[237] The story of the early life of Lord Nelson well illustrates the difficulties between the colonists, the Americans, and the English government. In 1784 Captain Nelson found himself, as commanding the _Boreas_ frigate, the senior captain on the West India Station, under a general who hesitated about his duties, and was more than half inclined to support the enemies of England, and an admiral who candidly admitted he had not read the instructions from home under which he was bound to act. How Nelson solved the difficulty by simply enforcing the Acts of Parliament, and how Collingwood, in the _Mediator_, stood firmly by him, is well told by Southey in his ‘Life of Lord Nelson,’ pp. 54-60 (Bohn’s ed.). CHAPTER VII. Great Britain, A.D. 1792—War with France, Feb. 1, 1793—Commercial panic—Government lends assistance—High price of corn—Bounties granted on its importation—Declaration of Russia, 1780—Confederacy renewed when Bonaparte had risen to power—Capture of merchant vessels—Do “free ships make free goods?”—Neutral nations repudiate the English views—Their views respecting blockades—Right of search—Chief doctrines of the neutrals—Mr. Pitt stands firm, and is supported by Mr. Fox—Defence of the English principles—Nelson sent to the Sound, 1801—Bombardment of Copenhagen—Peace of Amiens, and its terms—Bonaparte’s opinion of free trade—Sequestration of English property in France not raised—All claims remain unanswered—Restraint on commerce—French spies sent to England to examine her ports, &c.—Aggrandisement of Bonaparte—Irritation in England—Bonaparte’s interview with Lord Whitworth—The English ministers try to gain time—Excitement in England—The King’s message—The invasion of England determined on—War declared, May 18, 1803—Joy of the shipowners—Preparations in England for defence—Captures of French merchantmen—Effect of the war on shipping—Complaints of English shipowners—Hardships of the pressing system—Apprentices—Suggestions to secure the Mediterranean trade, and to encourage emigration to Canada—Value of the Canadian trade. [Sidenote: Great Britain, A.D. 1792.] [Sidenote: War with France, Feb. 1, 1793.] Notwithstanding numerous predictions that the merchant shipping of Great Britain would be, to a great extent, supplanted by her now formidable rivals on the other side of the Atlantic, England possessed, in 1792, six hundred thousand tons of shipping, more than she had at the commencement of the American war, while at the same time her exports had risen to 5,457,733_l._; and when the great war with France broke out, early in 1793, she owned 16,079 merchant vessels of 1,540,145 tons, under the management of 118,286 seamen.[238] [Sidenote: Commercial panic.] [Sidenote: Government lends assistance.]