The Rising Storm

the friend­ship of General Acton.'

Roger knew that Sir William referred to the Neapolitan Prime Minister, but knowing nothing of the General's history, he committed the faux pas of remarking: 'It must certainly have been a great asset to you, sir, that King Ferdinand should have chosen an Englishman for his principal councillor.'

Sir William raised a humorous grey eyebrow. ' 'Tis stretching something of a long bow to term him that; for he is half French, was born in France, educated there, and has spent the whole of his adult life in Italy.'

'I pray you forgive me, sir,' Roger said, with a slight flush. 'But this is my first visit to Naples and I am abysmally ignorant of Neapolitan affairs.'

'Then I had best tell you something of them,' smiled Sir William; 'at least to the extent of a few brief details about the people you will have to meet, and on whom the success or failure of your mission hinges. John Acton has carved out a fine career for himself, as his father was no more than a physician. He was travelling in France with the father of Mr. Edward Gibbon and on their coming to Besancon he decided that it would be a good place in which to settle and establish a practice. He married a French lady, and John was born a year or so afterwards. John's uncle had some influence at the Court of Florence, and at his suggestion the boy entered the Tuscan navy. His big chance did not come until he was nearly forty. It was in '75. Spain and Tuscany sent a joint expedition against the pirates of Algiers and the affair proved a serious disaster; but John, who had command of a frigate, performed prodigies of valour in the retreat and from that point received rapid promotion.'

Sir William paused a moment, before going on: 'You should also know that Queen Caroline has a very strong personality. She is extremely ambitious and by no means uninclined to gallantry. At that time her favourite was Prince Caramanico, and knowing her desire to make Naples a stronger power the Prince suggested to her that she should get John Acton to reorganize the Neapolitan navy. The Queen induced her brother, the Grand Duke, to part with his most promising sailor, and Acton was made King Ferdinand's Minister of Marine. He achieved such rapid progress in his task that he was asked to also undertake the reorganization of the army, and given a second portfolio as Minister of War.

'He has, of course performed miracles. When he came here ten years ago the Neapolitan navy was practically non-existent and the army numbered less than fifteen thousand men; whereas now Naples can send a fleet of one hundred and twenty sail to sea and put sixty thousand men in the field. But such feats cost money and quite early in the game John's demands practically emptied the Neapolitan treasury. To that only one answer could be found; they gave him a third portfolio and made him Minister of Finance.'

Roger began to laugh, and Sir William smiled back at him. 'By that time Prince Caramanico was in something of the position of a bird that has inadvertently imported a cuckoo's egg into its own nest. But the little monster had hatched out, so it was too late to do anything about it. However, Acton pushed him out of the nest quite gently. He got him sent as Ambassador to London. Then he had himself appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Neapolitan Forces by Land and Sea, and Prime Minister.'

'All that, I take it, sir, was by favour of the Queen ?' Roger enquired.

'By that and his own great abilities. It has always been her ambition to have a voice in the councils of Europe; but a voice unbacked by force is as one crying in the wilderness. Naples is by nature a small and poor State. When she came here it was accounted insignificant. But in General Acton she found a man who could make Naples, if not feared, at least well worth courting. So they have good reason to be pleased with one another.'

'Am I right in supposing, sir, that His Majesty concerns himself only with his own pleasures?'

Sir William nodded. 'His tutor, Bernardo Tanucci, sought to gain a permanent hold over him by initiating him into vice when he was still a boy; and even took him to such low haunts as the public stews. Queen Caroline soon got rid of Tanucci, but the King has never lost his taste for low company. Although he is now thirty-eight his mentality is still that of a boy of fourteen. He likes to think of himself as an Haroun al Raschid, and often goes about the city with a few of his cronies in disguise; but disguised so thinly as to ensure recognition, so that he may enjoy his favourite sport of playing the King among the beggars.'

