life of an individual reformer, we shall at once proceed to an affair
strongly, though not very favourably, illustrating his character. The
subject of the Eucharist commanded, among the various doctrinal
differences, perhaps the greatest attention; and in this matter Luther
receded but a short space, and with unusual timidity, from the faith in
which he had been educated. He admitted the real corporeal presence in
the elements, and differed from the church only as to the manner of that
presence. He rejected the actual and perfect change of substance, but
supposed the flesh to subsist in, or with the bread, as fire subsists in
red-hot iron. Consequently, he renounced the term transubstantiation,
and substituted consubstantiation in its place. In the mean time,
Zuinglius, the reformer of Zuric, had examined the same question with
greater independence, and had reached the bolder conclusion, that the
bread and wine are no more than external signs, intended to revive our
recollections and animate our piety. This opinion was adopted by
Carlostadt, Œcolampadius, and other fathers of the Reformation, and
followed by the Swiss Protestants, and generally by the free cities of
the Empire. Those who held it were called Sacramentarians. The opinion
of Luther prevailed in Saxony, and in the more northern provinces of
Germany.
The difference was important. It was felt to be so by the reformers
themselves; and the Lutheran party expressed that sentiment with too
little moderation. The Papists, or Papalins (Papalini), were alert in
perceiving the division, in exciting the dissension, and in inflaming
it, if possible, into absolute schism; and in this matter it must be
admitted, that Luther himself was too much disposed by his intemperate
vehemence to further their design. These discords were becoming
dangerous; and in 1529, Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, the most ardent
among the protectors of the Reformation, assembled the leading doctors
of either party to a public disputation at Marpurg. The particulars of
this conference are singularly interesting to the theological reader;
but it is here sufficient to mention, without entering into the
doctrinal merits of the controversy, that whatever was imperious in
assertion and overbearing in authority, and unyielding and unsparing in
polemical altercation, proceeded from the mouth and party of Luther;
that every approach to humility, and self-distrust, and mutual
toleration, and common friendship, came from the side of Zuinglius and
the Sacramentarians. And we are bound to add, that the same
uncompromising spirit, which precluded Luther from all co-operation or
fellowship with those whom _he thought_ in error (it was the predominant
spirit of the church which he had deserted) continued on future
occasions to interrupt and even endanger the work of his own hands. But
that very spirit was the vice of a character, which endured no
moderation or concession in any matter wherein Christian truth was
concerned, but which too hastily assumed its own infallibility in
ascertaining that truth. Luther would have excommunicated the
Sacramentarians; and he did not perceive how precisely his _principle_
was the same with that of the church which had excommunicated himself.
Luther was not present at the celebrated Diet of Augsburg, held under
the superintendence of Charles V. in 1530; but he was in constant
correspondence with Melancthon during that fearful period, and in the
reproofs which he cast on the temporizing, though perhaps necessary,
negotiations of the latter, he at least exhibited his own uprightness
and impetuosity. The ‘Confession’ of the Protestants, there published,
was constructed on the basis of seventeen articles previously drawn up
by Luther; and it was not without his counsels that the faith,
permanently adopted by the church which bears his name, was finally
digested and matured. From that crisis the history of the Reformation
took more of a political, less of a religious character, and the name of
Luther is therefore less prominent than in the earlier proceedings. But
he still continued for sixteen years longer to exert his energies in the
cause which was peculiarly his own, and to influence by his advice and
authority the new ecclesiastical system.
He died in the year 1546, the same, as it singularly happened, in which
the Council of Trent assembled, for the self-reformation and re-union of
the Roman Catholic Church. But that attempt, even had it been made with
judgment and sincerity, was then too late. During the twenty-nine years
which composed the public life of Luther, the principles of the Gospel,
having fallen upon hearts already prepared for their reception, were
rooted beyond the possibility of extirpation; and when the great
Reformer closed his eyes upon the scene of his earthly toils and glory,
he might depart in the peaceful confidence that the objects of his
mission were virtually accomplished, and the work of the Lord placed in
security by the same heaven-directed hand which had raised it from the
dust.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
RODNEY.
