at day
cherished the colonial ambitions ascribed to it by some, it is certain
French commerce was suffering enormously.

While this was the condition of France, impelling her to peace,
England in 1747 found that, from disputes about trade in Spanish
America and through the inefficient action of her navy, she had been
led away into a continental war, in which she had met with disaster,
incurred nearly L80,000,000 of debt, and now saw her ally Holland
threatened with invasion. The peace itself was signed under a threat
by the French envoy that the slightest delay would be the signal for
the French to destroy the fortifications of the captured towns and at
once begin the invasion. At the same time her own resources were
drained, and Holland, exhausted, was seeking to borrow from her.
"Money," we are told, "was never so scarce in the city, and cannot be
had at twelve per cent." Had France, therefore, at this time had a
navy able to make head against that of England, even though somewhat
inferior in strength, she might, with her grip on the Netherlands and
Maestricht, have exacted her own conditions. England, on the other
hand, though driven to the wall on the continent, was nevertheless
able to obtain peace on equal terms, through the control of the sea by
her navy.

The commerce of all three nations had suffered enormously, but the
balance of prizes in favor of Great Britain was estimated at
L2,000,000. Stated in another way, it is said that the combined losses
of French and Spanish commerce amounted during the war to 3,434 ships,
the English to 3,238; but in considering such figures, the relation
they bear to the total merchant shipping of either nation must not be
forgotten. A thousand vessels were a very much larger fraction of
French shipping than of English, and meant more grievous loss.

"After the disaster to the squadron of L'Etenduere," says a
French writer, "the French flag did not appear at sea.
Twenty-two ships-of-the-line composed the navy of France, which
sixty years before had one hundred and twenty. Privateers made
few prizes; followed everywhere, unprotected, they almost always
fell a prey to the English. The British naval forces, without
any rivals, passed unmolested over the seas. In one year they
are said to have taken from French commerce L7,000,000 sterling.
Yet this sea power, which might have seized French and Spanish
colonies, made few conquests from want