ed about
West Point. In the general situation of affairs on the Hudson there was
but little change for the next two years.

It may seem strange that so little was done in all this time. But, in
fact, both England and the United States were getting exhausted, so far
as the ability to carry on war was concerned.

[Sidenote: How England was weakened and hampered, 1778-81.]

As regards England, the action of France had seriously complicated the
situation. England had now to protect her colonies and dependencies on
the Mediterranean, in Africa, in Hindustan, and in the West Indies. In
1779 Spain declared war against her, in the hope of regaining Gibraltar
and the Floridas. For three years Gibraltar was besieged by the allied
French and Spanish forces. A Spanish fleet laid siege to Pensacola.
France strove to regain the places which England had formerly won from
her in Senegambia. War broke out in India with the Mahrattas, and with
Hyder Ali of Mysore, and it required all the genius of Warren Hastings
to save England's empire in Asia. We have already seen how Clinton, in
the autumn of 1778, was obliged to weaken his force in New York by
sending 5,000 men to the West Indies. Before the end of 1779 there were
314,000 British troops on duty in various parts of the world, but not
enough could be spared for service in New York to defeat Washington's
little army of 15,000. We thus begin to realize what a great event was
the surrender of Burgoyne. The loss of 6,000 men by England was not in
itself irreparable; but in leading to the intervention of France it was
like the touching of a spring or the drawing of a bolt which sets in
motion a vast system of machinery.

Under these circumstances George III. tried to form an alliance with
Russia, and offered the island of Minorca as an inducement. Russia
declined the offer, and such action as she took was hostile to England.
It had formerly been held that the merchant ships of neutral nations,
employed in trade with nations at war, might lawfully be overhauled and
searched by war ships of either of the belligerent nations, and their
goods confiscated. England still held this doctrine and acted upon it.
But during the eighteenth century her maritime power had increased to
such an extent that she could damage other nations in this way much more
than they could damage her. Other nations accordingly began to maintain
that goods carried in neutral ships ought to be free from seizure. Ear