The Duke of Choiseul proposed a congress.

He at the same time negotiated directly with England.

Whilst Pitt kept his answer waiting, an English squadron blockaded Belle-Isle, and the governor, M.de Sainte-Croix, left without relief, was forced to capitulate after an heroic resistance.

When the conditions demanded by England were at last transmitted to Versailles, the English flag was floating over the citadel of Belle-Isle, the mouth of the Loire and of the Vilaine was blockaded.

The arrogant pretensions of Mr.Pitt stopped at nothing short of preserving the conquests of England in both hemispheres; he claimed, besides, the demolition of Dunkerque "as a memorial forever of the yoke imposed upon France." Completely separating the interests of England from those of the German allies, he did not even reply to the proposals of M.de Choiseul as to the evacuation of Hesse and Hanover.