miral, always persisted in stating, in direct contradiction to
Buonaparte, that the fleet remained by the General's express desire. The
testimonies being thus balanced, it is necessary to consult other
materials of judgment; and it appears extremely difficult to doubt that
the French admiral,--who, it is acknowledged on all hands, dreaded the
encounter of Nelson--remained off Alexandria for the sole purpose of
aiding the motions of the army, and in consequence of what he at least
conceived to be the wish of its general. However this might have been,
the results of his delay were terrible.

The French fleet were moored in a semicircle in the bay of Aboukir, so
near the shore, that, as their admiral believed, it was impossible for
the enemy to come between him and the land. He expected, therefore, to
be attacked on one side only, and thought himself sure that the English
could not renew their favourite manoeuvre of breaking the line,[25] and
so at once dividing the opposed fleet, and placing the ships
individually between two fires. But Nelson daringly judged that his
ships might force a passage between the French and the land, and
succeeding in this attempt, instantly brought on the conflict, in the
same dreaded form which Brueyes had believed impossible. The details of
this great sea fight belong to the history of the English hero.[26] The
battle was obstinate--it lasted more than twenty hours, including the
whole night. A solitary pause occurred at midnight, when the French
admiral's ship _L'Orient_, a superb vessel of 120 guns, took fire, and
blew up in the heart of the conflicting squadrons, with an explosion
that for a moment silenced rage in awe. The admiral himself perished.
Next morning two shattered ships, out of all the French fleet, with
difficulty made their escape to the open sea. The rest of all that
magnificent array had been utterly destroyed, or remained in the hands
of the English.

Such was the battle of Aboukir, in which Nelson achieved, with a force
much inferior to the French, what he himself called, "not a victory, but
a conquest." Three thousand French seamen reached the shore: a greater
number died. Had the English admiral possessed frigates, he must have
forced his way into the harbour of Alexandria, and seized the whole
stores and transports of the army. As things were, the best fleet of the
Republic had ceased to be; the blockade of the coast was established:
and the invader, completely isola