He thus received at one and the same time his leave to go home and the Admiralty's order reducing his station.
Unluckily, the latter step, though taken much later than the issuing of his leave, had become known to him first, through Orde; and the impression upon his mind remained with that firmness of prejudice which Radstock had noted in him.

He does not appear at any time to have made allowance for the fact that his command was cut down under a reasonable impression that he was about to quit it.
Immediately after the "Swiftsure" joined at Rendezvous 97, he took the fleet off Toulon.

The enemy was found to be still in port, but the rumors of an approaching movement, and of the embarkation of troops, were becoming more specific.

He remained off the harbor for at least a week, and thence went to Madalena, where he anchored on the 11th of January, 1805.

This was, though he knew it not, the end of the long watch off Toulon.
Short as the time was, Nelson had already experienced the inconvenience of a senior admiral, lying, like an enemy, on the flank of his communications with Great Britain, and dealing as he pleased with his vessels.