Admiralty, 17th May 1801.
My dear Sir James,
Many thanks for your kind letter of the 6th instant. I am sorry our French friends do not come out, that you may teach them English. The Gazette [26] will show you that our soldiers are getting into the habits of fighting.
We heard of the miscreants' intentions on the islands; and I have sent over several gun-brigs, gun-barges, frigates, sloops, &c. and a few additional troops. There are 5,000 regulars at Jersey, and some more going soon, so that I think they have little chance of success if they make the attempt; but it appears to me that the different powers cannot look on without interfering, and stopping the progress of the villains. In short, I hope to see them soon weighed down in a congress.
Lord St. Vincent's cough is better, and the warm weather will re-establish him. I beg you to give my best compliments to Brenton. Believe me
Yours most faithfully,
Thomas Troubridge.
To Sir James Saumarez.
Thus released from the painful anxiety for the safety of the Channel islands, where so many of his dearest connexions resided, he wrote the following letter to his brother, Sir Thomas Saumarez, who was at that time in command of the local force in Guernsey:
Cæsar, off Ushant, 30th May 1801.