Soon after the accession of the new Sovereign, Admiral Hubert being appointed to the command of the fleet destined to co-operate with the land-forces in the reduction of Ireland, Captain Rooke was raised to the rank of Commodore, and greatly signalised himself upon the occasion.

In 1691, he was made Rear Admiral, and had the honour of convoying his Majesty to Holland, in the beginning of that year, to the general Congress of the Confederates held at the Hague. The operations of the campaign in Flanders being settled, William put himself at the head of the allied army, in order to relieve Mons; but that place having surrendered to the French, he returned to England.

The following year, in the engagement off La Hogue between the combined fleets of England and Holland, under the command of Admiral Russel, and that of France, Rooke confirmed his reputation by the most distinguished acts of judgement and bravery. In this action, which began on the nineteenth of May and continued till the twenty-fourth, he boldly dashed in with boats and fire-ships among thirteen French vessels hauled in very near the shore, and burned the whole with several transports. His royal master was so highly pleased with his intrepidity upon the occasion, that he granted him a considerable pension for life, and conferred upon him the honour of knighthood.

The ill success of the English fleet in 1693 was such that his Majesty, upon his return from the Netherlands, could not forbear noticing in parliament the mismanagement of our naval affairs. Far, however, from thinking that Sir George Rooke had

in any way been wanting to his duty, he appointed him successively Vice Admiral of the Red, and Admiral of the Blue.

But it is not in victory alone, that we are to look for bravery and skill in a commander; even in the most adverse events, are frequently to be discerned striking proofs of superior abilities. Such was Rooke's case, when being appointed with twenty three sail of the line to convoy the Smyrna fleet, consisting of nearly five hundred vessels, he was attacked off Cape St. Vincent by eighty French men of war. Yet did he gallantly fight his way through the enemy, and thus give an opportunity to upward of four hundred of the merchantmen to escape.

In 1694, he was appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty; and in 1698, chosen member of parliament for Portsmouth, in which capacity he discharged his duty with such a spirit of independence, that the ministry pressed his Majesty to remove him from his office William however, to his great honour, invariably refused; saying, "Rooke has served me faithfully at sea, and I will never displace him for acting as he thinks most for the service of his country in the House of Commons."

The year 1699 was a year of peace throughout Europe: but, in 1700, Sir George had a fresh opportunity of signalising his conduct in the Baltic. A strong confederacy having been formed by Russia, Denmark, and Poland, against the young King of Sweden and his brother-in-law the Duke of Holstein, and the Dane having actually invaded the territories of the latter, the King of England and the StatesGeneral not only interposed their mediatorial offices; but also, the more effectually to promote their object,

despatched squadrons of men of war into the Sound. Rooke, with the fleet under his command cruising before the Maese, immediately proceeded to the Hague, to confer with the Deputies of the States; and being joined by the Dutch squadron under Lieutenant Admiral Allemond, notwithstanding the delays occasioned by contrary winds, on the eighth of July entered the Sound without opposition.

Here finding that the Swedes expected to have the chief authority, he was obliged to act with great delicacy in order to maintain the national precedency. This he dexterously accomplished, and the united fleet sailed under his command to Copenhagen, which they affected to bombard, but without doing much damage, though they could have laid the city in ashes. His instructions and designs, however, tended only to peace; which being soon afterward happily concluded at Travendal, he returned home about the middle of September with the general approbation.

In the spring of 1701, he was appointed Admiral and Commander in Chief of the fleet: but the war against France not breaking out in the South of Europe till the following year, no naval enterprise offered itself for execution. In the mean time James II. dying at St. Germain's, and the French acknowledging his pretended successor James III., his Majesty summoned a new parliament, in which the Admiral was re-elected for Portsmouth.

Upon this occasion, he nobly refused to sacrifice the independence of an Englishman for titles or emoluments; having, in opposition to the views of the Court, voted for Mr. Harley to be Speaker of the House of Commons, though the King himself not

very constitutionally interested himself in favour of Sir Thomas Lyttelton.

The death of William, which happened during the first session of this parliament, interrupted the designs of his enemies; and the Princess Anne succeeding to the crown, the clamors which had been raised against Sir George by the ministry ceased. He now received the farther honour of being appointed Vice Admiral and Lieutenant of the Admiralty of England and Lieutenant of the fleets and seas of this kingdom, under Prince George of Denmark, who was constituted Lord High Admiral of England and Generalissimo of all her Majesty's forces.

In 1702, Rooke was placed jointly with the Duke of Ormond, at the head of thirty English and twenty Dutch ships of the line, having 10,000 English soldiers on board, in the unsuccessful expedition against Cadiz.

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On his passage home he learnt, that the galleons with their convoy had put into Vigo. This he immediately imparted to the Dutch Admiral, declaring it as his opinion, that they should directly set sail for that place.' His suggestion was readily adopted, and received the subsequent sanction of a council of flag-officers. The French Admiral, in order to secure his ships and the Spanish flota, had carried them up beyond a narrow streight not only powerfully defended by platforms, upon which he planted his bestguns, but likewise crossed by a strong boom of masts, yards, cables, top-chains, and casks measuring twelve yards in circumference, and kept steady by anchors thrown out on both sides.

Undismayed by these preparations, as soon as the

confederate fleet came to an anchor before Vigo on the eleventh of October, Rooke called a council of the sea and land general officers; in which it was resolved that, since the whole squadron could not act without imminent danger of running foul of one another, a detachment of fifteen English and ten Dutch men of war, with all the fire-ships, should be sent in to take or destroy the enemy; that the frigates and bomb-vessels should follow in their rear, and that the great ships also should move after them; that the army should at the same time attack the fort on the south-side of Redondella, and thence proceed wherever they might be able to act with the greatest effect. For the better performance of these resolutions, the Admiral, with unwearied vigilance, spent almost the whole night in going from ship to ship in his own boat to give the necessary directions, and to encourage both officers and seamen to do their duty."

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The next morning, as soon as the land-forces under the Duke of Ormond were disembarked, Rooke gave the signal to weigh: the line accordingly was formed, and the squadron was briskly bearing up against the boom; when unfortunately, on getting within cannonshot of the batteries, it fell calm, so that they were constrained to come again to an anchor. Not long afterward however, a fresh gale springing up, Vice Admiral Hopson in the Torbay, being next the enemy, cut his cables, and bearing up under full sail amidst all the enemy's fire broke through the boom, and cast anchor between two French men of war. The Dutch Commander, availing himself of a second gale, followed this noble example, and made himself master of one of them, the Bourbon.