1809

The Conquest of Cayenne - part of Britain’s strategy of using its naval power to attack French colonial interests in the Napoleonic Wars - is described in the fifth volume of William James’s ‘Naval History of Great Britain’ (1827). Britain was only able to contribute HMS Confiance, but its captain James Lucas Yeo was put in charge of the whole expedition, and he and his crew performed with distinction (see Yeo’s entry in the Oxford DNB).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank second leaf of bifolium. Folded twice. He returned 'but very late from Brighton, and was afterwards very unwell, which added to a great deal of business', prevented him from finding for Adams 'an Autograph of my Brothers, which I promised you some time back'. He is now enclosing the autograph, but apologises that he has 'none of my Father's [i.e. William Pitt the elder] to send you, for among his letters, there are no copies preserved in his own hand writing.'