his _corps d'armee_. He made no allowances for the
winds and currents, and least of all, did he comprehend that all
important circumstance, that the efficiency of a fleet is necessarily
confined to the rate of sailing of the dullest of its ships. More may be
expected from a squadron of ten sail, all of which shall be average
vessels, in this respect, than from the same number of vessels, of which
one half are fast and the remainder dull. One brigade can march as fast
as another, but it is not so with vessels. The efficiency of a marine,
therefore, depends rather on its working qualities, than on its number
of ships.

Perhaps the best fleet that ever sailed under the English flag, was that
with which Nelson fought the battle of the Nile. It consisted of twelve
or thirteen small seventy-fours, each of approved qualities, and
commanded by an officer of known merit. In all respects it was efficient
and reliable. With such men as Hallowell, Hood, Trowbridge, Foley, Ball,
and others, and with such ships, the great spirit of Nelson was
satisfied. He knew that whatever seamen could do, his comparatively
little force could achieve. When his enemy was discovered at anchor,
though night was approaching and his vessels were a good deal scattered,
he at once determined to put the qualities we have mentioned to the
highest proof, and to attack. This was done without any other order of
battle than that which directed each commander to get as close alongside
of an enemy as possible, the best proof of the high confidence he had in
his ships and in their commanders.

It is now known that all the early accounts of the man[oe]uvring at the
Nile, and of Nelson's reasoning on the subject of anchoring inside and
of doubling on his enemies, is pure fiction. The "Life" by Southey, in
all that relates to this feature of the day, is pure fiction, as,
indeed, are other portions of the work of scarcely less importance. This
fact came to the writer, through the late Commodore (Charles Valentine)
Morris, from Sir Alexander Ball, in the early part of the century. In
that day it would not have done to proclaim it, so tenacious is public
opinion of its errors; but since that time, naval officers of rank have
written on the subject, and stripped the Nile, Trafalgar, &c, of their
poetry, to give the world plain, nautical, and probable accounts of both
those great achievements. The truth, as relates to both battles, was
just as little like the previously