TO ALEXANDER DAVISON, ESQ. [Autograph in the possession of Colonel Davison.] My dear Davison, Merton, September 6th, 1805. I much fear that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you before my departure, and to thank you for all your kind attentions. I wish you could name any one to settle my long Account; for although I may not be able to pay off at this moment the balance due to you, still it would be a satisfaction to me to have it settled; and then I could give you a Bond for the amount, until I may be able to pay it, which I still hope to be able to do in spite of Sir John Orde✨. I hope my absence will not be long, and that I shall soon meet the Combined Fleets, with a force sufficient to do the job well; for half a Victory would but half content me. But I do not believe the Admiralty can give me a force within fifteen or sixteen Sail of the Line of the Enemy; and therefore, if every Ship took her opponent, we should have to contend with a fresh Fleet of fifteen or sixteen Sail of the Line. But I will do my best; and I hope God Almighty will go with me. I have much to lose, but little to gain; and I go because it's right, and I will serve the Country faithfully. 5 I send you a Memorandum, which I am sure you will comply with. Poor blind Mrs. Nelson I must assist this morning. A Mr. Brand, an apothecary, called upon me for 1337. 2s. 6d., as due from my brother Maurice to him. I shall refer him to you, and if it is a just demand, he must have it. I shall leave the bill in St. James's-square.-Ever, my dear Davison, your most obliged and affectionate Friend, NELSON AND BRONTE. Sir, TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original in the Admiralty.] Admiralty Office, 7th September, 1805. In obedience to their Lordships' order dated the 1st of February last, directing me to appoint an Agent for all the 5 Vide vol. iv. p. 378. Vide vol. vi. pp. 283, 299. Spanish Vessels detained and sent into Gibraltar by any of His Majesty's Ships, prior to the 11th of January, I appointed' Mr. James Cutforth, Agent Victualler at Gibraltar, by Warrant, dated 6th May, agreeably to the spirit of their Lordships' order, perfectly satisfied that I was not exceeding the authority invested in me on the occasion; but I was very much surprised on my return from the West Indies, to receive the enclosed Letter from Mr. Cutforth, with a copy of the Circular one, therein referred to, from Earl Camden. In consequence I wrote to Mr. Cutforth directing him on no account to relinquish the important charge I had committed to his trust, but to proceed in the sale of the Spanish Vessels, and transmit the amount thereof immediately to the Judge of the Admiralty Court in England; fully satisfied that Earl Camden never intended to supersede my appointment, as the copy of his Lordship's letter will clearly show. I consequently considered the business as finally settled until the other day, since my arrival in Town, I received the inclosed letter from Mr. Cutforth, with the copy of the one therein mentioned to General Fox, and his Secretary's answer thereto, which I herewith transmit you, together with a letter to me from the General, and one from Mr. Cutforth to Mr. Scott, my Secretary, which I have to beg you will be pleased to lay before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for their information, and move their Lordships to take such measures as they may think proper and necessary with His Majesty's Ministers, to do away with any interference on the part of General Fox, and to give the most full effect to their Lordships' order to me of the 1st of February last. I lament exceedingly the necessity of this application to their Lordships; but cannot, consistent with the Service, suffer the dignity and rights of the Admiralty Board to be called in question, or my authority from them doubted, in the implicit execution of their Order. Should their Lordships, however, consider their Order to me of the 1st of February last to have exceeded their authority, I beg they will order it to be cancelled. I am, Sir, &c., NELSON AND Bronte. 6 Vide vol. vi. p. 425. TO VICE-ADMIRAL COLLINGWOOD. [Autograph in the possession of the Hon. Mrs. Newnham Collingwood.] My dear Coll., Admiralty, September 7th, 1805. I shall be with you in a very few days, and I hope you will remain Second in Command. You will change the Dreadnought for Royal Sovereign, which I hope you will like. Ever, my dear Collingwood, most faithfully yours, NELSON AND BRONTE. TO CAPTAIN PHILIP CHARLES DURHAM, H. M. SHIP DEFIANCE. [Original, formerly in the possession of the late Admiral Sir Philip Charles Henderson Durham, G.C.B.] At the Admiralty Office, 11th September, 1805. Pursuant to instructions from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, you are hereby required and directed to put yourself under my command, and follow and obey all such orders as you shall from time to time receive from me for His Majesty's Service". NELSON ANd Bronte. TO CAPTAIN PHILIP CHARLES DURHAM, H. M. SHIP DEFIANCE. [Original, formerly in the possession of the late Admiral Sir Philip Charles Henderson Durham, G.C.B.] At the Admiralty Office, 11th September, 1805. You are hereby required and directed, the moment His Majesty's Ship under your command is in all respects ready for sea, to repair with her to St. Helen's, and join the Victory, holding yourself in constant readiness to proceed with her to sea. But should the Victory sail previous to your joining her, as above, you are to apply to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, who will furnish you with my Rendezvous, when I desire you will join me with the utmost possible expedition. NELSON AND BRONTE. 