to Viscount Melville, who expressed a wish to retain it, and promised that attention should he paid to the wishes of H.R.H. On his lordship going out of office, in 1827, Captain Croker was naturally anxious to have it restored to him, in order that it might he laid before H.R.H. the Lord High Admiral; hut he was informed by the Viscount himself, as well as by his private secretary, that it had been sent to Scotland in one of many chests of papers, and could not he got at for a considerable time. Finding this to be the case, he paid Paris a second visit, and returned from thence with another letter for Prince de Polignac, of which we now give the translation:
24th May, 1827.
“My dear Prince, – His Royal Highness the Dauphin formerly authorized you to recommend Captain Walter Croker to Lord Melville, and also directed me to request you to exert your best efforts with his lordship in favor of the captain, he having evinced much zeal in our King’s cause, whilst His Royal Highness was at Barcelona, and also released, at the request of the Dauphin, seven vessels, which he had detained and sent into Port Mahon, before the battle of Waterloo. The Dauphin desires that you, dear Prince, will repeat the same efforts with H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence, if you see no objection; the same, I say, which you have used with Lord Melville, so that Captain Walter Croker’s object may at length be accomplished. Receive, dear Prince, the assurance of my devotedness.
(Signed)“Duc De Riviere,
Governor to H.R.H. the Duc de Bourdeaux.”
“To the Prince de Polignac.”
Together with this letter, the French Ambassador forwarded to the Lord High Admiral a certificate, as follows;
“I certify, that the expressions above mentioned are the same as those in the original paper, now in the hands of Lord Melville; and that the Duc de Rivièire communicated to me, by command of the Dauphin, his Royal Highness’s desire, that the interest which he has condescended to take in the advancement of Captain Walter Croker should reach the knowledge of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence.
(Signed)“The Prince de Polignac.”
“Portland Place, 30th May, 1827.”
At an interview with which Captain Croker was subsequently honored, the Lord High Admiral was most graciously
