fleet commanded by D'Orvilliers. The people
of England are not content with drawn battles, and the result of this
action produced a general uproar. Keppel threw the blame on the
tardiness of Sir Hugh Palliser, the second in command. Palliser
retorted, and the result was a court-martial on the commander of the
fleet; which, however, ended in a triumphant acquittal. It was not
generally known that Keppel's defence, which was admired as a model of
intelligence, and even of eloquence, was drawn up by Captain Jervis.
The transaction, though so long passed away, is not yet beyond
discussion; and there is still some interest in knowing the opinion of
so powerful a mind on the general subject. It was thus given in a
private letter to his friend Jackson:--"I do not agree that we were
outwitted. The French, I am convinced, never would have fought us if
they had not been surprised into it by a sudden flow of wind; and when
they formed their inimitable line after our brush, it was merely to
cover their intention of flight."

He then gives one of those comprehensive maxims which already show
the experienced "admiral:"--"I have often told you that two fleets of
equal force can never produce decisive events, unless they are equally
determined to fight it out, or the commander-in-chief of one of them
misconducts his line." We have then an instance of that manly feeling
which is one of the truest characteristics of greatness, and yet which
has been deficient in some very remarkable men.

"I perceive," says he, "it is the fashion of people to puff
themselves. For my part, I forbade my officers to write by the frigate
that carried the despatches. I did not write a syllable myself, except
touching my health; nor shall I, but to state the intrepidity of the
officers and people under my command, (through the most infernal fire
I ever saw or heard,) to Lord Sandwich," (first lord of the
Admiralty.) But one cannot feel the merit of this self-denial without
a glance at his actual hazards and services during the battle.

"In justice to the Foudroyant," he thus ends his letter, "I must
observe to you, that though she received the fire of seventeen sail,
and had the Bretagne, Ville de Paris, and a seventy-four on her at the
same time, and appeared more disabled in her masts and rigging than
any other ship, she was the first in the line of battle, and truly
fitter for business, in essentials, (because her people were cool,)
than when she began.