ut still awaiting
the stamp of solidity which the lapse of time alone can give, Nelson
felt strongly, and not improperly, that it was necessary to be
vigilant against any possible imputations upon his action. This was
the more true, because blame certainly did attach to the service of
which he was the representative on the spot, and the course he had
been obliged to follow kept him to the rear instead of at the front.
There would have been no greater personal danger to a man on board the
"Agamemnon" in one place than in the other; but current rumor, seeking
a victim, does not pause to analyze conditions. Not only, therefore,
did he draw up for Sir John Jervis a succinct synopsis of occurrences
subsequent to his taking command of the operations along the Riviera,
in which he combined a justification of his own conduct with the
general information necessary for a new commander-in-chief, but to all
his principal correspondents he carefully imparted the facts necessary
to clear him from blame, and to show just what the Navy had effected,
and where it had fallen short through inadequate force.

To the British minister to Genoa, who was constantly at the Austrian
headquarters, he wrote with clear emphasis, as to one cognizant of all
the truth, and so a witness most important to himself. Having first
asked certain certificates, essential to be presented in the Admiralty
Courts when Genoese prizes came to be adjudicated, he continued
characteristically: "The next request much more concerns my honour,
than the other does my interest--it is to prove to the world, to my
own admiral, or to whoever may have a right to ask the question, why I
remained at Genoa. I have therefore to desire that you will have the
goodness to express, in writing, what you told me, that the Imperial
minister and yourself were assured, if I left the port of Genoa
unguarded, not only the Imperial troops at St. Pierre d'Arena and
Voltri would be lost, but that the French plan for taking post between
Voltri and Savona would certainly succeed; and also, that if the
Austrians should be worsted in the advanced posts, the retreat by the
Bocchetta would be cut off: to which you added, that if this happened,
the loss of the Army would be laid to my leaving Genoa, and
recommended me most strongly not to think of it. I am anxious, as you
will believe, to have proofs in my possession, that I employed to the
last the Agamemnon as was judged most beneficial to the commo