r. He designed to pass
through the end of the line in order to cut the enemy's van off from
Cadiz, but, finding an opportunity, changed his course, passed down the
line and attacked the centre. He passed through the line of the allied
fleet, closely followed by four other ships of his division, and the
five British ships concentrated their attacks on the _Bucentaure_,
Villeneuve's flagship, the gigantic Spanish four-decker, the _Santisima
Trinidad_, which was next ahead of her, and the _Redoutable_, which
supported her. The centre of the allies was crushed and the van cut off
from coming to the help of the rear, which was being destroyed by
Collingwood.

Before the battle ended, the naval force of France, and with it
Napoleon's projects of invasion, were utterly and hopelessly ruined.
Eighteen prizes were taken, and, though many of these were lost in a
gale, four ships which escaped were afterwards captured, and the
remainder lay for the most part shattered hulks at Cadiz. By this battle
the supremacy of Great Britain at sea was finally established. Nelson,
who, during the ship-to-ship engagement which followed his penetration
of the enemy's line, was mortally wounded by a sharp-shooter from the
mizzen-top of the _Redoutable_, died before the battle was over, though
he was spared to hear that a complete victory was secure. His death is
among the heroic incidents of history, and his last achievement, both in
its conception and its results, was the fitting climax of his fame. The
plan for the battle which he drew up beforehand for the instruction of
his captains, and the changes which he made in it to meet the conditions
of the moment are alike worthy of his supreme genius as a naval
tactician. His arrangements were carried out by men who had learned to
love and trust him, and who were inspired by the fire of his spirit, and
hence it was that the allied fleet of France and Spain perished at the
"Nelson touch".[29]

Very different were the fortunes of war in central Europe, where
Napoleon himself commanded the "army of England". It was not until the
end of August that Napoleon knew that Villeneuve would be unable to
appear in the Channel, but no sooner did he abandon his project of
invasion in despair than he resolved on a campaign scarcely less
arduous, and gave orders for a grand march into Germany. Pitt, as we
have seen, had successfully negotiated an alliance with Russia and
Austria, whose armies were converging upon