EN1
Facsimile
100 [circled]
Copy of The Letter from M[aréch]al. [?] Damas to Monsieur
the ch[evalie]r. de La Luzerne
at martinique [sic]
I have the honor, Monsieur the chevalier, of informing You
of my Return here with the title of Lieutenant
General of the Government of martinique, [sic]which
gives me command of all the French Windward Antilles [literally "French Windward Islands of America" in French], in the absence of
Monsieur the M[arqu]is. de Boüillé who left for france [sic]
from S[ain]t. Domingue. I Would be quite enchanted that this
appointment, in placing me within reach of corresponding
with You, might procure me occasions to do what
could please You.
There is, at this moment, nothing new
in the Windward Antilles. The British Navy is there
comprised of two Vessels of 65. and 50., three
frigates of 36. to 38. and of some small frigates
or Corvettes. Ours [Our navy] [there] Is of two Vessels of
74 and 44., two frigates of 36. and of some
Notes and Questions
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I'm not yet familiar with rules of FromThePage, so while I feel that I'm about finished editing Image 1's transcription, I am not ready to declare the review "complete" (although I think I've revised it as best I could).
I wish to note that the "100" near the top of the image is circled in the image, that "7bre" seems to be an abbreviation for "septembre" ("sept" being French for the word for "7"; "bre" in superscript in the image), that I have placed "[']"markings to represent un-written parts of abbreviated words before final parts seen in superscript in the image, and that "M[']is." seems to be an abbreviation for "Marquis". ["M[']al" ("M" with what may be "al" in superscript) may -- I think -- be an abbreviation for the French title "Maréchal" (cognate word -- but not necessarily equivalent -- of English title "Marshal").]
(Also, in the next-to-last line of text, "l'Est" could possibly "better" be transcribed as "l'est": while I am not sure of capitalization conventions in French in the 1780s, I figure that the word "Est" here is the form of the verb "être" (here the equivalent of English "is" -- or possibly "Is"), rather than the direction which is the equivalent of English "East".)
Ethan/"LIFrancophone".
The distinction between the set of islands of the Caribbean Basin known in *English* as the "Windward Islands" (as opposed to the "Windward Antilles") and the set of islands known in *French* as "les Îles du Vent" of the "Antilles" (at least in our day) is presented on maps in the current French-language-Wikipedia article "Îles du Vent (Antilles)" -- which indicates that the *French*-language designation "Îles du Vent" (with respect to the Caribbean Basin) includes both those (further south) islands known in *English* (today) as the "Windward Islands" *plus* the (further north) islands known in *English* today as the "Leeward Islands".
(Martinique is included in today's English-language designation "The Windward Islands".)
Saint-Domingue (the part of the French Empire in the 1780s which would become (most of, I think) today's Republic of Haiti) is located on the island usually known in English as "Hispaniola" -- which is one of the major islands of the northwestern Caribbean region, and is *not* part of today's French-language "Îles du Vent" of that region.