4

ANTECEDENTS OF D'ESTAING.

accusation, and to incarceration in the chief city of the enemy. From London, he appealed, by every means in his power, to Versailles, to avenge his honour and the cause of France. To d'Estaing, prudence appeared timidity. His ardent enthusiasm and eager impulse had often impelled him to deeds of daring, by which he had risked his own life and the lives of his men in a way more creditable to zeal than to discretion.

Biographers have asserted that d'Estaing was harshly treated during his imprisonment in London, and that he was not set free until the Peace of 1763; but from a manuscript correspondence between the Duc de Choiseul and the Earl of Egremont, it appears that he was liberated a year before that date; also, that the Kings of France and Great Britain exchanged personal compliments and expressions of mutual good-will upon the occasion. Of this let the reader-if he please-judge for himself from the following translations :

The Duc de Choiseul's Letter to the Earl of Egremont (in Lord Bute's Secret Letter).*

“Versailles, March 7th, 1762.

"MONSIEUR,-I have received the letter which your Ex* MSS. Mus. Brit. Mitchell Papers.

LETTER OF THE DUC DE CHOISEUL.

5

cellency did me the honour to write to me, the 22nd of the month past, and I begin by making my very humble excuses to your Excellency for that letter of mine, which has been delivered to you by the Piqueur du Roy (Lė Roux), which, by an inconceivable stupidity of that same Piqueur, was more than one month upon its road, so that I could not recall it when I learned the return of M. le Comte d'Estaing. I therefore supplicate your Excellency to disregard that letter of mine, seeing the goodness with which his Britannic Majesty has sent back M. d'Estaing. It is true that the family of that officer had been alarmed at the treatment which he experienced in England, and it was impossible for me to refuse the solicitations addressed to me in his behalf by those who were interested concerning him. "The King, my master, has ordered me to mark to your Excellency all the sensibility he feels of the proceeding which has distinguished the conduct of his Britannic Majesty towards him upon this occasion; and to add that, notwithstanding the unhappy circumstances now existent between the two nations, his Majesty desires his Britannic Majesty to reckon on his friendship, and consequently on his desire of establishing a reconciliation, founded upon the esteem with which the virtues of his Britannic Majesty inspire him. As to Monsieur d'Estaing, I acknowledge to your Excellency that it has appeared to me very difficult to judge of his conduct rigorously; but at the same time I confess that it has not been as delicate as it ought to have been. I have expressed to him my opinion of it on the part of the king. supplicate you, monsieur, to tell me if M. d'Estaing is free to serve in Europe, for I promise you that during this war we will not cause him to recross the

ocean.

"It remains to me to mark to your Excellency the senti

6

LORD EGREMONT'S LETTER.

ments of the distinguished consideration with which I have the honour to be, of your Excellence, the obedient, &c. "LE DUC DE CHOISEUL."

The Earl of Egremont's Letter to the Duc de Choiseul (in Lord Bute's Secret Letter).

"Whitehall, April 7th, 1762. "MONSIEUR,-Just as I was about to reply to your letter of the past month, I was attacked with a very violent illness, from which I am now recovering, so that I was obliged to defer the honour of writing to you. It is with true pleasure that I employ the first moments of my convalescence in thanking you, and in informing you, monsieur, of the real satisfaction with which the King has learned that he has succeeded in his intention of doing that which was agreeable to his very Christian Majesty in the matter of M. le Comte d'Estaing. And as his Majesty, in restoring him to liberty, never thought of attaching any conditions to that liberty, he orders me to send word to your Excellence, that the fate of that officer is left entirely at the disposition of his very Christian Majesty the King of France.

"The King, my master, on his part, also orders me to beg you to tell his very Christian Majesty that he is deeply sensible of the assurances of his friendship, and to add that that entertained by his Majesty for his very Christian Majesty has never been diminished by the sad circumstances of the war in which, to his very great regret, the two nations are engaged.—I have the honour to be, of your Excellence, the obedient servant,

"EGREMONT."

But, though thus released in 1762, by special intercession of Louis XV., d'Estaing had, in the

VINDICTIVE MEMORIES.

7

intervening best years of his life, nourished an animosity against the English, by whom he had been twice taken prisoner, by whom he had been accused of having broken his word, and by complacency to whom the late King of France had restrained his arm during the remainder of the late war. In those intervening years d'Estaing had perfected his soldiership and seamanship, and time had done nothing to impair his warlike ardour, In 1777, d'Estaing was named Vice-Admiral of France. This honour he at first declined, declaring that "a general officer of land forces ought not to be placed over the heads of those who had grown old in the command of the sea." But France, now about to revenge herself for the loss of Canada, knew the value of personal animosity too well to permit d'Estaing thus to withdraw himself. In 1778, therefore, he was placed in command of a squadron of twelve ships and four frigates this being the first squadron which was sent by the French Government to the succour of the United States.

D'Estaing was eagerly welcomed by Lafayette, D'Estaing had hoped to have met the squadron of Admiral Howe in the Delaware, but he quickly

D'ESTAING AND WASHINGTON.

solaced himself for disappointment on this point, by concerting with General Washington and Lafayette the conquest of Rhode Island. D'Estaing's fleet had sailed from Toulon on the 13th of April. The winds had been against the fleet. It did not anchor at the mouth of the Delaware until the 8th of July; and, in consequence of this adverse delay, the French Admiral had failed to encounter Lord Howe's squadron. D'Estaing, however, lost no time in writing to General Washington this letter:

"I have the honour of informing your Excellency of the arrival of the fleet of his most Christian. Majesty, my master, the King of France, charged with the glorious task of giving to the United States of America, his allies, all proofs of his affection... Honoured as I am by command' of this fleet, nothing can give me so much happiness as to succeed in carrying out the good-will and intentions of the King, my master, in concerting my operations with a General such as is your Excellency. The noble deeds and genius of General Washington have insured for him, in the hearts of all Europe, the truly sublime title of 'Deliverer of America.""