THE BRITISH FLEET AT PORT ROYAL. 85 navy, particularly at heart, and his mind glowed with this idea as much when he was simply Captain of the Albemarle, and had obtained none of the honours of his country, as when he was afterwards decorated with so much well-earned distinction." On the 22d of November, Admiral Hood sailed from Sandy Hook for the West Indies, immediately on which, the French fleet under the Marquis de Vaudreuil left Boston for Cape François : finding, however, that the English Admiral had taken his station off that place to intercept him, he altered his course, pushed through the Mona passage, and took shelter in Porto Cavallo, on the coast of the Caraccas. The British fleet then entered Port Royal in the island of Jamaica, where it remained during the winter, to the great joy of the inhabitants, who received the Prince with every demonstrable testimony of affection and respect. His friend Nelson, writing home to Captain Locker on the 25th of February, 1783, says: 66 My situation in Lord Hood's fleet must be in the highest degree flattering to any young man; he treats me as if I were his son, and will, I am convinced, give me any thing I can ask of him. Nor is my situation with Prince William less flattering. Lord Hood was so kind as to tell him, (indeed, I cannot make use of expressions strong enough to describe what I felt,) that if he wished to ask questions relative to naval tactics, I could give him as much information as any officer in the fleet. He will be, I am certain, an ornament to our service. He is a seaman, which you could hardly suppose, with every other qualification you may expect from him; but he will be a disciplinarian, and a strong one. A vast deal of notice has been taken of him at Jamaica; he 86 THE PRINCE AT JAMAICA. has been addressed by the Council, and the House of Assembly was to address him the day after I sailed. He has his levees at Spanish Town; they are all highly delighted with him: with the best temper, and great good sense, he cannot fail of being pleasing to every one." During the stay of his Royal Highness in Jamaica, the planters and merchants raised a body of cavalry, for the express purpose of attending his person as a guard of honour. This corps was called Prince William-Henry's regiment. But that which had been for some time clearly foreseen, now took place. On the 30th of November, 1782, the preliminaries of peace between the belligerent powers were signed at Paris; and soon after, hostilities entirely ceased on all sides. Thus ended a war, marked with more than common asperity, and which had been carried on, for above seven years, on the part of Britain, at an immense expense of blood and treasure, against four powers, only one of whom gained any thing by the contest. France was repaid for her treachery, in meddling with a concern which no way affected her, by a revolutionary contagion, that in a few years overthrew the monarchy, and spread destruction through all her provinces and dependencies. The primary instrument of this tremendous change was La Fayette, who, at the outset of the dispute between America and the parent country, embarked as a volunteer in the cause of the insurgents. That this was contrary to the law of nations, could not admit of a doubt; yet, when the late Earl of Carlisle went to America, as the head of a commission empowered to bring about a cessation of hostilities, La Fayette, in the true spirit of Quixotism, sent his lordship a challenge. The letters which passed on this |