rn to
Malta. The British had too much on hand now to spare readily the force
necessary to put down these depredators, at whose misdeeds they had
winked in quieter days; and it required all Nelson's tact, combining
threats with compliments, and with appeals to the prejudices of
believers in God against those who denied Him, to keep the marauding
within bounds. The irrepressible activity of Bonaparte's emissaries
also stirred the Beys up to measures friendly to France. "The infamous
conduct of the French during the whole war, has at last called down
the vengeance of all true Mussulmen," he writes to the Bey of Tunis;
"and your Highness, I am sure, will agree with me that Divine
Providence will never permit these infidels to God to go unpunished.
The conduct of your Highness reflects upon you the very highest
honour. Although I have a squadron of Portuguese ships under my
orders, I have prevented their cruizing against the vessels of war of
your Highness. For at this moment all wars should cease, and all the
world should join in endeavouring to extirpate from off the face of
the earth this race of murderers, oppressors, and unbelievers."

After these preliminary compliments, Nelson presents his grievances.
He has given the passports of a British admiral to Sicilian vessels
_bona fide_ employed in carrying grain to the besiegers of the French,
and to such only; and he must insist upon those passports being
respected, as the vessels bearing them are serving the great common
cause. He demands, also, that aid be not given to the common enemy. "I
was rejoiced," he writes the Bashaw of Tripoli, "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 true Musselmen; 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." His Highness, however, has relapsed into his former
errors. "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.... If these proper
terms are not complied with, I can no longer prevent the Portuguese
ships from acting with vigour against your Highness. Your Highness
will, without difficulty, w