Early on the 6th of March he reached Newport, and went instantly on board the Admiral, where he was met by the Count de Rochambeau.  It was determined that a detachment from the army, then in perfect readiness, should be embarked under the Count 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 of the moment, that a lame sergeant hired a place in a cart to keep up with the army.]

[Footnote 73:  It is not unworthy of notice, that the ladies of Baltimore charged themselves with the toil of immediately making up the summer clothing for the troops.  Innumerable instances of their zeal in the common cause of their country were given in every state in the union.]