mitted a list of the ships that composed the English fleet, and exhorted James to use his influence with the French' king, that the count de Tourville might be ordered to attack them before they should be joined by the Dutch squadron. It was in consequence of this advice, that Lewis commanded Tourville to fall upon the English fleet, even without waiting for the Toulon squadron, commanded by the marquis D'Etrées. By this time James had repaired to La Hogue, and was ready to embark with his army, consisting of a body of French troops together with some English and Scotch refugees, and the regiments which had been transported from Ireland by virtue of the capitulation of Limerick.

§ XXV. The ministry of England was informed of all these particulars, partly by some agents of James, who betrayed his cause, and partly by admiral Carter, who gave the queen to understand he had been tampered with; and was instructed to amuse the jacobites with a negotiation. King William no sooner arrived in Holland, than he hastened the naval preparations of the Dutch, so that their fleet was ready for sea sooner than was expected; and when he received the first intimation of the projected descent, he detached general Ptolemache with three of the English regiments from Holland. These, reinforced with other troops remaining in England, were ordered to encamp in the neighbourhood of Portsmouth. The queen issued a proclamation, commanding all papists to depart from London and Westminster: the members of both houses of parliament were required to meet on the twenty-fourth day of May, that she might avail herself of their advice in such a perilous conjuncture. Warrants were expedited for apprehending divers disaffected persons; and they withdrawing themselves from their respective places of abode, a proclamation was published for discovering and bringing them to justice. The earls of Scarsdale, Litchfield, and Newburgh; the lords Griffin, Forbes, sir John Fenwick, sir Theophilus Oglethorp, and others, found means to elude the search. The earls of Huntingdon and Marlborough were sent to the Tower: Edward Ridley, Knevitt, Hastings, and Robert Ferguson, were imprisoned in Newgate. The bishop of Rochester was confined to his own house: the lords Brus

denel and Fanshaw were secured: the earls of Dunmore, Middleton, and sir Andrew Forrester, were discovered in a quaker's house, and committed to prison, with several other persons of distinction. The trainbands of London and Westminster were armed by the queen's direction, and she reviewed them in person: admiral Russel was ordered to put to sea with all possible expedition; and Carter with, a squadron of eighteen sail, continued to cruise along the French coast to observe the motions of the enemy.

§ XXVI. On the eleventh day of May, Russel sailed from Rye to St. Helens, where he was joined by the squadrons under Delaval and Carter. There he received a letter from the earl of Nottingham, intimating that a report having been spread of the queen's suspecting the fidelity of the sea officers, her majesty had ordered him to declare in her name, that she reposed the most entire confidence in their attachment; and believed the report was raised by the enemies of the government. The flag officers and captains forthwith drew up a very loyal and dutiful address, which was graciously received by the queen and published for the satisfaction of the nation. Russel, being reinforced by the Dutch squadrons, commanded by Allemonde, Callemberg, and Vandergoes, set sail for the coast of France on the eighteenth day of May, with a fleet of ninety-nine ships of the line, besides frigates and fireships. Next day about three o'clock in the morning, he discovered the enemy, under the count de Tourville, and threw out the signal for the line of battle, which by eight o'clock was formed in good order, the Dutch in the van, the blue division in the rear, and the red in the centre. The French fleet did not exceed sixty-three ships of the line, and, as they were to windward, Tourville might have avoided an engagement: but he had received a positive order to fight on the supposition that the Dutch and English squadrons had not joined. Lewis, indeed, was apprised of their junction before they were descried by his admiral, to whom he despatched a countermanding order by two several vessels: but one of them was taken by the English, and the other did not arrive till the day after the engagement.

§ XXVII. Tourville, therefore, in obedience to the first mandate, bore down along side of Russel's own ship, which

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he engaged at a very small distance. He fought with great fury till one o'clock, when his rigging and sails being considerably damaged, his ship, the Rising Sun, which carried one hundred and four cannon, was towed out of the line in great disorder. Nevertheless, the engagement continued till three, when the fleets were parted by a thick fog. When this abated, the enemy were descried flying to the northward; and Russel made the signal for chasing. Part of the blue squadron came up with the enemy about eight in the evening, and engaged them half an hour, during which admiral Carter was mortally wounded. Finding himself in extremity, he exhorted his captain to fight as long as the ship could swim; and expired with great composure. At length the French bore away for Conquest Road, having lost four ships in this day's action. Next day, about eight in the morning, they were discovered crowding away to the westward, and the combined fleets chased with all the sail they could carry, until Russel's foretopmast came by the board. Though he was retarded by this accident, the fleet still continued the pursuit, and anchored near Cape La Hogue. On the twenty-second day of the month, about seven in the morning, part of the French fleet was perceived near the race of Alderney, some at anchor, and some driving to the eastward with the tide of flood. Russel, and the ships nearest him, immediately slipped their cables and chased. The Rising

