The first partition of Poland between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, carried out in 1772, was made easier by the preoccupation of Choiseul with his naval policy and the Spanish alliance.

The friendship and support of Poland and Turkey, as checks upon the House of Austria, were part of the tradition received from Henry IV.

and Richelieu; the destruction of the former was a direct blow to the pride and interest of France.

What Choiseul would have done had he been in office, cannot be known; but if the result of the Seven Years' War had been different, France might have interfered to some purpose.
On the 10th of May, 1774, Louis XV.

died, at the time when the troubles in the North American colonies were fast coming to a head.
Under his youthful successor, Louis XVI., the policy of peace on the continent, of friendly alliance with Spain, and of building up the navy in numbers and efficiency, was continued.