chase with the whole fleet, and by seven plainly discovered the chase to be a French fleet; that nine of the ships had shortened sail, and were drawing into a line of battle ahead, three of which appeared to be smaller than the others; and that the rest of the fleet, whom I judged to be under their convoy, were stretching to the westward with all the sail they could

set.

"At one o'clock I made the signal for the line of battle abreast, and in half an hour afterwards for the line ahead. About three I made the signal for the ship in the van to lead more large, in order to come to a close engagement with the enemy; who, getting their fore-tacks on board, and loosing their top-gallant sails, convinced me that their sole aim was to gain time, and endeavour to make their escape under favour of the night, finding themselves deceived in our strength; upon which I made a signal for the whole fleet to pursue the enemy and attack them, without having any regard to the line of battle.

"The Centurion having got up with the sternmost ship of the enemy about four o'clock began to engage her, upon which two of the largest of the enemy's ships bore down to her assistance. The Namur, Defiance, and Windsor, being the headmost ships, soon entered into the action, and after having disabled those ships in such a manner that the ships astern must come up with them, they made sail ahead to prevent the van of the enemy making an escape, as did also several other ships of the fleet.

"The Yarmouth and Devonshire having got up and engaged the enemy, and the Prince George being near the Invincible, and going to fire into her, all the ships in the enemy's rear struck their colours between six and seven o'clock; as did all those that were in the line before night. I brought-to at seven, having ordered the Monmouth, Yarmouth, and Nottingham to

pursue the convoy, who then bore W. by S. at the distance only of four or five leagues, so that I was in hopes of having a very good account of them.

"The Falcon sloop (which I had sent after the convoy during the action, with orders to make signals to the other ships) returned to the fleet the next day with the Dartmouth Indiaman. I have taken in all six men-of-war and four Indiamen, of which are the particulars as under :—

"The Ruby had struck several of her guns into the hold, having all the guns and stores on board for a new frigate at Quebec. I have put the prizes into a condition to proceed with me to Spithead, and am in hopes that I shall arrive there in a few days; but it has taken up so much of our time together with shifting and distributing our prisoners, that have not hitherto been able to get a perfect account of the killed and wounded on either side. Our loss is not very considerable, except that of Captain Grenville, who was an excellent officer, and is a great loss to the service in general. Captain Boscawen was wounded in the shoulder by a musketball, but is almost recovered.

"To do justice to the French officers, they did their duty well, and lost their ships with honour, scarcely any of them striking their colours until their ships were dismasted. M. St. George kept his colours flying some time after the

General had struck. The Sérieux and Diamant were with great difficulty kept from sinking, which would not have been prevented without throwing great part of their guns overboard, as well as many chests of small arms intended for the expedition. The French general, M. de la Jonquière, is wounded in two places, the captain of the Gloire killed, and the second captain of the Invincible had his leg shot off."

It was afterwards ascertained that the French loss in killed and wounded amounted to about 700, that of the British to about 520; so that when the great disparity of force is considered, the English fleet being twice the strength of the French, it must be admitted that the French fought gallantly. And, indeed, complete as was the English victory, it was not, for this reason, one to boast of; defeat was impossible; and Anson's real merit lay in the admirable seamanship by which he embraced in his snares the whole of the French squadron. If the English carried off the trophies of victory and its substantial reward, the French must be credited with an elegant compliment which they elicited from it. The Invincible struck to the flag-ship, the Prince George, and its captain went on board the latter to surrender his sword to the Vice-Admiral. Approaching with an air of dignified courtesy and graceful submission, he said, "Monsieur, vous avez vaincu l'Invincible, et la Gloire vous suit" (Sir, you have conquered the Invincible, and Glory follows you).

The treasure captured on board the French squadron and convoy amounted to about £300,000, besides stores of all kinds of immense value. When the victorious fleet reached Portsmouth, the bullion was deposited in twenty waggons, conveyed to London, and with much military pomp paraded through the streets of the City to the Bank, amid the shouts of exultant thousands. The houses were illuminated, and bonfires blazed in

-treet. To the victorious Admiral the

'Approaching with an air of dignified courtesy and graceful submission, he said, Monsieur, vous avez vaincre l'Invincible, et la Gloire vous suit.

Page 118.