One of the strangest points in all this period of wonders, to us who
after the event are wise, is that even far-sighted Nelson and his
watchful colleagues seem to have had no inkling of the enemy's main
project. Nelson believed Napoleon to be especially intent on Egypt;
Collingwood expected a sudden dash on Ireland; others were sure that
his object was Jamaica; and many maintained that he would step ashore
in India. And these last came nearest to the mark upon the whole, for a
great historian (who declares, like Caryl Carne, that a French invasion
is a blessing to any country) shows that, for at least a month in the
spring of 1805, his hero was revolving a mighty scheme for robbing poor
England of blissful ravage, and transferring it to India.
However, the master of the world--as he was called already, and meant
soon to be--suddenly returned to his earlier design, and fixed the vast
power of his mind upon it. He pushed with new vigour his preparations,
which had been slackened awhile, he added 30,000 well-trained soldiers
to his force already so enormous, and he breathed the quick spirit
of enterprise into the mighty mass he moved. Then, to clear off all
obstacles, and ensure clear speed of passage, he sent sharp orders to
his Admirals to elude and delude the British fleets, and resolved to
enhance that delusion by his own brief absence from the scene.
Meanwhile a man of no importance to the world, and of very moderate
ambition, was passing a pleasant time in a quiet spot, content to
be scarcely a spectator even of the drama in rehearsal around him.
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