nd
seventy-six neutral vessels, laden with the rich produce of the French
colonies or with military or naval stores, fell into the hands of the
English."[105] The causes were already at work which twenty years
later gave rise to the "armed neutrality" of the Baltic powers,
directed against the claims of England on the sea. The possession of
unlimited power, as the sea power of England then really was, is
seldom accompanied by a profound respect for the rights of others.
Without a rival upon the ocean, it suited England to maintain that
enemy's property was liable to capture on board neutral ships, thus
subjecting these nations not only to vexatious detentions, but to loss
of valuable trade; just as it had suited her earlier in the war to
establish a paper blockade of French ports. Neutrals of course chafed
under these exactions; but the year 1761 was ill-chosen for an armed
protest, and of all powers Spain risked most by a war. England had
then one hundred and twenty ships-of-the-line in commission, besides
those in reserve, manned by seventy thousand seamen trained and
hardened by five years of constant warfare afloat, and flushed with
victory. The navy of France, which numbered seventy-seven
ships-of-the-line in 1758, lost as prizes to the English in 1759
twenty-seven, besides eight destroyed and many frigates lost; indeed,
as has been seen, their own writers confess that the navy was ruined,
root and branch. The Spanish navy contained about fifty ships; but the
personnel, unless very different from the days before and after, must
have been very inferior. The weakness of her empire, in the absence of
an efficient navy, has before been pointed out. Neutrality, too,
though at times outraged, had been of great advantage to her,
permitting her to restore her finances and trade and to re-establish
her internal resources; but she needed a still longer period of it.
Nevertheless, the king, influenced by family feeling and resentment
against England, allowed himself to be drawn on by the astute
Choiseul, and the Family Compact between the two crowns was signed on
the 15th of August, 1761. This compact, into which the King of Naples
was also to enter, guaranteed their mutual possessions by the whole
power of both kingdoms. This in itself was a weighty undertaking; but
the secret clause further stipulated that Spain should declare war
against England on the 1st of May, 1762, if peace with France had not
then been made. Negotiat