was far better than he 
 imagined. During his absence, Captain Suckling had 
 been made Comptroller of the Navy ; his health had 
 materially improved upon the voyage ; and, as soon 
 as the Dolphin was paid off, he was appointed acting 
 lieutenant in the Worcester, 64, Captain Mark Eobin- 
 son, then going out with convoy to Gibraltar. Soon 
 after his return, on the 8th of April, 1777, he passed 
 his examination for a lieutenancy. Captain Suckling 
 sat at the head of the board, and when the examina- 
 tion had ended, in a manner highly honourable to 
 Nelson, rose from his seat, and introduced him to the 
 examining captains as his nephew. They expressed 
 their wonder that he had not informed them of this 
 relationship before ; he replied that he did not wish 
 the younker to be favoured ; he knew his nephew 
 would pass a good examination, and he had not been 
 deceived. The next day Nelson received his com- 
 mission as second lieutenant of the Loivestoffe frigate. 
 Captain William Locker, then fitting out for Jamaica. 
 
 American and French privateers, under American 
 colours, were at that time harassing our trade in the 
 West Indies : even a frigate was not sufficiently active 
 for Nelson, and he repeatedly got appointed to the 
 command of one of the Loiuestoffes tenders. During 
 one of their cruises the Lowestoffe captured an 
 American letter-of-marque : it was blowing a gale, 
 and a heavy sea running. The first lieutenant being 
 ordered to board the prize, went below to put on his 
 hanger. It happened to be mislaid ; and, while he 
 
IC LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 was seeking it, Captain Locker came on deck. Per- 
 ceiving the boat still alongside, and in danger every 
 moment of being swamped, and being extremely 
 anxious that the privateer should be instantly taken 
 in charge, because he feared that it would otherwise 
 founder, he exclaimed, " Have I no officer in the ship 
 who can board the prize ? " Nelson did not offer 
 himself immediately, waiting, with his usual sense 
 of propriety, for the first lieutenant's return ; but 
 hearing the master volunteer, he jumped into the 
 boat, saying, " It is my turn now ; and if I come 
 back, it is yours." The American, who had carried 
 a heavy press of sail in hope of escaping, was so 
 completely water-logged that the Lowestoffes boat 
 went in on deck, and out again, with the sea. 
 
 About this time he lost his uncle. Captain 
 Locker, however, who had perceived the excellent 
 qualities of Nelson, and formed a friendship for him, 
 which continued during his life, recommended him 
 warmly to Sir Peter Parker, then commander-in-chief 
 upon that station. In consequence of this recom- 
 mendation he was removed into the Bristol flag- 
 ship, and Lieutenant Cuthbert Collingwood succeeded 
 him in the Lowestoffe. He soon became first lieu- 
 tenant; and on the 8th of December, 1778, was 
 appointed commander of the Badger brig, Colling- 
 wood again succeeding him in the Bristol. While 
 the Badger was lying in Montego Bay, Jamaica, 
 the Glasgow, of 20 guns, came in and anchored 
 there, and in two hours was in flames, the steward 
 having set fire to her while stealing rum out of the 
 after-hold. Her crew were leaping into the water, 
 when Nelson came up in his boats, made them throw 
 
AT PORT ROYAL. 17 
 
 their powder overboard, and point their guns up- 
 ward ; and, by his presence of mind and personal 
 exertions, prevented the loss of life which would 
 otherwise have ensued. On the 11th of June, 1779, 
 he was made post into the Hinchinhrooh, of 28 
 guns, an enemy's merchant-man sheathed with wood 
 which had been taken into the service. A short time 
 after he left the Lowestoffe, that ship, with a small 
 squadron, stormed the fort of St. Fernando de Onioa, 
 on the south side of the bay of Honduras, and 
 captured some register ships which were lying under 
 its guns. Two hundred and fifty quintals of quick- 
 silver, and three millions of piastres, were the reward 
 of this enterprise ; and it is characteristic of Nelson 
 that the chance by which he missed a share in such 
 a prize is never mentioned in any of his letters, nor 
 is it likely that it ever excited even a momentary 
 feelingf of vexation. 
 
 Nelson was fortunate in possessing good interest 
 at the time when it could be most serviceable to 
 him; his promotion had been almost as rapid as it 
 could be ; and before he had attained the age of 
 twenty-one he had gained that rank which brought 
 all the honours of the service within his reach. No 
 opportunity, indeed, had yet been given him of dis- 
 tinguishing himself ; but he was thoroughly master 
 of his profession, and his zeal and ability were ac- 
 knowledged wherever he was known. Count d'Estaing, 
 with a fleet of 125 sail, men-of-war and transports, 
 and a reputed force of five-and-twenty thousand 
 men, threatened Jamaica from St. Domingo. Nelson 
 offered his services to the Admiral and to Governor- 
 General Dalling, and was appointed to command the 
 c 
 
IS LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 batteries of Fort Charles, at Port Royal. Not more 
 than seven thousand men could be mustered for the 
 defence of the island — a number wholly inadequate 
 to resist the force which threatened them. Of this 
 Nelson was so Avell aware, that when he wrote to his 
 friends in England, he told them they must not be 
 surprised to hear of his learning to speak French. 
 D'Estaing, however, Avas either not aware of his own 
 superiority, or not equal to the command with which 
 he was entrusted ; he attempted nothing with this 
 formidable armament ; and General DalHng was thus 
 left to execute a project which he had formed against 
 the Spanish colonies. 
 
 This project was to take Fort San Juan, on the 
 river of that name, which flows from Lake Nicaragua 
 into the Atlantic ; make himself master of the lake 
 itself, and of the cities of Granada and Leon ; and 
 thus cut off the communication of the Spaniards 
 between their northern and southern possessions in 
 America. Here it is that a canal between the two 
 seas may most easily be formed — a work more im- 
 portant in its consequences than any which has ever 
 yet been effected by human power. Lord George 
 Germaine, at that time Secretary of State for the 
 American department, approved the plan; and as 
 discontents at that time were known to prevail in 
 the Nuevo Reyno, in Popayan, and in Peru, the more 
 sanguine part of the English began to dream of ac- 
 quiring an empire in one part of America more 
 extensive than that which they were on the point 
 of losing in another. General Dalling's plans were 
 well formed, but the history and the nature of the 
 country had not been studied as accurately as its 
 
EXPEDITION UP THE SAN JUAN RIVER. 19 
 
 geography. The difficulties which occurred in fitting 
 out the expedition delayed it till the season was too 
 far advanced ; and the men were thus sent to ad- 
 venture themselves, not so nuich against an enemy 
 whom they would have beaten, as against a climate 
 which would do the enemy's work. 
 
 Early in the year 1780, five hundred men, destined 
 
 for this service, were convoyed by Nelson from Port 
 
 Royal to Cape Gracias a Dios, in Honduras. Not a 
 
 native was to be seen when they landed, they had 
 
 been taught that the English came with no other 
 
 intent than that of enslaving them, and sending them 
 
 to Jamaica. After a while, however, one of them 
 
 ventured down, confiding in his knowledge of one of 
 
 the party ; and by his means the neighbouring tribes 
 
 were conciliated with presents, and brought in. The 
 
 troops were encamped on a swampy and unwholesome 
 
 plain, where they were joined by a party of the 79th 
 
 regiment, from Black River, who were already in a 
 
 deplorable state of sickness. Having remained here 
 
 a month, they proceeded, anchoring frequently, along 
 
 the Mosquito shore, to collect their Indian alhes, who 
 
 were to furnish proper boats for the river, and to 
 
 accompany them. They reached the river San Juan 
 
 March 24th ; and here, according to his orders, 
 
 Nelson's services were to terminate; but not a man 
 
 in the expedition had ever been up the river, or 
 
 knew the distances of any fortification from its 
 
 mouth, and he, not being one who would turn back 
 
 when so much was to be done, resolved to carry the 
 
 soldiers up. About two hundred, therefore, were 
 
 embarked in the Mosquito shore craft, and in two 
 
 of the HinchinhrooJcs boats, and they began their 
 
 C 2 
 
20 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 way. It was tlie latter end of the dry season, the 
 worst time for such an expedition; the river was 
 consequently low. Indians were sent forward through 
 narrow channels between shoals and sandbanks ; and 
 the men were frequently obliged to quit the boats, 
 and exert their utmost strength to drag or thrust them 
 along. This labour continued for several days, then 
 they came into deeper water ; but then they had 
 sometimes currents and rapids to contend with, which 
 would have been insurmountable, had it not been for 
 the skill of the Indians in such difficulties. The 
 brunt of the labour was borne by them, and by the 
 sailors — men never accustomed to stand aloof when 
 any exertion of strength or hardihood is required. 
 The soldiers, less accustomed to rely upon themselves, 
 were of little use. But all equally endured the violent 
 heat of the sun, rendered more intense by being re- 
 flected from the white shoals, and because the high 
 woods on both sides of the river were frequently so 
 close as to prevent all . refreshing circulation of air; 
 and during the night all were equally exposed to the 
 heavy and unwholesome dews. 
 
 On the 9th of April they reached an island in the 
 river called St. Bartolomeo, which the Spaniards had 
 fortified as an outpost, with a small semicircular 
 battery, mounting nine or ten swivels, and manned 
 with sixteen or eighteen men. It commanded the 
 river in a rapid and difficult part of the navigation. 
 Nelson, at the head of a few of his seamen, leaped 
 upon the beach. The ground upon which he sprung 
 was so muddy that he had some difficulty in extri- 
 cating himself, and lost his shoes; barefooted, how- 
 ever, he advanced, and, in his own phrase, boarded 
 
NAMROW ESCAPE FROM A SNAKE. 21 
 
 the battery. In this resohite attempt he was bravely 
 supported by Despard, who was at that time a captain 
 in the army, and whose after fate was so disastrous. 
 The Castle of St. Juan is situated about sixteen miles 
 higher up ; the stores and ammunition, however, were 
 landed a few miles below the castle, and the men had 
 to march through woods almost impassable. One of 
 the men was bitten under the eye by a snake, which 
 darted upon him from the bough of a tree. He was 
 unable to proceed for the violence of the pain ; and 
 when, after a short while, some of his comrades were 
 sent back to assist him, he was dead, and the body 
 already putrid. Nelson himself narrowly escaped a 
 similar fate. He had ordered his hammock to be 
 slung under some trees, being excessively fatigued, 
 and was sleeping when a monitory lizard passed 
 across his face. The Indians happily observed the 
 reptile, and knowing what it indicated, awoke him. 
 He started up, and found one of the deadliest serpents 
 of the country coiled up at his feet. He suffered 
 from poison of another kind ; for, drinking at a spring 
 in which some boughs of the manchineel had been 
 thrown, the effects were so severe as, in the opinion 
 of some of his friends, to inflict a lasting injury upon 
 his constitution. 
 
 The Castle of St. Juan is thirty-two miles below 
 the Lake of Nicaragua, from which it issues, and 
 sixty-nine from the mouth of the river. Boats reach 
 the sea from thence in a day and a half; but their 
 navigation back, even when unladen, is the labour of 
 nine days. The English appeared before it on the 
 eleventh, two days after they had taken St. Barto- 
 lomeo. Nelson's advice was that it should instantly 
 
22 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 be carried by assault ; but Nelson was not the com- 
 mander, and it was thought proper to observe all the 
 formalities of a siege. Ten days were wasted before 
 this could be commenced: it was a work more of 
 fatigue than of danger ; but fatigue was more to be 
 dreaded than the enemy. The rains set in; and 
 could the garrison have held out a little longer, 
 disease would have rid them of their invaders. Even 
 the Indians sunk under it, the victims of imusual 
 exertion and of their own excesses. The place sur- 
 rendered on the twenty-fourth. But victory procured 
 to the conquerors none of that relief which had been 
 expected ; the castle was worse than a prison ; and it 
 contamed nothing which could contribute to the 
 recovery of the sick, or the preservation of those who 
 were yet unaffected. The huts which served for 
 hospitals were surrounded with lilth and with the 
 putrefying hides of slaughtered cattle, almost suffi- 
 cient of themselves to have engendered pestilence ; 
 and when at last orders were given to erect a con- 
 venient hospital, the contagion had become so 
 general that there were none who could work at it, 
 for, besides the few who were able to perform garrison 
 duty, there were not orderly men enough to assist the 
 sick. Added to these evils, there was the want of all 
 needful remedies ; for though the expedition had 
 been amply provided with hospital stores, river-craft 
 enough had not been procured for transporting the 
 requisite baggage ; and when much was to be left 
 behind, provision for sickness was that which of all 
 things men in health would be most ready to leave. 
 Now, when these medicines were required the river 
 was swollen, and so turbulent that its upward naviga- 
 
APPOINTMENT TO THE '' JANUS^ 23 
 
 tion was almost impracticable. At length even the 
 task of burying the dead was more than the living 
 could perform, and the bodies were tossed into the 
 stream, or left for beasts of prey, and for the gallinazos 
 — those dreadful carrion-birds, which do not always 
 wait for death before they begin their work. Five 
 months the English persisted in what may be called 
 this war against nature ; they then left a few men, 
 who seemed proof against the climate, to retain the 
 castle till the Spaniards should choose, when the lit 
 season arrived, to retake it, and make them prisoners. 
 The rest abandoned their baleful conquest. Eighteen 
 hundred men were sent to different posts upon this 
 wretched expedition ; not more than three hundred 
 and eighty ever returned. The Hincliinhroolc s 
 complement consisted of two hundred men ; eighty- 
 seven took to their beds in one night, and of the 
 whole crew not more than ten survived. 
 
 Nelson himself was saved by a timely removal. In 
 a few days after the commencement of the siege he 
 was seized with the prevailing dysentery ; meantime 
 Captain Glover (son of the author of " Leonidas ") 
 died, and Nelson was appointed to succeed him in the 
 Janus, of 44 guns. He returned to the harbour the 
 day before St. Juan surrendered, and immediately 
 sailed from Jamaica in the sloop Avhich brought the 
 news of his appointment. He was, however, so 
 greatly reduced by the disorder, that when they 
 reached Port Royal he was carried ashore in his cot ; 
 and finding himself, after a partial amendment, 
 unable to retain the command of his new ship, he 
 was compelled to ask leave to return to England, as 
 the only means of recoveiy. Captain (afterwards 
 
24 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 Admiral) Cornwallis took him home in the Lion, 
 and to his care and kindness Nelson believed himself 
 indebted for his life. He went immediately to Bath, 
 in a miserable state ; so helpless, that he was carried 
 to and from his bed ; and the act of moving him pro- 
 duced the most violent pain. In three months he 
 was recovered, and immediately he hastened to 
 London, and applied for employment. After an 
 interval of about four months he was appointed to 
 the Albemarle, of 28 guns, a French merchantman 
 which had been purchased from the captors for the 
 king's service. 
 
 His health was not yet thoroughly re-established ; 
 and Avhile he was employed in getting his ship ready 
 he again became so ill as hardly to be able to keep 
 out of bed. Yet in this state, still suffering from the 
 fatal effect of a West Indian climate, as if, it might 
 almost be supposed, he said, to try his constitution, 
 he was sent to the North Seas, and kept there the 
 whole winter. The asperity with which he mentioned 
 this so many years afterwards, evinces how deeply he 
 resented a mode of conduct equally cruel to the indi- 
 vidual and detrimental to the service. It was during 
 the armed neutrality, and when they anchored off 
 Elsineur, the Danish admiral sent on board, desiring 
 to be informed what ships had arrived, and to have 
 their force written down. "The Albemarle," said 
 Nelson to the messenger, " is one of His Britannic 
 Majesty's ships. You are at liberty, sir, to count the 
 guns as you go down the side ; and you may assure 
 the Danish admiral that, if necessary, they shall all be 
 well served." During this voyage he gained a con- 
 siderable knowledge of the Danish coast and its 
 
VOYAaU TO CANADA ON THE '' ALBEMARLE:^ 25 
 
 soundings, greatly to the advantage of his country 
 in after times. The Albemarle was not a good 
 ship, and was several times nearly overset in con- 
 sequence of the masts having been made much too 
 long for her. On her return to England they were 
 shortened, and some other improvements made, at 
 Nelson's suggestion. Still he always insisted that her 
 first owners, the French, had taught her to run away, 
 as she was never a good sailer except when going 
 directly before the wind. 
 
 On their return to the Doavus, while he was ashore 
 visiting the senior officer, there came on so heavy 
 a gale that almost all the vessels drove, and a store- 
 ship came athwart-hawse of the Albemarle. Nelson 
 feared she would drive on the Goodwin Sands ; he ran 
 to the beach ; but even the Deal boatmen thought it 
 impossible to get on board, such was the violence of 
 the storm. At length some of the most intrepid 
 offered to make the attempt for fifteen guineas ; and, 
 to the astonishment and fear of all the beholders, he 
 embarked during the height of the tempest. With 
 great difficulty and imminent danger he succeeded in 
 reaching her. She lost her bowsprit and foremast, 
 but escaped further injury. He was now ordered to 
 Quebec, where his surgeon told him he would 
 certainly be laid up by the climate. Many of his 
 friends urged him to represent this to Admiral 
 Keppel ; but, having received his orders from Lord 
 Sandwich, there appeared to him an indelicacy in 
 applying to his successor to have them altered. 
 
 Accordingly, he sailed for Canada. During her 
 first cruise on that station, the Albemarle cap- 
 tured a fishing schooner, which contained in her 
 
26 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 cargo nearly all the property that her master 
 possessed, and the poor fellow had a large family at 
 home, anxiously expecting him. Nelson employed 
 him as a pilot in Boston Bay, then restored him the 
 schooner and cargo, and gave him a certificate to 
 secure him against being captured by any other vessel. 
 The man came off afterwards to the Alhemarle, at 
 the hazard of his life, with a present of sheep, poultry, 
 and fresh provisions. A most valuable supply it 
 proved, for the scurvy was raging on board ; this was 
 in the middle of August, and the ship's company had 
 not had a fresh meal since the beginning of April. 
 The certificate was preserved at Boston in memory of 
 an act of unusual generosity, and now that the fame 
 of Nelson has given interest to everything connected 
 with his name it is regarded as a relic. The 
 Alherndrle had a narrow escape upon this cruise. 
 Four French sail of the line and a frigate, which bad 
 come out of Boston harbour, gave chase to her : and 
 Nelson, perceiving that they beat him in sailing, 
 boldly ran among the numerous shoals of St. George's 
 Bank, confiding in his own skill in pilotage. Captain 
 Salter, in the St. Margaretta, had escaped the 
 French fleet by a similar manoeuvre not long before. 
 The frigate alone continued warily to pursue him ; 
 but as soon as he perceived that this enemy was 
 unsupported, he shortened sail, and hove to, upon 
 Avhich the Frenchman thought it advisable to give 
 over the pursuit, and sail in quest of his consorts. 
 
 At (^)uebec Nelson became acquainted Avith 
 Alexander Davison, by whose interference he was 
 prevented fi*om making what would have been called 
 an imprudent marriage. The Albemarle was 
 
AELSOJV'S FIBiiT LoVE. 27 
 
 about to leave the station, her captain had taken 
 leave of his friends, and was gone down the river to 
 the place of anchorage, Avhen the next morning, as 
 Davison was walking on the beach, to his surprise he 
 saw Nelson coming back in his boat. Upon inquiring 
 the cause of this reappearance, Nelson took his arm 
 to walk towards the to^vn, and told him he found it 
 utterly impossible to leave* Quebec without again 
 seeing the woman whose society had contributed so 
 much to his happiness there, and offering her his 
 hand. " If you do," said his friend, " your utter ruin 
 must inevitably follow." " Then let it follow," cried 
 Nelson, "for I am resolved to do it." "And I," 
 replied Davison, " am resolved you shall not." 
 Nelson, however, upon this occasion was less resolute 
 than his friend, and suffered himself to be led back to 
 the boat. 
 
 The Alhemarie was under orders to convoy a 
 fleet of transports to New York. "A very pretty 
 job," said her captain, " at this late season of the 
 year " (October was far advanced), " for our sails are 
 at this moment frozen to the yards." On his arrival 
 at Sandy Hook, he waited on the commander-in- 
 chief, Admiral Digby, who told him he was come on 
 a fine station for making prize-money. "Yes, sir," 
 Nelson made answer ; " but the West Indies is the 
 station for honour." Lord Hood, Avith a detachment 
 of Rodney's victorious fleet, was at that time at 
 Sandy Hook. He had been intimate with Captain 
 Suckling; and Nelson, who was desirous of nothing 
 but honour, requested him to ask for the Albemarle, 
 that he might go to that station where it was most 
 likely to be obtained. Admiral Digby reluctantly 
 
28 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 parted with him. His professional merit was already 
 well known ; and Lord Hood, on introducing him to 
 Prince William Henry, as the Duke of Clarence was 
 then called, told the prince, if he wished to ask any 
 questions respecting naval tactics. Captain Nelson 
 could give him as much information as any officer 
 in the fleet. The Duke, who, to his own honour, 
 became from that time the firm friend of Nelson, 
 describes him as appearing the merest boy of a 
 captain he had ever seen, dressed in a full-laced 
 uniform, an old-fashioned waistcoat with long flaps 
 and his lank, unpowdered hair tied in a stiff" Hessian 
 tail of extraordinary length; making, altogether, so 
 remarkable a figure, " that," says the Duke, " I had 
 never seen anything hke it before, nor could I 
 imagine who he was, nor what he came about. But 
 his address and conversation were irresistibly pleasing ; 
 and when he spoke on professional subjects, it was 
 with an enthusiasm that showed he was no common 
 being." 
 
 It was expected that the French would attempt 
 some of the passages between the Bahamas : and 
 Lord Hood, thinking of this, said to Nelson, " I 
 suppose, sir, from the length of time you were 
 cruising among the Bahama Keys, you must be a 
 good pilot there." He replied, with that constant 
 readiness to render justice to every man, which was 
 so conspicuous in all his conduct through life, that 
 he was well acquainted with them himself^ but that 
 in that respect his second lieutenant was far his 
 superior. The French got into Puerto Cabello on the 
 coast of Venezuela. Nelson was cruising between that 
 port and La Guayra, under French colours, for the 
 
RETURN TO LONDON. 29 
 
 purpose of obtaining information, when a king's 
 launch, belonging to the Spaniards, passed near, 
 and being hailed in French, came alongside without 
 suspicion, and answered all questions that were asked 
 concerning the number and force of the enemy's 
 ships. The crew, however, were not a little surprised 
 when they were taken on board, and found them- 
 selves prisoners. One of the party went by the 
 name of the Count de Deux Fonts. He was, how- 
 ever, a prince of the German empire, and brother to 
 the heir of the electorate of Bavaria, his companions 
 were French officers of distinction, and men of 
 science, who had been collecting specimens in the 
 various branches of natural history. Nelson having 
 entertained them with the best his table could afford, 
 told them they were at liberty to depart with their 
 boat and all that it contained. He only required 
 them to promise that they would consider them- 
 selves as prisoners, if the commander-in-chief should 
 refuse to acquiesce in their being thus hberated — a 
 circumstance which was not by any means likely to 
 happen. Tidings soon arrived that the preliminaries 
 of peace had been signed ; and the Albemarle 
 returned to England, and was paid off. Nelson's 
 first business after he got to London, even before he 
 went to see his relations, was to attempt to get the 
 wages due to his men for the various ships in which 
 they had served during the war. "The disgust of 
 seamen to the navy," he said, " was all owing to the 
 infernal plan of turning them over from ship to ship, 
 so that men could not be attached to the officers, 
 nor the officers care the least about the men." Yet 
 he himself was so beloved by his men, that his whole 
 
30 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 ship's company offered, if he could get a ship, to enter 
 for her immediately. He was now, for the first time, 
 presented at court. After going through this cere- 
 mony, he dined with his friend Davison at Lincoln's 
 Inn. As soon as he entered the chambers he threw 
 off what he called his iron-bound coat ; and, putting 
 himself at ease in a dressing-gown, passed the re- 
 mainder of the day in talking over all that had 
 befallen them since they parted on the shore of the 
 River St. Lawrence. 
 
31 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Nelson goes to France during the Peace — Re-appointed to the Boreas 
 and stationed at the Leeward Islands — His firm Conduct concerning 
 the American Interlopers, and the Contractors — Marries and Returns 
 to England — Is on the Point of quitting the Service in Disgust — 
 Manner of Life while Unemployed — Appointed to the JtjcDiiciiuioii 
 on the Breaking-out of the War of the French Revolution. 
 
 " I HAVE closed tlie war/' said Nelson, in one of his 
 letters, "without a fortune, but there is not a speck 
 in my character. True honour, I hope, predominates 
 in my mind far above riches." He did not apply for 
 a ship, because he was not wealthy enough to live on 
 board in the manner which was then become custom- 
 ary. Finding it, therefore, prudent to economise on 
 his half-pay during the peace, he went to France, 
 in company with Captain Macnamara, of the navj^, 
 and took lodgings at St. Omer's. The death of his 
 favourite sister, Anne, who died in consequence of 
 going out of the ball-room, at Bath, when heated 
 with dancing, affected his father so much, that it 
 had nearly occasioned him to return in a few weeks. 
 Time, however, and reason and religion, overcame this 
 grief in the old man: and Nelson continued at St. 
 Omer's long enough to fall in love with the daughter 
 of an English clergyman. This second attachment 
 appears to have been less ardent than the first ; for, 
 upon weighing the evils of a straitened income to 
 a married man, he thought it better to leave France, 
 assigning to his friends something in his accounts 
 
32 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 as the cause. This prevented him from accepting an 
 invitation from the Count de Deux Fonts to visit 
 him at Paris, couched in the handsomest terms ot 
 acknowledgment for the treatment which he had 
 received on board the Albemarle. 
 
 The self-constraint which Nelson exerted in sub- 
 duing this attachment made him naturally desire to 
 be at sea ; and when, upon visiting Lord Howe at the 
 Admiralty, he was asked if he wished to be employed, 
 he made answer that he did. Accordingly, in March, 
 he was appointed to the Boreas, 28 guns, going to 
 the Leeward Islands, as a cruiser, on the peace 
 establishment. Lady Hughes and her family went 
 out with him to Admiral Sir Kichard Hughes, who 
 commanded on that station. His ship was full of 
 young midshipmen, of whom there were not less than 
 thirty on • board ; and happy were they whose lot it 
 was to be placed with such a captain. If he perceived 
 that a boy was afraid at first going aloft, he would say 
 to him, in a friendly manner : " Well, sir, I am going 
 a race to the masthead, and beg that I may meet you 
 there." The poor little fellow instantly began to 
 climb, and got up how he could — Nelson never 
 noticed in what manner ; but, when they met in the 
 top, spoke cheerfully to him; and would say, how 
 much any person was to be pitied who fancied that 
 getting up was either dangerous or difficult. Every 
 day he went into the schoolroom, to see that they 
 were pursuing their nautical studies ; and at noon 
 he was always the first on deck with his quadrant. 
 Whenever he paid a visit of ceremony, some of these 
 youths accompanied him ; and when he went to dine 
 with the Governor at Barbadoes, he took one of them 
 
ARRIVAL IN THE WEST INDIES. 33 
 
 in his hand, and presented him, saying, '' Your Ex- 
 cellency must excuse me for bringing one of my 
 midshipmen. I make it a rule to introduce them 
 to all the good company I can, as they have few to 
 look up to, besides myself, during the time they are 
 at sea," 
 
 When Nelson arrived in the West Indies he found 
 himself senior captain, and, consequently, second in 
 command on that station. Satisfactory as this was, 
 it soon involved him in a dispute with the admiral, 
 which a man less zealous for the service might have 
 avoided. He found the Latona in English Harbour, 
 Antigua, with a broad pennant hoisted; and upon 
 inquiring the reason, was presented with a written 
 order from Sir E. Hughes, requiring and directing 
 him to obey the orders of Resident Commissioner 
 Moutray, during the time he might have occasion to 
 remain there ; the said resident commissioner being 
 in consequence authorised to hoist a broad pennant 
 on board any of His Majesty's ships in that port that 
 he might think proper. Nelson was never at a loss 
 how to act in any emergency. " I know of no superior 
 officers," said he, " beside the Lords Commissioners of 
 the Admiralty and my seniors on the post hst." 
 Concluding, therefore, that it was not consistent with 
 the service for a resident commissioner, who held 
 only a civil situation, to hoist a broad pennant, the 
 moment that he had anchored he sent an order to 
 the captain of the Latona to strike it, and return 
 it to the dockyard. He then went on shore the same 
 day, dined with the commissioner, to show him that 
 he was actuated by no other motive than a sense of 
 duty, and gave him the first intelligence that his 
 J) 
 
34 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 pennant had been struck. Sir Ricliard sent an ac- 
 count of this to the Admiralty ; but the case could 
 admit of no doubt, and Captain Nelson's conduct was 
 approved. 
 
 He displayed the same promptitude on another 
 occasion. While the Boreas, after the hurricane 
 months were over, was riding at anchor in Nevis 
 Boad, a French frigate passed to leeward, close along 
 shore. Nelson had obtained information that this 
 ship was sent from Martinico, with two general 
 officers and some engineers on board, to make a 
 survey of our sugar islands. This purpose he was 
 determined to prevent them from executing, and 
 therefore he gave orders to follow them. The next 
 day he came up with them at anchor in the roads 
 of St. Eustatia, and anchored at about two cables' 
 lengths on the frigate's quarter. Being afterwards 
 invited by the Dutch governor to meet the French 
 officers at dinner, he seized that occasion of assuring 
 the French captain that, understanding it was his 
 intention to honour the British possessions with a 
 visit, he had taken the earhest opportunity in his 
 power to accompany him, in His Majesty's ship the 
 Boreas, in order that such attention might be paid 
 to the officers of his Most Christian Majesty, as every 
 Englishman in the islands would be proud to show. 
 The French, with equal courtesy, protested against 
 giving him this trouble ; especially, they said, as they 
 intended merely to cruise roijnd the islands without 
 landing on any. But Nelson, with the utmost polite- 
 ness, insisted upon paying them this compliment, 
 followed them close, in spite of all their attempts to 
 elude his vigilance, and never lost sight of them, till. 
 
BARBADOES. 35 
 
 finding it impossible either to deceive or escape him 
 they gave up their treacherous purpose in despair, and 
 beat up for Martinico. 
 
 A business of more serious import soon engaged 
 his attention. The Americans were at this time 
 trading with our islands, taking advantage of the 
 register of their ships, which had been issued while 
 they were British subjects. Nelson knew that, by the 
 Navigation Act, no foreigners, directly or indirectly, 
 are permitted to carry on any trade with these 
 possessions ; he knew, also, that the Americans had 
 made themselves foreigners with regard to England; 
 they had broken the ties of blood and language, and 
 acquired the independence which they had been 
 provoked to claim, unhappily for themselves, before 
 they were fit for it; and he was resolved that they 
 should derive no profit from those ties. Foreigners 
 they had made themselves, and as foreigners they 
 were to be treated. " If once," said he, " they are 
 admitted to any kind of intercourse with our islands, 
 the views of the loyalists, in settling at Nova Scotia, 
 are entirely done away; and when we are again 
 embroiled in a French war, the Americans will first 
 become the carriers of these colonies, and then have 
 possession of them. Here they come, sell their 
 cargoes for ready money, go to Martinico, buy mo- 
 lasses, and so round and round. The loyalist cannot 
 do this, and, consequently, must sell a little dearer. 
 The residents here are Americans by connection and 
 by interest, and are inimical to Great Britain. They 
 are as great rebels as ever were in America, had they 
 the power to show it." In November, when the squad- 
 ron, having arrived at Barbadoes, was to separate, with 
 D 2 
 
3(j LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 no other orders than those for examining anchorages, 
 and the usual inquiries concerning wood and water, 
 Nelson asked his friend Collingvvood, then captain of 
 the Mediator, whose opinions he knew upon the 
 subject, to accompany him to the commander-in- 
 chief, whom he then respectfully asked, Whether they 
 were not to attend to the commerce of the country, 
 and see that the Navigation Act was respected ? that 
 appearing to him to be the intent of keeping men-of- 
 war upon this station in time of peace. Sir Richard 
 Hughes replied, he had no particular orders, neither 
 had the Admiralty sent him any Acts of ParHament. 
 But Nelson made answer that the Navigation Act was 
 included in the statutes of the Admiralty, with which 
 every captain was furnished, and that Act was directed 
 to admirals, captains, &c., to see it carried into execu- 
 tion. Sir Richard said he had never seen the book. 
 Upon this Nelson produced the statutes, read the 
 words of the Act, and apparently convinced the 
 commander-in-chief that men-of-war, as he said, 
 " were sent abroad for some other purpose than to be 
 made a show of" Accordingly, orders were given to 
 enforce the Navigation Act. 
 
 General Sir Thomas Shirley was at this time 
 Governor of the Leeward Islands ; and when Nelson 
 waited on him to inform him how he intended to 
 act, and upon what grounds, he rephed, that "old 
 generals were not in the habit of taking advice from 
 young gentlemen." "Sir," said the young officer, 
 with that confidence in himself which never carried 
 him too far, and always was equal to the occasion, 
 " I am as old as the Prime Minister of England, and 
 think myself as capable of commanding one of His 
 
THE AMERICANS AND THE NAVIGATION ACT. 37 
 
 Majesty's ships as that Minister is of governing the 
 State." He was resolved to do his duty, whatever 
 might be the opinion or conduct of others ; and when 
 he arrived upon his station at St. Kitt's he sent away 
 all the Americans, not choosing to seize them before 
 they had been well apprised that the Act would be 
 carried into effect, lest it might seem as if a trap had 
 been laid for them. The Americans, though they 
 prudently decamped from St. Kitt's, were emboldened 
 by the support they met with, and resolved to resist 
 his orders, alleging that king's ships had no legal 
 power to seize them without having deputations from 
 the Customs. The planters were to a man against 
 him ; the governors and the presidents of the different 
 islands, with only a single exception, gave him no 
 support ; and the admiral, afraid to act on either side 
 yet wishing to oblige the planters, sent him a note 
 advising him to be guided by the wishes of the 
 President of the Council. There was no danger in 
 disregarding this, as it came unofficially, and in the 
 form of advice. But scarcely a month after he had 
 shown Sir Richard Hughes the law, and, as he 
 supposed, satisfied him concerning it, he received 
 an order from him, stating that he had now obtained 
 good advice upon the point, and the Americans were 
 not to be hindered from coming, and having free 
 egress and regress, if the governor chose to permit 
 them. An order to the same purport had been sent 
 round to the different governors and presidents ; and 
 General Shhley and others informed him, in an 
 authoritative manner, that they chose to admit 
 American ships, as the commander-in-chief had left 
 the decision to them. These persons, in his own 
 
38 LIFK OF NELSON. 
 
 words, he soon " trimmed up and silenced ; " but it 
 was a more delicate business to deal with the admiral. 
 " I must either/' said he, " disobey my orders or dis- 
 obey Acts of Parliament. I determined upon the 
 former, trusting to the uprightness of my intentions, 
 and believing that my country would not let me be 
 ruined for protecting her commerce." With this 
 determination he wrote to Sir Eichard, appealed 
 again to the plain, literal, unequivocal sense of the 
 Navigation Act ; and in respectful language told him 
 he felt it his duty to decline obeying these orders 
 till he had an opportunity of seeing and conversing 
 with him. Sir Richard's first feehng was that of 
 anger, and he was about to supersede Nelson ; but 
 having mentioned the affair to his captain, that officer 
 told him he believed all the squadron thought the 
 orders illegal, and therefore did not know how far 
 they were boimd to obey them. It was impossible, 
 therefore, to bring Nelson to a court-martial com- 
 posed of men who agreed with him in opinion upon 
 the point in dispute ; and, luckily, though the admiral 
 wanted vigour of mind to decide upon what was right, 
 he was not obstinate in wrong, and had even generosity 
 enough in his nature to thank Nelson afterwards for 
 having shown him his error. 
 
 CoUingwood, in the Mediator, and his brother, 
 Wilfred CoUingwood, in the Rattler, actively co- 
 operated with Nelson. The Custom-houses were 
 informed, that after a certain day all foreign vessels 
 found in the ports would be seized ; and many were 
 in consequence seized, and condemned in the 
 Admiralty Court. When the Boreas arrived at 
 Nevis, she found four American vessels deeply laden, 
 
SEIZURE OF AMERICAN SHIPS. 39 
 
 and with what are called the island colours flying — 
 white, with a red cross. They were ordered to hoist 
 their proper flag, and depart within eight-and-forty 
 hours ; but they refused to obey, denying that they 
 were Americans. Some of their crews were then 
 examined in Nelson's cabin, where the judge of the 
 Admiralty happened to be present. The case was 
 plain ; they confessed that they were Americans, and 
 that the ships, hull and cargo, were 'wholly American 
 property — upon which he seized them. This raised a 
 storm : the planters, the Custom-house, and the 
 governor, were all against him. Subscriptions were 
 opened, and presently filled, for the purpose of carry- 
 ing on the cause in behalf of the American captains : 
 and the admiral, whose flag was at that time in the 
 roads, stood neutral. But the Americans and their 
 abettors were not content with defensive law. The 
 marines whom he had sent to secure the ships had 
 prevented some of the masters from going ashore ; 
 and those persons, by whose depositions it appeared 
 that the vessels and cargoes were American property, 
 declared that they had given their testimony under 
 bodily fear, for that a man with a drawn sword in his 
 hand had stood over them the whole time. A rascally 
 lawyer, whom the party employed, suggested this 
 story ; and as the sentry at the cabin-door was a man 
 with a drawn sword, the Americans made no scruple 
 of swearing to this ridiculous falsehood, and com- 
 mencing prosecutions against him accordingly. They 
 laid their damages at the enormous amount o± 
 £40,000 ; and Nelson was obliged to keep close on 
 board his own ship, lest he should be arrested for a 
 sum for which it would have been impossible to find 
 
40 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 bail. The marshal frequently came on board to 
 arrest him, but was always prevented by the address 
 of the first lieutenant, Mr. Wallis. Had he been 
 taken, such was the temper of the people, that it was 
 certain he would have been cast for the whole sum. 
 One of his officers, one day, in speaking of the 
 restraint which he was thus compelled to suffer, 
 happened to use the word pity ! " Pity 1 " exclaimed 
 Nelson : " Pity ! did you say ? I shall live, sir, to be 
 envied ! and to that point I shall always direct my 
 course." Eight weeks he remained under this state 
 of duresse. During that time the trial respecting 
 these detained ships came on in the Court of 
 Admhalty. He went on shore under a protection for 
 the day from the judge ; but notwithstanding this, 
 the marshal was called upon to take that opportunity 
 of arresting him, and the merchants promised to 
 indemnify him for so doing. The judge, however, did 
 his duty, and threatened to send the marshal to 
 prison if he attempted to violate the protection of the 
 Court. Mr. Herbert, the president of Nevis, behaved 
 with singular generosity upon this occasion. Though 
 no man was a greater sufferer by the measures which 
 Nelson had pursued, he offered in court to become his 
 bail for £10,000, if he chose to suffer the arrest. The 
 lawyer whom he had chosen proved to be an able as 
 well as an honest man ; and, notwithstanding the 
 opinions and pleadings of most of the counsel of the 
 different islands, who maintained that ships of war 
 were not justified in seizing American vessels without 
 a deputation from the Customs, the law was so 
 explicit, the case so clear, and Nelson pleaded his own 
 cause so well, that the four ships were condemned 
 
NEGLECT ON THE PART OF GOVERNMENT. 41 
 
 During tlie progress of this business he sent a 
 memorial home to the king : in consequence of 
 which, orders were issued that he should be defended 
 at the expense of the Crown. And upon the repre- 
 sentations which he made at the same time to the 
 Secretary of State, and the suggestions with which he 
 accompanied it, the Register Act was framed. The 
 sanction of Government, and the approbation of his 
 conduct which it implied, were highly gratifying to 
 him : but he was offended, and not without just cause, 
 that the Treasury should have transmitted thanks to 
 the commander-in-chief for his activity and zeal in 
 protecting the commerce of Great Britain. " Had 
 they known all," said he, " I do not think they would 
 have bestowed thanks in that quarter, and neglected 
 me. I feel much hurt that, after the loss of health 
 and risk of fortune, another should be thanked for 
 what I did against his orders. I either deserved to 
 be sent out of the service, or at least to have had 
 some Httle notice taken of what I had done. They 
 have thought it worthy of notice, and yet have 
 neglected me. If this is the reward for a faithfid 
 discharge of my duty, I shall be careful, and never 
 stand forward again. But I have done my duty, and 
 have nothing to accuse myself of." 
 
 The anxiety which he had suffered from the 
 harassing uncertainties of law, is apparent from these 
 expressions. He had, however, something to console 
 him, for he was at this time wooing the niece of his 
 friend the president, then in her eighteenth year, the 
 widow of Dr. Nisbet, a physician. She had one child, 
 a son, by name Josiah, who was three years old. One 
 day Mr. Herbert, who had hastened, half-dressed, to 
 
42 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 receive Nelson, exclaimed, on returning to his dress- 
 ing-room, " Good God ! if I did not find that great 
 little man, of whom everybody is so afraid, playing in 
 the next room, under the dining-table, with Mrs. 
 Nisbet's child ! " A few days afterwards Mrs. Nisbet 
 herself was first introduced to him, and thanked him 
 for the partiality which he had shown to her Httle 
 boy. Her manners were mild and winning ; and the 
 captain, whose heart was easily susceptible of attach- 
 ment, found no such imperious necessity for subdu- 
 ing his inclinations as had twice before withheld him 
 from marrying. They were married on March 11, 
 1787 ; Prince William Henry, who had come out to 
 the West Indies the preceding winter, being present, 
 by his own desire, to give away the bride. Mr. 
 Herbert, her uncle, was at this time so much dis- 
 pleased with his only daughter, that he had resolved 
 to disinherit her, and leave his whole fortune, which 
 was very great, to his niece. But Nelson, whose 
 nature was too noble to let him profit by an act of 
 injustice, interfered, and succeeded in reconciling the 
 president to his child. 
 
 " Yesterday," said one of his naval friends, the day 
 after the wedding, " the navy lost one of its greatest 
 ornaments by Nelson's marriage. It is a national loss 
 that such an officer should marry : had it not been 
 for this, Nelson would have become the greatest man 
 in the service." The man was rightly estimated ; but 
 he who delivered this opinion did not understand the 
 effect of domestic love and duty upon a mind of the 
 true heroic stamp. "We are often separate," said 
 Nelson, in a letter to Mrs. Nisbet, a few months before 
 their marriage ; " but our affections are not by any 
 
MARRIAGE. 43 
 
 means on that account diminished. Our country has 
 the first demand for our services ; and private con- 
 venience or happiness must ever give way to the 
 pubUc good. Duty is the great business of a sea 
 officer : all private considerations must give way to it, 
 however painful." " Have you not often heard," says 
 he, in another letter, " that salt water and absence 
 always wash away love ? Now I am such a heretic as 
 not to believe that faith ; for, behold, every morning I 
 have had six pails of salt water poured upon my 
 head, and instead of finding what seamen say to be 
 true, it goes on so contrary to the prescription, that 
 you must, perhaps, see me before the fixed time." 
 More frequently his correspondence breathed a deeper 
 strain. " To write letters to you," says he, " is the 
 next greatest pleasure I feel to receiving them from 
 you. What I experience when I read such as I am 
 sure are the pure sentiments of your heart, my poor 
 pen cannot express ; nor, indeed, would I give much 
 for any pen or head which could express feelings of 
 that kind. Absent from you, I feel no pleasure : it is 
 you who are everything to me. Without you, I care 
 not for this world ; for I have found, lately, nothing in 
 it but vexation and trouble. These are my present 
 sentiments. God Almighty grant they may never 
 change ! Nor do I think they will. Indeed there is, 
 as far as human knowledge can judge, a moral 
 certainty that they cannot, for it must be real 
 affection that brings us together, not interest or com- 
 pulsion." Such were the feelings, and such the sense 
 of duty, with which Nelson became a husband. 
 
 During his stay upon this station he had ample 
 opportunity of observing the scandalous practices of 
 
44 LIFE OF IS'ELSON. 
 
 the contractors, prize-agents, and other persons in the 
 West Indies connected with the naval service. When 
 he was first left with the command, and bills were 
 brought him to sign for money which was owing for 
 goods purchased for the navy, he required the original 
 voucher, that he might examine whether those goods 
 had been really purchased at the market price ; but 
 to produce vouchers would not have been convenient, 
 and therefore was not the custom. Upon this Nelson 
 wrote to Su' Charles Middleton, then Comptroller of 
 the Navy, representing the abuses which were likely to 
 be practised in this manner. The answer which he 
 received seemed to imply that the old forms were 
 thought sufficient : and thus having no alternative, 
 he was compelled, with his eyes open, to submit to a 
 practice originating in fraudulent intentions. Soon 
 afterwards two Antigua merchants informed him that 
 they were privy to great frauds which had been com- 
 mitted upon Government in various departments — 
 at Antigua, to the amount of nearly £500,000; at 
 Lucie, £300,000 ; at Barbadoes, £250,000 ; at Jamaica, 
 upwards of a million. The informers were both 
 shrewd, sensible men of business : they did not affect 
 to be actuated by a sense of justice, but required a 
 percentage upon so much as Government should 
 actually recover through their means. Nelson ex- 
 amined the books and papers which they produced, 
 and was convinced that Government had been most 
 infamously plundered. Vouchers, he found, in that 
 country were no check whatever: the principle was, 
 that " a thing was always worth what it would bring ; " 
 and the merchants were in the habit of signing 
 vouchers for each other, without even the appearance 
 
ILLNESS. 45 
 
 of looking at the articles. These accounts he sent 
 home to the different departments which had been 
 defrauded ; but the peculators were too powerful, and 
 they succeeded not merely in impeding inquiry, but 
 even in raising prejudices against Nelson at the Board 
 of Admiralty, which it was many years before he 
 could subdue. 
 
 Owing, probably, to these prejudices, and the in- 
 fluence of the peculators, he was treated, on his 
 return to England, in a manner which had nearly 
 driven him from the service. During the three years 
 that the Boreas had remained upon a station which 
 is usually so fatal, not a single officer or man of her 
 whole complement had died. This almost unexampled 
 instance of good health, though mostly, no doubt, im- 
 putable to a healthy season, must, in some measure, 
 also be ascribed to the wise conduct of the captain. 
 He never suffered the ships to remain more than 
 three or four at a time at any of the islands; and 
 when the hurricane months confined him to English 
 Harbour, he encouraged all kinds of useful amuse- 
 ments : music, dancing, and cudgelling among the 
 men ; theatricals among the officers — anything which 
 could employ their attention and keep then- spirits 
 cheerful. The Borecis arrived in England in June. 
 Nelson, who had many times been supposed to be 
 consumptive when in the West Indies, and perhaps 
 was saved from consumption by that climate, was still 
 in a precarious state of health; and the raw wet 
 weather of one of our ungenial summers brought on 
 cold and sore throat and fever ; yet his vessel was 
 kept at the Nore from the end of June till the end 
 of November, serving as a sloop and receiving ship. 
 
46 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 This unworthy treatment, which more probably pro- 
 ceeded from intention than from neglect, excited in 
 Nelson the strongest indignation. During the whole 
 fiYQ months he seldom or never qui'tted the ship, but 
 carried oh the duty with strict and sullen attention. 
 On the morning when orders were received to prepare 
 the Boreas for being paid off, he expressed his joy 
 to the senior officer in the Medway, saying, " It will 
 release me for ever from an ungrateful service, for it 
 is my firm and unalterable determination never again 
 to set my foot on board a king's ship. Immediately 
 after my arrival in town I shall wait on the First Lord 
 of the Admiralty, and resign my commission." The 
 officer to whom he thus communicated his intentions 
 behaved in the wisest and most friendly manner ; for, 
 finding it in vain to dissuade him in his present state 
 of feeling, he secretly interfered with the First Lord to 
 save him from a step so injurious to himself, little 
 foreseeing how deeply the welfare and honour of 
 England were at that moment at stake. This inter- 
 ference produced a letter from Lord Howe, the day 
 before the ship was paid off, intimating a wish to see 
 Captain Nelson as soon as he arrived in town ; when, 
 being pleased with his conversation, and perfectly 
 convinced, by what was then explained to him, of 
 the propriety of his conduct, he desired that he might 
 present him to the king on the first levee day ; and 
 the gracious manner in which Nelson was then re- 
 ceived, effectually removed his resentment. 
 
 Prejudices had been, in like manner, excited 
 against his friend. Prince William Henry. " Nothing 
 is wanting, sir," said Nelson in one of his letters, " to 
 make you the darling of the English nation, but truth. 
 
LETTER TO PRINCE WILLIAM HENRY. 47 
 
 Sorry I am to say, much to the contrary has been 
 dispersed." This was not flattery ; for Nelson was no 
 flatterer. The letter in which this passage occurs 
 shows in how wise 'and noble a manner he dealt with 
 the prince. One of his royal highness's oflicers had 
 apphed for a court-martial upon a point in which he 
 was unquestionably wrong. His royal highness, how- 
 ever, while he supported his own character and au- 
 thority, prevented the trial, which must have been 
 injurious to a brave and deserving man. " Now that 
 you are parted," said Nelson, " pardon me, my prince, 
 when I presume to recommend that he may stand in 
 your royal favour as if he had never sailed with you, 
 and that at some future day you will serve him. 
 There only wants this to place your conduct in the 
 highest point of view. None of us are without 
 failings ; his was being rather too hasty ; but that, 
 put in competition with his being a good officer, will 
 not, I am bold to say, be taken in the scale against 
 him. More able friends than myself your royal 
 highness may easily find, and of more consequence 
 in the State ; but one more attached and affectionate, 
 is not so easily met with. Princes seldom, very 
 seldom, find a disinterested person to communicate 
 their thoughts to : I do not pretend to be that person : 
 but of this be assured, by a man who, I trust, never 
 did a dishonourable act, that I am interested only 
 that your royal highness should be the greatest and 
 best man this country ever produced." 
 
 Encouraged by the conduct of Lord Howe, and 
 by his reception at court, Nelson renewed his attack 
 upon the peculators with fresh spirit. He had inter- 
 views with Mr. Rose, Mr. Pitt, and Sir Charles 
 
48 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 Middleton, to all of whom he satisfactorily proved 
 his charges. In consequence, it is said, these very 
 extensive public frauds were at length put in a proper 
 tram to be provided against in future: his repre- 
 sentations were attended to ; and every step which 
 he recommended was adopted ; the investigation was 
 put into a proper course, which ended in the detection 
 and punishment of some of the culprits ; an immense 
 saving was made to Government, and thus its atten- 
 tion was directed to similar peculation in other parts 
 of the Colonies But it is said, also, that no mark of 
 commendation seems to have been bestowed upon 
 Nelson for his exertion. And it is justly remarked,"^ 
 that the spirit of the navy cannot be preserved so 
 effectually by the liberal honours bestowed on officers 
 when they are worn out in the service, as by an 
 attention to those who, like Nelson at this part of 
 his life, have only their integrity and zeal to bring 
 them into notice. A junior officer, who had been 
 left with the command at Jamaica, received an addi- 
 tional allowance, for which Nelson had applied in 
 vain. Double pay was allowed to every artificer and 
 seaman employed in the naval yard. Nelson had 
 superintended the whole business of that yard with 
 the most rigid exactness, and he complained that he 
 was neglected. "It was most true," he said, "that 
 the trouble which he took to detect the fraudulent 
 practices then carried on, was no more than his duty ; 
 but he little thought that the expenses attending his 
 frequent journeys to St. John's, upon that duty (a 
 distance of twelve miles), would have fallen upon his 
 pay as captain of the Boreas.'" Nevertheless, the 
 
 ■ * Clarke and M'Arthur, vol. I., p. 107. 
 
o 
 
 O 
 
 Pi 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 :^ 
 
VISIT TO HIS FATHER. 49 
 
 sense of what he thought this unworthy usage did 
 not diminish his zeal. '' I," said he, must still buffet 
 the waves in search of — What ? Alas ! that they called 
 honour is now thought of no more. My fortune, God 
 knows, has grown worse for the service : so much for 
 serving my country. But the devil, ever willing to 
 tempt the virtuous, has made me offer, if any ships 
 should be sent to destroy his majesty of Morocco's 
 ports, to be there ; and I have some reason to think 
 that, should any more come of it, my humble services 
 will be accepted. I have invariably laid down, and 
 followed close, a plan of what ought to be uppermost 
 in the breast of an officer — that it is much better to 
 serve an ungrateful country than to give up his own 
 fame. Posterity will do him justice. A uniform 
 course of honour and integrity seldom fails of bring- 
 ing a man to the goal of fame at last." 
 
 The design against the Barbary pirates, like all 
 othier designs against them, was laid aside ; and Nelson 
 took his wife to his father's parsonage, meaning only 
 to pay him a visit before they went to France — a 
 project which he had formed for the sake of acquiring 
 a competent knowledge of the French language. But 
 his father could not bear to lose him thus unne- 
 cessarily. Mr. Nelson had long been an invalid, 
 suffering under paralytic and asthmatic affections 
 which, for several hours after he rose in the morning, 
 scarcely permitted him to speak. He had been given 
 over by his physicians for this complaint nearly forty 
 years before his death ; and was, for many of his last 
 years, obliged to spend all his winters at Bath. The 
 sight of his son, he declared, had given him new life. 
 "But, Horace," said he, "it would have been better 
 E 
 
50 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 that I had not been thus cheered, if I am so soon to 
 be bereaved of you again. Let me, my good son, see 
 you whilst I can. My age and infirmities increase, 
 and I shall not last long." To such an appeal there 
 could be no reply. Nelson took up his abode at the 
 parsonage, and amused himself with the sports and 
 the occupations of the country. Sometimes he buried 
 himself with farming the glebe ; sometimes spent the 
 greater part of the day in the garden, where he would 
 dig as if for the mere pleasure of wearying himself. 
 Sometimes he went bird-nesting, l,ike a boy ; and in 
 these expeditions Mrs. Nelson always, by his express 
 desire, accompanied him. Coursing was his favourite 
 amusement. Shooting, as he practised it, was far too 
 dangerous for his companions ; for he carried his gun 
 upon the full cock, as if he were going to board an 
 enemy ; and the moment a bird rose, he let fly, with- 
 out ever putting the fowling-piece to his shoulder. 
 It is not, therefore, extraordinary, that his having 
 once shot a partridge should be remembered by his 
 family among the remarkable events of his life. 
 
 But his time did not pass away thus without some 
 vexatious cares to ruffle it. The affair of the American 
 ships was not yet over, and he was again pestered with 
 threats of prosecution. " I have written them word," 
 said he, " that I will have nothing to do with them, 
 and they must act as they think proper. Govern- 
 ment, I suppose, will do what is right, and not leave 
 me in the lurch. We have heard enough lately of 
 the consequence of the Navigation Act to this 
 country. They may take my person ; but if six- 
 pence would save me from a prosecution, I would 
 not give it." It was his great ambition at this time 
 
THE NAVIGATION ACT AGAIN 51 
 
 to possess a pony ; and, having resolved to purchase 
 one, he went to a fair for that purpose. During his 
 absence two men abruptly entered the parsonage, and 
 inquired for him : they then asked for Mrs. Nelson ; 
 and after they had made her repeatedly declare that 
 she was really and truly the captain's wife, presented 
 her. with a writ, or notification on the part of the 
 American captains, who now laid their damages at 
 £20,000, and they charged her to give it to her 
 husband on his return. Nelson having bought his 
 pony, came home with it in high spirits. He called 
 out his wife to admire the purchase, and listen to all 
 its excellences, nor was it till his glee had in some 
 measure subsided that the paper could be presented 
 to him. His indignation was excessive : and in the 
 apprehension that he should be exposed to the 
 anxieties of the suit, and the ruinous consequences 
 which might ensue, he exclaimed, " This afiront I did 
 not deserve ! But I'il be trifled with no longer. I 
 will write immediately to the Treasury ; and if Govern- 
 ment will not support me I am resolved to leave the 
 country." Accordingly, he informed the Treasury 
 that if a satisfactory answer were not sent him by 
 return of post he should take refuge in France. To 
 this he expected he should be driven, and fpr this he 
 arranged everything, with his characteristic rapidity 
 of decision. It was settled that he should depart 
 immediately, and Mrs. Nelson follow under the care 
 of his elder brother, Maurice, ten days after him. 
 But the answer which he received from Government 
 quieted his fears : it stated that Captain Nelson was a 
 very good officer, and needed to be under no appre- 
 hension, for he would assuredly be supported, 
 j: 2 
 
52 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 Here his disquietude upon this subject seems to 
 have ended. Still, he was not at ease; he wanted 
 employment, and was mortified that his applications 
 for it produced no effect. " Not being a man of 
 fortune," he said, " was a crime which he was unable 
 to get over, and therefore none of the great cared 
 about him." Repeatedly he requested the Admiralty 
 that they would not leave him to rust in indolence. 
 During the armament which was made upon occasion 
 of the dispute concerning Nootka Sound, he renewed 
 his application, and his steady friend. Prince William, 
 who had then been created Duke of Clarence, recom- 
 mended him to Lord Chatham. The failure of this re- 
 commendation wounded him so keenly that he again 
 thought of retiring from the service in disgust — a 
 resolution from which nothing but the urgent remon- 
 strances of Lord Hood induced him to desist. Hearing 
 that the Raisonnahle, in which he had commenced 
 his career, was to be commissioned, he asked for her. 
 This also was in vain ; and a coolness ensued, on his 
 part, towards Lord Hood, because that excellent officer 
 did not use his influence with Lord Chatham upon 
 this occasion. Lord Hood, however, had certainly 
 sufficient reasons for not interfering, for he ever con- 
 tinued his steady friend. In the winter of 1792, 
 when we were on the eve of the Anti-Jacobin war. 
 Nelson once more offered his services, earnestly 
 requested a ship, and added that if their lordships 
 should be pleased to appoint him to a cockle-boat, he 
 should feel satisfied. He was answered in the usual 
 official form : " Sir, I have received your letter of the 
 5th instant, expressing your readiness to serve, and 
 have read the same to my Lords Commissioners of the 
 
APPOINTMENT TO THE ''AGAMEMNON.'' 53 
 
 Admiralty." On the 12th of December he received 
 this dry acknowledgment. The fresh mortification 
 did not, however, affect him long; for, by the joint 
 interest of the Duke and Lord Hood, he was 
 appointed, on the 30th of January following, to the 
 Agamemnon, of 64 guns. 
 
54 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Agamemnon sent to the Mediterranean — Commencement of Nelson's 
 acquaintance with Sir W. Hamilton — He is sent to Corsica to co- 
 operate with Paoli — State of affairs in that island — Nelson undertakes 
 the siege of Bastia, and reduces it— Takes a distinguished part in the 
 siege of Calvi, where he loses an eye — ^Admiral Hotham's action^The 
 Agamemnon ordered to Genoa to co-operate with the Austrian and 
 Sardinian forces — Gross misconduct of the Austrian General. 
 
 " There are three things, young gentleman," said 
 Nelson to one of his midshipmen, " which you are 
 constantly to bear in mind : — First, you must always 
 implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form 
 any opinion of your own respecting their propriety; 
 secondly, you must consider every man your enemy 
 who speaks ill of your king ; and, thirdly, you must 
 hate a Frenchman as you do the devil." With these 
 feelings he engaged in the Anti-Jacobin war. Josiah, 
 his son-in-law, went with him as a midshipman. 
 
 The Agamemnon was ordered to the Mediter- 
 ranean, under Lord Hood. The fleet arrived in those 
 seas at a time when the South of France would 
 willingly have formed itself into a separate republic, 
 under the protection of England. But good prin- 
 ciples had been at that time perilously abused by 
 ignorant and profligate men ; and in its fear and 
 hatred of democracy, the English Government leagued 
 itself with despotism — a miserable error, of which the 
 consequences will long be to be deplored : for had not 
 England, in an unhappy hour, interfered, the rotten 
 governments of the Continent would then have fallen; 
 
ORDERED TO THE MEDITERRANEAN. 55 
 
 and the Continental nations, acquiring a revolutionary 
 impulse and strength, at the same time as France, 
 woidd now have been the rivals of France, instead of 
 her prey. Lord Hood could not take advantage of 
 the fair occasion which presented itself; and which, if 
 it had been seized with vigour, might have ended in 
 dividing France ; but he negotiated with the people 
 of Toulon, to take possession provisionally of their 
 port and city, which, fatally for themselves, was 
 accordingly done. Before the British fleet entered. 
 Nelson was sent with despatches to Sir William 
 Hamilton, our envoy to the court of Naples. Sir 
 William, after his first interview with him, told Lady 
 Hamilton he was about to introduce a Httle man to 
 her, who could not bo^st of being very handsome, but 
 such a man as, he believed, would one day astonish 
 the world. " I have never before," he continued, 
 " entertained an officer at my house ; but I am deter- 
 mined to bring him here. Let him be put in the 
 room prepared for Prince Augustus." Thus that 
 acquaintance began which ended in the destruction of 
 Nelson's domestic happiness. It seemed to threaten no 
 such consequences at its commencement. He spoke 
 of Lady Hamilton, in a letter to his wife, as a young 
 woman of amiable manners, who did honour to the 
 station to which she had been raised ; and he 
 remarked that she had been exceedingly kind to 
 Josiah. The activity with which the envoy exerted 
 himself in procuring troops from Naples to assist in 
 garrisoning Toulon so delighted him that he is said 
 to have exclaimed : " Sir William, you are a man 
 after my own heart ! — you do business in my own 
 way ; " and then to have added, " I am now only a 
 
56 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 captain; but I will, if I live, be at the top of tlie tree." 
 Here, also, that acquaintance with the Neapolitan 
 court commenced which led to the only blot upon 
 Nelson's public character. The king, who was sincere 
 at that time in his enmity to the French, called the 
 English the saviours of Italy, and of his dominions in 
 particular. He paid the most flattering attentions to 
 Nelson, made him dine with him, and seated him at 
 his right hand. 
 
 Having accomplished this mission, Nelson received 
 orders to join Commodore Linzee at Tunis. On the 
 way five sail of the enemy were discovered off the 
 coast of Sardinia, and he chased them. They proved 
 to be three 44-gun frigates, with a corvette of 24, and 
 a brig of 1 2. The Agamemnon had only 345 men at 
 quarters, having landed part of her crew at Toulon, 
 and others being absent in prizes. He came near 
 enough one of the frigates to engage her, but at great 
 disadvantage, the Frenchman manoeuvring well, and 
 sailing greatly better. A running fight of three hours 
 ensued ; during which the other ships, which were at 
 some distance, made all speed to come up. By this 
 time the enemy was almost silenced, when a favour- 
 able change of wind enabled her to get out of reach of 
 the Agameranon's guns ; and that ship had received 
 so much damage in the rigging that she could not 
 follow her. Nelson, expecting that this was but the 
 forerunner of a far more serious engagement, called 
 his officers together, and asked them if the ship was 
 fit to go into action against such a superior force, 
 without some small refit and refreshment for the 
 men. Their answer was, that she certainly was not. 
 He then gave these orders : " Veer the ship, and la}' 
 
ORDERED TO CORSICA. 57 
 
 her head to the westward : let some of the best men 
 be employed refitting the rigging, and the carpenter 
 getting crows and capstan-bars to prevent our 
 wounded spars from coming down ; and get the wine 
 up for the people, with some bread, for it may be half 
 an hour good before we are again in action." But 
 when the French came up, their comrade made 
 signals of distress, and they all hoisted out their boats 
 to go to her assistance, leaving the Agavievmon 
 unmolested. 
 
 Nelson found Commodore Linzee at Tunis, where 
 he had been sent to expostulate with the Dey upon 
 he impolicy of his supporting the revolutionary 
 Government of France. Nelson represented to him 
 the atrocity of that Government. Such arguments 
 were of little avail in Barbary ; and when the Dey 
 was told that the French had put their sovereign to 
 death, he drily replied that " Nothing could be more 
 heinous ; and yet, if historians told the truth, the 
 English had once done the same." This answer had 
 doubtless been suggested by the French about him ; 
 they had completely gained the ascendency, and all 
 negotiation on our part proved fruitless. Shortly 
 afterwards Nelson was detached with a small squadron 
 to co-operate with General Paoli and the Anti-Galli- 
 can party in Corsica. 
 
 Some thirty years before this time the heroic 
 patriotism of the Corsicans, and of their leader Paoli, 
 had been the admiration of England. The history of 
 these brave people is but a melancholy tale. The 
 island which they inhabit has been abundantly 
 blessed by Nature : it has many excellent harbours ; 
 and though the malaria, or pestilential atmosphere, 
 
58 LTFE OF NELSON. 
 
 which is SO deadly in many parts of Italy and of the 
 Italian islands, prevails on the eastern coast, the 
 greater part of the country is mountainous and 
 healthy. It is about 150 miles long, and from 40 to 
 50 broad ; in circumference, some 320 — a country 
 large enough, and sufficiently distant from the nearest 
 shores, to have subsisted as an independent State, if 
 the welfare and happiness of the human race had 
 ever been considered as the end and aim of policy. 
 The Moors, the Pisans, the kings of Aragon, and 
 the Genoese, successively attempted, and each for a 
 time effected, its conquest. The yoke of the Genoese 
 continued longest, and was the heaviest. These petty 
 tyrants ruled with an iron rod ; and when at any time 
 a patriot rose to resist their oppressions, if they failed 
 to subdue him by force, they resorted to assassination. 
 At the commencement of the last century they 
 quelled one revolt by the aid of German auxiliaries, 
 whom the Emperor Charles VI. sent against a people 
 who had never offended him, and who were fighting 
 for whatever is most dear to man. In 1734 the war 
 was renewed ; and Theodore, a Westphalian baron, 
 then appeared upon the stage. In that age men were 
 not accustomed to see adventurers play for kingdoms, 
 and Theodore became the common talk of Europe. 
 He had served in the French armies ; and having 
 afterwards been noticed both by Ripperda and 
 Alberoni, their example, perhaps, inflamed a spirit as 
 ambitious and as unprincipled as their own. He 
 employed the whole of his means in raising money 
 and procuring arms ; then wrote to the leaders of the 
 Corsican patriots to offer them considerable assist- 
 ance if they would erect Corsica into an independent 
 
THEODORE, 59 
 
 kingdom, and elect him king. When he landed 
 among them, they were struck with his stately 
 person, his dignified manners, and imposing talents ; 
 they believed the magnificent promises of foreign 
 assistance which he held out, and elected him king 
 accordingly. Had his means been as he represented 
 them, they could not have acted more wisely than in 
 thus at once fixing the government of their country, 
 and putting an end to those rivahies among the lead- 
 ing families which had so often proved pernicious to 
 the public weal. He struck money, conferred titles, 
 blocked up the fortified towns which were held by the 
 Genoese, and amused the people with promises of 
 assistance for about eight months ; then, perceiving 
 that they cooled in then affections towards him, in 
 proportion as their expectations were disappointed, he 
 left the island, under the plea of expediting himself 
 the succours which he had so long awaited. Such 
 was his address that he prevailed upon several rich 
 merchants in Holland, particularly the Jews, to trust 
 him with cannon and warlike stores to a great 
 amount. They shipped these under the charge of a 
 supercargo. Theodore returned with this supercargo 
 to Corsica, and put him to death on his arrival, as the 
 shortest way of settling the account. The remainder 
 of his life was a series of deserved afflictions. He 
 threw in the stores which he had thus fraudulently 
 obtained ; but he did not dare to land, for Genoa had 
 now called in the French to their assistance, and a 
 price had been set upon his head. His dreams of 
 royalty were now at an end: he took refuge in 
 London, contracted debts, and was thrown into the 
 King's Bench. After lingering there many years. 
 
60 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 lie was released under an Act of insolvency ; in con- 
 sequence of which he made over the kingdom of 
 Corsica for the use of his creditors, and died shortly- 
 after his deliverance. 
 
 The French, who have never acted a generous part 
 in the history of the world, readily entered into the 
 views of the Genoese, which accorded with their own 
 policy : for such was their ascendency at Genoa that 
 in subduing Corsica for these allies, they were in fact 
 subduing it for themselves. They entered into the 
 contest, therefore, with their usual vigour and their 
 usual cruelty. It was in vain that the Corsicans 
 addressed a most affecting memorial to the court 
 of Versailles : that remorseless Government persisted 
 in its flagitious project. They poured in troops; 
 dressed a part of them like the people of the country, 
 by which means they deceived and destroyed many 
 of the patriots : cut down the standing corn, the 
 vines, and the olives ; set fire to the villages and 
 hung all the most able and active men who fell into 
 their hands. A war of this kind may be carried on 
 with success against a country so small and so thinly 
 peopled as Corsica. Having reduced the island to 
 perfect servitude, which they called peace, the French 
 withdrew their forces. As soon as they were gone, 
 men, women, and boys rose at once against their 
 oppressors. The circumstances of the times were 
 now favourable to them ; and some British ships, 
 acting as allies of Sardinia, bombarded Bastia and San 
 Fiorenzo, and delivered them into the hands of the 
 patriots. This service was long remembered with 
 gratitude: the impression made upon our own 
 countrymen was less favourable. They had witnessed 
 
GAFFORI. 61 
 
 the heart-burning of rival chiefs, and the dissensions 
 among the patriots ; and perceiving the state of 
 barbarism to which continual oppression, and habits 
 of lawless turbulence, had reduced the nation, did not 
 recollect that the vices of the people were owing to 
 their unhappy circumstances ; but that the virtues 
 which they displayed arose from their oavq nature. 
 This feeling, perhaps, influenced the British Court 
 when, in 1746, Corsica offered to put herself under 
 the protection of Great Britain: an answer was 
 returned, expressing satisfaction at such a communi- 
 cation, hoping that the Corsicans would preserve the 
 same sentiments, but signifying also that the present 
 was not the time for such a measure. 
 
 These brave islanders then formed a government 
 for themselves, under two leaders, Gaffori and Matra, 
 who had the title of protectors. The latter is repre- 
 sented as a partisan of Genoa, favouring the views of 
 the oppressors of his country by the most treasonable 
 means. Gaffori was a hero worthy of old times. His 
 eloquence Avas long remembered with admiration. A 
 band of assassins was once advancing against him : he 
 heard of their approach, went out to meet them ; and, 
 with a serene dignity which overawed them, requested 
 them to hear him : then spake to them so forcibly of 
 the distresses of their country, her intolerable wrongs, 
 and the hopes and views of their brethren-in-arms, 
 that the very men who had been hired to murder 
 him fell at his feet, implored his forgiveness, and 
 joined his banner. While he was besieging the 
 Genoese in Corte, a party of the garrison, perceiving 
 the nurse with his eldest son, then an infant in arms, 
 straying at a little distance from the camp, suddenly 
 
62 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 sallied out and seized them. The use they made of 
 their persons was in conformity to their usual exe- 
 crable conduct. When GafFori advanced to batter the 
 walls, they held up the child directly over that part 
 of the wall at which the guns were pointed. The 
 Corsicans stopped ; but GafFori stood at their head and 
 ordered them to continue the fire. Providentially the 
 child escaped, and lived to relate, with becoming feel- 
 ing, a fact so honourable to his father. That father 
 conducted the affairs of the island till 1753, when he 
 was assassinated by some wretches, set on, it is behoved, 
 by Genoa, but certainly pensioned by that abomin- 
 able Government after the deed. He left the country 
 in such a state that it was enabled to continue the 
 war two years after his death without a leader, then 
 they found one worthy of their cause in Pasquale de 
 Paoli. 
 
 Paoli's father was one of the patriots who effected 
 their escape from Corsica when the French reduced 
 it to obedience. He retired to Naples, and brought 
 up this his youngest son in the Neapolitan service. 
 The Corsicans heard of young Paoli's abilities, and 
 soHcited him to come over to his native country and 
 take the command. He did not hesitate long : his 
 father, who was too far advanced in years to take an 
 active part himself, encouraged him to go ; and when 
 they separated, the old man fell on his neck and 
 kissed him, and gave him his blessing. "My son," 
 said he, " perhaps I may never see you more ; but in 
 my mind I shall ever be present with you. Your 
 design is great and noble ; and I doubt not but God 
 will bless you in it. I shall devote to your cause the 
 little remainder of my life, in offering up my prayers 
 
GENERAL PAOLI. 63 
 
 for your success." When Paoli assumed the com- 
 mand, he found all things in confusion : he formed a 
 democratical government, of which he was chosen 
 chief ; restored the authority of the laws ; established 
 a university; and took such measures, both for re- 
 pressing abuses and moulding the rising generation, 
 that if France had not interfered, upon its wicked 
 and detestable principle of usurpation, Corsica might, 
 at this day, have been as free and flourishing and 
 happy a commonwealth as any of the Grecian States 
 in the days of their prosperity. The Genoese were 
 at this time driven out of their fortified towns, and 
 must in a short time have been expelled. France 
 was indebted some millions of livres to Genoa : it was 
 not convenient to pay this money; so the French 
 Minister proposed to the Genoese that she should 
 discharge the debt by sending six battalions to serve 
 in Corsica for four years. The indignation which this 
 conduct excited in all generous hearts was forcibly 
 expressed by Rousseau, who, with all his errors, was 
 never deficient in feeling for the wrongs of humanity. 
 " You Frenchmen," said he, writing to one of that 
 people, " are a thoroughly servile nation, thoroughly 
 sold to tyranny, thoroughly cruel, and relentless in 
 persecuting the unhappy. If they knew of a free 
 man at the other end of the world, I believe they 
 would go thither for the mere pleasure of exthpating 
 
 him." 
 
 The immediate object of the French happened to 
 be purely mercenary : they wanted to clear off their 
 debt to Genoa; and as the presence of their troops 
 in the island effected this, they aimed at domg the 
 people no further mischief Would that the conduct 
 
fi4 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 of England had been at this time free from reproach ! 
 but a proclamation was issued by the English Govern- 
 ment, after the Peace of Paris, prohibiting any inter- 
 course with the rebels of Corsica. Paoli said he did 
 not expect that from Great Britain. This great man 
 was deservedly proud of his country. " I defy Kome, 
 Sparta, or Thebes," he used to say, " to show me thirty 
 years of such patriotism as Corsica can boast ! " 
 Availing himself of the respite which the inactivity 
 of the French and the weakness of the Genoese 
 allowed, he prosecuted his plans of civilising the 
 people. He used to say that though he had an 
 unspeakable pride in the prospect of the fame to 
 which he aspired, yet, if he could but render his 
 countrymen happy, he could be content to be for- 
 gotten. His own importance he never affected to 
 undervalue. " We are now to our country," said he, 
 "like the prophet Elisha, stretched over the dead 
 child of the Shunammite — eye to eye, nose to nose, 
 mouth to mouth. It begins to recover warmth, and 
 to revive: I hope it will yet regain full health and 
 vigour." 
 
 But when the four years were expired, France pur- 
 chased the sovereignty of Corsica from the Genoese 
 for forty millions of livres ; as if the Genoese had been 
 entitled to sell it; as if any bargain and sale could 
 justify one country in taking possession of another 
 against the will of the inhabitants, and butchering all 
 who oppose the usurpation ! Among the enormities 
 which France has committed, this action seems but as 
 a speck ; yet the foullest murderer that ever suffered 
 by the hand of the executioner has infinitely less 
 guilt upon his soul than the statesman who concluded 
 
GENERAL PAOLI, 65 
 
 this treaty, and the monarch who sanctioned and 
 confirmed it. A desperate and glorious resistance 
 was made ; but it was in vain ; no Power interposed 
 in behalf of these injured islanders, and the French 
 poured in as many troops as were required. They 
 offered to confirm Paoli in the supreme authority, 
 only on condition that he would hold it under theii- 
 Government. His answer was, that " the rocks which 
 surrounded him should melt away before he would 
 betray a cause which he held in common with the 
 poorest Corsican." This people then set a price upon 
 his head. During two campaigns he kept them at 
 bay : they overpowered him at length : he was driven 
 to the shore, and, having escaped on ship-board, took 
 refuge in England. It is said that Lord Shelburne 
 resigned his seat in the Cabinet because the Ministry 
 looked on without attempting to prevent France from 
 succeeding in this abominable and important act 
 of aggrandisement. In one respect, however, our 
 country acted as became her. Paoli was welcomed 
 with the honours which he deserved, a pension of 
 £1,200 was immediately granted him ; and provision 
 was liberally made for his elder brother and his 
 nephew. 
 
 Above twenty years Paoli remained in England^ 
 enjoying the friendship of the wise and the admira- 
 tion of the good. But when the French Revolution 
 began, it seemed as if the restoration of Corsica was 
 at hand. The whole country, as if animated by one 
 spirit, rose and demanded liberty; and the National 
 Assembly passed a decree recognising the island as a 
 department of France, and therefore entitled to all 
 the privileges of the new French constitution. This 
 
66 LIFE OF HELSON. 
 
 satisfied the Corsicans, and it satisfied Paoli also. He 
 resigned his pension in the year 1790, and appeared 
 at the bar of the Assembly with the Corsican deputies, 
 when they took the oath of fidehty to France. But 
 the course of events in France soon dispelled these 
 hopes of a new and better order of things, which 
 Paoli, in common with so many of the friends of 
 humankind, had indulged; and perceiving, after the 
 execution of the king, that a civil war was about to 
 ensue, of which no man could foresee the issue, he 
 prepared to break the connection between Corsica 
 and the French republic. The Convention suspecting 
 such a design, and perhaps occasioning it by their 
 suspicions, ordered him to their bar. That way, he 
 well knew, led to the guillotine ; and returning a 
 respectful answer, he declared that he would never 
 be found wanting in his duty, but pleaded age and 
 infirmity as a reason for disobeying the summons. 
 Their second order was more summary; and the 
 French troops who were in Corsica, aided by those 
 of the natives who were either influenced by heredi- 
 tary party feelmgs, or who were sincere in Jacobinism, 
 took the field against him. But the people were with 
 him. He repaired to Corte, the capital of the island, 
 and was again invested with the authority which he 
 had held in the noonday of his fame. The Conven- 
 tion upon this denounced him as a rebel, and set a 
 price upon his head. It was not the first time that 
 France had proscribed Paoli. 
 
 Paoli now opened a correspondence with Lord 
 Hood, promising if the English would make an attack 
 upon St. Fiorenzo from the sea, he would, at the 
 same time, attack it by land. This promise he was 
 
AT CORSICA. 67 
 
 unable to perform ; and Commodore Linzee, who, in 
 reliance upon it, was sent upon this service, was re- 
 pulsed with some loss. Lord Hood, who had now 
 been compelled to evacuate Toulon, suspected PaoH 
 of intentionally deceiving him. This was an injurious 
 suspicion. Shortly afterwards he despatched Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel (afterwards Sir John) Moore and Major 
 Koehler to confer with him upon a plan of operations. 
 Sir Gilbert Elliot accompanied them: and it was 
 agreed upon that, in consideration of the succours, 
 both military and naval, which His Britannic Majesty 
 should afford for the purpose of expelling the French, 
 the island of Corsica should be delivered into the im- 
 mediate possession of His Majesty, and bind itself to 
 acquiesce in any settlement he might approve of 
 concerning its government and its future relation 
 with Great Britain. A^Hiile this negotiation was going 
 on. Nelson cruised off the island with a small squadron, 
 to prevent the enemy from throwing in supplies. 
 Close to St. Fiorenzo the French had a storehouse of 
 flour, near their only mill ; he watched an opportunity, 
 and landed 120 men, who threw the flour into the 
 sea, burnt the mill, and re-embai'ked before 1,000 
 men, who were sent against him, could occasion them 
 the loss of a single man. While he exerted himself 
 thus, keeping out all supplies, intercepting despatches^ 
 attacking their outposts and forts, and cutting out 
 vessels from the bay — a species of warfare which 
 depresses the spirit of an enemy even more than it 
 injures them, because of the sense of individual 
 superiority which it indicates in the assailants — 
 troops were landed, and St. Fiorenzo was besieged. 
 The French, finding themselves unable to maintain 
 F 2 
 
68 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 t.hat post, sank one of their frigates, burnt another, 
 and retreated to Bastia. Lord Hood submitted to 
 General Dundas, who commanded the land forces, a 
 plan for the reduction of this place ; the general de- 
 clined co-operating, thinking the attempt impractic- 
 able without a reinforcement of 2,000 men, which he 
 expected from- Gibraltar. Upon this Lord Hood 
 determined to reduce it with the naval force under 
 his command ; and leaving part of his fleet off Toulon, 
 he came with the rest to Bastia. 
 
 He showed a proper sense of respect for Nelson's 
 services, and of confidence in his talents, by taking 
 care not to bring with him any older captain. A 
 few days before their arrival Nelson had had what 
 he called a brush with the enemy. "If I had had 
 with me five hundred troops," he said, " to a certainty 
 I should have stormed the town; and I believe it 
 might have been carried. Armies go so slow that 
 seamen think they never mean to get forward; but 
 I dare say they act on a surer principle, although we 
 seldom fail." During this partial action our army 
 appeared upon the heights ; and having reconnoitred 
 the place, returiled to St. J^iorenzo. " What the 
 general could have seen to make a retreat necessary," 
 said Nelson, " I cannot comprehend. A thousand 
 men would certainly take Bastia ; with live hundred 
 and Agaviemno7i I would attempt it. My seamen 
 are now what British seamen ought to be, almost 
 invincible. They really mind shot no more than 
 peas." General Dundas had not the same confidence, 
 " After mature consideration," said he in a letter to 
 Lord Hood, "and a personal inspection for several 
 days of all circumstances, local as well as others, I 
 
THE SIEGE OF BASTIA. 60 
 
 consider the siege of Bastia, with our present means 
 and force, to be a most visionary and rash attempt, 
 such as no officer would be justified in undertaking." 
 Lord Hood rephed that nothing would be more grati- 
 fying to his feelings than to have the whole responsi- 
 bihty upon himself; and that he was ready and 
 willing to undertake the reduction of the place at 
 his own risk, with the force and means at present 
 there. General d'Aubant, who succeeded at this time 
 to the command of the army, coincided in opinion 
 with his predecessor, and did not think it right to 
 furnish his lordship with a single soldier, cannon, or 
 any stores. Lord Hood could only obtain a few 
 artillerymen ; and ordering on board that part of 
 the troops who, having been embarked as marines, 
 were borne on the ships' books as part of their 
 respective complements, he began the siege Avith 
 1,183 soldiers, artillerymen, and marines, and 250 
 sailors. " We are but few," said Nelson, " but of the 
 right sort ; our general at St. Fiorenzo not giving us 
 one of the five regiments he has there lying idle." 
 
 These men were landed on the 4th of April, under 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Villettes and Nelson, who had 
 now acquired from the army the title of brigadier. 
 Guns were dragged by the sailors up heights where 
 it appeared almost impossible to convey them — a 
 work of the greatest difficulty, and which Nelson 
 said could never, in his opinion, have been accom- 
 plished by any but British seamen. The soldiers, 
 though less dexterous in such service, because not 
 accustomed, like sailors, to habitual dexterity, behaved 
 with equal spirit. "Their zeal," said the brigadier, 
 "is almost unexampled. There is not a man but 
 
70 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 considers himself as personally interested in the 
 event ; and, deserted by the general, it has, I am 
 persuaded, made them equal to double their num- 
 bers." This is one proof, of many, that for our 
 soldiers to equal our seamen it is only necessary for 
 them to be equally well commanded. They have the 
 same heart and soul, as well as the same flesh and 
 blood. Too much may, indeed, be exacted from them 
 in a retreat; but set their face towards a foe, and there 
 is nothing within the reach ^ of human achievement 
 which they cannot perform. The French had im- 
 proved the leisure which our military commander 
 had allowed them ; and before Lord Hood commenced 
 his operations he had the mortification of seeing 
 that the enemy were every day erecting new works, 
 strengthening old ones, and rendering the attempt 
 more difficult. La Combe St. Michel, the com- 
 missioner from the National Convention, who was 
 in the city, replied in these terms to the summons 
 of the British admiral: "I have hot shot for your 
 ships, and bayonets for your troops. When two- 
 thirds of our men are killed, I will then trust to the 
 generosity of the English." The siege, however, was 
 not sustained with the firmness which such a reply 
 seemed to augur. On the 19th of May a treaty 
 of capitulation was begun, that same evening the 
 troops from St. Fiorenzo made their appearance 
 on the hills, and on the following morning General 
 d'Aubant arrived with the whole army to take 
 possession of Bastia. 
 
 The event of the siege had justified the confidence 
 of the sailors; but they themselves excused the 
 opinion of the generals, when they saw what they had 
 
SIS SERVICES IN THE SIEGE. 71 
 
 done. " I am all astonisliment;' said Nelson, '' when 
 I reflect on what we have achieved: 1,000 reo-ulars, 
 1,500 national guards, and a large party of Corsican 
 troops, 4,000 in all, laying down their arms to 1,200 
 soldiers, marines, and seamen! I always was of 
 opinion, have ever acted up to it, and never had any 
 reason to repent it, that one Englishman was equal to 
 three Frenchmen. Had this been an Enghsh town, I 
 am sure it would not have been taken by them." 
 When it had been resolved to attack the place, the 
 enemy were supposed to be far inferior in number ; 
 and it was not till the whole had been arranged, and 
 the siege publicly undertaken, that Nelson received 
 certain information of the great superiority of the 
 garrison. This intelligence he kept secret, fearing 
 lest, if so fair a pretext were afforded, the attempt 
 would be abandoned. " My own honour," said he to 
 his wife, " Lord Hood's honour, and the honour of our 
 country, must have been sacrificed, had I mentioned 
 what I knew; therefore you will beUeve what must 
 have been my feelings during the whole siege, when I 
 had often proposals made to me to write to Lord 
 Hood to raise it." Those very persons who thus 
 advised him were rewarded for their conduct at the 
 siege of Bastia: Nelson, by whom it may truly be 
 affirmed that Bastia was taken, received no reward. 
 Lord Hood's thanks to him, both public and private, 
 were, as he himself said, the handsomest which man 
 could give ; but his signal merits were not so men- 
 tioned in the despatches as to make them sufficiently 
 known to the nation, nor to obtain for him from 
 Government those honours to which they so amply 
 entitled him. This could only have arisen from the 
 
72 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 haste in which the despatches were written ; certainly 
 not from any dehberate purpose, for Lord Hood was 
 uniformly his steady and sincere friend. 
 
 One of the Cartel's ships, which carried the garri- 
 son of Bastia to Toulon, brought back intelligence 
 that the French were about to sail from that port — 
 such exertions had they made to repair the damage 
 done at the evacuation, and to fit out a fleet I The 
 intelligence was speedily verified. Lord Hood sailed 
 in quest of them towards the islands of Hieres. The 
 Agamemnon was with him. "I pray God," said 
 Nelson, writing to his wife, " that we may meet their 
 fleet. If any accident should happen to me, I am 
 sure my conduct will be such as will entitle you to 
 the royal favour — not that I have the least idea but I 
 shall return to you, and full of honour ; — if not, the 
 Lord's will be done. My name shall never be a dis- 
 grace to those who may belong to me. The little I 
 have, I have given to you, except a small annuity ; I 
 wish it was more ; but I have never got a farthing dis- 
 honestly — it descends from clean hands. Whatever 
 fate awaits me, I pray God to bless you, and preserve 
 you, for your son's sake." With a mind thus pre- 
 pared, and thus confident, his hopes and wishes 
 seemed on the point of being gratified, when the 
 enemy were discovered close under the land, near St. 
 Tropez. The wind fell, and prevented Lord Hood 
 from getting between them and the shore, as he 
 designed; boats came out from Antibes and other 
 places to their assistance, and towed them within the 
 shoals in Gourjean roads, where they were protected 
 by the batteries on isles St. Honore and St. Mar- 
 guerite, and on Cape Garousse. Here the Encrlish 
 
SIEGE OF GALVL 73 
 
 admiral planned a new mode of attack, meaning to 
 double on fiYQ of the nearest ships; but the wind 
 again died away, and it was found that they had 
 anchored in compact order, guarding the only passage 
 for large ships. There was no way of effecting this 
 passage, except by towing or warping the vessels : and 
 this rendered the attempt impracticable. For this 
 time the enemy escaped; but Nelson bore in mind 
 the admhable plan of attack which Lord Hood had 
 devised, and there came a day when they felt its 
 tremendous effects. 
 
 The Agamemnon was now despatched to co- 
 operate at the siege of Calvi with General Sir Charles 
 Stuart, an officer who, unfortunately for his country, 
 never had an adequate field allotted him for the 
 display of those eminent talents which were, to all 
 who knew him, so conspicuous."^ Nelson had less 
 responsibility here than at Bastia; and was acting 
 with a man after his own heart, who was never 
 sparing of himself, and slept every night in the 
 advanced battery. But the service was not less hard 
 than that of the former siege. " We will fag ourselves 
 to death," said he to Lord Hood, " before any blame 
 shall lie at our doors. I trust it will not be forgotten 
 that twenty-five pieces of heavy ordnance have been 
 dragged to the different batteries, mounted, and, all 
 but three, fought by seamen, except one artilleryman 
 to point the guns." The climate proved more de- 
 structive than the service ; for this was during the "lion 
 sun," as they there call our season of the dog-days. 
 Of 2,000 men, above half were sick, and the rest like 
 
 * Lord Melville was fully sensible of these talents, and bore testimony 
 to them in the handsomest manner after Sir Charles's death. 
 
74 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 SO many phantoms. Nelson described himself as the 
 reed among the oaks, bowing before the storm . when 
 they were laid low by it. "All the prevailing dis- 
 orders have attacked me," said he, " bnt I have not 
 strength enough for them to fasten on." The loss 
 from the enemy was not great ; but Nelson received a 
 serious injury — a shot struck the ground near him, 
 and drove the sand and small gravel into one of his 
 eyes. He spoke of it slightly at the time ; writing 
 the same day to Lord Hood, he only said that he got 
 a little hurt that morning, not much ; and the next 
 day he said he should be able to attend his duty in 
 the evening. In fact, he suffered it to confine him 
 only one day, but the sight was lost. 
 
 After the fall of Calvi his services were, by a 
 strange omission, altogether overlooked; and his 
 name was not even mentioned in the list of wounded. 
 This was no ways imputable to the admiral, for he 
 sent home to Government Nelson's journal of the 
 siege, that they might fully understand the nature of 
 his indefatigable and unequalled exertions. If those 
 exertions were not rewarded in the conspicuous 
 manner which they deserved, the fault was in the 
 Administration of the day, not in Lord Hood. Nelson 
 felt himself neglected. " One hundred and ten days," 
 said he, " I have been actually engaged, at sea and on 
 shore, against the enemy ; three actions against ships, 
 two against Bastia in my ship, four boat actions, and 
 two villages taken, and twelve sail of vessels burnt. 
 I do not know that any one has done more. I have 
 had the comfort to be always applauded by my com- 
 mander-in-chief, but never to be rewarded ; and, what 
 is more mortifying, for services in which I have been 
 
HIS SERVICES AT CALVI OVERLOOKED. 75 
 
 wounded, others have been praised, who, at the same 
 time, were actually in bed, far from the scene of 
 action. They have not done me justice. But, never 
 mind, I'll have a gazette of my own." How amply 
 was this second-sight of glor}^ realised ! 
 
 The health of his ship's company had now, in his 
 own words, been miserably torn to pieces by as hard 
 service as a ship's crew ev^r performed: 150 were in 
 their beds when he left Calvi ; of them he lost 50, and 
 believed that the constitutions of the rest were entirely 
 destroyed. He was now sent with despatches to Mr. 
 Drake, at Genoa, and had his first interview with the 
 Doge. The French had, at this time, taken possession 
 of Yado Bay, in the Genoese territory; and Nelson 
 foresaw that if their thoughts were bent on the in- 
 vasion of Italy, they would accomplish it the ensuing 
 spring. "The allied Powers," he said, "were jealous 
 of each other, and none but England was hearty in 
 the cause." His wish was for peace, on fan terms, 
 because England, he thought, was draining herself to 
 maintain allies who would not fight for themselves. 
 Lord Hood had now returned to England; and the 
 command devolved on Admiral Hotham. The affairs 
 of the Mediterranean wore at this time a gloomy 
 aspect. The arts, as well as the arms of the enemy, 
 were gaining the ascendency there. Tuscany con- 
 cluded peace, relying upon the faith of France, Avhich 
 was, in fact, placing itself at her mercy. Corsica was 
 in danger. We had taken that island for ourselves, 
 annexed it formally to the Crown of Great Britain, 
 and given it a constitution as free as our own. This 
 v/as done with the consent of the majority of the 
 inhabitants ; and no transaction between two countries 
 
76 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 was ever more fairly or legitimately conducted, yet 
 our conduct was unwise. The island is large enough 
 to form an independent State, and such we should 
 have made it, under our protection, as long as pro- 
 tection might be needed, the Corsicans would then 
 have felt as a nation ; but when one party had given 
 up the country to England, the natural consequence 
 was that the other looked to France. The question 
 proposed to the people was. To which would they be- 
 long ? Our language and our religion were against us ; 
 our unaccommodating manners, it is to be feared, still 
 more so. The French were better politicians. In 
 intrigue they have ever been unrivalled ; and it now 
 became apparent that, in spite of old wrongs, which 
 ought never to have been forgotten or forgiven, their 
 partisans were daily acquiring strength. It is part of 
 the policy of France — and a wise policy it is — to im- 
 press upon other Powers the opinion of its strength by 
 lofty language, and by threatening before it strikes, a 
 system which, while it keeps up the spirit of its allies, 
 and perpetually stinmlates their hopes, tends also to 
 dismay its enemies. Corsica was now loudly threat- 
 ened. The French, who had not yet been taught to 
 feel their own inferiority upon the seas, braved us, in 
 contempt, upon that element. They had a superior 
 fleet in the Mediterranean, and they sent it out with 
 express orders to seek the English and engage them. 
 Accordingly, the Toulon fleet, consisting of seventeen 
 ships of the line and ^yq smaller vessels, put to sea. 
 Admiral Hotham received this information at Leg- 
 horn, and sailed immediately in search of them. He 
 had with him fourteen sail of the line, and one 
 Neapolitan 74 ; but his ships were only half-manned, 
 
ENGAGEMENT WITH THE FRENCH FLEET. 77 
 
 containing but 7,650 men, whereas the enemy had 
 16,900. He soon came in sight of them; a general 
 action was expected ; and Nelson, as was his custom 
 on such occasions, wrote a hasty letter to his wife, as 
 that which might possibly contain his last farewell. 
 " The lives of all," said he, " are in the hand of Him 
 who knows best whether to preserve mine or not, my 
 character and good name are in my own keeping." 
 
 But however confident the French Government 
 might be of their naval superiority, the officers had 
 no such feeling ; and after manoeuvring for a day in 
 sight of the English fleet, they suffered themselves to 
 be chased. One of their ships, the Qa Ira of 84 
 guns, carried away her main and fore topmasts. The 
 Inconstant frigate fired at the disabled ship, but 
 received so many shot that she was obliged to leave 
 her. Soon afterwards a French frigate took the 
 (^alram tow; and the Bans Calottes, 120, and the 
 Jean Barras, 74, kept about gun-shot distance on her 
 weather bow. The Aganieninon stood towards her, 
 having no ship of the line to support her withm 
 several miles. As she drew near, the (^a Ira fired 
 her stern guns so truly that not a shot missed some 
 part of the ship, and, latterly, the masts were struck 
 by every shot. It had been Nelson's intention not to 
 fire before he touched her stern ; but seeing how 
 impossible it was that he should be supported, and 
 how certainly the Agamemnon must be severely cut 
 up if her masts were disabled, he altered his plan 
 according to the occasion. As soon, therefore, as he 
 was within a hundred yards of her stern, he ordered 
 the helm to be put a-starboard, and the driver and 
 after-sails to be trailed up and shivered, and, as the 
 
78 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 ship fell off, gave the enemy her whole broadside. 
 They mstantly braced up the after-yards, put the 
 helm a-port, and stood after her again. This man- 
 oeuvre he practised for two hours and a quarter, never 
 allowing the Qa Ira to get a single gim from either 
 side to bear on him ; and when the French fired their 
 after-guns now, it was no longer with coolness and 
 precision, for every shot went far ahead. By this 
 time her sails were hanging in tatters, her mizen-top- 
 mast, mizen- topsail, and cross-jack-yards, shot away. 
 But the frigate which had her in tow hove in stays, 
 and got her round. Both these French ships now 
 brought their guns to bear, and opened their fire. 
 The Agartiemnon passed them within half pistol- 
 shot ; almost every shot passed over her, for the 
 French had elevated their guns for the rigging, and 
 for distant firing, and did not think of altering the 
 elevation. As soon as the Agamevmon's after-guns 
 ceased to bear, she hove in stays, keeping a constant 
 fire as she came round ; and being worked, said 
 Nelson, with as much exactness as if she had been 
 turning into Spithead. On getting round, he saw that 
 the Sans Culottes, which had wore, with many of the 
 enemy's ships, was under his lee bow, and standing to 
 leeward. The admiral, at the same time, made the 
 signal for the van ships to join him. Upon this 
 Nelson bore away, and prepared to set all sail ; and 
 the enemy, having saved their ship, hauled close to 
 the wind, and opened upon him a distant and in- 
 effectual fire. Only seven of the Agamemnon's men 
 were hurt — a thing which Nelson himself remarked 
 as wonderful; her sails and rigging Avere very much 
 cut, and she had many shots in her huU, and some 
 
RENEWAL OF THE ENGAGEMENT. 79 
 
 between wind and Avater. The Qa Ira lost 110 men 
 that day, and Avas so cut up that she could not get a 
 topmast aloft during the night. 
 
 At daylight on the following morning the English 
 ships were taken aback with a line breeze at N.W., 
 while the enemy's fleet kept the southerly wind. The 
 body of their fleet was about five miles distant ; the 
 Qa Ira, and the Censeur, 74, which had her in tow, 
 about three and a half. All sail was made to cut 
 these ships off ; and as the French attempted to save 
 them, a partial action was brought on. The Agamem- 
 non was again engaged Avith her yesterday's antago- 
 nist ; but she had to fight on both sides the ship at 
 the same time. The (^a Ira and the Censeur fought 
 most gallantly : the first lost nearly 300 men, in 
 addition to her former loss ; the last, 350. Both at 
 last struck ; and Lieutenant Andrews, of the Aga- 
 memnon, brother to the lady to whom Nelson had 
 become attached in France, and, in Nelson's OAvn 
 words, "as gallant an officer as ever stepped a quarter- 
 deck," hoisted English colours on board them both. 
 The rest of the enemy's ships behaved very ill. As 
 soon as these vessels had struck, Nelson went to 
 Admiral Hothain and proposed that the tAvo prizes 
 should be left with the Illustrious and Courageux, 
 which had been crippled in the action, and with four 
 frigates, and that the rest of the fleet should pursue 
 the enemy, and follow up the advantage to the 
 utmost. But his reply was^"We must be con- 
 tented, we have done very well." "Now," said 
 Nelson, "had we taken ten sail, and allowed the 
 eleventh to escape, Avhen it had been possible to have 
 got at her, I could never have called it well done. 
 
80 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 Goodall backed me : I got him to write to the 
 admiral ; but it would not do. We should have had 
 such a day as, I believe, the annals of England never 
 produced." In this letter the character of Nelson 
 fully manifests itself, " I wish/' said he, " to be an 
 admiral, and in the command of the English fleet ; I 
 should very soon either do much, or be ruined : my 
 disposition cannot bear tame and slow measures. 
 Sure I am, had I commanded on the 14th, that either 
 the whole French fleet would have graced my 
 triumph, or I should have been in a confounded 
 scrape." What the event would have been, he knew 
 from his prophetic feelings, and his own conscious- 
 ness of power ; and we also know it now, for Aboukir 
 and Trafalgar have told it us. 
 
 The (^a Ira and Genseur probably defended them- 
 selves with more obstinacy in this action, from a 
 persuasion that, if they struck, no quarter would be 
 given, because they had fired red-hot shot, and had 
 also a preparation — sent, as they said, by the Conven- 
 tion from Paris — which seems to have been of the 
 nature of the Greek fire, for it became liquid when it 
 was discharged, and water would not extinguish its 
 flame. This combustible was concealed with great 
 care in the captured ships ; Hke the red-hot shot, it 
 had been found useless in battle. Admiral Hotham's 
 action saved Corsica for the time ; but the victory had 
 been incomplete, and the arrival at Toulon of six sail 
 of the line, two frigates, and two cutters, from Brest, 
 gave the French a superiority which, had they known 
 how to use it, would materially have endangered the 
 British Mediterranean fleet. That fleet had been 
 greatly neglected during Lord Chatham's administra- 
 
DISSATISFACTION WITH THE ADMIRALTY. 81 
 
 tion at the Admiralty ; and it did not, for some time, 
 feel the beneficial effect of his removal. Lord Hood 
 had gone home to represent the real state of affairs, 
 and solicit reinforcements adequate to the exigencies 
 of the time and the importance of the scene of action. 
 But that fatal error of under-proportioning the force 
 to the service, that ruinous economy which, by spar- 
 ing a little, renders all that is spent useless, infected 
 the British councils ; and Lord Hood, not being able 
 to obtain such reinforcements as he knew were neces- 
 sary, resigned the command. " Surely," said Nelson, 
 "the people at home have forgotten us." Another 
 Neapolitan 74 joined Admiral Hotham; and Nelson 
 observed with sorrow that this was matter of exulta- 
 tion to an English fleet. When the store-ships and 
 victuallers from Gibraltar arrived, their escape from 
 the enemy was thought wonderful ; and yet, had they 
 not escaped, " the game," said Nelson, " was up here. 
 At this moment our operations are at a stand for 
 want of ships to support the Austrians in getting 
 possession of the sea-coast of the King of Sardinia ; 
 and, behold, our admiral does not feel himself equal 
 to show himself, much less to give assistance in their 
 operations." It was reported that the French were 
 again out with eighteen or twenty sail. The com- 
 bined British and Neapohtan were but sixteen; 
 should the enemy be only eighteen. Nelson made no 
 doubt of a complete victory ; but if they were twenty, 
 he said it was not to be expected ; and a battle with- 
 out complete victory would have been destruction, 
 because another mast was not to be got on that side 
 Gibraltar. At length Admiral Man arrived with a 
 squadron from England. " What they can mean by 
 
 a 
 
82 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 sending him with only live sail of the line/' said 
 Nelson, "is truly astonishing, but all men are alike, 
 and we in this country do not find any amendment 
 or alteration from the old Board of Admiralty. They 
 should know that half the ships in the fleet require to 
 go to England, and that long ago they ought to have 
 reinforced us." 
 
 About this time Nelson was made colonel of 
 marines — a mark of approbation which he had long 
 wished for rather than expected. It came in good 
 season, for his spirits were oppressed by the thought 
 that his services had not been acknowledged as they 
 deserved; and it abated the resentful feeling which 
 would else have been excited by the answer to an 
 apphcation to the War Office. During his four 
 months' land service in Corsica he had lost all his 
 ship-furniture, OTVing to the movements of a camp. 
 Upon this he wrote to the Secretary at War, briefly 
 statmg what his services on shore had been, and 
 saying he trusted it was not asking an improper 
 thing to request that the same allowance might be 
 made to him which would be made to a land officer 
 of his rank, which, situated as he was, would be that 
 of a brigadier-general ; if this could not be accorded, 
 he hoped that his additional expenses would be paid 
 him. The answer which he received was, that " no 
 pay had ever been issued under the direction of the 
 War Office to officers of the navy serving with the 
 prmy on shore." 
 
 He now entered upon a new line of service. The 
 Austrian and Sardinian armies, under General de 
 Vins, required a British squadron to co-operate with 
 them in driving the French from the Riviera di 
 
ENGAGEMENT OFF ST. FIORENZO. 83 
 
 Genoa ; and as Nelson had been so much in the habit 
 of soldiering, it was immediately fixed that the 
 brigadier should go. He sailed from St. Fiorenzo on 
 this destination ; but fell in, off Cape del Mele, with 
 the enemy's fleet, who immediately gave his squadron 
 chase. The chase lasted four-and-twenty hours ; and, 
 owing to the fickleness of the wind, the British ships 
 were sometimes hard pressed; but the want of skill on 
 the part of the French gave them many advantages. 
 Nelson bent his way back to St. Fiorenzo, where the 
 fleet, which was in the midst of watering and refitting, 
 had, for seven hours, the mortification of seeing him 
 almost in possession of the enemy, before the wind 
 would allow them to put out to his assistance. The 
 French, however, at evening, went ofl", not choosing 
 to approach nearer the shore. During the night 
 Admiral Hotham, by great exertions, got under 
 weigh; and, having sought the enemy four days, 
 came in sight of them on the fifth. Baflling winds 
 and vexatious calms, so common in the Mediter- 
 ranean, rendered it iijcipossible to close with them ; 
 only a partial action could be brought on, and then 
 the firing made a perfect calm. The French, being to 
 windward, drew in shore ; and the EngHsh fleet was 
 becalmed six or seven miles to the westward. 
 L'Alcide, of 74 guns, struck ; but, before she could be 
 taken possession of, a box of combustibles in her fore- 
 top took fire, and the unhappy crew experienced how 
 far more perilous their inventions were to themselves 
 than to their enemies. So rapid was the conflagra- 
 tion that the French, in their oflicial account, say the 
 hull, the masts, and sails, all seemed to take fire at 
 the same moment ; and though the English boats 
 G 2 
 
84 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 were put out to the assistance of the poor wretches 
 on board, not more than 200 could be saved. The 
 Agamemnon, and Captain Kowley in the Cumber- 
 land, were just getting into close action a second 
 time, when the admiral called them off, the wind now 
 being directly into the Gulf of Frejus, where the 
 enemy anchored after the evening closed. 
 
 Nelson now proceeded to his station with eight 
 sail of frigates under his command. Arriving at 
 Genoa, he had a conference with Mr. Drake, the 
 British envoy to that State, the result of which was 
 that the object of the British must be to put an entire 
 stop to all trade between Genoa, France, and the 
 places occupied by the French troops ; for, unless 
 this trade were stopped, it would be scarcely possible 
 for the aUied armies to hold their situation, and 
 impossible for them to make any progress in driving 
 the enemy out of the Eiviera di Genoa. Mr. Drake 
 was of opinion that even Nice might fall for want of 
 supplies, if the trade with Genoa were cut off. This 
 sort of blockade Nelson could not carry on without 
 great risk to himself. A captain in the navy, as he 
 represented to the envoy, is liable to prosecution for 
 detention and damages. This danger was increased 
 . by an order which had then lately been issued ; 
 by which, when a neutral ship was detained, a com- 
 plete specification of her cargo was directed to be 
 sent to the Secretary of the Admiralty, and no legal 
 process instituted against her till the pleasure of that 
 Board should be communicated. This was requiring 
 an impossibihty. The cargoes of ships detained upon 
 this station, consisting chiefly of corn, would be 
 spoiled long before the orders of the Admiralty could 
 
AI* GENOA. 85 
 
 be known ; and then, if they should happen to release 
 the vessel, the owners Avould look to the captain for 
 damages. Even the only precaution which could be 
 taken against this danger involved another danger 
 not less to be apprehended, for if the captain should 
 direct the cargo to be taken out, the freight paid for, 
 and the vessel released, the agent employed might 
 prove fraudulent and become bankrupt, and in that 
 case the captain became responsible. Such things 
 had happened. Nelson therefore required, as the 
 only means for carrying on that service which was 
 judged essential to the common cause, without expos- 
 ing the officers to ruin, that the British envoy should 
 appoint agents to pay the freight, release the vessels, 
 sell the cargo, and hold the amount till process was 
 had upon it. Government thus securing its officers. 
 " I am acting," said Nelson, " not only without the 
 orders of my commander-in-chief, but, in some 
 measure, contrary to him. However, I have not 
 only the support of His Majesty's Ministers, both at 
 Turin and Genoa, but a consciousness that I am 
 doing what is right and proper for the service of oiu: 
 king and country. Political courage in an officer 
 abroad is as highly necessary as military courage." 
 
 This quahty, which is as much rarer than military 
 courage as it is more valuable, and without which the 
 soldier's bravery is often of little avail. Nelson pos- 
 sessed in an eminent degree. His representations 
 were attended to as they deserved. Admiral Hotham 
 commended him for what he had done; and the 
 attention of Government was awakened to the injury 
 which the cause of the Allies continually suffered from 
 the frauds of neutral vessels. " What changes in my 
 
86 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 life of activity ! " said this indefatigable man. " Here 
 I am, having commenced a co-operation with an old 
 Austrian general, almost fancying myself charging 
 at the head of a troop of horse ! — I do not write less 
 than from ten to twenty letters every day; which, 
 with the Austrian general and aides-de-camp, and 
 my own little squadron, fully employ my time. This 
 I like — active service, or none." It was Nelson's 
 mind which supported his feeble body through these 
 exertions. He was at this time almost blind, and 
 wrote with very great pain. " Poor Agaviemnon" he 
 sometimes said, " was as nearly worn out as her 
 captain, and both must soon be laid up to repair." 
 
 When Nelson first saw General de Vins he 
 thought him an able man, who was willing to act 
 with vigour. The general charged his inactivity 
 upon the Piedmontese and Neapohtans, whom, he 
 said, nothing could induce to act; and he concerted 
 a plan with Nelson for embarking a part of the 
 Austrian army, and landing it in the rear of the 
 French. But the English commodore soon began 
 to suspect that the Austrian general was little dis- 
 posed to any active operations. In the hope of 
 spurring him on, he wrote to him, telling him that 
 he had surveyed the coast to the westward as far as 
 Nice, and would undertake to embark 4,000 or 5,000 
 men, with their arms and a few days' provisions, on 
 board the squadron, and land them within two miles 
 of St. Eemo, with their field-pieces. Respecting 
 further provisions for the Austrian army, he would 
 provide convoys that they should arrive in safety ; 
 and if a re-embarkation should be found necessary, 
 he would cover it with the squadron. The possession 
 
ST, MEMO. 87 
 
 of St. Kemo as headquarters for magazines of every 
 kind would enable the Austrian general to turn his 
 army to the eastward or westward. The enemy at 
 Oneglia would be cut off from provisions, and men 
 could be landed to attack that place whenever it was 
 judged necessary. St. Eemo was the only place 
 between Yado and Ville Franche ^vhere the squadron 
 could he in safety, and anchor in almost all winds. 
 The bay was not as good as Vado for large ships ; 
 but it had a mole, which Vado had not, where all 
 small vessels could he, and loa.d and unload their 
 cargoes. This bay being in possession of the AUies, 
 Nice could be completely blockaded by sea. General 
 de Yins, affecting in his reply to consider that 
 Nelson's proposal had no other end than that of 
 obtaining the Bay of St. Eemo as a station for the 
 ships, told him, what he well knew, and had expressed 
 before, that Vado Bay was a better anchorage ; never- 
 theless, if Monsieur le Comviandant Nelson was well 
 assured that part of the fleet could winter there, there 
 was no risk to which he would not expose himseh' 
 with pleasure, for the sake of procuring a safe station 
 for the vessels of His Britannic Majesty. Nelson 
 soon assured the Austrian commander that this was 
 not the object of his memorial. He now began to 
 suspect that both the Austrian courts and their 
 general had other ends in view than the cause of the 
 Allies. " This army," said he, " is slow beyond all 
 description ; and I begin to think that the Emperor 
 is anxious to touch another four millions of English 
 money. As for the German generals, Avar is their 
 trade, and peace is ruin to them ; therefore we cannot 
 expect that they should have any wish to finish the 
 
88 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 war. The politics of courts are so mean that private 
 people would be ashamed to act in the same way : 
 all is trick d^ndi finesse, to which the common cause is 
 sacrificed. The general wants a loophole ; it has for 
 some time appeared to me that he means to go no 
 farther than his present position, and to lay the 
 miscarriage of the enterprise against Nice, which has 
 always been held out as the great object of his army, 
 to the non-co-operation of the British fleet and of the 
 Sardinians." 
 
 To prevent this plea Nelson again addressed De 
 Yins, requesting only to know the time, and the 
 number of troops ready to embark, then he would, 
 he said, despatch a ship to Admiral Hotham, request- 
 ing transports, having no doubt of obtaining them, 
 and trusting that the plan would be successful to its 
 fullest extent. Nelson thought at the time that if 
 the whole fleet were offered him for transports, he 
 would find some other excuse ; and Mr. Drake, who 
 was now appointed to reside at the Austrian head- 
 quarters, entertained the same idea of the general's 
 sincerity. It was not, however, put so clearly to the 
 proof as it ought to have been. He repHed that as 
 soon as Nelson could declare himself ready with the 
 vessels necessary for conveying 10,000 men, with their 
 artillery and baggage, he would put the army in 
 motion. But Nelson was not enabled to do this. 
 Admiral Hotham, who was highly meritorious in 
 leaving such a man so much at his o^vn discretion, 
 pursued a cautious system, ill-according with the 
 bold and comprehensive views of Nelson, who con- 
 tinually regretted Lord Hood, saying that the nation 
 had suffered much by his resignation of the Medi- 
 
COMPLAINTS AGAINST NELSON'S SQUADRON 89 
 
 terranean command. The plan which had been 
 concerted, he said, would astonish the French, and 
 perhaps the English. 
 
 There was no unity in the views of the Allied 
 Powers, no cordiality in their co-operation, no energy 
 in their councils. The neutral Powers assisted France 
 more effectually than the Allies assisted each other. 
 The Genoese ports were at this time filled with 
 French privateers, which swarmed out every night, 
 and covered the gulf; and French vessels were 
 allowed to tow out of the port of Genoa itself, board 
 vessels which were coming in, and then return into 
 the mole. This was allowed without a remonstrance ; 
 while, though Nelson abstained most carefully from 
 offering any offence to the Genoese territory or flag, 
 complaints were so repeatedly made against his 
 squadron that, he says, it seemed a trial who should 
 be tired first — they of complaining, or he of answering 
 their complaints. But the question of neutrality was 
 soon at an end. An Austrian commissary was travel- 
 ling from Genoa towards Yado; it was known that 
 he was to sleep at Voltri, and that he had £10,000. 
 with him — a ^oot}'' which the French Minister in that 
 city, and the captain of a French frigate in that port, 
 considered as far more important than the word of 
 honour of the one, the duties of the other, and the 
 laws of neutrahty. The boats of the frigate went out 
 with some privateers, landed, robbed the commissary, 
 and brought back the money to Genoa. The next 
 day men were publicly enlisted in that city for the 
 French army: 700 men were embarked, with 7,000 
 stand of arms, on board the frigates and other vessels, 
 who were to land between Voltri and Savona ; there 
 
90 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 a detachment from, the French army was to join 
 them, and the Genoese peasantry were to be invited 
 to insurrection — a measure for which everything had 
 been prepared. The night of the 13th was fixed for 
 the sailing of this expedition ; the Austrians called 
 loudly for Nelson to prevent it ; and he, on the 
 evening of the 13th, arrived at Genoa. His presence 
 checked the plan ; the frigate, knowing her deserts, 
 got within the merchant-ships in the inner mole ; and 
 the Genoese Government did not now even demand 
 of Nelson respect to the neutral port, knowing that 
 they had allowed, if not connived at, a flagrant breach 
 of neutrality, and expecting the answer which he was 
 prepared to return, that it was useless and impossible 
 for him to respect it longer. 
 
 But though this movement produced the imme- 
 diate effect which was designed, it led to ill conse- 
 quences, which NeLson foresaw, but, for want of 
 sufficient force, was unable to prevent. His squadron 
 was too small for the service which it had to perform. 
 He required two seventy-fours and eight or ten 
 frigates and sloops, but when he demanded this 
 reinforcement Admiral Hotham had Igft the com- 
 mand. Sir Hyde Parker succeeded till the new 
 commander should arrive ; and he immediately re- 
 duced it almost to nothing, leaving him only one 
 frigate and a brig. This was a fatal error. While 
 the Austrian and Sardinian troops, whether from the 
 imbecility or the treachery of their leaders, remained 
 inactive, the French were preparing for the invasion 
 of Italy. Not many days before Nelson was thus 
 summoned to Genoa he chased a large convoy into 
 Alassio. Twelve vessels he had formerly destroyed 
 
"IN A CLEFT stick:' 91 
 
 in that port, though 2,000 French troops occupied the 
 town ; this former attack had made them take new 
 measures of defence, and there were now above 100 
 sail of victuallers, gunboats, and ships of war. Nelson 
 represented to the admiral how important it was to 
 destroy these vessels ; and offered, with his squadron 
 of frigates, and the Cidloden and Courageux, to lead 
 himself in the Agamemnon, and take or destroy the 
 whole. The attempt was not permitted ; but it was 
 Nelson's belief that, if it had been made, it would 
 have prevented the attack upon the Austrian army, 
 which took place almost immediately afterwards. 
 
 General de Vins demanded satisfaction of the 
 Genoese Government for the seizure of his com- 
 missary ; and then, not waiting for their reply, took 
 possession of some empty magazines of the French, 
 and pushed his sentinels to the very gates of Genoa. 
 Had he done so at first, he would have found the 
 magazines full ; but timed as the measure was, and 
 useless as it was to the cause of the Allies, it was in 
 character with the whole of the Austrian general's 
 conduct ; and it is no small proof of the dexterity 
 with which he- served the enemy that in such circum- 
 stances he could so act with Genoa as to contrive to 
 put himself in the wrong. Nelson was at this time, 
 according to his own expression, placed in a cleft stick. 
 Mr. Drake, the Austrian Minister, and the Austrian 
 general, all joined in requirmg him not to leave 
 Genoa; if he left that port unguarded, they said, 
 not only the Imperial troops at St. Pier d' Arena and 
 Yoltri would be lost, but the French plan for taking 
 post between Voltri and Savona would certainly 
 succeed : if the Austrians should be worsted in the 
 
92 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 advanced posts, the retreat by the Bocchetta would 
 be cut off ; and if this happened, the loss of the army 
 would be imputed to him for having left Genoa. , On 
 the other hand, he knew that if he were not at Pietra 
 the enemy's gun-boats would harass the left flank of 
 the Austrians, who, if they were defeated, as was to 
 be expected from the spirit of all their operations, 
 would very probably lay their defeat to the want of 
 assistance from the Agavievmon. Had the force for 
 which Nelson applied been given him, he could have 
 attended to both objects ; and had he been permitted 
 to attack the convoy in Alassio, he would have dis- 
 concerted the plans of the French, in spite of the 
 Austrian general. He had foreseen the danger, and 
 pointed out how it might be prevented, but the 
 means of preventing it were withheld. The attack 
 was made as he foresaw ; and the gun-boats brought 
 their fire to bear upon the Austrians. It so happened, 
 however, that the left flank, which was exposed to 
 them, was the only part of the army that behaved 
 well ; this division stood its ground till the centre and 
 the right wing fled, and then retreated in a soldier-like 
 manner. General de Vins gave up the- command in 
 the middle of the battle, pleading ill-health. " From 
 that moment," says Nelson, " not a soldier stayed at 
 his post — it was the devil take the hindmost. Many 
 thousands ran away who had never seen the enemy ; 
 some of them thirty miles from the advanced posts. 
 Had I not, though, I own, against my inchnation, 
 been kept at Genoa, from 8,000 to 10,000 men would 
 have been taken prisoners, and amongst the number 
 General de Vins himself; but by this means the 
 pass of the Bocchetta was kept open. The purser of 
 
DEFEAT OF GENERAL DE VINS. 93 
 
 the ship, who was at Vado, ran with the Austrians 
 eighteen miles without stopping; the men without 
 arms, officers without soldiers, women without assist- 
 ance. The oldest officers say they never heard of so 
 complete a defeat, and certainly without any reason. 
 Thus has ended my campaign. We have established 
 the French Bepublic ; which but for us, I verily 
 believe, would never have been settled by such a 
 volatile, changeable people. I hate a Frenchman ; 
 they are equally objects of my detestation whether 
 Royalists or Repubhcans; in some points I believe 
 the latter are the best." Nelson had a lieutenant 
 and two midshipmen taken at Vado ; they told him 
 in their letter that few of the French soldiers were 
 more than three or four and twenty years old, a great 
 many not more than fourteen, and all were nearly 
 naked ; they were sure, they said, his barge's crew 
 could have beat a hundred of them; and that, had 
 he himself seen them, he would not have thought, if 
 the world had been covered with such people, that 
 they could have beaten the Austrian army. 
 
 The defeat of General de Vins gave the enemy 
 possession of the Genoese coast from Savona to 
 Yoltri ; and it deprived the Austrians of their direct 
 communication with the English fleet. The Aga- 
 memnon therefore could no longer be useful on this 
 station, and Nelson sailed for Leghorn to refit. When 
 his ship went into dock there was not a mast, yard, 
 sail, or any part of the rigging, but what stood in 
 need of repair, having been cut to pieces with shot. 
 The hull was so damaged that it had for some time 
 been secured by having cables served or thrapped 
 round. 
 
94 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Sir J. Jervis takes the command— Genoa joins the French — Buonaparte 
 begins his career — Evacuation of Corsica — Nelson hoists his broad 
 pennant in the Afinei've — Action with the Sabina — Battle of Cape St. 
 Vincent — Nelson commands the inner squadron at the blockade of 
 Cadiz — Boat action in the Bay of Cadiz — Expedition against Teneriffe 
 — Nelson loses an arm — His sufferings in England, and recovery. 
 
