and for its great professional truths. "The business of an English Commander-in-Chief," was, he said, "first to bring an Enemy's Fleet to Battle, on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his Ships close on board the Enemy, as expeditiously as possible;) and secondly, to continue them there, without separating, until the business is decided." . . . ." If the two Fleets are both willing to fight, but little manoeuvring is necessary; the less the better;-a day is soon lost in that business."

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Signals from these moments are useless, when every man is disposed to do his duty. The great object is for us to support each other, and to keep close to the Enemy, and to leeward of him. If the Enemy are running away, then the only signals necessary will be to engage the Enemy as arriving up with them." On the success of his Plan depended, he truly added, "not only the honour and glory of our Country, but possibly its safety, and with it, that of all Europe, from French tyranny and oppression."

On the 4th of June, the Squadron arrived at Barbadoes, and finding it to be the general opinion that the Enemy intended to attack Tobago and Trinidad, and being informed by General Brereton that they had passed St. Lucia in the night of the 28th of May, he accepted Lieutenant-General Sir William Myers's offer to embark two thousand troops for the relief of those Islands, and sailed on the following day, in the full confidence of a Battle. "I hope," he observed, "that my

next letter will be worth all I have hitherto wrote." On approaching Tobago the Squadron prepared for Battle, but the Enemy were not there; and a Vessel having, by mistake, made the signal for their being at Trinidad, LORD NELSON hastened thither. He was, however, again disappointed; for the Combined Fleet had never been off St. Lucia, but had gone to Martinique, whence they returned to Europe. Information of the arrival of the Enemy at Martinique reached LORD NELSON on the 8th of June; the troops were disembarked at Antigua; and in the forenoon of the 13th, the Squadron was on its way towards the Straits of Gibraltar.

LORD NELSON'S vexation at having been misled by General Brereton's report, was unbounded. To the Duke of Clarence he said "Your Royal Highness will easily conceive the misery I am feeling at having hitherto missed the French Fleet. ... But for that false information, I should have been off Fort Royal as they were putting to sea, and our Battle, most probably, would have been fought on the spot where the brave Rodney beat De Grasse." In his other Letters, which are nearly filled with the subject, he said "I have no reason to blame Dame Fortune: if either General Brereton could not have wrote, or his look-out man had been blind, nothing could have prevented my fighting them on the 6th of June."" There would have been no occasion for opinions, had not General Brereton sent his d-d intelligence from St. Lucia; nor would I have received

it, to have acted by it, but I was assured that his information was very correct. It has almost broke my heart, but I must not despair."-"I am, as you may readily believe, very, very unhappy at not having got at the Enemy: they were missed by General Brereton's unlucky information; but I shall be close after them in Europe, and when I have housed them, I shall certainly instantly return to England: I want rest."-" You will lament the unfortunate intelligence from General Brereton, which led me a wrong road, or June 6th would have been a fighting day for me, and, I trust, a glorious one for our Country. However, I must not despair of getting up with them before they enter the Straits."-" Saw three planks, which I think came from the French Fleet. Very miserable, which is very foolish!" On reaching Cape Spartel, he wrote in his Diary-" Cape Spartel in sight, but no French Fleet, nor any information about them: how sorrowful this makes me; but I cannot help myself!" To his friend Vice-Admiral Collingwood, off Cadiz, he said " I am, as you may suppose, miserable at not having fallen in with the Enemy's Fleet, and I am almost increased in sorrow in not finding them. The name of General Brereton will not soon be forgot: but for his false information, the Battle would have been fought where Rodney fought his, on June 6th. I must now only hope that the Enemy have not tricked me, and gone to Jamaica. The moment the Fleet is watered, and got some refreshments, of which we are in great want, I shall come out and make you a visit-not, my

dear friend, to take your Command from you, (for I may probably add mine to you,) but to consult how we can best serve our Country, by detaching a part of this large force."-"I am, my dear Mr. Marsden, as completely miserable as my greatest enemy could wish me; but I neither blame fortune, or my own judgment. Oh, General Brereton! General Brereton!" But it was to his confidential friend Mr. Davison, that he expressed his feelings most fully:-"I am as miserable as you can conceive. But for General Brereton's d-d information, NELSON would have been, living or dead, the greatest man in his Profession that England ever saw. Now, alas! I am nothing-perhaps shall incur censure for misfortunes which may happen, and have happened. When I follow my own head, I am, in general, much more correct in my judgment, than following the opinion of others. I resisted the opinion of General Brereton's information till it would have been the height of presumption to have carried my disbelief further. I could not, in the face of Generals and Admirals, go N.W., when it was apparently clear that the Enemy had gone South. But I am miserable."

The Squadron arrived at Gibraltar on the 19th of July, and the next day LORD NELSON went on shore, which was, he says, "the first time since the 16th of June, 1803, and from having my foot out of the Victory, two years wanting ten days." He sailed on the 23rd of July; and being informed in the morning of the 25th,

that the Combined Fleet had been seen steering to the Northward, he instantly bent his course for Ushant.

No other observations are necessary in explanation of the contents of this Volume, except to remark that the "Letter-Book" and "Order-Book," from which so many documents have been taken, end—the former on the 6th of October, and the latter on the 15th of November, 1804. That there were similar Books of a much later date, is certain; but they have not fallen into the Editor's hands.

He has the pleasure of being able to add, that LORD NELSON'S Letters to the first Earl Spencer have been obligingly communicated to him by the present Earl, to whom he begs leave to offer his best thanks for so valuable a contribution. Those Letters, with numerous others (and some of them of the highest interest) that reached him too late for insertion in their proper places, will be found in the Seventh and last Volume, which will be published about the beginning of April.

Torrington Square,

21st February, 1846.