The envoy showed the letter to Cardinal Alberoni, who, upon reading it, told him with some warmth, that "his master would run all hazards, rather than recall his troops or consent to any suspension of arms;" adding, that "the Spaniards were not to be frightened, and that he was so well convinced of their fleets doing their duty that if the admiral should think fit to attack them he should be in no pain for the success." Mr. Stanhope having in his hand a list of the British squadron, desired his eminence to peruse it, and to compare its strength with that of their own squadron; this the cardinal took and threw on the ground with much passion. All that the cardinal could be brought to promise was to lay the admiral's letter before the king, and to let the envoy know his resolution upon it in two days; but it was nine before he could obtain and send it away. The answer was written under the admiral's letter in these words:-- "His Catholic Majesty has done me the honour to tell me that the Chevalier Byng may execute the orders which he has from the king his master. "THE CARDINAL ALBERONI. "ESCURIAL, _July 15th, 1718_." The admiral, pursuing his voyage with unfavourable winds, reached the Bay of Naples on August the 1st, and on the 9th anchored in view of the Faro of Messina. The Spanish army, having taken the city of Messina, were now encamped before the citadel which the troops under Sir George Byng's convoy were intended to relieve. From these strained conditions hostilities seemed imminent, and the desire of the English was that the Spaniards should take the responsibility and the blame of striking the first blow. Under these circumstances Sir George Byng sent Captain Saunders with a letter to the Marquis de Lede, in which he acquainted him with the instructions under which he was acting, and proposed to him to come to a cessation of arms in Sicily for two months, in order to give time for the several courts to conclude on such resolutions as might restore a lasting peace: but added that "if he was not so happy as to succeed in this offer of service, nor to be instrumental in bringing about so desirable a work, he then hoped to merit His Excellency's esteem in the execution of the other part of his orders, which were, to use all his force to prevent farther attempts to disturb the dominions his master stood engaged to defend."