5th December 1804
To Sir Alexander John Ball, Bart.,Malta
Victory, December 5th 1804
No Sir John Orde, no orders, no letters from England ; very extraordinary. I almost begin to think that he is sent off Cadiz to reap the golden harvest, as Campbell was sent off Cadiz by Cornwallis (by orders from England) to reap my sugar harvest. It’s very odd, two Admiralties to treat me so: surely I have dreamt that I have ‘done the State some service.’ But never mind ; I am superior to those who could treat me so. When am I to be relieved? Seventy-six days since my last letter from the Admiralty. Poor Admiral Campbell sailed yesterday for England, very ill with debility, hectic fever, &c., but he cheered up on going away. I shall not trouble you with all my conjectures about Sir John Orde’s never communicating with me for the three weeks he has been off Cadiz.
I am ever, my dear Ball, yours most faithfully,
Nelson and Bronte
A Man of War is in sight, South.
Notes
Horatio Nelson, The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, with Notes, ed. Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas (London: Henry Colburn, 1846), 285-286
