pt and of Malta, and
co-operation with the Russian and Turkish squadrons which, it was
expected, would be sent into the Archipelago, and which actually did
attack and capture Corfu. The letter thus summarized may be taken to
indicate the general extent of Nelson's charge during the two
following years.

It may be said, then, without error, that Nelson's opinion as to the
direction of his personal supervision underwent a decisive change
after his arrival in Naples. Before it, he is urgent with that Court
to support with active naval assistance the operations against Malta,
and to send bomb-vessels, the absence of which he continually
deplores, to shell the transports in the harbor of Alexandria. He
hopes, indeed, to find on his arrival that the Emperor and many other
powers are at war with the French, but his attention is concentrated
upon Bonaparte's army. To the British minister in Turkey he is yet
more insistent as to what the Sultan should undertake. If he will but
send a few ships-of-the-line, and some bombs, he will destroy all
their transports in Alexandria; and an army of ten thousand men may
retake Alexandria immediately, as the French have only four thousand
men in it. Subsequent events showed this forecast of Nelson's to be as
erroneous as those of Napoleon were at times in regard to naval
prospects. "General Bonaparte," he continues, "only wants a
communication opened by sea, to march into Syria, that the transports
with stores, &c., for the army, may go alongshore with him." This he
had learned from French officers who were prisoners on board, and we
know it corresponded with the facts. "If the Sultan will not send
anything, he will lose Syria." "Naples," he tells St Vincent, "is
saved in spite of herself. They have evidently broken their treaty
with France, and yet are afraid to assist in finishing the vast
armament of the French. Four hours with bomb vessels, would set all in
a blaze, and we know what an army is without stores." This
anticipation also proved deceptive; but the expressions quoted are
fair examples of the general tenor of his letters between Aboukir and
Naples, and show his feeling that the important points of his command
lay to the east of Sicily.

The same tendency was shown upon the appearance of a Portuguese
squadron of four ships-of-the-line, which entered the Mediterranean in
July with orders to place themselves under his command. He first
learned the fact upon this passage, and at