Note 201 — Chapter XV · ON THE REIGN OF WILLIAM III.

"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.