226

HISTOEY 03? ENGH^ASI).

CHAP.

XX.

1093 .

about thirty frigates and brigantines should assemble in theChannel under the command of ICillegrew and Delaval, the twonew Lords of the English Admiralty, and should convoy theSmyrna fleet, as it was popularly called, beyond the limitswithin which any danger could be apprehended from the Brestsquadron. The greater part of the armament might then returnto guard the Channel, while Hooke, with twenty sail, mightaccompany the trading vessels and might protect them againstthe squadron which lay at Toulon. The plan of the Erenchgovernment was that the Brest squadron under Tourville andthe Toulon squadron under Estrees should meet in the neigh-bourhood of the Straits of Gibraltar, and should there lie inwait for the booty.

Which plan was the better conceived may be doubted.Which was the better executed is a question which admits of nodoubt. The whole French navy, whether in the Atlantic or inthe Mediterranean, was moved by one will. The navy of Eng-land and the navy of the United Provinces were subject todifferent authorities; and, both in England and in the UnitedProvinces, the power was divided and subdivided to such anextent that no single person was pressed by a heavy responsibi-lity. The spring came. The merchants loudly complained thatthey had already lost more by delay than they could hope togain by the most successful voyage; and still the ships of warwere not half manned or half provisioned. The Amsterdamsquadron did not arrive on our coast till late in April; theZealand squadron not till the middle'of May.* It was Junebefore the immense fleet, near five hundred sail, lost sight ofthe cliffs of England.

Tourville was already on the sea, and was steering south-ward. But ICillegrew and Delaval were so negligent or so un-fortunate that they had no intelligence of his movements. They* London Gazette, April 24., May 15. 1693.