He had to wait a long time before he could
translate into brilliant action the result of his tactical studies.
Fourteen years after Lord Hood spoke of him as above related, by
a 'spontaneous and sudden act, for which he had no authority
by signal or otherwise, except his own judgment and quick
perceptions,' Nelson entirely defeated the movement of the enemy's
fleet, contributed to the winning of a great victory, and, as
Captain Mahan tells us, 'emerged from merely personal distinction
to national renown.' The justification of dwelling on this is
to be found in the necessity, even at this day, of preventing
the repetition of mistakes concerning Nelson's qualities and
disposition. His recent biographers, Captain Mahan and Professor
Laughton, feel constrained to tell us over and over again that
Nelson's predominant characteristic was not mere 'headlong valour
and instinct for fighting'; that he was not the man 'to run needless
and useless risks' in battle. 'The breadth and acuteness of Nelson's
intellect,' says Mahan, 'have been too much overlooked in the
admiration excited by his unusually grand moral endowments of
resolution, dash, and fearlessness of responsibility!'
In forming a true conception of what Nelson was, the publications
of the Navy Records Society will help us greatly. There is something
very remarkable in the way in which Mr. Gutteridge's volume[82]
not only confirms Captain Mahan's refutation of the aspersions
on Nelson's honour and humanity, but also establishes Professor
Laughton's conclusions, reached many years ago, that it was the
orders given to him, and not his amour, which detained him at
Naples at a well-known epoch.
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