than as befell.

Rodney's return to the West Indies in December, 1780, concluded the most
eventful and illustriously characteristic year of his life. The
destruction of Langara's fleet in January, the brilliant tactical
displays of April 17th, and of the chase manoeuvres in May, the
strategic transference in August of a large division, unawares to the
enemy, from one point of the field of action to another, are all feats
that testify to his great ability as a general officer. Nor should there
be left out of the account the stern dignity of conduct which assured
his personal control of the fleet, his certainty of touch in the face of
an enemy. Thus considered, it was a year full of events, successful
throughout as regards personal desert, and singularly significant of
ability and temperament.

The year 1781 was far less happy, nor does the great victory, which in
1782 crowned his career with glory, contribute to the enhancement of his
professional distinction; rather the contrary. Upon reaching Barbados,
December 5th, he found the island shorn to the ground by the noted
hurricane, which in the previous October had swept the Caribbean, from
the Lesser Antilles to Jamaica. Eight of the division left by him in the
West Indies had been wrecked,--two being ships-of-the-line; and the
efficiency of the whole fleet was grievously impaired by the widespread
injury to vessels.

An event charged with more serious consequences to himself soon
followed. On the 27th of January, 1781, at Barbados, despatches from the
Admiralty notified him that Great Britain had declared war against
Holland, and directed him to proceed at once against the Dutch shipping
and West Indies. First among the enumerated objects of attack was the
small island of St. Eustatius. This, having enjoyed the advantages of
neutrality at a time when almost the whole Caribbean was in hostilities,
had become a depot for the accumulation and distribution of stores,
commercial and warlike. Ostensibly, it served all parties, giving to and
receiving from Europe, America, and the Caribbean alike. The political
sympathies of Holland, however, and it may be added those of the West
Indies in general, even of the British islands themselves, were rather
adverse to Great Britain in the current struggle; and this, combined
with the greater self-sufficingness of the British naval and commercial
administration, had made the neutral support of St. Eustatius more
benevolent, and much