American chauvinists chose to believe that the ship had been deliberately destroyed, and they demanded retaliation.
"The Black Experience in America The Immigrant Heritage of America"
Norman Coombs
Untaught by the clamour which French chauvinists and ardent Catholics had raised against his armed support of the Italian national cause in 1859, he now proposed to further the aggrandisement of the Protestant North German Power which had sought to partition France in 1815. The clamour aroused by his leanings towards Prussia in 1864-66 was naturally far more violent, in proportion as the interests of France were more closely at stake.
"The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1914 (5th ed.)"
John Holland Rose
For reasons that have been set forth, the military and naval weakness of France was so marked as greatly to encourage German chauvinists; but the Entente made them pause, especially when France agreed to concentrate her chief naval strength in the Mediterranean, while that of Great Britain was concentrated in the English Channel and the North Sea.
"The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1914 (5th ed.)"
John Holland Rose