reader by the events of this war and of the half-century that
followed. The overwhelming sea power of England was the determining
factor in European history during the period mentioned, maintaining
war abroad while keeping its own people in prosperity at home, and
building up the great empire which is now seen; but from its very
greatness its action, by escaping opposition, escapes attention. On
the few occasions in which it is called to fight, its superiority is
so marked that the affairs can scarcely be called battles; with the
possible exceptions of Byng's action at Minorca and Hawke's at
Quiberon, the latter one of the most brilliant pages in naval history,
no decisive encounter between equal forces, possessing military
interest, occurs between 1700 and 1778.

Owing to this characteristic, the War of the Spanish Succession, from
the point of view of our subject, has to be blocked out in general
outline, avoiding narrative and indicating general bearings,
especially of the actions of the fleets. With the war in Flanders, in
Germany, and in Italy the navies had naturally no concern; when they
had so protected the commerce of the allies that there was no serious
check to that flow of subsidies upon which the land war depended,
their part toward it was done. In the Spanish peninsula it was
different. Immediately after landing Carlos III. at Lisbon, Sir George
Rooke sailed for Barcelona, which it was understood would be handed
over when the fleets appeared; but the governor was faithful to his
king and kept down the Austrian party. Rooke then sailed for Toulon,
where a French fleet was at anchor. On his way he sighted another
French fleet coming from Brest, which he chased but was unable to
overtake; so that both the enemy's squadrons were united in the port.
It is worth while to note here that the English navy did not as yet
attempt to blockade the French ports in winter, as they did at a later
date. At this period fleets, like armies, went into winter quarters.
Another English admiral, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, had been sent in the
spring to blockade Brest; but arriving too late, he found his bird
flown, and at once kept on to the Mediterranean. Rooke, not thinking
himself strong enough to resist the combined French squadrons, fell
back toward the Straits; for at this time England had no ports, no
base, in the Mediterranean, no useful ally; Lisbon was the nearest
refuge. Rooke and Shovel met off Lagos, and there held a c