that the assumed right of rejecting their officers, unheard in their defence, will go through the fleet, at home and abroad. I am glad you have convinced Lord Hugh of the high degree of impropriety, in my opinion, when commanders, not so compelled, assume a liberty to quit their ships."
This paragraph, unexplained, does certainly wear the appearance of an indirect rebuke to Lord Hugh Seymour; but, considering the high estimation in which Lord Hugh's character stood in the navy, and, on all occasions, in the mind of the noble commanderin-chief, from his activity displayed in the Latona, at the relief of Gibraltar, to the time he finally struck his flag, it is utterly impossible he could have meant it as such; and I am vexed it did not occur to me, at the time, to examine the official reports, to enable me to explain the circumstance that gave rise to it. It was simply this: Lord Howe, the late commander-in-chief, had struck his flag, and was on shore; Sir Roger Curtis had a squadron placed under his orders for a cruise, having under him RearAdmiral Lord Hugh Seymour, in the Sans Pareil. When at St. Helen's, Sir Erasmus Gower, of the Triumph, and Sir Joseph Yorke, of the Stag, disgusted with the conduct of the seamen, wrote a letter to Lord Hugh, under whose orders they were, desiring to be superseded or allowed to go on shore; which Lord Hugh, as was his duty, transmitted to Sir Roger Curtis, and the latter of course