Trade with France is being blockaded while the campaign faces another projected deficit. Money had gone into trading ships in the hope that their earnings would buy more warships. The blockade makes that investment sequence difficult to sustain because the expected revenue is interrupted. The immediate regret is that more of the earlier spending should have gone into warships.
Notable Point · 29:12-30:24
Merchant income and the warships needed to protect it
Interrupted trade exposes the risk in buying merchant ships to finance a larger navy before that commerce has adequate protection.