So the one supreme point to be decided by the Second
Hundred Years' War lay between only two rivals, France
and Britain. Was there to be a Greater France or a Greater
Britain across the seas? The answer depended on the rival
navies. Of course, it involved many other elements of
national and Imperial power on both sides. But no other
elements of power could have possibly prevailed against
a hostile and triumphant navy.

Everything that went to make a Greater France or a Greater
Britain had to cross the sea--men, women, and children,
horses and cattle, all the various appliances a civilized
people must take with them when they settle in a new
country. Every time there was war there were battles at
sea, and these battles were nearly always won by the
British. Every British victory at sea made it harder for
French trade, because every ship between France and
Greater France ran more risk o being taken, while every
ship between Britain and Greater Britain stood a better
chance of getting safely through. This affected everything
on both competing sides in America. British business went
on. French business almost stopped dead. Even the trade
with the Indians living a thousand miles inland was
changed in favour of the British and against the French,
as all the guns and knives and beads and everything else
that the white man offered to the Indian in exchange for
his furs had to come across the sea, which was just like
an enemy's country to every French ship, but just like
her own to every British one. Thus the victors at sea