[Potter, Thomas]:

$60 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THE REPLY OF THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN TO THE ANSWER OF HIS MILITARY ARGUMENTS, BY THE OFFICER. One in a series of anonymous pamphlets published as part of an exchange between Thomas Potter and Henry Seymour Conway concerning the failed British raid on the French Port of Rochefort in September 1757 during the Seven Years' War. The raid on Rochefort was part of a tactic being championed by the newly installed government of William Pitt, one that called for a series of naval descents, joint operations between the army and navy involving amphibious landings and attacks along the French coast. Poorly fortified and therefore particularly vulnerable to a surprise attack of this kind, Rochefort was chosen as the first target in Pitt's new strategy. The expedition, led by Major General John Mordaunt, which set out from the Isle of Wight on September 7, arrived at Rochefort on September 20, but, for a variety of reasons, the indecisive leaders of the expedition chose to hold off on landing troops, thus spoiling the necessary element of surprise. As historian Mark Danley observes, in the end, the expedition "failed to do much damage to the French and the disappointment among the British public led to an inquiry," which "in turn occasioned a heated exchange of pamphlets," including the one between Potter and Conway of which the present pamphlet was a part. The primary question addressed by these pamphlets was who deserved the blame for the raid's failure, the officers or the ministry. The a

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