Spanish war was popular with seamen for the prize-money it brought, and Rodney was poor,—­for he adds, “I shall discredit the idea till I have received your answer to this letter.”  He concludes with a warning, not to be misunderstood, that a war, so far from helping Rodney, would probably cause his supersession.  “I will add one word more:  Upon a declaration of war larger squadrons must be sent out, and, very probably, senior officers to most of our stations in foreign parts.”  In face of an intimation thus thinly veiled, one scarcely needs to be told what was being said round the table of the Cabinet.

That Rodney would have welcomed war for reasons personal as well as professional, for money and for glory, can readily be believed; but his measures in this case give no ground for such an innuendo as Sandwich conveyed.  Therefore, after making full allowance for the panic of ministers ready to fear the worst, and to throw blame on anybody, it is the more significant that he should have been suspected of an unworthy personal motive underlying a worthy official act.  It is an indication of reputation already compromised by damaging association with pecuniary embarrassments; an evidence of latent distrust easily quickened into active suspicion.  An officer of his rank and service, so far from home, and with the precedents of his day, could scarcely be faulted for what he had done to uphold the honor of the country; and his manner of doing it was dignified and self-restrained, as well as forcible.  There was no violence like that of Hawke at Gibraltar, less than twenty years before, which that admiral had boldly vindicated to Pitt himself; but there were no weak joints in Hawke’s armor.  In the particular instance, time and cooler judgment set Rodney right in men’s opinion; but subsequent events showed that his general reputation did not recover, either then, or through his Jamaica career.

After immediate apprehension had subsided, Rodney’s action was justified by the government.  Sandwich wrote him, a little later, that no commander-in-chief stood upon a better footing, and assured him that his private interests were safe in his hands.  Sandwich, however, was an extremely practical politician, who had much personal use for his own patronage; and Rodney’s necessities were great.  Fulfilment therefore fell far short of promise.  Employment was necessary to the admiral, and his hopes fixed upon a colonial governorship when his present appointment should expire; Jamaica being his first choice.  Sandwich renewed assurances, but advised a personal application also to the Prime Minister and other Cabinet officers.  New York was mentioned, but nothing came of it all.  After three years Rodney was superseded, with permission to remain in the island instead of returning to England.  This he declined.  “I cannot bear to think of remaining here in a private station, after commanding in chief with the approbation of the whole island.”  How far this approbation was universal, or unqualified, is perhaps doubtful; but the letters quoted by his biographer from his correspondence bear continuous evidence, in this peace employment, of the activity and perspicacity of mind characteristic of his more strictly military proceedings.