two parties, one of which held for France, and the other for England. All those who belonged to the first were exceedingly indignant; they exclaimed that no consideration should induce them to endure patiently so daring an outrage. Even the partisans of the English could not venture to justify their conduct. It was easy to foresee that this incident was about to produce a rupture. Far from fearing, the British government wished it; it preferred an open war to the clandestine assistance which Holland was lending to France. It had, besides, already fixed a hankering eye upon the Dutch riches, which, in the security of peace, were spread over the seas, or were amassed, without defence, in distant islands. Moreover, the StatesGeneral had made no preparation for war, and it was to be supposed that they could not very suddenly enter the field.

This event, the instigations of France, the disposition to profit of the critical situation of Great Britain, at that time assailed by so many powerful ene.nies, and especially the desire to liberate the commerce of neutrals from British vexations, gave origin to that league of the states of the north, known by the name of the Armed Neutrality. It bad, if not for author, at least for chief, the empress of Russia, Catharine II. who was immediately joined by the kings of Sweden and Denmark. The bases of this confederacy were, that neutral vessels might freely navigate from one port to another, even upon the coasts of belligerent powers; that all effects appertaining to one of these powers, become free so soon as they are on board a neutral vessel, except such articles as by a prior treaty should have been declared contraband; that to determine what articles were to be considered contraband, the empress of Russia referred to the tenth and eleventh articles of her treaty with Great Britain, the obligations of which were to be extended to all the other belligerent powers; that to specify what ports were to be deemed blockaded, it was agreed that those only should be accounted as such before which there should be stationed a sufficient number of enemy ships to render their entrance perilous; finally, that the preceding principles should serve as rules in judicial proceedings, and in sentences to be pronounced respecting the legality of prizes. To command respect for this confederation, the three allied courts agreed, that each of them should keep a part of its naval force equipped, and stationed so as to form an uninterrupted chain of ships prepared to protect their common trade, and to afford each other mutual support and succour. They also agreed, that when any vessel whatever should have shown by its papers that it was not carrier of any contraband article, it might place itself under the escort of ships of war, which should prevent its being stopped, or diverted from its destination. This article, which ascribed to the state interested, or to its allies, the right of judging of the nature of cargoes with respect to contraband, appeared to exclude the right of visit, so strenuously claimed by England; against whom, notwith

standing the general terms that were employed, it was manifest that all this display of maritime force was directed. The allies accompanied the foregoing stipulations with professions of the most generous sentiments; they declared that they were armed for the defence of the rights of nature and of nations; for the liberty of the human race, and for the prosperity of Europe in particular. In effect, the European nations, with the exception of the English, manifested an extreme satisfaction with this new plan of the northern powers; the wisdom and magnanimity of Catharine II. became the object of universal encomium; so universal was the hatred which the maritime vexations of England had excited against that power! The articles of the armed neutrality were communicated to all the European states, especially to France, Spain, Holland, England, and Portugal, with invitation to accede to them. The courts of Versailles and Madrid, eager to profit of the circumstance to sow the seeds of division between Great Britain and neutrals, hastened to address their felicitations to the einpress of Russia, and to answer that they were ready not only to join the confederacy, but that they had long before given their admirals and sea officers such instructions that the principles of the armed neutrality were already in force as to them. They added, that equity had directed them to those very measures which were now proclaimed by the confederate powers of the north. The court of Lisbon, accustomed to an excessive condescension towards England, declined the alliance. The States-General of Holland deliberated upon the course they had to pursue. The British ministers, either hoping or fearing what was to happen, or in order to constrain them to declare themselves, had already required them to furnish to England the subsidies stipulated by the treaty of alliance. The Dutch alleged the inevitable tardiness of their deliberations; the truth was, they were determined to give nothing. The cabinet of St. James then took a resolution calculated to compel them to a decision, and to prevent their joining the northern confederacy. It gave them to understand, that, notwithstanding the number and power of its enemies, it was resolved to proceed to the last extremities with the Dutch nation, unless it adhered to the ancient system of neutrality. Accordingly the king of Great Britain issued a proclamation, purporting that the nonperformance of the States-General with respect to the succours stipulated by the treaty of alliance, was to be considered as a violation of that treaty; that they had thereby fallen from those privileges which they derived only from the alliance; and that the subjects of the United Provinces were, therefore, henceforward to be considered upon the same footing with those of other neutral states not allied. By this step the British king, even before his demand had been expressly rejected, freed himself from the obligations of the treaty of alliance. He hoped by this vigorous procedure, so to intimidate the Dutch, that they would decline entering into

