"Either Lord St.Vincent or myself are liars," wrote Nelson to Davison; a conclusion not inevitable to those who have had experience of human misunderstandings.
The Prime Minister took a week to reply.

When he did, he deprecated the sending of any letter to the Mayor, for reasons, he said, "not merely of a public nature, but connected with the interest I shall ever take in your well-earned fame." These reasons, he added, he would be ready to give him in a private interview.

Nelson had asked his opinion upon the terms of the letter; but, impatient after waiting three days, had already sent it in when this answer came.

It seems probable that, with his usual promptness, he called at once; for on the same day, November 28, that he received Addington's letter he withdrew that to the Mayor.[52] "By the advice of a friend," he said, "I have now to request that your Lordship will consider my letter as withdrawn, _as the discussion of the question may bring forward characters which had better rest quiet_."[53] There seems, therefore, little reason to doubt that the honors, due to those who fought, were withheld out of consideration to those who did not fight.

Nelson himself recognized the difficulty.