were destroyed by vastly superior force; the merchant shipping was
swept away, and the colonies, Canada, Martinique, Guadeloupe, India,
fell into England's hands. If it did not take too much space,
interesting extracts might be made, showing the woful misery of
France, the country that had abandoned the sea, aid the growing wealth
of England amid all her sacrifices and exertions. A contemporary
writer has thus expressed his view of the policy of France at this
period:--

"France, by engaging so heartily as she has done in the German war,
has drawn away so much of her attention and her revenue from her navy
that it enabled us to give such a blow to her maritime strength as
possibly she may never be able to recover. Her engagement in the
German war has likewise drawn her from the defence of her colonies, by
which means we have conquered some of the most considerable she
possessed. It has withdrawn her from the protection of her trade, by
which it is entirely destroyed, while that of England has never, is
the profoundest peace, been in so flourishing a condition. So that, by
embarking in this German war, France has suffered herself to be
undone, so far as regards her particular and immediate quarrel with
England."

In the Seven Years' War France lost thirty-seven ships-of-the-line
and fifty-six frigates,--a force three times as numerous as the
whole navy of the United States at any time in the days of
sailing-ships. "For the first time since the Middle Ages," says a
French historian, speaking of the same war, "England had conquered
France single-handed, almost without allies, France having powerful
auxiliaries. She had conquered solely by the superiority of her
government." Yes; but it was by the superiority of her government