tered, that he was constrained to take shelter in Rhode Island. The count d'Estaing embraced this opportunity of quitting the harbor of Boston unmolested, and sailed the third of November for the West Indies; where he was called by the orders of his sovereign, and the events of the war. The English, well knowing his designs, and the weakness of the garrisons in the islands of their dependency, commodore Hotham departed the same day from Sandy Hook, and also shaped his course for the West Indies, with six ships of war. They had on board five thousand land troops, commanded by major-general Grant. Admiral Byron followed him the fourteenth of December, with all his fleet.

About the same time colonel Campbell embarked at New York, with a strong corps of English and Germans, upon an expedition against Georgia. He was convoyed by commodore Hyde Parker, with a squadron of a few ships. Thus the theatre of the war, after several campaigns in the provinces of the north and of 'he centre, was all at once transported into the islands and states of the south.

END OF BOOK TENTH.

BOOK ELEVENTH.

1778. D' ESTAING and Hotham,, were not yet arrived in the West Indies, when commodore Evans had made a descent upon the two islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, both very favorably situated for the fishery of Newfoundland. Being almost without defence, he occupied them easily; and, as if he had wished to efface every vestige of the French domination, he imitated the conduct of barbarians, and utterly destroyed the habitations, storehouses, and scaffoldings which had been constructed for the use of the fishery. He afterwards embarked all the inhabitants, who, with the garrisons, amounted to two thousand souls, and sent them to Europe.

The French made themselves ample amends for this loss, by seizing, as they did soon after, the island of Dominica; which being situated between Guadaloupe and Martinico, was of the last consequence to the future operations in that part. Of this the British government was not ignorant, and therefore had fortified it with diligence, and furnished it with a formidable artillery. But, neither the garrison nor the munitions corresponded to the importance of its local position; the public magazines were nearly empty, and all the soldiers in the island scarcely amounted to five hundred; the greater part militia. For a long time, the members of the opposition in parliament, and the merchants of London, had complained aloud that the islands of the West Indies were left without sufficient garrisons, and, as it were, abandoned to the discretion of the enemy. But all these remonstrances had been vain; whether the war of America had absorbed all the cares of the ministers, or that it had deprived them. of the means of sending troops into those islands. The French, on the contrary, were in such force in their colonies, as to be in a condition not only to defend themselves, but also to attack their neighbors. Moreover, they had been the first to receive the news of the declaration of war in Europe. The English frigates despatched to announce it, had fallen into the power of the French, upon the coasts of St. Domingo; so that admiral Barrington, who was stationed at Barbadoes with two ships of the line and two frigates, was first informed of the state of affairs from the manifesto published at Martinico, by the marquis de Bouille, governor of that island. The capture of the frigates had likewise apprised him, that war was not only declared, but commenced. This admiral showed himself very undecided with respect to the course he had to pursue; not having new instructions, he felt bound to adhere to the old, which required him to continue in the station of Barbadoes.

The marquis de Bouille, an active man, and prompt in taking his resolutions, willing to avail himself of the uncertainty and weakness

of the English, determined to commence his operations with an enterprise of importance. Having embarked with two thousand land troops in eighteen transports, under convoy of the frigates Tourterelle, Diligente, and Amphitrite, he arrived at the island of Dominica, the seventh of September, about daybreak. He immediately put all his forces on shore. M. de Fonteneau, protected by the fire of the Diligente, pushed forward to Fort Cachac, and seized it without resistance. The English cannonaded briskly from Fort Roseau, and the battery of Lubieres. Nevertheless, M. de la Chaise, at the head of the rangers of the Auxerrese regiment, advanced impetuously up to the battery; the French soldiers entered by the embrasures, and, grappling the mouths of the cannon, made themselves masters of them. During this time, the viscount de Damas had gained the heights which commanded Fort Roseau, and the marquis de Bouille, with the main body of his troops, had entered the suburbs. The frigate Tourterelle also battered the fort on her part; the English, however, defended themselves with vigor. But at length, governor Stuart, seeing his forces so inferior, and the French about to scale for the assault, demanded to capitulate. The marquis de Bouille, whether with intent to engage by his moderation the governors of other English islands to surrender more easily, or because he feared the arrival of Barrington, who was very near, or, as it should be presumed, merely consulting the generosity of his own character, granted the most honorable conditions to the enemy. The garrison were treated with all the honors of war, and the inhabitants secured in the possession of all their property; no change was to be made in the laws or the administration of justice. If, at the termination of the war, the island should be ceded to France, they were to have the option of retaining their present system of government, or of conforming to that established in the French islands. They were also to be at liberty, in such case, to retire with all their property, wherever they might see fit; those who should remain, were not to be bound to any duty to the king of France, more than what they had owed to their natural sovereign.

