Ingenium usu Splendescit. 
 
 TRINITY COLLEGE 
 LIBRARY 
 
 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 Rec’d 
 
 ‘"W j _ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/militarylifeofjo01alis 
 

 
 
 , 
 
 ' 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PAKT OF 
 
 F R A W C E 
 
 and th e 
 
 N ETBEK1LAMIS 
 
 to Illustrate the 
 
 FLEMISH CAMPAIGNS 
 
 iRurertumth’ 
 
 
 DUKE of MARLBOROUGH 
 
 >LQfrXR, 
 
 }} firin' 
 
 Bonn 
 
 ■ Dcaru-.yj 
 
 Part of 
 
 BAVARIA &c. 
 
 to Illustrate the 
 GERM A N C AMP AI C.N S 
 
 -DUKE op tharlko ro toh 
 S cale of Enelisliifflcs 
 
 
 
 RS, N EW YORK 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
1 , 104 - 
 
 TIIE 
 
 MILITARY LIFE 
 
 h 
 
 / 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH 
 
 ARCHIBALD ALISON, F.R.S., 
 
 AUTHOR OF “THE HISTORY OF EUROPE.” 
 
 X£ff TO RK : 
 
 IIARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 V R A N K L I N S Q U A R E. 
 
 1 8 5 5 . 
 


 PREFACE. 
 
 Consummate as were the abilities, unbroken the suc¬ 
 cess, immense the services of the Duke of Marlborough, 
 the details of his campaigns can scarcely be said to be 
 known to the vast majority of his countrymen. They 
 have heard the distant echo of his fame, as they have 
 that of the exploits of Timour, of Bajazet, and of Gen¬ 
 ghis Khan; the names of Blenheim and Ramillies, of 
 Malplaquet and Oudenarde awaken a transient feeling 
 of exultation in their bos&ms; but as to the particulars 
 of these events, the difficulties with which their gen¬ 
 eral had to struggle, the objects for which he contend¬ 
 ed, even the places where they occurred, they are, for 
 the most part, as ignorant as they are of similar details 
 in the campaigns of Baber or Aurengzebe. What they 
 do know is derived chiefly, if not entirely, from the his¬ 
 tories of their enemies. Malice and party spirit have 
 done much to dim the reputation of the illustrious gen¬ 
 eral in his own country, but these disturbing passions 
 have not been felt in other states ; and, strange to say, 
 no adequate opinion of his merits can be formed by his 
 countrymen but by viewing the impression he has made 
 on her enemies, or studying the history of his victories 
 by them. 
 
 Marlborough’s exploits have made a prodigious im¬ 
 pression on the Continent. The French, who felt the 
 edge of his flaming sword, and saw the glories of the 
 Grande Monarque torn from the long triumphant brow 
 of Louis XIV.; the Dutch, who found in his conquer- 
 
IV 
 
 TREFACE 
 
 ing arm the stay of their sinking Republic, and then- 
 salvation from slavery and persecution ; the Germans, 
 who beheld the flames of the Palatinate avenged by 
 his resistless power, and the ravages of war rolled back 
 from the Rhine into the territory of the state which had 
 provoked them ; the Lutherans, who regarded him as 
 the appointed instrument of Divine vengeance to pun¬ 
 ish the abominable perfidy and cruelty of tbe revocation 
 of the Edict of Nantes, have concurred in celebrating 
 his exploits. The French nurses frightened their chil¬ 
 dren with stories of “ Marlbrook as the Orientals 
 say, when their horses start, they see the shadow of 
 Richard Coeur-de-Lion crossing their path. Napoleon 
 hummed the well-known air, “Marlbrook s’en va a la 
 guerre,” when he crossed the Niemen to commence the 
 Moscow campaign. 
 
 The fortunate accident is generally known by which 
 the great collection of papers lately published in Lon¬ 
 don has been brought to light. That this collection 
 should at length have become known is less surprising 
 than that it should so long have remained forgotten, 
 and have eluded the researches of so many persons in¬ 
 terested in the subject. It embraces, as Sir George 
 Murray’s lucid preface explains, a complete series of 
 the correspondence of the great duke from 1702 to 
 1712, the ten years of his most important public servi¬ 
 ces. In addition to the Dispatches of the duke himself, 
 the letters, in some places very numerous, of his pri¬ 
 vate secretary, M. Cardonnell, and a journal written by 
 his grace’s chaplain, Dr. Hare, afterward Bishop of Chi¬ 
 chester, are contained in the eighteen manuscript vol¬ 
 umes which were discovered in the record-room of 
 Hensington, near Woodstock, in October, 1842, and 
 which have now been given to the public. They are 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 V 
 
 of essential service, especially in rendering intelligible 
 the details of the correspondence, otherwise in great 
 part uninteresting, and scarcely intelligible, at least by 
 the ordinary reader. Some of the most valuable parts 
 of the work, particularly a full detail of the battle of 
 Blenheim, have been drawn from Dr. Hare’s journal. 
 In addition to this, the bulletins of some of the events, 
 issued by government at the time, are to be found in 
 notes at the proper places; and in the text are occa¬ 
 sionally contained short, but correct and luminous, no¬ 
 tices of the preceding or cotemporaneous political and 
 military events which are alluded to, but not described, 
 in the Dispatches, and which are necessary for the 
 proper understanding of many of their particulars. 
 Nothing, in a word, has been omitted by the accom¬ 
 plished editor which could illustrate or render intelli¬ 
 gible the valuable collection of materials placed at his 
 disposal. Yet, with all his pains and ability, it is often 
 very difficult to follow the detail of events, or under¬ 
 stand the matter alluded to in the Dispatches; so great 
 is the lack of information regarding the eventful War 
 of the Succession, from the want of a popular historian 
 to record it, even among well-informed persons in this 
 country ; and so true was the observation of Alexander 
 the Great, that but for the genius of Homer, the ex¬ 
 ploits of Achilles would have been buried under the 
 tumulus which covered his remains! And what should 
 we have known of Alexander himself more than of At- 
 tila or Genghis Khan, but for the fascinating pages of 
 Quintus Curtius and Arrian ? 
 
 To the historian who is to go minutely into the de¬ 
 tails of Marlborough’s campaigns and negotiations, and 
 to whom accurate and authentic information is of in¬ 
 estimable importance, it need hardly be said that these 
 
 A 2 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 papers are of the utmost value. But to the' general 
 reader all such voluminous publications and dispatch¬ 
 es must, as a matter of necessity, be comparatively un¬ 
 interesting. They always contain a great deal of rep¬ 
 etition, in consequence of the necessity under which the 
 commander lay of communicating the same event to 
 those with whom he was in correspondence in many 
 different quarters. Great part of them relate to details 
 of discipline, furnishing supplies, getting up stores, and 
 other necessary matters of little value even to the his¬ 
 torian, except in so far as they illustrate the industry, 
 energy, and difficulties of the commander. The gen¬ 
 eral reader who plunges into the midst of the Marl¬ 
 borough Dispatches in this age, or into those of Wel¬ 
 lington in the next, when cotemporary recollection has 
 failed, will find it impossible to understand the greater 
 part of the matters referred to, and will soon lay aside 
 the volumes in despair. Such works are highly val¬ 
 uable, but they are so to the annalist or historian rath¬ 
 er than to the ordinary reader. They are the mate¬ 
 rials of history, not history itself. They bear the same 
 relation to the works of Livy or Gibbon which the rude 
 blocks in the quarry do to the temples of St. Peter’s or 
 the Parthenon. Ordinary readers are not aware of 
 this. When they take up a volume of Dispatches, they 
 expect to be as much fascinated by it as they are by 
 the correspondence of Madame de Sevigne, Cowper, 
 Gibbon, or Arnold. They will soon find their mistake; 
 the booksellers will, ere long, find it in the sale of such 
 works. The matter-of-fact men in ordinary life, and 
 the compilers and drudges in literature—that is, nine 
 tenths of the readers and writers in the world—are 
 never weary of descanting on the inestimable import¬ 
 ance of authentic documents for history; and without 
 
r R.EFACE. 
 
 vn 
 
 doubt they are right, so far as the collecting of mate¬ 
 rials goes. There must he quarriers before there can 
 be architects : the hewers of wood and drawers of wa¬ 
 ter are the basis of all civilization. But they are not 
 civilization itself, they are its pioneers. Truth is es¬ 
 sential to an estimable character; but many a man is 
 insupportably dull who never told a falsehood. 
 
 It was the perusal of these Dispatches when they 
 first appeared which first suggested to the author the 
 composition of the following pages. He was strongly 
 impressed with the greatness of Marlborough’s military 
 talents, and the close analogy which many of his ex¬ 
 ploits bore to those of illustrious generals in subsequent 
 times, whose deeds had long occupied his attention. 
 Having no intention, however, of making a book on 
 the subject, the sketches he composed were at first pub¬ 
 lished in numbers in Blackwood’s Magazine during the 
 years 1845 and 1846. The favorable manner in which 
 the series was received, and the increasing interest the 
 author felt in the subject, suggested the idea of uniting 
 them together, and forming a military biography of the 
 great general, of such moderate dimensions as might nei¬ 
 ther exhaust the patience nor too severely task the purs¬ 
 es of that class to whom it is of most value, the young 
 men who are to succeed Marlborough in the noble pro¬ 
 fession to which he has given so much luster. The in¬ 
 terest of the Spanish question, so prominently brought 
 forward in recent times by the Montpensier alliance, 
 suggested the chapter on the Treaty of Utrecht, with 
 which the present volume closes, and which has not 
 previously appeared. 
 
 The Map, illustrative of the Campaigns of Marlbor¬ 
 ough, is constructed with the greatest care, and is so 
 arranged as to show the positions in every place in 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 strict accordance with the text; while the Plans of 
 Battles, so essential to the elucidation of Military His¬ 
 tory, have been accurately reduced, and improved by 
 the addition of the names of commanders, &c., from 
 the great German work of Kausler, so well known 
 from the splendor of its finishing and the accuracy of 
 its details. 
 
 As the work is essentially military and political, it 
 has been deemed advisable not to enter minutely into 
 the complicated domestic events of Queen Anne’s reign, 
 or to represent the changes of party in the English cab¬ 
 inet toward its close, which produced fresh and import¬ 
 ant effects on the fate of the war, and the destinies of 
 Europe, as it is believed they were the result rather of 
 great principles contending in the nation for the mas¬ 
 tery than of those intrigues in the palace to which they 
 have in general been almost exclusively ascribed. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH AND EARLY HISTORY OF MARLBOROUGH.-HIS SHARE IN THE 
 
 REVOLUTION OF 1688.-CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR OF THE SUC¬ 
 
 CESSION. 
 
 Sect Page 
 
 1. Birth and early Life of Marlborough . . . . .25 
 
 2. His first Appearance and early Promotion at Court . . 26 
 
 3. His Services, under Louis XIV. and Turenne, in Flanders . 27 
 
 4. Manner in which Louis XIV.’s Ambition worked out its own 
 
 Ruin.28 
 
 5. Churchill’s Marriage, and rapid Rise at Court . . .29 
 
 6. His important Services on Monmouth’s Rebellion . . .30 
 
 7. His Endeavors to arrest the headlong Course of James . . 30 
 
 8. He deserts James II. on the Invasion of the Prince of Orange 31 
 
 9. Parallel between his Treacheiy and that of Ney . . .33 
 
 10. Honors and Commands bestowed on Churchill. He signs 
 
 the Act of Association in favor of William . . . .34 
 
 11. His first Services in foreign War under William '. . .35 
 
 12. Discreditable Intrigues soon after with the exiled Royal Family 35 
 
 13. He is liberated from Prison, and ere long restored to Favor . 37 
 
 14. And appointed to the supreme Command in the Netherlands 38 
 
 15. At which Period the Blenheim Papers commenced . . 39 
 
 16. Great Power of the Bourbons at this Period, and general 
 
 Alarm which it excited ....... 39 
 
 17. Vast Ability by which the Government of France was directed 40 
 
 18. Extraordinary Success which had hitherto attended Louis in 
 
 all his Enterprises ........ 41 
 
 19. Hopes and Schemes of the Catholic Party throughout Eu¬ 
 
 rope at this Time. Their ultimate Failure . . .42 
 
 20. Simultaneous Attacks on the Protestants in France and En¬ 
 
 gland irrevocably separate the two Countries . . .43 
 
 21. Efforts of William III. to avert the Danger . . . .44 
 
 22. Manner in which the Bequest of Spain to the Duke of Anjou 
 
 had been obtained . . . . . . . .44 
 
 23. Fresh Treaty of Partition between France, England, and 
 
 Holland .......... 45 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 K 
 
 Sect Page 
 
 24. The Kuowledge of this Treaty of Partition determines the 
 
 King of Spain to the Bequest in Favor of the Bourbons . 47 
 
 25. Extent of the Danger which threatened the Continental Pow¬ 
 
 ers from this Accession to the Power of France . . .47 
 
 26. Comparative Strength of the Forces on the opposite Sides . 49 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHARACTERS OF LOUIS XIV., WILLIAM III., AND JAMES II.-COMMENCE¬ 
 
 MENT OF THE WAR.—BAT TLE OF BLENHEIM. 
 
 1. Strange Diversity in the Characters drawn by Historians of 
 
 Louis XIV.50 
 
 2. Which arose from the Greatness of his Deeds . . .51 
 
 3. Remarkable Diversities and seeming Contradictions of his 
 
 Character.51 
 
 4. Vast. Changes which he effected on France during his Reign 52 
 
 5. Which arose from his Turn of Mind coinciding with the 
 
 Spirit of the Age.53 
 
 6. His Virtues and Vices were alike those of his People . . 54 
 
 7. His Government was essentially feudal and monarchical . 55 
 
 8. Unity and centralization were his great Objects . . .55 
 
 9. His Efforts to give Unity to Thought . . . . .56 
 
 10. General Resemblance of his Ideas of Government to those of 
 
 Napoleon .......... 58 
 
 11. Magnificent Ideas of each as shown in their public Works . 59 
 
 12. Atrocity of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes . . .59 
 
 13. Which produced the Reaction against him that checked his 
 
 Power .......... 60 
 
 14. Opposite Characters of Louis XIV. and William III. . . 61 
 
 15. Heroic Resistance of William to the French Invasion . . 62 
 
 16. Adaptation of the Character of William to his Destiny in Life 63 
 
 17. His Policy in War, which at length proved Victorious . . 64 
 
 18. His Character in Private ....... 65 
 
 19. Character of James II. of England.66 
 
 20. His good and heroic Qualities.66 
 
 21. The Rashness and Imprudence which cost him his Throne . 67 
 
 22. Commencement of the War ....... 68 
 
 23. Forces on the Side of France ...... 69 
 
 24. Forces of the Allies.69 
 
 25. Marlborough’s first Mission to the Continent, and first Cam¬ 
 
 paign .71 
 
 26. Storming of Liege and the Chartreuse, and Conclusion of the 
 
 Campaign.71 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 Sect Page 
 
 27. Narrow Escape of Marlborough from being made Prisoner . 72 
 
 28. Alliance with Sweden, and Campaign of 1703. Capture of 
 
 Bonn .......... 73 
 
 29. The Dutch prevent Marlborough from Fighting, and the Cam.—— 
 
 paign concludes with the taking of Limbourg . . .74 
 
 30. Disasters on the Upper Rhine and in Bavaria . . 75 
 
 31. Extreme Danger of the Empire from these Successes . ■ 76 
 
 32. French Plan of the Campaign in Germany . . . .77 
 
 33. Plan of the Allies to counteract it . ..... 78 
 
 34. Marlborough’s cross March into Germany . . . .79 
 
 35. Subsequent Successes in Bavaria ...... 80 
 
 36. Marshal Tallard joins the Elector of Bavaria, who determines 
 
 to fight .......... 81 
 
 37. Vendome is defeated in his Attempt to penetrate through the 
 
 Tyrol.82 
 
 38. Forces on both Sides, and their comparative Merits . . 83 
 
 39. Division of the Command between Marlborough and Eugene 83 
 
 40. French Position and Dispositions, with its Dangers . . 85 
 
 41. And Advantages.86 
 
 42. Disposition of the Allies for the Attack ..... 86 
 
 43. Commencement of the Battle . . . . .87 
 
 44. Attack on Blenheim, which is repulsed . . . .88 
 
 45. Crossing of the Nebel by the Allies . . . . .89 
 
 46. The Cavalry with great Difficulty are got across . . .90 
 
 47. Rout of Prince Holstein in the Attack on Oberglau . . 91 
 
 48. Operations of Eugene on the Right . . . . .92 
 
 49. Grand and decisive Charge by Marlborough in the Center . 93 
 
 50. Eugene’6 Success on the Right ...... 94 
 
 51. Total Rout of Tallard, who is made Prisoner . . .95 
 
 52. Mistake by which the French Left escaped Destruction . 96 
 
 53. Capture of all the Troops in Blenheim, and Conclusion of the 
 
 Battle '.97 
 
 54. Results of the Battle ........ 98 
 
 55. Causes of the Defeat of the French . ... . .99 
 
 56. Vast Results of the Victory.99 
 
 57. Capture of Landau and Traerbach, and Conclusion of the 
 
 Campaign.101 
 
 58. Its marvelous Results ........ 101 
 
 59. Honors and Rewards bestowed on Marlborough . . . 102 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 xii 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CAMPAIGNS OF 1705 AND 1706.-BATTLE OF RAMILLIES, AND CONQUEST 
 
 OF FLANDERS. 
 
 Sect. Page 
 
 1. Backwardness of the English Parliament in voting Supplies . 104 
 
 2. Bitter Sense which Marlborough entertained of this parsimo¬ 
 
 nious disposition . . . . . . . .105 
 
 3. Reasons for converting the War into one of Sieges, and plac¬ 
 
 ing its Seat in Flanders ....... 106 
 
 4. Examples of the same Necessity being felt in subsequent Times 107 
 
 5. Extraordinary Talent of Marlborough for keeping together the 
 
 Alliance .......... 108 
 
 6. Caution which, the same Cause impriuted on Marlborough’s 
 
 military Conduct ........ 109 
 
 7. Strange Fetters which the Alliance imposed on his Conduct 
 
 of the War ..... ... 110 
 
 8. Vigorous Efforts of the French Government . . . .* 112 
 
 9. Bold Plan of Marlborough and Eugene for the Invasion of 
 
 France .......... 112 
 
 10. Commencement of Operations early in June on the Moselle 114 
 
 11. Successes of Villeroi over the Allies in Flanders . . . 114 
 
 12. Sudden March of Marlborough to their Relief . . . 115 
 
 13. The Disasters of the German Troops in the Circle of Treves 
 
 render the Design abortive . . . . . .116 
 
 14. Position occupied by Villeroi ...... 117 
 
 15. His able Plan to overreach the Enemy.118 
 
 16. Entire Success of the Attack on Villeroi’s Lines . . . 119 
 
 17. Obstinacy and Backwardness of the Dutch prevents a com¬ 
 
 plete Victory ......... 119 
 
 18. Dutch Deputies continue their Opposition .... 120 
 
 19. Which mars all the subsequent Operations of the Campaign 121 
 
 20. The Dutch treacherously desert him ..... 122 
 
 21. Marlborough’s Operations on the Field of Waterloo . . 123 
 
 22. Immense Advantage thus gained by Marlborough, who had 
 
 turned the French ........ 123 
 
 23. Marlborough prepares to attack the French at Waterloo . 124 
 
 24. But is again thwarted by the Dutch Deputies . . . 125 
 
 25. Marlborough is obliged to forego his Advantages . . 126 
 
 26. Complaints of the Dutch against Marlborough . . . 126 
 
 27. Vexation and magnanimous Conduct of Marlborough . . 127 
 
 28. Jealousies of the Cabinet of Vienna, aud the German Powers 128 
 
 29. Extraordinary Success of Marlborough in appeasing them at 
 
 Vienna.129 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 Sect Page 
 
 30. And at Berlin and Hanover ....... 130 
 
 31. Similarity between his present Situation and that of Welling¬ 
 
 ton in his early Campaigns . . . . . .131 
 
 32. Universal Backwardness of the Allies in the Commencement 
 
 of 1706 . 132 
 
 33. Forces on the opposite Sides in Flanders .... 133 
 
 34. Position of the French at Ramillies ..... 134 
 
 35. Marlborough’s Maneuvers before the Battle, and Plan of 
 
 Attack .......... 135 
 
 36. Commencement of the Battle, and skillful Feint of Marl¬ 
 
 borough .......... 136 
 
 37. Repulse of Overkirk, and imminent Danger of Marlborough 
 
 when hastening to his Relief ...... 137 
 
 38. The twenty Squadrons ordered up from the Right restore 
 
 the Battle ......... 138 
 
 39. Villeroi’s Efforts to restore the Battle, which are unsuccessful 139 
 
 40. The Enemy, though thrown into Disorder, endeavor to rally 139 
 
 41. General Advance of the Allies, which completes the Victory 140 
 
 42. Losses of the French and the Allies in the Battle . . 141 
 
 43. And its great Results . . . . . . . .142 
 
 44. Retreat of the French from Flanders, and universal Joy at 
 
 its Liberation . . . . . . . . .143 
 
 45. Magnanimous Wisdom of Marlborough in protecting the 
 
 Flemings from Oppression ...... 143 
 
 46. Capitulation of Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, and Oudenarde . 144 
 
 47. Marlborough’s Hopes for a speedy Peace .... 145 
 
 48. Siege and Capture of Ostend ...... 146 
 
 49. Commencement of the Siege of Menin, and its great Diffi¬ 
 
 culties .......... 146 
 
 50. It is at length earned by Assault . . . . .147 
 
 51. Siege and Fall of Dendermonde ...... 148 
 
 52. And of Ath, which concludes the Campaign . . . 149 
 
 53. Splendid Reception of Marlborough at Brussels, and great 
 
 Results of the Campaign.150 
 
 54. Splendid and disinterested Conduct of Marlborough in re¬ 
 
 fusing the Government of the Netherlands . . .151 
 
 55. Jealousies of the Dutch, and continued Disinterestedness of 
 
 Marlborough. 153 
 
 56. Opening of a separate secret Negotiation between the Dutch 
 
 and French. 153 
 
 57. Marlborough’s Address obtains a renewal of the Alliance . 154 
 
 58. His Return to England, and splendid Reception there . . 155 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Sect Faga 
 
 59. Jealousy against him arises among both the Whigs and To¬ 
 
 ries, but he prevails at Court ...... 156 
 
 60. Great Error iu the subsequent Policy of England . . . 157 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CAMPAIGNS OF 1707 AND 1708.-BATTLE OF OUDENARDE, CAPTURE OF 
 
 LILLE, AND RECOVERY OF GHENT. 
 
 1. Great Disasters experienced by France in the preceding 
 
 Campaign .......... 158 
 
 2. Appearance of Charles XII. of Sweden iu Germany . . 159 
 
 3. His Character ......... 159 
 
 4. Great Military Abilities.160 
 
 5. His Faults, Rashness, and Cruelty.161 
 
 6. Efforts of Louis XIV. to win him to his Side . . . 162 
 
 7. Measures of Marlborough to counteract his Efforts . . 163 
 
 8. Visit of Marlborough to Charles at Dresden .... 164 
 
 9. His Address, and Success with that Monarch . . .165 
 
 10. Singular Skill with which he avoided rousing religious Dif¬ 
 
 ferences .......... 165 
 
 11. His satisfactory Arrangement of the Difficulties regarding 
 
 Poland .......... 166 
 
 12. Renewed Jealousies and Procrastinations of the Allied 
 
 Powers.167 
 
 13. The Dutch Deputies thwart Marlborough near Nivelles . 167 
 
 14. Which causes the Campaign to be wasted in useless Man¬ 
 
 euvers .......... 168 
 
 15. Disasters of the Allies in Spain and on the Rhine . . . 169 
 
 16. Marlborough, in consequence, strongly urges an Invasion in 
 
 the South of France ........ 170 
 
 17. Selfish Conduct of Austria, which ruins the Expedition . 170 
 
 18. Invasion of Provence by Eugene . . . . . .171 
 
 19. Failure there, and Retreat of Eugene.172 
 
 20. Marlborough closes the Campaign, and returns to England 172 
 
 21. Causes of the Reaction against Marlborough and the War at 
 
 this Time .......... 173 
 
 22. Change in the System of Government by the Revolution . 174 
 
 23. Vast Increase of Loans, Taxes, and Corruption . . . 174 
 
 24. Decline of Marlborough’s Influence at Court, and Rise of Mrs. 
 
 Masham .......... 176 
 
 25. Her great Influence.177 
 
 26. Violence of the Party Contests in England .... 17S 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 Sect. Page 
 
 27. Marlborough’s Measures defeat a threatened Invasion of 
 
 Scotland by the Pretender ...... 178 
 
 28. Vigorous Preparations made by Louis XIV. for the Cam¬ 
 
 paign in the Low Countries ...... 179 
 
 29. Preparations and Forces of the Allies in Flanders . . 180 
 
 30. Vendome’s Movements to Aid a Revolt in Antwerp . . 181 
 
 31. Continued Procrastination of the German Powers . . 181 
 
 32. Vendome’s able Plan to Aid a Rising in Ghent and Bruges 182 
 
 33. He makes himself Master of Ghent and Bruges . . . 183 
 
 34. Marlborough’s Activity secures Oudeuarde against a Coup- 
 
 de-main . . . . . . . . . .183 
 
 35. Extreme Vexation and serious Illness of Marlborough . . 184 
 
 30. Marlborough’s Cross-march on Vendome’s Communications 185 
 
 37. Vendome moves off, followed by the Allies .... 180 
 
 38. Description of the Field of Battle ..... 187 
 
 39. Preliminary Movements on both Sides, and Capture of the 
 
 French advanced Guard.188 
 
 40. Forces on both Sides, and Commencement of the Battle . 189 
 
 41. Brilliant Success of the French Right.190 
 
 42. Operations of Eugene on the Right.191 
 
 43. And of Marlborough on the Left.192 
 
 44. Decisive Movement by Marlborough against the French Left 192 
 
 45. Vigor with which it was executed by Overkirk, who entire¬ 
 
 ly turns them ......... 193 
 
 46. Gallant, but ineffectual Efforts of Vendome to arrest the Dis¬ 
 
 order .193 
 
 47. Results of the Battle ........ 195 
 
 48. Pursuit of the Enemy, and Arrival of Re-enforcements on 
 
 both Sides ......... 195 
 
 49. Marlborough’s Advice to march to Paris is overruled, and it 
 
 is resolved to lay Siege to Lille.196 
 
 50. Preparations of the Allies for the Siege .... 197 
 
 51. Commencement of the Siege, and Position of the covering 
 
 Army.198 
 
 52. Marlborough arrests Vendome and Berwick when trying to 
 
 raise the Siege . 199 
 
 53. Progress of the Siege, and Eugene wounded, which throws 
 
 the Direction of the Siege on Marlborough . . . 200 
 
 54. Efforts on both Sides to obtain Supplies of Ammunition . 201 
 
 55. Capitulation of the Town of Lille ..... 202 
 
 56. Siege of the Citadel of Lille, and Diversion of Vendome 
 
 against Brussels.202 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Sect. Page 
 
 57. Marlborough’s brilliant March, which defeats it . . .203 
 
 58. Marlborough recovers Ghent ...... 204 
 
 59. And Bruges. Concludes the Campaign, and again refuses 
 
 the Government of the Netherlands.205 
 
 60. Glorious Results of the Campaign, and great Ability of Marl¬ 
 
 borough .206 
 
 61. His bold offensive Measures, and extraordinary Capture of 
 
 Lille.206 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONFERENCES OF GERTRUYDENBERG.-LOUIS REFUSES THE ULTIMATUM 
 
 OF THE ALLIES.-SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF TOURNAY.-BATTLE OF MAL- 
 
 PLAQUET.-FALL OF MONS. 
 
 1. Marlborough’s renewed Difficulties with the Allied Courts 208 
 
 2. Extravagant Ideas of the Cabinets of Berlin and Turin . 208 
 
 3. His cold Reception from the Court of England, and Mission 
 
 to the Hague ......... 209 
 
 4. Great Concessions offered by Louis ..... 210 
 
 5. Vain Endeavors of Louis to bribe Marlborough . . . 211 
 
 6. Ultimatum of the Allies, which is rejected by France . . 212 
 
 7. Noble Efforts of Louis to save France ..... 214 
 
 8. Forces on both Sides at the Opening of the Campaign . . 214 
 
 9. Marlborough’s Efforts to obtain an Augmentation of Force in 
 
 the Low Countries ........ 215 
 
 10. Which at length are partially successful. The Forces at his 
 
 Disposal .......... 217 
 
 11. Marlborough’s Measures to deceive Villars .... 217 
 
 12. And lays Siege to Toumay ....... 218 
 
 13. Description of Toumay.219 
 
 14. Siege and Capture of that Town.219 
 
 15. Siege of the Citadel, and its desperate Chances . . . 220 
 
 16. Alarms of the Troops at the subterraneous Warfare . . 221 
 
 17. Its real Horrors ......... 222 
 
 18. But the Citadel is at length taken ..... 223 
 
 19. Vigorous Movements of Marlborough toward Mons . . 223 
 
 20. He turns Villars’s Lines, and gets between them and France 224 
 
 21. Concentration of the Allied and Villars’s Army . . . 225 
 
 22. Composition and Strength of the French Army . . . 227 
 
 23. Description of the Field of Battle ...... 228 
 
 24. Noble Force on both Sides ....... 229 
 
 25. Preparatory Movements on both Sides, and Interference of 
 
 the Dutch Deputies ........ 229 
 
Sect 
 
 26. 
 
 27. 
 
 28. 
 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 
 32. 
 
 33. 
 
 34. 
 
 35. 
 
 36. 
 
 37. 
 
 38. 
 
 39. 
 
 40. 
 
 41. 
 
 42. 
 
 43. 
 
 44. 
 
 45. 
 
 46. 
 
 47. 
 
 48. 
 
 49. 
 
 50. 
 
 51. 
 
 52. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 xvii 
 
 Page 
 
 Villars fortifies his Position ....... 230 
 
 Plan of Attack by the Allied Generals.231 
 
 Feelings of the Soldiers on both Sides ..... 232 
 Commencement of the Battle ...... 233 
 
 Marlborough, after a desperate Conflict, carries the Wood of 
 
 Taisniere.. 234 
 
 Bloody Repulse of the Prince of Orange on the Left . . 235 
 
 Heroic but ineffectual Efforts of the Prince of Orange to re¬ 
 store the Combat ........ 235 
 
 Marlborough hastens to the Spot, and restores the Battle . 236 
 A vigorous Attack of Villars on the Right weakens his Center, 
 which Marlborough prepares to attack .... 237 
 
 Decisive Attack by Lord Orkney on the Center . . . 238 
 
 Admirable Efforts of Boufflers to regain the Day . . . 238 
 
 His able and orderly Retreat ...... 239 
 
 Results of the Battle to the Allies ...... 240 
 
 Loss of the French, and Humanity of Marlborough . . 241 
 
 Capture of Mons, and Conclusion of the Campaign . . 242 
 
 Continued Decline of Marlborough’s Influence at Court . 243 
 Unjust Criticisms and Censures on the Campaign . . . 244 
 
 Injudicious Request of Marlborough to be made Captain-gen¬ 
 eral for Life ......... 245 
 
 His flattering Reception from the Houses of Parliament . 245 
 
 Increasing Jealousies of him at Court.246 
 
 His Remonstrances with the Queen ..... 247 
 He determines to resign if Mrs. Masliam is not removed . 248 
 But is persuaded to yield, and is seemingly reconciled to the 
 
 Queen .......... 248 
 
 Battle of Pultowa, and overthrow of Charles XII. . . 249 
 
 Character of Peter the Great of Russia .... 250 
 
 His Errors, and Delusions regarding him .... 251 
 
 Real Character of his Changes ...... 252 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1710.- PASSAGE OF VILLARS’s LINES.—CAPTURE OF DOUAY, 
 
 AIRE, BETHUNE, AND ST. VENANT.-LAST CAMPAIGN OF MARLBOROUGH 
 
 IN 1711. -SECOND PASSAGE OF VILLARS’s LINES.-CAPTURE OF BOU- 
 
 CHAIN.-FALL AND DEATH OF MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 1. Renewal of the Negotiations at the Hague .... 253 
 
 2. Rigorous Demands of the Allies ...... 254 
 
 ..3. Plan of the Campaign agreed on between Eugene and Marl¬ 
 borough .255 
 
 B 2 
 
xvm 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Sect. Page 
 
 4. Passage of the Lines of the Scarpe ..... 256 
 
 5. Description of Douay ........ 257 
 
 6. Its Investment and Siege, which Villars tries to raise . . 257 
 
 7. Both Armies expect another Battle . . . . . 258 
 
 8. Villars retires without fighting ...... 259 
 
 9. Fall of Douay.260 
 
 10. The Allies are unable to reach Arras.260 
 
 11. Great Skill with which Villars averted the Invasion of France 
 
 on this Occasion. Fall of Bethune . . . . .261 
 
 12. Increasing Animosity to Marlborough in England. He in¬ 
 
 tends to besiege Calais ....... 262 
 
 13. Siege and Capture of St. Venant ...... 263 
 
 14. And of Aire .......... 264 
 
 15. Increase of Marlborough’s Difficulties at Home . . . 264 
 
 16. General Alarm at the Augmentation of the Public Burdens . 265 
 
 17. Argument of Bolingbroke on the Subject .... 266 
 
 18. Real Causes of the Evils complained of .... 267 
 
 19. Envy of him among his own Party.268 
 
 20. Paltry Difficulties thrown in the Way of the Completion of 
 
 Blenheim .......... 269 
 
 21. Attempts to gain over Marlborough to the Tories . . . 269 
 
 22. Ungrateful Reception of Marlborough by the Ministers and 
 
 Country.270 
 
 23. Dismissal of the Duchess of Marlborough .... 271 
 
 24. Marlborough, with great Reluctance, withholds his intended 
 
 Resignation.272 
 
 25. Prosperous Condition of the Army in the Low Countries . 273 
 
 26. Death of the Emperor Joseph, and Election of Charles VI. as 
 
 Emperor .......... 274 
 
 27. Great Lines constructed by Villars ..... 274 
 
 28. Plan of the Campaign . 275 
 
 29. Fatal Separation of Eugene, with his Troops, from Marlbor¬ 
 
 ough .276 
 
 30. Villars avoids a Battle by Orders of Louis .... 277 
 
 31. Who had begun a separate and secret Negotiation with En¬ 
 
 gland .278 
 
 32. Marlborough determines to pass the Enemy’s Lines . . 278 
 
 33. His Project for achieving this.279 
 
 34. Preparations for Executing it and Deceiving the Enemy . 280 
 
 35. He passes the Lines with entire Success .... 281 
 
 36. Extraordinary Success thus gained ..... 281 
 
 37. Commencement of the Siege of Bouchain .... 282 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XIX 
 
 Sect. Page 
 
 38. Interesting Operations on both Sides during its Progress . 283 
 
 39. Fall of Boucbain.284 
 
 40. Ostensible Preparations for War, and real secret Negotiations 
 
 for Peace by the Ministry.285 
 
 41. Conditions of the Preliminaries which were agreed to . . 286 
 
 42. Marlborough returns Home deeply hurt at this clandestine 
 
 Accommodation ........ 287 
 
 43. Marlborough’s noble Speech against it in the House of Peers 288 
 
 44. Resolution carried against Ministers in the Peers . . . 288 
 
 45. Counter Address carried to the Commons, and Irresolution 
 
 of the Queen ......... 289 
 
 46. The Tories dismiss Marlborough, charge him with Pecula¬ 
 
 tion, and swamp the House of Peers .... 289 
 
 47. Universal Joy among the Enemies of England, and generous 
 
 Conduct of Eugene ........ 290 
 
 48. Machinations of the Tories to inflame the Queen against 
 
 Marlborough.291 
 
 49. Louis rises in his Demands at Utrecht, which turns into a 
 
 private Treaty between France and England . . . 292 
 
 50. Forces of the Allies and French in Flanders, and desperate 
 
 Situation of Louis ........ 294 
 
 51. The Defection of Britain saves France ..... 295 
 
 52. Siege and Capture of Quesnoy ...... 296 
 
 53. Universal Indignation which this excites in the Allied Powers 296 
 
 54. Eloquent Speech of Lord Halifax in the House of Peers 
 
 against the Peace ........ 297 
 
 55. Marlborough’s Speech in seconding the Motion of Halifax . 298 
 
 56. The Ministers falsely declare the Allies to be Parties to the 
 
 Negotiation ......... 299 
 
 57. Conditions of the Treaty of Utrecht ..... 299 
 
 58. Mournful Separation of the English Contingent from the 
 
 Allies.301 
 
 59. Great Difficulties now experienced in the Negotiation with 
 
 Franco.302 
 
 60. Landrecies is ineffectually besieged by Eugene, who sustains 
 
 a Reverse at Denain ........ 302 
 
 61. Conclusion of the War between Austria and France at Ras- 
 
 tadt, and the Dutch at Utrecht ...... 303 
 
 62. Marlborough is received with the highest Honors on the 
 
 Continent.305 
 
 63. Base Ingratitude of the Imperial Court to him . . . 306 
 
 64. Continued Malice against him at Home .... 307 
 
XX 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Sect. Page 
 
 65. Suspension of the building of Blenheim at the Public Expense 307 
 
 66. Which arose from a Plan for the Restoration of the Stuarts . 308 
 
 67. Death of Anne, and Marlborough’s Conduct on the Acces¬ 
 
 sion of the Hanover Family ...... 309 
 
 68. His domestic Bereavements, and Stroke of Palsy . . . 309 
 
 69. His last Years and Death . . * . . . . . 310 
 
 70. And Funeral.310 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MARLBOROUGH.-EUGENE.-FREDERIC.-NAPOLEON.-WELLINGTON. 
 
