To the intelligent reader, here is ample scope for reflection, in a very short compass.  Felt gratitude, warmly expressed, to the Earl of St. Vincent, for his kind and generous attentions; lofty eulogiums of his lordship’s royal and illustrious friends on the conduct of the noble earl; severe mention of his friend Sir Sidney; complaint of ill health; firm attachment to the royal family at Palermo; fearful apprehensions for a beloved son-in-law, whom he had brought tenderly up with all the anticipatory hopes of the fondest paternal affection, and for whose future conduct he seems, by some untoward circumstances, to have been now filled with all a feeling father’s anxieties and alarms; and, lastly, as the consequence of defeated expectations, a desponding willingness to relinquish even life, from an experienced conviction that it affords no permanent or perfect felicity.

On the 3d, his lordship received, through the Earl of St Vincent, the thanks of the House of Peers of Ireland, to himself, and the captains, officers, seamen, and marines, of the detached squadron under his command at the battle off the Nile, and immediately returned a respectful answer by the same channel.  He also wrote the following true sailor’s letter to the earl, respecting Malta.

“Palermo, Feb. 3, 1799.

“MY DEAR LORD,

“The Incendiary is just come from Ball, off Malta; and has brought me information, that the attempt to storm the city of Valette had failed, from—­(I am afraid, I must call it)—­cowardice.  They were over the first ditch, and retired, damn them!  But, I trust, the zeal, judgment, and bravery, of my friend Ball, and his gallant party, will overcome all difficulty.  The cutter just going off prevents my being more particular.  Ever your most faithful,

“Nelson.”

“Naples is declared a republic, and the French flag flying.  We are low in spirits, but all in this house love you.”

His lordship should have considered, before he pronounced the above naval anathema against the Maltese, for pusillanimity, the wretched starving state of the poor fellows carcases; of this he could not be ignorant, since he had, this very day, written to Sir John Acton in their behalf.  “If,” says he, “six thousand salms of corn are not sent directly to Malta, the inhabitants are in that state of want, that the worst consequences for the interest of his Sicilian Majesty may be apprehended.  All these poor people want is, that the king should give them six months credit; when they could make their payments, in money or cotton.  The case is important, and demands instant compliance.

“The inhabitants have not seven days bread.”  He wrote, the day following, to his friend Captain Ball, and inclosed him a satisfactory answer just received from General Acton on the subject:  adding—­“This evening I saw the king; and he is exceedingly angry, to think that his faithful Maltese subjects should want for any comforts or necessaries which it is in his power to bestow.”  He addressed, at the same time, a seasonable letter to the deputies of the Maltese people; containing, also, a copy of General Acton’s letter, with assurances of Captain Ball’s protection, and his own determination to afford them every assistance in his power.  In short, though his lordship execrated all appearances of cowardice, he compassionated every species of distress.