Sun, having lost her masts, ran ashore near Cherbourg, where she was burned by sir Ralph Delaval, together with the Admirable, another first rate, and the Conquerant of eighty guns. Eighteen other ships of their fleet ran into La Hogue, where they were attacked by sir George Rooke, who destroyed them, and a great number of transports laden with ammunition, in the midst of a terrible fire from the enemy, and in sight of the Irish camp. Sir John Ashby, with his own squadron and some Dutch ships, pursued the rest of the French fleet, which escaped through the race of Alderney, by such a dangerous passage as the English could not attempt, without exposing their ships to the most imminent hazard. This was a very mortifying defeat to the French king, who had been so long flattered with an uninterrupted series of victories: it reduced James to the lowest ebb of despondence, as it frustrated

the whole scheme of his embarkation, and overwhelmed his friends in England with grief and despair. Some historians allege, that Russel did not improve his victory with all advantages that might have been obtained, before the enemy recovered of their consternation. They say his affection to the service was in a good measure cooled by the disgrace of his friend, the earl of Marlborough: that he hated the earl of Nottingham, by whose channel he received his orders; and, that he adhered to the letter, rather than to the spirit of his instructions. But this is a malicious imputation; and a very ungrateful return for his manifold services to the nation. He acted in this whole expedition with the genuine spirit of a British admiral. He plyed from the Nore to the Downs with a very scanty wind, through the dangerous sands, contrary to the advice of all his pilots; and by this bold passage effected a junction of the different squadrons, which otherwise the French would have attacked singly, and perhaps defeated. behaved with great gallantry during the engagement; and destroyed about fifteen of the enemy's capital ships; in a word, he obtained such a decisive victory, that during the remaining part of the war, the French would not hazard another battle by sea with the English.

He

XXVIII. Russel having ordered sir John Ashby, and the Dutch admiral Callemberg, to steer towards Havre de Grace, and endeavour to destroy the remainder of the French fleet, sailed back to St. Helens, that the damaged ships might be refitted, and the fleet furnished with fresh supplies of provision and ammunition: but his principal motive was, to take on board a number of troops provided for a descent upon France, which had been projected by England and Holland, with a view to alarm and distract the enemy in their own dominions. The queen was so

pleased with the victory, that she ordered thirty thousand pounds to be distributed among the sailors. She caused medals to be struck in honour of the action; and the bodies of admiral Carter and captain Hastings, who had been killed in the battle, to be interred with great funeral pomp. In the latter end of July, seven thousand men, commanded by the duke of Leinster, embarked on board transports, to be landed at St. Maloes, Brest or Rochefort; and the na

tion conceived the most sanguine hopes of this expedition.

council of war, consisting of land and sea officers, being held on board the Breda, to deliberate upon the scheme of the ministry, the members unanimously agreed, that the season was too far advanced to put it in execution. Nevertheless, the admiral having detached sir John Ashby with a squadron, to intercept the remains of the French fleet, in their passage from St. Maloes to Brest, set sail for La Hogue with the rest of the fleet and transports: but in a few days the wind shifting, he was obliged to return to St. Helens.

XXIX. The queen immediately despatched the marquis of Caermarthen, the earls of Devonshire, Dorset, Nottingham, and Rochester, together with the lords Sidney and Cornwallis, to consult with the admiral, who demonstrated the impracticability of making an effectual descent upon the coast of France at that season of the year. The design was therefore laid aside; and the forces were transported to Flanders. The higher the hopes of the nation had been raised by this armament, the deeper they felt their disappointment. A loud clamour was raised against the ministry, as the authors of this miscarriage. The people complained, that they were plundered and abused: that immense sums were extorted from them by the most grievous impositions: that, by the infamous expedient of borrowing upon established funds, their taxes were perpetuated: that their burdens would daily increase: that their treasure was either squandered away in chimerical projects, or expended in foreign connexions, of which England was naturally independent. They were the more excusable for exclaiming in this manner, as their trade had suffered grievously by the French privateers, which swarmed in the channel. In vain the merchants had recourse to the admiralty, which could not spare particular convoys, while large fleets were required for the defence of the nation. The French king having nothing further to apprehend from the English armament, withdrew his troops from the coast of Normandy; and James returned in despair to St. Germains, where his queen had been in his absence delivered of a daughter, who was born in the presence of the arch