"When I received your highness's letter, by Captain Hardy of the
Vanguard, I was rejoiced to find that you had renounced the treaty
you had so imprudently entered into with some emissaries of General
Bonaparte; that man of blood, that despoiler of the weak, that
enemy of all good Mussulmen: for, like Satan, he only flatters that
he may the more easily destroy; and it is true that, since the year
1789, all Frenchmen are exactly of the same disposition. I had sent
your letter to the Great King, my master; I had done the same to
the Grand Signior: for I never believed, that your highness would
say a word that was not strictly true. A lye is impossible for a
true Mussulman to tell; at least, I had always believed so. What,
then, must have been my astonishment, to have heard, from his
Britannic Majesty's consul, Mr. Lucas, that the moment the Vanguard
sailed, the French consul, and all the French, were liberated; and,
also, the French vessels in the port allowed to fit for sea: and
one, to my knowledge, had sailed for Malta! Why will your highness
be thus led astray by evil counsellors; who can have no other
object in view, but your ruin? Your highness knows that, although a
powerful squadron of Portuguese ships has been since last August
under my command, by every means in my power they have been
prevented from cruizing against the ships of your highness, or from
approaching your coast. It is now my duty to speak out, and not to
be misunderstood. That Nelson, who has hitherto kept your powerful
enemies from destroying you, can and will let them loose upon you,
unless the following terms are in two hours complied with; viz.
that the French consul at Tripoli, vice-consul, and every
Frenchman, are delivered on board her most faithful majesty's ship
Alphonso, to Commodore Campbell, in two hours from Mr. Lucas's
setting his foot on shore; that hostages are also sent on board, to
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