know if they have sent any news by the post from Toulon to the Chevalier Hamilton to-day. The interest I feel in all that relates to the expedition being so great, I pray you, my Lady, to satisfy my feelings on so interesting a subject, as well as to pacify the general eagerness, and believe me with much friendship,

"Your devoted,

Charlotte

1 To all letters written in French, Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, affixed the signature as above: those in Italian she signs

Carolina

Her Majesty's French is indifferent and spelt incorrectly, so also is her Italian, I have therefore only given translations of her letters, and as literal as the subject will admit, placing any doubtful words as in the original. In this I trust I have consulted the convenience of the reader.

1

CHAPTER III.

1794.

AFTER the evacuation of Toulon, it became a matter of no little importance to obtain possession of Corsica and the harbour of San Fiorenzo. This determined Lord Hood to enter into a convention with General Paoli,1 the celebrated leader of the insurgents, who sought the assistance of the English, and Corsica was ceded to Great Britain. The negotiators on this occasion were Lieutenant-Colonel Moore,2 Major George Frederick Koehler, and Sir Gilbert Elliot, Bart., who having previously acted as Commissary Pleni

1 Pascal de Paoli, born in 1726, was so much admired by his countrymen, that at the early age of twenty-nine he was chosen Generalissimo of Corsica. He remodelled the laws, improved its condition, and laid the foundation of a maritime power. The Genoese failing in their attempts to subjugate the island, transferred the sovereignty of it to the French. An insurrection followed, of which Paoli was the leader; but he endured defeat, and escaped to England, where he was well received by the Prime Minister, the Duke of Grafton, and had a pension given him of £1200. per annum. After the French Revolution he was induced to return to Corsica, and resigning his English pension, appeared, together with the Corsican Deputies, before the National Assembly of Paris. On returning to his country he was elected Mayor of Bastia, Commander-in-chief of the National Guard, and President of the Department. His anxiety that Corsica should be entirely independent involved him in fresh troubles with France, to relieve himself of which he entered into a convention for an union with England, conveying Corsica to the Crown of Great Britain. He, therefore, returned to England, lost his property by the failure of a mercantile house at Leghorn, lived in privacy, and died in London, Feb. 5, 1807, in the 81st year of his age. He was well known to Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, and James Boswell, the latter of whom has, in his Account of a Tour in Corsica, given many particulars respecting this celebrated man

2 Afterwards Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, K,B., who gloriously fell at Corunna in 1809.

3 This officer rose to the rank of General; was sent to discipline the Turkish army, and fell a victim to the plague in Syria in 1801.

4 The Right Hon. Sir Gilbert Elliot, Bart. was born April 23, 1751, appointed Commissary Plenipotentiary to Corsica, and after the cession of that island to Great Britain, made Viceroy, which he held until the evacuation of it in October, 1796. In the following year he was created Baron Minto, and in 1799, was sent

potentiary, was appointed Viceroy of the island; and being specially authorized, accepted of the crown and constitution of Corsica, as unanimously decreed in the general assembly of the Corsican nation, held at Corte, and signed in the assembly by all the members of which it was composed, consisting of upwards of 400 persons.

Whilst this proceeding was pending, Nelson cruized off the island to prevent any supplies reaching the French, and was exceedingly active in annoying the enemy. He landed near St. Fiorenzo, the harbour of which was of great importance to Great Britain as a rendezvous in the Mediterranean for the British squadrons. At this place the French had a warehouse: Nelson destroyed it, threw their flour into the sea, burnt the flour-mill, and re-embarked his men, 120 in number (60 soldiers and 60 seamen), before the French could send a force amounting to 1000 men to oppose him, not having lost a single man. This took place on the 21st of January, 1794. The spirit of the enemy was much depressed by this annoying warfare, and at length (February 17th) St. Fiorenzo was besieged and taken. The extent to which he harassed the enemy may be seen by reference to the Journal he kept, printed under the Letter A. in Sir N. H. Nicolas's "Dispatches and Letters," Vol. i. p. 349, et seq. from which the following extracts will suffice:

"January 21st. Landed about four miles from St. FioBurnt the only water-mill in that part of the country, much to the distress of the French.

renzo.

"February 6th. Landed at Centuri; burnt four polacres loaded with wine for the French ships at St. Fiorenzo.

66

February 8th. Landed at Maginaggio; burned eight sail of vessels, took four, and destroyed about 1000 tons of wine. "February 12th. Attacked a French courier-boat, whose crew got ashore at Capreia; after a very smart contest, in which I lost six men, carried her.

