George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

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In the conflict between fears and desires, the king of

Chap. VI.} 1778.

Spain was spell-bound by indecision. The precipitate alliance of France and America without his consent wounded his pride and endangered his possessions. His confessor held it a want of probity and an evil example to fight for heretics in revolt against lawful authority. On the other hand his need of protection, his respect for the elder branch of his family, and some remnants of rancor against England, concurred to bind him to the compact between the two crowns. Moreover, Florida Blanca, who from the drudgery of a provincial attorney had risen to be the chief minister of a world-wide empire, had a passion to be spoken of in his time, and to gain a place in history: he, therefore, kept open the negotiations with France, designing to consent to a junction only after stipulations for extraordinary and most unequal advantages. For the recovery of Gibraltar he did not rely exclusively on a siege,¹ yet before the end of March he had collected battering cannon at Seville, and held at anchor in the bay of Cadiz a greater fleet than Spain had launched since the days of the armada.

Avoiding an immediate choice between peace and war, Florida Blanca disdained the proposal of an alliance with the United States, and he demanded the postponement of active hostilities in European waters, that he might gain free scope for offering mediation. The establishments of Britain in all parts of the world were weakly garrisoned; its homeward-bound commerce was inadequately protected; its navy was unprepared. The ships of the French, on the contrary, were ready for immediate action; yet they