forcing it... Fortune would have hesitated longer between the two
fleets, and not have borne in the end so heavily against ours, if
Brueys, meeting Nelson half way, could have gone out to fight him.
This fettered and timid war, which Villaret and Martin had carried on,
had lasted long, thanks to the circumspection of some English admirals
and the traditions of the old tactics. It was with these traditions
that the battle of the Nile had broken; the hour for decisive action
had come." (1)

----
1. Jurion de la Graviere: Guerres Maritimes.
----

Some years later came Trafalgar, and again the government of France
took up a new policy with the navy. The author last quoted speaks
again:--

"The emperor, whose eagle glance traced plans of campaign for his
fleets as for his armies, was wearied by these unexpected reverses. He
turned his eyes from the one field of battle in which fortune was
faithless to him, and decided to pursue England elsewhere than upon
the seas; he undertook to rebuild his navy, but without giving it any
part in the struggle which became snore furious than ever...
Nevertheless, far from slackening, the activity of our dock-yards
redoubled. Every year ships-of-the-line were either laid down or added
to the fleet. Venice and Genoa, under his control, saw their old
splendors rise again, and from the shores of the Elbe to the head of
the Adriatic all the ports of the continent emulously seconded the
creative thought of the emperor. Numerous squadrons were assembled in
the Scheldt, in Brest Roads, and in Toulon.... But to the end the