I am

have they been able to do the least thing to injure me. not married yet. In England you think these matters are done in a moment. If you had considered I was a Sailor, and what should I do carrying a wife in a Ship, and when I marry I do not mean to part with my wife. I can't say much, for this comes by a Merchant-ship, and possibly it may never reach you, but believe me always to be with real truth your most affectionate brother,

HORATIO NELSON.

Remember me to all who inquire after me, to Mrs. Bolton, Edward Suckling, &c., &c. Everybody on board desires to be remembered.

TO PHILIP STEPHENS, ESQ., ADMIRALTY.

[Original, in the Admiralty.]

Boreas, May 21st, 1786.

Sir,

Sir Richard Hughes having directed me to forward all such other papers and letters, relative to the Vessels seized by me in Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, as had been written to, or received by me, since those transmitted by him, I do therefore inclose all copies of papers and letters which I have in my possession. I can't help observing there is in the Judge's conduct what appears very extraordinary, and their Lordships will notice it, as well as myself. In Captain Collingwood's cause, the Judge declared, that as Captain Collingwood had not a Deputation, he had no right to bring forward an information for himself, as well as the King, for the Law

3 The enclosures consisted of Informations (Captain Nelson's Letter to the Attorney General, of the 6th of April, p. 166 ante); Letters from the Attorney General to Captain Nelson, highly approving of his conduct, and censuring that of the Judge; and other Papers on the subject, none of which are now of sufficient interest to justify their insertion. In reply to a Letter from the AttorneyGeneral, Nelson said, on the 13th of April 1786, "I wrote to the AttorneyGeneral, telling him that as the Judge had ordered the Information to bealtered to a qui tam one, I supposed the Ship's company would not mind having their names inserted; but that it was impossible I could give consent to have mine mentioned, as I had seized the Vessels as forfeited to his Majesty."

66

says, I understand, that none shall file Informations, but Revenue Officers, or the King's Attorney-General. Now, in my cause, he declares, he will not receive an Information filed by the King's Attorney-General; what can I suppose, but that the Judge is determined not to try any Vessels seized by the Navy? I leave the propriety of such conduct to their Lordships, as he is an Officer immediately dependant on them. I remain, Sir, &c.,

HORATIO NELSON.

CAPTAIN NELSON'S NARRATIVE OF HIS PROCEEDINGS IN SUPPORT OF THE NAVIGATION ACT FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF ILLICIT TRAFFIC IN THE WEST INDIES: APPARENTLY WRITTEN TOWARDS THE END OF JUNE 1786.

[From a Copy, signed by Captain Nelson, in the possession of William Henry Whitehead, Esq. This Copy was probably sent to Prince William Henry.]

The Boreas arrived in Barbadoes in June 1784. I very soon found that the Bay was full of Americans, who were lading and unlading without molestation. I inquired of Captain Sotherby, who had commanded a Post ship on this Station before the Peace, and of Captain Boston, who commanded the Latona, if the Americans traded with our Islands, and if they had no Orders from the Admiral to keep them from trading with the British Colonies. They both told me they had no Orders to hinder them from coming to our Ports, and they had never done it. Captain Boston showed me his Orders, which had not a syllable in them indicating a wish to see the Navigation Act was attended to.

Captain Collingwood told me he was very much afraid that the Navigation Act was not in the least attended to by the Admiral, for the Colonies were full of Americans, which the Custom House encouraged (by their conduct) to trade to our Islands, instead of seizing them, which they ought to have done, agreeable to the Act of Navigation, their oath, and the instructions of the Board of Customs.

In July, the Squadron was laid up in English Harbour for

* Captain Cuthbert Collingwood of the Mediator, afterwards Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood.

the hurricane season. I was once or twice at St. John's, at which place the American fags were by far the most numeroos: and had it been possible I could have been set down from the air, I should most assuredly have been convinced I had been in an American, instead of a British Port.

I beard one of the Masters of these Americans say, be bad given five joes for his permission to unload. I am convinced there had better not be any Officers than bad oces; for they encourage these people to transgress our Laws, which they dare not do so openly, if they had not permission. I told Sir Richard Hughes of what I had seen, but he seemed not to take any notice of it, more than saying, he believed it was the case in all the Islands; and to show Sir Richard Hughes's sentiments upon this matter more fully, the following is an extract of a letter from Captain Collingwood of the Mediator, at Grenada, with the Admiral's an

swer:

*I must inform you, Sir, that Ships and Vessels sometimes arrive here, and load, which I very much suspect to be the property of Americans. It is true they generally procure Papers and a Register, representing them the property of merchants in the Colonies, which may pass them on a cursory examination, yet they are not less Americans and navigated by Foreign seamen. It is from the idea that the greatness and the superiority of the British Navy very much depends on preserving inviolate the Act of Navigation, excluding Foreigners from access to the Colonies, that I am induced to make this representation to you, and to request that I may receive your particular instructions relative to them.' Answer — The circumstance you mention of a number of American vessels appearing to carry on a trade with these Islands, is, I find, common to the whole of them, and their admission into the several Ports, together with the disposal of their cargo. I conceive to rest entirely with the Civil Governors, and the Collector of the Customs, who have particular instructions on that behalf; and therefore I should not choose to interfere in any such matter, especially as I have no instructions so to do. But I agree with you, that the Americans have many methods of procuring Registers and other Fapers to serve their particular purposes, and probably by very illegal and improper means.'

