Its rejection was at once followed by the news of
Saratoga, and by the yet more fatal news that this disaster had roused
the Bourbon Courts to avenge the humiliation of the Seven Years' War.
Crippled and impoverished as she was at its close, France could do
nothing to break the world-power which was rising in front of her; but
in the very moment of her defeat, the foresight of Choiseul had seen in
a future straggle between England and her Colonies a chance of ruining
the great fabric which Pitt's triumphs had built up. Nor was Pitt blind
to the steady resolve of France to renew the fight. In every attempt
which he had made to construct a Ministry he had laid down as the
corner-stone of his foreign policy a renewal of that alliance with the
Protestant States of North Germany against the House of Bourbon which
could alone save England from the dangers of the Family Compact. But his
efforts had been foiled alike by the resistance of the king, the timid
peacefulness of the Whigs, and at last by the distrust of England which
had been rooted in the mind of Frederick the Great through the treachery
of Lord Bute.

[Sidenote: Death of Chatham.]

The wisdom of his policy was now brought home by the coming of the
danger he had foreseen when the foresight of Choiseul was justified by
the outbreak of strife between England and America. Even then for a
while France looked idly on. Her king, Lewis the Sixteenth, was averse
from war; her treasury was empty; her government, scared by the growth
of new movements towards freedom about it, and fearful of endangering
the monarchy by the encouragement these would receive from a union with
the revolted Colonies, still doubted whether America had any real power
of resisting Britain. It was to no purpose that from the moment when
they declared themselves independent, the United States called on France
for aid; or that Franklin pressed their appeal on its government. A year
in fact passed without any decisive resolution to give aid to the
colonists. But the steady drift of French policy and the passion of the
French people pressed heavier every day on the hesitation of their
government; and the news of Saratoga forced its hand. The American
envoys at last succeeded in forming an alliance; and in February 1778 a
treaty offensive and defensive was concluded between France and America.
Lord North strove to meet the blow by fresh offers of conciliation, and
by a pledge to renounce for ever the rig