1831.] [ 89 ] 



MONTHLY 11EVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 



Life and Correspondence of Admiral 

 Lord Rodney, by Major- General Mundy. 

 2 vols. 8vo. Till the publication of Lord 

 Collingwood's Letters the public cer- 

 tainly had no adequate conception of the 

 manly character and executive powers 

 of that excellent and amiable person, 

 and the same may be said of Rodney. 

 The Correspondence now published by 

 General Mundy (who married a daughter 

 of Lord Rodney) shews the naval hero 

 in a very favourable light. In the 

 common estimate he was a daring, de- 

 cisive sort of man, with a good deal of 

 fanfarinade about him, and of an over- 

 weening spirit, which prompted him to 

 kick at all control, and trample upon 

 authority. Something of this wild and 

 impetuous character is visible in the 

 correspondence, but in general he ap- 

 pears rather the resolute, steady, tho- 

 rough-bred sailor, austere in aspect and 

 manner, and rigid in enforcing orders. 

 More sensitive than Collingwood, the 

 curb, especially of the Admiralty, was 

 intolerable to him. Like Nelson, he was 

 ready, on slight occasions, to break into 

 complaint, and, like him, too prompt to 

 take the bit in his teeth, and run at his 

 own speed, and in his own direction. He 

 had the full confidence of the sailors, but 

 not the affections of his officers. Nelson 

 was familiar and attached them ; while 

 Rodney was stern and severe, and frown- 

 ed all malcontents into obedience. He 

 won nothing by his smiles. Indiscreet 

 and imprudent in the management of 

 his domestic affairs, he was in frequent 

 embarrassment, which seems to have 

 sharpened the annoyances he felt at 

 Avhat he was too apt to regard as neglect 

 and inadequate reward. Too frank and 

 free-speaking also, he made enemies just 

 where he wanted friends, and looked to 

 a seat in parliament as his only security 

 for proper treatment from the Admi- 

 ralty, liodney was descended from a 

 younger branch of a very old family, 

 and well connected. His father, origi- 

 nally in the army, had the command of 

 the yacht which conveyed George I. 

 to and from the continent, which led to 

 the king's becoming his baptismal spon- 

 sor. Young liodney was educated at 

 Harrow, and went to sea at twelve years 

 of age, with a letter of service from the 

 king the last that was granted. There 

 is some mistake in this the king had 

 been dead three years. At the age of 

 twenty-four he was in command of a 

 sixty-four, and seems to have been con- 

 stantly employed. Six years afterwards 

 he was presented to George II., who 

 observed, he did not know he had so 

 young a captain in his navy. Upon 

 which Lord Anson expressed a wish 



M.M. New Series VOL. XL No. 61. 



that his majesty had a hundred such ; 

 and the king, notwithstanding his igno- 

 rance, with all due courtesy wished so 

 too. Under the auspices of Mr. Pitt, 

 who knew his valour, he was confiden- 

 tially and actively engaged during the 

 war in Louisiana, at the attack on Havre, 

 and in the West Indies ; and at this 

 period commences the correspondence 

 which supplies almost the whole ma- 

 terials of the volumes, with occasional 

 linking by the editor, liodney was 

 seldom in luck in his appointments, 

 though he was never long without them. 

 After the peace of 1763 he was made 

 governor of Greenwich ; and in 1771 

 appointed to the Jamaica station, but 

 compelled to resign Greenwich, though 

 many of his predecessors had held the 

 office in conjunction with similar com- 

 mands. On that station he continued 

 four years, and looked forward confi- 

 dently to the governorship of Jamaica ; 

 but in the vacancy, he was not only dis- 

 appointed, but even recalled. This in- 

 dignity he attributed to Lord Sandwich, 

 and di'd not easily forget. He was now 

 laid upon the shelf. Fond of company, 

 and well received in society, Sir George 

 soon got into pecuniary difficulties, 

 though General Mundy denies that he 

 was ruined, as has been reported, where 

 so many were stripped, at the Duchess of 

 Bedford's. He was, however, obliged 

 to withdraw from his creditors, and re- 

 tire to Paris. In the American war, 

 when the French joined the Americans, 

 he solicited employment by letter in 

 vain, and his embarrassments precluded 

 personal application ; till finally, the 

 Mareschal de Biron forced a loan upon 

 him, and he obtained an appointment 

 at the king's urgency, though Lord 

 Sandwich was ready enough, upon Rod- 

 ney's successes, to claim the whole merit 

 of selecting so distinguished an officer. 

 He had scarcely lost sight of the Chan- 

 nel at the beginning of 1780, when 

 he captured several of the Spanish 

 ships ; and a few months afterwards en- 

 countered the French fleet, where, being 

 ill seconded by his captains, his victory 

 was far short of his expectation. In his 

 correspondence he attributed their be- 

 haviour to political faction, and the sup- 

 pressed passages in his dispatches are 

 now published. Before, however, his 

 final defeat of Count de Grasse, he had 

 conciliated their good will, or frightened 

 them into obedience, for on that occasion 

 he commended without exception every 

 officer under his command. About a 

 month before this decisive victory, the 

 change of administration had taken place, 

 and before the news of his victory reach- 

 ed home, an order had been sent out for 

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