TO ADMIRAL THE EARL OF ST. VINCENT, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B.] Palermo, June 5th, 1799. My dear Lord, As the Haerlem sails to-morrow I shall only say that she is going with three Bullock-Vessels for the Garrison, and a Transport with wood for the Squadron of Duckworth. Our dear Lady Hamilton is very unwell.-God bless you, and ever believe me your affectionate NELSON. The Pallas sails with the Convoy for England the moment I know the sea is open for them. TO ADMIRAL THE EARL OF ST. VINCENT, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B.] My dear Lord, Palermo, June 6th, 10 P.M. Rear-Admiral Duckworth arrived at six o'clock. Our dear Lady Hamilton immediately took him into a Nunnery, and presented him to the Queen, who charmed him, as she does every one who comes near her. Of you she spoke as she felt, gratitude and admiration. It is not yet decided, but it is probable that in forty-eight hours we may sail for the Bay of Naples, in order to replace His Sicilian Majesty on his throne. All has the most favourable appearance. Every Ship here fit for any service.-May God bless you, and give you health and happiness; and in these wishes Lady Hamilton and Sir William most cordially join with your affectionate NELSON. TO ADMIRAL THE EARL OF ST. VINCENT, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B.] Palermo, June 7th, 1799. My dear Lord, As Marquis Niza is going to send Commodore Campbell's Captain to Lisbon, with an account of the Peace between Portugal and Tripoli, I beg leave to say that Don Jose Marco de Almudo, has on several occasions conducted himself with spirit, and always with much zeal for the services in which we are jointly engaged, and I therefore beg leave to mention him to your Lordship as an Officer meriting your kind notice. Ever, my dear Lord, your affectionate humble servant, NELSON. TO ADMIRAL THE EARL OF ST. VINCENT, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B.] June 12th, 1799. My dear Lord, To-morrow morning I receive on board the Prince Royal, &c., &c., with 1700 Troops, and sail for the Bay of Naples, the Court being in expectation that the appearance of the Squadron will enable the Royalists to take possession of the City. They are 50,000 well regulated Royalists, and next Sunday is the day appointed. You may be assured that I will not risk a mast of any one of the Squadron. God send us good luck, and may he bless us, is the sincere prayer of your affectionate NELSON. TO ADMIRAL THE EARL OF ST. VINCENT, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B.] Palermo, June 13th, 1799. My dear Lord, The Boatswain of the Alcmene was put into the Swiftsure, and I gave an acting-order to a very good seaman, who had passed from the Agamemnon to the Theseus. Now it so turns out, that he is a very indifferent Boatswain, therefore I must beg you to take him from the Frigate, and if you are good enough to try him in a Sloop, I can ask no more.-In doing this you will much oblige your faithful NELSON. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON, K.B. [Autograph in the possession of the Editor.] (Most Secret.) June 20th, 1799. I am agitated, but my resolution is fixed. For Heaven's sake suffer not any one to oppose it. I shall not be gone eight days. No harm can come to Sicily. I send my Lady and you Lord St. Vincent's letter. I am full of grief and anxiety. I must go. It will finish the War. It will give a sprig of laurel to your affectionate friend NELSON. The Ship for Tunis is gone. TO EARL SPENCER, K. G. [Autograph in the Spencer Papers. An imperfect copy of this Letter, and erroneously dated on the 13th instead of the 19th of July, 1799, is printed in vol. iii. pp. 408, 409, from the "Letter Book."] My dear Lord, Foudroyant, Naples, 19th July, 1799. You will easily conceive my feelings at the order this day received from Lord Keith; but my mind, your Lord ship will know by my letter sent by Lieutenant Parkinson and Mr. Silvester, was fully prepared for this order; and more than ever is my mind made up, that, at this moment, I will not part with a single Ship, as I cannot do that without drawing a hundred and twenty men from each Ship now at the Siege of Capua, where our Army is gone this day. I am fully aware of the act I have committed; but, sensible of my loyal intentions, I am prepared for any fate which may await my disobedience. Capua and Gaeta will soon fall; and the moment the scoundrels of French are out of the Kingdom, I shall send eight or nine Ships of the Line to Minorca. I have done what I have thought right; others may think differently; but it will be my consolation that I have gained a Kingdom, seated a faithful Ally of His Majesty firmly on his throne, and restored happiness to millions. Do not think, my dear Lord, that my opinion is formed from the arguments of any one. No; be it good, or be it bad, it is all my own. It