"SIR
Were I to attempt, by words, to express what I felt on receiving the imperial present of the drawing of the Battle of Aboukir, and the highly flattering letter wrote by your excellency in obedience to the imperial command, I should feel myself unequal to the task. Therefore, I can only beg your excellency to express, in words most adapted to convey my gratitude to his imperial majesty, my sense of the extraordinary high honour conferred upon me, by a present more valuable than gold or jewels; as they may come only from the hand of a great monarch, while this can only flow from the benevolent heart of a good man. That the Almighty may pour down his choicest blessings on the imperial head, and ever give his arms victory over all his enemies, is the fervent prayer, and shall ever be, as far as my abilities will allow me, the constant exertion, of your excellency's obliged servant,
"Bronte Nelson."
In a letter to Earl Elgin, then ambassador at Constantinople, his lordship thus expresses his grateful attachment to the Turks. "They," says he, "do me but justice, in believing that I am always alert to do them every kindness; for, as no man ever received greater favours from the Sublime Porte, so no one shall be more grateful." His lordship sincerely regrets the escape of Bonaparte; and remarks, that those ships which he had destined for the two places where Bonaparte would certainly have been intercepted, were—from the Admiralty's thinking, doubtless, that the Russians would do something at sea—obliged to be at Malta and on other services, in which he also thought the Russian admiral would have assisted: "therefore," he adds, "no blame lays at my door." The Vincejo sloop, however, his lordship says, had a few days before taken a vessel from Egypt, with General Voix, and seventy-five officers; and that Captain Long was happy enough to save the dispatches, which had been thrown overboard with a weight insufficient to instantly sink them. These dispatches represented the extreme distress of the French army in Egypt; and he expresses his hope, that the Sublime Porte will never permit a single Frenchman to quit Egypt. "I own myself," says his lordship, in that severe spirit of Antigallicanism for which he was ever so remarkable, "wicked enough, to wish them all to die in that country they chose to invade. We have scoundrels of French enough in Europe, without them." It is contrary to his opinion, he repeats, to allow a single Frenchman, from Egypt, to return to France, during the war; nor would he subscribe any paper giving such permission. "But," concludes his lordship, "I submit to the better judgment of men."
To Spencer Smith, Esq. now secretary of the embassy, his lordship writes in a similar strain—"I have read, with pleasure, all that has passed in Egypt, between Bonaparte, Kleber, and the Grand Vizier; and I send Lord Elgin some very important papers, which will shew their very deplorable situation: but I cannot bring myself to believe they would entirely quit Egypt; and, if they would, I never would consent to one of them returning to the continent of Europe during the war. I wish them to perish in Egypt; and give a great lesson to the world, of the justice of the Almighty."
On the 23d of December, his lordship received information from Sir Thomas Troubridge, that the Culloden, in going into the Bay of Marsa Scirocco, in the Island of Malta, to land cannon, ammunition, &c. from Messina, for the siege, had struck on a rock, and was greatly damaged. The rudder, and great part of the false keel, were carried away; and the rudder would have been lost, but for Sir Thomas's timely exertion in getting a hawser reeved through it. The pintles were all broken; and the ship was steered to the anchorage, with the sails, in a safe but leaky state. In answer to his friend Troubridge, respecting this unfortunate accident, Lord Nelson says—"Your resources never fail; and you would contrive something, I dare say, if the ship's bottom was knocked out."
In another letter of the 2d of January 1800, his lordship, who is incessantly labouring, at all points, to obtain every requisite for the reduction of Malta, and for the relief of the distressed natives, writes thus—"I cannot get the frigate out of the mole; therefore, I must learn to be a hard-hearted wretch, and fancy the cries of hunger in my ears. I send you orders for the different governors: you will see, they are for the supply of the army and navy; therefore, whatever Graham and you send for will, if possible, be granted. I hope the Russians will sail, this north-east wind; and it is my intention to give you all a meeting, the moment the Foudroyant arrives."
On this day, too, his lordship wrote letters to Portugal: containing the kindest praises of the Marquis De Niza, and the several officers and men of the Portuguese squadron under his command; which were, at length, returning home, in obedience to orders, on being relieved by Sir Thomas Troubridge's arrival at Malta. One of these letters contained particular recommendations of promotion for Captains Thompson, Welch, and De Pinto. "When," says his lordship, "I mention my brother, and friend, Niza, I must say, that I never knew so indefatigable an officer. During the whole time I have had the happiness of having him under my command, I have never expressed a wish that Niza did not fly to execute."
On the 6th of January, his lordship learned that his prediction to Rear-Admiral Duckworth, of what had been intended respecting the command of the Mediterranean fleet, was completely verified, by the approach of Lord Keith; who now signified, in a letter to Lord Nelson, that he was coming to Sicily. The effect which this event, though not unsuspected, must have produced on his lordship's mind, is less difficult to be conceived, than expressed. He had already met with sufficient impediments to the execution of his designs, most of which were just happily surmounted; but a paramount difficulty seemed now arising, against which he might be disarmed of all power to perform any thing efficient. The general aspect of his public situation, at this period, is concentrated by his own skilful hand, in the following professional letter, which he immediately wrote to Lord Keith; but his exalted and superior mind disdained to discover, in such a communication, the state of his own private feelings.
"Palermo, 7th Jan. 1800.