rnor Ball, all the British officers and men, and the whole
Maltese people; and give me leave to add the name of Nelson as one of
your warmest admirers, as an officer and a friend."

As he dealt with the Portuguese admiral, so, in due measure, he
conducted his intercourse with all others who came within the scope of
his widely ranging activities. Already more Neapolitan than the King,
to the Russian he became as a Russian, to the Turk as a Turk, all
things to all men, if he could by any means promote the interest of
the Allied cause and save Malta. Amid the diverse and conflicting
motives of a coalition, Nelson played a steady hand, his attention
unified, and his sight cleared, by an unwavering regard to the single
object which he compressed into the words, "Down, down, with the
French!" In that sense, he asserts truthfully enough to each and all
of his correspondents that the advantage of their country and their
monarch is as dear to him as that of Great Britain. He touches with
artful skill upon the evident interests of each nation, appeals to the
officer's sense of the cherished desires of his sovereign, and, while
frankly setting forth the truths necessary to be spoken, as to the
comparative claims upon himself of the various portions of the field,
he insinuates, rather than suggests, what the person immediately
addressed ought to be doing in furtherance of the one great aim.
Withal, despite the uneasiness to which he is constantly a prey on
account of the failures of others, no lack of confidence in the one to
whom he is writing is suffered to appear. Each is not only exhorted
and cheered, but patted on the back with an implied approbation, which
in his own service constituted much of his well-deserved influence. He
is as hearty and generous in his praises to Sir Sidney Smith, whom he
never fully trusted, for his services at Acre, as he is to the valued
friend, and pattern of all naval efficiency, Troubridge. To the
Emperor of Russia he paid the politic attention of sending a detailed
report of all that had been done about Malta, made to him as Grand
Master of the Order,--a delicate and adroit flattery at the moment,
for the Czar then valued himself more as the restorer of an ancient
order of chivalry than as the inheritor of a great Sovereignty; and
his position was further recognized by asking of him the insignia of
the Order for Captain Ball and Lady Hamilton.

This immense load of correspondence and anxiety was