Sir,

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, June 4th, 1780.

We learn from the Hague, the 30th of May, that their Noble and Grand Mightinesses have resolved since the offer of the Commerce, to take for the equipment of the vessels of war put into commission a certain portion of the crews of merchant ships.

As I wish to inform Congress at some time or other of all the conspicuous characters in Europe, who have penetrated enough of the system of events, that compose the present great epoch, and have had sufficient firmness to resist the unnatural efforts and solicitations, which Great Britain has made to disturb it, I think it is proper to take notice, that the Count de Panin, who has been very ill of a chronical disorder, was on the 2d of May much better, and made his appearance at the Court of St Petersburg. This Minister, I fancy, will have great merit with posterity, for the part he has acted for several years in the politics of Europe.

voy

Extract of a letter from Cadiz, 2d of May. "The conunder the escort of Messrs de Thomasco and de Solano, continued in sight all day, the 28th of April; the 29th it went off with a fair wind, which continues to this time. We expect the division of Toulon in fifteen days. Then Don Gaston will go out with a squadron of twelve ships, and all the French vessels, which may be collected in Cadiz. If the thirteen vessels, which are ready at Fer

any principles, or espousing any system, that could lead to reconciliation, or to peace.

4. The general prevalence of profligacy.

rol, join this commander, his fleet will be very respectable, and will not fear that the enemy should oppose his junction with that of Brest."

Toulon, 10th of May. "The order, which the King's ships, the Zélé and the Marseillois, of seventyfour guns, have received unexpectedly to sail, gives place to several conjectures. The most probable is, that they are to join the division of French vessels, which are in the bay of Cadiz; and that after they shall be united, they will go in concert with a Spanish squadron to Brest, to form a part of the fleet destined to cruise in the English Channel. There have been taken up in our port, several merchant vessels on account of the King, to the end to go and carry to Cadiz the provisions of the French division, commanded by the Chevalier Beausset. It is confirmed, that the Experiment, commanded by M. de Martelly Chautard, is arrived at Marseilles, to escort from thence in concert with the frigate the Graciente, and the cutter the Naiade, a considerable convoy of vessels, bound for the islands in America."

Brest, 15th of May. "The convoy, which was coming here from Bordeaux, to form the second division of the expedition under the command of Messrs de Ternay and de Rochambeau, escaped the gale of wind by taking shelter in L'Orient. The Magnanime, which was coming here from Rochfort, having lost an anchor, was obliged to return thither."

Paris, 25th of May. "Letters from Cadiz, dated the 5th of this month, announce the departure of the French squadron, which was in the Road, under the command of M. de Beausset. It was furnished with provisions for six months, and before it put to sea it took in more, for six

weeks; it was to have sailed the 6th. We are absolutely ignorant of the object of his expedition. M. Beausset has despatches, which he is not to open until he arrives at a certain latitude. This squadron, composed of five ships of the line, and loaded with provisions for seven and a half months, is it bound to the Indies? We do not believe that it is. But to combine with M. de Ternay at a certain latitude? Some persons presume so. Others maintain, that this squadron is to make part of the fleet of observation in the Channel, and that the circumstance of seven and a half months' provision is 'a falsity, which ought not to be believed."

They write from Rochfort, that the Invincible, a new ship, of one hundred and four guns, is actually in the Road. The command of this vessel has been given to M. de la Cary. The following article shows, that some foreign merchants are enterprising a trade towards America.

Ostend, 23d of May. "The ship, the City of Brussels, Captain Peter Voughen, of five hundred tons, belonging to merchants of Brussels, who had loaded her for St Eustatia, has had the misfortune to strike, the 20th of this month, in going out of the basin. In spite of the alacrity with which they labor to get her afloat, and repair the damage she has sustained on the occasion, we think she cannot again be put in a condition to proceed to her destination."

Leyden, 30th of May, 1780. "The convoy of troops, which has arrived so apropos, at Barbadoes, and from thence to St Lucia, at the very instant that the Count de Guichen conducted to the Antilles a considerable reinforcement for the French troops, is that which sailed from Portsmouth the 27th, and from Plymouth the 30th of

January, under convoy of the Intrepid, of sixtyfour guns, with some frigates, and which was dispersed upon the coast of Ireland. An officer of the sixtyeighth regiment, (one of the four regiments embarked upon this convoy,) writes from Antigua, the 19th of March. We have been arrived here two days; we sailed from Plymouth the 30th of January, in concert with the eightyseventh, ninetieth, and ninety first regiments, under convoy of the Intrepid, of sixtyfour guns. The next day we were separated from the convoy by a great storm, which lasted six days, and we saw nothing more of any vessel. Having no orders concerning our destination, as we were not to receive them till we had doubled Cape Lizard, we were in great pain concerning the part we should take. Commanding eighty soldiers on board this vessel, it fell to me to direct their route. I ordered the master to conduct us to the first of our West India Islands, which we could gain, and in consequence we arrived here safe and sound. God knows what is become of the rest of the convoy; I hope that it will join us soon.'

The following article I add, from the Mercury of France, of the 3d of June. I cannot answer for the truth of it, nor do I know that it is false.

"They write from London the 11th of May, that a courier despatched from the Hague, by Sir Joseph Yorke, had arrived with the following news. In consequence of the permission granted by the States-General for the passage of the recruits from Brunswick, Hesse, Hanau, &c. in the pay of Great Britain, through the territory of the Republic, and for their embarkation in one of their ports, one ship of war and transports have sailed from England, to take on board these recruits destined for the army in

Canada. But scarcely were the troops and their baggage embarked, when there arrived an order of the States-General to stop their departure. They attribute this conduct of the States-General to the formal demand, which they have made upon Great Britain, of the restitution of the Dutch vessels taken by Commodore Fielding. In consequence, the transports and recruits would remain in Holland, until entire satisfaction should be given to the StatesGeneral upon this object." 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,