“As you will believe, the Cardinal and myself have begun our career by a complete difference of opinion. He will send the Rebels to Toulon,—I say they shall not go. He thinks one house in Naples more to be prized than his Sovereign’s honour. Troubridge and Ball are gone to the Cardinal, for him to read my declaration to the French and Rebels, whom he persists in calling patriots—what a prostitution of the word! I shall send Foote to get the Gun-boats from Procida. I wish the Fleet not to be more than two-thirds of a cable from each other. I shall send you a sketch of the anchorage, in forty fathom water. The Foudroyant to be the Van-ship. If the French fleet should favour us with a visit, I can easily take my station in the centre.”
The Cardinal positively refused to entertain Nelson’s opinions, but after some hesitation decided to discuss affairs with him on the Foudroyant. The interview, which was stormy on both sides and somewhat protracted, owing to the necessity of employing Lord and Lady Hamilton as interpreters, took place on the afternoon of the 25th. Both of them held steadfastly to his own point of view. Nelson therefore wrote that “in his opinion” the Treaty with the rebels “cannot be carried into execution, without the approbation of his Sicilian Majesty.”
Uovo and Nuovo were taken possession of by British seamen under Troubridge on the evening of the 26th inst., and on the following day, Nelson communicated the fact to the Admiralty, adding: “This morning I am going to send a detachment under Captain Troubridge, to cut down the dangerous Tree of Anarchy, and to burn it before the King’s palace. The moment I can find the City a little quieted, guns shall be got against St Elmo, when, I am sure, the French will be glad to surrender.... In my present position, I have not the smallest alarm should the Enemy favour us with a visit, inferior as my force is to oppose them.” The castle capitulated on the 12th July 1799, to Nelson’s “brave friend” Troubridge, whose “great character,” “ability and resources” were duly detailed to Lord Keith, while the Admiral told Earl Spencer that, “On land the captain of the Culloden is a first-rate general!” Troubridge’s reward was a baronetcy, to which no one ever had a clearer title.
Was Nelson justified in cancelling the agreement entered into by Ruffo and his allies and the enemy? The question has been discussed with great vehemence and at prodigious length. Mahan’s opinion is that “his conduct throughout was open and consistent.” He is convinced that the Admiral acted up to his firm belief “that he not only had a right to suspend the Capitulation, because, though signed, it had not been executed, but that it was his bounden duty so to do; having both legal power and adequate force to prevent its execution.” Nelson “regarded himself as, and for the time being actually was, the representative of the King of the Two Sicilies, as well as the admiral of the British fleet. As representative, he was charged with the interests and honour of the Sovereign and had authority over all Neapolitan officials; as admiral, he wielded power to enforce obedience, if refused. Considering the terms of the Capitulation to be contrary to the interests and the honour of the Kingdom, he was under an obligation to prevent their going into effect, until the King’s decision, becoming known, should supersede his own discretion.”
Laughton, whose biography of Nelson is much shorter than Mahan’s, and is therefore not so comprehensive, dismisses the matter by saying, “it is perfectly well established as the usage of civilised war that terms granted by a military officer are conditional on the approval of his superiors, unless he has distinct authority to negotiate, or the capitulation has been effected wholly or in part. In the present instance Cardinal Ruffo had not only no authority to negotiate, but he had express orders from the King not to do so.” By the fourth Article of the “Instructions to the troops of his Majesty, ordered to repair to the Bay of Naples,” dated Palermo, June 10th, 1799, “All the military and political operations shall be agreed upon by the Prince Royal and Admiral Lord Nelson. The opinion of this latter always to have a preponderance, on account of the respect due to his experience, as well as to the forces under his command, which will determine the operations; and also because we are so deeply indebted to him for the zeal and attachment of which he has given so many proofs.” By the tenth Article, “The acts of clemency concerning the noted offenders, and the pardoning of the same, are reserved for the King, excepting those stipulated in the articles of capitulation.”
