is not to be had any more than Sherry. Had the Foudroyant been here, I should have sent you a cask, which I will not omit the first opportunity, as it always gives me pleasure to execute your commissions. I send you a paper of 27th September, which may not have reached you. In it you will see the honourable and deserving manner in which your gallant brother is mentioned. I hope Cadir Bey will be perfectly satisfied with his reception; he appears a good man. I am thinned of Ships: seven Sail of the Line since I wrote last, besides Frigates and Sloops. Believe me, my dear Sir, your obliged friend, BRONTE NELSON. TO LADY NELSON. [From Clarke and M'Arthur, vol. ii. p. 234.] 7th November, 1799. Since my arrival from Minorca, my task here has still continued arduous; for I cannot get the General at Minorca to give me some troops for the service of Malta, and I have not force enough to attack it. One day or other I shall rest from all my labours. I still find it good to serve near home, there a man's fag and services are easily seen; next to that, is writing a famous account of your own actions. Yours, &c. BRONTE NELSON. TO CAPTAIN BALL, CHIEF OF THE ISLAND OF MALTA. [Autograph, in the possession of Sir William Keith Ball, Bart.] My dear Ball, Palermo, November 7th, 1799. I am anxiously waiting the answer from Minorca to my last very strong application, at least for the Garrison of Messina, till we can get troops to attack the place. The moment the which, I own, I expect will be unfavourable to our wishes, I intend to go to Naples, to see what the Austrians will do, and his Sicilian Majesty will send some men; and if, after all our exertions, we should be forced to give up the idea of anything beyond the blockade, it is none of our fault. I trust that Niza will not take a man from the shore till I can get my answers, and communicate them. Lord Spencer, in a late letter, says, and that Malta has also fallen before the meritorious and unparalleled vigilance and exertion of Captain Ball, who has, indeed, shown himself worthy of the friendship with which you have honoured him.' I only send this, my dear Ball, to show I do not forget my friends. As to honouring you, that is not in my power; but to render you justice is my duty. I have this day wrote to the Emperor of Russia, Grand Master of Malta, requesting for you the Order of Malta; for I have never had any answer from Sir Charles Whitworth to the former application, therefore I have now gone to the fountain head. The Grand Signior has again manifested his friendship for me by sending a diamond Star, in the centre of which, on blue enamel, is a Crescent and Star; and I have called myself 'First Knight of the Order of the Crescent.' I know, my dear Sir, that no jealousy reigns in your breast, and that whatever honours are heaped on me, give you pleasure. Captain Stephenson is just come out to the Princess Charlotte-poor Hardy, consequently, turned adrift! You will have the Frigate off Malta. I send you some papers; and believe me ever your obliged and affectionate friend, BRONTE NELSON. TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE MARQUIS DE NIZA. [Letter-Book.] I My dear Marquis, Palermo, November 7th, 1799. every moment expect the answers from Minorca. Ball will show you my letter to him of my intentions. I only beg that you will not take a man from the Island till my directions can get to you of the future measures necessary to be taken. But if your Ship wants to come here before that time, leave the command with Captain Louis, giving all your Ships orders for that purpose; but again I desire you will not draw one person from the shore. The Grand Signior has just created me first Knight of the Imperial Order of the Crescent, and sent me a diamond Star. We have reports of our check in Holland, September 19th, 2 and of our complete victory on the 24th; also of Suwarrow's success on the 10th and 11th October-8000 killed, 20,000 prisoners, 15,000 of which laid down their arms in a bodyMassena carried off in a car, wounded. The loss of the Russians 9000, of which 1000 were Officers-Suwarrow wounded. But we have no official accounts. From Spain we know that the Spanish Ambassador is fled from Paris, and that an insurrection had taken place in Paris. All will end well. Adieu, my dear Marquis, and believe me ever your obliged friend, BRONTE NELSON. TO EVAN NEPEAN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original, in the Admiralty.] Palermo, November 9th, 1799. Sir, This letter, with all my dispatches, will be delivered to you by Captain Thomas Masterman Hardy, who has been my Captain from the Battle of the Nile till October 13th, when he was superseded by Sir Edward Berry. I beg leave to recommend him to their Lordships in the strongest manner, as one of the best Officers in His Majesty's Service, and to refer to him for the particular state of the Ships under my command, and of my own situation in this