I received yours from Latakia. In my way to England I spoke to Fremantle, whom I saw at Gibraltar, to send you a frigate; for I am at present no longer in command. My nephew, Thurlow Smith, has got the Undaunted (the ship which carried B. to Elba), and he will contrive, if possible, to come to you, as I say all I can of the necessity of guarding our trade in that quarter.
I send you Don Thomaso Coschich, with despatches, &c. I have paid his passage, and agreed with him for one dollar a day, having left forty dollars unpaid (as he is a man of whose character I am ignorant in a moral point of view), to leave him something to look to. I shall leave Vienna after the Congress, for Florence and Leghorn, where I hope to meet you in the month of April.
I remain, &c.
A second communication begged to charge Lady Hester with delivering certain despatches to the Emir Beshýr. They were, to ask him to send the 1,500 soldiers which had been promised him through Mr. Fiott, who vouched for the prince’s having said so in word and in writing, and to inform him that these troops were to be employed in attacking the Algerine pirates. For the purpose of rallying them, he sent flags of different descriptions, with plans for encamping. His plan (he added) had been submitted to the emperors of Austria and Russia, to the kings of Prussia and (through Talleyrand) of France; who all approved highly of it. He had also held conferences with the crowned heads in ball-rooms and assemblies as well as he could have done in their closets; but nobody would advance money.
He went on to say that, finding his debts pretty large, he had given up his goods and chattels to his creditors in England, and had brought his all to Vienna on eight wheels: that he was so far reduced as to be obliged to beg a loan from his Syrian friends; and he charged Lady Hester with the commission.
He advised Lady Hester not to go to Naples, which was not orthodox, owing to the presence of a certain person (the Princess of Wales), whose follies she recollected at Plymouth. He observed that his nephew had seen the King of Rome, who was at Schoenbrun, wearing a wooden sword, and that he was a pert lad.
To confirm the feasibility of his scheme, he said he was in correspondence with the Emperor of Morocco, who would second these views, being, par force, just then no pirate. The dey of Tunis had also been consulted on the business; but, as he was since dead, Sir Sydney recommended it to Lady Hester to visit the coast of Barbary, and see what sort of a man his successor was. The deceased dey was too liberal-minded for his subjects, and had been poisoned.
There was a letter to the Emir Beshýr, which was in French, nearly as follows:—
Au tres puissant et grand prince Beshýr. I have heard with much pleasure from certain Englishmen (Mr. Forbes, Mr. Gell, who were never there, and Mr. Fiott, now Dr. Lee, were the names mentioned), of the continuance of your health and prosperity. It grieves me to learn that the sons of the Emir Yusef labour under your displeasure, and that they have lost their eyesight. (N.B. It was the Emir himself who had blinded them). I hope you will not suffer them to want your protection. You are answerable to them, and more particularly to me, for their safety.
The letter then went on in a style which will show that Sir Sydney’s vanity sometimes made him fall into hyperbole.