His conspicuous merits, it should seem, were growing too conspicuous; the power of his rising splendour, it might begin to be feared, would too powerfully eclipse that which was getting into the wane; and, therefore, though praise could not be entirely denied, it was by no means to be lavishly bestowed. This is ever the cold and cautious sentiment of mean and mercenary minds: it sometimes creeps into the bosoms of even the liberal and the brave. In the former, it begets a fixed principle of action; from the latter, it is generally soon expelled by a little dispa.s.sionate reflection. It is like the last struggle of age, contending against a conviction of the superior vigour of youth: which, by a good parent, is often unwillingly relinquished, in even corporeal considerations; scarcely ever, willingly, in those of intellect.
Without meaning to hazard any particular application of these ideas, there is good reason to think that he began now to be an object of considerable attraction. His power, though still abundantly too confined for his ability, had been in some degree extended; and his services were, in consequence, so numerous and great, that he well merited recommendation to an enlarged sphere of action.
That he thought himself slighted, is beyond a possibility of doubt: smarting with the total loss of sight in one eye, and almost exhausted by fatigue, he felt conscious of deserving applause more ardent than any which he had yet obtained. He was, probably, not pleased to find that his journal of the siege of Calvi did not appear, as perhaps it ought to have done, in the Gazette; nor even the letter in commendation of his voluntary coadjutors, which he had sent to Lord Hood. His lordship, however, it is but just to remark, could by no means be considered as accountable for these omissions, as he certainly transmitted both these doc.u.ments to government.
What were his sensations, at this juncture, it would be difficult exactly to ascertain; but his consolation is known, and it was worthy of his exalted mind--"They have not done me justice," said he, writing to his eldest sister, Mrs. Bolton, "in the affair of Calvi; but, never mind, I"ll have a Gazette of my own."
On another occasion, soon after, he remarked that he had then been more than a hundred days actually engaged, at sea and on sh.o.r.e, against the enemy, since the commencement of the war; that he had the comfort to be ever applauded by the commander in chief, but never to be rewarded: and, what he considered as more mortifying than all the rest, for services in which he was slightly wounded, others had been extravagantly praised, who were very snug in bed all the time, far distant from the scene of action.
In October 1794, Lord Hood returned to England; when the command of the Mediterranean fleet devolved on the present Lord Hotham, with whom Captain Nelson continued to serve with equally distinguished ability wherever opportunities occurred.
At the latter end of December, and beginning of January 1795, they were cruizing off Toulon for about three weeks: during fifteen days of which, in such a series of bad weather as he had scarcely ever experienced, they were almost constantly under storm stay-sails. They saw, while on this cruise, three French frigates; and had no doubt that, as one of them was a crippled ship, the Agamemnon, which sailed better than any ship in the fleet, and was the nearest to them by a couple of leagues, might have taken one or two of them. A line of battle ship, however, never chasing on such occasions, and the admiral"s anxiety to keep the fleet together preventing him from making the signal for the frigates to chase them till too late in the day, they unfortunately effected their escape.
On the 10th of January, they arrived, from this unsuccessful cruise, in the Gulph of St. Fiorenzo; where, a few days after, in a very heavy sea, the Berwick, of seventy-four guns, Captain Smith, which was preparing to join the fleet, not having the rigging set up, lost all it"s masts, and was rendered a complete wreck. The superiority of the Toulon fleet, at that time, rendered this a very serious misfortune, and it led to one which proved still greater.
The French, in fact, had sixteen ships of the line, besides the Sans Culotte of a hundred and twenty guns, with twelve frigates and five corvettes, then in the harbour; and thirty Ma.r.s.eilles ships were also fitting out as transports, generally supposed to be intended for the conveyance of troops on an expedition against our newly-acquired kingdom of Corsica.
