lish, and they in fact claimed the victory; yet the
ulterior objects of the expedition did not tempt them again to try the
issue with a fleet of about their own size.[147]

[Illustration: Pl. XII. ARBUTHNOT & DESTOUCHES. MARCH 16, 1781.]

The way of the sea being thus open and held in force, two thousand
more English troops sailing from New York reached Virginia on the 26th
of March, and the subsequent arrival of Cornwallis in May raised the
number to seven thousand. The operations of the contending forces
during the spring and summer months, in which Lafayette commanded the
Americans, do not concern our subject. Early in August, Cornwallis,
acting under orders from Clinton, withdrew his troops into the
peninsula between the York and James rivers, and occupied Yorktown.

Washington and Rochambeau had met on the 21st of May, and decided that
the situation demanded that the effort of the French West Indian
fleet, when it came, should be directed against either New York or the
Chesapeake. This was the tenor of the despatch found by De Grasse at
Cap Francais, and meantime the allied generals drew their troops
toward New York, where they would be on hand for the furtherance of
one object, and nearer the second if they had to make for it.

In either case the result, in the opinion both of Washington and of
the French government, depended upon superior sea power; but
Rochambeau had privately notified the admiral that his own preference
was for the Chesapeake as the scene of the intended operations, and
moreover the French government had declined to furnish the means for a
formal siege of New York.[148] The enterprise therefore assumed the
form of an extensive military combination, dependent upon ease and
rapidity of movement, and upon blinding the eyes of the enemy to the
real objective,--purposes to which the peculiar qualities of a navy
admirably lent themselves. The shorter distance to be traversed, the
greater depth of water and easier pilotage of the Chesapeake, were
further reasons which would commend the scheme to the judgment of a
seaman; and De Grasse readily accepted it, without making difficulties
or demanding modifications which would have involved discussion and
delay.

Having made his decision, the French admiral acted with great good
judgment, promptitude, and vigor. The same frigate that brought
despatches from Washington was sent back, so that by August 15th the
allied generals knew of the intended com