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He quitted Revel in consequence of a letter he received from Count Pahlen, who, on the part of the Emperor, expressed his surprise that he should, professing pacific dispositions, have brought his fleet into Revel Bay. Colonel Stewart says, Lord Nelson received this letter about 3 P.M. on the 16th of May, and that it was accompanied by a letter from General Sacken, expressing a wish that the British fleet should retire from the anchorage of Revel. Lord Nelson received it a few minutes before dinner time; he appeared to be a good deal agitated by it, but said little, and did not return an immediate reply. During dinner, however, he quitted the table, and in less than a quarter of an hour sent for his Secretary to peruse a letter which, in that short absence, he had composed. The signal for preparing to weigh was immediately made; the answer was sent on shore, and although contracts had been entered into for fresh provisions, &c. for the fleet, his Lordship would not admit of the least delay, but caused it to weigh, and to stand as far to sea as was safe for that evening. In his reply to Count Pahlen, Lord Nelson says, that his intention was to pay a very particular respect to his Imperial Majesty, and that he had submitted it to his pleasure which port he would wish him to come to, Revel or Cronstadt, and he added: "Your Excellency will have the goodness to observe to the Emperor, that I did not even enter the outer Bay of Revel, without the consent of their Excellencies the Governor and Admiral. My conduct, I feel, is so entirely different to what your Excellency has expressed in your letter, that I have only to regret, that my desire to pay a mark of attention to his Imperial Majesty has been so so entirely misunderstood. That being the case, I shall sail immediately into the Baltic." Nelson repeatedly affirmed, that had the Russian fleet been at Revel, he should not have received such a reply. The officers there received him with great kindness, and were equally surprised with himself at the nature of the communication he had received. The fleet in the Baltic at this time consisted of twenty-two sail of the line and forty-six frigates, bombs, fireships and gun-vessels. In the whole fleet there

'Letter Book. Dispatches and Letters, Vol. iv. p. 373.

was not a man in the hospital ship, and to use Nelson's own words, "A finer fleet never graced the ocean." Sir Hyde Parker had previously to Nelson's taking the chief command in the Baltic, dispatched Captain Fremantle upon a mission to Petersburgh. Count Panin wrote to Lord Nelson by Admiral Tchitchagoff, and expressed the desire of the Emperor of Russia to return to amicable relations with England. He also addressed the following to Admiral Sir Hyde Parker:

COUNT PANIN TO ADMIRAL SIR HYDE PARKER.

"Charged by the Emperor my master to receive your Excellency's communications, I am also authorised to reply to the letter addressed on the 26th current to Count Pahlen, and I feel greatly honoured by a commission so flattering to me, of being made the medium of the first conciliatory proposals which may lead to a reconciliation so desirable in all respects, and so needful to the general welfare. The Emperor has already made his intentions known to the Court of London, upon the different points which may become claims on him, such as the release of British subjects and the raising the embargo on British ships, but as your Excellency could not yet be informed from your Court of the explanations given to it in those respects by Count Woronzoff, his Imperial Majesty has permitted me to communicate to you, Sir, that he is ready to satisfy every just demand of your Court, as soon as he shall learn, by the reply which he expects from London, that his Britannic Majesty shares in his sincere wish for the re-establishment of peace, and that the compliance of his Imperial Majesty shall meet with a just return both towards him and towards his Allies, which he has the more reason to anticipate, as one of the first acts of his reign has been to put a stop to the detention of English sailors, and to suspend the sale of the confiscated property of British merchants. The spirit of justice and moderation which your Excellency has exhibited unequivocally in causing hostilities against the flag of the three Courts to be suspended, convinces me that you will perceive the fidelity of my august master's intentions by this declaration, and likewise an additional reason to continue the suspension of arms in the

waters of the Baltic Sea, and so to give the Cabinets of St. Petersburgh and of London the opportunity of terminating by negotiation the unfortunate differences which have troubled the peace of the North of Europe. His Imperial Majesty wishes to receive a positive assurance of the prolongation of this armistice, and expects, Sir, to find it in your reply to this letter. I send it, as requested by your Excellency, by Captain Fremantle, and I introduce to him at the same time Vice-Admiral Tchitchagoff, who is charged by the Emperor to receive the ultimate explanations you may judge proper to transmit to me. With sentiments of the highest consideration I have the honour to be, Sir,

"Your Excellency's

“Very humble and very obedient servant,
"PANIN.

"St. Petersburgh, 29 April, o. s. 1801.