Admiral Hotham, in the mean time, was desirous of getting again to sea, for the purpose of covering the convoy and expected reinforcements from England; and this he was obliged to effect without waiting longer for the Berwick. He had, in truth, at this period, much to contend with. His fleet was only half manned; Italy was calling him to her defence; and Corsica perpetually demanding the reinforcements and convoy hourly expected.
The French, well aware how inadequate, in numbers and in strength, Admiral Hotham must necessarily be for the accomplishment of all these objects in the face of such superior force, came out with positive orders to seek and to destroy the British Mediterranean fleet. This being effected, which their presumption left them no doubt would soon happen, their troops were to be landed, and the kingdom of Corsica retaken.
On the 8th of March, Admiral Hotham being in Leghorn Road, received an express from Genoa, that the French fleet, consisting of fifteen sail of the line and three frigates, was seen on the 6th instant off the Isle of Marguerite. This intelligence corresponding with a signal made from the Moselle, then in the offing, for a fleet in the north-west quarter, he immediately caused the squadron to be unmoored; and, at day-break the following morning, put to sea, in pursuit of the enemy.
The Moselle having brought intelligence that the fleet seen was steering to the southward, Admiral Hotham shaped his course for Corsica, lest their destination should be against that island; dispatching the Tarleton brig to St. Fiorenzo, with orders for the Berwick to join him off Cape Corse. He had, however, the misfortune to learn, by the return of the brig, the same night, that the Berwick had, two days before, been captured by the enemy"s fleet.
Though the French ships were seen daily by the advanced frigates, the two squadrons did not get sight of each other till the 12th, when the enemy was discovered to windward.
Next morning, observing them still in that direction, without any apparent intention of coming down, the signal was made for a general chace. The weather being squally, and blowing very fresh, the Ca-Ira of eighty guns, formerly the Couronne, was discovered to be without it"s topmasts; which afforded Captain Freemantle, of the Inconstant frigate, who was far advanced in the chace, an opportunity of shewing a good proof of British enterprise, by attacking, raking, and hara.s.sing that ship, till the coming up of Captain Nelson, in the Agamemnon, by whom it was soon so completely cut up, as to be incapable of getting away: his brave fellows, all the time, who appear to have been miraculously preserved, working the ship about the enemy"s stern and quarters, with as much exactness as if going into Spithead. Though the Ca-Ira had thirteen hundred men on board, and Captain Nelson only three hundred at quarters, including himself--for this is his own account and mode of reckoning--he had, after an action of two hours, in which a hundred and ten of the enemy were killed and wounded, not one of his Agamemnons slain, and no more than seven wounded. The Sans Culotte, however, of a hundred and twenty guns, at length coming up, and the British heavy ships being still distant, Admiral Hotham called him off; making the signal for the squadron to form on the larboard line of bearing, in which order they remained during the night.
In the morning of the 14th, the Ca-Ira was discovered in tow of the Censeur of seventy-four guns, so far separated from their own squadron as to afford a probable chance of cutting them off. The opportunity was not lost; and, all sail being made to effect that purpose, the enemy were reduced to the alternative of abandoning those ships, or coming to battle. Our advanced ships were so closely supported in their attack on the Ca-Ira and Censeur, that they were effectually cut off from any a.s.sistance; and the conflict ended by the enemy"s yielding them up: satisfied, after all their boasts, by firing on the British line, as they pa.s.sed with a light air of wind, and evidently happy that our van ships had suffered too much for the squadron to follow them with any prospect of success.
The grand object of their vaunted armament, however, was completely frustrated by this encounter. It could not, Captain Nelson observed, be denominated a battle, as the enemy would not afford any opportunity of closing with them; if they had, from the zeal and gallantry endeavoured to be shewn by each individual captain, there was not the smallest doubt that a glorious victory would have ensued.
The French ships had been all fitted with forges; and fired, continually, from some of their guns, hot shot and sh.e.l.ls. The diabolical practice of having furnaces in their c.o.c.kpits, however, was found too dangerous to be long persisted in.