is natural I should wish the decision of the Admiralty and my Commander-in-Chief as speedily as 'possible. To obtain the former, I beg your Lordship's interest with the Board; and, in all events, I shall consider myself your obliged NELSON. You know me enough, my dear Lord, to be convinced I want no screen to my conduct. I send you a letter of mine to Troubridge, which will give you an idea that it is we who in reality manage all the Military affairs. The Duke Salandre nominally commands, but he does nothing without consulting Troubridge, who really commands the Army. The following very important Letter from Sir John Acton to Lord Nelson, written on board the Foudroyant, in Naples Bay, fully proves that His Sicilian Majesty invested Nelson with absolute power when he went to Naples in June 1799: "On board the Foudroyant, in the Road of Naples, 1st August, 1799. "My Lord, "By the two inclosed papers relative to the Government of Naples and this Kingdom, while His Sicilian Majesty continues to reside at Palermo, your Lord. ship will see that your example of a prudent moderation in regard to Cardinal Ruffo has been followed by His Majesty. The conduct of his Eminence wa highly to be commended in Calabria: his approaches to Naples, his behaviour in the first days when entered in this Capital, his unaccountable, and, I may say, shameful capitulation, intended for the Castles Ovo and Nuoro, did with reason promote a prevention against his way of thinking and principles at the moment. "Your Lordship's and Sir William Hamilton's observations on these events at your arrival in Naples Bay, rose His Majesty's suspicions, which have been, I must say, rather confirmed than abated with the reports received in this Road. It was in your Lordship's power to arrest the Cardinal, and send him to Palermo, as the orders to him, and the principal persons in Naples charged with that execution, when you had thought proper, directed by delivering those letters to their destination. As the Cardinal yielded to your wise and steady declarations. TO EARL SPENCER, K.G. [Autograph in the Spencer Papers.] Naples, 23rd July, 1799. My dear Lord, Rear-Admiral Duckworth sails this evening with four Ships of the Line for Minorca, leaving behind all their Marines. When Capua is taken, they shall be sent directly with one or two Ships of the Line English, but what shall I do with the Portuguese? They are almost useless to me, and Duckworth begs he may not have them. In short we are fancied to have so many Ships, when in reality we have NOTHING. In having kept back the Ships ordered by my Commanderin-Chief, I know I risk my commission, but as I have on my life for the safety of Europe, so I many occasions risked cheerfully risk my commission for the same cause. assure you, my dear Lord, that I value not what may happen I can His Majesty's your Lordship's and Sir William's advice caused a suspension of His Majesty's determinations. You will see by the inclosed instructions, and order for a Council to direct the Cardinal, and in a manner to overlook, with a proper vigi. lancy, over his actions, that he is tied up in a manner, and secured from doing mischief in the beginning. If he entertains any further concern, I would say, intelligence with the conspirators of his own order, it shall be discovered in a moment, and immediately as well as efficaciously remedied. reasons for running in appearance a kind of hazard are however founded. In the eyes of the Nation, in general, the Cardinal deserves praise for his courage, in the first setting out and promoting a Royal insurrection in the Calabrias under their Religion's and their King's banner, which has raised and inflamed the rest of the five southern provinces. This service is real. The meanings of this man in advancing to Naples, the corrupted people that flocked round him, his brother especially, known for bad and dubious dispositions, gave room to entertain an equivocal opinion; but single doubts and no facts were properly ascertained. His ambition on one side, known to the Court, his weakness in principles, on the other, and connexions in part abated by the arrest and judgment of most traitors amongst the nobles, seemed to encourage His Majesty in forming the determination of forming a Government in the form explained, with the aforesaid instructions. The first sign afterwards of a doubtful management shall cause the Cardinal's removal instantly; the disposition being taken for this necessary operation, whenever the case shall indicate the moment to put it in execution. The Cardinal's brother has been sent already to Sicily. Many persons have been dismissed from his confidence by the King's directions. In short, if a proper person to keep up the insurgent Army, which the Cardinal himself has raised, could have been found, in this instant he should have been placed in his room. The organization of a new