.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
細節
NELSON, Horatio, Viscount (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson') to Spencer Smith, Foudroyant, Naples, 25 July 1799.
2 pages, 4to (240 x 190mm), stub of integral leaf. Provenance: Edwin Wolf 2nd Collection; Christie's, 21 June 1989, lot 229; private collection.
In the wake of the successful British defence of Acre masterminded by William Sidney Smith, Nelson writes to his brother, the minister-plenipotentiary in Constantinople, Spencer Smith, with praise for Sidney's actions: 'I cannot do otherwise than think it extraordinary that the Ministers of the Sublime Porte do not enforce that a proper force be sent to Egypt, although I hope from subsequent information that the French have raised the siege of Acre, chiefly owing to the gallantry of English sea & artillery officers commanded by Capt. Sir W.S. Smith'. Nelson adds that he has also written directly to Sidney to express his admiration, though he is not able to send him reinforcements, 'Lord Keith [second-in-command to Admiral St Vincent in the Mediterranean] hav[in]g directed me to send all the force possible from the Island of Sicily ... Lord Kth naturally thinks, with me that as there is no maritime force fit to oppose S.S.S. that two Sail of the Line could not be necessary', adding with some asperity, 'who could have thought that the Ships Company of 2 74s could have been wanted on shore, it has turn'd out fortunate but when this service is over I shall expect the Theseus to join me'.
After a daring escape from a French prison in 1798, Spencer's elder brother Sidney Smith had been dispatched to the Mediterranean under St Vincent, as his senior naval officer in the Levant and co-plenipotentiary to Constantinople alongside Spencer. A failure to properly communicate this appointment within his eastern sector and the rather ambiguous dual nature of Sidney's new posting had initially caused Nelson to feel his authority challenged. Nevertheless, he wrote graciously after the Siege of Acre to both Sidney and Spencer Smith, a diplomat in the embassy at Constantinople since 1793, to whom he goes on to address further diplomatic matters. Published in Nicolas, III, pp. 423-4.
2 pages, 4to (240 x 190mm), stub of integral leaf. Provenance: Edwin Wolf 2nd Collection; Christie's, 21 June 1989, lot 229; private collection.
In the wake of the successful British defence of Acre masterminded by William Sidney Smith, Nelson writes to his brother, the minister-plenipotentiary in Constantinople, Spencer Smith, with praise for Sidney's actions: 'I cannot do otherwise than think it extraordinary that the Ministers of the Sublime Porte do not enforce that a proper force be sent to Egypt, although I hope from subsequent information that the French have raised the siege of Acre, chiefly owing to the gallantry of English sea & artillery officers commanded by Capt. Sir W.S. Smith'. Nelson adds that he has also written directly to Sidney to express his admiration, though he is not able to send him reinforcements, 'Lord Keith [second-in-command to Admiral St Vincent in the Mediterranean] hav[in]g directed me to send all the force possible from the Island of Sicily ... Lord Kth naturally thinks, with me that as there is no maritime force fit to oppose S.S.S. that two Sail of the Line could not be necessary', adding with some asperity, 'who could have thought that the Ships Company of 2 74s could have been wanted on shore, it has turn'd out fortunate but when this service is over I shall expect the Theseus to join me'.
After a daring escape from a French prison in 1798, Spencer's elder brother Sidney Smith had been dispatched to the Mediterranean under St Vincent, as his senior naval officer in the Levant and co-plenipotentiary to Constantinople alongside Spencer. A failure to properly communicate this appointment within his eastern sector and the rather ambiguous dual nature of Sidney's new posting had initially caused Nelson to feel his authority challenged. Nevertheless, he wrote graciously after the Siege of Acre to both Sidney and Spencer Smith, a diplomat in the embassy at Constantinople since 1793, to whom he goes on to address further diplomatic matters. Published in Nicolas, III, pp. 423-4.
榮譽呈獻
Eugenio Donadoni