But while the French were triumphant by land, the English soon became equally predominant on the ocean. Their fleets swept the seas of all their enemies. Through their vigilance, and the indomitable courage of their crews, the merchant vessels of England had never in any former war been so thoroughly protected. The premium of insurance which had, in 1782, been fifteen guineas per cent. on those of her ships engaged in the trade with India and China, did not exceed half that rate at any period between the spring of 1793 and the close of this terrible struggle. Nelson and his brave fellow-commanders were the only, but they were a complete, barrier to Napoleon’s conquests. The fleets of France were either destroyed or shut up in her ports, and, to use Napoleon’s own expression, he could not send a cockle boat to sea without the risk of its being captured. The loyalty and courage of the English nation had, amid all their sufferings, risen with the emergency. In Mr. Pitt the merchants, shipowners, and agriculturists had found a most able and truly loyal, though a cold, proud, disdainful champion; his extraordinary administrative talents and unswerving love of his country rendering him the idol of the mercantile and shipping classes. But though he had weathered the storm during seventeen years, he now felt it prudent to withdraw for a while from office; his retirement being, no doubt, greatly induced by the differences between him and the King respecting Catholic Emancipation. His influence, however, and the policy he had unflinchingly pursued, continued to guide the councils of the Addington administration which succeeded him. [Sidenote: Neutral nations repudiate the English views.]