Several of the French ships were crippled, and some of them went off towed by frigates, or without bowsprits, &c. The Sans Culotte got to Genoa, and others to Vado Bay. The British squadron, with the prizes, which were greatly shattered and very leaky, proceeded to St. Fiorenzo: where it remained till the 22d; and then sailed for Leghorn, to join the Blenheim and Bombay Castle, that it might again go in pursuit of some of the French ships.
Captain Nelson obtained, on this occasion, the highest approbation of our own fleet, and the handsomest and most liberal testimony from that of the enemy.
The fleet having been refitted at Leghorn, and obtained another seventy-four gun ship from the King of Naples, they proceeded to the westward, for reinforcements, about the 10th of May; and afterwards went to Minorca, where they remained some time waiting for a convoy"s arrival from Gibraltar.
Having returned to St. Fiorenzo the latter end of June, Captain Nelson was dispatched, on the 4th of July, with the Agamemnon, Meleager, Ariadne, Moselle, and the Mutine cutter, to co-operate with the Austrian general in the recovery of Genoa.
The second day, however, he fell in with the French fleet, which Admiral Hotham had supposed at Toulon, and was chased back to St. Fiorenzo. It appears evident, from all their movements, that they did not know our fleet was in port. The chace continued twenty-four hours; and, owing to the freshness of the winds in these seas, he was occasionally hard pressed; but they being, as he said, neither seamen nor officers, gave him many advantages.
On the 7th, in the morning, Admiral Hotham was much surprised to learn that the above squadron was seen in the offing, pursued into port by the enemy"s fleet. Immediately on their appearance, he made every preparation to put to sea after them; having the mortification, in the mean time, to behold Captain Nelson, with his little squadron, for nearly seven hours, almost wholly in their possession. The sh.o.r.e, and his knowledge of it, proved his greatest friends on this occasion.
Though most of the British ships were in the midst of watering and refitting, by very great exertions, the whole fleet got under weigh that night; but a calm, and swell, prevented their going out till the morning.
It was not till day-break, on the 13th of July 1795, that they were discovered by the fleet. At eight o"clock, Admiral Hotham, finding that they had no other view than that of endeavouring to get off, made the signal for a general chace. The baffling winds, and vexatious calms, which render every naval operation in this country doubtful, soon afterwards taking place, a few only of our van ships could come up with the enemy"s rear about noon. These they so warmly attacked, that one of the sternmost ships, the Alcide of seventy-four guns, had struck in the course of an hour. The rest of their fleet, favoured by a shift of wind, that placed them to windward, had got so far into Frejus Bay, while the greater part of our"s was becalmed in the offing, that it became impossible for anything farther to be effected.
Had the wind lasted twenty minutes longer, the six flyers, as they were called, would have been alongside as many of the enemy. Captain Nelson had every hope of getting the Agamemnon, one of these flyers, alongside an eighty-gun ship, with a flag or broad pendant flying; but the west wind dying away, and the east coming, gave them the advantage, and enabled them to reach their own sh.o.r.e, from which they were not three leagues distant.
Rear-Admiral Mann, who had shifted his flag to the Victory on this occasion, commanded the six ships thus distinguished by their superiority of sailing: he proved himself, Captain Nelson observed, a good man, in every sense of the word.
The disappointment of our brave countrymen, on this day, must have been prodigiously great. In the morning, there had been a hope of taking the whole of the French fleet; and, even latterly, no bad prospect of securing six sail of the line. Instead of which, they had only taken a single ship, the Alcide; and that, such was the fortune of this luckless day, took fire about half an hour after it had struck, and before being taken into possession--said to be occasioned by a box of combustibles in the fore-top--and the whole ship was soon in a blaze. Several boats, from our fleet, were instantly dispatched to rescue as many as possible of the unhappy crew from the devouring flames; and, by great exertion, three hundred were saved: the remainder, consisting of about four hundred, had the melancholy fate of being blown up with the ship.
