I had a letter from our friend Locker, of April 12th. He desires his particular respects to you. MEMORANDUM DELIVERED TO MR. BRAME, BRITISH CONSUL AT GENOA. [Copy in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B., and Letter-Book. An imperfect copy of this Memorandum is in vol. i. p. 170.] [About 15th May, 1796.] The Papers from the Secretary of State, I am astonished at; and before I answer a word of it, if it is proper for you to communicate officially with the Genoese Government, which I think you told me it was not, I wish to know officially and no more than a plain answer, "Yes,' or 'No,' are all the Batteries on the Coast manned and belonging to the Genoese? Should the answer be 'Yes;' then I have a most heavy complaint to make, and doubt not but England is fully equal to repel the insult every day offered to her Flag. Should the answer be 'No, they are in possession of the French; then of course I shall consider it as an Enemy's Coast. It may be said, and truly, that 'The French have erected Batteries from one end of the Coast to the other, within shot of each other; but we have some Fortresses which remain still in our possession, and we know that the Batteries fire on the approach of any English Ship, nor have we the means or power of preventing it. If an English Ship comes into any of our Ports or Roads to the Westward, we know that she will be fired at and destroyed, unless she is able to batter down the fortifications: we must acknowledge our Ports to the Westward are not neutral for the English.' As this must be the language of the Secretary of State, how can he for a moment fancy, that I can receive shot and shells from every part of the Coast, and not consider it as hostile? This, he may be assured of, that I never have, nor ever will fire the first shot; but if shot are fired, I will do my utmost to destroy the Battery firing at the English flag: in doing this I shall guard as much as possible against injuring any individual Genoese, a Nation I respect on many accounts. But the Secretary must be sensible, that a fire of cannon, once opened, is terrible to a Town; therefore the Town'speople should not suffer a gun to be fired at the English flag, when they will remain perfectly safe. Believe me, dear Sir, &c., HORATIO Nelson. stores. The Admiral is much distressed for Frigates to send up the Levant, and to the Coast of Spain. Our Fleet is off Toulon, and I have only to hope that the Enemy will come out (when I join them), and give us a fair opportunity of meeting them on an element where we always wish to see them. Our Fleet is in high order. Corsica is, I hope (at least the Vice-Roy says so), in a fair way of being made quiet-that the refractory are few, and that he is now fully equal to face either outward or inward enemies. You may be assured that no event of any moment shall take place without my writing to you, and I beg you will tell me, as soon as you think it right, the event of the Treaty going on at Paris. I always dispatched your letters, or extracts from them, to Sir John Jervis, than whom no Officer can be more zealous or able to render every service in our profession to England. With my best respects to Mr. Jackson, believe me, dear Sir, your much obliged and faithful humble servant, HORATIO NELSON. TO ADMIRAL SIR JOHN JERVIS, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B.] Dear Sir, Leghorn, May 18th, 1796. Whenever you think it the proper time to withdraw the Ships from the Gulf of Genoa, I beg you will not hesitate one moment in directing my Pendant to be struck. I assure you, much as I felt flattered by your kind notice in directing me to hoist it, yet I shall as cheerfully serve without, as with it; and for many reasons, you may not wish to have a Distinguishing Pendant in the Fleet, especially as mine must fly without arrangements, which may be troublesome in a sixty-four worn out. Fame says a promotion is certainly very nearly taking place. If so, the Admiralty will either direct my Flag to he hoisted here, or I shall have a land voyage. I must now take the liberty of saying a word of my health. It certainly is not bad: on the contrary, I believe better than medical people say it is; but I believe a little rest, and the baths of Pisa, the same nearly as Bath, would do me great service. If I could, without any great impediment to the Service, take twenty days to fit me for another winter, I should not dislike it: but perhaps I shall do without it, and do not much like what I have written. Believe me, dear Sir, your most obliged and faithful servant, HORATIO NELSON. I had a letter from our friend Locker, of April 12th. He desires his particular respects to you. MEMORANDUM DELIVERED TO MR. BRAME, BRITISH CONSUL AT GENOA. [Copy in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B., and Letter-Book. An imperfect copy of this Memorandum is in vol. i. p. 170.] [About 15th May, 1796.] The Papers from the Secretary of State, I am astonished at; and before I answer a word of it, if it is proper for you to communicate officially with the Genoese Government, which I think you told me it was not, I wish to know officially and no more than a plain answer, 'Yes,' or 'No,' are all the Batteries on the Coast manned and belonging to the Genoese? Should the answer be 'Yes;' then I have a most heavy complaint to make, and doubt not but England is fully equal to repel the insult every day offered to her Flag. Should the answer be 'No, they are in possession of the French; then of course I shall consider it as an Enemy's Coast. It may be said, and truly, that The French have erected Batteries from one end of the Coast to the other, within shot of each other; but we have some Fortresses which remain