666 W. and M. Naval Expeditions , &c, o/' /Le English, Book

1692. Wind, send Orders to Fourville not tofight; But the Vessel was taken, andthe Duplicate of these Orders, whichwas sent by another Conveyance, didnot come to him ’till the Day after theEngagement.

" It is not to be doubted {fays Mon-<( fieur de For bin) but if the Englijh had" been worsted, which probably would" have happened, if we had hindered" their Fleets from joyning, this Projectof a Descent, which fell to the" Ground, by the Blow our Fleet re-" ceived, would have caused the Eng-" UJh a great Deal of Uneasiness and" Pains: But the contrary Winds," which lasted for three whole Weeks," and hindered our Proceeding, gave" the Enemy Time to join their Fleets;" So that instead of five and forty Ships," which they were supposed to be, the" Number, after they were joined, a-" mounted to ninety-six.” Biflrop Bur-net , who allows our Fleet to have beenalmost double the Number of th q French,fays, however, that not above half ofour Ships could be brought into the Ac-tion, by Reason of the Winds. Rooke ,one of his Admirals, was thought morein Fault.

„ „ Had they met with Success, the

the French^ Forces which lay ready at La Hogue ,Fket pre- and the adjacent Places, would nottheir h ave been long out of England ; Tho’ if,England.^ when there, they had behaved them-selves no better, than in the Defence oftheir Ships when burnt, there wouldnot have been much Mischief done;

(x) This Blow fell so heavy on King James,that he never recovered the Impression of it. Heseemed now to recede from all Hopes of his Re-storation, and wrote the following melancholyLetter to the French King.

Monsieur, My Brother-,have hitherto, with something of Constancyand Resolution, supported the Weight of allthe Misfortunes, which it hath pleased Heaven tolay upon me, so long as myself was the only Suf-ferer : But I must acknowledge, this last Disasterutterly overwhelms me; And I am altogethercomfortless, in Reference to what concerns YourMajesty, thro' the great Loss that has befallenyour Fleets. I know too well, that my unluckyStar it is, which has drawn down this Misfortuneupon your Forces, always victorious, but whenthey fought for my Interests. And this is thatwhich plainly tells me, that I no longer merit theSupport of so great a Monarch, and who is al-ways sure to vanquish when he fights for himself.For which Reason it is that I request Your Maje-sty no longer to concern Yourself for a Prince sounfortunate as myself ; But permit me to retire,with my Family, to some Corner of the World,where I may cease to obstruct the usual Course ofYour Prosperities and Conquests, which only my

For, notwithstanding their Numbers, 16s'and the Opportunity they had of mak-ing Resistance, the whole Service wasperformed with the Loss of a very in-considerable Number of Men, besidesthose who were accidentally blown upin one of our Long Boats: And hadwe been favoured with clear Weather,and a Gale of Wind, it is very proba-ble, that not so much as one of theFrench Ships would have escaped. (V)

It was believed (fays Bishop j Burnef)that if this Success had been pursuedwith Vigour, considering the Consterna-tion, with which the French were struck,upon such an unusual and surprizingBlow, that this Victory might havebeen carried much farther than it was.

But Ruffel was provoked by some Let-ters and Orders, that the Earl of Not-tingham sent him from the Queen,which he thought were the Effects ofIgnorance ; And upon that he fell intoa Crossness of Disposition; He foundFault with every Order which was senthim; But would offer no Advice, onhis Part. , rhe

Since all Hopes of meting the Re- comes f jmainder of the French Fleet were Helei'Ugroundless, the Admiral resolved to re- the f 5 lesspair with the Fleet to St. Helen’s, and fadTime it was; For such was the sudden tier-Extremity of the Weather, that hadthe Fleet kept out at Sea, they musthave been exposed to very great Danger;Especially those Ships, which, in theBattle, had received Damage in theirMasts. However, before he left the

French

Misfortune could interrupt. It is not just, thatthe most potent Monarch in the World, and themost flourishing, above all others, should share inmy Disgrace, because you are too generous : 'Tisbetter much, that I should only retire,'till it pleaseOmnipotent Providence to be more propitious tomy Affairs. But howsoever it pleases Over-rulingHeaven to dispose of me and mine, or into what-ever Recess I may be thrown, I can assure YourMajesty, that I shall always preserve, to the lastGasp of my aspiring Breath, that due Acknow-ledgment which I still retain of Your Favours andconstant Friendship. Nor can any Thing morecontribute to my.Consolation, than to hear, as Ihope to do, when I have wholly quitted your Do-minions, of the quick Return of all your wontedTriumphs, both by Sea and Land, over your E-nemies and mine, when my Interest shall be nolonger intermixed with Yours.

1 am,

Monsieur, My Brother,

Fours, &c.

James Rex.

The King of France endeavoured to alleviateKing James’s Affliction,by a kind Answer, where-in he promised never to forsake him in the worstol his Extremities.