It appears, from Lord Hood's dispatches to the Admiralty, that the first division of the Neapolitan troops disembarked at Toulon on the 28th of September, under the command of Brigadier General Pignatelli; and that they were a very fine body of men, in perfect health, and well appointed. The second division of Neapolitans, consisting of two thousand men, arrived on the 5th of October; and the last two thousand were to leave Naples on that very day. His Sicilian majesty, Lord Hood added, had manifested the greatest readiness and zeal in fulfilling the treaty; and confided his ships and troops solely to his lordship's discretion, as that sovereign had made known to him in writing under his own hand.
Such was the success of Captain Nelson's services at Naples, where the king and queen treated him with no less attention and regard than Sir William Hamilton and his lady, and witnessed his departure with similar regrets.
The Neapolitan troops thus obtained, greatly signalized themselves, on several occasions, while at Toulon: but Captain Nelson, almost immediately on his arrival, received orders to join a squadron under Commodore Linzee; who had been detached by Lord Hood, at the request of General Paoli, to protect Corsica. He could, therefore, scarcely be said to have at all participated in the occurrences which took place at Toulon, farther than in thus procuring military aids.
Captain Nelson, indeed, appears to have had little concern with this unfortunate business: not the less so, perhaps, on that very account. Notwithstanding all the blood and treasure which this expedition cost Great Britain, on Toulon's being evacuated the 19th of December following, Lord Hood was only able to carry away three ships of the line and five frigates; after burning there nine ships of the line, and one at Leghorn.
About the period of these transactions, Captain Nelson was with Commodore Linzee, at Tunis, negotiating for a French convoy under an eighty-gun ship and a corvette. The English, however, he observed, never yet succeeded in a negotiation against the French. "We have not," says he, in a letter to Captain Locker, dated off Sardinia, December 1, 1793, "contradicted our practice at Tunis, for the Monsieurs have completely upset us with the bey; and, had we latterly attempted to take them, I am certain he would have declared against us, and done our trade some damage."
In this letter he also mentions, that Lord Hood has, in a very handsome letter, ordered him from Commodore Linzee's command, to take the command of a squadron of frigates off Corsica and the adjoining shore of Italy, to look out for some French frigates which were in St. Fiorenzo in Corsica. With these frigates, it seems, Captain Nelson had, joined with one or two others, what he calls "a little brush," in the preceding October. He observes that, if they are active, they may do our trade some mischief: "but," adds he, "to say the truth, I believe that they are more inclined to be passive; at least, they had much of that inclination when I saw them."
At this time, he does not appear to have thought Toulon in much danger; and, at all events, was persuaded that the French fleet and arsenal might be destroyed. Some of the ships, he remarked, were the finest he ever beheld. The Commerce de Marseilles, in particular, he says, had seventeen ports on each deck, and our Victory looked nothing to it.
Their friend, Sir Charles Pole, he observes, is gone to the West Indies, which was a thing that officer dreaded: had himself been at Toulon, he would have been a candidate for this service; for, he thought our sea war was over in the Mediterranean. He admits, however, that the Agamemnon has had it's share of service; having had the anchor down but thirty-four times since sailing from the Nore, and then only to get water or provisions. He says that, having then upwards of one hundred of his ship's company absent, they are not much better than a fifty gun ship. To another friend, however, he jocosely observed, on this occasion, that those he had were chiefly Norfolk men, and he always reckoned them as good as two others.
In the warmth of gratitude, he asserts that Lord Hood is a very good friend to him; and is, certainly, the best officer he ever saw: every thing from him being so clear, that it is impossible to misunderstand him.
All this day, the 1st of December, he observes, he has been in sight of the French squadron; which, he hears, has been joined by a frigate from Calvi. He misses, however, the frigate which had received most of his fire; and adds, that there are not wanting those who declare that they beheld it sink.