Nelson to Lady Hamilton, Victory, off Toulon, 10 August 1803, (Harrison I,130 with excisions, possibly a page missing; extract in Nicolas, V, 157), torn into 2 separate pages.

Nelson says that he sent Emma a letter via Gibraltar on 4 August, but since then ways of communicating with England have been uncertain. He is now making use of an opportunity to convey post with A’Court who is taking Elliot’s diplomatic dispatches through Spain. A’Court says that in Naples they are hoping that mediation from Russia will save them from the French. Nelson believes that they are relying on a broken reed and will lose Sicily. With the finances of Naples being worse than ever, he cannot expect to get anything for Bronte. He hopes the French will soon come out of Toulon so that he can pay them back with interest for their recent capture of a schooner and transport from his fleet. He wishes his brother could be made bishop, but cannot write to him now as A’Court cannot be detained. He hopes that Lord St. Vincent has sent out Sir William Bolton to the Mediterranean.