This eminent officer was descended from a younger branch of an ancient
family, long resident in the county of Somerset. His father lived at
Walton upon Thames, where George Brydges Rodney, afterwards Lord Rodney,
was born, February 19, 1718. He received the rudiments of his education
at Harrow School, from which he was removed when only twelve years old,
and sent to sea. He gained promotion rapidly, being made Lieutenant in
February, 1739, and Captain in 1742. He was still farther fortunate in
being almost constantly employed for several years. In the Eagle, of
sixty guns, Captain Rodney bore a distinguished part in the action
fought by Admiral Hawke with the French fleet, off Cape Finisterre,
October 14, 1747. The year after he was sent out with the rank of
Commodore, as Governor and Commander-in-Chief on the Newfoundland
station, where he remained till October, 1752.
Returning to England, he took his seat in Parliament for the borough of
Saltash, and was successively appointed to the Fougueux, of sixty-four
guns, the Prince George, of ninety, and the Dublin, of seventy-four
guns. In the last-named ship he served under Admiral Hawke in the
expedition against Rochefort in 1757, which failed entirely, after great
expense had been incurred, and great expectations raised; and he
assisted at the capture of Louisburg by Admiral Boscawen in 1758. He was
raised to the rank of Rear-Admiral, May 19, 1759, after twenty-eight
years of active and almost uninterrupted service.
In July following he was ordered to take the command of a squadron
destined to attack Havre, and destroy a number of flat-bottomed boats,
prepared, it was supposed, to assist a meditated invasion of Great
Britain. This service he effectually performed.
[Illustration:
_Engraved by E. Scriven._
LORD RODNEY.
_From a Picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds
in his Majesty’s Collection at S^{t.} James’s Palace._
Under the Superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.
_London, Published by Charles Knight, Pall Mall East._
]
He was soon raised to a more important sphere of action, being named
Commander-in-Chief at Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands, in the autumn
of 1761. No naval achievement of remarkable brilliance occurred during
the short period of his holding this command: but the capture of the
valuable islands of Martinique, St. Lucia, and Grenada, bears testimony
to the efficiency of the fleet under his orders, and the good
understanding between the land and sea forces employed in this service.
He was recalled on the conclusion of peace in 1763. Eight years elapsed
before he was again called into service; a period fruitful in marks of
favour from the crown, though barren of professional laurels. He was
created a Baronet soon after his return; he was raised by successive
steps to the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Red; and he was appointed
Governor of Greenwich Hospital. This office he was required to resign on
being again sent out to the West Indies as Commander-in-Chief at Jamaica
in 1771. This was a period of profound peace: but the duties of peace
are often more difficult, and require more moral courage for their
discharge, than those of war. It is one of Rodney’s best claims to
distinction, that he suffered none under his command, or within the
sphere of his influence, to neglect their duties with impunity: and in
the mode of carrying on naval affairs then practised in the West Indies,
he found much ground for immediate interference, as well as for
representation and remonstrance to his superiors at home. He earnestly
desired to obtain the government of Jamaica; but on a vacancy occurring
in 1773, another person was appointed; and he was recalled, and struck
his flag at Portsmouth, September 4, 1774.
The next four years of Sir George Rodney’s life were much harassed by
pecuniary embarrassment. The habits of a sailor’s life are proverbially
unsuited to strict economy: and moving, when at home, in the most
fashionable society of London, it is no wonder that his expenses outran
his professional gains. He was compelled to retire to Paris, where he
remained until the American war afforded a prospect of his being called
into active service again. In May, 1778, he was promoted to the rank of
Admiral of the White: but it was not till the autumn of 1779 that he was
gratified by being re-appointed to the command on the Barbadoes station.
He sailed from Plymouth December 29, to enter on the final and crowning
scene of his glory.
