For a while Roger talked with several of the gloomy Neapolitan nobles there; then, as he took his leave, Sir William said, 'Next Thursday, the 13th, is my birthday. We have always celebrated it with a big party here. Invitations were sent out over a fortnight ago, but I trust you will not mind a belated one. Eight o'clock and silk stockings. I shall look forward to seeing you.'
Roger accepted, although he could not think that a party of any kind could prove a success in the present state of Naples, and he concluded that the Ambassador meant to give it only as a gesture to show that, in spite of General Mack's reverses, the British were still confident that the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies would emerge victorious from the war.
But the party never took place. On the morning of the 13th Roger received a note from Sir William to the effect that, the situation being so uncertain, he felt that this was no time for any celebration and was cancelling all invitations.
On the following day, the 1'th, the great blow fell. Like so many of his officers, King Ferdinand had fled from the enemy and arrived back in Naples. The whole Neapolitan Army was in full retreat. The French under General Championnet and headed by two future Marshals of the Empire, Macdonald and Ney, were advancing at full speed upon the capital.
16
No 'Happy New Year'
For four days King Ferdinand had lorded it in the magnificent Farnese Palace in Rome, thundering forth boasts about what he would do to the godless French when he came upon them. But at the first move by the French Commander, General Cham-pionnet, he was seized by panic. So fearful for himself was he that he insisted on changing clothes with one of his officers so as to make himself less conspicuous. Helped on to a horse, he rode it at full gallop until, under his weight, the animal had nearly collapsed. Then Ferdinand took to a coach and, clinging to the hand of one of his nobles, had himself driven as fast as possible to Naples.
His laments, and those of the Queen and the Hamiltons, about the conduct of the French were loud and long. Apparently, Championnet had left a letter for General Mack, stating that he was withdrawing his forces from Rome to save the civil population from the horrors of street fighting. The naive Neapolitans had taken this to mean that he had surrendered Rome to them. In fact, as an experienced soldier, Championnet had simply withdrawn a garrison too weak to hold the city until he could concentrate his widely scattered forces and reoccupy it. But nothing would persuade his deluded enemies that he had not acted with diabolical treachery.
In spite of Ferdinand's cowardly behaviour, his lazzaroni remained entirely loyal. A great multitude of them crammed the square in front of the royal palace yelling for him. When at length he appeared on a balcony with the Queen, they made him swear that he would not leave Naples, then shouted that, with
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the aid of their patron saint, Geronimo, they would defend him to the death.
That afternoon Roger received a note from Sir William Hamilton asking him to come up to the Embassy. When, in the evening, he did so, he found a small army of workmen busily crating the most valuable items from the Ambassador's collection of antiques. He told Roger that their loyal and generous friend, the heaven-sent # Admiral, had already had shipped to Gibraltar, simply as a precaution, the best pictures in the collection. But now the time had come when as many other treasures as possible must be got away, as an insurance against their falling into the hands of the unspeakable French.
When Roger enquired why he had been summoned, Sir William said:
'You are under no obligation to me, but I mean to ask a favour of you. In my files I have many hundreds of letters relating to my diplomatic activities. Some of them make mention of secrets that could be damaging to British prestige, if known to the enemy. I have so many urgent matters to attend to that I have not the time to go through them. No one could be better entrusted with this task than yourself. I beg you, therefore, to undertake it. My wish is that all documents of importance should be preserved for me to take with me should we be compelled to evacuate the Embassy, and that the others should be burnt.'
Far from thinking of refusing, Roger was only too glad to have some useful work to occupy him during the emergency, and early next morning he set about the formidable task of scanning and sorting Sir William's correspondence.
King Ferdinand's return had brought about a new situation in the city. He had cordially endorsed his loyal lazzarOni's determination to defend Naples and, the Army having failed so lamentably, the leaders of the lazzaroni took matters into their own hands. Large bodies of them picketed all the approaches to the city, seized the returning deserters and took their arms from them. But the King's resolution to rely on this vast rabble of petty thieves and professional beggars did not last for long.
Queen Caroline had a deep-seated distrust of mobs. In the fact that the Royal Family had been forced to show themselves on the balcony of the palace a few hours after the return of the King had leaked out, she saw a repetition of the scene at Versailles in '89 following which Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had been forced by the mob to accompany it, virtually as prisoners, back to Paris. Fearing that she might suffer the same fate as her sister, Caroline had at once begun to urge upon Ferdinand that their only certainty of safety lay in flight to Sicily.
A few days of her nagging had been sufficient to weaken the King's resolution. Then, on the 18th as Roger learned from Sir William, a despatch was received from General Mack. He reported that what remained of his Army had disintegrated into a rabble and besought Their Majesties to escape from Naples before the French entered it. That settled the matter. For the next few days frantic preparations for the evacuation were made with as much secrecy as possible.
Already, from the 15th, Queen Caroline had been sending each night to the Palazzo Sessa boxes and bundles of every description for transfer to Nelson's flagship. Emma sat up till daybreak, receiving and repacking everything from a fortune in diamonds to nappies for the royal babies.
The flight was fixed for the night of Friday 21st. But recently the weather had broken, and on the Friday morning such a storm blew up that it was feared that it might be found impossible for the barges to convey the fugitives from the quay to Vanguard. During the day half a dozen contradictory messages reached the British Embassy from General Acton about possible postponement of the venture, but when evening came it was decided that the risk should be taken.
At half past eight Nelson landed at the Arsenal steps and proceeded to the palace by way of a long, subterranean tunnel. He then escorted the royal party and their principal courtiers back along the tunnel and transported them safely, but in sheeting rain, to his flagship. Roger, still in charge of the important documents he had saved from the Embassy files, went off in another boat an hour later. He had an awful tossing and was at length hauled aboard Vanguard soaked to the skin.
He found the decks piled with royal possessions that there had not as yet been time to stow away—pictures, furniture, statuary and innumerable bales and boxes. It looked as though Sir William's estimate, that they had succeeded in carrying off between two and three million pounds' worth of goods, might not be too high.
The great stern cabin was crowded with people. Queen Caroline was weeping in Emma's large, protecting arms; Nelson, behaving no longer like an Admiral but like a schoolboy besotted with calf-love, was exclaiming to everyone how courageous and angelic Emma was. The royal children were also in tears. General Acton, the Court Chamberlain Prince Belmonte, Prince Castel-cicala and the Austrian Count Thurn stood grouped in a corner, looking as glum as though they were about to be sent to the guillotine. A score of other notabilities, male and female, were seated on the deck, claspipg their most precious belongings which, at short notice, were all they had been able to bring with them. Some of them were already being seasick from the rolling of the vessel.