_Brussels, 30th of May._ "The arrival of extraordinary couriers continually from Versailles and Madrid to Lisbon, gives rise to conjectures, that the good intelligence, which reigns between this Court and that of London, may very well change in part, and that at least his Most Faithful Majesty is not far from adopting the system of Holland and the Northern powers, the effect of which must be the maintenance of the liberty of the navigation and of the commerce of their respective subjects, against the continual depredations of privateers." _Paris, 30th of May._ "We learn by letters from Ferrol, that the Intendant of the Marine in that port had received orders to send out without delay, eight ships of the line and four frigates, and to deliver them packets, which are sent him, not to be opened but in a certain latitude. They write from Brest, that they continue to work at the armament of the vessels intended for the fleet; there are several of them already in the Road. The Actif of seventyfour guns came in on the 17th. They expected in that port the fleet from Bordeaux, loaded with stores, provisions, and wine. Their arrival is necessary to equip completely the squadron destined to transport a second division of troops of four or five thousand men. The convoy, which sailed from St Malo on Good Friday, was still at Cherbourg. It is so much the more valuable, as it consists partly of cast cannons, and other pieces of artillery, brought in wagons from the arsenals, for the descent which was to have been made last year. The English who know its value, do not lose sight of it, as they say. And it is said, if they were not restrained by a calculation of the expense, they would bombard Cherbourg, if they could not come at the vessels in port to burn them. It is believed that a few ships of the line may soon go out of Brest, to give chase to the English and scatter them from Cherbourg. _London, 20th of May._ "The despatches, which the Court has received from its Ministers in the Northern Courts, confirm the plan of confederation of the powers of this part of Europe to protect the commerce of their subjects against the attacks of the belligerent powers, and we cannot dissemble that more moderation on our part would have hindered this event, which is about to strike the last blow to our maritime supremacy, and snatch from us forever the empire of the seas, which are about to become again free as they ought to be."