18oo] A DEMAND FOB CO-OPERATION 369
When I took leave of Sir Ralph in Leghorn I foresaw that some application of this sort might be made in his absence, and I begged that he might be explicit upon this head in his instructions to General Fox.
MAHON, 3 oth July.—Yesterday despatches were received from Lord Keith from Leghorn. General Fox showed them to me. It appears that the application for the British troops to be landed in Tuscany proceeded from General Melas and Lord William Bentinck, not from the Council of Vienna, and in consequence of an expression in a despatch from Lord Minto, "that Sir Ralph Abercromby with 8000 troops was ordered to the Mediterranean to co-operate with the Austrian army/' The news from the Danube is bad. The Austrians have been beaten near Munich, and Kray has retired within seventeen posts of Vienna. The Arch-Duke has assembled 30,000 men in Bohemia, and is advancing.
MINORCA, 7th August.— Sir Ralph Abercromby arrived from Malta on the 3rd instant. From the information he received when there he believed that they have provisions in the place to the middle of September. The blockade by land is complete; and if by sea they are able to prevent the entry of supplies, the place will be forced to surrender about that time. Sir Ralph represents the Maltese as a hardy brave race, animated and eager in the cause in which they are engaged. It is due to their vigilance and activity more than to that of the regular troops that the blockade is so perfect. The day after his arrival Sir Ralph sent to Brigadier-General Hope (Adjutant-General) to Leghorn to proceed from thence to General Melas's headquarters. Sir Ralph is, I believe, not satisfied with the information he has received from Lord Keith of the situation of the Austrians or of their views, in case hostilities should recommence in Italy; nor does he perhaps think General Melas aware that it is to Sir Ralph chiefly, not to Lord Keith, that he must address himself for land co-operation. For these reasons he has despatched General Hope as a confidential VOL. I 2 A