THE FRENCH TAKE THE BLANDFORD.
Though the English continued to make reprisals upon the French, not only in the seas of America, but also in those of Europe, by taking every ship they could meet with, and detaining them, their cargoes, and crews; yet the French, whether from a consciousness of their want of power by sea, or that they might have a more plausible plea to represent England as the aggressor, were so far from returning these hostilities, that their fleet, which escaped sir Edward Hawke, having, on the thirteenth of August, taken the Blandford ship of war, with governor Lyttelton on board, going to Carolina, they set the governor at liberty, as soon as the court was informed of the ship’s being brought into Nantes, and shortly after released both the ship and the crew. However, at the same time, their preparations for a land war still went on with great diligence, and their utmost arts and efforts were fruitlessly exerted to persuade the Spaniards and Dutch to join with them against Great Britain.