At this time Spain and France were at war with England. The memorable
siege of Gibraltar was in progress, and a Spanish fleet blockaded the
Straits. The British navy was reduced unwarrantably low in point of
disposable force; and was farther crippled by a spirit of disunion and
jealousy among its officers, arising partly perhaps from the virulence
of party politics, and partly from the misconduct of the Admiralty,
which threatened even worse consequences than the mere want of physical
force. By this spirit Sir George Rodney’s fleet was deeply tainted, to
his great mortification and the great injury of the country. At first,
however, every thing appeared to prosper. The fleet consisted of
twenty-two sail of the line, and eight frigates. Before Rodney had been
at sea ten days, he captured seven Spanish vessels of war, with a large
convoy of provisions and stores; and on January 16, near Cape St.
Vincent, afterwards made memorable by a more important action, he
encountered a Spanish fleet commanded by Don Juan de Langara, of eleven
ships of the line and two frigates. The superiority of the British force
rendered victory certain. Five Spanish ships were taken, and two
destroyed; and had not the action been in the night, and in tempestuous
weather, probably every ship would have been captured. These at least
are the reasons which Rodney gave in his despatches, for not having done
more: in private letters he hints that he was ill-supported by his
captains. Trifling as this success would have seemed in later times, it
was then very acceptable to the country; and the Admiral received the
thanks of both Houses of Parliament. The scandalous feeling of jealousy
of their commander, ill-will to the ministry, or whatever other
modification of party spirit it was, which could prevent brave men (and
such they were) from performing their duty to the utmost in the hour of
battle, broke out again with more violence when Rodney next came within
sight of the enemy. This was near Martinique, April 17, 1780, about a
month after his arrival in the West Indies. The French fleet, commanded
by the Comte de Guichen, was slightly superior in force. Rodney’s
intention was to attack the enemy’s rear in close order and with his
whole strength; but his captains disobeyed his orders, deranged his
plan, and careless of the signals for close action, repeatedly made,
kept for the most part at cautious distance from the enemy. His own
ship, the Sandwich, engaged for an hour and a half a seventy-four and
two eighty-gun ships, compelled them to bear away, and broke completely
through the enemy’s line. Not more than five or six ships did their
duty. Had all done it, the victory over De Grasse might have been
anticipated, and the end of the war accelerated perhaps by two years. In
his despatches Rodney censured the conduct of his captains; but the
Admiralty thought proper to suppress the passage. In his private letters
to Lady Rodney, he complains bitterly. One only of his captains was
brought to trial, and he was broken. That ampler justice was not done on
the delinquents, is to be explained by the difficulty of finding
officers to form courts martial, where almost all were equally guilty.
But this partial severity, with the vigorous measures which the Admiral
took to recall others to their duty, produced due effect, and we hear no
more of want of discipline, or reluctance to engage. For this action
Rodney received the thanks of the House of Commons, with a pension for
himself and his family of £2000 per annum.
Nothing of importance occurred during the rest of the spring; and De
Guichen having returned to Europe, Rodney sailed to New York, to
co-operate, during the rainy season in the West Indies, with the British
forces engaged in the American war. In November he returned to his
station. In the course of the autumn he had been chosen to represent
Westminster without expense, and had received the Order of the Bath. The
commencement of the following year was signalized by acts of more
importance. The British ministry had been induced to declare war against
Holland; and they sent out immediate instructions to Rodney, to attack
the possessions of the states in the West Indies. St. Eustatius was
selected for the first blow, and it surrendered without firing a shot.
Small and barren, yet this island was of great importance for the
support which it had long afforded to the French and Americans under
colour of neutrality, and for the vast wealth which was captured in it.
In the course of the spring, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, with the
French island of St. Bartholomew, were also taken.
In the autumn, Rodney returned to Europe for the recovery of his health.
He was received with distinguished favour by the King, and with
enthusiasm by the people, and during his stay, was created Vice-Admiral
of Great Britain, in the place of Lord Hawke, deceased. He returned in
the middle of January, being invested with the command of the whole West
Indies, not merely the Barbadoes station, as before. The situation of
affairs at this time was very critical. The French fleet, commanded by
the Comte de Grasse, consisted of thirty-three sail[6] of the line, two
fifty-gun ships and frigates, with a large body of troops, and a train
of heavy cannon on board. A powerful Spanish fleet was also in the West
Indies. It was intended to form a junction, and then with an
overwhelming force of near fifty sail of the line, to proceed to
Jamaica, conquer that important island, and one by one to reduce all the
British colonies.
