lse, in his report of this very commonplace occurrence, he
could scarcely have used, concerning the movement of heading south,
the expression, _prit chasse_, which, whether rendered "retired," or
"retreated," or, as Nelson did, "ran away," was a misrepresentation of
the facts, and heightened by the assertion that he pursued till
nightfall, and next morning could not see the enemy. Writing to Elliot
four days after the affair happened, Nelson mentioned casually his
view of the matter. "Monsieur La Touche came out with eight sail of
the line and six frigates, cut a caper off Sepet, and went in again. I
brought-to for his attack, although I did not believe anything was
meant serious, but merely a gasconade." "On the morning of the 15th,"
he tells Acton on the same day, "I believe I may call it, we chased
him into Toulon." His purpose evidently was, as has been shown, to
fight, if the enemy meant business, to leeward of the port, and far
enough off to give Bickerton a chance to come up. Great was his wrath,
two months later, when Latouche's statement reached him, and he found
that not only no mention was made of the relative numbers, but that
the offensive expression quoted had been used. "I do assure you," he
wrote to the Admiralty, enclosing a copy of the day's log, "I know not
what to say, except by a flat contradiction; for if my character is
not established by this time for not being apt to run away, it is not
worth my time to attempt to put the world right." He might well have
rested there,--an imputation that might have injured an untried man
could provoke only a smile when levelled at his impregnable renown;
but his ruffled mind would not let him keep quiet, and in private
correspondence he vented his rage in terms similar to those used of
the Danish commodore after Copenhagen. "You will have seen Monsieur La
Touche's letter of how he chased me and how I _ran_. I keep it; and,
by G--d, if I take him, he shall _eat_ it." He is a "poltroon," a
"liar," and a "miscreant." It may be added that no admiral, whether a
Nelson or not, could have abandoned the "Excellent" under the
conditions.

Immediately after this abortive affair, Nelson, convinced by it that
something more than a taunt was needed to bring his enemy under his
guns, stationed frigates at the Hyeres, and to cruise thence to the
eastward as far as Cape Taillat, to intercept the commerce between
Italy and Toulon and Marseilles. For this purpose he had recommend