navy. "S'il avait
ete aussi marin que brave," was the generous remark of Suffren on
this man. It is true that on shore, where he was at home, d'Estaing
was personally fearless, but as commander of a fleet, where he was
conscious of inexperience, he showed timidity that should have
brought him to court martial.

In March, 1780, the French fleet in the West Indies was put under
the command of de Guichen, a far abler man than d'Estaing, but
similarly indoctrinated with the policy of staying on the defensive.
His rival on the station was Rodney, a British officer of the old
school, weakened by years and illness, but destined to make a name
for himself by his great victory two years later. In many respects
Rodney was a conservative, and in respect to an appetite for prize
money he belonged to the 16th century, but his example went a long
way to cure the British navy of the paralysis of the Fighting
Instructions and bring back the close, decisive fighting methods
of Blake and de Ruyter.

In this same year in which Rodney took command of the West Indies
station, a Scotch gentleman named Clerk published a pamphlet on
naval tactics which attracted much attention. It is a striking
commentary on the lack of interest in the theory of the profession
that no British naval officer had ever written on the subject. This
civilian, who had no military training or experience, worked out
an analysis of the Fighting Instructions and came to the conclusion
that the whole conception of naval tactics therein contained was
wrong, that decisive actions could be fought only by concentrating
superior forces on inferior. One can imagine the derision heaped
on the landlubber who presumed to teach admirals their business,
but there was no dodging the force of his point. Of course the
mathematical precision of his paper victories depended on the enemy's
being passive while the attack was carried out, but fundamentally
he was right. The history of the past hundred years showed the
futility of an unbroken line ahead, with van, center, and rear
attempting to engage the corresponding divisions of the enemy.
Decisive victories could be won only by close, concentrated fighting.
It may be true, as the British naval officers asserted, that they
were not influenced by Clerk's ideas, but the year in which his
book appeared marks the beginning of the practice of his theory
in naval warfare.

At the time of the American Revolution the West Indies represented