ceive I
am distressed. Do you really think we are of any use here? If not, we
may serve our country much more by being in other places. The Levant
and coast of Spain call aloud for ships, and they are, I fancy,
employed to no purpose here." The position was almost hopelessly
complicated by the Genoese coasters, which plied their trade close to
the beach, between the mother city and the little towns occupied by
the French, and which Nelson felt unable to touch. "There are no
vessels of any consequence in any bay from Monaco to Vado," he wrote
to Jervis; "but not less than a hundred Genoese are every day passing,
which may or may not have stores for the French." "The French have no
occasion to send provisions from France. The coasts are covered with
Genoese vessels with corn, wine, hay, &c., for places on the coast;
and they know I have no power to stop the trade with the towns. I saw
this day not less than forty-five Genoese vessels, all laden, passing
along the coast. What can I do?"

Although not definitely so stated, it is shown, by an allusion, that
Nelson at this time entertained, among other ideas, the project of
keeping afloat in transports a body of three thousand troops, which
should hover upon the coast, and by frequent descents impose a
constant insecurity upon the long line of communications from Nice to
Genoa. The same plan was advocated by him against the Spanish
peninsula in later years.[36] Of this conception it may be said that
it is sound in principle, but in practice depends largely upon the
distance from the centre of the enemy's power at which its execution
is attempted. Upon the Spanish coast, in 1808, in the hands of Lord
Cochrane, it was undoubtedly a most effective secondary operation; but
when that distinguished officer proposed to apply a like method, even
though on a much greater scale, to the western coast of France,
against the high-road south of Bordeaux, it can scarcely be doubted
that he would have met a severe disappointment, such as attended
similar actions upon the Channel in the Seven Years' War. On the
Riviera, in 1795, this means might have been decisive; in 1796, in the
face of Bonaparte's fortified coast, it could scarcely have been more
than an annoyance. At all events, the advocacy of it testifies to the
acuteness and energy with which Nelson threw himself into the
operations especially intrusted to him.

His letters during this period reflect the varying phases of hope and
o