ry obedient, humble servant,
Admiralty, 8th March 1797.
SPENCER.

Sir James Saumarez.

MY DEAR SIR JAMES,

I congratulate you most heartily on your having had another
opportunity of displaying your merit, and on the share which you
bore in the most brilliant action that ever was achieved.

I hope that I need not assure you how much I have shared with
your friends the satisfaction your conduct has given them; the
reward for which, I hope, you will long enjoy in the approbation
of the whole world, which is now bestowed upon you.

I am, my dear Sir James,
Most truly and faithfully yours,
H. SEYMOUR.

Admiralty, March 10th, 1797.

Early in March the Orion was again ready for active service; and the
following letter gives an account of the departure of Sir James
Saumarez with Commodore Nelson on a cruize.

Orion, off the Tagus, 6th March 1797.

MY DEAR RICHARD,

I had the pleasure of your letter by packet, and I have to tell
you we are now actually under sail, with Commodore Nelson, in
the Irresistible, the Leander, and some frigates, going to
intercept several Spanish ships expected from Vera Cruz with
rich cargoes. Be not surprised if, with our _desperate_
commodore, you hear of our taking the whole Spanish fleet,
should we fall in with them. Our cruise is expected to last only
three weeks.

I hope on our return to receive letters from my friends, in
reply to those I sent by the Lively. I shall thank you, when you
see our friends in Walbrook, if you will mention to them that
all my brother officers are extremely incensed at the opinion
given by Sir William Scott on the case of the Kingston; and we
hope he will have found reason to alter it. It is the
circumstance, and not the value of the salvage, that has
displeased us so much.

We are just going over the Bar, so I must conclude with my
sincere and best wishes for health and every happiness to attend
you, my dear sister and family,

I am ever, my dear Richard,
Affectionately yours,
JAS. SAUMAREZ.

This short cruize was, however, an unsuccessful one; and the commodore
had not yet an opportunity of displaying his valour. They returned to
Lisbon, and found that their commander-in-chief had become Earl St.
Vincent, and that Nelson had received the grand cross of the Bath;
while Saumarez was among those on whom was bestowed a gold medal