maintained the right with
vehemence bordering upon fierceness." Had he had the chief command on
shore, it is possible that the two, impetuous and self-asserting
though they were, might have reached an understanding. But in the most
unfortunate disagreement about Bastia,--wherein it is to a naval
officer of to-day scarcely possible to do otherwise than blame the
sullen lack of enterprise shown by the army,--and afterwards at Calvi,
Moore appeared to Hood, and to Nelson also, as the subordinate, the
power behind the throne, who was prompting a line of action they both
condemned. No position in military life is more provocative of trouble
than to feel you are not dealing with the principal, but with an
irresponsible inferior; and the situation is worse, because one in
which it is almost impossible to come to an issue. Moore's
professional talent and force of character naturally made itself felt,
even with a man of Stuart's ability. Hood and Nelson recognized this,
and they resented, as inspired by a junior, what they might have
combated dispassionately, if attributed to the chief. There was
friction also between Moore and Elliot, the viceroy of the island.
Doubtless, as in all cases where suspicion, not to say jealousy, has
been begot, much more and worse was imagined by both parties than
actually occurred. The apportionment of blame, or prolonged discussion
of the matter, is out of place in a biography of Nelson. To that it is
of moment, only because it is proper to state that Nelson, on the spot
and in daily contact,--Nelson, upon whose zeal and entire
self-devotion at this period no doubt is cast,--agreed in the main
with Hood's opinion as to what the latter called the San Fiorenzo
leaven, of which Moore was to them the exponent. It is true that
Nelson naturally sympathized with his profession and his admiral, whom
he heartily admired; but some corrective, at least, to such
partiality, was supplied by his soreness about the latter's omission
duly to report his services at Bastia, of which he just now became
aware. The estrangement between the two commanders-in-chief was
doubtless increased by the apparent reluctance, certainly the lack of
effort, to see one another frequently.

The principal work, called by Nelson the Mozelle battery, was carried
before daylight of July 19, and before dark all the outposts were in
the hands of the British. "I could have wished to have had a little
part in the storm," wrote Nelson, char