New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-02-14
A Dlsreputa BILE Chapter.

Bismarck D. T., January 81, 1878.
A Dlsreputable Chapter.
Among the splendid collection of auto
graphs which enriches the British Museum
is one which few persons, familiar with the
history involved therein, can look at with
out mingled smile and sigh. 1t is an un
finished letter from Lord Nelson to Lady
Hamilton. Victory and death prevented its
completion, for it bears date October 81
l505'-the day of Trafalgar. At the bottom
of the sheet, in a hand so excited and
tremulous that it is scarcely legible, are
these words:
Found on his desk and brought to Lady
Hamilton by Sir Thomas Hardy.
20, miserable and wretched Emma, 0!
happy and glorious Nelson"
The scandals pertaining to the era of
George w., recently resurrected in the
posthumous memoirs of Mr.. Greville, and
likely to receive fresh impetus from the
republication of the now well advertised
$4,000 book" have a curious sidelight
thrown on them by the associations con
published. Ss
Emma Harte Hamilton was b. means
a strictly virtuous woman, but g was de-
cidedly more virtu0us than any of the
numerous members of the harem of "the
first gentleman of Europe" No matter
what she had been or what she was, Nelson
loved her with a frantic passion which
amounted to idolatry; nor is there any
doubt that this love stimulated the ambi.
sailor, and thereby aided in the accomplish
ment of those deeds to which England owes
the sovereignty of the seas. Moreover, it
is an historical fact that when Lady
Hamilton was residing with her hus.
band at the court of Naples-when
Sir William was then British minister-she
used her influence with the queen to pro.
cure the necessary permits for the English
fleet to land at Sicily and take on board
certain necessary stores: and also that she
advanced large sum of money-we believe
$4,000 or EGO ,0O0-out OF her own purse to
purchase these stores. Without this indu.
ence and assistance Nelson could have
done nothing; with them he was enabled to
go to Egypt and destroy the French fleet at
the battle of the Nile. In his last will,
written the day before Trafalgar, he states
what we have just narrated, and cOmmends
Lady Hamilton to the gratitude and pro-
lection OF his country.
Now we do not say that the Parliament of
England was in duty bound to treat Lady
Hamilton as if she had never viola ted the
emphatically say that the Parliament of
England was in honor bound to pay .her
back, with interest, the money she had
advanced for England's glory. But not a
single penny did she ever receive, either of
principal or interest. The sublimated viz.
tue OF the lords and commons would not
permit them to liquidate an honest debt
bequeathed to the government by the
dying Nelson, because, forsooth, the person
to whom the debt was owing could not
claim to be an honest woman! And at that
very time, lei it be borne in mind, Gen
tlelnan George" then prince regent, was
keeping whole bevy of concubines and
drawing the necessary funds from the
public treasury! At that very time, too,
more than one peer who turned up right.
eOus nose at poor Lady Hamilton, was
winking at and deriving emoluments from
the shame Of some female Of his family who
had caught the fancy of the sultan who
reigned at Windsor At that very time, too.
the Duke of Wellington was the ''frlend"
Of Harriet Wilson, as he was afterwards of
Mrs. Arbuthnot, and hardly single mem
Der of the government was not openly and
violator of marriage vows
At that time too, the Duke of Clarence
afterwards William Twas living with
Mrs. JOrGon and raising the brood of chill
lren who, when their father came to the
hrone, we're neatly engrafted into the
British aristocracy and fed and clothed out
VI the British pocket! But not farthing
could be had for the wretched woman who,
With ali her sins and shortcomings, was i'm
neasurably the superior in mind and
morals of the men who drove her to starva-
ion.
Starvation is not mere figure of speech
,ere. 1t is literal and damnlng truth. As
,ur readers are aware, the brother OF Mel
On-Rev. William Nelson, an impecunious
clergyman OF the established church-was
made an earl by the British government,
md endowed with a fortune proportionate
o his rank. The graceless fellow, who,
While Nelson was alive, was proud to sit |
It Lady Hamilton's table, and even
eut his daughters under her roof |
Ter example cooliy turned his sa-
red back upon his benefactress the mo-
nent Nelson's death was announced. Not
shilling could she get from the right noble |
arl; Parliament repudiated its obligations |
S already noticed, and she had no pc.
uniary resources to fall back upon. What |
ould she do9 What did she do! She lived |
n the charity of few friends until that |
7as exhausted by repeated demands, and |
hen she pawned one after another the |
rtices which had been given her by her
nth the whole Of tine fatal bullet still |
isible on the shoulder: the Trafalgar vest,
till stained with Nelson's hearts blood
9th these precious relies, now iealously |
al Greenwich hospital, went to
NV bread for the luckess woman whose
harms and whose genius had once made
heir influence felt in the politics of Eu-
Dpe. But her debts increased in spite of
il these desperate efforts, and she was
naliy obliged to leave the country and
AXE refuge at Calais. IL that town,
few years later. an English gen.
Ieman was one day buying food for
is iavorite spaniel. The butcher who sold
said, ''Ah, sir; there Is a poor woman
wing near by who would be glad to have
he meat you are purchasing for your dog"
ne gentleman made inquiries and found
lat the starving creature was none other
nan Lady Hamilton. 1t is to be presumed
Ia. he extended at least as much aid to
er as he would have done to an ordinary
eggar, but be that as it may, she died
OF long afterward-in lSl6-in most
beet poverty. and was buried in
pauper's grave, no one knows where.
Re may also remark, by way of fitting
imax to this sad story, that Earl Nelson
astened over to Calais as soon as he heard
Lady Hamilton's death, and claimed
i'd carried away all the trinkets. papers,
c.. she had kept to the last. Then this
nest and peer went home, we suppose, and
1eeling down, thanked God he was not
other men are, even this publican"
ow terribly prophetic were the words
rawled by her trembling pen on Nelson's
- letter: "Oh. miserable and wretched
NINA. Louis REPUBLICAN,.