Part 8 (1/2)

Never was any cooverned men by their reason and their affections; 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 lion and as gentle as a lah 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, as familiar ounds 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 as 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; his was an active and watchful benevolence, ever desirous not only to render justice, but to do good

During the peace he had spoken in parlia prize-overn desertion fro the condition of the seaistered, and that every ood character, five years in war, should receive a bounty of two guineas annually after that tiht years ”This,” he said, ”ht, appear an enore life of seamen is, from hard service, finished at forty-five He cannot, therefore, enjoy the annuity many years, and the interest of the o far to pay the whole expense”

To hiskindness, encouraging the diffident, te both

”Recollect,” he used to say, ”that you must be a seaood officer without being a gentleman” A lieutenant wrote to him to say that he was dissatisfied with his captain Nelson's ansas in that spirit of perfect wisdoulated his whole conduct towards those ere under his command ”I have just received your letter, and 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 youngofficer, who must naturally have much to learn; therefore the chance is that you are perfectly wrong in the disagreereeable, I will certainly take an early opportunity of re you, provided your conduct to your present captain be such that another nity of his disposition neveron one occasion applied to, to save a young officer from a court-martial, which he had provoked by hisin his power to oblige so gallant and good an officer as Sir John Warren,” in whose name the intercession had been made ”But what,” he added, ”would he do if he were here? Exactly what I have done, and a man must write such a letter of contrition as would be an acknowledgreat fault; and with a sincere pro court-ain On his captain's enclosing me such a letter, with a request to cancel the order for the trial, I ht be induced to do it; but the letters and repriiven in the public 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 shi+p'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 norant seaman is for ever punished for contempt to HIS superiors”

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 So 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 independent 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 conciliation is not attended to You and I are on the eve of quitting the theatre of our exploits; but we hold it due to our successors never, whilst we have a tongue to speak or a hand to write, to allow the navy to be in the sree injured in its discipline by our conduct” To Troubridge he wrote in the sa to do away the act of parliament; but I trust they will never succeed; for when they do, farewell to our naval superiority

We should be prettily co independent of the navy on board a shi+p, and they will soon have the other, and co hih my career is nearly run, yet it would esacrificed to the arested that the navy should have it's own corps of artillery; and a corps of ly 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 neverof promotion Many were the services which he thus rendered unsolicited; and frequently the officer, in whose behalf he had interested himself with the Admiralty, did not knohose friendly interference he was indebted for 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 lories ”The near relations of brother officers,” he said, ”he considered as legacies to the service” Uponmade to him of a son of Rodney, by the Duke of Clarence, his reply was: ”I agree with your Royal Highness ht to be the PROTEGE of every person in the kingdom, and particularly of the sea-officers Had I known that there had been this claiiven 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 as due to splendid services and illustrious nas toward 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 counner 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, as now sole tyrant of France; and knowing that he was as ready to attack his friends as his ene 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 iven him ample matter for reflection, as well as opportunities for observation: the filer went abroad with the cry of liberty and equality, he saw that the oppression and misrule of the pohich had been opposed to them, had been the main causes of their success, and that those causes would still prepare the way before theer to blind hily 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 saovernment was felt; and the people, like the Sicilians, were iovernment so utterly incompetent to perform its first and most essential duties that it did not protect its own coasts from the Barbary pirates He would fain have had us purchase this island (the finest in the Mediterranean) fron, who did not receive L5000 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 elsewhere An expedition was preparing at Corsica for the purpose; and all the Sardes, who had taken part with revolutionary France, were ordered to assemble there It was certain that if the attack were ht that the onlyFrench was toa rich price, and England a cheap purchase A better, and therefore a wiser policy, would have been to exert our influence in ren doiance neither can nor ought to be ain and sale Sardinia, like Sicily and Corsica, is large enough to form a separate state Let us hope that these islands may one day be made free and independent

Freedo with them industry and prosperity; and wherever these are found, arts and letters will flourish, and the improvement of the human race proceed

The proposed attack was postponed Views of wider auisedldy aspired to make himselffor 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 policy of France: that perfidious govern 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 ht,” he said, ”by mutual consent, to be the very best friends, and both to be ever hostile to France” But he saw that Buonaparte wasthe 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 shi+ps of war 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 Barcelona Nelson coeneral of Catalonia, infor him that he claiht of lying, as long as it pleased, in the ports of Spain, while that right was allowed to other powers To the British Ae allowances for the miserable situation Spain has placed herself in; but there is a certain line, beyond which I cannot subiven up French vessels taken within gunshot of the Spanish shore, and yet French vessels are permitted to attack our shi+ps from the Spanish shore Your excellency overnment 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 unre and almost unexampled perseverance The station off Toulon he called his ho trim,” said he: ”let theether so well officered and ood! The finest ones in the service would soon be destroyed by such terrible weather I knoell enough that if I were to go into Malta I should save the shi+ps 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 shi+ps 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 destination of the French squadron, their route, and ti 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 theood; the queen thinks the same; I believe they are all alike

Whatever inforet me I shall be very thankful for; but not a Frenchive me, but my mother hated the French”

