the
landing of our troops in your country; but the arrival of Lord Nelson in
the West Indies, and the victory of Admiral Calder, deranged all our
plans and postponed all our designs, which the Continental war has
interrupted; to be commenced, God knows when.

The best amongst our bad admirals is certainly Truguet; but he was
disgraced last year, and exiled twenty leagues from the coast, for having
declared too publicly "that our flotillas would never be serviceable
before our fleets were superior to yours, when they would become
useless." An intriguer by long habit and by character, having neither
property nor principles, he joined the Revolution, and was the second in
command under Latouche, in the first republican fleet that left our
harbours. He directed the expedition against Sardinia, in January, 1793,
during which he acquired neither honour nor glory, being repulsed with
great loss by the inhabitants. After being imprisoned under Robespierre,
the Directory made him a Minister of the marine, an Ambassador to Spain,
and a Vice-Admiral of France. In this capacity he commanded at Brest,
during the first eighteen months of the present war. He has an
irreconcilable foe in Talleyrand, with whom he quarrelled, when on his
embassy in Spain, about some extortions at Madrid, which he declined to
share with his principal at Paris. Such was our Minister's inveteracy
against him in 1798, that a directorial decree placed him on the list of
emigrants, because he remained in Spain after having been recalled to
France. In 1799, during Talleyrand's disgrace, Truguet returned here,
and, after in vain challenging his enemy to fight, caned him in the
Luxembourg gardens, a chastisement which our premier bore with true
Christian patience. Truguet is not even a member of the Legion of
Honour.

Villeneuve is supposed not much inferior in talents, experience, and
modesty to Truguet. He was, before the Revolution, a lieutenant of the
royal navy; but his principles did not prevent him from deserting to the
colours of the enemies of royalty, who promoted him first to a captain
and afterwards to an admiral.

His first command as such was over a division of the Toulon fleet, which,
in the winter of 1797, entered Brest. In the battle at Aboukir he was
the second in command; and, after the death of Admiral Brueys, he rallied
the ships which had escaped, and sailed for Malta, where, two years
afterwards, he signed, with General Vauboi