In 1810, word of attacks on Boston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, and Charleston by Napoleon's fleet reaches London, and it is realized that France's naval strength is far greater than had been assumed; had the ships dispatched to attack the American colonies been added to those attacking England in the Aug. 4 Battle of the Channel, in which the British Navy held off a massive French assault, the outcome quite likely would have been different. A panicky King George III realizes the war with Napoleon is likely to be a long one.

In council with his ministers, the King asks how much help in the way of arms manufacture London can count on from America. He is told bluntly that even leaving aside the damage done by the French attacks, he can expect little such aid because of the Crown's deliberate policy, extending back decades, of discouraging industrial development in the American colonies except for shipping, in order to preserve America as a source of raw materials for British industry and a captive market for British manufactures.