Footnote 6:
Or thirty-four, according to the official list found on board the
Ville de Paris after the engagement.
The French quitted Fort Royal Bay, in Martinique, April 8, 1782.
Intelligence was immediately brought to the British fleet at St. Lucia,
which lost no time in following them. In a partial action on the 9th,
two of the French ships were, disabled. A third was crippled by accident
on the night of the 11th. Thus, on the morning of the 12th, the decisive
day, the French line was reduced to thirty or thirty-one ships, and
numerically the British fleet was stronger: but this difference was more
than compensated by the greater weight of metal in the French broadside,
which was calculated by Sir Charles Douglas to have exceeded the British
by 4396 pounds. On that morning, about seven o’clock, Rodney bore down
obliquely on the French line, and passed to leeward of it on the
opposite tack. His own ship was the eighteenth from the van: and the
seventeen leading ships having pushed on and taken their position each
abreast of an enemy, Rodney, in the Formidable, broke through the line
between the seventeenth and eighteenth ships, engaged the Ville de
Paris, De Grasse’s flag-ship, and compelled her to strike. The battle
was obstinately fought, and lasted till half-past six in the evening.
The loss of the British in killed and wounded was severe, but
disproportionately less than that of the French. Seven ships of the line
and two frigates fell into the hands of the victors.
This battle ruined the power of the allied fleets in the West Indies,
and materially contributed to the re-establishment of peace, which was
concluded in January, 1783. Many other circumstances have combined to
confer celebrity upon it. It restored to Britain the dominion of the
ocean, after that dominion had been some time in abeyance; it proved the
commencement of a long series of most brilliant victories, untarnished
by any defeat on a large scale; and it was the first instance in which
the manœuvre of breaking through the enemy’s line, and attacking him on
both sides, had been practised. The question to whom the merit of this
invention, which for many years rested with Lord Rodney, is due, has of
late been much canvassed before the public. It has been claimed for Mr.
Clerk, of Eldin, author of a treatise on Naval Tactics, and for Sir
Charles Douglas, Captain of the Fleet, who served on board the
Formidable, and is said to have suggested it, as a sudden thought,
during the action. The claim of Mr. Clerk appears now to be generally
disallowed. The evidence in favour of each of the other parties is
strong and conflicting; and as we have not space to discuss it, we may
be excused for not expressing any opinion upon it. The claims of Sir
Charles Douglas have been advanced by his son, Sir Howard Douglas, in
some recent publications: the opposite side of the question has been
argued in the Quarterly Review, No. 83. It has also been repeatedly
discussed in the United Service Magazine. It would appear, however, at
all events, that as the final judgment and responsibility rested with
the Admiral, so also should the chief honour of the measure: and it is
certain that the gallant and generous officer for whom this claim has
been advanced, rejected all praise which seemed to him in the least to
derogate from the glory of his commanding officer.
A change of ministry had taken place in the spring; and one of the first
acts of the Whigs, on coming into office, was to recall Rodney, who had
always been opposed to them in politics. The officer appointed to
succeed him had but just sailed, when news of his decisive and glorious
victory arrived in England. The Admiralty sent an express, to endeavour
to recall their unlucky step; but it was too late. Rodney landed at
Bristol, and closed his career of service, September 21, 1782. He was
received with enthusiasm, raised to the peerage by the title of Baron
Rodney, and presented with an additional pension of £2000 per annum.
From this time he lived chiefly in the country, and died May 23, 1792,
in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He was twice married, and left a
numerous family to inherit his well-earned honours and rewards.
The life of Lord Rodney, published by General Mundy, is valuable, as
containing much of his official and private correspondence. The former
proves that his views as a Commander-in-Chief were enlarged, judicious,
and patriotic; the latter is lively and affectionate, and shows him to
have been most amiable in domestic life. Memoirs of his life and
principal actions will be found in most works on naval history and
biography.
[Illustration: Monument of Lord Rodney in St. Paul’s Cathedral.]
[Illustration]
LAGRANGE.
