NEWS OF THE CAPTURE OF THE ALCIDE AND LYS REACHES ENGLAND.

On the fifteenth of July, an express arrived from admiral Boscawen, with an account of his having taken the two French ships of war, the Alcide and the Lys. This was certainly contrary to the expectation of the court of France; for had they apprehended any such attack, they would not have ordered Mr. Macnamara to return to Brest with the chief part of their squadron; nor was it perhaps less contrary to the expectation of some of our own ministry; but as matters had been carried so far, it was then too late to retreat; and, therefore, orders were soon after given to all our ships of war to make reprisals upon the French, by taking their ships wherever they should meet them. Sir Edward Hawke sailed from Portsmouth on the twenty-first of July, with eighteen ships of war, to watch the return of the French fleet from America; which, however, escaped him, and arrived at Brest on the third day of September. Commodore Frankland sailed from Spithead for the West Indies on the thirteenth of August, with four ships of war, furnished with orders to commit hostilities, as well as to protect our trade and sugar-islands from any insult that the French might offer; and the duke de Mirepoix, their ambassador at the court of London, set out for Paris on the twenty-second of July, without taking leave.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760