FRENCH AND ENGLISH FLEETS IN THE CHANNEL, ETC.
One of the earliest measures after war was declared by Spain, was the junction of the fleets of the house of Bourbon. On a sudden d’Orvilliers sailed out of Brest, with thirty French sail of the line, and being joined by thirty-eight Spanish ships of the line, he made his way for the English coasts. At this time our fleet, which did not exceed thirty-eight sail of the line, was under the command of Admiral Hardy; and while he was cruizing in the soundings, the French and Spaniards appeared off Plymouth. One ship of sixty-four guns and a number of coasting-vessels were captured by them; but after parading two or three days before Plymouth, they were driven out of the Channel by a strong east wind. The same wind which drove the French and Spaniards out of the Channel had prevented Hardy from entering it; but at length the wind shifted to the westward, and he, in sight of the enemy, then gained its entrance, and England was safe. For, although d’Orvilliers, conscious of his superior strength, wished to engage Hardy out of the Channel, he would not hazard a battle in the narrow sea, where the advantage of numbers would have been lost for want of sea-room, and where the navigation would have been dangerous. Hardy, therefore, having outmanoeuvred the French admiral, proudly anchored at Spithead; and soon after the coast was covered with troops, volunteers, and militia, while fresh ships were fitted out, and cruizers at sea were recalled to the channel. Such a formidable front was shown, that the French and Spaniards were compelled to retire. They sailed for Brest where they lay for several months inactive and useless, and where thousands of them died from a terrible sickness which had broken out among them while laying off the English coast. Added to this misfortune, the Spaniards, who had sent their ships to sea in the hope of achieving high and mighty enterprises, soon found that this naval war with England was to follow the general rule, and to cost them ships and wealth, which they could not well spare. In the course of this year the British captured a large Spanish frigate off the Western Islands, and another off Cape Finisterre; a Spanish register-ship, carrying a considerable treasure from Lima to Cadiz; a rich Manilla ship, said to be the richest taken since the galleon captured by Lord Anson; another plate-ship with 200,000 dollars in specie and a quantity of bullion, &c.; and finally, a great variety of small Spanish craft. At the close of the year, therefore, the Spanish monarch had reason to deplore his rashness in entering into this war.