Duplicate
George R.
Secret Instructions for Our Trusty and welbeloved Sir Henry Clinton Knight of Our most honorable Order of the Bath, and General & Commander in chief of Our Forces in North America, Or the Commander in chief of Our Forces for the time being.
Given at Our Court at St James's the 21st day of March 1778 in the 18th year of Our Reign.
Whereas the French King, contrary to the most solemn assurances, and in subversion of the Law of Nations, hath signed a Treaty of Amity & Commerce, with certain Persons employ'd by our revolted Subjects in North America. And it being Our firm purpose & determination to resent so unprovoked, & unjust an aggression on the honor of Our Crown, and the Essential Interest of Our Kingdoms; We have come to the Resolution to make an immediate attack, upon the Island of St Lucia in the West Indies.
It is therefore Our Will & Pleasure, that you do with the greatest Secrecy, & Dispatch, make a Detachment of a Body of Five Thousand Men from the Troops under your command, and putting them under the command of such Officer of Rank & Experience, as you shall think most fit, to execute the Service, and adding thereto a proper Corps of Artillery, & such a proportion of Ordnance, & Stores, and a sufficient supply of Provisions. Embark the whole on board of Transports, and so soon as the Commander of Our Fleet in North America, shall appoint a proper number of Our Ships of War, to convoy the said embarkation, you do direct the Commanding Officer of the Troops, to proceed with them to the Island of St Lucia, and to Attack, and if practicable Reduce, and take possession of the said Island. And in case of Success, he is to retain such a part of Our Forces, as he shall Judge sufficient, for the Defence thereof, and distribute the remainder of Our Troops among Our West India Islands, in such manner, and such proportions, as from the Information he receives, he shall Judge most proper for their protection, & security, against any attack of the Enemy.
It is most essential to the success of this Enterprize, that that it be carried into immediate execution. You will therefore in concert with the Commander of Our Ships, use all possible diligence, in forwarding the departure of the Fleet, so as that it may arrive at the place of its destination, before the Hurricane Season.
It is also Our Will & Pleasure, that you do likewise detach, another body of Our Troops, under your command, to consist of Three thousand Men, together with a proper proportion of Ordnance, & Stores, and a sufficient number of Artillery Men, to complete the Company of that Corps in the Floridas: And embark the whole on board of Transports, and order them to proceed in two divisions, under proper Convoy. The one Division to consist of such part of the said Three thousand Men as you shall think proper, to go to St Augustine, and the other, to consist of the remainder, to go to Pensacola, with which last mentioned Division a General Officer is to proceed, in order to take upon him the command of Our Forces in West Florida.
When these Detachments are made, or at the time of making them, if you shall find it convenient, It is Our Will & Pleasure that you do evacuate Philadelphia, and having embark'd all the Troops, as also the Ordnance, Stores, Provisions, & every thing belonging to Us, or necessary for Our Troops, you are to proceed with the whole to New York, where you are to continue, & wait the issue of the Treaty, which we have authorised Our Commissioners to propose.1
If that Treaty should prove unsuccessful, and you shall find yourself in danger of being overpowerd, & forced, by the superior numbers of the Enemy, or your retreat likely to be cut off. In either of these cases, it is Our Will & Pleasure, that you withdraw Our Troops from New York, & embarking them on board of Transports, and taking with you all the Ordnance, & Stores, and Provisions, & every thing belonging to Us, or useful for Our Troops, proceed with them under Convoy of a sufficient number of Our Ships of War, to Rhode Island, if that Post can be maintained, and leaving there, in such case, as many Men as may be necessary for its defence, proceed with the rest to Halifax, and if you shall have a greater number of Troops there, than you shall judge necessary for the defence of Nova Scotia, you are to detach what you can spare, to Canada, together with such light Ordnance, & Stores, and so many of the Corps of Artillery, as you shall think proper, for the service in that Province.
And in order to facilitate these removals of Our Troops, if such removals shall become necessary, You are upon your arrival at New York, to select, & set apart, such proportions of Our Ordnance & Stores as you shall Judge necessary & useful to the Army in the present circumstances, and also such further Ordnance, & stores, as may be wanted, in case an attack upon New Orleans shall hereafter become expedient, and having so done, you are to take all safe opportunities of sending to Great Britain, all such Ordnance & Stores, as you shall Judge unnecessary to be retained.
As Our Ships of War must now be supplied with their Marines, And We have given Orders that the 70th Regiment and the new raised Regiments, commanded by Colonels Maclean, & Campbell,2 making together a body of 2700 Men, should proceed to Halifax from Great Britain, and they are expected to sail from the Clyde early in next Month, You are upon the arrival of the aforesaid Regiments at Halifax, to permit the Battalion of Marines stationed there, consisting of about six hundred Men, to return on board their respective Ships, or be brought to England, as Our Commissioners of the Admiralty shall think fit. But you are with all convenient dispatch, to Send to Halifax a complete Company of Artillery, together with some light Ordnance, & suitable Stores. And in case, from any Intelligence you receive, you shall have reason to apprehend, an Attack is meditated upon Our Province of Nova Scotia, or Our Naval Yard at Halifax, You are without delay, to send there such Reinforcements as you shall Judge necessary for their defence.
