unt de Viominil; and that the fleet
should put to sea as soon as possible. The wind was favourable to the
French, and adverse to the British. Yet the fleet did not sail until
the evening of the eighth. It appears from a letter of Monsieur
Destouches, that this delay was in some measure attributable to a
disaster which befel one of his frigates in getting out of port; and
there is reason to suppose that it may be ascribed to a want of
supplies. Whatever may have been the cause, Arnold is most probably
indebted to it for his escape from the fate which his treason merited.

Two days after Destouches had sailed, he was followed by Arbuthnot,
who overtook him off the capes of Virginia. A partial engagement
ensued which continued about an hour, when the fleets were separated.

The French admiral called a council of war the next day, in which it
was declared unadviseable to renew the action, and he returned to
Newport.

[Sidenote: March 26.]

The arrival of two thousand men commanded by General Philips, gave the
British a decided superiority in Virginia, and changed the destination
of Lafayette, who had been ordered to join the southern army, but to
whom the defence of that state was now committed. The troops under his
command being taken chiefly from the eastern regiments, had imbibed
strong prejudices against a southern climate; and desertions became so
frequent as to threaten the dissolution of the corps.

This unpromising state of things was completely changed by a happy
expedient adopted by Lafayette. Appealing to the generous principles
of his soldiers, principles on which the feelings of his own bosom
taught him to rely, he proclaimed in orders, that he was about to
enter on an enterprise of great danger and difficulty, in which he
persuaded himself his soldiers would not abandon him. If, however, any
individual of the detachment was unwilling to accompany him, a permit
to return should most assuredly be granted him.

This measure had the desired effect, and put an end to desertion.[72]
To keep up the good dispositions of the moment, this ardent young
nobleman, who was as unmindful of fortune as he was ambitious of fame,
borrowed from the merchants of Baltimore, on his private credit, a sum
of money sufficient to purchase shoes, linen, spirits, and other
articles of immediate necessity for the detachment.[73]

[Footnote 72: The author was assured by General Lafayette that this
was true. Such was the enthusiasm o