At sea, June 20th, 1813.
My lord,
By the perusal of the accompanying despatch to lord Castlereagh, your lordship will perceive that Murat has opened a negociation with us, the object of which is friendship with us and hostility to Buonaparte. You will observe in one of the conversations with Murat’s agent, that he informed me that Buonaparte had ordered Murat to hold twenty thousand men in readiness for the invasion of Sicily in conjunction with the Toulon fleet. I enclose the copy of a letter I have in consequence addressed to Sir E. Pellew, together with his answer, upon the practicability of the Toulon fleet sailing without the knowledge of the blockading fleet. Your lordship will have received my letter of the 21st of May enclosing a copy of my dispatch to Lord Bathurst, relative to the discontent of the Neapolitan troops in Sicily and the consequent state of weakness if not of danger resulting from it to that island. I stated also that this circumstance had induced me to detain in Sicily the two battalions which had been withdrawn from Spain.
Lord Wellington to lord William Bentinck.
Huarte, July 1st, 1813.
My lord,
In answer to your lordship’s despatch, I have to observe, that I conceive that the island of Sicily is at present in no danger whatever.