"P.S. At the moment of sending this despatch to Captain Fremantle, a British Cabinet courier has brought us a letter from Lord Hawkesbury, of which a copy is subjoined. Its contents announce a disposition on the part of your august Master perfectly in accordance with that which animates his Imperial Majesty, for the prompt re-establishment of good harmony. The explanations entered into might now, in some degree, be considered superfluous; but the Emperor, wishing to give your Excellency a proof of his confidence, has ordered me to forward this dispatch, notwithstanding the subsequent communications, which besides can only confirm you, Sir, in your pacific intentions.

"St. Petersburgh, 29 April, o. s. 1801."

"Ut in litteris.

LORD HAWKESBURY TO COUNT PAHLEN, APRIL 17TH, 1801.

"Monsieur le Comte,

"I received the letter your Excellency did me the honour to address to me by the hands of M. Smirnove, in which you announce the melancholy news of the death of the Emperor Paul I. and the happy accession of his august son to the Imperial throne. I am sensible in the highest degree of your Excellency's attention, and have hastened to place before the King my Master, the letter of his Imperial Majesty the

Emperor Alexander. I congratulate you, Count, on the accession of a Prince whose virtues and great qualities are so well known, and feel the value of an event so important, not merely to his own subjects, but to all Europe. I am commanded by the King to acquaint you that his Majesty has dispatched orders to the Commander of his fleet to suspend all hostile operations against Russia, and at the same time to inform you that his Majesty will send immediately a Minister to the Court of St. Petersburgh, who will be charged to express to his Imperial Majesty the warm interest he takes in his succession to the Empire, and who will be furnished with full powers to discuss and arrange the unfortunate differences which have arisen between the two Crowns, in order to re-establish the ancient and intimate connexion which subsisted between them, the suspension of which has caused the King great sorrow. I seize this occasion to express to you, Count, the great satisfaction I experience in witnessing the renewal of accustomed communications between England and Russia, and to offer you the respect and high consideration with which I have the honour to be, &c. &c."

The following declaration relates to this negotiation:— • Declaration of Vice-Admiral Tchitchagoff to Lord Nelson, Duke of Bronté, Commander-in-chief of his Britannic Majesty's Naval forces in the Baltic.

"Charged by the Emperor, my august Master, to enter into explanations with the Commander-in-chief of his Britannic Majesty's Naval forces upon some points relative to the reconciliation of the two Powers, I declare, that his Imperial Majesty being chiefly animated by the principles of honour, moderation, and disinterestedness, desires to yield to, and even to facilitate every measure that may tend to terminate the unfortunate differences which have arisen between the Powers of the North of Europe and England, and that his wish is for the re-establishment of the ancient friendship existing between Russia and England.

"Given on board the St. George,

"His Britannic Majesty's ship,

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Lord Nelson transmitted his dispatches to the Admiralty through Sir James Crawfurd, as appears from the following:

SIR JAMES CRAWFURD TO LORD NELSON.

"My Lord,

"Hamburgh, 19th May, 1801.

"I had the honour to receive, by the last post from Copenhagen, your Lordship's letter of the 8th instant, accompanying your dispatches to Mr. Nepean, and various private letters. which I forwarded to England by the first post. Though it is perhaps rather out of time, I cannot but seize this opportunity, the first which I have had, of congratulating your Lordship on the great and glorious event of the second of April. It is my most sincere prayer that you may long continue to adorn that country whose name, already the first in the world, you have so greatly exalted. I desire nothing so much as to have an opportunity of paying you my court in person, an honour which I hope you will allow me whenever an opportunity may present itself. In the mean time I beg leave to assure your Lordship of the great respect with which I am, my Lord, your most obedient and very humble servant,

"JAMES CRAWFURD."

From the Secretary of the Admiralty Lord Nelson received the following:

"My Lord,

"Admiralty Office, May 31st, 1801.

"I received by the Hamburgh mail, through Sir James Crawfurd, your Lordship's letter of the 7th instant, acquainting me, for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, of the communication you had had with the Swedish Admiral, and with the determination you had formed of shewing yourself with a part of the fleet under your command in the Gulf of Finland, leaving Captain Murray with the remainder off the island of Bornholm. I also received on the 29th instant by the Harpy your Lordship's three letters of the 17th, one inclosing a copy of the correspondence which had passed with his Excellency Count Pahlen and the Russian Governor and Admiral at Revel, the other giving information of your having left the bay of Revel, in order to rejoin the squadron off Bornholm, and of the quantity of bread remaining

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