was a briskness of temper, a vivacity, very
distinguishable from Howe's solidity of persistence; and he was in no
sense one to permit "discipline to come to nought," the direction in
which Howe's easy though reserved disposition tended. The West Indies
were to be the great scene of battles, and, while the tactical ideas of
the two appear to have been essentially alike, in the common recognition
of combination as imperative to success, the severity of Rodney was
needed to jerk the West India fleet sharply out of sleepy tradition; to
compel promptness of manoeuvre and intelligent attention to the
underlying ideas which signals communicate. Flexibility of movement,
earnestness and rapidity of attack, mutual support by the essential
coherence of the battle order without too formal precision,--these were
the qualities which Rodney was to illustrate in practice, and to enforce
by personal impression upon his officers. The official staff of the
fleet had to pass under the rod of the schoolmaster, to receive new
ideas, and to learn novel principles of obedience,--to a living chief,
not to a dead letter crusted over by an unintelligent tradition. Not
till this step had been made, till discipline had full hold of men's
affections and understanding, was there room for the glorious liberty of
action which Nelson extended to his officers; preaching it in word, and
practising it in act. Hawke re-begat the British Navy in the spirit he
imparted to it; Rodney, first of several, trained its approaching
maturity in habits which, once acquired, stand by men as principles;
Nelson reaped the fulness of the harvest.

On October 1, 1779, Rodney was again appointed to the command of the
Leeward Islands Station. The year had been one of maritime misfortune
and discouragement. The French declaration of war in 1778 had been
followed by that of Spain in June, 1779; and a huge allied
fleet--sixty-six ships-of-the-line, to which the British could oppose
only thirty-five--had that summer entered and dominated the English
Channel. Nothing was effected by it, true; but the impression produced
was profound. In the West Indies Grenada had been lost, and Byron badly
worsted in an attempt to relieve it. On assuming his command, Rodney
could not but feel that he had more to do than to establish a
reputation; he had a reputation to redeem, and that under a burden of
national depression which doubly endangered the reputation of every
officer in responsible po