him from London. He could, indeed, scarcely decline, nor was he at all
the man to turn his back on a friend in difficulty; but, in his fight
against corruption, the matter could scarcely fail to be represented
by his opponents under the worst light to the King, to whom corruption
was less odious than insubordination. If, in conversation, Nelson
uttered such expressions as he wrote to his friend Locker, he had only
himself to blame for the disfavor which followed; for, to a naval
officer, the prince's conduct should have appeared absolutely
indefensible. In the course of the same year the King became insane,
and the famous struggle about the Regency took place. The prince had
meantime returned to America, in accordance with his orders, and by
the time he again reached England the King had recovered. He could,
therefore, have refrained from any indication of his own sympathies;
but instead of this he openly associated himself with the party of the
Prince of Wales, whose course throughout, when it became known to his
father, had bitterly displeased the latter, and accentuated the breach
between them. At a banquet given by the Spanish ambassador in
celebration of the King's recovery, the three princes sat at a table
separate from the rest of the royal family. A formal reconciliation
took place in September, 1789; but the Duke of Clarence, as he had
then become, continued attached to the Prince of Wales's clique. Those
who know how party considerations influenced naval appointments at
that time, will in these facts find at least a partial explanation of
the cloud which then hung over Nelson.

Lord Chatham, brother of the minister to whom Prince William was not a
friend, became head of the Admiralty in July, 1788, and so remained
until after the war with France began in 1793. With him was associated
Lord Hood, between whom and Nelson there arose what the latter called
"a difference of opinion," which led to a cessation of "familiar