re.

Seeing that the van was failing him, Howe, whose flag-ship, the _Queen
Charlotte_, was tenth from the head of his column, now took the lead
himself, tacked his own vessel, though her turn was not yet come, and,
accompanied by his next ahead and astern,--another striking instance of
the inspiring influence of a high example,--stood straight for the
hostile order. The three broke through astern of the sixth ship from the
French rear, and cut off two of the enemy, which were speedily
surrounded by others of the British. Villaret-Joyeuse then repeated his
former evolution, and nothing could have saved a general engagement
except the disorder into which the British had fallen, and Howe's
methodical abhorrence of attacks made in such confusion as prevailed.
Moreover, the decisive result of this last brush was that the French
entirely lost the windward position, and the British admiral knew that
he now had them where they could not escape; he could afford to postpone
the issue. Accordingly, fighting ceased for the day; but the French had
been so mauled that three more ships had to go into port, leaving them
but twenty-two to the enemy's twenty-five.

To appreciate Howe's personal merit as a tactician, reflection should be
bestowed upon the particulars of his conduct on these two days, with
which the First of June is not to be compared; for in them culminated,
so to speak, a long course of preparation in the study of tactical
possibilities, and of the system of signals needed to insure necessary
evolutions. His officers, as a body, do not appear to have deserved by
their manoeuvring the encomium passed by Rodney upon his, during the
long chase to windward in May, 1780; and, as Howe had now held command
for a year, this failure may probably be assigned to lack of that
punctilious severity to which Rodney attributed his own success. But in
the matter of personal acquirement Howe shows a distinct advance upon
Rodney's ideas and methods. There is not to be noted in Rodney's actions
any foreshadowing of the judicious attack upon the enemy's rear, on May
28th, by a smart flying squadron. This doubtless presents some analogy
to a general chase, but there is in it more of system and of regulated
action; in short, there is development. Again, although Rodney doubtless
tacked in succession repeatedly, between May 9th and May 20th, in his
efforts to reach the enemy to windward, there does not then appear, nor
did there appear on eit