ey have crossed had
Norris been allowed to remain at Portsmouth as he desired; for in that
case Baraille could not have been detached.

To point the moral of this memorable story, I cannot do better than
quote Mr Julian Corbett's comment on it. "The whole attempt, it will be
seen, with everything in its favour, had exhibited the normal course of
degradation. For all the nicely framed plan and perfect deception, the
inherent difficulties, when it came to the point of execution, had as
usual forced a clumsy concentration of the enemy's battle fleet with his
transports, and we on our part were able to forestall it with every
advantage in our favour by the simple expedient of a central mass on a
revealed and certain line of passage." We were certainly taken at a
disadvantage at the outset, for the "bolt from the blue" was preparing
some time before any one in England got wind of it. The country had
been largely denuded of troops for foreign enterprises, Scotland was
deeply disaffected, the Jacobites were full of hope and intrigue, the
Ministry was supine and feeble, the navy was deplorably weak in home
waters, and such ships as were available had been dispersed to their
ports for refit. Nevertheless with all these conditions in its favour
the projected "bolt from the blue" was detected and anticipated--tardily,
it is true, and with no great sagacity except on the part of Norris--long
before the expedition was ready to start. Surely the moral needs no
further pointing.

By these instances, and others which might be quoted, the law seems to
be established that in default of an assured command of the sea the
fleet which seeks to cover an invasion is drawn by irresistible
attraction towards the place of embarkation, and that the same
attraction brings it there--if not earlier--into conflict with the
superior forces of the enemy. If in the Trafalgar campaign, which I have
no space to examine in detail, the law does not seem to operate to the
extent that it did in the other cases examined, that is only because the
disposition of the British fleets was so masterly that Napoleon never
got the opportunity he yearned for of bringing his fleets to the place
of embarkation. They were outmanoeuvred beforehand and finally
overthrown at Trafalgar.

There is indeed a fourth alternative which has been advanced by some
speculative writers, though history lends it no countenance, and it has
never, I believe, been taken seriously by any nav