the island, with his original squadron of twelve sail of the line, accompanied by a numerous fleet of frigates, privateers and transports, which brought a land force of nine thousand men. He had received early intelligence of the attack on St. Lucia; an event which he considered as the most fortunate that could have happened, it seeming to afford the means of destroying at a single blow, and from his great superiority almost without risk, the British power in the West Indies. Accordingly, he had not delayed a moment to embark in order to pounce upon an enemy that did not expect him. And in truth, if he had arrived twenty-four hours sooner, his hopes must have been realised. But the English were already in possession of the principal posts, and had fortified themselves therein; moreover, the day was far advanced, when the French armament appeared; it was necessary to defer the attack until the ensuing morning. Admiral Barrington profited of the night, to make his dispositions for sustaining it. He caused the transports to be removed into the bottom of the Grand Cul de Sac, to be as remote from danger as possible; the ships of war he placed in their respective stations, so as to form a line across its entrance, and repel the efforts of the enemy to the most advantage. His force consisted only of his own ship, the Prince of Wales, of seventy-four guns, the Boyne of seventy, St. Albans and Nonesuch of sixty-four, the Centurion and Isis, of fifty each, and three frigates.

The count d'Estaing, not mistrusting that Careenage harbor was already occupied by the enemy, stood in for it with his whole fleet, on the morning of the fifteenth. His purpose was to take land there and hasten to attack the right flank of the English, who, as he bad observed himself, occupied the Grand Cul de Sac. But no sooner had be presented himself before the entrance of the Careenage than the English batteries erected upon the two points opened a heavy fire, which damaged several of his vessels, and particularly his own ship the Languedoc. Convinced of the impossibility of operating a descent in this part, he bore down with ten sail of the line on the British admiral, with intent to force the passage, and penetrate into the bay, which must have proved the utter ruin of the English. A warm engagement ensued; but, supported by the batteries from the shore, the British valiantly sustained the attack of an enemy so superior. D' Estaing drew off a little; but, towards evening, he renewed the battle with twelve ships. His efforts were still more impetuous; he directed the fire of his artillery principally against the left of the British line. But neither the reenforcement he had received, nor the singular firmness and gallantry displayed by all his people, were capable of rendering this attack more successful than the former. The English made so vigorous and so well supported a defence, that d'Estaing was again compelled to retire, with his ships severely damaged, and in no little confusion. Admiral Barrington

acquired imperishable glory; he secured to his country the possession of an island which, only twenty-four hours after its conquest, had been upon the point of falling anew under the dominion of its ancient masters. But d' Estaing, finding that fortune was disposed to frown on his maritime attacks, resorted to his land forces, which were very considerable. Accordingly, in the night of the sixteenth and the following morning, he landed his troops in Choc Bay, which lies between Gros Islet and the Careenage. His intention was to attack general Meadows, who, with a corps of thirteen hundred men, was encamped in the little peninsula de la Vierge, situated between the Careenage and the above named Choc Bay. He had great hopes of being able to surprise and cut him off entirely, as well by reason of the difficulty of the places which separated this corps from all the others, as from the diversion which he purposed to make by threatening several points at once. In pursuance of this plan, he advanced from Choc Bay towards the peninsula, with five thousand of his best troops, in order to attack the lines of Meadows, which were drawn across the isthmus that joins it to the main land. He had formed three columns; the right was commanded by himself, the centre by the count de Leowendal, and the left by the marquis de Bouille. The French moved at first with admirable order, but as they approached, their position became extremely critical. They found themselves severely enfiladed by the artillery of Morne Fortune, which the chevalier de Micou, on evacuating that fort, had neglected to spike. But notwithstanding this impediment, they rushed on to the charge with incredible impetuosity. The English expected their approach with equal coolness; they suffered them to advance to the intrenchments without opposition; when, after firing once, they received thein on the bayonet. That fire had, of course, a dreadful effect; but the French, notwithstanding, supported the conflict with undaunted resolution. Already seventy of them had leapt within the intrenchment, where they acquitted themselves strenuously; but the English enveloped them, and soon they were all victims of their temerity. Nevertheless, the assailants recovered their breath, and returned to the charge with no less eagerness and fury than at first. The English encountered them with the same intrepidity, and a second time compelled them to withdraw. But d'Estaing, in the transport of his ardor, unable to endure that so feeble a detachment should baffle the efforts of his numerous veterans, ordered a third attack. He was promptly obeyed. But the soldiers being much exhausted by their exertions in the two first, no longer displayed the same vigor. They were totally broken and obliged to retreat, leaving their dead and wounded in the power of the victors. It was, however, agreed soon after, that the French should be permitted to bury the one, and to carry off the other; d'Estaing having rendered himself accountable for the wounded as prisoners of war. General

Meadows manifested in this affair, equal ability and valor; though wounded in the very commencement of the action, no persuasions could induce him to quit the field until it was decided. The loss of the French was serious. Four hundred were killed on the spot; five hundred were so severely wounded as to be rendered incapable of service; five hundred others were wounded slightly. The loss of the English, in consequence of the advantage of their position, was inconsiderable. The count d' Estaing left his troops on shore still, for several days after the battle; during this time he continued standing off and on with his fleet, in sight of the island, hoping that some occasion might present itself of operating more effectively. But at length he embarked his troops, in the night of the twenty-eighth, and sailed to Martinico the following day, having abandoned the enterprise of St. Vincent and Grenada, which islands he had purposed to attack. The day after his departure, the chevalier de Micou capitulated; his garrison consisted of only an hundred men. He obtained the most favorable conditions. He marched out with all the honors of war; his soldiers retained their baggage, but not their arms. The inhabitants, and especially the curates, were protected in their persons, property, and religion. They were to pay to the king of Great Britain the same taxes only, that they were accustomed to pay to the king of France; finally, they were not to be compelled to bear arms against their late sovereign.

