of the Fighting Instructions of 1740 and 1756, when the crystallization
of the system was complete but disintegration had not yet begun, with
those issued in 1665 by the Duke of York, afterwards James II., at the
beginning of the second of the three Anglo-Dutch Wars. His in turn are
directly deducible from others framed shortly after the first war, in
1652-1654, when sail tactics had not passed the stage of infancy, and
were still strongly affected by the galley tradition. There is here
found, on the one hand, the prescription of the line of battle,--a
single column of ships formed in each other's wake,--with the provision
that if the enemy is to leeward, and awaits attack, the headmost
squadron of the British shall steer for the headmost of the enemy's
ships. This accords with the general tenor of the later Instructions;
but there occurs elsewhere, and previously, the direction that, when the
enemy is to windward, if the leading British Squadron finds it can
weather any considerable part of them, it is to "tack and stand in, and
strive to divide the enemy's body," and that, "being got to windward, is
to bear down on those ships to leeward of them," which have thus been
cut off.

The thing to be observed here is the separate, but positive, initiative
prescribed for a portion of the fleet, with a view to divide the enemy,
and then concentrate the whole fleet upon the fraction thus isolated.
The British van takes a particular, but not an independent, action; for
the other divisions contribute their part to the common purpose. "The
middle squadron is to keep her wind, and to observe the motion of the
enemy's van, which" [that is, "which" action of the middle squadron]
"the last squadron--the rear--is to second; and both of these squadrons
are to do their utmost to assist or relieve the first squadron, that
divided the enemy's fleet." Evidently here we have tactical combination
in order to decisive action; clearly contemplated also beforehand, not