 Sir John Jervis had now arrived to take the com- 
 mand of the Mediterranean fleet. The Agamemnon 
 having, as her captain said, been made as fit for sea 
 as a rotten ship could be, Nelson sailed from Leghorn, 
 and joined the admiral in Fiorenzo Bay. " I found 
 him," said he, " anxious to know many things, which 
 I was a good deal surprised to find had not been com- 
 municated to him by others in the fleet ; and it 
 would appear that he was so well satisfied with my 
 opinion of what is likely to happen, and the means of 
 prevention to be taken, that he had no reserve with 
 me respecting his information, and ideas of what is 
 likely to be done." The manner in which Nelson was 
 received is said to have excited some envy. One 
 captain observed to him : " You did just as you 
 pleased in Lord Hood's time, the same in Admiral 
 Hotham's, and now again with Sir John Jervis : it 
 makes no diflerence to you who is commander-in- 
 chief" A higher compliment could not have been 
 paid to any commander-in-chief than to say of him 
 that he understood the merits of Nelson, and left 
 him, as far as possible, to act upon his own judg- 
 ment. 
 
SIR J. JERVIS TAKES THE COMMAND. 95 
 
 Sir John Jervis offered him the St George, 90, or 
 the Zealous, 74, and asked if he should have any 
 objection to serve under him with his flag. He 
 rephed that if the Agavie^ninon were ordered home, 
 and his Hag were not arrived, he should, on many 
 accounts, wish to return to England ; still, if the war 
 continued, he should be very proud of hoisting his 
 flag under Sir John's command. " We cannot spare 
 you," said Sir John, "either as captain or admiral." 
 Accordingly, he resumed his station in the Gulf of 
 Genoa. The French had not followed up their suc- 
 cesses in that quarter with their usual celerity. 
 Scherer, who commanded there, was one of the few 
 French generals during the Revolution who owed 
 their advancement to other causes than merit: he 
 was a favourite of the Directory ; but for the present, 
 through the "influence of Barras, he was removed from 
 a command for which his incapacity was afterwards 
 clearly proved, and Buonaparte was appointed to 
 succeed him. Buonaparte had given indications of 
 his military talents at Toulon, and of his remorseless 
 nature at Paris ; but the extent either of his ability 
 or his wickedness was at this time knoAvn to none, 
 and perhaps not even suspected by himself 
 
 Nelson supposed, from the information which he 
 had obtained, that one column of the French army 
 would take possession of Port Especia, either pene- 
 trating through the Genoese territory, or proceeding 
 coastways in light vessels — our ships of war not being 
 able to approach the coast because of the shallowness 
 of the water. To prevent this, he said two things 
 were necessary — the possession of Yado Bay, and the 
 taking of Port Especia, If either of these points were 
 
96 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 secured, Italy would be safe from any attack of the 
 French by sea. General Beaulieu, who had now 
 superseded De Yins in the command of the alHed 
 Austrian and Sardinian army, sent his nephew and 
 aide-de-camp to communicate with Nelson, and 
 inquire whether he could anchor in any other place 
 than Yado Bay. Nelson replied that Vado was the 
 only place where the British fleet could lie in safety ; 
 but all places would suit his squadron, and wherever 
 the general came down to the sea-coast, there he 
 should find it. The Austrian repeatedly asked if 
 there was not a risk of losing the squadron, and was 
 constantly answered that if these ships should be lost 
 the admiral would find others. But all plans of 
 co-operation with the Austrians were soon frustrated 
 by the battle of Montenotte. Beauheu ordered an 
 attack to be made upon the post of Voltri; it was 
 made twelve hours before the time which he had 
 fixed, and before he arrived to direct it. In con- 
 sequence, the French were enabled to effect their 
 retreat, and fall back to Montenotte, thus giving the 
 troops there a decisive superiority in number over the 
 division which attacked them. This drew on the 
 defeat of the Austrians. Buonaparte, with a celerity 
 which had never before been witnessed in modem 
 war, pursued his advantages, and in the course of a 
 fortnight dictated to the Court of Turin terms of 
 peace, or rather of submission, by which all the 
 strongest places of Piedmont were put into his hands. 
 On one occasion, and only on one, Nelson was able 
 to impede the progress of this new conqueror. Six 
 vessels laden with cannon and ordnance stores for the 
 siege of Mantua sailed from Toulon for St. Pier 
 
BONAPARTE. 97 
 
 d'Arena. Assisted by Captain Cockburn, in the 
 
 Meleager, he drove tbem under a battery, pursued 
 
 them, silenced the batteries, and captured the whole. 
 
 Military books, plans, and maps of Italy, with the 
 
 different points marked upon them where former 
 
 battles had been fought, sent by the Directory for 
 
 Bonaparte's use, were found in the convoy. The 
 
 loss of this artillery was one of the chief causes which 
 
 compelled the French to raise the siege of Mantua ; 
 
 but there was too much treachery and too much 
 
 imbecility, both in the councils and armies of the 
 
 Allied Powers, for Austria to improve this momentary 
 
 success. Bonaparte perceived that the conquest of 
 
 all Italy was within his reach : treaties, and the rights 
 
 of neutral or of friendly Powers, were as little 
 
 regarded by him as by the Government for which he 
 
 acted : in open contempt of both he entered Tuscany, 
 
 and took possession of Leghorn. In consequence of 
 
 this movement Nelson blockaded that port, and 
 
 landed a British force in the isle of Elba to secure 
 
 Porto Ferrajo. Soon afterwards he took the island 
 
 of Capraja, which had formerly belonged to Corsica, 
 
 being less than forty miles distant from it — a distance, 
 
 however, short as it was, which enabled the Genoese 
 
 to retain it, after their infamous sale of Corsica to 
 
 France. Genoa had now taken part with France ; its 
 
 Government had long covertly assisted the French, 
 
 and now willingly yielded to the first compulsory 
 
 menace which requned them to exclude the English 
 
 from their ports. Capraja was seized in consequence; 
 
 but this act of vigour was not followed up as it ought 
 
 to have been. England at that time depended too 
 
 much upon the rotten governments of the Continent 
 
 H 
 
98 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 and too little upon itself. It was determined by the 
 British Cabinet to evacuate Corsica as soon as Spain 
 should form an offensive alliance with France. This 
 event, which, from the moment that Spain had been 
 compelled to make peace, was clearly foreseen, had 
 now taken place ; and orders for the evacuation of 
 the island were immediately sent out. It was 
 impolitic to annex this island to the British do- 
 minions ; but, having done so, it was disgraceful thus 
 to abandon it. The disgrace would have been spared, 
 and every advantage which could have been derived 
 from the possession of th& island secured, if the 
 people had at first been left to form a government for 
 themselves, and protected by us in the enjoyment 
 of their independence. 
 
 The viceroy, Sir Gilbert Elliot, deeply felt the im- 
 pohcy and ignominy of this evacuation. The fleet 
 also was ordered to leave the Mediterranean. This 
 resolution was so contrary to the last instructions 
 which had been received that Nelson exclaimed : 
 "Do his Majesty's Ministers know their own minds? 
 They at home," said he, " do not know what this fleet 
 is capable of performing — anything and everything. 
 Much as I shall rejoice to see England, I lament our 
 present orders in sackcloth and ashes, so dishonour- 
 able to the dignity of England, whose fleets are equal 
 to meet the world in arms ; and of all the fleets I ever 
 saw, I never beheld one, in point of officers and men, 
 equal to Sir John Jervis's, who is a commander-in- 
 chief able to lead them to glory." Sir Gilbert EUiot 
 beheved that the great body of the Corsicans were 
 perfectly satisfied, as they had good reason to be, with 
 the British Government, sensible of its advantages and 
 
EVACUATION OF CORSICA. 99 
 
 attached to it. However this may have been, when 
 they found that the EngUsh intended to evacuate 
 the island, they naturally and necessarily sent to 
 make their peace with the French.^ The partisans 
 of France found none to oj)pose them. A committee 
 of thirty took upon them the government of Bastia, 
 and sequestered all the British property ; armed 
 Corsicans mounted guard at every place; and a plan 
 was laid for seizing the viceroy. Nelson, who was 
 appointed to superintend the evacuation, frustrated 
 these projects. At a time when every one else de- 
 spaired of saving stores, cannon, provisions, or property 
 of any kind, and a privateer was moored across the 
 mole-head to prevent all boats from passing, he sent 
 word to the committee, that if the slightest opposition 
 were made to the embarkment and removal of British 
 property he would batter the town down. The priva- 
 teer pointed her guns at the officer who carried this 
 message, and muskets were levelled against his boats 
 from the mole-head. Upon this, Captain Sutton, of 
 the Egmont, pulling out his watch, gave them a 
 quarter of an hour to deliberate upon their answer. 
 In five minutes after the expiration of that time the 
 ships, he said, would open their fire. Upon this the 
 very sentinels scampered off, and every vessel came 
 out of the mole. A ship-owner complained to the 
 commodore that the municipality refused to let him 
 take his goods out of the Custom House. Nelson 
 directed him to say that unless they were instantly 
 delivered he would open his fire. The committee 
 turned pale, and without answering a word gave him 
 the keys. Their last attempt was to levy a duty upon 
 the things that were re-embarked. He sent them 
 K 2 
 
100 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 word that lie would pay them a disagreeable visit if 
 there were any more complaints. The committee 
 then finding that they had to deal with a man who 
 knew his own power, and was determined to make 
 the British name respected, desisted from the insolent 
 conduct which they had assumed, and it was 
 acknowledged that Bastia never had been so quiet 
 and orderly since the English were in possession of it. 
 This was on the 14th of October; during the five 
 following days the work of embarkation was carried 
 on, the private property was saved, and public stores 
 to the amount of £200,000. The French, favoured by 
 the Spanish fleet, which was at that time within 
 twelve leagues of Bastia, pushed over troops from 
 Leghorn, who landed near Cape Corse on the 18th, 
 and on the 20th, at one in the morning, entered the 
 citadel, an hour only after the British had spiked the 
 guns and evacuated it. Nelson embarked at day- 
 break, being the last person who left the shore ; 
 having thus, as he said, seen the first and the last of 
 Corsica. Provoked at the conduct of the munici- 
 paHty, and the disposition which the populace had 
 shown to profit by the confusion, he turned towards 
 the shore, as he stepped into his boat, and exclaimed : 
 " Now, John Corse, follow the natural bent of your 
 detestable character — plunder and revenge." This, 
 however, was not Nelson's deliberate opinion of the 
 people of Corsica ; he knew that their vices were the 
 natural consequences of internal anarchy and foreign 
 oppression, such as the same causes would produce in 
 *iy people ; and when he saw that of all those who 
 took leave of th(j viceroy, there was not one who parted 
 from him wiihout tears, he acknowledged that they 
 
DON JACOBO STUART. 101 
 
 manifestly acted, not from dislike of the English, but 
 from fear of the French. England, then, might mth 
 more reason reproach her own rulers for pusillan- 
 imity than the Corsicans for ingratitude. 
 
 Having thus ably effected this humiliating service,- 
 Nelson was ordered to hoist his broad pennant on 
 board the Minerve frigate, Captain George Cockburn, 
 and, with the Blanche under his command, proceed 
 to Porto Ferrajo, and superintend the evacuation of 
 that place also. On his way he fell in with two 
 Spanish frigates, the Sabina and the Ceres. The 
 Minerve engaged the former, which was commanded 
 by Don Jacobo Stuart, a descendant of the Duke of 
 Berwick. After an action of three hours, during 
 which the Spaniards lost 164 men, the Sabina struck. 
 The Spanish captain, who was the only surviving 
 officer, had hardly been conveyed on board the 
 Minerve, when another enemy's frigate came up, com- 
 pelled her to cast off the prize, and brought her a 
 second time to action. After half an hour's trial of 
 strength this new antagonist wore and hauled off; 
 but a Spanish squadron of two ships of the line and 
 two frigates came in sight. The Blanche, from which 
 the Ceres had got off, was far to windward, and the 
 Minerve escaped only by the anxiety of the enemy to 
 recover their own ship. As soon as Nelson reached 
 Porto Ferrajo he sent his prisoner in a flag of truce 
 to Carthagena, having returned him his sword, this 
 he did in honour of the gallantry which Don Jacobo 
 had displayed, and not without some feeling of respect 
 for his ancestry. " I felt it," said he, " consonant to 
 the dignity of my country, and I always act as I feel 
 right, without regard to custom ; he was reputed the 
 
102 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 best officer in Spain, and his men were worthy of such 
 a commander." By the same flag of truce he sent 
 back all the Spanish prisoners at Porto Ferrajo, in 
 exchange for whom he received his own men who had 
 ^been taken in the prize. 
 
 General de Burgh, who commanded at the isle of 
 Elba, did not think himself authorised to abandon 
 the place till he had received specific instructions 
 from England to that effect, professing that he was 
 unable to decide between the contradictory orders of 
 Government, or to guess at what their present inten- 
 tions might be; but he said his only motive for 
 urging delay in this measure arose from a desire that 
 his own conduct might be properly sanctioned, not 
 from any opinion that Porto Ferrajo ought to be 
 retained. But Naples having made peace, Sir John 
 Jervis considered his business with Italy as con- 
 cluded, and the protection of Portugal was the point 
 to which he was now instructed to attend. Nelson, 
 therefore, whose orders were perfectly clear and ex- 
 plicit, withdrew the whole naval establishment from 
 that station, leaving the transports victualled, and 
 so arranged that all the troops and stores could be 
 embarked in three days. He was now about to leave 
 the Mediterranean. Mr. Drake, who had been our 
 Minister at Genoa, expressed to him on this occasion 
 the very high opinion which the Allies entertained of 
 his conspicuous merit, adding that it was impossible 
 for any one who had the honour of co-operating with 
 him not to admire the activity, talents, and zeal, 
 which he had so eminently and constantly displayed. 
 In fact, during this long course of services, in the 
 Mediterranean the whole of his conduct had ex- 
 
SAILS FOR GIBRALTAR. 103 
 
 hibited the same zeal, the same indefatigable^ energy, 
 the same intuitive judgment, the same prompt and 
 unerring decision, which characterised his after-career 
 of glory. His name was as yet hardly known to 
 the English public, but it was feared and respected 
 throughout Italy. A letter came to him directed 
 " Horatio Nelson, Genoa ; " and the writer, when he 
 was asked how he could direct it so vaguely, replied, 
 " Sir, there is but one Horatio Nelson in the world." 
 At Genoa in particular, where he had so long been 
 stationed, and where the nature of his duty first led 
 him to continual disputes with the Government, and 
 afterwards compelled him to stop the trade of the 
 port, he was equally respected by the Doge and by 
 the people ; for, while he maintained the rights and 
 interests of Great Britain with becoming firmness, he 
 tempered the exercise of power with courtesy and 
 humanity wherever duty would permit. " Had all 
 my actions," said he, writing at this time to his wife, 
 " been gazetted, not one fortnight would have passed 
 during the whole war without a letter from me. One 
 day or other I will have a long gazette to myself. I 
 feel that such an opportunity will be given me. I 
 cannot, if I am in the field of glory, be kept out of 
 sight; wherever there is anything to be done, there 
 Providence is sure to direct my steps." 
 
 These hopes and anticipations were soon to be 
 fulfilled. Nelson's mind had long been irritated and 
 depressed by the fear that a general action would 
 take place before he could join the fleet. At length 
 he sailed from Porto Ferrajo with a convoy for 
 Gibraltar, and, having reached that place, proceeded 
 to the westward in search of the admiral. Off the 
 
104 LIFE OF NLLSON. 
 
 mouth of the Straits he fell in with the Spanish 
 fleet; and on the 13th of February, reaching the 
 station oft' Cape St. Vincent, communicated this in- 
 telligence to Sir John Jervis. He was now directed 
 to shift his broad pennant on board the Captain, 74, 
 Captain R W. Miller ; and before sunset the signal 
 was made to prepare for action, and to keep during 
 the night in close order. At daybreak the enemy 
 were m sight. The British force consisted of two 
 ships of 100 guns, two of 98, two of 90, eight of 74, 
 and one 64 — fifteen of the line in all, with four 
 frigates, a sloop, and a cutter. The Spaniards had 
 one four-decker of 136 guns, six three-deckers of 
 112, two 84's, eighteen 74's — in all, twenty-seven 
 ships of the hne, with ten frigates and a brig. Their 
 admiral, Don Joseph de Cordova, had learnt from an 
 American, on the 5th, that the English had only nine 
 ships, which was indeed the case when his informer 
 had seen them, for a reinforcement of ^yq ships 
 from England, under Admiral Parker, had not then 
 joined, and the Gidloden had parted company. Upon 
 this information the Spanish commander, instead of 
 going into Cadiz, as was his intention when he sailed 
 from Carthagena, determined to seek an enemy so 
 inferior in force; and relying with fatal confidence 
 upon the American account, he suffered his ships to 
 remain too far dispersed, and in some disorder. When 
 the morning of the 14th broke and discovered the 
 English fleet, a fog for some time concealed their 
 number. The look-out ship of the Spaniards, fancy- 
 ing that her signal was disregarded, because so Httle 
 notice seemed to be taken of it, made another signal 
 that the English force consisted of forty sail of the 
 
BATTLE OF CAPE ST. VINCENT. 105 
 
 line. The captain afterwards said he did this to 
 rouse the admiral ; it had the effect of perplexing 
 hiui, and alarming the whole fleet. The absurdity 
 of such an act shows what was the state of the 
 Spanish navy under that miserable Government by 
 which Spain was so long oppressed and degraded, and 
 finally betrayed. In reality, the general incapacity 
 of the naval officers was so well known, that in a 
 pasquinade which about this time appeared at 
 Madrid, wherein the different orders of the State 
 were advertised for sale, the greater part of the sea 
 officers, with all their equipments, were offered as a 
 gift ; and it was added that any person who would 
 please to take them should receive a handsome 
 gratuity. 
 
 Before the enemy could form a regular order of 
 battle, Sir J. Jervis, by carrying a press of sail, came 
 up with them, passed through their fleet, then tacked, 
 and thus cut off nine of their ships from the main 
 body. These ships attempted to form on the larboard 
 tack, either with a design of passing through the 
 British line, or to leeward of it, and thus rejoining 
 their friends. Only one of them succeeded in this 
 attempt, and that only because she was so covered 
 with smoke that her intention was not discovered till 
 she had reached the rear ; the others were so warmly 
 received that they put about, took to flight, and did 
 not appear again in the action till its close. The 
 admiral was now able to direct his attention to the 
 enemy's main body, which was still superior in 
 number to his whole fleet, and more so in weight of 
 metal. He made signal to tack in succession. Nelson, 
 whose station was in the rear of the British line. 
 
106 LIFK OF NELSON. 
 
 perceived that the Spaniards were bearing up before 
 the wind with an intention of forming their hne, going 
 large, and joining their separated ships, or else of 
 getting off without an engagement. To prevent 
 either of these schemes he disobeyed the signal 
 without a jnoment's hesitation, and ordered his ship 
 to be wore. This at once brought him into action with 
 the Santissinia Trinidad, 136 ; the San Josef, 112 ; 
 the Salvador del Mundo, 112 ; the San Nicolas, 80 ; 
 the San Isidro, 74 ; another 74, and another first-rate. 
 Trowbridge, in the Ctdloden, immediately joined, and 
 most nobly supported him ; and for nearly an hour 
 did the Culloden and Captain maintain what Nelson 
 called "this apparently but not really unequal con- 
 test " — such was the advantage of skill and discipline 
 and the confidence which brave men derive from 
 them. The Blenheim then passing between them 
 and the enemy, gave them a respite, and poured in 
 her fire upon the Spaniards. The Salvador del 
 Mundo and S. Isidro dropped astern, and were fired 
 into in a masterly style by the Excellent, Captain 
 Collingwood. The S. Isidro struck, and Nelson 
 thought that the Salvador struck also ; " But Col- 
 lingwood," says he, " disdaining the parade of taking 
 possession of beaten enemies, most gallantly pushed 
 up, with every sail set, to save his old friend and 
 messmate, who was, to every appearance, in a critical 
 situation ; " for the Captain was at this time actually 
 fired upon by three first-rates, by the S. Nicolas, and 
 by a 74 within about pistol-shot of that vessel. The 
 Blenheim was ahead, the Culloden crippled and astern. 
 Collingwood ranged up, and hauling up his mainsail 
 just astern passed within ten feet of the S. Nicolas, 
 
BATTLE OF CAPE ST. VINCENT, 107 
 
 giving her a most tremendous lire ; then passed on for 
 the Santissivia Trinidad. The S. Nicolas kiffing up, 
 the S. Josef fell on board her, and Nelson resumed 
 his station abreast of them, and close alongside. The 
 Captain was now incapable of further service, either 
 in the line or in chase : she had lost her fore-topmast ; 
 not a sail, shroud, or rope was left ; and her wheel was 
 shot away. Nelson therefore directed Captain Miller 
 to put tlie helm a-starboard, and, calhng for the 
 boarders, ordered them to board. 
 
 Captain Berry, who had lately been Nelson's first 
 lieutenant, was the first man who leaped into the 
 enemy's mizen-chains. Miller, when in the very act 
 of going, was ordered by Nelson to remain. Berry 
 was supported from the spritsailyard, which locked 
 in the S. Nicolas s main rigging. A soldier of the 
 69th broke the upper quarter-gallery window and 
 jumped in, followed by the commodore himself, and 
 by others as fast as possible. The cabin doors were 
 fastened, and the Spanish officers fired their pistols 
 at them through the window; the doors were soon 
 forced, and the Spanish brigadier fell while retreating 
 to the quarter-deck Nelson pushed on, and found 
 Berry in possession of the poop, and the Spanish 
 ensign hauHng down. He passed on to the fore- 
 castle, where he met two or three Spanish officers, 
 and received their swords. The English were now 
 in full possession of every part of the ship ; and a 
 fire of pistols and musketry opened upon them from 
 the admiral's stern gallery of the San Josef. Nelson 
 having placed sentinels at the different ladders, and 
 ordered Captain Miller to send more men into the 
 prize, gave orders for boarding that ship from the 
 
108 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 San Nicolas, It was done in an instant, he him- 
 self leading the way, and exclaiming — "Westminster 
 Abbey or victory ! " Berry assisted him into the 
 main-chains, and at that moment a Spanish officer 
 looked over the quarterdeck-rail and said they 
 surrendered. It was not long before he was on the 
 quarterdeck, where the Spanish captain presented 
 to him his sword, and told him the admiral was 
 below, dying of his wounds. There, on the quarter- 
 deck of an enemy's first-rate, he received the swords 
 of the officers ; giving them, as they were deUvered, 
 one by one to William Fearney, one of his old 
 Agamevmons, who with the utmost coolness put 
 them under his arm. One of his sailors came up, 
 and with an Englishman's feeling took him by the 
 hand, saying he might not soon have such another 
 place to do it in, and he was heartily glad to see him 
 there. Twenty-four of the Captain's men were killed, 
 and fifty-six wounded — a fourth part of the loss sus- 
 tained by the whole squadron falHng upon this ship. 
 Nelson received only a few bruises. 
 
 The Spaniards had still eighteen or nineteen ships 
 which had suffered httle or no injury ; that part of 
 the fleet which had been separated from the main 
 body in the morning was now coming up, and Sir 
 John Jervis made signal to bring-to. His ships 
 could not have formed without abandoning those 
 which they had captured, and running to leeward. 
 The Captain was lying a perfect wreck on board her 
 two prizes, and many of the other vessels were so 
 shattered in their masts and rigging as to be wholly 
 unmanageable. The Spanish admiral meantime, 
 according to his official account, being altogether 
 
BATTLE OF CAPE ST. VINCENT. 109 
 
 undecided in his own opinion respecting the state of 
 the fleet, inquired of his captains whether it was 
 proper to renew the action: nine of them answered 
 expHcitly that it was not ; others rephed that it was 
 expedient to delay the business. The Pelayo and the 
 Principe Conquistador were the only ships that were 
 for fighting. 
 
 As soon as the action was discontinued, Nelson 
 went on board the admiral's ship. Sir John Jervis 
 received him on the quarter-deck, took him in his 
 arms, and said he could not sufficiently thank him. 
 For this victory the commander-in-chief was re- 
 warded with the title of Earl St. Vincent."^ Nelson, 
 
 * In the ofiScial letter of Sir John Jervis, Nelson was not mentioned. 
 It is said that the admiral had seen an instance of the ill consequence of 
 such selections after Lord Howe's victory, and therefore would not name 
 any individual, thinking it proper to speak to the public only in terms of 
 general approbation. His private letter to the First Lord of the Admir- 
 alty was, with his consent, published, for the first time, in a " Life of 
 Nelson " by Mr. Harrison. Here it is said that *' Commodore Nelson, 
 who was in the rear, on the starboard tack, took the lead on the larboard, 
 and contributed very much to the fortune of the day." It is also said 
 that he boarded the two Spanish ships successively ; but the fact that 
 Nelson wore without orders, and thus planned as well as accomplished 
 the victory, is not explicitly stated. Perhaps it was thought proper to 
 pass over this part of his conduct in silence, as a splendid fault ; but such 
 an example is not dangerous. The author of the work in which this 
 letter was first made public protests against those over-zealous friends 
 "who would make the action rather apjDear as Nelson's battle than that 
 of the illustrious commander-in-chief, who derives from it so deservedly 
 his title. No man," he says, "ever less needed, or less desired, to strip 
 a single leaf from the honoured wreath of any other hero, with the vain 
 hope of augmenting his own, than the immortal Nelson ; no man ever 
 more merited the whole of that which a generous nation unanimously 
 presented to Sir J. Jervis than the Earl of St. Vincent." Certainly Earl 
 St. Vincent well deserved the reward which he received ; but it is not 
 detracting from his merit to say that Nelson is fully entitled to r.s much 
 fame from this action as the commander-in-chief ; not because the brunt 
 of the action fell upon him, not because he was engaged with all the four 
 
110 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 who before the action was known in England had 
 been advanced to the rank of rear-admiral, had the 
 Order of the Bath given him. The sword of the 
 Spanish rear-admiral, which Sir John Jervis insisted 
 upon his keeping, he presented to the Mayor and 
 Corporation of Norwich, saying that he knew no place 
 where it conld give him or his family more pleasure 
 to have it kept than in the capital city of the county 
 where he was bom. The freedom of that city was 
 voted him on this occasion. But of all the numerous 
 congratulations which he received, none could have 
 affected him with deeper delight than that which 
 came from his venerable father. " I thank my God," 
 said this excellent man, "with all the power of a 
 grateful soul, for the mercies He has most graciously 
 bestowed on me in preserving you. Not only my few 
 acquaintance here, but the people in general, met me 
 at every corner with such handsome words that I 
 was obhged to retire from the public eye. The height 
 of glory to which your professional judgment, united 
 with a proper degree of bravery, guarded by Provi- 
 dence, has raised you, few sons, my dear child, attain 
 to, and fewer fathers Uve to see. Tears of joy have in- 
 voluntarily trickled down my furrowed cheeks. Who 
 could stand the force of such general congratulation ? 
 
 ships which were taken, and took two of them, it may almost be said, 
 with his own hand ; but because the decisive movement which enabled 
 him to perform all this, and by which the action became a victory, was 
 executed in neglect of orders, upon his own judgment, and at his peril. 
 Earl St. Vincent deserved his earldom ; but it is not to the honour of 
 those by whom titles were distributed in those days that Nelson never 
 obtained the rank of earl for either of those victories which he lived to 
 enjoy, though the one was the most complete and glorious in the annals 
 of naval history, and the other the most important in its consequences of 
 any which was achieved during the whole war 
 
BEAR ADMIRAL. Ill 
 
 The name and services of Nelson have sounded 
 throughout this city of Bath — from the common 
 ballad singer to the public theatre." The good old 
 man concluded by telhng him that the field of glory, 
 in which he had so long been conspicuous, was still 
 open, and by giving him his blessing. 
 
 Sir Horatio, who had now hoisted his flag as rear- 
 admiral of the blue, was sent to bring away the troops 
 from Porto Ferrajo ; having performed this, he shifted 
 his flag to the Theseus. That ship had taken part in 
 the mutiny in England, and being just arrived from 
 home, some danger was apprehended from the temper 
 of the men. This was one reason why Nelson was re- 
 moved to her. He had not been on board many weeks 
 before a paper, signed in the name of all the ship's 
 company, was dropped on the quarter-deck, containing 
 these words : " Success attend Admiral Nelson ! God 
 bless Captain Miller ! We thank them for the officers 
 they have placed over us. We are happy and comfort- 
 able ; and will shed every drop of blood in our veins 
 to support them — and the name of the Theseus shall 
 be immortalised as high as her captain's." Wherever 
 Nelson commanded, the men soon became attached to 
 him — in ten days' time he would have restored the 
 most mutinous ship in the navy to order. Whenever 
 an officer fails to win the affections of those who are 
 under his command, he may be assured that the fault 
 is chiefly in himself. 
 
 While Sir Horatio was in the Theseus he was em- 
 ployed in the command of the inner squadron at the 
 blockade of Cadiz. During this service the most peril- 
 ous action occurred in which he was ever engaged. 
 Making a night attack upon the Spanish gun-boats. 
 
112 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 his barge was attacked by an armed launch under 
 their commander, Don Miguel Tregoyen, carrying 
 twenty-six men. Nelson had with him only his ten 
 barge-men, Captain Freemantlq, and his coxswain, 
 John Sykes, an old and faithful follower, who twice 
 saved the Hfe of his admiral by parrying the blows 
 that were aimed at him, and at last actually inter- 
 posed his own head to receive the blow of a Spanish 
 sabre, which he could not by any other means avert ; 
 thus dearly was Nelson beloved. This was a desper- 
 ate service — hand to hand with swords : and Nelson 
 always considered that his personal courage was more 
 conspicuous on this occasion than on any other during 
 his whole life. Notwithstanding the great dispropor- 
 tion of numbers, eighteen of the enemy were killed, 
 all the rest wounded, and their launch taken. Nelson 
 would have asked for a lieutenancy for Sykes, if he 
 had served long enough : his manner and conduct, 
 he observed, were so entirely above his situation that 
 Nature certainly intended him for a gentleman ; but 
 though he recovered from the dangerous wound which 
 he received in this act of heroic attachment, he did 
 not live to profit by the gratitude and friendship of 
 his commander. 
 
 Twelve days after this rencontre Nelson sailed at 
 the head of an expedition against Teneriffe. A report 
 had prevailed a few months before that the viceroy 
 of Mexico, with the treasure-ships, had put into that 
 island. This had led Nelson to meditate the plan of 
 an attack upon it, which he communicated to Earl 
 St. Vincent. He was perfectly aware of the difficulties 
 of the attempt. " I do not," said he, " reckon myself 
 e|ual to Blake ; but, if I recollect right, he was more 
 
EXPEDITION AGAINST lENERXFFE. 113 
 
 obliged to the wind coming off the land than to any 
 exertions of his own. The approach by sea to the 
 anchoring-place is under very high land, passing three 
 valleys ; therefore the wind is either in from the sea, 
 or squally with calms from the mountains ; " and he 
 perceived that if the Spanish ships were won, the 
 object would still be frustrated if the wind did not 
 come off shore. The land force, he thought, would 
 render success certain ; and there were the troops from 
 Elba, with all necessary stores and artillery, already 
 embarked. *'But here," said he, "soldiers must be 
 consulted ; and I know, from experience, they have 
 not the same boldness in undertaking a political 
 measure that we have. We look to the benefit of our 
 country, and risk our own fame every day to serve her 
 — a soldier obeys his orders, and no more." Nelson's 
 experience at Corsica justified him in this harsh opinion 
 — he did not live to see the glorious days of the British 
 army under Wellington. The army from Elba, con- 
 sisting of 3,700 men, would do the business, he said, in 
 three days, probably in much less time ; and he would 
 undertake, with a very small squadron, to perform 
 the naval part ; for though the shore was not easy of 
 access, the transports might run in and land the 
 troops in one day. 
 
 The report concerning the viceroy was unfounded, 
 but a homeward-bound Manilla ship put into Santa 
 Cruz at this time, and the expedition was determined 
 upon. It was not fitted out upon the scale which 
 Nelson had proposed. Four ships of the line, three 
 frigates, and the Fox cubter, formed the squadron ; 
 and he was allowed to choose such ships and officers 
 
 T 
 
114 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 as he thought proper. No troops were embarked, 
 the seamen and marines of the squadron being 
 thought sufficient. His orders were to make a 
 vigorous attack, but on no account to land in person, 
 unless his presence should be absolutely necessary. 
 The plan was that the boats should land in the night 
 between the fort on the N.E. side of Santa Cruz bay 
 and the town, make themselves masters of that fort, 
 and then send a summons to the governor. By mid- 
 night the three frigates, having the force on board 
 which was intended for this debarkation, approached 
 within three miles of the place ; but owing to a 
 strong gale of wind in the offing, and a strong current 
 against them inshore, they were not able to get within 
 a mile of the landing-place before daybreak; and 
 then they were seen and their intention discovered. 
 Trowbridge and Bo wen, Avith Captain Oldfield of the 
 marines, went upon this to consult with the admiral 
 what was to be done ; and it was resolved that they 
 should attempt to get possession of the heights above 
 the fort. The frigates accordingly landed their men, 
 and Nelson stood in with the line-of-battle ships, 
 meaning to batter the fort for the purpose of dis- 
 tracting the attention of the garrison. A calm and 
 contrary currents hindered him from getting within 
 a league of the shore ; and the heights were by this 
 time so secured, and manned with such a force, as to 
 be judged impracticable. Thus foiled in his plans by 
 circumstances of wind and tide, he still considered it 
 a point of honour that some attempt should be made. 
 This was on the 22nd of July ; he re-embarked his 
 men that night, got the ships on the 24th to anchor 
 about two miles north of the town, and made show 
 
EXPEDITION AGAINST TENERIFIE. 115 
 
 as if he intended to attack the heights. At six in the 
 evening signal was made for the boats to prepare to 
 proceed on service as previously ordered. 
 
 When this was done Nelson addressed a letter 
 to the commander-in-chief — the last which was ever 
 written with his right hand. " I shall not," said he, 
 " enter on the subject why we are not in possession of 
 Santa Cruz. Your partiality will give credit that all 
 has hitherto been done which was possible, but with- 
 out effect. This night I, humble as I am, command 
 the whole destined to land under the batteries of 
 the town ; and to-morrow my head will probably be 
 crowned either with laurel or cypress. I have only 
 to recommend Josiah Nisbet to you and my country. 
 The Duke of Clarence, should I fall, will, I am 
 confident, take a Hvely interest for my son-in-law, 
 on his name being mentioned." Perfectly aware how 
 desperate a service this was hkely to prove, before he 
 left the Theseus he called Lieutenant Nisbet, who had 
 the watch on deck, into the cabin, that he might 
 assist in arranging and burning his mother's letters. 
 Perceiving that the young man was armed, he 
 earnestly begged him to remain behind. " Should 
 we both fall, Josiah," said he, "what would become 
 of your poor mother ? The care of the Theseus falls 
 to you; stay, therefore, and take charge of her." 
 Nisbet rephed : " Sir, the ship must take care of 
 herself; I will go with you to-night, if I never go 
 again." 
 
 He met his captains at supper on board the Sea- 
 horse, Captain Freemantle, whose wife, whom he had 
 lately married in the Mediterranean, presided at table. 
 At eleven o'clock the boats, containing between 600 
 I 2 
 
116 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 and 700 men, with 180 on board the Fox cutter, and 
 from 70 to 80 in a boat which had been taken the 
 day before, proceeded in six divisions towards the 
 town, conducted by all the captains of the squadron, 
 except Freemantle and Bowen, who attended with 
 Nelson to regulate and lead the way to the attack. 
 They were to land on the mole, and thence hasten, 
 as fast as possible, into the great square ; then form, 
 and proceed as should be found expedient. They 
 were not discovered till about half-past one o'clock, 
 when, being within half gun-shot of the landing-place, 
 Nelson directed the boats to cast off from each other, 
 give a huzza, and push for the shore. But the 
 Spaniards were excellently well prepared ; the alarm- 
 bells answered the huzza, and a fire of thirty or forty 
 pieces of cannon, with musketry from one end of the 
 town to the other, opened upon the invaders. Nothing, 
 however, could check the intrepidity with which they 
 advanced. The night was exceedingly dark ; most 
 of the boats missed the mole, and went on shore 
 through a raging surf, which stove all to the left of 
 it. The Admiral, Freemantle, Thompson, Bowen, 
 and four or five other boats, found the mole ; they 
 stormed it instantly and carried it, though it was 
 defended, as they imagined, by four or five hundred 
 men. Its guns, Avhich were six-and-twenty pounders, 
 were spiked ; but such a heavy fire of musketry and 
 grape was kept up from the citadel and the houses 
 at the head of the mole that the assailants could 
 not advance, and nearly all of them were killed or 
 wounded. 
 
 In the act of stepping out of the boat Nelson 
 received a shot through the right elbow, and fell ; 
 
NELSON LOSES HIS BiaHT ARM. 117 
 
 but as he fell he caught the sword, which he had 
 just drawn, in his left hand, determined never to part 
 with it while he lived, for it had belonged to his 
 uncle, Captain Suckling, and he valued it like a relic. 
 Nisbet, who was close to him, placed him at the 
 bottom of the boat, and laid his hat over the shattered 
 arm, lest the sight of the blood, which gushed out in 
 great abundance, should increase his faintness. He 
 then examined the wound, and taking some silk 
 handkerchiefs from his neck bound them round 
 tight above the lacerated vessels. Had it not been 
 for this presence of mind in his son-in-law Nelson 
 must have perished. One of his bargemen, by name 
 Level, tore his shirt into shreds, and made a sling 
 with them for the broken limb. They then collected 
 ^YQ other seamen, by whose assistance they succeeded 
 at length in getting the boat afloat ; for it had 
 grounded with the falling tide. Nisbet took one of 
 the oars, and ordered the steersman to go close under 
 the guns of the battery, that they might be safe from 
 its tremendous fire. Hearing his voice, Nelson roused 
 himself, and desired to be lifted up in the boat, that 
 he might look about him. Nisbet raised him up ; 
 but nothing could be seen except the firing of the 
 guns on shore and what could be discerned by their 
 flashes upon the stormy sea. In a few minutes a 
 general shriek was heard from the crew of the Fox, 
 Avhich had received a shot under water, and went 
 down. Ninety-seven men were lost in her; eighty- 
 three were saved, many by Nelson himself, whose 
 exertions on this occasion greatly increased the pain 
 and danger of his wound. The first ship which the 
 boat could reach happened to be the Seah<rri<e ; but 
 
118 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 nothing could induce him to go on board, though he 
 was assured that if they attempted to row to another 
 ship it might be at the risk of his hfe. " I had rather 
 suffer death," he repUed, " than alarm Mrs. Freemantle 
 by letting her see me in this state, when I can give 
 her no tidings whatever of her husband." They pushed 
 on for the Theseus. When they came alongside he 
 peremptorily refused all assistance in getting on board, 
 so impatient was he that the boat should return, in 
 hopes that it might save a few more from the Fox. 
 He desired to have only a single rope thrown over the 
 side, which he twisted round his left hand, saying, 
 " Let me alone : I have yet my legs left, and one arm. 
 Tell the surgeon to make haste, and get his instru- 
 ments. - I know I must lose my right arm ; so the 
 sooner it is off the better.""^ The spirit which he 
 displayed in jumping up the ship's side astonished 
 everybody. 
 
 Freemantle had been severely wounded in the 
 right arm soon after the admiral. He was fortunate 
 enough to find a boat at the beach, and got instantly 
 to his ship. Thompson was wounded ; Bowen killed, 
 to the great regret of Nelson ; as was also one of 
 his own officers. Lieutenant Weatherhead, who had 
 followed him from the AgameTiinon, and whom he 
 
 * During the peace of Amiens, when Nelson was passing through 
 Salisbury, and received there with those acclamations which followed 
 him everywhere, he recognised, amid the crowd, a man who had assisted 
 at the amputation, and attended him afterwards. He beckoned him up 
 the stairs of the Council House, shook hands with him, and made him a 
 present, in remembrance of his services at that time. The man took 
 from his bosom a piece of lace, which he had torn from the sleeve of the 
 amputated limb, saying he had preserved and would preserve it to the 
 last moment, in memory of his old commander. 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE. 110 
 
 greatly and deservedly esteemed. Trowbridge mean- 
 time, fortunately for his party, missed the mole in the 
 darkness, but pushed on shore under the batteries, 
 close to the south end of the citadel. Cap tarn Waller 
 of the Emerald, and two or three other boats, landed 
 at the same time. The surf was so high that many 
 others put back. The boats were instantly filled 
 with water, and stove against the rocks ; and most 
 of the ammunition in the men's pouches was wetted. 
 Having collected a few men, they pushed on to the 
 great square, hoping there to find the admiral and 
 the rest of the force. The ladders were all lost, so 
 that they could make no immediate attempt on the 
 citadel ; but they sent a sergeant, with two of the 
 town's people, to summon it ; this messenger never 
 returned ; and Trowbridge, having waited about an 
 hour in painful expectation of his friends, marched 
 to join Captains Hood and Miller, who had effected 
 their landing to the south-west. They then endea- 
 voured to procure some intelligence of the admiral 
 and the rest of the officers, but without success. By 
 daybreak they had gathered together about 80 
 marines, 80 pikemen, and 180 small- arm seamen — 
 all the survivors of those who had made good their 
 landing. They obtained some ammunition from the 
 prisoners whom they had taken ; and marched on to 
 try what could be done at the citadel without ladders. 
 They found all the streets commanded by field-pieces, 
 and several thousand Spaniards, with about a hundred 
 French, under arms, approaching by every avenue. 
 Finding himself without provisions, their powder wet, 
 and no possibility of obtaining either stores or re- 
 inforcements from the ships, the boats being lost, 
 
.'•'^i'K"- 
 
 120 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 Trowbridge, with great presence of mind, sent Captain 
 Samuel Hood with a flag of truce to the governor, to 
 say he was prepared to burn the town, and would 
 instantly set fire to it if the Spaniards approached 
 one inch nearer. This, however, if he were compelled 
 to do it, he should do with regret, for he had no wish 
 to injure the inhabitants, and he was ready to treat 
 upon these terms — that the British troops should re- 
 embark, with all their arms of every kind, and take 
 their own boats, if they were saved, or be provided 
 with such others as might be wanting, they, on their 
 part, engaging that the squadron should not molest 
 the town, nor any of the Canary Islands ; all prisoners 
 on both sides to be given up. When these terms 
 were proposed, the governor made answer that the 
 English ought to surrender as prisoners of war ; but 
 Captain Hood replied he was instructed to say that 
 if the terms were not accepted in five minutes Captain 
 Trowbridge would set the town on fire, and attack the 
 Spaniards at the point of the bayonet. Satisfied with 
 his success, which was indeed sufficiently complete, 
 and respecting, like a brave and honourable man, the 
 gallantry of his enemy, the Spaniard acceded to the 
 proposal. " And here," says Nelson in his journal, 
 " it is right we should notice the noble and generous 
 conduct of Don Juan Antonio Gutierrez, the Spanish 
 governor. The moment the terms were agreed to, 
 he directed our wounded men to be received into the 
 hospitals, and all our people to be supplied with the 
 best provisions that could be procured ; and made it 
 known that the ships were at liberty to send on shore 
 and purchase whatever refreshments they were in 
 want of during the time they might be ofl" the island.' 
 
RESULTS OF THE BATTLE. 121 
 
 A youth, by name Don Bernardo Collagon, stripped 
 himself of his shirt to make bandages for one of those 
 Englishmen against whom, not an hour before, he 
 had been engaged in battle. Nelson wrote to thank 
 the governor for the humanity which he had dis- 
 played. Presents were interchanged between them. 
 Sir Horatio offered to take charge of his despatches 
 for the Spanish Government, and thus actually be- 
 came the first messenger to Spain of his own defeat. 
 
 The total loss of the English in killed, wounded, 
 and drowned amounted to 250. Nelson made no 
 mention of his own wound in his official despatches ; 
 but in a private letter to Lord St. Vincent — the first 
 which he wrote with his left hand — he shows himself 
 to have been deeply affected by the failure of this 
 enterprise. " I am become," he said, " a burthen to 
 my friends, and useless to my country ; but by my 
 last letter you will perceive my anxiety for the pro- 
 motion of my son-in-law, Josiah Nisbet. When I 
 leave your command I become dead to the world — 
 ' I go hence, and am no more seen.' If from poor 
 Bowen's loss you think it proper to obhge me, I rest 
 confident you will do it. The boy is under obligations 
 to me ; but he repaid me by bringing me from the 
 mole of Santa Cruz. I hope you will be able to give 
 me a frigate to convey the remains of my carcase to 
 England." — " A left-handed admiral," he said in a 
 subsequent letter, " will never again be considered as 
 useful ; therefore the sooner I get to a very humble 
 cottage the better, and make room for a sounder man 
 to serve the State." His first letter to Lady Nelson 
 was written under the same opinion, but in a more 
 cheerful strain. " It was the chance of war," said he, 
 
122 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 " and I have great reason to be thankful ; and I know 
 it will add much to your pleasure to find that Josiah, 
 under God's providence, was principally instrumental 
 in saving my life. I shall not be surprised if I am 
 neglected and forgotten ; probably I shall no longer 
 be considered as useful ; however, I shall feel rich if I 
 continue to enjoy your affection. I beg neither you 
 nor my father will think much of this mishap — my 
 mind has long been made up to such an event." 
 
 His son-in-law, according to his wish, was imme- 
 diately promoted; and honours enough to heal his 
 wounded spirit awaited him in England. Letters were 
 addressed to him by the First Lord of the Admiralty, 
 and by his steady friend the Duke of Clarence, to 
 congratulate him on his return, covered as he was 
 with glory. He assured the duke in his reply that 
 not a scrap of that ardour with which he had hitherto 
 served his king had been shot away. The freedom of 
 the cities of Bristol and London were transmitted to 
 him ; he was invested Avith the Order of the Bath, and 
 received a pension of £1,000 a year. The memorial 
 which as a matter of form he was called upon to 
 present on^ this occasion exhibited an extraordinary, 
 catalogue of services performed during the war. It 
 stated that he had been in four actions with the fleets 
 of the enemy, and in three actions with boats em- 
 ployed in cutting out of harbour, in destroying vessels, 
 and in taking three towns ; he had served on shore 
 with the army four months, and commanded the 
 batteries at the sieges of Bastia and Calvi; he had 
 assisted at the capture of seven sail of the Hne, six 
 frigates, four corvettes, and eleven privateers; taken 
 and destroyed nearly fifty sail of merchant vessels ; and 
 
NELSON'S SUFFERINGS. 123 
 
 actually been engaged against the enemy upwards of 
 a hundred and twenty times ; in which service he 
 had lost his right eye and right arm, and been severely 
 wounded and bruised in his body. 
 
 His sufferings from the lost hmb were long and 
 painful. A nerve had been taken up in one of the 
 ligatures at the time of the operation ; and the liga- 
 ture, according to the practice of the French surgeons, 
 was of silk, instead of waxed thread ; this produced a 
 constant irritation and discharge ; and the ends of the 
 ligature being pulled every day, in hopes of bringing 
 it away, occasioned fresh agony. He had scarcely any 
 intermission of pain, day or night, for three months 
 after his return to England. Lady Nelson, at his 
 earnest request, attended the dressing his arm till 
 she had acquired sufficient resolution and skill to 
 dress it herself One night, during this state of 
 suffering, after a day of constant pain. Nelson retired 
 early to bed, in hope of enjoying some respite by 
 means of laudanum. He was at that time lodging 
 in Bond Street ; and the family was soon disturbed 
 by a mob knocking loudly and violently at the door. 
 The news of Duncan's victory had been made public, 
 and the house was not illuminated. But when the 
 mob were told that Admiral Nelson lay there in bed, 
 badly wounded, the foremost of them made answer, 
 " You shall hear no more from us to-night ; " and in 
 fact the feeling of respect and sympathy was com- 
 municated from one to another with such effect that, 
 under the confusion of such a night, the house was 
 not molested again. 
 
 About the end of November, after a night of sound 
 sleep, he found the arm nearly free from pain ; the 
 
124 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 surgeon was immediately sent for to examine it, and 
 the ligature came away with the slightest touch. 
 From that time it began to heal. As soon as he 
 thought his health established, he sent the following, 
 form of thanksgiving to the minister of St. George's, 
 Hanover Square : — "An officer desires to return thanks 
 to Almighty God for his perfect recovery from a 
 severe wound, and also for the many mercies bestowed 
 on him." 
 
 Not having been in England till now since he lost 
 his eye, he went to receive a year's pay as smart 
 money, but could not obtain payment because he 
 had neglected to bring a certificate from a surgeon 
 that the sight was actually destroyed. A little irri- 
 tated that this form should be insisted upon, because, 
 though the fact was not apparent, he thought it was 
 sufficiently notorious, he procured a certificate at the 
 same time for the loss of his arm, saying they might 
 just as well doubt the one as the other. This put 
 him in good-humour with himself, and with the 
 clerk who had offended him. On his return to the 
 office the clerk, finding it was only the annual pay of 
 a captain, observed he thought it had been more. 
 " Oh," replied Nelson, " this is only for an eye. In a 
 few days I shall come for an arm ; and in a little 
 time longer, God knows, most probably for a leg." 
 Accordingly he soon afterwards went, and with per- 
 fect good-humour exhibited the certificate of the loss 
 of his arm. 
 
125 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Nelson rejoins Earl St. Vincent in the Vanguard — Sails in pursuit of 
 the French to Egypt — Returns to Sicily, and sails again to Egypt — 
 Battle of the Nile. 
 
 Early in the year 1798 Sir Horatio Nelson hoisted 
 his j0[ag in the Vanguard, and was ordered to rejoiQ 
 Earl St. Vincent. Upon his departure his father 
 addressed him with that affectionate solemnity by 
 which all his letters were distinguished. " I trust in 
 the Lord," said he, " that He will prosper your going 
 out and your coming in. I earnestly desired once 
 more to see you, and that wish has been heard. If I 
 should presume to say I hope to see you agaiQ, the 
 question would be readily asked. How old art thou ? 
 Yale ! vale ! Doviine, vale ! " It is said that a 
 gloomy foreboding hung on the spirits of Lady Nelson 
 at their parting. This could have arisen only from 
 the dread of losiag him by the chance of war. Any 
 apprehension of losing his affections could hardly 
 have existed, for all his correspondence to this time 
 shows that he thought himself happy in his marriage ; 
 and his private character had hitherto been as spot- 
 less as his public conduct. One of the last things 
 he said to her was that his own ambition was satis- 
 fied, but that he went to raise her to that rank in 
 which he had long wished to see her. 
 
 Immediately on his rejoining the fleet he was 
 despatched to the Mediterranean with a smaU 
 
126 LIFE OF NELJ^OJS/. 
 
 squadron, in order to ascertain, if possible, the object 
 of the* great expedition which at that time was fitting 
 out under Bonaparte at Toulon. The defeat of this 
 armament, whatever might be its destination, was 
 deemed by the British Government an object para- 
 mount to every other; and Earl St. Vincent was 
 directed, if he thought it necessary, to take his whole 
 force into the Mediterranean, to relinquish for that 
 purpose the blockade of the Spanish fleet as a thing 
 of inferior moment ; but if he should deem a detach- 
 ment sufficient, " I think it almost unnecessary," said 
 the First Lord of the Admiralty in his secret instruc- 
 tions, " to suggest to you the propriety of putting it 
 under Sir Horatio Nelson." It is to the honour of 
 Earl St. Vincent that he had already made the same 
 choice. The British Government at this time, with 
 a becoming spirit, gave orders that any port in the 
 Mediterranean should be considered as hostile where 
 the governor or chief magistrate should refuse to let 
 our ships of war procure supplies of provisions, or of 
 any article which they might require. 
 
 The armament at Toulon consisted of 13 ships of 
 the hne, 7 forty-gun frigates, with 24 smaller vessels 
 of war, and nearly 200 transports. Mr. Udney, our 
 consul at Leghorn, was the first person who procured 
 certain intelligence of the enemy's design against 
 Malta; and, from his own sagacity, foresaw that 
 Egypt must be their after-object. Nelson sailed from 
 Gibraltar on the 9th of May with the Vanguard, 
 Orion, and Alexander, 74's ; the Caroline, Flora, 
 Emerald, and Terpsichore, frigates ; and the Bonne 
 Gitoyenne sloop of war; to watch this formidable 
 armament. On the 19th, when they were in the 
 
ACCIDENT TO THE ''VANGUARD:' 127 
 
 Gulf of Lyons, a gale came on from the N.W. 
 It moderated so much on the 20th as to enable them 
 to get their top-gallant masts and yards aloft. After 
 dark it again began to blow strong, but the ships had 
 been prepared for a gale, and therefore Nelson's mind 
 was easy. Shortly before midnight, however, his 
 main- topmast went over the side, and the mizen- top- 
 mast soon afterwards. The night was so tempestuous 
 that it was impossible for any signal either to be seen 
 or heard, and Nelson determined, as soon as it should 
 be daybreak, to wear, and scud before the gale ; but 
 at half-past three the foremast went in three pieces, 
 and the bowsprit was found to be sprung in three 
 places. When day broke they succeeded in wearing 
 the ship with a remnant of the sprit-sail: this was 
 hardly to have been expected. The Vanguard was at 
 that time 25 leagues south of the islands of Hieres, 
 with her head lying to the N.E. ; and if she had not 
 wore, the ship must have drifted to Corsica. Captain 
 Ball, in the Alexander, took her in tow, to carry her 
 into the Sardinian harbour of St. Pietro. Nelson, 
 apprehensive that this attempt might endanger both 
 vessels, ordered him to cast off; but that excellent 
 officer, with a spirit like his commander's, replied 
 he was confident he could save the Vanguard, and 
 by God's help he would do it. There had been a 
 previous coolness between these great men ; but from 
 this time Nelson became fully sensible of the extra- 
 ordinary talents of Captain Ball, and a sincere friend- 
 ship subsisted between them during the remainder of 
 their lives. " I ought not," said the admiral, writing 
 to his wife — '' I ought not to call what has happened 
 to the Vanguard by the cold name of accident ; I 
 
128 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 believe firnily it was the Almighty's goodness, to 
 check my consummate vanity. I hope it has made 
 me a better officer, as, I feel confident, it has made me 
 a better man. Figure to yourself, on Sunday evening, 
 at sunset, a vain man walking in his cabin, with a 
 squadron around him, who looked up to their chief to 
 lead them to glory, and in whom their chief placed 
 the firmest reliance that the proudest ships of equal 
 numbers belonging to France would have lowered 
 their flags ; figure to yourself, on Monday morning, 
 when the sun rose, this proud man, his ship dis- 
 masted, his fleet dispersed, and himself in such 
 distress that the meanest frigate out of France would 
 have been an unwelcome guest." Nelson had, indeed, 
 more reason to refuse the cold name of accident to 
 this tempest than he was then aware of; for on that 
 very day the French fleet sailed from Toulon, and 
 must have passed within a few leagues of his little 
 squadron, which was thus preserved by the thick 
 weather that came on. 
 
 In the orders of the British Government to con- 
 sider all ports as hostile where the British ships 
 should be refused supphes, the ports of Sardinia were 
 excepted. The Continental possessions of the King of 
 Sardinia were at this time completely at the mercy of 
 the French, and that prince was now discovering, 
 when too late, that the terms to which he had con- 
 sented, for the purpose of escaping immediate danger, 
 necessarily involved, at last, the loss of the dominions 
 which they were intended to preserve. The citadel of 
 TuTin was now occupied by French troops ; and his 
 wretched Court feared to aflbrd the common rights 
 of humanity to British ships, lest it should give the 
 
ACCIDENT TO THE " VANGUARD:' 129 
 
 French occasion to seize on the remainder of his 
 dominions — a measure for which, it was certain, they 
 would soon make a pretext, if they did not find one. 
 Nelson was informed that he could not be permitted 
 to enter the port of St. Pietro. Regardless of this 
 interdict, which under his circumstances it would 
 have been an act of suicidal folly to have regarded, he 
 anchored in the harbour ; and by the exertions of Sir 
 James Saumarez, Captain Ball, and Captain Berry, 
 the Vanguard was refitted in four days ; months 
 would have been employed in refitting her in 
 England. Nelson, with that proper sense of merit 
 wherever it was found, which proved at once the 
 goodness and the greatness of his character, especially 
 recommended to Earl St. Vincent the carpenter of 
 the Alexander, under whose directions the ship had 
 been repaired, stating that he was an old and faithful 
 servant of the Crown, who had been nearly thirty 
 years a warrant carpenter, and begging most 
 earnestly that the commander-in-chief would recom- 
 mend him to the particular notice of the Board of 
 Admiralty. He did not leave the harbour without 
 expressing his sense of the treatment which he had 
 received there, in a letter to the Viceroy of Sardinia. 
 " Sir," it said, " having by a gale of wind sustained 
 some trifling damages, T anchored a small part of His 
 Majesty's fleet under my orders off this island, and 
 was surprised to hear, by an officer sent by the 
 governor, that admittance was to be refused to the 
 flag of his Britannic Majesty into this port. When I 
 reflect that my most gracious Sovereign is the oldest, 
 I believe, and certainly the most faithful, ally which 
 the King of Sardinia ever had, I could feel the sorrow 
 J 
 
130 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 which it must have been to his Majesty to have 
 given such an order ; and also for your Excellency, 
 who had to direct its execution. I cannot but look at 
 the African shore, where the followers of Mahomet 
 are performing the part of the good Samaritan, which 
 I look for in vain at St. Peter's, where, it is said, the 
 Christian religion is professed." 
 
 The delay which was thus occasioned was useful 
 to him in many respects ; it enabled him to complete 
 his supply of water, and to receive a reinforcement, 
 which Earl St. Vincent, being himself reinforced from 
 England, was enabled to send him. It consisted of 
 the best ships of his fleet — the Culloden, 74, Captain 
 T. Trowbridge ; Goliath, 74, Captain T. Foley ; 
 Minotaur, 74, Captain T. Louis ; Defence, 74, Captain 
 John Peyton ; Bellerophon, 74, Captain H. D. E. 
 Darby ; Majestic, 74, Captain G. B. Westcott ; Zealous, 
 74, Captain S. Hood ; Swiftsure, 74, Captain B. 
 Hallowell ; Theseus, 74, Captain R. W. Miller ; 
 Audacious, 74, Captain Davidge Gould. The Leander, 
 50, Captain T. B. Thomson, was afterwards added. 
 These ships were made ready for the service as soon 
 as Earl St. Vincent received advice from England 
 that he was to be reinforced. As soon as the re- 
 inforcement was seen from the masthead of the 
 admiral's ship, off Cadiz Bay, signal was immediately 
 made to Captam Trowbridge to put to sea; and he 
 was out of sight before the ships from home cast 
 anchor in the British station. Trowbridge took with 
 hnn no instructions to Nelson as to the course he was 
 to steer, nor any certain account of the enemy's des- 
 tination ; everything was left to his own judgment. 
 Unfortunately, the frigates had been separated from 
 
IN PURSUIT OF THE FRENCH. 131 
 
 him in the tempest, and had not been able to rejoin ; 
 they sought him unsuccessfully in the Bay of Naples, 
 where they obtained no tidings of his course, and he 
 sailed without them. 
 
 The first news of the enemy's armament was that 
 it had surprised Malta. Nelson formed a plan for 
 attacking it while at anchor at Gozo ; but on the 22nd 
 of June intelhgence reached him that the French had 
 left that island on the 16th, the day after their 
 arrival. It was clear that their destination was east- 
 ward — ^he thought, for Egypt ; and for Egypt there- 
 fore he made all sail. Had the frigates been with him, 
 he could scarcely have failed to gain information ot 
 the enemy; for want of them, he only spoke three 
 vessels on the way — two came from Alexandria, one 
 from the Archipelago, and neither of them had seen 
 anything of the French. He arrived off Alexandria 
 on the 28th, and the enemy were not there, neither 
 was there any account of them ; but the governor was 
 endeavouring to put the city in a state of defence, 
 having received advice from Leghorn that the French 
 expedition was intended against Egypt, after it had 
 taken Malta. Nelson then shaped his course to the 
 northward for Caramania, and steered from thence 
 along the southern side of Candia, carrying a press of 
 sail both night and day, with a contrary wind. It 
 would have been his delight, he said, to have tried 
 Bonaparte on a wind. It would have been the 
 delight of Europe too, and the blessing of the world, 
 if that fleet had been overtaken with its general on 
 board. But of the myriads and millions of human 
 beings who would have been preserved by that day's 
 victory, there is not one to whom such essential 
 J 2 
 
132 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 benefit would have resulted as to Bonaparte himself. 
 It would have spared him his defeat at Acre — his 
 only disgrace ; for to have been defeated by Nelson 
 upon the seas would not have been disgraceful : it 
 would have spared him all his after-enormities. 
 Hitherto his career had been glorious ; the baneful 
 principles of his heart had never yet passed his lips. 
 History would have represented him as a soldier of 
 fortune, who had faithfully served the cause in which 
 he engaged, and whose career had been distinguished 
 by a series of successes unexampled m modern times. 
 A romantic obscurity would have hung over the 
 expedition to Egypt, and he would have escaped the 
 perpetration of those crimes which have incarnadined 
 his soul with a deeper dye than that of the purple for 
 Avhich he committed them — those acts of perfidy, mid- 
 night murder, usurpation, and remorseless tyranny, 
 which have consigned his name to universal execra- 
 tion, now and for ever. 
 
