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NEL Southey continues, "he perceived the position of the French, that intuitive genius with which Nelson was endowed displayed itself; and it instantly struck him that where there was room for an enemy's ship to swing 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." The action commenced at sunset of August 1, 1798, and terminated about six. the next day. Soon after nine. of the 1st the admiral's ship L'Orient, in which Brueys himself was dead of his wounds, took fire, and in an hour blew up with an immense explosion. Before this, Nelson himself had received a severe wound in the head from a piece of langridge shot, and was carried below, but roused himself to go on deck when he heard that L'Orient was on fire, and gave orders, with his usual humanity, that boats should be sent to the assistance of the enemy. When the battle was over, only four vessels of the French fleet had escaped; "the British loss," Southey computes, "in killed and wounded, amounted to eight hundred and ninety-five. Three thousand one hundred and five of the French, including the wounded, were sent on shore by cartel, and five thousand two hundred and twenty-five perished." The news of the great victory was received in England with boundless delight. Not to speak of other honours, domestic and continental, conferred on him, the victor was raised to the peerage as Baron Nelson of the Nile, and of Burnham Thorpe, with a pension of £2000 for his own life, and those of his two immediate successors. The battle of the Nile destroyed for the time the French ascendancy in the Mediterranean, and at Naples, whither he proceeded to recruit his health, he was welcomed with enthusiasm, not only by Lady Hamilton, but by the king and queen. The next year of Nelson's life was busy and eventful, but not one over which even an admiring biographer would linger. It was spent by him in efforts to restore the authority of the king of the Two Sicilies, overthrown by a coalition between the French and the native republicans, wearied of Bourbon tyranny. Nelson's honest sailor-mind saw clearly enough the badness of the Neapolitan system of government; but his hatred of the French naturally dominated every other feeling, and with the spell of the Armida Lady Hamilton upon him, he consented to the judicial murder of Caraccioli, which even Southey pronounces to be "a deplorable transaction, a stain upon the memory of Nelson and the honour of England," but of which however, it must be added, an elaborate defence is to be found in vol. i., chapter 9, of Mr. Pettigrew's Memoirs of Nelson. Nelson delivered Naples from the French, and received as a reward the dukedom and domain of Bronte, worth about £3000 a year. Towards the close of 1800, he had returned to England, with his now indispensable friends, Sir William and Lady Hamilton. His attachment to the latter was at its height, and in three months after his return he was separated from his wife, an event which his triumphant reception at home cannot obliterate. On the 1st of January, 1801, he was appointed vice-admiral of the blue, and on the 12th of March he sailed as second in command under Sir Hyde Parker on the Copenhagen expedition. Russia, Denmark, and Sweden had united to forward the views of France, and to force England to resign her naval rights. It was to destroy this confederacy of the northern powers that the expedition was undertaken of which Nelson, though nominally its second in command, was really the guiding soul. The Sound was passed, and the attack on the Danish fleet at Copenhagen was intrusted, at his own request, to Nelson. The action commenced at ten o'clock on the morning of the 2nd April, 1801. "The Danish force," says Mr. Pettigrew, "consisted of six sail of the line; eleven floating batteries, mounting from twenty-six 24-pounders to eighteen 18-pounders; and one bomb-ship; besides schooner gun vessels. These were supported by the Crown islands, mounting eighty-eight cannon, and four sail of the line moored in the harbour's mouth, and some batteries on the island of Amak. Our force consisted of twelve sail of the line, four frigates, four sloops, two fire-ships, and seven bombs. Three of the sail of the line were not in action, being on shore," a circumstance which added much to Nelson's anxiety at the beginning of the engagement. His responsibility was increased when at one o'clock, the result of the battle being still undecided, the commander-in-chief made signals for the action to cease. "Leave off action?" said Nelson, when the signal was reported to him; "now d—n me if I do!" and the battle, one of the fiercest in the annals of naval warfare, was continued. At two o'clock the fire of the Danes had ceased from the greater part of their line, and soon this great victory was complete. Denmark agreed to an armistice; Sweden, already lukewarm, was cowed; and the death of the Emperor Paul of Russia gave the finishing stroke to the northern confederacy. For the victory at Copenhagen Nelson was created a viscount, and received the thanks of both houses of parliament. On his return to England he was appointed to a command extending from Orfordness to Beachy Head, that he might watch and baffle the preparations of Napoleon for the invasion of England. After the peace of Amiens he spent some time in retirement at Merton in Surrey, where he had purchased an estate, and where he enjoyed the society of Sir William and Lady Hamilton. On the renewal of hostilities with France, he was appointed (May, 1803) commander-in-chief on the Mediterranean station, hoisted his flag on board the Victory, for many months blockading the French fleet in Toulon. In the January of 1805 war was declared with Spain, and in the same month the Toulon fleet under Villeneuve, to co-operate with the Spaniards, put to sea. Stress of weather forced the French to return to Toulon, from which, however, they issued again on the last day of March. Nelson followed without meeting them to the West Indies and back again, and was for a time recruiting at Merton, when in the first days of September, 1805, news was brought him that the combined French and Spanish fleets, after an indecisive action with Sir Robert Calder's squadron on the 22d of July, had entered Cadiz in safety. His offer to go and fight them, made at once, was at once accepted. On the 29th of September, his birth-day, he arrived off Cadiz, and on the morning of the 19th of October it was signalled that the combined fleets were coming out of port. After two days of manœuvring the decisive hour arrived. At day-break of the 21st of October, 1805, the combined fleets of France and Spain were formed in double line, in such a position as to bring the shores of Trafalgar and St. Pedro under the lee of the British, while the port of Cadiz was kept open to themselves. "The British fleet," says Mr. Pettigrew, "consisted of three of 100 guns, four of 98, one of 80, sixteen of 74, and three of 64, being twenty-seven sail of the line, together with four frigates, a schooner, and a cutter. The combined fleets consisted of—French, four of 80 guns, and fourteen of 74; Spanish, one of 130, two of 112, one of 100, two of 80, eight of 74, and one of 64, making thirty-three sail of the line, and five French frigates and two brigs." "Their superiority," says Southey, "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. Signal was made to bear upon the enemy in two lines, and the fleet set all sail. Collingwood, in the Royal Sovereign, led the line of thirteen ships; the Victory led the weather line of fourteen." Nelson retired to his cabin, and after writing a prayer for victory, commended also in writing Lady Hamilton and his "adopted daughter," Horatia, to the care of his king and country. At half-past eleven. he made his memorable signal, "England expects every man to do his duty," which was received with a noble burst of cheering from the whole fleet. Nelson went into action, wearing on the left breast of his admiral's coat the stars of the different orders with which he was invested, and thus made himself a mark to the enemy. A little after twelve, Collingwood having begun the action. Nelson was told that it was not possible to break the enemy's line without running on board one of their ships, and the Victory, which had been exposed to a raking fire, ran on board the Redoubtable. "A ball fired from her mizen top, which in the then situation of the two vessels, was not mere 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 action. He fell upon his face, on the spot which was covered with his poor secretary's blood." He lingered in pain below three hours and a quarter, dying at thirty minutes after four, and not before he had received truthful assurance that he had gained a complete victory over the enemy. His last words, repeatedly pronounced, were—"Thank God, I have done my duty." So, in the moment of victory fell Nelson, to quote the words of the poet-laureate, "the greatest sailor since the world began," who joined the tenderness and sensibility of the woman to the valour and daring of the hero—brave, unselfish, humane, patriotic. A public funeral was decreed him,