On the 8th of September, at sea, he addressed a letter to the Marquis De Niza, commander of the Portuguese squadron; regretting that they had not joined him prior to the 1st of August, when not a single French ship could have escaped:  but, as he observes, that being without remedy, it is necessary to look forward to the next important service for the common cause; which, in his opinion, is that of preventing the French from getting any supplies of stores, by water, from Alexandria.  He concludes with observing, that the Grand Signior will, he hopes, not only send an army into Syria; but also send ships of war, with bomb-vessels, gallies, &c. in order to destroy all the vessels in Alexandria:  and concludes with inviting his excellency to be a partaker in these joyful events.

In a very few days, however, he learned that the Marquis De Niza had returned from Alexandria; and he now, with equal address, sent him to Malta.

On the 14th, by La Mutine, he dispatched letters to the Earl of St. Vincent, in which he expresses his fear that it will be thought wrong, not to have returned any of the “numerous frigates, brigs, cutters, &c. which had been sent to Egypt “It was,” says he, “only on the 13th of August, that the Alcmene, Emerald, and Bonne Citoyenne, joined me.  On the 17th, the Seahorse joined; and, till September 7, I neither saw nor heard of any.  The Earl of St. Vincent cutter then joined me, forty leagues from Messina; where I was informed that the Portuguese squadron, with the Lion and Terpsichore, had passed the Pharos, the 28th of August, on their way to Egypt.  I therefore sent the cutter with a letter to the Marquis De Niza, and to Captain Hood.”  He then proceeds to state, that the Thalia had just brought him accounts from Captain Hood, which he sends; and considers the exertions of the officers as great, and highly to be approved.  He thinks that the two men who saved the dispatches ought to have a pecuniary reward.  “You will see,” he adds, “by my second letter to the Marquis De Niza, that I have requested him to go off Malta, which may be the means of driving the French out of that island.”  After expressing his confidence that, with a little exertion, the French army in Egypt will fall a prey to plague, pestilence, famine, and Mamelukes, he concludes with praying that the earl will give him credit for his earnest endeavours to do what is right.

This day, the hero of the Nile received a letter from General Sir John Acton, transmitting the congratulations of the King and Queen of Naples; to which he returned the following most elegant epistolary acknowledgment, by the Culloden.

     “Vanguard,
     at Sea,
     15th September 1798.

     “SIR,