some are full of anxiety, impatience,
and apprehension, while others, under similar circumstances, are
perfectly cool, tranquil, and indifferent."

The latter half of the year 1792 was marked by the rapid progress in
France of the political distemper, which was so soon to culminate in
the worst excesses of the Revolution. The quick succession of
symptoms, each more alarming than the other,--the suspension of the
royal power at the tumultuous bidding of a mob, the September
massacres, the abolition of royalty, the aggressive character of the
National Convention shown by the decrees of November 19 and December
15,--roused the apprehensions of most thoughtful men throughout
Europe; and their concern was increased by the growing popular
effervescence in other countries than France. The British cabinet, as
was natural, shifted more slowly than did the irresponsible members of
the community; nor could Pitt lightly surrender his strong instinctive
prepossessions in favor of peace, with the continuance of which was
identified the exercise of his own best powers.

During this stormy and anxious period, Nelson shared the feelings of
his day and class. It is noteworthy, however, that, in regarding the
perils of the time, he was no mere panic-monger, but showed the same
discriminating carefulness of observation that had distinguished him
as captain of the "Boreas," and had elicited the admiration of Mr.
Rose. Strenuous and even bigoted royalist as he always was, satisfied
of the excellence of the British Constitution, and condemning utterly
the proceedings of the more or less seditious societies then forming
throughout the kingdom, he yet recognized the substantial grievances
of the working-men, as evident in the district immediately under his
eye. The sympathetic qualities which made him, fortune's own favorite
in his profession, keenly alive to the hardships, neglect, and
injustice undergone by the common seaman, now engaged him to set forth
the sad lot of the ill-paid rural peasantry. In his letters to the
Duke of Clarence, he on the one hand strongly blames the weakness and
timidity of the justices and country gentlemen, in their attitude
towards the abettors of lawlessness; but, on the other, he dwells upon
the sufferings of the poor, prepares a careful statement of their
earnings and unavoidable expenses, and insists upon the necessity of
the living wage. The field laborers, he said, "do not want loyalty,
many of their sup