EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES.

The French admirals, instead of pursuing Rooke to Madeira, made an unsuccessful attempt upon Cadiz, and bombarded Gibraltar, where the merchants sunk their ships that they might not fall into the hands of the enemy. Then they sailed along the coast of Spain, destroyed some English and Dutch vessels at Malaga, Alicant, and other places, and returned in triumph to Toulon. About this period sir Francis Wheeler returned to England with his squadron from an unfortunate expedition in the West Indies. In conjunction with colonel Codrington, governor of the Leeward Islands, he made unsuccessful attempts upon the islands of Martinique and Dominique. Then he sailed to Boston in New England with a view to concert an expedition against Quebec, which was judged impracticable. He afterwards steered for Placentia in Newfoundland, which he would have attacked without hesitation; but the design was rejected by a majority of voices in the council of war. Thus disappointed, he set sail for England, and arrived at Portsmouth in a very shattered condition, the greater part of his men having died in the course of this voyage.