FRA 
endeavours of the Rritiflr admiral, and joined the 
French from Port Royal, lie now determined to avail 
himfelf of this decided fupcriority, and to bring on a 
general engagement. In the mean time the Englifli had 
been reinforced alfo by a fhip of feventy-fonr guns, 
and their commander displayed admirable (kill in his ma¬ 
noeuvres; yet the advantages of the French were nume¬ 
rous and evident, and a conflict of three hours was only 
terminated by night. On the return of day, de Grade 
would have renewed the engagement; but the Englifli, 
who had fuffered feverely, bore away to Antigua ; they 
were purfued by the French, who, incapable of forcing 
them under the batteries of that ifland, di retted their ope¬ 
rations to the reduction of the Britifli fettlements. 
In the beginning of the war France had been feverely 
mortified by the lofsofSt. Lucia, and (he now afpired to 
the recovery of that ifland ; great part of the Englifli gar- 
rifon had been drafted away for the capture of St. Eufla- 
tius, a wealthy fettlement belonging to the Dutch ; and 
while'the captors revelled in their fpoils, the marquis de 
Bouille, with the vifcount Damas and a confiderable body 
of troops, landed at St. Lucia. They immediately oc¬ 
cupied the town of Gros Iflet, and fummoned brigadier ge¬ 
neral St. Leger, the commanding officer, to furrender; but 
the marquis was Coon convinced that the ftrength of the 
Englifli far exceeded what the natives, impatient to re¬ 
turn under the government of France, had de(cribed ; a 
greater obje< 5 t, and lefs difficult of accefs, was in view; 
and the French commander having difguifed his inten¬ 
tions from the enemy by every preparation for a vigorous 
alTault, fuddenly re-embarked his troops in the night, and 
fleered- his courfe towards Tobago, againlt which he had 
previoufly detached afmall French fquadron, with a eon- 
fiderable body of troops, under the conduct of M. de 
Blanchelande, late governor of St. Vincent’s. The fee¬ 
ble garrifon of Tobago, Icarcely amounting to five hun¬ 
dred men, made a long and brave defence ; but were 
overpowered by fuperior numbers, and eventually com¬ 
pelled to furrender. But this garrifon had no fooner fub- 
raitted to the dominion of France, than the Britifli fleet 
under admiral Rodney appeared in fight. Monfieurde 
Graffe immediately got under fail, and offered his rival 
battle ; the Englifli; informed of the total lofs of the 
ifland, the relief of which was probably their foie object, 
thought proper to decline the encounter ; and the French 
admiral, inflead of confirming his hours in a fruitlefs pur- 
fuit, reconveyed the marquis de Bouille to Martinico, 
touched at the Havannah to receive a confiderable fup- 
ply of money, and witli twenty-eight fail of the line and 
feveral frigates directed his courfe towards America, and 
anchored in the Chefapeak the laft day of Auguft 1781. 
Holland, unprepared abroad and difunited at home, 
now claimed the more immediate attention and fupport 
of the court of Verfailles ; in the Weft Indies the Britifli 
commanders had eagerly invaded the ifland of St. Eufta- 
tius; that fettlement during the war had become the ge¬ 
neral magazine of all nations ; and the valuable commo¬ 
dities which it contained became a prey to the rapacity of 
the viftors. Yet the conquerors reaped not that advan¬ 
tage which they expelled from their cruel and indil- 
criminate confifcation ; feveral of the veflels richly laden 
with fpoil were intercepted on their voyage to Europe, 
and even in fight of the Britifh coaft, by M. de la Motthe 
Piquet, who was cruizing off'the Lizard with fix (hips of 
the line and five frigates. And before the clofe of the 
year the ifland itfelf was recovered by the activity of the 
marquis de Bouille, who unexpectedly landed with a fe- 
leffc body of troops from Martinico, furprifed colonel 
Cockburn the Englifli commandant, andreffored St. Eu- 
ftatius to the dominion of the Dutch, the very day before 
count de Grade caft anchor at Fort Royal, after hisdecifive 
affi(lanceafforded to the United States of America. But it 
was in the Eaff that the republic of Holland was moft vul¬ 
nerable ; and her exclufive pofleflions of the fpice iflands, 
