For this insult no amend was made beyond a formal apology; Portugal was too dependent upon England to be seriously considered.
Pitt, writing to the English minister to Portugal about the affair, told him that while soothing the susceptibilities of the Portuguese government he must not allow it to suppose that either the ships would be given up or the distinguished admiral censured.[99] The destruction or dispersal of the Toulon fleet stopped the invasion of England, though the five ships that got into Cadiz remained a matter of anxiety to Sir Edward Hawke, who cruised before Brest.
Choiseul, balked of his main object, still clung to the invasion of Scotland.

The French fleet at Brest, under Marshal de Conflans, a sea officer despite his title, numbered twenty sail-of-the-line, besides frigates.

The troops to be embarked are variously stated at fifteen to twenty thousand.

The original purpose was to escort the transports with only five ships-of-the-line, besides smaller vessels.

Conflans insisted that the whole fleet ought to go.