request that you will on no account suffer the least hint of this to escape. In communicating with Barcelona, I must desire you will keep His Majesty's Ship Juno, under your command, well out of reach of shot from the Spanish Forts or Batteries, and send an Officer on shore to Mr. Gibert, to obtain the news and such intelligence as he may have to transmit to me, and if you judge it necessary for my immediate information, you will join me on my present Rendezvous, No. 100, herewith enclosed, without a moment's loss of time. I am, &c., -- NELSON AND BRONTE. N.B. It is to be remembered that Mr. Gibert is a Spaniard; and, therefore, only request him to send any letters which may arrive from Madrid for me, with any Newspapers or other circumstances he may have to communicate. TO CAPTAIN LAYMAN, H.M. SLOOP WEAZLE. [Letter Book.] Sir, Victory, at Sea, 19th March, 1804. It is my direction that you omit no opportunity of raising good men for the Victory as she is very much in want of them, and bear them on a supernumerary list; and you will produce this order, that no Senior Officer may presume to take them from the Weazle. I am, Sir, &c., In answer to your letter of the 20th October last, respecting the complement of His Majesty's Sloop under your command, I am to desire you will increase the complement of the said Sloop to the number it was last War; and with respect to the other parts of your letter, the Weazle must strictly execute the orders she is under from me, and such as the Senior Officer may find necessary, from time to time, to give in addition. I am, &c., NELSON AND BRONTE. TO CAPTAIN PHILIP LEWIS ROSENHAGEN, H.M. SLOOP LA SOPHIE. [Order-Book.] Victory, at Sea, 19th March, 1804. You are hereby required and directed to proceed immediately with his Majesty's Sloop La Sophie under your command to Rendezvous No. 97, under Cape St. Sebastians, where you will find his Majesty's Ship Juno, and on doing so, you will deliver my most secret letter, which accompanies this, to Captain Richardson; but should you not fall in with the Juno after cruizing on the above Rendezvous with the utmost activity for the space of forty-eight hours, you are to proceed to Gibraltar, and deliver the whole of my Public dispatches, which you will herewith receive, to Commissioner Otway at that place. After having so done, you will remain at Gibraltar forty-eight hours for such dispatches as Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Trigge and Commissioner Otway may have to send to me, and afterwards proceed, without loss of time, to Rendezvous No. 97, where you will find me, or orders for your further proceedings. In the event of your falling in with a Spanish Fleet or Squadron, either in your way to Gibraltar, or on your return, you are to be very careful in not approaching too near them, and instantly return to me with an account thereof on the above Rendezvous, No. 97. You are to receive Captain Whitby, late of the Belleisle, his servant, baggage, &c., with any other person he may have to take with him, and give them a passage to Gibraltar, victualling them, on a supernumerary list, the same as your Sloop's Company during their continuance on board. NELSON AND Bronte. TO REAR-ADMIRAL SIR JOHN DUCKWORTH, K.B. [From Clarke and M‘Arthur, vol. ii. p. 360.] 19th March, 1804. There is not a man in the world, that rejoices more at the happy conclusion you have given to the French Expedition to St. Domingo,' than myself, and for all your well-earned successes: your perseverance deserves to be amply rewarded. Now, you have done with the French, unless you can get hold by agreement with the sold Spaniards, of their part of St. Domingo, (for I hope in God we shall never attempt to possess any portion of the other part of that Island,) although I see all the danger of a Black Republic, yet I trust we shall be very particular in making a treaty of commerce with them. It is a nice game to play; but if you are contented, I am sure it is in good and able hands. I hope to hold out, to beat your friend Admiral la Touche Tréville, who took the Rear-Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth, K.B., Commander-in-Chief at Jamaica, concluded, in December, 1803, a negotiation with General Rochambeau, the Commander of the French forces at St. Domingo, by which that Officer and his Troops surrendered as Prisoners of War. "From General Rochambeau's extraordinary conduct on the public service," says Captain Loring, in his Dispatch, "neither Captain Bligh nor myself have had anything to say to him further than complying with his wishes in allowing him to remain on board the Surveillante until her arrival at Jamaica, which I very readily agreed to, as also the Commodore." -London Gazette, 7th February, 1804. Vice-Admiral la Touche Tréville, Commander-in-Chief of the French Flect, has become a person of historical importance from the assertion of Monsieur Thiers, that the death of that gallant Officer, in August 1804, saved England from Invasion! He is again frequently mentioned by Nelson, to whom, on the 14th of February 1804, he wrote the following letter in reply to his letter to the French Admiral, dated on the 10th of December, 1803, in p. 298, ante. Instead, however, of imitating Lord Nelson's example by sending this letter direct, by a Flag of Truce, Admiral la Touche Tréville directed it to Malta, and forwarded it through the French Post