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POST-CAPTAINS OF 1810.

myself he will give it all the effect he can. He has assured me that he will let me have the answer.

“I shall be very sorry if the promotion your merit and services entitle you to expect does not take place; but I can assure you, that I shall regret it also very much upon public grounds.

“If, however, you wish me to do any thing else, and you should desire me to speak or write to Lord Mulgrave, I will do it; but I think that had better be deferred till I come to town, or at least till I know the result of Lord Cathcart’s applicatiou. Yours faithfully,

(Signed)Rosslyn.”

To Captain Lillicrap, R.N.

East Sheen, Jan. 3, 1808.

“Dear Sir,– Lord Rosslyn’s letter is indeed a very handsome and satisfactory testimony of your services, at least as far as your friends and you are concerned, and I really do not see how you can be excluded from promotion, without the greatest injustice to the service, as well as injury to you. Your claim is so good, that with the assistance of Lord Cathcart, added to the letters from those commanding corps, which you have in your possession, I should advise you to renew your application to Lord Mulgrave, and the Board, enclosing to each another memorial. I am not, by this recommendation, endeavouring to avoid the awkwardness of attending your petition to the first Lord; but I am stating what I think the best plan for you. I can have no other objection to the attending Mr. Tyrwhitt, than a conviction that the doing so will not serve you; but sure I am that you ought to be protected. Faithfully yours,

(Signed)C. M. Pole.”

Notwithstanding all the exertions made in his favor by Lord Cathcart, the Earl of Rosslyn, Sir Charles M. Pole, and the commanding officers of the German Legion, Captain Lillicrap did not obtain a post commission until Oct. 21, 1810; at which period he had been serving upwards of two years on the Jamaica station, generally in command of a detached squadron. When proceeding thither with a fleet of merchantmen under his convoy, he captured la Dorade French privateer, and retook a British merchantman.

During his continuance in the West Indies, Captain Lillicrap had frequent conferences with the two contending Haytian chiefs, Christophe and Petion; with the former of whom he travelled into the interior of St. Domingo, and visited Fort Ferrier, an extensive fortification on the top of a very high mountain, scarcely accessible to any but the na-