in such places as were thought most exposed to the attempts of the enemy. Thus the English made their dispositions to meet the impending war. The government had already ordered, by way of reprisal, the detention of all the French vessels that were found in

the ports.

But France, who for a long time had purposed to turn her arms against England, was better provided with all the implements of war. Her fleet was numerous, and all her arsenals were in full activity. The court of Versailles, on intelligence of the hostile manner with which king George had answered the declaration of the marquis de Noailles, immediately despatched orders to the different ports, prohibiting the departure of all English vessels. This measure, taken reciprocally by the two powers, produced but little effect; the masters of merchant vessels, foreseeing a rupture, had hastened to recover their own shores. France henceforth, laying aside all hesitations, felt it due to herself to assume the attitude which becomes a great and powerful nation. She was disposed to perfect the work commenced by her declaration, and to reassure the minds of her new allies by a step from which it was impossible to fall back without shame. She therefore resolved to receive, and formally acknowledge, the American commissioners, as ambassadors of a free and independent nation. How England must have been stung by this affront, it is not difficult to imagine.

On the twenty-first of March, the three commissioners were introduced by the count de Vergennes before the throne, whereon was seated the king, Lewis XVI. in the midst of the grandees of his court. In this ceremony, none of those formalities were omitted which it was usual to observe, whenever the kings of France gave audience to the ambassadors of sovereign and independent nations; a truly remarkable event, and such as history, perhaps, affords no example of! The Americans herein experienced better fortune than other nations that have acquired independence; as, for example, the Switzers and Dutch, who were not without difficulty, nor till after a long time, acknowledged independent by those very powers that had assisted them to break the yoke of their masters.

France, having thus dropped the mask, could not but perceive that in the present war she must depend more upon her fleets than upon her armies. She was not unmindful, that an essential part of maritime war consists in capturing, as well the armed ships of the enemy, to diminish his power, as those of commerce, to exhaust his resources; an object always of primary importance, but most especially such in a war with England. The court of Versailles accordingly determined to employ an incentive that should stimulate the ardor of both officers and crews. It had been usual in France, in order to encourage the armaments on cruise, to grant certain recompenses to the captors of ships of war; and to those of merchant vessels, one third

of the product of their sale. The king, by a decree of the twentyeighth of March, ordained that the enemy ships of war and cruisers, which should be taken by his own, should belong in full and entire property to the commanders, officers and crews, who should have captured them; and that, in like manner, two thirds of the value of merchant ships and of their cargoes, should become the property of the captors; the other third, being reserved, to be deposited in the fund destined for the relief of invalid seameu. This decree, signed by the king, and countersigned by the duke de Penthievre, grandadmiral of France, was to have been put in execution the fourth of the following May; nevertheless, whether Lewis XVI. as some think, swayed by the natural benignity of his character, was reluctant to give the signal for the effusion of blood, or that policy disposed him to wait till the English should have committed the first hostilities, the edict was not published and executed until the beginning of July. With a view to prevent the English government, fearing for itself, from being able to send reenforcements to America, regiments were ordered to march from all parts of France upon the coasts that look towards England. Already a formidable army was found assembled, and ready, in all appearance, to be embarked on board the grand armament at Brest, for a descent upon the opposite shore. All the labors of that port were pushed with unexampled activity; more than thirty ships of the line were already completely equipped there, besides a great number of frigates; the latter were particularly intended for cruising against the British commerce. Another considerable fleet

was about to put to sea from the port of Toulon.

This sudden resurrection of the French marine was the subject of extreme surprise to all nations, and particularly to England, who, accustomed to domineer upon the ocean, scarcely knew how to believe that there should thus all at once have risen up a power in condition to contend with her for the sceptre of the seas. In truth, the state of debility into which France had fallen at the epoch of the death of Lewis XIV. not only rendered it impossible to remedy the weakness in which the French navy was left at the conclusion of the war of the Spanish succession, but it even occasioned those ships which remained to perish in the docks for want of repairs. The wars of Italy, of Flanders and of Germany, which took place under the reign of Lewis XV. by drawing all the efforts and all the resources of the state to the land service, produced a fatal coldness towards the marine department. France contented herself with arming a few ships, rather to protect her own commerce, than to disturb that of the enemy; hence disastrous defeats, and losses without number. To all these causes was joined the opinion natural to the inhabitants of France, satisfied with the fertility of their lands, and the multitude of their manufactures, that they have little need of a strong navy and of maritime traffic. But finally the increase of the products of their

colonies, and the immense gain they derived from the sale of them in foreign markets, drew the attention of the French to the importance of external commerce.

They perceived, at the same time, that without a military marine to protect the mercantile, maritime commerce must always be uncertain, and consequently sickly and unprofitable; and that war may destroy, in a few days, the fruits of a long peace. On these considerations, the court of France devoted its cares to the creation and maintenance of a fleet sufficiently formidable to command respect. during peace, or to make war with success, and protect commerce from the insults of enemy vessels.

The present American war, which opened so brilliant a perspective to the French, furnished also a powerful incentive to these new designs. In order not to want skilful officers to manage the ships, the seamen of the merchant shipping, in imitation of the example of the English and Dutch, were called into the service of the royal navy. Besides this, in pursuance of a well conceived plan, there were sent out in the years 1772, 1775, and 1776, three fleets, commanded by three excellent seamen, the counts d' Orvilliers, De Guichen, and Duchaffault. These excursions served as schools of practice, in which the officers and crews formed themselves to evolutions and manœuvres. In brief, the efforts of the French government were so unremitting, and it was so seconded by the general ardor, that at the commencement of the present war, its navy equalled, if it did not surpass, that of England; speaking, however, of the fleets which the latter had then fitted for immediate service, or in such forwardness that they could put to sea within a short space of time. Nor was France disposed to keep this navy idle in her ports. The cabinet of Versailles meditated two expeditions equally important; the one was to be executed by the armament at Brest, the other by the fleet of Toulon. The latter, putting to sea as soon as possible, was to repair with all celerity to America, and suddenly to make its appearance in the waters of the Delaware.

