From Jenny Uglows book.

Public idol though he was, Nelson had critics in the navy. In 1804 the NAVAL CHRONICLE wrote "should the mad project of invasion ever be attempted, the public would feel additional security from having the Hero of the Nile off our own coast. But we greatly lament that ill-judged and overweening popularity which tends to make a demigod of Lord Nelson at the expense of all others officers in the service, many of whom possess equal merit and equal abilities and equal gallantry with the noble Admiral"