her wealthy and populous fettlement of Batavia, afforded 
N C E. 751 
the moft fafeinating allurements to the avarice of her 
enemies. In the beginning of the war France had received 
with indignation the intelligence that her fettlements 
throughout Alia had been (wept away by the power of the 
Englifli ; (lie therefore readily liftened to propofals which 
tended to reftore her own colonies in the eaft, and to fe- 
cure thofe of her ally ; flreflgneda treaty with the repub¬ 
lic, which was to put her troops in poffeffion of the Cape 
of Good Hope ; and (tie alfo engaged to detach an ar¬ 
mament to act: in conjunction witii the Dutch forces 
in the eaft. To fulfil this treaty, at the fame time 
that the count de Graffe failed from Bred to the Weft 
Indies, monfieur de SuiFrein witii five (hips of the line 
and a confiderable body of land forces was detached to 
the Cape. On his arrival at St. Jago, he difeerned a 
Britilh fquadron of nearly equal force at anchor vithin 
the harbour ; this had failed from England under commo¬ 
dore Johnftone, and was deflgned to furprife the Dutch 
fettlement at the Cape. The irnpetuofity of Suft'rem 
prevailed over his refpeCt to the crown of Portugal; and 
hefitated not to enter a neutral harbour as an enemy, and 
to attack the Englifli. But, though in this enter pilie he 
difplayed the moft daring fpirit, yet all his efforts ferved 
only to expole'his (hips to the deftruclive fire of his ad- 
verfary, who derived Inch advantages from his fituation, 
that neither (kill nor courage could overcome. The 
French commander was thus compelled to abandon the 
attack, and after touching at the Cape, and reinforcing 
that fettlement with a fufficient number of troops to fe- 
cureit from infult, he (leered to the ifland of Mauritius 
tojoin the count d’Orves, who, after the lofs of Pondi¬ 
cherry, had affembled at that place with the fcattered 
remnant of the French forces. 
The birth of the dauphin ciofed the memorable occur¬ 
rences of the year 1781 ; the young prince was.chriftened 
by the cardinal de Rohan ; the count ot Provence and the 
princefs Elizabeth reprefented as fponfors the emperor 
of Germany and the princefs of Piedmont, and bellowed 
on their royal nephew the names of Louis-Jofeph Xavier 
Francis; little aware at the magnificent feftival of his 
baptifm, of the cruel fate which impended over his ddli. 
nation in life. 
On the commencement of the campaign of 1782, the 
greateft exertions were called forth by the houfe of Bour¬ 
bon to bring the war to a lpeedy and luccefsful conclu- 
(ion. The (iege of Minorca, which had been undertaken 
in the preceding year, was now terminated ; the garrifon 
were made prifonersof war ; and their commander, gene¬ 
ral Murray, acknowledged in the moft exprefs terms thq 
the humane treatment they experienced from their ene¬ 
mies the duke de Crillon and the baron de Falkenhayen. 
In the mean time the capture of the army under lord 
Cornwallis had enfured the independence of America, 
and France was now at leifure to direct her attention to 
the Eall and Weft Indies. M. de Graffe from the Chefa¬ 
peak had (leered his courfe to Martinico ; his naval force 
confided of thirty (hips of the line ; but he had already 
detached four drips to convoy from St. Domingo the 
homeward-bound trade to Europe. The court of Ver¬ 
failles, to fupply this deficiency, had fitted out at Bred 
nine drips of the line, under the command of the marquis 
de Vaudreuil; thefe were accompanied by a numerous 
convoy of transports, deffined for the fervice of the Eaft and 
Weft ; and they were efcorted by the count de Guichen, 
who failed at the fame time with ten drips of the line to 
join the grand fleet of Spain at Cadiz. Off Scilly they were 
intercepted by the Britiffi fleet of 13 drips of the line, com¬ 
manded by admiral Kempenfelt; the judicious manoeuvres 
of that officer were 1'econded by the favourable (late of the 
wiird; and de Guichen had the mortification to behold 
his convoy difperfed, and many of them taken by an in¬ 
ferior force. He himfelf continued his courfe to Cadiz, 
while the marquis de Vaudreuil, having detached part of 
Iris fquadron to the Cape of Good Hope, with the reft 
joined de Guile at Martinic*?. 
Thar 