 1. Change in the System of War in Marlborough’s Time . . 312 
 
 2. Nature of the Feudal Wars ....... 313 
 
 3. Great Change when Armies were paid by Government . 314 
 
 4. Turenne introduced this System and brought it to Perfection 314 
 
 5. Character of Conde ........ 315 
 
 '6. Peculiar Character of Marlborough as a General . . .316 
 
 7. His extraordinary Prudence and Address .... 317 
 
 8. Though inferior in Force, he always maintained the Initiative 317 
 
 9. Nature of War in the Time of Marlborough .... 318 
 
 10. Circumspection was in him a Matter of Necessity . . 319 
 
 11. He was compelled to adopt the System of Sieges and fix the 
 
 War in Flanders ........ 320 
 
 12. Dangers of the opposite System.321 
 
 13. Reasons why Marlborough's Genius was underrated in his 
 
 Life.321 
 
 14. He was the Perfection of Genius matured by Experience . 322 
 
 15. His great Address and Suavity of Manner .... 323 
 
 16. His Character as a Statesman and in Private . . . 324 
 
 17. His political Character after the Revolution .... 325 
 
 18. His Faults and Weaknesses ....... 326 
 
 19. Circumstances which palliate these Faults in him . . 327 
 
 20. His private Character and elevated Ideas in the Disposal of 
 
 Money .......... 327 
 
 21. His Magnanimity and Humanity.328 
 
 22. His Character, as drawn by Adam Smith and Bolingbroke . 329 
 
 23. The five great Generals of Modem Times .... 330 
 
 24. Leading Characteristics of each ...... 330 
 
 25. Early Life of Eugene.331 
 
 26. Character of his Warfare, and his first great Victory ever the 
 
 Turks.332 
 
 27. His Campaigns in Italy and Germany.333 
 
 28. And with Marlborough in Flanders . 333 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XXI 
 
 Sect. Page 
 
 29. His astonishing Successes over the Turks .... 334 
 
 30. Narrow Escape from Ruin, and wonderful Victoiy at Belgrade 335 
 
 31. His Character as a General, and Parallel to Napoleon . . 336 
 
 32. Daring and Skill with which he extricated himself from 
 
 Dangers .......... 336 
 
 33. Early Life of Frederic the Great ...... 337 
 
 34. His Accession to the Throne, and vigorous Application to its 
 
 Duties .......... 338 
 
 35. His Aggression on, and Conquest of Silesia, and first Victory 
 
 at Mollwitz ......... 339 
 
 36. His glorious Successes over the Austrians .... 340 
 
 37. Who are at length obliged to make Peace .... 340 
 
 38. His decided and indomitable Character already appears . 341 
 
 39. His great Services to his Kingdom during the next ten Years 
 
 of Peace .......... 342 
 
 40. Coalition of Austria, Russia, France, Saxony, and Sweden 
 
 against Prussia.342 
 
 41. Frederic invades Saxony and conquers that Country . . 343 
 
 42. He defeats the Austrians at Prague, and is defeated at Kolin 344 
 
 43. Desperate Situation of the Prussian Monarchy . . . 344 
 
 44. The King’s marvelous Victories at Rosbach and Leuthen . 345 
 
 45. Disasters sustained by his Troops in other Quarters, and Vic¬ 
 
 tory of Zorndorf ........ 346 
 
 46. Frederic’s Defeat at Hohenkirchen ..... 347 
 
 47. Terrible Battle of Cunnersdorf, in which Frederic is de¬ 
 
 feated .......... 347 
 
 48. Overwhelming Misfortunes in other Quarters . . . 348 
 
 49. Victory of Frederic over Landon at Lignetz . . . 348 
 
 50. Dreadful Battle and Victory of the Prussians at Torgau . 349 
 
 51. Desperate State of Prussia at this Time .... 349 
 
 52. Operations in the Camp of Bunzelwitz .... 350 
 
 53. The Death of the Empress of Russia restores his Affairs . 351 
 
 54. Wonderful Result of the Struggle ..... 352 
 
 55. His Character as a General.353 
 
 56. Comparison of Frederic and Napoleon.354 
 
 •<57. Of Marlborough and Wellington.355 
 
 58. Points in which their Situations differed .... 356 
 
 59. Great Superiority of Force with which Wellington had to 
 
 contend .......... 357 
 
 60. Their respective Characteristics ...... 358 
 
 61. Wellington’s Policy was more daring but more hazardous 
 
 than Marlborough’s.359 
 
xxn 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Sect. Page 
 
 62. Marlborough made more use of Cavalry than Wellington, 
 
 aud why ......... 359 
 
 63. Marlborough was more Successful than Wellington in Sieges, 
 
 and why .......... 361 
 
 64. Great and remarkable Land Triumphs of England over 
 
 France.362 
 
 65. Long Series of Land Disasters sustained by France from En¬ 
 
 gland .......... 363 
 
 66. What have been the Causes of this ?.364 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. 
 
 1. Moral Character of the Duke of Marlborough’s Wars . . 365 
 
 2. Opposite Interests and Causes for which the Parties con¬ 
 
 tended .365 
 
 3. Magnitude of the Danger which threatened Europe if France 
 
 had proved successful.366 
 
 4. Results which might have followed the Triumph of France . 367 
 
 5. Opposite Sides on Political Questions on which the Parties 
 
 were ranged similar to what afterward occurred . . 368 
 
 6. Yet fundamentally the Allies aud France were in both Cases 
 
 ranged on the same Sides.368 
 
 7. Important Difference in the Parties by whom the War was 
 
 opposed in the Time of Marlborough and Napoleon . . 369 
 
 8. State of the opposite Parties in Great Britain since the Great 
 
 Rebellion.370 
 
 9. The Union of Parties had brought about the Revolution . 371 
 
 10. Dangers which flowed from the Revolution .... 372 
 
 11. The Funding System is introduced by William III. . . 373 
 
 12. General Terrors it excited in Great Britain . . . .374 
 
 13. Bolingbroke’s Account of its Dangers.375 
 
 14. General Corruption which was induced in the Country . 375 
 
 15. Bolingbroke’s Account of the general Indignation at this de¬ 
 
 moralizing System ........ 377 
 
 16. Strong Principles of Freedom and Loyalty in the English 
 
 Character.378 
 
 17. Reaction of generous Feelings in favor of the Tories in the 
 
 advanced Period of the War . . . . . - 379 
 
 18. Which distinctly appeared in the Votes and Composition of 
 
 the House of Commons ....... 380 
 
 19. Character of Bolingbroke. 381 
 
 20. His Inconsistencies and Faults.3S2 
 
Sect 
 
 21 . 
 
 22 . 
 
 23. 
 
 24. 
 
 25. 
 
 26. 
 
 27. 
 
 28. 
 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 
 32. 
 
 33. 
 
 34. 
 
 35. 
 
 36. 
 
 37. 
 
 38. 
 
 39. 
 
 40. 
 
 41. 
 
 42. 
 
 43. 
 
 44. 
 
 45. 
 
 46. 
 
 47. 
 
 CONTENTS. xxiii 
 
 Page 
 
 Character of Harley, Earl of Oxford.384 
 
 Swift and the Tory Writers in the Press .... 384 
 
 It was these general Causes which overturned Marlborough 385 
 Great Violations of moral Rectitude in the Mode of their 
 
 Attack on Marlborough.387 
 
 What was the Danger to be guarded against in the Peace . 388 
 The Result has proved the Tories were wrong in their Policy 
 
 regarding it.389 
 
 Disastrous Effects and Serious Dangers to England which 
 followed the leaving a Bourbon on the Spanish Throne . 390 
 Examples of this in later Times . . . . . .391 
 
 These Dangers have arisen solely from the Spanish Alliance . 392 
 It was a Sense of this Advantage which made Napoleon en¬ 
 gage in the Peninsular War ...... 393 
 
 Causes which render the Alliance of Spain of such vital Im¬ 
 portance to France ........ 394 
 
 Instance of the same Political Infatuation in our Times . 395 
 Results which have followed from it in the last Instance . 396 
 Strange Insensibility to National Sins which often prevails . 397 
 Analogy between the Situation of the Tories in the War of 
 the Succession, and the Whigs in that of the Revolution . 398 
 Extraordinary Coincidence in the Crisis of the two Contests 399 
 Real Causes of this Identity of Conduct of the opposite Parties 
 on these Occasions ........ 400 
 
 Excuses which existed for the Policy of the Tories at the 
 Treaty of Utrecht from the Dread of Spain . . . 401 
 
 Bolingbroke’s Picture of the ruined State of the Spanish 
 Monarchy at this Period ....... 402 
 
 What Course the Tories should have pursued at the Treaty 
 of Utrecht .......... 403 
 
 But no Excuse can be found for our Violation of the Treaty of 
 Utrecht by the Quadruple Alliance in 1834 . . . 404 
 
 Answer to the common Argument used in behalf of the 
 
 Quadruple Alliance ........ 405 
 
 Our active Interference to put down Don Carlos and the 
 Male Line was still more unjustifiable .... 406 
 
 What England should have done on the Occasion . . 407 
 
 Just Punishment we have now received .... 407 
 
 England has lost all Title to complain of any Violation of the 
 Treaty of Utrecht ........ 408 
 
 Great Change which the Substitution of the Female Line for 
 the Male in Spain made in this Respect on the Interests of 
 other Powers.409 
 
XXIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PLANS, &c. 
 
 MAP OF FRANCE AND THE NETHERLANDS. 
 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 
 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF RAMILLIES. 
 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF OUDENARDE. 
 PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF LILLE. 
 
 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MALPLAQUET. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 CHAPTER- I. 
 
 BIRTH AND EARLY HISTORY OF MARLBOROUGH.-HIS SHARE IN 
 
 THE REVOLUTION OF 1688. -CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR 
 
 OF THE SUCCESSION. 
 
 John Churchill, afterward Duke of Marlborough, was 
 born on the 5th of July, 1650 (new style), at Ash, in ! 
 the county of Devon. His father was Sir Winston 
 Churchill, a gaUant cavalier who had drawn his borou =' h - 
 sword in behalf of Charles I., and had, in consequence, been 
 deprived of his fortune and driven into exile by Cromwell. 
 His paternal family was very ancient, and boasted its descent 
 from the Courcils de Poitou, who came into England with 
 the Conqueror. His mother was Elizabeth Drake, who claim¬ 
 ed a collateral connection with the descendants of the illus¬ 
 trious Sir Francis Drake, the great navigator. Young Church¬ 
 ill received the rudiments of his education from the parish 
 clergyman in Devonshire, from whom he imbibed that firm 
 attachment to the Protestant faith by which he was ever aft¬ 
 erward distinguished, and which determined his conduct in 
 the most important crisis of his life. He was afterward 
 placed at the school of St. Paul’s ; and it was there that he 
 first discovered, on reading Yegetius, that his bent of mind 
 was decidedly for the military life. “ What is usually called 
 genius,” says Johnson, “ is nothing but strong natural parts 
 accidentally turned hi one direction.” Like many other men 
 
 C 
 
26 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 destined to future distinction, he made no great figure as a 
 scholar, a circumstance easily explained, if we recollect that 
 it is on the knowledge of words that the reputation of a school¬ 
 boy is founded—of a man, on that of things. But the dis¬ 
 patches now pubhshed demonstrate that, before he attained 
 middle life, he was a proficient in at least Lathi, French, 
 and English composition; for letters in each, written in a 
 very pure style, are to be found in all parts of his corre¬ 
 spondence. 
 
 From his first youth, young Churchill was distinguished by 
 
 2 . the elegance of his maimers, and the beauty of his 
 His first ap- ° J 
 
 pearance and countenance and figure ; advantages which, coup- 
 
 early promo- . ; ... .. 
 
 tion at court led with the known loyal principles and the suffer¬ 
 ings of his father in the royal cause, procured for him, at the 
 early age of fifteen, the situation of page in the household of 
 the Duke of York, afterward James II. His inclination for 
 arms was then so decided, that the prince procured for him 
 a commission in one of the regiments of Guards when he was 
 only sixteen years old. His uncommonly handsome figure 
 then attracted no small share of notice from the beauties of 
 the court of Charles II., and even awakened a passion in one 
 of the royal mistresses herself. Impatient to signalize linn- 
 self, however, he left their seductions, and embarked as a vol¬ 
 unteer in the expedition against Tangiers in 1666. Thus his 
 first essay in arms was made in actions against the Moors. 
 Having returned to Great Britain, he attracted the notice of 
 the Countess of Castlemaine, afterward Duchess of Cleveland, 
 then the favorite mistress of Charles II., who had distinguish 
 ed him by her regard before he embarked for Africa, and who 
 made him a present of £5000, with wdiich the young soldier 
 bought an annuity of £500, which laid the foundation, says 
 Chesterfield, of all his subsequent fortunes. Charles, to re¬ 
 move a dangerous rival in her unsteady affections, gave him 
 a company in the Guards, and sent him to the Continent 
 with the auxiliary force which, in those days of English hu 
 miliation, the cabinet of St. James’s furnished to Louis XIV 
 
MARL BOROUGH. 
 
 27 
 
 to aid him in subduing the United Provinces. Thus, by a 
 singular coincidence, it was under Turenne, Conde, and Vau- 
 ban that the future conqueror of the Bourbons first learned 
 the art of scientific warfare. Wellington went through the 
 same discipline, but in the inverse order : his first campaigns 
 were made against the French in Flanders, his next against 
 the bastions of Tippoo and the Mahratta horse in Hindostan. 
 
 Churchill had not been long in Flanders before his talents 
 and gallantry won for him deserved distinction. 3 . 
 
 The campaign of 1672, which brought the French under Louis 
 armies to the gates of Amsterdam, and placed the Turenmfin 
 United Provinces within a hair’s breadth of de- *' lauder3 - 
 struction, was to him fruitful in valuable lessons. lie distin¬ 
 guished himself afterward so much at the siege of Nimeguen, 
 that Turenne, who constantly called him by the soubriquet 
 of “ the handsome Englishman,” predicted that he would one 
 -day be a great man. In the following year he had the good 
 fortune to save the life of his colonel, the Duke of Monmouth, 
 and acquired so much renown at the siege of Maestricht, that 
 Louis XIV. publicly thanked him at the head of his army, 
 and promised him his powerful influence with Charles II. 
 for future promotion. He little thought what a formidable 
 enemy he was then fostering at the court of his obsequious 
 brother sovereign. The result of Louis XIV.’s intercession 
 was, that Churchill was made lieutenant-colonel; and he con¬ 
 tinued to serve with the English auxiliary force in Flanders, 
 under the French generals, till 1677, when he returned with 
 liis regiment to London. Beyond all doubt, it was these five 
 years’ service under the great masters of the military art, who 
 then sustained the power and cast a halo round the crown of 
 Louis XIV., which rendered Marlborough the consummate 
 commander that he showed himself to have become, from the 
 moment he was placed at the head of the allied armies. One 
 of the most interesting and instructive lessons to be learned 
 from biography is derived from observing the long steps, the 
 vast amount of previous preparation, the numerous changes, 
 
26 
 
 THE LITE OF 
 
 some prosperous, others adverse, by which the powers of a 
 great man are formed, and he is prepared for playing the im¬ 
 portant part which it is intended he should perform on the 
 theater of the world. Providence does nothing in vain, and 
 when it has selected a particular mind for a great achieve¬ 
 ment, the events which happen to it all seem to conspire in a 
 mysterious way for its development. Were any one omitted, 
 some essential quality in the character of the future hero, 
 statesman, or pliilosopher would be found to be wanting. 
 
 Here also, as in every other period of history, we may see 
 4. how unprincipled ambition overvaults itself, and 
 
 Manner in 
 
 which Louis the measures which seem at first sight most se- 
 
 XIV.'s ambi- 
 tion worked 
 
 ruin. """ yet unperceived means by which an overruling Pow¬ 
 er works out its destruction. Doubtless the other ministers 
 of Louis XIV. deemed their master’s power secure when this 
 English alliance was concluded; when the English monarch. 
 had become a state pensioner of the court of Versailles ; when 
 a secret treaty had united them by apparently indissoluble 
 bonds; when the ministers, alike with the patriots of En¬ 
 gland, were corrupted by his bribes ; when the dreaded fleets 
 of Britain were to be seen in union with those of France, 
 leagued to overpower the squadrons of an inconsiderable re¬ 
 public ; when the descendants of the conquerors of Cressy, 
 Poitiers, and Azincour stood side by side with the successors 
 of the vanquished in those disastrous fields, ready to achieve 
 the conquest of Flanders and Holland. Without doubt, so 
 far as human foresight could go, Louvois and Colbert were 
 right. Nothing could appear so decidedly calculated to fix 
 the power of Louis XIV. on an immovable foundation. But 
 how vain are the calculations of the great human intellects 
 when put in opposition to the overruling will of Omnipotence! 
 It was that very English alliance which ruined Louis XII'., 
 as the Austrian alliance and marriage, which seemed to put 
 the keystone in the arch of Ids greatness, afterward ruined 
 Napoleon. By the effect, and one of the most desired effects, 
 
 curely to establish its oppressive reign are the as 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 29 
 
 of the English alliance, a strong body of British auxiliaries 
 were sent to Flanders; the English officers learned the the¬ 
 ory and practice of war in the best of all schools, and under 
 the best of all teachers; that ignorance of the military art, 
 the result in every age of our insular situation, and which 
 generally causes the first four or five years of every war to 
 terminate in disaster, was for the time removed; and that 
 mighty genius was developed under the eye of Louis XIV., 
 and by the example of Turenne, which was destined to hurl 
 hack to its own frontiers the tide of Gallic invasion, and 
 close in mourning the reign of the Grand Monarque. “ Les 
 hommes agissent,” says Bossuet, “ mais Dieu les mene.” 
 
 Upon Churchill’s return to London, the brilliant reputation 
 which had preceded, and the even augmented per- 5. 
 sonal advantages which accompanied him, imme- marriage and 
 diately rendered him the idol of beauty and fashion, court. 
 
 The ladies of the palace vied for his homage, the nobles of 
 the land hastened to cultivate his society. Like Julius Cae¬ 
 sar, he was carried away by the stream, and plunged into 
 the vortex of courtly dissipation with the ardor which marks 
 an energetic character in the pursuit either of good or evil. 
 The elegance of his person and manners, and the charms of 
 his conversation, prevailed so far with Charles II. and the 
 Duke of York, that soon after, though not yet thirty years of 
 age, he obtained a regiment. In 1680 he married the cele¬ 
 brated Sarah Jennings, the favorite lady in attendance on the 
 Princess Anne, second daughter of the Duke of York, one of 
 the most admired beauties of the court. This affiance in¬ 
 creased his influence, already great, with that prince, and laid 
 the foundation of the future grandeur of his fortunes. Short¬ 
 ly after his marriage he accompanied the Duke of York to 
 Scotland, in the course of which they were both nearly ship¬ 
 wrecked on the coast of Fife. On this occasion the duke 
 made the greatest efforts to preserve his favorite’s life, and 
 succeeded in doing so, although the danger was such that 
 many of the Scottish nobles perished under his eye. On their 
 
30 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 return to London in 1682, Churchill was presented by his 
 patron to the king, who made him colonel of the third regi¬ 
 ment of Guards. When the Duke of York ascended the 
 throne in 1685, on the demise of his brother, Churchill kept 
 Iris place as one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber, and was 
 raised to the rank of brigadier-general. He was sent to Paris 
 to notify his sovereign’s accession to Louis XIV., and on Iris 
 return he was created a peer by the title of Baron Churchill 
 of Sandbridge, in the county of Hertford : a title which he 
 took from an estate there which he had acquired in right of 
 his wife. 
 
 On the revolt of the Duke of Monmouth, he had an oppor- 
 6 - tunity of showing at once his military ability, and, 
 
 His important J m ... . J 
 
 services on by a signal service, Iris gratitude to his benefactor. 
 
 Monmouth’s 
 
 rebellion. Lord Feversham had the command of the royal 
 forces, and Churchill was his major-general. The general-in- 
 chief, however, kept so bad a look-out that he was on the 
 point of being surprised and cut to pieces by the rebel forces, 
 who, on this occasion at least, were conducted with ability. 
 The general and almost all his officers were in their beds, and 
 sound asleep, when Monmouth, at the head of all his forces, 
 silently issued from his camp, and suddenly fell on the royal 
 army. The rout would have been complete, and James II. 
 probably dethroned, had not Churchill, whose vigilant eye 
 nothing escaped, observed the movement, and hastily collected 
 a handful of men, with whom he made so vigorous a resist¬ 
 ance as gave time for the remainder of the army to form, and 
 repel this well-concerted enterprise. 
 
 Churchill’s mind was too sagacious, and his knowledge of 
 7. the feelings of the nation too extensive, not to be 
 orstoarrest aware of the perilous nature of the course upon 
 Ion ^'course which James soon after adventured, hi endeavoring 
 of James. | 0 bring about, if not the absolute re-establishment 
 of the Catholic religion, at least such a quasi-establishment 
 of it as the people deemed, and probably with reason, was, 
 with so aspiring a body of ecclesiastics, in effect the same 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 31 
 
 tiling. When he saw the headstrong monarch break through 
 all bonds, and openly trample on the liberties, while he shock¬ 
 ed the religious feelings of his people, he wrote to him to point 
 out, in firm but respectful terms, the danger of his conduct, 
 lie declared to Lord Galway, when James’s innovations be¬ 
 gan, that if he persisted in liis design of overturning the con¬ 
 stitution and religion of his country, he would leave his service. 
 So far his conduct was perfectly unexceptionable. Our first 
 duty is to our country, our second only to our benefactor. If 
 they are brought into collision, as they often are during the 
 melancholy vicissitudes of a civil war, an honorable man, 
 whatever it may cost him, has but one part to take. He 
 must not abandon his public duty for his private feelings, but 
 lie must never betray official duty. If Churchill, perceiving 
 the frantic course of his master, had withdrawn from his 
 service, and then either taken no part in the revolution which 
 followed, or even appeared in arms against him, the most 
 scrupulous moralist could have discovered nothing reprehensi¬ 
 ble in his conduct. History has hi every age applauded the 
 virtue, while it has commiserated the anguish, of the elder 
 Bratus, who sacrificed his sons to the perhaps too rigorous 
 laws of his country. 
 
 But Churchill did not do this, and thence has arisen an in¬ 
 effaceable blot on his memory. He did not relin- g 
 quish the service of the infatuated monarch ; he re- 
 taincd his office and commands; but he employed ofthePrince 
 the influence and authority thence derived to ruin of ° ran s e - 
 his benefactor. Information was sent to James that he was 
 not to be trusted; but so far were those representations from 
 having inspired any doubts of liis fidelity, that that deluded 
 monarch, when the Prince of Orange landed, confided to him 
 the command of a corps of five thousand men destined to op¬ 
 pose his progress, and raised him to the rank of lieutenant- 
 general. He led this force in person as far as Salisbury to 
 meet William, who was advancing through Devonshire. And 
 yet he had before that written to William a letter, still extant, 
 
32 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 in which he expressed entire devotion to his cause.* Nay, 
 he at this tune, if we may believe his panegyrist Ledyard, 
 signed a letter, along with several other peers, addressed to 
 the Prince of Orange, inviting him to come over, and had 
 actually concluded with Major-general Kirk, who commanded 
 at Axminster, a convention for the seizure of the king and 
 giving him up to his hostile son-in-law. James was secretly 
 warned that Churchill was about to betray him, but he re¬ 
 fused to believe it of one from whom he had hitherto experi¬ 
 enced such devotion, and was only awakened from his dream 
 of security by learning that his favorite had gone over, with 
 the Duke of Grafton and the principal officers of his regiment, 
 to the Prince of Orange. Not content Math this, he shortly 
 after employed his influence with his own regiment, and others 
 stationed near London, to induce them to desert James and 
 join the invading candidate for the throne.f Nay, it was his 
 arguments, joined to those of his wife, which induced James’s 
 own daughter, the Princess Anne, and Prince George of Den¬ 
 mark, to detach themselves from the cause of the falling mon¬ 
 arch, and drew from that unhappy sovereign the mournful 
 exclamation, “ My God! my very children have forsaken 
 me.” Thus his example was the signal for a general defec- 
 
 * " Sir, —Mr. Sidney will let you know how I intend to beliave myself. I 
 think it is what I owe to God and my country. My honor I take leave to 
 put into your highness’s hands, where I think it is safe. If you think there 
 is any thing which I ought to do, you have but to command me. I shall pay 
 an entire obedience to it, being resolved to die in that religion that it hath 
 pleased God to give you both the will and the power to protect.”—Lord 
 Churchill to the Prince of Orange, Aug. 4,1688. William landed at Torbay 
 on Nov. 5,1688, so that three months before Marlborough accepted the com¬ 
 mand of the forces destined to oppose, he had secretly agreed to join him. 
 —See Gleig’s Military Commanders, i., 332. 
 
 t On the approach of William to the capital, and the flight of James to 
 Feversham, Lord Churchill was sent forward to reassemble his own troop 
 of Horse Guards, and to bring over the soldiers quartered in and about the 
 metropolis. He executed the commission with equal prudence and activity, 
 and carried back so favorable a report concerning the disposition of the peo¬ 
 ple and army as induced the prince to hasten to the capital. After the dis¬ 
 comfiture of James, Lord Churchill assisted in the convention of Parliament. 
 —Coxe, v., 42. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 S.i 
 
 tion, not only of those who were openly hostile to James, hut 
 even of those who were connected with him by blood. 
 
 In what does this conduct differ from that of Labedoyere, 
 who, at the head of the garrison of Grenoble, de- 9 - 
 
 b . Parallel be- 
 
 serted to Napoleon when sent out to oppose him ? tween his 
 
 ... treachery and 
 
 or Lavalette, who employed his influence, as post- thatofNey. 
 master under Louis XVIII., to forward the imperial conspir¬ 
 acy ? or Marshal Ney, who, after promising at the Tuileries 
 to bring the ex-emperor back in an iron cage, no sooner reach¬ 
 ed the royal camp at Melun, than he issued a proclamation 
 calling on the troops to desert the Bourbons, and mount the 
 tricolor cockade ? Nay, is not Churchill’s conduct, in a moral 
 point of view, worse than that of Ney ? for the latter aban¬ 
 doned the trust reposed in him by a new master, forced upon 
 an unwilling nation, to rejoin his old benefactor and companion 
 in arms ; but the former betrayed the trust reposed in him by 
 his old master and tried benefactor, to range himself under 
 the banner of a competitor for the throne to whom he was 
 bound neither by duty nor obligation. And yet, such is often 
 the inequality of crimes and punishments in this world, that 
 Churchill was raised to the pinnacle of greatness by the very 
 conduct which consigned Ney, with justice, so far as his con¬ 
 duct is concerned, to an ignominious death. 
 
 "Treason ne’er prospers ; for when it does, 
 
 None dare call it treason.” 
 
 History forgets its first and noblest duty when it fails, by 
 its distribution of praise and blame, to counterbalance, so far 
 as its verdict can, this inequality, which, for inscrutable but 
 doubtless wise purposes, Providence has permitted hi this tran¬ 
 sient scene. Charity forbids us to scrutinize such conduct too 
 severely. It is the deplorable consequence of a successful rev¬ 
 olution, even when commenced for the most necessary pur¬ 
 poses, to obliterate the ideas of man on right and wrong, and 
 to leave no other test in the general case for public conduct 
 but success: its first effect, to place men in such tiying cir¬ 
 cumstances that nothing but the most confirmed and resolute 
 
 C 2 
 
34 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 virtue can pass unscathed through the ordeal. He knew the 
 human heart well who commanded us in our daily prayers to 
 supplicate not to be led into temptation, even before asking 
 for deliverance from evil. Let no man be sure, however 
 much, on a calm survey, he may condemn the conduct of 
 Marlborough and Ney, that in similar circumstances he would 
 not have done the same.* 
 
 The magnitude of the service rendered by Churchill to the 
 Honors and P 1 '™ 06 °f Orange immediately appeared in the 
 commands be- commands conferred upon him. Hardly was he 
 
 etowed on . , , J 
 
 Churchill. He settled at Yv illiam’s headquarters when he was dis- 
 
 6igns the Act , , 
 
 of Association patched to London to assume the command of the 
 William. Horse Guards ; and, while there, he signed, on the 
 20th of December, 1688, the famous Act of Association in fa¬ 
 vor of the Prince of Orange. Shortly after, he was named 
 lieutenant-general of the armies of William, and immediately 
 made a new organization of the troops, under officers whom 
 he could trust, which proved of the utmost service to William 
 
 * Marlborough, on leaving the king, sent the following letter to him: 
 “ Sir, —Since men are seldom suspected of sincerity when they act contrary 
 to their interests, and though my dutiful behavior to your majesty in the 
 worst of times (for which I acknowledge my poor sendees much overpaid) 
 may not be sufficient to incline you to a charitable interpretation of my ac¬ 
 tions, yet I hope the great advantage I enjoy under your majesty, which I 
 can not expect to enjoy under any other government, may reasonably con¬ 
 vince your majesty and the world that I am actuated by- a higher principle 
 when I offer that violence to my inclination and interest as to desert your 
 majesty at a time when your affairs seem to challenge the strictest obedience 
 from all your subjects, much more from one who lies under such obligations 
 to your majesty. This, sir, could proceed from nothing but the inviolable 
 dictates of my conscience, and a necessary concern for my religion (which 
 no good man can oppose), and with which, I am instructed, nothing can 
 come in competition. Heaven knows with what partiality my dutiful re¬ 
 gard for your majesty has hitherto represented those unhappy dangers which 
 inconsiderate and self-interested men have framed against your majesty’s 
 true interest and the Protestant religion; but as I can no longer join with 
 such to give a pretense by conduct to bring them to effect, so I will always, 
 with the hazard of my life and fortune (so much your majesty’s due), en¬ 
 deavor to preserve your royal person and lawful rights with all the tender 
 concern and dutiful respect that becomes me.”—Lord Churchill to James IL, 
 Nov. 12, 1688. Ledyard, i., 75. 
 
MAR. L BOROUGH. 
 
 35 
 
 on the unstable throne on which he was soon after seated. 
 He was present at most of the long and momentous debates 
 which took place in the House of Peers on the question on 
 whom the crown should be conferred, and at first inclined to 
 a regency; but with a commendable delicacy he absented him¬ 
 self on the night of the decisive vote on the vacancy of the 
 throne. He voted, however, on the Gth of February for the 
 resolution which settled the crown on William and Mary; and 
 he assisted at their coronation, under the title of Earl of Marl¬ 
 borough, to which he had shortly before been elevated by 
 William. 
 
 England having, on the accession of the new monarch, join¬ 
 ed the continental league against France, Marlbor- n. 
 
 . . . . Hisfirstserv- 
 
 ough received the command of the British auxilia- ices in for- 
 ry force in the Netherlands, and by his courage and de?*William, 
 ability contributed in a remarkable maimer to the victory of 
 Walcourt. In 1690 he received orders to return from Flanders 
 in order to assume a command in Ireland, then agitated by a 
 general insurrection hi favor of James ; but, actuated by some 
 remnant of attachment to his old benefactor, he eluded on va¬ 
 rious pretenses complying with the order till the battle of the 
 Boyne had extinguished the hopes of the dethroned monarch, 
 when he came over and made himself master of Cork and Kin- 
 sale. In 1691 he was sent again into Flanders, in order to act 
 under the immediate orders of William, who was then, with 
 heroic constancy, contending with the still superior forces of 
 Franee; but hardly had he landed there when he was ar¬ 
 rested, deprived of all his commands, and sent to the Tower 
 of London, along with several of the noblemen of distinction 
 in the British Senate. 
 
 Upon this part of the history of Marlborough there hangs 
 a veil of mystery, which all the papers brought to jo. 
 light in more recent times have not entirely remov- Strigncs'roon 
 ed. At the time, his disgrace was by many attrib- e^iicd % ?oyai l ° 
 uted to some cutting sarcasms in which he had in- lamlly - 
 dulged on the predilection of William for the continental troops, 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 •j () 
 
 and especially the Dutch ; by others, to intrigues conducted by 
 Lady Marlborough and him, to obtain for the Princess Anne 
 a larger pension than the king was disposed to allow her. 
 But neither of these causes is sufficient to explain the fall 
 and arrest of a man so eminent as Marlborough, and who had 
 rendered such important services to the newly-established mon¬ 
 arch. It would appear, from what has transpired in later 
 times, that a much more serious cause had produced the rup¬ 
 ture between him and William. The charge brought against 
 him at the time, but not prosecuted, as it was found to rest on 
 false or insufficient evidence, was that of having, along with 
 Lords Salisbury, Cornbury, the Bishop of Rochester, and Sir 
 Basil Ferebrace, signed the scheme of an association for the 
 restoration of James. Sir John Fenwick, who was executed 
 for a treasonable correspondence with James II. shortly after 
 Marlborough’s arrest, declared that he was privy to the design, 
 had received the pardon of the exiled monarch, and had en¬ 
 gaged to procure for him the adhesion of the army. The pa¬ 
 pers, published by Coxe, rather corroborate the view that he 
 was privy to it; and it is supported by those found at Rome 
 in the possession of Cardinal York.* That Marlborough, 
 
 * "About a fortnight ago, I wrote a letter to acquaint you with what 1 
 had observed of some people, in hopes Mr. Arden would have called upon 
 me as he promised ; but I did not care to send it by the post, so it was burn¬ 
 ed. We had yesterday Sir John Fenwick at the house, and I think it all 
 went as you could wish. I do not send you the particulars, knowing you 
 must have it more exactly from others ; but I should be wanting if I did not 
 let you know that Lord Rochester has behaved himself, on all this occasion, 
 like a friend. In a conversation he had with me, he expressed himself as a 
 real servant of yours; and I think it would not be amiss if you took notice 
 of it to him. If you think me capable of any commands, I shall endeavor to 
 approve myself what I am, with much truth,'' &c.—Marlborough to the Duke 
 of Shrewsbury (a Catholic leader and Royalist). Wednesday night, no date. 
 Shrewsbury Papers, and Coxe, i., 85. 
 
 “ During the interval between the liberation of Marlborough and the death 
 of Clueen Mary, we find him, in conjunction with Godolphin and many others, 
 maintaining a clandestine intercourse with the exiled family. On the 2d of 
 May, 1694, only a few days before he offered his services to King William, 
 he communicated to James, through Colonel Sackville, intelligence of an ex¬ 
 pedition then fitting out for the purpose of destroying the fleet in Brest liar- 
 
MARLBOROUGH 
 
 37 
 
 disgusted with the partiality of William for his Dutch troops, 
 and irritated at the open severity of his government, should 
 have repented of his abandonment of his former sovereign and 
 benefactor, is highly probable. But it can scarcely be taken 
 as an apology for one act of treason that he meditated the com¬ 
 mission of another. It only shows how perilous, in public as in 
 private life, is any deviation from the path of integrity, that it 
 impelled such a man into so tortuous and disreputable a path. 
 
