On the other hand, if, by our appearance in the Mediterranean, we can encourage Austria to come forward again, it is in the highest degree probable that the other powers will seize the opportunity of acting at the same time, and such a general concert be established as shall soon bring this great contest to a termination, on grounds less unfavorable by many degrees to the parties concerned than appeared likely a short time since.”  It may be added here, by way of comment, that the ups and downs of Nelson’s pursuit, the brilliant victory at the Nile, and the important consequences flowing from it, not only fully justified this forecast, but illustrated aptly that in war, when a line of action has been rightly chosen, the following it up despite great risks, and with resolute perseverance through many disappointments, will more often than not give great success,—­a result which may probably be attributed to the moral force which necessarily underlies determined daring and sustained energy.

As has appeared, the Government’s recommendation had been ratified beforehand by St. Vincent, in sending Nelson with three ships to watch Toulon.  Upon receiving the despatches, on the 10th of May, the admiral’s first step was to order Nelson to return at once to the fleet, to take charge of the detachment from the beginning.  “You, and you only, can command the important service in contemplation; therefore, make the best of your way down to me.”  More urgent letters arriving from England, with news that a heavy reinforcement had left there, he, on the 19th, hurried off a brig, “La Mutine,” commanded by Hardy, Nelson’s former lieutenant, to notify the rear-admiral that a squadron of ten ships would be sent to him shortly from before Cadiz; and on the 21st this detachment sailed, under the command of Captain Troubridge.

The “Mutine” joined Nelson on the 5th of June.  His little division had so far had more bad fortune than good.  Leaving Gibraltar on the 8th of May, late in the evening, so that the easterly course taken should not be visible to either friend or enemy, he had gone to the Gulf of Lyons.  There a small French corvette, just out of Toulon, was captured on the 17th, but, except in unimportant details, yielded no information additional to that already possessed.  On the 19th Bonaparte sailed with all the vessels gathered in Toulon, directing his course to the eastward, to pass near Genoa, and afterwards between Corsica and the mainland of Italy.  On the night of the 20th, in a violent gale of wind, the “Vanguard” rolled overboard her main and mizzen topmasts, and later on the foremast went, close to the deck.  The succession of these mishaps points rather to spars badly secured and cared for than to unavoidable accident.  Fortunately, the “Orion” and “Alexander” escaped injury, and the latter, on the following morning, took the “Vanguard” in tow, to go to Oristan Bay, in Sardinia.  The situation became extremely dangerous on the evening of the 22d, for, the wind