ollowing lines
already marked out by Pitt. Rodney, who was in command on the Leeward
islands station, acting in co-operation with General Monckton, reduced
Martinique in February. The fall of that island, the seat of the
government of France in the West Indies, the centre of her privateering
expeditions, and her chief mart in those parts, was followed by the
surrender of Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, and England became
mistress of all the Windward islands. Against these losses France could
set only a momentary possession of St. John's, Newfoundland, which was
speedily retaken. Spain had to pay heavily for her rashness in espousing
the French cause. Her troops, indeed, entered Portugal, overran
Traz-os-Montes, and threatened Oporto, while south of the Douro they
advanced as far as Almeida and took it. But the aspect of affairs
changed when 8,000 British soldiers landed at Lisbon and the Count of
Lippe-Buckeburg took the command. He was ably seconded by General
Burgoyne, and the Spaniards were forced to retreat within their own
frontier.

So far as England was concerned the war in Portugal was a small matter.
It was through her power on the sea that she was able to reap a rich
harvest from her war with Spain. In March a fleet under Pocock, carrying
10,000 men under the command of the Earl of Albemarle, sailed for
Havana. Off Cape St. Nicholas, Pocock was joined by a reinforcement sent
by Rodney. There was no time to lose, for the hurricane season was near;
and he therefore took his ships through the shoals of the Bahama channel
instead of to the south of Cuba, and brought them out safely on June 5,
a notable piece of seamanship, for the channel was little known. The
troops laid siege to Fort Moro, which commanded Havana. The Spaniards
made a vigorous defence, and the British suffered terribly from disease;
at one time 5,000 soldiers and 3,000 seamen were incapacitated by
sickness. Much-needed reinforcements arrived from New York, and, on July
30, the fort was taken by storm after a siege of forty-five days. The
town capitulated on August 12. The reduction of the island deprived
Spain of a rich colony, an important centre of trade, and, more, of a
port which commanded the route of her treasure-ships from the Gulf of
Mexico. An immense booty was secured, L3,000,000 in money besides
merchandise.

About the same time England dealt Spain a heavy blow on the other side
of the world. An expedition under General Draper s