the almost universal combination of Europe against the maritime pretensions of England. His expectations were much disappointed. The French party possessed a decided preponderance in the republic, particularly in the most influential provinces, such as Holland and West Friesland. The impression also produced by the insult offered Byland, was too recent; hence, after long and frequent debates, it was voted, with unanimity of provinces, that the subsidies to England should not be paid; moreover, that the escort of ships of war should be given to the merchantmen of the republic, with the exception only of those which according to the stipulations of former treaties might be deemed contraband. It was further decreed, that the invitation of the empress of Russia should be accepted with gratitude, and that a negotiation for that purpose should be opened with prince Gallitzin, her majesty's envoy extraordinary to the States-General.

Already surrounded with enemies, and seeing Russia waver, whose power and alliance demanded a serious attention, England, without consenting to admit the principles of the armed neutrality, answered by vague generalities, which manifested, at least, a desire to preserve peace. Meanwhile, amidst the open or covert perils against which she had to defend herself, she not only betrayed no symptoms of discouragement, but even discovered a determination to prosecute the war with vigor upon the American continent. The only change which took place in her plans, as we have already seen, was to leave merely sufficient garrisons in New York, and to direct all her efforts against the southern provinces. Accordingly, to enable general Clinton to attack the Carolinas, admiral Arbuthnot had set sail for America, in the month of May, with a fleet of ships of war and upwards of four hundred transports. But soon after his departure from the coasts of England, he received intelligence that the French, under the conduct of the Prince of Nassau, had attacked the isle of Jersey, situated near the coasts of Normandy. Thinking it better to conform to the empire of circumstances, than to his instructións, he sent back his convoy into Torbay, and repaired with his squadron to the relief of Jersey. The attempt of the French miscarried. The admiral resumed his original route. But such were the obstacles that ensued this retardınent that he lost much time in getting out of the channel, and gaining sea room to shape his course for America; so that it was late in August before he arrived at New York. The English at first, however, made no movement, because they were inhibited by the count d'Estaing, at that time engaged in the siege of Savannah. Finally, on intelligence of the issue of that enterprise, and the departure of the French admiral from the coasts of America, Clinton had embarked with seven thousand men, under convoy of Arbuthnot, upon the expedition of South Carolina.

England intended not only to carry on the war with energy upon the American continent, and to defend her possessions in the West

