when he is so) on
vegetables and fruit".[87] The symptoms happily passed away. He had,
indeed, cause for cheerfulness, for the ministry was in a far stronger
position at the end of the session than when North took office.

[Sidenote: _SPAIN AND THE FALKLAND ISLANDS._]

The next session began early, on November 13, for a war with Spain
seemed imminent. Choiseul was anxious to make the Family Compact the
means of humbling England and of regaining for France the territories
she had lost. He patiently built up a new navy, until France had afloat
sixty-four ships of the line and fifty frigates; and he organised the
naval artillery. Grimaldi, the foreign minister of Spain, shared his
hopes and followed his example; the Spanish navy was increased, and the
dockyards well stocked, though as usual the seamen were few. For some
time both powers showed an inclination to treat England with contempt;
they believed her to be enfeebled by domestic discord, and her conduct
with reference to the Manila ransom, the annexation of Corsica, and some
other matters, strengthened this opinion. In 1770 the ministers of the
two Bourbon courts went a step too far. The Falkland islands, to the
east of the straits of Magellan, though in reality only fit for
sheep-farming, were generally believed to be fertile. Acting on this
belief, France took possession of the eastern island in 1764, and
shortly afterwards handed it over to Spain. Meanwhile, in 1765, England
took possession of the western island and formed a settlement on it,
which was named Port Egmont, after the first lord of the admiralty. In
November, 1769, Captain Hunt of the _Tamar_, sloop of war, observed a
Spanish schooner hovering off this settlement and warned her to depart.
The Spanish captain asserted that the island belonged to his master, and
two Spanish frigates arrived soon afterwards and repeated the claim.
Hunt gave them a decided answer, and as it was agreed that both parties
should refer the claim of right to their governments, sailed for England
leaving a small garrison in Port Egmont. During his absence Buccarelli,
the governor of Buenos Ayres, took forcible possession of the island,
and, in order to ensure being the first to send the news to Spain, had
the impudence to remove the rudder of a British ship of war, and
detained her for twenty days.

Harris, afterwards first Earl of Malmesbury, the British _charge
d'affaires_ at Madrid, at once made a suitable remonstrance, b