M. de
Vergennes had written to the Marquis of Noailles, then French ambassador
in England. George III. replied to these mocking assurances by recalling
his ambassador.

"Anticipate your enemies," Franklin had said to the ministers of Louis
XVI.;" act towards them as they did to you in 1755: let your ships put to
sea before any declaration of war, it will be time to speak when a French
squadron bars the passage of Admiral Howe who has ventured to ascend the
Delaware." The king's natural straightforwardness and timidity were
equally opposed to this bold project; he hesitated a long while; when
Count d'Estaing at last, on the 13th of April, went out of Toulon harbor
to sail for America with his squadron, it was too late, the English were
on their guard.

When the French admiral arrived in America, hostilities had commenced
between France and England, without declaration of war, by the natural
pressure of circumstances and the state of feeling in the two countries.
England fired the first shot on the 17th of June, 1778. The frigate La
Belle Poule, commanded by M. Chaudeau de la Clochetterie, was cruising in
the Channel; she was surprised by the squadron of Admiral Keppel, issuing
from Portsmouth; the Frenchman saw the danger in time, he crowded sail;
but an English frigate, the Arethusa, had dashed forward in pursuit. La
Clochetterie waited for her and refused to make the visit demanded by the
English captain: a cannon-shot was the reply to this refusal. La Belle
Poule delivered her whole broadside. When the Arethusa rejoined Lord
Keppel's squadron, she was dismasted and had lost many men. A sudden
calm had prevented two English vessels from taking part in, the
engagement. La Clochetterie went on and landed a few leagues from Brest.
The fight had cost the lives of forty of his crew, fifty-seven had been
wounded. He was made postcaptain (_capitaine de vaisseau_). The glory
of this small affair appeared to be of good augury; the conscience of
Louis XVI. was soothed; he at last yielded to the passionate feeling
which was hurrying the nation into war, partly from sympathy towards the
Americans, partly from hatred and rancor towards England. The treaty of
1763 still lay heavy on the military honor of France.

From the day when the Duke of Choiseul had been forced to sign that
humiliating peace, he had never relaxed in his efforts to improve the
French navy. In the course of ministerial alternations, frequently
unf