t of December 16, 1793. It was
immediately recognized that the ships could no longer remain in the
harbor, and that with them the land forces also must depart. After two
days of hurried preparations, and an attempt, only partially
successful, to destroy the dockyard and French ships of war, the
fleets sailed out on the 19th of December, carrying with them, besides
the soldiery, as many as possible of the wretched citizens, who were
forced to fly in confusion and misery from their homes, in order to
escape the sure and fearful vengeance of the Republican government.
The "Agamemnon" was in Leghorn, getting provisions, when the fugitives
arrived there, and Nelson speaks in vivid terms of the impression made
upon him by the tales he heard and the sights he saw. "Fathers are
here without families, and families without fathers, the pictures of
horror and despair." "In short, all is horror. I cannot write all: my
mind is deeply impressed with grief. Each teller makes the scene more
horrible." He expressed the opinion that the evacuation was a benefit
to England, and it unquestionably was. He had not always thought so;
but it must be allowed that the hopes and exultation with which he
greeted the acquisition of the place had sufficient foundation, in the
reported attitude of the people of Southern France, to justify the
first opinion as well as the last. The attempt was worth making,
though it proved unsuccessful. As it was, the occupation had resulted
in a degree of destruction to the French ships and arsenal in Toulon,
which, though then over-estimated, was a real gain to the allies.

FOOTNOTES:

[18] Turin was capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which embraced the
island of that name and the Province of Piedmont.

[19] This statement, which apparently depends upon a memoir supplied many
years later by the first lieutenant of the "Boreas," is not strictly
accurate, for Nelson himself, in a letter written shortly after her arrival
in the West Indies, mentions that several of her ship's company had been
carried off by fever (Nicolas, vol. i. p. 111); but it can doubtless be
accepted as evidence of an unusually healthy condition.

CHAPTER IV.

REDUCTION OF CORSICA BY THE BRITISH.--DEPARTURE OF LORD HOOD FOR
ENGLAND.--THE "AGAMEMNON" REFITTED AT LEGHORN.

JANUARY-DECEMBER, 1794. AGE, 35.

By the loss of Toulon the British fleet in the Mediterranean was left
adrift, without any secure harbor to serve as a depot for