DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 26) tralia with hordes of natives, and sowed the seeds of mighty nations in the future; thus widening the limits of the mother-country into boundless realms and dominions. It is impossible to refer, without legitimate pride, to the deeds of the naval heroes of those days, who gave England the rule of the ocean. In 1781 Rodney saved the country from a dishonourable peace by his victory over the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent, when four of the enemy’s vessels were captured, and the rest made their escape in so shattered a condition that the Spanish fleet may be said to have been annihilated. The French Admiral, De Grasse, drew Rodney to the West Indies, who on the 12th April, 1782, by a maneuvre he was the first to introduce, broke his opponent’s line and scattered and sunk his ships. Within two years he had the honour of taking two Spanish, one French, and one Dutch Admiral. In his earlier years, Rodney had re- sided in Paris, which he was unable to leave owing to pecuniary embarrassments. He was then offered the command of the French fleet, but the French King vainly tried to corrupt his patriotism with promises of large sums of money. It was that fleet Rodney afterwards encountered and defeated. Admiral Lord Keppel, after many minor services, fell in with the French fleet off Ushant on the 12th