M Latouche Treville, who had cone, commanded now at Toulon ”He was sent for on purpose,” said Nelson, ”as he BEAT ME at Boulogne, to beat ain; but he seems very loath to try” One day, while the ht of land, Rear-Ad with the CANOPUS, DONEGAL, and AMAZON, stood in close to the port; and M Latouche, taking advantage of a breeze which sprung up, pushed out with four shi+ps of the line and three heavy frigates, and chased hi found himself in so novel a situation, published a boastful account, affiriven chase to the whole British fleet, and that Nelson had fled before hiht it due to the Ad upon this occasion

”As for himself,” he said, ”if his character was not established by that ti 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 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 fro Captain Hawker in the ISIS, I never heard of his acting otherwise than as a poltroon and a liar Conte such a miscreant” In spite, however, of conteered 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 i iet out and elude his vigilance; because he was so especially desirous of catching hi letter in a sandwich M Latouche, however, escaped hi 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 coht me, it would at least have added ten years to my life” The patience hich he had watched Toulon, he spoke of, truly, as a perseverance at sea which had never been surpassed Froust, 1805, he himself went out of his shi+p but three ti's service, and neither ti out with despatches was taken, and all the despatches and letters fell into the hands of the enemy ”A very pretty piece of work,” says Nelson; ”I am not surprised at the capture, but am very much so that any despatches should be sent in a vessel with twenty-three men, not equal to cope with any row-boat privateer The loss of the HINDOSTAN was great enough; but for ie the enen countries Foreigners for ever say, and it is true, we dare not trust England: one way or other we are sure to be co of the same capture: ”I find, my dearest Emma, that your picture is very much admired by the French Consul at Barcelona, and that he has not sent it to be admired, which I am sure it would be, by Buonaparte They pretend that there were three pictures taken I wish I had theone as irretrievably as the despatches, unless we may read theypt But from us what can they find out? That I love you most dearly, and hate the French et the private letters, but I fancy they are all gone to Paris The Swedish and American Consuls told him that the French Consul had your picture and read your letters; and the Doctor thinks one of them, probably, read the letters By the master's account of the cutter, I would not have trusted an old pair of shoes in her He tells ood sea-boat I hope Mr Marsden will not trust any more of my private letters in such a conveyance: if they choose to trust the affairs of the public in such a thing, I cannot help it”

While he was on this station, the weather had been so unusually severe that he said the Mediterranean seeales; but either run to the southward to escape their violence, or furl all the sails, and h he said flesh and blood could hardly stand it, continued in excellent health, which he ascribed, in great measure, to a plentiful supply of leht he could only last till the battle was over One battle ht ”However,” said he, ”whatever happens, I have run a glorious race” ”A few rave, what are the mines of Peru toood service to the state My cough is very bad, and my side, where I was struck on the 14th of February, is very ht on occasionally by violent coughing But I hope and believe s are yet safe” He was afraid of blindness and this was the only evil which he could not contearded with less apprehension, describing his own ”shattered carcass” as in the worst plight of any in the fleet; and he says, ”I have felt the blood gushi+ng 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 colish feeling ”The French fleet yesterday,” said he, in one of his letters, ”was to appearance in high feather, and as fine as paint could o, I am very sorry to say is a secret I am not acquainted with Our weather-beaten shi+ps, I have no fear, will ” ”Yesterday,” he says, on another occasion, ”a rear-admiral and seven sail of shi+ps put their nose outside the harbour

If they go on playing this game, some day we shall lay salt on their tails”

Hostilities at length commenced between Great Britain and Spain That country, whose overnment 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 as the seizure of four treasure-shi+ps by the English The act was perfectly justifiable, for those treasures were intended to furnish means for France; but the circumstances which attended it were as unhappy as they were unforeseen Four frigates had been despatched 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 shi+ps soon bleith all on board Had a stronger squadron been sent, this deplorable catastrophe ht have been spared: a catastrophe which excited not rief in those ere its unwilling instrulish people On the 5th of October this unhappy affair occurred, and Nelson was not apprised of it till the twelfth of the ensuing month

He had, indeed, sufficientout of this Spanish war; an event which, it ht reasonably have been supposed, would amply enrich the officers of the Mediterranean fleet, and repay the duty on which they had been so long employed But of this harvest they were deprived; for Sir John Orde was sent with a small squadron, and a separate cos were never wounded so deeply as now ”I had thought,” said he, writing in the first flow and freshness of indignation; ”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 ravation? Yet, if I know hts, it is not forand the disappointment No! it is for my brave officers: for allant set of fellows! Such a band of brothers! My heart swells at the thought of theland was now declared; and on the eighteenth 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 nineteenth, the ACTIVE and SEAHORSE frigates brought this long-hoped-for intelligence They had been close to the eneht of thehed, and at six in the evening ran through the strait between bi+che and Sardinia: a passage so narrow that the shi+ps could only pass one at a tihts of its leader From the position of the enemy, when they were last seen, it was inferred that they nal wasto prepare for battle Bad weather ca 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 shi+ps had put into Ajaccio, dis seen that Sardinia, Naples, and Sicily were safe, believing Egypt to be their destination, for Egypt he ran The disappointment and distress which he had experienced in his forh the same seas were now renewed; but Nelson, while he endured these anxious and unhappy feelings, was still consoled by the saht in having formed it ”I have consulted no man,” said he to the Ad ment must rest with lory had I fallen in with the French fleet; nor do I desire any man to partake any of the responsibility

All is rounds upon which he had proceeded, he added, ”At this ht” 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 own conduct”