CHAP. II.] WEST INDIES. 65 
On this occasion, charges were brought against 
the French inhabitants which I will not repeat, be¬ 
cause I have no other evidence to support them 
than the mutual reproaches, and reciprocal accusa¬ 
tions of the parties. The complaints indeed which 
were loudly made on the part of the French, of 
an usurpation of their dearest rights by the prevail¬ 
ing faction, seemed to imply, that they relied rather 
on justification than denial. 
The French ministry however required no other 
encouragement for attacking this island, than the 
defenceless state in which all the British settle¬ 
ments in the West Indies were at that juncture 
notoriously left. The hopeless and destructive war 
in North America had drawn to its vortex all the 
powers, resources, and exertions of Great Britain. 
Already had Dominica and St. Vincent become a 
sacrifice to that unfortunate contest; when it fell 
to the lot of Grenada to experience her share of 
the general misfortune. 
On the 2 d of July 1779, a French armament, 
consisting of a fleet of 25 ships of the line, 10 fri¬ 
gates, and 5000 troops, under the command of the 
Count D’Estaing, appeared off the harbour and 
town of St. George; the whole force of the island 
was composed of 90 men of the 48th regiment, 
300 militia of the island, and 150 seamen from the 
merchant ships; and its fortifications consisted 
chiefly of an intrenchment, which had been hastily 
Vol. I. 1 
