[Extract]

The Spanish affair seems to have the most disturbing results here. The King of England had the courtesy to forbid that any reference to this matter be made in the Gazette of the Court. He did not speak of it to the Prince of Masseran;² but he conversed a long time about it with me trustingly and with pleasure. From the details which this Prince has received, it is obvious that the Walloon and Spanish Guards forming the vanguard went into action without awaiting the completion of the landing, an unfortunate result from the lack of discipline to which many people would still substitute the "esprit de corps". The King of England cannot conceive how the Admiral could land all his supplies in the thirty hours time which the troops spent on shore, putting himself into such a position that he could not shell Algiers. It seems that there was in this expedition a frightening intrigue which caused its failure. His British Majesty seemed to be convinced of that; He even said so to me in the greatest secret, adding that it was intended for me alone; those were his words. I must not keep any secrets from the King, and I throw myself on the caution which His Majesty will deem necessary to show in making use of this information. . . .

Yesterday I saw Milady Dunmore who just arrived from Virginia. She told me the dreadful story of all that goes on there. She was almost arrested as a hostage. Her husband hardly had the time to put her on board ship and himself take refuge on board a ship. However, at the time of his departure he had not yet taken the decision, which I mentioned to you in my preceding letters to free all the negroes. The position of this Colony is all the more interesting because it is the most populated in all Northern America. I enclose a copy of the message she presented for Lord Dunmore. It is remarkable, Sir, in as much as it shows: first, the well established claim to the freedom of trade, which is, as I always stated because it is so, an unsurmountable obstacle to any conciliation; secondly, the opinion about Mylord Chatham which is still held in this part of the world and the effect it may have in the latter.

Five Infantry Regiments from Ireland have received the order to embark on 10 September for America, as well as a detachment of Artillery with a complement of 200 men, and two to three thousand recruits. I was told by Mylord Barrington, Secretary of War, that they would add two Cavalry Regiments to this expedition. The frigate Lizard has sailed for Quebec. Since the report I sent you on the 23rd of last month, two other frigates and a corvette have been ordered to sail for Boston. Thus, the number of troops now in America or under orders to go there comes to 17,796 men, the number of warships comes to 62 and the number of sailors to 10,410. This is quite a number of people and ships. The expedition of Cavalry Regiments seems to deserve some attention for it is a fact that the dragoons, now in Boston, are of no use whatever; the interior of the country is so interce[p]ted by walls and ditches that, should one be able to penetrate it, the cavalry would be most ill at ease. Besides, the precence of all these troops is not in agreement with what Mylord Rochford always stated to me, the project of war by means of the sea. Truly, Sir, you can see from my last dispatches that this Minister is not very consistent. But he constantly refers to this plan by which war at sea and ruination of the trade are the only means to subdue the Americans unfailingly. Lately he even used in this matter a rather unusual comparison which he gave me as the basis for the decisions taken by the Council of the King of England. "Sir, he said to me, we, at the Council, are convinced that it would be just as impossible to persuade the Americans to do without luxury as it would be to persuade ourselves and every one of us to do without clairet wine." This policy is neither noble, nor sober; and I believe that it befits them more than the Americans. Be that as it may, it is their policy, and an Army on land is absolutely useless for the purpose of ruining the American trade, purpose, however, which the said policy proclaims as the only principle governing the English operations and views.

The affairs in Canada are becoming serious, and I do not doubt that Mylord Rochford gave me a false piece of news when he positively said to me that he had good reason to rely entirely upon the Canadians. . . . I know from someone who just arrived from Quebec and Montreal that public opinion there is anything but disposed to take the side of England. Apparently, the raising of the militia is encountering a great deal of difficulty. If it is to take place, it will only be by force.