 But Marlborough was a man whose services were too val¬ 
 uable to the newly-established dynasty to be per- lr! 
 mitted to remain long in disgrace. He was soon ^Vrompris- 
 liberated from the Tower, as no sufficient evidence a 
 
 of his alleged accession to the conspiracy had been to lavor - 
 obtained. Several years elapsed, however, before he emerged 
 from the privacy into which he prudently retired on his liber¬ 
 ation from confinement. Queen Mary having been carried 
 off’by the small-pox on the 17th of January, 1696, Marlbor¬ 
 ough wisely abstained from even taking part in the debates 
 which followed in Parliament, during which some of the mal¬ 
 contents dropped hints as to the propriety of conferring the 
 crown on his immediate patroness, the Princess Anne. This 
 prudent reserve, together with the absence of any decided 
 proofs at the time of Marlborough’s correspondence with 
 James, seems to have at length weakened William’s resent¬ 
 ment, and by degrees he -was taken back into favor. The 
 peace of Ryswick, signed on the 20th of September, 1697, 
 having consolidated the power of that monarch, Marlborough 
 was, on the 19th of June, 1698, made preceptor of the young 
 Duke of Gloucester, his nephew, son of the Princess Anne, and 
 heir-presumptive to the throne ; and this appointment, which 
 at once restored liis credit at court, was accompanied by the 
 gracious expression, “ My lord, make my nephew to resem- 
 
 bor.”— Coxe’s Marlborough, i., 75. “ Marlborough’s conduct to the Stuarts,” 
 
 says Lord Mahon, “was a foul blot on his memory. To the last he persever¬ 
 ed in those deplorable intrigues. In October, 1713, he protested to a Jaco¬ 
 bite agent he would rather have his hands cut off than do any thing to prej¬ 
 udice King James.”— Mahon, i., 21, 22. 
 
 D 
 
38 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Lie yourself, and he will he every tiling which I can desire.” 
 On the same day he was restored to his rank as a privy coun¬ 
 selor, and took the oaths and his seat accordingly. 
 
 So fully had he now regained the confidence of William, 
 that he was three times named one of the nine 
 hrds justiciars to whom the administration of af- 
 mandta'tbe f a * rs Great Britain w r as subsequently intrusted 
 Netherlands. c J ur [ n g the temporary absence of William in Hol¬ 
 land ; and the War of the Succession having become certain 
 in the year 1700, that monarch, wh® was preparing to take 
 an active part in it, appointed Marlborough, on the 1st of June, 
 1701, his embassador extraordinary at the Hague, and com¬ 
 mander-in-chief of the allied forces in Flanders. This double 
 appointment in effect invested Marlborough with the entire 
 direction of affairs, civil aud military, so far as England was 
 concerned, on the Continent. William, who was highly in¬ 
 dignant at the recognition of the Chevalier St. George as 
 King of England on the deatli of his father, James II., in 
 September, 1701, was preparing to prosecute the war with 
 the vigor and perseverance which so eminently distinguished 
 his character, when he w r as carried off’ by the effects of a fall 
 from his horse, on the 19th of March, 1702. But that event 
 made no alteration in the part which England took in the war 
 which was commencing, and it augmented rather than dimin¬ 
 ished the influence which Marlborough had hi its direction. 
 The Princess Anne, with whom, both individually and through 
 Lady Marlborough, he was so ultimately connected, mounted 
 the throne without opposition ; and by one of her first acts the 
 queen bestowed on Marlborough the order of the Garter, con- 
 finned liim in his former offices, and appointed him, in addi¬ 
 tion, her plenipotentiary to the Hague. War w r as declared 
 on the 15th of May, 1702, and Marlborough immediately went 
 over to the Netherlands to take the command of the allied 
 army, sixty thousand strong, then lying before Nimeguen, 
 which was threatened by a superior force on the part of the 
 French. 
 
MARYBOROUGH. 
 
 39 
 
 It is at this period—June, 1702—that the great and mem¬ 
 orable, and, withal, blameless period of Marlhor- 15. 
 
 At which pe- 
 
 ough’s life commenced. The next ten years were riod the Bien- 
 
 _ . heim Papers 
 
 one unbroken series of efforts, victories, and glory, commenced. 
 He arrived in the camp at Nimeguen on the evening of the 
 2d of July, having been a few weeks before at the Hague, and 
 immediately assumed the command. Lord Athlone, who 
 had previously enjoyed- that situation, at first laid claim to 
 an equal authority with him ; but this rubious division, which 
 never is safe save with fucn so great as he and Eugene, and 
 would unquestionably have proved ruinous to the common 
 cause had Athlone been his partner in command, was pre¬ 
 vented by the States General, who nisisted upon the undi¬ 
 vided direction being conferred on Marlborough. Most for¬ 
 tunately, it is precisely at this period that the Dispatches 
 commence, which present an unbroken series of his letters to 
 persons of every description, down to liis dismissal from office 
 in May, 1712. They thus embrace the early successes in 
 Flanders, the cross march into Bavaria and battle of Blen¬ 
 heim, the expulsion of the French from Germany, the battle 
 of Ramillies, and taking of Brussels and Antwerp, the mission 
 to the King of Sweden at Dresden, the battle of Almanza in 
 Spain, those of Oudenarde, Malplaquet, and all the sieges in 
 Flanders, and all the important events of the war down to its 
 close. More weighty and momentous materials for history 
 never were presented to the public ; and their importance 
 will not be properly appreciated if the previous condition of 
 Europe, and imminent hazard to the independence of all the 
 adjoining states, from the unmeasured ambition and vast pow- 
 ■>r of Louis XIV., are not taken into consideration. 
 
 Accustomed as we are to regard the Bourbons as a fallen 
 and unfortunate race, the objects rather of com- i6. 
 miseration than apprehension, and Napoleon as of the P Bom r 
 the only sovereign who has really threatened our period^and' 3 
 independence, and all but effected the subjugation e™ 
 
 of the Continent, we can scarcely conceive the ter- cited - 
 
40 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ror with which, a century and a half ago, the monarch of 
 that race, with reason, inspired all Europe, or the narrow 
 escape which the continental states, at least, then made from 
 being reduced to the condition of provinces of France. The 
 forces of that monarchy, at all times formidable to its neigh¬ 
 bors, from the warlike spirit of its inhabitants, and their ra¬ 
 pacious disposition, conspicuous alike in the earliest and the 
 latest times ;* its central situation, forming, as it were, the 
 salient angle of a bastion projecting into the center of Ger¬ 
 many, and its numerous population, were then, in a peculiar 
 manner, to be dreaded, from the concentration of the elements 
 of power thus afforded hi the hands of an able and ambitious 
 monarch, who had succeeded for the first time, for two hund¬ 
 red years, in healing the divisions and stilling the feuds of its 
 nobles, and turning their buoyant energy into the channel of 
 foreign conquest. Immense was the force which, in conse¬ 
 quence of this able policy, was found to exist in France, and 
 terrible the danger to which it at once exposed the neighbor¬ 
 ing states. 
 
 France was rendered the more formidable in the time of 
 ! 7 . Louis XIV. from the remarkable talents which he 
 by whichThe himself possessed, and the unbounded ambition by 
 ofFrancffwas which he was actuated, the extraordinary concen- 
 directed. tration of talent which his discernment or good for¬ 
 tune had collected round his throne, and the consummate 
 abilities, civil and military, with which affairs were directed. 
 Turemie, Boufflers, and Conde were his generals ; Vauban 
 was his engineer ; Louvois and Torcy were his statesmen. 
 The luster of the exploits of these illustrious men, in itself 
 great, was much enhanced by the still greater blaze of fame 
 which encircled his throne, from the genius of the literary 
 men who have given such immortal celebrity to his reign. 
 Corneille and Racine were his tragedians ; Moliere wrote his 
 comedies ; Bossuet, Fenelon, and Bourdaloue were his theo- 
 
 * “ Galli turpe esse ducunt frumentam raanu quaerere; itaque armati 
 alienos agros demetunt.”—C.ESAR. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 41 
 
 logians ; Massillon his preacher ; Boileau his critic ; Le No¬ 
 tre laid out his gardens ; Le Brun painted his halls. Great¬ 
 ness had come upon France, as, in truth, it does to most other 
 states, in all departments at the same time ; and the adjoin¬ 
 ing nations, alike intimidated hy a power which they could 
 not resist, and dazzled hy a glory which they could not emu¬ 
 late, had come almost to despair of maintaining their inde¬ 
 pendence, and were sinking into that state of apathy which 
 is at once the consequence and the cause of extraordinary re¬ 
 verses. 
 
 The influence of these causes had distinctly appeared in 
 the extraordinary good fortune which had attended i 8 
 the enterprises of Louis, and the numerous con- 
 quests he had made since he had lanched into the hitherto at- 
 career of foreign aggrandizement. Nothing had 
 been able to resist his victorious arms. At the ter P nses - 
 head of an army of a hundred thousand men, directed hy Tu- 
 renne, he had speedily overrun Flanders. Its fortified cities 
 yielded to the science of Vauban, or the terrors of his name. 
 The boasted harrier of the Netherlands was passed in a few 
 weeks; hardly any of its far-famed fortresses made any re¬ 
 sistance. The passage of the Rhine was achieved under the 
 eyes of the monarch with little loss, and with melo-dramatic 
 effect. One half of Holland was soon subdued, and the pres¬ 
 ence of the French army at the gates of Amsterdam seemed 
 to presage immediate destruction to the United Provinces ; 
 and, but for the firmness of their leaders, and a fortunate 
 combination of circumstances, unquestionably would have 
 done so. The alliance with England in the early part of his 
 reign, and the junction of the fleets of Britain and France to 
 ruin their fleets and blockade their harbors, seemed to de¬ 
 prive these states of their last resource, derived from their 
 energetic industry. Nor were substantial fruits wanting 
 from these conquests. Alsace and Franche Comte were 
 overrun, and, with Lorraine, permanently annexed to the 
 French monarchy; and although, by the treaties of Aix-la- 
 
 D 2 
 
42 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Chapelle and Nimeguen, part of the acquisitions of Louis in 
 Flanders were abandoned, enough was retained by the de¬ 
 vouring monarchy to deprive the Dutch of the harrier they 
 had so ardently desired, and render their situation to the last 
 degree precarious in the neighborhood of so formidable a 
 power. 
 
 It was the ambition and detestable cruelty of the Church 
 TT 19 - , of Rome which first produced, and probably alone 
 
 Hopes and r 1 J 
 
 schemes of the could have produced, a reaction against these 
 
 Catholic party 1 ° 
 
 throughout dangers. Intoxicated with the success which 
 
 Europe at this 
 
 time. Their had in many quarters attended its efforts, and in 
 
 ultimate fail- . 
 
 ure. an especial maimer m France, for the extirpation 
 
 of heresy, its leaders thought nothing could resist their power. 
 The long triumphs and well-known orthodoxy of Louis XIV. 
 gave them the greatest hopes that he would employ his vast 
 power and great capacity in effecting that unity in the Church 
 which he had so long labored to produce in the temporal ad¬ 
 ministration of his monarchy ; while the secret inclination of 
 James II., revealed to his spiritual guides, made the leaders 
 of the Romish Church aware that he was resolutely bent on 
 re-establishing the Catholic faith in his dominions, or, at least, 
 in restoring it to such a degree of power and consideration, as 
 with so aspiring a body would have amounted, in effect, to 
 the same tiling. His character—bold, sincere, and enterpris¬ 
 ing, but withal rash, bigoted, and inconsiderate—appeared to 
 promise the fairest chance of success to such a design. The 
 moment seemed beyond all hope favorable for a general ag¬ 
 gression on the Protestant faith; for in Franee was an able 
 and powerful monarch, who considered, and perhaps with 
 reason, unity hi religion as indispensable to his great object of 
 centralization in temporal power ; and in England a devout 
 and daring Catholic was on the throne, w r hose efforts, sup¬ 
 ported by a considerable party in Great Britain and a very 
 large one in Ireland, promised ere long to render the British 
 empire, hitherto the strong hold of the Reformed, the chief 
 outwork of the ancient faith. The two rival powers, whose 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 43 
 
 jealousy and rival pretensions had so long desolated Europe, 
 and whose opposite creeds had recently still more widely sev¬ 
 ered them from each other, were now united in close alliance, 
 under governments alike anxious for the restoration of unity 
 in matters of religion. And yet so short-sighted are often the 
 conclusions of human sagacity, even when founded on the 
 most apparently reasonable grounds, or so entirely are they 
 overruled by a Superior Power, that to the consequence of 
 this very aggression may be traced, by a clear chain of causes 
 and effects, the curbing of the power of Louis XIV., and the 
 establishment of the Reformed faith on a solid foundation hi 
 the north of Europe. 
 
 The onset of the Church of Rome against that of Luther 
 commenced in both countries at the same time. D . ~°- 
 
 Simultaneous 
 
 In 1685 the Edict of Nantes was revoked by Louis attacks on the 
 
 J Protestants in 
 
 XIV., and those sanguinary military executions France and 
 ° J _ England irre- 
 
 began which have reflected such disgrace on his vocabiy sepa- 
 . . rate the two 
 
 reign. In 1687 the persecution of the Protestants, countries, 
 and measures evidently designed for the re-establishment of 
 the Romish faith, commenced hi Great Britain. The result 
 was different hi the two countries. In France, four hundred 
 thousand weephig citizens were sent hito exile, who carried 
 hito foreign states their hidustry, their arts, their hatred of 
 Roman Catholic oppression. In England, the reigning dy¬ 
 nasty was expelled from the throne, and carried to foreign 
 courts the inextinguishable desire to regain its inheritance. 
 Europe was permanently divided by these great events. The 
 wrongs committed, the injuries suffered on both sides, were 
 too great to be forgiven. On the one side was a throne over¬ 
 turned, a race of sovereigns in exile ; on the other were half 
 a million of persecuted human beings wanderhig hi foreign 
 lands. Temporal wrongs of the deepest dye had come to be 
 superadded to religious divisions. Alliances on both sides fol¬ 
 lowed, and revealed the vehement passions winch were felt. 
 The League of Augsburg, first signed on the 9th of July, 
 1686, muted Austria, Spain, Holland, Saxony, Swabia—to 
 
44 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 which, after the revolution of 1688, was added England- 
 against France ; while Louis XIV. contracted an alliance of 
 the closest kind with the exiled James, now established at 
 St. Germains, entered into correspondence with the Royalists 
 and Catholics in Great Britain and Ireland, and commenced 
 those dark intrigues at the court of Madrid which ere long 
 ed to the War of the Succession. 
 
 The heroic William struggled not in vain for the inde- 
 21 . pendence of his country. The distant powers ot 
 
 Efiorts of V, . 
 
 william hi. Europe, at length awakened to a sense oi then - dan- 
 
 to avert the , „ ... 
 
 danger. ger, made strenuous eflorts to coerce the ambition 
 of France. The revolution of 1688 had restored England to 
 its natural place in the van of the contest for continental free¬ 
 dom ; and the peace of Ryswick in 1697 saw the tropliies of 
 conquest in some degree more equally balanced between the 
 contending parties. But still it was with difficulty that the 
 affiance kept its ground against Louis ; any untoward event, 
 the defection of any considerable power, would at once, it was 
 felt, cast the balance in his favor ; and all history had demon¬ 
 strated how many are the chances against any considerable 
 confederacy keeping for any length of time together, when the 
 immediate danger which had stilled their jealousies, and bound 
 together their separate interests, is in appearance removed. 
 Such was the dubious and anxious state of Europe when the 
 death of Charles II. at Madrid, on the 1st of November, 1700, 
 and the bequest of his vast territories to Philip, duke of Anjou, 
 second son of the dauphin, and grandson of Louis XIV., 
 threatened at once to place the immense resources of the Cas¬ 
 tilian monarchy at the disposal of the ambitious monarch of 
 France, whose passion for glory had not diminished with Ins 
 advancing years, and whose want of moderation was soon 
 evinced by his accepting, after an affected hesitation, the 
 splendid bequest. 
 
 The maimer in which this bequest in favor of the Bourbons 
 had been brought about was very curious, and more cred¬ 
 itable to the astuteness and ability bf the diplomatists of 
 
MARLBOROUGH 
 
 45 
 
 Louis XIV. than either the integrity or foresight „ 
 
 0 J n Manner in 
 
 of the allied cabinets. At first sight, it seemed the whi< ' h th< ’ be- 
 
 ° quest ol Spain 
 
 most extraordhiary thing imaginable that an Aus- t0 the Duke oi 
 
 Anjou had 
 
 trian prince, the descendant of Charles V., should been obtained, 
 have bequeathed Lis dominions to the grandson of Louis XIV., 
 the hereditary enemy of his house, in preference to his own 
 family, seated on the archducal throne of Austria. But the se¬ 
 cret has been revealed by the publication, in later times, of the 
 secrets of diplomacy, of which Smollett and our earlier writers 
 were either ignorant, or which they were guilty of concealing.* 
 It appears that the principal powers of Europe, aware of the 
 approaching demise of the Spanish king without descendants, 
 had come not only to speculate on the chances of the succes¬ 
 sion, but had actually entered into secret treaties among each 
 other for the partition of his dominions. In this nefarious 
 scheme of spoliation, Louis XIV. and William III. of England 
 took a prominent part, and the accession of Holland was ob¬ 
 tained by promising her government a large share of the spoils. 
 The first conference on the subject took place between the 
 embassadors of the three great powers at the time of the treaty 
 of llyswick, and the first formal treaty was signed at the 
 Hague on the 11th of October, 1698. By it, the Spanish 
 monarchy in the Peninsula was to be ceded to the Prince 
 Electoral of Bavaria, with Flanders and the Low Countries. 
 Naples, Sicily, Tuscany, and Guipuscoa fell to France, and 
 the Duchy of Milan to the Archduke Charles, second son of 
 the Emperor of Germany. England, to its credit be it said, 
 was to gain nothing by this partition.! 
 
 What care soever the contracting parties took to keep this 
 treaty secret, it transpired, and excited, as well it might, the 
 most vehement indignation in the cabinets of Viemia and 
 Madrid. William secretly informed the emperor of its sig- 
 
 * See Smollett, vol. i., c. vii., § 37, where not a word is said of the 
 formal treaty of partition of Spain. 
 
 t See the treaty in Memoires de Torcy, P. i., p. 57; Sismondi, Hist, tie 
 France, xxvi., 276; and Capefigue, Hisloire de Louis XIV., iv., 270, 271 
 
4G 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ,, , 2 ;; . nature ;* and the result of the deliberations of the 
 
 r reeh treaty 
 
 of partition Austrian family was, that the Kiny of Spain made 
 France, En- a testament, in which he bequeathed his whole do- 
 
 gland, and e * 
 
 Holland. minions to the Electoral Prince of Bavaria, under 
 the solemn injunction to resist any attempt at partition. Had 
 tliis prince lived, all the calamities which followed might have 
 been averted ; hut his death, which happened on the 8th of 
 February, 1699, threw every thing open again, and exposed 
 Spain afresh to the cupidity of the allied powers. Negotia¬ 
 tions again began afresh at the Hague, and on this occasion 
 England became a participator in the expected spoil. The 
 result was a second treaty of partition, signed on the 13th of 
 March, 1700, at the Hague, between England, France, and 
 Holland, without the privity of the emperor. By it, the whole 
 Spanish dominions were to be divided between the contract¬ 
 ing parties in the following proportions. France was to re¬ 
 ceive Naples, Sicily, Guipuscoa, and Lorraine ; and Archduke 
 Charles, second son of the Archduke of Austria, was to obtain 
 Spain, the Low Countries, and the Indies, on condition of re¬ 
 nouncing any other succession. But by secret articles annexed 
 to this treaty, the Spanish colonies beyond seas were to be di¬ 
 vided between England and Holland.f Both of the latter 
 powers were at the moment in alliance with Spain, and had 
 fought by her side in the very last war, which lasted from 
 1689 to 1697. It may safely be affirmed that a more in¬ 
 famous proceeding is not recorded in history; and it reveals 
 the melancholy truth that the human heart is ever the same, 
 under whatever banners it may be enlisted ; and that, under 
 the mask of zeal for liberty and the reformed religion, may be 
 
 * Sismondi, xxvi., 277. 
 
 t Pais des articles joints da traite, les colonies Espagnoles etaient cedees 
 a la Grande Bretagne et a la Hollande, seule avantage materielle qu'elle 
 et l’autre retiraient de ces stipulations. On donnait beaucoup a la France, 
 parceque Louis XIV. reconnaissait Guillaume III. et les gouveruemens 
 uouveaux, qui veulent le faire admettre par les vooux sont obliges a des sac¬ 
 rifices.—C apefigue, Hist, de Louis XIV., iv., 277; Lombardy, i., 97; 
 Schodl, ii. t 13, 14. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 47 
 
 concealed ambition as grasping, and perfidy as black, as ever 
 lurked under the crown of kings or the cowl of priestly 
 tyranny! 
 
 Uniting duplicity toward Iris new allies with ambition to¬ 
 ward his old enemies, Louis had no sooner con- 24 . 
 eluded this treaty than he secretly caused it to be JdgVof°tMg 
 communicated to Charles II., king of Spain, naorfdeterm- 
 through his secretary of state, Abilles. The in- o*f Spain to tile 
 telligence threw the declining monarch, as well it vorTf the fa " 
 might, into the utmost consternation. He address- Bollrbous - 
 ed in vain the most pressing remonstrances to the cabinets of 
 Versailles, London, and the Hague, pointing out, in just and 
 emphatic terms, the glaring injustice of friendly and allied 
 powers concluding a treaty for the partition of the dominions 
 of a sovereign before he had yet sunk into the grave. It was 
 all in vain. The ambition of Ffance, England, and Holland 
 was proof against every consideration of honor, or faith, or 
 justice. The French embassador at Madrid got orders to 
 quit that capital; the Spanish embassador at London receiv¬ 
 ed his passports ; a large French army was collecting on the 
 Guipuscoa frontier of the Pyrenees. War seemed inevit¬ 
 able ; the fate which subsequently befell Poland seemed to 
 threaten Spain the moment its present sovereign should be 
 no more. In this extremity, Charles II. convened his council 
 of state, and submitted the matter to their decision. By a 
 large majority, they determined that a bequest in favor of the 
 Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., was the most ad¬ 
 visable step, as he was the only monarch capable of preventing 
 a partition ; and the old king, sacrificing the partiality of 
 family and race to aroused indignation and sentiments of na¬ 
 tionality, consented to do so, and signed the bequest which hi 
 volved Europe in conflagration. 
 
 But though the origin of the evil was to be found in their 
 own unjustifiable ambition, it was not the less real, or deserv¬ 
 ing of immediate consideration. Threatened with so serious 
 a danger, it is not surprising that the powers of Europe were 
 
48 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 25 . in the utmost alarm, and ere long took steps to 
 
 danger which endeavor to avert it. All had injuries to avenge, 
 th^conUuen- or inheritances to regain. Austria armed to re- 
 ti'om°this S ac- ?ain the Spanish succession, reft from its family by 
 powerVf 016 ^ le ambition and diplomatic ability of the cabinet 
 i ranee. 0 f Versailles.. England had a double motive for 
 hostihty: she had danger to avert, and the mortification of 
 being duped to avenge. Holland saw the enemy at her gates : 
 the white flag floated on the bastions of Antwerp. Such, 
 however, was the terror inspired by the name of Louis XIV., 
 and the magnitude of the addition made by this bequest to his 
 power, that the new monarch, in the first instance, ascended 
 the throne of Spain and the Inches without any opposition. 
 The Spanish Netherlands, so important both from their in¬ 
 trinsic riches, their situation as the certain theater of W'ar, and 
 the numerous fortified towns with which they were studded, 
 had been early secured for the young Bourbon prince by the 
 Elector of Bavaria, who was at that time the governor of 
 those valuable possessions. The distant colonies of the crown 
 of Castile in America and the Inches sent in their adhesion. 
 Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, the Milanese, and the other Spanish 
 possessions in Italy, speedily fohowed the example. The 
 young Prince of Anjou made his formal entry into Spain in the 
 beginning of 1701, and was crowned at Madrid under the title 
 of Philip V. The principal continental powers, with the ex¬ 
 ception of the Emperor of Germany, acknowledged liis title to 
 the throne. Bavaria united itself in a cordial alliance with 
 France and Spain. The Dutch were in despair ; they beheld 
 the power of Louis XIV. brought to their frontier. Flanders, 
 instead of being the barrier of Europe against France, had 
 become the outwork of France against Europe. Bavaria was 
 an important advanced post, which gave the armies of Louis 
 an entrance into the heart of Germany. Italy, France, Spain, 
 Flanders, and part of Germany were united in one close league, 
 and, in fact, formed but one dominion. It was the empire of 
 Charlemagne over again, directed with equal ability, founded 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 49 
 
 on greater power, and backed by the boundless treasures of the 
 Indies. Spain had threatened the liberties of Europe in the 
 end of the sixteenth century : France had all but overthrown 
 them in the close of the seventeenth. What hope was there 
 of being able to make head against them both, united under 
 such a monarch as Louis XIV. ? 
 
 Great as these dangers were, however, they had no effect 
 in daunting the heroic spirit of William III. In o 6p 
 concert with the emperor and the United Prov- rtrengSTof 6 
 inces, who were too nearly threatened to be back- ? e forceson 
 ward in falling into his views, he labored for the sides - 
 formation of a great confederacy, which might prevent the 
 union of the crowns of Fraiipe and Castile in one family, and 
 prevent, before it was too late, the consolidation of a power 
 which threatened to be so formidable to the liberties of Eu¬ 
 rope. The death of that intrepid monarch in March, 1702, 
 which, had it taken place earlier, might have prevented the' 
 formation of the confederacy, proved no impediment, but rath¬ 
 er the reverse. His measures had been so well taken, his 
 resolute spirit had labored with such efleet, that the alliance, 
 offensive and defensive, between the Emperor, England, and 
 Holland, had been already signed. The accession of the 
 Princess Anne, without weakening its bonds, added another 
 power of no mean importance to its ranks. Her husband, 
 Prince George of Denmark, brought the forces of that king¬ 
 dom to aid the common cause. Prussia soon after followed 
 the example. On the other hand, Bavaria, closely connected 
 wth the French and Spanish monarchies, both by the influ¬ 
 ence of its jealousy of Austria, and by the government of the 
 Netherlands, which its elector held, adhered to France. Thus 
 the forces of Europe were mutually arrayed and divided, much 
 as they afterward were in the coalition against Napoleon in 
 1813. It might already be foreseen that Flanders, the Ba¬ 
 varian plains, Spain, and Lombardy, would, as in the great 
 contest which followed a century after, be the theater of war. 
 But the forces of France and Spain possessed tins advantage, 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 unknown in former wars, but immense in a military point of 
 view, that they were in possession of the whole of the Nether¬ 
 lands, the numerous fortresses of which were alike valuable 
 as a basis of offensive operations, and as affording asylums all 
 but impregnable in cases of disaster. The allied generals, 
 whether they commenced their operations in Flanders or on 
 the side of Germany, had to begin on the Rhine, and cut their 
 way through the long barrier of fortresses with which the ge¬ 
 nius of Vauban had encircled the frontiers of the monarchy. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHARACTERS OF LOUIS XIV., WILLIAM IH., AND JAMES H.-COM¬ 
 MENCEMENT OF THE WAR.-BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 
 
 Louis XIV., whose unmeasured ambition and diplomatic 
 i- address had procured the splendid bequest of the 
 
 Strange di- r . . * 
 
 versity in the Spanish succession for Ins family, was one of the 
 
 characters 
 
 drawn by his- most remarkable sovereigns who ever sat upon the 
 
 torians of _ J ‘ 
 
 Louis xiv. throne of France. Yet there is none of whose 
 character, even at this comparatively remote period, it is 
 more difficult to form a just estimate. Beyond measure eulo¬ 
 gized by the poets, orators, and annalists of his own age, who 
 lived on his bounty, or were flattered by his address, he has 
 been proportionally vilified by the historians, both foreign and 
 national, of subsequent times. The Roman Catholic writers, 
 with some truth, represent him as the champion of their faith, 
 the sovereign who extirpated the demon of heresy in his do¬ 
 minions, and restored to the Church, in undivided unity, the 
 realm of France. The Protestant authors, with not less rea¬ 
 son, regard him as the deadliest enemy of their religion, and 
 the cruellest foe of those who had embraced it ; as a faithless 
 tyrant, who scrupled not, at the bidding of bigoted priests, to 
 violate the national faith plighted by the Edict of Nantes, and 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 51 
 
 to persecute with unrelenting severity the unhappy people 
 who, from conscientious motives, had broken off from the 
 Church of Rome. One set of waiters paint him as a mag¬ 
 nanimous monarch, whose mind, set on great things, and 
 swayed by lofty desires, foreshadowed those vast designs which 
 Napoleon, armed with the forces of the Revolution, afterward 
 for a brief space realized. Another set dwell on the foibles or 
 the vices of his private character—depict him as alternately 
 swayed by priests, or influenced by women ; selfish in his de¬ 
 sires, relentless in his hatred, and sacrificing the peace of Eu¬ 
 rope, and endangering the independence of France, for the 
 gratification of personal vanity, or from the thirst of unbound¬ 
 ed ambition. 
 
 It is the fate of all men who have made a great and dura¬ 
 ble impression on human affairs, and powerfully af- 2 . 
 fected the interests, or thwarted the opinion of from the 
 large bodies of men, to he represented in these op- deeds. u * 
 posite colors to future times. The party, whether in church 
 or state, which they have elevated, the nation whose power 
 or glory they have augmented, praise as much as those whom 
 they have oppressed and injured, w'hether at home or abroad, 
 strive to vilify their memory. But in the case of Louis XIV., 
 this general propensity has been greatly increased by the op¬ 
 posite, and, at first sight, inconsistent features of his character. 
 There is almost equal truth in the magniloquent eulogies of 
 his admirers, and hi the impassioned invectives of his enemies. 
 Pie was not less great and magnanimous than he is represent¬ 
 ed by the elegant flattery of Racine or Boileau, nor less cruel 
 and hard-hearted than he is painted by the austere justice of 
 Sismondi or D’Aubigne. 
 
 Like many other men, hut more than most, he was made 
 
 up of lofty and elevated, of selfish and frivolous 3. 
 
 Remarkable 
 
 qualities. He could alternately boast, with truth, diversities 
 
 . and seeming 
 
 that there was no longer any Pyrenees, and rival contradic- 
 his youngest courtiers in frivolous and often heartless character, 
 gallantry. In his younger years he w r as equally assiduous in 
 
52 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 his application to business, and engrossed with personal vani¬ 
 ty. When he ascended the throne, his first words were, “ I 
 intend that ever}' paper, from a diplomatic dispatch to a pri¬ 
 vate petition, shall be submitted to meand his vast pow¬ 
 ers of application enabled him to compass the task. Like 
 Louis Philippe, he was his own prime minister ; and even 
 when he acted through others, he never failed to communi¬ 
 cate the impress of his own lofty mind and great capacity to 
 the conduct of all his subordinate authorities. Discerning in 
 the choice of his ministers, swayed only, at least in matters of 
 state, by powerful intellects, patriotic and unselfish in the 
 choice of his ministers, he collected round himself the first tal¬ 
 ent in France, and yet preserved his ascendency over them 
 all. Yet, at the same time, he deserted the queen for Ma¬ 
 dame la Vallfere, and soon after broke La Valliere’s heart by 
 abandoning her for Madame de Montespan. In mature fife, 
 his ambition to extend the bounds and enhance the glory of 
 France was equaled by his desire to win the admiration or 
 gain the favor of the fair sex. In his later days he alternate¬ 
 ly engaged in devout austerities with Madame de Maintenon, 
 and, with mournful resolution, asserted the independence of 
 France against Europe in arms. Never was evinced a more 
 striking exemplification of the saying, so well known among 
 men of the world, that no one is a hero to his valet-de-cham- 
 bre; nor a more remarkable confirmation of the truth, so oft¬ 
 en proclaimed by divines, that characters of imperfect good¬ 
 ness constitute the great majority of mankind. 
 
 That he was a great man, as well as a successful sovereign, 
 4. is decisively demonstrated by the mighty changes 
 wWchhe'cf- 8 which he effected in his own realm, as well as in 
 France°dur- the neighboring states of Europe. When he as¬ 
 ms his reign. ceuc | et [ t} le throne, France, though it contained the 
 elements of greatness, had never yet become great. It had 
 been alternately wasted by the ravages of the English, and 
 torn by the fuiy of the religious wars. The insurrection of 
 the Fronde had shortly before involved the capital in all the 
 
M A R L IJ O R O U G H. 
 
 53 
 
 horrors of civil conflict; barricades had been erected in the 
 streets; alternate victory and defeat had by turns elevated 
 and depressed the rival faction. Turenne and Conde had dis¬ 
 played their consummate talents in miniature warfare within 
 sight of Notre Dame. Never had the monarchy been depress^ 
 ed to a greater pitch of weakness than during the reign of 
 Louis XIII. and the minority of Louis XIV. But from the 
 time the latter sovereign ascended the throne, order seemed to 
 arise out of chaos. The ascendency of a great mind made it¬ 
 self felt in every department. Civil war ceased; the rival 
 faction disappeared; even the bitterness of religious hatred 
 seemed for a time to be stilled by the influence of patriotic feel¬ 
 ing. The energies of France, drawn forth during the agonies 
 of civil conflict, were turned to public objects and the career 
 of national aggrandizement, as those of England had been 
 after the conclusion of the Great Rebellion, by the firm hand 
 and magnanimous mind of Cromwell. From a pitiable state 
 of anarchy, France at once appeared on the theater of Eu¬ 
 rope, great, powerful, and united. It is no common capacity 
 which can thus seize the helm and right the ship when it is 
 reeling most violently, and the fury of contending elements 
 has all but torn it in pieces. It is the highest proof of polit¬ 
 ical capacity to discern the bent of the public mind, when most 
 violently excited, and, by falling in with the prevailing desire 
 of the majority, to convert the desolating vehemence of social 
 conflict into the steady passion for national advancement. 
 Napoleon did this with the political aspirations of the eight¬ 
 eenth, Louis XIV. with the religious fervor of the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 It was because his character and turn of mind coincided 
 with the national desires at the moment of his as- . 5. 
 
 Which arose 
 
 cending the throne, that this great monarch was from his mm 
 
 of mmdeoin- 
 
 enabled to achieve tins marvelous transformation, cidmgwitk 
 
 _T I 1 ■ • „ . T-. the S P> r it °f 
 
 11 N apoleon was the incarnation ot the Revolution, the age. 
 with not less truth it may be said that Louis XIV. was the 
 incarnation of the monarchy. The feudal spirit, modified, but 
 
 E 2 
 
54 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 not destroyed, by the changes of time, appeared to be concen¬ 
 trated, with its highest luster, in his person. He was still the 
 head of the Franks—the luster of the historic families yet sur¬ 
 rounded his throne ; but he was the head of the Franks only 
 —that is, of a hundred thousand conquering warriors. Twen¬ 
 ty millions of conquered Gauls were neither regarded nor con¬ 
 sidered in his administration, except hr so far as they augment¬ 
 ed the national strength, or added to the national resources. 
 But this distinction was then neither perceived nor regarded. 
 Worn out with civil dissension, torn to pieces by religious pas¬ 
 sions, the fervent minds and restless ambition of the French 
 longed for a 'national field for exertion—an arena in which 
 social dissensions might be forgotten. Louis XIV. gave them 
 
 6 . 
 
 His virtues 
 and vices 
 were alike 
 those of his 
 people. 
 
 this field—he opened this arena. 
 
 He ascended the throne at the time when this desire had 
 become so strong and general as in a manner to 
 concentrate on its objects the national will. His 
 character, equally hr all its parts, was adapted to 
 the general want. He took the lead alike hi the 
 greatness and the foibles of his subjects. Were they ambi¬ 
 tious ? so was he : were they desirous of renown ? so was he : 
 were they set on national aggrandizement ? so was he : were 
 they desirous of protection to industry ? so was he : were they 
 prone to gallantry ? so was he. His figure stately, and coun¬ 
 tenance majestic; his manner lofty and commanding; his 
 conversation dignified, but enlightened; his spirit ardent, but 
 patriotic—qualified him to take the lead and preserve Iris as¬ 
 cendency among a proud body of ancient nobles, whom the 
 disasters of preceding reigns, and the astute pohcy of Cardinal 
 Richelieu, had driven into the ante-chambers of Paris, but 
 who preserved hi their ideas and habits the pride and recol¬ 
 lections of the conquerors who followed the banners of Clovis. 
 And the great body of the people, proud of their sovereign, 
 proud of his victories, proud of his magnificence, proud of his 
 fame, proud of his national spirit, proud of the literary glory 
 which environed his throne, hi secret proud of his gallantries, 
 
MAR L DOllOUGH. 
 
 55 
 
 joyfully followed their nobles in the brilliant career which his 
 ambition opened, and submitted with as much docility to liis 
 government as they had once ranged themselves round the 
 banners of their respective chiefs on the day of battle. 
 