Hence two events were likely to result, equally pernicious to Great Britain; namely, that the squadron of lord Howe, which had gone up that river, and which was greatly inferior in force to that of France, would, without any doubt, have been destroyed, or must have fallen into the power of the French. That squadron annihilated or taken, the army under general Clinton, pressed in front by Washington, and in rear by the French fleet thus possessed of the Delaware, would also have been constrained to surrender, or, certainly, would have had an extremely perilous retreat. So decisive a blow must have put an end to the whole American war. This plan of campaign had been debated and agreed upon at Paris, between the commissioners of Congress and the ministry. Nor was the execution of it delayed; on the thirteenth of April the French fleet sailed from Toulon. It

was composed of twelve sail of the line, and four large frigates, and commanded by the count d'Estaing, a man of great valor, and of an active genius. It took out a considerable corps of troops to serve on shore. Silas Deane, one of the American commissioners, who was recalled, and M. Gerard, whom the king had appointed his minister to the United States, was on board. Fortune showed herself favorable to these first essays. The wind seconded the voyage of the fleet; and, though the British ministry had been promptly advised of its departure, their ignorance of the route taken by the count d'Estaing, and the strong west winds which prevailed for some days, so retarded the decisions of the admiralty, that it was not till the first of June they ordered admiral Byron to make sail with twelve ships for America; he was to replace lord Howe, who had requested leave to return to England. As for the fleet of Brest, more considerable, and commanded by the count d' Ovilliers, who was impatient to realise the hopes which had been placed in his talents, it was destined to scour the seas of Europe, in order to keep alive upon the coasts of Great Britain the fear of an invasion. He relied especially upon his frigates, which were very numerous, to intercept the merchant fleets laden with rich cargoes, which the English then expected from the two Indies. Thus things were rapidly verging to an open rupture between the two states, and immediate hostilities were expected, though war was not yet declared on either part, according to the established usages of Europe. Universal attention was roused by the contest going to commence between France and England; events of moment were expected from the collision of two such powerful nations. Nor was fortune slow to light the first fires of this conflagration, which soon involved the four quarters of the world in its flames. Scarcely had admiral Keppel got out to sea, the thirteenth of June, from St. Helens, and shaped his course for the Bay of Biscay, when he discovered at no great distance, two ships of considerable size, with two other smaller vessels, which appeared to be watching the motions of his fleet. These were the two French frigates called the Licorne and the Belle Poule. The admiral found himself in a very delicate situation. On the one hand, he desired much to make himself master of the ships, in order to procure information respecting the state and position of the Brest fleet; on the other, war was not yet declared between the two nations, and the causing it to break out might be imputed to his temerity. Nor did he find any thing in the instructions of the ministers which could remove his perplexity; as they were exceedingly loose, and left every thing almost entirely to his discretion. It should be added, that Keppel being of a party in opposition to that of the ministers, his conduct, in case he commenced hostilities, was liable to be interpreted unfavorably, since his adversaries might attribute to political motives what appeared to be the inevitable result of circumstances. In

this painful embarrassment, Keppel, like the good citizen he was, chose rather to serve his country at his own peril, than to hazard its interest by his indecision. Accordingly, the seventeenth of June, he ordered his ships to give chase to the French. Between five and six in the afternoon, the English frigate Milford came up with the Licorne, and her captain, in very civil terms, summoned the French commander to repair under the stern of admiral Keppel. The Frenchman at first refused; but seeing the Hector ship of the line come up, which saluted with ball, he submitted to his destiny, and following that vessel, took station in the British fleet.

During this time, captain Marshall, with his frigate Arethusa, of twenty-eight six pounders, in company with the Alert cutter, was in pursuit of the Belle Poule, which carried twenty-six twelve pounders and was accompanied by a corvette of ten guns.

The Arethusa being the better sailer, arrived about six in the evening within musket shot of the Belle Poule. Marshall informed the French captain, M. de la Clocheterie, of his orders to bring him under the stern of the admiral. To this, de la Clocheterie returned a spirited refusal. The Arethusa then fired a shot across the Belle Poule, which she returned with a discharge of her broadside. A fierce engagement between the two frigates ensued, animated by an equal emulation, and bent on carrying the victory in this first action, the most extraordinary efforts of resolution were displayed on both sides. The conflict continued for more than two hours, with severe damage to both parties, as the sea was calm, and the vessels extremely near. The French were superior in the weight of metal, the number of their crew, and the proximity of their coasts; while the English were benefited by the number of guns, and especially, by the presence of two ships of the line, the Valiant and the Monarch; which, though prevented by the calm from coming up to take part in the action, nevertheless greatly disquieted the French captain, and exceedingly circumscribed his movements. Finally, after an obstinate contest, the English frigate finding herself too close upon the coasts of France, despairing of being able to overpower her adversary, and having sustained much injury in her masts, spars and rigging, profited of a light breeze, which sprung up at that moment, to withdraw. She was afterwards towed off to the fleet by the Valiant and Monarch. During her retreat, the French saluted her with fifty balls; but she returned them not one. The Belle Poule would even have pursued her, but for the damage she had received herself, besides, the proximity of the two men of war, and even of the whole English armament.

La Clocheterie thinking it more prudent to consult his safety, went to cast anchor for the night in the midst of the shoals, near Plouascat. The next morning, the two English ships came to reconnoitre his position, and ascertain whether it was possible to approach the frigate