 Conceiving that when an officer is not successful 
 in his plans it is absolutely necessary that he should 
 explain the motives upon which they were foimded, 
 Nelson wrote at this time an account and vindication 
 of his conduct for having carried the fleet to Egypt. 
 The objection which he anticipated was, that he 
 ought not to have made so long a voyage without 
 more certain information. " My answer," said he, " is 
 ready — Who was I to get it from ? The Govern- 
 ments of Naples and Sicily either knew not, or chose 
 to keep me in ignorance. Was I to wait patiently 
 until I heard certain accounts ? If Egypt were their 
 object, before I could hear of them they would have 
 been in India. To do nothmg was disgraceful ; there- 
 
/iV^ PURSUIT OF THE FRENCH. 133 
 
 fore I made use of my understanding. I am before 
 your lordships' judgment ; and if, under all circiun- 
 stances, it is decided that I am wrong, I ought, for 
 the sake of our country, to be superseded ; for at this 
 moment, when I know the French are not in 
 Alexandria, I hold the same opinion as off Cape 
 Passaro — that, under all circumstances, I was right in 
 steering for Alexandria ; and by that opinion I must 
 stand or fall." Captain Ball, to whom he showed this 
 paper, told him he should recommend a friend never 
 to begin a defence of his conduct before he was 
 accused of error. He might give the fullest reasons for 
 what he had done, expressed in such terms as would 
 evince that he had acted from the strongest convic- 
 tion of being right ; and of course he must expect 
 that the public would view it in the same light. 
 Captain Ball judged rightly of the public, whose first 
 impulses — though from want of sufficient mformation 
 they must frequently be erroneous — are generally 
 founded upon just feelings. But the public are 
 easily misled, and there are always persons ready to 
 mislead them. Nelson had not yet attained that 
 fame which compels envy to be silent ; and when it 
 was known in England that he had returned after an 
 unsuccessful pursuit, it was said that he deserved 
 impeachment ; and Earl St. Vincent was severely 
 censured for having sent so young an officer upon so 
 important a service. 
 
 Baffled in his pursuit, he returned to Sicily. The 
 Neapolitan Ministry had determined to . give his 
 squadron no assistance, being resolved to do nothing 
 which could possibly endanger their peace with the 
 French Directory. By means, however, of Lady 
 
134 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 Hamilton's influence at Court, lie procured secret 
 orders to the Sicilian governors ; and under those 
 orders obtained everything which he wanted at 
 Syracuse — a timely supply, without which, he always 
 said, he could not have recommenced his pursuit with 
 any hope of success. " It is an old saying," said he in 
 his letter, " that ' the devil's children have the devil's 
 luck.' I cannot to this moment learn, beyond vague 
 conjecture, where the French fleet are gone to : and 
 having gone a round of six hundred leagues, at this 
 season of the year with an expedition incredible, here 
 I am, as ignorant of the situation of the enemy as I 
 was twenty- seven days ago. Every moment I have to 
 regret the frigates having left me ; had one-half of 
 them been with me, I could not have wanted infor- 
 mation. Should the French be so strongly secured 
 m port that I cannot get at them, I shall immediately 
 shift my flag into some other ship, and send the 
 Vanguard to Naples to be refitted, for hardly any 
 person but myself would have continued on service so 
 long in such a wretched state." Vexed, however, and 
 disappointed as he was. Nelson, with the true spirit of 
 a hero, was still full of hope. " Thanks to your 
 exertions," said he, writing to Sir W. and Lady 
 Hamilton, " we have victualled and watered ; and 
 surely, watering at the fountain of Arethusa, we must 
 have victory. A¥e shall sail with the first breeze ; 
 and be assured I Avill return either crowned with 
 laurel or covered with cypress." Earl St. Vincent he 
 assured that if the French were above water he 
 would find them out — he still held his opinion that 
 they were bound for Egypt ; " but," said he to the 
 First Lord of the Admiralty, " be they bound to the 
 
IN PURSUIT OF TEE FRENCH. 135 
 
 Antipodes, your lordship may rely that I will not lose 
 a moment in bringing them to action." 
 
 On the 25th of July he sailed from Syracuse for 
 the Morea. Anxious beyond measure, and irritated 
 that the enemy should so long have eluded him, the 
 tediousness of the nights made him impatient ; and 
 the officer of the watch was repeatedly called on to 
 let him know the hour, and convince him, who 
 measured time by his own eagerness, that it was not 
 yet daybreak. The squadron made the Gulf of Coron 
 on the 28th. Trowbridge entered the port, and 
 returned with intelligence that the French had been 
 seen about four weeks before steering to the S.E., 
 from Candia. Nelson then determined immediately 
 to return to Alexandria ; and the British Heet accord- 
 ingly, with every sail set, stood once more for the 
 coast of Egypt. On the 1st of August they came in 
 sight of Alexandria; and at four in the afternoon 
 Captain Hood, in the Zealous, made the signal for the 
 French fleet. For many preceding days Nelson had 
 hardly taken either sleep or food ; he now ordered his 
 dinner to be served, while preparations were making 
 for battle ; and when his officers rose from table, and 
 went to their separate stations, he said to them, 
 ''Before this time to-morrow I shall have gained a 
 peerage, or Westminster Abbey." 
 
 The French, steering direct for Candia, had made 
 an angular passage for Alexandria ; whereas Nelson 
 in pursuit of them made straight for that place, and 
 thus materially shortened the distance. The com- 
 parative smallness of his force made it necessary to 
 sail in close order, and it covered a less space than it 
 would have done if the frigates had been with him. 
 
136 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 The weather also was constantly hazy. These circum- 
 stances prevented the English from falling in with 
 the enemy on the way to Egypt, and during the 
 return to Syracuse there was still less probability of 
 discovering them. 
 
 Why Bonaparte, having effected his landing, 
 should not have suffered the fleet to return, has never 
 yet been explained. Thus much is certain, that it was 
 detained by hie command ; though, with his accus- 
 tomed falsehood, he accused Admiral Brueys, after 
 that officer's death, of having lingered on the coast, 
 contrary to orders. The French tieet arrived at Alex- 
 andria on the 1st of July ; and Brueys not being able 
 to enter the port, which time and neglect had ruined, 
 moored his ships in Aboukir Bay, in a strong and 
 compact line of battle ; the headmost vessel, according 
 to his own account, being as close as possible to a 
 shoal on the N.W., and the rest of the fleet forming a 
 kind of curve along the line of deep water so as not to 
 be turned by any means in the S.W, By Bona- 
 parte's desire he had offered a reward of 10,000 Hvres 
 to any pilot of the country who would carry the 
 squadron in, but none could be found who would 
 venture to take charge of a single vessel drawing more 
 than twenty feet. He had therefore made the best 
 of his situation, and chosen the strongest position 
 which he could possibly take in an open road. The 
 commissary of the fleet said they were moored in 
 such a manner as to bid defiance to a force more than 
 double their own. This presumption could not then 
 be thought unreasonable. Admiral Barrington, when 
 moored in a similar manner off St. Lucia, in the year 
 1778, beat ofl* the Comte d'Estai n in three several 
 
/iV PVRSUIT OF THE FRENCH. 137 
 
 attacks, though his force was inferior by almost one- 
 third to that which assailed it. Here the advantage 
 of numbers, both in ships, guns, and men, was in 
 favour of the French. They had thirteen ships of the 
 line and four frigates, carrying 1,196 guns, and 11,230 
 men. The English had the same number of ships of 
 the line, and one 50-gun ship, carrying 1,012 guns and 
 8,068 men. The English ships were all 74's; the French 
 had three 80-gun ships, and one three-decker of 120.'^ 
 During the whole pursuit it had been Nelson's 
 practice, whenever circumstances would permit, to 
 have his captains on board the Vanguard, and explain 
 to them his own ideas of" the different and best modes 
 of attack and such plans as he proposed to execute 
 on falling in with the enemy, whatever their situation 
 might be. There is no possible position, it is said, 
 which he did not take into calculation. His officers 
 were thus fully acquainted with his principles of 
 tactics ; and such was his confidence in their abilities, 
 that the only thing determined upon, in case they 
 should find the French at anchor, was for the ships 
 to form as most convenient for their mutual support, 
 and to anchor by the stern. " First gain the victory," 
 he said, " and then make the best use of it you can." 
 The moment he perceived the position of the French, 
 that mtuitive genius with which Nelson was endowed 
 displayed itself; and it instantly struck him that 
 
 * Abstract of the British Force, in guns and men, actually engaged : — 
 Thirteen ships of 74 guns each, and one of 50 guns. Number of guns, 
 1,012 ; number of men, 8,0G8. 
 
 Abstract of the French Force, in guns and men, actually engaged :— 
 One of 120 guns ; three of 80 guns ; nine of 74 guns ; and four frigates. 
 Number of guns, 1,196 ; number of men, 11,230. 
 
 Difference in favour of the French— 184 guns ; 8,162 men. 
 
138 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 where there was room for an enemy's ship to swmg, 
 there was room for one of ours to anchor. The plan 
 which he intended to pursue, therefore, was to keep 
 entirely on the outer side of the French line, and 
 station his ships, as far as he was able, one on the 
 outer bow, and another on the outer quarter, of each 
 of the enemy's. This plan of doubling on the enemy's 
 ships was projected by Lord Hood, when he designed 
 to attack the French fleet at their anchorage in 
 Gourjean Road. Lord Hood found it impossible to 
 make the attempt ; but the thought was not lost upon 
 Nelson, who acknowledged himself on this occasion 
 indebted for it to his old and excellent commander. 
 Captain Berry, when he comprehended the scope of 
 the design, exclaimed with transport, " If we succeed, 
 what will the world say ? " — '' There is no if in the 
 case," replied the admiral ; " that we shall succeed is 
 certain, who may live to tell the story is a very 
 different question." 
 
 As the squadron advanced the enemy opened a 
 steady fire from the starboard side of their whole line, 
 full into the bows of our van ships. It was received 
 in silence. The men on board of every ship were 
 employed aloft in furling sails, and below in tending 
 the braces, and making ready for anchoring. A 
 miserable sight for the French, who with all their 
 skill, and all their courage, and all their advantages of 
 numbers and situation, were upon that element on 
 which, when the hour of trial comes, a Frenchman has 
 no hope. Admiral Brueys was a brave and able man ; 
 yet the indelible character of his country broke out in 
 one of his letters, wherein he delivered it as his private 
 opinion that the English had missed him because, not 
 
BATTLE OF THE IsILE. 139 
 
 being superior in force, they did not think it prudent 
 to try their strength with him. The moment was now 
 come in which he was to be undeceived. 
 
 A French brig was instructed to decoy the EngUsh, 
 by manoeuvring so as to tempt them towards a shoal 
 lying off the island of Bequieres ; but Nels6n either 
 knew the danger, or suspected some deceit, and the 
 lure was unsuccessful. Captain Foley led the way in 
 the Goliath, out-sailing the Zealous, which for some 
 minutes disputed this post of honour with him. He 
 had long conceived that if the enemy were moored 
 in line of battle in with the land, the best plan of 
 attack would be to lead between them and the shore, 
 because the French guns on that side were not likely 
 to be manned, nor even ready for action. Intending, 
 therefore, to fix himself on the inner bow of the 
 Giierrier, he kept as near the edge of the bank as 
 the depth of water would admit ; but his anchor hung, 
 and having opened his fire he drifted to the second 
 ship, the Gonqudrant, before it was clear ; then 
 anchored by the stern, inside of her, and in ten 
 minutes shot away her masts. Hood, in the Zealous, 
 perceiving this, took the station which the Goliath 
 intended to have occupied, and he totally disabled 
 the Guerrier in twelve minutes. The third ship 
 which doubled the enemy's van was the Orion, 
 Sir J. Saumarez ; she passed to windward of the 
 Zealous, and opened her larboard guns as long as 
 they bore on the Guerrier ; then, passing inside the 
 Goliath, sunk a frigate which annoyed her, hauled 
 round towards the French line, and anchoring inside, 
 between the fifth and sixth ships from the Guerrier, 
 took her station on the larboard bow of the Franklin 
 
140 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 and the quarter of the Peuple Souverain, receiving 
 and returning the fire of both. The sun Avas now 
 nearly down. The Amlacunif^, Captain Gould, pour- 
 ing a heavy fire into the Giierrlev and the Gonqnd- 
 rant, fixed herself on the larboard bow of the latter ; 
 and Avheh that ship struck, passed on to the Peiiple 
 Souverain. The Theseus, Captain Miller, followed, 
 brought down the Guerriers remaining main and 
 mizen masts, then anchored inside of the Spartiate, 
 the third in the French line. 
 
 While these advanced ships doubled the French 
 line, the Vanguard was the first that anchored on the 
 outer side of the enemy, within half-pistol-shot of 
 their third ship, the Spartiate. Nelson had six colours 
 flying in different parts of his rigging, lest they should 
 be shot away — that they should be struck, no British 
 admiral considers as a possibility. He veered half a 
 cable, and instantly opened a tremendous fire ; under 
 cover of which the other four ships of his division, the 
 Minotaur, Bellerophon, Defence, and Majestic, sailed 
 on ahead of the admiral. In a few minutes every 
 man stationed at the first six guns in the fore part 
 of the Vanguard's deck was killed or wounded — 
 these guns were three times cleared. Captain Louis, 
 in the Minotaur, anchored next ahead, and took off 
 the fire of the Aquilon, the fourth in the enemy's 
 line. The Bellerophon, Captain Darby, passed ahead, 
 and dropped her stern anchor on the starboard bow of 
 the Orient, seventh in the line, Brueys' own ship, 
 of 120 guns, whose difference of force was in proportion 
 of more than seven to three, and whose weight of ball, 
 from the lower deck alone, exceeded that from the 
 whole broadside of the Bellerophon. Captain Peyton, 
 
BATTLE OF THE NILE. 141 
 
 in the Defence, took his station ahead of the Mino- 
 taur, and engaged the FrcmJdin, the sixth in the 
 hne, by which judicious movement the British hne 
 remained unbroken. The Mcijestic, Captam Westcott, 
 got entangled with the main rigging of one of the 
 French ships astern of the Orient, and suffered 
 dreadfully from that three-decker's fire ; but she 
 swung clear, and closely engaging the Heureux, the 
 ninth ship on the starboard bow, received also the 
 fire of the Tonnant, which was the eighth in the 
 line. The other four ships of the British squadron, 
 having been detached previous to the discovery of the 
 French, were at a considerable distance when the 
 action began. It commenced at half-past six ; about 
 seven night closed, and there was no other light than 
 that from the fire of the contending fleets. 
 
 Trowbridge, in the Culloden, the foremost of the 
 remaining ships, was two leagues astern. He came 
 on sounding, as the others had done ; as he advanced, 
 the increasing darkness increased the difficulty of the 
 navigation ; and suddenly, after ' having found eleven 
 fathoms' water, before the lead could be hove again, 
 he was fast aground ; nor could all his own exertions, 
 joined to those of the Leander and the llittine brig, 
 which came to his assistance, get him off in time to 
 bear a part in the action. His ship, however, served 
 as a beacon to the Alexander and Swiftsure, which 
 would else, from the course which they were holding, 
 have gone considerably farther on the reef, and must 
 inevitably have been lost. These ships entered the 
 bay, and took their stations, in the darkness, in a 
 manner still spoken of with admiration by all who 
 remeujber it. Captain Hallowell, in the Siviftsure, as 
 
142 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 he was bearing down, fell in with what seemed to be 
 a strange sail ; Nelson had directed his ships to hoist 
 four lights horizontally at the mizen-peak as soon as 
 it became dark, and this vessel had no such distinction. 
 Hallowell, however, with great judgment, ordered his 
 men not to fire ; if she was an enemy, he said, she was 
 in too disabled a state to escape ; but from her sails 
 being loose, and the way in which her head was, it 
 was probable she might be an English ship. It was 
 the Belleviyphon, overpowered by the huge Orient; 
 her lights had gone overboard, nearly 200 of her crew 
 were killed or wounded, all her masts and cables had 
 been shot away, and she was drifting out of the line, 
 towards the lee side of the bay. Her station, at this 
 important time, was occupied by the Swiftsure, which 
 opened a steady fire on the quarter of the Franklin 
 and the bows of the French admiral. At the same 
 instant Captain Ball, with the Alexander, passed 
 under his stern, and anchored within side on his 
 larboard quarter, raking him, and keeping up a severe 
 fire of mjLisketry upon his decks. The last ship which 
 arrived to complete the destruction of the enemy was 
 the Leander. Captain Thompson, finding that no- 
 thing could be done that night to get off the Gidlo- 
 den, advanced with the intention of anchoring athwart 
 hawse of the Orient. The Franklin was so near her 
 ahead that there was not room for him to pass clear 
 of the two; he therefore took his station athwart 
 hawse of the latter, in such a position as to rake 
 both. 
 
 The two first ships of the French line had been 
 dismasted within a quarter of an hour after the com- 
 mencement of the action, and the others had in that 
 
NELSON WOUNDED. 143 
 
 time suffered so severely that victory was already 
 certain. The third, fourth, and fifth were taken pos- 
 session of at half-past eight. Meantime Nelson re- 
 ceived a severe wound on the head from a piece of 
 langridge shot. Captain Berry caught him in his 
 arms as he was falling. The great effusion of blood 
 occasioned an apprehension that the wound was 
 mortal ; Nelson himself thought so. A large flap of 
 the skin of the forehead, cut from the bone, had 
 fallen over one eye, and, the other being blind, he 
 was in total darkness. When he was carried down 
 the surgeon — in the midst of a scene scarcely to be 
 conceived by those who have never seen a cock-pit in 
 time of action, and the heroism which is displayed 
 amid its horrors — with a natural and pardonable 
 eagerness quitted the poor fellow then under his 
 hands, that he might instantly attend the admiral. 
 " No ! " said Nelson, " I will take my turn with my 
 brave fellows." Nor would he suffer his own wound 
 to be examined till every man who had been pre- 
 viously wounded was properly attended to. Fully 
 believing that the wound was mortal, and that he was 
 about to die, as he had ever desired, in battle and in 
 victory, he called the chaplain, and desired him to 
 deliver what he supposed to be his dying remem- 
 brance to Lady Nelson; he then sent for Captain 
 Louis on board from the Minotaur, that he might 
 thank him personally for the great assistance which 
 he had rendered to the Vanguard ; and, ever mindful 
 of those who deserved to be his friends, appointed 
 Captain Hardy from the brig to the command of his 
 own ship. Captain Berry having to go home with the 
 news of the victory. AVhen the surgeon came in due 
 
144 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 time to examine his wound (for it was in vain to 
 entreat him to let it be examined sooner), the most 
 anxious silence prevailed ; and the joy of the wounded 
 men, and of the whole crew, when they heard that 
 the hurt was merely superficial, gave Nelson deeper 
 pleasure than the unexpected assurance that his life 
 was in no danger. The surgeon requested, and, as far 
 as he could, ordered him to remain quiet ; but Nelson 
 could not rest. He called for his secretary, - Mr. 
 Campbell, to write the despatches. Campbell had him- 
 self been wounded ; and was so affected at the blind 
 and suffering state of the admiral that he was unable 
 to write. The chaplain was then sent for ; but before 
 he came. Nelson, with his characteristic eagerness, 
 took the pen, and contrived to trace a few words, 
 marking his devout sense of the success which had 
 already been obtained. He was now left alone, when 
 suddenly a cry was heard on the deck that the Orient 
 was on fire. In the confusion he found his way up, 
 unassisted and unnoticed, and, to the astonishment 
 of every one, appeared on the quarter-deck, where he 
 immediately gave order that boats should be sent to 
 the relief of the enemy. 
 y^y It was soon after nine that the fire on board the 
 Orient broke out. Brueys was dead. He had received 
 three wounds, yet would not leave his post ; a fourth 
 cut him almost in two. He desired not to be carried 
 below, but to be left to die upon deck. The flames 
 soon mastered his ship. Her sides had just been 
 painted, and the oil-jars and paint-buckets were lying 
 on the poop. By the prodigious light of this confla- 
 gration the situation of the two fleets could now be 
 perceived, the colours of both being clearly distin- 
 
BATTLE OF THE NILE. 145 
 
 guishable. About ten o'clock the ship blew up. This 
 tremendous explosion was followed by a silence not 
 less awful; the firing immediately ceased on both 
 sides ; and the first sound which broke the silence 
 was the dash of her shattered masts and yards, falling 
 into the water from the vast height to which they had 
 been exploded. It is upon record that a battle be- 
 tween two armies was once broken off by an earth- 
 quake — such an event would be felt like a miracle ; 
 but no incident in war, produced by human means, 
 has ever equalled the sublimity of this co-instan- 
 taneous pause, and all its circumstances. 
 
 About seventy of the Orient's crew were saved by 
 the English boats. Among the many hundreds who 
 perished were the Commodore Casa-Bianca and his 
 son, a brave boy only ten years old^. They were seen 
 floating on the wreck of a mast when the ship blew 
 up. She had money on board to the amount of 
 £600,000 sterling. A port fire from her fell into the 
 main-royal of the Alexander ; the fire which it occa- 
 sioned was speedily extinguished. Captain Ball had 
 provided, as far as human foresight could provide, 
 against any such danger. All the shrouds and sails 
 of his ship which were not absolutely necessary for 
 its immediate management, were thoroughly wetted, 
 and so rolled up that they were as hard and as little 
 inflammable as so many solid cylinders. 
 
 The firing recommenced with the ships to leeward 
 of the centre, and continued till about three. At 
 daybreak the Guillaume Tell and the Genereux, the 
 two rear ships of the enemy, were the only French 
 ships of the line which had their colours flying ; they 
 cut their cables in the forenoon, not having been 
 
 K 
 
146 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 engaged, and stood out to sea, and two frigates with 
 them. The Zealous pursued ; but as there was no 
 other ship in a condition to support Captain Hood, 
 he was recalled. It was generally believed by the 
 officers that if Nelson had not been wounded, not one 
 of these ships could have escaped ; the four certainly 
 could not if the Culloden had got into action; and 
 if the frigates belonging to the squadron had been 
 present, not one of the enemy's fleet would have left 
 Aboukir Bay. These four vessels, however, were all 
 that escaped ; and the victory was the most complete 
 and glorious in the annals of naval history. '' Vic- 
 tory," said Nelson, " is not a name strong enough for 
 such a scene ; " he called it a conquest. Of thirteen 
 sail of the line, nine were taken and two burnt ; of 
 the four frigates, one burnt, another sunk. The 
 British loss in killed and wounded amounted to 895. 
 Westcott was the only captain who fell. 3,105 of the 
 French, including the wounded, were sent on shore 
 by cartel ; and 5,225 perished. 
 
 As soon as the conquest was completed, Nelson 
 sent orders through the fleet to return thanksgiving 
 in every ship for the victory with which Almighty 
 God had blessed his Majesty's arms. The French at 
 Rosetta, who with miserable fear beheld the engage- 
 ment, were at a loss to understand the stillness of the 
 fleet during the performance of this solemn duty ; but 
 it seemed to affect many of the prisoners, officers as 
 well as men : and graceless and godless as the officers 
 were, some of them remarked that it was no wonder 
 such order was preserved in the British navy, when 
 the minds of our men could be impressed with such 
 sentiments after so great a victory, and at a moment 
 
BATTLE OF THE NILE, 147 
 
 of such confusion. The French at Rosetta, seeing 
 their four ships sail out of the bay unmolested, en- 
 deavoured to persuade themselves that they were in 
 possession of the place of battle. But it was in vain 
 thus to attempt, against their own secret and certain 
 conviction, to deceive themselves; and even if they 
 could have succeeded in this, the bonfires which the 
 Arabs kindled along the whole coast, and over the 
 country, for three following nights, would soon have 
 undeceived them. Thousands of Arabs and Egyptians 
 lined the shore, and covered the house-tops during 
 the action, rejoicing in the destruction which had 
 overtaken their invaders. Long after the battle 
 innumerable bodies were seen floating about the bay, 
 in spite of all the exertions which were made to sink 
 them, as well from fear of pestilence as from the 
 loathing and horror which the sight occasioned. The 
 shore, for an extent of four leagues, was covered with 
 wreck ; and the Arabs found employment for many 
 days in burning on the beach the fragments which 
 were cast up, for the sake of the iron. Part of the 
 Orient's mainmast was picked up by the Swiftsure 
 Captain Hallowell ordered his carpenter to make a 
 coffin of it ; the iron as well as wood was taken from 
 the wreck of the same ship : it was finished as well 
 and handsomely as the workman's skill and materials 
 would permit, and Hallowell then sent it to the 
 Admiral with the following letter : — " Sir, I have 
 taken the liberty of presenting you a coffin made from 
 the mainmast of L' Orient, that when you have 
 finished your military career in this world you may be 
 buried in one of your trophies. But that that period 
 may be far distant is the earnest wish of your sincere 
 K 2 
 
148 LIFE OF NELkiON. 
 
 friend, Benjamin Hallowell." An offering so strange, 
 and yet so suited to the occasion, was received by 
 Nelson in the spirit with which it was sent. As if he 
 felt it good for him, now that he was at the summit 
 of his wishes, to have death before his eyes, he ordered 
 the coffin to be placed upright in his cabin. Such a 
 piece of furniture, however, was more suitable to his 
 own feelings than to those of his guests and 
 attendants ; and an old favourite servant entreated 
 him so earnestly to let it be removed that at length 
 he consented to have the coffin carried below, but he 
 gave strict ordel's that it should be safely stowed, and 
 reserved for the purpose for which its brave and 
 worthy donor had designed it. 
 
 The victory was complete ; but Nelson could not 
 pursue it as he would have done, for want of means. 
 Had he been provided with small craft, nothing could 
 have prevented the destruction of the storeships and 
 transports in the port of Alexandria ; four bomb- 
 vessels would at that time have burnt the whole in a 
 few hours. " Were I to die this moment," said he in 
 his despatches to the Admiralty, " want of frigates 
 would be found stamped on my heart ! No words of 
 mine can express what 1 have sufiered, and am 
 suffering, for Avant of them." He had also to bear up 
 against great bodily suffering : the blow had so 
 shaken his head, that from its constant and violent 
 aching, and the perpetual sickness which accompanied 
 the pain, he could scarcely persuade himself that the 
 skull was not fractured. Had it not been for Trow- 
 bridge, Ball, Hood, and Hallowell, he declared that he 
 should have sunk under the fatigue of refitting the 
 squadron. " AH," he said, " had done well ; but these 
 
AT THE SUMMIT OF GLORY. 140 
 
 officers were his supporters." But amidst his suf- 
 ferings and exertions Nelson could yet thmk of all 
 the consequences of his victory ; and, that no ad- 
 vantage from it might be lost, he despatched an 
 officer overland to India, with letters to the governor 
 of Bombay, informing him of the arrival of the 
 French in Egypt, the total destruction of their fleet, 
 and the consequent preservation of India from any 
 attempt against it on the part of this formidable 
 armament. " He knew that Bombay," he said, " was 
 their first object, if they could get there ; but he 
 trusted that Almighty God would overthrow in 
 Egypt these pests of the human race. Bonaparte 
 had never yet had to contend with an English officer, 
 and he would endeavour to make him respect us." 
 This despatch he sent upon his own responsibility, 
 with letters of credit upon the East India Company, 
 addressed to the British consuls, vice-consuls, and 
 merchants on his route, Nelson saying that if he had 
 done wrong he hoped the bills would be paid, and he 
 would repay the Company ; for as an Englishman he 
 should be proud that it had been in his power to 
 put our settlements on their guard." The informa- 
 tion which by this means reached India was of 
 great importance. Orders had just been received for 
 defensive preparations upon a scale proportionate to 
 the apprehended danger, and the extraordinary ex- 
 penses which would otherwise have been incurred 
 were thus prevented. 
 
 Nelson was now at the summit of glory ; con- 
 gratulations, rewards, and honours were showered 
 upon him by all the States and princes and Powers 
 to whom his victory gave a respite. The first 
 
150 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 cominimication of this nature whicli he received was 
 from the Turkish Sultan, who as soon as the invasion 
 of Egypt was known had called upon "all true believers 
 to take arms against those swinish infidels the French, 
 that they might deliver these blessed habitations 
 from their accursed hands ; and who had ordered his 
 pashas to turn night into day in their efforts to take 
 vengeance." The present of " His Imperial Majesty, 
 the powerful, formidable, and most magnificent Grand 
 Seignior," was a pelisse of sables with broad sleeves, 
 valued at five thousand dollars; and a diamond 
 aigrette, valued at eighteen thousand — the most 
 honourable badge among the Turks, and in this 
 instance more especially honourable because it was 
 taken from one of the royal turbans. " If it were 
 worth a million," said Nelson to his wife, "my 
 pleasure would be to see it in your possession." The 
 Sultan also sent, in a spirit worthy of imitation, a 
 purse of two thousand sequins, to be distributed 
 among the wounded. The mother of the Sultan sent 
 him a box set with diamonds, valued at one thousand 
 pounds. The Czar Paul, in whom the better part of 
 his strangely-compounded nature at this time pre- 
 dominated, presented him with his portrait, set in 
 diamonds, in a gold box, accompanied with a letter of 
 congratulation written by his own hand. The King of 
 Sardinia also wrote to him, and sent a gold box set 
 with diamonds. Honours in profusion were awaiting 
 him at Naples. In his own country the king granted 
 these honourable augmentations to his armorial 
 ensign : a chief undulated, argent ; thereon waves of 
 the sea ; from which a palm-tree issuant, between a 
 disabled ship on the dexter, and a ruinous battery on 
 
''BARON NELSON OF THE NILE.'' 151 
 
 the sinister, all proper ; and for his crest, on a naval 
 crown, or, the chelengk, or plume, presented to him 
 by the Turk, with the motto, Palmavi qui "meruit 
 /eraf.* And to his supporters, being a sailor on the 
 dexter, and a lion on the sinister, were given these 
 honourable augmentations : a palm branch in the 
 sailor's hand, and another in the paw of the lion, both 
 proper, with a tri-coloured flag and staff in the lion's 
 mouth. He was created Baron Nelson of the Nile, 
 and of Burnham Thorpe, with a pension of £2,000 for 
 his own life, and those of his two immediate suc- 
 cessors. When the grant was moved in the House 
 of Commons, General Walpole expressed an opinion 
 that a higher degree of rank ought to be conferred. 
 Mr. Pitt made answer that he thought it needless to 
 enter into that question. '' Admiral Nelson's fame," 
 he said, " would be co-equal with the British name, 
 and it would be remembered that he had obtained 
 the greatest naval victory on record, when no man 
 would think of asking whether he had been created 
 a baron, a viscount, or an earl." It was strange that, 
 in the very act of conferring a title, the Minister 
 should have excused himself for not having conferred 
 a higher one by representing all titles, on such an 
 occasion, as nugatory and superfluous. True, indeed, 
 whatever title had been bestowed — whether viscount, 
 
 * It has been erroneously said that the motto was selected by the 
 king; it was fixed on by Lord Grenville, and taken from an ode of 
 Jortin's. The application was singularly fortunate ; and the ode itself 
 breathes a spirit in which no man ever more truly sympathised than 
 Nelson : 
 
 Concurrant paribus cum ratibus rates, 
 Spectent numina ponti, et 
 Palm am qui meruit ferat. 
 
152 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 earl, marquis, duke, or prince if our laws had so 
 permitted — he who received it would have been 
 Nelson still. That name he had ennobled beyond 
 all addition of nobility ; it was the name by which 
 England loved him, France feared him, Italy, Egypt, 
 and Turkey celebrated him, and by which he will 
 continue to be known while the present kingdoms and 
 languages of the world endure, and as long as their 
 history after them shall be held in remembrance. It 
 depended upon the degree of rank what should be 
 the fashion of his coronet, in what page of the red 
 book his name was to be inserted, and what pre- 
 cedency should be allowed his lady in the drawing- 
 room and at the ball. That Nelson's honours were 
 affected thus far, and no farther, might be conceded 
 to Mr. Pitt and his colleagues in administration ; but 
 the degree of rank which they thought proper to 
 allot was the measure of their gratitude,^ though not 
 of his services. This Nelson felt, and this he ex- 
 pressed with indignation among his friends. 
 
 Whatever may have been the motives of the 
 Ministry, and whatever the fprmalities with which 
 
 * Mr. Windham must be excepted from this well-deserved censure. 
 He, whose fate it seems to have been almost always to think and feel 
 more generously than those with whom he acted, declared, when he con- 
 tended against his own party for Lord Wellington's peerage, that he 
 always thought Lord Nelson had been inadequately rewarded. The case 
 was the more flagrant because an earldom had so lately been granted for 
 the battle of St. Vincent — an action which could never be compared 
 with the battle of the Nile, if the very different manner in which it was 
 rewarded did not necessarily force a comparison, especially when the 
 part which Nelson bore in it was considered. Lords Duncan and St. 
 Vincent had each a pension of £1,000 from the Irish Government. This 
 was not granted to Nelson in consequence of the Union ; though surely 
 it would be more becoming to increase the British grant than to save a 
 thousand a year by the Union in such cases. 
 
NELSON AND CAPTAIN TROWBRIDGE. 153 
 
 they excused their conduct to themselves, the im- 
 portance and magnitude of the victory were uni- 
 versally acknowledged. A grant of £10,000 was 
 voted to Nelson by the East India Company ; the 
 Turkish Company presented him with a piece of 
 plate ; the City of London presented a sword to him 
 and to each of his captains. Gold medals were 
 distributed to the captains, and the first lieutenants 
 of all the ships were promoted, as had been done 
 after Lord Howe's victory. Nelson was exceedingly 
 anxious that the captain and first lieutenant of the 
 Culloden should not be passed over because of their 
 misfortune. To Trowbridge himself he said, " Let us 
 rejoice that the ship which got on shore was com- 
 manded by an officer whose character is so thoroughly 
 established." To the Admiralty he stated that Captain 
 Trowbridge's conduct was as fully entitled to praise as 
 that of any one officer in the squadron, and as highly 
 deserving of reward. " It was Trowbridge," said he, 
 " who equipped the squadron so soon at Syracuse ; 
 it was Trowbridge who exerted himself for me after 
 the action ; it was Trowl;)ridge who saved the Culloden 
 when none that I know in the service would have 
 attempted it." The gold medal therefore, by the 
 king's express desire, was given to Captain Trowbridge 
 for his services both before and since, and for the 
 great and wonderful exertions which he made at the 
 time of the action in saving and getting off his ship. 
 The private letter from the Admiralty to Nelson 
 informed him that the first lieutenants of all the 
 ships engaged were to be promoted. Nelson instantly 
 wrote to the commander-in-chief " I sincerely hope,' 
 said he, "this is not intended to exclude the first 
 
154 LIFE OF NELSON: 
 
 lieutenant of the Culloden. For Heaven's sake — for 
 my sake — if it be so, get it altered. Our dear friend 
 Trowbridge has endured enough. His sufferings 
 were, in every respect, more than any of us." To 
 the Admiralty he wrote in terms equally warm. " I 
 hope and believe the word engaged is not intended to 
 exclude the Culloden. The merit of that ship, and 
 her gallant captain, are too well known to benefit by 
 anything I could say. Her misfortune was great 
 in getting aground, while her more fortunate com- 
 panions were in the full tide of happiness, . No ; I 
 am confident that my good Lord Spencer will never 
 add misery to misfortune. Captain Trowbridge on 
 shore is superior to captains afloat; in the midst of 
 his great misfortunes he made those signals which 
 prevented certainly the Alexander and Swiftsure 
 from running on the shoals. I beg your pardon for 
 writing on a subject which, I verily believe, has never 
 entered your lordships' heads; but my heart, as it 
 ought to be, is warm to my gallant friends." Thus 
 feelingly alive was Nelson to the claims and interests 
 and feelings of others. The Admiralty replied that 
 the exception was necessary, as the ship had not been 
 in action; but they desired the commander-in-chief 
 to promote the lieutenant upon the first vacancy 
 which should occur. 
 
 Nelson, in remembrance of an old and uninter- 
 rupted friendship, appointed Alexander Davison sole 
 prize agent for the captured ships ; upon which 
 Davison ordered medals to be struck in gold for 
 the captains, in silver for the lieutenants and 
 warrant ofiicers, in gilt metal for the petty officers, 
 and in copper for the seamen and marines. The 
 
THE NELSON MEDALS. 155 
 
 cost of this act of liberality amounted to nearly 
 £2,000. It is worthy of record on another account — 
 for some of the gallant men who received no other 
 honorary badge of their conduct on that memorable 
 day than this copper medal from a private individual, 
 years afterwards, when they died upon a foreign 
 station, made it their last request that the medals 
 might carefully be sent home to their respective 
 friends — so sensible are brave men of honour, in 
 whatever rank they may be placed. 
 
 Three of the frigates whose presence would have 
 been so essential a few weeks sooner, joined the 
 squadron on the twelfth day after the action. The 
 fourth joined a few days after them. Nelson thus 
 received despatches which rendered it necessary for 
 him to return to Naples. Before he left Egypt he 
 burnt three of the prizes ; they could not have been 
 fitted for a passage to (jibraltar in less than a month, 
 and that at a great expense and with the loss of 
 the service of at least two sail of the line. " I rest 
 assured," he said to the Admiralty, "that they will 
 be paid for, and have held out that assurance to the 
 squadron. For if an admiral, after a victory, is to 
 look after the captured ships, and not to the distress- 
 ing of the e*emy, very dearly indeed must the nation 
 pay for the prizes. I trust that £60,000 will be 
 deemed a very moderate sum for them ; and when 
 the services, time, and men, with the expense of 
 fitting the three ships for a voyage to England, are 
 considered, Government will save nearly as much as 
 they are valued at. Paying for prizes," he continued, 
 " is no new idea of mine, and would often prove an 
 amazing saving to the State, even without taking into 
 
156 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 calculation what the nation loses by the attention of 
 admirals to the property of the captors — an attention 
 absolutely necessary as a recompense for the exer- 
 tions of the officers and men. An admiral may be 
 amply rewarded by his own feelings, and by the 
 approbation of his superiors ; but what reward have 
 the inferior officers and men but the value of the 
 prizes ? If an admiral takes that from them, on any 
 consideration, he cannot expect to be well supported." 
 To Earl St. Vincent he said, " If he could have been 
 sure that Government would have paid a reasonable 
 value for them, he would have ordered two of the 
 other prizes to be burnt, for they would cost more 
 in refitting, and by the loss of ships attending them, 
 than they were worth." 
 
 Having sent the six remaining prizes forward 
 under Sir James Saumarez, Nelson left Captain Hood, 
 in the Zealous, off Alexandria, with the Swiftsure, 
 Goliath, Alcniene, Zealous, and Emerald, and stood 
 out to sea himself on the seventeenth day after -the 
 battle. 
 
THE BAY OF NAPLES. 
 
157 
 
 CHAPTER Vl. 
 
 Nelson returns to Naples- State of that Court and Kingdom — General 
 Mack — The French approach Naples — Flight of the Royal Family — 
 Successes of the Allies in Italy — Transactions in the Bay of Naples — 
 Expulsion of the French from the Neapolitan and Roman States — 
 Nelson is made Duke of Bronte — He leaves the Mediterranean and 
 returns to England. 
 
 Nelson's health had suffered greatly while he was 
 in the Agamemnon. " My complaint," he said, " is 
 as if a girth were buckled taut over my breast ; and 
 my endeavour in the night is to get it loose." After 
 the battle of Cape St. Vincent he felt a little rest to 
 be so essential to his recovery that he declared he 
 could not continue to serve longer than the ensuing 
 summer unless it should be absolutely necessary ; for, 
 in his own strong language, he had then been four 
 years and nine months without one moment's repose 
 for bodv or mind. A few months' intermission of 
 labour he had obtained — not of rest, for it was pur- 
 chased with the loss of a limb ; and the greater part 
 of the time had been a season of constant pain. As 
 soon as his shattered frame had sufficiently recovered 
 for him to resume his duties, he was called to services 
 of greater importance than any on which he had 
 hitherto been employed, and they brought with them 
 commensurate fatigue and care. The anxiety which 
 he endured during his long pursuit of the enemy was 
 rather changed in its direction than abated by their 
 defeat; and this constant wakefuhiess of thought, 
 
ir>8 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 added to the effect of his wound, and exertions from 
 which it was not possible for one of so ardent and 
 wide-reaching a mind to spare himself, nearly proved 
 fatal. On his way back to Italy he was seized with 
 fever. For eighteen hours his life was despaired of ; 
 and even when the disorder took a favourable turn, 
 and he was so far recovered as again to appear on 
 deck, he himself thought that his end was approach- 
 ing — such was the weakness to which the fever and 
 cough had reduced him. Writing to Earl St. Vincent 
 on the passage, he said to him, " I never expect, my 
 dear lord, to see your face again. It may please God 
 that this will be the finish to that fever of anxiety 
 which I have endured from the middle of June ; but 
 be that as it pleases His goodness, I am resigned to 
 His will." 
 
 The kindest attentions of the warmest friendship 
 were awaiting him at Naples. " Come here," said Sir 
 William Hamilton, " for God's sake, my dear friend, 
 as soon as the service will permit you. A pleasant 
 apartment is ready for you in my house, and Emma 
 is looking out for the softest pillows to repose the few 
 wearied hmbs you have left." Happy would it have 
 been for Nelson if warm and careful friendship had 
 been all that awaited him there ! He himself saw at 
 that time the character of the Neapolitan Court, as it 
 first struck an Englishman, in its true light; and 
 when he was on the way he declared that he detested 
 the voyage to Naples, and that nothing but necessity 
 could have forced him to it. But never was any hero, 
 on his return from victory, welcomed with more heart- 
 felt joy. Before the battle of Aboukir the Court of 
 Naples had been trembling for its existence. The 
 
ARRIVAL AT NAPLES, 159 
 
 language which the Directory held towards it was well 
 described by Sir William Hamilton as being exactly 
 the language of a highwayman. The Neapolitans were 
 told that Benevento might be added to their do- 
 minions, provided they would pay a large sum 
 sufficient to satisfy the Directory ; and they were 
 warned that if the proposal were refused, or even if 
 there were any delay in accepting it, the French 
 would revolutionise all Italy. The joy, therefore, of 
 the Court at Nelson's success was in proportion to the 
 dismay from which that success relieved them. The 
 queen was a daughter of Maria Theresa, and sister 
 of Marie Antoinette. Had she been the wisest and 
 gentlest of her sex, it would not have been possible 
 for her to have regarded the French without hatred 
 and horror ; and the progress of revolutionary opinion?, 
 while it perpetually reminded her of her sister's fate, 
 excited no unreasonable apprehensions for her own. 
 Her feelings, naturally ardent, and little accustomed 
 to restraint, were excited to the highest pitch when 
 the news of the victory arrived. Lady Hamilton, her 
 constant friend and favourite, who was present, says, 
 " It is not possible to describe her transports ; she 
 wept, she kissed her husband, her children, walked 
 frantically about the room, burst into tears again, 
 and again kissed and embraced every person near 
 her, exclaiming, ' brave Nelson ! God, bless and 
 protect our brave deliverer ! Nelson ! Nelson ! 
 what do we not owe you ! conqueror — saviour of 
 Italy ! Oh that my swollen heart could now tell him 
 personally what we owe to him ! ' " She herself wrote 
 to the Neapolitan ambassador at London upon the 
 occasion in terms which show the fulness of her joy 
 
160 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 and the height of the hopes which it had excited. 
 " I wish I could give wings," said she, " to the bearer 
 of the news, and at the same time to our most sincere 
 gratitude. The whole of the sea-coast of Italy is 
 saved; and this is owing alone to the generous 
 English. This battle — or, to speak more correctly, 
 this total defeat of the regicide squadron — was obtained 
 by the valour of this brave admiral, seconded by a 
 navy which is the terror of its enemies. The victory 
 is so complete that I can still scarcely believe it ; and 
 if it were not the brave English nation, which is 
 accustomed to perform prodigies by sea, I could not 
 persuade myself that it had happened. It would 
 have moved you to have seen all my children, boys 
 and girls, hanging on my neck, and crying for joy 
 at the happy news. Recommend the hero to his 
 master ; he has filled the whole of Italy with admira- 
 tion of the English. Great hopes were entertained of 
 some advantages being gained by his bravery, but 
 no one could look for so total a destruction. All here 
 are drunk with joy." 
 
 Such being the feelings of the royal family, it may 
 well be supposed with what delight, and with what 
 honours. Nelson would be welcomed. Early on the 
 22nd of September the poor wretched Vanguard, as 
 he called his shattered vessel, appeared in sight of 
 Naples. The CuUoden and Alexander had preceded 
 her by some days, and given notice of her approach. 
 Many hundred boats and barges were ready to go 
 forth aiid meet him, with music and streamers, and 
 every demonstration of joy and triumph. Sir William 
 and Lady Hamilton led the way in their state barge. 
 They had seen Nelson only for a few days four years 
 
LADY HAMILTON. Ifil 
 
 ago, but they then perceived in him that heroic spirit 
 which was now so fully and gloriously manifested to 
 the world. Enuna Lady Hamilton, who from this 
 time so greatl}^ influenced his future life, was a woman 
 whose personal accomplishments have seldom been 
 equalled, and whose powers of mind were not less 
 fascinating than her person. She was passionately 
 attached to the queen ; and by her influence the 
 British fleet had obtained those supplies at Syracuse 
 without which, Nelson always asserted, the battle of 
 Aboukir could not have been fouofht. Durini^ the 
 long interval which passed before any tidings were 
 received, her anxiety had been hardl}^ less than that 
 of Nelson himself while pursuing an enemy of whom 
 he could obtain no information ; and when the tidings 
 were brought her by a joyful bearer open-mouthed, 
 its effect Avas such that she felt like one who had been 
 shot. She and Sir AVilliam had literally been made 
 ill by their hopes and fears and joy at a catastrophe 
 so far exceeding all that they had dared to hope for. 
 Theh admiration for the hero necessarily produced a 
 degree of proportionate gratitude and affection ; and 
 when their barge came alongside the Vo/iKjuurd , at 
 the sight of Nelson Lady Hamilton sprang up the 
 ship's side, and exclaiming, " God ! is it possible ? " 
 fell into his arms — more, he says, like one dead than 
 alive. He described the meeting as " terribly affect- 
 ing." These friends had scarcely recovered from their 
 tears, when the king, who went out to meet him three 
 leagues in the royal barge, came on board, and took 
 him by the hand, calling him his deliverer and pre- 
 server ; from all the boats around he was saluted with 
 the same appellations ; the multitude Avho surrounded 
 L 
 
162 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 him when he landed repeated the same enthusiastic 
 cries ; and the lazzaroni displayed their joy by hold- 
 ing up birds in cages, and giving them their liberty 
 as he passed. 
 
 His birthday, which occurred a week after his 
 arrival, was celebrated with one of the most splendid 
 f^es ever beheld at Naples. But notwithstanding 
 the splendour with which he was encircled, and the 
 flattering honours with Avhich all ranks welcomed 
 him, Nelson was full}^ sensible of the depravity, as 
 well as weakness, of those by whom he was sur- 
 rounded. '' What precious moments," said he, " the 
 Courts of Naples and Vienna are losing ! Three 
 months would liberate Ital}^ ; but this Court is so 
 enervated that the happy moment will be lost. I 
 am very unwell, and their miserable conduct is not 
 likely to cool my irritable temper. It is a country of 
 fiddlers and poets, whores and scoundrels." This 
 sense of their ruinous weakness he always retained ; 
 nor was he ever blind to the mingled folly and 
 treachery of the Neapolitan Ministers, and the com- 
 plication of iniquities under which the country 
 groaned; but he insensibly, under the influence of 
 Lady Hamilton, formed an affection for the Court, to 
 whose misgovernment the miserable condition of the 
 country was so greatly to be imputed. 
 
 The state of Naples may be described in few 
 words. The king was one of the Spanish Bourbons. 
 As the Caesars have shown us to what wickedness the 
 moral nature of princes may be perverted, so in this 
 family the degradation to which their intellectual 
 nature can be reduced has been not less conspicu- 
 ously evinced. Ferdinand, like the rest of his race, 
 
THE STATE (>F NAPLES. 163 
 
 was passionately fond of field-sports, and cared for 
 nothing, else. His queen had all the vices of the 
 House of Austria, with little to mitigate, and nothing 
 to ennoble them. Provided she could have her 
 pleasures, and the king his sports, they cared not in 
 what manner the revenue was raised or administered. 
 Of course a system of favouritism existed at Court, 
 and the vilest and most impudent corruption prevailed 
 in every department of State, and in every branch of 
 administration, from the highest to the lowest. It is 
 only the institutions of CJhristianity, and the vicinity 
 of better-regulated States, which prevent kingdoms, 
 under such circumstances of misrule, from sinking 
 into a barbarism like that of Turkey. A sense of 
 better things was kept alive in some of the Neapoli- 
 tans by literature, and by their intercourse Avith 
 happier countries. These persons naturally looked to 
 France at the commencement of the Eevolution, 
 and during all the horrors of that Revolution still 
 cherished a hope that, by the aid of France they 
 might be enabled to establish a new order of things 
 in Naples. They were grievously mistaken in sup- 
 posing that the principles of liberty would ever be 
 supported by France, but they were not mistaken in 
 believing that no Government could be worse than 
 their own ; and therefore they considered any change 
 as desirable. In this opinion men of the most dif- 
 ferent characters agreed. Many of the nobles who 
 were not in favour wished for a revolution, that they 
 might obtain the ascendency to which they thought 
 themselves entitled ; men of desperate fortunes de- 
 sired it, in the hope of enriching themselves ; knaves 
 and intriguers sold themselves to the French to 
 L 2 
 
164 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 promote it ; and a few enlightened men, and true lovers 
 of their country, joined in the same cause from the 
 purest and noblest motives. All these were con- 
 founded under the common name of Jacobins; and 
 the Jacobins of the Continental kingdoms were re- 
 garded by the English with more hatred than they 
 deserved. They were classed with Philippe Egahte, 
 Marat, and Hebert, Avhereas they deserved rather to 
 be ranked, if not with Locke and Sydney and Russell, 
 at least with Arg3de and Monmouth, and those who, 
 having the same object as the prime movers of our 
 own revolution, failed in their premature but not 
 unworthy attempt. 
 
 No circumstances could be more unfavourable to 
 the best interests of Europe than those which placed 
 England in strict alliance Avith the superannuated 
 and abominable Governments of the Continent. The 
 subjects of those Governments who wished for free- 
 dom thus became enemies to England, and dupes and 
 agents of France. They looked to their own grinding 
 grievances, and did not see the danger with which 
 the liberties of the world were threatened. England, 
 on the other hand, saw the danger in its true magni- 
 tude, but Avas blind to these grievances, and found 
 herself compelled to support systems which had 
 formerly been equally the object of her abhorrence 
 and her contempt. This Avas the state of Nelson's 
 mind : he knew that there could be no peace for 
 Europe till the pride of France Avas humbled and her 
 strength broken, and he regarded all those Avho Avere 
 the friends of France as traitoi's to the common cause, 
 as Avell as to their oAvn individual sovereigns. There 
 are situations in which the most opposite and. hostile 
 
CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE OF THE XILE. 165 
 
 parties luay mean equally well, and yet act equally 
 wrong. The Court of Naples, unconscious of com- 
 mitting any crime by continuing the system of mis- 
 rule to which they had succeeded, conceived that in 
 maintaining things as they were they were maintain- 
 ing their own rights, and preserving the people from 
 such horrors as had been perpetrated in France. The 
 Neapolitan revolutionists thought that without a 
 total change of system any relief from the present 
 evils was impossible, and they believed themselves 
 justified in bringing about that change by any means. 
 Both parties knew that it was the fixed intention 
 of the French to revolutionise Naples. The revo- 
 lutionists supposed that it was for the purpose of 
 estabhshing a free government ; the Court and all 
 disinterested persons were perfectly aware that the 
 enemy had no other object than conquest and 
 plunder. 
 
 The battle of the Nile shook the power of France. 
 Her most successful general and her finest army were 
 blocked up in Egypt, hopeless, as it appeared, of 
 return; and the government was in the hands of 
 men without talents, without character, and divided 
 among themselves. Austria, whom Buonaparte had 
 terrified into a peace at a time when constancy on 
 her part would probably have led to his destruction, 
 took advantage of the crisis to renew the war. 
 Russia also was preparing to enter the field with 
 unbroken forces, led by a general Avhose extra- 
 ordinary military genius would have entitled him 
 to a high and honourable rank in history if it had 
 not been sullied by all the ferocity of a barbarian. 
 Naples, seeing its destruction at hand, and thinking 
 
166 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 that the only means of averting it was by meeting 
 the danger, after long vacillations, which were pro- 
 duced by the fears and weakness and treachery of 
 its council, agreed at last to join this new coalition 
 with a numerical force of 80,000 men. Nelson told 
 the king in plain terms that he had his choice, 
 either to advance, trusting to God for His blessing 
 on a just cause, and prepared to die sword in hand, 
 or to remain quiet and be kicked out of his kingdom 
 — one of these things must happen. The king made 
 answer he would go on, and trust in God and Nelson ; 
 and Nelson, who would else have returned to Egypt, 
 for the purpose of destroying the French shipping 
 in Alexandria, gave up his intention at the desire 
 of the Neapolitan Court, and resolved to remain on 
 that station, in the hope that he might be useful to 
 the movements of the army. He suspected also, 
 with reason, that the continuance of his fleet was so 
 earnestly requested because the royal family thought 
 their persons would be safer, in case of any mishap, 
 under the British flag than under their own. 
 
 His first object was the recovery of Malta, an 
 island which the King of Naples pretended to claim. 
 The Maltese, whom the villainous knights of their 
 Order had betrayed to France, had taken up arms 
 against their rapacious invaders with a spirit and 
 unanimity worthy of the highest praise. They 
 blockaded the French garrison by land, and a small 
 squadron, under Captain Ball, began to blockade 
 them by sea on the 12th of October. Twelve days 
 afterwards Nelson arrived, and the little island of Gozo, 
 dependent upon Malta, which had also been seized 
 and garrisoned by the French, capitulated soon after 
 
GENERAL MACK. 167 
 
 his arrival, and Avas taken possession of by the 
 British m the name of his SiciUan Majesty — a 
 Power who had no better claim to it than France. 
 Having seen this effected, and reinforced Captain 
 Ball, he left that able officer to perform a most 
 arduous and important part, and returned himseK 
 to co-operate with the intended movements of the 
 Neapolitans. 
 
 General Mack was at the head of the Neapolitan 
 troops. All that is now doubtful concerning this man 
 is whether he was a coward or a traitor ; at that 
 time he was assiduously extolled as a most consum- 
 mate commander, to whom Europe might look for 
 deliverance ; and when he Avas introduced by the 
 king and queen to the British admiral, the queen 
 said to him, '' Be to us by land, general, what my 
 hero Nelson has been by sea." Mack on his part 
 did not fail to praise the force Avhich he was ap- 
 pomted to command. " It was/' he said, '' the finest 
 army in Europe." Nelson agreed with him that 
 there could not be finer men ; but when the general 
 at a review so directed the operations of a mock 
 fight that by an unhappy blunder his OAvn troops 
 were surrounded mstead of those of the enemy, he 
 turned to his friends and exclaimed Avith bitterness 
 that the fellow did not understand his business. 
 Another circumstance, not less characteristic, con- 
 firmed Nelson in this judgment. "General Mack," 
 said he in one of his letters, " cannot move Avithout 
 five carriages ! I have formed my opinion. I heartily 
 pray I may be mistaken." 
 
 While Mack, at the head of 32,000 men, marched 
 into the Eoman State, 5,000 Neapolitans were em- 
 
168 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 barked on board the British and Portuguese squadron 
 to take possession of Leghorn. This was effected 
 without opposition; and the Grand Duke of Tus- 
 cany, whose neutrahty had been so outrageously vio- 
 lated by the French, was better satisfied with the 
 measure than some of the Neapolitans themselves, 
 Naselli, their general, refused to seize the French 
 vessels at Leghorn, because he and the Duke di 
 Sangro, who was ambassador at the Tuscan Court, 
 mamtained that the King of Naples was not at war 
 with France. " What ! " said Nelson, " has not the 
 king received, as a conquest made by him, the re- 
 publican flag taken at Gozo ? Is not his own flag 
 flying there and at Malta, not only by his permission, 
 but by his order ? Is not his flag shot at every day 
 by the French, and their shot returned from batteries 
 which bear that flag ? Are not two frigates and a 
 corvette placed under my orders, ready to fight the 
 French, meet them where they may ? Has not the 
 king sent publicly from Naples guns, mortars, &c., 
 with oflicers and artillery, against the French in 
 Malta ? If these acts are not tantamount to any 
 written paper, I give up all knowledge of Avhat is 
 war." This reasoning was of less avail than an argu- 
 ment addressed to the general's fears. Nelson told 
 liim that if he permitted the many hundred French 
 who were then in the mole to remain neutral till they 
 had a IViir opportunity of being active, they had one 
 sure resource, if all other schemes failed, which was 
 to set one vessel on fire, the mole would be de- 
 stroyed, probably the town also, and the port ruined 
 for twenty years. This representation made Naselli 
 agree to the half-measure of laying an embargo on 
 
''THE NEAPOLITAN SHUFFLE:' 169 
 
 the vessels. Among them were a gTeat number of 
 French privateers, some of which were of such force 
 as to threaten the greatest mischief to our commerce, 
 and about seventy sail of vessels belonging to the 
 Ligurian Republic, as Genoa was now called, laden 
 with corn, and ready to sail for Genoa and France^ 
 where their arrival would have expedited the 
 entrance of more French troops into Italy. "The 
 general," said Nelson, " saw, I believe, the conse- 
 quence of permitting these vessels to depart in the 
 same Hght as myself; but there is this difierence 
 between us : he, prudently, and certainly safely, waits 
 the orders of his court, taking no responsibility on 
 himself. I act from the circumstances of the mo- 
 ment, as I feel may be most advantageous for the 
 cause which I serve, taking all responsibility on my- 
 self" It was in vain to hope for anything vigorous 
 or manly from such men as Nelson was compelled to 
 act with. The crews of the French ships and their 
 allies were ordered to depart in two days. Four 
 days elapsed, and nobody obeyed the order ; nor, in 
 spite of the representations of the British minister, 
 ^Ir. AVindham, were any means taken to enforce it. 
 The true Neapolitan shufHe, as Nelson called it, took 
 place on all occasions. After an absence of ten days 
 he returned to Naples; and receiving intelligence there, 
 from Mr. Windham, that the privateers were at last 
 to be disarmed, the corn landed, and the crews sent 
 away, he expressed his satisfaction at the news in 
 characteristic language, saying, " So far I am content. 
 The enemy will be distressed; and, thank God, I 
 shall get no money. The world, I know, think that 
 money is our god ; and now they will be undeceived, 
 
170 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 as far as it relates to us. Down, down with the 
 French ! is my constant prayer." 
 
