ve the
two Courts [Great Britain and Tuscany] to settle the propriety of the
measure, which I think will not be strictly regular. Have been up all
night watching him--ready to cut the moment he did." The enemy,
however, made no movement, and Nelson was not prepared to violate
flagrantly the neutrality of the port. On the 30th of September he
sailed, and on the 5th of October rejoined Lord Hood off Toulon, where
four thousand of the Neapolitan troops, for which he had negotiated,
had already arrived.

The high favor in which the admiral had held him ten years before in
the West Indies, though slightly overcast by the coolness which arose
during the intervening peace, had been rapidly regained in the course
of the present campaign; and the customary report of his proceedings
during the six weeks' absence could not but confirm Hood in the
assurance that he had now to deal with a very exceptional character,
especially fitted for separate and responsible service. Accordingly,
from this time forward, such is the distinguishing feature of Nelson's
career as a subordinate. He is selected from among many competitors,
frequently his seniors, for the performance of duty outside the reach
of the commander-in-chief, but requiring the attention of one upon
whose activity, intelligence, and readiness, the fullest dependence
could be placed. Up to the battle of the Nile,--in which, it must
always be remembered, he commanded a squadron detached from the main
fleet, and was assigned to it in deliberate preference to two older
flag-officers,--Nelson's life presents a series of detached commands,
independent as regarded the local scene of operations, and his method
of attaining the prescribed end with the force allotted to him, but
dependent, technically, upon the distant commanders-in-chief, each of
whom in succession, with one accord, recognized his singular fitness.
The pithy but characteristic expression said to have been used by Earl
St. Vincent, when asked for instructions about the Copenhagen
expedition,--"D--n it, Nelson, send them to the devil your own
way,"--sums up accurately enough the confidence shown him by his
superiors. He could not indeed lift them all to the height of his own
conceptions, fearlessness, and enterprise; but when they had made up
their minds to any particular course, they were, each and all,
perfectly willing to intrust the execution to him. Even at Copenhagen
he was but second in command, though conspicuou