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is directed to go to him till the Smyrna convoy is ready toreturn. I have lately sent provisions and some few stores—all we had, for those Ships; and I have wrote to Duckworthand Inglefield to send particularly for those Ships . WhatTurkish Ships of War Sir Sidney has under him, I know not;but I am told there are several. The Turkish Admiral, CaptainMorris tells me, who served under him, had his head takenoff for leaving the Port of Alexandria open, and permitting theescape of Buonaparte . I would have kept up a more constantcommunication with Egypt ; but I have never had the benefitof small Vessels.

At Corfu , General Villettcs is arrived, and raising twoRegiments of Albanians. Our Consul there, Mr. Spiri-dion Foresti, is a very able man, and from thence the pas-sage of an express by land to Constantinople is twelve days.To get to Malta —which has kept for sixteen months everyShip I could lay my hands on fully employed, and has,in truth, almost broke my spirits for ever—I have beenbegging of his Sicilian Majesty small supplies of money andcorn to keep the Maltese in arms, and barely to keep fromstarving the poor inhabitants. Sicily has this year a verybad crop, and the exportation of corn is prohibited. BothGraham and Troubridge are in desperation at the prospect ofa famine. Vessels are here loading with corn for Malta ; butI can neither get the Neapolitan Men-of-War or Merchant-Vessels to move. You will see by the report of the disposi-tion of the Ships , what a wretched state we arc in. In truth,only the Foudroyant and Northumberland are fit to keep thesea. The Russians are on the 4th arrived at Messina; sixSail of the Line, Frigates, &c., with two thousand five hundredtroops. It is not to be expected that any one Russian Man-of-War can or will keep the sea: therefore, the blockade bysea can only be kept up by our Ships; and it is my intention,if the Foudroyant, or even a Frigate, comes soon, to go fortwo days to Malta, to give the Russian Admiral and General,Graham, Troubridge, and Governor Ball, a meeting—notonly on the most probable means of getting the French out,but also of arranging various matters, if it should fall to ourexertions. The Maltese have, Graham says, two thousandexcellent troops; we have, soldiers and sailors, fifteen hundred;the Russians will land full three thousand. I hope the