or Ball, desperate at the sight of the famine around them, sent a ship of war into Girgenti, a Sicilian port, seized, and brought away two corn-laden vessels.  “The measure was strong,” said Nelson, but he refrained from censuring; and, while apologizing to the Government, added he hoped it “would not again force officers to so unpleasant an alternative.”  He feared that in their misery the Maltese would abandon the struggle, particularly if they got wind of the purpose of Great Britain to restore the hated Order of Knights, in deference to the wishes of the Czar.  “The moment the French flag is struck,” he had been obliged to write to Ball, “the colours of the Order must be hoisted and no other; when it was settled otherwise, the orders from England were not so strong.”

About this time came information that several ships were fitting out at Toulon, with supplies for the besieged.  This increased Nelson’s anxieties, and at the same time emphasized the necessity which he had always urged of using speedier and surer means to reduce the place, while the undisputed mastery of the sea gave the opportunity.  “What might not Bruix have done, had he done his duty?” was his own comment upon that recent incursion; and who could tell how soon as great a force might appear again under an abler man?  He turned in every direction, and was instant in his appeals for aid.  He wrote to Acton that he had positive information that seven ships were loaded in Toulon.  “I therefore beg leave to propose to your Excellency, whether under our present circumstances, it would not be right for his Sicilian Majesty to desire that the English garrison at Messina should instantly go to Malta, for I am clear, that if Malta is relieved, that our forces got together could not take it, and the commencement of a new blockade would be useless.  All the Barbary cruisers would there have their rendezvous, and not a vessel of his Sicilian Majesty’s could put to sea.”  He exhorts the minister also to apply to the Russians for immediate help at Malta.

At the same time, to augment his embarrassments, orders came from Lisbon recalling the Portuguese squadron, which formed the larger part of the sea blockade.  Nelson forgot how often he had abused them as useless, and grappled with that part of the difficulty with characteristic boldness.  He peremptorily forbade the admiral to obey his orders.  “As the reduction of the Island of Malta is of the greatest consequence to the interests of the allied Powers at war with France, and the withdrawing of the squadron under your command, at this time, from the blockade of that island, will be of the most ruinous consequences to their interests ... you are hereby required and directed, in consideration of the above circumstances, and notwithstanding the orders you may have received from your Court to return to Lisbon, not on any consideration whatsoever to withdraw one man from that island, which may have been landed from the squadron under your