The Traveller Touches An
Interesting Source Of Biography When He Refers To The Englishman
Called Acton, Formerly An East India Company Captain, Now
Commander Of The Emperor's Tuscan Navy, Consisting Of "A Few
Frigates." This Worthy Was The Old Commodore Whom Gibbon Visited
In Retirement At Leghorn.
The commodore was brother of Gibbon's
friend, Dr. Acton, who was settled at Besancon, where his noted
son, afterwards Sir John Acton, was born in 1736.
Following in
the footsteps of his uncle the commodore, who became a Catholic,
Smollett tells us, and was promoted Admiral of Tuscany, John
Acton entered the Tuscan Marine in 1775.
[Sir John Acton's subsequent career belongs to history. His
origin made him an expert on naval affairs, and in 1776 he
obtained some credit for an expedition which he commanded against
the Barbary pirates. In 1778 Maria Carolina of Naples visited her
brother Leopold at Florence, and was impressed by Acton's
ugliness and reputation for exceptional efficiency. Her favourite
minister, Prince Caramanico, persuaded the Grand Duke, Leopold,
to permit Acton to exchange into the Neapolitan service, and
reorganize the navy of the southern kingdom. This actually came
to pass, and, moreover, Acton played his cards so well that he
soon engrossed the ministries of War and Finance, and after the
death of Caracciolo, the elder, also that of Foreign Affairs. Sir
William Hamilton had a high opinion of the" General," soon to
become Field-Marshal. He took a strong part in resistance to
revolutionary propaganda, caused to be built the ships which
assisted Nelson in 1795, and proved himself one of the most
capable bureaucrats of the time.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 59 of 535
Words from 15825 to 16095
of 143308
