COMMODORE JOHNSTONE ATTACKED BY DE SUFFREIN, ETC.
During this year the British Cabinet aimed at dispossessing the Dutch of the Cape of Good Hope. Commodore Johnstone was appointed to this enterprise; and he sailed with five ships of the line, some frigates, and smaller vessels, having on board three regiments, under the command of General Meadows. At the solicitation of their ally, the court of Versailles despatched a superior force, under M. de Suffrein, to counteract this design. De Suffrein found Johnstone in the neutral part of Praya, in the island of St. Jago, and proceeded to attack him. He advanced as to certain victory; but though the British force was at first thrown into some confusion, de Suffrein was in the end defeated. Failing in his attempt, the French admiral sailed to the Cape, which he succeeded in reaching before his enemy, and where he landed some troops for the defence of Cape Town. In following de Suffrein, the British commodore met with five Dutch East Indiamen, richly laden, and he succeeded in capturing four of them, and in burning the other. Perceiving, however, that he could not compass the original object of his expedition, he returned to England. When he first set sail, Johnson was accompanied by some outward-bound East Indiamen, which, on his return, he intrusted to Captain Christie, with whom he left a squadron for their defence. Christie captured a French frigate, and convoyed the East Indiamen safely to their place of destination. In the meantime de Suffrein sailed to Pondicherry; but he could not prevent the triumph of British arms on the coast of Coromandel and the island of Sumatra. During the autumn, Negapatnam, Pedang, and other places belonging to the French and Dutch, were captured.