run up St. George's channel, and anchored in
Lundy-road, captain Saumarez of the Antelope, then lying in King-road,
immediately weighed and went in quest of her, according to the advice he
had received. When he appeared, the French captain heaved up his anchor,
and made a show of preparing for an engagement; but soon hauled down his
colours, and, without firing a shot, surrendered, with a complement
of four hundred and seventeen men, to a ship of inferior force both in
number of hands and weight of metal. By this time the English privateers
swarmed to such a degree in the channel, that scarce a French vessel
durst quit the harbour, and consequently there was little or no booty
to be obtained. In this dearth of legal prizes, some of the adventurers
were tempted to commit acts of piracy, and actually rifled the ships
of neutral nations. A Dutch vessel, having on board the baggage and
domestics belonging to the marquis de Pignatelli, ambassador from
the court of Spain to the king of Denmark, was boarded three times
successively by the crews of three different privateers, who forced the
hatches, rummaged the hold, broke open and rifled the trunks and boxes
of the ambassador, insulted and even cruelly bruised his officers,
stripped his domestics, and carried off his effects, together with
letters of credit, and a bill of exchange. Complaints of these outrages
being made to the court of London, the lords of the admiralty promised,
in the gazette, a reward of five hundred pounds, without deduction, to
any person who should discover the offenders concerned in these acts of
piracy. Some of them were detected accordingly, and brought to condign
punishment.

CLAMOURS OF THE DUTCH MERCHANTS, &c.

The Dutch had for some time carried on a very considerable traffic,
not only in taking the fair advantages of their neutrality, but also in
supplying the French with naval stores, and transporting the produce
of the French sugar-colonies to Europe, as carriers hired by the
proprietors. The English government, incensed at this unfair commerce,
prosecuted with such flagrant partiality for their enemies, issued
orders for the cruisers to arrest all ships of neutral powers that
should have French property on board; and these orders were executed
with rigour and severity. A great number of Dutch ships were taken and
condemned as legal prizes, both in England and Jamaica: sometimes
the owners met with hard measures, and some crews were tr