 It was the peculiarity of the government of Louis XIV., 
 arising from this fortuitous, but to him fortunate 7 
 combination of circumstances, that it united the dis- wa™ s - 
 tinctions of rank, family attachments, and ancient aai and y mo U 
 ideas of feudal tunes, with the vigor and efficiency narchlcal - 
 of monarchical government, and the luster and brilliancy of 
 literary glory. Such a combination could not, in the nature 
 of things, last long; it must soon work out its own destruc¬ 
 tion. In truth, it was sensibly weakened during the course of 
 the latter part of the half century that he sat upon the tlirone. 
 But while it endured, it produced a most formidable union; 
 it engendered an extraordinary and hitherto unprecedented 
 phalanx of talent. The feudal ideas still lingering in the 
 hearts of the nation produced subordination; the national 
 spirit, excited by the genius of the sovereign, induced unanim¬ 
 ity ; the development of talent, elicited by his discernment, 
 conferred power ; the literary celebrity, encouraged by his mu¬ 
 nificence, diffused fame. The peculiar character of Louis, in 
 which great talent was united with great pride, and unbound¬ 
 ed ambition with heroic magnanimity, qualified him to turn 
 to the best account this singular combination of circumstances, 
 and to unite in France, for a brief period, the lofty aspirations 
 and dignified manners of chivalry, with the energy of rising 
 talent and the luster of literary renown. 
 
 Louis XIV. was essentially monarchical. That was the se¬ 
 cret of his success : it was because he first gave the 8. 
 
 Unity and cen- 
 
 powers of unity to the monarchy that he render- traiization 
 ed France so brilliant and powerful. All his objects. ^ at 
 changes—and they were many—from the dress of soldiers to 
 the instructions to embassadors, were characterized by the 
 same spirit. He first introduced a uniform in the army. 
 Before his time, the soldiers merely wore a banderole over their 
 
56 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 steel breast-plates and ordinary dresses. That was a great 
 and symptomatic improvement: it at once induced an esprit 
 de corps and a sense of responsibility. He first made the 
 troops march with a measured step, and caused large bodies 
 of men to move with the precision of a single company. The 
 artillery and engineer service, under his auspices, made aston¬ 
 ishing progress. His discerning eye selected the genius of 
 Vauban, which invented, as it were, the modern system of 
 fortification, and well-nigh brought it to its greatest elevation 
 —and raised to the highest command that of Turenne, which 
 carried the military art to the most consummate perfection. 
 Skillfully turning the martial and enterprising genius of the 
 Franks into the career of conquest, he multiplied tenfold their 
 power, by conferring on them the inestimable advantages of 
 skilled discipline and unity of action. He gathered the feudal 
 array around his banner; he roused the ancient barons from 
 their chateaux, the old retainers from their villages. But he 
 arranged them in disciplined battalions of regular troops, who 
 received the pay and obeyed the orders of government, and 
 never left their banners. His regular army was all enrolled 
 by voluntary enlistment, and served for pay. The militia alone 
 was raised by conscription. When he summoned the milita¬ 
 ry forces of France to undertake the conquest of the Low 
 Countries, he appeared at the head of a hundred and twenty 
 thousand men, all regular and disciplined troops, with a hund¬ 
 red pieces of cannon. Modem Europe had never seen such 
 an array. It was irresistible, and speedily brought the mon¬ 
 arch to the gates of Amsterdam. 
 
 The same unity which the genius of Louis and his minis- 
 9 ters communicated to the military power of France, 
 ri^unity to be gave also to its naval forces and internal strength, 
 thought. r p 0 such a pitch of greatness did he raise the ma¬ 
 rine of the monarchy, that it all but outnumbered that of En¬ 
 gland ; and the battle of La Hogue, in 1692, alone determin¬ 
 ed, as Trafalgar did a century after, to which of these rival 
 powers the dominion of the seas was to belong. His Ordi- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 57 
 
 nances of the Marine, promulgated in 1781, form the best code 
 of maritime law yet known, and one which is still referred to, 
 like the Code Napoleon, as a ruling authority hi all commer¬ 
 cial states. He introduced astonishing reforms into the pro¬ 
 ceedings of the courts of law, and to his efforts the great per¬ 
 fection of the French law, as it now appears hi the admirable 
 works of Pothier, is in a great degree to be ascribed. He re¬ 
 duced the government of the interior to that regular and me¬ 
 thodical system of governors of provinces, mayors of cities, and 
 other subordinate authorities, all receiving their instructions 
 from the Tuileries, which, under no subsequent change of gov¬ 
 ernment, imperial or royal, has been abandoned, and which 
 lias, in every succeeding age, formed the mahi source of its 
 strength. He concentrated around the monarchy the rays of 
 genius from all parts of the country, and threw -around its 
 head a luster of literary renown, which, more even than the 
 exploits of his armies, dazzled and fascinated the minds of 
 men. He arrayed the scholars, philosophers, and poets of his 
 dominions like soldiers and sailors; almost all the academies 
 of France, which have since become so famous, were of his in¬ 
 stitution : he sought to give discipline to thought, as he had 
 done to his fleets and armies, and rewarded distinction in lit¬ 
 erary efforts not less than warlike achievement. No mon¬ 
 arch ever knew better the magical influence of intellectual 
 strength on general opinion, or felt more strongly the expedi¬ 
 ence of enlisting it on the side of authority. Not less than 
 Hildebrand or Napoleon, he aimed at drawing, not over his 
 own country alone, but the whole of Europe, the meshes of 
 regulated and centralized thought; and more durably than 
 either he attained his object. The religious persecution, wliich 
 constitutes the great blot on his reign, and caused its brilliant 
 career to close in mourning, was the result of the same desire. 
 He longed to give the same imity to the Church wliich he had 
 done to the army, navy, and civil strength of the monarchy. 
 He saw no reason why the Huguenots should not, at the roy¬ 
 al command, face about like one of Turenne’s battalions. 
 
58 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Schism in the Church was viewed hy him in exactly the same 
 light as rebellion in the state. No efforts were spared hy in¬ 
 ducements, good deeds, and fair promises, to make proselytes; 
 but when twelve hundred thousand Protestants resisted his se¬ 
 ductions, the sword, the fagot, and the wheel were resorted to 
 without mercy for their destruction. 
 
 Napoleon, it is well known, had the highest admiration of 
 Louis XIV. Nor is this surprising : their princi- 
 
 General re- r . r . . 
 
 semblance of pies of government and leading objects of ambition 
 his ideas of Q 
 
 government were the same. “ L’etat— c est 'trim , ’ was the 
 
 Napoleon. principle of this grandson of Henry IV. : “ Your 
 first duty is to me, your second to France,” said the emperor 
 to his nephew, Prince Louis Napoleon. In different words, 
 the idea was the same. To concentrate Europe in France, 
 France in* Paris, Paris in the government, and the govern¬ 
 ment in himself, was the ruling idea of each. But it was no 
 concentration for selfish or unworthy purposes which was thus 
 desired. It was for great and lofty objects that this undi¬ 
 vided power was sought by both. It was neither to gratify 
 the desire of an Eastern seraglio, nor exercise the tyranny of 
 a Roman emperor, that either coveted unbounded authority. 
 It was to exalt the nation of which they formed the head, to 
 augment its power, extend its dominion, enhance its fame, 
 magnify its resources, that they both deemed themselves sent 
 into the world. It was the general sense that this was the 
 object of their administration which constituted the strength of 
 both. Equally with the popular party in the present day, 
 they regarded society as a pyramid, of which the multitude 
 formed the base, and the monarch the head. Equally with the 
 most ardent democrat, they desired the augmentation of the 
 national resources, the increase of public felicity. But they 
 both thought that these blessings must descend from the sover¬ 
 eign to his subject, not ascend from the subjects to their sover¬ 
 eign. “ Every' tiling for the people, nothing by them,” which 
 Napoleon described as the secret of good government, was not 
 less the maxim of the imperious despot of the Bourbon race. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 59 
 
 The identity of their ideas, the similarity of their objects of 
 ambition, appears in the monuments which both n 
 have left at Paris. Great as was the desire of the ideSurf each 
 emperor to add to its embellishment, magnificent as their public* 
 were his ideas in the attempt, he has yet been un- works - 
 able to equal the noble structures of the Bourbon dynasty. 
 The splendid pile of Versailles, the glittering dome of the In- 
 valides, still, after the lapse of a century and a half, over¬ 
 shadow all the other monuments in the metropolis, though 
 the confiscations of the Revolution, and the victories of the 
 emperor, gave succeeding governments the resources of the 
 half of Europe for their construction. The inscription on the 
 arch of Louis, “ Ludovico Magno,” still seems to embody the 
 gratitude of the citizens to the greatest benefactor of the cap¬ 
 ital ; and it is not generally known that the two edifices 
 which have added most since his time to the embellishment 
 of the metropolis, and of which the Revolution and the Empire 
 would fahi take the credit—the Pantheon and the Madeleine 
 —were begun in 1764 by Louis XV., and owe their origin to 
 the magnificent ideas Avhich Louis XIV. transmitted to his, 
 in oilier respects, unworthy descendant.* 
 
 Had one dark and atrocious transaction not taken place, 
 the annalist might have stopped here, and painted i£ 
 
 , • , r r i , f , Atrocity of 
 
 the French monarch, with a lew foibles and weak- the revocation 
 , ~ .. ... of the Edict of 
 
 nesses, the common bequest of mortality, yet stiff, Nantes. 
 
 upon the whole, a noble and magnanimous ruler. His ambi¬ 
 tion, great as it was, and desolating as it proved, both to the 
 adjoining states, and, in the end, to his own subjects, was the 
 “ last infirmity of noble minds.” He shared it with Caisar 
 and Alexander, with Charlemagne find Napoleon. Even his 
 cruel and unnecessary ravaging of the Palatinate, though at¬ 
 tended with dreadful private suffering, has too many parallels 
 
 * “La Madeleine comme le Pantheon avait ete eominencde la infime an- 
 nde en 1764, par les ordres de Louis XV., le roi des grands monumens, et 
 dont le regne a ete travesti par la petite liistoire.”— Capefigue, Histoire 
 de Louis Philippe, viii., 281. 
 
60 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 in the annals of military cruelty. His accession to the league 
 of 1700 for the partition of Spain was a violent stretch of am¬ 
 bition, and carried into execution with equal duplicity and 
 perfidy ; hut these were directed against the hereditary enemy 
 of France, and the annals of diplomacy in all ages prove that 
 violations of state morality are too frequent among govern¬ 
 ments. His personal vanities and weaknesses, his love of 
 show, his passion for women, his extravagant expenses, were 
 common to him with his grandfather, Henry IV.: they seem¬ 
 ed inherent in the Bourbon race, and are the frailties to which 
 heroic minds in every age have been most subject. But, for 
 the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the heart-rending 
 cruelties with which it was carried into execution, no such 
 apology can be found : it admits neither of palliation nor 
 excuse. Were it not for the massacre of St. Bartholomew, 
 and the expulsion of the Morescoes from Spain, it would stand 
 foremost in the annals of the world as an example of kingly 
 perfidy and priestly cruelty. 
 
 The expulsion of four hundred thousand innocent human 
 beings from their country, for no other cause but 13. 
 
 . . . . Which pro¬ 
 
 difference of religious opinion ; the destruction of duced the re- 
 
 nearly a hundred thousand, of whom it is said a him that 
 
 chocked his 
 
 tenth perished by the frightful tortures of the power, 
 wheel and the stake—the wholesale desolation of provinces 
 and destruction of cities for conscience’ sake, never will and 
 never should be forgotten. It is the eternal disgrace of the 
 Roman Catholic religion—a disgrace to which the “ execra¬ 
 tions of ages have not yet affixed an adequate censure”—that 
 all these infamous state crimes took their origin in the bigot¬ 
 ed zeal or sanguinary ambition of the Church of Rome. Nor 
 have any of them passed without their just reward. The ex¬ 
 pulsion of the Moors, the most industrious and valuable inhab¬ 
 itants of the Peninsula, has entailed a weakness upon the 
 Spanish monarchy, which the subsequent lapse of two centu¬ 
 ries has been unable to repair. The reaction against the 
 Romish atrocities produced the great, league of which Will- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 61 
 
 iam III. was the head; it sharpened the swords of Eugene 
 and Marlborough ; it closed in mourning the reign of Louis 
 XV. Nor did the national punishment stop here. The mas¬ 
 sacre of St. Bartholomew and revocation of the Edict of 
 Nantes were the chief among remote, but certain, causes of 
 the French Revolution, and all the unutterable miseries which 
 it brought both upon the Bourbon race and the professors of 
 the Romish faith. Nations have no immortality; their pun¬ 
 ishment is inflicted in this world ; it is visited with unerring, 
 certainty on the third and fourth generations. Providence 
 has a certain way of dealing with the political sins of men, 
 which is, to leave them to the consequences of their own 
 actions. 
 
 If ever the characters of two important actors on the the¬ 
 ater of human affairs stood forth in striking and 14 
 emphatic contrast to each other, they were those Characters of 
 of Louis XIV. and William III. They were, in andwmiani 
 truth, the representatives of the principles for which UI - 
 they respectively so long contended ; their characters embod¬ 
 ied the doctrines, and were distinguished by the features, 
 of the causes for which they fought through life. As much 
 as the turn of mind—stately, magnanimous, and ambitious, 
 but bigoted and unscrupulous—of Louis XIV. personified the 
 Romish, did the firm and simple, but persevering and uncon¬ 
 querable soul of William, embody the principles of the Prot¬ 
 estant faith. The positions they respectively held through 
 life, the stations they occupied, the resources, moral and polit¬ 
 ical, which they wielded, were not less characteristic of the 
 causes of which they were severally the head. Louis led on 
 the feudal energies of the French monarchy. Inured to rigid 
 discipline, directed by consummate talent, supported by im¬ 
 mense resources, his armies, uniting the corn-age of feudal to 
 the organization of civilized times, had at first, like those of 
 Caesar, only to appear to conquer. From liis gorgeous pal¬ 
 aces at Paris, he seemed able, like the Church of Rome from 
 Ihe halls of the Quirinal, to give law to the whole Christian 
 
 F 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 12 
 
 world. William began the contest under very diflerent cir¬ 
 cumstances. Suiilc in obscure marshes, cooped up hi a nar¬ 
 row territory, driven into a corner of Europe, the forces at his 
 command appeared as nothing before the stupendous array of 
 his adversary. He was the emblem of the Protestant faith, 
 arising from small beginnings, springing from the energy of 
 the middle classes, but destined to grow with ceaseless vigor 
 until it reached the gigantic strength of its awful antagonist. 
 
 The result soon proved the prodigious difference in the early 
 15 resources of the parties. Down w r ent tower and 
 uMofW town before the apparition of Louis in his strength. 
 FrencMnva- The iron barriers of Flanders yielded, almost with- 
 Blon - out a struggle, to his arms. The genius of Tu- 
 
 renne and Vauban, the presence of Louis, proved for the time 
 irresistible. The Rhine was crossed ; fifty thousand men ap¬ 
 peared before the gates of Amsterdam. Dissension had par¬ 
 alyzed its strength, terror all but mastered its resolution. 
 England, influenced by French mistresses, bought by French 
 gold, hi secret won over to the French faith, held hack, and 
 ere long openly joined the oppressor, alike of its liberties and 
 its religion. All seemed lost for the liberties of Europe and 
 the Protestant faith. But William was not dismayed. He 
 had a certain resource against- subjugation left. In his own 
 words, “ he could die hi the last ditch.” He communicated 
 his unconquerable spirit to his fainting fellow-citizens ; he in¬ 
 spired them with the noble resolution to abandon their coun¬ 
 try rather than submit to the invaders, and “ seek in a new 
 hemisphere that liberty of which Europe had become unwor¬ 
 thy.” The generous eflort was not made in vain. The 
 Dutch rallied round a leader who was not wanting to him¬ 
 self in such a crisis. The dikes were cut ; the labor of cen¬ 
 turies was lost; the ocean resumed its sway over the fields 
 reft from its domain. But the cause of freedom, of religion, 
 was gained. The French armies recoiled from the watery 
 waste, as those of Napoleon afterward did from the flames of 
 Moscow. Amsterdam was the limit of the conquests of Louis 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 63 
 
 XIV. He there found the power which said, “ Hitherto slialt 
 thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud waves 
 be stayed.” The manifest danger to Europe caused the triple 
 league to be formed; even Charles II. became alarmed at 
 the fearful progress of his great rival. The German armies 
 threatened the communications of the French in Holland 
 with their own country. Louis XIV. was obliged to give 
 orders to retreat; his conquests in the Low Countries were 
 lost as fast as they had been won. But the snake was scotch¬ 
 ed, not lulled : its strength and daring were unabated. Long, 
 and often doubtful, was the contest; it was bequeathed to a 
 succeeding generation and another reign. But from the tune 
 of the invasion of Holland, the French arms and Homish 
 domination permanently receded; and but for the desertion 
 of the alliance by England at the peace of Utrecht, the allies 
 would have given law in the palace of the Grand Monarque, 
 bridled the tyranny of Bossuet and Tellier, and permanently 
 established the Protestant faith in nearly the half of Europe. 
 
 Like many other men who are called on to play an impor¬ 
 tant part in the affairs of the world, William seem- ^ 
 ed formed by nature for the duties he was destined tim'ciufractrr 
 to perform. Had his mind been stamped by a dif- yg^eetiny 
 ferent die, Iris character cast in a different mold, ufe - 
 he would have failed in his mission. He was not a monarch 
 of the most brilliant, nor a general of the most daring kind. 
 Had he been either the one or the other, he would have been 
 shattered against the colossal strength of Louis XIV., and 
 crushed in the very outset of his career. But he possessed in 
 the highest perfection that great quality without which, in 
 the hour of trial, all others prove of no avail—moral courage 
 and invincible determination. His enterprises, often designed 
 with ability and executed with daring, were yet all based, 
 like those of Wellington afterward hr Portugal, on a just sense 
 of the necessity of husbanding his resources, arising lrom the 
 constant inferiority of his forces and means to those of the en¬ 
 emy. He was perseverance itself. Nothing could shake his 
 
64 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 resolution, nothing divert his purpose. With equal energy he 
 labored in the cabinet to construct and keep together the vast 
 alliance necessary to restrain the ambition of the French mon¬ 
 arch, and toiled in the field to baffle the enterprises of his 
 able generals. 
 
 AVith a force generally inferior in number, always less pow- 
 17. erful than that of his adversaries in its discipline, 
 
 Ills policy in 
 
 war, which at composition, and resources, he nevertheless con- 
 victorious. trived to sustain the contest, and gradually wrested 
 from his powerful enemy the more important fortresses, which, 
 in the first tumult of invasion, had submitted to his arms. 
 He was frequently worsted, hut scarcely ever entirely defeated 
 hi pitched battles, for his troops were for the most part infe¬ 
 rior hi composition to those of the French, while his tenacity 
 and skill never failed to interpose so as to avert a total disas¬ 
 ter. But he generally contrived to inflict on them a loss 
 equal to his own, and the barren honors of a well-contested 
 field were all that remained to the victors. Like AVashing- 
 ton, he made great use of the mattock and the spade, and 
 often, though in the end victorious, the gallant chivalry of 
 France were decimated before his well-constructed intrench- 
 ments. At length he worked his way up to a superiority, 
 when the capture of Namur, in 1695, in the face of the 
 French army, and the garrison commanded by Marshal Bouf- 
 flers, proved that the armies of the Grand Monarque had by 
 great exertions been overmatched. If the treaty of Nimeguen 
 was less detrimental to the French power than that of Utrecht 
 afterward proved, it was more glorious to the arms of the 
 Dutch commonwealth and the guidance of AVilliam, for it 
 was the result of efforts hi which the weight of the conflict 
 
 generally fell on Holland alone ; and its honors were not to he 
 shared with those won by the wisdom of a Marlborough or 
 the daring of a Eugene. And at length the treaty of Rys- 
 wick put a bridle in the mouth of Louis, and France openly 
 receded before her once-despised foe. 
 
 In private life AVilliam was distinguished by the same 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 G5 
 
 qualities which marked his public career. He had _. , 18 - 
 
 * x ' His character 
 
 not the chivalrous ardor wliich bespoke the nobles in private, 
 of France, nor the stately magnificence of their haughty sov¬ 
 ereign. His manners and habits were such as arose from, and 
 suited, the austere and laborious people among whom his hie 
 was passed. Without being insensible to the softer passions, 
 he never permitted them to influence his conduct or encroach 
 upon his time. He was patient, laborious, and indefatigable. 
 To courtiers accustomed to the polished elegance of Paris, or 
 the profligate gallantry of St. James’s, his manners appeared 
 cold and unbending. It was easy to see he had not been bred 
 in the saloons of Versailles or the soirees of Charles II. But 
 he was steady and unwavering in Iris resolutions ; his desires 
 were set on great objects ; and his external demeanor was 
 correct, and often dignified. He was reproached by the En¬ 
 glish, not without reason, with being unduly partial, after his 
 accession to the British throne, to Iris Dutch subjects ; and he 
 was influenced through fife by a love of money, which, though 
 at first arising from a bitter sense of its necessity in his long 
 and arduous conflicts, degenerated in his older years into an 
 avaricious turn. The national debt of England has been im¬ 
 properly ascribed to his policy. It arose unavoidably from 
 the Revolution, and is the price which every nation pays for 
 a lasting change, how necessary soever, in its ruling dynasty. 
 When the sovereign can no longer depend on the unbought 
 loyalty of his subjects, he has no resource but in their inter¬ 
 ested attachment. The selfish desires of the holders of stock 
 must come in place of the disinterested attachment of nations. 
 Louis Philippe’s government has done the same, under the 
 influence of the same necessity. Yet William was not a per¬ 
 fect character. More than one dark transaction has left a 
 stain on his memory ; his accession to the treaties with France 
 for the partition of Spam proved that his ambition could at 
 times render him insensible to all the dictates of public moral¬ 
 ity ; and the massacre of Glencoe, if it did not equal the rev¬ 
 ocation of the Edict of Nantes in the wide-spread misery with 
 F 2 
 
G6 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 which it was attended, rivaled it in the perfidy in which it 
 was conceived, and the cruelty with which it was executed 
 
 Less distinguished than either of his great regal cotempo- 
 
 19 . raries by genius or success, James II. of England 
 “rjf was yet a sovereign of no ordinary character, and 
 England. the important events of his reign have impressed 
 his name in an indelible maimer on the records of history. In 
 his person a dynasty was overturned, a form of government 
 changed, a race of sovereigns sent into exile, and a new im¬ 
 pulse communicated to the Reformed religion. He consum¬ 
 mated the Waterloo of the royal dynasty of the Stuarts ; he 
 established, without intending it, the Protestant faith in the 
 British empire on an imperishable foundation. Such deeds 
 for good or for evil necessarily give immortality to their au¬ 
 thors ; for they lift them from the common herd of men, the 
 effect of whose actions perish with themselves, to the rank of 
 those who have made durable and indelible changes in human 
 affairs. James did tills, like Charles X. in after times, from 
 the force of Iris will, and the absence of corresponding strength 
 of understanding ; from the sincerity of his conscientious opin¬ 
 ions, and the want of that intermixture of worldly prudence 
 which was necessary to give his measures lasting success. A 
 less honest man would never have thought of hazarding the 
 name of royalty for that of religion—a more able one would 
 probably have succeeded in rendering his religion victorious. 
 It is the mixture of zeal with rashness, sincerity with impru¬ 
 dence, courage with incapacity, which has generally induced 
 royal martyrdom. 
 
 Yet James II. was not destitute of abilities, and he was ac- 
 
 20 . tuated by that sincerity of intention and earnest- 
 
 herofc°qua}i d ness °f purpose which is so important an element 
 cies - in eveiy elevated character. He had none of the 
 
 levity or insouciance of his brother Charles. That fight" 
 hearted monarch was his superior hi penetration, and greatly 
 his superior in prudence, but had less of the hero, and incom¬ 
 parably less of the martyr in his composition. Charles was 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 f>7 
 
 at heart a Catholic, hut he would never have sacrificed three 
 crowns for a mass. In the arms of the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 he forgot alike the cares and the duties of royalty. James 
 was not without his personal frailties as well as Charles, hut 
 they did not form a ruling part of his character. Cast in a 
 ruder mold, moved hy more serious feelings, he was actuated 
 in every period of life hy lofty and respectable, because gener¬ 
 ous and disinterested, passions. Patriotism at first was his 
 ruling motive : England had not a more gallant admiral; and 
 in Ids combats with De Ruyter and Van Tromp, he exhibited 
 a degree of nautical skill rarely witnessed in those who have 
 been bred in palaces. Nelson or Collingwood did not more 
 gallantly steer into the midst of the enemy’s fleet, or engage 
 with more dogged resolution, yard-ami to yard-arm, with a 
 powerful and redoubtable foe. When he ascended the throne, 
 this daring and obstinate disposition was entirely directed 
 toward religion. A sincere, even a bigoted Catholic, he deem¬ 
 ed his duty to his faith far superior to all worldly considera¬ 
 tions. From the moment of his accession, he labored assidu¬ 
 ously to effect, if not the re-establishment of Romish suprem¬ 
 acy, at least such an equal partition of power with the Church 
 of England as was probably, in the case of so ambitious a 
 body as the Romish ecclesiastics, the same thing. 
 
 In the prosecution of this object he was rash, vehement, 
 and inconsiderate ; deterred by no consideration of 21 
 prudence, influenced by no calculation of his means ^*|F S p“_ ss 
 to his end, he permitted, if he did not actually sane- cos^hunhis 1 
 tion, atrocious cruelty and oppression toward his throne - 
 unhappy Protestant subjects; and drove on his own objects 
 without the slightest regard to the means of effecting them 
 which he possessed, or the chances of success which they pre¬ 
 sented. He uniformly maintained, to the last hour of his life, 
 that it was perfect liberty of conscience, and not any exclusive 
 supremacy, which he intended to establish for his Roman 
 Catholic subjects ; and several acts of his reign unquestionably 
 favor this opiiuon. If so, it is a curious historical fact, illus- 
 
68 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 trative of the silent changes of time on human affairs, that the 
 Whigs of 1688 took the crown from his head, and placed a 
 new dynasty on the throne, for attempting to do the very 
 thing which their successors in 1829, after thirty years’ in¬ 
 cessant efforts, actually accomplished. As it was, the attempt 
 lost James and his family the throne, threw England perma¬ 
 nently into the Protestant alliance, and, by giving her the lead 
 in the great confederacy against France, contributed more 
 than any other cause to place her on that lofty eminence 
 which she has ever since maintained in European affairs. 
 The constancy of James in misfortune was as remarkable and 
 more respectable than Iris vehemence hi prosperity; with 
 mournful resolution he continued to assert to his dying hour 
 the cause of legitimacy against that of revolution, and died 
 an exile hi a foreign land, the martyr of religious fidelity and 
 royal resolution. 
 
 W T ar havhig been resolved on, the first step was taken by 
 22 the emperor, who laid claim to Milan as a fief of 
 raeniof'the the empire, and supported his pretensions by mov- 
 war. ing an army hito Italy under the command of 
 
 Prince Eugene of Savoy, who afterward became so celebrated 
 as the brother and worthy rival in arms of Marlborough. 
 The French and Spaniards assembled an army in the Milan¬ 
 ese to resist his advance; and the Duke of Mantua having 
 johied the cause, that important city was garrisoned by the 
 French troops. But Prince Eugene ere long obliged them to 
 fall back from the banks of the Adige to the fine of the Oglio, 
 on which they made a stand. But though hostilities had 
 thus commenced in Italy, negotiations were still carried on 
 at the Hague. It was soon found, however, that the preten¬ 
 sions of the French king were of so exorbitant a character 
 that an accommodation was impossible. He had recently 
 taken a step which showed how much his ambition had in¬ 
 creased with the vast accession of power he had received. 
 Charles II. had declared in his testament that the Duke of 
 Anjou should renounce his rights to the crown of France be- 
 
MARLBOROUGH 
 
 69 
 
 fore receiving that of Spain ; but Louis would not permit 
 him to make such a renunciation, and he accepted the Span¬ 
 ish crown without any qualification. The resolution to unite 
 the two crowns on the same head was therefore not attempt¬ 
 ed to he disguised. 
 
 When the contest commenced, the forces which the con¬ 
 tending parties could command seemed nearly equal 23 . 
 to each other, and the result showed that they were uiTsid °of 
 very equally matched. On the side of Louis , was France - 
 France, which, with a population of twenty millions, could 
 maintain two hundred thousand soldiers in arms, and Spain, 
 with its vast and varied possessions in the Peninsula, Flan¬ 
 ders, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia,* containing at least thirty mill¬ 
 ions of inhabitants, besides the colonies beyond seas, of great 
 importance from the revenue—not less than five millions ster¬ 
 ling—which they furnished to the Spanish government. Ba¬ 
 varia, too, was an important outwork, not merely from the 
 courageous disposition of its inhabitants, and the firm adher¬ 
 ence of its government, through jealousy of Austria, to the 
 French interest, hut from the entrance which it afforded to 
 hostile armies into the heart of Germany. The central posi¬ 
 tion, however, of France, and the close proximity of its fron¬ 
 tiers to the seat of war in Flanders, Italy, and on the Rhine, 
 rendered it easy to foresee, what the event soon demonstrated, 
 that the weight of the contest, save in the Peninsula, would 
 fall on its forces. But they were numerous and efficient, ad¬ 
 mirably disciplined, and led by generals of talent and experi¬ 
 ence ; and, above all, they were inspired with that confidence 
 in themselves, and justifiable pride, wliich is the invariable 
 consequence of a long train of military success. 
 
 On the other hand, the allies had the troops of Austria, 
 England, Holland, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and the at. 
 
 Korcee of 
 
 lesser states of Germany, with slight succor from the allies. 
 Prussia and Denmark. These powers had a numerical 
 
 * Sismondi, xxvi., 286, 290. CArEFiGUE, Hist, tic Louis XIV., iv., 296, 
 
 320. 
 
70 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 amount of inhabitants little inferior, if put together, to those 
 of the French and Spanish monarchies, but they were incom¬ 
 parably more divided and distracted by separate interests and 
 necessities, and the military resources of none of them, except 
 Austria, had been fully drawn forth. The latter power had 
 its forces, great as they were, divided by the pressure of a 
 Hungarian insurrection and the dangers of a Turkish inva¬ 
 sion, which the activity of French diplomacy kept continually 
 impending over it; and they were at such a distance from 
 the scene of action that they could seldom be relied on to ap¬ 
 pear in requisite time at the decisive point. The interests of 
 the different powers were as various as their territories were 
 far severed. England was sincerely set on preventing the 
 union of the French and Spanish monarchies, because its in¬ 
 dependence was seriously threatened by their junction. But 
 the other powers were actuated by very different motives. 
 Austria was intent on regaining in whole the splendid inher¬ 
 itance of the Spanish monarchy, of which she regarded her¬ 
 self, not without reason, as defrauded by the testament of 
 Charles II. Holland longed for a barrier of fortresses to shel¬ 
 ter her from the invasion of France, which had at no distant 
 period brought her to the very verge of destruction; while 
 Prussia and Denmark were so far removed from the danger, 
 that it was with difficulty they could be induced to make any 
 considerable efforts in the common cause. England, albeit 
 placed in the very front of the conflict, was so ignorant of her 
 strength, and so little accustomed to exert it, that with a 
 population, including Ireland, of little less than ten millions 
 of souls, she had only forty thousand men under arms ; while 
 France, with her twenty millions, had two hundred thousand. 
 Thus, though the physical resources on the two sides were 
 not materially different, yet the superiority in point of numer¬ 
 ical amount of forces, central situation, and homogeneity of 
 descent, was decisively on the side of France; and the dan¬ 
 ger was very great that the coalition would be dissolved by 
 weighty strokes received by its exposed members, before the 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 71 
 
 requisite succor could arrive from its distant and less menaced 
 extremities. 
 
 Marlborough’s first mission to the Continent, after the ac¬ 
 cession of Anne, was of a diplomatic character ; 35. 
 
 and it was by his unwearied efforts, suavity of firstmisMonto 
 manner, and singular talents for negotiation, that i^dfiStcan? 
 the difficulties which attend the formation of all palgn - 
 such extensive confederacies were overcome. It was not, 
 however, till war was declared, on the 4th of May, 1702, 
 that he first became commander-in-chief of the allied armies. 
 
 The first operation of the allies was an attack on the small 
 fort of Ixaiserworth, on the right bank of the Rhine, belong¬ 
 ing to the Elector of Cologne, which surrendered on the 15th 
 of May. The main French army, nominally under the di¬ 
 rection of the Duke of Burgundy, really of Marshal Boufflers, 
 entered the duchy of Cleves in the end of the same month, 
 and soon became engaged with the allied forces, which at first, 
 being inferior in numbers, fell back. Marlborough reached 
 head-quarters when the French lay before Nimegucn; and 
 the Dutch trembled for that frontier town. Re-enforcements, 
 however, rapidly came in from all quarters to join the allied 
 army, and Marlborough, finding himself at the head of a gal¬ 
 lant force sixty thousand strong, resolved to commence offens¬ 
 ive operations. His first operation was the siege of Venloo, 
 which was carried by storm 011 the 18th of September, after 
 various actions in the course of the siege. “ My Lord Cutts,” 
 says Marlborough, “ commanded at one of the breaches ; and 
 the English grenadiers had the honor of being the first that 
 entered the fort.”* Ruremondc was next besieged ; and the 
 allies, steadily advancing, opened the navigation of the Meuse 
 as far as Maestricht. Stevenswart was taken on the 1st of 
 October, and on the 6th Ruremondc surrendered. 
 
 Liege was the next object of attack ; and the breaches of 
 the citadel were, by the skillful operations of Cohorn, who 
 commanded the allied engineers and artillery, declared prac- 
 * Dispatches, 21st of September, 1702. 
 
72 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 26 . ticable on the 23d of the same month. The as- 
 Liegeanlthe sault was immediately ordered, and, “by the ex- 
 Sdronciu- traordinary bravery,” says Marlborough, “of the 
 campaign? officers and soldiers, the citadel was carried by 
 23d Sept storm ; and, for the honor of her majesty’s sub¬ 
 jects, the English were the first that got upon the breach.”* 
 So early in this, as in every other war where ignorance and 
 infatuation has not led them into the field, did the native-born 
 valor of the Anglo-Saxon race make itself known ! Seven 
 battalions and a half were made prisoners on this occasion ; 
 and so disheartened was the enemy by the fall of the citadel, 
 that the castle of the Chartreuse, with its garrison of fifteen 
 hundred men, capitulated a few days afterward. This last 
 success gave the allies the entire 'command of Liege, and con¬ 
 cluded this short but glorious campaign, in the course of 
 which they had made themselves masters, by main force, in 
 the presence of the French army, of four fortified towns, con¬ 
 quered all Spanish Guclderland, opened the Meuse as far as 
 Maestricht, carried the strong castles of Liege by storm, ad¬ 
 vanced their standards from the Rhine far into Flanders, and 
 became enabled to take up their winter quarters in the ene- 
 mvVterritory, amid fertile fields. 
 
 The campaign being now concluded, and both parties hav- 
 07 . ing gone into winter quarters, Marlborough em- 
 capeof Marl- barked on the Meuse to return to London, where 
 bein’® made ” 1 bis presence was much required to steady the au- 
 pnsoncr. thority and direct the cabinet of the queen, who 
 had so recently taken her seat on the throne. When drop¬ 
 ping down the Meuse, in company of the Dutch commission¬ 
 ers, he was made prisoner by a French partisan, who had 
 made an incursion into those parts; and owed his escape to 
 the presence of mind of a servant named Gill, who, unper¬ 
 ceived, put into his master’s hands an old passport in the 
 name of General Churchill. The Frenchman, intent only on 
 plunder, seized all the plate and valuables in the boat, and 
 * Dispatches, 23d of October, 1702. 
 
M A II L I! O U O U C- II. 
 
 73 
 
 made prisoners the small detachment of soldiers who accom¬ 
 panied them ; but, ignorant of the inestimable prize within his 
 grasp, allowed the remainder of the party, including Marl¬ 
 borough, to proceed on their way. On this occasion, it may 
 truly be said, the boat carried Ceesar and his fortunes. He 
 arrived in safety at the Hague, where the people, who regard¬ 
 ed him as their guardian angel, and had heard of his narrow 
 escape, received him with the most enthusiastic acclamations. 
 From thence, having concerted the plan for the ensuing cam¬ 
 paign with the Dutch government, he crossed over to London, 
 where his reception by the queen and nation was of the most 
 gratifying description. Her majesty conferred on him the 
 title of Duke of Marlborough and Marquis of Blandford, and 
 sent a message to the House of Commons suggesting a pen¬ 
 sion to him of £5000 a year, secured on the revenue of the 
 post-office; but that house refused to consent to the aliena¬ 
 tion of so considerable a part of the public revenue. He was 
 amply compensated, however, for this disappointment by the 
 enthusiastic reception he met with from all classes of the na 
 tion, who, long unaccustomed to military success, at least in 
 any cause in which they could sympathize, hailed with trans¬ 
 ports of joy tills first revival of triumph in support of the Prot¬ 
 estant faith, and over that power with which for centuries 
 they had maintained so constant a rivalry. 
 
