to alter his orders, is what I cannot comprehend." But what
rational man ever said such a thing? "I find few think as I do,--but
to obey orders is all perfection! What would my superiors direct, did
they know what is passing under my nose? To serve my King and to
destroy the French I consider as the great order of all, from which
little ones spring, and if one of these little ones militate against
it, I go back to obey the great order." There is so much that is sound
in these words, and yet so much confusion might arise in applying
them, that scarcely any stronger evidence could be given that each
case must rest on its own merits; and that no general rule can
supplant the one general principle of obedience, by which alone unity
and concentration of effort, the great goal of all military movement,
can be obtained.

During this period of agitation and excitement, Nelson's health did
not show the favorable symptoms that usually attended a call to
exertion. Much may be attributed to a Mediterranean summer, especially
after the many seasons he had passed in that sea; but it can readily
be believed that such exceptional responsibilities as he had just
assumed could not but tell, even upon his resolute and fearless
temper. "I am really sorry," wrote Troubridge to him, from the siege
of St. Elmo, "to see your Lordship so low-spirited, all will go well;"
and a few days later, "Your Lordship must endeavour to fret as little
as possible--we shall succeed. His Majesty's arrival will relieve your
Lordship; and if he punishes the guilty, the people will be happy."
The day after he had refused to obey Keith's order, he wrote to him,
"I am truly so very unwell that I have not the power of writing so
much as I could wish;" and the next day, to the Admiralty, he makes
the same excuse, adding, "I am writing in a fever, and barely possible
to keep out of bed." "My dear friend," he tells Locker, "I am so ill
that I can scarcely sit up; yet I will not let the courier go off
without assuring you that all your kindnesses to me are fresh in my
memory.... May God Almighty grant you, my revered friend, that health
and happiness which has never yet been attained by your affectionate,
grateful friend, Nelson." It cannot but be surmised that he did not
feel that profound conviction of right, which had sustained him on
previous occasions. The disquiet indicated resembles rather that
attending the uncertainties of the Nile campaign. As Colonel Stewar