On the 13th of February, 1748, the British squadron in the West Indies sailed from Jamaica under the command of Rear-Admiral Knowles, on an expedition against St. Jago, in Cuba, for which purpose some land forces were embarked at Jamaica, and being joined with the Marines of the squadron, the whole put to sea; but after persevering for some time against strong northerly winds, which prevented their approaching that coast, the design was given up, and the force was directed against _Port Louis_, on the south side of Hispaniola, before which place it arrived on the 8th of March. The service was performed by the ships in line of battle, which, after three hours’ heavy cannonade, compelled the governor, M. de Chaleaunoye, to surrender, when Major Scott, with a detachment of Colonel Trelawny’s, the forty-ninth regiment, and the Marines, were landed, and took possession of the Fort in the name of His Majesty. After having shipped or destroyed upwards of eighty heavy cannon, and blown up the works, the whole were re-embarked; and Rear-Admiral Knowles resumed his former design against St. Jago, where he arrived on the 5th of April. The Plymouth and Cornwall were ordered to enter the harbour, but after firing a few broadsides at the castle, it was considered prudent to desist, and the squadron returned to Jamaica. The distresses of France arising from the destruction of her Navy, and the annihilation of her commerce, compelled King Louis XV. to express a desire for peace. Accordingly, a congress was held at _Aix-la-Chapelle_, in order to negotiate the terms on which peace could be restored. The desire expressed by the King of France, as well as of Spain, did not, however, induce the British Government to relax in its efforts to reduce the means which those powers never failed to use, when opportunities offered, of thwarting the measures of Great Britain. The negotiations, commenced at Aix-la-Chapelle in June, 1748, produced a Definitive Treaty of Peace, which was concluded on the 18th of October of that year, and was proclaimed on the 2nd of February, 1749. Among the many reductions which took place during 1748, consequent on the General Peace, the Ten regiments of Marines were disbanded in November of that year, the officers of which were placed on half-pay. [Sidenote: 1755] The conditions of the Peace concluded with France in 1748, were broken as soon as that Power had recovered from the effects of the former war: the interval of six years had been devoted to extending her Naval preparations, and to negotiations with other States, in order to reduce, or destroy, the power of Great Britain.