He could not refuse to accept the command, but he demanded his relief in terms which could not be disregarded.

His health, he said, made him unequal to the service.

For three weeks he could not leave his cabin.
"The keen air of the North kills me." "I did not come to the Baltic with the design of dying a natural death." Parker had no sooner departed than Nelson made the signal for the fleet to weigh, and started at once for Revel.

He did not know whether or not the Russian ships were still there, and he felt that the change of sovereigns probably implied a radical change of policy; but he understood, also, that the part of a commander-in-chief was to see that the military situation was maintained, from day to day, as favorable as possible to his own country.

He anticipated, therefore, by his personal judgment, the instructions of the Cabinet, not to enter upon hostilities if certain conditions could be obtained, but to exact of the Russian Government, pending its decision, that the Revel ships should remain where they were.