hout being able to ward off the blow. Should she wish
to oppose the designs of France upon Egypt, she would be
overwhelmed with the universal hatred of Christians; attacked at
home, on the contrary, not only could she ward off the
aggression, but she could avenge herself sustained by universal
public opinion, which suspects the views of France of
ambition."[45]

The memorial had no effect. "All that the efforts of ambition and
human prudence could do to lay the foundations for the destruction of
a nation, Louis XIV. now did. Diplomatic strategy on a vast scale was
displayed in order to isolate and hem in Holland. Louis, who had been
unable to make Europe accept the conquest of Belgium by France, now
hoped to induce it to see without trembling the fall of Holland." His
efforts were in the main successful. The Triple Alliance was broken;
the King of England, though contrary to the wishes of his people, made
an offensive alliance with Louis; and Holland, when the war began,
found herself without an ally in Europe, except the worn-out kingdom
of Spain and the Elector of Brandenburg, then by no means a
first-class State. But in order to obtain the help of Charles II.,
Louis not only engaged to pay him large sums of money, but also to
give to England, from the spoils of Holland and Belgium, Walcheren,
Sluys, and Cadsand, and even the islands of Goree and Voorn; the
control, that is, of the mouths of the great commercial rivers the
Scheldt and the Meuse. With regard to the united fleets of the two
nations, it was agreed that the officer bearing the admiral's flag of
England should command in chief. The question of naval precedence was
reserved, by not sending the admiral of France afloat; but it was
practically yielded. It is evident that in his eagerness for the ruin
of Holland and his own continental aggrandizement Louis was playing
directly into England's hand, as to power on the sea. A French
historian is justified in saying: "These negotiations have been
wrongly judged. It has been often repeated that Charles sold England
to Louis XIV. This is true only of internal policy. Charles indeed
plotted the political and religious subjugation of England with the
help of a foreign power; but as to external interests, he did not sell
them, for the greater share in the profit from the ruin of the Dutch
was to go to England."[46]

During the years preceding the war the Dutch made every diplomatic
effort to