Thus fortune every where smiled upon the English, in their first attempts against the Dutch possessions in the West Indies. They were less successful against the Spaniards, who had recently invaded, in considerable force, the confines of West Florida. Don Galvez, the governor of Louisiana, and admiral don Solano, after having been battered by a horrible tempest, had arrived before, and laid siege to Pensacola, the capital of that province. The place was strong; and general Campbell, the commandant, defended himself for a long time with great valor. But a bomb having fallen upon the powder magazine, it exploded, and domolished the principal redoubt. The Spaniards occupied it immediately, and made their dispositions for assaulting the body of the place. Campbell then thought it better to capitulate; he obtained the most honorable conditions. Thus all West Florida, which had been for the English one of the most precious fruits of the war of Canada, returned after a few years under the domination of the Spaniards.

The order of history requires that we should now turn our attention from fields of battle, upon the cabinets which directed the operations we have witnessed; and that we should endeavor to describe what was, at this period, the policy of the belligerent powers.

The Americans conceived they had grounds to complain bitterly of the French, their allies. They alleged that, saving some vain demonstrations from without, France had afforded them no efficacious assistance whatever; and that she left them to struggle by themselves against a powerful enemy. They affirmed, that the French troops disembarked at Rhode Island, had not been able to render them any service through defect of a sufficient naval force; that they must continue equally useless, so long as they were not supported by a respectable squadron; that no success could be hoped for, in that part, without being master at sea; that meanwhile, the English continued to possess Georgia, the greatest part of South Carolina, all New York, and, moreover, they had now invaded Virginia; that not a French battalion had been seen to move for the defence or recovery of any of these provinces ; that while awaiting the cooperation of their allies, the United States were oppressed by the weight of an enterprise so much above their strength, that the war consumed their population, paralysed all industry, suspended all culture, and, consequently, drained the sources of public revenue; and that to crown so many calamities, there appeared no prospect of their termination.'

While the Americans thus vented their discontent, no little astonishment was excited in Europe, that so formidable a coalition should have proved so feeble in effect against the common enemy. Far from bending, the English seemed, on the contrary, to have acquired more elastic forces, and a more daring spirit. They pressed the Ameri

cans with vigor, while they held the mastery of the West Indian seas, possessed themselves of the Dutch colonies, made conquests in the East Indies, and kept fortune in equilibrium in Europe. This state of things seemed to cloud the glory of the French and Spanish names. The court of Versailles, as the soul and principal mover of all this mass of forces, was itself the object of the heavy complaints of the Catholic king, who reproached it for not having promoted the execution of his favorite projects, the conquest of Jamaica, and the reduction of Gibraltar; the siege of which he had already commenced. The Hollanders, on their part, who already felt the anguish of so considerable losses, exclaimed that they were abandoned, without any appearance of sympathy, to perils which they should not have involved themselves in but for the counsels and instigations of France. Their complaints were the more dolorous, as they had just been informed that a formidable expedition was fitting out, in the ports of Great Britain, against the Cape of Good Hope, an establishment so vital for the preservation of their East India commerce. They saw themselves menaced, in the oriental hemisphere, with blows no less cruel than those which had so lately stunned them in the New World. They perceived but too clearly that before it would be possible for them to complete their preparations of defence, and to despatch succours into those remote regions, the English would have time to accomplish their long meditated designs.

