approach to equality in contending fleets, was required,
first, a commander-in-chief, and then a competent body of officers. The
latter the British had only in the sense of fine seamen and gallant men.
In courage there is no occasion to institute comparisons between the two
nations; in kind there may have been a difference, but certainly not in
degree. The practical superiority of seamanship in the British may be
taken as a set-off to the more highly trained understanding of military
principles and methods on the part of their enemy. For commander-in-chief,
there were at this time but two, Howe and Rodney, whose professional
equipment, as shown in practice, fitted them to oppose the French methods.
Of these Rodney was the better, because possessed of a quicker power of
initiative, and also of that personal severity required to enforce strict
conformity of action among indifferent or sullen subordinates.

Rodney has therefore a singularly well defined place among British naval
chiefs. He was to oppose form to form, theory to theory, evolution to
evolution, upon the battle ground of the sea; with purpose throughout
tactically offensive, not defensive, and facing an adversary his equal
in professional equipment. Had he arrived a year before he would have
met no fair match in D'Estaing, a soldier, not a sailor, whose
deficiencies as a seaman would have caused a very different result from
that which actually followed his encounter with Byron, who in conduct
showed an utter absence of ideas and of method inconceivable in Rodney.
The French were now commanded by De Guichen, considered the most capable
of their officers by Rodney, whose recent abode in Paris had probably
familiarized him with professional reputations among the enemy.
Everything therefore conspired to make the occasion one eminently fitted
to his capacities. Such are the conditions--the man _and_ the hour--that
make reputations; though they do not form characters, which are growths
of radically different origin.

De Guichen put to sea from Martinique on April 15th, with a convoy for
Santo Domingo which he intended to see clear of British interference.
Rodney, whose anchorage was but thirty miles away, learned instantly the
French sailing and followed without delay. On the evening of April 16th,
the two fleets were in sight of each other to leeward of Martinique, the
British to windward; an advantage that was diligently maintained during
the night. At daylight of