f Europe against Louis XIV. in the War of the League of
Augsburg, was due to the mistakes and failure of the French naval
campaign in 1690; though in that campaign was won the most conspicuous
single success the French have ever gained at sea over the English. As
regards the more striking military operations, it is curious to remark
that Tourville sailed the day after William left Chester, and won
Beachy Head the day before the battle of the Boyne; but the real
failure lay in permitting William to transport that solid body of men
without hindrance. It might have been favorable to French policy to
let him get into Ireland, but not with such a force at his back. The
result of the Irish campaign was to settle William safely on the
English throne and establish the Anglo-Dutch alliance; and the union
of the two sea peoples under one crown was the pledge, through their
commercial and maritime ability, and the wealth they drew from the
sea, of the successful prosecution of the war by their allies on the
continent.

The year 1691 was distinguished by only one great maritime event. This
was ever afterward known in France as Tourville's "deep-sea" or
"off-shore" cruise; and the memory of it as a brilliant strategic and
tactical display remains to this day in the French navy. That staying
power, which has already been spoken of as distinctive of nations
whose sea power is not a mere military institution, but based upon the
character and pursuits of the people, had now come into play with the
allies. Notwithstanding the defeat and loss of Beachy Head, the united
fleets took the sea in 1691 with one hundred ships-of-the-line under
the command of Admiral Russell. Tourville could only gather
seventy-two, the same number as the year before. "With these he left
Brest June 25. As the enemy had not yet appeared upon the coasts of
the Channel, he took up his cruising ground at the entrance, sending
lookout ships in all directions. Informed that the allies had
stationed themselves near the Scilly Islands to cover the passage of a
convoy expected from the Levant, Tourville did not hesitate to steer
for the English coasts, where the approaching arrival of another
merchant fleet from Jamaica was equally expected. Deceiving the
English cruisers by false courses, he reached the latter fleet, took
from it several ships, and dispersed it before Russell could come up
to fight him. When at last Tourville was in presence of the allied
fleet, he mano