"SIR,

"The hopes of falling in with the Spanish fleet, expressed in my letter to you of the 13th instant, were confirmed, that night, by our distinctly hearing the report of their signal-guns, and by intelligence received from Captain Foote, of his majesty's ship Niger, who had, with equal judgment and perseverance, kept company with them for several days, on my prescribed rendezvous; which, from the strong south-east winds, I had never been able to reach: and, that they were not more than three or four leagues from us. I anxiously waited the dawn of day; when, being on the starboard tack, Cape St. Vincent bearing east by north seven leagues, I had the satisfaction of seeing a number of ships, extending from south-west to south, the wind then at west by south. At forty minutes past ten, the weather being extremely hazy, La Bonne Citoyenne made the signal that the ships were of the line, twenty-five in number: his majesty's squadron, consisting of the fifteen ships of the line named in the margin, were happily formed, in the most complete order of sailing, in two lines. By carrying a press of sail, I was fortunate in getting in with the enemy's fleet at half past eleven o'clock, before it had time to connect and form a regular order of battle. Such a moment was not to be lost: and, confident in the skill, valour, and discipline, of the officers and men I had the happiness to command, and judging that the honour of his majesty's arms, and the circumstances of the war in these seas, required a considerable degree of enterprize, I felt myself justified in departing from the regular system; and, passing through their fleet, in a line formed with the utmost celerity, tacked, and thereby separated one-third from the main body. After a partial cannonade, which prevented their rejunction till the evening, and by the very great exertions of the ships which had the good fortune to arrive up with the enemy on the larboard tack, the ships named in the margin were captured, and the action ceased about five o'clock in the evening. I inclose the most correct list I have been able to obtain of the Spanish fleet opposed to me, amounting to twenty-seven sail of the line; and an account of the killed and wounded in his majesty's ships, as well as in those taken from the enemy. The moment the latter, almost totally dismasted, and his majesty's ships the Captain and Culloden, are in a state to put to sea, I shall avail myself of the first favourable winds to proceed off Cape St. Vincent, in my way to Lisbon. Captain Calder, whose able assistance has greatly contributed to the public service during my command, is the bearer of this; and will more particularly describe, to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the movements of the squadron on the 14th, and the present state of it. I am, &c.

"J. Jervis."

"Evan Nepean, Esq."

This is, certainly, a very fair hasty sketch of the business; in which, though the names of particular commanders are not mentioned, for the reasons already stated, they are, perhaps, more than sufficiently hinted, to an eye of any discernment, by those of the ships described as having suffered most severely in the action.

Nor is this all. Sir John Jervis, in his private letter, of the same date, addressed to Lord Spencer, then First Lord of the Admiralty, as a guide for merited promotion, was by no means backward in naming those commanders who had been enabled most to distinguish themselves.

Of this important letter, which cannot fail to demonstrate that he did ample justice to individual gallantry and exertion, the author has been kindly honoured with an extract; which is now, for the first time, presented to the public, with the consent of the Earl of St. Vincent.

"The correct conduct of every officer and man in the squadron, on the 14th instant, made it improper to distinguish one more than another, in my public letter; because I am confident that, had those who were least in action been in the situation of the fortunate few, their behaviour would not have been less meritorious: yet, to your lordship, it becomes me to state, that Captain Troubridge, in the Culloden, led the squadron through the enemy in a masterly stile, and tacked the instant the signal flew; and was gallantly supported by the Blenheim, Prince George, Orion, Irresistible, and Colossus. The latter had her fore and fore-topsail yards wounded, and they unfortunately broke in the slings in stays; which threw her out, and impeded the tacking of the Victory.

"Commodore Nelson, who was in the rear on the starboard tack, took the lead on the larboard, and contributed very much to the fortune of the day; as did Captain Collingwood: and, in the close, the San Josef and San Nicolas having fallen foul of each other, the Captain laid them on board; and Captain Berry, who served as a volunteer, entered at the head of the boarders, and Commodore Nelson followed immediately, and took possession of them both. The crippled state of these ships, and the Captain, entangled as they were, and that part of the enemy's fleet which had been kept off in the morning—as described in the public letter—joining at the instant, it became necessary to collect the squadron, to resist an attempt to wrest these ships, the Salvador del Mundo, and San Ysidro, from us, which occasioned the discontinuance of the action."

It is evident from this letter, and it's consequences, that the merits of Commodore Nelson were now duly appreciated. The handsome acknowledgment, by the commander in chief, that he had contributed much to the fortune of the day, was a very sufficient hint that he ought to participate in the honours and advantages which it might be expected to produce. Sir John Jervis, accordingly, became the Earl of St. Vincent; and Commodore Nelson, Sir Horatio Nelson, K.B.