t failed to show.

France having thus lost both Canada and India by the evident failure
of her power to act at a distance by sea, it would seem scarcely
possible that Spain, with her own weak navy and widely scattered
possessions, would choose this moment for entering the war. Yet so it
was. The maritime exhaustion of France was plain to all, and is
abundantly testified to by her naval historians. "The resources of
France were exhausted," says one; "the year 1761 saw only a few single
ships leave her ports, and all of them were captured. The alliance
with Spain came too late. The occasional ships that went to sea in
1762 were taken, and the colonies still remaining to France could not
be saved."[102] Even as early as 1758, another Frenchman writes, "want
of money, the depression of commerce given over to English cruisers,
the lack of good ships, the lack of supplies, etc., compelled the
French ministry, unable to raise large forces, to resort to
stratagems, to replace the only rational system of war, Grand War, by
the smallest of petty wars,--by a sort of game in which the great aim
is not to be caught. Even then, the arrival of four ships-of-the-line
at Louisburg, by avoiding the enemy, was looked on as a very fortunate
event.... In 1759 the lucky arrival of the West India convoy caused as
much surprise as joy to the merchants. We see how rare had become such
a chance in seas ploughed by the squadrons of England."[103] This was
before the disasters of La Clue and Conflans. The destruction of
French commerce, beginning by the capture of its merchant-ships, was
consummated by the reduction of the colonies. It can hardly,
therefore, be conceded that the Family Compact now made between the
two courts, containing, as it did, not only an agreement to support
each other in any future war, but also a secret clause binding Spain
to declare war against England within a year, if peace were not made,
"was honorable to the wisdom of the two governments." It is hard to
pardon, not only the Spanish government, but even France for alluring
a kindred people into such a bad bargain. It was hoped, however, to
revive the French navy and to promote an alliance of neutral powers;
many of which, besides Spain, had causes of complaint against England.
"During the war with France," confesses an English historian, "the
Spanish flag had not always been respected by British cruisers."[104]
"During 1758," says another, "not less than one hundred a