small islands in the West Indies.
In brief, it is due to British control of the sea during the 18th
century that practically all of the continent north of the Rio
Grande is English in speech, laws, and tradition.

This control of the sea exercised by England was not the gift of
fortune. It was a prize gained, in the main, by wise policy in
peace and hard fighting in war. France had the opportunity to wrest
from England the control of the sea as England had won it from
Holland, for France at the close of the 17th century dominated
Europe. In population and in wealth she was superior to her rival.
But the arrogance of her king kept her embroiled in futile wars on
the Continent, with little energy left for the major issue, the
conquest of the sea. Finally, when the war of American Independence
left her a free hand to concentrate on her navy as against that of
England, France lost through the fatal weakness of policy which
corrupted all her officers with the single brilliant exception of
Suffren. The French naval officer avoided battle on principle,
and when he could not avoid it he accepted the defensive. To the
credit of the English officer be it said that, as a rule, he sought
the enemy and took the aggressive; he had the "fighting spirit."
This difference between French and British commanders had as much
to do with the ultimate triumph of England on the sea as anything
else. It retrieved many a blunder in strategy and tactics by sheer
hard hitting.

The history of the French navy points a moral applicable to any
service and any time. When a navy encourages the idea that ships
must not be risked, that a decisive battle must be avoided because
of what might happen in case of defeat, it is headed for the same
fate that overwhelmed the French.

REFERENCES

INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY, A. T. Mahan, 1890.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ROYAL NAVY, David Hannay, 1909.
THE ROYAL NAVY (vols. II, III), W. L. Clowes et al., 1903.
ADMIRAL BLAKE, English Men of Action Series, David Hannay, 1909.
RODNEY, English Men of Action Series, David Hannay, 1891.
MONK, English Men of Action Series, Julian Corbett, 1907.
ENGLAND IN THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR, J. S. Corbett, 1907.
THE GRAVES PAPERS, F. E. Chadwick, 1916.
STUDIES IN NAVAL HISTORY, BIOGRAPHIES, J. K. Laughton, 1887.
FROM HOWARD TO NELSON, ed. by J. K. Laughton, 1899.
MAJOR OPERATIONS IN THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, A. T.
Mahan, 1913.
SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN, Geoffrey Calle