When he
received the news of the disaster he broke up his force and
retired. For the moment Canada was safe from the threatened
invasion.
In spite of this apparent deliverance, the long war, now near its
end, brought a destructive blow to French power in America.
Though France still possessed vigor and resources which her
enemies were apt to underrate, the war had gone against her in
Europe. Her finest armies had been destroyed by Marlborough, her
taxation was crushing, her credit was ruined, her people were
suffering for lack of food. The allies had begun to think that
there was no humiliation which they might not put upon France.
Louis XIV, they said, must give up Alsace, which, with Lorraine,
he had taken some years earlier, and he must help to drive his
own grandson from the Spanish throne. This exorbitant demand
stirred the pride not only of Louis but of the French nation, and
the allies found that they could not trample France under their
feet. The Treaty of Utrecht, concluded in 1718, shows that each
side was too strong as yet to be crushed.
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