a strong quality diligently cultivated in the days of health and
vigor. In truth, it was impossible for Howe to purpose otherwise. Having
been continuously what he was in his prime, it could not be that he
would not intend, with all the force of his will, to persevere to the
utmost in the duty before him. The faithfulness of a lifetime does not
so forsake a man in his end. What he lacked in that critical hour was
not the willing mind, but the instrument by which to communicate to the
fleet the impulse which his own failing powers were no longer able
directly to impart.

Lord Howe's career practically ended with this battle and the honors
that followed it. Infirmities then gained rapidly upon him, and it would
have been well had his own wish to retire been granted by the
Government. He remained in nominal command of the Channel Fleet, though
not going to sea, until the occurrence of the great mutinies of 1797.
The suppression--or, more properly, the composing--of this ominous
outbreak was devolved upon him by the ministry. He very wisely observed
that "preventive measures rather than corrective are to be preferred for
preserving discipline in fleets and armies;" but it was in truth his own
failure to use such timely remedies, owing to the lethargy of increasing
years, acting upon a temperament naturally indulgent and unapprehensive,
that was largely responsible for disorders of whose imminence he had
warning. From the military standpoint, the process of settlement had
much the air of opera bouffe,--a consummation probably inevitable when
just grievances and undeniable hardships get no attention until the
sufferers break through all rules, and seek redress by force. The
mutinous seamen protested to Howe the bitterness of their sorrow at the
sense of wrong doing, but in the same breath insisted that their demands
must be conceded, and that certain obnoxious officers must be removed
from their ships. The demands were yielded, Howe gently explaining to
the men how naughty they had been; and that, as to the unpopular
officers, they themselves asked relief from so unpleasant a situation.
In his curiously involved style, he wrote: "This request has been
complied with, under the pretext of an equal desire on the part of the
officers not to be employed in ships where exception, without
specification of facts, has been taken to their conduct. However
ineligible the concession, it was become indispensably necessary." Under
this th