18 HALVDAN KOHf. [No. 3. 



leader of the young commercial society of England. As lo the 

 England of the yonnger Pitt, in the dawn of the new centnry, 

 it is still more true that she was no more the England of Lord 

 North; it was just at this moment that commercial society ad- 

 vanced to supersede agrarian society in the control of affairs. 



Still, Revolu.tionary America might, as above suggested, have 

 been subdued by starvation, even if military force did not suffice; 

 the colonies did not possess any navy and might easily have 

 been blockaded by Great Britain. It is true that the Govern- 

 ment, in 1774, in view of a conflict, had reduced the marine 

 troops of the country by a fifth, which affords a further proof of 

 want of energy in the English; still, Great Britain was of course, 

 far superior to America on the sea. 



Once more, the old colonial policy caused the defeat of 

 England. 



Since 1760, Great Britain was the greatest naval and colo- 

 nial power of the world. It was natural that the other com- 

 mercial powers should resent more than ever the obstacles she 

 put in their way, and the breaking down of those obstacles had 

 become to them a matter of vital importance. This applies more 

 especially to France and Holland; but after the outbreak of the 

 war, the necessity became an imperious one to all sea powers, 

 because Great Britain, in full harmony with her commercial 

 principles, was resolved to use her superiority on the sea for 

 the purpose of obstructing even neutral commerce, and refused 

 to comply with the demand of the new maritime programme, that 

 the neutral flag should cover the enemy's goods. It was the 

 conflict about this question that led up to the forming of the 

 Armed Neutrality of 1780 in defence of the liberty of Ihe sea 

 against Great Britain. Thus, Great Britain practically found 

 herself faced by a great European coalition ; no friends were left 

 her but some small German princes, Poland, Hungary, and 

 Turkey. 



Consequently, the British naval forces were engaged in 

 war almost all over the world, and were thus unable to cut off 

 supplies to America. Moreover, the American alliance with France 



