e squadron remained
during Nelson's command. Soon after this arrival in Palermo the King
conferred upon him the title of Duke of Bronte, with an estate of the
same name in Sicily, valued at L3,000 per annum. After this the
admiral for a time signed his papers as Bronte Nelson,[1] changed
subsequently to Bronte Nelson of the Nile, and finally settled down to
Nelson and Bronte, which was his form of signature for the last four
years of his life. He placed upon his new estate an annual charge of
L500 in favor of his father for the term of the latter's life.
"Receive this small tribute, my honoured father," he wrote, "as a mark
of gratitude to the best of parents from his most dutiful son."

On the 20th of September he received letters from the Admiralty,
investing him with the chief command, "till the return of Lord Keith
or some other your superior officer." He was not, however, allowed the
appointments of a commander-in-chief, and often complained of the
inadequacy of his staff to the extent of his duties. Nelson naturally
hoped that his long and eminent services in that particular field, and
the conspicuous ability he had shown on so many occasions, would lead
to the station remaining permanently in his hands, and that Lord
Keith, who was now in England, would succeed in due course to the
Channel Fleet, whose commander, Lord Bridport, soon after retired. The
Mediterranean was naturally attributed to a vice-admiral, and one of
some seniority; but Nelson was now a rear-admiral of the Red, the
highest color, not far, therefore, from promotion, and it would not be
an unreasonable conclusion that the same ministry which had been
fortunate enough to choose him for the campaign of the Nile, might now
prefer to entrust to such able and enterprising hands the great
interests of the Mediterranean at large.

It was not, however, to be so. Whether moved only by routine
considerations of rank, as afterwards at Copenhagen, or whether his
relations with the Sicilian Court, his conduct of affairs at Naples,
and his collisions with Keith, had excited doubt of the normal balance
of his mind, the Admiralty decided to send Keith back, and Nelson,
greatly to his mortification, was kept in charge only till the end of
the year. As St. Vincent had always left him practically independent,
he had known no superior since he entered the Straits, except during
Keith's brief period of succession, when leagues of sheltering
distance left him free,