Page 125 - Il Mediterraneo quale elemento del Potere Marittimo - Atti 16-18 settembre 1996

NELSON IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 111

His friendship with the Hamiltons and the king and queen of Naples and his
new orders to take charge in the Mediterranean, involved him stili more deeply
in local politica! an d diplomati c intrigue. He found Naples a nest of "Fiddlers, poets,
whores and scoundrels' •, but bis presence again and again stiffened tbe resolve of the
Neapolitans and their neighbours and frustrated Napoleon's plans for ltaly, even
enabling the Austrian generai Mack and king Ferdinando to take Rome for a sbort
peri od.
But with Napoleon's increasing confidence and power on land, yhis could not
last and by december 1898 a disatrous period sees Nelson evacuating the Royal
couple and their family and the Hamiltons from Naples and sailing them in a storm
to Palermo. This bumiliation for Nelson was compensated by the now definite ero-
brace of beloved Emma, and the gift of tbe Dukedom of Bronte from the King.
Once more than the pendulum swung and the fortunes of this war shifted.
Nelson and his party returned to Naples to horrific scenes where those who had
supported the French during their temporary occupation were lynched or hanged.
Nelson felt he had to maintain order and at the same cime interpreted bis instruc-
tions from the admiralty as to deal severely with rebels and traitors in order co
deter others. He bebaved with both harshness and cunning causing Cardinal Ruffo.
his supposed ally to complain bitterly ''Inglesi Italianato e diavolo incarnato".
Admiral Caracciolo, Commander of the Neapolitan Fleet, had co-operated with
the French, an action justified in his view by the necessity to preserve intact as
much of the power and property of the Kingdom as possible. But when captured,
Caracciolo, a brave and distinguished man, was, with the approvai ofNelson, sum-
marily court marshalled by his own officers and immediately hanged on his own
flagship, Nelson resisting appeals for clemency or even a more honourable death.
W e must see this an d similar acts against the background of the horrors of
the French revolution and in any other circumstances such an honourable naval
commander as Nelson would bave treated another with more decency and dignity.
We Nelsons are today aware of the feelings of the Caracciolo.
Nelson became involved now in a running dispute with the British admiral
Keith, now commander-in chief in the Mediterranean, concerning Nelson' s deter-
mination to defend Naples and Sicily from a French Fleet, newly escaped from brest,
as against Keith's orders to defend Minorca and other vulnerable islands. Keith
was provoked to comment that '' Lady H ami/ton had command of the Mediterranean
F/eet long enought".
Whether by luck or his unerring instinct Nelson continued to keep ahead of
the both the Spanish and French Fleets but did not succeed in catching Napoleon
himself who left Alexandria on 23 august 1799 and landed at St. Raphael on octo-
ber 9, this enabled that resilient gentleman to take over France harself as first con-
sul and commence a new pbase of his successful and aggressive European Campaign.
Nelson now returned to England overland with the Hamiltons, to a rapturous
reception by the public. He was mobbed in bis home county of Norfolk, drawn