7 52 FRA 
That commander immediately prepared to avail him¬ 
felf of his decided fuperiority over the Englifli fquadron 
in thofefeas. With the marquis de Bouille, who had al¬ 
ready erefted the ftandard of France on the ifland of St. 
Nevis, he planned the attack of St. Cluiftopher’s, one of 
the mod confiderable of the Welf-India iflands that yet 
remained to Great Britain. The marquis landed with 
eight thoufand men and a formidable train of artillery, 
while the count de Grall'e occupied with his fleet Bafle- 
terre Road, and feemed to preclude every hope of relief; 
but the operations of the French were fudde.nly in¬ 
terrupted by the appearance of a Britifh fquadron of 
twenty-two (hips of the line, under admiral Hood. The 
count de Grall’e, whole naval force confided of twenty- 
nine (hips, hefitated not to quit his flation to encounter 
his adverfary. The action w'as indecilive ; but in the 
courfe of it admiral Hood by his fuperior (kill drew the 
count de Grade from his defenfive pofition ; and, prefling 
towards the ifland, gained the very anchorage in Bafla- 
terre road that the French fleet had juft before quitted. 
Though de Grade could not but admire the dexterity of 
his adverfary, he was by no means inclined to lepve him 
in quiet pofleflion of his advantage. The next-morning 
with his whole force he attacked the Englifli fquadron 
which fuftained with a fteady fire the repeated efforts of 
the French ; and though the count in the courfe of the 
evening renewed the attempt, the damage that his fhips 
had incurred compelled him at length to defift. The 
marquis de Bouille, however, clofely prefled the liege by 
land, until tjie inceflant fire of his artillery had reduced 
the works and buildings to a heap of ruins, when the 
Englifh reluctantly agreed to furrender. 
The Englifli admiral, unable to avert the fate of St. 
Chriftopher’s, under cover of the night cut his cables; 
and failing from Bufieterre road, directed his courfe 
towards Barbadoes, in hopes of joining a confiderable fqua- 
dron that was hourly expected from England. The count 
de Grafle and the marquis de Bouille, after the reduction 
of Montferrat, returned to Martinico. In that road had 
been aflembled one hundred and fifty tranfports, witli a 
large quantity of artillery, and a confiderable body of land 
forces. Tliefe were deftinea for an enterprize which, had 
it proved fuccefsful, muft have extinguiflied the power 
of Great Britain in the Weft Indies. De Grafle, whofe fleet 
already amounted to thirty-three fail of the line, was to have 
been joined by a Spanifh fquadron from the Havannah; and 
theunited force of the houfe of Bourbon was to have been 
directed againft Jamaica. In purftiance of this defign the 
count quitted Fort Royal bay about the beginning of 
April, to proceed to the place of his deftination ; but he 
had no fooner loft fight of the ifland of Martinico, before 
he defcried the Britifh fleet commanded by admiral Rod¬ 
ney, confifting of thirty-fix fail of the line. He immedi¬ 
ately hoifted the fignal for aCtion, and fuftained with great 
gallantry the'attack of the Englifli ; but intent on the 
"grand objeft of his court, he availed himfelf of a favoura¬ 
ble wind, and bore away towards Guadaloupe. 
But that profperous fortune which had for a length of 
time attended the enterprifes of France, began to defert 
her.—In the late aftion, the Zele, a 74, had fuffered 
material damage ; and’though de Graffe had confiderably 
gained the ftart of Rodney, yet the fhattered condition of 
that fhip allowed her not to keep up with the reft of the 
fleet. The French admiral was now reduced to the 
painful alternative of hazarding the fuccefs of his expe¬ 
dition by a fecond aftion, or to endure the difgrace of 
abandoning the Zele a prey to the enemy. O11 this trying 
occafionhe determined to preferve inviolate the honour 
of the French flag; and though his judgment has been 
arraigned, fince, in relinqui filing the Zele, and haften- 
ing to join the Spanifh fquadron, he might have fe- 
verely revenged the lofs of that fhip by the probable fe- 
duftion of Jamaica, yet the more honourable refolution 
was in fome meafure fanftioned by the ftate of the fleet 
under his command, and the probability that this engage. 
a 
N C E. 
