resistance, six of
the French ships were taken, but the convoy was saved. The English had
been so roughly handled that the two remaining French men-of-war got
back safely to France. If, therefore, Sir Edward Hawke showed in his
attack the judgment and dash which always distinguished that remarkable
officer, it may be claimed for Commodore l'Etenduere that fortune, in
assigning him the glorious disadvantage of numbers, gave him also the
leading part in the drama, and that he filled it nobly. A French
officer justly remarks that "he defended his convoy as on shore a
position is defended, when the aim is to save an army corps or to
assure an evolution; he gave himself to be crushed. After an action
that lasted from mid-day till eight P.M. the convoy was saved, thanks
to the obstinacy of the defence; two hundred and fifty ships were saved
to their owners by the devotion of L'Etenduere and of the captains
under his orders. This devotion cannot be questioned, for eight ships
had but few chances of surviving an action with fourteen; and not only
did the commander of the eight accept an action which he might possibly
have avoided, but he knew how to inspire his lieutenants with trust in
him; for all supported the strife with honor, and yielded at last,
showing the most indisputable proofs of their fine and energetic
defence. Four ships were entirely dismasted, two had only the foremast
standing."[90] The whole affair, as conducted on both sides, affords an
admirable study of how to follow up an advantage, original or
acquired, and of the results that may be obtained by a gallant, even
hopeless defence, for the furtherance of a particular object. It may be
added that Hawke, disabled from further pursuit himself, sent a sloop
of war express to the West Indies, with information of the approach of
the convoy,--a step which led to the capture of part of it, and gives a
touch of completeness to the entire transaction, which cannot fail to
be gratifying to a military student interested in seeing the actors in
history fully alive to and discharging to the utmost their important
tasks.

Before bringing to a close the story of this war and mentioning the
peace settlement, an account must be given of the transactions in
India, where France and England were then on equal terms. It has been
said that affairs there were controlled by the East India companies of
either nation; and that the French were represented in the peninsula
by Dupleix,