[161] Nelson's Dispatches, vol. vi. p. 333.
[162] After writing these words the author noted Nelson's opinion to the same effect: "Had they not been crippled, nothing could have hindered our meeting them on January 21, off the south end of Sardinia." (Dispatches, vol. vi. p. 354.)
[163] For Villeneuve's opinion see Chevalier's Hist. de la Mar. Fran. sous l'Empire, p. 134; for Nelson's, Disp. vol. vi. pp. 334, 339.
[164] Corr. de Nap., vol. ix. p. 701.
[165] Ibid., Jan. 16, 1805.
[166] Compare with Nelson's views on attacking Russian fleet, ante, p. 46.
[167] Corr. de Nap., April 29, 1805, vol. x. p. 443.
[168] Letter to Pitt by Robert Francis; Castlereagh's Memoirs, vol. v. p. 444. The whole letter is most suggestive, not to say prophetic. From internal indications it is extremely probable that the writer of these letters, signed Robert Francis, was Robert Fulton, though the fact is not mentioned in any of his biographies.
[169] Mémoires du Duc de Raguse, vol. ii. p. 261.
[170] Thiers, Cons. et Emp., vol. v. p. 413.