ould be brief. If (he continued)
England had not annoyed Spain by her naval and colonial policy, the
latter might have arranged to find some indemnity, either at the expense
of Holland, or else "something on the coast of California. You English
have a passion for California, and the trade is in the most flourishing
state." Half amused by these dilatory tactics, Bute sought to find out
the real state of the case; and he discovered that the Franco-Spanish
compact aimed at the joint conquest of Portugal as well as of Naples,
Sicily, and Gibraltar, while England was to be compelled to surrender
Honduras and Hayti. On the 5th of October he received from Godoy the
Spanish declaration of war. It laid stress on the disputes at Toulon,
England's seizure of Corsica, Hayti, and Dutch Demerara, besides the
founding of British mercantile posts on the River Missouri, which
evidently aimed at securing the routes to the Pacific.[394] Of these
schemes, the conquest of Portugal lay the nearest to the heart of Godoy.

The rupture with Spain is an event of prime importance. Because her
fleet was disastrously beaten by Jervis off Cape St. Vincent in February
1797, it has too often been assumed that she counted for little in the
war. An examination of the British Records reveals the error of that
assumption. The evacuation of Corsica and of the Mediterranean by the
British forces resulted solely from the Spanish offensive. Though weak
in herself, Spain held so strong a position in Europe and the West
Indies as to endanger British enterprises at many points, besides
threatening the coasts of Ireland. In truth, but for Spanish support in
the Mediterranean, Bonaparte could never have ventured upon his Eastern
expedition. Thus the defection of the Court of Madrid changed the
character of the war. Thenceforth it revolved more and more around
colonial questions, to the weakening of the royalist and republican
motives which had worked so potently in its early stages. The oriental
adventure of the young Corsican was to emphasize the contrast between
the years 1793 and 1798; but the scene-shifting began with the intrigues
of Godoy. In a sense Pitt himself helped on the transformation. He did
not regard the struggle against France as one of political principle. He
aimed solely at curbing the aggression of the Jacobins upon Holland; and
the obvious device of weakening France by expeditions to the West Indies
further helped to bring events back into the