rnor-General Dalling, and was appointed to command
the batteries of Fort Charles, at Port Royal. Not more than seven
thousand men could be mustered for the defence of the island,--a number
wholly inadequate to resist the force which threatened them. Of this
Nelson was so well aware, that when he wrote to his friends in England,
he told them they must not be surprised to hear of his learning to speak
French. D'Estaing, however, was either not aware of his own superiority,
or not equal to the command with which he was intrusted: he attempted
nothing with his formidable armament; and General Dalling was thus left
to execute a project which he had formed against the Spanish colonies.

This project was, to take Fort San Juan on the river of that name, which
flows from Lake Nicaragua into the Atlantic; make himself master of the
lake itself, and of the cities of Granada and Leon; and thus cut off
the communication of the Spaniards between their northern and southern
possessions in America. Here it is that a canal between the two seas may
most easily be formed--a work more important in its consequences
than any which has ever yet been effected by human power. Lord George
Germaine, at that time secretary of state for the American Department,
approved the plan; and as discontents at that time were known to prevail
in the Nuevo Reyno, in Popayan, and in Peru, the more sanguine part
of the English began to dream of acquiring an empire in one part of
America, more extensive than that which they were on the point of losing
in another. General Dalling's plans were well formed; but the history
and the nature of the country had not been studied as accurately as its
geography: the difficulties which occurred in fitting out the expedition
delayed it till the season was too far advanced; and the men were thus
sent to adventure themselves, not so much against an enemy, whom they
would have beaten, as against a climate which would do the enemy's work.

Early in the year 1780, five hundred men destined for this service were
convoyed by Nelson from Port Royal to Cape Gracias a Dios, in Honduras.
Not a native was to be seen when they landed: they had been taught that
the English came with no other intent than that of enslaving them, and
sending them to Jamaica. After a while, however, one of them ventured
down, confiding in his knowledge of one of the party; and by his means
the neighbouring tribes were conciliated with presents, and brought in