754 FRA 
ward ; and after the reduction of that fort, effedted a 
junction with the main army of Hyder Ali in the moment 
that general Coote menaced the fiege of Arnee, a ftrong 
fortrefs in which Hyder’s great magazines were depofited, 
and to the defence of which that army immediately ad. 
vanced. A battle enfned, in which the allies were to¬ 
tally routed by the Englifh. Duchemin had cautioufly 
avoided expofing the French, whom he wilhed to pre- 
ferve intire till the arrival of the marquis de Bully with 
a reinforcement, which was daily expeffed. In confe- 
quence of this plan he retired to Cuddalore, which he 
ftrengthened by new works, and rendered fecure from any 
fudden attack. 
M. Suffrein, in the mean while, had returned from Ba- 
taealo to the coaft of Coromandel ; and having refrelhed 
his fleet at the Danifh fettlement of Tranqnebar, he pro¬ 
ceeded from thence to Cuddalore, which the F'rench had 
now rendered their place at arms, both for the land and 
fea fervice. It was his objetl to attack the Englifh 
fquadron before the arrival of a reinforcement, which he 
knew had failed from England, and was impatiently ex¬ 
pected at Madras. Being joined by the troops under 
Duchamin, he foon appeared off Negapatam, where the 
Englifh fleet lay at anchor; and admiral Hughes, impa¬ 
tient of the infult, immediately quitted the fecnrity of 
his ftation to meet his rival. The number of fhips on 
each fide was nearly equal ; the French fleet was how¬ 
ever reduced to retire firft from the attion, and feek (bel¬ 
ter in the port of Cuddalore ; while admiral Hughes hav¬ 
ing kept the fea about a fortnight longer, proceeded to 
Madras. Suffrein ufed the iitmoft difpatch in refitting 
his fquadron ; and having received advice from the fieur 
d’Aymar, that he had arrived at the point de Galles, on 
the fouth fide of the ifland of Ceylon, in Iris own (hip the 
St. Michael, of fixty-four guns, accompanied by the 11 - 
luftre of feventy-four, and the fecond divifion of the 
marquis de Bully's troops, the French admiral immedi¬ 
ately failed from Cuddalore, and having joined this fqua¬ 
dron, proceeded with his whole force to tire attack of 
Trinconjale, where he arrived about the end of Auguft. 
The fire of the I^nglifh batteries from that place could 
not prevent his fleet from anchoring in the mod advan¬ 
tageous flation for the annoyance of the garrifon ; the 
landing of the troops under the conduCt of the baron 
d’Agoult Was eftedted the next day, and the place was 
immediately inverted. After two days employed in erect¬ 
ing batteries, they opened with fuch a decided fupe- 
riority, that the Englifh cannon werefilenced before night. 
On the following morning M. de Suffrein fummoned the 
garrifon ; and captain Macdowal, the Britilh commandant, 
convinced that all further defence was fruitlefs, con- 
lented to capitulate. The terms that he demanded were 
immediately fubfcribed by the generality of the French 
commanders. The honours of war were granted in the 
fulleft extent, and the garrifon was to be conveyed to 
Madras in fhips provided at the expence of France. Yet 
was this conqueft hardly fecured, before the Englifh fleet, 
on the 2d of September, was defcried off Trincomale ; 
admiral Hughes had been joined by a Chip of feventy-four 
guns; but fti11 the advantage was on the fide of the 
French. Suffrein now flattered himfelf the moment was 
arrived when he might eftablifh the dominion of France 
in thofe feas by a glorious and decifive victory. He ac¬ 
cordingly flood out to fea ; and about three o’clock in 
the afternoon the aCtion became general. Suffrein in the 
Heros again encountered admiral Hughes in the Su’perbe, 
and the rival commanders maintained a dole and bloody 
conflict till half part five; had the other French officers 
imitated the conduCt of their chief, that day had proba¬ 
bly avenged the defeat of de Grade ; but they bore away 
under cover of the night, and regained the port of Trin¬ 
comale, from whence Suffrein feint fix of his captains un¬ 
der an arreft for cowardice, to the illand of Mauritius. 