In the beginning of November 1784, the whole Squadron rendezvoused at Barbadoes to receive their Orders, when I received mine. I found no orders whatever relative to these Foreigners (Americans) trading to our Colonies. I found the orders of Captain Collingwood were similar to mine: there

5 Sir Richard Hughes.

it

fore, upon consideration with Captain Collingwood, we thought proper and right to ask the Admiral what he would have us do, in regard to the Act of Navigation, which Act requires us to seize Foreigners trading to our Colonies, and was particularly directed to Admirals, Commanders, &c.

On the 10th of November, I went with Captain Collingwood to wait upon the Admiral, saying that as his orders had not mentioned anything relative to the trade of the Islands, I was come to ask him about it. With respect, I took the liberty of mentioning I thought that the Men-of-War were placed in this Country in times of Peace, not merely to guard against any sudden attack, but for the more especial purpose of taking care that our Trade was carried on through those channels which the Legislature had ordered, and that it was to be carried on in British built Vessels, Vessels entirely owned by British Subjects, and navigated with the Master and three-fourths of the mariners British, agreeable to the Act of Navigation, which I looked upon the wisdom of the Legislature had directed to us, knowing that Sea Officers must be the best of judges of Vessels, and the best investigators of everything concerning them; that I felt myself not only authorized, but required. The Admiral stopped me from proceeding, by asking me if I had got the Act of Navigation, that no Instructions had been sent from the Admirality to him about those matters. I observed, that the Act of Navigation was furnished, I believe, to every Officer in the Navy, as were а number of Maritime Laws, in a book entitled 'The Statutes of the Admiralty.' He desired to see my book, for he had not one; and next morning desired to see Captain Collingwood and myself on the subject. We attended the Admiral, and showed him the Act of Navigation, which he said he had never seen or noticed before, but that he should now give orders to the Ships to see it carried into execution. Acccordingly the following order was given to the Squadron :

By Sir Richard Hughes, Bart, &c. &c. &c.

'Whereas I think it my particular duty to take care that all the powers given and directed to be preserved and enforced by the Act of Navigation, passed in the 12th year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, entitled, An Act for encouraging and increasing of Shipping and Navigation, shall be regularly and constantly observed by the Squadron serving under my command, as far as the

part of the Navigation Act upon which he had founded his Order of the 12th of November, was repealed; and that no person could seize Vessels of any description whatever, but by Deputation from the Board of Customs.

As by Law, I could not lay by and see these Foreign Vessels trade, which they would most certainly have obtained leave to do, had they any communication with the Shore, I constantly turned them away without allowing them to land. But whenever the Ship was absent, the Ports were filled, and upon the Man-of-War's coming in sight, they cut or slipped and got away. In January I sent the Rattler to Sandy Point to take copies of the American-built Vessels' Registers granted by the Custom-House of that place. All that were there, were American-built. In short, I found that all our Trade would be very soon carried on in American-built Vessels,-Vessels manned entirely by American seamen; and not only those disadvantages, they were, I believe I may say all, owned by the Subjects of the States of America, and only covered by British people, or Americans settled in our Islands. The Custom-Houses seemed to glory in the ruin they were heaping upon Great Britain, and seemed to think they were beyond the reach of power, for they minded nothing if the men would but swear official oaths. The following Letter I sent to Mr. Stephens, Secretary of the Admiralty:

[Vide Letter to Mr. Stephen, dated 18th January 1785, p. 116, ante.]

Finding my character, both as a Man and an Officer, infamously traduced, I thought it proper to write the following Letter to Lord Sydney, Secretary of State.

[Vide Letter to Lord Sydney, dated 20th March 1785, p. 129, ante.]

Such being the conduct of the Officers of the Customs, I felt myself obliged, for the benefit of my Country, to declare that, after the 1st day of May 1785, I would seize all American Vessels trading to our Islands, let them be Registered by whom they might. The Custom-House laughed at my presumption (as I understood), and said I had no right, and dare not do it, for if I did it, that I should be sued, and cast in damages. To show my determination, on the 2nd of May 1785, I