 Odes, sonnets, and congratulatory poeins of every 
 description, were poured in upon Nelson on his 
 arrival at Naples. An Irish Franciscan who was one 
 of the poets, not being content with panegyric upon 
 this occasion, ventured upon a flight of prophecy, and 
 predicted that Lord Nelson would take Eome with 
 his ships. His lordship reminded Father M'Cormick 
 that ships could not ascend the Tiber ; but the father, 
 who had probably forgotten this circumstance, met 
 the objection with a bold front, and declared he saw 
 that it would come to pass notwithstanding. Re- 
 joicings of this kind were of short duration. The 
 King of Naples was with the army which had entered 
 Rome ; but the Castle of St. Angelo was held by the 
 French, and 13,000 French were strongly posted in 
 the Roman states at Castallana. Mack had marched 
 against them with 20,000 men. Nelson saw that the 
 event was doubtful, or rather, that there could be 
 very little hope of the result. But the immediate 
 fate of Naples, as he well knew, hung upon the issue. 
 " If Mack is defeated," said he, " in fourteen days this 
 country is lost, for the emperor has not yet moved 
 his army, and Naples has not the power of resisting 
 the enemy. It was not a case of choice, but of neces- 
 sity, which induced the king to march out of his 
 kingdom, and not wait till the French had collected 
 a force sufficient to drive him out of it in a week." 
 He had no reliance upon the Neapolitan officers, who, 
 as he described them, seemed frightened at a drawn 
 sword or a loaded gun ; and he was perfectly aware 
 of the consequences which the sluggish movements 
 
THE IMMEDIATE NECESSITY OF WAR. 171 
 
 and deceitful policy of the Austrians were likely to 
 bring down upon themselves and all their Con- 
 tinental allies. " A delayed war, on the part of the 
 emperor;" said he, writing to the British minister 
 at Vienna, " will be destructive to this monarchy 
 of Naples, and, of course, to the newly-acquired 
 dominions of the emperor in Italy. Had the war 
 commenced in September or October, all Italy would 
 at this moment have been liberated. This month 
 is worse than the last, the next will render the con- 
 test doubtful ; and in six months, when the Nea- 
 politan Republic will be organised, armed, and with 
 its nuinerous resources called forth, the emperor will 
 not only be defeated in Italy, but AviU totter on his 
 throne at Vienna. Down, dotvn with the Fren ch ! 
 ought to be written in the council-room of every 
 country in the world, and may Almighty God give 
 right thoughts to every sovereign, is my constant 
 prayer." His perfect foresight of the immediate 
 event was clearly shown in this letter, when he de- 
 sired the ambassador to assure the empress (who was 
 a daughter of the house of Naples), notwithstanding 
 the councils which had shaken the throne of her 
 father and mother, he Avould remain there, ready to 
 save their persons, and her brothers and sisters ; and 
 that he had also left ships at Leghorn, to save the 
 lives of the Grand Duke and her sister. " For all," 
 said he, ," must be a republic, if the emperor does not 
 act with expedition and vigour." 
 
 His fears were soon vended. " The Neapolitan 
 officers," said Nelson, " did not lose much honour, for, 
 God knows, they had not much to lose ; but they 
 lost all they had." General St. Philip commanded 
 
172 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 the right wing, of 19,000 men. He fell in with 3,000 
 of the enemy ; and, as soon as he came near enough 
 deserted to them. One of his men had virtue enough 
 to level a musket at him, and shot him through the 
 arm, but the wound was not sufficient to prevent 
 him from joining Avith the French in pursuit of his 
 own countrymen. Cannon, tents, baggage, and 
 military chest, were all forsaken by the runaways, 
 though they lost only forty men ; for the French, 
 having put them to flight, and got possession of 
 everythmg, did not pursue an army of more than 
 three times their own number. The main body of 
 the Neapolitans, under Mack, did not behave better. 
 The king returned to Naples, where every day 
 brought with it the tidings of some new disgrace from 
 the army, and the discovery of some new treachery at 
 home ; till, four days after his return, the general sent 
 him advice that there was no prospect of stopping 
 the progress of the enemy, and that the royal family 
 must look to their own personal safety. The state of 
 the public mind in Naples was such, at this time, that 
 neither the British minister nor the British admiral 
 thought it prudent to appear at court. Their motions 
 were watched ; and the revolutionists had even 
 formed a plan for seizing and detaining them as 
 hostages, to prevent any attack upon the city after 
 the French should have taken possession of it. A 
 letter which Nelst)n addressed at this time to the 
 First Lord of the Admiralty shows in what manner he 
 contemplated the possible issue of the storm. It was 
 in these words: — "My deaii lord — There is an old 
 saying, that when things are at the Avorst, they niust 
 mend. Now the mind of man cannot fancy things 
 
BEMOVAL OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 173 
 
 worse than they are here. But, thank God ! my 
 health is better, my mind never firmer, and my heart 
 in the right trim to comfort, reheve, and protect those 
 whom it is my duty to afford assistance to. Pray, my 
 lord, assure our gracious sovereign, that, while I live 
 I will support his glory ; and that if I fall it shall be 
 in a manner worthy of your lordship's faithful and 
 obliged Nelson. I must not Avrite more. Every word 
 may be a text for a long letter." 
 
 Meantime Lady Hamilton arranged everything for 
 the removal of the royal family. This was conducted, 
 on her part, with the greatest address, and without 
 suspicion, because she had been in habits of constant 
 correspondence with the queen. It was laiown that 
 the removal could not be effected without danger, 
 for the mob, and especially the lazzaroni, were 
 attached to the king ; and as at this time they felt 
 a natural presumption in their own numbers and 
 strength, they insisted that he should not leave 
 Naples. Several persons fell victims to their fury ; 
 among others was a messenger from Vienna, whose 
 body was dragged under the windows of the palace in 
 the king's sight. The king and queen spoke to the 
 mob, and pacified them ; but it would not have been 
 safe, while they were in this agitated state, to have 
 embarked the effects of the royal family openly. 
 Lad}' Hamilton, like a heroine of modern romance, 
 explored, with no Httle danger, a subterraneous 
 passage, leading from the palace to the sea-side : 
 through this passage the royal treasures, the choicest 
 pieces of painting and sculpture, and other property, 
 to the amount of two millions and a half, were con- 
 veyed to the shore, and stowed safely on board the 
 
174 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 English ships. ^)n the night of the 21st, at half-past 
 eight, Nelson landed, brought out the whole royal 
 family, embarked them in three barges, and carried 
 them safely, through a tremendous sea, to the Van- 
 f/uarii. Notice was then immediately given to the 
 British merchants, that they would be received on 
 board any ship in the squadron. Their property had 
 previously been embarked in transports. Two days 
 Avere passed in the bay, for the purpose of taking such 
 persons on board as required an asylum : and on the 
 night of the 28rd the fleet sailed. The next da}^ a 
 Tnore violent storm arose than Nelson had ever before 
 encountered. On the 25th the youngest of the princes 
 was taken ill, and died in Lady Hamilton's arms. 
 During this whole trying season Lady Hamilton 
 waited upon the royal family with the zeal of the 
 most devoted servant, at a time when, except one 
 man, no person belonging to the court assisted 
 them. 
 
 On the mornmg of the 26 th the royal family were 
 landed at Palermo. It was soon seen that their flight 
 had not been premature. Prince Pignatelli, who had 
 been left as vicar-general and viceroy, with orders to 
 defend the kingdom to the last rock in Calabria, sent 
 plenipotentiaries to the French camp before Capua ; 
 and they, for the sake of saving the capital, signed an 
 armistice, by which the greater part of the kingdom 
 was given up to the enemy — a cession that necessarily 
 led to the loss of the whole. This was on the 10th of 
 January. The French advanced towards Naples. 
 Mack, under pretext of taking shelter from the fury 
 of the lazzaroni, fled to the French general Cham- 
 pionet, who sent him under an escort to Milan ; but 
 
ADVANCE OF THE FRENCH TOWARDS NAPLES. 17."> 
 
 as France hoped for further services fi'om this 
 Avretched traitor, it was thought prudent to treat him 
 apparently as a prisoner of war. The NeapoHtan 
 army disappeared in a few days ; of the men, some, 
 following their officers, deserted to the enemy. The 
 greater part took the opportunity of disbanding 
 themselves. The lazzaroni proved true to their 
 country. They attacked the enemy's advanced posts, 
 drove them in, and were not dispirited by the 
 murderous defeat which they suffered from the main 
 body. Flying into the city, they continued to defenrl 
 it, even after the French had planted their artillery 
 in the principal streets. Had there been a man of 
 genius to have directed their enthusiasm, or had there 
 been any correspondent feeling in the higher ranks, 
 Naples might have set a glorious example to Europe, 
 and have proved the grave of every Frenchman who 
 entered it. But the vices of the Government had 
 extinguished all other patriotism than that of a 
 rabble, who had no other virtue than that sort of 
 loyalty which was like the fidelity of a dog to its 
 master. This fidelity the French and their adherents 
 counteracted by another kmd of devotion. The 
 priests affirmed that St. Januarius had declared in 
 favour of the Eevolution ; the miracle of his blood 
 was performed with the usual success and more than 
 usual effect on the very evening when, after two days 
 of desperate fighting, the French obtained possession 
 of Naples. A French guard of honour was stationed 
 at his church. Championet gave "respect for St. 
 Januarius," as the word for the army ; and the next 
 day Te Dev/ni was sung by the archbishop in the 
 cathedral, and the inhabitants were invited to attend 
 
176 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 the ceremony, and join in thanksgiving for the 
 glorious entry of the French, who, it was said, being 
 under the pecuHar protection of Providence, had 
 regenerated the Neapolitans, and were come to 
 estabhsh and consolidate their liappiness. 
 
 It seems to haA^e been Nelson's opmion that the 
 Austrian cabinet regarded the conquest of Naples with 
 complacency, and that its measures were directed so 
 as designedly not to prevent the French from over- 
 running it. That cabinet was assurerlly capable of 
 any folly and of any baseness : and it is not iu iprob- 
 able that, at this time, calculating upon the success of 
 the new coalition, it indulged a dream of adding 
 extensively to its former Italian possessions, and 
 therefore left the few remaining powers of Italy to be 
 overthrown, as a means which would facilitate its OAvn 
 ambitious views. The King of Sardinia, finding it 
 impossible longer to endure the exactions of France 
 and the insults of the French commissary, went to 
 Leghorn, embarked on board a Danish frigate, and 
 sailed, under British protection, to Sardinia; that part 
 of his dominions Avhich the maritime supremacy of 
 England rendered a secure asylum. On his arrival 
 he published a protest against the conduct of France, 
 declaring, upon the faith and word of a king, that he 
 had never infringed, even in the slightest degree, the 
 treaties which he had made with the French 
 Kepublic. Tuscany Avas soon occupied by French 
 troops, a fate which bolder policy might perhaps 
 have failed to avert, but which its weak and timid 
 neutrality rendered inevitable. Nelson began to fear 
 even for Sicily. " Oh, my dear sir ! " said he, writing 
 to Commodore Duckworth, " one thousand English 
 
CARDINAL BUFFO'S ''CHRISTIAN ARMY." Ill 
 
 troops would save Messina, and I fear General Stuart 
 cannot give me men to save this most important 
 island ! " But his representations were not lost upon 
 Sir Charles Stuart. This officer hastened immediately 
 before Minorca, with a thousand men, assisted in the 
 measures of defence which were taken, and did not 
 return before he had satisfied himself that, if the 
 Neapohtans were excluded from the management of 
 affairs, and the spirit of the peasantry properly 
 directed, Sicily was safe. Before his coming. Nelson 
 had ofi'ered the king, if no resources should arrive, 
 to defend Messina with the ship's company of an 
 English man-of-war. 
 
 Russia had now entered into the war. Corfu 
 surrendered to a Russian and Turkish fleet, acting 
 now, for the first time, in strange confederacy, yet 
 against a power which was certainly the common and 
 worst enemy of both. Trowbridge, having given up 
 the blockade of Alexandria to Sir Sidney Smith, 
 rejoined Nelson, bringing with him a considerable 
 addition of strength, and in himself, what Nelson 
 valued more, a man upon whose sagacity, indefatig- 
 able zeal, and inexhaustible resources, he could place 
 full reliance. Trowbridge Avas entrusted to commence 
 the operations against the French in the Bay of 
 Naples. Meantime Cardinal Ruffo, a man of question- 
 able character, but of a temper fitted for such times, 
 having landed in Calabria, raised what he called a 
 Christian army, composed of the best and the vilest 
 materials ; loyal peasants, enthusiastic priests and 
 friars, galley slaves, the emptying of the gaols, and 
 banditti. The islands in the Bay of Naples were 
 joyfully delivered up by the inhabitants, who were m 
 
 M 
 
178 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 a state of famine already, from the effect of this bale- 
 ful revolution. Trowbridge distributed among them 
 all his flour ; and Nelson pressed the Sicilian court 
 incessantly for supplies, telling them that £100,000 
 given away in provisions would, at this time, purchase 
 a kingdom. Money, he was told, they had not to 
 give ; and the wisdom and integrity which might 
 have supplied its want were not to be found. " There 
 is nothing," said he, " which I propose, that is not, as 
 far as orders go, imphcitly compHed with; but the 
 execution is dreadful, and almost makes me mad. 
 My desire to serve their Majesties faithfully, as is my 
 duty, has been such that I am almost blind and worn 
 out, and cannot, in my present state, hold much 
 longer." 
 
 Before any Government can be overthrown by the 
 consent of the people, the Government must be 
 intolerably oppressive, or the people thoroughly 
 corrupted. Bad as the misrule at Naples had been, 
 its consequences had been felt far less there than in 
 Sicily ; and the peasantry had that attachment to the 
 soil which gives birth to so many of the noblest as 
 well as of the happiest feelings. In all the islands 
 the people Avere perfectly frantic with joy when they 
 saw the Neapolitan colours hoisted. At Procida 
 Trowbridge could not procure even a rag of the tri- 
 coloured flag to lay at the king's feet — it was rent 
 into ten thousand pieces by the inhabitants, and 
 entirely destroyed. " The horrid treatment of the 
 French," he said, "had made them mad." It ex- 
 asperated the ferocity of a character which neither 
 the laws nor the religion under which they lived 
 tended to mitigate. Their hatred was especially 
 
TROWBRIDGE'S POSITION. 179 
 
 directed against the Neapolitan revolutionists; and 
 the Hshermen, in concert among themselves, chose 
 each his own victim, whom he would stiletto when 
 the day of vengeance should arrive. The head of one 
 was sent off one morning to Trowbridge, with his 
 basket of grapes for breakfast, and a note from the 
 Italian, who had what he called the glory of pre- 
 senting it, saying he had killed the man as he was 
 running away, and begging his Excellency to accept 
 the head, and consider it as a proof of the writer's 
 attachment to the crown. With the first successes of 
 the court the work of punishment began. The judge 
 at Ischia said it was necessary to have a bishop to 
 degrade the traitorous priests before he could execute 
 them, upon which Trowbridge advised him to hang 
 them first, and send them to him afterwards, if he did 
 not think that degradation sufficient. This Avas said 
 with the straightforward feehng of a sailor, who cared 
 as little for canon law as he knew about it ; but when 
 he discovered that the judge's orders were to go 
 through the business in a summary manner, under his 
 sanction, he told him at once that could not be, for 
 the prisoners were not British subjects, and he de- 
 cHned having anything to do with it. There were 
 manifestly persons about the court who, while they 
 thirsted for the pleasure of vengeance, were devising 
 how to throw the odium of it upon the English. They 
 wanted to employ an English man-of-war to carry the 
 priests to Palermo, for degradation, and then bring 
 them back for execution, and they applied to Trow- 
 bridge for a hangman, which he indignantly refused. 
 He, meantime, was almost heartbroken by the situa- 
 tion in which he found himself He had promised 
 M 2 
 
180 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 relief to the islanders, relying upon the queen's 
 promise to him. He had distributed the whole of 
 his private stock — there was plenty of grain at 
 Palermo, and in its neighbourhood, and yet none was 
 sent him ; the enemy, he complained, had more 
 interest there than the king; and the distress for 
 bread which he witnessed was such, he said, that it 
 would move even a Frenchman to pity. 
 
 Nelson's mind was not in a happier state respecting 
 public affairs. " As to politics," said he, " at this time 
 they are my abomination ; the ministers of kings and 
 princes ai'e as great scoundrels as ever lived. The 
 brother of the emperor is just going to marry the 
 great Something of Eussia, and it is more than ex- 
 pected that a kingdom is to be found for him in Italy, 
 and that the King of Naples will be sacrificed." Had 
 there been a wise and manly spirit in the Itahan 
 states, or had the conduct of Austria been directed 
 by anything like a principle of honour, a more favour- 
 able opportunity could not have been desired for 
 restoring order and prosperity in Europe than the 
 misconduct of the French Directory at this time 
 afforded. But Nelson saw selfishness and knavery 
 wherever he looked ; and even the pleasure of seeing 
 a cause prosper in which he was so zealously engaged 
 was poisoned by his sense of the rascahty of those 
 with whom he was compelled to act. At this juncture 
 intelligence arrived that the French fleet had escaped 
 from Brest under cover of a fog, passed Cadiz unseen 
 by Lord Keith's squadron, in hazy weather, and 
 entered the Mediterranean. It was said to consist of 
 twenty-four sail of the line, six frigates, and three 
 sloops. The object of the French was to liberate the 
 
IfULSOIf'6 POSITION. 181 
 
 Spanish fleet, form a junction with them, act against 
 Minorca and Sicily, and overpower our naval force 
 in the Mediterranean, by falling in with detached 
 squadrons, and thus destroying it in detail. When 
 they arrived off Carthagena they requested the 
 Spanish ships to make sail and join; but the 
 Spaniards replied they had not men to man them. 
 To this it was answered that the French had men 
 enough on board for that purpose. But the Spaniards 
 seem to have been apprehensive of delivering up their 
 ships thus entirely into the power of such allies, and 
 refused to come out. The fleet from Cadiz, however, 
 consisting of from seventeen to twenty sail of the line, 
 got out, under Masarredo, a man who then bore an 
 honourable name, which he has since rendered in- 
 famous by betraying his country. They met with a 
 violent storm off the coast of Oran, which dismasted 
 many of their ships, and so eflectually disabled them 
 as to prevent the junction, and frustrate a well- 
 planned expedition. 
 
 Before this occurred, and while the junction was as 
 probable as it would have been formidable. Nelson was 
 in a state of the greatest anxiety. " What a state am 
 I in ! " said he to Earl St. Vincent. " If I go, I risk, 
 and more than risk, Sicily ; for we know, from experi- 
 ence, that more depends upon opinion than upon acts 
 themselves ; and as I stay, my heart is breaking." 
 His first business was to summon Trowbridge to join 
 him, with all the ships of the line under his command, 
 and a frigate, if possible. Then hearing that the 
 French had entered the Mediterranean, and expecting 
 them at Palermo, where he had only his own ship, 
 with that single ship he prepared to make all the 
 
182 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 resistance possible. Trowbridge having joined him, he 
 left Captain E. J. Foote, of the Seahorse, to command 
 the smaller vessels in the Bay of Naples, and sailed 
 with six ships — one a Portuguese, and a Portuguese 
 corvette — telling Earl St. Vincent that the squadron 
 should never fall into the hands of the enemy : " And 
 before we are destroyed," said he, " I have little doubt 
 but they will have their wings so completely chpped 
 that they may be easily overtaken." It was just at 
 this time that he received from Captain Hallowell 
 the present of the coffin. Such a present was regarded 
 by the men with natural astonishment ; one of his old 
 shipmates in the Agaviemnon said — " We shall have 
 hot work of it indeed ! You see the admiral intends 
 to fight till he is killed, and there he is to be 
 buried." Nelson placed it upright, against the bulk- 
 head of his cabin, behind his chair where he sat at 
 dinner. The gift suited him at this time. It is said 
 that he was disappointed in the son-in-law whom he 
 had loved so dearly from his childhood, and who had 
 saved his life at Teneriffe ; and it is certain that he 
 had now formed an infatuated attachment for Lady 
 Hamilton, which totally weaned his affections from 
 his wife. Further than this, there is no reason to 
 believe that this most unfortunate attachment was 
 criminal, but this was criminality enough, and it 
 brought with it its punishment. Nelson was dis- 
 satisfied with himself, and therefore weary of the 
 world. This feeling he now frequently expressed. 
 " There is no true happiness in this life," said he ; 
 " and in my present state I could quit it with a smile." 
 And in a letter to his old friend Davison, he said, 
 " Believe me, my only wish is to sink with honour 
 
EMMA, LADT HAMILTOI^w 
 {After K picture entitled " Sensibility^^' hy 0. Somney^. Engralicd by Itd._Eaiiom.) 
 
ATTACHMENT FOR LADY HAMILTON, 183 
 
 into the grave; and when that shall please God, I 
 shall meet death with a smile. Not that I am in- 
 sensible to the honom^s and riches my king and 
 country have heaped upon me, so much more than 
 any officer could deserve, yet am I ready to quit this 
 world of trouble, and envy none but those of the 
 estate six feet by two." 
 
 Well had it been for Nelson if he had made no 
 other sacrifices to this unhappy attachment than his 
 peace of mind ; but it led to the only blot upon his 
 public character. While he sailed from Palermo, with 
 the intention of collecting his whole force, and keeping 
 off Maretimo, either to receive reinforcements there, 
 if the French were bound upwards, or to hasten to 
 Minorca, if that should be their destination, Captain 
 Foote, in the Seahorse, with the Neapolitan frigates 
 and some small vessels under his command, was left 
 to act with a land force, consisting of a few regular 
 troops, of four different nations, and with the armed 
 rabble which Cardinal Ruffo called the Christian army. 
 His directions were to co-operate to the utmost of his 
 power with the royalists, at whose head Ruffo had been 
 placed, and he had no other mstructions whatever. 
 Ruffb advancing, without any plan, but relying upon 
 the enemy's want of numbers, which prevented them 
 from attempting to act upon the offensive, and ready 
 to take advantage of any accident which might occur, 
 approached Naples. Fort St. Elmo, which commands 
 the town, was wholly garrisoned by French troops; 
 the Castles of Uovo and Nuovo, which commanded the 
 anchorage, were chiefly defended by Neapolitan revo- 
 lutionists, the powerful men among them having 
 taken shelter there. If these castles were taken, the 
 
184 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 reduction of Fort St. Elmo would be greatly expedited. 
 They were strong places, and there was reason to 
 apprehend that the French fleet might arrive to relieve 
 them. Ruffo proposed to the garrison to capitulate, on 
 condition that their persons and property should be 
 guaranteed, and that they should, at their own option, 
 either be sent to Toulon, or remain at Naples, without 
 being molested either in their persons or families. 
 This capitulation was accepted ; it was signed by the 
 cardinal and the Russian and Turkish commanders, 
 and lastly, by Captain Foote as commander of the 
 British force. About six-and-thirty hours afterwards 
 Nelson arrived in the bay, with a force, which had 
 joined him during his cruise, consisting of seventeen 
 sail of the line, with 1,700 troops on board, and the 
 Prince Royal of Naples in the admiral's ship. A flag 
 of truce was flying on the castles, and on board the 
 Seahorse. Nelson made a signal to annul the treaty, 
 declaring that he would grant rebels no other terms 
 than those of unconditional submission. The cardinal 
 objected to this, nor could all the arguments of 
 Nelson, Sir W. Hamilton, and Lady Hamilton, who 
 took an active part in the conference, convince him 
 that a treaty of such a nature, solemnly concluded, 
 could honourably be set aside. He retired at last, 
 silenced by Nelson's authority, but not convinced. 
 Captain Foote was sent out of the bay ; and the 
 garrisons, taken out of the castles, under pretence of 
 carrying the treaty into effect, were delivered over as 
 rebels to the vengeance of the Sicilian court. A de- 
 plorable 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 
 
PRINCE FRANCESCO CARACCIOLI. 185 
 
 is no alternative for one who will not make himself a 
 participator in guilt but to record the disgraceful 
 story with sorrow and with shame. 
 
 Prince Francesco CaraccioH, a younger branch of 
 one of the noblest Neapohtan famihes, escaped from 
 one of these castles before it capitulated. He was at 
 the head of the marine, and was nearly seventy years 
 of age, bearing a high character, both for professional 
 and personal merit. He had accompanied the Court 
 to Sicily ; but when the revolutionary government, or 
 Parthenopsean Republic, as it was called, issued an 
 edict ordering all absent Neapolitans to return on 
 pain of confiscation of their property, he solicited 
 and obtained permission of the king to return, his 
 estates being very great. It is said that the king, 
 when he granted him this permission, warned him 
 not to take any part in politics ; expressing, at the 
 same time, his own persuasion that he should recover 
 his kingdom. But neither the king, nor he himself, 
 ought to have imagined that, in such times, a man 
 of such reputation would be permitted to remain 
 inactive ; and it soon appeared that Caraccioli was 
 again in command of the navy, and serving under 
 the republic against his late sovereign. The sailors 
 reported that he was forced to act thus, and this Avas 
 believed, till it was seen that he directed ably the 
 offensive operations of the revolutionists, and did not 
 avail himself of opportunities for escaping Avhen they 
 offered. When the recovery of Naples was evidently 
 near he applied to Cardinal Euffo and to the Duke 
 of Calvirrano for protection, expressing his hope that 
 the few days during which he had been forced to 
 obey the French would not outweigh forty years of 
 
186 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 faithful services; but, perhaps not receiving such 
 assurances as he wished, and knowing too well the 
 temper of the Sicilian court, he endeavoured to 
 secrete himself, and a price was set upon his head. 
 More unfortunately for others than for himself he 
 was brought in alive, having been discovered in the 
 disguise of a peasant, and carried one morning on 
 board Lord Nelson's ship, with his hands tied behind 
 him. 
 
 Caraccioli was well known to the British officers, 
 and had been ever highly esteemed by all who l^new 
 him. Captain Hardy ordered him immediately to be 
 unbound, and to be treated with all those attentions 
 which he felt due to a man who, when last on board 
 the Foiidroyant, had been received as an admiral and 
 a prince. Sir William and Lady Hamilton were in 
 the ship ; but Nelson, it is affirmed, saAv no one, except 
 his own officers, during the tragedy which ensued. 
 His own determination was made, and he issued an 
 order to the Neapolitan commodore, Count Thurn, to 
 assemble a court-martial of Neapolitan officers on 
 board the British flag-ship, proceed immediately to 
 try the prisoner, and report to him, if the charges 
 were proved, what punishment he ought to suffer. 
 These proceedings were as rapid as possible. Caraccioli 
 was brought on board at nine in the forenoon, and 
 the trial began at ten. It lasted two hours. He 
 averred in his defence that he had acted under 
 compulsion, having been compelled to serve as a 
 common soldier till he consented to take command 
 of the fleet. This, the apologists of Lord Nelson say, 
 he failed in proving. They forget that the possibility 
 of proving it was not allowed him, for he was brought 
 
EXECUTION OF CARACCIOLI. 187 
 
 to trial within an hour after he Avas legally in arrest : 
 and how, in that time, was he to collect his witnesses ? 
 He was found guilty, and sentenced to death ; and 
 Nelson gave orders that the sentence should be 
 carried into effect that evening at five o'clock, on 
 board the Sicilian frigate La Minerve, by hanging 
 him at the fore-yard-arm till sunset, when the body 
 was to be cut down and thrown into the sea. Carac- 
 cioli requested Lieutenant Parkinson, under whose 
 custody he was placed, to intercede with Lord Nelson 
 for a second trial — for this, among other reasons, that 
 Count Thurn, who presided at the court-martial, was 
 notoriously his personal enemy. Nelson made answer 
 that the prisoner had been fairly tried by the officers 
 of his own country, and he could not interfere, for- 
 getting that if he felt himself justified in ordering the 
 trial and the execution no human being could ever 
 have questioned the propriety of his interfering on 
 the side of mercy. Caraccioli then entreated that he 
 might be shot. " I am an old man, sir," said he ; 
 " I leave no family to lament me, and therefore cannot 
 be supposed to be very anxious about prolonging my 
 life, but the disgrace of being hanged is dreadful to 
 me." When this was repeated to Nelson he only 
 told the lieutenant, with much agitation, to go and 
 attend his duty. As a last hope, Caraccioli asked the 
 lieutenant if he thought an application to Lady 
 Hamilton would be beneficial. Parkinson went to 
 seek her; she was not to be seen on this occasion, 
 but she was present at the execution. She had the 
 most devoted attachment to the Neapolitan court ; 
 and the hatred which she felt against those whom she 
 regarded as its enemies made her at this time forget 
 
188 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 what was due to the character of her sex as well as of 
 her country. Here, also, a faithful historian is called 
 upon to pronounce a severe and unqualified condem- 
 nation of Nelson's conduct. Had he the authority of his 
 Sicilian Majesty for proceeding as he did ? If so, why 
 was not that authority produced ? If not, why were 
 the proceedings hurried on without it ? Why was the 
 trial precipitated so that it was impossible for the 
 prisoner, if he had been innocent, to provide the wit- 
 nesses who might have proved him so ? Why was a 
 second trial refused, when the known animosity of the 
 president of the court against the prisoner was con- 
 sidered ? Why was the execution hastened so as to 
 preclude any appeal for mercy, and render the 
 prerogative of mercy useless ? Doubtless the British 
 admiral seems to himself to be acting vmder a rigid 
 sense of justice, but to all other persons it was 
 obvious that he was influenced by an infatuated 
 attachment — a baneful passion which destroyed his 
 domestic happiness, and now, in a second instance, 
 stained ineffaceably his public character. 
 
 The body was carried out to a considerable 
 distance and sunk in the bay, with three double- 
 headed shot, weighing 250 pounds, tied to its legs. 
 Between two and three weeks afterwards, when the 
 king was on board, the Foudroyant, a Neapolitan 
 fisherman came to the ship and solemnly declared 
 that Caraccioli had risen from the bottom of the 
 sea, and was coming as fast as he could to Naples, 
 swimming half out of the water. Such an account 
 was listened to like a tale of idle credulit}^ The day 
 being fair, Nelson, to please the king, stood out to 
 sea, but the ship had not proceeded far before a 
 
BURIAL OF CARACCIOLL 189 
 
 body was distinctly seen, upright in the water, and 
 approaching them. It was soon recognised to be 
 indeed the corpse of CaraccioK, which had risen and 
 floated, while the great weights attached to the legs 
 kept the body in a position like that of a living man. 
 A fact so extraordinary astonished the king, and 
 perhaps excited some feelings of superstitious fear 
 akin to regret. He gave permission for the body to 
 be taken on shore and receive Christian burial. It 
 produced no effect. Naples exhibited more dreadful 
 scenes than it had witnessed in the days of Masaniello. 
 After the mob had had their fill of blood and plunder, 
 the reins were given to justice — if that can be called 
 justice which annuls its own stipulations, looks to the 
 naked facts alone, disregarding all motives and all 
 circumstances, and, without considering character or 
 science, or sex, or youth, sacrifices its victims, not for 
 the public weal, but for the gratification of greedy 
 vengeance. 
 
 The castles of St. Elmo, Gaeta, and Capua, re- 
 mained to be subdued. On the land side there was 
 no danger that the French in these garrisons should 
 be relieved, for Suvorof was now beginning to drive 
 the enemy before him ; but Nelson thought his 
 presence necessary in the Bay of Naples ; and when 
 Lord Keith, having received intelligence that the 
 French and Spanish fleets had formed a junction, 
 and sailed for Carthagena, ordered him to repair to 
 Minorca with the whole or the greater part of his 
 force, he sent Admiral Duckworth with a small part 
 only. This was a dilemma which he had foreseen. 
 " Should such an order come at this moment," he 
 said, in a letter previously written to the Admiralty, 
 
190 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 " it would be a case for some consideration whether 
 Minorca is to be risked or the two kingdoms of 
 Naples and Sicily. I rather think my decision would 
 be to risk the former." And, after he had acted upon 
 this opinion, he wrote in these terms to the Duke of 
 Clarence, with whose high notions of obedience he 
 was well acquainted : " I am well aware of the conse- 
 quences of disobeying my orders, but as I have often 
 before risked my life for the good cause, so I, with 
 cheerfulness, did my commission ; for, although a 
 military tribunal may think me cruninal, the world 
 will apj)rove of my conduct, and I regard not my 
 own safety when the honour of my king is at 
 stake." 
 
 Nelson was right in his judgment, no attempt 
 was made upon Minorca, and the expulsion of the 
 French from Naples may rather be said to have been 
 effected than accelerated by the English and Portu- 
 guese of the allied fleet, acting upon shore under 
 Trowbridge. The Frernoh commandant at St. Elmo, 
 relying upon the strength of the place, and the nature 
 of the force which attacked it, had insulted Captain 
 Foote in the grossest terms, but citoyen Mejan was 
 soon taught better manners when Trowbridge, in spite 
 of every obstacle, opened five batteries upon the fort. 
 He was informed that none of his letters, with the 
 insolent printed words at the top, Liherte, Sgalite, 
 Guerre aux Tyrant, &c., would be received, but that 
 if he wrote like a soldier and a gentleman he should 
 be answered in the same style. The Frenchman then 
 began to flatter his antagonist upon the hienfaisance 
 and humanitd, which were the least of the many 
 virtues which distinguished Monsieur Trowbridge. 
 
TROWBRIDGE AND THE NEAPOLITANS. 191 
 
 Monsieur Trowbridge's bienfaisance was, at this time, 
 thinking of mining the fort. " If we can accomplish 
 that," said he, " I am a strong advocate to send them, 
 hostages and all, to Old Nick, and surprise him with 
 a group of nobility and republicans. Meantime," he 
 added, " it was some satisfaction to perceive that the 
 shells fell well and broke some of their shins." 
 Finally, to complete his character, Mejan ottered to 
 surrender for 150,000 ducats. Great Britain, perhaps, 
 has made too little use of this kind of artillery which 
 France has found so effectual towards subjugating 
 the Continent, but Trowbridge had the prey within 
 his reach ; and' in the course of a few days his last 
 battery, '' after much trouble and palaver," as he said, 
 " brought the vagabonds to their senses." 
 
 Trowbridge had more difficulties to overcome in 
 this siege, from the character of the Neapolitans Avho 
 pretended to assist him, and whom he made useful, 
 than even from the strength of the place and the 
 skill of the French. " Such damned cowards and 
 villains," he declared, "he had never seen before." 
 The men at the advanced posts carried on what he 
 called '' a diabolical good understanding " with the 
 enemy, and the workmen would sometimes take 
 fright and run away. "I make the best I can," 
 said he, " of the degenerate race I have to deal with ; 
 the whole means of guns, ammunition, pioneers, &c., 
 with all materials, rest with them. With fair pro- 
 mises to the men, and threats of instant death if I 
 find any one erring, a little spur has been given." 
 Nelson said of him, with truth upon this occasion, 
 that he was a first-rate general. "I find, sir," said 
 he afterwards, in a letter to the Duke of Clarence, 
 
192 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 "that General Koehler does not approve of such 
 irregular proceedings as naval officers attacking and 
 defending fortifications. AYe have but one idea, to 
 get close alongside. None but a sailor would have 
 placed a battery only 180 yards from the Castle of 
 St. Elmo, a soldier must have gone according to art, 
 and the t/ww^. way. i\ly brave Trowbridge went 
 straight on, for we had no time to spare." 
 
 Trowbridge then proceeded to Capua, and took 
 the command of the motley besieging force. One 
 thousand of the best men in the fleet were sent to 
 assist in the siege. Just at this time Nelson received 
 a peremptory order from Lord Keith to sail with the 
 whole of his force for the protection of Minorca, or 
 at least to retain no more than was absolutely neces- 
 sary at Sicily. "You will easily conceive my feehngs," 
 said he, in communicating this to Earl St. Vincent, 
 " but my mind, as your lordship knows, was perfectly 
 prepared for this order ; and it is now, more than 
 ever, made up. At this moment I Avill not part with 
 a single ship, as I cannot do that without drawing a 
 hundred and twenty men from each ship, now at the 
 siege of Capua. I am fully aware of the act I have 
 committed, but I am prepared for any fate which 
 may await my disobedience. Capua and Gaeta will 
 soon fall ; and the moment the scoundrels of French 
 are out of this kingdom I shall send eight or nine 
 ships of the line to Minorca. I have done what I 
 thought right, others may think differently, but it 
 will be my consolation that I have gained a kingdom, 
 seated a faithful ally of his Majesty firmly on his 
 throne, and restored happiness to millions." 
 
 At Capua, Trowbridge had the same difficulties as 
 
CENSURE FROM THE ADMIRALTY. 193 
 
 at St. Elmo, and being farther from Naples and 
 from the fleet was less able to overcome them. The 
 powder was so bad that he suspected treachery, and 
 when he asked Nelson to spare him forty casks from 
 the ships, he told him it would be necessary that some 
 Englishmen should accompany it, or they would steal 
 one-half and change the other. " Every man you 
 see," said he, " gentle and simple, are such notorious 
 villains that it is misery to be with them." Capua, 
 however, soon fell Gaeta immediately afterwards 
 surrendered to Captain Louis of the Minotaur. 
 Here the commanding officer acted more unlike a 
 Frenchman, Captain Louis said, than any one he 
 had ever met, meaning that he acted like a man of 
 honour. He required, however, that the garrison 
 should carry away their horses and other pillaged 
 property, to which Nelson replied, " That no property 
 which they did not bring with them into the country 
 could be theirs, and that the greatest care should be 
 taken to prevent them from carrying it away." — " I 
 am sorry," said he to Captain Louis, " that you have 
 entered into any altercation. There is no way of 
 dealing with a Frenchman but to knock him down ; 
 to be civil to them is only to be laughed at, when they 
 are enemies." 
 
 . The whole kiagdom of Naples was thus delivered 
 by Nelson from the French. The Admiralty, how- 
 ever, thought it expedient to censure him for dis- 
 obeying Lord Keith's orders, and thus hazarding 
 Minorca, without, as it appeared to them, any suffi- 
 cient reason ; and also for having landed seamen for 
 the siege of Capua, to form part of an army employed 
 in operations at a distance from the coast, where, iti 
 
 N 
 
194 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 case of defeat, they might have been prevented from 
 returning to their ships ; and they enjoined him " not 
 to employ the seamen in Hke manner in future." 
 This reprimand was issued before the event was 
 known, though, indeed, the event would not affect 
 the principle upon which it proceeded. When Nelson 
 communicated the tidings of his complete success, he 
 said, in his public letter, " that it would not be the 
 less acceptable for having been principally brought 
 about by British sailors." His judgment in thus 
 employing them had been justified by the result, and 
 his joy was evidently heightened by the gratification 
 of a professional and becoming pride. To the First 
 Lord he said, at the same time, " I certainly, from 
 having only a left hand, cannot enter into details 
 which may explain the motives that actuated my 
 conduct. My principle is, to assist in driving the 
 French to the devil, and in restoring peace and 
 happiness to mankind. I feel that I am fitter to do 
 the action than to describe it." He then added, that 
 he would take care of Minorca. 
 
 In expelling the French from Naples Nelson had, 
 with characteristic zeal and ability, discharged his 
 duty, but he deceived himself AN^hen he imagined 
 that he had seated Ferdinand firmly on his throne, 
 and that he had restored happiness to millions. 
 These objects might have been accomplished if it 
 had been possible to inspire virtue and wisdom into 
 a vicious and infatuated court ; and if Nelson's eyes 
 had not been, as it were, spellbound by that unhappy 
 attachment, which had now completely mastered him, 
 he would have seen things as they were ; and might, 
 perhaps, have awakened the Sicilian court to a sense 
 
THE STATE OF THINGS AT NAPLES. 195 
 
 of their interest, if not of their duty. That court 
 einployed itself in a miserable round of folly and 
 festivity, while the prisons of Naples were filled with 
 groans, and the scaffolds streamed with blood. St. 
 Januarius was solemnly removed from his rank as 
 patron saint of the kingdom, having been convicted 
 of Jacobinism, and St. Antonio as solemnly installed 
 in his place. The king, instead of re-establishing 
 order at Naples by his presence, speedily returned to 
 Palermo to indulge in his favourite amusements. 
 Nelson and the ambassador's family accompanied 
 the court, and Trowbridge remained, groaning over 
 the villainy and frivolity of those with whom he was 
 compelled to deal. A party of officers applied to him 
 for a passage to Palermo, to see the procession of 
 St. Eosalia, he recommended them to exercise their 
 troops, and not behave like children. It was grief 
 enough for him that the court should be busied in 
 these follies, and Nelson involved in them. " I dread, 
 my lord," said he, " all the feasting, &c., at Palermo. 
 I am sure your health will be hurt. If so, all their 
 saints will be damned by the Navy. The king would 
 be better employed digesting a good government. 
 Everything gives way to their pleasures. The money 
 spent at Palermo gives discontent here ; iifty thou- 
 sand people are unemployed, trade discouraged, 
 manufactures at a stand. It is the interest of many 
 here to keep the king away ; they all dread reform ; 
 their villainies are so deeply rooted, that, if some 
 method is not taken to dig them out, this Govern- 
 ment cannot hold together. Out of twenty milhons 
 of ducats collected as the revenue only thirteen 
 millions reach the treasury, and the king pays four 
 N 2 
 
196 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 ducats where he should pay one. He is surrounded 
 by thieves, and none of them have honour or honesty 
 enough to tell him the real and true state of things/' 
 In another letter he expressed his sense of the miser- 
 able state of Naples. " There are upwards of forty 
 thousand families," said he, " who have relations con- 
 fined. If some act of oblivion is not passed there 
 will be no end of persecution, for the people of this 
 country have no idea of anything but revenge, and 
 to gain a point would swear ten thousand false oaths. 
 Constant efforts are made to get a man taken up in 
 order to rob him. The confiscated property does not 
 reach the king's treasury. All thieves ! It is selling 
 for nothing. His o\n\ people, whom he employs, are 
 buying it up, and the vagabonds pocket the whole. 
 I should not be surprised to hear that they brought 
 a bill of expenses against him for the sale." 
 
 The Sicihan court, however, were at this time duly 
 sensible of the services which had been rendered 
 them by the British fleet, and their gratitude to 
 Nelson was shown with proper and princely munifi- 
 cence. They gave him the dukedom and domain of 
 Bronte, worth about £3,000 a year. It was some 
 days before he could be persuaded to accept it ; the 
 argument which finally prevailed is said to have been 
 suggested by the queen, and urged, at her request, 
 by Lady Hamilton upon her knees. " He considered 
 his own honour too much," she said, " if he persisted 
 in refusing what the king and queen felt to be abso- 
 lutely necessary for the preservation of theirs." The 
 king himself also is said to have addressed him in 
 words, which show that the sense of rank will some- 
 times confer a virtue upon those who seem to be most 
 
NELSON ACCEPTS DUKEDOM OF BRONTE. 197 
 
 unworthy of the lot to which they have been born : — 
 "Lord Nelson, do you wish that your name alone 
 should pass with honour to posterity; and that I, 
 Ferdinand Bourbon, should appear ungrateful ? " He 
 gave him also, when the dukedom was accepted, a 
 diamond-hilted sword, which his father, Charles III. 
 of Spain, had given him on his accession to the 
 throne of the Two Sicilies. Nelson said, " The reward 
 was magnificent, and worthy of a king, and he was 
 determined that the inhabitants on the domain 
 should be the happiest in all his Sicilian Majesty's 
 dominions. Yet," said he, speaking of these, and 
 the other remunerations which were made him for 
 his services, " these presents, rich as they are, do not 
 elevate me. My pride is, that at Constantinople, 
 from the Grand Seignior to the lowest Turk, the 
 name of Nelson is famihar in their mouths, and in 
 this country I am everything which a grateful mon- 
 arch and people can call me." Nelson, however, had 
 a pardonable pride in the outward and visible signs 
 of honour which he had so fairly won ; he was fond 
 of his Sicilian title, the signification, perhaps, pleased 
 him. Duke of Thunder was what in Dahomey would 
 be called a strong name ; it was to a sailor's taste ; 
 and, certainly, to no man could it ever be more 
 applicable. But a simple offering, which he received, 
 not long afterwards, from the island of Zante, affected 
 him with a deeper and finer feeling. The Greeks of 
 that little community sent him a golden-headed 
 sword, and a truncheon set round with all the 
 diamonds that the island could furnish, in a single 
 row. They thanked him " for having, by his victory, 
 preserved that part of Greece from the horrors of 
 
198 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 anarchy, and prayed that his exploits might ac- 
 celerate the day in which, amidst the glory and peace 
 of thrones, the miseries of the human race would 
 cease." This unexpected tribute touched Nelson to 
 the heart. " No officer," he said, " had ever received 
 from any country a higher acknowledgment of his 
 services." 
 
 The French still occupied the Roman states, from 
 which, according to their own admission, they had 
 extorted, in jewels, plate, specie, and requisitions of 
 every kind, to the enormous amount of eight mil- 
 lions sterling, yet they affected to appear as de- 
 liverers among the people whom they were thus 
 cnielly plundering, and they distributed portraits 
 of Bonaparte, with the blasphemous inscription — 
 " This is the true likeness of the holy saviour of the 
 world ! " The people, detesting the impiety, and 
 groaning beneath the exactions of these perfidious 
 robbers, were ready to join any regular force that 
 should come to their assistance, but they dreaded 
 Cardinal Ruffo's rabble, and they declared they would 
 resist them as banditti who came only for the pur- 
 pose of pillage. Nelson perceived that no object was 
 now so essential for the tranquillity of Naples as the 
 recovery of Rome, which, in the present state of 
 things, when Suvarof was driving the French before 
 him, would complete the deliverance of Italy. He 
 applied, therefore, to Sir James St. Clair Erskine, 
 who, in the absence of General Fox, commanded at 
 Minorca, to assist in this great object with 1,200 men. 
 " The field of glory," said he, " is a large one, and was 
 never more open to any one than at this moment to 
 you. Rome would throw open her gates, and receive 
 
THE RECOVERY OF ROME. 199 
 
 you as her deliverer; and the Pope would owe his 
 restoration to a heretic." But Sir James Erskine 
 looked only at the difficulties of the undertaking. 
 " Twelve hundred men, he thought, would be too 
 small a force to be committed in such an enterprise, 
 for Civita Vecchia was a regular fortress, the local 
 situation and climate also were such, that, even if 
 this force were adequate, it would be proper to delay 
 the expedition till October. General Fox, too, was 
 soon expected; and during his absence, and under 
 existing circumstances, he did not feel justified in 
 sending away such a detachment." 
 
 What this general thought it imprudent to attempt, 
 Nelson and Trowbridge effected without his assistance 
 by a small detachment from the fleet. Trowbridge 
 first sent Captain Hallowell to Civita Vecchia, to offer 
 the garrison there and at Castle St. Angelo, the same 
 terms which had been granted to Gaeta. Hallowell 
 perceived, by the overstrained civihty of the officers 
 who came oft' to him, and the compliments which 
 they paid to the English nation, that they were 
 sensible of their own weakness and their inability 
 to offer any effectual resistance ; but the French 
 know that while they are in a condition to serve 
 their Government they can rely upon it for every 
 possible exertion in their support, and this reliance 
 gives them hope and confidence to the last. Upon 
 Hallowell's report, Trowbridge, who had now been 
 made Sir Thomas for his services, sent Captain Louis, 
 with a squadron, to enforce the terms which he had 
 offered, and as soon as he could leave Naples he 
 himself followed. The French, who had no longer 
 any hope from the fate of arms, relied upon their 
 
200 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 skill in negotiation, and proposed terms to Trowbridge 
 with that effrontery which characterises their public 
 proceedings, but which is often as successful as it is 
 impudent. They had a man of the right stamp to 
 deal with. Their ambassador at Kome began by 
 saying that the Roman territory was the property 
 of the French by right of conquest. The British 
 commodore settled that point by replying, "It is 
 mine by re-conquest." A capitulation was soon con- 
 cluded for all the Roman states, and Captain Louis 
 rowed up the Tiber in his barge, hoisted English 
 colours on the capitol, and acted for the time as 
 governor of Rome. The prophecy of the Irish poet 
 was thus accomplished, and the friar reaped the 
 fruits, for Nelson, who was struck with the oddity 
 of the circumstance, and not a httle pleased with it, 
 obtained preferment for him from the King of Sicily, 
 and recommended him to the Pope. 
 
 Having thus completed his work upon the conti- 
 nent of Italy, Nelson's whole attention was directed 
 towards Malta, where Captain Ball, with most in- 
 adequate means, was besieging the French garrison. 
 Never was any officer engaged in a more anxious 
 and painful service ; the smallest reinforcement from 
 France would, at any moment, have turned the scale 
 against him ; and had it not been for his consummate 
 abihty, and the love and veneration with which the 
 Maltese regarded him, Malta - must have remained 
 in the hands of the enemy. Men, money, food — all 
 things were wanting. The garrison consisted of ^yq 
 thousand troops, the besieging force of five hundred 
 English and Portuguese marines, and about fifteen 
 hundred armed peasants. Long and repeatedly did 
 
LETTER TO THE DUKE OF CLARENCE. 201 
 
 Nelson solicit troops to effect the reduction of this 
 important place. " It has been no fault of the navy," 
 said he, " that Malta has not been attacked by land, 
 but we have neither the means ourselves nor influence 
 with those who have." The same causes of demurral 
 existed which prevented British troops from assisting 
 in the expulsion of the French from Kome. Sir 
 James Erskine was expecting General Fox, he could 
 not act without orders ; and not having, like Nelson, 
 that lively spring of hope within him, which partakes 
 enough of the nature of faith to work miracles in war, 
 he thought it " evident, that unless a respectable land 
 force, in numbers sufficient to undertake the siege of 
 such a garrison, in one of the strongest places of 
 Europe, and supplied with proportionate artillery and 
 stores, were sent against it, no reasonable hope could 
 be entertained of its surrender." Nelson groaned 
 over the spirit of over-reasoning caution and un- 
 reasoning obedience. " My heart," said he, " is almost 
 broken. If the enemy get supplies in, we may bid 
 adieu to Malta, all the force we can collect would 
 then be of little use against the strongest place in 
 Europe. To say that an officer is never, for any 
 object, to alter his orders, is what I cannot compre- 
 hend. The circumstances of this war so often vary 
 that an officer has almost every moment to consider 
 what would my superiors direct did they know what 
 is passing under my nose. But, sir," said he, writing 
 to the Duke of Clarence, " I find few think as I do. 
 To obey orders is all perfection. To serve my king 
 and to destroy the French I consider as the great 
 order of all, from which little ones spring ; and if one 
 of these militate against it (for who can tell exactly 
 
202 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 at a distance ?), I go back, and obey the great order 
 and object, to down, down, with the damned French 
 villains ! My blood boils at the name of a French- 
 man ! " 
 
 At length General Fox arrived at Minorca, and 
 at length permitted Colonel Graham to go to Malta, 
 but with means miserably limited. In fact, the 
 expedition was at a stand for want of money, when 
 Trowbridge, arriving at Messina to co-operate in it, 
 and finding this fresh delay, immediately offered all 
 that he could command of his own. " I procured 
 him, my lord," said he to Nelson, " fifteen thousand 
 of my cobs ; every farthing, and every atom of me, 
 shall be devoted to the cause." " What can this 
 mean ? " said Nelson, when he learnt that Colonel 
 Graham was ordered not to incur any expense for 
 stores, or any articles except provisions, " the cause 
 cannot stand still for want of a little money. If 
 nobody will pay it I will sell Bronte and the Emperor 
 of Russia's box." And he actually pledged Bronte 
 for £6,600, if there should be any difficulty about 
 paying the bills. The long-delayed expedition was 
 thus at last sent forth, but Trowbridge little imagined 
 in what scenes of misery he was to bear his part. He 
 looked to Sicily for supplies ; it was the interest, as 
 well as the duty, of the Sicilian Government to use 
 every exertion for furnishing them ; and Nelson and 
 the British ambassador were on the spot to press 
 upon them the necessity for exertion. But though 
 Nelson saw with what a knavish crew the Sicilian 
 court Avas surrounded, he was blind to the vices of 
 the court itself; and, resigning himself wholly to 
 Lady Hamilton's influence, never even suspected the 
 
WANT IN MALTA. 203 
 
 crooked policy which it was remorselessly pursuing. 
 The Maltese, and the British in Malta, severely felt it. 
 Trowbridge, who had the truest affection for Nelson, 
 knew his infatuation, and feared that it might prove 
 injurious to his character, as well as fatal to an 
 enterprise which had been begun so well, and carried 
 on so patiently. " My lord," said he, writing to him 
 from the siege, " we are dying off fast for want. I 
 learn that Sir William Hamilton says Prince Luzzi 
 refused corn some time ago, and Sir William does not 
 think it worth while making another application. 
 If that be the case, I wish he commanded at this 
 distressing scene instead of me. Puglia had an im- 
 mense harvest, near thirty sail left Messina before 
 I did to load corn. Will they let us have any ? If 
 not, a short time will decide the business. The 
 German interest prevails. I wish I was at your 
 lordship's elbow for an hour. All, all, will be thrown 
 on you ! I will parry the blow as much as in my 
 power ; I foresee much mischief brewing. God bless 
 your lordship ! I am miserable, I cannot assist your 
 operations more. Many happy returns of this day 
 to you (it was the first of the new year), I never 
 spent so miserable a one. I am not very tender- 
 hearted, but really the distress here would even 
 move a Neapolitan." Soon afterwards he wrote : 
 " I have this day saved thirty thousand people from 
 starving, but with this day my ability ceases. As 
 the Government are bent on starving us, I see no 
 alternative but to leave these poor unhappy people 
 to perish, without our being witnesses to their distress. 
 I curse the day I ever served the Neapolitan Govern- 
 ment. We have characters, my lord, to lose, these 
 
204 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 people have none. Do not suffer their infamous 
 conduct to fall on us. Our country is just, but severe. 
 Such is the fever of my brain this minute that I 
 assure you on my honour, if the Palermo traitors 
 were here I would shoot them first and then myself 
 Girgenti is full of corn ; the money is ready to pay 
 for it ; we do not ask it as a gift. Oh ! could you 
 see the horrid distress I daily experience something 
 would be done ! Some engine is at work against us 
 in Naples ; and I believe I hit on the proper person. 
 If you complain he will be immediately promoted — 
 agreeably to the Neapolitan custom. All I write to 
 you is known at the queen's. For my own part, I 
 look upon the Neapolitans as the worst of intriguing 
 enemies ; every hour shows me their infamy and 
 duplicity. I pray your lordship be cautious ; your 
 honest, open manner of acting will be made a handle 
 of When I see you, and tell of their infamous tricks, 
 you will be as much surprised as I am. The whole 
 will fall on you." 
 
 Nelson was not, and could not, be insensible to 
 the distress which his friend so earnestly represented. 
 He begged, almost on his knees, he said, small sup- 
 plies of money and corn to keep the Maltese from 
 starving. And when the court granted a small supply, 
 protesting their poverty, he believed their protesta- 
 tions, and was satisfied with their professions, instead 
 of insisting that the restrictions upon the exportation 
 of corn should be withdrawn. The anxiety, however, 
 which he endured affected him so deeply that he 
 said it had broken his spirit for ever. Happily all 
 that Trowbridge, with so much reason, foreboded, 
 did not come to pass. For Captain Ball, with more 
 
NELSON SAILS FOR MALTA. 205 
 
 decision than Nelson himself would have shown at 
 that time and upon that occasion, ventured upon a 
 resolute measure, for which his name would deserve 
 always to be held in veneration by the Maltese, even 
 if it had no other claims to the love and reverence of 
 a grateful people. Finding it hopeless longer to look 
 for succour or common humanity from the deceitful 
 and infatuated court of Sicily, which persisted in 
 prohibiting, by sangumary edicts, the exportation of 
 supplies, at his own risk he sent his first lieutenant 
 to the port of Messina, with orders to seize, and bring 
 with him to Malta, the ships which were there lying 
 laden with corn, of the number of which he had 
 received accurate information. These orders were 
 executed, to the great delight and advantage of the 
 shipowners and proprietors, the necessity of raising 
 the siege was removed, and Captain Ball waited in 
 calmness for the consequences to himself " But," 
 says Mr. Coleridge (who, it is to be hoped, will do 
 that full justice to the memory of this great man 
 which he is so fully capable of doing), " not a com- 
 plaint, not a murmur, proceeded from the court of 
 Naples. The sole result was that the governor of 
 Malta became an especial object of its hatred, its fear; 
 and its respect." 
 
 Nelson himself, at the beginning of February, 
 sailed for that island. On the way he fell in with a 
 French squadron, bound for its relief, and consisting 
 of the Gdnereux, 74, three, frigates, and a corvette. 
 One of the frigates and the line-of-battle ship were 
 taken ; the others escaped, but failed in their purpose 
 of reaching La Yalette. This success was pecuharly 
 gratifying to Nelson for many reasons. During some 
 
206 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 months he had acted as commander-in-chief in the 
 Mediterranean while Lord Keith was in England. 
 Lord Keith was now returned ; and Nelson had, upon 
 his own plan, and at his own risk, left him to sail 
 for Malta — "for which," said he, "if I had not suc- 
 ceeded, I might have been broke ; and if I had not 
 acted thus the Gdnereiix never would have been 
 taken." This ship was one of those which had 
 escaped from Aboukir. Two frigates and the Guill- 
 aurtie Tell, 86, were all that now remained of the 
 fleet which Bonaparte had conducted to Egypt. 
 The Guillaume Tell was at this time closely watched 
 in the harbour of La Valette ; and shortly afterwards, 
 attempting to make her escape from thence, Avas 
 taken after an action in which greater skill was never 
 displayed by British ships, nor greater gallantry by 
 an enemy. She was taken by the Foudroyant, Lion, 
 and Penelope frigate. Nelson, rejoicing at what he 
 called this glorious finish to the whole French 
 Mediterranean fleet, rejoiced also that he was not 
 present to have taken a sprig of these brave men's 
 laurels. " They are," said he, " and I glory in them, 
 my children ; they served in my school ; and all of 
 us caught our professional zeal and Arc from the 
 great and good Earl St. Vincent. What a pleasure, 
 what happiness, to have the Nile fleet all taken under 
 my orders and regulations ! " The two frigates still 
 remained in La Valette ; before its surrender they 
 stole out ; one was taken in the attempt, the other 
 was the only ship of the whole fleet which escaped 
 capture or destruction. 
 
 Letters were found on board the Guilla^mie Tell, 
 showing that the French were now become hopeless 
 
IfELSOJ^f AND SIR SIDNEY SMITH. 207 
 
 of preserving the conquest which they had so foully 
 acquired. Trowbridge and his brother officers were 
 anxious that Nelson should have the honour of signing 
 the capitulation. They told him that they absolutely, 
 as far as they dared, insisted on his staymg to do this , 
 but their earnest and affectionate entreaties were vain. 
 Sir William Hamilton had just been superseded ; 
 Nelson had no feeling of cordiahty towards Lord 
 Keith ; and thinking that, after Earl St. Vincent, no 
 man had so good a claim to the command in the 
 Mediterranean as himself, he applied for permission 
 to return to England, telling the First Lord of the 
 Admiralty that his spirit could not submit patiently, 
 and that he was a broken-hearted man. From the 
 time of his return from Egypt, amid all the honours 
 which were showered upon him, he had suffered many 
 mortifications. Sir Sidney Smith had been sent to 
 Egypt, with orders to take under his command the 
 squadron which Nelson had left there. Sir Sidney 
 appears to have thought that this command was to 
 be independent of Nelson ; and Nelson himself, think- 
 ing so, determined to return, saying to Earl St. Vincent, 
 " I do feel, for I am a man, that it is impossible for me 
 to serve in these seas with a squadron under a junior 
 officer." Earl St. Vincent seems to have dissuaded 
 him from this resolution ; some heartburnings, how- 
 ever, still remained, and some incautious expressions 
 of Sir Sidney's were noticed by him in terms of evident 
 displeasure. But this did not continue long ; and no 
 man bore more wilhng testimony than Nelson to the 
 admirable defence of Acre. 
 
 He differed from Sir Sidney as to the policy which 
 ought to be pursued towards the French in Egypt ; and 
 
208 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 strictly commanded him, in the strongest language, not 
 on any "pretence, to permit a single Frenchman to leave 
 the country, saying that he considered it nothing 
 short of madness to permit that band of thieves to 
 return to Europe. "No," said he, "to Egypt they 
 went with their own consent, and there they shall 
 remain while Nelson commands this squadron, for 
 never, never, will he consent to the return of one ship 
 or Frenchman. I wish them to perish in Egypt, and 
 give an awful lesson to the world of the justice of the 
 Almighty." If Nelson had not thoroughly understood 
 the character of the enemy against whom he was 
 engaged their conduct in Egypt would have disclosed 
 it. After the battle of the Nile he had landed all his 
 prisoners, upon a solemn engagement, made between 
 Trowbridge on one side, and Captain Barre on the 
 other, that none of them should serve till regularly 
 exchanged. They were no sooner on shore than part 
 of them were drafted into the different regiments, and 
 the remainder formed into a corps called the Nautic 
 Legion. This occasioned Captain Hallowell to say that 
 the French had forfeited all claim to respect from us. 
 " The army of Bonaparte," said he, " are entirely 
 destitute of every principle of honour; they have 
 always acted like licentious thieves." Bonaparte's 
 escape was the more regretted by Nelson, because, if 
 he had had sufficient force, he thought it would 
 certainly have been prevented. He wished to keep 
 ships upon the watch, to intercept anything coming 
 from Egypt ; but the Admiralty calculated upon the 
 assistance of the Kussian fleet, which failed when it 
 was most wanted. The ships which should have been 
 thus employed were then required for more pressing 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND. 209 
 
 services, and the bloody Corsican was thus enabled to 
 reach Europe in safety — there to become the guilty 
 instrument of a wider-spreading destruction than any 
 with which the world had ever before been visited. 
 
