SAILING CRAFT 57 



Years' War was to confirm the British com- 

 mand of the sea for another century. 



But the French designs in shipbuilding were 

 generally better than the English. The French, 

 then and afterwards, were more scientific, the 

 English more rule-of -thumb. Yet when it 

 came to actual handling under sail, especially 

 in action, the positions were reversed. The 

 English seafaring class was far larger in pro- 

 portion to population and it had far more 

 practice at sea. Besides, England had more 

 and more at stake as her oversea trade and 

 empire extended, till at last she had no choice, 

 as an imperial power, but either to win or die. 



The French kingdom rose to its zenith under 

 Louis XIV, whose great minister, Colbert, did 

 all he could to foster the Navy, the mer- 

 cantile marine, and the French colonies in 

 Canada. But the fates were against him. 

 France was essentially a landsman's country. 

 It had several land frontiers to attack or 

 defend, and it used its Navy merely as an 

 adjunct to its Army. Moreover, its people were 

 not naturally so much inclined to colonize over- 

 sea possessions as the British, and its despotic 

 colonial system repressed all free development. 

 The result was that the French dominions in 

 America never reached a population of one 



