considered that, a very few months before, Carraccioli had received, at
Palermo, the supreme command of the small remains of his Sicilian
Majesty's fleet; that, on his departure for Messina, he had been
earnestely and most pathetically conjured by the queen, while taking
leave of her majesty, to do every thing in his power for the promotion
of the welfare of her little family; that he had, soon after, under
pretence of assisting the royalists in Calabria, abandoned his
sovereign, and actually joined the republicans with the force committed
to his charge; he cannot be well regarded as an object entitled to any
very extraordinary degree of commiseration.
On the 3d of July, Lord Nelson had the high gratification of receiving
official notice of the liberal grant of ten thousand pounds, which had
been unanimously voted to his lordship by the Honourable East India
Company, for his services at the battle off the Nile; and his
considerate regard to their interests, demonstrated by his judicious
conduct immediately after that glorious event. To the letter from Sir
Stephen Lushington, Bart. Chairman of the Court of Directors, which
conveyed this agreeable information, his lordship instantly wrote the
following answer.
"Foudroyant, Naples Bay,
3d July 1799.
"SIR,
"I was this day honoured with your letter of May 1st, conveying to
me the resolutions of the Honourable East India Company. It is
true, Sir, that I am incapable of finding words to convey my
feelings, for the unprecedented honour done me by the Company.
Having, in my younger days, served in the East Indies, I am no
stranger to the munificence of the Honourable Company; but this
generous act of their's to me so much surpasses all calculation of
gratitude, that I have only the power of saying that I receive it
with all respect. Give me leave, Sir, to thank you for your very
elegant and flattering letter, and to add, that I am, with the
greatest respect, your most obliged and obedient servant,
|