Lord Hood had now returned to England, and the command devolved on
Admiral Hotham. The affairs of the Mediterranean wore at this time a

gloomy aspect. The arts, as well as the arms of the enemy, were gaining
the ascendancy there. Tuscany concluded peace relying upon the faith of

France, which was, in fact, placing itself at her mercy. Corsica was in
danger. We had taken that island for ourselves, annexed it formally to

the crown of Great Britain, and given it a constitution as free as our
own. This was done with the consent of the majority of the inhabitants;

and no transaction between two countries was ever more fairly or
legitimately conducted: yet our conduct was unwise;--the island is large

enough to form an independent state, and such we should have made it,
under our protection, as long as protection might be needed; the

Corsicans would then have felt as a nation; but when one party had given
up the country to England, the natural consequence was that the other

looked to France. The question proposed to the people was, to which
would they belong? Our language and our religion were against us; our

unaccommodating manners, it is to be feared, still more so. The French
were better politicians. In intrigue they have ever been unrivalled; and

it now became apparent that, in spite of old wrongs, which ought never
to have been forgotten nor forgiven, their partisans were daily

acquiring strength. It is part of the policy of France, and a wise
policy it is, to impress upon other powers the opinion of its strength,

by lofty language: and by threatening before it strikes; a system which,
while it keeps up the spirit of its allies, and perpetually stimulates

their hopes, tends also to dismay its enemies. Corsica was now loudly
threatened. "The French, who had not yet been taught to feel their own

inferiority upon the seas, braved us in contempt upon that element."
They had a superior fleet in the Mediterranean, and they sent it out

with express orders to seek the English and engage them. Accordingly,
the Toulon fleet, consisting of seventeen ships of the line and five

smaller vessels, put to sea. Admiral Hotham received this information at
Leghorn, and sailed immediately in search of them. He had with him

fourteen sail of the line, and one Neapolitan seventy-four; but his
ships were only half-manned, containing but 7650 men, whereas the enemy

had 16,900. He soon came in sight of them: a general action was
expected; and Nelson, as was his custom on such occasions, wrote a hasty

letter to his wife, as that which might possibly contain his last
farewell. "The lives of all," said he, "are in the hand of Him who knows

best whether to preserve mine or not; my character and good name are in
my own keeping."

But however confident the French government might be of their naval
superiority, the officers had no such feeling; and after manoeuvring for

a day in sight of the English fleet, they suffered themselves to be
chased. One of their ships, the CA IRA, of eighty-four guns, carried

away her main and fore top-masts. The INCONSTANT frigate fired at the
disabled ship, but received so many shot that she was obliged to leave

her. Soon afterwards a French frigate took the CA IRA in tow; and the
SANS-CULOTTES, one hundred and twenty, and the JEAN BARRAS, seventy-

four, kept about gunshot distance on her weather bow. The AGAMEMNON
stood towards her, having no ship of the line to support her within

several miles. As she drew near, the CA IRA fired her stern guns so
truly, that not a shot missed some part of the ship; and latterly, the

masts were struck by every shot. It had been Nelson's intention not to
fire before he touched her stern; but seeing how impossible it was that

he should be supported, and how certainly the AGAMEMNON must be severely
cut up if her masts were disabled, he altered his plan according to the

occasion. As soon, therefore, as he was within a hundred yards of her
stern, he ordered the helm to be put a-starboard, and the driver and

after-sails to be brailed up and shivered; and, as the ship fell off,
gave the enemy her whole broadside. They instantly braced up the after-

yards, put the helm a-port, and stood after her again. This manoeuvre he
practised for two hours and a quarter, never allowing the CA IRA to get

a single gun from either side to bear on him; and when the French fired
their after-guns now, it was no longer with coolness and precision, for

every shot went far ahead. By this time her sails were hanging in
tatters, her mizen-top-mast, mizen-top-sail, and cross-jack-yards shot

away. But the frigate which had her in tow hove in stays, and got her
round. Both these French ships now brought their guns to bear, and

opened their fire. The AGAMEMNON passed them within half-pistol shot;
almost every shot passed over her, for the French had elevated their

guns for the rigging, and for distant firing, and did not think of
altering the elevation. As soon as the AGAMEMNON's after-guns ceased to

bear, she hove in stays, keeping a constant fire as she came round; and
being worked, said Nelson, with as much exactness as if she had been

turning into Spithead. On getting round, he saw that the Sans-Culottes,
which had wore, with many of the enemy's ships, was under his lee bow,

and standing to leeward. The admiral, at the same time, made the signal
for the van ships to join him. Upon this Nelson bore away, and prepared

to set all sail; and the enemy, having saved their ship, hauled close to
the wind, and opened upon him a distant and ineffectual fire. Only seven

of the AGAMEMNON's men were hurt--a thing which Nelson himself remarked
as wonderful: her sails and rigging were very much cut, and she had many

shots in her hull, and some between wind and water. The CA IRA lost 110
men that day, and was so cut up that she could not get a top-mast aloft

during the night.
At daylight on the following morning, the English ships were taken

aback with a fine breeze at N.W., while the enemy's fleet kept the
southerly wind. The body of their fleet was about five miles distant;

the CA IRA and the CENSEUR, seventy-four, which had her in tow, about
three and a half. All sail was made to cut these ships off; and as the

French attempted to save them, a partial action was brought on. The
AGAMEMNON was again engaged with her yesterday's antagonist; but she had

to fight on both sides the ship at the same time. The CA IRA and the
CENSEUR fought most gallantly: the first lost nearly 300 men, in

addition to her former loss; the last, 350. Both at length struck; and
Lieutenant Andrews, of the AGAMEMNON, brother to the lady to whom Nelson

had become attached in France, and, in Nelson's own words, "as gallant
an officer as ever stepped a quarter-deck," hoisted English colours on

board them both. The rest of the enemy's ships' behaved very ill. As
soon as these vessels had struck, Nelson went to Admiral Hotham and

proposed that the two prizes should be left with the ILLUSTRIOUS and
COURAGEUX, which had been crippled in the action, and with four

frigates, and that the rest of the fleet should pursue the enemy, and
follow up the advantage to the utmost. But his reply was--"We must be

contented: we have done very well."--"Now," said Nelson," had we taken
ten sail, and allowed the eleventh to escape, when it had been possible

to have got at her, I could never have called it well done. Goodall
backed me; I got him to write to the admiral; but it would not do. We

should have had such a day as, I believe, the annals of England never
produced." In this letter the character of Nelson fully manifests

itself. "I wish" said he, "to be an admiral, and in the command of the
English fleet: I should very soon either do much, or be ruined: my

disposition cannot bear tame and slow measures. Sure I am, had I
commanded on the 14th, that either the whole French fleet would have

graced my triumph, or I should have been in a confounded scrape." What
the event would have been, he knew from his prophetic feelings and his

own consciousness of power; and we also know it now, for Aboukir and
Trafalgar have told it.

The CA IRA and CENSEUR probably defended themselves with more
obstinacy in this action, from a persuasion that, if they struck, no

quarter would be given; because they had fired red-hot shot, and had
also a preparation sent, as they said, by the convention from Paris,

which seems to have been of the nature of the Greek fire; for it became
liquid when it was discharged, and water would not extinguish its

flames. This combustible was concealed with great care in the captured
ships; like the red-hot shot, it had been found useless in battle.