“When I received your highness’s letter, by Captain Hardy of the Vanguard, I was rejoiced to find that you had renounced the treaty you had so imprudently entered into with some emissaries of General Bonaparte; that man of blood, that despoiler of the weak, that enemy of all good Mussulmen:  for, like Satan, he only flatters that he may the more easily destroy; and it is true that, since the year 1789, all Frenchmen are exactly of the same disposition.  I had sent your letter to the Great King, my master; I had done the same to the Grand Signior:  for I never believed, that your highness would say a word that was not strictly true.  A lye is impossible for a true Mussulman to tell; at least, I had always believed so.  What, then, must have been my astonishment, to have heard, from his Britannic Majesty’s consul, Mr. Lucas, that the moment the Vanguard sailed, the French consul, and all the French, were liberated; and, also, the French vessels in the port allowed to fit for sea:  and one, to my knowledge, had sailed for Malta!  Why will your highness be thus led astray by evil counsellors; who can have no other object in view, but your ruin?  Your highness knows that, although a powerful squadron of Portuguese ships has been since last August under my command, by every means in my power they have been prevented from cruizing against the ships of your highness, or from approaching your coast.  It is now my duty to speak out, and not to be misunderstood.  That Nelson, who has hitherto kept your powerful enemies from destroying you, can and will let them loose upon you, unless the following terms are in two hours complied with; viz. that the French consul at Tripoli, vice-consul, and every Frenchman, are delivered on board her most faithful majesty’s ship Alphonso, to Commodore Campbell, in two hours from Mr. Lucas’s setting his foot on shore; that hostages are also sent on board, to remain till every Frenchman in the state of Tripoli shall be sent off, which shall not exceed four days.  N.B.  There shall be no reservation, or trick, about the French consul, &c. at Tripoli; he shall be on board in two hours after the demand’s being made.  All French vessels, or vessels pretended to be taken from the French, shall be destroyed in two hours.  These terms complied with, Commodore Campbell will, as he has done upon the passage, refrain from taking your vessels, till his arrival at Palermo.  If, then, proper terms are not complied with, I can no longer prevent the ships of her most faithful majesty from acting with vigour against your highness.

“Your highness will, without difficulty, write me a letter, the substance of which will be dictated by Mr. Lucas:  you will also, as a convincing proof of your detestation of the evil councils which have been given to you by Hamet Reis, your captain of the port, either cause him to be delivered to Commodore Campbell, that I may send him to Constantinople, or dispose of him in such a manner that he may for ever