d be restored.[158]
The declaration of war was withheld until ready to strike; but the
English government, doubtless, should have been upon its guard in the
strained relations of the two countries, and prepared to prevent a
junction of the two fleets. As it was, no efficient blockade of Brest
was established, and twenty-eight French sail-of-the-line went out
unopposed[159] June 3, 1779, under D'Orvilliers, Keppel's opponent of
the year before. The fleet steered for the coasts of Spain, where it
was to find the Spanish ships; but it was not till the 22d of July
that the full contingent joined. Seven precious summer weeks thus
slipped by unimproved, but that was not all the loss; the French had
been provisioned for only thirteen weeks, and this truly great armada
of sixty-six ships-of-the-line and fourteen frigates had not more than
forty working-days before it. Sickness, moreover, ravaged the fleet;
and although it was fortunate enough to enter the Channel while the
English were at sea, the latter, numbering little more than half their
enemies, succeeded in passing within them. The flabbiness of
coalitions increased the weakness due to inefficient preparation; a
great and not unnatural panic on the English Channel coast, and the
capture of one ship-of-the-line, were the sole results of a cruise
extending, for the French, over fifteen weeks.[160] The
disappointment, due to bad preparation, mainly on the part of Spain,
though the French ministry utterly failed to meet the pressing wants
of its fleet, fell, of course, upon the innocent Admiral d'Orvilliers.
That brave and accomplished but unfortunate officer, whose only son, a
lieutenant, had died of the pestilence which scourged the allies,
could not support the odium. Being of a deeply religious character,
the refuge which Villeneuve after Trafalgar found in suicide was
denied him; but he threw up his command and retired into a religious
house.
The scanty maritime interest of the year 1780, in Europe, centres
round Cadiz and Gibraltar. This fortress was invested by Spain
immediately upon the outbreak of war, and, while successfully
resisting direct attack, the supply of provisions and ammunition was a
matter of serious concern to England, and involved both difficulty and
danger. For this purpose, Rodney sailed on the 29th of December, 1779,
having under his command twenty ships-of-the-line with a large convoy
and reinforcements for Gibraltar and Minorca, as well as th
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