APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 



575 



drone," omitting the subsequent 

 part of my letter. 



Here again I must put in my pro- 

 test against being considered as in- 

 tending to convey or insinuate the 

 smallest censure on the admiralty ; 

 nor can I, for a moment, suppose 

 they meant to do me any disservice 

 on the occasion. Anxious, of course, 

 to give the public, who had for a 

 long time been in a considerable de- 

 gree of suspense, the earliest infor- 

 mation of the victory which had 

 been obtained, and not Y,illing to 

 communicate, at that moment, the 

 precise situation of the Ferrol and 

 Rochefort squadrons, they probably 

 did not consider that the public 

 would draw, nor perhaps were they 

 justified in drawing the conclusion 

 which unfortunately they did draw 

 from my letter, as it was published, 

 and which the whole of the letter 

 together certainly would not have 

 warranted : nor. perhaps, would the 

 public have been so sanguine in 

 their expectations, if, by the letter 

 haviiig been published as an extract 

 only, they had had reason to sup- 

 {>ose, that there was something con- 

 tained in it, whifh, at that time, it 

 was not proper to communicate to 

 the country at large. Had the ad- 

 miralty been aware of this circuin- 

 itance, I am satisfied, from the rea. 

 diness with which they have allowed 

 me to state the remaining para- 

 graphs of my letter to the court, as 

 also any other papers 1 may think 

 more necessary for my defence, they 

 would have avoided the putting me 

 in the unfortunate situation I have 

 been placed in on that account. 



In availing myself of the liberty 

 they have tlius granted me, I shall 

 be careful not to state any thing, 

 the communication of which may 

 appear to me in the least degree 



prejudicial to the public — shall ra- 

 ther forego any advantage which I 

 might derive from the production of 

 any such papers, than run any risque 

 of disclosing that which ought not, 

 even in this distance of time, to be 

 made public. 



The following is the part of my 

 letter v/bich was not published : 



" At the same time it will behove 

 me to be on my guard against the 

 combined squadrons in at Ferrol, 

 as 1 am led to believe they have 

 sent off one or two of their crippled 

 ships last night for that port, there- 

 fore, possibly I might find it neces- 

 sary to make a junction with you 

 immediately off Ushant, with the 

 whole squadron. 



" P. S. I am under the necessity oX 

 sending the \V'indsor CastJe, in con- 

 sequence of the damage she received 

 in action. 



" Capt. Bullerhas acquaintedme, 

 that the prisoners on board the 

 prizes, assert Ferrol to be the pott 

 to which the enemy's squadrons are 

 bound, as you will perceive by his 

 letter inclosed with my original dis- 

 patch, together with other private 

 information." 



Had this part of my letter been 

 published, I may venture to ask, 

 would the world have been so san- 

 guine in their expectations of a re- 

 newal of the engagement as they ap- 

 pear to have been. They would 

 perhaps have rather rejoiced, as I 

 think they had reason, that so much 

 has been done, and I should proba- 

 bly never have had occasion to give 

 you this trouble. 



As in the last paragraph of my 

 letter I have stated that 1 had been 

 led to believe the enemy had sent off 

 one or two of their crippled sliips to 

 P'crrol, it may not be amiss to state 

 the grounds of that belief, which was 

 1 that 



