“I have had the honour of receiving your’s of the 10th October, inclosing a circular letter addressed to the commanders in the squadron under my command, requesting them to favour the committee with the lists of the killed and wounded on board their respective ships at the battle of the Nile:  and I beg leave to acquaint you, that I have given the necessary directions to the captains of the ships at present under my command to furnish the committee with lists, agreeable to their wishes; and will write to the captains of those ships which are gone down the Mediterranean with the prizes, to do the same as soon as possible, in order to forward their charitable intentions.

     “I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, your most
     obedient and humble servant,

     “Nelson.”

However, neither this nor any other pleasing employ, amidst his lordship’s numerous indispensible avocations, could hastily reconcile him to the unpleasant circumstance of not being left to finish the business which he had so nobly commenced, and so nearly closed.  Even the soothings of his amiable and illustrious friends were ineffectual; and, on the next day, the first of the year 1799, he wrote to Earl Spencer for permission to return to England.  This fact will appear in the following letter; though, happily, by the timely and judicious interference of the Earl of St. Vincent, added to the earnest and united requests of the King and Queen of Naples, and Sir William and Lady Hamilton, he was induced finally to continue a command which the royal sufferers felt so necessary for their protection.

     “Palermo,
     1st Jan. 1799.

     “My dear lord,

“I have transmitted to Mr. Nepean, by way of Vienna, a duplicate of my letter to the commander in chief:  which, of course, will likewise be sent you from him; and it will inform you of all which has passed, from the determination of leaving Naples to our arrival at Palermo.

“The day after I left Naples, I received a letter from Sir Sidney Smith, with several inclosures.  I send you my answer.  Every thing which the extracts sent me by Sir Sidney Smith point out to him, has been fully talked over, and fully explained, by Kelim Effendi; a person holding the office similar to our under-secretary of state, who had been sent with my Order of Merit:  for, by the form of the investiture, that seems to me the properest name to call it.

“And now, my lord, having left the command of the two sail of the line in the Levant Seas to Sir Sidney Smith—­than whom, I dare say, no one could be so proper—­Commodore Duckworth will ably, I am sure, watch Toulon; for I shall very soon, I hope, be able to send him one or two sail of the line:  and, Captain Troubridge, or some other of my brave and excellent commanders, being left to guard the One Sicily, and the coast