d
the enemy wear together, still the twelve ships composing, _in the
first position_, the enemy's rear, are to be the object of attack of
the lee line." Sidmouth did not commit his recollection of this
incident to writing until many years later, and, not being a seaman,
very likely failed to comprehend some of the details--there seems to
the author to be in the story a confusion of what Nelson planned with
what Nelson did; but a great conception is largely independent of
details, and the essential features of Trafalgar are in Sidmouth's
account. The idea was doubtless imparted also to the family circle at
Merton, where probably the expression, "Nelson touch," originated. It
occurs chiefly, if not wholly, in his letters to Lady Hamilton, to
whom, some days before reaching the fleet, he wrote, "I am anxious to
join, for it would add to my grief if any other man was to give them
the Nelson touch, which WE say is warranted never to fail;" but there
may be a quaint allusion to it in the motto he told Rose he had
adopted: "Touch and Take."

When Nelson left England, he was intrusted by the First Lord with the
delicate and unpleasant mission of communicating to Sir Robert Calder
the dissatisfaction of the Government with his conduct, in the
encounter with the allied fleets the previous July; especially for
failing to keep touch with them and bring them again to action. The
national outcry was too strong to be disregarded, nor is it probable
that the Admiralty took a more lenient view of the matter. At all
events, an inquiry was inevitable, and the authorities seem to have
felt that it was a favor to Calder to permit him to ask for the Court
which in any case must be ordered. "I did not fail," wrote Nelson to
Barham, "immediately on my arrival, to deliver your message to Sir
Robert Calder; and it will give your Lordship pleasure to find, as it
has me, that an inquiry is what the Vice-Admiral wishes, and that he
had written to you by the Nautilus, which I detained, to say so. Sir
Robert thinks that he can clearly prove, that it was not in his power
to bring the combined squadrons again to battle."

Nelson felt a profound sympathy for the unfortunate officer, pursued
by the undiscriminating and ignorant fury of popular clamor, the
extent and intensity of which he had had opportunity to realize when
in England. While he probably did not look for so tragic an issue, the
execution of Byng under a similar odium and a similar charge