 The campaign of 1703 was not fruitful of great events. 
 Taught, by the untoward issue of the preceding one, 28 . 
 the quality of the general and army with whom Sweden, and 
 he had to contend, the French general cautiously no^'cap* 
 remained on the defensive, and ably carried into ture of Bcmn ' 
 execution the plan of the French king, which was to remain 
 on the defensive in Flanders, and reserve the weight of his 
 strokes for the valley of the Danube, where a great effort 
 threatening Vienna was to be made. So skillfully were the 
 measures of Marshal BoufHers taken, that all the efforts of 
 Marlborough to force him to a general action proved abortive. 
 The war in Flanders was thus limited to one of posts and 
 
 G 
 
74 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 sieges ; but in that the superiority of the allied arms was suc¬ 
 cessfully asserted, Parliament having been prevailed on to 
 consent to an augmentation of the British contingent. But 
 a treaty having been concluded with Sweden, and various re¬ 
 enforcements having been received from the lesser powers, 
 preparations were made for the siege of Bonn, on the Rhine, 
 a frontier town of Flanders, of great importance from its com¬ 
 manding the passage of that artery of Germany, and stopping, 
 while in the enemy’s hands, all transit of military stores or 
 provisions for the use of the armies in Bavaria, or on the Up¬ 
 per Rhine. The batteries opened with seventy heavy guns 
 and English mortars on the 14th of May, 1703 ; a vigorous 
 sortie with a thousand foot w r as repulsed, after having at first 
 gained some success, on the following day, and on the 16th, 
 two breaches having been declared practicable, the garrison 
 surrendered at discretion. After this success the army moved 
 against Huys, which was taken, with its garrison of 900 men, 
 on the 23d of August. 
 
 Marlborough and the English generals, after this success, 
 09 . were decidedly of opinion that it would be advisa- 
 prevent tch a ble at all hazard to attempt forcing the French 
 fromfighting, lines, which were strongly fortified between Me- 
 pa?gncon^ m " baigne and Leuwe, and a strong opinion to that 
 thetaiingof e b' ec t was transmitted to the Hague on the very 
 Limbourg. day after the fall of Huys.* They alleged, with 
 reason, that the allies being superior in Flanders, and the 
 French having the upper hand in Germany and Italy, it was 
 of the utmost importance to follow up the present tide of suc¬ 
 cess in the only quarter where it flowed in their favor, and 
 counterbalance disasters elsewhere by decisive events in the 
 quarter where it was most material to obtain it. The Dutch 
 government, however, set on getthig a barrier for themselves, 
 could not be brought to agree to this course, how great so¬ 
 ever the advantages which it promised, and insisted instead 
 that Marlborough should undertake the siege of Limbourg, 
 * Memorial, 24th August, 1703.— Dispatches, i., 165, 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 75 
 
 which lay open to attack. This was accordingly done ; the 
 trenches were commenced in the middle of September, and 
 the garrison capitulated on the 27th of the same month : a 
 poor compensation for the total defeat of the French army, 
 W'hich would, in all probability, have ensued if the bolder plan 
 of operation he had so earnestly counseled had been adopted.* 
 This terminated the campaign of 1703, which, though suc¬ 
 cessful, had led to very different results from what might 
 have been anticipated if Marlborough’s advice had been fol¬ 
 lowed, and an earlier victory of Ramillies laid open the whole 
 Flemish plains. Having dispatched eight battalions to re-en¬ 
 force the Prince of Hesse, who had sustained serious disaster 
 on the Moselle, he had an interview with the Archduke 
 Charles, whom the allies had acknowledged as King of Spain, 
 and by whom he was presented with a magnificent sword set 
 with diamonds ; he went next to the Hague, and from thence 
 proceeded to London to concert measures for the ensuing cam¬ 
 paign, and stimulate the British government to the efforts ne¬ 
 cessary for its successful prosecution. 
 
 But while success had thus attended all the operations of 
 the allies in Flanders, where the English contin- 3 o. 
 
 Disasters on 
 
 gent acted, and Marlborough had the command, the Upper 
 
 . , , ,.. Rhine and in 
 
 affairs had assumed a very different aspect m Her- Bavaria, 
 many and Italy, where the principal efforts of Louis had been 
 made. The French were there superior alike hi the number 
 and quality of their troops, and, in Germany at least, hi the 
 
 * Marlborough was much chagrined at being interrupted in bis meditated 
 decisive operations by the States General on this occasion. On the Gth of 
 September he wrote to them, "Vos Hautes Puissances jugeront bien parle 
 camp que nous venons de prendre, qu’on n’a pas voulu se resoudre ik tenter 
 les lignes. J’a 6td convaincu de plus en plus, depuis l honneur que j’ai eu 
 de vous 6crire, par les avis que j'ai reiju joumellement de la situation des 
 enemies, que cette entreprise n’etait pas seulement practicable, mais mfime 
 qu’on pourrait en esperer tout le succds que je m’etais proposd : eufin l’occa- 
 sion en est perdue, et je souhaite de tout mon cceur qu’elle n’ait aucune 
 faclieuse suite, et qu’on n’ait pas lieu de s’en repentir quand il sera trop 
 tard.” — Marlborough aux Etats Generaux, 6 Septembrc, 1703. Dis¬ 
 patches, i., 173. 
 
76 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 skill with which they were commanded. Early in June, 
 Marshal Tallard assumed the command of the French forces 
 in Alsace, passed the Rhine at Strasburg on the 16th of July, 
 took Prissac on the 7th of September, and invested Landau on 
 the 16th of October. The allies, under the Prince of Hesse, 
 attempted to raise the siege, hut were defeated with consid¬ 
 erable loss; and, soon after, Landau surrendered, thus term¬ 
 mating with disaster the campaign on the Upper Rhine. Still 
 more considerable were the losses sustained in Bavaria. Mar¬ 
 shal Villars commanded there, and, at the head of the French 
 and Bavarians, defeated General Stirum, who headed the Im¬ 
 perialists, on the 20th of September. In December, Marshal 
 Mars in, who had succeeded Villars in the command, made 
 himself master of the important city of Augsburg, and in Jan¬ 
 uary, 1704, the Bavarians got possession of Passau. Mean¬ 
 while, a formidable insurrection had broken out in Hungary, 
 which so distracted the cabinet of Vienna, that the capital 
 seemed to be threatened by the combined forces of the French 
 and Bavarians after the fall of Passau. 
 
 No event of importance took place in Italy during the cam- 
 3L • paign, Count Strahremberg, who commanded the 
 "CTtftheem' Imperial forces, having with great ability forced 
 pire from the Duke de Vendome, who was at the head of a 
 
 these success- ’ 
 
 es - superior body of French troops, to retire. But in 
 
 Bavaria and on the Danube, it was evident that the allies 
 were overmatched; and to the restoration of the balance in 
 that quarter, the anxious attention of the confederates was 
 turned during the winter of 1703—4. The dangerous state 
 of the emperor and the empire awakened the greatest solici¬ 
 tude at the Hague, as well as unbounded terror at Vienna, 
 from whence the most urgent representations were made on 
 the necessity of re-enforcements being sent from Marlborough 
 to their support. But, though this was agreed to by England 
 and Holland, so straitened were the Dutch finances, that they 
 were wholly unable to form the necessary magazines to ena¬ 
 ble the allies to commence operations. Marlborough, during 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 77 
 
 the whole of January and February, 1704, was indefatigable 
 in liis efldrts to overcome these difficulties ; and the prepara¬ 
 tions having at length been completed, it was agreed by the 
 States, according to a plan of the campaign laid down by Marl¬ 
 borough, that he himself should proceed into Bavaria with the 
 great body of the allied army in Flanders, leaving only a corps 
 of observation in the Low Countries, to restrain any incursion 
 which the French troops might attempt during his absence. 
 
 The plan of the campaign which promised these brilliant 
 results to France had been magnificently conceived „ 3 ~- , 
 
 ° J # French plan 
 
 bv the cabhiet of Versailles. The great genius of of the cam- 
 J . . paign in Ger- 
 
 Louis XIV. in strategy there shone forth in full lus- many, 
 ter. Instead of confining the war to one of posts and sieges 
 in Flanders and Italy, it was resolved to throw the bulk of 
 their forces at once into Bavaria, and operate against Austria 
 from the heart of Germany, by pouring down the valley of 
 the Danube. The advanced post held there by the Elector 
 _ of Bavaria in front, forming a salient angle, penetrating, as it 
 were, into the Imperial dominions, the menacing aspect of the 
 Hungarian insurrection in the rear, promised the most suc¬ 
 cessful issue to this decisive operation. For this purpose, Mar¬ 
 shal Tallard, with the French army on the Upper Rhine, re¬ 
 ceived orders to cross the Black Forest and advance into Swa¬ 
 bia, and unite with the Elector of Bavaria, which he accord¬ 
 ingly did at Donawerth, in the beginning of July. Marshal 
 Villeroy, with forty battalions and thirty-nine squadrons, was 
 to break off from the army in Flanders and support the ad¬ 
 vance by a movement on the Moselle, so as to be in a condi¬ 
 tion to join the main army on the Danube, of wliich it would 
 form, as it were, the left wing; while Vendome, with the 
 army of Italy, was to penetrate into the Tyrol, and advance 
 by Innspruck on Salzburg. The united armies, which it was 
 calculated, after deducting all the losses of the campaign, 
 would muster eighty thousand combatants, was then to move 
 direct by Lintz and the valley of the Danube on Vienna, while 
 a large detachment penetrated into Hungary to lend a hand 
 
 G 2 
 
78 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to the already formidable insurrection in that kingdom. The 
 plan was grandly conceived : it extended from Verona to Brus¬ 
 sels, and brought the forces over that vast extent to converge 
 to the decisive point in the valley of the Danube. The ge¬ 
 nius of Louis XIV. had outstripped the march 6f time ; a war 
 of sieges was to be turned into one of strategy, and 1704 prom¬ 
 ised the triumphs which were realized on the same ground, 
 and by following the same plan, by Napoleon in 1805.* 
 
 But if the plan of the campaign was ably conceived on the 
 33 . part of the French cabinet, it presented, from the 
 Ue^tocoun- 1 multiplicity of its combinations, serious difficulties 
 in execution, and it required, to insure success, a 
 larger force than was at their disposal. Attempted with in¬ 
 adequate forces or unskillful generals, it presented the great¬ 
 est danger to the invading party, and, like all other daring op¬ 
 erations in war, staked the campaign on a single throw, in 
 which decisive success or total ruin awaited the unlucky ad¬ 
 venturer. Marlborough, by means of the secret information 
 which he ohtahied from the French head-quarters, had got full 
 intelligence of it, and its dangers to the allies, if it succeeded, 
 struck him as much as the chances of great advantage to them 
 if ably thwarted. His line was instantly taken. He repair¬ 
 ed forthwith to the Hague, where his great influence and en¬ 
 gaging manners, joined to the evident peril of the empire, pro¬ 
 cured a ready acquiescence in all his proposals. It was agreed 
 that the English general was to advance vigorously against 
 Villeroy in the Low Coimtries, and force him either to accept 
 battle, or retire to the Moselle or the Rhine. In either case, 
 as success was not doubted, he was to cross over into Germa¬ 
 ny by the Electorate of Cologne, advance as rapidly as possi¬ 
 ble into Bavaria, and either form a junction with Prince Eu¬ 
 gene, who commanded the Imperial army in that quarter, or, 
 by threatening the communications of the French army in 
 Swabia, compel it to fall hack to the Rhine. The great ob¬ 
 ject was to save Vienna, and prevent the advance of the 
 * Capefigue, Hist, de Louis XIV., v., 208, 209. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 79 
 
 French into Hungary, where a few of their regiments might 
 fan the sparks of insurrection into air inextinguishable flame. 
 This plan, by weakening the allies in the Low Countries, 
 might expose them, and especially the Dutch, to disadvan¬ 
 tage in that quarter, but that was of little consequence. The 
 vital point was in the valley of the Danube : it was there that 
 the decisive blows were to be struck. Marlborough, in resist¬ 
 ing the French invasion, proceeded on exactly the same prin¬ 
 ciples, and showed the same decision of mind as Napoleon in 
 179G, when he raised the siege of Mantua to meet the Austri¬ 
 an armies under Wurmser descending from the Tyrol; or 
 SuwarrofF in 1799, when he raised that of Turin to march 
 against Macdonald advancing from Southern Italy toward the 
 fatal field of the Trebbia. 
 
 Marlborough began his march with the great body of his 
 lorces on the 8 th of May, and, crossing the Meuse 34 . 
 at Maestricht, proceeded with the utmost expedi- crossTnart ^ 13 
 tion toward the Rhine by Bedbourg and Ivirpen, mto Germany ' 
 and arrived at Bonn on the 28th of the same month. Mean¬ 
 while, the French were also powerfully re-enforcing their army 
 on the Danube. Villeroy, with the French forces on the 
 Meuse, retired before ljim toward the Moselle, and eluded all 
 attempts to bring him to battle. Early in the same month 
 strong re-enforcements of French troops joined the Elector of 
 Bavaria, while Villeroy, with the army of Flanders, was has¬ 
 tening in the same direction. Marlborough having obtained 
 intelligence of these great additions to the enemy’s forces in 
 the vital quarter, wrote to the States General that, unless they 
 promptly sent him succor, the emperor would be entirely ru¬ 
 ined.* Meanwhile, however, relying chiefly on himself, he 
 redoubled his activity and diligence. Continuing his march 
 
 * “ Ce matin j’ai appris par une estafette que les enuemis avaient joint 
 l’Electeur de Baviere avec 2G,000 homines, et que M. do Villeroi a passe la 
 Meuse avec la meilleure partie de I’armoe des Pays Bas, et qu’il poussait 
 sa marche en toute diligence vers la Moselle, de sorte que, sans un prompt 
 secours, l’empire court risque d’etre entierement abime.”— Marlborough 
 aux Etuis Gin&ranx ; Bonn, 2 Mai, 1704. Dispatches, i., 274. 
 
80 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 up the Rhine by Coblentz and Cpssel, opposite Mayence, he 
 crossed the Necker near Ladenbourg on the 3d of June. 
 From thence he pursued Iris march without intermission by 
 Mundelshene, where he had, on the 10 th of June, his first 
 interview with Prince Eugene, who had been called from 
 Italy to command the Imperial forces, in the hope he might 
 succeed in stemming the torrent of disaster in Germany. 
 From thence he advanced by Great Ileppach to Langenau, 
 and Inst came in contact with the enemy on the 2d of July, 
 on the Schullenberg, near Donawert. Marlborough, at the 
 head of the advanced guard of nine thousand men, there at¬ 
 tacked the French and Bavarians, twelve thousand strong, hi 
 their intrenched camp, which was extremely strong, and, after 
 a desperate resistance, aided by an opportune attack by the 
 Prince of Baden, who commanded the emperor’s forces, car¬ 
 ried the intrenchments, with the whole artillery winch they 
 mounted, and the loss of seven thousand men and thirteen 
 standards to the vanquished. He was inclined to venture upon 
 this hazardous attempt by having received intelligence on the 
 same day from Prince Eugene, that Marshal Tallard, at the 
 head of fifty battalions and sixty squadrons of the best French 
 troops, had arrived at Strasburg, and was usmg the utmost dil¬ 
 igence to reach the Bavarian forces through the defiles of the 
 Black Forest. But tins advantage was not purchased with¬ 
 out a severe loss; the allies lost one thousand five hundred 
 killed and four thousand wounded; and Marlborough him¬ 
 self, who headed the decisive attack, and was among the first 
 to enter the trenches, was in the greatest danger. 
 
 This brilliant opening of the German campaign was soon 
 35. followed by substantial results. A lew days after 
 successes' 11 Rain surrendered ; Aicha was carried by assault; 
 m Havana. ant ^ following up liis career of success, Marlborough 
 advanced to within a league of Augsburg, under the cannon of 
 which the Elector of Bavaria was placed with the remnant 
 of his forces, hi a situation too strong to admit of its being 
 forced. He here made several attempts to detach the elector, 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 81 
 
 who was now reduced to the greatest straits, from the French 
 alliance ; but that prince, relying on the great army, forty-live 
 thousand strong, which Marshal Tallard was bringing up to 
 his support from the Rhine, adhered with honorable fidelity 
 to his engagements. Upon this Marlborough took post near 
 Friburg, in such a situation as to cut him of!'from all commu¬ 
 nication with his dominions, and ravaged the country with his 
 light troops, levying contributions wherever they went, and 
 burning the villages with savage ferocity as far as the gates 
 of Munich. Thus was avenged the barbarous desolation of 
 the Palatinate, thirty years before, by the French army under 
 the orders of Marshal Turenne. Overcome by the cries of his 
 suffering subjects, the elector at length consented to enter into 
 a negotiation, which made some progress; but the rapid ap¬ 
 proach of Marshal Tallard with the French army through the 
 Black Forest caused him to break it off and hazard all on 
 the fortune of war. 
 
 Unable to induce the elector, by the barbarities unhappily, 
 at that time, too frequent on all sides in war, either 36. 
 to quit his intrenched camp under the cannon of lard joins the 
 
 Elector of Ba- 
 
 Augsburg, or abandon the French alliance, the varia,whode- 
 English general undertook the siege of Ingolstadt; fight, 
 he himself, with the main body of the army, covering the siege, 
 and Prince Louis of Baden conducting the operations hi the 
 trenches. Upon this, the Elector of Bavaria broke up from 
 liis strong position, and abandoning, with heroic resolution, his 
 own country, marched to Biberach, where he effected his 
 junction with Marshal Tallard, who now tlireatened Prince 
 Eugene with an immediate attack. No sooner had he receiv¬ 
 ed intelligence of this, than Marlborough, on the 10th of Au¬ 
 gust, sent the Duke of Wirtemburg, with twenty-seven squad¬ 
 rons of horse, to re-enforce the prince ; and early next morning 
 detached General Churchill, with twenty battalions, across the 
 Danube, to be in a situation to support liim in case of need. 
 He himself immediately after followed, and joined the prince 
 with his whole army on the 11th. Every thing now presaged 
 
82 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 decisive events. The elector had boldly quitted Bavaria, 
 leaving his whole dominions at the mercy of the enemy, except 
 the fortified cities of Munich and Augsburg, and periled his 
 crown upon the issue of war at the French head-quarters ; 
 while Marlborough and Eugene had united their forces, with 
 a determination to give battle in the heart of Germany, in the 
 enemy’s territory, with their communications exposed to the 
 utmost hazard, under circumstances where defeat could he 
 attended with nothing short of total ruin. 
 
 By the rapidity of his march, which had altogether out- 
 
 37 . stripped the slower movements of Marshal Villeroy, 
 Vendome is . . 
 
 defeated in who was still in the neighborhood of the Moselle, 
 to penetrate Marlborough had defeated one important part of the 
 Tyrol?'* th ° combinations of the French king. But if Vendome 
 had succeeded in penetrating through the Tyrol, and joining 
 the French and Bavarian armies to the north of the Alps, 
 their united forces would have greatly preponderated over 
 those of Marlborough and Eugene, and given them a decisive 
 superiority for the whole remainder of the campaign. On this 
 occasion, however, as subsequently in the wars of 1805 and 
 1809, the courage and loyalty of the Tyrolese proved the sal¬ 
 vation of the Austrian monarchy. These sturdy mountaineers 
 flew to arms ; every defile was disputed ; every castle required 
 a separate siege. Accustomed to the use of arms from their 
 earliest years, admirable marksmen, indefatigable in bearing 
 fatigue, perfectly acquainted with the intricacies of their rug¬ 
 ged country 7 , they opposed so formidable a resistance to the ad¬ 
 vance of the French troops, that all the skill and perseverance 
 of Vendome were unable to overcome them. He got as far 
 as Brixen, but could not succeed in forcing the passage above 
 that town, or surmounting the crest of the Brenner. Thus 
 Marshal Tallard and the Elector of Bavaria were left alone 
 to make head against Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marl¬ 
 borough.* 
 
 In numerical amount, however, they were decidedly supe- 
 * Catefigue, Louis XIV., v., 211, 212. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 83 
 
 rior to the allies. The French and Bavarian army 38 
 consisted of sixty thousand men, of whom nearly both sides 
 forty-five thousand were French troops, the very best 
 which the monarchy could produce, and they had tive menta - 
 sixty-one guns. Marlborough and Eugene had sixty-six bat¬ 
 talions and one hundred and sixty squadrons, which, with the 
 artillery, might be about fifty-six thousand combatants, with 
 fifty-one guns. The forces on the opposite sides were thus 
 nearly equal in point of numerical amount, but there was a 
 wide difference in their composition. Four fifths of the French 
 army were national troops, speaking the same language, ani¬ 
 mated by the same feelings, accustomed to the same discipline, 
 and the most of whom had been accustomed to act together. 
 The allies, on the other hand, were a motley assemblage, like 
 Hannibal’s at Cannae, or Wellington’s at Waterloo, composed 
 of the troops of many different nations, speaking different lan¬ 
 guages, trained to different discipline, but recently assembled 
 together, and under the orders of a stranger general, one of 
 those haughty islanders, little in general inured to war, but 
 whose cold or supercilious manners had so often caused jeal¬ 
 ousies to arise hr the best-cemented confederacies. English, 
 Prussians, Danes, Wirtemburgers, Dutch, Hanoverians, and 
 Hessians were blended in such nearly equal proportions, that 
 the arms of no one state could be said by its numerical pre¬ 
 ponderance to be entitled to the precedence. But the consum¬ 
 mate address, splendid talents, and conciliatory maimers of 
 Marlborough, as well as the brilliant valor which the English 
 auxiliary force had displayed on many occasions, had won for 
 them the lead, as they had formerly done when hi no greater 
 force among the confederates of Bichard Coeur de Lion in the 
 Holy War. It was universally felt that upon them, as on the 
 Tenth Legion of Caesar, or the Old Guard of Napoleon, the 
 weight of the contest at the decisive moment would fall. 
 
 The army was divided into two corps d'armee; the first 
 commanded by the duke in person, being by far the strongest, 
 destined to bear the weight of the contest, and carry in front 
 
84 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 39. the enemy’s position. These two corps, though 
 the command co-operating, were at such a distance from each 
 Marlborough other, that they were much in the situation of the 
 and Eugene. English an d Prussians at Waterloo, or Napoleon 
 and Ney’s corps at Bautzen. The second, under Prince Eu¬ 
 gene, which consisted chiefly of cavalry, was much weaker in 
 point of numerical amount, and was intended for a subordi¬ 
 nate attack, to distract the enemy’s attention from the princi¬ 
 pal onset in front under Marlborough.* With ordinary offi¬ 
 cers, or even eminent generals of a second order, a dangerous 
 rivalry for the supreme command would unquestionably have 
 arisen, and added to the many seeds of division and causes of 
 weakness which already existed in so multifarious an array. 
 But these great men were superior to all such petty jealousies. 
 Each, conscious of powers to do great things, and proud of 
 fame already acquired, was willing to yield what was neces¬ 
 sary for the common good to the other. They had no rivalry, 
 save a noble emulation who should do most for the common 
 cause in which they were jointly engaged. From the moment 
 of their junction it was agreed that they should take the com¬ 
 mand of the whole army day about; and so perfectly did their 
 views on all points coincide, and so entirely did their noble 
 hearts heat hr unison, that dining eight subsequent campaigns 
 * The allied and French armies stood thus : 
 
 
 Allies. 
 
 
 French. 
 
 
 
 I. Ria 
 
 lit whig, 
 
 Eugene. 
 
 I. Left wing, Marsin. 
 
 
 
 Batt. 
 
 Squad. Men. 
 
 Batt. 
 
 Squad. 
 
 Men. 
 
 Prussians . 
 
 . . ii 
 
 15j 
 
 
 French .... 29 
 
 50 
 
 18,000 
 
 Danes . . 
 
 . . 7 
 
 0 
 
 20,000 
 
 Bavarians ... 13 
 
 37 
 
 12,000 
 
 Austrians . 
 
 . . 0 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 Empire’s . 
 
 . . 0 
 
 35 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 74 
 
 
 
 
 
 II. Center and left, Marlborough. 
 
 II. Right and center, Tallard. 
 
 English . . 
 
 . . 14 
 
 14 1 
 
 
 French .... 42 
 
 60 
 
 30,000 
 
 Dutch . . 
 
 . . 14 
 
 22 
 
 
 84 
 
 147 
 
 60,000 
 
 Hessians . 
 
 . . 7 
 
 7 
 
 )■ 36,000 
 
 
 
 Hanoverians 
 
 . . 13 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 Danes . . 
 
 . . 0 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 48 
 
 86 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total . . 
 
 . . 66 
 
 160 
 
 56,000 
 
 
 
 
 Guns . . 
 
 . . 52 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kausler, 107, 108. Mari.., Disp., i., 402. 
 
lenhtrfen. 
 
 -frillgtfU Mill 
 
 HOE CJJ&TEDI 
 
 HAR PER Jc BRO' 
 
Engtuih. Miles 
 
 *ARii < J .fmty muhn * Marlborough &Eroice Eugene 
 
 fLFrcnch. under Trnxtui Majanalutrt 
 ScMixrshaM Taflard. 8c Mar sin . 
 
 avalry 
 
 a Infantry JU Artillery 
 
 a 1jv VT Kemble 
 
 R S , NEW VO R K . 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 85 
 
 that they for the most part acted together, there was never 
 the slightest division between them, nor any interruption of 
 the harmony with which the operations of the allies were 
 conducted. 
 
 The French position was hi places strong, and their dispo¬ 
 sition for resistance at each point where they were 40 . 
 threatened by attack from the allied forces, judi- tilTmddia 
 cious; but there was a fatal defect in the general ^tfusdan 
 conception of their plan. Marshal Tallard was on 8ers - 
 the right, resting on the Danube, which secured him from 
 being turned in that quarter, having the village of Blenheim 
 in liis front, which was strongly garrisoned by twenty-six bat¬ 
 talions and twelve squadrons, all native French troops. In 
 the center was the village of Oberglau, which was occupied 
 by fourteen battalions, among whom were three Irish corps of 
 celebrated veterans. The communication between Blenheim 
 and Oberglau was kept up by a screen consisting of eighty 
 squadrons, in two lines, having two brigades of foot, consisting 
 of seven battalions, in its center. The left, opposite Prince 
 Eugene, was under the orders of Marshal Marsin, and con¬ 
 sisted of twenty-two battalions of infantry and thirty-six squad¬ 
 rons, consisting for the most part of Bavarians and Marshal 
 Marsin’s men, posted in front of the village of Lutzingen. 
 Thus the French consisted of sixty-nine battalions and a hun¬ 
 dred and thirty-four squadrons, with ldnety guns, and they 
 mustered sixty thousand combatants, about five thousand 
 more than the allies, and with a great superiority of artillery. 
 They were posted in a line strongly supported at each extrem¬ 
 ity, but weak in the center, and with the wings, where the 
 great body of the infantry was placed, at such a distance from 
 each other, that if the center was broken through, each ran 
 the risk of being enveloped by the enemy, without the other 
 being able to render any assistance. This danger as to the 
 troops in Blenheim, the flower of their army, was much aug¬ 
 mented by the circumstance that, if their center was forced 
 where it was formed of cavalry only, and the victors turned 
 H 
 
86 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 sharp round toward Blenheim, the horse would be driven 
 headlong into the Danube, and the foot in that village would 
 run the hazard of being surrounded or pushed into the river, 
 which was not fordable, even for horse, in any part. 
 
 But, though these circumstances would, to a far-seeing gen- 
 
 41. eral, have presaged serious disaster in the event of 
 
 And advant- . . . . .. r , , 
 
 ages. defeat, yet the position was strong m itseli, and the 
 
 French generals, long accustomed to victory, had some excuse 
 
 for not having taken sufficiently into view the contingencies 
 
 likely to occur in the event of defeat. Both the villages at 
 
 the extremity of their line had been strengthened, not only 
 
 with intrencliments hastily thrown up around them, thickly 
 
 mounted with heavy camion, but with barricades erected at 
 
 all their principal entrances, formed of overturned carts, and 
 
 all the furniture of the houses, which they had seized upon, as 
 
 the insurgents did at Paris in 1830, for that purpose. The 
 
 army stood upon a hill or gentle eminence, the guns from 
 
 which commanded the viiole plain by which alone it could be 
 
 approached. This plain was low, and intersected on the right, 
 
 in front of Blenheim, by a rivulet which flows down by a 
 
 gentle descent to the Danube, and in front of Oberglau by 
 
 another rivulet, which runs in two branches till within a few 
 
 paces of the Danube, into which it also empties itself. These 
 
 rivulets had bridges over them at the points where they flowed 
 
 through villages, but they were difficult of passage at other 
 
 points for cavalry and artillery, and, with the ditches cut in 
 
 the swampy meadows through which they flowed, proved no 
 
 small impediment to the advance of the allied army. 
 
 The Duke of Marlborough, before the action began, visited 
 
 42 . in person each important battery, in order to ascer- 
 Uie aiul^for f tain the range of the guns. The troops under his 
 the attack. command were drawn up in four lines ; the in¬ 
 fantry being in front, and the cavalry behind, in each line. 
 This arrangement was adopted in order that the infant ry, 
 who would get easiest through the streams, might form on 
 the other side, and cover the formation of the horse, who 
 
MAELBOEOUG II. 
 
 67 
 
 might be more impeded. The fire of camion soon became 
 very animated on both sides, and the infantry advanced to 
 the edge of the rivulets with that cheerful air and confident 
 step which is so often the forerunner of success. On Prince 
 Eugene’s side, however, the impediments proved serious ; the 
 beds of the rivulets were so broad that they required to he 
 filled up with fascines before they could be passed by the guns ; 
 and when they did get across, though they replied, it was 
 without much effect to the French cannon thundering from 
 the heights, winch commanded the whole field. At half past 
 twelve, nevertheless, these difficulties were, by great efforts 
 on the part of Prince Eugene and his wing, overcome, and he 
 sent word to Marlborough that he was ready. During this 
 interval, divine service had been performed at the head of 
 every regiment and squadron in the allied army; Marlbor¬ 
 ough himself had received the sacrament with great solemnity 
 at midnight on the preceding day. He was seated on the 
 ground, in the midst of his staff, eating a slender meal, when 
 Eugene’s aid-de-camp arrived. “ Now, gentlemen, to your 
 posts,” said he, with the cheerful voice which betokened the 
 confidence of victory, as he mounted his horse, and his aids- 
 de-camp in every direction galloped off’ to warn the troops to 
 be ready. Instantly the soldiers every where stood to their 
 aims, and the signal was given to advance. The rivulets 
 and marshy ground in front of Blenheim and Unterglau were 
 passed by the first line without much difficulty, though the 
 men were exposed to a heavy fire of artillery from the French 
 batteries; and the fum ground on the slope being reached, 
 they advanced in the finest order to the attack, the cavalry 
 in front having now defiled to a side, so as to let the English 
 infantry take the lead. 
 
 The French did not expect, and were in a great measure 
 unprepared for, an attack, when the heads of the 43. 
 
 7 Commence- 
 
 allied columns were seen advancing against them, mentofthe 
 Their generals had taken up the idea that the ene- 13th Aug. 
 my were about to retire to Nordlingen, and, as the morning 
 
88 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 was hazy, the skirmishers of Eugene were close upon thjni 
 before they were perceived.* Alarm guns were then imme¬ 
 diately fired, officers galloped off in every direction, and Tal- 
 lard and Marsin, hastily mounting their horses, did their ut¬ 
 most to put the troops hi proper order. But no plan of de¬ 
 fense had previously been arranged, and the troops were hast¬ 
 ily thrown into the nearest villages, or such as seemed destined 
 to he first the object of attack. Seven-and-twenty battalions 
 in all were crowded into Blenheim, against which the En¬ 
 glish column of grenadiers was seen to be steadily advancing. 
 Thirty battalions ivere posted in and around Oberglau ; and 
 Lutzingen was also strongly occupied, while eighteen French 
 and Bavarian battalions were drawn up in an oblique line in 
 the woods in its vicinity, on the extreme left of the cavalry 
 The guns were judiciously posted along the front of the line, 
 in situations the best calculated to impede the enemy’s ad¬ 
 vance. But there was the essential defect already noticed in 
 the position, that its two keys, Blenheim and Oberglau, where 
 the main body of the infantry was posted, were at such a 
 distance from each other, that neither their defenders nor 
 their caimon could render any mutual assistance; while the 
 long intervening space was filled up by a line of horse, for the 
 most part unsupported by foot soldiers, and incapable of re¬ 
 sisting a vigorous attack from the united bodies of infantry 
 and cavalry which were posted opposite them on the side of 
 the enemy.f 
 
 Marlborough’s eagle eye at once descried this glaring defect 
 44 . in the enemy’s distribution of his forces, and he 
 heim^hichis prepared to turn it to the best account. Lord 
 repulsed. Cutts commanded the division of British which 
 
 * Ce 13, au point du jour les ennemis ont battu la genSrale a 2 heures, & 
 3 l’assemblee. On les voit en bataille a la t6te de leur camp, et suivant les 
 apparences Us marcheront aujourd’hui. Le bruit du paj-s est qu’ils vont a 
 Nordlingen. Si cela est, ils nous laisseront entre le Danube et eux, et par 
 consequent ils auront de la peine a soutenir les ttablissemens qu’ils out pris 
 en Bavre.—Marshal Tallard au Roi de France, 13th August, 1704. Cam- 
 pagnes de Tallard, ii., 140. 
 
 t Coxe, i., 396, 397. Capefigue, Histoire ds Louis XIV., v., 216, 217. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 89 
 
 advanced against Blenheim. General Rowe led the first line, 
 supported hy a brigade of Hessians. Rowe was within thirty 
 yards of the palisades which the French had constructed at 
 all the entrances of the village, when the enemy delivered 
 their first fire. It was so close and well directed that a great 
 number of officers and men fell ; but their comrades, nothing 
 daunted, held bravely on, and Rowe, moving straight for¬ 
 ward, struck Iris sword on the palisades before he gave the 
 word to fire. His order was to force an entrance with the 
 bayonet, but the strength of the barriers and the vast numer¬ 
 ical superiority of the enemy in the village rendered this im¬ 
 possible ; and the assailants, unable to advance, unwilling to 
 retire, remained striving against the palisades, endeavoring to 
 break them down by sheer strength, until half their number 
 were struck down. Rowe himself fell badly wounded at the 
 foot of the pales, and liis lieutenant-colonel and major were 
 killed hi endeavoring to carry him off. At this critical mo¬ 
 ment some squadrons of French gens d’armes charged their 
 flank, threw the assailants into confusion, and took the colors 
 of Rowe’s regiment, which, however, were immediately re¬ 
 gained by the Hessians who advanced to its support. Lord 
 Cutts, however, seeing fresh squadrons of cavalry preparing 
 to charge, sent forward to Lumley, who commanded the near¬ 
 est allied horse, for a re-enforcement of cavalry to cover Ins 
 exposed flank, and five squadrons were immediately dispatch¬ 
 ed across the Nebel to their support. They charged the ene¬ 
 my’s horse gallantly, though double their force, and drove 
 them headlong back ; but fresh squadrons succeeded on the 
 part of the French ; a murderous fire in flank from the in¬ 
 closures of Blenheim mowed down great numbers, and the 
 whole recoiled in disorder to the allied lines.* 
 
 The English general, foreseeing that tliis success would be 
 followed up by the enemy, and being satisfied that 45 
 Blenheim was too strongly garrisoned to be carried 
 by an assault of infantry unsupported by cavalry, Uie aUie8 - 
 * Hare's Journal. Disp., i., 402, 403. Coxe, i., 400, 401. 
 
