They should have been; for the English cruisers were both better supported and individually more powerful, while the extension of American commerce had come to be the wonder of the statesmen of the mother-country.

When the war broke out, it was as great as that of England herself at the beginning of the century.
An interesting indication of the number of the seafaring population of North America at that time is given by the statement in Parliament by the First Lord of the Admiralty, "that the navy had lost eighteen thousand of the seamen employed in the last war by not having America,"[120]--no inconsiderable loss to a sea power, particularly if carried over to the ranks of the enemy.
The course of warfare on the sea gave rise, as always, to grievances of neutrals against the English for the seizures of their ships in the American trade.

Such provocation, however, was not necessary to excite the enmity and the hopes of France in the harassed state of the British government.

The hour of reckoning, of vengeance, at which the policy of Choiseul had aimed, seemed now at hand.

The question was early entertained at Paris what attitude should be assumed, what advantage drawn from the revolt of the colonies.