e, as far as known, had no relations on this side of the water; but
his elder brother, whom he succeeded in the title, was of all British
officers the one who most won from the colonial troops with whom he was
associated a personal affection, the memory of which has been
transmitted to us; while the admiral's own kindly attitude towards the
colonists, and his intimacy with Franklin, no less than his professional
ability, led to his being selected for the North American command at the
time when the home country had not yet lost all hope of a peaceable
solution of difficulties. To this the Howe tradition was doubtless
expected to contribute. Jervis, a man considerably younger than the
other three, by the accidents of his career came little into touch with
either the colonies or the colonists, whether before or during the
Revolutionary epoch; yet even he, by his intimate friendship with Wolfe,
and intercourse with his last days, is brought into close relation with
an event and a name indelibly associated with one of the great
landmarks--crises--in the history of the American Continent. Although
the issue of the strife depended, doubtless, upon deeper and more
far-reaching considerations, it is not too much to say that in the
heights of Quebec, and in the name of Wolfe, is signalized the downfall
of the French power in America. There was prefigured the ultimate
predominance of the traditions of the English-speaking races throughout
this continent, which in our own momentous period stands mediator
between the two ancient and contrasted civilizations of Europe and Asia,
that so long moved apart, but are now brought into close, if not
threatening, contact.

Interesting, however, as are the historical and social environments in
which their personalities played their part, it is as individual men,
and as conspicuous exemplars--types--of the varied characteristics which
go to the completeness of an adequate naval organization, that they are
here brought forward. Like other professions,--and especially like its
sister service, the Army,--the Navy tends to, and for efficiency
requires, specialization. Specialization, in turn, results most
satisfactorily from the free play of natural aptitudes; for aptitudes,
when strongly developed, find expression in inclination, and readily
seek their proper function in the body organic to which they belong.
Each of these distinguished officers, from this point of view, does not
stand for himself