ENGLAND'S GREATEST HERO. 71 



continued operation of the Port Bill, and by the fortitude with which they endured it. 

 The rents of all the land-holders in and around Boston no\v ceased, or were greatly 

 diminished; all the wealth which had been vested in warehouses and wharfs was rendered 

 unproductive; from the merchants was wrested the commerce which they had reared, and 

 the means alike of providing for their families and paying- their debts; all the artificers 

 employed in the numerous occupations created by an extensive trade shared the general 

 hardships; and a great majority of that class of the community who earned daily bread 

 by their daily labour were deprived of the means of support." The sympathy shown by 

 the sister colonies was highly creditable, and often took the form of substantial relief. 

 The inhabitants of Marblehead offered to the Boston merchants the use of their harbours, 

 wharfs, and warehouses, together with their personal services in lading and unlading goods, 

 free of all expense. The citizens of Salem (in the same State as Boston) concluded a 

 remonstrance against the British measures as follows : " By shutting up the port of 

 Boston, some imagine that the course of trade might be turned hither, and to our benefit. 

 . We must be lost to every idea of justice, and dead to all the feelings of humanity, 

 could we indulge one thought of raising our fortunes on the ruins of our suffering neighbours." 

 A country so thoroughly bound together surely deserved the independence which a couple of 

 years later it secured. 



No better excuse can be urged for England than that her hands were constantly full 

 at this period. When there was not actual war there were always rumours of war. 

 Fortunately for our country, in its greatest need its greatest hero's star was in the 

 ascendant. How often in these pages must we recur again and again to the name of 

 Nelson ? The year after America had declared her independence, he was, it is true, but 

 simply a lieutenant, and scarcely over nineteen years of age. He had already seen some 

 service. He had been to the West Indies and to the Arctic Ocean, where, on Captain 

 Phipps' expedition, occurred one of those little incidents which indicated a hero in embryo. 

 Young Nelson was one day missing, and though every search was instantly made for him, 

 it seemed entirely in vain, and all imagined he was lost. Somebody at length discovered 

 him at a considerable distance off, on the ice, armed with a single musket, and fighting 

 away with some object which, on nearer approach, proved to be an immense bear. Always 

 slight in frame, and comparatively feeble in body, what was the youngster about? It 

 was found that the lock of his musket proving useless, he had pursued the animal with 

 the hope of tiring him, and then intended to knock him on the head. On his return he 

 was reprimanded for leaving the ship without permission, and asked why he had been so rash. 

 The young hero replied, " I wished, sir, to get the skin for my father ; " and although 

 there is no record of the fact, it may well be believed that his little escapade was not very 

 severely punished. Almost immediately after his return from the frozen regions, we find 

 him in the East Indies, where his health nearly gave way. For the second time in 

 Nelson's career we find him almost abandoning the sea. " I felt impressed," wrote he 

 long afterwards, "with an idea that I should never rise in my profession. My mind was 

 staggered with a view of the difficulties which I had to surmount, and the little interest I 

 possessed. I could discover no means of reaching the object of my ambition. After a 

 long and gloom/ reverie, in which I almost wished myself overboard, a sudden glow of 



