not submitpatiently, and that he was a broken-hearted man. From the
time of his return from Egypt, amid all the honours which were showered

upon him, he had suffered many mortifications. Sir Sidney Smith had been
sent to Egypt with orders to take under his command the squadron which

Nelson had left there. Sir Sidney appears to have thought that this
command was to be independent of Nelson; and Nelson himself thinking so,

determined to return, saying to Earl St. Vincent, "I do feel, for I am a
man, that it is impossible for me to serve in these seas with a squadron

under a junior officer." Earl St. Vincent seems to have dissuaded him
from this resolution: some heart-burnings, however, still remained, and

some incautious expressions of Sir Sidney's were noticed by him in terms
of evidentdispleasure. But this did not continue long, as no man bore

more willingtestimony than Nelson to the admirable defence of Acre.
He differed from Sir Sidney as to the policy which ought to be

pursued toward the French in Egypt; and strictly commanded him, in the
strongest language, not, on any pretence, to permit a single Frenchman

to leave the country, saying that he considered it nothing short of
madness to permit that band of thieves to return to Europe. "No," said

he, "to Egypt they went with their own consent, and there they shall
remain while Nelson commands this squadron; for never, never, will he

consent to the return of one ship or Frenchman. I wish them to perish in
Egypt, and give an awful lesson to the world of the justice of the

Almighty." If Nelson had not thoroughly understood the character of the
enemy against whom he was engaged, their conduct in Egypt would have

disclosed it. After the battle of the Nile he had landed all his
prisoners, upon a solemnengagement made between Troubridge on one side

and Captain Barre on the other, that none of them should serve until
regularly exchanged. They were no sooner on shore than part of them were

drafted into the different regiments, and the remainder formed into a
corps, called the Nautic Legion. This occasioned Captain Hallowell to

say that the French had forfeited all claim to respect from us. "The
army of Buonaparte," said he, "are entirely destitute of every principle

of honour: they have always acted like licentious thieves." Buonaparte's
escape was the more regretted by Nelson, because, if he had had

sufficient force, he thought it would certainly have been prevented. He
wished to keep ships upon the watch to intercept anything coming from

Egypt; but the Admiralty calculated upon the assistance of the Russian
fleet, which failed when it was most wanted. The ships which should have

been thus employed were then required for more pressing services;and the
bloody Corsican was thus enabled to reach Europe in safety; there to

become the guiltyinstrument of a wider-spreading destruction than any
with which the world had ever before been visited.

Nelson had other causes of chagrin. Earl St. Vincent, for whom he
felt such high respect, and whom Sir John Orde had challenged for having

nominated Nelson instead of himself to the command of the Nile squadron,
laid claim to prize money, as commander-in-chief, after he had quitted

the station. The point was contested, and decided against him. Nelson,
perhaps, felt this the more, because his own feelings, with regard to

money, were so different. An opinion had been given by Dr. Lawrence,
which would have excluded the junior flag-officers from prize-money.

When this was made known to him, his reply was in these words:
"Notwithstanding Dr. Lawrence's opinion, I do not believe I have any

right to exclude the junior flag-officers; and if I have, I desire that
no such claim may be made: no, not if it were sixty times the sum--and,

poor as I am, I were never to see prize-money."
A ship could not be spared to convey him to England; he therefore

travelled through Germany to Hamburgh, in company with his inseparable
friends, Sir William and Lady Hamilton. The Queen of Naples went with

them to Vienna. While they were at Leghorn, upon a report that the
French were approaching (for, through the folly of weak courts and the

treachery of venal cabinets, they had now recovered their ascendancy in
Italy), the people rose tumultuously, and would fain have persuaded