Army will, I hope, in a short time, cause the dismission of the Calabrese corps, and tie up again, by this disposition, any further disagreeable and dangerous thought of a sedition. This, and no revolution, is to be apprehended. The Russian corps are near to arrive, and we do not see that the party of the Nobility which has so much worked in the conspiration against His Majesty, may, in Naples, produce a serious disturbance, when the people in the Capital, as your Lordship is a witness, is so much devoted to His Majesty. The same is likewise in all the provinces. more "The King, in ordering my communication to your Lordship, commands that I should repeat His Majesty's acknowledgments for so many conspicuous and essential services rendered to His Majesty and Royal Family. I am, &c., J. ACTON."-Copy in the Spencer Papers. to myself, if what I do serves the cause of my King and Country and Europe in general.-Ever believe me, with the truest esteem, your faithful and affectionate NELSON'. Between the 4th of August and the 10th of September, 1799, three very interesting Letters were written to Lord Nelson by Earl Spencer, in reply to his communications : "My dear Lord, "4th August, 1799. "I have to thank you for a long string of letters, most of which have been a very considerable time finding their way to me; but, when they have reached, they have been very satisfactory. You must have gone through a great deal of anxiety, but I hope that your perseverance and spirit will ere this be amply rewarded by the complete reinstatement of the King at Naples, which, I trust, has by this time taken place, and that Malta has also fallen before the meritorious unparal leled vigilance and exertions of Captain Ball, who has indeed shown himself worthy of the friendship with which you honour him. "I shall say nothing on the present situation of affairs in the Mediterranean, is our communications from thence are soon, I hope, likely to be so much more easy, that we shall be able to correspond with a greater degree of certainty thas we have done for a considerable time. The great and magnificent exertions of the Russian Army in Italy have produced such an effect over all that part of the world, that I have little doubt but you will soon be able to communicate with the several Ports, as you did before the French crossed the Alps; and as the Enemy appear to have given up all thoughts (if they ever had any such) of meeting us by sea in the Mediterranean, there will soon be very little to do there in a Naval way, unless it should be a co-operation with the South of France, where there seems good reason to expect that a strong party will, before long, arise against their present governors. These speculations, however, may all be wrong for aught I know, as they have so often changed their plans of late, that there is no reasoning upon them beforehand; and all I look upon as certain is, that while we have such men as you and your associates on the spot, we are secure of every. thing being done which human skill, bravery, and activity can effect.-Believe me, &c., SPENCER." 66 My dear Lord, “ 18th August, 1799. "I received with great satisfaction on the 16th instant, your letter of the 15th of July. The account it conveyed of the repossession of Naples, and of your having restored the King to his Dominions, was calculated to give the most sincere pleasure to every one here, and it has given to none of your friends more joy than to myself, that this restoration should have been effected so entirely by your means, with the assistance of the gallant companions of your services. I am very glad to see that you do me the justice to believe that Captain Troubridge needed no amplification of his merits to induce me to feel them as I ought. I did not fail to represent them to His Majesty as deserving some mark of his approbation, and His Majesty has been pleased to signify his intention of confer ring the honour of a Baronetage on him-a proof of his Royal favour for the many services he has performed since he has been employed in the Mediterranean. I trust we shall soon hear of the final completion of the good work you are about, by the surrender of Capua and Gaeta, not only as it will secure the tranquillity of the Kingdom of Naples, but as it will set you at liberty to attend to some other points, where the assistance of the Fleet will probably be very essential to the cause of His Majesty and his Allies. I hope I am not too sanguine in expecting to hear a good account of Malta soon, I should suppose that the Garrison of that place must have by this time so little hope of being relieved, that they will not be disposed to hold out much longer; and though I have full confidence in you, and in Captain Ball, for co-operating as cordially with the Russians in that part of the world, as we are fortunately doing in every other where we have to act together, |