or
van division to engage the enemy's rear, and as some thought the
weather division his centre; and ten minutes later came the new signal
for passing through the line. The result was an action almost exactly
like that of Nelson at Trafalgar--that is, though the leading ships
duly acted on the combination of the two signals for engaging their
opposites and for breaking the line, each at its opposite interval,
the rest was a _melee_; for, since what was fundamentally a
parallel attack was attempted as a perpendicular one, it could be
nothing but a scramble for the rear ships.
In none of these actions therefore is there any evidence that Howe's
attempt to impress the service with a serious scientific view of
tactics had been successful, and the impression which they made upon
our enemies suggests that the real spirit that inspired British
officers at this time was something very different from that which
Howe had tried to instil. Writing of the battle of St. Vincent, Don
Domingo Perez de Grandallana, whose masterly studies of the French and
English naval systems and tactics raised him to the highest offices of
state, has the following passage: 'An Englishman enters a naval action
with the firm conviction that his duty is to hurt his enemies and help
his friends and allies without looking out for directions in the midst
of the fight; and while he thus clears his mind of all subsidiary
distractions, he rests in confidence on the certainty that his
comrades, actuated by the same principles as himself, will be bound by
the sacred and priceless law of mutual support. Accordingly, both he
and all his fellows fix their minds on acting with zeal and judgment
upon the spur of the moment, and with the certainty that they will not
be deserted. Experience shows, on the contrary, that a Frenchman or a
Spaniard, working under a system which leans to formality and strict
order being maintained in battle, has no feeling for mutual support,
and goes into action with hesitation, preoccupied with the anxiety of
seeing or hearing the commander-in-chief's signals for such and such
manoeuvres.... Thus they can never make up their minds to seize any
favourable opportunity that may present itself. They are fettered by
the strict rule to keep station, which is enforced upon them in both
navies, and the usual result is that in one place ten of their ships
may be firing on four, while in another four of their comrades may be
receiving the fire o
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