“There was so much attachment to Captain Wentworth in all this, and such a bewitching charm in a degree of hospitality so uncommon, so unlike the usual style of give-and-take invitations, and dinners of formality and display, that Anne felt her spirits not likely to be benefited by an increasing acquaintance among his brother officers. ‘These would all have been my friends,’ was her thought, and she had to struggle against a great tendency to lowness.
“On quitting the Cobb they all went indoors with their new friends, and found rooms so small as none but those who invite from the heart could think capable of accommodating so many. Anne had a moment’s astonishment on the subject herself, but it was soon lost in the pleasant feelings which sprang from the sight of all the ingenious contrivances and nice arrangements of Captain Harville to turn the actual space to the best possible account, to supply the deficiencies of lodging-house furniture, and defend the windows and doors against the winter storms to be expected. The varieties in the fitting up of the rooms, where the common necessaries provided by the owner, in the common indifferent plight, were contrasted with some few articles of a rare species of wood, excellently worked up, and with something curious and valuable from all the distant countries Captain Harville had visited, were more than amusing to Anne; connected as it all was with his profession, the fruit of its labours, the effect of its influence on his habits, the picture of repose and domestic happiness it presented, made it to her a something more or less than gratification.
“Captain Harville was no reader; but he had contrived excellent accommodations, and fashioned very pretty shelves, for a tolerable collection of well-bound volumes, the property of Captain Benwick. His lameness prevented him from taking much exercise; but a mind of usefulness and ingenuity seemed to furnish him with constant employment within. He drew, he varnished, he carpentered, he glued; he made toys for the children; he fashioned new netting-needles and pins with improvements; and if everything else was done, sat down to his large fishing-net at one corner of the room.
“Anne thought she left great happiness behind her when they quitted the house; and Louisa, by whom she found herself walking, burst forth into raptures of admiration and delight on the character of the Navy, their friendliness, their brotherliness, their openness, their uprightness; protesting that she was convinced of sailors having more worth and warmth than any other set of men in England; that they only knew how to live, and they only deserved to be respected and loved.”
No one reading “Persuasion” could doubt that, ready as Jane always was to laugh at absurdities of fashion, yet the national enthusiasm for the Navy had not failed to touch her heart any more than it had missed her sense of humour. Trying as Louisa’s encomium must have been to Anne, with her mind full of regrets over her broken engagement with Captain Wentworth, it was the inward agreement of her mind with this admiration for simplicity and affection which gave her the worst pain. The nation had passed through a crisis, and after the stress of war, the happy family life was the one thing admirable.
Captain Charles Austen had spent ten years on active service, outside the theatre of hostilities, but now he was brought into closer touch during the confusion caused by the escape of Napoleon from Elba. The Phœnix frigate under his command was sent with the Undaunted and the Garland in pursuit of a Neapolitan squadron cruising in the Adriatic. Since 1808 Naples had been under the rule of Murat, Napoleon’s brother-in-law. It was, therefore, Murat’s flag which was attacked by the British men-of-war.
CAPTAIN CHARLES AUSTEN, C. B.
Joachim Murat’s history is a curiously romantic one. As his dealings with Napoleon created the situation in Naples which called for British interference, it will not be a digression to give some account of him. His origin was a low one, and it was chiefly as the husband of Napoleon’s sister Caroline that he came to the front. As a soldier his talents were great, but he was no diplomatist, and too impetuous and unstable to be successful. He fought under Napoleon in most of the campaigns from Marengo to Leipzig, and first entered Naples as the victorious general of the French army. In 1808, at a time when Napoleon was giving away kingdoms, Joseph Bonaparte, the King of Naples, was awarded the somewhat empty and unsatisfactory honour of the kingdom of Spain; and at the same time, to take his place, Murat was raised to the dignity of “King of the Two Sicilies.” The Bourbon King Ferdinand, who bore the same title, had been maintained in power in the island of Sicily by the British fleet ever since Nelson’s time. Murat’s great idea was the unity of Italy, under himself as King, and he perhaps had hopes that Napoleon would support him. At all events, he was loyal to the Emperor until 1811, when he went to Paris for the baptism of Napoleon’s son, but came away before the ceremony on learning that the infant was to be “King of Rome.” He dismissed his French troops, and resolved to govern without reference to Napoleon. Unable, however, to resist a call to arms from his former chief, in 1812 he went to Russia in command of the heavy cavalry, and was the first to cross the frontier. He went twenty leagues beyond Moscow, and finally left the army on the retreat at the Oder. He handed over the command to Eugène Beauharnais, and returned to Naples.
Among others who saw that Napoleon’s power was on the wane, Murat now turned against him, and proposed, through Lord William Bentinck at Palermo, a treaty of peace with England, on the basis of the unification of Italy under his own sovereignty. This agreement was made, and needed only the formal consent of the British Government, when Murat suddenly threw it all over, and at Napoleon’s bidding went off to fight for him in the campaign of 1813 at Dresden and Leipzig. On his return, however, the King again began his negotiations with the allies, and arranged a treaty with Austria. The Congress of Vienna debated the question of allowing him to remain King. As matters stood, it was difficult to find a reason for turning him out, as he now appeared to have definitely abandoned the Emperor’s cause. But, naturally, it was impossible to repose much confidence in his assertions. He himself seems scarcely to have known his own mind, and was ready to ally himself with either side, if by that means he could secure his heart’s desire of the kingdom of Italy. His wife cared more for her brother’s cause than for her husband’s, but Joachim trusted her completely. They had for long kept up the appearance of disagreement, in order to collect round them the leaders of all parties; and now when the dissension was real, he hardly realised how little her sympathies were with him. It seems not unlikely that England and Austria would have trusted him, and allowed him to retain his throne, as, on the whole, he had governed well; but he himself decided the question in a characteristic way. He had tidings of Napoleon’s projected escape from Elba, and espoused his cause. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies was thereupon attacked by the allies, and before Waterloo was fought the Bourbon King Ferdinand was reinstated at Naples under the protection of the fleets. Queen Caroline, Murat’s wife, was escorted by British sailors from the palace. The ship bearing her away passed another British ship, which brought Ferdinand back to his capital.