The Sultan's Daughter

Your face is vaguely familiar to me, Mr. MacElfic. Surely we have met somewhere before? '

¹ Indeed we have, sir,' Roger replied with a smile. ¹1 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 Lordshig 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 sympathizes 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.'

^'1 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.'

^'1 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.'