ion. "If there isn't something in
it," said they, superstitiously, "why was Collingwood and Hardy not
hit?"

His relationship with Lady Hamilton was vigorously defended; both
voluble and comic reasons were poured forth in support of his action.
"Had she not on more than one occasion saved the fleet, and had she not
rendered great service to the British Government by her clever tongue
and alluring beauty, to say nothing of a supreme genius for intrigue?"
They believed that she had sacrificed everything to serve her country,
and now that Nelson had smashed the combined fleets of Spain and
France, and lost his life through it, this precious government had no
further need for her services, so threw her helpless on a callous,
canting world. They built a monument for him, and left his poor Emma,
whom he regarded in the light of a good spirit, to starve, though he
had begged that she should be provided for. That was the view the
sailors took of it. They believed that Nelson's infatuation for the
lady was his affair and hers, and nobody else's; but be that as it may,
there were very few seamen in the merchant service who did not warmly
sympathize with this poor, wretched, woman's fate. Nelson was often
made responsible for that which he might have nothing to do with, and
sailors have not spared him for his supposed share in instituting that
monstrous system of pressing honest, respectable men into a service
that reeked with the odour of disgraceful bureaucratic cruelty. I know
something of the legacy of prejudice which extended to bitter,
vindictive recollection of these days of brainless despots. I was
reared amid an eighteenth-century environment; both my grandfathers
fought at the Battle of the Nile; both were taken by force from their
vessels which were owned by themselves and their relatives. One of them
rose to the position of sailing-master; the other was a junior officer;
but such was the condition of this kidnapping service they could not
hope to rise higher. Both these men's lives were broken, as hundreds of
others' were. Was it any wonder that strong feelings of wrong were
handed down and indiscriminately fastened on to whosoever held any
prominent authority? That is why Nelson came in for his share of
condemnation. Personally, I think he was credited with more than he
deserved. I believe he thought so well of that branch of the service,
and his patriotism was so strong, that he wondered why there was any
necessity