_April_ the 6th, the General accompany'd by Brigadier _Guise_, and the principal Engineer reconnoitred the City from the Convent of _La Popa_; and having at his Return assembled a Council of War, it was debated, whether the Fort should not be attacked the following Night, before the Enemy should have finished some Works upon the Hill, "which they were then carrying on with the utmost Diligence;" but as no Stores were yet landed from the Ordnance Ships, it was found necessary to postpone the Attack. Two twelve Pounders, Three three Pounders with fifty rounds of Powder and Ball, and five rounds of Grape-Shot, were put on Shore in the Evening[22]. Some _American_ Soldiers being landed from the Fleet, as likewise the Negroes and some working Tools, the Ground was begun to be cleared for the Encampment; but the excessive Heat not only retarded the Work, but proved fatal to most of the _Europeans_ who were there employed. _April_ the 7th, The Council of War being reassembled, and having received the Report of the principal Engineer, and likewise taken into Consideration, the Intelligence given by Deserters and Prisoners; they were of Opinion, that the Fort ought not to be attempted without having first raised a Battery, for which the principal Engineer was ordered to pitch upon the proper Ground, to draw a Scheme for putting that Design in Execution; and, as soon as should be practicable, to lay it before the Council. This their Resolution was the same Day communicated to the Admiral, to which was added as their Opinion, that the Success would be much facilitated, "if the Bomb-Vessels were ordered to Fire upon Fort St. _Lazar_, and likewise if one of the large Ships of War was brought in to batter it." The Admiral returned an Answer the same Evening, in which "he strongly expressed his Dislike to our waiting for a Battery", and declared, "that if the Council of War still persisted in their Resolution to raise one against so paltry a Fort, he would answer for it, that if the Engineer did but compleat it, the Enemy would not wait a minute for the Cannon;" but to that part of their Resolution, wherein is represented the Expediency of bombarding the Fort, and of sending in a large Ship to fire upon it, the Admiral "was not pleased to give any direct Answer."