The Execution of Caracciolo
Stephen Reid
About seventy Jacobins were executed for their misdeeds, but Nelson was only concerned in the death of one of them. Commodore Francesco Caracciolo, the commander of the Republican Navy, had previously accompanied the Sicilian Court to Palermo, but when an edict was issued by the French that the property of all absentees would be confiscated, he had obtained King Ferdinand’s permission to return. Marshal Macdonald, then Commander-in-chief of the French Army of Naples, refers to the matter in his “Recollections.” “I had resolved,” he writes, “to induce Admiral Caracciolo to take service in the new fleet; he equipped a flotilla which secured respect for the port and coasts of Naples, frequently threatened by attempts of the English, who occupied the islands and were stationed in the roads.”[42] When Caracciolo’s position on sea became untenable, he sought a safer asylum in one of the forts, whence he eventually fled to the mountains disguised as a peasant. Here he was discovered and captured. The refugee was brought on board the Foudroyant on the morning of the 29th June. Nelson at once instructed Count Thurn, Commander of the Sicilian frigate La Minerva, who had been in action with Caracciolo, to assemble five of the senior officers under his command to inquire if the prisoner were guilty of rebellion against his lawful Sovereign, and having fired at his Sicilian Majesty’s colours on board La Minerva. The trial duly took place; the sentence was death. This was to be carried out “by hanging him at the fore yard-arm of His Sicilian Majesty’s Frigate La Minerva, under your command, at five o’clock this evening; and to cause him to hang there until sunset, when you will have his body cut down, and thrown into the sea.” Such were Nelson’s instructions, which were obeyed. Parsons, who had charge of Caracciolo, describes him as “a short, thick-set man, of apparent strength, but haggard with misery and want; his clothing in wretched condition, but his countenance denoting stern resolution to endure that misery like a man.” The sympathetic narrator persists in calling him “veteran” and “old man.” The Commodore was only forty-seven years of age, although his wan appearance may have made him look considerably older. “At two o’clock in the afternoon,” Parsons adds, “the veteran, with a firm step, walked into Lord Nelson’s barge, and with a party of thirty of our seamen, under one of our lieutenants, was taken to his [Count Thurn’s] flagship, the gun fired, and the brave old man launched into eternity at the expiration of the two hours from the time the sentence had passed. The seamen of our fleet, who clustered on the rigging like bees, consoled themselves that it was only an Italian prince, and the admiral of Naples, that was hanging—a person of very light estimation compared with the lowest man in a British ship. His Majesty of Naples, the Prime Minister, Sir John Acton, and many of the foreign ambassadors, joined and took up their quarters in the Foudroyant two days after the execution; and my Lord Nelson removed to the first lieutenant’s cabin as his sleeping apartment, giving his cabin to the king’s use, and the larboard side of the maindeck for his cooks, who condescended to officiate as ours; and never did midshipmen fare so sumptuously as during the king’s long stay on board the Foudroyant. The day was passed in administering justice (Italian fashion) to the wretches who fell into the grasp of Cardinal Ruffo’s lambs, enlivened by the bombardment of St Elmo, which we were battering in breach. At noon, dinner was served to the royal party and their guests on the quarter-deck; Lady Hamilton’s graceful form bending over her harp, and her heavenly music gave a gusto to the dessert. As the sun went down, the opera singers, in a large, decked galley, came alongside, and all that could delight the ear or please the eye was there to fascinate and charm.”
There is more than a suspicion of irony in the above passage. It is useful because one can readily believe that it was the point of view of the majority of the British petty officers and seamen. They failed to understand why so much deference should be shown to King Ferdinand and his Queen, who doubtless in their opinion would have shown more royal qualifications had they remained in their capital instead of making a hasty flight to Palermo. This is not the place to discuss the merits and demerits of monarchy and republic, both of which have their advantages. Certainly the foreign policy of Great Britain at the end of the eighteenth century did not allow an ally to be dethroned without making an effort on his behalf.