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100
Copie de La Lettre de [[M[']al Damas]] à [[M.
le Ch[']r. de La Luzerne]]
à la martinique le 28 [7[']bre.] 1782.

J’ai lhonneur, Monsieur le chevalier, de Vous instruire
de mon Retour ici avec le titre de Lieutenant
Général au Gouvernement de la martinique, qui
me donne le commandement de toute les Isles
françaises du Vent de l’amerique, en l’absence de
M. le M[']is. de Boüillé qui est parti pour france
de S[']t. Domingue. Je Serois bien enchanté que cette
charge, en me mettant â portée de correspondre
avec Vous, me procurât des occasions de faire ce qui
peut Vous plaire.

Il n'y a, dans ce moment, rien de nouveau
aux isles du Vent. La marine anglaise y est
composée de deux Vaisseaux de 64. et 50., trois
fregates de 36. à 38. et de quelques petites fregates
ou Corvettes. La notre l'Est de deux Vaisseaux de
74 et 44., deux fregates de 36. et de quelques

Notes and Questions

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LIFrancophone

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".

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".)

LIFrancophone

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.