Envoy Extraordinary to Vienna, whence returning to England, he was in 1806, made President of the Board of Control, and in 1807, Governor-General of India, succeeding the Marquis Wellesley. He accompanied the Expedition for reducing the island of Java in 1811, and upon his return to England, was created, February 24, 1813, Viscount Melgund and Earl of Minto. He died June 21, 1814, at the age of 63.

"February 19th. Landed at L'Avasina, took the tower of Miomo, and drove the French within gun-shot of the walls of Bastia.

"February 24th. Ran down the town of Bastia, and cannonaded it for two hours.

"February 26th. Drove the French from a work they were making to the southward of Bastia."

The effects of the Revolution in the confusion and depression of the finances, in the loss of colonies, and the obstructions to commerce, by the activity of the Naval force of Great Britain, were necessarily injurious to the development of any extensive Naval power by France. Their vessels were also ill-equipped, their seamen inexperienced, and Great Britain was almost omnipotent on the waters.

In a letter to General Paoli, and referred to under date of February 8th, written on board the Agamemnon, between Bastia and Cape Corse, Nelson exultingly details an attack made upon Rogliani, where the National colours were hoisted by the Republicans. He destroyed the vessels and wine, and with his own hand struck down the colours which were flying in the town, and also the Tree of Liberty that had been planted there. He most completely carried out the purpose for which he had been commissioned, for he had neither allowed troops nor provisions to enter into, nor frigates to come out of, Corsica. To a similar duty he was appointed off Bastia. He made an excellent Report to Lord Hood of the place and its defences, with suggestions as to the mode and means of taking it, and emphatically observed, "Nothing shall get in, you may be assured." Nelson felt certain of the fall of Bastia, and Lord Hood was anxious for the attempt to be made. Major-General Sir David Dundas, the Commander of the Forces, thought it premature, and considered the siege, with their means and forces, to be "a most visionary and rash attempt, and such as no officer could be justified in undertaking." He desired to wait for the arrival of more troops from Gibraltar. Lord Hood was, however, of a different opinion, and very frankly avowed the same to the General. Nelson was ordered to reconnoitre, and passing a battery of 6 guns, the enemy opened a fire upon the Agamemnon, the Romulus, and the Tartar. They soon, however,

drove the French from the battery, but the cannonading lasted one hour and three-quarters. No loss was sustained, and Nelson declares, in a letter addressed to his wife, after the survey, "If I had carried with me 500 troops, to a certainty I should have stormed the town, and I believe it might have been carried. Armies go so slow, that seamen think they never mean to get forward; but I dare say they act on a surer principle, although we seldom fail." In another place he avows, "If I had force to go again and cannonade it, I believe I should yet get it. My seamen are now what British seamen ought to be, to you I may say it, almost invincible: they really mind shot no more than peas."1

Lord Hood determined on taking the responsibility upon himself, nor was he furnished with a single soldier to assist in the enterprise. He was able only to obtain a few artillerymen; relying therefore upon his marines and sailors, he made the attack which proved his judgment to be equal to his skill, and the bravery of his men. Every one was personally interested in the event; the sailors run the guns up the heights, in a manner which Nelson declared none but British seamen could have accomplished. The result was highly satisfactory and honourable. Great privations and difficulties were offered to the attainment of the object: the weather was tempestuous, the vessels suffered from the elements, they were also without firing, water, provisions, or stores, and in want of canvas, ropes, twine and nails; they literally had nothing to eat. His Journal on March 16th, in an express sent off to Lord Hood, has the following entry: "Not a man had slept dry for many months." Lord Hood acceded to a request of Nelson, and sent an Engineer and an artillery officer to assist him in examining Bastia. They agreed with Nelson, who had made the best of his way to St. Fiorenzo, to consult with Lord Hood, and then left with Lieutenant De Butts, the Engineer, and Lieutenant John Duncan, R.A.3 on March 25th. Nelson wrote to Sir William Hamilton for mortars, shells,

1 Clarke and McArthur's Life of Nelson, Vol. i. p. 155.

2 Afterwards Lieut.-General Sir Augustus De Butts, K.C.H. still living.

3 This officer was promoted to a Captaincy for his exertions on this occasion, and rose to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel in 1798. In 1800 he was appointed Deputy Quarter-Master-General to the forces under General Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and died in 1803.