Nelson to lead them against the enemy. Public honours, and yet more
gratifying testimonials of public admiration, awaited Nelson wherever he

went. The Prince of Esterhazy entertained him in a style of Hungarian
magnificence--a hundred grenadiers, each six feet in height,

constantly waiting at table. At Madgeburgh, the master of the hotel
where he was entertained contrived to show him for money--admitting the

curious to mount a ladder, and peep at him through a small window. A
wine merchant at Hamburgh, who was above seventy years of age, requested

to speak with Lady Hamilton; and told her he had some Rhenish wine, of
the vintage of 1625, which had been in his own possession more than

half-a-century: he had preserved it for some extraordinary occasion; and
that which had now arrived was far beyond any that he could ever have

expected. His request was, that her ladyship would prevail upon Lord
Nelson to accept six dozen of this incomparable wine: part of it would

then have the honour to flow into the heart's blood of that immortal
hero; and this thought would make him happy during the remainder of his

life. Nelson, when this singular request was reported to him, went into
the room, and taking the worthy old gentleman kindly by the hand,

consented to receive six bottles, provided the donor would dine with him
next day. Twelve were sent; and Nelson, saying that he hoped yet to win

half-a-dozen more great victories, promised to lay by six bottles of his
Hamburgh friend's wine, for the purpose of drinking one after each. A

German pastor, between seventy and eighty years of age, travelled forty
miles, with the Bible of his parish church, to request that Nelson would

write his name on the first leaf of it. He called him the Saviour of the
Christian world. The old man's hope deceived him. There was no Nelson

upon shore, or Europe would have been saved; but in his foresight of
the horrors with which all Germany and all Christendom were threatened

by France, the pastor could not possibly have apprehended more than has
actually taken place.

CHAPTER VII
1800 - 1801

Nelson separates himself from his Wife--Northern Confederacy--
He goes to the Baltic, under Sir Hyde Parker--Battle of

Copenhagen, and subsequent Negotiation--Nelson is made a Viscount.
*

NELSON was welcomed in England with every mark of popular honour. At
Yarmouth, where he landed, every ship in the harbour hoisted her

colours. The mayor and corporation waited upon him with the freedom of
the town, and accompanied him in procession to church, with all the

naval officers on shore, and the principal inhabitants. Bonfires and
illuminations concluded the day; and on the morrow, the volunteer

cavalry drew up, and saluted him as he departed, and followed the
carriage to the borders of the county. At Ipswich, the people came out

to meet him, drew him a mile into the town, and three miles out. When he
was in the AGAMEMNON, he wished to represent this place in parliament,

and some of his friends had consulted the leading men of the
corporation--the result was not successful; and Nelson, observing that

he would endeavour to find out a preferable path into parliament, said
there might come a time when the people of Ipswich would think it an

honour to have had him for their representative. In London, he was
feasted by the City, drawn by the populace from Ludgate-hill to

Guildhall, and received the thanks of the common-council for his great
victory, and a golden-hilted sword studded with diamonds. Nelson had

every earthlyblessing except domestic happiness; he had forfeited that
for ever. Before he had been three months in England he separated from

Lady Nelson. Some of his last words to her were--"I call God to witness,
there is nothing in you, or your conduct, that I wish otherwise." This

was the consequence of his infatuated attachment to Lady Hamilton. It
had before caused a quarrel with his son-in-law, and occasioned

remonstrances from his truest friends, which produced no other effect
than that of making him displeased with them, and more dissatisfied with

himself.
The Addington administration was just at this time formed; and

Nelson, who had solicited employment, and been made vice-admiral of the
blue, was sent to the Baltic, as second in command, under Sir Hyde

Parker, by Earl St. Vincent, the new First Lord of the Admiralty. The
three Northern courts had formed a confederacy for making England resign

her naval rights. Of these courts, Russia was guided by the passions of
its emperor, Paul, a man not without fits of generosity, and some

natural goodness, but subject to the wildest humours of caprice, and
erased by the possession of greater power than can ever be safely, or

perhaps innocently, possessed by weak humanity. Denmark was French at
heart: ready to co-operate in all the views of France, to recognise all

her usurpations, and obey all her injunctions. Sweden, under a king
whose principles were right, and whose feelings were generous, but who

had a taint of hereditaryinsanity, acted in acquiescence with the
dictates of two powers whom it feared to offend. The Danish navy, at

this time, consisted of 23 ships of the line, with about 31 frigates and