Indies, but she even projected conquests in this quarter, if the occasion should present itself., The ministers accordingly resolved to send to those islands a considerable reenforcement both of ships and troops, under the conduct of admiral Rodney, a man in whom the government, and even the whole British nation, had reposed extreme confidence. It appeared the more essential to despatch these succours to the West Indies, as the French were preparing on their part to pass thither a formidable reenforcement under the count de Guichen. But before admiral Rodney had put to sea, it was deemed expedient to employ him in a more important expedition. Spain had commenced hostilities by laying close siege and blockade to the fortress of Gibraltar. The blockade was confined to admiral don Barcelo, a seaman of great vigilance. He exerted his utmost diligence to prevent any sort of supplies from finding their way into the place. The garrison already began to suffer severely from scarcity. They could not even hope to receive provision from the neighboring coasts, by means of light boats which might have eluded the watchfulness of the Spaniards; for the inhabitants of the Barba y shores, and especially the emperor of Morocco, had declared themselves for Spain, as soon as they ascertained the inferiority of the English in the Mediterranean. There remained, therefore, no other way of revictualling the place but from England itself; and the convoy destined for this purpose required a formidable escort. Rodney was charged with this enterprise. He departed from the British coasts in the first days of the year, with a fleet of twenty-one sail of the line, and a considerable number of provision vessels. Fortune favored his first efforts. He had only been a few days at sea, when he fell in with a convoy of fifteen Spanish merchantmen, bound from St. Sebastian to Cadiz, under the guard of the Guipuscoa, a new ship of sixty-four guns, of four frigates from thirty-two to twenty-six, and of two smaller vessels. Rodney gave chase, and took the whole fleet. The capture was the more fortunate, as the greater part of the vessels were loaded with wheat, flour and other sorts of provision; and the remainder with bale goods and naval stores. The former he conveyed to Gibraltar, and the latter he sent back to England, where the naval stores were much wanted. But this was only the prelude to greater and more brilliant success. On the sixteenth of January, admiral Rodney fell in, off Cape St. Vincent, with a Spanish squadron of eleven ships of the line, under the command of don Juan Langara. The Spanish admiral, if he had chosen, might have avoided the encounter of a force so prodigiously superior to his own. But the moment he descried the enemy's sails from his mast head, instead of sending out his frigates to reconnoitre, and falling back upon a port, he immediately formed his ships in order of battle. When, on the near approach of the English, he became certain of their superiority, he endeavored to withdraw, but

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it was already too late. Admiral Rodney had given the signal for a general chase, with orders to engage as the ships came up in rotation; taking at the same time the lee gage, to prevent the enemy's retreat into their own ports. The English ships so much outsailed the Spanish, that by four in the evening the headmost had come up with them, and began to engage; their fire was returned with great spirit and resolution by the Spaniards. The night was dark, tempestuous and dismal; the proximity of the shoals of St. Lucar rendered the scene more terrible. Early in the action the Spanish ship San Domingo, of seventy guns and six hundred men, blew up, and all on board perished. The action and pursuit continued until two in the morning. The Spanish admiral's ship, the Phoenix, of eighty guns, with three others of seventy, were taken and carried safely into Gibraltar. The San Eugenio and San Julian, had also surrendered to the English, who had shifted their officers, and put a certain number of British seamen on board each of them. But the sea being rough, the night tempestuous, and the breakers very near, the English officers, having no pilots that knew the Spanish coast, placed themselves at the discretion of their prisoners, who, from vanquished becoming victors, carried the two ships into the port of Cadiz. Two other ships of the line and two frigates, all greatly damaged, escaped into the same port. The following day the English had great difficulty in extricating their fleet from the shoals, and getting back into deep water. Don Juan de Langara had been wounded severely.

Admiral Rodney hastened to profit of his victory; he entered Gibraltar. In a short time he deposited there all the supplies he had brought; provision became so abundant that the fortress found itself in a situation to endure a long siege without further recruit. After having accomplished with equal utility to his country and glory to himself the orders of his court, Rodney proceeded, about the middle of February, with a part of his force, for the West Indies. He left the rest of his fleet with the Spanish prizes, on their way to England, under the conduct of rear-admiral Digby. Fortune, who had shown herself so propitious to the English, seemed disposed to serve them still on their return. They perceived at a great distance a squadron, consisting of several French ships of different sizes. It was a convoy bound to the Isle of France, under the protection of the Proteus and Ajax, both of sixty-four guns, and of the frigate la Charmante. The viscount du Chilleau commanded the whole. As soon as he discovered the English, he made a signal to the Ajax and the bulk of the convoy to make their escape by the rear. As to himself, he rallied about the Proteus, the frigate and some smaller vessels, in order to take up the attention of the enemy. His stratagem succeeded. Rear-admiral Digby gave no heed to the Ajax, and the greater part of the convoy which retired under her escort; he was