The Agamemnon, with it"s usual good fortune, had none killed in this action, and only one wounded. It received, however, several shot under water, which kept the hands pretty well employed at the pumps: but this, Captain Nelson insisted, must have happened by accident, as he was very certain they only fired high.
The six ships engaged were the Victory, Admiral Mann, and Captain Reeve; Agamemnon, Nelson; Defence, Wells; Culloden, Troubridge; c.u.mberland, Rowley; and Blenheim, Bazeley.
After anchoring for a few hours at St. Fiorenzo, with the fleet, Captain Nelson was again dispatched, in the Agamemnon, with orders to sail as before directed, when he had been chased back. Accordingly, with a light squadron under his command, consisting of the Inconstant, Meleager, Southampton, Tartar, Ariadne, and Speedy, he proceeded to co-operate with the Austrian General De Vins: and, being informed by the general, that a convoy of provisions and ammunition was arrived at Ala.s.sio, a place in the possession of the French army, he proceeded thither on the 25th of August; where, within an hour, he took nine vessels, burnt a tenth, and drove another on sh.o.r.e. Some of the enemy"s cavalry fired on the boats when boarding the vessels near sh.o.r.e, but not a single man was killed or wounded. The French had two thousand horse and foot soldiers in the town, which prevented his landing and destroying their magazines of provisions and ammunition.
Captain Freemantle of the Inconstant, was sent, in the mean time, with the Tartar, to Languelia, a town on the west side of the Bay of Ala.s.sio; where, Captain Nelson observes, in his dispatches to Admiral Hotham, published October 3,1795, in the London Gazette, that commander executed his orders in a most officer-like manner. "I am indebted," he concludes, "to every officer in the squadron, for their activity: but, most particularly so, to Lieutenant George Andrews, first-lieutenant of the Agamemnon; who, by his spirited and officer-like conduct, saved the French corvette from going on sh.o.r.e."
The vessels taken were--a French corvette of ten guns, four swivels, and eighty-seven men; a French gun-boat of one bra.s.s gun, four swivels, and forty-nine men; a French galley of one bra.s.s gun, four swivels, and thirty men; a like galley, with twenty-nine men; a French brig, in ballast, burden a hundred tons; a French bark, burden seventy tons, laden with powder and sh.e.l.ls; a French brig, burden a hundred tons, laden with wine; a galley, burden fifty tons, in ballast; and a tartane, burden thirty-five tons, laden with wine: those destroyed--a bark, laden with powder, drove on sh.o.r.e; and a ditto, laden with provisions, burnt.
Though this enterprise called for no particular exertion of great ability, it was executed with very complete success; and the result was both advantageous to the captors and their allies, and distressful to the common enemy.
Admiral Hotham, in his dispatches to government, inclosing the account of this business which he had received from Captain Nelson, handsomely remarks that "his officer-like conduct upon this, and indeed upon every occasion, where his services are called forth, reflects on him the highest credit."
Admiral Hotham was a very brave and highly respectable commander; and, being also a worthy man, he did whatever was in his power to serve Captain Nelson, whose superior ability he would, probably, have himself readily acknowledged on any occasion. He might not be sufficiently what Captain Nelson called a man of business, to admire the agreed co-operation with the Austrian army, though as ready as any man to encounter the fleet of the enemy at sea: when, therefore, that co-operation became necessary, Captain Nelson"s known habits of soldiering, immediately directed the admiral"s attention to the Brigadier; who had, accordingly, a not altogether unpleasant command of the squadron at Vado Bay, consisting of thirteen sail of frigates and sloops. This little fleet, however, with the exception of the above expedition, did very little important business, not a single frigate being allowed to chase out of sight.
It was about this period, that Captain Nelson had the satisfaction of learning that he had, on the 6th of June preceding, in consequence of the then promotion of flag-officers, been appointed one of the Colonels of Marines.