Roger recalled that Isabella had said something about Ferdinand having been nicknamed El Rey de Lazzarone. He had not understood the inference at the time, but Sir William was continuing:

'As you must have seen, there are thousands of idle vagabonds about the city. They are known as the Lazzarone, and live almost entirely by petty crime; but they enjoy extraordinary licence, and no official dare bring them to book, as the King himself is the chief of their Guild, and they enjoy his special protection. When he is not clowning with them, he is either making childish attempts to deceive the Queen while pursuing some woman, or engaged in 'Nimrodical expeditions', as he terms the big shooting parties that are another passion of his, from his country palace at Caserta.'

'It seems then, from what you tell me, sir, unlikely that His Majesty will have much say in the deciding of my business.'

'If the Queen and General Acton are favourably inclined you may count it as good as done. But the King will have to be consulted; as, in the last event, should they receive the Dauphin here, and later refuse a peremptory demand for his return by the new National Government of France, that might involve Naples in war.'

'Think you the French would really go to such lengths, sir?'

'They might; although the greater probability is that it would beget no more than ill-feeling between the two States. But 'tis that which interests me so greatly in your project. General Acton quite rightly places the interests of Naples before all else, although his English blood naturally inclines him favourably towards us. The Queen, as a daughter of Maria Theresa, has a natural bias towards Austria. So the present alliance of Naples with France and Spain is in opposition to the sentiments of both. Moreover, I am in the happy position of enjoying a far greater degree of their confidence than are the Ambassadors of France and Spain, so able to take the best advantage of any new turn in the diplomatic situation which may offer. If your mission is successful it may well create one, and give me just the chance I need. On grounds of sentiment alone, it should not be difficult to persuade Queen Caroline to give asylum to her nephew, and if she once does so she is far too proud and stubborn a woman ever to give him up. Should serious friction with France result on that account I feel confident that I could detach Naples from her old alliance and bring about a new one between her, Austria and Britain.'

'I pray that events may enable you to do so, sir,' Roger said, smiling.

Sir William stood up, beckoned him across to the big window, and waved a well-manicured hand towards the magnificent panorama of the bay.

'Let your eyes dwell there, Mr. Brook,' he said with sudden seriousness. 'As mine have done for twenty-five long years. You can forget John Acton's army and navy. In creating them he has served his mistress to the best of his ability; but the army is a rabble that would run at the very sight of my old regiment of Foot Guards, and it needs more than fisherfolk dressed as tars to make a navy. But the bay's the thing.'

The elderly dilettante laid a friendly hand on Roger's shoulder, and went on: 'You are too young to have played a part in the wars that near destroyed us in the '70s, and you were still in your cradle when Clive won Plassey and Wolfe Quebec. But for fourteen of the best years of my life we have been at war with the French, and I've not a doubt that we've yet to fight them again. Malmesbury, Ewart, Murray Keith, Eden, Dorset, Elliot, all my colleagues who have had the luck to represent their King in more important capitals than myself, think the same. And when it comes Britain must stand or fall, as she has always done, by sea-power. If war broke out next week Naples would become a French fleet-base. Just look at it. 'Tis the finest harbour in the Mediter­ranean—nay, 'tis the finest harbour in the world. But if we could stymie the French! If we could break their hold by a piece of skilful diplomacy, eh? Think of an English squadron lying there! It would dominate the whole of the western Mediterranean. Britain needs that bay. God grant me a few years yet to conclude the task that my heart has so long been set upon. Britain has got to have that bay.'

For a moment they stood there in silence, looking down on the vast lagoon. In four more years, almost to the day, Sir William Hamilton —the man whom Whitehall had forgotten for so long—was to see his heart's desire realized. He was to stand at that very window, with a promising young Captain named Nelson beside him, gazing with pride and joy at a British squadron being revictualled by the ally he had won for his country.

But his triumph was still part of the unknown future, and with a sudden return to his light, affable manner, he said: 'I trust you'll join me in a glass of wine, Mr. Brook, and tell me the latest news of the terrible disturbances that now convulse France.'

Roger spent a further hour with him, then as he rose to take his leave Sir William said: 'It is my loss that you have friends in Naples to whom you have already engaged yourself to dine; but I must insist that you have your things sent round from Crocielles and make the Palazzo Sessa