a 
HISTORY OF EUROPE. | 
following are the most striking 
of his observations-and arguments. 
On the twentieth of December, 
news arrived, jn England, of the 
French fleet having left Brest; on 
the twenty-second, orders were sent 
to lord Bridport to sail immediately, 
with the fleet under his command : 
and, by a letter from his lordship 
to the admiralty, then on the table, 
it appeared, that lord Bridport 
could not sai] till the twenty-fifth, 
on account of seme of ,the sbips of 
his squadron not being ready, He 
arrived, however,with his squadron, 
seventeen sail of the line, and some 
frigates. The French fieet consist- 
ed of eighteen sail of the line, se- 
veral frigates, and numerous trans- 
ports, all full of troops. Lord Brid- 
“port, after cruizing in quest of the 
enemy, finally returned to port, 
without having fallen in with, or 
seen, a single ship of the enemy. 
‘The French fleet had remained at 
anchor, in Bantry-bay,some of them 
during a period of eleven or twelve 
days. On account of adverse winds, 
and very stormy weather, the great- 
est part of it was dispersed :. but 
had a force of only five or six 
thousand men been able to effect 
a landing, it was very probable, 
_ from the internal state of Jreland 
at the time, that Cork, with all its 
stores and provisions, must have 
fallen into their hands. The earl 
of Albemarle said, that he had vo 
doubt of the great anxiety of lord 
Bridport to gail as speedily as_pos- 
sible. He bad been told, however, 
that our fleet was never kuowi to 
have carried so little: sath: from 
whence he could not but suppose, 
that this mode of sailing down the’ 
channel was adopted in consequence 
‘of orders received from the acdmi- 
Talty. If sufficient sail had been 
‘ 
‘ 
[231 
carried, lord Bridport might have 
been off Bantry-bay two days sooner 
than he was. Anotherthing, which 
appeared very extraordinary, was, 
that after the noble admiral had 
found that the whole of the enemy's 
fleet had left the Irish coast, he still 
continued to ernize off Bantry-bay, 
during a day and a: hatf, before he 
proceeded any where ii quest of 
them. Lord Albemarle then ad- 
verted to the siiyation of the fleet 
under admiral Colpoys ; many of 
whose ships were in great want of 
thoseessential articles onship-board, 
water and fuel. When the fog 
cleared away, and it was discovered 
that the French armament had set 
sail, admiral Colpoyshadimmediate- 
ly sailed, with his squadron, for the 
Lizard, as the most likely place for 
gaining intelligence of the enemy : | 
but, when hecame thither, be found 
several of his ships so much in want 
of essential ‘necessaries, and the 
weather such that he could not pro- 
vide them from others ; and, after 
sending away first one and then an- 
other, had afterwards found it most 
adviseable to return withthe whole. 
And, he actually arrived in port on 
the very day that lord Dridport 
sailed. Ji appeared very strange, 
that lord Bridport had not, much 
sooner than the twenty-second of 
December, been ordered out, with 
a fleet sufficient to have replaced all 
those ships, under admiral Colpovs, 
which were in want of necessaries, 
and taken the rest ander his com- 
mand to have contiued ou that 
station, while other ships were sent 
out tohim as tuey coud hate ‘got 
ready. {[t was clear, from the 
whol¢ face of the transactions that 
had passed, that, ifadmural Colpoys 
had found his fleet in a suitable con- 
dition to have proceeded direcily 
[a 4] to 