Yielding to these various considerations and to the voice of his own interest, the king of France determined to exert twofold vigor and activity in the present campaign, in order to repair the time lost in the preceding year. Accordingly the labors of the arsenal at Brest were pushed with new ardor, while upon the different points of the kingdom, the land forces held themselves in readiness to act. Three principal objects were contemplated by the ministry. The first was, to send such a fleet to the West Indies, as when united to the squadron already in the ports of Martinico, should secure to France a maritime superiority in those seas. This fleet, the command of which was intrusted to the count de Grasse, was to carry out a strong body of land troops. By means of this reenforcement, the marquis de Bouille would find himself in a situation to undertake some important expedition against the British islands. After the accomplishment whereof, and before the season of hostilities should have elapsed, the count de Grasse was to repair to the coasts of America, in order to cooperate with the count de Rochambeau and general Washington. The second, was to send a squadron into the African seas, in order to shield the Cape of Good Hope from the danger that menaced it. After having provided for the security of that colony, the squadron was to proceed to the East Indies, where admiral Hughes had given a temporary superiority to the British flag. Finally, the ministers meditated a brilliant stroke, in the seas of

Europe, in favor of the allied courts, and principally of Spain. An expedition against Minorca was decided with unanimity. The English had penetrated, in great part, the plans of their enemies; and were preparing to oppose them with all those obstacles which they deemed the most likely to render them abortive. They exerted an extraordinary activity in equipping a fleet, which was to carry lord Cornwallis a reenforcement of several English regiments and three thousand Hessians. It was hoped that this addition of force would enable that general not only to maintain the conquests he had made, but also to extend still further the progress of his arms. The victories of Cambden and Guildford had inspired the British nation with new confidence; all promised themselves a speedy conclusion of the war, and the subjugation of America. The British ministers even flattered themselves that the fleet they sent to the West Indies, though it was not considerable, would nevertheless prove sufficient, by its junction with the naval force already stationed there, to uphold the present preponderance of England in those seas. The public attention was particularly attracted by an armament which consisted of one ship of seventy-four guns, one of fifty-four, three of fifty, with some frigates, cutters, fire-ships and other light vessels. This squadron was to serve as escort to a great number of transports loaded with an immense quantity of arms and military stores. General Meadows embarked in it with a body of three thousand picked soldiers. The fleet was under the orders of commodore Johnstone. Manifold were the conjectures in public circulation respecting the object of this expedition, which the government studied to cover with impenetrable secrecy. It was generally presumed to be destined for the East Indies, in order to reduce all the French possessions in that part. This supposition, so far as appeared from the events which followed, was not destitute of foundation. But it would seem also that the war which broke out against Holland, constrained the British ministry to change the destination of this armament, or at least to restrict it to the attack of the Cape of Good Hope, and the reenforcement of the troops which guarded the establishments in the hither peninsula of India. It was deemed essential to provide for their safety, even though it were not permitted by circumstances to think of conquering those of the eneiny. But of all the cares which occupied the British cabinet at this epoch, it assuredly had none more urgent than that of revictualling Gibraltar. Herein, besides the importance of the place, the honor of the British nation was deeply interested. The Spaniards and English seemed to have set each other at defiance at the foot of this rock. The first relying upon the fleet which they had at Cadiz, expected to be able to intercept whatever succours should approach for the relief of the garrison. It already began to suffer excessively from the scarcity of provisions; the supplies which admiral Rodney had introduced the

preceding year, were almost entirely consumed, and what remained were so marred as scarcely to be edible. Already general Elliot had been constrained to lessen a fourth of his soldiers' ration. In order to give them the example of privations, the officers ceased to dress their hair with powder. But the inhabitants of the city suffered still more from the absolute want of the necessaries of life. Such was the vigilance, and such the industry of the Spaniards in their endeavors to cut off all relief by sea, that since the supplies of Rodney, scarcely a few vessels from the African shore and Minorca had been able to make good their entrance into the port of Gibraltar. But how far was these feeble succours from being in proportion to the exigency! Besides, the prices which the masters of these vessels. demanded for their commodities were so exorbitant, as to exceed the faculties of the greater part of the inhabitants. The miserable

remains of the old provisions, spoilt as they were, commanded extravagant rates.*

The garrison supported all their sufferings with an heroic firmness; but without prompt succours it was impossible to prevent that formidable place, the key of the Mediterranean, from soon returning under the domination of its ancient masters. The general attention, in England, was directed towards this important point.

