(7) NELSON AND NAPOLEON. 1. "The great French War," which began, as we have said, in 1793 and lasted almost two and twenty years, ended triumphantly for the British at Waterloo; but whilst the war continued, it was a great drain on England's resources, and a great strain on her powers of endurance. The war had not long gone on, when it became evident that a great military genius had arisen among the French in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte, and that in Horatio Nelson the British had an equally great leader in fighting on the seas. 2. Nelson seems to have been sent into the world to frustrate the proud schemes of Napoleon, though one fought only on land and the other at sea. Nelson's name only appears in our annals between 1793 and 1805, but his career lasted long enough for the fulfilment of his mission, which was to sweep the French war-ships from the sea, and thus save his country from invasion, and its colonies from capture. Such horror and alarm had the French caused by the torrent of blood they had shed in shearing off the heads of their sovereigns and nobles, and by the triumphant tramp of their armies over the neighbouring states, that Nelson only expressed the general feeling of Europe when he said, "_Down, down with the French_, ought to be posted up in the council-room of every country in the world." 3. Nelson first drew the eyes of the whole world upon himself, in 1798, by his famous victory of the Nile. Napoleon Bonaparte had sailed from Toulon with 30,000 troops on board 400 transports, escorted by a fleet of thirteen men-of-war. Nelson who was sent in pursuit with a squadron, also numbering thirteen ships-of-the-line, found the transports empty in the harbour of Alexandria, and the French fleet anchored in the Bay of Aboukir. 4. Imagine thirteen great battle-ships drawn up in a single line parallel with the shore, but on account of the shallow water three miles from it, with the _Orient_, the French flag-ship, in the centre. The ship in the van, at one end of the line, was anchored so close to an island, which stands at the western entrance to the Bay, that no one in the French fleet imagined that there was room for a ship to pass in between them. But as Nelson said, "Where a French ship can swing, an English ship can either sail or anchor." 5. Ship for ship, the French had a decided advantage in the number and size of their guns. Nelson, however, took care not to engage the whole line, but brought the whole weight of his guns to bear upon a part only. This he was able to do by sailing between the French van and the island, five of his ships taking up their stations on the inner side of the enemy's line, and the rest on the outer side. Thus the French van and centre were caught between two fires, whilst the rear ships, being at anchor to leeward, were unable to come to the rescue of their distressed sisters.