Thus the English have been permitted, against probabilities and appearances, to throw succor into Gibraltar, and perhaps Mahon, to give a little fresh confidence to the Ministry, and make a few bonfires for the populace, but have added very little to their riches or their power. In the meantime, Rodney must have been retarded by these lucky accidents, in his course to the West Indies, and given opportunity to the Count de Guichen to arrive before him in the West Indies, and prevent the reconquest of the Grenadas, and perhaps do more, but of this Congress will be informed sooner than I. These successes have not suppressed the independent spirit of Ireland, which is going on in a regular train, deliberating upon bills for the independence of the judges, the habeas corpus, the restriction, of subsidies, and discipline of their troops, and they seem determined to throw off all the authority of the British Parliament; nor that of the Committees of Correspondence and petitioners in the counties of England, which threaten associations, and, as the Ministry themselves say, sedition, faction, tumults, and rebellion; nor provided a fleet for the British channel for the ensuing summer, nor assuaged the serious resentment of Holland, for the piracies committed in violation of the faith of treaties, as well as the laws of nature and nations, upon their commerce. As it is most interesting to us to know the forces to be employed in America, by which word I comprehend the West India Islands, as well as the coasts of the Continent, all these being connected together in such a manner as to make but one whole, I beg leave to lay before Congress in one view, the French force that is intended to be in that service. There are actually at Cape François, the Touant of eightyfour guns, the Robuste, and the Fendant, of seventyfour, the Sphinx of sixtyfour, and the Amphion of fifty, in all five. At Martinique, the Admirable, the Magnifique, the Dauphin Royal, and the Diadème, of seventyfour; the Réfléchi, the Vengeur, the Artisane, of sixtyfour, and the Fiers of fifty. In all eight, making in the whole thirteen ships of the line, reckoning as such two fiftys. If the Count de Guichen should happily arrive, he has seventeen, which will amount to the number of thirty, besides frigates. Six others are preparing at Brest with all possible expedition, under the command of M. de Ternay. The Duc de Burgone of eighty guns, the Neptune of seventyfour, M. Destouches; the Magnanime of seventyfour, M. de Vaudreuil; the Eveille of sixtyfour, M. de Trobuiand; the Jason of sixtyfour, M. de Marigny. With this fleet the troops are to be embarked, and there are many conjectures, that it is intended for North America. The Languedoc, the Cæsar, the Provence, and the Fantasque, of the fleet of the Count d'Estaing, are careened and refitted, and the Royal Louis of one hundred and ten guns, the Northumberland, and the Astrea are to be launched immediately.