 Nelson had other causes of chagrin. Earl St. 
 Vincent, for whom he felt such high respect, and 
 whom Sir John Orde had challenged, for having 
 nominated Nelson instead of himself to the command 
 of the Nile squadron, laid claim to prize money, as 
 commander-in-chief, after he had quitted the station. 
 The point was contested, and decided against him. 
 Nelson, perhaps, felt this the more, because his own 
 feelings with regard to money were so different. An 
 opinion had been given by Dr. Lawrence, which would 
 have excluded the junior flag officers from prize money. 
 When this was made known to him, his reply was 
 in these words : — " Notwithstanding Dr. Lawrence's 
 opinion, I do not beHeve I have any right to exclude 
 the junior flag oflicers ; and if I have, I desire that no 
 such claim may be made ; no, not if it were sixty 
 times the sum, and, poor as I am, I were never to 
 see prize money." 
 
 A ship could not be spared to convey him to 
 England, he therefore travelled through Germany to 
 Hamburg, in company with his inseparable friends 
 Sir William and Lady Hamilton. The Queen of Naples 
 went with them to Vienna. While they were at Leg- 
 horn, upon a report that the French were approach- 
 ing (for, through the folly of weak courts, and the 
 treachery of venal cabinets, they had now recovered 
 their ascendency m Italy), the people rose tumultuously, 
 and would fain have persuaded Nelson to lead them 
 against the enemy. Public honours, and yet more 
 o 
 
210 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 gratifying testimonials of public admiration, awaited 
 Nelson wherever he went. The Prince of Esterhazy 
 entertained him in a style of Hungarian magnificence — 
 a hundred grenadiers, each six feet in height, constantly 
 waiting at table. At Magdeburg the master of the 
 hotel where he was entertained contrived to show him 
 for money, admitting the curious to mount a ladder, 
 and peep at him through a small window. A wine 
 merchant at Hamburg, who was above seventy years of 
 age, requested to speak with Lady Hamilton, and told 
 her he had some Rhenish wine of the vintage of 1625, 
 which had been in his own possession more than half 
 a century ; he had preserved it for some extraordinary 
 occasion ; and that which had now arrived was far 
 beyond any that he could ever have expected. His 
 request was, that her ladyship would prevail upon Lord 
 Nelson to accept six dozen of this incomparable wine, 
 part of it would then have the honour to flow into the 
 heart's blood of that immortal hero, and this thought 
 would make him happy during the remainder of his 
 life. Nelson, when this singular request was reported 
 to him, went mto the room, and taking the worthy old 
 gentleman kindly by the hand, consented to receive six 
 bottles provided the donor would dine with him next 
 day. Twelve were sent ; and Nelson, saying that he 
 hoped yet to win half a dozen more great victories, 
 promised to lay by six bottles of his Hamburg friend's 
 wine for the purpose of drinking one after each. A 
 German pastor between seventy and eighty years of 
 age travelled forty miles with the Bible of his parish 
 church, to request that Nelson would write his name on 
 the first leaf of it. He called him the saviour of the 
 Christian world. The old man's hope deceived him 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND. 211 
 
 There was no Nelson upon shore, or Europe would have 
 been saved ; but, in his foresight of the horrors with 
 which all Germany and all Christendom were threat- 
 ened by France, the pastor could not possibly have 
 apprehended more than has actually taken place. 
 
 2 
 
212 
 
 CHAPTER YIL 
 
 Nelson separates himself from his wife— Northern Confederacy — He goes 
 to the Baltic, under Sir Hyde Parker — Battle of Copenhagen, and 
 subsequent Negotiation — Nelson is made a Viscount. 
 
 Nelson was welcomed in England with eYeij mark ot 
 popular honour. At Yarmouth, where he landed, 
 every ship in the harbour hoisted her colours. The 
 mayor and corporation waited upon him with the 
 freedom of the town, and accompanied him in pro- 
 cession to church, with all the naval officers on shore, 
 and the principal inhabitants. Bonfires and illumina- 
 tions concluded the day, and on the morrow the 
 volunteer cavalry drew up and saluted him as he 
 departed, and followed the carriage to the borders 
 of the county. At Ipswich the people came out to 
 meet him, drew him a mile into the town, and three 
 miles out. When he was in the AgameTnnon he 
 wished to represent this place in Parliament, and 
 some of his friends had consulted the leading men 
 of the corporation ; the result was not successful, and 
 Nelson, observing that he would endeavour to find 
 a preferable path into Parliament, said there might 
 come a time when the people of Ipswich would think 
 it an honour to have had him for their representative. 
 In London he was feasted by the City, drawn by the 
 populace from Ludgate Hill to GuildhaU, and received 
 the thanks of the Common Council for his great 
 victory, and a golden hilted sword studded with 
 
RECF.PTIOy IN LONDO . 213 
 
 diamonds. Nelson had every earthly blessing except 
 domestic happiness, he had forfeited that for ever. 
 Before he had been three months in England he 
 separated from Lady Nelson. Some of his last words 
 to her were : " I call God to witness, there is nothing 
 in you, or your conduct, that I wish otherwise." This 
 was the consequence of his infatuated attachment to 
 Lady Hamilton. It had before caused a quarrel with 
 his son-in-law, and occasioned remonstrances from his 
 truest friends ; which produced no other effect than 
 that of making him displeased with them, and more 
 dissatisfied with himself. 
 
 The Addington administration was just at this 
 time formed, and Nelson, who had sohcited em- 
 ployment, and been made vice-admiral of the blue, 
 was sent to the Baltic, as second in command, under 
 Sir Hyde Parker, by Earl St. Vincent, the new First 
 Lord of the Admiralty. The three northern courts 
 had formed a confederacy for making England resign 
 her naval rights. Of these courts Russia was guided 
 by the passions of its emperor Paul, a man not 
 without fits of generosity and some natural goodness, 
 but subject to the wildest humours of caprice, and 
 crazed by the possession of greater power than can 
 ever be safely, or perhaps innocently, possessed by 
 weak humanity. Denmark was French at heart, 
 ready to co-operate in all the views of France, to 
 recognise all her usurpations, and obey all her in- 
 junctions. Sweden, under a king whose principles 
 were right and whose feelings were generous, but who 
 had a taint of hereditary insanity, acted in acquies- 
 cence to the dictates of two powers, whom it feared 
 to offend. The Danish navy at this time consisted of 
 
214 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 twenty-three ships of the line, with about thirty- 
 one frigates, and smaller vessels, exclusive of guard 
 ships. The Swedes had eighteen ships of the hne, 
 fourteen frigates and sloops, seventy-four galleys and 
 smaller vessels, besides gun-boats, and this force was 
 in a far better state of equipment than the Danish. 
 The Kussians had eighty-two sail of the line and forty 
 frigates. Of these there were forty-seven sail of the 
 line at Cronstadt, Revel, Petersburg, and Archangel, 
 but the Russian fleet was ill-manned, ill-officered, and 
 ill-equipped. Such a combination, under the influence 
 of France, would soon have become formidable ; and 
 never did the British Cabinet display more decision 
 than in instantly prejDaring to crush it. They erred, 
 however, in permitting any petty consideration to 
 prevent them from appointing Nelson to the com- 
 mand. The public properly murmured at seeing it 
 entrusted to another, and he himself said to Earl 
 St. Vincent that, circumstanced as he was, this 
 expedition would probably be the last service that 
 he should ever perform. The Earl, in reply, besought 
 him, for God's sake, not to suffer himself to be carried 
 away by any sudden impulse. 
 
 The season happened to be unusually favourable, 
 so mild a winter had not been known in the Baltic 
 for many years. When Nelson joined the fleet at 
 Yarmouth he found the admiral *'a Httle nervous 
 about dark nights and fields of ice." " But we must 
 brace up," said he ; " these are not times for nervous 
 systems. I hope we shall give our northern enemies 
 that hailstorm of bullets which gives our dear country 
 the dominion of the sea. We have it, and all the 
 devils in the North cannot take it from us if our 
 
THE BALTIC EXPEDITION, 215 
 
 wooden walls have fair play." Before the Heet left 
 Yarmouth it was sufficiently known that its destina- 
 tion was ao^ainst Denmark. Some Danes who belono^ed 
 to the Amazon frigate went to Captain Riou, and 
 telling him what they had heard, begged that he 
 would get them exchanged into a ship bound on 
 some other destination. " They had no wish/' they 
 said, " to quit the British service ; but they entreated 
 that they might not be forced to fight against their 
 own country." There was not in our whole navy a 
 man who had a higher and more chivalrous sense oi 
 duty than Riou. Tears came into his eyes while the 
 men were speaking ; without making any reply he 
 instantly ordered his boat, and did not return to the 
 Amnazon till he could tell them that their wish was 
 effected. 
 
 The fleet sailed on the 12th of March. Mr. 
 Yansittart sailed in it, the British Cabinet still hopmg 
 to obtain its end by negotiation. It was well for 
 England that Sir Hyde Parker placed a fuller confi- 
 dence in Nelson than the Government seems to have 
 done at this most important crisis. Her enemies 
 might well have been astonished at learning that any 
 other man should for a moment have been thought 
 of for the command. But so little deference was paid, 
 even at this time, to his intuitive and all- commanding 
 genius, that when the fleet had reached its first 
 rendezvous at the entrance of the Cattegat, he had 
 received no official communication whatever of the 
 intended operations. His own mind had been made 
 up upon them with its accustomed decision. 'All I 
 have gathered of our first plans," said he, "I dis- 
 approve most exceedingly. Honour may arise from 
 
2H\ LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 them, good cannot. I hear we are likely to anchor 
 outside of Cronenburg Castle, instead of Copenhagen 
 which would give weight to our negotiation. A 
 Danish minister would think twice before he would 
 put his name to war with England, when the next 
 moment he would probably sec his master's fleet in 
 flames, and his capital in ruins. The Dane should 
 see our flag every moment he lifted up his head." 
 
 Mr. Vansittart left the fleet at the Scaw, and 
 preceded it in a frigate, with a flag of truce. Precious 
 time was lost by this delay, which was to be purchased 
 by the dearest blood of Britain and of Denmark. 
 According to the Danes themselves the intelligence 
 that a British fleet was seen oft* the Sound produced 
 a much more general alarm in Copenhagen than its 
 actual arrival in the roads, for their means of defence 
 were at that time in such a state that they could 
 hardly hope to resist, still less to repel, an enemy. 
 On the 21st Nelson had a long conference with Sir 
 Hyde, and the next day addressed a letter to him 
 worthy of himself and of the occasion. Mr. Vansittart's 
 report had then been received. It represented the 
 Danish Government as in the highest degree hostile, 
 and their state of preparation as exceeding what our 
 Cabinet had supposed possible, for Denmark had 
 profited with all activity of the leisure which had so 
 impoliticly been given her. " The more I have re- 
 flected," said Nelson to his commander, " the more 
 I am confirmed in opinion that not a moment should 
 be lost in attacking the enemy. They will every day 
 and hour be stronger, wo never shall be so good a 
 match for them as at this moment. The only con- 
 sideration is how to get at them with the least risk 
 
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THE BALTIC EXPEDITION. 217 
 
 to our ships. Here you are, with almost the safety — 
 certainly with the honour — of England more entrusted 
 to you than ever yet fell to the lot of any British 
 officer. On your decision depends whether our 
 country shall be degraded in the eyes of Europe, or 
 whether she shall rear her head higher than ever. 
 Again do I repeat, never did our country depend so 
 much on the success of any fleet as on this. How 
 best to honour her and abate the pride of her enemies 
 must be the subject of your deepest consideration." 
 
 Supposing him to force the passage of the Sound, 
 Nelson thought some damage might be done among 
 the masts and yards ; though, perhaps, not one of 
 them but would be serviceable again. " If the wind 
 be fair," said he, " and you determine to attack the 
 ships and Crown Islands, you must expect the natural 
 issue of such a battle — ships crippled, and, perhaps, 
 one or two lost ; for the wind which carries you in 
 will most probably not bring out a crippled ship. 
 This mode I call taking the bull by the horns. It, 
 however, will not prevent the Revel ships or the 
 Swedes from joining the Danes, and to prevent 
 this is, in my humble opinion, a measure absolutely 
 necessary, and still to attack Copenhagen." For this 
 he proposed two modes. One was to pass Cronenburg, 
 taking the risk of danger ; take the deepest and 
 straitest channel along the Middle Grounds ; and 
 then coming down the Garbar, or King's Channel, 
 attack the Danish line of floating batteries and ships 
 as might be found convenient. This would prevent 
 the junction, and might give an opportunity of 
 bombarding Copenhagen. Or to take the passage 
 of the Belt, which might be accomplished in four or 
 
218 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 five days, and tlien the attack by Draco miglit be 
 made^ and the junction of the Kussians prevented. 
 Supposing them through the Belt, he proposed that 
 a detachment of the fleet should be sent to destroy 
 the Russian squadron at Revel, and that the business 
 of Copenhagen should be attempted with the re- 
 mainder. " The measure," he said, " may be thought 
 bold, but the boldest measures are the safest." 
 
 The pilots, as men who had nothing but safety to 
 think of, were terrified by the formidable report of 
 the batteries of Elsineur, and the tremendous pre- 
 parations which our negotiators, who were now 
 returned from their fruitless mission, had witnessed. 
 They therefore persuaded Sir Hyde to prefer the 
 passage of the Belt. " Let it be by the Sound, by the 
 Belt, or anyhow," cried Nelson, " only lose not an 
 hour ! " On the 26th they sailed for the Belt ; but, 
 after a few hours, this resolution was changed, and 
 the fleet returned to its former anchorage. The 
 difficulty of the course is said to have been one 
 reason, Nelson's advice another. The next day was 
 more idly expended in dispatching a flag of truce to 
 the governor of Cronenburg Castle to ask whether 
 he had received orders to fire at the British fleet, as 
 the admiral must consider the first gun to be a 
 declaration of war on the part of Denmark. A 
 soldierlike and becoming answer was returned to this 
 formality. The governor said that the British minister 
 had not been sent away from Copenhagen, but had 
 obtained a passport at his own demand. He himself 
 as a soldier could not meddle with politics, but he 
 was not at liberty to suffer a fleet, of which the 
 intention was not yet known, to approach the guns 
 
COP EN HA GEN, • 219 
 
 of the castle which he had the honour to command ; 
 and he requested, if the British admiral should think 
 proper to make any proposals to the King of 
 Denmark, that he might be apprised of it before 
 the fleet approached nearer. During this intercourse 
 a Dane, who came on board the commander's ship, 
 having occasion to express his business in writing, 
 found the pen blunt ; and, holding it up, sarcastically 
 said, " If your guns are not better pointed than your 
 pens, you will make little impression on Copenhagen!" 
 
 On that day intelligence reached the admiral of 
 the loss of one of his fleet, the Invincible, 74, wrecked 
 on a sandbank as she was coming out of Yarmouth, 
 400 of her men perishing in her. Nelson, who was 
 now appointed to lead the van, shifted his flag to the 
 Elephant, Captain Foley, a lighter ship than the 
 ;S^^. George, and, therefore, fitter for the expected 
 operations. The two following days were calm. 
 Orders had been given to pass the Sound as soon as 
 the wind would permit ; and on the afternoon of the 
 29 th the ships were cleared for action with an alacrity 
 characteristic of British seamen. A t daybreak on the 
 30th it blew a topsail breeze from N.W. The signal 
 was made, and the fleet moved on in order of battle — 
 Nelson's division in the van. Sir Hyde's in the centre, 
 and Admiral Graves' in the rear. 
 
 Great actions, whether miUtary or naval, have 
 generally given celebrity to the scenes from whence 
 they are denominated; and thus petty villages, and 
 capes, and bays, known only to the coasting trader, 
 become associated with mighty deeds, and their 
 names are made conspicuous in the history of the 
 world. Here, however, the scene was every way 
 
220 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 worthy of the drama. The pohtical importance 
 of the Sound is such that grand objects are not 
 needed there to impress the imagination, yet is 
 the channel full of grand and interesting objects, 
 both of art and Nature. This passage, which Den- 
 mark had so long considered as the key of the Baltic, 
 is in its narrowest part about three miles wide, and 
 here the city of Elsineur is situated, except 
 Copenhagen the most flourishing of the Danish 
 towns. Every vessel which passes lowers her top- 
 gallant-sails and pays toll at Elsineur — a toll which is 
 believed to have had its origin in the consent of the 
 traders to that sea, Denmark taking upon itself the 
 charge of constructing lighthouses, and erecting sig- 
 nals, to mark the shoals and rocks from the Cattegat 
 to the Baltic ; and they, on their part, agreeing that 
 all ships should pass this way, in order that all might 
 pay their shares — none from that time using the 
 passage of the Belt because it was not fitting that 
 they who enjoyed the benefit of the beacons in dark 
 and stormy weather should evade contributing to 
 them in fair seasons and summer nights. Of late 
 years about ten thousand vessels had annually paid 
 this contribution in time of peace. Adjoining Elsin- 
 eur, and at the edge of a peninsular promontory, upon 
 the nearest point of land to the Swedish coast, stands 
 Cronenburg Castle, built after Tycho Brahe's design — 
 a magnificent pile — at once a palace, and fortress, and 
 state prison, with its spires and towers, and battle- 
 ments and batteries. On the left of the strait is the 
 old Swedish city of Helsingburg, at the foot, and on 
 the side of a hill. To the north of Helsingburg the 
 shores are steep and rocky : they lower to the south, 
 
COPENHAGEN. 221 
 
 and the distant spires of Landscrona, Lund., and Mai- 
 moe, are seen in the flat country. The Danish shores 
 consist partly of ridges of sand, but, more frequently, 
 their slopes are covered with rich wood, and villages 
 and villas, denoting the vicinity of a great capital. 
 The isles of Huen, Saltholm, and Amak, appear in the 
 widening channel; and at the distance of twenty 
 miles from Elsineur, stands Copenhagen, in full view 
 — the best built city of the North, and one of the 
 finest capitals of Europe, visible, with its stately 
 spires, far off. Amid these magnificent objects there 
 are some which possess a peculiar mterest for the 
 recollections which they call forth. The Isle of 
 Huen, a lovely domain, about six miles in circum- 
 ference, had been the munificent gift of Frederic 11. 
 to Tycho Brahe. Here most of his discoveries were 
 made ; and here the ruins are to be seen of his ob- 
 servatory, and of the mansion where he was visited 
 by princes, and where, with a princely spirit, he re- 
 ceived and entertained all comers from all parts, and 
 promoted science by his liberality, as well as by his 
 labours. Elsineur is a name familiar to English ears, 
 being inseparably associated with Hamlet, and one ot 
 the noblest work's of human genius. Cronenburg had 
 been the scene of deeper tragedy. Here Queen Matilda 
 was confined, the victim of a foul and murderous 
 court intrigue. Here, amid heart-breaking griefs, she 
 foimd consolation in nursing her infant. Here she 
 took her everlastmg leave of that infant, ^vhen, by the 
 interference of England, her own deliverance was ob- 
 tained ; and as the ship bore her away from a country 
 where the venial indiscretions of youth and unsus- 
 picious gaiety had been so cruelly punished, upon 
 
222 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 these towers she fixed her eyes, and stood upon the 
 deck, obstinately gazing towards them till the last 
 speck had disappeared. 
 
 The Sound being the only frequented entrance to 
 the Baltic, the great Mediterranean of the North, few 
 parts of the sea display so frequent a navigation. In 
 the height of the season not fewer than a hundred 
 vessels pass every four-and-twenty hours, for many 
 weeks m succession ; but never had so busy or so 
 splendid a scene been exhibited there as on this day, 
 when the British fleet prepared to force that passage, 
 where, till now, all ships had vailed their top-sails to 
 the flag of Denmark. The whole force consisted of 
 fifty-one sail, of various descriptions, of which six- 
 teen were of the line. The greater part of the bomb 
 and gun vessels took their station ofl" Cronenburg 
 Castle to cover the fleet ; while others, on the lar- 
 board, were ready to engage the Swedish shore. The 
 Danes, having improved every moment which ill- 
 timed negotiation and bafliing weather gave them, 
 had lined their shore with batteries ; and as soon as 
 the Monarch, which was the leading ship, came 
 abreast of them, a fire Avas opened from about a hun- 
 dred pieces of cannon and mortars, our light vessels 
 immediately, in return, opened their fire upon the 
 castle. Here was all the pompous circumstance and 
 excitmg reality of war without its effects, for this 
 ostentatious display was but a bloodless prelude to 
 the wide and sweeping destruction which was soon to 
 follow. The enemy's shot fell near enough to splash 
 the water on board our ships. Not relying upon any 
 forbearance of the Swedes, they meant to have kept 
 the mid channel, but when they perceived that not a 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 223 
 
 shot was fired from Helsingburg, and that no batteries 
 were to be seen on the Swedish shore, they indined 
 to that side, so as completely to get out of reach of 
 the Danish guns. The uninterrupted blaze which was 
 kept up from them till the fleet had passed, served 
 only to exhilarate our sailors, and afford them matter 
 for jest, as the shot fell in showers a full cable's 
 length short of its destined aim. A few rounds were 
 returned from some of our leading ships, till they per- 
 ceived its inutility ; this, however, occasioned the only 
 bloodshed of the day, some of our men being killed 
 and wounded by the bursting of a gun. As soon as 
 the main body had passed the gun vessels followed, 
 desisting from their bombardment, which had been as 
 innocent as that of the enemy, and about mid-day 
 the whole fleet anchored between the island of Huen 
 and Copenhagen. Sir Hyde, with Nelson, Admiral 
 Graves, some of the senior captains, and the com- 
 manding oflicers of the artillery and the troops, then 
 proceeded in a lugger to reconnoitre the enemy's 
 means of defence — a formidable line of ships, radeaus, 
 pontoons, galleys, fire-ships, and gunboats, flanked 
 and supported by extensive batteries, and occupying, 
 from one extreme point to the other, an extent of 
 nearly four miles. 
 
 A council of war was held in the afternoon. It 
 was apparent that the Danes could not be attacked 
 without great difficulty and risk, and some of the 
 members of the council spoke of the number of the 
 Swedes and the Eussians, whom they should after- 
 wards have to engage, as a consideration which ought 
 to be borne in mind. Nelson, who kept pacing the 
 cabin, impatient as he ever was of anything which 
 
224 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 savoured of irresolution, repeatedly said, '' The more 
 numerous the better ; I wish they were twice as many 
 — the easier the victory, depend on it." The plan 
 upon which he had determined, if ever it should be his 
 fortune to bring a Baltic fleet to action, was to attack 
 the head of their line and confuse their movements. 
 " Close with a Frenchman," he used to say, " but out- 
 manoeuvre a Russian." He offered his services for the 
 attack, requiring ten sail of the line and the whole of 
 the smaller craft. Sir Hyde gave him two more line- 
 of-battle ships than he asked, and left everything to 
 his judgment. 
 
 The enemy's force was not the only, nor the 
 greatest, obstacle with which the British fleet had to 
 contend, there was another to be overcome before they 
 could come in contact with it. The channel was little 
 known and extremely intricate; all the buoys had 
 been removed ; and the Danes considered this diffi- 
 culty as almost insuperable, thinking the channel im- 
 practicable for so large a fleet. Nelson himself saw 
 the soundings made and the buoys laid down, boating 
 it upon this exhausting service, day and night, till it 
 was effected. When this was done, he thanked God 
 for having enabled him to get through this difficult 
 part of his duty. " It had worn him down," he said, 
 "and was infinitely more grievous to him than any 
 resistance which he could experience from the 
 enemy." 
 
 At the first council of war opinions inchned to an 
 attack from the eastward ; but the next dav, the wind 
 being southerly, after a second examination of the 
 Danish position it was determined to attack from the 
 south, approaching in the manner which Nelson had 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 225 
 
 suggested in his first thoughts. On the morning of 
 the 1st of April, the whole fleet removed to an 
 anchorage within two leagues of the town, and off 
 the N.W. end of the Middle Ground — a shoal lying 
 exactly before the town, at about three-quarters of a 
 mile distance, and extending along its whole sea front. 
 The King's Channel, where there is deep water, is be- 
 tween this shoal and the town ; and here the Danes 
 had arranged their line of defence, as near the shore 
 as possible — nineteen ships and floating batteries, 
 flanked, at the end nearest the town, by the Crown 
 Batteries, which were two artificial islands, at the 
 mouth of the harbour — most formidable works ; the 
 larger one having, by the Danish account, sixty-six 
 guns, but, as Nelson believed, eighty-eight. The 
 fleet having anchored, Nelson, with Riou, in the 
 Amazon, made his last examination of the ground, 
 and, about one o'clock, returning to his own ship, 
 threw out the signal to weigh. It was received with a 
 shout throughout the whole division. They weighed 
 with a hght and favourable wind ; the narrow channel 
 between the island of Saltholm and the Middle Ground 
 had been accurately buoyed ; the small craft pointed 
 out the course distinctly. Riou led the way; the 
 whole division coasted along the outer edge of the 
 shoal, doubled its farther extremity, and anchored 
 there off Draco Point, just as the darkness closed — 
 the headmost of the enemy's line not being more than 
 two miles distant. The signal to prepare for action 
 had been made early in the evening ; and, as his own 
 anchor dropped. Nelson called out, " I will fight them 
 the moment I have a fair wind." It had been agreed 
 that Sir Hyde, with the remaining ships, should weigh 
 p 
 
226 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 on the following morning, at the same time as Nelson, 
 to menace the Crown Batteries on his side, and the 
 four ships of the line which lay at the entrance of the 
 arsenal, and to cover our own disabled ships as they 
 came out of action. 
 
 The Danes, meantime, had not been idle. No 
 sooner did the guns of Cronenburg make it known to 
 the whole city that all negotiation was at an end, that 
 the British Heet was passing the Sound, and that the 
 dispute betAveen the two crowns must now be decided 
 by arms, than a spirit displayed itself most honour- 
 able to the Danish character. All ranks offered them- 
 selves to the service of their country ; the university 
 furnished a corps of twelve hundred youths, the 
 flower of Denmark. It was one of those emergencies 
 in which little drilling or discipline is necessary to 
 render courage available ; they had nothing to learn 
 but how to manage the gmis, and day and night were 
 employed in practising them. When the movements 
 of Nelson's squadron were perceived, it "was known 
 when and where the attack was to be expected, and 
 the Ime of defence was manned indiscriminately by 
 soldiers, sailors, and citizens. Had not the Avhole 
 attention of the Danes been directed to strengthen 
 their own means of defence^ they might most 
 materially have annoyed the invading squadron, and, 
 23erhaps, frustrated the impending attack, for the 
 British ships Avere crowded in an anchoring ground of 
 little extent. It was calm, so that mortar-boats might 
 have acted against them to the utmost advantage, 
 and they were within range of shells from Amak 
 Island. A few fell among them, but the enemy 
 soon ceased to fire. It was learnt afterwards that, 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 227 
 
 • 
 
 fortunately for tlie fleet, the bed of the mortar had 
 given way ; and the Danes either could not get it 
 replaced, or, in the darkness, lost the direction. 
 
 This was an awful night for Copenhagen — far 
 more so than for the British fleet, where the men 
 were accustomed to battle and victory, and had none 
 of those objects before their eyes which render death 
 terrible. Nelson sat down to table with a large party 
 of his oflicers ; he was, as he was ever wont to be 
 when on the eve of action, in high spirits, and drank 
 to a leading wind, and to the success of the morrow. 
 After supper they returned to their respective ships, 
 except Riou, who remained to arrange the order of 
 battle with Nelson and Foley, and to draw up in- 
 structions. Hardy, meantime, went in a small boat to 
 examine the channel between them and the enemy, 
 approaching so near, that he sounded round their 
 leading ship with a pole, lest the noise of throwing 
 the lead should discover him. The incessant fatigue 
 of body as well as mind which Nelson had undergone 
 during the last three days had so exhausted him 
 that he was earnestly urged to go to his cot ; and 
 his old servant, Allen, using that kind of authority 
 which long and affectionate services entitled and 
 enabled him to assume on such occasions, insisted 
 upon his complying. The cot was placed on the 
 floor, and he continued to dictate from it. About 
 eleven Hardy returned, and reported the practicabiUty 
 of the channel, and the depth of water up to the 
 enemy's line. About one the orders were completed, 
 and half-a-dozen clerks, in the foremost cabin, pro- 
 ceeded to transcribe them. Nelson frequently calling 
 out to them from his cot to hasten their work, for 
 p 2 
 
228 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 the wind was becoming fair. Instead of attempting 
 to get a few hours of sleep, he was constantly receiv- 
 ing reports upon this important point. At daybreak 
 it was announced as becoming perfectly fair. The 
 clerks finished their work about six. Nelson, who 
 was already up, breakfasted, and made signal for all 
 captains. The land forces, and five hu];idred seamen, 
 under Captain Freeman tie and the Honourable 
 Colonel Stewart, were to storm the Crown Battery as 
 soon as its fire should be silenced ; and Riou — whom 
 Nelson had never seen till this expedition, but whose 
 worth he had instantly perceived and appreciated as it 
 deserved — had the Blanche and Alcmene frigates, the 
 Dart and Arrow sloops, and the Zephyr and Otter 
 fire-ships given him, with a special command to act 
 as circumstances might require ; every other ship 
 had its station appointed. 
 
 Between eight and nine the pilots and masters 
 were ordered on board the admiral's ship. The pilots 
 were mostly men who had been mates in Baltic 
 traders ; and their hesitation about the bearing of the 
 east end of the shoal, and the exact line of deep 
 water, gave ominous warning of how little their 
 knowledge was to be trusted. The signal for action 
 had been made, the wind was fair — not a moment to 
 be lost. Nelson urged them to be steady — to be 
 resolute, and to decide — but they wanted the only 
 gi'ound for steadiness and decision in such cases ; and 
 Nelson had reason to regret that he had not trusted 
 to Hardy's single report. This was one of the most 
 painful moments of his hfe, and he always spoke of 
 it with bitterness. "I experienced in the Sound," 
 said he, " the misery of having the honour of our 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 229 
 
 country entrusted to a set of pilots, who have no 
 other thought than to keep the ships clear of danger, 
 and their own silly heads clear of shot. Everybody 
 knows what I must have suffered, and if any merit 
 attaches itself to me, it was for combating the dangers 
 of the shallows in defiance of them." At length Mr. 
 Bryerly, the master of the Bellona, declared that he 
 was prepared to lead the fleet. His judgment was 
 acceded to by the rest ; they returned to their ships, 
 and, at half-past nine, the signal was made to weigh in 
 succession. 
 
 Captain Murray, in the Edgar, led the way; the 
 Agamemnon was next in order, but, on the first 
 attempt to leave her anchorage, she could not weather 
 the edge of the shoal, and Nelson had the grief to 
 see his old ship, in which he had performed so many 
 years' gallant services, immovably aground, at a 
 moment when her help was so greatly required. 
 Signal was then made for the Polyphemus, and this 
 change in the order of sailing was executed with the 
 utmost promptitude. Yet so much delay had thus 
 been unavoidably occasioned, that the Edgar was for 
 sometime unsupported ; and the Polyphemus, whose 
 place should have been at the end of the enemy's 
 line, where their strength was the greatest, could get 
 no further than the beginning, owing to the difficulty 
 of the channel. There she occupied, indeed, an efficient 
 station, but one where her presence was less required. 
 The Isis followed^ with better fortune, and took her 
 own berth. The Bellona, Sir Thomas Boulden 
 Thompson, kept too close on the starboard shoal, 
 and grounded abreast of the outer ship of the enemy. 
 This was the more vexatious, inasmuch as the wind 
 
230 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 was fair, the room ample, and three ships had led the 
 way. The Russell, following the Bellona, grounded 
 in like manner. Both were within reach of shot, but 
 their absence from their intended stations was severely 
 felt. Each ship had been ordered to pass her leader on 
 the starboard side, because the water was supposed to 
 shoal on the larboard shore. Nelson, who came next 
 after these two ships, thought they had kept too far 
 on the starboard direction, and made signal for them 
 to close with the enemy, not knowing that they were 
 aground ; but, when he perceived that they did not 
 obey the signal, he ordered the Elep] ami's helm to 
 starboard, and went within these ships, thus quitting 
 the appointed order of sailing, and guiding those 
 which were to follow. The greater part of the .fleet 
 were probably, by this act of promptitude on his part, 
 saved from going on shore. Each ship, as she arrived 
 nearly opposite to her appointed station, let her 
 anchor go by the stern, and presented her broadside to 
 the Danes. The distance between each was about 
 a half cable. The action was fought nearly at the 
 distance of a cable's length from the enemy. This, 
 which rendered its continuance so long, was owing to the 
 ignorance and consequent indecision of the pilots. 
 In pursuance of the same error which had led the 
 Bellona and the Russell aground, they, when the lead 
 was at a quarter less five, refused to approach nearer, 
 in dread of shoaling their water on the larboard shore, 
 a fear altogether erroneous, for the water deepened up 
 to the very side of the enemy's line. 
 
 At five minutes after ten the action began. The 
 first half of our fleet was engaged in about half an 
 hour, and by half-past eleven the battle became 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 231 
 
 general The plan of the attack had been complete, 
 but seldom has any plan been more disconcerted by 
 untoward accidents. Of twelve ships of the line, one 
 was entirely useless, and two others in a situation 
 where they could not render half the service which 
 was required of them. Of the squadron of gun-brigs, 
 only one could get into action ; the rest were pre- 
 vented, by baffling currents, from weathering the 
 eastern end of the shoal ; and only two of the bomb- 
 vessels could reach their station on the Middle 
 Ground, and open their mortars on the arsenal, 
 tirinsf over both fleets. Kiou took the vacant 
 station against the Crown Battery, with his frigates, 
 attempting, with that unequal force, a service in 
 which three sail of the line had been directed to 
 assist. 
 
 Nelson's agitation had been extreme when he saw 
 himself, before the action began, deprived of a fourth 
 part of his ships of the line. But no sooner was he in 
 battle, where his squadron was received with the fire 
 of more than a thousand guns, than, as if that 
 artillery, like music, had driven away all care and 
 painful thoughts, his countenance brightened ; and, 
 as a bystander describes him, his conversation, 
 became joyous, animated, elevated, and delightful. 
 The commander-in-chief, meantime, near enough to 
 the scene of action to know the unfavourable acci- 
 dents which had so materially weakened Nelson, and 
 yet too distant to know the real state of the contend- 
 ing parties, suffered the most dreadful anxiety. To 
 get to his assistance was impossible ; both wind and 
 current were against him. Fear for the event, in 
 such circumstances, would naturally preponderate in 
 
232 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 the bravest mind, and, at one o'clock, perceiving 
 that, after three hours' endurance, the enemy's fire 
 was unslackened, he began to despair of success ; and 
 thinking it became him to save what he could from 
 the hopeless contest, he made signal for retreat. 
 Nelson was now in all the excitement of action, 
 pacing the quarter-deck. A shot through the main- 
 mast knocked the splinters about, and he observed 
 to one of his officers, with a smile : " It is warm work, 
 and this day may be the last to any of us at a 
 moment ; " — and then stopping short at the gangway, 
 added, with emotion — "but mark you, I would not 
 be elsewhere for thousands." About this time the 
 signal lieutenant called out that No. 39 (the signal 
 for discontinuing the action) was thrown out by the 
 commander-in-chief He continued to walk the deck, 
 and appeared to take no notice of it. The signal 
 officer met him at the next turn, and asked if he 
 should repeat it. " No," he replied ; " acknowledge 
 it." Presently he called after him, to know if the 
 signal for close action was still hoisted; and being 
 answered in the affirmative, said, " Mind you keep it 
 so." He now paced the deck, moving the stump of 
 his lost arm in a manner which always indicated 
 great emotion. "Do you know," said he to Mr. 
 Ferguson, " what is shown on board the commander- 
 in-chief? No. 39!" Mr. Ferguson asked what that 
 meant ? — " Why, to leave off action ! " Then, shrug- 
 ging up his shoulders, he repeated the words — 
 "Leave off action! Now damn me if I do! You 
 know, Foley," turning to the captain, "I have only 
 one eye — I have a right to be blind sometimes ; " 
 and then putting the glass to his blind eye, in that 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN, 233 
 
 mood of mind which sports with bitterness, he 
 exclaimed, " I really do not see the signal ! " Pre- 
 sently he exclaimed, "Damn the signal ! Keep mine 
 for closer battle flying ! That's the way I answer 
 such signals. Nail mine to the mast ! '' Admiral 
 Graves, who was so' situated that he could not discern 
 what was done on board the Elephant, disobeyed Sir 
 Hyde's signal in like manner ; whether by fortunate 
 mistake, or by a like brave intention, has not been 
 made known. The other ships of the line, looking 
 only to Nelson, continued the action. The signal, 
 however, saved Riou's little squadron, but did not 
 save its heroic leader. This squadron, which was 
 nearest the commander-in-chief, obeyed, and hauled 
 off. It had suffered severely in its most unequal 
 contest. For a long time the Amfiazon had been 
 firing, enveloped in smoke, when Riou desired his 
 men to stand fast and let the smoke clear off, that 
 they might see what they were about. A fatal order ; 
 for the Danes then got clear sight of her from the 
 batteries, and pointed their guns with such tre- 
 mendous effect that nothing but the signal for retreat 
 saved this frigate from destruction. "What will 
 Nelson think of us ! " was Eiou's mournful exclama- 
 tion, when he unwillingly drew off. He had been 
 wounded in the head by a splinter, and was sitting 
 on a gun, encouraging his men, when, just as the 
 Amazon showed her stern to the Trekroner battery, 
 his clerk was killed by his side ; and another shot 
 swept away several marines who were hauling in the 
 main-brace. " Come then, my boys ! " cried Riou, 
 " let us die all together ! " The words had scarcely 
 been uttered, before a raking shot cut him in two. 
 
234 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 Except it had been Nelson himself, the British navy 
 could not have suffered a severer loss. 
 
 The action continued along the line with unabated 
 vigour on our side, and with the most determined re- 
 solution on the part of the Danes. They fought to 
 great advantage, because most of Ihe vessels in their 
 line of defence were without masts ; the few which 
 had any standing had their topmasts struck, and the 
 hulls could only be seen at intervals. The Isis must 
 have been destroyed by the superior weight of her 
 enemy's fire, if Captain Inman, in the Desiree frigate, 
 had not judiciously taken a situation which en- 
 abled him to rake the Dane, and if the Polyphemus 
 had not also relieved her. Both in the Bellona and 
 the Isis many men were lost by the bursting of their 
 guns. The former ship was about forty years old, 
 and these guns were believed to be the same which 
 she had first taken to sea; they were, probably, 
 originally faulty, for the fragments were full of little 
 air holes. The Bellova lost seventy-five men ; the 
 Isis, one himdred and ten; the Monarch, two hun- 
 dred and ten. She was, more than any other line-of- 
 battle ship, exposed to the great battery ; and sup- 
 porting at the same time the united fire of the 
 Holstein and the Zealand, her loss this day exceeded 
 that of any single ship during the whole war. Amid 
 the tremendous carnage in this vessel, some of the 
 men displayed a singular instance of coolness. The 
 pork and peas happened to be in the kettle ; a shot 
 knocked its contents about; they picked up the 
 pieces, and ate and fought at the same time. 
 
 The Prince Royal had taken his station upon one 
 of the batteries, from whence he beheld the action 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 235 
 
 and issued his orders. Denmark had never been 
 engaged in so arduous a contest, and never did the 
 Danes more nobly display their national courage — a 
 courage not more unhappily, than impoliticly, exerted 
 in subserviency to the interest of France. Captain 
 Thura, of the Indfoedsretfen, fell early in the action ; 
 and all his officers, except one lieutenant and one 
 marine officer, were either killed or wounded. In the 
 confusion, the colours were either struck or shot 
 away; but she was mo:^red athwart one of the bat- 
 teries in such a situation that the British made no 
 attempt to board her, and a boat was despatched to 
 the Prince to inform him of her situation. He turned 
 to those about him, and said, " Gentlemen, Thura is 
 killed ; which of you will take the command ? " 
 Schroedersee, a captain who had lately resigned on 
 account of extreme ill-health, answered, m a feeble 
 A^oice, " I will," and hastened on board. The crew, 
 perceiving a new commander coming alongside, 
 hoisted their colours again, and fired a broadside. 
 Schroedersee, when he came on deck, found him- 
 self surrounded by the dead and wounded, and 
 called to those in the boat to get quickly on board : 
 a ball struck him at that moment. A lieutenant, 
 who had accompanied him, then took the command, 
 and continued to fight the ship. A youth of seven- 
 teen, by name Yillemoes, particularly distinguished 
 himself on this memorable day. He had volunteered 
 to take the command of a floating battery ; which 
 was a raft, consisting merely of a number of beams 
 nailed together, with a flooring to support the guns. 
 It was square, with a breast-work full of port- 
 holes and without masts, carrying twenty-four guns 
 
236 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 and one hundred and twenty men. With this he 
 got under the stern of the Elephant, below the reach 
 of the stern-chasers ; and, under a heavy fire of small 
 arms from the marines, fought his raft, till the truce 
 was announced, with such skill, as well as courage, as 
 to excite Nelson's warmest admiration. 
 
 Between one and two the fire of the Danes 
 slackened ; about two it ceased from the greater part 
 of their line, and some of their lighter ships were 
 adrift. It was, however, difficult to take possession 
 of those who struck, because the batteries on Amak 
 Island protected them, and because an irregular fire 
 was kept up from the ships themselves as the boats 
 approached. , This arose from the nature of the 
 action. The crews were continually reinforced from 
 the shore, and fresh men coming on board did not 
 inquire whether the flag had been struck, or, perhaps, 
 did not heed it — many, or most of them, never having 
 been engaged in war before — knowing nothing, there- 
 fore, of its laws, and thinking only of defending their 
 country to the last extremity. The Danhrog fired upon 
 the ElepJianVs boats in this manner, though her com- 
 modore had removed her pennant and deserted her, 
 though she had struck, and though she was in flames. 
 After she had been abandoned by the commodore. 
 Braun fought her till he lost his right hand, and then 
 Captain Lemming took the command. This unex- 
 pected renewal of her fire made the Elephant and 
 Glatton renew theirs, till she was not only silenced, 
 but nearly every man in the praams, ahead and 
 astern of her, was killed. When the smoke of their 
 guns died away, she was seen drifting in flames before 
 the wind ; those of her crew who remained alive, and 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 237 
 
 able to exert themselves, throwing themselves out at 
 her portholes. 
 
 Captain Rothe commanded the Nyehorg praam, 
 and perceiving that she could not much longer be 
 kept afloat, made for the inner road. As he passed 
 the line he found the Aggershious praam in a more 
 miserable condition than his own ; her masts had all 
 gone by the board, and she was on the point of 
 sinking. Rothe made fast a cable to her stern, and 
 towed her off; but he could get her no further than 
 a shoal, called Stubben, when she sank ; and soon 
 after he had worked the Nyehorg up to the landing 
 place, that vessel also sunk to her gunwale. Never 
 did any vessel come out of action in a more dreadful 
 plight. The stump of her foremast was the only 
 stick standing ; her cabin had been stove in ; every 
 gun, except a single one, was dismounted ; and her 
 deck was covered with shattered limbs and dead 
 bodies. 
 
 By half-past two the action had ceased along that 
 part of the line which was astern of the Elephavf, 
 but not with the ships ahead and the Crown Bat- 
 teries. Nelson, seeing the manner in which his boats 
 were fired upon when they went to take possession 
 of the prizes, became angry, and said he must either 
 send on shore to have this irregular proceeding 
 stopped, or send a fire-ship and burn them ; and, 
 with a presence of mind peculiar to himself, and 
 never more signally displayed than now, he availed 
 himself of this occasion to secure the advantage 
 which he had gained, and open a negotiation. He 
 returned into the stern gallery, and wrote thus to 
 the Crown Prince : " Vice- Admiral Lord Nelson has 
 
238 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 been commanded to spare Denmark, when she no 
 longer resists. The Une of defence which covered her 
 shores has struck to the British flag ; but if the firing 
 is continued on the part of Denmark, he must set on 
 tire all the prizes that he has taken, without having 
 the power of saving the men who have so nobly de- 
 fended them. The brave Danes are the brothers, and 
 should never be the enemies, of tbe Enghsh." A 
 wafer was given him, but he ordered a candle to be 
 brought from the cockpit, and sealed the letter with 
 wax, affixing a larger seal than he ordinarily used. 
 " This," said he, " is no time to appear hurried and 
 informal." Captain Sir Frederick Thesiger, who acted 
 as his aide-de-camp, carried this letter with a flag of 
 truce. Meanwhile the Are of the ships ahead, and 
 the approach of the Ramillies and Defence, from Sir 
 Hyde's division, which had now worked near enough 
 to alarm the enemy, though not to injure them, 
 silenced the remainder of the Danish line to the 
 eastward of the Trekroner. That battery, however, 
 continued its fire. This formidable work, owing to 
 the want of the ships which had been destined to 
 attack it, and the madequate force of Eiou's Uttle 
 squadron, was comparatively uninjured. Towards the 
 close of the action it had been manned with nearly 
 fifteen hundred men ; and the intention of storming 
 it, for which every preparation had been made, was 
 abandoned as impracticable. 
 
 During Thesiger's absence, Nelson sent for Free- 
 mantle from the Ganges, and consulted with him and 
 Foley, whether it was advisable to advance, with 
 those ships which had sustained least damage, against 
 the yet uninjured part of the Danish line. They were 
 
BATTLE OF COPEI^HAGEN. 239 
 
 decidedly of opinion that the best thing which could 
 be done was, while the wind continued fair, to remove 
 the fleet out of the intricate channel, from which it 
 had to retreat. In somewhat more than half an 
 hour after Thesiger had been despatched the Danish 
 Adjutant-General Lindholm came, bearing a flag of 
 truce, upon which the Trekroner ceased to fire, and 
 the action closed, after four hours' continuance. He 
 brought an inquhy from the Prince, What was the 
 object of Nelson's note? The British admiral wrote 
 in reply: "Lord Nelson's object in sending the flag 
 of truce was humanity ; he therefore consents that 
 hostihties- shall cease, and that the wounded Danes 
 may be taken on shore. And Lord Nelson will take 
 his prisoners out of the vessels, and burn or carry off 
 .his prizes as he shall think fit. Lord Nelson, with 
 humble duty to His Royal Highness the Prince, will 
 consider this the greatest victory he has ever gained 
 if it may be the cause of a happy reconciliation and 
 union between his own most gracious Sovereign and 
 His Majesty the King of Denmark." Sir Frederick 
 Thesiger was despatched a second time with the 
 reply ; and the Danish Adjutant-General was referred 
 to the commander-in-chief for a conference upon this 
 overture. Lindholm assenting to this, proceeded to 
 the London, which was riding at anchor full four 
 miles off; and Nelson, losing not one of the critical 
 moments which he had thus gained, made signal for 
 his leading ships to weigh in succession. They had 
 the shoal to clear, they were much crippled, and 
 their course was immediately under the guns of the 
 Trekroner. 
 
 The Monarch led the way. This ship had re- 
 
240 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 ceived six-and-twenty shot between wind and water. 
 She had not a shroud standing ; there was a double- 
 headed shot in the heart of her foremast, and the 
 sUghtest wind would have sent every mast^ over her 
 side. The imminent danger from which Nelson had 
 extricated himself soon became apparent ; the Mon- 
 arch touched immediately upon a shoal, over which 
 she was pushed by the Ganges taking her amidships ; 
 the Glatton went clear; but the other two, the 
 Defiance and the Elephant, grounded about a mile 
 from the Trekroner, and there remained fixed for 
 many hours, in spite of all the exertions of their 
 wearied crews. The Desiree frigate also, at the other 
 end of the line, having gone, towards the close of the 
 action, to assist the Bellona, became fast on the same 
 shoal. Nelson left the Elephant, soon after she took 
 the ground, to follow Lindholm. The heat of action 
 was over; and that kind of feeling which the sur- 
 rounding scene of havoc was so well fitted to produce 
 pressed heavily upon his exhausted spirits. The sky 
 had suddenly become overcast ; white flags were waving 
 from the mastheads of so many shattered ships ; the 
 slaughter had ceased, but the grief was to come, for 
 the account of the dead was not yet made up, and no 
 man could tell for what friends he might have to 
 mourn. The very silence which follows the cessation 
 
 * It would have been well if the fleet, before they went under the 
 batteries, had left their spare spars moored out of reach of shot. Many 
 would have been saved which were destroyed lying on the booms, and 
 the hurt done by their splinters would have been saved also. Small craft 
 could have towed them up when they were required; and, after such 
 an action, so many must necessarily be wanted, that, if those which were 
 not in use were wounded, it might thus have been rendered impossible 
 to refit the ships. 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEX. 241 
 
 of such a battle becomes a weight upon the heart at 
 first, rather than a rehef ; and though the work of 
 mutual destruction was at an end, the Danhrog was 
 at this time drifting about in flames ; presently she 
 blew up, while our boats, which had put off in all 
 directions to assist her, were endeavouring to rescue 
 her devoted crew, few of whom could be saved. The 
 fate of these men, after the gallantry which they had 
 displayed, particularly affected Nelson, for there was 
 nothing in this action of that indignation against the 
 enemy, and that impression of retributive justice, 
 which at the Nile had given a sterner temper to his 
 mind, and a sense of austere delight in beholding the 
 vengeance, of which he was the appointed minister. 
 The Danes were an honourable foe ; they were of 
 English mould as well as Enghsh blood ; and now 
 that the battle had ceased, he regarded them rather 
 as brethren than as enemies. There was another 
 reflection also which mingled with these melancholy 
 thoughts, and predisposed hhn to receive them. He 
 was not here master of his own movements, as at 
 Egypt ; he had won the day by disobeying his orders, 
 and, in so far as he had been successful, had con- 
 victed the Commander-in-Chief of an error in judg- 
 ment. '■' Well," said he, as he left the JSlepJmnt, " I 
 have fought contrary to orders, and I shall, perhaps, 
 be hanged. Never mind : let them ! " 
 
 This was the language of a man who, while he is 
 giving utterance to an uneasy thought, clothes it half 
 in jest because he half repents that it has been dis- 
 closed. His services had been too eminent on that 
 day, his judgment too conspicuous, his success too 
 signal, for any commander, however jealous of his 
 
 Q 
 
242 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 own authority, or envious of another's merits, to ex- 
 press anything but satisfaction and gratitude, which 
 Sir Hyde heartily felt, and sincerely expressed. It 
 was speedily agreed that there should be a suspension 
 of hostilities for four- and- twenty hours, that all the 
 prizes should be surrendered, and the wounded Danes 
 carried on shore. There was a pressing necessity for 
 this, for the Danes, either from too much confidence 
 in the strength of their position, and the difficulty ot 
 the channel, or supposing that the wounded might be 
 carried to shore during the action, which was found 
 totally impracticable, or perhaps from the confusion 
 which the attack excited, had provided no surgeons ; 
 so that when our men boarded the captured ships, 
 they found many of the mangled and mutilated 
 Danes bleeding to death for want of proper assistance 
 — a scene, of all others, the most shocking to a brave 
 man's feelings. 
 
 The boats of Sir Hyde's division were actively em- 
 ployed all night in brmging out the prizes, and in 
 getting afloat the ships which were on shore. At day- 
 break, Nelson, Avho had slept in his own ship, the St. 
 George, rowed to the ElepJta/nt : and hLs dehght in 
 finding her afloat seemed to give him new life. There 
 he took a hasty breakfast, praising the men for their 
 exertions, and then pushed off to the prizes, which 
 had not yet been removed. The Zealand, 74, the last 
 which struck, had drifted on the shoal under the 
 Trekroner ; and relying as it seems, upon the protec- 
 tion which that battery might have afforded, refused 
 to acknowledge herself captured, saying, that though 
 it was true her flag was not to be seen, her pendant 
 was still flying. Nelson ordered one of our brigs and 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 243 
 
 three longboats to approach her, and rowed up himself 
 to one of the enemy's ships, to commimicate with the 
 commodore. This officer proved to be an old ac- 
 quaintance, whom he had known in the West Indies, 
 so he invited himself on board; and, with that 
 urbanity, as well as decision, which always character- 
 ised him, urged his claim to the Zealand so well that 
 it was admitted. The men from the boats lashed a 
 cable round her bowsprit, and the gmi- vessel towed 
 her away. It is affirmed, and probably with truth, 
 that the Danes felt more pain at beholding this than 
 at all their misfortunes on the preceding day ; and one 
 of the officers. Commodore Steen Bille, went to the 
 Trekroner Battery, and asked the commander why he 
 had not sunk the Zealand, rather than suffer her thus 
 to be carried off by the enemy. 
 
 This was indeed a mournful day for CojDcnhagen. 
 It was Good Friday ; but the general agitation, and 
 the mourning Avhich was in every house, made all dis- 
 tinction of days be forgotten. There were, at that 
 hour, thousands in that city Avho felt, and more per- 
 haps who needed, the consolations of Christianity, 
 but few or none who could be calm enough to think 
 of its observances. The English were actively em- 
 ployed in refitting their own ships, securing the 
 prizes, and distributing the prisoners ; the Danes, in 
 carrying on shore and disposing of the wounded and 
 the dead. It had been a murderous action. Our loss, 
 in killed and wounded, was nine himdred and iifty- 
 three. Part of this slaughter might have been spared. 
 The commanding officer of the troops on board one of 
 our ships asked where his men should be stationed. 
 He was told that they could be of no use; that 
 Q 2 
 
244 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 they were not near enough for musketry, and 
 were not wanted at the guns; they had, therefore, 
 better go below. This, he said, was impossible — it 
 would be a disgrace that could never be wiped away. 
 They were, therefore, drawn up on the gangway, to 
 satisfy this cruel point of honour ; and there, without 
 the possibility of annoying the enemy, they were 
 mown down ! The loss of the Danes, including 
 prisoners, amounted to about six thousand. The 
 negotiations meantime went on ; and it was agreed 
 that Nelson should have an interview with the Prince 
 the following day. Hardy and Freemantle landed 
 with him. This was a thing as unexampled as the 
 other circumstances of the battle. A strong guard 
 was appointed to escort him to the palace — as much 
 for the purpose of security as of honour. The 
 populace, according to the British account, showed a 
 mixture of admiration, curiosity, and displeasure, at 
 beholding that man in the midst of them who had 
 inflicted such wounds upon Denmark. But there 
 were neither acclamations nor murmurs. " The 
 people," says a Dane, " did not degrade themselves 
 with the former, nor disgrace themselves with the 
 latter. The Admiral was received as one brave enemy 
 ever ought to receive another — he was received with 
 respect." The prehminaries of the negotiation were 
 adjusted at this interview. During the repast which 
 followed, Nelson, with all the sincerity of his 
 character, bore willing testimony to the valour of his 
 foes. He told the Prince that he had been in a 
 hundred and five engagements, but this was the most 
 tremendous of all. " The French," he said, " fought 
 bravely ; but they could not have stood for one hour 
 
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 245 
 
 the fight which the Danes had supported for four." 
 He requested that Villemoes might be introduced to 
 him ; and shaking hands with the youth, told the 
 Prince that he ought to be made an admiral. The 
 Prince replied : " If, my lord, I am to make all my 
 brave officers admirals, I should have no captains or 
 lieutenants in my service." 
 
 The sympathy of the Danes for their countrymen 
 who had bled in their defence was not weakened by 
 distance of time or place in this instance. Things 
 needful for the service, or the comfort of the wounded, 
 were sent in profusion to the hospitals, till the super- 
 intendents gave public notice that they could receive 
 no more. On the third day after the action the dead 
 were buried in the naval churchyard, The ceremony 
 was made as public and as solemn as the occasion re- 
 quired ; such a procession had never before been seen 
 in that, or, perhaps, in any other city. A public 
 monument was erected upon the spot where the slain 
 were gathered together. A subscription was opened 
 on the day of the funeral for the relief of the sufferers, 
 and collections in aid of it made throughout all the 
 churches in the kingdom. This appeal to the feelings 
 of the people was made with circumstances which 
 gave it full effect. A monument was raised in the 
 midst of the church, surmounted by the Danish 
 colours. Young maidens, dressed in white, stood round 
 it, with either one who had been wounded in the 
 battle, or the widow and orphans of someone who 
 had fallen. A suitable oration was delivered from the 
 pulpit, and patriotic hymns and songs were afterwards 
 performed. Medals were distributed to all the 
 officers, and to the men who had distinguished them- 
 
246 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 selves. Poets and ^Dainters vied with each other in 
 celebrating a battle which, disastrous as it was, had 
 yet been honourable to their country ; some, with 
 pardonable sophistry, represented the advantage of 
 the day as on their own side. One writer discovered 
 a more curious, but less disputable ground of satis- 
 faction, in the reflection that Nelson, as may be 
 inferred from his name, was of Danish descent ; and 
 his actions, therefore, the Dane argued, were attri- 
 butable to Danish valour. 
 
 The negotiation was continued during the five 
 following days ; and, in that interval, the prizes were 
 disposed of in a manner which was little approved by 
 Nelson. Six hne-of-battle ships and eight praams 
 had been taken. Of these, the Holstein, 64, was the 
 only one Avhich was sent home. The Zealand was 
 a finer ship, but the Zealand and all the others 
 were burnt, and their brass battering cannon sunk 
 with the hulls in such shoal water that, when the 
 fleet returned from Revel, they found the Danes, with 
 craft over the wrecks, employed in getting the gims 
 up again. Nelson, though he forbore from any public 
 expression of displeasure at seeing the proofs and 
 trophies of his victory destroyed, did not forget to 
 represent to the Admiralty the case of those who 
 were thus deprived of their prize money. " Whether/' 
 said he to Earl St. Vincent, " Sir Hyde Parker may 
 mention the subject to you, I know not, for he is 
 rich, and does not want it ; nor is it, you will believe 
 me, any desire to get a few hundred pounds, that 
 actuates me to address this letter to you, but justice 
 to the brave ofiicers and men who fought on that day. 
 It is true our opponents were in hulks and floats, only 
 
THE ARMISTICE. 247 
 
 adapted for the position they were in ; but that made 
 our battle so much the harder, and victory so much 
 the more difficult to obtain. Beheve me, I have 
 weighed all circumstances, and, m my conscience, I 
 think that the King should send a gracious message 
 to the House of Commons for a gift to this fleet ; for 
 Avhat must be the natural feelings of the officers and 
 men belonging to it to see their rich Commander-in- 
 Chief burn all the fruits of their victory — which, if 
 fitted up, and sent to England (as many of them 
 might have been, by dismantling part of our fleet), 
 would have sold for a good round sum." 
 
 On the 9th Nelson landed again, to conclude the 
 terms of the armistice. During its continuance the 
 armed ships and vessels of Denmark were to remain 
 in their then actual situation, as to armament, 
 equipment, and hostile position ; and the treaty of 
 armed neutrahty, as far as related to the co-operation 
 of Denmark, was suspended. The prisoners were to 
 be sent on shore, an acknowledgment being given 
 for them, and for the wounded also, that they might 
 be carried to Great Britain's credit in the account of 
 war, in case hostilities should be renewed. The 
 British fleet was allowed to provide itself with all 
 things requisite for the health and comfort of its men. 
 A difficulty arose respecting the duration of the 
 armistice. The Danish Commissioners fairly stated 
 their fears of Russia ; and Nelson, with that frankness 
 which sound policy and the sense of power seem often 
 to require as well as justify in diplomacy, told them 
 his reason for demanding a long term was that he 
 might have time to act against the Russian fleet, and 
 then return to Copenhagen. Neither party would 
 
248 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 yield upon this point ; and one of the Danes hinted 
 at the renewal of hostilities. " Renew hostihties ! " 
 cried Nelson to one of his friends — for he understood 
 French enough to comprehend what was said, though 
 not to answer it in the same language. " Tell him we 
 are ready at a moment 1 ready to bombard this very 
 night ! " The conference, however, proceeded amic- 
 ably on both sides : and as the commissioners could 
 not agree upon this head, they broke up, leaving 
 Nelson to settle it with the Prince. A lev6e was held 
 forthwith in one of the state rooms : a scene well 
 suited for such a consultation, for all these rooms had 
 been stripped of their furniture, in fear of a bombard- 
 ment. To a bombardment also Nelson was looking at 
 this time. Fatigue, and anxiety, and vexation at the 
 dilatory measures of the Commander-in-Chief com- 
 bined to make him irritable ; and as he was on the way 
 to the Prince's dining-room, he whispered to the officer 
 on whose arm he was leaning, '' Though I have only one 
 eye, I can see that all this will burn well." After dinner 
 he was closeted with the Prince, and they agreed that 
 the armistice should continue fourteen weeks ; and 
 that, at its termination, fourteen days' notice should 
 be given before the recommencement of hostilities. 
 
