“Palermo, Dec. 31, 1798.

     “Sir,

“I have been honoured with your letter from off Malta, with it’s several inclosures:  viz.  An extract of a letter from Lord Grenville to John Spencer Smith, Esq. &c.—­“And his majesty has been graciously pleased to direct, that your brother, Sir Sidney Smith, shall proceed to Constantinople with the eighty-gun ship Le Tigre.  His instructions will enable him to take the command of such of his majesty’s ships as he may find in those seas—­unless, by any unforeseen accident, it should happen that there should be, among them, any of his majesty’s officers of superior rank; and he will be directed to act with such force, in conjunction with the Russian and Ottoman squadrons, for the defence of the Ottoman empire, and for the annoyance of the enemy in that quarter:”—­Also, an extract of another letter, from Lord Grenville to yourself and brother—­And the Earl of St. Vincent having sent me an extract of a letter from Earl Spencer to him; saying that, for certain circumstances, you should be the officer selected for the command of a small squadron in the Levant Seas:  and, his lordship having also informed me, that Captain Miller was the officer of your choice; and directing me to give you a frigate, or a sloop of war, till Captain Miller’s arrival—­You may rest assured, that I shall most strictly comply with the instructions sent by Lord Grenville to your brother; also, those of Earl Spencer, and the Earl of St. Vincent.  For this purpose, I must desire that you will lose no time in proceeding to Alexandria, to take upon you the command of the blockade, &c. which I shall direct to be delivered up to you; and, from my heart, I wish you every success.  The united squadrons of the Turks and Russians, and of two sail of the line under your command, must be sufficient for the two ships armee en flute, and three frigates; which, thank God! are all the enemy have left in those seas.

     “I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,

     “Nelson.”

It is by no means improbable, that Lord Nelson, while coolly transcribing the above passage from Lord Grenville’s judiciously guarded instructions, to convince Sir Sidney Smith, that he was not restrained, had in some measure convinced himself that those instructions could not possibly be intended to give him, or his gallant friends, the smallest just cause of offence.

On this same day, the last of the glorious year 1798, his lordship also wrote the following answer to a letter from John Julius Angerstein, Esq.  Chairman of the Committee at Lloyd’s, which he had just received.

     “Vanguard, Palermo,
     31st Dec. 1798.

     “Sir,