The political surmises with which his correspondence at this period abounds were often crude, though not infrequently also characterized by the native sagacity of his intellect, as yet undisciplined, and to some extent deficient in data for accurate forecasts.  The erroneous military conception which colored much of his thought, the propositions for ex-centric movements in an enemy’s rear, by bodies comparatively small, out of supporting distance from the rest of the army, and resting upon no impregnable base, contributed greatly to the faulty anticipations entertained and expressed by him from time to time.  When applied to operations directed by the consummate and highly trained genius of Bonaparte, speculations so swayed naturally flew wide of the mark.  His sanguine disposition to think the best of all persons and all things—­except Frenchmen—­made him also a ready prey to the flattering rumors of which war is ever fertile.  These immaturities will be found to disappear, as his sphere widens and his responsibilities increase.

After the close of the campaign, Nelson made a short cruise from Genoa to the westward, seeing the French on November 29 in full possession of Vado Bay.  He then went to Leghorn, where he arrived on the 6th of December and remained till the middle of January, repairing, to make the “Agamemnon” “as fit for sea as a rotten ship can be.”  The longing for rest and for home, after nearly three years’ absence, was again strong upon him in this moment of relaxation.  “I fear our new admiral is willing to keep me with him,” he wrote to his brother.  “He has wrote me, I am sorry to say, a most nattering letter, and I hear I am to be offered St. George or Zealous [much larger ships], but, in my present mind, I shall take neither.  My wish is to see England once more, and I want a few weeks’ rest.”  But here again, having regard to that fame which was to him most dear, he was mistaken, as he now owned he had been in the wish, a year before, to accompany Lord Hood on his return.  In Sir John Jervis he was to meet, not only one of the most accomplished and resolute officers of the British Navy, closely akin to himself in enterprise and fearlessness, though without his exceptional genius, but also a man capable of appreciating perfectly the extraordinary powers of his subordinate, and of disregarding every obstacle and all clamor, in the determination to utilize his qualities to the full, for the good of the nation.

FOOTNOTES: 

[32] Correspondance de Napoleon, August 30, 1795.  The letter was from Bonaparte’s hand, though signed by the Committee of Public Safety.

[33] The fleet passed once, August 14, in sight of Vado Bay.  Nelson went on board, and tried to induce Hotham to go in and meet De Vins.  He refused, saying he must go to Leghorn, but would return, and water the fleet in Vado; but he never came.

[34] A year later, when all his transactions with Genoa as an independent republic were concluded, Nelson received from the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, through the Admiralty, the following strong and comprehensive endorsement of his political conduct:—­