Nelson had left him a discretion, as has been said, and this he chose to use in the manner just mentioned.
Had the case of the New Hampshire man been fairly brought before the British Admiral, his discharge would have been ordered without hesitation.

Nelson was too far removed from the competition of the separate ships, and ordinarily under the control of too high motives, to be accessory to the injustice of forcibly detaining a foreigner in his country's service; for it was only while under the malign influence to which there has already been allusion, that he ceased to be high-minded and just.

Prejudiced he was, and in some cases exceedingly so; America standing but little better in his eyes than France herself.

For the first of these antipathies he had some apology; since in addition to the aversion that was naturally produced by the history of the cisatlantic Republic, accident had thrown him in the way, in the West Indies, of ascertaining the frauds, deceptions, and cupidities of a class of men that never exhibit national character in its brightest and most alluring colors.

Still, he was too upright of mind willingly to countenance injustice, and too chivalrous to oppress.