[250] On 15th September Pitt wrote to the Earl of Westmorland, Viceroy of Ireland, asking him to send the flank companies (the best men) of the regiments then in Ireland. Westmorland agreed on 18th September, but said they could not sail in less than three weeks. As the crisis at Toulon deepened, Pitt, about the middle of November, begged the Lord Lieutenant to send the 35th, 41st, and 42nd regiments from Ireland to Toulon. On 20th November Westmorland agreed (though pointing out the danger of an Irish rising). On the 30th he said the two latter regiments were ready to sail from Cork whenever the transports should arrive; but the delays in the arrival and sailing of transports had always been serious--a prophetic remark (Pitt MSS., 331). [251] "Dropmore P.," ii, 471. Thugut took no interest whatever in Toulon (see Vivenot, iii, 324, 327, 362, 363). Other proofs follow (pp. 381, 384) of the pressing demands which Grenville, also Mr. Trevor at Turin, made for the fulfilment of the Emperor's promise. Some difficulties supervened as to the provisioning of the 5,000 Austrian troops on the march and the place of embarkation; but these were far from insuperable. Clearly the operating cause was Thugut's conviction that there was at Toulon a number of troops "excedant ce que toute place quelconque peut exiger pour sa defense" (_ibid._, 385). [252] "H. O." (Adm. Medit, 1793), Hood to Dundas, 24th November. [253] _Ibid._ O'Hara to Hood. This reached London on 8th December; but, as we have seen, Ministers up to 22nd December continued to rely on the arrival of the Austrians as providing a sufficient reinforcement. [254] "Dropmore P.," ii, 447; "Mems. of Sir G. Elliot," ii, 190, _et seq._ [255] "F. O.," Spain, 28. [256] Even by M. Cottin in his works, "Toulon et les Anglais," "L'Angleterre et les Princes." [257] "F. O.," Austria, 34. Grenville to Eden, 7th September. So in his letter of 4th October to Pitt he refers to "such other towns or districts [in S. France] as may become objects of indemnity." See, too, "Dropmore P.," ii, 412, 438; Vivenot, iii, 326. [258] "Dropmore P.," iii, 487. [259] "H. O.," 455, _ad fin._ [260] "Malmesbury Diaries," iii, 33. [261] "F. O.," Spain, 28. Grenville to St. Helens, 22nd October 1793. Cottin omits this despatch, which is essential to the understanding of British policy. See for further details C. J. Fox, "Bonaparte at the Siege of Toulon," bk. ii, ch. ii. [262] "F. O.," Spain, 28. On 30th November Grenville instructed St. Helens to express regret that Spain seemed to retract her wish, previously expressed, that Corsica should go to England; and also to advise that Spain should take her indemnity from France on the Pyrenean frontier. [263] Fortescue, iv, 172. [264] "H. O.," Adm. Medit., 1793.