 H 2 
 
90 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 resolved to bring his whole cavalry across the Nebel, and 
 make a general attack upon the weak part of the enemy’s line 
 between Blenheim and Oberglau. Midway between the two, 
 on the center of a bend of that stream toward the English po¬ 
 sition, was situated the village of Unterglau, which, of course, 
 was first reached by the allies. Marlborough sent forward 
 Churchill with his division of infantry to attack that post; but 
 before he reached it, the whole houses were in flames, having 
 been set on fire by the French to retard the advance of the 
 allies. The brave troops, however, rushed forward through 
 the conflagration, and having gained the bridge, which was 
 of stone, soon began to deploy on the other side. No sooner 
 did he see this than Marlborough gave orders for the whole 
 cavalry to advance. They descended rapidly and in good or¬ 
 der to the edge of the stream ; but the difficulties of the pas¬ 
 sage were there greater than had been expected, as they had 
 to cross the rivulet where it was divided, and the meadow be¬ 
 tween the branches was wet and very soft, and the streams 
 themselves deep and muddy. However, by casting in fascines 
 and boards, the bottom was at length rendered comparatively 
 hard, and by great exertions the horses struggled through, 
 though exposed all the while to a galling fire from the heavy 
 guns posted around Blenheim. They were still in disorder on 
 the opposite bank, and with their ranks yet unformed, when 
 they were suddenly charged by the whole front line of the 
 French cavalry, which bore down upon them in compact or¬ 
 der and with flying banners.* 
 
 Formidable as this attack was, it was rendered still more 
 46 - so by the heavy fire of cannon and musketry which 
 
 The cavalry J # J 
 
 with great at the same time issued from the inclosures of Blen- 
 
 difficulty are . p , .. 
 
 got across, heim, and threw the whole nearest flank 01 the al- 
 
 lied horse into confusion. The Danish and Hanoverian squad¬ 
 rons, however, were at length got across and brought up by 
 Marlborough to the support of the English dragoons; and 
 
 * Coxe, i., 402, 403. Hare’s Journal. Marl. Disp., 403, 404. Kausler, 
 
 110 , 111 . 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 91 
 
 Churchill’s men, intermingled with the horse near Oberglau, 
 threw in their volleys with great effect upon the advancing 
 cavalry of the enemy. It was only by their well-timed aid 
 that a fatal rout was prevented before the horsemen could form 
 on the opposite side. They could not, however, extend their 
 succor far. Near Blenheim the dragoons were forced back in 
 disorder to the very edge of the morass by the charges of 
 French cavalry, aided by the terrible fire irom the batteries 
 at that village ; and it was only by great exertions, and con¬ 
 stantly supporting the worsted squadrons by fresh troops as 
 they were successively got across, that Marlborough succeeded 
 in preventing an entire repulse in that quarter. But while 
 the conflict was maintained with difficulty between Blenheim 
 and Oberglau, a serious disaster had occurred on the British 
 right, where Prince Holstein, with his Hanoverians, was di¬ 
 recting the attack on Oberglau, and the presence of the com- 
 mander-in-chief was loudly called for to prevent entire rum in 
 that quarter.* 
 
 Prince Holstein had no sooner crossed the stream at the 
 head of eleven battalions, and ere his men had 47 - 
 
 Routot Prince 
 
 time to form in good order on the opposite side, Hoisteininthe 
 
 . 7 attack on 
 
 than he was charged with great vigor by the oberglau. 
 French infantry in Oberglau, nine thousand strong, including 
 the Irish brigade, who debouched with loud shouts out of the 
 village. This brave body of veterans, who had become ad¬ 
 mirable troops from the superinducing of French discipline 
 and guidance on native Irish valor, charged with such vehe¬ 
 mence, and threw in volleys so quick and well directed, that 
 the prince’s men were utterly routed, he himself taken prison¬ 
 er, and the center of the allies entirely broken through. There 
 was not a moment to be lost, for the communication with 
 Prince Eugene and the right wing of the army was on the 
 point of being cut off. But Marlborough was at hand to re¬ 
 pair the disaster ; and he not only did so, but converted it into 
 an advantage to his own side, which proved decisive. Gal- 
 * Marl. Disp., i., 403, 404. Coxe, i., 404, 405. Capefigue, v., 218. 
 
92 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 loping instantly to the spot, he led up in person some squad¬ 
 rons of British cavalry, closely followed by three battalions 
 which had not been engaged. With the horse he charged the 
 Irish, who, with the inconsiderate ardor of their nation, were 
 pursuing their advantage in disorder, and quickly threw them 
 into confusion. The infantry he posted so advantageously 
 that their fire raked the column as it recoiled from the charge, 
 and occasioned dreadful slaughter. The Irish were by this 
 double attack driven back into Oberglau, while some squad¬ 
 rons of horse, whom Marshal Marsin sent up to their relief, 
 were repelled by the fire of a battery which Marlborough 
 brought forward from Weilheim, and a powerful body of Im¬ 
 perial horse which he stationed on its flank. By this well- 
 timed vigor, affairs were entirely re-established in the center, 
 and the communication with Prince Eugene was completely 
 recovered.* 
 
 Having achieved this great advantage, Marlborough re- 
 48. turned to his cavalry between Oberglau and Blen- 
 Eugene°on ° f heim, and found it all firmly established on solid 
 the right. ground, on the other side of the Nebel. Mean¬ 
 while, Eugene had been actively engaged on the extreme 
 right, where he, too, had crossed the Nebel, in front of Lut- 
 zingen. His first attack with the Danes and Prussians car¬ 
 ried a battery of six guns, and the Imperial horse broke the 
 first line of French cavalry; but, having advanced somewhat in 
 disorder against the second fine, they were not only repulsed, 
 but driven back across the Nebel, and the gams were retaken. 
 The victorious infantry were now isolated in the midst of en¬ 
 emies, and being charged vehemently on each flank, at the 
 same time that a heavy fire in front shook their line, the 
 Prussians and Danes were thrown into confusion, and with 
 difficulty regained their original ground on the other side of 
 the river. Nothing daunted by tins reverse, Eugene rallied 
 bis cavalry, and led them again to the charge ; but though at 
 
 * Hare's Journal. Marl. Disp., i., 404-406. Coxe, i., 404, 405. Kaus- 
 ler, 110, 111. 
 
MARLBOIIOUG H. 
 
 93 
 
 first successful, they were at length checked by the stout Ba¬ 
 varian horse, bravely headed by the elector, and recoiled in 
 disorder. A third time Eugene re-formed his horsemen, and 
 led them to the attack, himself heading the charge. But 
 this time the onset was feeble ; the men were daunted by 
 their double repulse ; their line was speedily broken, and they 
 again fled, completely routed, across the Nebel. In utter 
 despair, Eugene left the Prince of Hanover and Duke of 
 Wirtemberg to rally the horse, and galloped off to put him¬ 
 self at the head of the infantry, which had also advanced 
 with the cavalry. That brave body of men, admirably dis¬ 
 ciplined, and encouraged by the presence of their general, 
 stood their ground with heroic resolution. But they were 
 charged with desperate hardihood by the enemy. Eugene 
 himself was in the most imminent danger of being shot by a 
 Bavarian dragoon, who was cut down wliile deliberately tak¬ 
 ing aim at him within a few paces. The admirable steadi¬ 
 ness of the Prussians, who on this occasion gave tokens of 
 what they were to become under the great Frederic, pre¬ 
 vented a total defeat in this quarter. Immovable, they stood 
 their ground amid the thundering charges of horse, the front 
 rank kneeling, and the rear maintaining a ceaseless rolling 
 lire, till at length the enemy, wearied with fruitless efforts, 
 drew off', leaving the ground covered with their wounded and 
 dying.* 
 
 Marlborough, however, had now gained firm footing both 
 with his infantry and cavalry on the other side of 49. 
 the Nebel, and had made his dispositions for a gen- a e r c “f v “ d 
 oral attack between Blenheim and Oberglau. The MaSHorouoh 
 cavalry were drawn up in two lines directly in front m the ccnter - 
 of the enemy ; the infantry immediately in their rear, chiefly 
 to the left, to make head against the numerous battalions 
 which occupied Blenheim. Tallard, seeing the weakness of 
 his line from want of infantry, had drawn nine battalions from 
 
 * Mem. de Tallard, ii., 234-241. Coxe, i., 407, 408. Hake’s Journal, 
 Marl. Disp., i., 406, 407. 
 
94 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the reserve, and posted them near the center, between Blen¬ 
 heim and Oberglau, behind the horse. Marlborough brought 
 up three Hessian battalions to front them, and then, drawing 
 his sword, ordered the trumpets to sound the advance, he him¬ 
 self leading them on. Indescribably grand was the spectacle 
 which ensued. In compact order, and the finest array, the 
 allied cavalry, mustering eight thousand sabers, moved up the 
 gentle slope hi two lines—at first slowly, as on a field day, 
 but gradually more quickly, as they drew nearer, and the fire 
 of the artillery became more violent. The French horse, ten 
 thousand strong, stood their ground firmly : the first and 
 bravest of their chivalry were there : the banderoles of almost 
 all the nobles in France floated over their squadrons. So hot 
 was the fire of musketry and cannon when the assailants drew 
 near, that their advance was checked : they retired sixty 
 paces, and the battle was kept up for a few minutes only by 
 a fire of artillery. Gradually, however, the fire of the enemy 
 slackened, and Marlborough, taking advantage of the pause, 
 led his cavalry again to the charge. With irresistible vehe¬ 
 mence, the line dashed forward at full speed, and soon the 
 crest of the ridge was passed. The French horsemen dis¬ 
 charged their carbines at a considerable distance with little 
 effect, and immediately wheeled about and fled. The battle 
 was gained ; the allied horse rapidly inundated the open space 
 between the two villages; the nine battalions hi the middle 
 were surrounded, cut to pieces, or taken. They made a noble 
 resistance, and the men were found lying on their backs in 
 their ranks as they had stood in the field.* 
 
 The consequences of this great disaster on the right were 
 50. speedily felt along the whole French line. Mar- 
 ce^sonthe UC sin’s cavalry, now entirely uncovered on their 
 nght - flanks, rapidly fell back to avoid being turned, and 
 
 rendered the position of the infantry in front of Eugene no 
 longer tenable. That skillful general, perceiving the rout of 
 
 * Kausler, 109, ill. Coxe, i., 408, 409. Hare's Journal. Marl. Disp , 
 i., 400, 407. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 95 
 
 the enemy on his left, and correctly judging that they could no 
 longer maintain their ground, prepared his troops for a fourth 
 charge, and soon issued forth at their head. The impulse of 
 victory was now communicated to the whole line. After an 
 arduous struggle in the plain, the enemy fell back at all points 
 toward Oberglau and Lutzingen. Soon the flames, which 
 burst forth from their buildings, announced that they were 
 about to be evacuated. At this sight, loud cheers arose from 
 the whole right, and the Danes and Prussians rushed forward 
 with irresistible vigor against the burning villages. After an 
 obstinate conflict, Lutzingen was carried, and the Bavarians 
 ■were driven to a fresh position in rear, behind the streamlet 
 of the same name. They still preserved their ranks, how¬ 
 ever, and faced about fiercely on their pursuers ; but Marsin, 
 having lost the pivot of his left, and seeing his flank entirely 
 uncovered by Marlborough’s advance, and the center driven 
 back in disorder, gave orders for the general retreat of his 
 whig.* 
 
 Meanwhile Tallard was bravely exerting himself, but in 
 vain, to arrest the disorder in the right and center. 51. 
 
 ... Total rout of 
 
 He drew up the remains of his cavalry in battle Taiiard, who 
 
 ..... „. . . .... is made pris- 
 
 array, behind the tents ot his camp, in a single hne oner, 
 stretching toward Blenheim, in order, if possible, to extricate 
 the infantry posted hi that village, which were now wellnigh 
 cut off. At the same time, he sent pressing requests to Mar- 
 sin for assistance. But, ere succor could arrive, or time had 
 even been gained for the delivery of his messages, the hand of 
 Fate was upon him. Marlborough, observing that the hne 
 was unsupported in rear, and uncovered on its right, gave or¬ 
 ders for a general charge of all his cavalry. When the trump¬ 
 et sounded, seven thousand horsemen, flushed with victory, 
 bore down with irresistible force on the now dispirited and at¬ 
 tenuated hne of the enemy. The immense body of the French 
 force broke without awaiting the shock, and the allied caval¬ 
 ry rapidly piercing their center, they were divided into two 
 
 ' Kausi.er, 113. Coxe, i., 412. Hare’s Journal. DUp., i , 407, 408. 
 
96 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 parts, one of which fled in wild disorder toward the Danube, 
 and the other toward Sonderheim. Marlborough, in person, 
 followed the first with fifty squadrons, while Hompesch, with 
 thirty, pressed upon the second. Both pursuits proved entire¬ 
 ly successful. Marlborough drove the broken mass before him 
 headlong to the Danube, where great numbers were drowned 
 in attempting to cross, and the remainder were made prison¬ 
 ers on the brink. Marshal Tallard himself, with a small 
 body of horse, which still kept their ranks, threw himself into 
 the village of Sonderheim, on the margin of the river, but-be¬ 
 ing speedily surrounded by the victorious squadrons of the en¬ 
 emy, he was obliged to surrender, and delivered his sword to 
 the Prince of Hesse. Hompesch, at the same time, vigorous¬ 
 ly pressed on the broken fugitives w r ho had fled toward Hoch- 
 stedt, and on the way surrounded three battalions of infantry, 
 who were striving to escape, and made them prisoners. Upon 
 seeing tins, the cavalry entirely broke their ranks, and fled as 
 fast as their horses could carry them toward Morselingen, 
 without attempting any further resistance.* 
 
 When Tallard was taken, Marlborough immediately sent 
 50 his own carriage to accommodate him, and dispatch- 
 ^vhich the 7 e( l a pencil note, written on the parapet of a bridge, 
 escaped de- to the duchess, to say the baltle was gained.! But 
 function. 110 sooner W as this done than he set himself to ren 
 der his victory complete, by turning all the forces he could 
 collect against the portions of the enemy’s army which still 
 held their ground. He first directed his attention to the left 
 wing of the enemy, which was falling back, closely followed 
 by Eugene’s horse, hi the direction of Morselingen. Several 
 
 * Kausler, 112. Coxe, i., 410, 411. Mem. de Tallard, ii., 248-252. Marl. 
 Disp., i., 418. 
 
 t This note is still preserved at Blenheim: "I have not time to say more, 
 but beg you will give my duty to the queen, and let her know that her army 
 has had a glorious victory. Monsieur Tallard and two other generals are in 
 my coach, and I am following the rest. The hearer, my aid-de-camp. Col¬ 
 onel Park, will give her an account of what has passed. 1 shall do it in a 
 day or two by another, and more at large.— Marlboroooh."—Coxe. i . 413. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 9 7 
 
 squadrons were added to Hompesch’s division, and the duke 
 was preparing to lead them on in person upon the flank of the 
 column, which Avas defiling along the skirt of the wood. In 
 the dusk of the evening, however, and with the view obscured 
 by the volumes of smoke which were wafted from the field, 
 the Bavarian and French troops were mistaken by Marlbor¬ 
 ough and his staff for Eugene’s men in pursuit, and the charge, 
 Avhen on the point of being executed, was therefore counter¬ 
 manded. Thus the enemy on that side escaped without se¬ 
 rious loss. Tliis accidental mistake alone saved the French 
 left from the utter ruin which had already overtaken the cen¬ 
 ter, and Avas soon to involve the right wing.* 
 
 Marlborough now turned all his forces against the troops 
 in Blenheim, which, entirely cut off from the re- 53. 
 mainder of the army, and enveloped iu darkness, thetroop^in' 
 AA'ere in a situation wellnigh desperate. To pre- conchisionof 
 vent the possibility of their escape, Webb, with the the battIe - 
 queen’s regiment, took possession of a barrier the enemy lmd 
 constructed at one of the outlets of the village, to cover their 
 retreat toward the eastAvard, and having posted his men across 
 the street which led to the Danube, several hundred of the 
 enemy, who were attempting to make their escape that way, 
 Avere made prisoners. Prince George’s regiment, in like man¬ 
 ner, occupied the other issue toward the Danube, and all who 
 came out that way were immediately captured. Others en¬ 
 deavored to break out at other places ; but Lord John Hay, at 
 the head of Iris regiment of Scots Greys, f speedily met them 
 at the top of a rising ground, and, making them believe liis 
 troops were but the advanced guard of a larger force, stopped 
 them on that side. When Churchill saw the defeat of the 
 enemy’s horse in the center decided, he sent to request Lord 
 Cutts to attack Blenheim hi front, Avlfile he himself assailed 
 
 * KaUSLER, 113. CoXE, i., 412, 413. 
 
 t This regiment might have Blenheim and Waterloo, the two greatest de¬ 
 feats France ever experienced in fair fight, on their colors, joined to Napo¬ 
 leon's words, “ Ces terribles chevaux gris, comme ils travaillent.” Few 
 regiments in Enrope would have so glorious an emblazonry. 
 
 T 
 
98 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 it in flank. Tliis was accordingly done : Orkney and Gen¬ 
 eral Ingolsby entering the village at the same time, in two 
 different places, at the head of their respective regiments. 
 But the French made so vigorous a resistance, especially at 
 the church-yard, that they were forced to retire. Marlbor¬ 
 ough, however, now brought up Iris guns on all sides, and 
 opened a fire on the village. Soon several houses took fire, 
 and the flames casting a red light over the sky, enabled the 
 gunners to direct their fire with unerring aim. M. Clerarn- 
 bault, their commander, had already fled, and the troops hav¬ 
 ing lost all hope, and being entirely cut off, at length, after 
 vainly endeavoring to obtain a capitulation, surrendered at 
 discretion. With despair and indignation the soldiers sub¬ 
 mitted to their fate; the regiment of Navarre burned their 
 colors and buried their arms, that such trophies might not re¬ 
 main to grace the triumph of their enemies.* 
 
 In tliis battle Marlborough’s whig lost five thousand men, 
 
 54 - and Eugene’s six thousand, hi all eleven thousand. 
 
 Results of ° 
 
 the batUe. The French lost thirteen thousand prisoners, includ- 
 ing twelve hundred officers, almost all taken by Marlbor¬ 
 ough’s wing, besides thirty-four pieces of cannon, twenty-five 
 standards, and ninety colors ; Eugene took thirteen pieces. 
 The killed and wounded amounted to fourteen thousand. 
 But the total loss of the French and Bavarians, including 
 those who deserted during their calamitous retreat through 
 the Black Forest, was not less than forty thousand men ;f a 
 number greater than any winch they sustained till the still 
 more disastrous day of Waterloo. It is remarkable that by 
 far the greatest defeats ever experienced by the French on 
 land, Cressy, Azincour, Poitiers, Blenheim, Ramilhes, Oude- 
 narde, Salamanca, Vittoria, Waterloo, all came from the 
 
 * Hare’s Journal. Marl. Disp., i., 408, 409. Kausler, 112. Coxe, i., 
 415. Capefigue, Hist, de Louis XIV., v., 218, 219. 
 
 t Cardonnell, Disp. to Lord Harley, 25tli Sept., 1740, Disp., i., 410. By 
 intercepted letters it appeared the enemy admitted a loss of forty thousand 
 men before they reached the Biline.— Marlborough to the Duke of Shrews¬ 
 bury, 28th Aug., 1704, Disp., i., 439. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 l J9 
 
 arms of England. At Leipsic they were not beaten in a fair 
 field, but overthrown by an overwhelming superiority of force. 
 
 It is quite evident to what cause the overwhelming mag¬ 
 nitude of this defeat of the French army was owing. 55. 
 The strength of the position consisted solely in the defeat of f |ic 
 rivulets and marshy grounds in its front, and when trench - 
 they were passed, the error of Marshal Tallard’s disposition 
 of his troops was at once apparent. The infantry was accu¬ 
 mulated in useless numbers in the villages. Of the twenty- 
 seven battalions in Blenheim, twenty were of Ao service, and 
 coidd not get into action, while the long line of cavalry from 
 thence to Oberglau was sustained only by a few battalions of 
 foot, incapable of making any effective resistance. This was 
 the more inexcusable, as the French, having sixteen battal¬ 
 ions of infantry more than the allies, should at no point have 
 shown themselves inferior in foot soldiers to their opponents. 
 When the curtain of horse which stretched from Blenheim to 
 Oberglau was broken through and driven off the field, the 
 thirteen thousand infantry accumulated in the former of these 
 villages could not escape falling into the enemy’s hands; for 
 they were pressed between Marlborough’s victorious foot and 
 horse on the one side, and the unfordable stream of the Dan¬ 
 ube on the other. But Marlborough, it is evident, evinced 
 the capacity of a great general in the maimer hi which he 
 surmounted these obstacles and took advantage of these faulty 
 dispositions; resolutely, in the first instance, overcoming the 
 numerous impediments which opposed the passage of the rivu¬ 
 lets, and then accumulating his horse and foot for a grand 
 attack on the enemy’s center, which, besides destroying above 
 half the troops assembled there, and driving thirty squadrons 
 into the Danube, cut off and isolated the powerful body of 
 infantry now ruinously crowded together hi Blenheim, and 
 compelled them to surrender. 
 
 Immense were the results of this transcendent victory. The 
 
 French army, lately so confident in its numbers 5 fi. 
 
 i J J i , n i -n/r i Vast results of 
 
 and prowess, retreated, “ or rather lied, as Marl- the victory. 
 
100 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 borough says, through the Black Forest, abandoning the 
 Elector of Bavaria and all the fortresses on the Danube to 
 their fate. In the deepest dejection and the utmost disorder, 
 they reached the Rhine, scarce twelve thousand strong, on 
 the 25 th of August, and immediately began defiling over by 
 the bridge of Strasburg.* How different from the triumphant 
 army, forty-five thousand strong, which, with drums beating 
 and colors flying, had crossed at the same place six weeks 
 before ! Marlborough, having detached part of his force t<j 
 besiege Ulm, drew near with the bulk of his army to the 
 Rhine, which he passed near Philipsburg on the 6th of Sep¬ 
 tember, and soon after commenced the siege of Landau, on 
 the French side ; Prince Louis, with twenty thousand men, 
 forming the besieging force, and Eugene and Marlborough, 
 with thirty thousand, the covering army. Villeroi, with the 
 French army, abandoned an intrenched camp which he had 
 constructed to cover the town. Marlborough followed, and 
 made every effort to bring the French marshal to battle, but 
 in vain. He fell back first behind the Lauter, and then be¬ 
 hind the Molfer, abandoning a rugged wooded country, one of 
 
 * The following letter, from an officer in the French army, paints the con 
 stemation which followed the battle of Blenheim : 
 
 " Je vous dirai que Mercredi 13 Aout il s’en dound la plus sanglante ba- 
 taille qn'on ait vue de mCnoire d’homme, et dans laquelle nous avons 8te 
 entierement defaits. M. de Tallard est blesse, et fait prisonnier avec beau- 
 coup d’autres gcneraux; MM. de Surlaube et Blainville morts; toute l'in- 
 fanterie abimee ou faite prisonniere; M. de Tavanes, colonel, le Comte de 
 Veme, general de la cavalerie, et le Marquis de Bellefonde tu6s sur le 
 place. M. de Montperon, autre general de la cavalerie, blesse. Nous Con¬ 
 rans 8. perdre haleine depuis deux jours, et nous ne sommes arrives a Ulm 
 (rendezvous au debris de l'armee) que tout 8 1’heure, y ayant neuf bonnes 
 heures dela au champ de bataille. Nous etions derriere l’infanterie, qui a 
 ete repousse six fois, et nous l’avions toujours soutenue: elle est entice¬ 
 ment defaite, tous les officiers tues ou blesses, hors M. de Precher, qui se 
 porte aussibien que moi, qui ai fait comme beaucoup d’autres, les g§neraux 
 nous dounant l’example. Ce matin MM. de Courtebonne de Bourg, et 
 D Huricieres sont echapp6s, s’etant sauv6s sur le chemin d'Ulm; enfin toute 
 l’armee est dans une consternation terrible; nous avons perdus nos timbales 
 et etendards.”— Lettrc Originate dans Capefigue, Hisloire de Louis XIV., 
 v., 321. 
 
M AIlL BOROUCi II. 
 
 101 
 
 the strongest in Euro]>e, without firing a shot. The camion 
 of Blenheim still resounded in his ears. Uhn surrendered on 
 the 16th of September, with two hundred and fifty pieces of 
 cannon and twelve hundred barrels of powder, which gave 
 the allies a solid foundation on the Danube, and effectually 
 crushed the power of the Elector of Bavaria, who, isolated 
 now in the midst of his enemies, had no alternative but to 
 abandon his dominions and seek refuge in Brussels, where he 
 arrived in the end of September. 
 
 Meanwhile, as the siege of Landau was found to require 
 
 more time than had been anticipated, owing to the 57. 
 
 . . . Capture of 
 
 extraordinary difficulties experienced hi getting up Landauand 
 
 supplies and lorage for the troops, Marlborough re- and conciu- 
 
 1 TT i T-> v *1 1 sionof tin: 
 
 paired to Hanover and Fermi to stimulate the Jrrus- campaign, 
 sian and Hanoverian cabinets to greater exertions hi the com¬ 
 mon cause ; and he succeeded in malting arrangements for the 
 addition of eight thousand Prussian troops to their valuable 
 auxiliary force, to be added to the army of the Imperialists in 
 Italy, which stood much hi need of re-enforcement. The 
 Electress of Bavaria, who had been left regent of that state in 
 the absence of the elector hi Flanders, had now no resource 
 left but submission; and a treaty was accordingly concluded 
 in the beginning of November, by winch she agreed to dis¬ 
 band all her troops. Treves and Traerbach were taken in 
 the end of December ; the Hungarian insurrection was sup¬ 
 pressed ; Landau capitulated in the beginning of the same 
 month ; a diversion which the enemy attempted toward 
 Treves was defeated by Marlborough’s activity and vigilance, 
 and that city put hi a sufficient posture of defense ; and the 
 campaign being now finished, that accomplished commander 
 returned to the Hague and London to receive the honor due 
 for his past services, and urge their respective cabinets to the 
 efforts necessary to turn them to good account. 
 
 Thus by the operations of one single campaign was Bava¬ 
 ria crushed, Austria saved, and Germany delivered. 58. 
 
 Its marvel- 
 
 Marl borough s cross march from Flanders to the ous results. 
 
 12 
 
102 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Danube bad extricated the Imperialists from a state of the 
 utmost peril, and elevated them at once to security, victory, 
 and conquest. The decisive blow struck at Blenheim resound¬ 
 ed through every part of Europe : it at once destroyed the 
 vast fabric of power which it had taken Louis XIV., aided 
 by the talents of Turenne and the genius of Vauban, so long 
 to construct. Instead of proudly descending the valley of the 
 Danube, and threatening Vienna, as Napoleon afterward did in 
 1805 and 1809, the French were driven in the utmost disor¬ 
 der across the Rhine. The surrender of Traerbach and Lan¬ 
 dau gave the allies a firm footing on the left bank of that 
 river. The submission of Bavaria deprived the French of 
 that great outwork, of which they have made such good use 
 hi their German wars; the Hungarian insurrection, disap¬ 
 pointed of the expected aid from the armies of the Rhine, 
 was pacified. Prussia was induced by this great triumph to 
 co-operate in a more efficient manner hi the common cause; 
 the parsimony of the Dutch gave way before the joy of suc¬ 
 cess ; and the empire, delivered from invasion, was preparing 
 to carry its victorious arms hito the heart of France. Such 
 achievements require no comment; they speak for themselves, 
 and deservedly place Marlborough hi the very highest rank 
 of'military commanders. The campaigns of Napoleon ex¬ 
 hibit no more decisive or important results. 
 
 Honors and emoluments of every description were showered 
 on the English hero for tins glorious success. He was creat¬ 
 ed a prince of the Holy Roman empire,* and a tract of land 
 * The holograph letter of the emperor, announcing this honor, said, with 
 equal truth and justice, “I am induced to assign to your highness a place 
 among the princes of the empire, in order that it may universally appear 
 how much I acknowledge myself and the empire to be indebted to the Queen 
 of Great Britain, who sent her arms as far as Bavaria at a time when the 
 affairs of the empire, by the defection of the Bavarians to the French, most 
 needed that assistance and support. And to your grace, likewise, to whose 
 prudence and courage, together with the bravery’ of the forces fighting under 
 your command, the two victories lately granted by Providence to the allies 
 are principally’ attributed, not only by’ the voice of fame, but by the general offi¬ 
 cers in my army who had then- share in your labor and your glory.”— The 
 Emperor Leopold to Marlborough, 28 th of August, 1704.— Disp., i., 538. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 103 
 
 in Germany, at Mindelsheim, erected into a prin- 59. 
 
 Honors and 
 
 cipality in his favor. His humanity to the wound- rewards be- 
 ed, alike of the enemy’s army and his own, and his Marlborough, 
 courtesy to the vanquished, were the theme of universal ad¬ 
 miration. The coohiess with which he gave his orders in the 
 hottest of the fire, and the admirable presence of mind with 
 which he carried succor to every part of the field which re¬ 
 quired it, were admitted by all to have caused the triumph. 
 His reception at the courts of Berlin and Hanover resembled 
 that of a sovereign prince ; the acclamations of the people, in 
 all the towns through winch he passed, rent the air ; at the 
 Hague his influence was such that he was regarded as the 
 real stadtholder. More substantial rewards awaited him in 
 his own country. The munificence of the queen and the grat¬ 
 itude of Parliament conferred upon him the extensive honor 
 and manor of Woodstock, long a royal palace, and once the 
 scene of the loves of Henry II. and the Fair Rosamond. 
 By order of the queen, not only was this noble estate settled 
 on the duke and his heirs, hut the royal controller commenc 
 ed a magnificent palace for the duke on a scale worthy of his 
 services and England's gratitude. From this origin the su¬ 
 perb palace of Blenheim has taken its rise, which, although 
 not built in the purest taste or after the most approved mod¬ 
 els, remains, and will long remain, a splendid monument of a 
 nation’s gratitude, and of the genius of Vanbrugh. But a 
 yet more enduring monument was raised in the fines of the 
 poet, which, even at this distance of time, are felt to be de- 
 sorved : 
 
 “ 'Twas then great Marlborough’s mighty soul was proved, 
 
 That in the shock of charging hosts unmoved, 
 
 Amid confusion, horror, and despair. 
 
 Examined all the dreadful scenes of war. 
 
 In peaceful thought the field of death surveyed, 
 
 To fainting Bquadrons sent the timely aid; 
 
 Inspired repulsed battalions to engage, 
 
 And taught the doubtful battle where to rage. 
 
 So when an angel, by divine command, 
 
 With rising tempests shakes a guilty land— 
 
104 
 
 THE I.IFE OF 
 
 Such as of late o’er pale Britannia pass’d— 
 
 Calm and serene he drives the furious blast; 
 
 And pleased the Almighty’s orders to perform. 
 
 Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.” 
 
 Addison. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CAMPAIGNS OF 1705 AND 1706. -BATTLE OF RAMILLIES AND 
 
 CONQUEST OF FLANDERS. 
 
 Notwithstanding the invaluable services thus rendered by 
 i. Marlborough, both to the Emperor of Germany 
 omhe English ant ^ the Queen of Great Britain, he was far from 
 vodng^up 1 m experiencing from either potentate that liberal sup- 
 pUes. port for the future prosecution of the war which 
 
 the inestimable opportunity now placed in their hands, and 
 the formidable power still at the disposal of the enemy, so 
 loudly required. As usual, the English Parliament were ex¬ 
 ceedingly backward in voting supplies either of men or money; 
 nor was the cabinet of Vienna or that of the Hague inclined 
 to be more liberal in their exertions. Though the House of 
 Commons agreed to give ,£4,670,000 for the service of the 
 ensuing year, yet the land forces voted were only forty thou¬ 
 sand men. The population of Great Britain and Ireland 
 could not be at that period under ten millions, while France, 
 with about twenty millions, had above two hundred thousand 
 under arms. It is this excessive and invariable reluctance of 
 the English Parliament ever to make those efforts at the com¬ 
 mencement of a war, which are necessary to turn to a good 
 account the inherent bravery of its commanders, that is the 
 cause of the long duration of our Continental contests, and of 
 three fourths of the national debt which now oppresses the 
 empire, and, in its ultimate results, will endanger its existence. 
 The national forces are, by the cry for economy and reduction 
 which invariably is raised in peace, reduced to so low an ebb. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 105 
 
 that it is only by successive additions, made in many different 
 years, that they can be raised up to any tiring like the amount 
 requisite for successful operations. In the mean time, and 
 before the requisite additions can be made to the land and 
 sea forces, disasters, sometimes serious and irreparable, are 
 sustained on both elements. Thus disaster generally occurs 
 in the commencement of every war ; or if, by the genius of 
 any extraordinary commander, as by that of Marlborough, 
 unlooked-for success is achieved in the outset, the nation is 
 unable to follow it up ; the war languishes for want of the 
 requisite support. The enemy gets tune to recover from his 
 consternation ; his danger stimulates him to greater exertions; 
 and many long years of warfare, deeply checkered with disas¬ 
 ter, and attended with enormous expense, are required to ob¬ 
 viate the effects of previous undue pacific reduction. 
 
 How bitterly Marlborough felt this want of support, on the 
 part of the cabinets both of London and Vienna, 2 . 
 which prevented him from following up the victory wWicl, Marr 
 of Blenheim with the decisive operations against t°minedof 
 France which he would otherwise have undoubtedly *o n f 0 a Jg dig . 
 commenced, is proved by various parts of his cor- positlon 
 respondence. On the 16th of December, 1704, he wrote to 
 Mr. Secretary Harley : “ I am sorry to see nothing has been 
 offered yet, nor any care taken by Parliament for recruiting 
 the army. I mean chiefly the foot. It is of that consequence 
 for an early campaign, that without it tve may run the hazard 
 of losing, in a great measure, the fruits of the last; and, 
 therefore, I pray leave to recommend it to you to advise with 
 your friends if any proper method can be thought of, that 
 may be laid before the House immediately, without waiting 
 my arrival.”* Nor was the cabinet of Vienna, notwithstand¬ 
 ing the imminent danger they had recently run, more active 
 in making the necessary efforts to repair the losses of the cam¬ 
 paign : “You can not,” says Marlborough, “ say more to us 
 of the supine negligence of the court of Vienna, with refer- 
 
 # Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Harley, 16th Dec., 1701. Disp., i., 556. 
 
106 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ence to your affairs, than we are sensible of every where else; 
 and certainly if the Duke of Savoy’s good conduct and brav¬ 
 ery at Verue had not reduced the French to a very low ebb, 
 the game must have been over before any help could come to 
 you.”* It is ever thus, especially with states such as Great 
 Britain, in which the democratic element is so powerful as to 
 imprint upon the measures of government that disregard of 
 the future, and aversion to present efforts or burdens, which 
 invariably characterizes the mass of mankind. If Marlbor¬ 
 ough had been adequately supported and strengthened after 
 the decisive blow struck at Blenheim, that is, if the govern¬ 
 ments of Vieima and London, with that of the Hague, had 
 by a great and timely effort doubled his effective force when 
 the French were broken and disheartened by defeat, he would 
 have marched to Paris in the next campaign, and dictated 
 peace to the G-rand Monarque in Ins gorgeous halls of Ver¬ 
 sailles. It was short-sighted economy which entailed upon 
 the allied nations the costs and burdens of the next ten years 
 of the War of the Succession, as it did the still greater costs 
 and burdens of the Revolutionary contest, after the still more 
 decisive successes of the allies hi the summer of 1793, when 
 the iron frontier of the Netherlands had been entirely broken 
 through, and their advanced posts, without any force to oppose 
 them, were within a hundred and sixty miles of Paris. 
 
 This parsimony of the allied governments, and their invin- 
 3 - „ cible repugnance to the efforts and sacrifices which 
 
 Reasons for . 
 
 converting the could alone bring, and certainly would have 
 
 war into one 
 
 of sieges, and brought, the war to an early and glorious issue, is 
 placing its seat p , . r 
 
 m Flanders, the cause ot the subsequent conversion oi the war 
 
 into one of blockades and sieges, and of its being transferred 
 to Flanders, where its progress was necessarily slow, and cost 
 enormous, from the vast number of strongholds which requir¬ 
 ed to be reduced at every stage of the allied advance. It was 
 said at the time, that in attacking Flanders in that quarter, 
 Marlborough took the bull by the horns ; that France on the 
 * Marlborough to Mr. Hill at Turin, 6th Feb., 1705. Disp., i., 591. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 107 
 
 side of the Rhine was far more vulnerable, and that the war 
 was fixed in Flanders for the purpose of augmenting the profits 
 of the generals employed, by protracting it. Subsequent 
 winters, not reflecting on the difference of the circumstances, 
 have observed the successful issue of the invasions of France 
 from Switzerland and the Upper Rhine in 1814, and Flanders 
 and the Lower Rhine in 1815, and concluded that a similar 
 result would have attended a like bold invasion under Marl¬ 
 borough and Eugene. There never was a greater mistake. 
 The great object of the war was to wrest Flanders from 
 France. While the lilied standard floated on Brussels and 
 Antwerp, the United Provinces were constantly in danger of 
 being swallowed up ; and there was no security for the inde¬ 
 pendence of England, Holland, or any of the German States. 
 If Marlborough and Eugene had had two hundred thousand 
 effective men at their disposal, as Wellington and Blucher 
 had in 1815, or three hundred thousand, as Schwartzenberg 
 and Blucher had in 1814, they might doubtless have left half 
 their forces behind them to blockade the fortresses, and with 
 the other half marched direct to Paris. But as they never 
 had more than It hundred thousand on their muster-rolls, and 
 could not at any time bring more than eighty thousand effect¬ 
 ive men into the field, tiffs bold and decisive course was im¬ 
 possible. The French army in their front was rarely inferior 
 to theirs, often superior; and how was it possible, in these 
 circumstances, to venture on the perilous course of pushing on 
 into the heart of the enemy’s territory, leaving the frontier 
 fortresses yet unsubdued in their rear ? 
 