7 A similar Order is issued by every Commander-in-Chief to the Captain of each Ship placed under his command. PRIVATE DIARY". [Autograph or fac simile copy in the possession of P. Toker, Esq.] Friday Night, 13th September. At half-past ten drove from dear dear Merton, where I left all which I hold dear in this world, to go to serve my King and Country. May the Great God whom I adore During the few days between the 7th of September and the 13th, when he left Merton for Portsmouth, Lord Nelson received the following interesting letters from Earl Camden, late Secretary of State for the War Department, and then President of the Council; from General Dumouriez ; and from His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent ; "My Lord, EARL CAMDEN TO LORD NELSON. "Wildernesse, September 7th, 1805. "I hope your Lordship was informed that I did myself the honour to call on you in Albemarle-street: I availed myself of the earliest opportunity I could when I was in London last week. I was extremely desirous of personally thanking you for the Political communications I had the advantage to receive from you, when I was Secretary of State, on the various subjects upon which you addressed me, and I was also very anxious to return you my thanks for the attention you were so good as to show to my nephew, Mr. James. But I trust your Lordship will permit me, in addition to these expressions of thanks for personal favours, to testify that admiration I feel, in common with the rest of the world, of the whole of your conduct, after you heard of the Enemy having passed the Straits of Gibraltar. I take leave to offer this testimony, as that of one who then filled an Office peculiarly connected with the West Indies, and who then saw the advantage of the first part of your conduct; and the confidential situation I now fill in His Majesty's councils has enabled me to judge of, and to admire, the subsequent steps you have taken. It will always be to me the highest satisfaction to continue that intercourse with your Lordship, which has begun officially, in any situation I may fill; and I have the honour to subscribe myself your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, CAMDEN."-Autograph. "If I cannot be so happy as to encounter you to-day, I pray you to be sure that my heart is full of your friendship, that my thoughts are all directed to your glory, that my constant desires are to co-operate with you in Italy, that all my hopes at the very point of the Continental War are in your counsels to your Ministry to provide me with a Foreign Army, or Italians, or Austrians, to attack the upstart Corsican through the centre of his Italian Kingdom. I planned, and sent to the Court of Vienna, a project for landing a Division of 20,000 Austrians of Dalmatia, in the Pope's Territory, near Ancona, to cut off the French Division now standing in the Kingdom of Naples, and to march afterwards through Tuscany and Parma, direct to the Genoese, to take the rear of the French defending VOL. VII. D enable me to fulfil the expectations of my Country; and if it is His good pleasure that I should return, my thanks will never cease being offered up to the Throne of His Mercy. the Mantuan and Milanese. I expect daily an answer. If my plan is agreed, and if I receive the command of that Diversion, we will realize together the projects we formed at our first meeting in Hamburgh, against the barbarian usurpator, whom we equally abhor. "Your task, dear friend, is to inculcate to your Ministry that they must not let my experience unemployed, that my name is preponderant in the opinion of the French, and very proper to be opposed to the Corsican, even better than the name of other Generals more skilful than myself; that the Court of Vienna is well disposed for me, and that an insinuation of your Ministry would determine it to call me; that it would be politically useful to your Ministry to have a General devoted to itself, for the co-operation of a plan decisive for the end of the War. I confide you as a brother. If your hasty depart don't permit you to discuss the matter with your Ministry, make use of my letter, as you judge convenable. Excuse my rough English language; be convinced of my constant admiration and friendship. Sail in the Victory to Victory. Lend me the hand to be one of your Glory's companions, and be always the good friend of your devoted servant, “G. Dumouriez.”—Autograph. HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF KENT TO LORD VISCOUNT NELSON. (Private.) "Kensington Palace, September 12th, 1805. "My dear Lord, “The kindness you have ever shown to my protégé young Rainsford, induces me to request of your Lordship to give me your opinion, whether it would be for his advantage to be removed at present to a Frigate, from the Victory, as, if that is the case, I shall then entreat you to place him with any Officer of whom you entertain a good opinion, only premising that my first wish is, that he should remain under your protection, and not be sent anywhere from under your own command, as I am naturally anxious that, if he merits it, he should look up to you altogether for future advancement in the profession. If I had the good fortune of seeing your Lordship before you left Town, it was my intention to have said to you, how proud I should have felt, could I have been thought worthy of being intrusted with the command of the Army, that may be employed on any service in which your Lordship might take on yourself that of His Majesty's Naval Forces, being fully convinced that, with such a colleague, there is nothing, almost, that might be undertaken, the issue of which would be doubtful. But, alas! since the unfortunate issue of my command, at Gibraltar, in 1802-3, I appear to have been set quite aside, and I see no prospect of any favourable change occurring. But should such a circumstance, though unexpected, occur, it would be a great satisfaction to me to know that your Lordship would not be averse to having me with you. In the meanwhile, my best and most fervent wishes will ever attend you, and it will be a subject of real pride to me to be considered one of your warmest friends and admirers. With these sentiments, and those of the highest personal regard and esteem, I remain, my dear Lord, ever yours most faithfully and sincerely, |