contemplation. In the outer road
lay fifteen sail-of-the-line, the British having then fourteen; but
more significant of the enemy's purpose was the presence at Marseilles
of fifty large transports, said to be ready. "I have no doubt," wrote
Nelson, "but Porto Especia is their object." This was a mistake,
interesting as indicating the slight weight that Nelson at that time
attributed to the deterrent effect of the British fleet "in being"
upon such an enterprise, involving an open-sea passage of over a
hundred miles, though he neither expressed nor entertained any
uncertainty as to the result of a meeting, if the enemy were
encountered. The French Government, not yet appreciating the
inefficiency to which its navy had been reduced by many concurrent
circumstances, was ready to dispute the control of the Mediterranean,
and it contemplated, among other things, a demonstration atyou wish. Had
the Spanish Government chosen the other alternative open to it, and
struck at the communications, such a blow, or even such a threat, must
have compelled the withdrawal of the fleet, unless some other base of
supplies could be found. The straitness of the situation is shown by
the fact that Jervis, after he had held on to the last moment in San
Fiorenzo Bay, sailed for Gibraltar with such scanty provisions that
the crews' daily rations were reduced to one-third the ordinary
amount; in fact, as early as the first of October they had been cut
down to two-thirds. Whether, therefore, the Government was right in
ordering the withdrawal, or Nelson in his condemnation of it, may be
left to the decision of those fortunate persons who can be cocksure of
the true solution of other