assed away with the
destruction of the Brest fleet. The battle of November 20, 1759, was
the Trafalgar of this war; and though a blockade was maintained over
the fractions that were laid up in the Vilaine and at Rochefort, the
English fleets were now free to act against the colonies of France,
and later of Spain, on a grander scale than ever before. The same year
that saw this great sea fight and the fall of Quebec witnessed also
the capture of Guadeloupe in the West Indies, of Goree on the west
coast of Africa, and the abandonment of the East Indian seas by the
French flag after three indecisive actions between their commodore,
D'Ache, and Admiral Pocock,--an abandonment which necessarily led to
the fall of the French power in India, never again to rise. In this
year also the King of Spain died, and his brother succeeded, under the
title of Charles III. This Charles had been King of Naples at the time
when an English commodore had allowed one hour for the court to
determine to withdraw the Neapolitan troops from the Spanish army. He
had never forgotten this humiliation, and brought to his new throne a
heart unfriendly to England. With such feelings on his part, France
and Spain drew more readily together. Charles's first step was to
propose mediation, but Pitt was averse to it. Looking upon France as
the chief enemy of England, and upon the sea and the colonies as the
chief source of power and wealth, he wished, now that he had her down,
to weaken her thoroughly for the future as well as the present, and to
establish England's greatness more firmly upon the wreck. Later on he
offered certain conditions; but the influence of Louis's mistress,
attached to the Empress of Austria, prevailed to except Prussia from
the negotiations, and England would not allow the exception. Pitt,
indeed, was not yet ready for peace. A year later, October 25, 1760,
George II. died, and Pitt's influence then began to wane, the new
king being less bent on war. During these years, 1759 and 1760,
Frederick the Great still continued the deadly and exhausting strife
of his small kingdom against the great States joined against him. At
one moment his case seemed so hopeless that he got ready to kill
himself; but the continuance of the war diverted the efforts of France
from England and the sea.

The hour was fast approaching for the great colonial expeditions,
which made the last year of the war illustrious by the triumph of the
sea power of Englan