which formed the escort had been taken, and the merchant ships dispersed.  This last misfortune he ascribed unhesitatingly to the division of the command.  “It would not have happened, could I have ordered the officer off Cadiz to send ships to protect them.”  The incident was not without its compensations to one who valued honor above loss, for his two petty cruisers had honored themselves and him by such a desperate resistance, before surrendering to superior force, that the convoy had time to scatter, and most of it escaped.  There was reason to fear that the despatch vessel taken off Toulon had mistaken the French fleet for the British, which it had expected to find outside, and that her commander might have had to haul down his flag before getting opportunity to throw the mail-bags overboard.  In that case, both public and private letters had gone into the enemy’s possession.  “I do assure you, my dearest Emma,” he wrote Lady Hamilton, “that nothing can be more miserable, or unhappy, than your poor Nelson.”  Besides the failure to find the French, “You will conceive my disappointment!  It is now[88] from November 2nd that I have had a line from England.”

A characteristic letter was elicited from Nelson by the loss of the despatch-vessel off Cadiz, the brig “Raven,” whose commander, Captain Layman, had gained his cordial professional esteem in the Copenhagen expedition, in connection with which he has already been mentioned.  As usual in the case of a wreck, a court-martial was held.  This censured the captain, much to Nelson’s vexation; the more so because, at his request, Layman had not produced before the court certain orders for the night given by him, the proved neglect of which would have brought a very heavy punishment upon the officer of the watch.  In weighing the admiral’s words, therefore, allowance may be made for a sense of personal responsibility for the finding of the court; but the letter, which was addressed to the First Lord, contains expressions that are most worthy of attention, not only because illustrative of Nelson’s temperament and mode of thought, but also for a point of view too rarely taken in the modern practice, which has grown up in peace.

MY DEAR LORD,—­Give me leave to recommend Captain Layman to your kind protection; for, notwithstanding the Court Martial has thought him deserving of censure for his running in with the land, yet, my Lord, allow me to say, that Captain Layman’s misfortune was, perhaps, conceiving other people’s abilities were equal to his own, which, indeed, very few people’s are.

I own myself one of those who do not fear the shore, for hardly any great things are done in a small ship by a man that is; therefore, I make very great allowances for him.  Indeed, his station was intended never to be from the shore in the straits:  and if he did not every day risk his sloop, he would he useless upon that station.  Captain Layman has served with me in