The Sultan's Daughter (39 page)

Although the masses in both the Kingdom of Naples and the island of Sicily lived in the direst poverty and under the severe repression of corrupt officials, they never blamed this on King Ferdinand. On the contrary they adored him, because his simple pleasures brought him into intimate contact with them. Dressed in a jersey, woollen cap, coarse trousers and seaboots, he often spent the night fishing. In the morning he would sell his catch in the market, haggling like any other huckster for the best price he could get for each fish from a crowd of laughing housewives. Then he gave away the money he received. But the strongest hold he had acquired over the riff-raff of Naples was through having accepted the office of Master of the Guild of the
Lazzaroni
. This Guild consisted of literally thousands of professional beggars and petty criminals, who made a living by preying in a hundred ways on the better-off part of the population. Ferdinand encouraged and protected them and delighted in the nickname the people gave him of ‘
Il Rè dei Lazzaroni
'.

His other main interest he termed ‘hunting'. It consisted only of standing in a stone sentry-box, while hundreds of
beasts and birds were driven past him. With an indefatigable lust for slaughter he stood there hour after hour, shooting them down. He was also a great practical joker and from time to time found it most amusing suddenly to decree that some staid visitor to his Court should be tossed in a blanket.

While this young moron was harmlessly enjoying himself, or bellowing with laughter at his sadistic pranks, Queen Caroline had been intriguing without pause to get the Government of the country into her own hands. Whenever Ferdinand put up the least opposition to her proposals for innovations she flew into such violent tempers that he was only too glad to escape from her at the price of giving way. Even when at table she screeched at him like an angry eagle, and on one occasion actually bit him. In due course she had succeeded in getting rid of Tenucci and replacing him with a Minister of her own choice.

This was General Sir John Acton, the son of an English physician who had settled in France. At an early age Acton had joined the French Army, but later left it for the Court of Tuscany. In '75 he had greatly distinguished himself while commanding a Tuscan frigate in an expedition to suppress the pirates of Algiers. Four years later Queen Caroline had persuaded the Grand Duke to let her have Acton to reorganise the little Neapolitan Army.

The newcomer had at once set about building a Fleet out of all proportion to the resources of the country. To secure enough money for this he had to be made Minister of Finance, as well as of Marine. To these posts he had soon added that of Minister of War and, finally, Prime Minister. He was now sixty-three and for the past twenty years he and the Queen had run the country. Naples now had a Fleet of one hundred and twenty ships and, on paper, an Army of sixty thousand men, so had become a Power of some importance. But the effort had virtually bankrupted the country.

On the credit side, as Roger naturally regarded the matter, Acton was the firm friend of Sir William Hamilton, who had been British Ambassador in Naples for the past thirty-five years; while an even stronger tie existed between Sir William's wife, the beautiful Emma, and Queen Caroline. Working hand in glove, these four had weaned the Kingdom
of the Two Sicilies away from Spain and France into the orbit of Austrian and British influence. Above all, the triumph of Sir William's long career had been the securing for Britain of the magnificent harbour of Naples as a naval base, from which her sea power could command the Mediterranean.

Having finished his meal Roger decided to lose no time in calling on Sir William. He took a
carozza
up the hill to the beautiful Palazzo Sessa, which housed the British Embassy. Giving his name to the footman as Robert MacElfic, he added that he was a cousin of the Earl of Kildonan and that he would be grateful if the Ambassador could spare him a few minutes on urgent business.

He was kept waiting in the big marble hall only long enough for him to admire some of the ancient statues which formed a small part of the priceless collection of Roman remains that the Ambassador had acquired during his long residence in Naples; then the footman returned and showed him into the splendid library.

The elderly Ambassador rose courteously from behind a big desk to receive him, shook hands and waved him to a chair. He then raised his quizzing glass, looked at Roger again and said, ‘Your face is vaguely familiar to me, Mr. MacElfic. Surely we have met somewhere before?'

‘Indeed we have, sir,' Roger replied with a smile. ‘I had the pleasure of being your guest here for a week in the autumn of '89. But you knew me then by my real name, Roger Brook.'