 An official account of the battle was published by 
 Olfert Fischer, the Danish Commander-in-Chief, in 
 which it was asserted that our force was greatly 
 superior ; nevertheless, that two of our ships of the 
 line had struck, that the others were so weakened, 
 and especially Lord Nelson's own ship, as to fire only 
 single shots for an hour before the end of the action ; 
 and that this hero himself, in the middle and very 
 heat of the conflict, sent a flag of truce on shore, to 
 
RELATIVE STRENGTH OF ENGLISH AND DANES. 249 
 
 propose a cessation of hostilities. For the truth of 
 this account the Dane appealed to the Prince, and all 
 those who, like him, had been eye-witnesses of the 
 scene. Nelson was exceedingly indignant at such a 
 statement, and addressed a letter in confutation of 
 it to the Adjutant- General Lindholm, thinking this 
 incumbent upon him for the information of the 
 Prince, since His Royal Highness had been appealed 
 to as a witness : " Otherwise," said he, " had Com- 
 modore Fischer confined himself to his own veracity, 
 I should have treated his official letter with the 
 contempt it deserved, and allowed the world to 
 appreciate the merits of the two contending officers." 
 After detecting and pointing out some of the mis- 
 statements in the account, he proceeds : " As to his 
 nonsense about victory, His Royal Highness will not 
 much credit him. I sunk, burnt, captured, or drove 
 into the harbour, the whole line of defence to the 
 southward of the Crown Islands. He says he is told 
 that two British ships struck. Why did he not take 
 possession of them ? I took possession of his as fast 
 as they struck. The reason is clear — that he did not 
 believe it; he must have known the falsity of the 
 report. He states that the ship in which I had the 
 honour to hoist my flag, fired latterly only single 
 guns. It is true, for steady and cool were my brave 
 fellows, and did not wish to throw away a single shot. 
 He seems to exult that I sent on shore a flag of truce. 
 You know, and His Royal Highness knows, that the 
 guns fired from the shore could only fire through 
 the Danish ships which had surrendered, and that, it 
 I fired at the shore, it could only be in the same 
 manner. God forbid that I should destroy an un- 
 
250 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 resisting Dane ! When they became my prisoners, 
 I became their protector." 
 
 This letter was written in terms of great asperity 
 against the Danish commander. Lindholm rephed in 
 a mamier every way honourable to himself. He vin- 
 dicated the commodore in some points, and excused 
 him in others; reminding Nelson that every Com- 
 mander-in-Chief was liable to receive incorrect reports. 
 With a natural desire to represent the action in the 
 most favourable light to Denmark, he took into the 
 comparative strength of the two parties the ships 
 which were aground, and which could not get into 
 action ; and omitted the Trekroner, and the batteries 
 upon Amak Island. He disclaimed all idea of claim- 
 ing as a victory " what, to every intent and purpose," 
 said he, " was a defeat — but not an inglorious one. 
 As to your lordship's motive for sending a flag of 
 truce, it never can be misconstrued ; and your subse- 
 quent conduct has sufficiently shown that humanity 
 is always the companion of true valour. You have 
 done more ; you have shown yourself a friend to the 
 re-establishment of peace and good harmony between 
 this country and Great Britain. It is, therefore, with 
 the sincerest esteem I shall always feel myself at- 
 tached to your lordship." Thus handsomely winding 
 up his reply, he soothed and contented Nelson, who, 
 drawing up a memorandum of the comparative force 
 of the two parties for his own satisfaction, assured 
 Lindholm that if the commodore's statement had 
 been in the same manly and honourable strain, he 
 would have been the last man to have noticed any 
 little inaccuracies which might get into a Commander- 
 in-Chief's public letter. 
 
NELSON MADE VISCOUNT, 251 
 
 For the battle of Copenhagen, Nelson was raised to 
 the rank of Viscount — an inadequate mark of reward 
 for services so splendid, and of such paramount im- 
 portance to the dearest interests of England. There 
 was, however, some prudence in dealing out honours 
 to him step by step : had he lived long enough, he 
 Avould have fought his way up to a Dukedom. 
 
252 
 
 CHAPTERJ VIIL 
 
 Sir Hyde Parker is recalled, and Nelson appointed Commander — He goes 
 to Revel — Settlement of Affairs in the Baltic— Unsuccessful Attempt 
 upon the Flotilla at Boulogne — Peace of Amiens— Nelson takes the 
 Command in the Mediterranean on the Renewal of the War — Escape 
 of the Toulon Fleet — Nelson chases them to the West Indies, and 
 back ; delivers up his Squadron to Admiral Cornwallis, and lands in 
 England. 
 
 When Nelson informed Earl St. Vincent that the 
 armistice had been concluded, he told him also, with- 
 out reserve, his own discontent at the dilatoriness and 
 indecision which he witnessed, and could not remedy. 
 " No man," said he, " but those who are on the spot 
 can tell what I have gone through, and do suffer. I 
 make no scruple in saying that I would have been at 
 Revel fourteen days ago ! that without this armistice 
 the fleet would never have gone, but by order of the 
 Admiralty, and with it, I dare say, we shall not go 
 this week. I wanted Sir Hyde to let me, at least, 
 go and cruise off Carlscrona, to prevent the Revel 
 ships from getting in. I said I would not go to 
 Revel, to take any of those laurels which I was sure 
 he would reap there. Think for me, my dear lord, 
 and if I have deserved well, let me return ; if ill, 
 for Heaven's sake supersede me, for I cannot exist 
 in this state." 
 
 Fatigue, incessant anxiety, and a climate little 
 suited to one of a tender constitution, which had now 
 for many years been accustomed to more genial 
 latitudes, made him, at this time, seriously determine 
 
THOUGHTS OF RETIREMENT. 2o3 
 
 upon returning home. " If the northern business 
 were not settled/' he said, " they must send more 
 admirals, for the keen air of the north had cut him 
 to the heart." He felt the want of activity and 
 decision in the Commander-in-Chief more keenly, 
 and this affected his spirits, and consequently his 
 health, more than the inclemency of the Baltic. 
 Soon after the armistice was signed. Sir Hyde pro- 
 ceeded to the eastward, with such ships as were fit for 
 service, leaving Nelson to follow with the rest, as soon 
 as those which had received slight damages should 
 be repaired, and the rest sent to England. In passing 
 between the isles of Amak and Saltholm, most of the 
 ships touched the ground, and some of them stuck 
 fast for a while : no serious injury, however, was 
 sustained. It was intended to act against the Russians 
 first, before the breaking up of the frost should enable 
 them to leave Revel ; but learning, on the way, that 
 the Swedes had put to sea to effect a junction with 
 them. Sir Hyde altered his course, in hopes of inter- 
 cepting this part of the enemy's force. Nelson had, 
 at this time, provided for the more pressing emer- 
 gencies of the service, and prepared on the 18 th to 
 follow the fleet. The St George drew too much water 
 to pass the channel between the isles without being 
 lightened ; the guns were therefore taken out, and put 
 on board an American vessel. A contrary wind, how- 
 ever, prevented Nelson from moving; and on that 
 same evening, while he was thus delayed, information 
 reached him of the relative situation of the Swedish 
 and British fleets, and the probability of an action. 
 The fleet was nearly ten leagues distant ; and both 
 wind and current contrary ; but it was not possible 
 
254 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 that Nelson could wait for a favourable season under 
 such an expectation. He ordered his boat imme- 
 diately and stepped into it. Night was setting in — 
 one of the cold spring nights of the North — and it 
 was discovered, soon after they had left the ship, that 
 in their haste they had forgotten to provide him with 
 a boat cloak. He, however, forbade them to return 
 for one, and when one of his companions offered his 
 own great-coat, and urged him to make use of it, he 
 replied, " I thank you very much — but, to tell you the 
 truth, my anxiety keeps me sufficiently warm at 
 present." 
 
 " Do you think," said he, presently, " that our 
 fleet has quitted Bornholm ? If it has, we must 
 follow it to Carlscrona." About midnight he reached 
 it, and once more got on board the Elephant On 
 the following morning the Swedes were discovered 
 but they, as soon as they perceived the English 
 approaching, retired, and took shelter in Carlscrona, 
 behind the batteries on the island, at the entrance of 
 that port. vSir Hyde sent in a flag of truce, stating 
 that Denmark had concluded an armistice, and re- 
 quiring an explicit declaration from the Court of 
 Sweden, whether it would adhere to, or abandon, the 
 hostile measures which it had taken agamst the 
 rights and interests of Great Britain. The com- 
 mander, Vice- Admiral Cronstadt, replied, " that he 
 could not answer a question which did not come 
 within the particular circle of his duty ; but that the 
 king was then at Malmoe, and would soon be at 
 Carlscrona." Gustavus shortly afterwards arrived, 
 and an answer was then returned to this effect : 
 " That his Swedish Majesty would not for a moment 
 
DEPARTURE FOR REVEL. 255 
 
 fail to fulfil, with fidelity and ^sincerity, the engage- 
 ments he had entered into with his allies ; but he 
 would not refuse to Hsten to equitable proposals, 
 made by deputies furnished with proper authority by 
 the King of Great Britain to the united Northern 
 Powers." Satisfied with this answer, and Avith the 
 known disposition of the Swedish Court, Sir Hyde 
 sailed for the Gulf of Finland ; but he had not 
 proceeded far before a despatch boat, from the 
 Russian Ambassador at Copenhagen, arrived, bring- 
 ing intelligence of the death of the Emperor Paul, 
 and that his successor, Alexander, had accepted the 
 offer made by England to his father, of terminating 
 the dispute by a convention ; the British Admiral 
 was, therefore, required to desist from all further 
 hostilities. 
 
 It was Nelson's maxim that, to negotiate with 
 effect, force should be at hand, and in a situation to 
 act. The fleet, having been reinforced from England, 
 amounted to eighteen sail of the line ; and the wind 
 was fair for Revel. There he would have sailed 
 immediately, to place himself between that division ot 
 the Russian fleet and the squadron at Cronstadt, in 
 case this offer should prove insincere. Sir Hyde, on 
 the other hand, believed that the death of Paul had 
 effected all which was necessary. The manner of 
 that death, indeed, rendered it apparent that a 
 change of poHcy would take place in the Cabinet of 
 Petersburg — but Nelson never trusted anything to 
 the uncertain events of time, which could possibly 
 be secured by promptitude or resolution. It was not, 
 therefore, without severe mortification that he saw 
 the Commander-in-Chief return to the coast of 
 
256 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 Zealand, and anchor in Kioge Bay — there to wait 
 patiently for what might happen. There the fleet 
 remained, till despatches arrived from home, on the 
 5th of May, recalling Sir Hyde, and appointing 
 Nelson Commander-in-Chief 
 
 Nelson wrote to Earl St. Vincent that he was unable 
 to hold this honourable station. Admiral Graves also 
 was so ill as to be confined to his bed ; and he 
 entreated that some person might come out and take 
 the command. " I will endeavour," said he, " to do 
 my best while I remain ; but, my dear lord, I shall 
 either soon go to heaven, I hope, or must rest quiet for 
 a time. If Sir Hyde were gone, I would now be under 
 sail." On the day when this was written he received 
 news of his appointment. Not a moment was now 
 lost. His first signal, as Commander-in-Chief, was to 
 hoist in all launches, and prepare to weigh ; and on 
 the 7 th he sailed from Kioge. Part of his fleet was 
 left at Bornholm, to watch the Swedes, from whom 
 he required and obtained an assurance that the British 
 trade in the Cattegat, and in the Baltic, should not be 
 molested ; and saying how unpleasant it would be to 
 him if anything should happen which might, for a 
 moment, disturb the returning harmony between 
 Sweden and Great Britain, he apprised them that he 
 was not directed to abstain from hostilities should he 
 meet with the Swedish fleet at sea. Meantime, he 
 himself, with ten sail of the line, two frigates, a brig 
 and a schooner, made for the Gulf of Finland. Paul, 
 in one of the freaks of his tyranny, had seized upon 
 all the British efi:ects in Russia, and even considered 
 British subjects as his prisoners. " I will have all the 
 English shipping and property restored," said Nelson, 
 
PROPOSED VISIT TO THE EMPEROR. 257 
 
 " but I will do nothing violently, — neither commit my 
 country, nor suffer Russia, to mix the affairs of 
 Denmark or Sweden with the detention of our ships." 
 The wind was fair, and carried him, in four days, to 
 Revel Roads. But the bay had been clear of firm ice 
 on the 29th of April, while the English were lying idl/ 
 at Kioge. The Russians had cut through the ice in 
 the mole, six feet thick, and their whole squadron had 
 sailed for Cronstadt on the 3rd. Before that time it 
 had lain at the mercy of the English "Nothing," 
 Nelson said, " if it had been right to make the attack, 
 could have saved one ship of them in two hours after 
 our entering the bay." 
 
 It so happened that there was no cause to regret the 
 opportunity which had been lost, and Nelson immedi- 
 ately put the intentions of Russia to the proof He 
 sent on shore, to say that he came with friendly views, 
 and was ready to return a salute. On their part the 
 salute was delayed, till a message was sent to them to 
 inquire for what reason ; and the officer, whose neglect 
 had occasioned the delay, was put under arrest. Nelson 
 wrote to the Emperor, proposing to wait on him person- 
 ally and congratulate him on his accession, and urging 
 the immediate release of British subjects and restora- 
 tion of British property. 
 
 The answer arrived on the 16th. Nelson, mean- 
 time, had exchanged visits with the Governor, and the 
 most friendly intercourse had subsisted between the 
 ships and the shore. Alexander's Ministers, in their 
 reply, expressed their surprise at the arrival of a 
 British fleet in a Russian port, and their wish that it 
 should return ; they professed, on the part of Russia, 
 the most friendly disposition towards Great Britain, 
 
258 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 but declined the personal visit of Lord Nelson, unless 
 lie came in a single ship. There was a suspicion im- 
 plied in this which stung Nelson, and he said the 
 Russian Ministers would never have written thus if 
 their fleet had been at Revel. He wrote an immediate 
 reply, expressing what he felt ; he told the Court of 
 Petersburg, " that the word of a British Admiral, when 
 given in explanation of any part of his conduct, was 
 as sacred as that of any Sovereign in Europe." And 
 he repeated, " that, under other circumstances, it would 
 have been his anxious wish to have paid his personal 
 respects to the Emperor, and signed, with his own 
 hand, the act of amity between the two countries." 
 Having despatched this, he stood out to sea imme- 
 diately, leaving a brig to bring off the provisions which 
 had been contracted for, and to settle the accounts. 
 " I hope all is right," said he, writing to our Ambas- 
 sador at Berlin ; " but seamen are but bad negotiator?, 
 for we put to issue in five minutes what diplomatic 
 forms would be five months doing." 
 
 On his way down the Baltic, however, he met the 
 Russian Admiral Tchitchagof, whom the Emperor, in 
 reply to Sir Hyde's overtures, had sent to com- 
 municate personally with the British Commander-in- 
 Chief. The reply was such as had been wished and 
 expected ; and these negotiators going, seaman-like, 
 straight to their object, satisfied each other of the 
 friendly intentions of their respective Governments. 
 Nelson then anchored off Rostock ; and there he 
 received an answer to his last despatch from Revel, 
 in which the Russian Court expressed their regret 
 that there should have been any misconception be- 
 tween them, informed him that the British vessels 
 
RETURN TO THE BALTIC. 250 
 
 which Paul had detained were ordered to be Hberated, 
 and invited him to Petersburg in whatever mode 
 might be most agreeable to himself. Other honours 
 awaited him. The Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, the 
 Queen's brother, came to visit him on board his ship ; 
 and towns from the inland parts of Mecklenburg sent 
 deputations with their public books of record, that 
 they might have the name of Nelson in them written 
 by his own hand. 
 
 From Rostock the fleet returned to Kioge Bay. 
 Nelson saw that the temper of the Danes towards 
 England was such as naturally arose from the chas- 
 tisement which they had so recently received. " In 
 this nation/' said he, " we shall not be forgiven for 
 having the upper hand of them. I only thank God 
 we have, or they would try to humble us to the dust." 
 He saw also that the Danish Cabinet was completely 
 subservient to France. A French officer was, at this 
 time, the companion and counsellor of the Crown 
 Prince ; and things were done in such open violation 
 of the armistice, that Nelson thought a second in- 
 fliction of vengeance would soon be necessary. He 
 wrote to the Admiralty, requesting a clear and ex- 
 plicit reply to his inquiry, Whether the Commander- 
 in-Chief was at liberty to hold the language becoming 
 a British Admiral ? " Which very probably," said he, 
 "if I am here, will break the armistice, and set 
 Copenhagen in a blaze. I see everything which is 
 dirty and mean going on, and the Prince Royal at the 
 head of it. Ships have been masted, guns taken on 
 board, floating batteries prepared, and, except hauling 
 out and completing their rigging, everything has 
 been done in defiance of the treaty. My heart burns 
 R 2 
 
J 
 
 260 - LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 at seeing the word of a Prince, nearly allied to our 
 good King,, so falsified ; but his conduct is such that 
 he will lose his kingdom if he goes on, for Jacobins 
 rule in Denmark. I have made no representations 
 yet, as it would be useless to do so until I have the 
 power of correction. All I beg, in the name of the 
 future Commander-in-Chief, is that the orders may be 
 clear ; for enough is done to break twenty treaties, if 
 it should be wished, or to make the Prince Royal, 
 humble himself before British generosity." 
 
 Nelson was not deceived in his judgment of the 
 Danish Cabinet, but the Battle of Copenhagen had 
 crippled its power. The death of the Czar Paul had 
 broken the confederacy ; and that Cabmet, therefore, 
 was compelled to defer till a more convenient season the 
 mdulgence of its enmity towards Great Britain. Soon 
 afterwards. Admiral Sir Charles Maurice Pole arrived 
 to take the command. The business, military and 
 political, had by that time been so far completed that 
 the presence of the British fleet soon became no 
 longer necessary. Sir Charles, however, made the 
 short time of his command memorable, by passing 
 the Great Belt, for the first time, with Hne-of-battle 
 ships, working through the channel against adverse 
 winds. When Nelson left the fleet, this speedy ter- 
 mination of the expedition, though confidently ex- 
 pected, was not certain ; and he, in his unwillingness 
 to weaken the British force, thought at one time of 
 traversing Jutland in his boat, by the canal, to 
 Tonningen on the Eyder, and finding his way home 
 from thence. This intention was not executed ; but 
 he returned in a brig, declining to accept a frigate — 
 which few admirals would have done, especially if, 
 
BONAPARTE'S THREATENED INVASION. 261 
 
 like him, they suffered from sea-sickness in a small 
 vessel. On his arrival at Yarmouth, the first thing 
 he did was to visit the hospital, and see the men 
 who had been wounded in the late battle — that 
 victory which had added new glory to the name 
 of Nelson, and which was of more importance even 
 than the Battle of the Nile, to the honour and strength 
 and security of England. 
 
 He had not been many weeks on shore before he 
 was called upon to undertake a service for which no 
 Nelson was required. Bonaparte, who was now First 
 Consul, and in reality sole ruler of France, was making 
 preparations, upon a great scale, for invading Eng- 
 land ; but his schemes in the Baltic had been baffled 
 — fleets could not be created as they were wanted — 
 and his armies, therefore, were to come over in gun- 
 boats and such small craft as could be rapidly built 
 or collected for the occasion. From the former 
 Governments of France such threats have only been 
 matters of insult and policy ; in Bonaparte they 
 were sincere — for this adventurer, intoxicated with 
 success, already began to imagine that all things 
 were to be submitted to his fortune. We had not, at 
 that time, proved the superiority of our soldiers over 
 the French ; and the unreflecting multitude were not 
 to be persuaded that an invasion could only be 
 effected by numerous and powerful fleets. A general 
 alarm was excited ; and, in condescension to this un- 
 worthy feeling. Nelson was appointed to a command, 
 extending from Orfordness to Beachy Head, on both 
 shores — a sort of service, he said, for which he felt no 
 other abiUty than what might be found in his zeal. 
 
 To this service, however, such as it was he ap- 
 
262 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 plied with his wonted alacrity, and having hoisted 
 his flag in the Medusa i'rigate, went to reconnoitre 
 Boulogne, the point from v/hich it was supposed the 
 great attempt would be made, and which the French, 
 in fear of an attack themselves, were fortifying with 
 all care. He approached near enough to sink two of 
 their floating batteries and destroy a few gun-boats, 
 which were without the pier ; what damage was done 
 within could not be ascertained. " Boulogne," he said, 
 " was certainly not a very pleasant place that morning ; 
 but," he added, " it is not my Avish to injure the poor 
 inhabitants, and the town is spared as much as the 
 nature of the service will admit." Enough was done 
 to show the enemy that they could not, with im- 
 punity, come outside their own ports. Nelson was 
 satisfied, by what he saw, that they meant to make 
 an attempt from this place, but that it was imprac- 
 ticable, for the least wind at W.N.W. and they were 
 lost. The ports of Flushing and Flanders were better 
 points ; there we could not tell by our eyes what 
 means of transport were provided. From thence, 
 therefore, if it came forth at all, the expedition would 
 come. " And what a forlorn undertaking ! " said he. 
 " Consider cross tides, &c. As for rowing, that is 
 impossible. It is perfectly right to be prepared for 
 a mad Government ; but, with the active force which 
 has been given me, I may pronounce it almost im- 
 practicable." 
 
 That force had been got together with an alacrity 
 which has seldom been equalled. On the 28th of 
 July we were, in Nelson's own words, literally at the 
 foundation of our fabric of defence ; and twelve days 
 afterwards we were so prepared on the enemy's coast, 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE. 263 
 
 that he did not beheve they could get three miles 
 from their ports. The Medusa, returning to our own 
 shores, anchored in the rolling ground off Harwich ; 
 and, when Nelson wished to get to the Nore in her, 
 the wind rendered it impossible to proceed there by 
 the usual channel. In haste to be at the Nore, re- 
 membering that he had been a tolerable pilot for the 
 mouth of the Thames in his younger days, and 
 thinking it necessary that he should know all that 
 could be known of the navigation, he requested the 
 maritime surveyor of the coast, Mr. Spence, to get 
 him into the Swin by any channel, for neither the 
 pilots which he had on board nor the Harwich ones 
 would take charge of the ship. No vessel drawing 
 more than fourteen feet had ever before ventured 
 over the Naze. Mr. Spence, however, who had sur- 
 veyed the channel, carried her safely through The 
 channel has since been called Nelson's, though he 
 himself wished it to be named after the Medusa — 
 his name needed no new memorial. 
 
 Nelson's eye was upon Flushing. '' To take pos- 
 session of that place," he said, "would be a week's 
 expedition for four or five thousand troops." This, 
 however, required a consultation with the Admiralty ; 
 and that something might be done meantime he 
 resolved upon attacking the Flotilla in the mouth of 
 Boulogne Harbour, owning at the same time that this 
 boat- warfare was not exactly congenial to his feelings. 
 Into Helvoet or Flushing he should be happy to 
 lead if Government turned their thoughts that way. 
 " While I serve," said he, " I will do it actively and 
 to the very best of my abilities. I require nursing 
 like a child," he added ; " my mind carries me beyond 
 
264 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 my strength, and will do me up ; but such is my 
 nature." 
 
 The attack was made by the boats of the squadron 
 in five divisions, under Captains Somerville, Parker, 
 Cotgrave, Jones, and Conn. The previous essay had 
 taught the French the weak parts of their position ; 
 and they had omitted no means of strengthening it 
 and of guarding against the expected attempt. The 
 boats put off about half an hour before midnight; 
 but owing to the darkness and the tide and half- 
 tide, which must always make night attacks so un- 
 certain on the coasts of the Channel, the divisions 
 separated. One could not arrive at all ; another not 
 till near daybreak. The others made their attack 
 gallantly, but the enemy were fully prepared ; every 
 vessel was defended by long poles, headed with iron 
 spikes, projecting from their sides ; strong nettings 
 were braced up to their lower yards ; they were 
 moored by the bottom to the shore, and chained one 
 to another ; they were strongly manned with soldiers, 
 and protected by land batteries, and the shore was 
 lined with troops. Many were taken possession of; 
 and, though they could not have been brought out, 
 would have been burnt had not the French resorted 
 to a mode of offence which they have often used, but 
 which no other people have ever been wicked enough 
 to employ. The moment the firing ceased on board 
 one of their own vessels they fired upon it from the 
 shore, perfectly regardless of their own men. 
 
 The commander of one of the French divisions 
 acted like a generous enemy. He hailed the boats 
 as they approached, and cried out in English : " Let 
 me advise you, my brave Englishmen, to keep your 
 
ATTEMPT ON THE FLOTILLA IN BOULOGNE. 2G5 
 
 distance ; you can do nothing here, and it is only 
 uselessly shedding the blood of brave men to make 
 the attempt." The French official account boasted of 
 the victory. " The combat," it said, " took place in sight 
 of both countries ; it was the first of the kind, and the 
 historian would have cause to make this remark." 
 They guessed our loss at four or live hundred ; it 
 amounted to one hundred and seventy- two. In his 
 private letters to the Admiralty, Nelson affirmed that 
 had our force arrived as he intended, it was not all 
 the chains in France which could have prevented 
 our men from bringing off the whole of the vessels. 
 There had been no error conunitted, and never did 
 Englishmen display more courage. Upon this point 
 Nelson was fully satisfied; but he said he should 
 never bring himself again to allow any attack wherein 
 he was not personally concerned, and that his mind 
 suffered more than if he had had a leg shot off in the 
 affair. He grieved particularly for Captain Parker — 
 an excellent officer to whom he was greatly attached, 
 and who had an aged father loojiing to him for 
 assistance. His thigh was shattered in the action ; 
 and the wound proved mortal after some weeks of 
 suffering and manly resignation. During this interval 
 Nelson's anxiety was very great. " Dear Parker is 
 my child," said he ; " for I found him in distress." 
 And when he received the tidings of his death he 
 replied : " You will judge of my feelings ; God's will 
 be done. I beg that his hair may be cut off and 
 given me ; it shall be buried in my grave. Poor 
 Mr. Parker ! What a son has he lost ! If I were to 
 say I was content I should lie ; but I shall endeavour 
 to submit with all the fortitude in my power. His 
 
266 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 loss has made a wound in my heart which time will 
 hardly heal." 
 
 He now wished to be relieved from this service. 
 The country, he said, had attached a confidence to 
 his name, which he had submitted to, and therefore 
 had cheerfully repaired to the station ; but this boat 
 business, thougli it might be part of a great plan of 
 invasion, could never be the only one, and he did not 
 think it was a command for a Vice- Admiral. It was 
 not that he wanted a more lucrative situation ; 
 for, seriously indisposed as he was, and low-spirited 
 from private considerations, he did not know, if the 
 Mediterranean were vacant, that he should be equal 
 to undertake it. Just at this time the Peace of 
 Amiens was signed. Nelson rejoiced that the experi- 
 ment was made, but was well aware that it was an 
 experiment. He saw what he called the ' misery of 
 peace, unless the utmost vigilance and prudence were 
 exerted ; and he expressed, in bitter, terms, his proper 
 indignation at the manner in which the mob of 
 London welcomed the French general who brought 
 the ratification, saying, " that they made him 
 ashamed of his country." 
 
 He had purchased a house and estate at Merton, 
 in Surrey, meaning to pass his days there in the 
 society of Sir William and Lady Hamilton. This 
 place he had never seen till he was now welcomed 
 there by the friends to whom he had so passionately 
 devoted himself, and who were not less sincerely 
 attached to him. The place, and everything which 
 Lady Hamilton had done to it, delighted him ; and 
 he declared that the longest liver should possess it all. 
 The depression of spirits under which he had long 
 
AT MERTON. 267 
 
 laboured, arose from the disquietude in whicli this 
 connection had involved him, a connection which 
 it was not possible his father could behold without 
 sorrow and displeasure. Mr. Nelson, however, was 
 soon convmced that the attachment, which Lady 
 Nelson regarded with natural jealousy and resent- 
 ment, did not in reality pass the bounds of ardent 
 and romantic admiration ; a passion which the 
 manners and accomplishments of Lady Hamilton, 
 fascinating as they were, would not have been able 
 to excite if they had not been accompanied by 
 more uncommon intellectual endowments, and by a 
 character which, both in its strength and in its 
 weakness, resembled his own. It did not, therefore, 
 require much explanation to reconcile him to his 
 son — an event the more essential to Nelson's happi- 
 ness, because a few months afterwards the good old 
 man died at the age of seventy-nine. 
 
 Soon after the conclusion of peace, tidings arrived 
 of our final and decisive successes in Egypt, in 
 consequence of which the Common Council voted 
 their thanks to the army and navy for bringing the 
 campaign to so glorious a conclusion. When Nelson, 
 after the action of Cape St. Vincent, had been enter- 
 tained at a City feast, he had observed to the Lord 
 Mayor, " that, if the City continued its generosity, the 
 navy would ruin them in gifts." To which the Lord 
 Mayor replied, putting his hand upon the Admiral's 
 shoulder : " Do you find victories, and we will find 
 rewards." Nelson, as he said, had kept his word — 
 had doubly fulfilled his part of the contract — but no 
 thanks had been voted for the Battle of Copenhagen ; 
 and feeling that he and his companions in that day's 
 
268 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 glory had a fair and honourable claim to this reward, 
 he took the present opportunity of addressing a letter 
 to the Lord Mayor, complaining of the omission 
 and the injustice. " The smallest services," said he, 
 '' rendered by the army or navy to the country have 
 been always noticed by the great City of London, 
 with one exception — the glorious 2nd of April — 
 a day when the greatest dangers of navigation were 
 overcome ; and the Danish force, which they thought 
 impregnable, totally taken or destroyed by the con- 
 summate skill of our commanders, and by the un- 
 daunted bravery of as gallant a band as ever defended 
 the rights of this country. For myself, if I were 
 only personally concerned, I should bear the stigma, 
 attempted to be now first placed upon my brow, with 
 humility. But, my lord, I am the natural guardian 
 of the fame of the officers of the navy, army, and 
 marines, who fought and so profusely bled under my 
 command on that day. Again I disclaim for myself 
 more merit than naturally falls to a successful com- 
 mander ; but when I am called upon to speak of 
 tho merits of the captains of His Majesty's ships 
 and of the officers and men, whether seamen, marines, 
 or soldiers, whom -I that day had the happiness to 
 command, I say then that never was the glory of this 
 country upheld with more determined bravery than 
 on that occasion ; and, if I may be allowed to give an 
 opinion as a Briton, then I say that more important 
 service was never rendered to our King and country. 
 It is my duty, my lord, to prove to the brave fellows, 
 my companions in danger, that I have not failed at 
 every proper place to represent, as well as I am able 
 their bravery and meritorious conduct." 
 
DEATH OF SIM WILLIAM HAMILTON. 269 
 
 Another honour of greater import was withheld 
 from the conquerors. The King had given medals 
 to those captains who were engaged in the battles 
 of the 1st of June, of Cape St. Vincent, of Camper- 
 down, and of the Nile. Then came the victory at 
 Copenhagen, which Nelson truly called the most 
 difficult achievement, the hardest-fought battle, the 
 most glorious result that ever graced the annals of 
 our country. He, of course, expected the medal ; 
 and, in writing to Earl St. Vincent, said : " He longed 
 to have it, and would not give it up to be made an 
 Enghsh duke." The medal, however, was not given — 
 " For what reason," said Nelson, " Lord St. Vincent 
 best knows," words plainly implying a suspicion that 
 it was withheld by some feeling of jealousy ; and that 
 suspicion estranged him during the remaining part of 
 his life from one who had at one time been essentially, 
 as well as sincerely, his friend, and of whose pro- 
 fessional abilities he ever entertained the highest 
 opinion. 
 
 The happiness which Nelson enjoyed in the society 
 of his chosen friends was of no long continuance. Sir 
 William Hamilton, who was far advanced in years, 
 died early in 1803. He expired in his wife's arms, 
 holding Nelson by the hand ; and almost in his last 
 words left her to his protection, requesting him that 
 he would see justice done her by the Government, 
 as he knew what she had done for her country. He 
 left him her portrait in enamel, calling him his 
 dearest friend, the most virtuous, loyal, and truly 
 brave character he had ever known. The codicil 
 containing this bequest concluded with these words: 
 "God bless him, and shame faU on those who do 
 
270 • LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 not say Amen." Sir William's pension of £1,200 a 
 year ceased with his death. Nelson applied to Mr. 
 Addington in Lady Hamilton's behalf, stating the im- 
 portant service which she had rendered to the fleet at 
 Syracuse ; and Mr. Addington, it is said, acknowledged 
 that she had a just claim upon the gratitude of the 
 country. This barren acknowledgment was all that 
 was obtained ; but a sum, equal to the pension which 
 her husband had enjoyed, was settled on her by 
 Nelson, and paid in monthly payments during his 
 life. A few weeks after this event the war was 
 renewed ; and the day after His Majesty's message 
 to Parliament, Nelson departed to take the command 
 of the Mediterranean fleet. 
 
 He took his station immediately off Toulon, and 
 there, with incessant vigilance, waited for the coming 
 out of the enemy. When he had been fourteen 
 months thus employed, he received a vote of thanks 
 from the City of London for his skill and persever- 
 ance in blockading that port so as to prevent the 
 French from putting to sea. Nelson had not for- 
 gotten the wrong which the City had done to the 
 Baltic fleet by their omission, and did not lose the 
 opportunity which this vote afforded of recurring to 
 that point. " I do assure your lordship," said he, in 
 his answer to the Lord Mayor, " that there is not that 
 man breathing who sets a higher value upon the 
 thanks of his fellow-citizens of London than myself ; 
 but I should feel as much ashamed to receive them 
 for a particular service marked in the resolution if I 
 felt that I did not come within that line of service, 
 as I should feel hurt at having a great victory passed 
 over without notice, I beg to inform your lordship 
 
IN COMMAND OF THE MEDITERRANEAN FLEET. 271 
 
 that the port of Toulon has never been blockaded by 
 me — quite the reverse. Every opportunity has been 
 offered the enemy to put to sea, for it is there that 
 we hope to realise the hopes and expectations of our 
 country." Nelson then remarked that the junior 
 flag officers of his fleet had been omitted in this 
 vote of thanks, and his surprise at the omission 
 was expressed with more asperity, perhaps, than an 
 offence so entirely and manifestly unintentional 
 deserved; but it arose from that generous regard 
 for the feelings as well as interests of all who were 
 under his command, which made him as much 
 beloved in the fleets of Britain as he was dreaded 
 in those of the enemy. 
 
 Never was any commander more beloved. He 
 governed men by their reason and their aflections. 
 They knew that he was incapable of caprice or 
 tyranny ; and they obeyed him with alacrity and joy, 
 because he possessed their confidence as well as their 
 love. '' Our Nel," they used to say, "is as brave as a 
 Hon, and as gentle as a lamb." Severe discipline he 
 detested, though he had been bred in a severe school. 
 He never inflicted corporal punishment, if it were 
 possible to avoid it ; and when compelled to enforce 
 it, he, who was familiar with wounds and death, 
 suffered like a woman. In his whole life Nelson was 
 never known to act unkindly towards an officer. If 
 he was asked to prosecute one for ill behaviour, he 
 used to answer : " That there was no occasion for him 
 to ruin a poor devil, who was sufficiently his own 
 enemy to ruin himself" But in Nelson there was 
 more than the easiness and humanity of a happy 
 nature. He did not merely abstain from injury ; hi^ 
 
272 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 was an active and watchful benevolence, ever desirous 
 not only to render justice, but to do good. During 
 tlie peace he had spoken in Parliament upon the 
 abuses respecting prize inqney ; and had submitted 
 plans to Government for more easily manning the 
 navy, and preventing desertion from it, by bettering 
 the condition of the seamen. He proposed that their 
 certificates should be registered, and that every man 
 who had served, with a good character, fiYQ years in 
 war, should receive a bounty of two guineas annually 
 after that time, and of four guineas after eight years. 
 " This," he said, " might, at first sight, appear an 
 enormous sum for the State to pay ; but the average 
 life of a seaman is, from hard service, finished at 
 forty-five. He cannot, therefore, enjoy the annuity 
 many years ; and the interest of the money saved by 
 their not deserting would go far to pay the whole 
 expense." 
 
 To his midshipmen he ever showed the most 
 winning kindness, encouraging the diffident, temper- 
 ing the hasty, counselling and befriending both. 
 " Recollect,", he used to say, " that you must be a 
 seaman to be an officer ; and also, that you cannot be 
 a good officer without being a gentleman." A lieu- 
 tenant wrote to him, to say that he was dissatisfied 
 with his captain. Nelson's answer was in that spirit 
 of perfect wisdom and perfect goodness which 
 regulated his whole conduct toward those who were 
 under his command. "I have just received your 
 letter ; and I am truly sorry that any difference 
 should arise between your captain, who has the 
 reputation of being one of the bright officers of the 
 service, and yourself, a very young man, and a very 
 
NELSON'S KINDLINESS. 273 
 
 young officer, who must naturally have much to 
 learn ; therefore the chance is that you are perfectly 
 wrong m the disagreement. However, as your 
 present situation must be very disagreeable, I will 
 certainly take an early opportunity of removing you, 
 provided your conduct to your present captain be 
 such that another may not refuse to receive you." The 
 gentleness and benignity of his disposition never 
 made him forget what was due to discipline. Being 
 on one occasion applied to, to save a young officer 
 from a court-martial, which he had provoked by his 
 misconduct, his reply was : '' That he would do every- 
 thing in his power to oblige so gallant and good an 
 officer as Sir John Warren," in whose name the inter- 
 cession had been made : " But what," he added, 
 " would he do if he were here ? — Exactly what I have 
 done, and am still willing to do. The young man 
 must write such a letter of contrition as would be an 
 acknowledgment of his great fault ; and with a 
 sincere promise, if his captain will intercede to pre- 
 vent the impending court-martial, never to so 
 misbehave again. On his captain's enclosing me such 
 a letter, with a request to cancel the order for the 
 trial, I might be induced to do it ; but the letters and 
 reprimand will be given in the pubhc order-book of 
 the fleet, and read to all the officers. The young man 
 has pushed himself forward to notice, and he must 
 take the consequence. It was upon the quarter-deck, 
 in the face of the ship's company, that he treated his 
 captain with contempt ; and I am in duty bound to 
 support the authority and consequence of every 
 officer under my command. A poor ignorant seaman 
 is for ever punished for contempt to his superiors." 
 s 
 
274 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 A dispute occurred in the fleet, while it was off 
 Toulon, which called forth Nelson's zeal for the rights 
 and interests of the navy. Some young artillery 
 officers, serving on board the bomb vessels, refused to 
 let their men perform, any other duty but what 
 related to the mortars. They wished to have it 
 established that their corps was not subject to the 
 captain's authority. The same pretensions were made 
 in the Channel fleet about the same time ; and the 
 artillery rested their claims to separate and inde- 
 pendent authority on board, upon a clause in the Act, 
 which they interpreted in their favour. Nelson took 
 up the subject with all the earnestness which its 
 importance deserved. " There is no real happiness in 
 this world," said he, writing to Earl St. Vincent, as 
 First Lord. " With all content and smiles around 
 me, up start these artillery boys (I understand they 
 are not beyond that age), and set us at defiance, 
 speaking in the most disrespectful manner of the 
 navy and its commanders. I know you, my dear 
 lord, so well, that with your quickness the matter 
 would have been settled, and perhaps some of them 
 been broke. I am, perhaps, more patient, but I do 
 assure you, not less resolved, if my plan of concilia- 
 tion is not attended to. You and I are on the eve of 
 quitting the theatre of our exploits ; but we hold it 
 to our successors never, whilst we have a tongue to 
 speak or a hand to Avrite, to allow the navy to be, in 
 the smallest degree, injured in its discipline by our 
 conduct." To Trowbridge he wrote in the same 
 spirit. '' It is the old history, trying to do away the 
 Act of ParHament ; but I trust they will never 
 succeed, for when they do, farewell to our naval 
 
HIS LOVE FOR THE NAVY. 275 
 
 superiority. We should be prettily commanded ! Let 
 them once gain the step of being independent of the 
 navy on board a ship, and they Avill soon have the 
 other, and command us. But, thank God ! my dear 
 Trowbridge, the King himself cannot do away the Act 
 of Parliament. Although my career is nearly run, 
 yet it would embitter my future days and expiring 
 moments to hear of our navy being sacrificed to the 
 army." As the surest way of preventing such 
 disputes, he suggested that the navy should have its 
 own corps of artillery ; and a corps of marine artillery 
 was accordingly established. 
 
 Instead of lessening the power of the commander, 
 Nelson would have wished to see it increased. It was 
 absolutely necessary, he thought, that merit should 
 be rewarded at the moment, and that the officers of 
 the fleet should look up to the Commander-in-Chief 
 for their reward. He himself was never more happy 
 than when he could promote those Avho were deserv- 
 ing of promotion. Many were the services which he 
 thus rendered unsolicited, and frequently the officer, 
 m whose behalf he had interested himself with the 
 Admiralty, did not know to whose friendly inter- 
 ference he was indebted lor his good fortune. He 
 used to say, " I wish it to appear as a God-send," The 
 love which he bore the navy made him promote the 
 interests, and honour the memory, of all who had 
 added to its glories. " The near relations of brother- 
 officers," he said, "he considered as legacies to the 
 service." Upon mention being made to him of a son 
 of Rodney by the Duke of Clarence, his reply was: 
 " I agree with your Royal Highness most entirely that 
 the son of a Rodney ought to be the protege of every 
 s 2 
 
276 LIFE OF NELSON 
 
 person in the kingdom, and particularly of the sea 
 officers. Had I kno^vn that there had been this 
 claimant, some of my own lieutenants must have 
 given way to such a name, and he should have been 
 placed in the Victory. She is full, and I have 
 twenty on my list ; but, whatever numbers I have, 
 the name of Rodney must cut many of them out." 
 Such was the proper sense which Nelson felt of what 
 was due to splendid .services and illustrious names. 
 His feelings tOAvard the brave men who had served 
 with him are shown by a note in his diary, which was 
 probably not intended for any other eye than his own. 
 — " Nov. 7. I had the comfort of making an old 
 Agamemnon, George Jones, a gimner, into the 
 Chameleon brig." 
 
 When Nelson took the command, it was expected 
 that the Mediterranean would be an active scene. 
 Nelson well understood the character of the perfidious 
 Corsican, who was now sole tyrant of France ; and 
 knowing that he was as ready to attack his friends as 
 his enemies, knew, therefore, that nothing could be 
 more uncertain than the direction of the fleet from 
 Toulon, whenever it should put to sea : — " It had as 
 many destinations," he said, "as there were countries." 
 The momentous revolutions of the last ten years had 
 given him ample matter for reflection, as well as 
 opportunities for observation. The film was cleared 
 from his eyes ; and now, Avhen the French no longer 
 went abroad with the cry of Liberty and Equahty, he 
 saw that the oppression and misrule of the Powers 
 which had been opposed to them, had been the main 
 causes of their success, and that those causes would 
 still prepare the way before them. Even in Sicily 
 
SARDimA. 277 
 
 where, if it had been possible longer to blind him- 
 self, Nelson would willingly have seen no evil, he 
 perceived that the people wished for a change, and 
 acknowledged that they had reason to wish for it. In 
 Sardinia the same burden of misgovernment was felt ; 
 and the people, like the Sicilians, were impoverished 
 by a Government so utterly incompetent to perform 
 its first and most essential duties, that it did not pro- 
 tect its own coasts from the Barbary pirates. He 
 would fain have had us purchase this island (the 
 finest in the Mediterranean) from its sovereign, who 
 did not receive £5,000 a year from it, after its 
 wretched establishment was paid. There was reason 
 to think that France was preparing to possess herself 
 of this important point, which afforded our fleet 
 facilities for watching Toulon,. not to be obtained else- 
 where. An expedition was preparing at Corsica for 
 the ]3urpose ; and all the Sardes, who had taken part 
 with revolutionary France, were ordered to assemble 
 there. It was certain that, if the attack were made, 
 it would succeed. Nelson thought that the only 
 means to prevent Sardinia from becoming French 
 was to make it English, and that half a million would 
 give the King a rich price, and England a cheap pur- 
 chase. A better, and therefore a wiser policy, would 
 have been to exert our influence in removing the 
 abuses of the Government; for foreign dominion is 
 always, in some degree, an evil, and allegiance neither 
 can nor ought to be made a thing of bargain and sale. 
 Sardinia, like Sicily and Corsica, is large enough to 
 form a separate state. Let us hope that these islands 
 may, ere long, be made free and independent. 
 Freedom and independence wiU bring with them 
 
278 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 industry and prosperity ; and wherever these are 
 found, arts and letters will flourisli, and the improve- 
 ment of the human race proceed. 
 
 The proposed attack was postponed. Views of 
 wider ambition were opening upon Bonaparte, who 
 now almost undisguisedly aspired to make himself 
 master of the continent of Europe ; and Austria was . 
 preparing for another struggle, to be conducted as 
 weakly, and terminated as miserably, as the former. 
 Spain, too, was once more to be involved in war by 
 the 23olicy of France, that perfidious Government 
 having in view the double object of employing the 
 Spanish resources against England, and exhausting 
 them, in order to render Spain herself finally its 
 prey. Nelson, who knew that England and the 
 Peninsula ought to be in alliance, for the common 
 interest of both, frequently expressed his hopes that 
 Spain might resume her natural rank among the 
 nations. " We ought," he said, " by mutual consent, 
 to be the very best friends, and both to be ever 
 hostile to France." But he saw that Bonaparte was 
 meditating the destruction of Spain ; and that, while 
 the wretched Court of Madrid professed to remain 
 neutral, the appearances of neutrality were scarcely 
 preserved. An order of the year 1771, excluding 
 British ships of Avar from the Spanish ports, was 
 revived and put in force ; while French privateers, 
 from these very ports, annoyed the British trade, 
 carried their prizes in, and sold them even at Barce- 
 lona. Nelson complained of this to the Captain- 
 General of Catalonia, informing him that he claimed, 
 for every British ship or squadron, the right of lying 
 as long as it pleased in the ports of Spain, while that 
 
STATIONED OFF TOULON. 279 
 
 right was allowed to other Powers. To the British 
 Ambassador he said : " I am ready to make large 
 allowances for the miserable situation Spain has 
 placed herself in ; but there is a certain line beyond 
 which I cannot submit to be treated with disrespect. 
 We have given up French vessels taken within gun- 
 shot of the Spanish shore, and yet French vessels 
 are permitted to attack our ships from the Spanish 
 shore. Your Excellency may assure the Spanish 
 Government, that in whatever place the Spaniards 
 allow the French to attack us, in that place I shall 
 order the French to be attacked." 
 
 During this state of things, to which the weakness 
 of Spain, and not her will, consented, the enemy's 
 fleet did not venture to put to sea. Nelson watched 
 it with unremitting and almost unexampled per- 
 severance. The station ofl' Toulon he called his 
 home. " We are in the right fighting trim," said he ; 
 " let them come as soon as they please. I never saw 
 a fleet, altogether, so well oflicered and manned ; 
 would to God the ships were half as good ! The 
 finest ones in the service would soon be destroyed by 
 such terrible weather. I know well enough that if I 
 were to go into Malta I should save the ships during 
 this bad season ; but, if I am to watch the French, I 
 must be at sea, and, if at sea, must have bad weather, 
 and if the ships are not fit to stand bad weather, they 
 are useless." Then only he was satisfied, and at 
 ease, when he had the enemy in view. Mr. Elliot, 
 our Minister at Naples, seems, at this time, to have 
 proposed to send a confidential Frenchman to him 
 with information. "I should be very happy," he 
 replied, "to receive authentic intelligence of the 
 
280 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 destination of the Frencli squadron, their route, and 
 time of saihng. Anything short of this is useless; 
 and I assure your Excellency that I would not, upon 
 any consideration, have a Frenchman in the fleet, 
 except as a prisoner. I put no confidence in them. 
 You think yours good ; the Queen thinks the same : 
 I believe they are all alike. Whatever information 
 you can get me, I shall be very thankful for ; but not 
 a Frenchman comes here. Forgive me, but my 
 mother hated the French." 
 
 M. Latouche Treville, who had commanded at 
 Boulogne, 'commanded now at Toulon. " He was 
 sent for on purpose," said Nelson, " as he heat me at 
 Boulogne, to beat me again ; but he seems very loth 
 to try." One day, while the main body of our fleet 
 was out of sight of land. Rear- Admiral Campbell, 
 reconnoitring with the Cano])ws, Donegal, and 
 Amazon, stood in close to the port ; and M. Latouche, 
 taking advantage of a breeze which sprang up, 
 pushed out, with four ships of the line and three 
 heavy frigates, and chased him about four leagues. 
 The Frenchman, delighted at having found himself 
 in so novel a situation, published a boastful account ; 
 affirming that he had given chase to the whole 
 British fleet, and that Nelson had fled before him! 
 Nelson thought it due to the Admiralty to send home 
 a copy of the Victory s log upon this occasion. " As 
 for himself," he said, " if his character was not 
 established by that time for not being apt to run 
 away, it was not worth his while to put the world 
 right." " If this fleet gets fairly up with M. Latouche," 
 said he to one of his correspondents, " his letter, with 
 all his ingenuity, must be different from his last. 
 
M. LATOUCBE. 281 
 
 We had fancied that we chased him into Toulon ; 
 for, blind as I am, I could see his water-line, when he 
 clued his topsails up, shutting in Sepet. But, from 
 the time of his meeting Captain Hawker, in the Isis, I 
 never heard of his acting otherwise than as a poltroon 
 and a liar. Contempt is the best mode of treating 
 such a miscreant." In spite, however, of contempt, 
 the impudence of this Frenchman half angered him. 
 He said to his brother : " You will have seen 
 Latouche's letter ; how he chased me, and how I ran. 
 I keep it, and if I take him, by God he shall 
 eat it." 
 
 Nelson, who used to say that in sea affairs nothing 
 is impossible, and nothing imnrobable, feared the more 
 that this Frenchman might get out and elude his 
 vigilance, because he was so especially desirous of 
 catching him, and administering to him his own 
 lying letter in a sandwich. M. Latouche, however, 
 escaped him in another way. He died, according to 
 the French papers, in consequence of walking so 
 often up to the signal-post upon Sepet to watch the 
 British fleet. '' I always pronounced that would be 
 his death," said Nelson. "If he had but come out 
 and fought me, it would, at least, have added ten 
 years to my hfe." The patience with which he had 
 watched Toulon, he spoke of, truly, as a perseverance 
 at sea which had never been surpassed. From May, 
 1803, to August, 1805, he himself went out of his ship 
 but three times ; each of those times was ujDon the 
 King's service, and neither time of absence exceeded 
 an hour. The weather had been so unusually severe 
 that, he said, the Mediterranean seemed altered. It 
 was his rule never to contend with the gales ; but 
 
282 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 either run to the southward to escape their violence, 
 or furl all the sails, and make the ships ' as easy as 
 possible. The men, though he said flesh and blood 
 could hardly stand it, continued in excellent health, 
 which he ascribed, in great measure, to a plentifid 
 supply of lemons and onions. For himself, he thought 
 he could only last till the battle was over. One 
 battle more it was his hope that he might fight 
 " However," said he, " whatever happens, I have run 
 a glorious race." He was afraid of blindness, and 
 this was the only evil which he could not contemplate 
 without unhappiness. More alarming symptoms he 
 regarded with less apprehension ; describing his o"vvn 
 '' shattered carcass " as in the worst plight of any in 
 the fleet ; and he says, "1 have felt the blood gushing 
 up the left side of my head, and the moment it 
 covers the brain I am fast asleep." The fleet was in 
 worse trim than the men, but when he compared it 
 with the enemy's, it was with a right Enghsh feeling 
 "The French fleet yesterday," said he, in one of his 
 letters, " was to appearance in high feather, and as 
 fine as paint could make them ; but when they may 
 sail, or where they may go, I am very sorry to say, 
 is a secret I am not acquainted with. Our weather- 
 beaten ships, I have no fear, will make their sides 
 like a plum-pudding." 
 
 Hostilities at length commenced between Great 
 Britain and Spain. That country, whose miserable 
 government made her subservient to France, was 
 once more destined to lavish her resources and her 
 blood in furtherance of the designs of a perfidious 
 ally. The immediate occasion of the war was the 
 seizure of four treasure ships by the English. The 
 
HOSTILITIES WITH SPAIN. 283 
 
 act was perfectly justifiable, for those treasures were 
 intended to furnish means for France ; but the cir- 
 cumstances which attended it were as unhappy as 
 they were unforeseen. Four frigates had been des- 
 patched to intercept them. They met with an equal 
 force. Resistance, therefore, became a point of 
 honour on the part of the Spaniards, and one of 
 their ships soon blew up with all on board. Had a 
 stronger squadron been sent, this deplorable cata- 
 strophe might have been spared ; a catastrophe which 
 excited not more indignation in Spain than it did 
 grief in those who were its unwilling instruments, 
 in the English Government, and in the Enghsh 
 people. On the 5th of October this unhappy affair 
 occurred, and Nelson was not apprised of it till the 
 12th of the ensuing month. He had, indeed, suf- 
 ficient mortification at the breaking out of this 
 Spanish war ; an event which, it might reasonably 
 have been supposed, would amply enrich the officers 
 of the Mediterranean, and repay them for the severe 
 and unremitting duty on which they had been so 
 long employed. But of this harvest they were de- 
 prived, for Sir John Orde was sent with a small 
 squadron, and a separate command, to Cadiz. Nelson's 
 feelings were never wounded so deeply as now. " I 
 had thought," said he, writing in the first flow and 
 freshness of indignation — " I fancied — but, nay, it 
 must have been a dream, an idle dream — yet, I 
 confess it, I did fancy that I had done my country 
 service ; and thus they use me ! And under what 
 circumstances, and with what pointed aggravation ! 
 Yet, if I know my own thoughts, it is not for myself, 
 or on my own account chiefly, that I feel the sting 
 
284 . LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 and the disappointment. No ! it is for my brave 
 officers for my noble-minded friends and comrades. 
 Such a gallant set of fellows ! Such a band of 
 brothers ! My heart swells at the thought of 
 them." 
 
 War between Spain and England was now de- 
 clared ; and on the 18th of January the Toulon fleet, 
 having the Spaniards to co-operate with them, put to 
 sea. Nelson was at anchor off the coast of Sardinia, 
 where the Madelena Islands form one of the finest 
 harbours in the world, when, at three in the afternoon 
 of the 19th, the Active and Seahorse frigates brought 
 this long-hoped-for intelligence. They had been close 
 to the enemy at ten on the preceding night, but lost 
 sight of them in about four hours. The fleet imme- 
 diately unmoored and weighed, and at six in the 
 evening ran through the strait between Biche and 
 Sardinia, a passage so narrow that the ships could 
 only pass one at a tirue, each following the stern 
 lights of its leader. From the position of the enemy 
 when they were last seen, it was inferred that they 
 must be bound round the southern end of Sardinia. 
 Signal was made the next morning to prepare for 
 battle. Bad weather came on, baffling the one fleet 
 in its object and the other in its pursuit. Nelson 
 beat about the Sicilian seas for ten days without 
 obtaining any other information of the enemy than 
 that one of their ships had put into Ajaccio dis- 
 masted ; and having seen that Sardinia, Naples, and 
 Sicily were safe, believing Eg3rpt to be their destina- 
 tion, for Egypt he ran. The disappointment and 
 distress which he had experienced in his former 
 pursuit of the French through the same seas were 
 
WAE WITH SPAiy. 285 
 
 now renewed ; but Nelson, while he endured these 
 anxious and unhappy feelings, was still consoled by 
 the same confidence as on the former occasion, that, 
 though his judgment might be erroneous, under all 
 circumstances he was right in having formed it. " I 
 have consulted no man," said he to the Admiralty ; 
 " therefore the whole blame of ignorance in forming 
 my judgment must rest with me. I would allow no 
 man to take from me an atom of my glory had I 
 fallen in with the French fleet ; nor do I desire any 
 man to partake any of the responsibility. All is 
 mine, right or wrong." Then stating the grounds 
 upon which he had proceeded, he added : " At this 
 moment of sorrow I still feel that I have acted right." 
 In the same spirit he said to Sir Alexander Ball : 
 " When I call to remembrance all the circumstances, 
 I approve, if nobody else does, of my OAvn con- 
 duct." 
 
 Baflled thus he bore up for Malta, and met intelli- 
 gence from Naples that the French, havmg been 
 dispersed in a gale, had put back to Toulon. From 
 the same quarter he learnt that a great number of 
 saddles and muskets had been embarked, and this 
 confirmed him in his opinion that Egypt was their 
 (destination. That they should have put back in 
 consequence of storms which he had weathered gave 
 him a consoling sense of British superiority. " These 
 gentlemen," said he, "are not accustomed to a Gulf 
 of Lyons gale ; we have buffeted them for one-and- 
 twenty months, and not carried away a spar." He, 
 however, who had so often braved these gales, was 
 now, though not mastered by them, vexatiously 
 thwarted and impeded ; and on February 27 th he 
 
286 , LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 was compelled to anchor in Pulla Bay, in the Gulf 
 of Cagliari. From the 21st of January the fleet had 
 remained ready for battle, without a bulkhead up, 
 night or day. He anchored here that he might not 
 be driven to leeward. As soon as the weather 
 moderated he put to sea again, and after again 
 beating about against contrary winds, another gale 
 drove him to anchor in the Gulf of Palma on the 8 th 
 of March. This he made his rendezvous ; he knew 
 that the French troops still remained embarked, and 
 wishing to lead them into a behef that he was 
 stationed upon the Spanish coast, he made his ap- 
 pearance off Barcelona with that intent. About the 
 end of the month he began to fear that the plan of 
 the expedition was abandoned, and sailing once more 
 towards his old station off Toulon, on the 4th of April 
 he met the Phoebe, with news that Villeneuve had 
 put to sea on the last of March with eleven ships of 
 the line, seven frigates, and two brigs. When last 
 seen they were steering toward the coast of Africa. 
 Nelson first covered the channel between Sardinia 
 and Barbary, so as to satisfy himself that Villeneuve 
 was not taking the same route for Egypt which 
 Gantheaume had taken before him, when he at- 
 tempted to carry reinforcements there. Certain of 
 this, he bore up on the 7 th for Palermo, lest the 
 French should have passed to the north of Corsica, 
 and he despatched cruisers in all directions. On 
 the 11th he felt assured that they were not gone 
 down the Mediterranean, and sending off frigates to 
 Gibraltar,, to Lisbon, and to Admiral Cornwallis, who 
 commanded the squadron off Brest, he endeavoured 
 to get to the westward, beating against westerly winds. 
 
THE FRENCH FLEET SIGHTED. 287 
 
 After five days a neutral gave intelligence that the 
 French had been seen off Cape de Gatte on the 7 th. 
 It was soon afterwards ascertained that they had 
 passed the Straits of Gibraltar on the day following ; 
 and Nelson, knowing that they might already be half 
 way to Ireland or to Jamaica, exclaimed that he was 
 miserable. One gleam of comfort only came across 
 him in the reflection that his vigilance had rendered 
 it impossible for them to undertake any expedition in 
 the Mediterranean. 
 
 Eight days after this certain intelligence had been 
 obtained, he describes his state of mind thus forcibly 
 in ^vriting to the Governor of Malta: "My good 
 fortune, my dear Ball, seems flown away. I cannot 
 get a fair wind, or even a side wind. Dead foul ! — 
 Dead foul! — But my mind is fully made \v^ Avhat 
 to do when I leave the Straits, supposing there is no 
 certain account of the enemy's destination. I believe 
 this ill luck will go near to kill me ; but as these are 
 times for exertion I must not be cast down, whatever 
 I may feel" In spite of every exertion which could 
 be made by all the zeal and all the skill of British 
 seamen, he did not get in sight of Gibraltar till the 
 30th of April, and the wind was then so adverse that 
 it was impossible to pass the Gut. He anchored in 
 Mazari Bay on the Barbary shore, obtained supplies 
 from Tetuan, and when on the 5th a breeze from the 
 eastward sprang up at last, sailed once more, hoping 
 to hear of the enemy from Sir John Orde, who com- 
 manded off' Cadiz, or from Lisbon. " If nothing is 
 heard of them," said he to the Admiralty, " I shall 
 probably think the rumours which have been spread 
 are true, that their object is the West Indies ; and in 
 
288 LIFE OF NELiiON. 
 
 that case I think it my duty to follow them — or 
 to the Antipodes should I believe that to be their 
 destination." At the time when this resolution was 
 taken, the physician of the fleet had ordered him to 
 return to England before the hot months. 
 
