FRENCH FLEET SAILS FROM BREST.

The French fleet being thus hampered, forbore their attempt upon Britain; and the projected invasion seemed to hang in suspense till the month of August, in the beginning of which their army in Germany was defeated at Minden. Their designs in that country being baffled by this disaster, they seemed to convert their chief attention to their sea armament; the preparations were resumed with redoubled vigour; and, even after the defeat of La Clue, they resolved to try their fortune in a descent. They now proposed to disembark a body of troops in Ireland. Thurot received orders to sail from Dunkirk with the first opportunity, and shape his course round the northern parts of Scotland, that he might alarm the coast of Ireland, and make a diversion from that part where Conflans intended to effectuate the disembarkation of his forces. The transports and ships of war were assembled at Brest and Rochefort, having on board a train of artillery, with saddles, and other accoutrements for cavalry, to be mounted in Ireland; and a body of French troops, including part of the Irish brigade, was kept in readiness to embark. The execution of this scheme was, however, prevented by the vigilance of sir Edward Hawke, who blocked up the harbour of Brest with a fleet of twenty-three capital ships; while another squadron of smaller ships and frigates, under the command of captain Duff, continued to cruise along the French coast, from Port L’Orient in Bretagne, to the point of St. Gilles in Poitou. At length, however, in the beginning of November, the British squadron, commanded by sir Edward Hawke, sir Charles Hardy, and rear-admiral Geary, were driven from the coast of France by stress of weather, and on the ninth day of the month anchored in Torbay. The French admiral, Conflans, snatched this opportunity of sailing from Brest, with one-and-twenty sail of the line and four frigates, in hopes of being able to destroy the English squadron commanded by captain Duff, before the large fleet could return from the coast of England. Sir Edward Hawke, having received intelligence that the French fleet had sailed from Brest, immediately stood to sea in order to pursue them; and, in the meantime, the government issued orders for guarding all those parts of the coast that were thought the most exposed to a descent. The land-forces were put in motion, and quartered along the shore of Kent and Sussex: all the ships of war in the different harbours, even those that had just arrived from America, were ordered to put to sea, and every step was taken to disconcert the designs of the enemy.