had been won in the Mediterranean during the war, and the resultant exultation was heightened by its contrast with the general depression then weighing upon the British cause.  Especially keen and warmly expressed was the satisfaction of the veteran commander-in-chief at Lisbon, who first learned the success of his valued subordinate through Spanish sources.  “I cannot express to you, and Captain Cockburn, the feelings I underwent on the receipt of the enclosed bulletin, the truth of which I cannot doubt, as far as relates to your glorious achievement in the capture of the Sabina, and dignified retreat from the line-of-battle ship, which deprived you of your well-earned trophy; your laurels were not then within their grasp, and can never fade.”

General De Burgh, who commanded the troops in Elba, had received no instructions to quit the island, and felt uncertain about his course, in view of the navy’s approaching departure.  Nelson’s orders were perfectly clear, but applied only to the naval establishment.  He recognized the general’s difficulty, though he seems to have thought that, under all the circumstances, he might very well have acted upon his own expressed opinion, that “the signing of a Neapolitan peace with France ought to be our signal for departure.”  “The army,” wrote Nelson to the First Lord of the Admiralty, “are not so often called upon to exercise their judgment in political measures as we are; therefore the general feels a certain diffidence.”  He told De Burgh that, the King of Naples having made peace, Jervis considered his business with the courts of Italy as terminated; that the Admiralty’s orders were to concentrate the effort of the fleet upon preventing the allied fleets from quitting the Mediterranean, and upon the defence of Portugal, invaluable to the British as a base of naval operations.  For these reasons, even if he had to leave the land forces in Elba, he should have no hesitation in following his instructions, which were to withdraw all naval belongings.  “I have sent to collect my squadron, and as soon as they arrive, I shall offer myself for embarking the troops, stores, &c.; and should you decline quitting this post, I shall proceed down the Mediterranean with such ships of war as are not absolutely wanted for keeping open the communication of Elba with the Continent.”

The necessary preparations went on apace.  Vessels were sent out to summon the scattered cruisers to the port.  A frigate was despatched to Naples to bring back Sir Gilbert Elliot, the late Viceroy of Corsica, who, since the abandonment of the latter island, had been on a diplomatic visit to Rome and Naples.  It is to this incident that we owe the fullest account transmitted of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent; the narrator, Colonel Drinkwater, being then a member of the Viceroy’s suite, and attending him upon his return with Nelson’s squadron.  The Spanish prisoners were sent to Cartagena in a cartel, Nelson restoring to the captain of the “Sabina”