Parker, at a critical moment in the battle of Copenhagen, hoisted No. 39, which meant “Leave off action.”  Nelson shrugged his shoulders, and Said, “No, I’m damned if I do,” and kept his own “Engage the enemy more closely” flying.  He then added to Captain Foley, “I have only one eye, and have a right to be blind sometimes.”  He then put the telescope to his blind eye, and said, “I really do not see the signal.”  Unfortunately, some of the ships retired, and one able fellow, Captain Riou, who knew it was a wrong move, was so distressed that he called out in despair to one of his officers beside him, “What will Nelson think of us?” The poor captain was subsequently killed.  There can be no doubt now that the signal 39 was not permissive or optional, nor that Nelson, having the enemy by the throat, refused to let go until he had strangled him, nor that he did dramatically act the blind-eye trick.  He deliberately disobeyed orders, and saved England’s honour and fleet by doing so.  It was one of his splendid performances, and the story of it will live on into distant ages.

Who can calculate the loss of national prestige or the lives that have been thrown away by putting severely decorous senior officers over the heads of men who knew their business better and had the courage and capacity to carry through big naval or military tasks?  And how tempting it must be to many a gallant fellow to take the business into his own hands!  Nelson knew well enough that he had laid himself open to the full penalty of naval law, but he knew also that if any of the moth-eaten crew at Whitehall even hinted it there would be “wigs on the green.”  No man knew the pulse of the nation better, and no commander played up to it less.  One can imagine hearing him say to some of his officers (perhaps Captain Hardy of Trafalgar fame), after he had wrecked the Danish fleet and battered the forts into a dilapidated condition, “Well, I have fought contrary to orders, and they will perhaps hang me; never mind, let them.”  A significant “let them” this, which means more than he cares to express.  The Danes frankly admitted that they had been beaten, and that even their defence was destroyed, as the Crown batteries could not be held.  Instead of any talk of “hanging” him because of his “disobedience,” he was made a Viscount and his Rear-Admiral (Graves) a Knight of the Bath.  These were the only two significant honours conferred.  When he landed at Copenhagen, it is said that the people viewed him with a mixture of admiration and hostility.  He thought they were extremely amiable.  They cheered and shouted “God bless Lord Nelson!” There can be no reason for their doing this, except gratitude to him for not blowing the city down about their ears.