The French found on the fortifications and in the magazines an 'hundred and sixty-four pieces of excellent cannon, and twenty-four mortars, besides a certain quantity of military stores. The privateers that were found in the ports of the island, were either destroyed or carried away. The capitulation was observed with the strictest fidelity; no kind of plunder or irregularity was permitted. As a recompense for their services upon this occasion, the general distributed among his soldiers a pecuniary gratification. He remained but a short time at Dominica, and having left the marquis Duchilleau for governor, with a garrison of fifteen hundred men, he returned to Martinico. But if the moderation and generosity of the marquis de Bouille were deserving of the highest encomium, the conduct of

Duchilleau was no less memorable for its violence and inhumanity. He countenanced the unbridled licentiousness of his troops, and thus abandoned, as it were, the vanquished to the discretion of the victors. Such are the deplorable effects of national hatred! The inhabitants of Dominica were not delivered from the rigorous domination of Duchilleau until peace was reestablished between the two states.

As soon as he was informed of the attack upon Dominica, admiral Barrington, deeming the importance of the occurrence as paramount to his instructions, sailed with all possible speed to its assistance, in order, if not too late, to frustrate the attempt of the enemy. But he did not arrive until the marquis de Bouille was already in safety under the cannon of Martinico. His presence, however, contributed much to reassure the inhabitants of the neighboring English islands, whom the fate of Dominica and their own defenceless condition, had filled with consternation.

But this expedition was only the prelude to more important events, which succeeded soon after. The count d' Estaing and commodore Hotham had taken their departure for the West Indies, as we have related, on the same day; the first for Martinico, the second for Barbadoes. The two fleets sailed in a parallel direction during great part of the voyage, and very near each other, but without knowing any thing of their proximity; the English, however, suspecting the danger, were extremely careful to keep their squadron as close and collected as possible. If it consisted of smaller vessels than those of the French, it was also much more numerous. The count d'Estaing, if he had been at all aware of the real state of things, might have profited of his great superiority to overwhelm the British fleet, and especially its numerous vessels of transport, which carried out the land forces, wherein consisted the only means of preserving to the British crown its rich possessions in those seas. A violent storm, however, having dispersed the two fleets, three English vessels fell in with those of the French, and were taken. This incident apprised d'Estaing of what had fallen out; but from the dispersion of his squadron he was unable to give chase. He determined, nevertheless, to change his course; and, instead of continuing to stand for Martinico, he steered in the direction of Antigua, under the persuasion that the British were bound for that island, and not to Barbadoes. He hoped to be able to arrive there before they were landed, or even anchored in the ports, and consequently to prostrate at a single blow their whole force by sea and land. This stroke would have been almost without remedy for England; so complete a victory would have enabled the count d'Estaing to annihilate her domination in the West Indies. But fortune had decided otherwise. The English shaped their course directly for Barbadoes, and reached it safely the tenth of December. Hotham there made his junction with Barrington, who was already returned.

The French admiral, having arrived very promptly in the waters of Antigua, remained cruising there for several days; but at length, not seeing the enemy appear, and concluding that they had taken another direction, he changed his own, and stood for Martinico.

The English generals having no suspicion of the vicinity of so formidable an enemy, determined without delay to attack St. Lucia. Its position in the front of Martinico, its natural strength, and its works rendered this post of extreme importance for the operations of the war. Admiral Barrington having taken on board his squadron a corps of four thousand selected troops, sailed for St. Lucia, and arrived there the thirteenth of December. General Meadows landed at the head of a strong detachment, and advanced with celerity to gain the heights which command the north shore of the bay of Grand Cul de Sac. They were occupied by the chevalier de Micou, the commandant of the island, with some few regulars, and the militia of the country. He made the most of a few pieces of artillery to annoy the debarkation of the English, and their march towards the hills. But unable with so small a force to prolong the valiant resistance he opposed at first, he fell back upon the capital, called Morne Fortune. The English took possession of the heights. At the same time, general Prescott had landed with five regiments, and had occupied all the positions contiguous to the bay. The next morning, Meadows forming the van and Prescott the rear, the English inarched against the town of Morne Fortune. Overpowered by number, the chevalier Micou was forced to abandon it to the enemy. He retired into the more rough and difficult parts of the island, where he was also protected by his artillery. As fast as he fell back, Prescott took care to occupy the posts with troops and artillery. But general Meadows thought it essential to make himself master of Careenage harbor, situated three miles to the north of Grand Cul de Sac bay; the French might, in fact, have landed succours there, and attacked the British in flank. In defiance of the difficulty of the places, and the heat of a burning sun, he pressed forward to seize the height called de la Vierge, which rises on the north side of Careenage harbor, and completely commands its entrance. Another detachment occupied the south point of the harbor, and erected a battery upon it. General Calder, with the rest of the troops, took position on the south side of Grand Cul de Sac bay, so that from this point to the northern shore of the Careenage, all the posts fell into the power of the English. The squadron of Barrington lay at anchor in Grand Cul de Sac bay, his vessels of war at the entrance, and those of transport within. The chevalier de Micou continued still to occupy a very strong fort upon the crest of the mountains. The English might already consider themselves as sure of success, and the French had no hope left but in the immediate succour of the count d'Estaing, when this admiral all at once appeared in view of