At the same time her own resources were drained, and Holland, exhausted, was seeking to borrow from her.
"Money," we are told, "was never so scarce in the city, and cannot be had at twelve per cent." Had France, therefore, at this time had a navy able to make head against that of England, even though somewhat inferior in strength, she might, with her grip on the Netherlands and Maestricht, have exacted her own conditions.

England, on the other hand, though driven to the wall on the continent, was nevertheless able to obtain peace on equal terms, through the control of the sea by her navy.
The commerce of all three nations had suffered enormously, but the balance of prizes in favor of Great Britain was estimated at L2,000,000.

Stated in another way, it is said that the combined losses of French and Spanish commerce amounted during the war to 3,434 ships, the English to 3,238; but in considering such figures, the relation they bear to the total merchant shipping of either nation must not be forgotten.

A thousand vessels were a very much larger fraction of French shipping than of English, and meant more grievous loss.
"After the disaster to the squadron of L'Etenduere," says a French writer, "the French flag did not appear at sea.
Twenty-two ships-of-the-line composed the navy of France, which sixty years before had one hundred and twenty.

Privateers made few prizes; followed everywhere, unprotected, they almost always fell a prey to the English.