‘Then why use any other?' Sir William asked. ‘And why make free with that of my Lord Kildonan?'

‘Since His Lordship lives much in Rome, I thought it fairly certain that Your Excellency would know him and that might induce you to see me without delay.'

That was a shrewd move,' Sir William remarked. ‘I do know him slightly and it is to that you owe my prompt reception of you.'

Roger smiled. ‘He is in fact my cousin, although I have never met him. My mother's family were all fanatical Jacobites. When she ran away with my father, who is a loyal servant of the Hanoverian line, they cut her off from them
entirely. But to come to the point of my visit—you may perhaps recall that when I was last in Naples it was on behalf of Queen Marie Antoinette. I came to enquire if Queen Caroline would give her nephew the Dauphin asylum here, should the safety of the Royal Family in France become threatened by the revolutionary movement.'

‘I do recall the matter. Queen Caroline and King Ferdinand agreed to receive the boy, but that poor, woolly-minded man Louis XVI later conceived the notion that his son belonged to the people; so he would not allow him to leave France.'

‘Alas, yes. And now what I have to add is for Your Excellency's ear alone. On that occasion there was no reason against my using my own name. But since then I have spent long periods in France as an agent of Mr. Pitt, and I am known there as Colonel Breuc. I am, moreover, one of General Bonaparte's aides-de-camp, and——'

‘What's this you say!' exclaimed the Ambassador.

‘Surprising as it may sound, it is the truth,' Roger laughed' ‘and only this morning I landed here from Egypt. With me I have brought two despatches that General Bonaparte charged me to deliver in Paris. May I request that you have copies of them made by a safe hand and despatch them at the earliest opportunity to London?'

‘Indeed I will!' Sir William cried enthusiastically. ‘And a copy for our dear Admiral, Sir Horatio Nelson, as I've not a doubt but that the contents of these despatches will be of value to him, too. But about yourself—this feat of yours is of surprising interest. Pray tell me more, and of what that terrible young Corsican bandit is up to in Egypt.'

For the next half-hour the Ambassador sat enthralled, while Roger gave him an account of his doings since leaving England. Then he said, ‘From all this you will appreciate why I arrived here as Robert MacElfic. As Roger Brook I might well have been identified as Colonel Breuc by some Frenchman, or by some Neapolitan who sympathises with the Revolution and who, having been in France, might have met me there.'

‘It was a wise precaution. And, alas, it is true enough that many Neapolitan intellectuals have allowed themselves to be
contaminated by these pernicious doctrines. But now that Naples is at war with France Queen Caroline will soon take steps to deal with such traitors.'

‘On landing I was very surprised to hear that Naples had challenged the Republic, and of the first splendid successes of her Army.'

Sir William smiled. ‘The news could not be better. But we expected it. When General Mack inspected the Army before leading it against our enemies he said that he had never seen a finer body of men.'

‘I seem to recall hearing, sir, that when young you were an officer of the Foot Guards. May I ask if that was also your opinion?'

‘Well, er … I could hardly say that. One must allow for the fact that the majority of them are peasants only recently called up. But their enthusiasm for a war against those atheists and robbers was unbounded.'

‘Do you then count enthusiasm enough? I am no soldier, but I have seen enough of war to know how greatly experience of being shot at matters. Every French battalion has its leaven of old soldiers; not only men who fought under Bonaparte in Italy, but also under Dumouriez, Kellermann, Moreau, Jourdan, Pichegru, Hoche and other Generals during the long years of the Revolutionary Wars. At the Battle of the Pyramids, had there not been many such to show an example of calmness to the conscripts it is certain that the sight alone of the Mamelukes' ferocious onslaught would have been sufficient to cause the squares to break, and every man in them would have been massacred. Brave fellows as the Neapolitan levies may be, have you no fear that when the French have had time to concentrate their forces King Ferdinand's Army may suffer a terrible reverse?'

‘Not with General Mack to plan their dispositions. He has had many years' experience of war, and is as wily an old fox as ever put on a uniform.'