ment, like the preceding ones, might prove indecifive- 
Under this iinpveflion he bore down to the fuccour of the 
Zele, and compelled themoft forward of the Englifli fhips 
to retire at the moment that they were ready to attack 
her; the approach of night precluded immediate aftion ; 
but in the morning the French admiral found the Englifh 
had gained the wind of him, and that he muft flake the 
fortune of France on a decifivc engagement. The aftion 
continued from feven in the morning till half paft fix iu 
the evening, when the fetting fun put an end to the con- 
teft and to the hopes of France. The Ville de Paris of 
110 guns commanded by de Grafle himfelf, the Glotieux, 
the Heftor, and the Caefar, of 74, with the ardent of 64, 
the Englifli fhip which had failed into the fleet of d’Or- 
villiers olf Plymouth, were compelled to ftrike to 
the flag of Great Britain ; the Caefar foon after caught 
fire and blew up ; while the marquis de Vaudreuil col- 
lefted the fcattered fleet, and with nineteen fhips of 
the line efcaped to Martinico to reach the neareft ports, 
and elude the purfuits of the victors. If the prudence of 
de Grafle was by fome perfons impeached, his courage 
w’as univerfally acknowledged: though wounded, lie 
defended his fhip to the laft extremity ; and, before he 
confented to ftrike his flag, the Ville de Paris was a 
perfeft wreck. He was received by Rodney on board 
the Barfleur, with thofe marks of refpeCt that the brave 
never fail to fhew to each other ; and, after continuing a 
fhort time at Jamaica, the objeft of his conqueft, he was 
conveyed to England. 
The difeomfiture of the French navy ended not with 
12th of April. The Cato and the Jafon, two men of war 
of fixty-four guns each, with the Amiable of thirty- 
two, and the Ceres ofeighteen guns, were taken by a fqua¬ 
dron under admiral Hood, detached from the main Eng¬ 
lifli fleet. The fame baneful influence feemed alfo to 
extend to Europe; and in that month the Pegafe of 
of feventy-four guns, and the Aftionnaire of fixty-four, 
which had failed from Breft for the Eafl Indies, with ten 
fhips of their convoy, were captured by the Englifh off 
Ulhaiit. Vaudreuil, after the defeat of de Grafle, fleered 
from Cape Franyois to America; but he previoufiy detached 
monfieur Peroufe in the Sceptre of 74 guns, with two large 
frigates, againft the remote pofleffions of the Englifli Hud- 
fon’s Bay Company. The principal difficulties of this 
expedition were thofe which attended the navigation 
of the frozen regions of the north; notwithftanding 
the power of the fun in the middle of July, the fhips 
at one time were fo faft locked up in the ice, that the fea- 
men went on foot from one to the other; and even after 
they had extricated themfelves, things appeared fo hope- 
lefs, that monfieur Perbufe even meditated on fend¬ 
ing back the Sceptre with one of the frigates to the 
Weft Indies, and of wintering himfelf with the otherfrigate 
in the Bay. So fevere a trial of hisconftancy was however 
prevented by the appearance of a fmall opening in the ice 
two days afterwards ; through this the fhips forced their 
pafiage with a prefs of fail, and afterwards difeovered, to 
their no "fmall joy, the Englifti colours flying from a fort 
on the banks of Churchill river. The faftory was only 
garrifoned by a motley crew of ftorekeepers, clerks, and 
lervants, who furrendered on the firfi appearance of a Eu¬ 
ropean enemy. Some fought flielter in the impenetrable 
woods ; and Peroufe, having by the deftruftion of the 
forts and merchandize completed the objeft of his expe¬ 
dition, had the humane precaution to preferve one of the ma¬ 
gazines, in which he depofited provisions, arms, and ammu¬ 
nition, for the life and fnbfiftence of the fugitives who had 
luded his purfuit, and who during the long approaching 
winter could not have received any relief from home. 
While France in every quarter of the globe difplayed 
that aftive fpirit which could not be reprefled by defeat, 
the patient courage of the Spaniards was ftill exercifed in 
attempting the fiege of Gibraltar. The duke de Crillon, 
adorned with the laurels of Minorca, afpired to additional 
fame from this more arduous enterpnfe j and the count 
d’Artois, 
