HISTORY O F E U H O P E. [215 



Frencli porls, and six frigates were 

 to be permitted to sail to Egypt, 

 discharge tlieii- cargoes at Alexan- 

 dria, and return without being 

 searched After a fruitless confer- 

 ence on this new plan, Mr. Otto, 

 on the fifth of October, intimated, 

 that as some important events had 

 completely changed the ground on 

 which the proposed truce was to 

 have been established, the general 

 negociation was at an end: but, he 

 added, that the first consul was dis- 

 posed to receive any overtures for 

 a separate treaty with Great Bri- 

 tain : to which proposal the Bri- 

 tish government, true to their ally, 

 gave a decided negative. 



In the mean time that island, on 

 the situation of which the negocia- 

 tion so much turned, had fallen into 

 the hands of Great Britain. Briga- 

 dier-general Graham had for some 

 time superintended the blockade of 

 La Valette, the chief fortress of 

 Malta ; but, its conquest was not 

 completed before major-general Pi- 

 got landed with a reinforcement.— 

 Provisions being very scarce, two 

 frigates sailed out of the harbour, 

 on the twenty-fourth of August, 

 witli a part of the garrison, and one 

 of them soon became a prize to the 

 English. Vaubois, the governor, 

 alarmed at increasing difficulties, 

 called a council of war, in which 

 it was determined, that as only 

 bread remained for the support of 

 the garrison, which had no hope of 

 succour, no disgrace could be in- 

 curred by a surrender. A capitu- 

 lation was signed on the fifteenth of 

 September, allowing the convey- 

 ance of the French troops, as pri- 

 soners of war, to Marseilles, and 

 providing for the protection and se- 

 curity of the inhabitants of all de- 

 •criptions. Thus, after a blockade 



of two years, the English obtained 

 possession of an island, happily si- 

 tuated, having a spacious harbour, 

 strong by nature and art, and of 

 vast importance to Great Britain, 

 whether as giving her thecommwid 

 of the Mediterranean, iji time of 

 war, or as the means of exchange, 

 tending to peace. About this time 

 Curagao also, an island situated 

 near the continent of South Ame- 

 rica, was surrendered by the Dutch 

 to the English, as Surinam also 

 had been, the year before, for tem- 

 porary occupancy, rather, as they 

 understood the matter, than per- 

 manent possession. 



On the fifth of October, the Bri- 

 tish fleet, from the Mediterranean, 

 consisting of twenty-two sail of the 

 line, twenty-seven frigates, and ten 

 smaller vessels of war, with eighty- 

 four transports, having on board 

 about twenty thousand men, ap- 

 peared off Cadiz. The fleet, un- , 

 der the command of lord Keith ; 

 the land-forces under that of sir 

 Ralph Abercromby, appeared be- 

 fore Cadiz, where an epidemic 

 disease raged with great violence. 

 The governor-gci.eral, Thomas de 

 Morla, sent a letter to tlxe English 

 admiral, stating to him the situation 

 of the inhabitants, and the universal 

 odium which must attend an attack 

 on the city, in such circumstances. 

 The Don's letter is not unworthy to 

 be inserted here at full length : 

 " To the English admiral — The af- 

 fliction which carries oflF, in this city, 

 and its environs, thousands of vic- 

 tims, and which threatens not to 

 suspend its ravages till it has cut off 

 all whobave hitherto escaped, being 

 calculated to excite compassion, it 

 is with surprise tUat I see the squa- 

 dron, under the command of your 

 excellency, come t,o augment the 



