command. He had not kept his word, but his convictions remained.
It would be to accuse Howe of treason to say that he did not do
his best in America. Lack of conviction, however, affects action.
Howe had no belief that his country was in the right in the war
and this handicapped him as against the passionate conviction of
Washington that all was at stake which made life worth living.

The General's elder brother, Lord Howe, was another Whig who had
no belief that the war was just. He sat in the House of Lords
while his brother sat in the House of Commons. We rather wonder
that the King should have been content to leave in Whig hands his
fortunes in America both by land and sea. At any rate, here were
the Howes more eager to make peace than to make war and commanded
to offer terms of reconciliation. Lord Howe had an unpleasant
face, so dark that he was called "Black Dick"; he was a silent,
awkward man, shy and harsh in manner. In reality, however, he was
kind, liberal in opinion, sober, and beloved by those who knew
him best. His pacific temper towards America was not due to a
dislike of war. He was a fighting sailor. Nearly twenty years
later, on June 1, 1794, when he was in command of a fleet in
touch with the French enemy, the sailors watched him to find any
indication that the expected action would take place. Then the
word went round: "We shall have the fight today; Black Dick has
been smiling." They had it, and Howe won a victory which makes
his name famous in the annals of the sea.

By the middle of July the two brothers were at New York. The
soldier, having waited at Halifax since the evacuation of Boston,
had arrived, and landed his army on Staten Island, on the day
before Congress made the Declaration of Independence, which, as