still in our possession, and we know that the Batteries fire on the approach of any English Ship, nor have we the means or power of preventing it. If an English Ship comes into any of our Ports or Roads to the Westward, we know that she will be fired at and destroyed, unless she is able to batter down the fortifications: we must acknowledge our Ports to the Westward are not neutral for the English.' As this must be the language of the Secretary of State, how can he for a moment fancy, that I can receive shot and shells from every part of the Coast, and not consider it as hostile? This, he may be assured of, that I never have, nor ever will fire the first shot; but if shot are fired, I will do my utmost to destroy the Battery firing at the English flag: in doing this I shall guard as much as possible against injuring any individual Genoese, a Nation I respect on many accounts. But the Secretary must be sensible, that a fire of cannon, once opened, is terrible to a Town; therefore the Town'speople should not suffer a gun to be fired at the English flag, when they will remain perfectly safe. Believe me, dear Sir, &c., HORATIO NELSON. TO ADMIRAL SIR JOHN JERVIS, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B. "16th May. Joined company H.M. Ship Comet; came on board, Lieutenant Edward Berry. P.M. anchored in Leghorn Roads.”—Agamemnon's Log.] Dear Sir, Agamemnon, Leghorn Roads, May 18th, 1796. I have requested Admiral Linzee to allow the Surgeon of the Agamemnon, Mr. Cornwall Reynolds, to exchange with the Surgeon of the Nemesis, in order the more easily to effect a change into the Blenheim, with his friend, Captain Frederick. This will be advantageous to Mr. Reynolds, and therefore, from his conduct since under my command, I feel much interested that you should allow of the exchange from Nemesis to Blenheim, and, in doing this, an additional obligation will be conferred upon, dear Sir, your most faithful servant, HORATIO NELSON. I shall write fully by Comet a public letter. TO ADMIRAL SIR JOHN JERVIS, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B. An imperfect copy of this Letter is in vol. i. p. 174.] Sir, Agamemnon, Leghorn Roads, 23rd May, 1796. As I suspected, the Neapolitan Flotilla has not yet arrived, nor yet left Naples. The Flotilla which I wrote you was at Longona, is only to attend Convoys, and protect the Coast. I believe there is a struggle between the Courts of Vienna and Spain, which shall dictate to that of Naples. The advance of the French has been certainly much facilitated by the defection of our Allies, brought on, in this part, by their fears. Report says, the Pope has accommodated matters with the French; however, that will not stop them, if the Austrian Army is not able. I am anxious for the arrival of the Genoese post, which ought to have come in this morning, as I desired Mr. Brame to write me here, as well as to the sea. The Consul, I take for granted, will send you a copy of Mr. Drake's letter from Verona. General Beaulieu is certainly getting reinforcements, and the French have not for one week advanced. The castle of Milan has twice repulsed the French, who now only blockade it. Poor Gibson is in quarantine, and I cannot get him out, which I wished to do. I hope to sail at daylight in the morning, and if I have any interesting letters from Mr. Drake, or Mr. Trevor, I shall send a Ship to you. I beg, Sir, if you think I can be any very useful by coming to you, without the Pendant, that you will order it to be struck without hesitation. I do not believe my health is such as to require Pisa at present, at least I am willing to believe so. Believe me, &c., HORATIO NELSON. TO ADMIRAL SIR JOHN JERVIS, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B. Two extracts from this Letter are in vol. i. p. 175. "25th May. Weighed and sailed from Leghorn.”—Agamemnon's Log.] Dear Sir, 30th May, 1796. I send Captain Cockburn, as I believe his anxiety to get into La Minerve is great. Your cruise off Toulon is tedious no doubt, but not uninteresting in its consequences; for if any plan, which the Directory have laid, is defeated for three or four months, there is no calculating what benefit may arise to our Country from it: I think they are bound Westward, I cannot bring myself to believe they will venture Eastward; if they do, I have no doubt but we shall get at them. I know not what opinion to give about my Squadron; I have wrote to Mr. Drake on the subject, and much will depend on his account of what the Austrian Army is likely to do. If it can again make head, and this insurrection of the peasantry be encouraged, we may again be of some use; but the Austrians have now no object to bring them on the sea-coast. Mr. Berry joined me in the Comet, and I have, as far as I have seen, every reason to be satisfied with him, both as a gentleman and an officer. I had a few days ago laid a plan for taking the French Brig of War out of Vado, and intrusted the execution of it to him: it miscarried from an unforeseen and improbable event, but I was well pleased by Mr. Berry's strict attention to my instructions. I here beg leave to mention a circumstance which I dare say you hear of in the Fleet-the badness of the lemons. I ordered lemons on board at Leghorn in the chests. There ought to have been 5000 and upwards, but not 2000 were sound. It is distressing to fancy we have the means of keeping scurvy from our Ships, when such numbers are rotten. The chests sent certainly ought to be good; therefore should be repacked before they are sent to the Fleet, at Genoa. I have bought them in numbers fresh from the trees, and any quantity might be got there, I fancy, in one day's notice. I know, Sir, you must be interested in what |