Office, so that it did not reach Nelson's hands until the end of May or beginning of June: "A bord du Vau le Bucentaure en Rade de Toulon le 28 pluviose, (18 Fevrier, 1804) an 12o de la République Francaise. "Le Vice-Amiral la Touche-Tréville, de la Légion d'Honneur, Commandant en Chef une Escadre dans la Méditerranée, "A Son Excellence Lord Nelson, Duc de Bronté, Commandant en Chef les Forces Navales de S. M. Britannique dans la Méditerranée. "Monsieur, "J'ai reçu la lettre que votre Excellence a adressée au Commandant de l'Armée Navale à Toulon, sous la date du 4 Xbre dernier. N'ayant pris que depuis peu le Commandement de cette armée, je n'ai point eu connaissance de l'objet de vos reproches, sur lesquels par consequent je ne suis pas fondé à repondre. "Je me suis empressé de faire part à mon Gouvernement de ce qui concerne command at Toulon the moment of his arrival there. He was sent for on purpose, as he beat me at Boulogne, to beat me again; but he seems very loth to try. I am, &c., NELSON AND Bronte. Sir, TO SIR EVAN NEPEAN, BART., ADMIRALTY. [Original, in the Admiralry.] Victory, at Sea, 19th March, 1804. I herewith transmit you, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, a letter from Captain Hardy of His Majesty's Ship Victory, respecting Mr....., the Purser of the said Ship, not having joined; and, I request you will communicate to their Lordships the great distress Captain Hardy has been subject to, in the purchase of neces l'échange que vous proposez; aussitot que ses intentions me seront connues, je ne manquerai pas d'avoir l'honneur de les participer à votre Excellence, et de prendre tous les moyens qui sont en mon pouvoir pour satisfaire au desir qu'elle témoigne, et aux sentimens d'humanité qui les lui a inspirés. J'ai l'honneur d'être de votre Excellence le très obeïssant serviteur, LA TOUCHE TREVILLE."—Autograph, in the Nelson Papers. Vice-Admiral la Touche Tréville communicated the decision of his Government respecting the proposed exchange of Prisoners, in the following Letter, dated on the 22nd of March, which, like the preceding one, he sent, viá Paris, directed to Lord Nelson at Malta! "A bord du Vaisseau de la Republiqué Francaise le Bucentaure, en rade de Toulon le 1er germinal de l'an 12 (22 Mars, 1804.) "A Son Excellence Lord Nelson, Duc de Bronté, Commandant en Chef les Forces Navales de S. M. Britannique dans la Meditérranée. "Monsieur, "J'ai l'honneur de faire connaitre à Votre Excellence les intentions de mon Gouvernement sur ce qui fesait l'objêt de la lettre que vous avez adressée au Commandant des Forces Navales à Toulon, et dont j'ai eu celui de vous accuser reception. "Il me charge de mander à votre Excellence que tout échange de prisonniers entre les deux Puissances, est devenu impossible par les conditions inadmissibles que S. M. Britannique a voulu imposer à l'etablissement d'un Cartel; et que pour éviter les inconveniens attachés à l'admission des parlementaires dans un port uniquement consacré aux operations militaires et navales, il avait affecté specialement le port de la Ciotat sur la Mediterranée à les recevoir. C'est donc par ce senl port que je pourrai recevoir les communications dont il plairait à Votre Excellence de m'honorer. J'ai l'honneur d'etre, de Votre Excellence le très obeissant serviteur, LA TOUCHE TREVILLE, Vice-Amiral, Commandant en Chef les Forces Navales de la République Française dans la Mediterranée."-Autograph, in the Nelson Papers. saries, and that if it had not been for Mr. Bromley, Purser of the Belleisle, who has on all occasions purchased beef, &c., for the Victory's Company, the Service must have suffered materially. .... I feel much indebted to Mr. Bromley for his attention to these particulars, and certainly consider Mr. . . . . 's conduct not only reprehensible, but that he ought not to have any employment in the Service: almost twelvemonths since his appointment, and not yet joined, or any account of him! I am, Sir, &c., NELSON AND Bronte. TO VICE-ADMIRAL BLIGH. [From "Marshall's Naval Biography," Supplement, Part I. p. 431.] My dear Admiral, Victory, March 19th, 1804. Your son is a very good young man, and I sincerely hope that, now your Flag is up,' you will be able to promote him. It would give me great pleasure to do it, but I see no prospect, unless we capture the whole French Fleet in Toulon; therefore, do you consider about him. You are sure of my regard, but I cannot kill people; and, I am more likely to go off myself than any one about me. I have many thanks to give you... I am, &c., NELSON AND BRONTE. TO DR. BAIRD. [From "The Athenæum."] March 19th, 1804. My dear Sir, Many thanks for your kind letter of 30th October. I am sure no man is more able to place our Hospitals in a proper state than yourself, and that you always bear in mind not to 7 Vice Admiral, afterwards Admiral Sir Richard Rodney Bligh, G.C.B., had then lately hoisted his Flag as Commander-in-Chief on the Coast of Scotland. His defence of the Alexander 74, for two hours, against three French Sail of the Line, in November 1794, was one of the most gallant actions of the War: he died an Admiral of the Red in April 1821. His son mentioned in this letter was Mr. George Miller Bligh, at that time a Lieutenant of the Victory, who was dangerously wounded in that Ship at Trafalgar: he was made a Commander in January 1806 ; Posted in December 1808, and died about 1834. |