squadron should be sent to the station which had been long occupied
by a large fleet, commanded by the darling of the navy, and the glory
of the British empire, to the station where this fleet had for years
been wearing away in the most barren, repulsive, and spirit-trying
service, in which the navy can be employed! and that this minor
squadron should be sent independently of, and without any
communication with the commander of the former fleet, for the express
and solitary purpose of stepping between it and the Spanish prizes,
and as soon as this short and pleasant service was performed, of
bringing home the unshared booty with all possible caution and
despatch. The substantial advantages of naval service were, perhaps,
deemed of too gross a nature for men already rewarded with the
grateful affections of their own countrymen, and the admiration of
the whole world! They were to be awarded, therefore, on a principle
of compensation to a commander less rich in fame, and whose laurels,
though not scanty, were not yet sufficiently luxuriant to hide the
golden crown which is the appropriate ornament of victory in the
bloodless war of commercial capture! Of all the wounds which were
ever inflicted on Nelson's feelings (and there were not a few), this
was the deepest--this rankled most! "I had thought" (said the
gallant man, in a letter written on the first feelings of the
affront), "I fancied--but nay, it must have been a dream, an idle
dream--yet, I confess it, I did fancy, that I had done my country
service--and thus they use me. It was not enough to have robbed me
once before of my West India harvest--now they have taken away the
Spanish--and under what circumstances, and with what pointed
aggravations? Yet, if I know my own thoughts, it is not for myself,
or on my own account chiefly, that I feel the sting, and the
disappointment; no! it is for my brave officers; for my noble-minded
friends and comrades--such a gallant set of fellows! such a hand of