mplain of than others, having represented forcibly to the
Admiralty the miserable unfitness of the men sent him. Nevertheless,
despite all drawbacks, including therein a signalling system so
rudimentary and imperfect as to furnish a ready excuse to the unwilling,
as well as a recurrent perplexity to those honestly wishing to obey
their orders, he showed that good will and high purpose could not only
lead a man to do his full duty as directed, but guide him to independent
initiative action when opportunity offered. Under all external
conditions of difficulty and doubt, or even of cast-iron rule, the
principle was as true then as when Nelson formulated it, that no captain
when in doubt could do very wrong if he placed his ship alongside an
enemy. That Hawke so realized it brought out into more glaring relief
the failure of so many of his colleagues on this occasion.

But the lesson would be in great part lost, if there were to be seen in
this lapse only the personal element of the delinquents, and not the
widespread decline of professional tone. Undoubtedly, of course, it is
true that the personal equation, as always, made itself felt, but here
as intensifying an evil which had its principal source elsewhere.

Hawke carried Nelson's maxim into effect. Upon the signal for battle he
took his own ship into close action with the antagonist allotted to him
by the order of the fleet; but after beating her out of the line he
looked round for more work to do. Seeing then that several of the
British vessels had not come within point-blank, but, through
professional timidity, or over-cautious reverence for the line of
battle, were engaging at long range a single Spaniard, he quitted his
own position, brought her also to close quarters, and after an obstinate
contest, creditable to both parties, forced her to surrender. She was
the only ship to haul down her flag that day, and her captain refused to
surrender his sword to any but Hawke, whom alone he accepted as his
vanquisher.

A generation or two later Hawke's conduct in this matter would have
drawn little attention; it would not have been exceptional in the days
of St. Vincent and Nelson, nor even in that of Howe. At the time of its
occurrence, it was not only in sharp contrast with much that happened
on the same field of battle, but it was somewhat contrary to rule. It
possessed so far the merit of originality; and that on the right
side,--the side of fighting. As in all activ