He had, it seems, been in some expectation of this promotion, but little imagined that it had already taken place: for, writing to Captain Locker on the 18th of June, off Minorca, he observes that great changes had taken place in the fleet, and that more were on the eve of doing so.
"Perhaps," adds he, "the Admiralty may commission me for some ship here: if so, provided they give me the marines, I shall feel myself bound to take her, much as I object to serving another winter campaign without a little rest."
His health, indeed, had been considerably impaired before Lord Hood quitted the station; but as he had, after the reduction of Corsica, less occasion for much continued exertion, it was now, on the whole, rather increased than diminished; and this timely promotion appears to have operated as a powerful cordial restorative.
With the Austrian General De Vins, at Vado Bay, on the coast of Genoa, he continued to co-operate during the whole time that Admiral Hotham retained the command; who quitted it in November 1795, and was succeeded by Sir John Jervis; the present Earl of St. Vincent.
This change seems to have been a very fortunate circ.u.mstance for Captain Nelson; and, perhaps, on the whole, little less so for Sir John Jervis.
The new commander in chief was much too shrewd and discerning a character not to see the full value of such an officer as Captain Nelson. Himself a man of the highest bravery, and of the first professional knowledge, he could not fail to recognize, in every act, the vigorous intellect, and undaunted valour, which Captain Nelson possessed. It was no slight shade of an uncertain tint, but a plain and decided distinction of character clearly perceptible at a single glance.
Bravery and skill abound, and will, it is hoped, always abound, in the British navy; and great, indeed, must be the merits of any one who shines with superior l.u.s.tre in a constellation of such general brilliancy. Sir John had, under his command, many able officers; but he immediately perceived that Captain Nelson was a star of the first magnitude, and n.o.bly resolved to remove every intervening cloud which might prevent his appearing in full splendour.
The great importance, not only to both these exalted naval characters, but to their country, which has been so much benefitted by their respective and united services, must prevent the necessity of any apology for reverting to the very origin of their acquaintance with each other: a communication which the author of these memoirs has the honour of being enabled to give, on no less authority than that of the Earl of St. Vincent himself.
His lordship, while Sir John Jervis, was returning from the House of Commons, of which he was then a member; when, in the Treasury Pa.s.sage, he perceived Captain Locker at a distance, whom he instantly knew, from the singularity of his looking through an eye-gla.s.s fitted at the head of his cane. Sir John immediately hailed his old friend: and Captain Locker, coming up, expressed his happiness at seeing Sir John Jervis; as he wished, he said, to introduce his _eleve_, Captain Nelson.
From that period, till the time when Sir John Jervis took the command of the Mediterranean fleet, he had never again beheld Captain Nelson; who, having served much with Lord Hood, and not knowing Sir John Jervis"s generous intentions to bring him still more forward, expressed a wish to return to England in the Agamemnon. That ship, indeed, from it"s then bad state, was expected to be soon sent home: but Sir John Jervis seems to have felt more unwilling to part with Captain Nelson than his ship.
On the death of Lord Hervey, the captain of the Zealous, which happened soon after, Sir John Jervis immediately offered Captain Nelson the command of that ship; which he declined, still persisting in his desire to go home.
It was not long, however, before he became sufficiently sensible of Sir John"s great attachment to him, and now readily expressed the desire which he felt to remain under his command. They were, thus, mutually pleased with each other; and there resulted, from the harmony which continued to prevail between these two truly great and heroic characters, the utmost possible advantage to their country, and the most complete glory to themselves.
On the 23d of February 1796, Captain Nelson, after looking into Toulon, where there were then thirteen sail of the line and five frigates ready for sea, left the commander in chief to the westward of Toulon, and proceeded to Genoa.
In April, so highly did Sir John Jervis approve of Captain Nelson"s conduct, that he promoted him to the rank of temporary commodore, with directions to wear a distinguishing pendant, which was accordingly hoisted on board the old Agamemnon.