Part 11

In another letter to this much honoured and honourable officer, written at Chatham towards the end of the same month, he congratulates him on having obtained his appointment, which was that of Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital; from which, he hopes, his friend will derive every comfort: and tells him, that he need not hurry himself about the charts, as he shall certainly see him before he sails.

It was not, in fact, till about the middle of May, that the Agamemnon, in company with the Robust of seventy-four guns, Captain the Honourable George Keith Elphinstone, proceeded to it's station in the Mediterranean, under the command of Lord Hood; who followed, a few days after, with the rest of his fleet, from Plymouth, on the 22d of that month.

About the beginning of June, he went with six sail of the line to Cadiz, where they took in water. They also took in some wine: for he tells his worthy old friend, Captain Locker, that he has got him a cask of, he hopes, good sherry; which he shall take an early opportunity of sending home, and begs him to accept as a proof of his remembrance. He observes, that they have done nothing; and, that the same prospect appears before them: for, the French would not come out, and they had no means of getting at them in Toulon. Lord Hood was to be joined, off Barcelona, by twenty-one Spanish ships of the line: "but," adds he, "if they are no better manned than those at Cadiz, much service cannot be expected of them; though, as to ships, I never saw finer men of war."

It was on the occasion above alluded to, when Captain Nelson put into Cadiz to water, that he exclaimed, at the moment of first beholding the Spanish fleet--"These ships are, certainly, the finest in the world: thank God, the Spaniards cannot build men!"

Early in August, Lord Hood went with the fleet to remonstrate with the Genoese respecting their supply of corn to the French, and bringing back French property under neutral papers: a practice which Captain Nelson, who was then off Toulon, justly observed, rendered the station there a mere farce, if such trade should continue to be allowed.

On the 20th of this month, writing to Captain Locker, he observes that the Agamemnon sails well, and is healthy; but, that he wants to get into port for refreshment. He says that, by all the accounts, the district of Provence would gladly become a separate republic under the protection of England; and, that the people of Marseilles declared they would willingly destroy Toulon to accomplish this measure.

There seems, at the time of his thus writing, to have been a positive proposal to this effect then under the consideration of the commander in chief: for, on the 23d of August, only three days after, did Admiral Lord Hood publish his celebrated preliminary declaration to the inhabitants of Toulon, as well as his proclamation to the inhabitants of the towns and provinces in the south of France, which ended in his taking a provisional possession of Toulon, with all the ships of war in the harbour, &c. on the 28th of the same month.

Captain Nelson, however, was not present during the period of this negociation, or the subsequent taking possession of Toulon; having been previously charged with dispatches from Lord Hood, dated off Toulon, the 17th of August 1793, and addressed to Sir William Hamilton, Knight of the Bath, his Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Naples.

It should seem that he had, also, some intermediate orders to execute; for, on his passage to Naples, he met with Lord Hugh Conway, at sea, who had left Toulon in the possession of Lord Hood, and sent Sir William Hamilton a letter to that effect, dated the 31st of the same month.

There was, evidently, more to be transacted at the court of Naples, than a mere delivery of these dispatches from Lord Hood, or Captain Nelson would scarcely have been selected for the business. He went, no doubt, with confidential communications from the commander in chief to the British minister plenipotentiary, and objects of discretional discussion for mutual consideration, which were not possible to be transacted in writing, and consequently required the talents and address judiciously employed on the occasion. Lord Hood was no stranger to the superlative ability which he possessed for negotiation; and how much more rarely that quality is to be found in British naval officers, than the natural bravery which seems common to all, or even the great nautical skill which may justly be boasted by most of them.

It was not till the 11th of September, that Captain Nelson arrived, in the Agamemnon, at Naples; and so effectually did he accomplish the objects of his mission, that Sir William Hamilton, who immediately communicated the intelligence of Toulon's being in possession of Lord Hood to General Acton, procured two thousand of his Sicilian majesty's best troops to be embarked, the 16th, on board two line of battle ships, two frigates, two corvettes, and one Neapolitan transport vessel.

The next day, September 17, Sir William Hamilton sent intelligence of the above particulars to England, which appeared in the London Gazette, dated Whitehall, October 12, 1793: where it is added, that a Spanish frigate, returning to Toulon, had likewise taken some Neapolitan troops on board; that three more battalions were that night to embark at Gaeta, on board of two Neapolitan frigates, two brigantines, and nine large polacres; that, in a week or ten days, the Neapolitan government were to send off to Toulon the remaining ships, and two thousand more men, with thirty-two pieces of regimental artillery, and plenty of provisions; and that, should the wind remain as it then was, these succours might reach Toulon in five days, or sooner.

In the mean time, Captain Nelson had been introduced to the King and Queen of Naples, from whom he met with a most cordial and gracious reception: nor must his singular previous introduction, by Sir William, to Lady Hamilton, be passed over, without particular notice; on the result of which, so much of the felicity of this exalted hero's future life seems evidently to have in a superlative degree depended.

On Sir William Hamilton's returning home, after having first beheld Captain Nelson, he told his lady that he was about to introduce a little man to her acquaintance, who could not boast of being very handsome: "but," added Sir William, "this man, who is an English naval officer, Captain Nelson, will become the greatest man that ever England produced. I know it, from the few words of conversation I have already had with him. I pronounce, that he will one day astonish the world. I have never entertained any officer at my house, but I am determined to bring him here. Let him be put in the room prepared for Prince Augustus."

