Minotaur, and Alliance, were the only
British ships, on board of which were about two thousand seven hundred
soldiers; and, in the Portuguese Principe Real, Albuquerque, and St.
Sebastian, two thousand four hundred. In all, five thousand, one hundred
and twenty-three. As it blew a strong gale all that night, and the
following day, none but the British kept company with the Vanguard,
which arrived in Leghorn Road on the 28th.

The ministers of their Majesties of Great Britain and of the Two
Sicilies, the Honourable William Windham and the Duke Di Sangro,
immediately going on board the Vanguard, and being of opinion that a
summons in the name of Admiral Lord Nelson, as well as that of the
Neapolitan General Naselli, would be proper, the following was instantly
prepared.

"We, the commanders of the troops of the King of the Two Sicilies,
and of the squadron of his Britannic Majesty, now before Leghorn,
demand of the Governor of Leghorn the free and instant admission of
his Sicilian Majesty's troops into the town and fortress of
Leghorn, and every thing thereunto depending. If you refuse, we
have power to enforce our just demand; which will, undoubtedly,
instantly be done.

"Naselli, General.

"Nelson, Rear-Admiral."

Captain Troubridge, accompanied by the two ministers, went on shore
with this summons: and he returned, at eight in the evening, with a
capitulation signed; in consequence of which the troops were immediately
landed, and possession taken of the town and fortress of Leghorn.

On the following day, the Portuguese squadron also arrived, and landed
the remainder of the troops. In the mean time, the Neapolitan general
refused to seize the French vessels at Leghorn, under pretence that the
King of Naples was not at war with France; and the Neapolitan minister,
the Duke Di Sangro, was likewise weak enough to maintain the same
opinion. The vexation which these impolitic scrupulosities occasioned in
the superior mind of our decided hero, is difficult to be described. He
saw the destructive tendency of such mental imbecility, and trembled for
the fate of a country which was condemned to be thus served. His
lordship's feelings will be best conceived, by his own account of what
passed in his anxious bosom on the occasion, thus addressed to Mr.
Windham.

Vanguard, 30th Nov. 1798.

"MY DEAR SIR,

"I have been thinking, all night, of the General Nase