According to him, Louis XIV.

was not under any illusion as to the loyalty of the English officers to their flag; and the instructions given to Tourville, while peremptory under certain conditions, did not compel him to fight in the situation of the French fleet on the day of the battle.

The tone of the instructions, however, implied dissatisfaction with the admiral's action in previous cruises, probably in the pursuit after Beachy Head, and a consequent doubt of his vigor in the campaign then beginning.
Mortification therefore impelled him to the desperate attack on the allied fleet; and, according to M.de Crisenoy, the council of war in the admiral's cabin, and the dramatic production of the king's orders, had no existence in fact.
[74] Campbell: Lives of the Admirals..