yons and Toulon, even if the efforts against Spain and Sardinia
had to be relaxed. Further, on the 16th of September there arrived at
the Republican army west of Toulon the incarnation of warlike energy and
skill. At the bidding of the Commissioners of the Convention, Napoleon
Bonaparte had come from the arsenal at Marseilles to assist the few
artillerymen then before Toulon. On the 17th he was placed in command
of their insignificant siege artillery, and forthwith from the slopes
two miles west of the town he opened fire on the nearest ships. It is
incorrect to claim for him the origination of the plan of sinking the
fleet by a fire from the height behind l'Eguilette; for three days
earlier the Commissioners of the Convention had written that they would
secure a position whence the allied fleet could be sunk by red-hot
cannon-balls; and there was no point but the high ground behind Fort
l'Eguilette which dominated both the inner and the outer harbours.[246]
But it may freely be granted that Bonaparte clinched the arguments in
favour of this course and brought to bear on it that masterful energy
which assures triumph. It was the first occasion on which he crossed the
path of Pitt; and here, as always, he had the advantage of a central
position, and of wielding a compact and homogeneous force against
discordant Allies.

The worst difficulty confronting the defenders of Toulon remains to be
noted. There the Sea Power is at the mercy of the Land Power. To attempt
to defend that city at the head of its land-locked harbour, dominated by
promontories, was to court disaster unless the fleet had an army to
protect it. In such a case a fleet is a source of danger rather than of
safety. Its true function is to act where it can, either directly or
indirectly, command the land. It operates with most effect against low
and exposed coasts. St. Jean d'Acre affords, perhaps, the best example
of a town at the mercy of a fleet. Portsmouth, Sydney, Brest, and Toulon
cannot be held by an enemy unless he brings forces sufficient to hold
the neighbouring heights. In occupying Toulon, the Sea Power was
virtually putting its head into the lion's jaw. Only by degrees did the
authorities at home understand this all-important fact. For some time it
was veiled from Pitt; and, as we shall see, the Austrian Chancellor,
Thugut, never did understand it. To those who were on the spot, the need
of occupying the promontory behind l'Eguilette was apparent;