ly declined a decisive engagement with a French
squadron of inferior force; and abandoned the important settlement of
Madras on the coast of Coromandel, which was taken without opposition in
the month of September by the French commodore, de la Bourdonnais. Fort
St. David, and the other British factories in India, would probably have
shared the same fate, had not the enemy's naval force in that country
been shattered and partly destroyed by a terrible tempest. No event of
consequence happened in America, though it was a scene that seemed to
promise the greatest success to the arms of England. The reduction
of Cape Breton had encouraged the ministry to project the conquest of
Quebec, the capital of Canada, situated upon the river St. Lawrence.
Commissions were sent to the governors of the British colonies in North
America, empowering them to raise companies to join the armament from
England; and eight thousand troops were actually raised in consequence
of these directions; while a powerful squadron and transports, having
six regiments on board, were prepared at Portsmouth for this expedition.
But their departure was postponed by unaccountable delays, until the
season was judged too far advanced to risk the great ships on the
boisterous coast of North America. That the armament, however, might
not be wholly useless to the nation, it was employed in making a descent
upon the coast of Bretagne, on the supposition that Port L'Orient, the
repository of all the stores and ships belonging to the French East
India company, might be surprised; or, that this invasion would alarm
the enemy, and, by making a diversion, facilitate the operations of the
Austrian general in Provence.

The naval force intended for this service consisted of sixteen great
ships, and eight frigates, besides bomb-ketches and store ships,
commanded by Richard Lestock, appointed admiral of the blue division.
Six battalions of land troops, with a detachment of matrosses and
bombardiers, were embarked in thirty transports, under the conduct of
lieutenant-general Sinclair; and the whole fleet set sail from Plymouth
on the fourteenth day of September. On the twentieth the troops were
landed in Quimperlay-bay, at the distance of ten miles from Port
L'Orient. The militia, reinforced by some detachments from different
regiments, were assembled to the number of two thousand, and seemed
resolved to oppose the disembarkation; but seeing the British troops
determined to