The English found in the forts fifty-nine pieces of cannon, a great number of muskets, and an immense quantity of military stores. Thus fell into the power of the English the island of St. Lucia; it was an acquisition of extreme importance to them. They made of it a place of arms for all their forces in the West Indies, and the repository of all their munitions. From its proximity to Martinico, they were enabled, without risk, to watch all the movements of the French in the bay of Fort Royal, and to intercept the reenforcements and convoys that might approach it by the channel of St. Lucia. They strengthened it with many new works, and constantly maintained in it a numerous garrison, notwithstanding the great loss of men it cost them from the insalubrity of the climate.

A few days after the retreat of the count d'Estaing, admiral Byron arrived in that part with nine sail of the line, and came to anchor at St. Lucia.

There resulted from it a sort of tacit truce between the two parties; the English having too decided a superiority of naval, and the French of land forces. This armistice, which lasted five months, was not interrupted until the squadron of commodore Rawley had joined the fleet of Byron, and the count d' Estaing had been reenforced by that of the chevalier de la Motte Piquet and of the count de Grasse. These several reenforcements were despatched from Europe to the West Indies about the close of the year; the two

governments having reflected at the same time how important it was to have formidable maritime forces in the midst of these rich islands, situated at little distance one from the other, and intermingled, as it were, with those of the enemy.

It is time to return upon the American continent. The British ministers and generals had taken the determination to direct their greatest efforts towards the southern parts of the confederation. Under the persuasion that the inhabitants of these provinces supported with repugnance the yoke of the republicans, they hoped to find in the loyalists an efficacious cooperation for the reestablishment of the royal authority. Other, and no less powerful motives, conduced to decide them for this expedition. The provinces of the south, and especially Georgia and Carolina, abound in fertile lands, which produce copious crops of wheat, and particularly of rice, than which nothing could be more essential to the support of a fleet and army, at so great a distance from their principal sources of supply. The parts of the American territory which had hitherto fallen into the power of the English, had offered them but a feeble resource, and they were obliged to draw the greatest part of their provisions from Europe, through all the perils of the sea, and the swarms of American privateers which continually preyed on their convoys. It is, besides, to be observed, that the rice of Georgia and South Carolina served to nourish the French fleets, and the troops that formed the garrisons of their islands in the West Indies.

The quiet and security which these provinces had hitherto enjoyed, admitted so vigorous a cultivation, that the products of it not only furnished an inexhaustible resource to the allies of the Americans, but, being exported to the markets of Europe, constituted the material of a commerce, by which they received those supplies which were necessary as well to the support of the war, as to the conducting of the common business and affairs of life. The English also reflected that, as Georgia borders upon East Florida, the latter was exposed to constant alarms and incursions on the part of the republicans; and they were convinced that there existed no effectual means of securing the quiet of that province, short of compelling the troops of Congress to evacuate Georgia and the Carolinas. The conquest of the first of these provinces, they had little doubt, would ensure them that of the two others; and they promised themselves with full assurance the possession of Charleston, a rich and populous city, and of extreme importance, both for its situation and port. Such were the advantages the English expected to derive from their expedition against the southern provinces.

To these considerations was added another; the severity of the season no longer admitted operations in the mountainous provinces of the north. Accordingly, general Clinton, as we have related in the preceding book, had embarked for Georgia, under convoy of

commodore Hyde Parker, a detachment of twenty-five hundred men, consisting of English, Hessians and refugees. He hoped, by the assistance of these last, and their partisans, to find easy admission into that province. This corps was under the command of colonel Campbell, an officer of distinguished valor and capacity. Clinton, at the same time, had ordered general Prevost, who commanded in the Floridas, to collect all the troops that could be spared from the defence of those provinces, and to march also against Georgia, in order that it might be attacked at once in front, on the part of the sea by Campbell, and in flank, on the banks of the Savannah river by Prevost. The plan of this expedition thus arranged, commodore Hyde Parker and colonel Campbell arrived towards the close of December at the isle of Tybee, situated near the mouth of the Savannah. The transports had little difficulty in passing the bar and entering into that river. They were followed a few days after by the ships of war, so that all the fleet lay together at anchor in its waters on the twenty-seventh of December, ready to execute the orders of the commanders for the invasion of the province. The latter, not knowing what were the forces, the measures of defence, and the intentions of the republicans, detached some light infantry to scour the adjacent banks. They took two Georgians, from whom it was understood that no intimation had been received in the province of the project of the royalists; that consequently no preparations for defence had been made; that the batteries which protected the entrance of the rivers were out of condition, and that the armed gallies were so placed that they might easily be surprised. It was also learned that the garrison of Savannah, the capital of the province, was very feeble, but that it was soon to be reenforced. Upon this intelligence, the British commander no longer delayed to commence his operations.

The whole country on the two banks of the Savannah, from its mouth to a considerable distance above, being a continued tract of deep marsh, intersected by the extensive creeks of St. Augustine and Tybee, it offers no point capable of serving as a place of debarkation. The English were therefore under the necessity of moving higher up in order to reach the usual landingplace, at which commences a very narrow causeway that leads to the city. This post, extremely difficult of itself, might have been vigorously defended by the Americans. But, surprised by an unexpected attack, or destitute of sufficient force, they made no opposition to the descent of the English, who landed at first their light troops. The causeway leads through a rice swamp, and is flanked on each side by a deep ditch. Six hundred yards above the landingplace, and at the head of the causeway, rises an abrupt eminence, upon which was situated the house of a certain Gerridoe. It was occupied by a detachment of republicans. As soon as the light infantry, the greater part Scotch Highlanders, had