of the kingdom followed the example exhibited
by that of Paris, in asserting their authority and privileges. The king
commanded them to desist, on pain of incurring his indignation;
they remonstrated, and persevered; while the archbishop repeated his
injunctions and censures, and continued to inflame the dispute to such
a dangerous degree, that he was given to understand he should be again
obliged to quit the capital, if he did not proceed with more moderation.
But the chief care of the French ministry was employed in regulating
the finances, and establishing funds of credit for raising money to pay
subsidies, and maintain the war in Europe and America. In the course
of this year they had not only considerably reinforced their armies in
Germany, but made surprising efforts to supply the colony of Canada with
troops, artillery, stores, and ammunition, for its defence against the
operations of the British forces, which greatly outnumbered the French
upon the continent. The court of Versailles practised every stratagem
to elude the vigilance of the English cruisers. The ships destined for
America they detached, both single and in convoys, sometimes from
the Mediterranean, sometimes from their harbours in the channel. They
assembled transports in one port, in order to withdraw the attention of
their enemies from another, where their convoys lay ready for sailing;
and in boisterous weather, when the English could no longer block up
their harbours, their store-ships came forth, and hazarded the voyage
for the relief of their American settlements. Those that had the good
fortune to arrive on the coast of that continent, were obliged to have
recourse to different expedients for escaping the British squadrons
stationed at Halifax, or cruising in the bay of St. Laurence. They
either ventured to navigate the river before it was clear of the ice, so
early in the spring, that the enemy had not yet quitted the harbour of
Nova-Scotia; or they waited on the coast of Newfoundland for such thick
fogs as might screen them from the notice of the English cruisers, in
sailing up the gulf; lastly, they penetrated through the straits of
Belleisle, a dangerous passage, which, however, led them directly into
the river St. Laurence, at a considerable distance above the station
of the British squadron. Though the French navy was by this time so
reduced, that it could neither face the English at sea nor furnish
proper convoys for commerce, her minis