The cause for the inadequacy of the force left under his command, of which he often complains, is not apparent.  The question was put direct to the admiral whether he would co-operate with the fleet in the proposed descent of the Austrians.  He said that he could not, owing to the nature of his instructions from home; but that he would answer for it that the French navy should not interfere.  Six weeks later the question was repeated; but the admiral replied that, after a consultation with the flag-officers under his command, he refused co-operation in what he considered a wild scheme.  In this opinion he was probably right, though Nelson possibly was reminded of Dundas’s objections to besieging Bastia.  Nelson then went in person to Leghorn, and saw Hotham.  He asked to be given two seventy-fours and the transports, to make the attempt himself.  Hotham again refused a single ship; but not only so, reduced Nelson’s squadron, and ordered him, in addition to his present duties, to reconnoitre Toulon continually, “whilst he,” said Nelson, scornfully, “lies quiet in Leghorn Roads.”  It would almost seem as if the admiral thought that the time had come for a little judicious snubbing, and repression of ardor in the uncomfortable subordinate, whose restless energy conflicted so much with his repose of mind.  The fleet spent its time chiefly in San Fiorenzo Bay or in Leghorn, making occasional cruises off Toulon to observe the French navy in that port.  The latter was undoubtedly its principal care; but, being distinctly inferior to the British, it is impossible to say why Nelson should not have been reinforced.  If it was due to the wish to continue so largely superior in numbers, it certainly illustrates with singular appositeness the deterrent effect of an inferior “fleet in being,” and that that effect lies less in the nature of things than in the character of the officer upon whom it is produced.  Moreover, the employment of adequate force upon the Riviera, in active aggressive work under Nelson during the summer, when it was practicable to do so, would have compelled the French fleet to come out and fight, or the French army to fall back.

On the 1st of November Hotham struck his flag in Genoa, and departed, bequeathing to his successors a military estate encumbered by the old mortgage of the French fleet, still in being, which he might have cleared off, and by a new one in the numerous and powerful batteries of the Riviera, built and controlled by troops whose presence to erect them might have been prevented by a timely action on his part.  The harm, being done, was thenceforth irreparable.  As time passed, the situation became more and more favorable to the French.  The reinforcements from Spain arrived, and gunboats and flatboats, fitted out at Toulon, began to come upon the scene.  Their appearance revived, in Nelson the apprehension, so consonant to his military ideas at this time, of an attempt upon the coast road in rear of the Austrians.