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ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH FLEET. [CHAP. III.

tenced to be suspended for one year. The sentence was almost unanimously approved by Congress.

Washington then proceeded to the Hudson River, and Clinton to Sandy Hook, whence his army passed over to New York.

The French fleet, under Count d'Estaing, which had left Toulon on the thirteenth of April, had the unusual passage of eighty-seven days. Had they reached the Delaware a fortnight earlier, they would probably have captured the whole British fleet, and consequently the army, as their fleet was much larger than the British. It consisted of twelve ships-of-the-line and six frigates, besides four thousand land forces. Finding that the British fleet had escaped, after announcing his arrival to Congress, d'Estaing proceeded to the coast of New York.

General Washington marched his army to the White Plains, whence he might co-operate with the French Admiral, according to circumstances.

On a consultation between the Commanders of the American and French forces, it was doubtful whether there was water sufficient for the largest French ships to enter the harbor of New York, on which the meditated attack on the British fleet was abandoned; and the Admiral decided on proceeding to Rhode Island, to attack the fleet there, and to aim to drive the British from that place. Lord Howe's force consisted of six ships-of-the-line, and four of fifty guns, with some frigates and smaller vessels.

D'Estaing's fleet appeared off Newport on the twentyfifth of July. The British troops there, lately reinforced, amounted to six thousand men.

General Sullivan, who commanded the American army in Rhode Island, was posted near Providence. He had

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some time before applied to the States for bodies of militia, but with the delays incident to such requisitions, the levies were not made when they could have had the benefit of the French superiority at sea, and before the British had time to strengthen their fortifications.

At length the joint attack of the Americans and French was decided on, and the British General Pigot, on being satisfied of the fact, ordered the troops stationed at the north end of the Island to proceed to Newport. Sullivan immediately decided to take possession of the works the enemy had abandoned. His whole army therefore crossed the east passage and landed.

D'Estaing resented the indelicacy in Sullivan's landing before the French, and without consulting him.' There was some other difficulty on points of etiquette, as Count d'Estaing was a Lieutenant-general in France, and Sullivan only a Major-general; to adjust which difficulty it had been arranged that the descent on the Island should be made by the French and Americans at the same time; but that one thousand men of the Americans were to be attached to the French, and to land with them. When, then, this arrangement was departed from without previous notice to the Count, it excited his suspicions and complaints, and he refused to answer Sullivan's letter of explanation.

D'Estaing's fastidiousness on points of etiquette, and his refusal to aid in what would have given so serious a blow to the British power in America, is calculated to raise a doubt whether he was really anxious to bring the war to an immediate conclusion.

At this time a British fleet appeared in sight. This fleet, originally consisting of twelve ships-of-the-line under Lord Byron, had followed the French fleet; but

1 VI. Marshall, page 495.

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SULLIVAN EVACUATES NEWPORT.

[CHAP. III. they had suffered so much by stormy adverse weather, that, besides being greatly injured, they had been separated and dispersed, so that only a part of them had then reached Rhode Island; and though the united fleets were inferior to the French, Lord Howe was determined to attempt the relief of Newport.

He accordingly left New York for Newport on the tenth of August, and the day after his arrival Count d'Estaing put to sea to give battle to the enemy. Howe also weighed anchor, and attempted, when at sea, to get the weather-gage.

Sullivan's army, strongly reinforced by militia, then amounted to ten thousand men, but to spare d'Estaing's feelings, La Fayette wished the attack to be postponed till the Count's return; as, however, it was deemed impracticable to keep the militia long in the field, it was decided to commence their operations without further delay.

The two fleets, vainly striving to get the weather-gage, were separated by a severe storm without fighting; and the French ships were so injured, that d'Estaing carried them to Boston to refit, against the entreaties of Sullivan, and the protest of his officers. The British had, in the mean time, been so reinforced, that they outnumbered the besieging army-reduced as it soon was by desertion-and Sullivan reluctantly consented to raise the siege. The next day - the twentieth of August - Sullivan's retreating force was pursued by the enemy. An action ensued, in which the British were forced to retreat. Sullivan lost two hundred men; the enemy a greater number.

Learning that four thousand men, commanded by Clinton, were on their way from New York to Newport, Sullivan at once evacuated the Island of Newport, and

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passed over to the continent. Had he postponed his retreat a single day, he must have been captured. His conduct obtained the approbation and thanks of Congress.

Count d'Estaing, offended with an expression in General Sullivan's orders, complained of it to Congress, as well as of disappointment and want of supplies.

The possession of Rhode Island by the British had long been a source of mortification to the people of New England, and they were proportionally disappointed that so fair an opportunity of expelling the British, and perhaps of capturing them, had been lost. The popular feeling against the conduct of their new allies was so strong, that it was apprehended it would interfere with the refitting of the French ships in Boston. In this state of the popular mind, when all the former national prejudices between the French and English colonies seemed to be revived, a riot broke out between the American and French sailors; and it required all the efforts of Hancock and La Fayette to prevent further mischief. General Washington also exerted himself to the same end. Having written to Sullivan on the importance of restoring harmony with the French, he also wrote a soothing letter to d'Estaing, and receiving from him a full account of the whole misunderstanding, he gave so satisfactory an answer to the Count, that a perfect reconciliation was effected.

While the French ships were undergoing repairs in Boston, the British fleet had been so reinforced, as to be superior to the French. Finding that the latter could not be safely attacked in that harbor, the British engaged in some marauding expeditions, by which two or three small towns in Connecticut were burnt.

The British army then, in two columns of five thou

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SURPRISE OF COLONEL BAYLOR

[CHAP. III. sand men each, ascended on both sides of the Hudson, and surprised part of a regiment under Colonel Baylor. In this affair they were charged with unnecessary cruelty; as, of one hundred and four privates, sixty-seven were killed, wounded and taken. The number of victims would have been greater, but for the humanity of one of General Grey's captains, who refused to execute the bloody orders he had received. A few days later Colonel Butler surprised a party of British under Captain Donop, and, without the loss of a man, killed ten, and took the commanding officer and eighteen yagers prisoners.

The British having returned to New York, they sent an expedition against Little Egg Harbor, in Jersey, which was entirely successful. They also surprised Count Pulaski, who was there stationed with a legion he had succeeded in raising. The infantry were put to the bayonet, but the cavalry made their escape.

In these marauding expeditions, which, in a national contest, are inglorious and contemptible, as much mischief to private property was done as possible, which seemed to show that a spirit of vengeance had now taken the place of the hope of recovering the colonies.

On the third of November, d'Estaing sailed for the West Indies, and thus ended his costly and fruitless expedition, which bade fair to be decisive of the contest; and which failed, first by disasters from the elements, and then from misunderstandings in which the interests of the common cause seem to have been sacrificed to paltry personal feelings on both sides.

After the French fleet sailed for the West Indies, a part of the British forces was also sent thither, and another portion, under the command of Lieutenantcolonel Campbell, was intended to act against Georgia