And, while he craved his reward in the approval and recognition of those around and above him, he could find consolation for the lack of them in his own sense of right-doing.
"That thing called Honour," he writes to a friend soon after the "Boreas" cruise, "is now, alas! thought of no more.

My integrity cannot be mended, I hope; but my fortune, God knows, has grown worse for the service; so much for serving my country.

But I have invariably laid down, and followed close, a plan of what ought to be uppermost in the breast of an officer: that it is much better to serve an ungrateful Country than to give up his own fame.

Posterity will do him justice; a uniform conduct of honour and integrity seldom fails of bringing a man to the goal of fame at last." This struggle with Sir Richard Hughes, in which Nelson took the undesirable, and to a naval officer invidious, step of disobeying orders, showed clearly, not only the loftiness of his motives, but the distinguishing features which constituted the strength of his character, both personal and military.

There was an acute perception of the right thing to do, an entire readiness to assume all the responsibility of doing it, and above all an accurate judgment of the best way to do it,--to act with impunity to himself and with most chances of success to his cause.