Roger shook his head. ‘Old, yes. Too old, in my opinion, and set in the military tradition of the past. Such Generals, who wait to strike until an opportunity arises for them to engage in set-piece battles on ground favourable to themselves, can stand little chance in the new wars of swift
manoeuvre that Bonaparte has initiated. If Austria had sent the Archduke Charles I'd regard King Ferdinand's chances of continued victory as far better.'

The Ambassador nodded. ‘You may be right in that. He is certainly their best General. I imagine that the Emperor is reserving him to lead his own forces.'

‘You think, then, that Austria will come in?'

‘We feel confident of it. Mr. Pitt is doing his utmost to form a Second Coalition against the French. Turkey, as you will know, is already in. The Czar Paul has accepted the Grand Mastership of the Knights and, outraged by the French seizure of Malta, is sending a Fleet into the Mediterranean. Naples, although a comparatively weak Power, has had the courage to lead the way. It is unthinkable that Austria should not follow.'

‘We must certainly hope for that. But would it not have been sounder policy to ensure first that before Naples challenged the might of the Republic she could rely on Austria's support? I cannot help feeling that the Court of Naples has acted with great rashness and I was very surprised to learn, if rumour be true, that the British Government encouraged her to it.'

For a moment Sir William hummed and hawed, then he replied, ‘Between ourselves, Mr. Brook, Whitehall did urge caution on us. But I received the despatch only after the die was cast. Admiral Nelson, as you no doubt know, regards the French as devils out of hell who, for the salvation of Europe, must be utterly destroyed. In fact, he looks upon himself as a weapon forged by God to bring about that end. He holds that we should strike at them continuously and relentlessly, anywhere and everywhere, without thought of how great may be the odds against us. His views coincide with those of Queen Caroline, General Acton and, for that matter, myself. It was largely Admiral Nelson's optimism and unbounded enthusiasm which launched Naples against France. He pointed out to us that after his great victory at the Nile he was free to give us the entire support of his splendid Fleet, and also how thinly the French are spread in Italy now that their Army has to hold down so many conquered peoples. We all felt that his
arguments were unanswerable, and now we can only pray that his optimism was justified.'

‘I wholeheartedly echo that prayer,' Roger said seriously. ‘He may well be right, for he is a born leader. The assurance with which he sailed in and annihilated the French Fleet at the Battle of the Nile could not have been surpassed even by Drake. And his personal magnetism and charm are amazing. As I have told you, although I felt no obligation to go back into Egypt and to do so was against my will, he persuaded me to it.'

Sir William nodded. ‘That brings us to the present. What have you in mind to do now?'

‘Why,' Roger laughed, ‘having pulled the chestnuts out of the fire a second time, to go home.'

‘I assumed as much. Well, in the course of the week a frigate will be sailing for Gibraltar and from there you should have no difficulty in securing a passage to England. I will arrange for accommodation in the frigate to be reserved for you.'

Roger shook his head. ‘I thank Your Excellency. Let the frigate carry copies of the despatches, also a full report that I must write for Mr. Pitt which I will let you have tomorrow; but I have no mind to voyage in her. I am the worst sailor that ever was and the very thought of the weather Which a ship may meet within the Bay of Biscay makes my poor stomach turn over. I intend to travel overland up Italy and through France, becoming again Colonel Breuc when the need arises; then I shall get a smuggler to run me across the Channel.'

The Ambassador held up a slim hand in protest. ‘No, no! I implore you not to attempt that. As a lone traveller without escort the odds on your coming to grief would be a hundred to one. The whole peninsula is now in a ferment. No laws can any longer give you a shadow of protection. Swarms of French deserters and Italian bandits infest every highway. It is said that there are over a hundred thousand of them. No matter whether you travelled as Englishman, Frenchman or Turk it is a certainty that one of these bands would waylay, rob and murder you.'

It would have been the height of folly to ignore such
advice; so Roger was forced to reconsider the matter. After a moment he said, ‘If King Ferdinand succeeds in continuing his advance and the Tuscan revolt against the French proves successful, so that they join forces above Rome, a few weeks may see the country more or less pacified, at least as far as communications from Naples to the north are concerned. I should then be able to get through without undue risk.'