"The enemy keep also at Cork, in Ireland, four or five ships of war; I do not speak of frigates or small vessels, of which they have a large number. If you deceive Nelson, he will go to Sicily or to Egypt or to Ferrol. It would then appear to me best to make a considerable roundabout, and arrive before Rochefort; thus making your squadron one of sixteen ships and eleven frigates; and then, without dropping anchor or losing a single instant, arrive before Boulogne. Our squadron at Brest, twenty-three vessels strong, will have on board an army, and will be constantly under sail set, so that Cornwallis will be obliged to press close to the shore of Brittany in order to try and prevent the escape of our fleet. For the rest, in order to fix my ideas upon this operation, which has its risks, but of which the success offers results so enormous, I wait for the scheme you have mentioned to me, and which you will send me by return of the courier. You must embark as many provisions as possible, so that under any circumstances you may have nothing to hinder you." It is the weakness as well as the honor of human enterprises to depend upon the life and force of a man. Before Admiral Latouche-Tréville had been able to profit by the occurrence of the mistral to get out of Toulon and deceive Nelson, he himself succumbed to the illness that had preyed upon him since the expedition of San Domingo (20th August, 1804), and the projected expedition against the coast of England was indefinitely postponed. "The flotilla has been looked upon as temporary," wrote the Emperor to Decrès, the Minister of Marine; "it will be necessary henceforth to look upon it as a fixed establishment, and from this moment to give the greatest attention to all that is unchangeable, managing it by other regulations than the squadron." It was at the same time the plan of the emperor to try to turn away the thoughts of the English from his schemes of invasion; in the midst of his arrangements for the coronation, and of the diplomatic negotiations, and whilst writing a private letter to the King of England, pompously proposing peace, he had formed other designs and prepared new plans in order at last to carry out his great enterprise.