Complex sentence: From the beginning it was evident that he was prepared to give effect to a policy of colonial expansion, and to exercise an independence of action that did not coincide with the views of the monarch or of his minister Colbert.
Split into simpler sentences: From the beginning, it was evident that he was prepared to give effect to a policy of colonial expansion. He exercised an independence of action that did not coincide with the views of the monarch or of his minister Colbert.