military situations with which he had to deal. To Mr. Rose, the young
captain of barely thirty years displayed a precise knowledge of
several political subjects, connected with the commerce of the
country, that would not naturally come under his notice as an officer,
and which therefore the mere seaman would probably not have imbibed.
Not only so, but his suggestions for dealing practically with the
interests at stake were so judicious, that Rose, a valued associate of
Pitt and intimately acquainted with the financial measures of that
brilliant administrator, complimented him warmly upon the justice and
correctness of his views, the result, as they were, of reflection
based upon a mastery of the data involved. With Nelson's consent, he
undertook to lay them before the prime minister, as the direct
testimony of a singularly competent first-hand observer.

It is to be noted, however, of Nelson, that this accuracy of mental
perception, this power of penetrating to the root of a matter,
disregarding unessential details and fastening solely on decisive
features, was largely dependent upon the necessity laid upon him for
action; which is probably equivalent to saying that it was usually
elicited by a sobering sense of responsibility. In his letters and
despatches may be found many wild guesses, inconsistent from week to
week, colored by changing moods and humors,--the mere passing comments
of a mind off guard,--the records of evanescent impressions as
numerous, fickle, and unfounded as those of the most ordinary mortal.
It is when urgency presses and danger threatens, when the need for
action comes, that his mental energies are aroused, and he begins to
speak, as it were, _ex cathedrâ_. Then the unsubstantial haze rolls
away; and the solid features of the scene one by one appear, until,
amid all the unavoidable uncertainties of imperfect information, it
becomes plain that the man has a firm grasp upon the great landmarks