it does not produce correspondent exertions, it
will be a proof, that motives of honour, public good, and even
self-preservation, have lost their influence upon our minds. This is a
decisive moment, one of the most, I will go further and say, the most
important America has seen. The court of France has made a glorious
effort for our deliverance, and if we disappoint its intentions by our
supineness, we must become contemptible in the eyes of all mankind;
nor can we, after that, venture to confide that our allies will
persist in an attempt to establish what it will appear we want
inclination or ability to assist them in.

"Every view of our own circumstances ought to determine us to the most
vigorous efforts; but there are considerations of another kind, that
should have equal weight. The combined fleets of France and Spain last
year were greatly superior to those of the enemy; the enemy
nevertheless sustained no material damage, and at the close of the
campaign gave a very important blow to our allies. This campaign, the
difference between the fleets, from every account I have been able to
collect, will be inconsiderable: indeed it is far from clear that
there will be an equality. What are we to expect will be the case if
there should be another campaign? In all probability the advantage
would be on the side of the English, and then what would become of
America? We ought not to deceive ourselves. The maritime resources of
Great Britain are more substantial and real than those of France and
Spain united. Her commerce is more extensive than that of both her
rivals; and it is an axiom, that the nation which has the most
extensive commerce will always have the most powerful marine. Were
this argument less convincing, the fact speaks for itself: her
progress in the course of the last year is an incontestable proof.

"It is true France in a manner created a fleet in a very short space,
and this may mislead us in the judgment we form of her naval
abilities. But if they bore any comparison with those of Great
Britain, how comes it to pass, that with all the force of Spain added,
she has lost so much ground in so short a time, as now to have
scarcely a superiority. We should consider what was done by France, as
a violent and unnatural effort of the government, which, for want of
sufficient foundation, can not continue to operate proportionable
effects.

"In modern wars, the longest purse must chiefly determine the event. I
f