Joseph Louis Lagrange was born at Turin, January 25th, 1736. His
great-grandfather was a Frenchman, who entered into the service of the
then Duke of Savoy; and from this circumstance, as well as his
subsequent settlement in France, and his always writing in their
language, the French claim him as their countryman: an honour which the
Italians are far from conceding to them.
[Illustration:
_Engraved by Rob^t. Hart._
LA GRANGE.
_From a Bust in the Library of the
Institute of France._
Under the Superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.
_London, Published by Charles Knight, Pall Mall East._
]
The father of Lagrange, luckily perhaps for the fame of his son, was
ruined by some unfortunate speculation. The latter used to say, that had
he possessed fortune, he should probably never have turned his attention
to the science in which he excelled. He was placed at the College of
Turin, and applied himself diligently and with enthusiasm to classical
literature, showing no taste at first for mathematics. In about a year
he began to attend to the geometry of the ancients. A memoir of Halley
in the Philosophical Transactions, on the superiority of modern
analysis, produced consequences of which the author little dreamed.
Lagrange met with it, before his views upon the subject had settled: and
immediately, being then only seventeen years old, applied himself to the
study of the modern mathematics. Before this change in his studies,
according to Delambre[7], after it, according to others, but certainly
while very young, he was elected professor at the Royal School of
Artillery at Turin. We may best convey some notion of his early
proficiency, by stating without detail, that at the age of twenty-three
we find him—the founder of an Academy of Sciences at Turin, whose
volumes yield in interest to none, and owe that interest principally to
his productions,—a member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, an
honour obtained through the medium of Euler, who shortly after announced
him to Frederic of Prussia as the fittest man in Europe to succeed
himself,—and settling, finally, a most intricate question[8] of
mathematics, which had given rise to long discussions between Euler and
D’Alembert, then perhaps the two first mathematicians in Europe. He had
previously extended the method of Euler for the solution of what are
called _isoperimetrical problems_, and laid the foundation for the
_Calculus of Variations_, the most decided advance, in our opinion,
which any one has made since the death of Newton.
Footnote 7:
Éloge de Lagrange, Mémoires de l’Institut. 1812.
Footnote 8:
The admissibility of discontinuous functions into the integrals of
partial differential equations.
In 1764 he gained the prize proposed by the Academy of Sciences for an
Essay on the Libration of the Moon; and in 1766, that for an Essay on
the Theory of the Satellites of Jupiter. In the former of these we find
him, for the first time, using the _principle of virtual velocities_,
which had hitherto remained almost a barren truth, but which he
afterwards made, in conjunction with the principle known after the name
of D’Alembert, the foundation of the whole of mechanical science.
In 1766, Euler, intending to return to St. Petersburg, resigned the
situation which he held at the Court of Berlin, that of director of the
physico-mathematical class of the Academy of Sciences. Frederic offered
this place to D’Alembert, who refused it for himself, but joined with
Euler in recommending Lagrange. The King of Prussia acceded to their
suggestion, and Lagrange was invited to establish himself at Berlin,
with a salary equivalent to 6,000 francs.
Lagrange remained at Berlin till after the death of Frederic. He here
married a lady who was related to him, and who came from Turin at his
request. She died after a lingering illness of several years, marked by
the most unceasing attention on the part of her husband, who abandoned
his pursuits to devote himself entirely to her during her illness.
Nevertheless the period of his sojourn at Berlin is perhaps the
brightest of a life, most years of which, from the age of eighteen to
that of seventy, were sufficient to ensure a lasting reputation. He here
laid the foundation of his Theory of Functions, of his general method
for determining the secular variations of the planetary orbits; and here
he wrote his _Mécanique Analytique_.
At the death of Frederic, he found that science was no longer treated
with the same respect at the Court of Berlin. He had found from the
commencement of his stay there, that foreigners were looked upon with
dislike, and his spirits had not recovered the loss of his wife. Many
advantageous offers were made to him by different courts, and among the
rest by that of France. Mirabeau, who was then at Berlin, first pointed
out to the ministers of Louis XVI. the acquisition which was in their
power. Lagrange removed to Paris in 1787, and remained there till his
death.