1909,f | *' 
kind, which is common in Corsica, obliged 
Celonel Villettes to resign the government 
of Bastia, and return to England; and the 
following year, Portugal being threatened by 
the French, he was sent to that country, and 
served in the army commanded by his friend 
Sir Charles Stuart, about a year anda half; 
when, the danger being fer the present re- 
moved, the British troops were withdrawn, 
and Colonel Villettes came back to England, 
where he was promoted to the rank of a major- 
general, on the 18th of June, 1798. About 
this time, General Villettes was appointed 
comptroller of the houschold of his Royal 
Highness the Duke of Kent; and his royal 
highness continued to honour the gene- 
ral with his confidence as long as he lived. 
In 1799, General Villettes was sent to Corfu; 
it being then in contemplation to raise a corps 
of Albanians for his Majesty’s service. Of 
the inexpediency of this measure the general 
Was soon convinced; and however advantage- 
ous the adopting it might have proved to 
himself, he strongly advised the contrary, and 
the plan was accordingly relinquished. The 
mutiny whichsome yearsafterwards took place 
at Malta among troops of a simi'ar ‘descrip- 
tion, fully proved the justness of his opinion. 
When his presence was no longer necessary 
in Corfu, Gen Villetes was sent to Malta 3 
where he acted for some time as second in 
command to Gen. Pigot 3 and, after his de- 
parture in 1801, as commander in chief of 
the forces, in which important situation he 
remained till the year 1807. Those persons 
who recollect the stipulations concerning 
Talta in the treaty of Amiens. the discus- 
Sions which arose during the peace in conse- 
quence of those stipulations, and the value 
attached to this ifland by all parties since 
the renewal of hostilities; and who, at the 
Same time, consider the situation of Malta, 
with respect to Naples, Sicily, Egypt, and 
indeed the whole of the Mediterranean and the 
Levant, will readily conceive that there were 
few situations, in which a firm, temperate, . 
and judicious conduct could be more requisite 
than in the commander of the forces in that 
island. It may safely be asserted, that few 
men were superior to Gen, Villettes in the 
qualities from which such a conduct origi- 
Mates. His judgment was so good, thar, 
though he seldom stood in need of advice, 
yet, on évery proper occasion, he was ready 
to listen toit ; to adopt it with candour, if he 
judged it to be right; or to adhere to his 
own opinion, if he saw no just grounds for 
abandoning it. His firmness in pursuing the 
line of conduct, which he thought it his duty 
to adopt, was equally remarkable; and to 
these qualities were united a temper the least 
irritable, and manners the most conciliatory, 
that can be well imagined. The favourite 
maxim af ‘¢¢ Suaviter in modo, Fortiter in 
re,” has perhaps seldom been more per-~ 
#RB-ly exemplified. Many instances occurred 
Leth Aeroad, G54 
during his command in Malta, in which 
these qualities were exerted, and executed 
with the very best effects. When Tomasi, 
the French-elected Grand Master, laid claim 
to the island; when a French Agent sought © 
an occasion of quarrel, and endeavoured to 
raise a disturbance in the theatre, as had been 
done successfully at Rome, Naples, and else- 
where ; whena most alarming mutiny toole 
place among the foreign troops in Fort Rico- 
soli; onall these, and on many other occasions, 
the firm, temperate, and judicious conduct of 
Gen, Villettes was successfully employed. —» 
In the year 1807, the personal and profes- 
sional merit of this officer, his perfect know- 
ledge of most of the European languages, and 
his long acquaintance with the military sys- 
tems of the continental powers, pointed him 
out to his Majesty's government as a proper 
person to command the foreign troops who 
were to form a part of the army intended te 
he sent to the Baltic, under Lord Cathcart. 
Gen. Villettes was 
from Malta; but, though he obeyed the 
summons with the utmost promptitude, 
it was found impossible for him to arrive 
in England in time to take any share in the 
northern expedition. That expedition waa 
accordingly dispatched under other com- 
manders, and Gen. Villettes was, soon after 
his arrival, appointed to a situation still more 
honourable, but eventually fatal to him. It 
was in the moath of September, 1807, that this 
Officer, now a Liecutenant-general, returned 
to England, a country in which he had 
passed so small a portion of his life, as to be 
much less known in it than his worth de- 
served. He was soon after appointed Colo~ 
nel of the 64th reziment of infantry 3 and 
his talents were not suffered to remain long 
unemployed. A proper person was wanted 
to be commander of the forces, and Lieute- 
mant-governor, of Jamaica. Many circum- 
stances in the situation of that Island rene 
dered it necessary to be particularly careful 
in the appointment of a general officer suited 
to that important trust. Gen. Villettes was 
selected for this purpose ; and it would, per- 
haps, have been difficult to have found a man 
more capable of fulfilling the duties of the 
station to the satisfaction of Government, and 
for the benefit of the colony. He was accorde 
ingly appointed Lieutenant-gevernor and 
commander of the forces in Jamaica, with | 
the rank of a General in that Island, in the 
lacter end of the year 1807. Highly honour- 
able as this appointment was, Gen. Villettes 
would willingly have declined it. His con- 
stitution, which was never very strong, had 
been much impaired by bilious complaints ; 
and having been absent from England during 
almost the whole of the last fourteen years, 
he would gladly have remained some time in 
this country. he last day before he ema 
barked at Spithead, was spent at the house of 
the earliest friend of his youth, to whom, in 
confidential 
accordingly ye-called. 
