to the westward.

At sunset on the 20th the combined fleets, greatly superior to the
English in force and numbers, came up with the rear division, under
Admiral Barrington, and a partial action commenced, but the enemy
remained at such a respectful distance, keeping as near as they could
haul to the wind, that the firing was comparatively harmless on both
sides. The two admirals De Guichen and Cordova led the enemy's van, and
it was apparently their intention to cut off and destroy the rear
division of the British fleet; but though they had the superiority in
force and the advantage of the wind, they could not be induced to close,
and soon after midnight the firing ceased. The next morning the two
fleets were still in sight, but as the Spaniards evinced no disposition
to renew the engagement, Howe, whose orders did not permit him to
provoke the enemy, continued on his homeward voyage.

The successful passage of the British fleet through the Straits, in the
face of the combined forces, was regarded in Madrid as a glorious
victory for the Spanish arms. The despatches of Don Louis de Cordova
described the partial engagement as a complete rout, and Howe was made
to flee with all press of sail from his brave pursuers.

Seizing upon this exaggerated intelligence as a counterpoise to the
recent disastrous news from Gibraltar, the Government extolled the valor
of the navy, and spread ludicrously bombastic accounts of the "glorious
victory" throughout the country. Pamphlets descriptive of the engagement
were published and disseminated, in which the casualties of the English
were put down in numbers imposingly enormous.

Gibraltar having thus been again successfully relieved, the Spanish
government relinquished all hope of securing its possession by force of
arms; but the King still fondly retained some expectation of succeeding
by negotiation. In order to conceal the actual hopelessness of the
enterprise, and "to give a reasonable color to the formal prosecution of
the siege," private instructions were sent to Crillon to continue the
offensive. But the Spanish commander was in truth no less disheartened
than the ministers of his government, and with the exception of daily
attacks by gun- and mortar-boats, seconded by a warm fire from the
isthmus, active operations completely ceased.

On February 2, 1783, the news of the signature of the preliminaries of a
general peace reached the garrison by a flag of truce, and on March 1