 The disastrous issue of the Blenheim campaign to the 
 French, even when supported by the friendly arms 4 
 and all the fortresses of Bavaria, in the preceding ^‘samen'f- 
 year, had shown what was the danger of such a 
 course. The still more calamitous issue of the Mos- r i uent limes - 
 cow campaign to the army of Napoleon demonstrated that 
 even the greatest military talents, and most enormous accu¬ 
 mulation of military foroe, affords no security against the in- 
 
108 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 calculable danger of an undue advance beyond the base of 
 military operations. The greatest generals of the last age, 
 fruitful beyond all others in military talent, have acted on those 
 principles whenever they had not an overwhelming superiority 
 of forces at their command. Wellington never invaded Spain 
 till he was master of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos, nor France 
 till he had subdued San Sebastian and Pampeluna. The first 
 use which Napoleon made of his victories at Montenotte and 
 Dego was to compel the court of Turin to surrender their for¬ 
 tresses in Piedmont; of the victory of Marengo, to force the 
 Imperialists to abandon the whole strongholds of Lombardy 
 as far as the Adige. The possession of the single fortress of 
 Mantua, in 1796, enabled the Austrians to arrest the course 
 of Napoleon’s victories, and gain time to assemble four differ¬ 
 ent armies for the defense of the monarchy. The case of half 
 a million of men, flushed by victory, and led by able and ex¬ 
 perienced leaders, assailing a single state, is the exception, not 
 the rule. 
 
 Circumstances, therefore, of paramount importance and ir- 
 5 _ resistible force, compelled Marlborough to fix the 
 tatenTofMaiL war ' il Flanders, and convert it into one of sieges 
 keepilf"to°'etii- an< ^ blockades. In entering upon such a system 
 er the alliance. 0 f l los tility, sure, and comparatively free from risk 
 but slow and extremely costly, the alliance ran the greatest 
 risk of being shipwrecked in consequence of the numerous dis¬ 
 cords, jealousies, and separate interests which, in the case of 
 almost every coalition recorded in history, have proved fatal to 
 a great confederacy, if it does not obtain decisive success at 
 the outset, before these seeds of division have had time to 
 come to maturity. With what admirable skill and incom¬ 
 parable address Marlborough kept together the unwieldy al¬ 
 liance, will hereafter appear. Never was a man so qualified 
 by nature for such a task. He was courtesy and grace per¬ 
 sonified. It was a common saying at the time, that neither 
 man nor woman could resist him. “ Of all the men I ever 
 knew,” says one who was himself a perfect master of the ele- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 109 
 
 gances he so much admired, “ the late Duke of Marlborough 
 possessed the graces hi the highest degree, not to say engross¬ 
 ed them. Indeed, he got the most by them; and, contrary 
 to the custom of profound historians, who always assign deep 
 causes for great events, I ascribe the better half of the Duke 
 of Marlborough’s greatness to those graces. He had no bright¬ 
 ness, nothing shining in his genius. He had, most undoubted¬ 
 ly, an excellent plain understanding, and sound judgment. 
 But these qualities alone would probably have never raised 
 liim higher than they found him, which was page to James 
 the Second’s queen. But there the graces protected and pro¬ 
 mo ted him. His figure was beautiful, but his manner was ir¬ 
 resistible, either by man or woman. It was by this engaging, 
 graceful maimer, that he was enabled, during all the war, to 
 connect the various and jarring powers of the Grand Alliance, 
 and to carry them on to the main object of the war, notwith¬ 
 standing their private and separate views, jealousies, and 
 wrong-headedness. Whatever court he went to (and he was 
 often obliged to go to restive and refractoiy ones), he brought 
 them into Iris measures. The Pensionary Heinsius, who had 
 governed the United Provinces for forty years, was absolutely 
 governed by him. He was always cool, and nobody ever ob¬ 
 served the least variation in his countenance ; he could refuse 
 more gracefully than others could grant; and those who went 
 from him the most dissatisfied as to the substance of their bu¬ 
 siness, were yet charmed by his manner, and, as it were, com¬ 
 forted by it.”* 
 
 The same circumstance of necessity imprinted a peculiar 
 
 character upon the generalship of Marlborough, o. 
 
 r ° r ° Caution which 
 
 as it has subsequently done on that of Wellington, the same cause 
 
 , . imprinted on 
 
 and must ever do oil the commander who is to head Marlborough’s 
 the forces of a great confederacy, especially if pop- duct 3 
 ular states enter into its composition. Caution and prudence, 
 in such a situation, are not only important, but indispensable. 
 The jealousies of cabinets are such, their interests are in gen- 
 * Lord Chesterfield's Letters, Lord Mahon’s edition, 1, 221-222. 
 
 K 
 
110 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 eral so much at variance, that nothing can keep the alliance 
 together for any length of time hut either an unbroken career 
 of success, or the presence of some universally-felt and over¬ 
 whelming danger. Such is the impatience of disaster or tax¬ 
 ation, and such the fickleness of disposition in the people of 
 every country, that they can never he brought to cany on a 
 contest for any considerable length of time, if danger is not 
 evident from its cessation, or their imaginations are not excit¬ 
 ed by a constant series of triumphs. Both these difficulties 
 existed in the case of Marlborough, for he was the general of 
 a free state, which, unless in the excitement of victory, is con¬ 
 stantly impatient of taxation, and the leader of the forces of 
 an affiance which it required all his address and all the ter¬ 
 rors of Louis XIY. to hinder every year from faffing to pieces, 
 from the jealousies and separate views of its members. With 
 him, therefore, a prudent lhie of conduct was not only advisa¬ 
 ble, but indispensable. A single defeat would overturn the 
 ministry in England, and dissolve the affiance. Unbroken 
 success was the condition on which alone the contest could be 
 maintained; and the event proved that even this condition, 
 which he constantly secui-ed, could not, in the end, insure its 
 continuance. And from this veiy success arose a new set of 
 dangers; for it took away the stimulus of fear, and brought 
 into activity the usual selfishness of mankind, which leads ev¬ 
 ery one to strive to throw the burden of efforts for the com¬ 
 mon cause on his neighbor. 
 
 A striking proof of the action of these principles of weak- 
 7 . ness, inherent in all confederacies, in the affiance 
 whShthea?” of winch he was the head, occurred in the very 
 on'iiifi‘conduct nex t campaign. It might have been expected, 
 uf the war. that after the march into Bavaria had demon¬ 
 strated the military genius of the Duke of Marlborough, and 
 the battle of Blenheim had, in so decisive a maimer, broken 
 the enemy’s power, the principal direction of military affairs 
 would have been intrusted to that consummate commander, 
 and that the allied cabinets, without presuming to interfere in 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 Ill 
 
 the management of the campaigns, would have turned all their 
 efforts to place at his disposal forces adequate to carry into 
 execution the mighty designs which he meditated, and had 
 shown himself so well qualified to carry into execution. It 
 was quite the reverse. The allied cabinets did nothing— 
 they did worse than nothing : they interfered only to do mis- 
 cliief. Their prhicipal object after this appeared to be to 
 cramp the efforts of tins great general, to overrule his bold 
 designs, to tie down Iris aspiring genius. Each looked only to 
 his own separate objects, and nothing could make them see 
 that these were to be gained only by promoting the general 
 objects of the alliance. Relieved from the danger of distant 
 subjugation by the victory of Blenheim and the retreat of the 
 French army across the Rhine, the German powers relapsed 
 into their usual state of supineness, lukewarmness, and indif¬ 
 ference. No efforts of Marlborough could induce the Dutch 
 either to enlarge their contingent, or even render that already 
 in the field fit for active service. The English force was not 
 half of what the national strength was capable of sending 
 forth. Parliament would not hear of any thing like an ade¬ 
 quate expenditure. Thus the golden opportunity, never likely 
 to be regained, of profiting by the consternation of the enemy 
 after the battle of Bleidieim, and their weakness after forty 
 thousand of their best troops had been lost to their armies, 
 was allowed to pass away, and the war permitted to dwin¬ 
 dle into one of posts and sieges, when, by a vigorous effort, it 
 might have been concluded in the next campaign.* 
 
 It was not thus with the French. The same cause which 
 
 # “ C’est le retard de toutes les troupes Allemandes qui derange nos af¬ 
 faires. Jo ne saurais vous expliquer la situation ou nous sommes qu’en vous 
 envoyant les deux lettres ci jointes—1’une que je viens de recevoir du Prince 
 de Bade, ot l'autre la rOponse que je lui fais. En verite notre btat est plus 
 a plaindre que vous ne croyez ; raais je vous prie que cela n’aille pas outre. 
 Nous perdons la plus belle occasion du monde—manque dcs troupes qui de- 
 vauinl Htre id il y a deja longt.emps. Pour le reste de l’aitillerie Hollandaise, 
 et les provisions qui peuvent arriver de Mayence, vous les arreterez, s'il vous 
 plait, pour quelques jours, jusqu’ace que je vou ecrive.”— Marlborough a M. 
 Pesters ; Treves, 31 Mai, 1705. Dispatches, ii., 60-1. 
 
112 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 @ had loosened the efforts of the confederates, had 
 
 Vigorous cf- _ . 
 
 forte of the inspired unwonted vigor into their councils. The 
 
 French gov- 
 
 emmcnt. Rhine was crossed by the allies; the French ar¬ 
 mies had been hurled with disgrace out of Germany ; the ter¬ 
 ritory of the Grand Monarque was threatened both from the 
 side of Alsace and Flanders ; and a formidable insurrection in 
 the Cevennes distracted the force and threatened the peace of 
 the kingdom. But against all these evils Louis made head. 
 Never had the superior vigor and perseverance of a monarchy 
 over those of a confederacy been more clearly evinced. Mar¬ 
 shal Villars had been employed in the close of the preceding 
 year in appeasing the insurrection in the Cevennes, and Iris 
 measures were at once so vigorous and conciliatory, that be¬ 
 fore the end of the following winter the disturbances were en¬ 
 tirely at an end. In consequence of this, the forces employed 
 in that quarter became disposable ; and by this means, and the 
 immense efforts made by the government over the whole king¬ 
 dom, the armies on the frontier were so considerably augment¬ 
 ed, that Villeroi and the Elector of Bavaria took the field in 
 the Low Countries at the head of seventy-five thousand men, 
 while Marshal Marsin, on the Upper Rhine, covered Adsaco- 
 with thirty thousand. Those armies were much larger than 
 any which the allies could bring against them; for although 
 it had been calculated that Marlborough was to be at the 
 head of ninety thousand men on the Moselle on the 1st of 
 May, yet, such had been the dilatory conduct of the States 
 General and the German princes, in the beginning of June 
 there were scarcely thirty thousand men collected round his 
 standards ; and in Flanders and on the Upper Rhine the en¬ 
 emy’s relative superiority was still greater. 
 
 The plan of the campaign of 1705, based on the supposition 
 
 9- that these great forces were to be at his disposal, 
 Bold plan of 1 
 
 Marlborough concerted between lnm and Prince Eugene, w r as in 
 
 for the'inva- the highest degree bold and decisive. It was fixed 
 
 France. that, early hi spring, ninety thousand men should 
 
 be assembled in the country between the Moselle and the Saar. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 113 
 
 and, after establishing their magazines and base of operations at 
 Treves and Traerbach, they should penetrate, in two columns, 
 into Lorraine ; that the column under Marlborough in person 
 should advance along the course of the Moselle, and the other, 
 under the Margrave of Baden, by the valley of the Saar, and 
 that Saar-Louis should be invested before the French army had 
 time to take the field. In this way the whole fortresses of 
 Flanders would be avoided, and the war, carried into the ene¬ 
 my’s territory, would assail France on the side where her iron 
 barrier was most easily pierced through. But the slowness of 
 the Dutch and backwardness of the Germans rendered this 
 well-conceived plan abortive, and doomed the English general, 
 for the whole of a campaign which promised such important 
 advantages, to little else but difficulty, delay, and vexation. 
 Marlborough’s enthusiasm, great as it was, nearly sank under 
 the repeated disappointments which he experienced at this junc¬ 
 ture ; and, guarded as he was, his chagrin exhaled in several 
 bitter complaints in his confidential correspondence.* But, 
 like a true patriot and man of perseverance, he did not give 
 way to despair when he found nearly all that had been prom¬ 
 ised him wanting ; but, perceiving the greater designs imprac¬ 
 ticable, from the want of all the means by which they could 
 be carried into execution, prepared to make the most of the 
 insufficient force which alone was at his disposal. 
 
 * Even so late as the 8th of June, Marlborough wrote, " J’ai d’abord pris 
 postc dans ce camp, ou je me trouve a portae d’entreprendre la siege de 
 Saar-Louis, si les troupes qui devaient avoir dte ici il y a quelques jours 
 m’avaient joint. Cependant je n’ai pas jusqu’ici un seul homme qui ne soit 
 a la solde d’Angleterre ou de la Hollande. Les troupes de Bade ne peu- 
 vent arriver avant le 21 au plutot; quelques-uns des Prussiens sont encore 
 plus en arriere; et pour les trois mille chevaux que les princes voisins de¬ 
 vaient nous fourair pour mener l’artillerie et les munitions, et sans quoi il 
 nous sera impossible d’agir, je n’en ai aucune nouvelle, nonobstant toutes 
 mes instances. J’ai grand peur meme qu’il n’y ait, a l’heure meme que je 
 vous dcris celle-ci, des regulations en chetnin de la Haye qui detruiront en- 
 tierement tous nos projets de ce cote. Cette situation me donne tant d’in- 
 quidtude que je ne saurais me dispenser de vous prier d’en vouloir part a sa 
 majestd Imperiale.”— Marlborough, an Comte de Wroteslau, Elft, 8 Juin, 
 1705. Dispatches, ii., 85. 
 
 K 2 
 
114 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 At length, some of the German re-enforcements having ar- 
 
 10. rived, Marlborough, in the beginning of June, 
 raemofope- though still greatly inferior to the enemy, com- 
 
 menced operations. Such was the terror inspired 
 the Moselle. ] 3 y }^ s uamGj an J the tried valor of the English 
 troops, that Villars remained on the defensive, and soon re¬ 
 treated. Without firing a shot, he evacuated a strong woody 
 country which he occupied, and retired to a defensive position, 
 extending from Haute Sirk on the right to the Nevelle on the 
 left, and communicating in the rear with Luxembourg, Tliion- 
 ville, and Saar-Louis. This position was so well chosen, that 
 it was hopeless to attempt to force it without heavy camion ; 
 and Marlborough’s had not yet arrived, from the failure of the 
 German princes to furnish the draught-horses they had prom¬ 
 ised. For nine weary days he remained in front of the French 
 position, counting the hours till the guns and re-enforcements 
 came up ; but such was the tardiness of the German powers, 
 and the universal inefficiency of the inferior princes and po¬ 
 tentates, that they never made their appearance. The En¬ 
 glish general was still anxiously awaiting the promised sup¬ 
 plies, when intelligence arrived from the right of so alarming 
 a character as at once changed the theater of operations, and 
 fixed him for the remainder of the campaign in the plains of 
 Flanders. 
 
 It was the rapid progress which Marshal Villeroi and the 
 
 11 . Elector of Bavaria, at the head of seventy-five thou- 
 
 Successes of* 
 
 vnieroi oyer sand men, were making in the heart of the Low 
 Flanders. Countries, which rendered this change necessary. 
 General Overkirk was there intrusted with the army intended 
 to cover Holland ; but it was greatly inferior to the enemy in 
 point of numerical amount, and still more so in the quality 
 and composition of the troops of which it was made up. 
 Aware of his superiority, and of the timid character of the 
 government which was principally interested in that army, 
 Villeroi pushed his advantages to the utmost. He advanced 
 boldly upon the Meuse, carried by assault the fortress of Huys, 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 115 
 
 and, marching upon Liege, occupied the town without much 
 resistance, and laid siege to the citadel. Overkirk, cautiously 
 remaining within his lines before Maestricht, was unable even 
 to keep the field. The utmost alarm seized upon the United 
 Provinces. They already, in imagination, saw Louis XIV. a 
 second time at the gates of Amsterdam. Courier after courier 
 was dispatched to Marlborough, soliciting relief in the most 
 urgent terms ; and it was hinted, that if effectual protection 
 were not immediately given, Holland would be under the ne¬ 
 cessity of negotiating for a separate peace. There was not a 
 moment to be lost: the Dutch were now as hard pressed as 
 the Austrians had been in the preceding year, and in greater 
 alarm than the emperor was before the battle of Blenheim. 
 A cross-march like that into Bavaria could alone reinstate 
 affairs. Without a moment’s hesitation, Marlborough took 
 his determination. 
 
 On the 17th of June, without communicating his designs 
 to any one, or even without saying a word of the 12 . 
 
 ... . . Sudden march 
 
 alarming intelligence he had received, he ordered ofMaribor- 
 
 111 -1 1 ., . ough to their 
 
 the whole army to be under arms at midnight, relief, 
 and, setting out shortly after, he marched, without intermis¬ 
 sion, eighteen miles to the rear. Having thus gained a march 
 upon the enemy, so as to avoid the risk of being pursued or 
 harassed in his retreat, he left General D’Aubach, with eleven 
 battalions and twelve squadrons, to cover the important mag¬ 
 azines at Treves and Saarbruck, and himself, with the re¬ 
 mainder of the army, about thirty thousand strong, marched 
 rapidly in the direction of Maestricht. He was in hopes of 
 being able, like the Consul Nero, in the memorable cross¬ 
 march from Apulia to the Metaurus, in Roman story, to sur¬ 
 prise the French with liis own army united to that of Over¬ 
 kirk before they were aware of his approach; but in this he 
 was disappointed. Villeroi got notice of his movement, and, 
 instantly raising the siege of the citadel of Liege, withdrew, 
 though still superior in number to the united forces of the 
 enemy, within the shelter of the fines he had prepared and 
 
116 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 fortified with great care on the Meuse. Marlborough distantly 
 attacked and carried Huys on the 11th of July. But the sat¬ 
 isfaction derived from having thus arrested the progress of the 
 enemy in Flanders, and wrested from him the only conquest 
 of the campaign, soon received a bitter alloy. Like Frederic 
 in his marvelous campaigns, and Napoleon in his later years, 
 the successes he gained in person were almost always over¬ 
 balanced by the disasters sustained through the blunders or 
 treachery of his lieutenants. 
 
 Hardly had Huys opened its gates, when advices were re- 
 13. ceived that D’Aubach, instead of obeying his or- 
 ofiheGorm!m ders, and defending the magazines at Treves and 
 Hrel’f of the Saarbruck to the last extremity, had fled on the 
 the f: de--i r ™ der drst appearance of a weak French detachment, and 
 abortive. burned the whole stores "which it had cost so much 
 time and money to collect. This was a severe blow to Marl¬ 
 borough, for it at once rendered impracticable the offensive 
 movement into Lorraine, on "which his heart was so set, and 
 from which he had anticipated such important results. It 
 was no longer possible to carry the war into the enemy’s ter¬ 
 ritory, or turn, by an irruption into Lorraine, the whole for¬ 
 tresses of the enemy in Flanders. The tardiness of the Ger¬ 
 man powers in the first instance, the terrors of the Dutch, and 
 the misconduct of D’Aubach hi the last, had caused that ably- 
 conceived design entirely to miscarry. Great "was the morti¬ 
 fication of the English general at this signal disappointment 
 of his most warmly-cherished hopes; it even "went so far that 
 he had thoughts of resigning his command.* But, instead of 
 
 * “ Par ces contretemps tons nos projets de ce cote-ci sont evanouis, au 
 moins pour le present; et j’espere que V. A. me fera la justice de croire 
 que j’ai fait tout ce qui a dependu de moi pour les faire reussir. Si je pou- 
 vais avoir l’honneur d’entretenir V. A. pour une seule heure, je lui dirai bien 
 des choses, par ou elle verrait combien je suis a plaindre. J’avais 94 es- 
 caib'ons et 72 bataillons, tous a le solde de l’Angleterre et de la Hollande; 
 de sorte que, si l’on in'avait seconde, nous aurions eu une des pins glorieuses 
 campagnes qu’on pouvait souhaiter. Apres un tel traitment, V. A., je suis 
 sur, ne m’aurait pas blame si j’avais pris la resolution de ne jamais plus sermr 
 co'mme je ne ferai pas aussi, je vous assure, apres cette campagne, a moins 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 117 
 
 abandoning himself to despair, he set about, like the King of 
 Prussia in after times, the preparation of a stroke which should 
 reinstate his affairs by the terror with which it inspired the 
 enemy, and the demonstration of inexhaustible resources it af¬ 
 forded in himself. 
 
 The position taken up by the Elector of Bavaria and Mar¬ 
 shal Villeroi, when Marlborough’s cross-march 14 , 
 forced them to defensive measures, was so strong p^efby vn£ 
 that it was regarded as impregnable; and, in truth, r01 ' 
 it was so to a front attack. With its right resting on Marche 
 aux Dames on the Meuse, it stretched through Leau to the 
 strong and important fortress of Antwerp. This line was 
 long, and, of course, liable to be broken through at various 
 pomts; but such was the skill with which every vulnerable 
 part had been strengthened and fortified by the French en¬ 
 gineers, that it was no easy matter to say where an impression 
 could be made. Wherever a marsh or a stream intervened, 
 the most skillful use had been made of it; while forts and re¬ 
 doubts, plentifully mounted with heavy camion, both com¬ 
 manded all the approaches to the lines, and formed so many 
 points d'apjrtii to the defenders in case of disaster. Such a 
 position, defended by seventy thousand men, directed by able 
 generals, might well be deemed impregnable. But Marlbor¬ 
 ough, with an inferior force, resolved to attempt its conquest. 
 He was at the head of seventy-two battalions and ninty-four 
 squadrons, mustering thirty-six thousand foot and fourteen 
 thousand horse; and with them he determined to assail the 
 enemy in their strong position. I 11 doing so, however, he had 
 difficulties more formidable to overcome than even the resist¬ 
 ance of the enemy in front; the timidity of the authorities at 
 the Hague, and the nervousness under responsibility of the 
 generals of the United Provinces, were more to be dreaded 
 than Villeroi’s redoubts. It required all the consummate ad- 
 
 que de pouvoir prendre des mdsures avec l'empereur sur lesquelles je pour- 
 r:iis entierement me tier.”— Marlborough a Eugene, 21 Juin, 1705. Dis- 
 vatches, ii., 124. 
 
118 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 dress of the English general, aided by the able co-operation of 
 General Overkirk, to obtain liberty from the Dutch authori¬ 
 ties to engage hi any offensive undertaking. At length, how¬ 
 ever, after infinite difficulty, a council of war, at head-quar¬ 
 ters, agreed to support any measure which might he deemed 
 advisable; and Marlborough instantly set about putting his 
 design in execution. 
 
 The better to conceal the real point of attack, he gave out 
 15 that a march to the Moselle was to be immediately 
 to overreach undertaken ; and, to give a color to the report, the 
 the enemy. cor p S which had been employed in the siege of Huys 
 was not brought forward to the front. At the same time, 
 Overkirk was detached to the allied left toward Bourdine, 
 and Marlborough followed -with a considerable force, ostensibly 
 to support him. So completely was Yilleroi imposed upon, 
 that he drew large re-enforcements from the center to his ex¬ 
 treme right; and soon forty thousand men were grouped 
 round the sources of the Little Gheet on his extreme right. 
 By this means the middle of his line was seriously weakened; 
 and Marlborough instantly assembled, with every imaginable 
 precaution to avoid discovery, all his disposable forces to at¬ 
 tack the most vulnerable part of the hues. The corps hith¬ 
 erto stationed on the Meuse was silently brought up to the 
 front; Marlborough put himself at the head of his own En¬ 
 glish and German troops, whom he had carried with him from 
 the Moselle; and at eight at night on the 17th of July, the 
 whole began to march, all profoundly ignorant of the service 
 on which they were to be engaged. Each trooper was order¬ 
 ed to carry a truss of hay at his saddle-bow, as if a long march 
 was in contemplation. At the same instant on which the 
 columns under Marlborough’s orders commenced their march, 
 Overkirk repassed the Meliaigne on the left, and, concealed by 
 darkness, fell into the general line of the advance of the allied 
 troops. No fascines or gabions had been brought along to fill 
 up the ditch, for fear of excithig alarm in the lines. The 
 trusses of hay alone were trusted to for that purpose, which 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 119 
 
 would be equally effectual, and less likely to awaken sus¬ 
 picion. 
 
 At four in the morning, the heads of the columns, wholly 
 unperceived, were in front of the French works, u>- 
 
 * , Entire success 
 
 and, covered by a thick fo£, traversed the morass, of the attack 
 
 . . , onVilleroi’s 
 
 passed the (J-heet despite its steep banks, carried lines, July 17. 
 the castle of Wange, and, rushing forward with a swift pace, 
 crossed the ditch on the trusses of hay, and, in three massy 
 columns, scaled the rampart, and broke into the enemy’s 
 works. Hitherto entire success had attended this admirably- 
 planned attack ; but the alarm was now given : a fresh corps 
 of fifteen thousand men, under M. D’Allegre, hastily assem¬ 
 bled, and a heavy fire was opened upon the allies, now dis¬ 
 tinctly visible in the morning light, from a commanding bat¬ 
 tery. Upon this, Marlborough put himself at the head of 
 Lumley’s English horse, and, charging vigorously, succeeded, 
 though not till he had sustained one repulse, in breaking 
 through the line thus hastily formed. In this charge the 
 duke narrowly escaped with his life in a personal conflict 
 with a Bavarian officer. The allies now crowded in in great 
 numbers, and the French, panic-struck, fled on all sides, aban¬ 
 doning the whole center of their intrenchments to the bold 
 assailants. Villeroi, who had become aware, from the retreat 
 of Overkirk in his front, that some attack was in contempla¬ 
 tion, but was ignorant where the tempest was to fall, remain¬ 
 ed all night under arms. At length, attracted by the heavy 
 fire, he approached the scene of action in the center only hi 
 time to see that the position was broken through, and the lures 
 no longer tenable. lie drew off his whole troops accordingly, 
 and took up a new position, nearly at right angles to the 
 former, stretching from Elixheim toward Tirlemont. 
 
 It was part of the design of the duke to have intercepted 
 the line of retreat of the French, and prevented n. 
 
 Obstinacy and 
 
 them from reaching the Dvle, to which they were backwarJneaa 
 
 v ■■ , : , . . , oftheDutct 
 
 tending; but such was the obstmacy and slow- prevents a 
 ness of the Dutch generals, that nothing could per- tory P 
 
120 
 
 T1IE LIFE OF 
 
 suade them to make any further exertion, and, in defiance of 
 the orders and remonstrances alike of Marlborough and Over¬ 
 kirk, they pitched their tents, and refused to take any part 
 in the pursuit. The consequence was, that Villeroi collected 
 Iris scattered forces, crossed the Dyle in haste, and took up 
 new ground, about eighteen miles in the rear, with his left 
 sheltered by the cannon of Louvain. But, though the diso¬ 
 bedience and obstinacy of the Dutch thus intercepted Marl¬ 
 borough in the career of victory, and rendered his success 
 much less complete than it otherwise would have been, a 
 mighty blow had yet been struck, reflecting the highest credit 
 on the skill and resolution of the English general. The fa¬ 
 mous lines, on which the French had been laboring for months, 
 had been broken through and carried, during a nocturnal con¬ 
 flict of a few hours ; they had lost all their redoubts, and the 
 cannon with which they were armed; M. D’Allegre, with 
 twelve hundred prisoners, had been taken; and the army 
 which lately besieged Liege and threatened Maestricht was 
 now driven hack, defeated and discouraged, to seek refuge 
 under the cannon of Louvain. 
 
 Overkirk, who had so ably co-operated with Marlborough 
 d t h ? depu * n gl° r i° us victory, had the magnanimity as 
 ties continue we ll as candor, in his dispatch to the States Gen- 
 
 their opposi¬ 
 tion. eral, to ascribe the success which had been gamed 
 
 entirely to the skill and courage of the English general.* 
 But the Dutch generals, who had interrupted his career of 
 success, had the malignity to charge the consequences of their 
 misconduct on his head, and even carried their effrontery so 
 far as to accuse him of supineness in not following up his suc¬ 
 cess, and cutting off the enemy’s retreat to the Dyle, when it 
 was themselves who had refused to obey his orders to do so. 
 Rains of extraordinary severity fell from the 19th to the 23d 
 of July, which rendered all offensive operations impracticable, 
 
 * “It is a justice I owe to the Duke of Marlborough to state, that the 
 honor of the enterprise, executed with so much skill and courage, is entirely 
 due to him.”— Overkirk to States General, 19th of July, 1705. Coxe, ii., 151 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 121 
 
 and gave Villeroi time, of which he ably availed himself, to 
 strengthen his position behind the Dyle to such a degree as 
 to render it no longer assailable with any prospect of success. 
 The precious moment, when the enemy might have been 
 driven from it in the first tumult of success, had been lost. 
 
 The subsequent success in the Flemish campaign by no 
 means corresponded to its brilliant Commencement. 19. 
 The jealousy of the Dutch ruined every thing. Xe^Xe- 
 This gave rise to recriminations and jealousies, Sonsoffee*' 
 which rendered it impracticable even for the great campaigTI - 
 abilities and consummate address of Marlborough to effect any 
 tiling of importance with the heterogeneous array, with the 
 nominal command of which he was invested. The English 
 general dispatched his adjutant-general, Baron Hompesch, to 
 represent tortile States General the impossibility of going on 
 longer with such a divided responsibility ; but, though they 
 listened to his representations, nothing could induce them to 
 put their troops under the direct orders of the commander-in¬ 
 chief. They still had “ field deputies,” as they were called, 
 who were invested with the entire direction of the Dutch 
 troops ; and as they were civilians, wholly unacquainted with 
 military affairs, they had recourse on every occasion to the 
 very fractious generals who already had done so much mis¬ 
 chief to the common cause. In vain Marlborough repeatedly 
 endeavored, as he himself said, “ to cheat them into victory,” 
 by getting their consent to measures of which they did not 
 see the bearing, calculated to achieve that object. Their 
 timid, jealous spirit interposed on every occasion to mar im¬ 
 portant operations, and the corps they commanded was too 
 considerable to admit of these operations being undertaken 
 without their co-operation. After nine days’ watching the 
 enemy across the Dyle, Marlborough proposed to cross the 
 river near Louvain, and attack the enemy ; the Dutch deputies 
 interposed their negative, to Marlborough’s infinite mortifica¬ 
 tion, as, in his own words, “ it spoiled the whole campaign.”* 
 
 * “On Wednesday, it was unanimously resolved we should pass tho 
 
 L 
 
122 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Worn out with these long delays, Marlborough at length 
 20 . resolved, at all hazards, to pass the river, trust- 
 treacherously that the Dutch, when they saw the conflict 
 desert him. once ser | ous }y engaged, would not desert him. 
 But hi this he was mistaken. The deputies of the United 
 Provinces not only failed to execute the part assigned them hi 
 the combined enterprise, but sent information of his designs to 
 the enemy. The consequence was, Villeroi was on his guard. 
 All the duke’s demonstrations could not draw his attention 
 from his left, where the real attack was intended; but, nev¬ 
 ertheless, he pushed on the English and Germans under Ins 
 orders, who forced the passage in the most gallant style. But 
 when the duke ordered the Dutch generals to support the at¬ 
 tack of the Duke of Wirtemberg, who had crossed the river, 
 and established himself in force on the opposite bank, they re¬ 
 fused to move their men. The consequence was, that this at¬ 
 tack, as well planned and likely to succeed as the famous forcing 
 of the lines a fortnight before, proved abortive ; and Marlbor¬ 
 ough, burning with indignation, was obbged to recall his troops 
 when on the high road to victory, and when the river had 
 been crossed without the loss of a hundred men. So general 
 was the indignation at this shameful return on the part of the 
 Dutch generals to Marlborough for all the services he had 
 rendered their country, that it drew forth the strongest ex¬ 
 pressions from one of his ablest but most determined oppo¬ 
 nents, Lord Bolingbroke, who wrote to him at this juncture : 
 “ It was very melancholy to find the malice of Slangenberg, 
 
 Dyle, but that afternoon there fell so much rain as rendered it impracticable, 
 but the fair weather this morning made me determine to attempt it. Upon 
 this the deputies held a council with all the generals of Overkirk’s army, 
 who have unanimously retracted their opinions, and declared the passage of 
 the river too dangerous, which resolution, in my opinion, will ruin the u-hole 
 campaign. They have, at the same time, proposed to me to attack the 
 French on their left; but I know they will let that fall also, as soon as they 
 see the ground. It is very mortifying to meet more obstruction from friends 
 than from enemies; but that is now the case with me; yet I dare not show 
 my resentment for fear of alarming tire Dutch .”—Marlborough to Godot- 
 phin, 29th of July, 1705, Coxe, ii., 158. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 123 
 
 the fears of Dopf, and the ignorance of the deputies, to men¬ 
 tion no more, prevail so to disappoint your grace, to their 
 prejudice as well as ours. We hope the Dutch have agreed 
 to what your grace desires of them, -without which the war 
 becomes a jest to our enemies, and can end in nothing but an 
 ill peace , which is certain ruin to us.”* 
 
 Still the English general was not discouraged. His public 
 spirit and patriotism prevailed over his just pri- 21 . 
 vate resentment. Finding it impossible to prevail operations on 
 
 . „ , , . , . the field of Wa- 
 
 011 the Dutch deputies, who, m every sense, were terioo. 
 so many viceroys over him, to agree to any attempt to force 
 the passage of the Dyle, he resolved to turn it. For this pur¬ 
 pose, the armv was put in motion on the 14th of Au- 
 1 lie- r . 14th August, 
 
 gust; and, defiling to the left, he directed it in three 
 
 columns toward the sources of the Dyle. The march was 
 rapid, as the duke had information that strong re-enforcements, 
 detached from the army at Alsace, would join Villeroi on the 
 18th. The troops soon came to ground subsequently immor¬ 
 talized in English story. On the lGth they reached Genappe, 
 where, on the 17th of June, 1815, the Life-guards under Lord 
 Anglesea defeated the French lancers ; on the day following, 
 the enemy retired into the forest of Soignies, still covering 
 Brussels, and the allied head-quarters were moved to Braine 
 la Leude. On the 17th of August, a skirmish took place on 
 the plain in front of Waterloo ; and the alarm being given, 
 the duke hastened to the spot, and rode over the field where 
 Wellington and Napoleon contended a hundred and ten years 
 afterward. The French, upon this, retired into the forest of 
 Soignies, and rested at Waterloo for the night. 
 
 The slightest glance at the map must he sufficient to show 
 
 that, by this cross-march to Genappe and Water- 22 . 
 
 J 7 x Immense ad- 
 
 loo, Marlborough had gained an immense advan- vantage thus 
 
 gained by 
 
 tage over the enemy. lie had interposed between Marlborough, 
 them and France. He had relinquished for the ed the French, 
 time, it is true, his own base of operations, and was out of 
 * Bolingbroke to Marlborough, August 18, 1705. Coxe, ii., 160. 
 
124 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 communication with his magazines ; hut he had provided for 
 this by taking six days’ provisions for the army with him ; and 
 he could now force the French either to fight or to abandon 
 Brussels, and retire toward Antwerp, the allies being between 
 them and France. Still clinging to their fortified fines on the 
 Dyle, and desirous of covering Brussels, they had only occu¬ 
 pied the wood of Soignies with their right wing, while the 
 allies occupied all the open country from Genappe to Frisch- 
 ermont and Braine la Leude, with their advanced posts push¬ 
 ed up to La Haye Sainte and Mont St. Jean. The allies now 
 occupied the ground afterward covered by Napoleon’s army; 
 the forest of Soignies and approaches to Brussels were guard¬ 
 ed by the French. Incalculable were the results of a victory 
 gamed in such a position : it was by success gained over an 
 army of half the size that Napoleon established his power in 
 so surprising a maimer at Marengo. Impressed with such 
 ideas, Marlborough, on the 18th of August, anxiously recon- 
 noitered the ground, and, finding the front practicable for the 
 passage of troops, moved up his men in three columns to the 
 attack. The artillery was sent to Wavre ; the allied columns 
 traversed at right angles the fine of march by which Blucher 
 advanced to the support of Wellington on the 18th of June, 
 1815. 
 