Country, certainly a very extraordinary one; for if I move they think the Country in danger, and that they are abandoned. If my Flag is in a Transport, they seem contented. Believe me, Sir, &c., NELSON. TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF CLARENCE. Sir, [Letter Book.] Palermo, 9th November, 1799. I beg leave to present to your Royal Highness, Captain Hardy, late of the Foudroyant, an Officer of the most dis The success of the army in Holland here alluded to, occurred on the 2nd of October. Vide "London Gazette" of the 8th and 13th of October, 1799. This report was without any foundation. tinguished merit, and therefore highly worthy of your notice. He will tell you of all my arduous work in this Country, and that all my anxiety is at present taken up with the desire of possessing Malta. But I fear, notwithstanding all my exertions, that I shall not get any British troops from Minorca, without which the business will be prolonged, perhaps till it is relieved, when all the force we can collect would be of little use against the strongest place in Europe. I am anxiously waiting the arrival of General Fox, and hope he will not consider the order for the removal of one or two Regiments, of such great consequence as the reduction of Malta, by keeping them for two months longer in the Mediterranean. On the one hand, they must, in England, or on the Continent, be like a drop of water in the ocean. By staying here, and employed, they would liberate us from our Enemy close to our door, gratify the Emperor of Russia, protect our Levant trade, and relieve a Squadron of our Ships from this service; besides giving us one 80-gun Ship, two 40-gun Frigates, a Maltese new Ship of the Line ready for sea, and two Frigates. With these in the scale, I cannot comprehend that a moment can be lost in deciding; but, Sir, I find few think as I do—but to obey orders is all perfection! To serve my King, and to destroy the French, I consider as the great order of all, from which little ones spring; and if one of these little ones militate against it, (for, who can tell exactly at a distance?) I go back to obey the great order and object, to down, down with the damned French villains. Excuse my warmth; but my blood boils at the name of a Frenchman. I hate them all-Royalists and Republicans. My late letters from Egypt are, that Sir Sidney Smith is hurt at the notorious cowardice and want of discipline in the Turkish army, and I find that General Koehler' does not approve of such irregular proceedings as Naval Officers attacking and defending Fortifications. We have but one idea -to get close alongside. None but a sailor would have placed a battery only a hundred and eighty yards from the Castle of St. Elmo; a soldier must have gone according to art, and the ZZ way; my brave Sir Thomas Troubridge went straight, for 4 Vide vol. i. p. 375. we had no time to spare. Your Royal Highness will not believe that I mean to lessen the conduct of the Army; I have the highest respect for them all; but General Koehler should not have wrote such a paragraph in his letter: it conveyed a jealousy, which I dare say is not in his disposition. May health and every blessing attend your Royal Highness is the constant prayer of your attached and obliged servant, BRONTE NELSON. Sir, TO EVAN NEPEAN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original, in the Admiralty.] Palermo, November 10th, 1799. Yesterday the Vincejo Brig, who I had sent to look into Toulon on the 16th, joined me with an account that the two Venetian Ships armée en flute, two Frigates and two Corvettes sailed from Toulon on the 16th, in the evening, loaded with provisions; and that the Généreux and three Frigates, one the Ettiani [?] of 56 guns, were ready for sea. As Captain Long judged Malta their object, he made sail for that Island and gave the Marquis de Niza that information. As I have placed for the moment nine Sail of the Line, one Frigate, and three Corvettes in the track to that Island, I hope they cannot relieve it; for if they do, we shall have all to begin again, and I believe worse, for we shall be drove off the Island; but it has been no fault of the Navy that it has not been attacked by land, but we have neither the means ourselves, or the influence with others who have the power. Reports say the Ships are put into Ville Franche. I have sent the Penelope to look after them, for she is the only Frigate I have really fit to go to sea (besides the Phaeton at Constantinople.) The Russians are supposed to have a Squadron on the Coast of Genoa, but I cannot depend, nor would I have their Lordships, on any operations but by English Ships. Marquis de Niza will be forced to quit his station in a week, for his Squadron cannot keep the sea like ours. I assure their Lordships nothing shall be wanting on my part to get hold of these gentry, and I am sure of the exertion of all under my command. I am, &c., NELSON. |