On the 1st of October the Preliminaries of Peace with France were signed, and on the 9th news of their ratification reached Nelson on board his ship.  “Thank God! it is peace,” he exclaimed.  Yet, while delighted beyond measure at the prospect of release from his present duties, and in general for the repose he now expected, he was most impatient at the exuberant demonstrations of the London populace, and of some military and naval men.  “Let the rejoicings be proper to our several stations—­the manufacturer, because he will have more markets for his goods,—­but seamen and soldiers ought to say, ’Well, as it is peace, we lay down our arms; and are ready again to take them up, if the French are insolent.’  There is no person in the world rejoices more in the peace than I do, but I would burst sooner than let a d—­d Frenchman know it.  We have made peace with the French despotism, and we will, I hope, adhere to it whilst the French continue in due bounds; but whenever they overstep that, and usurp a power which would degrade Europe, then I trust we shall join Europe in crushing her ambition; then I would with pleasure go forth and risk my life for to pull down the overgrown detestable power of France.”  When the mob in London dragged the carriage of the French ambassador, his wrath quite boiled over.  “Can you cure madness?” he wrote to his physician; “for I am mad to read that our d—­d scoundrels dragged a Frenchman’s carriage.  I am ashamed for our Country.”  “I hope never more to be dragged by such a degenerate set of people,” he tells Lady Hamilton.  “Would our ancestors have done it?  So, the villains would have drawn Buonaparte if he had been able to get to London to cut off the King’s head, and yet all our Royal Family will employ Frenchmen.  Thanks to the navy, they could not.”  Nelson’s soul was disturbed without cause.  Under the ephemeral effervescence of a crowd lay a purpose as set as his own, and of which his present emotions were a dim and unconscious prophecy.

On the 15th of October he received official notification for the cessation of hostilities with the French Republic, the precise date at which they were to be considered formally at an end having been fixed at the 22d of the month.  The Admiralty declined to allow him to leave his station until that day arrived.  Then he had their permission to take leave of absence, but not to haul down his flag.  “I heartily hope a little rest will soon set you up,” wrote St. Vincent, “but until the definitive treaty is signed, your Lordship must continue in pay, although we may not have occasion to require your personal services at the head of the squadron under your orders.”  In accordance with this decision, Nelson’s flag continued to fly as Commander-in-Chief of a Squadron of ships “on a particular service,” throughout the anxious period of doubt and suspicion which preceded the signing of the treaty of Amiens, on the 25th of March, 1802.  It was not till the 10th of the following April that he received the formal orders, to strike his flag and come on shore.