e of these was, the hope that his friend Captain Troubridge
might effect the destruction of the transports at Alexandria before Sir
Sidney's arrival; and the other, immediate information from the Earl of
St. Vincent, that he was as little satisfied as Lord Nelson himself,
with the business which had so deeply affected his feelings, and had
therefore exerted his own power to prevent any such future occurrence.
"Sir Sidney Smith," says his lordship, writing this month to Captain
Ball, "from a letter he wrote the Earl of St. Vincent off Malta, has
given great offence; having said, that he presumed, all the ships in the
Levant being junior to him, he had a right to take them under his
command. His lordship has, in consequence, given him a broad hint, and
taken him handsomely down; and, to prevent any thing of the kind
happening in future, he has ordered Sir Sidney to put himself
_immediately_ under my command." These great men, however, though they
felt jealous of their own command, had minds superior to the retention
of any continued animosity; and, when they fully understood each other,
became very sincere friends. They were all equally anxious for the good
of the country; for the honour of the profession; and, for their own
individual reputation. Their differences consisted more in the manner
than in the form and substance of the thing; and, perhaps, on the whole,
Lord Nelson's excess of feeling may be regarded as having, for a time,
punished both himself and Sir Sidney with far more severity than the
necessity of the case, when coolly considered, could by any means render
requisite.

One of the first public measures taken by his Sicilian majesty, after
arriving at Palermo, was that of sending away, from the whole island of
Sicily, every Frenchman it contained, of whatever description. A
resolution which, if it did not originate with our hero, was too
consonant with his lordship's known inveterate Antigallicanism, not to
have received his hearty approbation.

The following notice, dated on board the Vanguard, 6th January 1799,
was accordingly issued by Lord Nelson.

"His Sicilian Majesty having directed, that all French, of whatever
description, should leave the Island of Sicily--A ship of six
hundred tons, an English transport, will be ready, by to-morrow
morning, to receive French emigrants; say, two hundred. She will
have put on board her biscuit, salt provisions, peas, oatmeal, and
th