He is as hearty and generous in his praises to Sir Sidney Smith, whom he never fully trusted, for his services at Acre, as he is to the valued friend, and pattern of all naval efficiency, Troubridge.  To the Emperor of Russia he paid the politic attention of sending a detailed report of all that had been done about Malta, made to him as Grand Master of the Order,—­a delicate and adroit flattery at the moment, for the Czar then valued himself more as the restorer of an ancient order of chivalry than as the inheritor of a great Sovereignty; and his position was further recognized by asking of him the insignia of the Order for Captain Ball and Lady Hamilton.

This immense load of correspondence and anxiety was additional to the numerous unrecorded cares and interviews, relating to the routine work and maintenance of a great squadron, often left bare of resources from home, and to the support of the destitute population of Malta,—­sixty thousand souls; and all was carried on amid the constant going and coming of the ambassador’s house, kept open to naval officers and others.  This public sort of life and excitement involved considerable expense, and was little to the taste of either Nelson or Hamilton, the latter of whom was now approaching his seventieth year; but in it Lady Hamilton was in all her glory, overwhelmed with compliments, the victor of the Nile at her feet, and “making a great figure in our political line,” to use her husband’s words.  “Except to the Court,” wrote Nelson, replying to a censure from the Admiralty for failing to send a letter by a certain channel, when he had sent duplicates by two other conveyances,—­“except to the Court, till after eight o’clock at night I never relax from business.  I have had hitherto, the Board knows, no one emolument—­no one advantage of a Commander-in-chief.”  It was in reference to this captious rebuff, received when immersed in cares, that he wrote to Spencer:  “Do not, my dear Lord, let the Admiralty write harshly to me—­my generous soul cannot bear it, being conscious it is entirely unmerited.”

While he was striving to gain assistance for the Maltese, he does not forget to sustain them with hopes, not always too well founded.  He tells Ball he trusts the Messina troops will soon be with him.  “You may depend, in October, I will get 2,000 men on shore at Malta.  Niza is ordered to Lisbon, but I have directed his stay off Malta.”  He appeals personally to the British commander at Messina, and to the Russian minister at Palermo, reminding the latter how dear Malta and its Order were to his sovereign.  “Malta, my dear Sir, is in my thoughts sleeping or waking.”  The Portuguese, he tells him, are ordered home; but, wishing Russian assistance, he does not say that he has stopped them,—­as to which, indeed, he could not feel sure.