ssel was an act of unjustifiable disobedience. To
Keith he wrote privately, and in a conciliatory spirit, but nothing
that made his act less flagrant. "To all your wishes, depend on it, I
shall pay the very strictest attention."

Conscious of the dangerous step he was taking, Nelson wrote on the
same day, by private letter,[88] to the First Lord of the Admiralty.
"You will easily conceive my feelings," he said, "but my mind, your
Lordship will know, was perfectly prepared for this order; and more
than ever is my mind made up, that, at this moment, I will not part
with a single ship, as I cannot do that without drawing a hundred and
twenty men from each ship now at the siege of Capua, where an army is
gone this day. I am fully aware of the act I have committed; but,
sensible of my loyal intentions, I am prepared for any fate which may
await my disobedience. Do not think that my opinion is formed from the
arrangements of any one," an expression which shows that he was aware
how talk was running. "_No;_ be it good, or be it bad, it is all my
own. It is natural I should wish the decision of the Admiralty and my
Commander-in-chief as speedily as possible. To obtain the former, I
beg your Lordship's interest with the Board. You know me enough, my
dear Lord, to be convinced I want no screen to my conduct."

On the 9th of July, Keith wrote again, from Port Mahon, a letter which
Nelson received on the 19th. He said that he was satisfied that the
enemy's intentions were directed neither against the Two Sicilies, nor
to the reinforcement of their army in Egypt; that, on the contrary,
there was reason to believe they were bound out of the Straits. "I
judge it necessary that all, or the greatest part of the force under
your Lordship's orders, should quit the Island of Sicily, and repair
to Minorca, for the purpose of protecting that Island during the
necessary absence of His Majesty's squadron under my command, or for
the purpose of co-operating with me against the combined force of the
enemy, wherever it may be necessary." The commander-in-chief, in
short, wished to mass his forces, for the necessities of the general
campaign, as he considered them. Nelson now flatly refused obedience,
on the ground of the local requirements in his part of the field.
"Your Lordship, at the time of sending me the order, was not informed
of the change of affairs in the Kingdom of Naples, and that all our
marines and a body of seamen are landed, in o