value for all citizens of a free country, but especially for those who
are charged with its foreign and military relations.

The general conditions that either are essential to or powerfully
affect the greatness of a nation upon the sea will now be examined;
after which a more particular consideration of the various maritime
nations of Europe at the middle of the seventeenth century, where the
historical survey begins, will serve at once to illustrate and give
precision to the conclusions upon the general subject.

-----

NOTE.--The brilliancy of Nelson's fame, dimming as it does that of
all his contemporaries, and the implicit trust felt by England in him
as the one man able to save her from the schemes of Napoleon, should
not of course obscure the fact that only one portion of the field was,
or could be, occupied by him. Napoleon's aim, in the campaign which
ended at Trafalgar, was to unite in the West Indies the French fleets
of Brest, Toulon, and Rochefort, together with a strong body of
Spanish ships, thus forming an overwhelming force which he intended
should return together to the English Channel and cover the crossing
of the French army. He naturally expected that, with England's
interests scattered all over the world, confusion and distraction
would arise from ignorance of the destination of the French squadrons,
and the English navy be drawn away from his objective point. The
portion of the field committed to Nelson was the Mediterranean, where
he watched the great arsenal of Toulon and the highways alike to the
East and to the Atlantic. This was inferior in consequence to no
other, and assumed additional importance in the eyes of Nelson from
his conviction that the former attempts on Egypt would be renewed.