Paris, amidft the gloom which naturally accompanies 
a long apd expenfive war, received a tranfient ray of hope 
N C E. 
for a more fuccefsful campaign the enfuing year, from s. 
fpirit of zeal and patriotifm which now maniferted itfelf 
amongft the nobility, and by feveral rich ftates and 
wealthy communities, who made large fubfcriptions for 
building and fitting out fhips of war, to fupply the place 
of thofe which had been captured by the Englifh. The 
liberality of the clergy alfo was ftill more honourable to 
themfelves, and more confident with their facred profeff 
fion. To the exigencies of tlie (late they granted a free 
gift of fifteen millions of livres. At the fame time they 
requefted the fovereign to accept an additional million, 
to be inviolably applied to the comfort and maintenance 
of thofe feamen who had been wounded in the courfe of 
the war, and to the fupport of the widows and orphans 
of thofe who had fallen, gallantly fighting in the defence 
of France. 
In conjunction with the courts of Madrid and the 
Hague, Louis opened the campaign of 1783, with a de¬ 
termination of exerting the molt powerful efforts to bring 
the war to a conclufion. The combined fleets of the 
houfe of Bourbon dill maintained their fuperiority in 
Europe ; while the marquis de Buffy with three fhips of 
the line, three thoufand regular troops, and a confiderable 
train of artillery, fupported the hopes of France in the 
eaft, and afpired to the conqueft of the whole coaft of 
Coromandel. Nine fhips of the line, and thirty tran- 
fports, in which w’ere embarked eight thoufand foldiers, 
failed from Bred: to America, under the conduCl of 
M. de Vialis, to reinforce the marquis de Vaudreil, and 
to complete the expulfion of the Englilh from that con¬ 
tinent. The ftates-general of Holland alfo agreed to 
fupply, at their own expence, ten fhips of the line, which 
were to rendezvous at Bred, and to a 61 in concert with 
the fquadrons of France and Spain ; and the count d’Ef- 
taing was called by the general voice to the fupreme 
command. 
Such were the efforts which promifed the mod impor¬ 
tant advantages to France, when the genial voice of 
peace was again heard, and Louis XVI. confented to fa- 
crifice his ambition to the welfare of his people. The 
independence of America had all along been the grand 
object of Louis ; but ftill the defeat in the Weft Indies, 
and the repulfe at Gibraltar, were deeply imprefted on 
his mind ; and though his vaft armaments, and the re- 
fources of his allies, prefented the faireft profpeft of fuc- 
cefs in the enfuing campaign, he was not infenlible to the 
great uncertainty of military operations. Thefe confi- 
derations induced him to liften to the powerful mediation 
of the emperor of Germany and the emprefs of Ruflia ; 
and the count de Vergennes, who occupied the port of fe. 
cretary for foreign affairs, was appointed to treat with 
Mr. Fitzherbert the Englifh minifterat Bruffels, but who 
now proceeded to Paris to conduCl this important nego- 
ciation ; which was anxioufly quickened by the count de 
Vergennes, and on the twentieth of January, 17S3, the 
preliminary articles of peace were figned at Paris. 
By thefe France acquired a very confiderable extent of 
fifhery on the coaft of Newfoundland ; fhe alfo regained 
the iflands of St. Pierre and Miquelon ; and was tacitly 
delivered from any reftridtion in point of fortification, 
with which they had before been difgracefully incum¬ 
bered. In the Weft Indies, England reftored to her the 
illand of St. Lucia, and ceded the illand of Tobago j 
but France confented to relinquiffi in return the iflands 
of Grenada and the Grenadines, with thofe of St. Vin¬ 
cent, Dominica, St. Chrillopher’s, Nevis, and Montfcrrat. 
In Africa, France was inverted in full right with the river 
Senegal, and all its dependencies, with the forts of 
St. Louis, Podoz, Galem, Arguin, and Portendia ; and 
obtained alfo reftitution of the ifland of Goree; but, on 
the other hand, fhe guaranteed to Great Britain the pof- 
feffion of Fort James, and of the river Gambia. In the 
Eaft, France regained all that had been wrefted from her 
by Great Britain in the courfe of the war; all her efta- 
bliffiments in Bengal and Orixa were to be reftored, and 
liberty 
