fervent petitions that the God of battles should give him the victory over the enemies of human suffering and liberty were symptoms of admiration and gratitude which went hot into his blood as he sat in his barge, the object of reverence.  And with a calm air of conscious power he acknowledged the honour that was showered upon him by baring his head and bowing gracefully his thanks.  It was manifestly his day of paradise, and with the plaudits still ringing in his ears the Victory’s anchor was weighed on the following day, and he sailed from St. Helen’s Roads to the great conflict and victory for which he panted, and to the doom that awaited him.

He experienced foul winds until he passed Cape Finisterre, and on the 28th September he joined the fleet of twenty-nine of the line.  The 29th September was the anniversary of his forty-seventh year.  He says:  “The reception I met with on joining the fleet caused the sweetest sensation of my life.  The officers who came on board to welcome my return forgot my rank as commander-in-chief in the enthusiasm with which they greeted me.  As soon as these emotions were past, I laid before them the plan I had previously arranged for attacking the enemy; and it was not only my pleasure to find it generally approved, but clearly perceived and understood.”  In a further communication he explains to them the “Nelson touch,” and all agree that it must succeed, and that he is surrounded with friends.  Then he adds:  “Some may be Judas’s, but the majority are certainly pleased at the prospect of my commanding them.”

These are joyous days for him, which are marked by the absence of any recorded misgivings.  His mind is full of making preparations in every detail to cope with the advent of Villeneuve from Cadiz and for the plan of attack, of which a long memorandum was circulated to the fleet.  He had planned the form of attack at Trafalgar during his stay at home, and some time before leaving Merton he confided it to Lord Sidmouth.  He told him “that Rodney broke the enemy’s line in one place, and that he would break it in two.”  One of the Nelson “touches” was to “close with a Frenchman, and to out-manoeuvre a Russian,” and this method of terrific onslaught was to be one of the devices that he had in store for the French at Trafalgar, and which ended fatally for himself.  But it gave the enemy a staggering blow, from which they never recovered so long as the action lasted.  In the General Orders he says:  “Captains are to look to their particular line as a rallying point, but in case signals cannot be seen or clearly understood, no captain can do wrong if he places his ship alongside that of an enemy.”