In Holland, meanwhile, the greatest industry was exerted in equipping a fleet that should be capable of maintaining the dignity of the republic, and of resuscitating its ancient glory. It was particularly intended to protect the commerce of the Baltic against the rapacity of England. These laudable intentions, however, were not attended with all that effect which was to have been wished. The government overruled the conflicting parties, but it could not prevent their fermenting covertly. Besides, a long peace had enervated minds, and caused the neglect of naval preparations.

Such were, about that time, the projects and dispositions of the powers engaged in this memorable contest. The preparatives of war were immense; the universe was in expectation of the most important events. The English were the first to put to sea. Their intent was to succour Gibraltar. On the thirteenth of March, a fleet of twenty-eight ships of the line set sail from Portsmouth. It was obliged to cruise some days upon the coasts of Ireland, to wait for the victualling ships and merchantmen which were assembled, in

* Old sea biscuit, quite mouldy, brought a shilling sterling the pound; and difficult to be found. Sour Cour, and damaged peas, were worth one shilling and four pence the pound. Black salt, the sweepings of warehouses, eight pence per pound; butter, three shillings per pound; a turkey, when to be had, thirty shillings; a sucking pig forty shillings; a duck, ten shillings and six pence; a lean fowl, nine shillings; a loin of veal at least a guinea; and the head of an ox was sold at a still greater price. Firewood was so scarce, that cold water was used for washing linen, and the flatiron was dispensed with; a thing which proved very prejudicial to the health of the troops, during the cold, humid season, which prevailed in the course of that winter.

very great number in the road of Cork. The convoys bound to the two Indies departed under the protection of the fleet. When conducted out of danger from the hostile fleets, they were to continue their voyage. The squadron of commodore Johnstone sailed in company with the great fleet; being destined upon the expedition against the Cape of Good Hope, it was to escort the East India convoy up to that point. The armament was commanded by the admirals Darby, Digby, and Lockhart Ross, each heading one of the three divisions of which it was composed. The necessity of revictualling Gibraltar was notoriously evident, and the preparations made by Great Britain for its accomplishment, could no longer be concealed. The English themselves openly professed their intentions on that head. The Spaniards were consequently too well advised, not to have taken all the precautions in their power to confound the efforts of their enemies. They had armed in the port of Cadiz, a fleet of thirty sail of the line. The court had placed it under the conduct of don Lewis de Cordova, a seaman of high reputation. This was without doubt an imposing force, and the Spaniards had exaggerated it greatly beyond the truth, in order to deter the English, if possible, from executing their intended enterprise. Wishing to corroborate also by his audacity, any discouraging apprehensions which the enemy might have entertained, don Lewis often issued from the port of Cadiz to parade along the coasts of Portugal, and even upon the route which the English must keep in sailing towards Gibraltar. The Spaniards, moreover, gave out that they were about to be joined by strong divisions of the French squadrons then at anchor as well in the Atlantic ports as in that of Toulon. There was, in effect, in the single port of Brest, so formidable a fleet, that it would have sufficed alone to make a stand against the whole British armament, and even to engage it with good hope of victory. No less than twenty-six sail of the line were in that port in readiness to put to sea. If this fleet should have made its junction with that of Spain, the allies would have acquired such a preponderance in those seas, as to have rendered the revictualling of Gibraltar an extremely difficult exterprise for the English. The Spaniards confidently depended upon the cooperation of the French. But the latter had it too much at heart to prosecute their designs in the West Indies, and upon the American continent, as likewise to reestablish their affairs in the east, to be willing to direct all their efforts singly towards an object which had no real and direct utility but for Spain alone. Accordingly, the count de Grasse put to sea, the twentysecond of March, from the port of Brest, shaping his course towards the West Indies. M. de Suffren sailed in company with him, having under his orders a squadron consisting of five ships of the line, several frigates, and a strong body of land forces. He had instructions to separate from the great fleet off Madeira, and to steer to the south,