"GENTLEMEN,
"I have received your letter of the 23d. I can assure you, I have always the greatest pleasure in paying attention to the representations of the masters of merchant ships; who, at this distance, act for their owners in Great Britain. I can have no difficulty in granting you a convoy to Leghorn; but it is my duty to again point out to you the expressions of Mr. Windham's several letters, and the request of the English factory at Leghorn to Captain Louis: and, at the same time, you must be sensible that an English man of war cannot always lay in the neutral port; and I expect, that the Minotaur is now on her passage to join me. If, under all these circumstances, you still persist in going to Leghorn, I will grant a convoy to that port as soon as possible. You cannot, of course, expect that, when all the knowledge you have, here, of the situation of Tuscany, is known in London, that the underwriters, or myself, can in the smallest degree be answerable for what may happen to your ships or cargoes. I can only again assure you of my readiness to afford you all the protection possible, compatible with the other important duties entrusted to me; and that I am, with great respect, your most obedient servant,
"Nelson."
"To the Masters of the English Ships in the Port of Palermo."
To this it may be sufficient to add that, on their persisting in a desire to sail, he granted them the convoy; repeating, in another letter, "but still with the reservation for the underwriters and myself, as I think the case requires." He also wrote to Mr. Windham, informing that gentleman of the necessity which he had felt himself under to comply with their desire; and requesting him to acquaint Captain Derby, whom he sent on that service, in the Bellerophon, whether he might with safety leave them at Leghorn. If not, his lordship observed, the signal should be made for convoy; and those who chose to quit a place of danger might be brought back, with the comfort of having lost the present convoy for England. However, he adds, it is his duty, and it is his inclination too, to do every thing for the protection of our commerce consistently with the other important duties required of him. Captain Derby was directed, should circumstances require, to wait a reasonable time for such of the merchant ships as might have perishable cargoes on board, to enable them to dispose of them.
In the letter to Mr. Windham above quoted, his lordship says, alluding to the cruelties of the French, who were then over-running Italy—"Your excellency's account of the treatment of his Royal Highness the Grand Duke, of the King of Sardinia, and of the poor old Pope, makes my heart bleed; and I curse, in the bitterness of my grief, all those who might have prevented such cruelties!"
It will be recollected, that the venerable Pope Pius VI, who had been seized and carried off by the French, and whose fate Lord Nelson thus feelingly commiserates, as if anticipatory of the event, was at the period of being thus forced from Rome in his eighty-second year; and that his holiness expired, at Valence, on the 19th of August following, after a captivity of six months: his body being consumed, by unslacked lime thrown into the grave, to prevent it's receiving, at any future period, the honours which might be esteemed due to a modern martyr; who, perhaps, possessed equal piety and resignation, with many holy sufferers of ancient times, for a like rigid adherence to the Christian religion, who have been canonized by the Roman Catholic church.
On the last day of February, the 28th, Lord Nelson sent instructions to his friend Captain Ball, at Malta, to preside over the meetings of the Maltese people: their deputies having represented to Sir William Hamilton and his lordship, that he had, by his address, frequently united the jarring interests of the different chiefs, at their distracted councils, and that they were therefore desirous of his future assistance; which was, also, the wish of his Sicilian Majesty. Captain Ball, therefore, was vested with full power to leave his ship in charge of the first-lieutenant, directing him how to proceed, and to be on shore whenever he should deem it necessary, either to attend such meetings, or assist the Maltese army; his lordship observing that, though neither Sir William Hamilton nor himself had power to grant any salary for the extraordinary expences he must thus necessarily incur, it would be proper to keep an account of them, that it might be represented to his majesty's ministers in England, and the amount allowed him.
At the beginning of March, Lord Nelson was made a citizen of Palermo; which the court thought might have a good effect, by shewing the attachment of the English hero to the royal family. This, with other information, is more particularly mentioned in the following letter to Earl Spencer, which appears to have been written immediately on Captain Nisbet's return from Constantinople with La Bonne Citoyenne, bringing several important dispatches.
"Vanguard, Palermo, 6th March 1799.