Captain Nelson was, accordingly, introduced to her ladyship; and resided with Sir William Hamilton during his short stay at Naples: and thus commenced that fervid friendship between the parties, which continued to glow, with apparently increasing ardour, to the last moment of their respective existences whom it has been Lady Hamilton's severe lot to survive.

The introductory compliment which had been paid by Sir William Hamilton, to Captain Nelson's transcendent abilities, was not ill requited by one of the latter's first salutations of the worthy envoy--"Sir William," said he, in consequence of the dispatch made use of in obtaining the Neapolitan troops, "you are a man after my own heart: you do business in my own way! I am, now, only a captain; but I will, if I live, be at the top of the tree."

These reciprocal good opinions of each other, which form the basis of all substantial friendships, could not fail to unite such excellent and enlightened minds in a sincere amity. It can never appear wonderful, then, that Lady Hamilton, herself a person of very considerable talents, and possessing a warm and affectionate heart, naturally attached to splendid abilities, should be forcibly struck with the pleasing manners, extreme goodness and generosity of mind, and evident proofs of comprehensive intellect, which she continually witnessed in the new friend of her intelligent husband, during the few days of his continuance at Naples.

The frank and friendly attentions of her ladyship, at the same time, it must necessarily be supposed, made no slight impression on the susceptible bosom of Captain Nelson; who was charmed with the characteristic sweetness of disposition which she so fascinatingly displayed for the promotion of his ease and comforts.

The imperious calls of professional duty soon separated the hero from his affectionate friends; but they parted not without mutual assurances of losing no opportunity which might occur of corresponding with or seeing each other.

It appears, from Lord Hood's dispatches to the Admiralty, that the first division of the Neapolitan troops disembarked at Toulon on the 28th of September, under the command of Brigadier General Pignatelli; and that they were a very fine body of men, in perfect health, and well appointed. The second division of Neapolitans, consisting of two thousand men, arrived on the 5th of October; and the last two thousand were to leave Naples on that very day. His Sicilian majesty, Lord Hood added, had manifested the greatest readiness and zeal in fulfilling the treaty; and confided his ships and troops solely to his lordship's discretion, as that sovereign had made known to him in writing under his own hand.

Such was the success of Captain Nelson's services at Naples, where the king and queen treated him with no less attention and regard than Sir William Hamilton and his lady, and witnessed his departure with similar regrets.

The Neapolitan troops thus obtained, greatly signalized themselves, on several occasions, while at Toulon: but Captain Nelson, almost immediately on his arrival, received orders to join a squadron under Commodore Linzee; who had been detached by Lord Hood, at the request of General Paoli, to protect Corsica. He could, therefore, scarcely be said to have at all participated in the occurrences which took place at Toulon, farther than in thus procuring military aids.

Captain Nelson, indeed, appears to have had little concern with this unfortunate business: not the less so, perhaps, on that very account. Notwithstanding all the blood and treasure which this expedition cost Great Britain, on Toulon's being evacuated the 19th of December following, Lord Hood was only able to carry away three ships of the line and five frigates; after burning there nine ships of the line, and one at Leghorn.

About the period of these transactions, Captain Nelson was with Commodore Linzee, at Tunis, negotiating for a French convoy under an eighty-gun ship and a corvette. The English, however, he observed, never yet succeeded in a negotiation against the French. "We have not," says he, in a letter to Captain Locker, dated off Sardinia, December 1, 1793, "contradicted our practice at Tunis, for the Monsieurs have completely upset us with the bey; and, had we latterly attempted to take them, I am certain he would have declared against us, and done our trade some damage."

In this letter he also mentions, that Lord Hood has, in a very handsome letter, ordered him from Commodore Linzee's command, to take the command of a squadron of frigates off Corsica and the adjoining shore of Italy, to look out for some French frigates which were in St. Fiorenzo in Corsica. With these frigates, it seems, Captain Nelson had, joined with one or two others, what he calls "a little brush," in the preceding October. He observes that, if they are active, they may do our trade some mischief: "but," adds he, "to say the truth, I believe that they are more inclined to be passive; at least, they had much of that inclination when I saw them."

At this time, he does not appear to have thought Toulon in much danger; and, at all events, was persuaded that the French fleet and arsenal might be destroyed. Some of the ships, he remarked, were the finest he ever beheld. The Commerce de Marseilles, in particular, he says, had seventeen ports on each deck, and our Victory looked nothing to it.

Their friend, Sir Charles Pole, he observes, is gone to the West Indies, which was a thing that officer dreaded: had himself been at Toulon, he would have been a candidate for this service; for, he thought our sea war was over in the Mediterranean. He admits, however, that the Agamemnon has had it's share of service; having had the anchor down but thirty-four times since sailing from the Nore, and then only to get water or provisions. He says that, having then upwards of one hundred of his ship's company absent, they are not much better than a fifty gun ship. To another friend, however, he jocosely observed, on this occasion, that those he had were chiefly Norfolk men, and he always reckoned them as good as two others.

In the warmth of gratitude, he asserts that Lord Hood is a very good friend to him; and is, certainly, the best officer he ever saw: every thing from him being so clear, that it is impossible to misunderstand him.