YOUR letter, reporting, among other things, “that four months had “elapsed without Mahommed Ali Khân’s making his appearance at “Onore,* whither, however, he had sent his brother,” has been received. What business is it of that asylum of nobleness,* whether the aforesaid Khân comes or stays? Do you apply yourself diligently to the discharge of the trust reposed in you, and see that the ships are equipped with the utmost dispatch. You must, moreover, take care that they are coppered, agreeably to our former orders.

I am ignorant of the amount, as well as of the nature, of the Sultan’s naval force, at this period. If we were to judge by the designation (Armada) which he has thought proper to apply to it, we might be led to conclude, that it was of considerable strength. But no inference can be safely drawn from so slight a circumstance; while, on the other hand, there is more than one reason for believ­ing, that his marine must have been very insignificant at the time referred to. In the first place, it is pretty certain that Hyder Ali had bestowed little or no atten­tion on this object; and it is equally clear, that his successor had not hitherto had either time or means to do much in pursuit of it. Besides, nothing was either known or seen of his Armada, during the war which ended in the partition treaty of 1792; and though, after that event, he applied himself seriously (as will appear by Appendix K.) to the formation of a respectable navy, he had, happily, not been enabled to effectuate his purpose, before his restless and impatient spirit plunged him into another premature war; in the short course of which, as little was heard of his navy as during that which preceded it.