They were married on March 11th, 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. 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 unnecessarily. 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, Horatio," said he, "it would have been better 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 for a time at the parsonage, and amused himself with the sports and occupations of the country.
[ON BOARD THE AGAMEMNON.]
THE SIEGE OF BASTIA.—THE SIEGE OF CALVI.—THE ANNEXATION OF CORSICA.—THE CAPTURE OF THE "ÇA IRA" AND THE "CENSEUR."
BY ROBERT SOUTHEY.
On January 30th, 1793, by the united interest of Prince William, now Duke of Clarence, and Lord Hood, Nelson was appointed to the Agamemnon of sixty-five guns and was ordered to the Mediterranean to serve under Lord Hood. While here, he was sent with despatches to Sir William Hamilton, our envoy at the court of Naples, and thus formed the acquaintance of Sir William and his wife. When returning from this mission, he fell in with five sail of the enemy and gave chase. He came near enough to one frigate to engage her, but after inflicting and receiving much damage was unable to follow up his advantage. Shortly after, he was detached with a small squadron to co-operate with General Paoli and the anti-Galician party in Corsica, an expedition—the immediate object of which was the conquest of the city of Bastia, then held by the French—in which Nelson showed what a determined sailor can do on shore.
Lord Hood submitted to General Dundas, who commanded the land forces, a plan for the reduction of this place; but the general declined co-operating, thinking the attempt impracticable without a reinforcement of two thousand 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, sailed with the rest to Bastia. General d'Aubant, who succeeded General Dundas in the command of the land forces, held the same opinion as his predecessor and refused to furnish his lordship with a single soldier, cannon, or any stores. Lord Hood could only obtain a few artillerymen; so ordering on board the troops who, having been embarked as marines, were borne on the ships' books as part of their respective complements, he began the siege with eleven hundred and eighty-three soldiers, artillerymen, and marines, and two hundred and fifty 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 April 4th, 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 one which Nelson said could never, in his opinion, have been accomplished 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 considers himself as personally interested in the event, and as deserted by the general. It has, I am persuaded, made them equal to double their numbers."
La Combe St. Michel, the commissioner from the national convention, who was in the city, replied to the summons of the British admiral in these terms: "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 May 19th a treaty of capitulation was begun, and 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 the town.