I have returned to it.

'tention to me, and the

This mark of at

manner in which it

is conferred, will no doubt be pleasing to 'you. I accept it as it is meant; though I 'should have had no objection to have been distinguished by the want of the Order. Sir John, and a ribbon, seem not in character ' with me-but so it is. You will send me 'back the two letters, after showing them to 'Jane and my brothers; nobody else has a 'right to know our private concerns. You ⚫ will wait mentioning this subject, or to Sir 'John me, until you see me in the Gazette,

and, indeed, until I have been invested.'

*

It was about this time that government received certain intelligence, though surreptitiously, that Spain was about to declare war against Great Britain, and only delayed, until her treasure ships should reach Cadiz. Orders upon this were dispatched to Captain Graham Moore, to intercept these Spanish ships, and to conduct them to Portsmouth, employing force, if necessary. He sailed

with two frigates towards Spain; and taking with him two others which he met, he proceeded in the track he considered the most likely to fall in with the Spanish ships, and cruised off Cadiz. In a few days four large Spanish frigates were seen steering towards the coast, bound from Spanish America.

The largest ship displayed a Rear-Admiral's flag; on board of which he sent an officer to communicate to the Spanish Admiral the orders he had received, which were peremptory. The Spaniard remonstrated, and refused to obey: a fierce action, ship to ship, ensued. One of the Spanish frigates was blown up, and the three others, after a sharp conflict, struck, and were conveyed to Spithead.

On the General's hearing of this encounter, he wrote to his mother in the following humorous strain :

'My dear Mother,

Sandgate, 19th October.

I think I see the spectacles jumping

off your nose, in reading the account of

VOL. II.

C

• Graham's success.

We shall hear no more

of his being relaxed. Depend upon it, that since the 5th instant, the day he fell in with 'the Spaniards, he has been quite well. Everybody rejoices, I believe, that this good 'fortune has fallen to the lot of Graham 'Moore. I have no less than three letters 'this morning to announce it. We shall have Graham's letter in to-morrow's Gazette. I am impatient to read the particulars of his action. I am with him, and I 6 may add with you, more eager for his fame than his riches. However, Bertrand will

6

say,

the dollars do no injury.

Can you condescend to read of anything but Graham?

Another season passed away without an invasion; and towards the end of November, Moore was summoned to town by a King's messenger, despatched by Mr. Pitt. A large bundle of papers was sent for his perusal, and he met, in confidential consultation, Mr. Pitt, Lords Melville and Camden. He found these ministers impressed with a conviction, that by a sudden attack the town of Ferrol might be taken, the fleet seized, and the arsenal destroyed; and it was intended to put fifteen or even twenty thousand men under his command for this expedition.

Moore stated to the Ministers, that the practicability of this scheme depended entirely upon the situation of the place, the strength of the fortifications, and the numbers of the garrison; but the voluminous papers which had been consigned to him contained no information on these essential points. He showed that the reports in the papers were vague and uncertain; and as he knew nothing of Ferrol himself, it was impossible for him, without some better intelli

gence, to give any opinion of the probability of succeeding in the project.

Lord Melville then called his attention to the letters of two very eminent Admirals who had seen Ferrol, and who were both persuaded of the facility of taking it. And a third Admiral, a man not apt to assert anything lightly, who knew not that such a measure was in contemplation, had spontaneously recommended by all means to strike a blow at Ferrol: in short, there was a general conviction of the weakness of the place.

Moore replied, that he knew nothing to the contrary; and if the place was assailable, he ardently wished to make the attack. He owned likewise, that the assertions and the opinions of the three Admirals were clear and strong; yet they had not written a single syllable of the grounds on which they had formed them.

This omission in persons unskilled in military affairs, reminds me of having been often amazed at the erroneous apprehensions and