verely blamed the
local defence, and very possibly justly; but attention should not wander
from the effect that must have been produced upon all subsequent
conditions by preparation and action on the part of the British fleet,
in the spring of 1781, on the lines then favored by Hood.

Shortly before he had sailed for home, Rodney had written his wife, "In
all probability, the enemy, when they leave these seas, will go to
America. Wherever they go, I will watch their motions, and certainly
attack them if they give me a proper opportunity. The fate of England
may depend upon the event." The last sentence was in measure a prophecy,
so far, that is, as decisive of the original issue at stake,--the
subjugation or independence of the United Colonies; but, without further
laboring the point unduly, it may be permitted here to sum up what has
been said, with the remark that in the summer of 1781 control of events
had passed out of Rodney's hands. From the time of the original fault,
in suffering the French to meet Hood to leeward of Martinique, with an
inferior force, more and more did it become impossible to him to assure
conditions sufficiently favorable. With the highest personal courage, he
did not have eminent professional daring; nor, with considerable
tactical acquirement, was he gifted with that illuminative originality
which characterized Hood and Nelson. He therefore needed either a
reasonable probability of success, or the spur of imminent emergency, to
elicit the kind of action needed to save the British cause. The chances
to windward of Martinique would have been ninety out of a hundred; from
that time forward they diminished with continually increasing rapidity.
With such a situation he was not the man to cope.

On reaching Barbados, February 19, 1782, Rodney learned that the
garrison of St. Kitts was besieged in Brimstone Hill, and the island
itself beleaguered by the French fleet, thirty-three of-the-line, which
Sir Samuel Hood, with two thirds their number, had so far held in check
by a series of manoeuvres unusually acute in conception and brilliant
in execution. Proceeding immediately to Antigua, he there heard on the
23d that St. Kitts had capitulated on the 13th. Two days later he was
joined by Hood, and then took the united fleet to Santa Lucia, where he
was on March 5th. The knowledge of a large supply fleet expected for the
French, and essential to the known project of the allies against
Jamaica, carrie