Sir, TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original, in the Admiralty.] Victory, at Sea, 10th October, 1804. I have received your letter of the 17th August, signifying to me their Lordships' direction to cause the Recruits raised by Captain Adair for the Royal Marines to be placed to the vacant Companies, in order to ascertain them. In answer thereto, I herewith transmit you a letter from Captain Adair, together with a Return of Recruits that have joined the Victory between the 1st September and 4th instant, which you will please to lay before the Lords Commissioners of the Admihe is directed to proceed upon a Military mission to Albania, and the Morea, for purposes fully detailed in instructions which he will communicate to your Lordship. He is also directed to put himself under your orders, in case you should think it advisable to ascertain with more precision, by the assistance of his professional knowledge, various points respecting the Island of Sardinia, that are specified in a Memorandum which I have put into his hands, or any other points on which you may think it desirable that further information should be obtained. You will, no doubt, be sensible that a mission of this nature will require considerable address and caution in the execution. As, for various reasons, which I cannot now detail, no communication has, or can well be made, to the King of Sardinia, or to his Minister here, upon such a subject, Captain Leake must be considered, in case you think it proper he should proceed, as acting under your Lordship's orders only. The frequent communications which you must necessarily have with different ports of the Island of Sardinia, will enable you to direct the conduct of Captain Leake, and of any Naval Officer whom he may accompany, in such a manner as to give the least possible occasion to jealousy or alarm. It is peculiarly important that no premature suspicion should arise of the occupation, in any contingency, of any part of Sardinia by British Troops, as such a suspicion would only serve to hasten the attack of the French. You will have seen, by Lord Camden's letter, that no sufficient force could at present be spared for that purpose; and the only hope of preserving it, in the meantime, rests upon the Naval defence, which the reinforcement now sent you, may enable you with less inconvenience to station near the Straits of Bonafaccio. Captain Leake is charged with the duplicates of some dispatches, which were sent by a Courier to Mr. Elliot two months ago, and with another dispatch of this date, which it is desirable should reach him without risk, or loss of time. I have directed them to be put under a flying seal, in order that your Lordship may be apprised of his Majesty's sentiments and instructions respecting an object which you have always near at heart, and to which your efforts have so essentially contributed the preservation of the Persons and Dominions of their Sicilian Majesties. I have the honour to be, &c.-HARROWBY. "As there is not time to have this letter copied, your Lordship will have the goodness to excuse the form in which it comes."-(Autograph, in the possession of the Right Honourable John Wilson Croker.) ralty, for their information; and at the same time move their Lordships to give the necessary directions for Captain Adair's being allowed the sum of one guinea and a half for each of the Recruits he has so raised. It is but justice to mention that Captain Adair has, by the most indefatigable exertions, procured the men he has already enlisted without ever going out of the Ship, or sending an Officer for that purpose; consequently, as their Lordships will observe, he is obliged to give a certain pecuniary reward to the people who procure them for him. I must also beg to mention that the Recruits have all been raised from the different places in the Mediterranean, and not enlisted from the Squadron, as I believe was done in many instances by Colonel Flight, during Lord St. Vincent's Command in these seas. If any Officer employed on this service is entitled to an additional consideration for inspecting Recruits, I must beg to recommend Captain Adair as justly deserving it. I am, &c. NELSON AND BRONTE. Sir, TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original, in the Admiralty.] Victory, at Sea, 10th October, 1804. I have received your letter of the 4th August, with the inclosure therein mentioned from Mr. Stanley, Consul at Trieste, to the Master of Lloyd's Coffee-house, and signifying their Lordships' direction to call upon the Captain of his Majesty's brig Morgiana to account for his having left his Convoy. In answer thereto, I beg leave to refer you to my letter of the 8th ult.,' with its inclosure from Captain Raynsford of the said Brig, giving a very full and correct account of his proceedings on the occasion alluded to in Mr. Stanley's said letter, which I have, as their Lordships will observe, approved of, and trust his conduct will also meet their approbation. I cannot here omit noticing the very indecent liberty which Mr. Stanley takes with the conduct of Captain Raynsford, which, not only on the present, but on all former occasions that have come within my knowledge, has been highly to that Officer's credit, and the good of his Majesty's Service. I am, &c., NELSON AND BRONTE. Vide p. 195, ante. Captain Adair was killed in the Victory, at Trafalgar. