baffle the genius of an enemy. When the great captain is found in command of the superior force, then we have the victories of Nelson. The object of the French officer was to obtain such a position on the coast of Coromandel as would strengthen the hands of his Government when the time came to make peace. In order to do this, he aimed first at destroying the squadron of Hughes, then at obtaining possession of a port or ports where he could land men, both those he had with him and those whom he knew to be coming from Europe to aid Hyder Ali, and also to refit his own ships. On the 13th February 1782 he appeared off Madras with twelve sail of the line—the eleven which had come from the Île de France, and the =Hannibal= taken from the English, and now turned into a French warship. Hughes was at anchor there with nine sail of the line. To have attacked him at anchor would have been dangerous and unnecessary, since the departure of the French to the south, as if to attack Trincomalee, would be sure to draw the English admiral out. Suffren acted on that calculation with success. He stood to the south, and was followed by Hughes. One of the subordinate French captains in charge of the convoy of transports and prizes accompanying the French fleet was so careless as to allow them to fall to leeward of the battleships, where they were between Suffren and Hughes. Six of them, including one which carried 300 soldiers, were captured. On the 17th February Suffren, who was to windward of the English squadron, which was heading to the south, bore down on it from N.E. He led his squadron and ranged along the weather-side of the English till he reached the fifth ship. It was his wish and his order that those of his vessels which could not find room on the windward side of their enemy should pass to leeward, and so put him between two fires. He was ill obeyed. Only two of his rear ships did as they ought, and several never came into action. Yet he did carry out a concentration of superior on inferior numbers. The fifth English vessel which he engaged was the =Superb=, 74, Hughes’ flagship. She and the ships astern of her suffered severely. The last ship in the English line, the =Exeter=, 64, carrying the broad pennant of Commodore King, was cut to pieces. The conduct of the commodore partly explains why the good management of Suffren was balked of its reward. He had been covered by the blood of his flag-captain, Reynolds, who was cut in two by a cannon-shot at his side. His ship was battered by two enemies, and a third appeared to be about to join them. One of his officers asked him what was to be done. “There is nothing to be done,” said King, “but to fight till she sink.” The rest of the explanation must be sought in the fact that, as Suffren told the Minister of Marine in a moment of bitterness, the French officers who had spent years in the Cythera of the Île de France, leading idle, self-indulgent lives ashore, and intent on trading