What did it feel like to have a famous younger brother, yet still need him to look after you as the elder brother?
Joseph Bonaparte was not the only one troubled by this. John Pitt, William Pitt the Younger's older brother, had the same problem. Though he had inherited their father William Pitt the Elder's title of Earl of Chatham and his property, he was vastly inferior to his younger brother the Prime Minister.
From 1796 to 1801, he had served as Lord President of the Privy Council. When William Pitt the Younger left office, he lost that position as well. The current Lord President was the Duke of Portland, while John Pitt had rejoined the navy.
This expedition to Saint-Domingue led many to suspect that Napoleon had deliberately sent Moreau's men. The British Navy had the same problem.
In other words, some believed that the First Lord of the Admiralty should no longer be a military man, while the governorship of Gibraltar had been handed over to the Duke of York.
Naturally, the Duke of York would not personally go to Gibraltar to serve as governor, but he could send a representative.
After Sidney Smith's unauthorized actions, that amphibious monster had brought Napoleon's expedition to an end at Acre. He was also the one who signed the Convention of El Arish, allowing the French troops in Egypt to return home after surrendering.
London had no intention of letting even a single French soldier return home. But the damned convention had already been signed. To overturn it, they sent another general to fight a battle in Egypt. Although the French suffered grievous losses, the final treaty was still the same: the British were to provide warships to transport the French back to Europe.
In 1801, Sidney Smith was recalled to