The French having nothing to gain by an action, did not indulge him with a meeting. The weather proved stormy, and in the end the allies returned in September to Cadiz without Palamos, and without a battle. Russell then sailed for home, and reached England after a prosperous voyage early in November, leaving behind him a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral David Mitchell. The impotent conclusion of the attack on Palamos leaves us in some doubt whether Russell was not rather a fortunate than a spirited man. Yet his continuance abroad for a year and a half, his wintering at Cadiz, and his two cruises in the Mediterranean, did serve to prove that the allies had clearly gained the upper hand at sea. They could not have remained for so long, nor have cruised undisturbed, if the French had been in a position to use their fleet. The end of these operations was somewhat tame. Sir David Mitchell had been left with sixteen ships of the line of the middle and lower rates. On the 15th October Sir George Rooke arrived from England with a squadron, and the total force of the allies was raised to thirty sail, exclusive of the small craft. Information, no more accurate than the false report which drew Russell away from Palamos, led Rooke to believe that a powerful French fleet was coming to sea. He took refuge in Cadiz harbour, and there spent the winter. Sir David Mitchell was once sent out in search of some French vessels said to be lying in Lagos Bay, but they were not found, and the allies were otherwise quiescent. Meanwhile, King Louis was indeed preparing to make an attack, or rather a double attack, on King William. During the early days of 1696 Sir John Fenwick’s assassination plot was hatching in England, to the knowledge and with the approval of the French sovereign and the exiled King James. Troops were collected at Calais to be pushed over so soon as the murder of King William was known to have been achieved. In the meanwhile a fleet of fifty-one sail was being prepared at Toulon with considerable difficulty, partly through the penury of the French Government, partly because of the pertinacity of its sailors in resisting or evading service. The object of this armament was to provide a force which should be at hand to take advantage of the confusion expected to ensue on the violent death of King William. It is known to all that this complicated scheme of combined murder and military operations broke down. Fenwick’s plot was revealed to the Government. The great ships which had come home with Russell in the autumn were hurried to sea in February, and the French coast was patrolled and orders were sent to Rooke to return at once.