It was a great thing to have destroyed the most pernicious privateer that sailed out of France; and yet it was a melancholy fate to befall seventy or eighty human beings--to perish like so many curling caterpillars, destroyed by fire.

Nevertheless, the thing was done; and it must be reported to the authorities above him.

The following letter was consequently written to the commanding officer in that sea, viz.: His Majesty's Ship Proserpine, off the mouth of the Golo, Island of Corsica, July 23, 1799.
My Lord--I have the satisfaction of reporting, for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the destruction of the Republican privateer, the le Few-Folly, commanded by the notorious Raoul Yvard, on the night of the 22d inst.

The circumstances attending this important success are as follows: Understanding that the celebrated picaroon had been on the Neapolitan and Roman coasts, doing much mischief, I took his Majesty's ship close in, following up the peninsula, with the land in sight, until we got through the Canal of Elba, early on the morning of the 21st.

On opening Porto Ferrajo bay, we saw a lugger lying at anchor off the town, with English colors flying.