e signal for close action. With truth, but sorrow, I must say
it was little attended to." It is noticeable that one of the ships thus
censured, the _Cornwall_, next ahead of Rodney, lost as heavily in
killed and wounded as did the flag-ship herself; one of many instances
showing that distance lessened efficiency without increasing safety. The
forwardness of Rodney's flag on this occasion proves clearly enough his
consciousness that tactics, to succeed, must be more than a veil for
timidity; that hard hitting is as essential as skilful leading.

This combination of steady, patient, wary, skilful guidance, with
resolute and tenacious personal leadership, constituted the firm tissue
of Rodney's professional character, and at no time received such clear
illustration as in the case before us; for no like opportunity recurred.
One experience was enough for De Guichen; he did not choose again to
yield the advantage of the weather gage, and he had the tactical skill
necessary to retain it in his future contacts with this adversary. The
battle of April 12, 1782, upon which Rodney's fame has rested, was
rather an accident than an achievement, and as a revelation of character
its most conspicuous feature is wariness exaggerated into professional
timidity. He himself has weighed the relative professional value of the
two affairs. A letter published in 1809, anonymous, but bearing strong
internal evidence of being written by Sir Gilbert Blane, long on a
trusted physician's terms of intimacy with Rodney, states that he
"thought little of his victory on the 12th of April." He would have
preferred to rest his reputation upon this action with De Guichen, and
"looked upon that opportunity of beating, with an inferior fleet, such
an officer, whom he considered the best in the French service, as one by
which, but for the disobedience of his captains, he might have gained
an immortal renown."

The misconduct of his officers brought out in full vigor the severity
which was a salient feature of Rodney's professional character. In the
St. Vincent business he may have been partly actuated to spare, by the
reflection that the offenders were not his own captains; that they were
about to quit him finally. Moreover, there had been then a very
considerable tangible success; results cover a multitude of sins. No
such extenuations applied here. The wreck of his reasonable hopes of
personal distinction coincided with failure towards the nation itself.