me—­an Honour, your Lordship is pleased to say, the highest that has ever been conferred on an officer of my standing who was not a Commander-in-Chief.  I receive as I ought what the goodness of our Sovereign, and not my deserts, is pleased to bestow; but great and unexampled as this honour may be to one of my standing, yet I own I feel a higher one in the unbounded confidence of the King, your Lordship, and the whole World, in my exertions.  Even at the bitter moment of my return to Syracuse, your Lordship is not insensible of the great difficulties I had to encounter in not being a Commander-in-Chief.  The only happy moment I felt was in the view of the French; then I knew that all my sufferings would soon be at an end.”  To Berry he wrote:  “As to both our Honours, it is a proof how much a battle fought near England is prized to one fought at a great distance.”

Whatever was defective in the formal recognition of his own government was abundantly supplied by the tributes which flowed from other quarters, so various, that his own phrase, “the whole world,” is scarcely an exaggeration to apply to them.  The Czar, the Sultan, the Kings of Sardinia and of the Two Sicilies, sent messages of congratulation and rich presents; the Czar accompanying his with an autograph letter.  The Houses of Parliament voted their thanks and a pension of L2,000 a year.  The East India Company acknowledged the security gained for their Indian possessions by a gift of L10,000, L2,000 of which he, with his wonted generosity, divided at once among his father and family, most of whom were not in prosperous circumstances.  Other corporations took appropriate notice of the great event; instances so far apart as the cities of London and Palermo, and the Island of Zante, showing how wide-spread was the sense of relief.  Not least gratifying to him, with his sensitive appreciation of friendship and susceptibility to flattery, must have been the numerous letters of congratulation he received from friends in and out of the service.  The three great admirals,—­Lords Howe, Hood, and St. Vincent,—­the leaders of the Navy in rank and distinguished service, wrote to him in the strongest terms of admiration.  The two last styled the battle the greatest achievement that History could produce; while Howe’s language, if more measured, was so only because, like himself, it was more precise in characterizing the special merits of the action, and was therefore acknowledged by Nelson with particular expressions of pleasure.

Besides the honors bestowed upon the commander of the squadron, and the comprehensive vote of thanks usual on such occasions, a gold medal commemorative of the battle was given to the admiral and to each of the captains present.  The First Lord also wrote that the first-lieutenants of the ships engaged would be promoted at once.  The word “engaged” caught Nelson’s attention, as apparently intended to exclude the lieutenant of the “Culloden,” Troubridge’s unlucky ship.  “For Heaven’s