ich the Emperor then contemplated
as necessitating such a step had, in Villeneuve's eyes, actually
happened. The admiral considered the fight of July 22nd _la malheureuse
affaire;_ his ships were encumbered with sick; they worked badly; on
August 15th a north-east gale carried away the top-mast of a Spanish
ship; and having heard from a Danish merchantman the news--false news,
as it afterwards appeared--that Cornwallis with twenty-five ships was to
the north, he turned and scudded before the wind. He could not divine
the disastrous influence of his conduct on the plan of invasion. He did
not know that his master was even then beginning to hesitate between a
dash on London or a campaign on the Danube, and that the events of the
next few days were destined to tilt the fortunes of the world. Doubtless
he ought to have disregarded the Emperor's words about Cadiz and to have
struggled on to Brest, as his earlier and wider orders enjoined. But the
Emperor's instructions pointed to Cadiz as the rendezvous in case of
misfortune or great difficulty. As a matter of fact, Napoleon on July
26th ordered the Rochefort squadron to _meet Villeneuve at Cadiz;_ and
it is clear that by that date Napoleon had decided on that rendezvous,
apparently because it could be more easily entered and cleared than
Ferrol, and was safer from attack. But, as it happened, the Rochefort
squadron had already set sail and failed to sight an enemy or friend for
several weeks.

Such are the risks of naval warfare, in which even the greatest
geniuses at times groped but blindly. Nelson was not afraid to confess
the truth. The French Emperor, however, seems never to have made an
admission which would mar his claim to strategic infallibility. Even
now, when the Spanish ships were proved to clog the enterprise, he
persisted in merely counting numbers, and in asserting that Villeneuve
might still neutralize the force of Calder and Cornwallis. These hopes
he cherished up to August 23rd, when, as the next chapter will show,
he faced right about to confront Austria. His Minister of Marine, who
had more truly gauged the difficulties of all parts of the naval
enterprise, continued earnestly to warn him of the terrible risk of
burdening Villeneuve's ships with the unseaworthy craft of Spain and
of trusting to this ill-assorted armada to cover the invasion now that
their foes had divined its secret. The Emperor bitterly upbraided his
Minister for his timidity, and in th