The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

PART II.] THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 77
time to time receive of the situation of the enemy's
fleet upon this coast, which will be the most advantageous quarter for him to make his appearance in?
In the letter, which was written to the minister from
Weathersfield, in which he was requested to urge the
Count to come this way with his whole fleet, Sandy
Hook was mentioned as the most desirable point; because, by coming suddenly there, he would certainly
block up any fleet, which might be within; and he
would even have a very good chance of forcing the
entrance, before dispositions could be made to oppose
him. Should the British fleet not be there, he could
follow them to the Chesapeake, which is always accessible to a superior force. I am, &c.
oppose the inroads of Lord Cornwallis but a small body of troops under
Lafayette, who was sustained only by his good conduct and the nature
of the country intersected by many rivers. I transmitted to M. de Grasse
the articles of the conference at Weathersfield. I observed to him, that
he ought to know better than myself the possibility of forcing a passage
into the harbour of New York, since, in circumstances nearly similar,
M. d'Estaing, under whose orders he had served, had made an ineffectual
proposal to the pilots, in offering them an enormous sum to take his vessels across the bar, which they did not venture to attempt. In short, I
represented to him, as my private opinion, that an enterprise in the Chesapeake Bay against Lord Cornwallis would be the most practicable, and
the least expected by the enemy, who counted on our distance from that
quarter. I requested him to solicit strenuously from the governor of St.
Domingo the use for three months of the French brigade under M. de
St. Simon, which was destined to act with the Spaniards, who, it appeared
to me, would have no employment for it during the campaign. I desired
him, also, to effect a loan in our colonies of twelve hundred thousand
francs, which might insure the success of this operation. I concluded by
entreating him to despatch to me a frigate as soon as possible, with his
answer, that I might arrange with General Washington our march by
land to join him at the point assigned in the Chesapeake." - MJmoiros,
Tom. II. p. 277.
These schemes of Count de Rochambeau do not appear in his letters
to General Washington. There are several indications, that he did not
approve an attack upon New York, and only yielded his assent to what
he discovered to be the wish of the American commander.
Ga