226 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 180^ 



country upon their capture, rose at 

 once upon his mind, and he instantly 

 took the heroic tietermination of 

 pursuing the enemy thither, with a 

 force of little more than one half 

 their strength ! One atom less of 

 decision and resolution in lord 

 Nelson, and the British dominions, 

 in that quarter of the globe, and 

 perhaps Great Britain herseif,wouId 

 have been involved in one common 

 ruin. His lordsltip heaving hastily 

 taken in,, at Tctuan, such articles of 

 the first necessity as the wants of 

 his fleet immediately required, next 

 proceeded to Lagos Bay, where he 

 •was fortunate enough to find some 

 transports and store ships belonging 

 to sir John Orde's squadron, when 

 that officer had retired before the 

 French fleet. From these vessels 

 he received still farther supplies of 

 stores and provisions, and being 

 more and more confirmed in t]\e 

 course which the enemy had steered, 

 on the 1 1th day of May he sailed in 

 pursuit of thcTB. 



To appreciate, as it deserves,, all 

 the merit of this extraordinary man, 

 '(in this part of his glorious career of 

 public duty, perhaps the most glo- 

 rious) many circumstances should be 

 taken into consideration, upon 

 ■which, did the limits of our work 

 permit, we could gladly enlarge. It 

 may, however, be permitted us to 

 say, that, from the commencement 

 of our history to the present mo- 

 ment, few of the great characters 

 with which it abouTids were capa- 

 ble of adopting, and none have ever 

 put so great and noble a measure 

 into execution. Let it only be re- 

 membered, that, with ten sail of the 

 line, foul, and after a cruize of more 

 than two years, he undertook to 

 pursue, across the Atlantic, or to 

 whatever part of the globe they 

 might have shaped their course, the 



enemies' combined squadrons of 

 eighteen sail of the line, in astate of 

 the most complete equipment, fresh 

 from their ports, with their full 

 complement of sailors on board, 

 carrying 10,000 land troops, com- 

 manded by some of the best officers 

 of France and Spain, and under the 

 positive commands of the French 

 ruler to strike a grand and decisive 

 blow against the British power and 

 empire in the West Indies, and de- 

 stroy her commerce upon the western 

 ocean ! 



Considerations of the purest pa- 

 triotism, acting upon the most heroie 

 mind, and combined with the ut- 

 most professional science and judg- 

 ment, determined this energetic cha- 

 racter; who, therefore, despising the 

 superior force of the enemy, and 

 setting at nought the vast responsi- 

 bility he incurred, by thus acting, 

 without orders, in a ciise of the ut- 

 most risk and emergency ; superior 

 to every personal consideration, he 

 hazarded his groat name and reputa- 

 tion upon the issue. That Provi- 

 dence, to whose watchful care he 

 had so often piously and wisely as- 

 cribed the glory of his greatest and 

 most splendid actions, did not now 

 desert him, and lord Nelson was 

 once more to be liailed as its in- 

 strunient in saving his country. 



Before we proceed to (lie further 

 particulars connected with the pur- 

 suit of the combined squadrons by' 

 lord Nelson, it may be necessary 

 to mention a movtmeut, at this 

 period, of the enemy's Brest fleet, 

 evidently calculated to divide and 

 distract the attention of the British 

 government, keep its naval force 

 divided, and spread a wider alarm Ir 

 the minds of the English nation. 

 Having been some time in the bustle 

 of preparation, about the middle of 

 May, the ^'rench fle<;t put to sea 



from 



