HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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trivial political weight in the scale of Europe exempted it from envy, and theannihilation of that which possessed not the power of ejecting mischief, wasnot onlv an undertaking; too ignoble for the might of nations, but would have,in all probability, excited such a portion either of jealousy, or compassion inother countries, as would have induced them to oppose the attempt. Its naw,if it be not ridiculous to use the term, had never exceeded, even in the moll;flourishing times, siuce disengaged from Spain, eight or ten ships of the line, shipsof that force so called, according to the custom of the lime, and six or seven inferiorvessels. Its trade with India, which was lucrative, was assented to by its neigh-bours, because it did not interfere with theirs ; and the possession of the Brazils,which might have been considered as a spur to avarice or ambition, was neverdisputed, because those countries in whom the lust of either might have beenexcited, already possessed a greater extent of transmarine dominion than theywere capable of defending, in case of any vigorous attack. Such was the situ-ation of Portugal, and such the causes which had produced it, when the irrup-tive force of Spain entered into the country. Destitute of the means by whichthe horrors of the storm might, through her own exertions, be averted, succourwas sought for from Britain, and the temporary depredations which attend evensuccessless expeditions of that nature, proved the only mischiefs which Poitugalwas reduced to the necessity of sustaining, in consequence of an event which,in former ages, had proved the complete annihilation, in respect to public cha-racter, and political importance, of many impotent states, which the unfeelingminds of their neighbours surrendered to the fangs of their merciless oppressors.

On the preceding occasion no maritime exertions were necessary. It wasfortunate for Portugal that they were not so, for she was in no condition tohave made them. Britain, her ally and protectress, possessed fleets supeiior toSpain, the immediate enemy, and even to the united force of herself, with Franceher coadjutress, so that the marine of Portugal emerged not from its precedinginsignificancy.

The disposition of the Turks had long been apparently tranquil. Providence,which appears, on some occasions, to be an enemy to the extension of powerbeyond certain limits, had prevented, for the space of considerably more thantwo centuries, any enlargement of their worldly dominion, or further propa-gation of their religious tenets. The event of the battle of Lepanto seemed tohave convinced them of their naval inferiority, when their powers in that line

were