these honours conferred upon you, will prove to the officers in the service, that a strict perseverance in the pursuit of glorious actions, and the imitation of your brave and laudable conduct, will ever ensure them the favours and rewards of our most gracious sovereign, and the thanks and gratitude of our country.”

     “At the conclusion of this speech, the procession retired in the
     same manner as it came; except that the new knight went first,
     making one reverence to Lord Nelson, and three to the throne.

“The moment the ribbon had been placed over Sir Thomas Graves’s shoulder, the signal being made preparative, the whole fleet fired a salute of twenty-one guns; when the ceremony was finished, the standard was hauled down.  The troops and marines, on hoisting it, had presented their arms, and the drums beat a march.  The troops kept their arms presented during the ceremony; and, on the standard’s being hauled down, a march was likewise beat.”

A few days after, having concluded his epistolary correspondences, and arranged other requisites, both with the fleet and on shore, his lordship resigned the command to Admiral Sir Charles Morice Pole, who had been sent out to relieve him, and immediately sailed for England.  On the day preceding his departure, however, Lord Nelson took leave of the fleet, by issuing the following public orders—­

     “St. George, in Kioge Bay,
     18th June 1801.

“Lord Nelson has been obliged, from the late very bad state of his health, to apply to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for leave to return to England, which their lordships have been pleased to comply with.  But Lord Nelson cannot allow himself to leave the fleet, without expressing to the admirals, captains, officers, and men, how sensibly he has felt, and does feel, all their kindnesses to him:  and, also, how nobly and honourably they have supported him in the hour of battle, and the readiness which they have shewn to maintain the honour of their king and country on many occasions which have offered; and, had more opportunities presented themselves, Lord Nelson is firmly persuaded they would have added more glory to their country.  Lord Nelson cannot but observe, with the highest satisfaction which can fill the breast of a British admiral, that—­with the exception of the glaring misconduct of the officers of the Tygress and Cracker gun-brigs, and the charges alledged against the lieutenant of the Terror bomb—–­out of eighteen thousand men, of which the fleet is composed, not a complaint has been made of any officer or man in it; and he cannot but remark, that the extraordinary health of this fleet, under the blessing of Almighty God, is to be attributed to the great regularity, exact discipline, and chearful obedience, of every individual in the fleet.  The vice-admiral assures them, that he will not fail to represent to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty their