ould not long remain unrecognised. The war of American
Independence had still seven months to run when Lord Hood pointed
to Nelson as an officer to be consulted on 'questions relative
to naval tactics,' Professor Laughton tells us that at that time
Nelson had never served with a fleet. Lord Hood was one of the
last men in the world to go out of his way to pay to a youthful
subordinate an empty compliment, and we may confidently base our
estimate of an officer's merits on Lord Hood's belief in them.

He, no doubt, gave a Wide signification to the term 'tactics,' and
used it as embracing all that is included in the phrase 'conduct
of war.' He must have found out, from conversations with, and from
the remarks of, the young captain, whom he treated as intimately as
if he was his son, that the latter was already, what he continued
to be till the end, viz. a student of naval warfare. This point
deserves particular attention. The officers of the navy of the
present day, period of peace though it be, can imitate Nelson
at least in this. He had to wait a long time before he could
translate into brilliant action the result of his tactical studies.
Fourteen years after Lord Hood spoke of him as above related, by
a 'spontaneous and sudden act, for which he had no authority
by signal or otherwise, except his own judgment and quick
perceptions,' Nelson entirely defeated the movement of the enemy's
fleet, contributed to the winning of a great victory, and, as
Captain Mahan tells us, 'emerged from merely personal distinction
to national renown.' The justification of dwelling on this is
to be found in the necessity, even at this day, of preventing
the repetition of mistakes concerning Nelson's qualities and
disposition. His recent biographers, Captain Mahan and Professor
Laughton, feel constrained to tell us over and over again that
Nelson's predominant characteristic was not mere 'headlong valour
and instinct for fighting'; that he was not the man 'to run needless
and useless risks' in battle. 'The breadth and acuteness of Nelson's
intellect,' says Mahan, 'have been too much overlooked in the
admiration excited by his unusually grand moral endowments of
resolution, dash, and fearlessness of responsibility!'

In forming a true conception of what Nelson was, the publications
of the Navy Records Society will help us greatly. There is something
very remarkable in the way in which Mr. Gutteridge's volume[82]
not only confirms Captain Mah