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL CAMDEN, K.G. [Autograph, in the Colonial Office.] My Lord, Victory, October 11th, 1804. I have been honoured with your Lordship's letter of August 29th, and having answered Lord Melville and Lord Harrowby on the subject of Sardinia, it would be a waste of your Lordship's time to repeat again what I have wrote them, and which, of course, will come to your Lordship; and as, from the state of my health, I shall be in England nearly as soon as this letter, I shall then be happy to give your Lordship all the information which, you may suppose, I possess relative to Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, Morea, Barbary States, &c. &c. I send your Lordship the last return of French troops in Corsica and Elba. Captain Leake is going to Malta and Corfu, &c. &c., not thinking it proper he should go to Sardinia, as we possess every information about it, and another Officer's going would probably hasten the French views upon it. I shall always keep a constant watch upon the French in Corsica, that they shall not get over if I can help it. I have, &c. NELSON AND BRONTE. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL CAMDEN, K.G. My Lord, [Autograph, in the Colonial Office.] Victory, October 11th, 1804. I have the honour to transmit you my correspondence with the Dey of Algiers, since Mr. M'Donough went there. I have done with him. He wishes to be thought a Marabout. Next Spring it will be thought necessary to turn the thoughts of Ministers towards Algiers; but the more we appear to give way, the more insolent he is. The business of the Veloce was the Ship he sent an Ambassador to England about, in the year 1800, and everything was settled. The Jews who have led him wrong, are now seriously alarmed, but nobody can give your Lordship such correct information as his Ma jesty's late Consul, Mr. Falcon; and allow me to say that, in my humble opinion, Mr. F. would fill the place of the late Mr. Lock in Egypt, with great advantage to the State. I have, &c. NELSON AND Bronte. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD HARROWBY. My Lord, [From Clarke and M'Arthur, vol. ii. p. 389.] 11th October, 1804. You must excuse that want of regularity and method in arranging the various subjects, so easy to Statesmen, but with which a man who has been all his life at sea cannot be supposed to be so well acquainted. I received Captain Leake with that openness, which was necessary to make myself as well acquainted with him in three days, as others might do in as many years. I have given him all the knowledge of the men, their views, &c. &c., as far as I have been able to form a judgment. We know everything respecting Sardinia which is necessary—that it has no money, no troops, no means of defence... I will only mention the state of one Town, Alghiera, fortified with seventy large cannon, and containing 10 or 12,000 inhabitants. It has forty Soldiers and a Governor, not one of whom has been paid any wages for more than three years. They levy a small tax upon what comes in or goes out of the Town. Guns honeycombed for want of paint, and only two carriages fit to stand firing; and the Governor shows this, and says, 'How long can we go on in this manner?' This place was intended to, and would, in our hands, possess the whole of the coral fishery; but for want of active commerce, grass grows in the streets. I could repeat the same miserable state of the City of Sassari, where there is a regular University established, now in misery. The French mean to make that the seat of Government; it is in a beautiful and fertile plain twelve miles from the sea, to which a river flows. I am, &c., NELSON AND BRONTE. TO CAPTAIN CRACRAFT, H. M. SHIP ANSON. My dear Sir, [From a Copy in the Admiralty.] Victory, October 12th, 1804. As the Medusa will very shortly proceed to England, and as I do not see the necessity of keeping so large a Frigate to the Eastward, now the Ionian Republic and the Morea are so well secured by the Russians, and if there are no immediate indications of an embarkation from the Heel of Italy, for Sicily, I think, as you wish it, that you may as well take Gore's place, as the Medusa must go to England to be docked; therefore, if you see nothing necessary to keep you at Malta, or to the Eastward, you will give all the necessary directions. relative to the protection of the Convoys, and proceed to take the Medusa's station outside the Straits-orders will be sent down for your guidance. I am ever, my dear Sir, with high respect, your most obedient servant, NELSON AND BRONTE. TO JOHN TYSON, ESQ. [Autograph, in the possession of Edwin Beedell, Esq.] My dear Tyson, Victory, October 12th, 1804. Many thanks for your letter of July 23rd, and for all the good things you have sent me by the William, which the Conqueror and Tigre brought me from Gibraltar. I am glad to see my account so far worked down; the balance I owe you, and much more, but that we will settle in the Christmas holidays, by which time I expect you will have settled the Genoa business. Forgive my short letter, and only believe me ever, your much obliged and faithful friend, NELSON AND Bronte. P.S.-I am much obliged by your attention to the Toulon business-it is likely to be a shameful business. Prize money for the capture of Ships and Stores at Toulon, in 1793. |