reached on August 28th. On the 31st the indefatigable Howe
came in sight; but the French had worked actively in the three days.
Forty-nine guns, 18 and 24-pounders, with six mortars, were already
in position covering the anchorage; and "the French squadron, far
from fearing an attack, desired it eagerly."[36] The withdrawal of the
French fleet from Rhode Island was followed by that of the American
troops from before Newport.

Howe had quitted New York the instant he heard of d'Estaing's
reappearance off Rhode Island. He took with him the same number of
vessels as before,--thirteen of the line,--the _Monmouth_, 64, of
Byron's squadron, having arrived and taken the place of the _Isis_,
crippled in her late action. Before reaching Newport, he learned
that the French had started for Boston. He hoped that they would
find it necessary to go outside George's Bank, and that he might
intercept them by following the shorter road inside. In this he was
disappointed, as has been seen, and the enemy's position was now
too strong for attack. The French retreat to Boston closed the naval
campaign of 1778 in North American waters.

[Illustration]

The inability or unwillingness of d'Estaing to renew the enterprise
against Rhode Island accords the indisputable triumph in this campaign
to Howe,--an honour he must share, and doubtless would have shared
gladly, with his supporters in general. That his fleet, for the most
part two years from home, in a country without dockyards, should have
been able to take the sea within ten days after the gale, while their
opponents, just from France, yet with three months' sea practice, were
so damaged that they had to abandon the field and all the splendid
prospects of Rhode Island,--as they already had allowed to slip the
chance at New York,--shows a decisive superiority in the British
officers and crews. The incontestable merits of the rank and file,
however, must not be permitted to divert attention from the great
qualities of the leader, but for which the best material would have
been unavailing. The conditions were such as to elicit to the utmost
Howe's strongest qualities,--firmness, endurance, uninterrupted
persistence rather than celerity, great professional skill, ripened by
constant reflection and ready at an instant's call. Not brilliant in
intellect, perhaps, but absolutely clear, and replete with expedients
to meet every probable contingency, Howe exhibited an equable,
unflagging ener