[201] "Nor is it true that the sea was neglected; for I think during much the greater part of the war which began in 1689 we were entirely masters of the sea, by our victory in 1692, which was only three years after it broke out; so that for seven years we carried the _broom_. And for any neglect of our sea affairs otherwise, I believe, I may in a few words prove that all the princes since the Conquest never made so remarkable an improvement to our naval strength as King William. He (Swift) should have been told, if he did not know, what havoc the Dutch had made of our shipping in King Charles the Second's reign; and that his successor, King James the Second, had not in his whole navy, fitted out to defeat the designed invasion of the Prince of Orange, an individual ship of the first or second rank, which all lay neglected, and mere skeletons of former services, at their moorings. These this abused prince repaired at an immense charge, and brought them to their pristine magnificence." "Answer to Swift's Conduct of the Allies," in _Somers Tracts_, xiii. 247. [202] Dalrymple has remarked the important consequences of this bold measure; but we have learned only by the publication of Lord Shrewsbury's _Correspondence_, that it originated with the king, and was carried through by him against the mutinous remonstrances of Russell. See pp. 68, 104, 202, 210, 234. This was a most odious man; as ill-tempered and violent as he was perfidious. But the rudeness with which the king was treated by some of his servants is very remarkable. Lord Sunderland wrote to him at least with great bluntness. _Hardwicke Papers_, 444. [203] The peace of Ryswick was absolutely necessary, not only on account of the defection of the Duke of Savoy, and the manifest disadvantage with which the allies carried on the war, but because public credit in England was almost annihilated, and it was hardly possible to pay the army. The extreme distress for money is forcibly displayed in some of the king's letters to Lord Shrewsbury. P. 114, etc. These were in 1696, the very _nadir_ of English prosperity; from which, by the favour of Providence and the buoyant energies of the nation, we have, though not quite with an uniform motion, culminated to our present height (1824). If the treaty could have been concluded on the basis originally laid down, it would even have been honourable. But the French rose in their terms during the negotiation; and through the selfishness of Austria obtained Strasburgh, which they had at first offered to relinquish, and were very near getting Luxemburg. _Shrewsbury Correspondence_, 316, etc. Still the terms were better than those offered in 1693, which William has been censured for refusing.