Strenuous futility continued to be the note of the operations on both sides. The end of all this display of force by Grasse had been the transfer of a small island from England to France. In Paris there was indeed a very general belief that Grasse had not done enough. His nephew, who carried home his despatches reporting the operations off Fort Royal from the 29th April to 1st May, had a very cold reception from the king. The admiral’s excuse that the British ships were all coppered and sailed better than his own was grimly received. If we are to accept it the French officer deserved high credit for baffling Rodney’s efforts to bring him to battle between the 3rd and 9th June—credit, that is, for skill if not for high spirit. The English reader may be excused for not accepting it at once, for, if it is well founded, Rodney was grievously to blame for allowing himself to be baffled. But this lament of want of speed is heard on both sides, till we are almost forced to regard it as a standing excuse. Sir George’s failure can be sufficiently explained by the fact that his mind had been clouded by a passion of avarice at St. Eustatius, and that his health was breaking down. He was not free either in body or mind to give minute attention to his command. His solitary habits grew on him, and his second in command, Hood, angered by the distant hauteur of his chief, paid sullen and exact obedience to orders and held his peace. In his letters he repaid himself by scornful invective. On his return to Fort Royal Grasse prepared for the vigorous campaign which was to redeem his reputation and to decide the war in North America. All through the war Washington had been eagerly pressing for a combined attack on the British forces either in New York or in the South, and Grasse had orders to co-operate. Washington would have preferred the first, but when he found that the French preferred the second he accepted the alternative. Grasse left Fort Royal on the 5th July for Cape Français (now Cape Haytien) in San Domingo, taking with him a convoy of 200 merchant ships. At Cape Français he received the pressing appeals of Washington and the French authorities to come on to North America with ships, troops, and bullion. The ships he had, and he increased them by taking the vessels already at Cape Français which were destined to convoy the trade home. The merchant ships were ordered to remain in the colony till the next season—a bold measure, which would probably have been beyond the courage of a British admiral who served a commercial state. Three thousand two hundred troops with ten field pieces and a siege train were lent him by M. de Lillancourt, governor of Saint Domingo. Bullion he could not obtain in the French colony. An appeal to the Spaniards at Havana produced about £60,000. On the 28th July Grasse sent the _Concorde_ frigate with the announcement that he was coming, and on the 5th August he sailed