Roger shrugged. ' Permit me to remark that to confuse religion with politics can often lead to grave errors of judgment. Knowing as I do the men who now rule France, I can assure Your Ladyship that, since Talleyrand has gone, all the odds are that he will have been replaced by a man who will be less inclined to have a true appreciation of Britain's power and vital interests.' Knowing that it was pointless to defend Talleyrand further, or attempt to present Bonaparte as a human being, he asked, ' What other news is there out of France? '
' A law has been passed which will greatly increase the size of the French Armies,' Sir William replied. ' It was proposed by General Jourdan that the whole manpower of France should be subject to conscription. All young men between the ages of twenty and twenty-five are now liable to military service. They are to be registered by their Departments and, in groups from the age of twenty, will be called up as required.'
' That can mean no more,' Roger suggested, ' than the levee-en-masse that Carnot instituted when France was hard pressed by the Monarchies during the early years of the Revolutionary Wars.'
'1 think it does,' the Ambassador countered. ' That was only an emergency measure, whereas this is a piece of permanent legislation. It is the first time that the youth of a nation has been required, upon reaching a certain age, to report automatically for military service. That is an entirely new conception of the duty a man owes to his country. It may well spread to other nations.'
' What of the Directory? ' Roger asked. ' Is the personnel the same? '
'There has been no change since last May. In the middle of that month Francois de Neufchateau drew the retiring ballot and was replaced by an ex-member of the Regicide Convention named Treilhard. At the same time the Directors again declared several Deputies newly elected to the Assembly, to be Royalist conspirators, and arbitrarily threw them out. But I expect you will have heard about that.'
Roger shook his head. ' Word of Treilhard's appointment failed to reach us before we sailed from Toulon on May 19th; and since then little news has trickled through to Egypt. I take it that matters are no better with the unfortunate Swiss or the people of Piedmont.'
' Alas, no. The brave Swiss are suffering an appalling martyrdom at the hands of those pitiless fiends. As for Italy, as I told you yesterday it is a seething cauldron of strife from Rome northwards. The larger cities are still held by the French, but the country outside them is in a state of complete lawlessness.
Men, women and even bands of precocious children fall upon solitary travellers and tear them limb from limb to get hold of their money and such provisions as they may have with them and, if they secure nothing better, they cook and eat their horses.'
For a further half-hour they talked on then Roger took his leave, having promised to attend the Monday reception at the Embassy. He accepted put of curiosity to see who among the Neapolitan aristocracy remained friendly to the British, or deemed it expedient to continue to court them. Now that he had grown a beard and could be introduced as Robert MacElfic, he regarded as neglible the risk of anyone he had met ten years ago in Naples identifying him as Roger Brook.
Next day, December 5th, Vanguard entered the bay, bringing Nelson back from a bloodless victory. When he had appeared with his Squadron off Leghorn and had threatened to bombard the port, the pro-revolutionary Municipal Council had promptly surrendered and, accompanied by its French 'advisers', fled. The five thousand Neapolitan troops had been landed with their cannon and baggage and would, it was hoped, enable the Grand Duke to clear the French out of Tuscany.
But the gallant little Admiral's reception was very different from that which had greeted him on September 22nd when he had arrived with his Fleet from the Battle of the Nile. Then King Ferdinand, clad in gala attire, had done him the unprecedented honour of sailing three leagues out into the bay to greet him. Neapolitan bands had learned to play ' Rule, Britannia' and ' See the Conquering Hero Comes' for the occasion. Every ship for miles along the coast and the whole waterfront had been decked with flags and they were crammed with a hundred thousand cheering people. Emma, who naturally accompanied the royal party, had flung her arms round the Admiral's neck then collapsed weeping with happiness on the deck. The King and Queen had declared him to have been sent by God to save Italy, and their young son had said that every morning he would stand in front of a portrait of the hero and pray to grow up like him.
Now the Fleet was scattered. One Squadron under Troubridge was blockading the Roman coast, another under Bell was blockading Malta and the remainder under Hood were still blockading Egypt. There was no reception of any kind; no thunder of saluting cannon, no flags, no cheering thousands. The Admiral went ashore and, almost unnoticed, made his way up to the Palazzo Sessa.
There, as Roger learned later, he was met by most disturbing news. A rumour had come in that Mack's Army had suffered a severe defeat and that the General himself had been made a prisoner.
During the following two days the fact that things were going wrong became common knowledge in the city. Scores of Neapolitan gentry who, although knowing nothing of war, had gaily gone off in beautiful uniforms to fight now suddenly reappeared in civilian clothes making every sort of specious excuse for having left the Army. The accounts they gave of the campaign showed that it was being hopelessly mismanaged. Even during the victorious advance the organization had been so bad that for three days the majority of the troops had been without rations, and the King himself had lacked food for thirty-six hours.
To escape from this atmosphere of uncertainty and depression, Roger spent the Saturday revisiting Pompeii; but his excursion did little to cheer him. Memories of his previous visit provided too great a contrast. Then, with Isabella and a gay party, he had picnicked there and they had had Sir William—a great authority on Roman civilization—to give them a graphic description of the city as it must once have been, and of the terrible eruption that had overwhelmed it.
On Sunday he made another excursion, this time up to the crater of Vesuvius. He thought the huge bowl of lava, with its crisp crust of snow round the edge, tremendously impressive, but despite the wintry sunshine it was terribly cold up there; so he was glad to get down again to the shelter of trees and houses. It was only when he was among them that he realized he had hardly looked at the magnificent view over the bay, as his mind during the long trudge had been almost entirely occupied by gloomy speculations about what might happen if the Neapolitan Army had actually been defeated.
When Monday evening came he attended Sir William's weekly conversazione. Instead of the two hundred or more people usually to be seen at these gatherings, bowing, curtseying and chattering over wine and delicacies, the fine, pillared salon and the adjacent rooms were almost empty. There was barely a score of people present and nearly all were men with anxious faces;
but among them was Nelson, who when in Naples always made the Embassy his headquarters.
Emma received Roger most graciously and, after they had exchanged a few platitudes, asked for his arm to lead her to the buffet. On the way there she raised her fan and whispered to him behind it, ' Our slayer of dragons wishes to speak with you. At the moment that tiresome Prince Pignatelli is monopolizing him, but we will break in upon them.' Then she changed direction slightly and bore down on the Admiral.
When she had curtseyed and the three men had exchanged bows she said, 'Permit me to present to you, dear gallant Sir Horatio, and to Your Highness, Mr. Robert MacElfic who is on a visit to Naples.'