 Nelson had formed his judgment of their destina- 
 tion, and made up his mind accordingly, when Donald 
 Campbell, at that time an Admiral in the Portuguese 
 service, the same person who had given important 
 tidings to Earl St. Vincent of the movements of that 
 fleet from which he won his title, a second time gave 
 timely and momentous intelligence to the flag of his 
 country. He went on board the Victory, and com- 
 municated to Nelson his certain knowledge that the 
 combined Spanish and French fleets were bound for 
 the West Indies. Hitherto all things had favoured 
 the enemy. While the British commander was beating 
 up against strong southerly and westerly gales, they 
 had wind to their wish from the N.E., and had done 
 in nine days what he was a whole month in accom- 
 pUshing. Villeneuve, finding the Spaniards at Cartha- 
 gena were not in a state of equipment to join him, 
 dared not wait, but hastened on to Cadiz. Sir John 
 Orde necessarily retire^ at his approach. Admiral 
 Gravina, with six Spanish ships of the line and two 
 French, came out to him, and they sailed without 
 a moment's loss of time. They had about three 
 thousand French troops on board and fifteen hundred 
 Spanish — six hundred were under orders, expecting 
 them at Martinique, and one thousand at Guadaloupe. 
 General Lauriston commanded the troops. The com- 
 bined fleet now consisted of eighteen sail of the line, 
 six fortv-four-gun frigates, one of twenty-six guns, 
 
< 
 
 < 
 
 
PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY. 2S1> 
 
 three corvettes, and a brig. They were joined after- 
 wards by two French hne-of-battle ships, and one 
 forty-four. Nelson pursued them with ten sail of 
 the line and three frigates. '' Take you a Frenchman 
 apiece," said he to his captains, " and leave me the 
 Spaniards ; when I haul down my colours I expect 
 you to do the same — and not till then." 
 
 The enemy had five-and- thirty days' start, but hu 
 calculated that he should gain eight or ten days upon 
 them by his exertions. May 15th he made Madeim. 
 .•nid on June 4th r«-;i.<'hfd BorbadoHS. whith'^r hp li;<«I 
 sent despatches before him, and whert:' lif rouiid 
 Admiral Cocjirane with two ships, part of our 
 squadron in those seas being at Jamaica. He found 
 here also accounts that the combined fleets had l)een 
 seen from St. Lucia on the 28th, standing to the 
 southward, and that Tobago and Trinidad were their 
 objects. This Nelson doubted; but he was alone in 
 his opinion, and yielded it with these foreboding 
 words : " If your intelligence proves false, you lose 
 me the French fleet." Sir William Myers offered to 
 embark here with two thousand troops. They'^were 
 taken on board, and the next morning he sailed for 
 Tobago. Here accident confirmed the false intelli- 
 gence which had, whether from intention or error, 
 misled him. A merchant at Tobago, in the general 
 alarm, not knowing whether this fleet was friend or 
 foe, sent out a schooner to reconnoitre, and acquaint 
 him by signal. The signal which he had chosen 
 happened to be the very one which had been 
 appointed by Colonel Shipley, of the engineers, to 
 signify that the enemy were at Trinidad ; and as this 
 was at the close of day there was no opportunity of 
 T 
 
290 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 discovering the mistake. An American brig was met 
 with about the same time, the master of which, with 
 that propensity to deceive the EngUsh and assist the 
 French in any manner, which has been but too 
 common among his countrymen, affirmed that he 
 had been boarded off Granada a few days before by 
 the French, who were standing towards the Bocas of 
 Trinidad. This fresh intelligence removed all doubts. 
 The ships were cleared for action before dayhght, and 
 Nelson entered the Bay of Paria on the 7 th, hoping 
 and expecting to make the mouths of the Orinoco as 
 famous in the annals of the British navy as those of 
 the Nile. Not an enemy was there, and it was 
 discovered that accident and artifice had combined 
 to lead him so far to leeward that there could have 
 been httle hope of fetching to windward of Granada 
 for any other fleet. Nelson, however, with skill and 
 exertions never exceeded, and almost unexampled, 
 bore for that island. 
 
 Advices met him on the way that the combined 
 fleets, having captured the Diamond Rock, were then 
 at Martinique on the 4th, and were expected to sail 
 that night for the attack of Granada. On the 9th 
 Nelson arrived off that island, and there learnt that 
 they had passed to leeward of Antigua the preceding 
 day, and taken a homeward-bound convoy. Had it 
 not been for false information, upon which Nelson 
 had acted reluctantly, and in opposition to his own 
 judgment, he would have been off Port Royal just as 
 they were leaving it, and the battle would have been 
 fought on the spot where Rodney defeated De Grasse 
 This he remembered in his vexation, but he had 
 saved the colonies, and above two hundred ships 
 
PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY. 291 
 
 laden for Europe, which would else have fallen into 
 the enemy's hands ; and he had the satisfaction of 
 knowing that the mere terror of his name had effected 
 this, and had put to flight the allied enemies, whose 
 force nearly doubled that before which they fled. 
 That they were flying back to Europe he believed, 
 and for Europe he steered in pursuit on the 13th, 
 having disembarked the troops at Antigua, and 
 taking with him the Spartiate, 74 — the only addition 
 to the squadron with which he was pursuing so 
 superior a force. Five days afterwards the Amazon 
 brought intelligence that she had spoke a schooner 
 who had seen them on the evening of the 15 th, 
 steering to the N., and, by computation, eighty-seven 
 leagues off. Nelson's diary at this time denotes his 
 great anxiety, and his perpetual and all-observing 
 vigilance. — " June 21. Midnight, nearly calm, saw 
 three planks, which I think came from the French 
 fleet. Very miserable, which is very foolish." On 
 the l7th of July he came in sight of Cape St. Vincent, 
 and steered for Gibraltar. — "June 18th," his diary 
 says, " Cape Spartel in sight, but no French fleet, nor 
 any information about them. How sorrowful this 
 makes me ! but I cannot help myself." The next day 
 he anchored at Gibraltar, and on the 20th, says he, 
 "I went on shore for the first time smce June 16th, 
 1803 ; and from havmg my foot out of the Victory 
 two years, wantmg ten days." 
 
 Here he communicated with his old friend Col- 
 Hngwood, who, having been detached with a squadron 
 when the disappearance of the combined fleets, and of 
 Nelson in their pursuit, was known in England, had 
 taken his station off Cadiz. He thought that Ireland 
 T 2 
 
292 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 was the enemy's ultimate object ; that they would 
 now hberate the Ferrol squadron, which was blocked 
 up by Sir Robert Calder, call for the Rochefort ships, 
 and then appear off Ushant with three or four and 
 thirty sail, there to be joined by the Brest fleet. 
 With this great force, he supposed they would make 
 for Ireland, the real mark and bent of all their opera- 
 tions : and their flight to the West Indies, he 
 thought, had been merely undertaken to take off 
 Nelson's force, which w.ms tlip great impe^liiu'^^nt tn 
 thpir imdertaking. 
 
 Ooliingwood \\'as giti«'il wiiL grt.Lii polititul pene- 
 tration. As yet, however, all was conjecture con- 
 cerning the enemy ; and Nelson, having victualled 
 and watered at Tetuan, stood for Ceuta on the 24th, 
 still without information of their course. Next day 
 intelligence arrived that the Curievx brig had seen 
 them on the 19th, standing to the northward. He 
 proceeded off Cape St. Vincent, rather cruising for 
 intelligence than knowing whither to betake himself ; 
 and here a case occurred that more than any other 
 event in real history resembles those whimsical 
 proofs of sagacity which Voltaire, in his " Zadig," has 
 borrowed from the Orientals. One of our frigates 
 spoke an American, who, a little to the westward of 
 the Azores, had fallen in with an armed vessel, ap- 
 pearmg to be a dismasted privateer, deserted by her 
 crew, which had been run on board by another ship, 
 and had been set Are to; but the fire had gone out. 
 A log-book and a few seamen's jackets were found in 
 the cabin, and these were brought to Nelson. The 
 log-book closed with these words : " Two large vessels 
 in the W.N. W.;" and this led him to conclude that 
 
PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY. 293 
 
 the vessel had been an Enghsh privateer, cruising off 
 the Western Islands. But there was in this book a 
 scrap of dirty paper, filled with figures. Nelson, im- 
 mediately upon seeing it, observed that the figures were 
 written by a Frenchman ; and after studying this for 
 a while, said : " I can explain the whole. The jackets 
 are of French manufacture, and prove that the priva- 
 teer was in possession of the enemy. She had been 
 chased and taken by the two ships that were seen in 
 the W.N.W. The prize-master, going on board in a 
 hurry, forgot to take with him his reckoning : there is 
 none in the log-book ; and the dirty paper contains 
 her work for the number of days since the privateer 
 last left Corvo, with an unaccounted-for run, which I 
 take to have been the chase, in his endeavour to find 
 out her situation by back reckonings. By some mis- 
 management, I conclude, she was run on board of by 
 one of the enemy's ships, and dismasted. Not liking 
 delay (for I am satisfied that those two ships were 
 the advanced ones of the French squadron), and 
 fancying we were close at their heels, they set fire 
 to the vessel and abandoned her in a hurry. If this 
 explanation be correct, I infer from it that they are 
 gone more to the northward : and more to the north- 
 ward I will look for them." This course accordingly 
 he held, but still without success. Still persevering, 
 and still disappointed, he returned near enough to 
 Cadiz to ascertain that they were not there ; traversed 
 the Bay of Biscay ; and then, as a last hope, stood 
 over for the north-west coast of Ireland, against ad- 
 verse winds, till on the evening of the 12th of August 
 he learnt that they had not been heard of there. 
 Frustrated thus in all his hopes, after a pursuit to 
 
294 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 whicli, for its extent, rapidity, and perseverance, no 
 parallel can be produced, he judged it best to re- 
 inforce the Channel fleet with his squadron, lest the 
 enemy, as Collingwood apprehended, should bear 
 down upon Brest with their whole collected force. 
 On the 15th he joined Admiral Cornwallis off Ushant. 
 No news had yet been obtained of the enemy ; and on 
 the same evening he received orders to proceed, with 
 the Victory and Superb, to Portsmouth. 
 
,r .: -: •^tin'^fWillH' ■ - i 
 
 c 
 m 
 
 c 
 
 0-1 
 
 c 
 
 
295 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Sir Robert Cakler falls in with the combined Fleets — They form a junc- 
 tion with the Ferrol Squadron, and get into Cadiz — Nelson is re- 
 appointed to the command — Battle of Trafalgar, Victory, and Death 
 of Nelson. 
 
 At Portsmouth, Nelson at length found news of the 
 combined fleet. Sir Robert Calder, who had been 
 sent out to intercept their return, had fallen in with 
 them on the 22nd of July, sixty leagues west of Cape 
 Finisterre. Their force consisted of twenty sail of the 
 line, three fifty-gun ships, five frigates, and two brigs ; 
 his, of fifteen line-of-battle ships, two frigates, a cutter, 
 and a lugger. After an ,action of four hours he had 
 captured an 84 and a 74, and then thought it neces- 
 sary to bring- to the squadron, for the purpose of 
 securing their prizes. The hostile fleets remained in 
 sight of each other till the 26th, when the enemy 
 bore away. The capture of two ships from so superior 
 a force would have been considered as no inconsider- 
 able victory a few years earlier ; but Nelson had 
 introduced a new era in our naval history, and the 
 nation felt respecting this action as he had felt on a 
 somewhat similar occasion. They regretted that 
 Nelson, with his eleven ships, had not been in Sir 
 Robert Calder's place ; and their disappointment was 
 generally and loudly expressed. 
 
 Frustrated as his own hopes had been, Nelson had 
 yet the high satisfaction of knowing that his judg- 
 ment had never been more conspicuously approved, 
 and that he had rendered essential service to his 
 
296 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 country by driving the enemy from those islands 
 where they expected there lbej5ouH| no force capable 
 of opposing them. The West India merchants in 
 London, as men whose interests were more imme- 
 diately benefited, appointed a deputation to express 
 their thanks for his great and judicious exertions. 
 It was now his intention to rest awhile from his 
 labours, and recruit himself, after all his fatigues and 
 cares, in the society of those whom he loved. All his 
 stores were brought up from the Victory, and he 
 found in his house at Merton the enjoyment which 
 he had anticipated. Many days had not elapsed 
 before Captain Blackwood, on his way to London 
 with despatches, called on him at five in the morning. 
 Nelson, who was already dressed,- exclaimed, the 
 moment he saw him : " I am sure you bring me 
 news of the French and Spanish fleets ! I think I 
 shall yet have to^ beat them ! " They had refitted 
 at Vigo after the indecisive action with Sir Robert 
 Calder ; then proceeded to Ferrol, brought out the 
 squadron from thence, and with it entered Cadiz in 
 safety. " Depend on it, Blackwood," he repeatedly 
 said, " I shall yet give M. Villeneuve a drubbing." 
 But when Blackwood had left him, he wanted resolu- 
 tion to declare his wishes to Lady Hamilton and his 
 sisters, and endeavoured to drive away the thought. 
 " He had done enough," he said ; " let the man trudge 
 it who has lost his budget ! " His countenance behed 
 his lips; and as he was pacing one of the walks in 
 the garden, which he used to call the quarter-deck, 
 Lady Hamilton came up to him, and told him she 
 saw he was uneasy. He smiled, and said : " No, he 
 was as happy as possible ; he was surrounded by his 
 
NELSON'S IRRESOLUTION. 297 
 
 family, his health was better since he had been on 
 shore, and he would not give sixpence to call the 
 King his uncle." She replied, that she did not believe 
 him ; that she knew he was longing to get at the 
 combined fleets — that he considered them as his own 
 property — that he would be miserable if any man but 
 himself did the business ; and that he ought to have 
 them, as the price and reward of his two years' long 
 watching and his hard chase, "Nelson," said she, 
 "however Ave may lament your absence, offer your 
 services ; they will be accepted, and you will gain a 
 quiet heart by it ; you will have a glorious victory, 
 and then you may return here and be happy." He 
 looked at her with tears in his eyes. " Brave Emma ! 
 — Good Emma! — If there were more Emmas, there 
 would be more Nelsons." 
 
 His services were as willingly accepted as they 
 were offered ; and Lord Barham, giving him the list 
 of the Navy, desired him to choose his own officers. 
 " Choose yourself, my lord," was his reply ; " the same 
 spirit actuates the whole profession ; you cannot 
 choose wrong." Lord Barham then desired him to 
 say what ships, and how many, he would wish, in 
 addition to the fleet which he was going to command, 
 and said they should follow him as soon as each was 
 ready. No appointment was ever more in unison 
 with the feelings and judgment of the whole nation. 
 They, like Lady Hamilton, thought that the de- 
 struction of the combined fleets ought properly to 
 be Nelson's work ; that he who had been 
 
 '' Half around the sea-girt ball, 
 The hunter of the recreant Gaul, " * 
 
 * "Songs of Trafalgar." 
 
298 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 ought to reap the spoils of the chase, which he had 
 watched so long and so perseveringly pursued. 
 
 Unremitting exertions were made to equip the 
 ships which he had chosen, and especially to refit the 
 Victory, which was once more to bear his flag. Be- 
 fore he left London, he called at his upholsterer's, 
 where the coffin which Captain Hallowell had given 
 him was deposited, and desired that its history might 
 be engraven upon the lid, saying it was highly prob- 
 able that he might want it on his return. He seemed, 
 indeed, to have been impressed with an expectation 
 that he should fall in the battle. In a letter to his 
 brother, written immediately after his return, he had 
 said : " We must not talk of Sir Eobert Calder's battle 
 — I might not have done so much with my small 
 force. If I had fallen in with them, you might prob- 
 ably have been a lord before I wished ; for I know 
 they meant to make a dead set at the Victory!' 
 Nelson had once regarded the prospect of death with 
 gloomy satisfaction ; it was when he anticipated the 
 upbraidings of his wife and the displeasure of his 
 venerable father. The state of his feelings now was 
 expressed in his private journal in these words : — 
 "Friday night (Sept. 13), at half-past ten, I drove from 
 dear, dear Merton, where I left all which I hold dear 
 in this world, to go to serve my King and country. 
 May the great God, whom I adore, enable me to fulfil 
 the expectations of my country ! and, if it is His good 
 pleasure that I should return, my thanks will never 
 cease being offered up to the throne of His mercy. 
 If it is His good providence to cut short my days 
 upon earth, I bow with the greatest submission, 
 relying that He will protect those so dear to me. 
 
DEPARTURE FROM PORTSMOUTH. 299 
 
 whom I may leave behind ! His will be done ! Amen ! 
 Amen ! Amen ! " 
 
 Early on the following morning he reached Ports- 
 mouth ; and, having despatched his business on 
 shore, endeavoured to elude the populace by taking 
 a by-way to the beach ; but a crowd collected in his 
 . train, pressing forward to obtain a sight of his face — 
 many were in tears, and many knelt do^vn before 
 him, and blessed him as he passed. England has had 
 many heroes, but never one who so entirely possessed 
 the love of his fellow-countrymen as Nelson. All 
 men knew that his heart was as humane as it was 
 fearless ; that there was not in his nature the slightest 
 alloy of selfishness or cupidity ; but that, with perfect 
 and entire devotion, he served his country with all 
 his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his 
 strength ; and, therefore, they loved him as truly and 
 as fervently as he loved England. They pressed 
 upon the parapet to gaze after him when his barge 
 pushed off', and he was returning their cheers by 
 waving his hat. The sentinels, who endeavoured to 
 prevent them trespassing upon this ground, were 
 wedged among the crowd ; and an officer who, not 
 very prudently upon such an occasion, ordered them 
 to drive the people down with their bayonets, Avas 
 compelled speedily to retreat, for the people would 
 not be debarred from gazing, till the last moment, 
 upon the hero, the darling hero of England. 
 
 He arrived oft* Cadiz on the 29th of September — 
 his birthday. Fearing that, if the enemy knew his 
 force, they might be deterred from venturing to sea, 
 he kept out of sight of land, desired Collingwood to 
 fire no salute and hoist no colours; and wrote to 
 
300 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 Gibraltar to request that the force of the fleet might 
 not be inserted there in the Gazette. His reception in 
 the Mediterranean fleet was as gratifying as the farewell 
 of his countrymen at Portsmouth ; the oflicers, who 
 came on board to welcome him, forgot his rank as 
 commander, in their joy at seeing him again. On the 
 day of his arrival, Villeneuve received orders to put 
 to sea the first opportunity. Villeneuve, however, 
 hesitated when he heard that Nelson had resumed 
 the command. He called a council of war ; and their 
 determination was that it would not be expedient to 
 leave Cadiz unless they had reason to believe them- 
 selves stronger by one-third than the British force. 
 In the public measures of this country secrecy is 
 seldom practicable, and seldom attempted : here, 
 however, by the precautions of Nelson and the wise 
 measures of the Admiralty, the enemy were for once 
 kept in ignorance ; for, as the ships appointed to 
 reinforce the Mediterranean fleet were despatched 
 singly — each as soon as it was ready — their collected 
 number was not stated in the newspapers, and their 
 arrival was not known to the enem3^ But the enemy 
 knew that Admiral Louis, with six sail, had been 
 detached for stores and water to Gibraltar. Accident 
 also contributed to make the French Admiral doubt 
 whether Nelson himself had actually taken the com- 
 mand. An American, lately arrived from England, 
 maintained that it was impossible, for he had seen 
 him only a few days before in London, and at that 
 time there was no rumour of his going again to sea. 
 
 The station which Nelson had chosen was some 
 fifty or sixty miles to the west of Cadiz, near Cape St. 
 Mary's. At this distance he hoped to decoy the 
 
BEFORE THE BATTLE. 301 
 
 enemy out, while he guarded against the danger of 
 bemg caught with a westerly wind near Cadiz, and 
 driven within the Straits. The blockade of the port 
 was rigorously enforced, in hopes that the combined 
 fleet might be forced to sea by want. The Danish 
 vessels, therefore, which were carrying provisions from 
 the French ports in the bay, under the name of 
 Danish property, to all the little ports from Ayamonte 
 to Algeziras, from whence they were conveyed in 
 '•oasting boats to Cadiz, wpre seized. Without this 
 [»ropf*r HX«^rr,ioii «>f jjower, tli*^ blookinlr \\<;nild ha\»- 
 been rendered iiiigiitory b} the advantage thus t;ike]t 
 of the neutral flag. The- supplies from France were 
 thus effectually cut off. There was now every indi- 
 cation that the enemy Avould speedily venture out ; 
 officers and men were in the highest spirits at the 
 prospect of giving them a decisive blow, such, indeed, 
 as would put an end to all further contest upon the 
 seas. Theatrical amusements were performed every 
 evening in most of the ships, and " God Save the 
 King" was the hymn with which the sports concluded. 
 " I verily believe," said Nelson (writing on the 6th of 
 October), " that the country will soon be put to some 
 expense on my account ; either a monument, or a 
 new pension and honours ; for I have not the smallest 
 doubt but that a very few days, almost hours, will 
 put us in battle. The success no man can ensure : 
 but for the fighting them, if they can be got at, I 
 pledge myself. The sooner the better ; I don't like to 
 have these things upon my mind." 
 
 At this time he was not without some cause of 
 anxiety. He was in want of frigates — the eyes of the 
 fleet, as he always called them — to the want of which 
 
302 LIFE OF NELSOJV 
 
 the enemy before were indebted for their escape, and 
 Bonaparte for his arrival in Egypt. He had only 
 twenty-three ships — others were on the way, but 
 they might come too late ; and though Nelson never 
 doubted of victory, mere victory was not what he 
 looked to, he wanted to annihilate the enemy's fleet. 
 The Carthagena squadron might effect a junction 
 with this fleet on the one side ; and, on the other, it 
 was to be expected that a similar attempt would be 
 made by the French from Brest ; in either case a 
 formidable contingency to be apprehended by the 
 blockading force. The Rochefort squadron did push 
 out, and had nearly caught the AgaTneinnon and 
 VAimable on their way to reinforce the British 
 Admiral. Yet Nelson at this time weakened his own 
 fleet. He had the unpleasant task to perform of 
 sending home Sir Robert Calder, whose conduct was 
 to be made the subject of a court-martial, in conse- 
 quence of the general dissatisfaction which had been 
 felt and expressed at his imperfect victory. Sir 
 Robert Calder, and Sir John Orde, Nelson believed to 
 be the only two enemies whom he had ever had in his 
 profession ; and, from that sensitive delicacy which 
 distinguished him, this made him the more scrupu- 
 lously anxious to show every possible mark of respect 
 and kindness to Sir Robert. He wished to detain 
 him till after the expected action ; when the services 
 which he might perform, and the triumphant joy 
 which would be excited, would leave nothing to be 
 apprehended from an inquiry into the previous en- 
 gagement. Sir Robert, however, whose situation was 
 very painful, did not choose to delay a trial, from the 
 result of which he confidently expected a complete 
 
BEFORE THE BATTLE. 303 
 
 justification ; and Nelson, instead of sending him home 
 in a frigate, insisted on his returning in his own 
 ninety-gun ship, ill as such a ship could at that time 
 be spared. Nothing could be more honourable than 
 the feeling by which Nelson was influenced, but, at 
 such a crisis, it ought not to have been indulged. 
 
 On the 9th, Nelson sent CoUingwood what he 
 called in his diary the Nelson-touch. " I send you," 
 said he, "my plan of attack, as far as a man dare 
 venture to guess at the very uncertain position the 
 enemy may be found in ; but it is to place you per- 
 fectly at ease respecting my intentions, and to give 
 full scope to your judgment for carrying them into 
 effect. We can, my dear Coll, have no httle 
 jealousies. We have only one great object in view, 
 that of annihilating our enemies, and getting a 
 glorious peace for our country. No man has more 
 confidence in another than I have in you ; and no 
 man will render your services more justice than 
 your very old friend Nelson and Bronte." The 
 order of saihng was to be the order of battle : the 
 fleet in two hnes, with an advance squadron of eight 
 of the fastest-sailing two-deckers. The second in 
 command, having the entire direction of his line, 
 was to break through the enemy, about the twelfth 
 ship from their rear; he would lead through the 
 centre, and the advance squadron was to cut off 
 three or four ahead of the centre. This plan was to be 
 adapted to the strength of the enemy, so that they 
 should always be one-fourth superior to those whom 
 they cut off. Nelson said, " That his admirals and cap- 
 tains, knowing his precise object to be that of a close and 
 decisive action, would supply any deficiency of signals 
 
304 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 and act accordingly. In case signals cannot be seen 
 or clearly understood, no captain can do wrong if he 
 places his ship alongside that of an enemy." One 
 of the last orders of this admirable man was that 
 the name and family of every officer, seaman, and 
 marine, who might be killed or wounded in action, 
 should be, as soon as possible, returned to him, in 
 order to be transmitted to the Chairman of the 
 Patriotic Fund, that the case might be taken into 
 'onsirlprHlion f.r- the l>fnefit of thp sufferer or his 
 tViriiily. 
 
 ALmjiii halt-pijsi nine iu lIk- murning of iUf 19th, 
 the Mars, being the nearest to the fleet of the ships 
 which formed the line of communication with the 
 frigates in shore, repeated the signal that the enemy 
 were coming out of port. The wind was at this time 
 very light, with partial breezes, mostly from the 
 S.S.W. Nelson ordered the signal to be made for a 
 chase in the south-east quarter. About two, the 
 repeating ships announced that the enemy were at 
 sea. All night the British fleet continued under all 
 sail, steering to the south-east. At daybreak they 
 were in the entrance of the Straits, but the enemy 
 were not in sight. About seven, one of the frigates 
 made signal that the enemy were bearing north. 
 Upon this the Victory hove-to : and shortly after- 
 wards Nelson made all sail again to the northward. 
 In the afternoon the wind blew fresh from the south- 
 west, and the English began to fear that the foe 
 might be forced to return to port. A little before 
 sunset, however, Blackwood, in the Euryalas, tele- 
 graphed that they appeared determined to go to the 
 Avestward, " and that," said the Admiral in his diary. 
 
/JV SIGHT or THE COMBINED FLEETS. 305 
 
 " they shall not do, if it is in the power of Nelson and 
 Bronte to prevent them." Nelson had signified to 
 Blackwood that he depended upon him to keep 
 sight of the enemy. They were observed so well that 
 all their motions were made known to him, and, as 
 they wore twice, he inferred that they were aiming to 
 keep the port of Cadiz open, and would retreat there 
 as soon as they saw the British fleet ; for this reason 
 he was very careful not to approach near enough to 
 be seen by them during the night. At daybreak the 
 combined fleets were distinctly seen from the Vic- 
 tory s deck, formed in a close line of battle ahead 
 on the starboard tack, about twelve miles to leeward, 
 and standing to the south. Our fleet consisted of 
 twenty-seven sail of the line and four frigates ; theirs 
 of thirty-three, and seven large frigates. Their 
 superiority was greater in size, and weight of metal, 
 than in numbers. They had four thousand troops on 
 board ; and the best riflemen who could be procured, 
 many of them Tyrolese, were dispersed through the 
 ships. Little did the Tyrolese, and little did the 
 Spaniards, at that day, imagine what horrors the 
 wicked tyrant whom they served was preparing for 
 their country ! 
 
 Soon after dayhght Nelson came upon deck. The 
 21st of October was a festival in his family ; because 
 on that day his uncle, Captain Suckling, in the 
 Dreadnought, with two other line-of-battle ships, had 
 beaten off a French squadron of four sail of the hne 
 and three frigates. Nelson, with that sort of super- 
 stition from which few persons are entirely exempt, 
 had more than once expressed his persuasion that 
 this was to be the day of his battle also ; and he was 
 u 
 
306 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 well pleased at seeing his prediction about to be 
 verified. The wind was now from the west — light 
 breezes, with a long heavy swell. Signal was made 
 to bear down upon the enemy in two lines, and the 
 fleet set all sail. Collingwood, in the Royal Sovereign, 
 led the lee hne of thirteen ships ; the Victory led the 
 weather line of fourteen. Having seen that all was 
 as it should be, Nelson retired to his cabin, and wrote 
 this prayer : — 
 
 " May the Great God, whom I worship, grant to 
 my country, for the benefit of Europe in general, a 
 great and glorious victory ; and may no misconduct in 
 anyone tarnish it ; and may humanity after victory 
 be the predominant .feature in the British fleet! For 
 myself individually, I commit my life to Him that 
 made me, and may His blessing alight on my 
 endeavours for serving my country faithfully ! To 
 Him I resign myself, and the just cause which is 
 entrusted to me to defend. Amen, Amen, Amen." 
 
 Having thus discharged his devotional duties, he 
 annexed, in the same diary, the following remarkable 
 writing : — 
 
 " October 21st, 1805. — Then in sight of the combined 
 fleets of France and Sixain, distant about ten miles. 
 
 " Whereas the eminent services of Emma Hamilton, 
 widow of the Right Honourable Sir William Hamilton, 
 have been of the very greatest service to my King and 
 country, to my knowledge, without ever receiving any 
 reward from either our King or country : — 
 
 " First, that she obtained the King of Spain's 
 letter, in 1796, to his brother, the King of Naples, 
 acquainting him of his intention to declare war 
 against England : from which letter the Ministry sent 
 
HIS LAST WISHES. 307 
 
 out orders to the then Sir John Jervis to strike a 
 stroke, if opportunity offered, against either the 
 arsenals of Spain or her fleets. That neither of these 
 was done is not the fault of Lady Hamilton; the 
 opportunity might have been offered. 
 
 " Secondly : The British fleet under my command 
 could never have returned the second time to Egypt, 
 had not Lady Hamilton's influence with the Queen of 
 Naples caused letters to be wrote to the Governor of 
 Syracuse, that he was to encourage the fleet's being 
 supplied with everything, should they put into any 
 port in Sicily. We put into Syracuse, and received 
 every supply; went to Egypt, and destroyed the 
 French fleet. 
 
 " Could I have rewarded these services, I would 
 not now call upon my country ; but as that has not 
 been in my power, I leave Emma Lady Hamilton, 
 therefore, a legacy to my King and country, that they 
 will give her an ample provision to maintain her rank 
 in Hfe. 
 
 " I also leave to the beneficence of my country 
 my adopted daughter, Horatia Nelson Thompson ; 
 and I desire she will use in future the name of Nelson 
 only. 
 
 " These are the only favours I ask of my King and 
 country, at this moment when I am going to fight 
 their battle. May God bless my King and country, 
 and all those I hold dear ! My relations it is needless 
 to mention : they will, of course, be amply provided 
 
 for. 
 
 "Nelson and Bronte." 
 
 ( Henry Blackwood. 
 " V^fr^^' X T. M. Hardy." 
 
 u 2 
 
308 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 The child, of whom this writing speaks, was 
 beheved to be his daughter, and so, indeed, he called 
 her the last time that he pronounced her name. She 
 was then about five years old, living at Merton, under 
 Lady Hamilton's care. The last minutes which 
 Nelson passed at Merton were employed in praying 
 over this child as she lay sleeping. A portrait of 
 Lady Hamilton hung in his cabin ; and no Cathohc 
 ever beheld the picture of his patron saint with 
 devouter reverence. The undisguised and romantic 
 passion with which he regarded it amounted almost 
 to superstition ; and when the portrait was now taken 
 down, in clearing for action, he desired the men who 
 removed it to " take care of his guardian angel." In 
 this manner he frequently spoke of it, as if he be- 
 lieved there were a virtue in the image. He wore a 
 miniature of her also next his heart. Blackwood 
 went on board the Victory about six. He found him 
 in good spirits, but very calm ; not in that exhilara- 
 tion which he had felt upon entering into battle at 
 Aboukir and Copenhagen ; he knew that his own life 
 would be particularly aimed at, and seems to have 
 looked for death with almost as sure an expectation 
 as for victor}^ His whole attention was fixed upon 
 the enemy. They tacked to the northward, and 
 formed their line on the larboard tack ; thus bringing 
 the shoals of Trafalgar and St. Pedro under the lee of 
 the British, and keeping the port of Cadiz open for 
 themselves. This was judiciously done, and Nelson 
 aware of all the advantages which it gave them, made 
 signal to prepare to anchor. 
 
 Villeneuve was a skilful seaman, worthy of serv- 
 ing a better master and a better cause. His plan of 
 
THE ^SIGNAL. 309 
 
 defence was as well conceived, and as original, as the 
 plan of attack. He formed the fleet in a double line, 
 every alternate ship being about a cable's length to 
 windward of her second ahead and astern. Nelson, 
 certain of a triumphant issue to the day, asked 
 Blackwood what he should consider a victory. That 
 officer answered, that, considering the handsome way 
 in which battle was offered by the enemy, their 
 apparent determination for a fair trial of strength, 
 and the situation of the land, he thought it would be 
 a glorious result if fourteen were captured. He 
 replied: "I shall not be satisfied with less than 
 twenty." Soon afterwards he asked him if he did not 
 think there was a signal wanting. Captain Blackwood 
 made answer that he thought the whole fleet seemed 
 very clearly to understand what they were about. 
 These words were scarcely spoken before that signal 
 was made, which will be remembered as long as the 
 language, or even the memory, of England shall 
 endure — Nelson's last signal: — "England expects 
 every man to do his duty ! " It was received 
 throughout the fleet with a shout of answering accla- 
 mation, made sublime by the spirit which it breathed 
 and the feeling which it expressed. " Now," said 
 Lord Nelson, " I can do no more. We must trust to 
 the Great Disposer of all events, and the justice of 
 our cause. I thank God for this great opportunity of 
 doing my duty." 
 
 'He wore that day, as usual, his Admiral's frock 
 coat, bearing on the left breast four stars of the 
 different orders with which he was invested. Orna- 
 ments which rendered him so conspicuous a mark for 
 the enemy, were beheld with ominous apprehensions 
 
310 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 by his officers. It was knoAvn that there were rifle- 
 men on board the French ships ; and it could not be 
 doubted but that his Hfe would be particularly aimed 
 at. They communicated their fears to each other; 
 and the surgeon, Mr. Beatty,* spoke to the chaplain, 
 Dr. Scott, and to Mr. Scott, the public secretary, 
 desiring that some person would entreat him to 
 change his dress, or cover the stars ; but they knew 
 that such a request would highly displease him. " In 
 honour I gained them," he had said when such a 
 thing had been hinted to him formerly, " and in 
 honour I will die with them." Mr. Beatty, however, 
 would not have been deterred by any fear of exciting 
 his displeasure, from speaking to him himself upon 
 a subject in which the weal of England as well as the 
 life of Nelson was concerned, but he was ordered from 
 the deck before he could find an opportunity. This 
 was a point upon which Nelson's officers knew that it 
 Avas hopeless to remonstrate or reason with him ; but 
 both Blackwood and his own captain, Hardy, repre- 
 sented to him how advantageous to the fleet it would 
 be for him to keep out of action as long as possible ; 
 and he consented at last to let the Leviathan and the 
 Temeraire, which were sailing abreast of the Victory, 
 be ordered to pass ahead. Yet even here the last 
 infirmity of this noble mind Avas indulged, for these 
 ships could not pass ahead if the Victory continued 
 to carry all her sail ; and so far was Nelson from 
 shortening sail, that it was evident he took pleasure 
 in pressing on, and rendering it impossible for them 
 
 * In this part of the work I have chiefly been indebted to this 
 gentleman's narrative of Lord Nelson's death, a document as interesting 
 as it is authentic. 
 
THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. 311 
 
 to obey his own orders. A long swell was setting into 
 the Bay of Cadiz ; our ships, crowding all sail, moved 
 majestically before it, with light winds from the 
 south-Avest. The sun shone on the sails of the 
 enemy ; and their well-formed line, with their 
 numerous three-deckers, made an appearance which 
 any other assailants would have thought formidable. 
 But the British sailors only admired the beauty and 
 the splendour of the spectacle ; and, in fiill confidence 
 of winning what they saw, remarked to each other, 
 " what a fine sight yonder ships would make at 
 Spithead ! 
 
 The French Admiral, from the Bucentaiire, beheld 
 the new manner in which his enemy was advancing, 
 Xelson and Collingwood each leading his line ; and, 
 pointing them out to his officers, he is said to have 
 exclaimed, that such conduct could not fail to be 
 successful. Yet Villeneuve had made his own dis- 
 positions with the utmost skill, and the fleets under 
 his command waited for the attack with perfect cool- 
 ness. Ten minutes before twelve they opened their 
 fire. Eight or nine of the ships immediately ahead of 
 the Victory, and across her bows, fired single guns at 
 her, to ascertain whether she was yet within their 
 range. As soon as Nelson perceived that their shot 
 passed over him, he desired Blackwood, and Captain 
 Browse, of the Sirius, to repair to their respective 
 frigates : and, on their way, to tell all the captains of 
 the line-of-battle ships that he depended on their 
 exertions ; and that if by the prescribed mode of 
 attack they found it impracticable to get into action 
 immediately, they might adopt whatever they 
 thought best, provided it led them quickly and 
 
312 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 closely alongside an enemy. As they were standing 
 on the front of the poop, Blackwood took him by 
 the hand, saying, he hoped sood to return and find him 
 in possession of twenty prizes. He repHed, "God 
 bless you, Blackwood ; I shall never see you again." 
 
 Nelson's column was steered about two points 
 more to the north than CoUingwood's, in order to cut 
 off the enemy's escape into Cadiz ; the lee line, there 
 fore, was first engaged. " See," cried Nelson, pointing 
 to the Royal Sovereign as she steered right for the 
 centre of the enemy's line, cut through it astern of 
 the Santa Anna, three-decker, and engaged her at 
 the muzzle of her guns on the starboard side — " See 
 how that noble fellow, CoUingwood, carries his ship 
 into action ! " CoUingwood, delighted at being first 
 in the heat of the fire, and knowing the feelings of his 
 commander and old friend, turned to his captain and 
 exclaimed, " Eotherham, what would Nelson give to 
 be here ! " Both these brave officers, perhaps, at this 
 moment thought of Nelson with gratitude, for a 
 circumstance which had occurred on the preceding 
 day. Admiral CoUingwood, with some of the cap- 
 tains, having gone on board the Victory to receive 
 instructions, Nelson inquired of him where his cap- 
 tain was ? and was told, in reply, that they were not 
 upon good terms with each other. " Terms ! " said 
 Nelson ; " good terms with each other ! " Imme- 
 diately he sent a boat for Captain Rotherham ; led 
 him, as soon as he arrived., to CoUingwood, and 
 saying, " Look, yonder are the enemy ! " bade them 
 shake hands like Englishmen. . 
 
 The enemy continued to fire a gun at a time at 
 the Victory, till they saw that a shot had passed 
 
THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, 313 
 
 through her main-topgallant-sail; then they opened 
 their broadsides, aiming chiefly at her rigging, in 
 the hope of disabhng her before she could close with 
 them. Nelson, as usual, had hoisted several flags 
 lest one should be shot away. The enemy showed 
 no colours till late in the action, when they began 
 to feel the necessity of having them to strike. For 
 this reason, the Santissima Trinidad, Nelson's old 
 acquaintance, as he used to call her, was distinguish- 
 able only by her four decks : and to the bow of this 
 opponent he ordered the Victory to be steered. 
 Meantime an incessant raking fire wlas kept up upon 
 the Victory. The Admiral's secretary was one of the 
 first who fell ; he was killed by a cannon-shot while 
 conversing with Hardy. Captain Adair, of the 
 marines, with the help of a sailor, endeavoured to 
 remove the body from Nelson's sight, who had a 
 great regard for Mr. Scott ; but he anxiously asked 
 " Is that poor Scott that's gone ?" and being informed 
 that it was indeed so, exclaimed, " Poor fellow ! " 
 Presently a double-headed shot struck a party of 
 marines, who were drawn up on the poop, and killed 
 eight of them ; upon which Nelson immediately 
 desired Captain Adair to disperse his men round the 
 ship, that they might not suffer so much from being 
 together. A few minutes afterwards a shot struck 
 the fore brace bits on the quarter-deck, and passed 
 between Nelson and Hardy, a spUnter from the bit 
 tearing off Hardy's buckle and bruising his foot. 
 Both stopped, and looked anxiously at each other, 
 each supposing the other to be wounded. Nelson 
 then smiled, and said, "This is too warm work. 
 Hardy, to last long." 
 
314 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 The Victory liad not yet returned a single gun ; 
 fifty of her men had been by this time killed or 
 wounded, and her main-topmast with all her stud- 
 ding sails and their booms, shot away. Nelson de- 
 clared that in all his battles he had seen nothing 
 which surpassed the cool courage of his crew on this 
 occasion. At four minutes after twelve she opened 
 her fire from both sides of her deck. It was not 
 possible to break the enemy's line without running 
 on board one of their ships. Hardy informed him 
 of this, and asked which he would prefer. Nelson 
 replied : " Take your choice, Hardy, it does not signify- 
 much." The master was then ordered to put the 
 helm to port, and the Victory ran on board the 
 Redoubtable, just as her tiller ropes were shot away. 
 The French ship received her with a broadside ; then 
 instantly let down her lower deck ports for fear of 
 being boarded through them, and never afterwards fired 
 a great gun during the action. Her tops, like those 
 of all the enemy's ships, were filled with riflemen. 
 Nelson never placed musketry in his tops ; he had a 
 strong dislike to the practice ; not merely because it 
 endangers setting fire to the sails, but also because 
 it is a murderous sort of warfare by which individuals 
 may sufler, and a commander now and then be picked 
 off, but which never can decide the fate of a general 
 engagement. 
 
 Captain Harvey, in the Temdraire, fell on board 
 the Redoubtable on the other side. Another enemy 
 was in like manner on board the Tenieraire ; so that 
 these four ships formed as compact a tier as if they 
 had been moored together, their heads lying all the 
 same way. The lieutenants of the Victory, seeing 
 
MORTALLY WOUNDED. 315 
 
 this, depressed their guns of the middle and lower 
 decks, and fired with a diminished charge lest the 
 shot should pass through and injure the Temeraire. 
 And because there was danger that the Redouhtahle 
 might take fire from the lower-deck guns, the muzzles 
 of which touched her side when they were run out, 
 the fireman of each gun stood ready with a bucket 
 of water which, as soon as the gun was discharged, 
 he dashed into the hole made by the shot. An 
 incessant fire was kept up from the Victory from both 
 sides, her larboard guns playing upon the Bucentaure 
 and the huge Santissivia Trinidad. 
 
 It had been part of Nelson's prayer that the 
 British fleet might be distinguished by humanity in 
 the victory which he expected. Setting an example 
 himself, he twice gave orders to cease firing upon the 
 Redouhtahle, supposing that she had struck, because 
 her great guns were silent ; for as she carried no flag, 
 there was no means of instantly ascertaining the fact. 
 From this ship, which he had thus twice spared, he 
 received his death. A ball fired from her mizen-top, 
 which, in the then situation of the two vessels, was 
 not more than fifteen yards from that part of the 
 deck where he was standing, struck the epaulette on 
 his left shoulder, about a quarter after one, just in the 
 heat of the action. He fell upon his face on the spot 
 which was covered with his poor secretary's blood. 
 Hardy, who was a few steps from him, turning round, 
 saw three men raising him up. " They have done 
 for me at last, Hardy," said he. " I hope not ! " cried 
 Hardy. " Yes," he replied, " my backbone is shot 
 through." Yet even now, not for a moment losing 
 his presence of mind, he observed as they were 
 
316 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 carrying him down the ladder, that the tiller ropes, 
 which had been shot away, were not yet replaced, and 
 ordered that new ones should be rove immediately ; 
 then, that he might not be seen by the crew, he took 
 out his handkerchief, and covered his face and his 
 stars. Had he but concealed these badges of honour 
 from the enemy, England, perhaps, would not have 
 had cause to receive with sorrow the news of the 
 Battle of Trafalgar. 
 
 The cockpit was crowded with wounded and dymg 
 men, over whose bodies he was with some difficulty 
 conveyed, and laid upon a pallet in the midshipmen's 
 berth. It was soon perceived upon examination that 
 the wound was mortal. This, however, was concealed 
 from all except Captain Hardy, the chaplain, and the 
 medical attendants. He himself being certain from 
 the sensation in his back and the gush of blood which 
 he felt momently within his breast that no human 
 care could avail him, insisted that the surgeon should 
 leave him, and attend to those to whom he might be 
 useful. " For," said he, " you can do nothing for me." 
 All that could be done was to fan him with paper, 
 and frequently to give him lemonade, to alleviate his 
 intense thirst. He was in great pain, and expressed 
 much anxiety for the event of the action, which now 
 began to declare itself. As often as a ship struck the 
 crew of the Victory hurrahed, and at every hurrah a 
 visible expression of joy gleamed in the eyes and 
 marked the countenance of the dying hero. But he 
 became impatient to see Captain Hardy, and as that 
 officer, though often sent for, could not leave the 
 deck, Nelson feared that some fatal cause prevented 
 him, and repeatedly cried, " Will no one bring Hardy 
 
MOBTALLY WOUNDED. 317 
 
 to me ? He must be killed ! He is surely dead ! " 
 An hour and ten minutes elapsed from the time when 
 Nelson received his wound before Hardy could come 
 to him. They shook hands in silence ; Hardy in vain 
 struggling to suppress the feelings of that most pain- 
 ful and yet sublimest moment. '' Well, Hardy," said 
 Nelson, " how goes the day with us ? " " Very well," 
 replied Hardy ; '' ten ships have struck, but five of 
 their van have tacked, and show an intention of 
 bearing down upon the Victory. I have called two 
 or three of our fresh ships round, and have no doubt 
 of giving them a drubbmg." " I hope," said Nelson, 
 " none of our ships have struck ? " Hardy answered, 
 " There was no fear of that." Then, and not till then, 
 Nelson spoke of himself " I am a dead man. Hardy," 
 said he ; "I am going fast ; it will be all over with 
 me soon. Come nearer to me. Let my dear Lady 
 Hamilton have my hair, and all other things belonging 
 to me." Hardy observed that he hoped Mr. Beatty 
 could yet hold out some prospect of life. " Oh, no ! " 
 he replied, ''it is impossible. My back is shot through. 
 Beatty will tell you so." Captain Hardy then once 
 more shook hands with him, and with a heart almost 
 bursting hastened upon deck. 
 
 By this time all feeling below the breast was gone, 
 and Nelson, having made the surgeon ascertain this, 
 said to him, " You know I am gone. I know it. I 
 feel something rising in my breast " — putting his 
 hand on his left side — "which tells me so." And 
 upon Beatty's inquiring whether his pain was very 
 great ? he replied, " So great that he wished he was 
 dead. Yet," said he in a lower voice, '' one would like 
 to live a little longer too ! " And after a few minutes 
 
318 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 in the same undertone lie added, " Wliat would 
 become of poor Lady Hamilton if she knew my 
 situation ? " Next to his country she occupied his 
 thoughts. Captain Hardy, some fifty minutes after 
 he had left the cockpit, returned ; and again taking 
 the hand of his dying friend and commander, con- 
 gratulated him on having gained a complete victory. 
 How many of the enemy were taken he did not know, 
 as it was impossible to perceive them distinctly ; but 
 fourteen or fifteen at least. ''That's well," cried 
 Nelson, "but I bargained for twenty." And then in 
 a stronger voice he said, "Anchor, Hardy, anchor." 
 Hardy upon this hinted that Admiral Collingwood 
 would take upon himself the direction of affairs. 
 " Not while I live. Hardy ! " said the dying Nelson, 
 ineffectually endeavouring to raise himself from the 
 bed ; " do you anchor." His previous order for 
 preparing to anchor had shown how clearly he fore- 
 saw the necessity of this. Presently, calling Hardy 
 back, he said to him in a low voice, " Don't throw me 
 overboard ; " and he desired that he might be buried 
 by his parents, unless it should please the King to 
 order otherwise. Then reverting to private feelings, 
 ' Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy ; take 
 care of poor Lady Hamilton. Kiss me, Hardy," said 
 he. Hardy knelt down and kissed his cheek, and 
 Nelson said, "Now I am satisfied. Thank God 
 I have done my duty." Hardy stood over him 
 in silence for a moment or two, then knelt again 
 and kissed his forehead. " Who is that ? " said 
 Nelson ; and being informed, he replied, " God 
 bless you, Hardy." And Hardy then left him — for 
 ever. 
 
DEATH. 319 
 
 Nelson now desired to be turned upon his right 
 side, and said, " I wish I had not left the deck, for I 
 shall soon be gone." Death was indeed rapidly 
 approaching. He said to the chaplain, "Doctor, I 
 have not been a great sinner " ; and after a short 
 pause, '' Remember that I leave Lady Hamilton and 
 my daughter Horatia as a legacy to my country." 
 His articulation now became difficult, but he was 
 distinctly heard to say, " Thank God, I have done my 
 duty ! " These words he had repeatedly pronounced, 
 and they were the last words which he uttered. He 
 expired at thirty minutes after four, three hours and a 
 quarter after he had received his wound. 
 
 Within a quarter, of an hour after Nelson was 
 wounded, about fifty of the Victory's men fell by the 
 enemy's musketry. They, however, on their part, 
 were not idle ; and it was not long before there were 
 only two Frenchmen left alive in the mizentop of 
 the Redoubtable. One of them was the man who 
 had given the fatal wound ; he did not live to boast 
 of what he had done. An old quartermaster had 
 seen him fire, and easily recognised him, because he 
 wore a glazed cocked hat and a white frock. This 
 quartermaster and two mildshipmen, Mr. Collingwood 
 and Mr. Pollard, were the only persons left on the 
 Victory s poop ; the two midshipmen kept firing at 
 the top and he supplied them with cartridges. One 
 of the Frenchmen, attempting to make his escape 
 down the rigging, was shot by Mr. Pollard and fell on 
 the poop. But the old quartermaster, as he cried 
 out, " That's he, that's he," and pointed at the other, 
 who was coming forward to fire again, received a shot 
 in his mouth, and fell dead. Both the midshipmen 
 
320 LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 then fired at the same time, and the fellow dropped 
 in the top. When they took possession of the prize 
 they went into the mizentop and found him dead, 
 with one ball through his head and another through 
 his breast. 
 
 The Redoubtable struck within twenty minutes 
 after the fatal shot had been fired from her. During 
 that time she had been twice on fire — in her fore- 
 chains and in her forecastle. The French, as they 
 had done in other battles, made use in this of fire- 
 balls and other combustibles — implements of destruc- 
 tion which other nations, from a sense of honour and 
 humanity, have laid aside ; which add to the sufferings 
 of the wounded without determining the issue of the 
 combat ; which none but the cruel would employ, and 
 which never can be successful against the brave. 
 Once they succeeded in setting fire, from the Redoubt- 
 able, to some ropes and canvas on the Victory s 
 booms. The cry ran through the ship, and reached 
 the cockpit, but even this dreadful cry produced no 
 confusion. The men displayed that perfect self- 
 possession in danger by which English seamen are 
 characterised! They extinguished the flames on 
 board their own ship and then hastened to extinguish 
 them in the enemy, by throwing buckets of water 
 from the gangway. When the Redoubtable had 
 struck it was not practicable to board her from the 
 Victory; for, though the two ships touched, the 
 upper works of both fell in so much that there was 
 a great space between their gangways ; and she could 
 not be boarded from the lower or middle decks, 
 because her ports were down. Some of our men 
 went to Lieutenant Quilliam and offered to swim 
 
RESULTS OF THE BATTLE. ?>'1\ 
 
 under her bows and get up there, but it was thought 
 unfit to hazard brave lives in this manner. 
 
 AVhat our men would have done from gallantry, 
 some of the crew of the Santissima Trinidad did to 
 save themselves. Unable to stand the tremendous 
 tire of the Victory, whose larboard guns played against 
 this great four-decker, and not knowing how else to 
 escape them, nor where else to betake themselves for 
 protection, many of them leapt overboard and swam 
 to the Victory, and were actually helped up her sides 
 by the English during the action. The Spaniards 
 began the battle with less vivacity than their un- 
 worthy allies, but they continued it with greater 
 firmness. The Argonctuta and Bahama Avere de- 
 fended till they had each lost about four hundred 
 men ; the St. Jva n Xepoimtceno lost three hundred 
 and fifty. Often as the superiority of British courage 
 has been proved against France upon the seas, it was 
 never more conspicuous than in this decisive conflict. 
 Five of our ships were engaged muzzle to uiuzzle 
 with five of the French. In all five the Frenchmen 
 lowered their lower-deck ports, and deserted their 
 guns ; while our men continued deUberately to load 
 and fire till they had made the victory secure. 
 
 Once amidst his sufferings Nelson had expressed 
 a wish that he were dead, but immediately the spirit 
 subdued the pains of death, and he wished to live a 
 little longer ; doubtless that he might hear the com- 
 pletion of the victory which he had seen so gloriously 
 begun. That consolation — that joy — that triumph, 
 was afforded him. He lived to know that the victory 
 Avas decisive ; and the last guns Avhich Avere fired at 
 the flying enemy Avere heard a minute or two before 
 
 V 
 
'.y2-2 
 
 LIFE OF NELfiON. 
 
 lie expired. The ships which were thus flying Avere 
 four of the enemy's van, all French, under Rear- 
 Admiral Dumanoir. They had borne no part in the 
 action ; and now, when they were seeking safety in 
 flight, they fired not only into the Victory and Royal 
 Sovereign as they passed, but poured their broadsides 
 into the Spanish captured ships ; and they were seen 
 to back their top-sails for the purpose of firing with 
 more precision. The indignation of the Spaniards at 
 this detestable cruelty from their allies, for whom 
 they had fought so bravely and so profusely bled, 
 may well be conceived. It was such that Avhen, 
 two days after the action, seven of the ships which 
 had escaped into Cadiz came out, in hopes of retaking 
 some of the disabled prizes, the prisoners in the 
 Av(joaaijAa, in a body, offered their services to the 
 British prize-iuaster to man the gims against any of 
 the French ships, saying, that if a Spanish ship came 
 alongside they would quietly go below: but they 
 requested that tlujy might be allowed to fight the 
 French, in resentment for the murderous usage 
 which they had suffered at their hands. Such Avas 
 their earnestness, and such the imphcit confidence 
 Avhich could be placed in Spanish honour, that tlic 
 offer was accepted, and they Avcre actually stationed 
 at the lower deck guns. Dumanoir and his squadron 
 were not more fortunate than the fleet fi'oui whose 
 destruction thev fled : tho\' fell in Avith Sir Richard 
 Strachau, who Avas cruising for the Rochefort squadron, 
 and were all taken. In the better days of France, 
 if such a crime could then have been committed, it 
 Avoul<l have received an exemplary punishment from 
 thr French Government: under Bonaparte it was 
 
RESULTS OF THE BATTLE. ;H2:$ 
 
 sure of impunity, and, perhaps, might be thought 
 deserving of reward. But if the Spanish Court had 
 been independent, it would have become us to have 
 deHvered Dumanoir and his captains up to Spain, 
 that they might have been brought to trial and 
 hanged in sight of the remains of the Spanish fleet. 
 
 The total British loss in the Battle of Trafalgar 
 amounted to 1,587. Twenty of the enemy struck. 
 Unhappily, the fleet did not anchor, as Nelson, al- 
 most with his dying breath, had enjoined. A gale 
 came on from the south-Avest ; some of the prizes 
 went down, some went on shore ; one effected its 
 escape into Cadiz, others were destroyed; four only 
 were saved, and those by the greatest exertions. 
 The wounded Spaniards were sent ashore, an assur- 
 ance being given that they should not serve until 
 regularly exchanged ; and the Spaniards, with a 
 generous feeling which would not perhaps have been 
 found in any other people, offered the use of their 
 hospitals for our wounded, pledging the honour of 
 Spain that they should be carefully attended there. 
 When the storm after the action drove some of the 
 prizes upon the coast, they declared that the English 
 who were thus thrown into their hands should not 
 be considered as prisoners of war, and the Spanish 
 soldiers gave up their own beds to their shipwrecked 
 enemies. The Spanish Vice- Admiral, Alava, died of 
 his wounds. .Yilleneuve Avas sent to England, and 
 permitted to return to France. The French Govern- 
 ment say that he destroyed himself on the way to 
 Paris, dreading the consequences of a court-martial ; 
 but there is every reason to believe that the tyrant, 
 who never acknowledged the loss of the Battle of 
 
824 LIFE OF NELSON, 
 
 Trafalgar, added Villeneuve to the nuiiierous victims 
 of his murderous policy 
 
 It is almost superfluous to add that all the honours 
 which a grateful country could bestow were heaped 
 upon the memory of Nelson. His brother was made 
 an earl, with a grant of £6,000 a year ; £10,000 were 
 voted to each of his sisters ; and £100,000 for the 
 purchase of an estate. A public funeral Avas decreed, 
 and a public monument. Statues and monuments 
 also were voted by most of our principal cities. The 
 leaden coffin in which he was brought home Avas cut 
 in pieces, which were distributed as relics of Saint 
 Nelson — so the gunner of the Victory called them ; 
 and when, at his interment, his flag was about to be 
 lowered into the grave, the sailors who assisted at the 
 ceremony with one accord rent it in pieces, that each 
 might preserve a fragment while he lived. 
 
 The death of Nelson was felt in England as some- 
 thing more than a public calamity ; men started at 
 the intelligence, and turned pale, as if they had heard 
 of the loss of a dear friend. An object of our admira- 
 tion and affection, of our pride and of our hopes, was 
 suddenly taken from us ; and it seemed as if we had 
 never till then known how deeply we loved and 
 reverenced him. What the country had lost in its 
 great naval hero — the greatest of our own and of all 
 former times, was scarcely taken into the account of 
 grief So perfectly, indeed, had he performed his 
 part, that the maritime war, after the Battle of Tra- 
 falgar, was considered at an end ; the fleets of the 
 enemy were not merely defeated, but destroyed ; new 
 navies must be built, and a new race of seamen reared 
 for them, before the possibility of their invading our 
 
nelson's tomb in ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 
 
CONCLUSION. :V2~> 
 
 shores could again be contemplated. It was not, 
 therefore, from any selfish reflection upon the mag- 
 nitude of our loss that we mourned for him: the 
 general sorrow was of a higher character. The people 
 of England grieved that funeral ceremonies, public 
 monuments and posthumous rewards, were all which 
 they could now bestow upon him, whom the King, 
 the Legislature, and the nation would alike have de- 
 lighted to honour ; whom every tongue would have 
 blessed ; whose presence in every village through 
 which he might have passed would have wakened 
 the church bells, have given school-boys a holiday, 
 have drawn children from their sports to gaze upon 
 him, and " old men from the chimney corner " to 
 look upon Nelson ere they died. The victory of 
 Trafalgar was celebrated, indeed, with the usual 
 forms of rejoicing, but they were without joy. For 
 such already was the glory of the British nav} , 
 through Nelson's surpassing genius, that it scarcely 
 seemed to receive any addition from the most signal 
 victory that was ever achieved upon the seas ; and 
 the destruction of this mighty fleet, by which all the 
 maritime schemes of France were totally frustrated, 
 hardly appeared to add to our security or strength — 
 for while Nelson was living, to watch the combined 
 squadrons of the enemy, we felt ourselves as secure 
 as now, when they were no longer in existence. 
 
 There was reason to suppose, from the appear- 
 ances upon opening the body, that in the course of 
 nature he might have attained, like his father, to a 
 good old age. Yet he cannot be said to have fallen 
 prematurely whose work was done ; nor ought he to 
 be lamented who died so full of honours and at the 
 
320 LIFE OF NELSOJV. 
 
 height of human fame. The most triumphant death 
 is that of the martyr ; the most awful, that of the 
 martyred patriot ; the most splendid, that of the hero 
 in the hour of victory; and if the chariots and the 
 horses of fire had been vouchsafed for Nelson's trans- 
 lation, he could scarcely have departed in a brighter 
 blaze of glory. He has left us, not indeed his mantle 
 of inspiration, but a name and an example which 
 are at this hour inspiring hundreds of the youth of 
 England — a name which is our pride, and an example 
 which will continue to be our shield and our strength. 
 Thus it is that the spirits of the great and the wise 
 continue to live and to act after them, verifying, in 
 this sense, the language of the old mythologist : — 
 
 Tot fxev Sni^ovts elai, AtSs jieydXou dia. jiovXas 
 'E(r9\o\, iTn-)(96vtoi, <pvXaKis Bvriruv av9pco7rojv. 
 
 (For gods they are, through high Jove's counsels good, 
 Haunting the earth, the guardians of mankind.) 
 
 THE END. 
 
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