326

LETTERS.

[1805.

weather. At forty-eight minutes past eight, burnt a bluelight; at half-past ten, down topgallant yards, and struck top-gallant masts. At midnight, moderate breezes and clear. Attwo, [a.m. 20th January] burnt a blue light, and at four burntanother, and made more sail. At thirty-five minutes past seven,Active made the signal for a Sail ; and immediately afterwards,that the strange Sail was a Vessel of War, which proved to bethe Seahorse. At fifty minutes past seven, made the signalthat Spencer and Leviathan were to be a Detached Squadron;delivered the Honourable Captain Stopford a letter to thateffect, directing him to keep on my weather-beam with them,being fast-sailing Ships, to act as occasion might require. Atfifty-five minutes past eight, made Active’s signal to closenearer the Admiral, and at twenty minutes past nine, madeSwiftsure’s to do the same. At twenty-five minutes past nine,made the general signal to ‘Prepare for Battle.’ At twenty-five minutes past eleven, made the same signal, to ‘ Form theestablished Order of Sailing in two columns,’ and the signal

Besides tliese misadventures, two English Frigates were watching ns, and theAdmiral was afraid of the Enemy coming np with him [rejoint] at the momentwhen he had hut live Sail [vaisseaux] to oppose to him. He therefore determinedto put back to Toulon , although he was already seventy leagues distant from, it; andnotwithstanding the entreaties of General Lauriston , who, reckoning four thousandand some hundreds of men on board the Vessels which still remained together, de-manded to be taken to his destination, Villeneuve returned to Toulon on the 27th[sic, but truly the 21st, i. e. “ l er pluviose, an xiii.,” the date of Admiral Villeneuve’sdispatch, announcing his return], and succeeded in assembling his whole Squadronthere .”—History of the Consulate and the Empire, translated by Campbell, vol. v.pp. 157, 158; collated with the original edition. Upon this statement it is to beobserved, that the presence of our Squadron, rather than “ un vent debout,” seemsto have detained Admiral Villeneuve until after the 18th of January, because, in theearly part of the month, the wind was northerly; and as, on the 9tli or 10th, Lord Nelson quitted his station for Sardinia , Villeneuve, even if he was not aware of thefact, must have known that the English Squadron had not been seen in the vicinityof Toulon for upwards of a week, thus affording a presumption that they had, asusual, either gone off Cape St. Sebastian, or to Sardinia for water and refreshments.As on the 18th, the English Squadron was at anchor at Madalena, it is difficult tounderstand how Admiral Villeneuve, by “ faisant fausse route, a se soustraire al’ennemi;” inasmuch as by steering South orS.bE., instead of a course to take himout of the Mediterranean, he did, in fact, approach Nelson ’s Squadron unnecessarily;and this is, no doubt, one reason for believing that he was not aware of its being atMadalena, but supposed it was off Cape St. Sebastian. It is, however, obvious thatif the French really sailed with the intention of passing the Straits, their proceedingscompletely deceived Lord Nelson , but whose usual sagacity, nevertheless displayeditself in supposing that they were forced back to Toulon , in a crippled condition, bythe gale of the 19th.