respectful answers.  The Moucheron brig, too, having this day joined, from Malta, was sent to cruize seven days between Gaieta and Africa, and to call at Tunis for information.  After clearing transports next day, and sending the Bittern to Gibraltar with dispatches, his lordship stood to the northward in the evening:  and, the following morning, sent the Active to Cagliari, the Amazon to Naples, the Seahorse to Maritimo, and Le Tigre to Palermo, for information.  The Active brought no news from the coast of Africa; but the Seahorse, returned from Maritimo with intelligence from the officer at the port, that fourteen ships of war had passed the island on the 28th of March, steering to the southward; and that two frigates had, on the 4th of April, also passed, steering to the northward:  neither of which reports his lordship believed; and, in fact, they appear to have been totally false.  In the evening, steering for Palermo, they were joined by the Ambuscade and Astrea, neither of whom had obtained any information of the enemy’s fleet, though they had seen many vessels.  On the 9th, having cleared transports, which arrived the preceding evening, they compleated the fleet to four months provisions and sixty days wine and spirits.  Le Tigre joined next day, from Palermo:  where they knew nothing of the French fleet’s having sailed; but sent information that an expedition had left England, and that a Russian squadron was expected in the Mediterranean.  This information led his lordship to suppose that the French fleet might, probably, with a view of intercepting them, be somewhere about Minorca; he stood, therefore, to the westward of Sardinia, in the hope of falling in with the enemy.  The Hydra and Childers joined, this day, from Magdalena, but brought no intelligence.  At sunset, seven leagues south of Maritimo, the Active also joined, from Cagliari; and informed his lordship, that the Ragusan consul had received a letter from St. Pierre’s, giving him an account, brought by a Ragusan brig, which had arrived there from Marseilles, that the French fleet sailed from Toulon the 30th of March, having a great number of troops on board.

This intelligence turned out to be the fact.  Admiral Villeneuve having succeeded in leading his dreaded antagonist to a safe distance, and compleated all his preparations for the grand design, which was that of forming a junction with the Spanish fleets, and then proceeding to the West Indies, had in truth left Toulon, on the 30th, with eleven sail of the line, a frigate, and two corvettes, in which were embarked ten thousand select troops under the command of General Lauriston.  This armament first sailed to Carthagena; where the six ships expected to be ready, under Admiral Salcedo, not being quite prepared to join, and fearful of losing a moment’s time, during the absence of Lord Nelson, Admiral Villeneuve pursued his course to Cadiz.  There he had, for some time, been expected by Admiral Gravina, who was waiting his arrival with