Ray
Here are a few bits and pieces of correspondence concerning the award of the Chelengk and how it got to Nelson. I'm sure there are many gaps, and some of it seems a little contrary.
I'm a little confused about whether Nelson received the actual Chelengk and pelisse on Dec 21st 1798, or whether he received it almost a year later - as he relates in a letter to Isaac Heard in November 1799. Perhaps someone could add more to clarify the journey of the award(s) to Naples/Palermo.
In chronological order:
Nicolas contains a translation (no date, although the content appears to be contemporary with the action) of the note delivered to Spencer Smith, His Majesty's Plenipotentiary at Constantinople, on the occasion of the award:
Quote:
"... it has been made known how much the Sublime Porte rejoiced... at the English Squadron in the White Sea having defeated the French squadron off Alexandria in Egypt. By recent accounts... of the Action, it appears now more positive that his Britannic Majesty's fleet has actually destroyed, by that Action, the best ships the French had in their possession. This joyful event, therefore laying this Empire under an obligation, and the service rendered by our much esteemed friend Admiral Nelson... his Imperial Majesty, the powerful, formidable, most magnificent Grand Signior, has destined as a present, in his Imperial name, to the said Admiral, a diamond Aigrette (Chelengk) and a sable fur, with broad sleeves; besides two thousand sequins to be distributed among the wounded of his crew. And as the English Minister is contstantly zealous to contribute... to the increase of friendship between the two Courts, it is hoped that he will not fail to make known this circumstance to his Court, and to solicit the permission of the powerful and most august King of England, for the said Admiral to put on and wear the said Aigrette and Pelise."
Jack Russell (Nelson and the Hamiltons) quotes Emma Lady Hamilton who, in typical style on the 27th October 1798, reports the expected arrival of the treasures to Nelson:
Quote:
"Your present is a pelicia or Gibelini with a feather for your hat of dymonds large and most magnificent and 2 thousand sechins for the wounded men and a letter to you from the Grand Signior God bless him. Their is a frigate sent of a purpose, we expect it here. I must see the present. How shall I look at it, smel it, taste it and touch it, put the pelisse over my shoulders, look in the glass and say Vivo il Turk; and by the express desire of his Imperial Majesty you are to wear these Badges of Honner, so we think it is an order he gives you for you are particularly desired to wear them; and his thanks to be given to all officers, God Bless, or Mahomet bless, the old Turk - I say no longer Turk but good Christian. The Queen says that after the English she loves the Turks and she as reason, for as to Viena the ministers deserve to be hanged, and if Naples is to be saved no thanks to the Emperor, for he is kindly leaving his father in the lurch..."
And Nelson writes in his letterbook, his thanks to 'His Excellency The Grand Vizier' from Naples on 16th December 1798:
Quote:
'Sir,
I am honoured by your Excellency's letter, delivered to me
by Kelim Effendi, for which, and your kind expressions of
regard, I sincerely thank you. I beg that your Excellency
will lay me at the feet of the Grand Signior, and express
what I feel for the great and singular Honour conferred upon
me, which I am sensible I owe to his Imperial goodness of
heart, and not to my deserts. When I first saw the French
Fleet, which, for near three months, I had in vain sought, I
prayed that, if our cause was just, I might be the happy instru-
ment of His punishment against unbelievers of the Supreme
only True God that if it was unjust, I might be killed. The
Almighty took the Battle into His own hand, and with His
power marked the Victory as the most astonishing that ever
was gained at sea : All glory be to God ! Amen ! Amen!
I cannot allow Kelim Effendi to depart without expressing
my thanks to him for the very able, dignified, and polite
manner in which he has executed his mission, and I beg leave
to recommend him to your Excellency's protection, as my dear
friend. That your Excellency may long live in health to
carry, by your wise councils, the glory of the Ottoman Empire
to the highest pitch of grandeur, is the sincere prayer of your
Excellency's most faithful servant,
NELSON.
I send my dear son-in-law Captain Nisbet, to carry Kelim
Effendi to Constantinople
Russell also relates the following about the visit of Kelim Effendi. Unfortunately he gives no reference:
Quote:
"That evening (21st Dec 1798) Nelson and the Hamiltons and Mrs. Cadogan left the Palazzo Sessa for the last time and went to a reception given by Kelim Effendi, the Emissary of the Grand Signior who had arrived with the Admiral's presents on the December 16th. The elderly Turk must have been astonished at his guests' behaviour. Having dismissed their servants and ordered the carriage to return in two hours to take them home to supper, they walked off on foot, leaving him bowing on the steps of his residence. They hurried down to the quay where Nelson's barge was waiting and were rowed out to the Vanguard..."
Lady Hamilton puts it this way in a letter to Charles Greville in January 1799:
Quote:
"On the 21st. at ten at night, Lord Nelson, Sir Wm. mother & self went out to pay a visit, sent all our servants a way & ordered them in 2 hours to come with the coach & order'd supper at home. When they were gone, we set off, walked to our boat & after 2 hours got to the Vanguard..."
Nelson from Palermo, 1st January 1799, mentions to Earl Spencer that he has received his 'Order of Merit' from Kelim Effendi (who leaves around the 7th January:)
Quote:
'... Kelim Effendi, a person holding the office similar to our Under-
secretary of State, who had been sent with my Order of
Merit; for, by the form of the investiture, that seems to me
the properest name to call it...'
Quote:
TO CAPTAIN NISBET, H. M. SLOOP BONNE CITOYENNE.
Vanguard, Palermo, 7th January, 1799.
'You are hereby required and directed to receive on board
his Majesty's Sloop, La Bonne Citoyenne, under your com-
mand, the Turkish Ambassador, Kelim Effendi, with his
dragoman and servants, and proceed, without a moment's loss
of time, to Constantinople...'
Spencer Smith reports the award to Nelson from Constantinople on 9th September, 1799. (Nicolas again. The reference says Vol. IV, p81 but I can't find it there, so is this date right?)
Quote:
"Your Lordship will find the Vizir’s dispatch accompanied by a translation carefully done under my eye; also, by an answer to a letter from Vice Admiral Lord Keith upon a part of the same subject; and last, though not least, by a rich diamond ornament, which, as a mark of unprecedented distinction, and attention to our usages, has been adapted to the form and purposes of a Badge of Knighthood ; and as such I comprehend your Lordship is expected to employ it. I have suggested that it may be entitled the Order of the Crescent.
Cramped as I am for the time necessary even to obey the Sultan’s command by means of the annexed dispatches, I cannot let this communication pass without addressing my very cordial congratulations upon the occasion. It is, indeed, matter of flattering recollection to me, after having it fall to my lot to be the first to convey to a Countryman that decoration (the Chelengk, or Plume of Triumph) which Ottoman grandeur had hitherto exclusively reserved for conquerors of their own race, that I should be charged to present the same Hero with a Civic crown for such may be considered the Emperor’s gift, which accompanies this. I hope you will long live to display, with honest pride, these genuine Badges
of Merit, and that after the one and the other have successively passed through my hands, I may again see them united upon the person of the first Knight of the Crescent."
Soon afterwards Nelson writes about it to Sir Isaac Heard, Garter of the King's Arms.
Quote:
Palermo, November 1st, 1799.
My dear Sir,
I am not certain that I answered your kind congratulatory letter
on my elevation to the Peerage if not, I beg your pardon, and
probably deferred it at the moment, in expectation of receiving
the plan of the Arms you sent to Lord Grenville, but which has
never reached me. I should be much obliged to you for them,
but now I suppose the Ducal Arms of Bronte must have a
place. If His Majesty approves of my taking the Title of
Bronte, I must have your opinion how I am to sign my name.
At present I describe myself ‘ Lord Nelson, Duke of Bronte
in Sicily.’ As the Pelises given to me and Sir Sidney Smith
are novel, I must beg you will turn in your mind how I am
to wear it when I first go to the King ; and, as the Aigrette
is directed to be worn, where am I to put it ? In my hat, having
only one arm, is impossible, as I must have my hand at liberty ;
therefore, I think, on my outward garment. I shall have
much pleasure in putting myself into your management, for,
believe me, dear Sir, your most obliged servant,
BRONTE NELSON.
I have just received the Imperial Order of the Crescent
from the Grand Signior, a diamond Star ; in the centre, the
Crescent and a small Star.'
Perhaps the 'Chelengk/Aigrette/Plume of Triumph' and 'Order of Merit' are different things - badge and hat plume? Maybe that accounts for the apparent receipt of two awards from the Grand Signior almost a year apart.
Just an additional thought. Some histories relate that on Nelson's return to England in November 1800, and at his first presentation at court, the King turned his back because Nelson wore his foreign decorations without having permission to do so. Given that Spencer Smith was requested to solicit permission for Nelson to wear the award as far back as 1798, and Nelson himself clearly asked for official guidance on the matter as early as November 1799, could that really be the reason for the King's snubbing him? And if Nelson needed two arms to control it (?), did he ever actually wear the Aigrette in his hat in public?