paid a high, sportsmanlike tribute to those who had earned the honour
He could not help flavouring it, however, with some words of
Nelsonian self-approbation. He said, "He gloried in them, for they
were his children, they served in his school, and all of them,
including himself, caught their professional zeal and fire from the
great and good Earl St. Vincent." Then he goes on to say that it is a
great happiness to have the Nile fleet all taken under his orders and
regulations. He slyly claimed the glory of training and inspiring,
though he had deprived himself of added fame by nourishing a morose
feeling of jealousy against Lord Keith, who had been sent out after a
few months' leave to take up his position as commander-in-chief. Owing
to his absence, Nelson had acted in that capacity, and he could not
bear the thought of being superseded by his old chief. In fact, Nelson
could not tolerate being placed in a secondary position by any one. As
I have already stated, he put Keith's authority at defiance and took
responsibilities upon himself, boasting that had they failed he would
have been "shot or broke."

After the capture of the _Généreux_ he struck, and wrote to Keith that
his health would not permit of his remaining at his post, that without
"rest he was done for," and that he could "no more stay fourteen days
longer on the station than fourteen years." At the same time, Captain
Ball wrote to Lady Hamilton that "he had dined with him, and that he
was in good health," that he did not think a short stay would do his
health harm, and that "he would not urge it, were it not that he and
Troubridge wished him to have the honour of the French ships and the
French garrison surrender to him." Nelson's vision and good judgment
at this time must have been totally at fault, and his general attitude
emphasizes the splendid forbearance of his amiable commander-in-chief
and distinguished subordinates who were the very cream of the Navy.