perhaps, or perhaps through mere indifference to the effect produced upon Hawke, as a man assumed to need curb and spur, he was left in ignorance, to imagine what he pleased; and this action, succeeding previous neglects and Pitt’s imputations of the previous year, elicited an outburst which, while it cannot be justified in its particular manifestation, was in spirit inevitable.  A man submissive to such treatment as he had good cause to suspect, would be deficient in the independence of character, and sensitive regard to official reputation, without which he was unfit to command the Channel Fleet.

Hawke was summoned at once to the Admiralty, and in the interview which ensued, as shown by the minutes endorsed on his own letter, his misconception as to the quarter in which Howe was to act afforded standing ground for a compromise.  Hawke having committed himself officially, and upon a mistaken premise, the Admiralty had him technically at their mercy; but such a triumph as they could win by disciplining him would be more disastrous than a defeat.  He disclaimed resentment towards any person, and reiterated that his action was intended merely to defend his character and honor, which he said—­to quote the minute exactly—­“were not so much touched as he apprehended when the suspicion he had of Mr. Howe’s going to Basque Roads arose—­from the Lords asking him some days since for a draft of the Roads.”  The italics are the present writer’s; but the words as they stand would indicate that he did not yield his view of the matter in general, nor leave hearers under any doubt as to how far he could safely be treated with contumely or slight.  There can be little doubt that the substantial result was to strengthen his position in the exacting duty that lay before him in the following year.

The whole business was then salved over by the First Lord, Anson, taking command of the Channel Fleet for the particular occasion.  Hawke accompanied him as second in command, while Howe went his way with the light squadron and the troops.  Both divisions sailed on the 1st of June.  On the 18th our admiral was so unwell with a severe fever and cold—­a complaint to which he was much subject—­that he had to ask to be sent into port.  He went ashore before the end of the month, and remained unemployed till the following May.

The year 1759 is the culminating epoch of Hawke’s career.  In it occurred the signal triumph of Quiberon Bay, the seal of his genius, significant above all as demonstrating that the ardor of the leader had found fulfilment in his followers, that the spirit of Hawke had become the spirit of the Navy.  This year also yielded proof of his great capacity as a seaman and administrator, in the efficient blocking of Brest, prolonged through six months of closest watching into the period of the winter gales, in face of which it had hitherto been thought impossible to keep the sea with heavy ships massed in fleets; for, as he most justly said, in explaining the necessity