THE IVTH OF OCTOBEE. 403 attack which no one of their captains ajiproved, chap. and found themselves disposed, with the French, " ^ ' in such a meek order of battle that, as long as the great array lasted, they were offering themselves to the striker Avithout being able to strike. But, independently of the general idea which fasliioned this order of battle, there resulted from the punctilio and the stiffness attendant upon the Alliance so strange a waste of opportunity that it deserves to be marked and remembered. What- ever doubts the sanguine English might entertain of the power of stone forts to resist the broadsides of their ships, they, at all events, were sure that to act with effect in such strife they must come to close quarters.* The French, on the other hand, believed that a long range — a range of from IGOO to 1800 yards — was the one at which their fleet could best act.-j* Well, corresponding, as it were, with this difference of opinion, there ^vas a dif- ference between the shoals on the north and the slioals on the south of the harbour ; for whilst on the north, there was a shoal which kept ofl' line- of-battle ships to distances of from 800 to 1200 yards from Fort Constantine, the forts on the south, and especially the Quarantine Sea-fort, could be attacked by ships at close range.
- The English gave good proof of this by the way in which
they pressed and crowded to the very edge of the slioal in order to get as near as was possible. t The French gave conclusive proof of this by attacking forts at ranges of 1600 yards and upwards, when, if they had liked, they might have chosen ranges of from 150 to 400 yards. X See the plans.
