[476] The Prince had already fixed upon a general well qualified to be second in command.

This was indeed no light matter.

A random shot or the dagger of an assassin might in a moment leave the expedition without a head.

It was necessary that a successor should be ready to fill the vacant place.
Yet it was impossible to make choice of any Englishman without giving offence either to the Whigs or to the Tories; nor had any Englishman then living shown that he possessed the military skill necessary for the conduct of a campaign.

On the other band it was not easy to assign preeminence to a foreigner without wounding the national sensibility of the haughty islanders.