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The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson-Part40_Robert Southey(1774-1843)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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But if the Spanish court had been independent, it would have become us



to have delivered Dumanoir and his captains up to Spain, that they might

have been brought to trial, and hanged in sight of the remains of the



Spanish fleet.

The total British loss in the battle of Trafalgar amounted to 1587.



Twenty of the enemy struck; but it was not possible to anchor the fleet,

as Nelson had enjoined. A gale came on from the S.W., some of the prizes



went down, some went on shore; one effected its escape into Cadiz;

others were destroyed; four only were saved, and those by the greatest



exertions. The wounded Spaniards were sent ashore, an assurance being

given that they should not serve till regularly exchanged; and the



Spaniards, with a generous feeling, which would not perhaps have been

found in any other people, offered the use of their hospitals for our



wounded, pledging the honour of Spain that they should be carefully

attended there. When the storm, after the action, drove some of the



prizes upon the coast, they declared that the English who were thus

thrown into their hands should not be considered as prisoners of war;



and the Spanish soldiers gave up their own beds to their shipwrecked

enemies. The Spanish vice-admiral, Alva, died of his wounds. Villeneuve



was sent to England, and permitted to return to France. The French

Government say that he destroyed himself on the way to Paris, dreading



the consequences of a court-martial; but there is every reason to

believe that the tyrant, who never acknowledged the loss of the battle



of Trafalgar, added Villeneuve to the numerous victims of his murderous

policy.



It is almost superfluous to add, that all the honours which a

grateful country could bestow were heaped upon the memory of Nelson. His



brother was made an earl, with a grant of L6000 a year. L10,000 were

voted to each of his sisters; and L100,000 for the purchase of an



estate. A public funeral was decreed, and a public monument. Statues and

monuments also were voted by most of our principal cities. The leaden



coffin in which he was brought home was cut in pieces, which were

distributed as relics of Saint Nelson,--so the gunner of the VICTORY



called them; and when, at his internment, his flag was about to be

lowered into the grave, the sailors who assisted at the ceremony with



one accord rent it in pieces, that each might preserve a fragment while

he lived.



The death of Nelson was felt in England as something more than a

public calamity; men started at the intelligence, and turned pale, as if



they had heard of the loss of a dear friend. An object of our admiration

and affection, of our pride and of our hopes, was suddenly taken from



us; and it seemed as if we had never, till then, known how deeply we

loved and reverenced him. What the country had lost in its great naval



hero--the greatest of our own, and of all former times--was scarcely

taken into the account of grief. So perfectly, indeed, had he performed



his part, that the maritime war, after the battle of Trafalgar, was

considered at an end: the fleets of the enemy were not merely defeated



but destroyed; new navies must be built, and a new race of seamen reared

for them, before the possibility of their invading our shores could



again be contemplated. It was not, therefore, from any selfish

reflection upon the magnitude of our loss that we mourned for him: the



general sorrow was of a higher character. The people of England grieved

that funeral ceremonies, and public monuments, and posthumous rewards,



were all which they could now bestow upon him, whom the king, the

legislature, and the nation would have alike delighted to honour; whom



every tongue would have blessed; whose presence in every village through

which he might have passed would have wakened the church bells, have



given schoolboys a holiday, have drawn children from their sports to

gaze upon him, and "old men from the chimney corner" to look upon Nelson



ere they died. The victory of Trafalgar was celebrated, indeed, with the

usual forms of rejoicing, but they were without joy; for such already



was the glory of the British navy, through Nelson's surpassing genius,

that it scarcely seemed to receive any addition from the most signal



victory that ever was achieved upon the seas: and the destruction of

this mighty fleet, by which all the maritime schemes of France were



totally frustrated, hardly appeared to add to our security or strength;

for, while Nelson was living, to watch the combined squadrons of the



enemy, we felt ourselves as secure as now, when they were no longer in

existence.



There was reason to suppose, from the appearances upon opening the




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