 Had Marlborough’s orders been executed, it is probable he 
 23 . would have gained a victory which, from the rel- 
 prepares'to^at- ative position of the two armies, could not but 
 S c wateri r o 0 nch have been decisive ; and possibly the 18th of Au- 
 isth August, gust, 1705, might have become as celebrated in 
 history as the 18th of June, 1815. Overkirk, to whom he 
 showed the ground at Over-Ische which he had destined for 
 the scene of attack, perfectly concurred in the expedience of 
 it, and orders were given to bring the artillery forward to 
 conmience a cannonade. By the malice or negligence of 
 Slangenberg, who had again violated his express instructions, 
 and permitted the baggage to intermingle with the artillery 
 train, the guns had not arrived, and some hours were lost be- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 125 
 
 fore they could be pushed up. At length, hut not till noon, 
 the guns were brought forward, and the troops being in line, 
 Marlborough rode along the front to give his last orders. The 
 English and Germans were in the highest spirits, anticipating 
 certain victory from the relative position of the armies; the 
 French fighting with their faces to Paris, the allies with theirs 
 to Brussels. 
 
 But again the Dutch deputies and generals interposed, al¬ 
 leging that the enemy was too strongly posted to , 24 - 
 
 n ° . J o j l But is again 
 
 he attacked with any prospect of success. “ Gen- thwarted by 
 
 ,, -1 ,,T n , , • , r the Dutch 
 
 tlemen, said Marlborough to the circle of gener- deputies, 
 als which surrounded him, “ I have recomioitered the ground, 
 and made dispositions for an attack. I am convinced that 
 conscientiously, and as men of honor, we can not now retire 
 without an action. Should we neglect this opportunity, we 
 must be responsible before God and man. You see the confu¬ 
 sion which pervades the ranks of the enemy, and their em¬ 
 barrassment at our maneuvers. I leave you to judge whether 
 we should attack to-day, or wait till to-morrow. It is indeed 
 late ; hut you must consider that, by throwing up intrench 
 ments during the night, the enemy will render their position 
 far more difficult to force.” 11 Murder and massacre,” replied 
 Slangenberg. Marlborough, upon this, ofiered him two En¬ 
 glish for every Dutch battalion; hut this, too, the Dutchman 
 refused, on the plea that he did not understand English. Upon 
 tins the duke ofiered to give him German regiments ; hut even 
 tins was declined, upon the pretense that the attack would be 
 too hazardous. Marlborough, upon this, turned to the depu¬ 
 ties and said, “ I disdain, to send troops to dangers which I 
 will not myself encounter. I will lead them where the peril 
 is most imminent. I adjure you, gentlemen ! for the love of 
 God and your country, do not let us neglect so favorable an op¬ 
 portunity.” But it was all in vain; and instead of acting, 
 the Dutch deputies and generals spent three hours in debat¬ 
 ing, until night came on, and it was too late to attempt any 
 thing. Such was Marlborough’s chagrin at this disappoint- 
 
 L 2 
 
126 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ment, that he said, on retiring from the field, 1: 1 am at this 
 moment ten years, older than I was four days ago.” 
 
 Next day, as Marlborough had foreseen, the enemy had 
 2 s - strengthened their position with field-works, so that 
 
 Marlborough _ x 
 
 is obLi^ed to it was utterly hopeless to attempt getting the Dutch 
 vantages. to agree to an attack which had now become haz¬ 
 ardous, though it was not so the evening before. The case 
 was now irremediable. The six days’ bread which had been 
 provided was on the point of being exhausted, and a protract¬ 
 ed campaign without communication with the magazines was 
 impracticable. With a heavy' heart, therefore, the English 
 general remeasured his steps to the ground he had left in front 
 of the Dyle, and gave orders for destroying the lines of Leau, 
 which he had carried with so much ability. His vexation 
 u r as increased afterward by finding that the consternation of 
 the French had been such on the 18th of August, when he 
 was so urgent to attack them, that they intended only to have 
 made a show 7 of resistance, to gain time for their baggage and 
 heavy 7 guns being removed to Brussels. To all appearance, 
 Marlborough, if he had not been so shamefully thwarted, 
 would have signalized the forest of Soignies by a victory as de¬ 
 cisive as that of Blenheim, and realized the triumphant en¬ 
 trance into Brussels which Napoleon anticipated from his at¬ 
 tack on Wellington on the same ground a hundred and ten 
 years afterward. 
 
 Nothing further, of any moment, w r as done in this cam- 
 c pf’ i t P ai ^’ exce P t capturing Leau, and leveling the en- 
 of the Dutch emy’s lines on the Gheet. Marlborough wrote a 
 borough. formal letter to the States, m which he regTetted 
 the opportunity w r hich had been lost, which General Overkirk 
 bad coincided with him in thinking promised a great and glo¬ 
 rious victory ; and he added, “ My heart is so full that I can 
 aot forbear representing to your high mightinesses on this oc¬ 
 casion that I find my authority here to be much less than 
 when I had the honor to command your troops in Germany.”* 
 * Marlborough to the States, Wavre, 19th of August, 1705. Disp., ii., 224. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 127 
 
 The counter-memorial which the Dutch generals transmitted 
 at the same time contains a curious picture of their idea of 
 the subordination and direction of an army, and furnishes a 
 key to the jealousy which had proved so fatal to the common 
 cause. They complained that the Duke of Marlborough, 
 “ without holding a council of war, made two or three march¬ 
 es for the execution of some design formed by his grace ; and 
 we can not conceal from your high mightinesses that all the 
 generals of our army think it very strange that they should 
 not have the least notice of the said marches."*' It has been 
 already mentioned that Marlborough, like every other good 
 general, kept his designs to himself, from the impossibility of 
 otherwise keeping them from the enemy; and that he had 
 the additional motive for this reserve, in the case of the Dutch 
 deputies and generals, of being desirous to “ cheat them into 
 victory.” 
 
 Chagrined by disappointment, and fully convinced, as Wel¬ 
 lington was after his campaign with Cuesta and 27. 
 
 ° . 1 Vexation and 
 
 the Spaniards at Talavera, that it was in vain to magnanimous 
 attempt any thing further in the face of such im- Marlborough, 
 pediments thrown in his way by the allies, Marlborough re¬ 
 tired, in the beginning of September, to Tirlemont, the min¬ 
 eral waters of which had been recommended to him ; and, in 
 the end of October, the troops on both sides went into winter 
 quarters. His vexation at the conduct of the Dutch at this 
 time was strongly expressed in private letters to his intimate 
 friends ;f but, though he exerted himself to the utmost during 
 
 * Dutch Generals' Mem. Coxe, ii., 174. 
 
 t “Several prisoners whom we have taken, as well as the deserters, as¬ 
 sure us that they should have made no other defense but such as might 
 have given them time to draw off their army to Brussels, where their bag¬ 
 gage was already gone. By this you may imagine how I am vexed, seeing 
 very plainly I am joined with people who will never do any thing.”— Marl¬ 
 borough to Godolphin, August 24, 1705. 
 
 “M. Overkirk et moi avons d’abord et6 reconnaitre les postes cfue nous 
 voulious attaquer, et l’arm6e etant rang<se en battaille sur le midi, nous 
 avions tout d’esperer, avec la benediction du ciel, vu notre snperiorite, et la 
 bont£ des troupes, une heureuse journee; mais MM. les deputes de J’etat 
 
128 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the suspension of operations in the field, both by memorials to 
 his own government, and representations to the Dutch rulers, 
 to get the direction of the army put upon a better footing, yet 
 he had magnanimity and patriotism enough to sacrifice his 
 private feelings to the public good. Instead of attempting, 
 therefore, to inflame the resentment of the English cabinet at 
 the conduct of the Dutch generals, he strove only to moderate 
 it; and prevailed on them to suspend the sending of a formal 
 remonstrance, which they had prepared, to the States General, 
 till the effect of his own private representations in that quar¬ 
 ter was first ascertained. The result proved that he had 
 judged wisely, and his disinterested conduct met with its de¬ 
 served reward. The patriotic party, both in England and at 
 the Hague, was strongly roused in his favor; the factious ac¬ 
 cusations of the English Tories, like those of the Whigs a 
 century after against Wellington, were silenced ; the States 
 General were compelled by the public indignation to with¬ 
 draw from their commands the generals who had thwarted 
 his measures ; and, without endangering the union of the two 
 powers, the factious, selfish men who had periled the object 
 of their alliance, were forever deprived of the means of doing 
 mischief. 
 
 But while the danger was thus abated in one quarter, it 
 2 g only became more serious in another. The Dutch 
 ae'cabinet° f had been protected, and hindered from breaking off 
 and theGer- ^ rom the affiance, only by endangering the fidelity 
 manpowers. 0 f the Austrians; and it had now become indis¬ 
 pensable, at all hazards, to do something to appease their jeal¬ 
 ousies. The Imperial cabinet, in addition to the war in Italy, 
 
 ay ant voulu consulter leurs g6neraux, et les trouvant de differentes senti¬ 
 ments d'avee M. Overkirk et moi, ils n'ont pas voulu passer outre. De sorte 
 que tout notre dessein, apres 1*avoir m6n6 jusque la, a 6ckoue, et nous avons 
 rebrousse ohemin pom- aller commencer la demolition des Lignes, et prendre 
 Leau. Vous pouvez bien croire. Monsieur, que je suis au desespoir d’etre 
 oblige d’essuyer encore ce contretemps; mais je vois bien qu'il ne faut pas 
 plus souger a agir offensivement avec ces messieurs, puisqu’ ils ne veulent 
 rien risquer quand mSme ils ont tout l'avantage de leur c6te .”—Marlborough 
 au Comte dc Wartcnberg, Wavre, 20 Aovt, 1705 . Dispatcher, ii., 226 . 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 129 
 
 on the Upper Rhine, and in the Low Countries, had become 
 involved hi serious hostilities in Hungary; and they felt the 
 difficulty, or rather impossibility, of maintaining the contest 
 at once in so many different quarters. The cross-march of 
 Marlborough from the Moselle to Flanders, however loudly 
 called for by the danger and necessities of the States, had been 
 viewed with a jealous eye by the emperor, as tending to lead 
 the war away from the side of Lorraine, with which the 
 German interests were wound up ; and his demands were 
 loud and frequent, now that the interests of the Dutch were 
 sufficiently provided for, that the duke should return with the 
 English contingent to this, the proper theater of offensive op¬ 
 erations. But Marlborough’s experience had taught him that 
 as little reliance was to be placed on the co-operation of the 
 Margrave of Baden, and the lesser German powers, as on that 
 of the Dutch ; and he felt that it was altogether in vain to 
 attempt another campaign, either in Germany or Flanders, 
 unless some more effectual measures were taken to appease 
 the jealousies, and secure the co-operation of this discordant 
 alliance, than had hitherto been adopted. With this view, 
 after having arranged matters to his satisfaction at the Hague, 
 and after Slangenberg had been removed from the command, 
 he repaired to Vienna in November, and thence soon after to 
 Berlin. 
 
 Marlborough’s extraordinary address and powers of persua¬ 
 sion did not desert him on this critical occasion. 29 . 
 
 . Extraordina- 
 
 Never w r as more strongly exemplified the truth of ry success of 
 
 Ail r 131 11 11 1 Marlborough 
 
 Chesterfield s remark, that manner hail as much in appeasing 
 
 . . . them at Vi- 
 
 weight as matter in procuring him success, and enna. 
 that he ivas elevated to greatness as much on the wdngs of the 
 Graces as by the strength of Minerva. Great as were the 
 difficulties which attended the holding together the grand al¬ 
 liance, they all yielded to the magic of his name and the fasci¬ 
 nation of his manner. At Bernsberg he succeeded in obtaining 
 from the elector a promise for the increase of his contingent, 
 and leave for sending it into Italy, where its co-operation was 
 
130 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 required; at Frankfort lie overcame, by persuasion and ad 
 dress, the difficulties of the Margrave of Baden ; and at Vienna 
 he was magnificently received, and soon acquired unbounded 
 credit with the emperor. Besides being raised to the rank of 
 a prince of the empire, w'ith the most flattering assurances of 
 esteem, he was feted by the nobles, who vied with each other 
 in demonstrations of respect to the illustrious conqueror of 
 Blenheim. During Iris short sojourn of a fortnight there, he 
 succeeded in allaying the suspicions and quieting the appre¬ 
 hensions of the emperor, which no other man could have done; 
 and, having arranged the plan of the next campaign, and rais¬ 
 ed, on his own credit, a loan from the bankers, for the Imperial 
 court, of 100,000 crowns, as well as the promise of another of 
 ,£250,000, which he afterward obtained in London, he set 
 out for Berlin, where his presence was not less necessary to 
 stimulate the exertions and appease the complaints of the King 
 of Prussia. 
 
 He arrived there on the 30th of November, and on the 
 30 . same evening had an audience of the king, to whose 
 Hn and Han- strange and capricious temper he so completely ac¬ 
 commodated himself, that he allayed all his discon¬ 
 tents, and brought him over completely to his views. He pre¬ 
 vailed on him to renew the treaty for the furnishing of eight 
 thousand men to aid the common cause, and to repair the 
 chasms in their ranks produced by the campaign, as w'ell as 
 to revoke the orders which had been issued for the return of 
 the troops from Italy, where their removal would have proved 
 of essential detriment. This concession, in the words of the 
 prime minister who announced it, was granted “ as a mark 
 of respect to the queen, and of particular friendship to the 
 duke.” From Berlin he proceeded, loaded with honors and 
 presents, to Hanover, where jealousies of a different kind, but 
 not less dangerous, had arisen in consequence of the appre¬ 
 hensions there entertained that the Whigs were endeavoring 
 to thwart the eventual succession of the house of Hanover to 
 the throne of England. Here also Marlborough’s addross 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 131 
 
 succeeded in overcoming all difficulties; and, after a sojourn 
 of only a few days, he departed in the highest favor both with 
 the elector and his mother. From thence he hastened to the 
 Hague, where he remained a fortnight, and succeeded in a 
 great degree in removing those difficulties, and smoothing 
 down those jealousies, which had proved so injurious to the 
 common cause in the preceding campaign. He prevailed on 
 the Dutch to reject the separate offers of accommodation 
 which had been made them by the French government. Hav¬ 
 ing thus put all things on as favorable a footing as could be 
 hoped for on the Continent, he embarked for England in the 
 beginning of January, 1706, having overcome greater diffi¬ 
 culties and obtained greater advantages in the course of this 
 whiter campaign, and with divided allies, than he ever did 
 during a summer campaign with the enemy. 
 
 Every one, however cursorily he may he acquainted with 
 Wellington’s campaigns, must be struck with the 3 L 
 great similarity between the difficulties which thus betw<* 3 nhis 
 beset the Duke of Marlborough in the earlier pe- tfon^VthX 
 riods of his career, and those which at a subsequent ^bTseariy 0 " 
 period so long hampered the genius and thwarted c;ml P ai s ns - 
 the efforts of England’s greatest general. Slangenberg’s jeal¬ 
 ousy was an exact counterpart of that of Cuesta at Talavera ; 
 the timidity of the Dutch authorities was precisely similar to 
 that of the Portuguese regency; the difficulty of appeasing 
 the jealousy of Austria and Prussia, identical with that which 
 so often compelled Wellington to hurry from the field to Lis¬ 
 bon and Cadiz. Such is the selfishness of human nature, that 
 it seems impossible to get men, actuated by different interests, 
 to concur in any measures for the general good but under the 
 pressure of immediate danger so threatening as to be obvious 
 to every understanding, or by the influence of ability and ad¬ 
 dress of the very highest order. It is this which in every age 
 has caused the weakness of the best-cemented confederacies, 
 and so often enabled single powers, not possessing a fourth 
 part of their material resources, to triumph over them; and 
 
132 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 it is in the power of overcoming these difficulties and jealous¬ 
 ies that one of the most important qualities of the general of 
 an alliance is to he found. 
 
 Marlborough sailed for the Continent, to take the command 
 32. of the armies in the Low Countries, on the 20th 
 
 Universal 
 
 backward- of April, 170G. His desi<m was to have transfer- 
 
 ness oi the # c 
 
 allies in the red the seat of war into Italy, as affairs had be- 
 
 commence- ... J 
 
 incnt of 1706. come so unpronusmg m that quarter as to be well- 
 nigh desperate. The Imperialists had been surprised by the 
 French general Vendome, in their quarters near Como, and 
 
 driven into the mountains behind that town with the loss of 
 three thousand men, so that all hold of the plain of Lombar¬ 
 dy was lost. The Duke of Savoy was even threatened with 
 a siege in his capital of Turin. The Margrave of Baden was 
 displaying his usual factious and impracticable disposition on 
 the Upper Rhine : it seemed, in Marlborough’s words, “ as 
 if he had no other object in view but to cover his own capital 
 and residence.” In Flanders, the habitual procrastination 
 and tardiness of the Dutch had so thrown back the prepara¬ 
 tions, that it was impossible to begin the campaign so early 
 as he had intended ; and the jealousies of the cabinets of Ber¬ 
 lin and Copenhagen had again revived to such a degree, that 
 no aid was to be expected either from the Prussian or Danish 
 contingents. It was chiefly to get beyond the reach of such 
 troublesome and inconstant neighbors that Marlborough was 
 so desirous of transferring the seat of war to Italy. But all 
 his efforts to induce the States General to allow any part of 
 their troops to be employed to the south of the Alps were un¬ 
 availing ; nor, indeed, could it reasonably have been expected 
 that they would consent to hazard their forces in an expedi¬ 
 tion to so distant a quarter, not immediately connected with 
 their interests. The resentment of the Elector of Hanover at 
 the conduct of Queen Anne had become so excessive, that he 
 positively refused to let his contingent march. The Danes 
 and Hessians excused themselves on various pretenses from 
 moving their troops to the south ; and the emperor, instead 
 
A. It. JOHNSTON, F.KG-.S 
 
 I wmmm I» 
 
 us English.. DxiicDi. & Danish. Allies 
 
 B A T T L E 
 
 oy 
 
 K A MILLIE S 
 
 2 3 May,1706. 
 
 tA R PE R & BRO 
 
t=m 3 C avajarv T lrfaxircry IH AriDl it v 
 
 }jflrjn Grp 
 
 iSe&l" 
 
 Pt- S-a t 
 
 Jim drah 
 
 .rnnJrnjioeiJ 
 
 ce ADxe; 
 
 S TAXES 
 
 Mitrtfn-v Steps lYzY .ect each. 
 
 JOOO 
 
 looo 
 
 Tsnglissh.MIl« 
 
 R S > NEW YORK 
 
JIAKLBOKOUGH. 
 
 133 
 
 of contributing any thing to the war hi Flanders, was urgent 
 that succor should he sent to him, and that the English gen¬ 
 eral should hi person take the command on the Moselle. 
 Marlborough was thus reduced to the English troops, and 
 iliose in the pay of Holland; but they amounted to nearly 
 sixty thousand men; and, on the 19th of May, he set out 
 from the Hague to take the command of this force, which lay 
 in front of the old French frontier on the River Dyle. Mar¬ 
 shal Villeroi had there collected sixty-two thousand men ; so 
 that the two armies, in point of numerical strength, were very 
 nearly equal. 
 
 The English general had established a secret correspond¬ 
 ence with one Pasquini, an inhabitant of Namur, 33 . 
 through whose agency, and that of some other cit- 0 ppositesides 
 izens of the town who were inclined to the Impe- inI landers - 
 rial interest, he hoped to be able to make himself master of 
 that important fortress. To facilitate that attempt, and have 
 troops at hand ready to take advantage of any opening that 
 might be afforded them in that quarter, he moved toward 
 Tirlemont, directing his march by the sources of the Little 
 Gheet. Determined to cover Namur, and knowing that the 
 Hanoverians and Hessians were absent, Villeroi marched out 
 of his lines in order to stop the advance of the aides, and gave 
 battle in the open field. On the 20th of May, the English 
 and Dutch forces effected then - junction at Bitsia ; and on the 
 day following the Danish contingent arrived, Marlborough 
 having, by great exertions, persuaded them to come up from 
 the Rhine, upon receiving a guarantee for their pay from the 
 Dutch government. Tins raised Ins force to seventy-three 
 battalions and one hundred and twenty-three squadrons. The 
 French had seventy-four battalions and one hundred and 
 twenty-eight squadrons. But they had a much greater ad¬ 
 vantage in the homogeneous quality of their troops, who were 
 all of one country, while the forces of the confederates were 
 drawn from three different nations, speaking different lan¬ 
 guages, and many of whom had never acted in the field to- 
 
 M 
 
134 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 gether. Cadogan, with six hundred horse, formed the van¬ 
 guard of Marlborough’s army ; and at daybreak on the 22d, 
 lie discovered the enemy’s army grouped in dense masses hi 
 the strong camp of Mont St. Andre. As their position stretch¬ 
 ed directly across the allied line of march, a battle was una 
 voidable ; and Marlborough was no sooner informed of it, than 
 witli a joyous heart he prepared for the conflict.* 
 
 The ground occupied by the enemy, and which has become 
 34 . so famous by the battle of Ramillies which follow- 
 
 Position of . 
 
 the French ed, was on the summit of an elevated plateau form- 
 22d of May. ing the highest ground in Brabant, immediately 
 above the two sources of the Little Gheet. The elevated 
 ground above is varied by gentle undulations, interspersed 
 with garden grounds, and dotted with coppice woods. From 
 it the two Gheets, the Mehaigne and the Dyle, take their rise, 
 and flow in different directions, so that it is the highest sur¬ 
 face in the whole country. The descents from the summit 
 of the plateau to the Great Gheet are steep and abrupt; but 
 the other rivers rise in marshes and mosses, which are very 
 wet, and in some places impassable. Marlborough was well 
 aware of the strength of the position on the summit of this 
 eminence, and he had used all the dispatch in his power to 
 reach it before the enemy ; hut Yilleroi had less ground to go 
 over, and had his troops in battle array on the summit before 
 the English appeared in sight. The position occupied by the 
 French ran along the front of a curve facing inward, and 
 overhanging the sources of the Little Gheet. The troops 
 were posted on the crest of the ridge above the marshes, hav¬ 
 ing the village of Autre Eglise in front of the extreme left, 
 and the villages of Ofl’uz and Ramillies opposite their center. 
 The extreme right occupied the high grounds which overhang 
 
 * 
 
 The composition and strength of the two armies was as follows: 
 
 Allies. 
 
 Battalions 
 Squadrons 
 Guns . . 
 
 73 ) 
 123 i 
 120 . 
 
 60,000. 
 
 French. 
 Battalions 
 Squadrons 
 Guns . . 
 
 . 74 
 
 . 128 
 . 130. 
 
 | 62, 
 
 000 . 
 
 Kausler, 765. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 135 
 
 the Mehaigne, along the course of which, at a short distance, 
 and nearly parallel to its banks, runs the old chaussee, wliich, 
 after the lapse of more than a thousand years, still retains the 
 name of Queen Brunehault. The right wing occupied the in¬ 
 termediate space, and rested on the Mehaigne, while the vil¬ 
 lage of Tavieres, on the banks of that river, was garrisoned 
 by a large body of foot soldiers. The infantry were drawn up 
 in two lines, the villages in their front being strongly occupied 
 by separate detachments of.foot. In Ramillies alone twenty 
 battalions were posted. The great bulk of the horse was also 
 arranged in two lines on the right, across the chaussee of 
 Brunehault, along which part of the allied columns was ex¬ 
 pected to advance. On the highest point of the ridge thus 
 occupied by the French, but immediately behind their ex¬ 
 treme right and the mass of their cavalry, and in a position 
 commanding the whole field of battle, the tomb or barrow of 
 the ancient German hero Ottomond was situated. This po¬ 
 sition, it was evident, would become the subject of a desperate 
 strife between the contending parties hi the approaching 
 conflict.* 
 
 Marlborough no sooner came in sight of the enemy’s position 
 than he formed his own plan of attack. His troops 35. 
 were divided into ten columns, the cavalry being maneuvenfbe- 
 in two lines on each wing, the infantry in six col- in^pianofat 
 uirms in the center. He at once saw that the tack ' 
 
 French right, surmounted by the lofty plateau on which the 
 tomb of Ottomond was placed, was the key of their position, 
 and against that he resolved to direct the weight of his onset; 
 but, the better to conceal Ins real design, he determined to 
 make a vehement false attack on the village of Autre Eglise 
 and their left. The nature of the ground occupied by the 
 allies and the enemy respectively, favored this design ; for the 
 French were posted round the circumference of a segment of 
 a circle, while the allies occupied the center and chord, so that 
 they could move with greater rapidity than their opponents 
 * Kauslek, 765, 766. Coxe, ii., 339, 340. 
 
13G 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 from one part of the field to another. Marlborough’s strata¬ 
 gem was entirely successful. He formed, hi the first instance, 
 with some ostentation, a weighty column of attack opposite to 
 the French left, which menaced the village of Autre Eglise. 
 No sooner did Villeroi perceive this, than he drew a consider¬ 
 able body of infantry from liis center behind Ofluz, and march 
 ed them with the utmost expedition to re-enforce the threat¬ 
 ened point on his left. When Marlborough saw this cross¬ 
 movement fairly commenced, he skillfully availed himself of a 
 rising ground on which the front of liis column of attack on 
 the right was placed, by directing the second fine and the col¬ 
 umns which supported it, just as the front had reached the 
 edge of the plateau, where they obstructed the view of those 
 behind them, to halt in a hollow, where they could not be 
 seen, and immediately after, still concealed from the enemy’s 
 sight, to defile rapidly to the left till they came into the rear 
 of the left center. The Danish horse, twenty squadrons strong, 
 under the Duke of Wirtemberg, were at the same time placed 
 in a third line, behind the cavalry of the left wing, so as to 
 bring the weight of his horse as well as foot into that quarter.*' 
 At half past twelve the cannonade began on both sides, and 
 
 3G. that of the French played heavily on the columns 
 Commence- . 
 
 ment of the of the confederates advancing to the attack. The 
 skillful feint allied right wing, directed against Autre Eglise, 
 ougk. steadily advanced up the slopes from the banks of 
 the Little Gheet to the edge of the plateau, where they halt¬ 
 ed, deployed into fine, and opened their fire in such a position 
 as to conceal entirely the transfer of the infantry and cavalry 
 in their rear to the allied left. No sooner had those columns 
 in support reached it, than the attack began in real earnest, 
 and with a preponderating force in that direction. Colonel 
 Wertonville, with four Dutch battalions, advanced against 
 Tavieres, while twelve battalions in columns of companies, 
 supported by a strong reserve, began the attack on Ramillies 
 in the left center. The vehemence of this assault soon con- 
 * CoXE, ii., 342-344, 345. KaUSLER, 766. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 137 
 
 vinced Villeroi that the real attack of the allies was in that 
 quarter ; hut he had no reserve of foot to support the troops in 
 the villages, every disposable man having been sent oft’ to the 
 left in the direction of Autre Eglise. In this dilemma, he 
 hastily ordered fourteen squadrons of horse to dismount, and, 
 supported by two Swiss battalions, moved them up to the sup¬ 
 port of the troops in Tavieres. Before they could arrive, 
 however, the Dutch battalions had with great gallantry car¬ 
 ried that village ; and Marlborough, directing the Danish 
 horse, under the brave Duke of Wirtemberg, against the flank 
 of the dismounted dragoons, as they were in column and 
 marching up, the Swiss were speedily cut to pieces, and hurled 
 back in confusion on the French horse, who were advancing 
 to their support.* 
 
 Following up liis success, Overkirk next charged the first 
 fine of advancing French cavalry with the first 
 line of the allied horse, and such was the vigor of overkirkfand 
 his onset, that the enemy were broken and thrown “""ofMaribOT- 
 back. But the second line of French and Bava- haftenin^'to 
 rian horse soon came up, and assailing Overkirk’s 1113 reliet - 
 men when they were disordered by success, and little expect¬ 
 ing another struggle, overthrew them without difficulty, drove 
 them back in great confusion, and almost entirely restored the 
 battle in that quarter. The chances were, that the victorious 
 French horse, having cleared the open ground of their oppo¬ 
 nents, would wheel about and attack in rear the twelve bat¬ 
 talions who were warmly engaged with the attack on Ramil- 
 lies. Marlborough instantly saw the danger, and, putting 
 himself at the head of seventeen squadrons at hand, led them 
 on himself to arrest the progress of the victorious horse, while, 
 at the same time, he sent orders for every disposable saber to 
 come up from his right with the utmost expedition. Twenty 
 squadrons were there in reserve; they instantly wheeled threes 
 about, and galloped off' to the support of their leader. The 
 moment was critical, and nothing but the admirable intrepidity 
 * Kausler, 346. COXE, ii., 343-347. 
 
 M 2 
 
138 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and presence of mind of the English general could have re¬ 
 trieved the allied affairs. As he was leading on this reserve 
 with his wonted gallantry, and under a dreadful fire from the 
 French batteries on the heights behind Ramillies, he was rec¬ 
 ognized by some French troopers, with whom he had formerly 
 served in the time of Charles II., who made a sudden rush at 
 him. They had wellnigh made him prisoner, for they suc¬ 
 ceeded in surrounding him before his men could come up to 
 the rescue ; but he extricated himself from the throng of as¬ 
 sailants by fighting his way out, like the knights of old, sword 
 in hand. He next tried to leap a ditch, but his horse fell in 
 the attempt; and, when mounting another horse given him 
 by his aid-de-camp Captain Molesworth, Colonel Bingfield, 
 his equerry, who held the stirrup, had his head carried off by 
 a cannon ball. The imminent danger of their beloved gen¬ 
 eral, however, revived the spirit of the troops. The dreadful 
 severity of the cannonade had, during the scuffle, thrown them 
 into disorder ; but, re-forming with great celerity, they again 
 returned with desperate resolution to the charge.* 
 
 In this emergency, when nothing was as yet decided, the 
 38. twenty fresh squadrons which Marlborough had so 
 
 The twenty 
 
 squadrons or- opportunely called up from the allied right were 
 the right re- seen galloping at full speed, but still in regular 
 6 a T 1 1 lt order, on the plain behind this desperate conflict. 
 Halting directly in rear of the spot where the horse on both 
 sides were so vehemently engaged, they wheeled into line, and 
 advanced in close order and admirable array to the support 
 of the duke. Encouraged by this powerful re-enforcement, 
 the whole allied cavalry re-formed, and swept forward in 
 three lines, with loud shouts, to the attack of the now intim¬ 
 idated and disheartened French, who no longer withstood the 
 onset, but, turning their horses’ heads, fled with precipitation. 
 The low grounds between Ramillies and the old chaussee 
 were quickly passed, and the victorious horse, pressing up the 
 slope on the opposite side, ere long reached the summit of the 
 * Coxe, ii., 347. Kausler, 766, 767. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 139 
 
 plateau. The tomb of Ottomond, the highest point, and vis¬ 
 ible from the whole held of battle, was soon resplendent with 
 sabers and cuirasses, amid a throng of horse ; and deafening 
 shouts, heard over the whole extent of both armies, announced 
 that the crowning point and key of the whole position had 
 been gained.* 
 
 But Yilleroi was an able and determined general, and his 
 soldiers fought with the inherent bravery of the 39 . 
 French nation. The contest, thus virtually de- fortsto'rfltore 
 cided, was not yet over. A fierce fight was raging which are un- 
 around Rarnillies, where the garrison of twenty succcssful - 
 French battalions opposed a stout resistance to Schultz’s gren¬ 
 adiers. By degrees, however, the latter gained ground ; two 
 Swiss battalions, which had long and resolutely held their 
 ground, were at length forced back into the village, and some 
 of the nearest houses fell into the hands of the allies. Upon 
 this the whole rushed forward, and drove the enemy in a mass 
 out toward the high grounds in the rear. The Marquis 
 MafTei, however, rallied two regiments of Cologne guards, in 
 a hollow way leading up from the village to the plateau, and 
 opposed so vigorous a resistance, that he not only checked the 
 pursuit, but regained part of the village ; but Marlborough, 
 whose eye was every where, no sooner saw this than he order¬ 
 ed up twenty battalions which had been stationed in reserve 
 behind the center, and speedily cleared the village. MafTei, 
 with his gallant troops, being charged in flank by the victori¬ 
 ous horse at the very time that he was driven out of the village 
 by the infantry, was made prisoner, and almost all his men 
 were taken or destroyed.! 
 
 The victory was now decided on the British left and cen¬ 
 ter, where alone the real attack had been made; 40. 
 
 The enemy, 
 
 but so vehement had been the onset, so desperate though 
 
 i i i thrown into 
 
 the passage oi arms which had taken place, that, disorder, en- 
 though the battle had lasted little more than three iy. 
 
 h Kausler, 767, 768. COXE, ii., 348. 
 
 t Coxe, ii., 348. Kausler, 767, 768. Maffei, Memoirs, 347. 
 
140 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 hours, the victors were nearly in as great disorder as the van¬ 
 quished. Horse, foot, and artillery were every where blended 
 together in confusion, more especially between Ramillies and 
 the Mehaigne, and thence up to the tomb of Ottomond, in 
 consequence of the various charges of all arms which had so 
 rapidly succeeded each other on the same narrow space. 
 Marlborough, seeing this, and before attempting any thing 
 more, halted his troops on the ground where they stood, which, 
 in the left and center, had been occupied by the enemy at the 
 commencement of the action. Villeroi skillfully availed him¬ 
 self of this breathing-time to endeavor to re-form his broken 
 troops, and to take up a new line from Geest-a-Gerompont, on 
 his right, through Ofluz to Autre Eglise, still held hy its orig¬ 
 inal garrison, on his left. But in making the retrograde move¬ 
 ment so as to get his men into this oblique position, he was 
 even more impeded and thrown into disorder by the baggage- 
 wagons and dismounted guns on the heights, than the allies 
 had been on the plain below. 
 
 On observing this, Marlborough resolved to give the enemy 
 41 . no time to rally, but again sounding the charge, or- 
 vanceoiuhe dered infantry and cavalry to advance. A strong 
 completes ' 11 column passed the morass in which the Little Gheet 
 the victory. t a k es its rise, directing their steps toward OfFuz ; but 
 the enemy, panic-struck, as at Waterloo, by the general ad¬ 
 vance of the victors, gave way on all sides. Ofluz was aban¬ 
 doned without a shot being fired, the cavalry pursued the fu¬ 
 gitives with headlong fury, and the plateau of Mont St. An¬ 
 dre was soon covered with the flying enemy. The troops hi 
 observation on the right, seeing the victory gamed on the left 
 and center, of their own accord joined in the pursuit, and soon 
 made themselves masters of Autre Eglise and the heights be¬ 
 hind it. The Spanish and Bavarian Horse-guards made a 
 gallant attempt to stem the flood of disaster, but without at¬ 
 taining their object. This only led to their own destruction. 
 General Wood and Colonel Wyndham, at the head of the En¬ 
 glish Horse-guards, charged them, and they were immediately 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 141 
 
 cut to pieces. The rout now became universal, and all resist¬ 
 ance ceased. In frightful confusion, a disorganized mass of 
 horse and foot, abandoning their guns, streamed over the pla¬ 
 teau, poured headlong, on the other side, down the banks of 
 the Great Gheet, and fled toward Louvain, which they reach¬ 
 ed in the most dreadful disorder at two o’clock in the morning. 
 The British horse, under Lord Orkney, did not draw bridle 
 from the pursuit till they reached the neighborhood of that for¬ 
 tress, having, besides fighting the battle, ridden full five-and- 
 twenty miles that day. Marlborough halted for the night, 
 and established head-quarters at Mildert, thirteen miles from 
 the field of battle, and five from Louvain.* 
 
 The trophies of the battle of Ramillies were immense ; but 
 they were even exceeded by its results. The loss 42. 
 of the French m killed and wounded was seven French and 
 thousand men, and, in addition to that, six thou- the battle, 
 sand prisoners were taken. With the desertions which took 
 place after the battle, they were weakened by frilly fifteen 
 thousand men. They lost fifty-two guns, their whole bag¬ 
 gage and pontoon train, all their caissons, and eighty stand¬ 
 ards wrested from them in lair fight. Among the prisoners 
 were the Princes de Soubise and Rohan, and a son of Mar¬ 
 shal Tallard. The victors lost one thousand and sixty-six kill¬ 
 ed, and two thousand five hundred and sixty-seven wounded, 
 in all, three thousand six hundred and thirty-three. The 
 great and unusual proportion of the killed to the wounded 
 shows how desperate the fighting had been, and how much 
 of it, as.in ancient warfare, had been in hand-to-hand contest. 
 Overkirk nobly supported the duke in this action, and not 
 only repeatedly charged at the head of his horse, but contin¬ 
 ued on horseback in the pursuit till one in the morning, when 
 he narrowly escaped death from a Bavarian officer he had 
 made prisoner, and to whom he had given back his sword, say¬ 
 ing, ‘ You are a gentleman, and may keep it.” The base 
 wretch no sooner got it into his hand than he made a lounge 
 * Coxe, ii„ 348, 349. Mem. de Marquis Maff'ei, 349,350. Kausler, 768. 
 
1 42 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 at the Dutch general, hut fortunately missed his blow, and 
 was immediately cut down for his treachery by Overkirk’s 
 orderly.* 
 
 The immediate result of this splendid victory was the ac- 
 
 43 - quisition of nearly all Austrian Flanders. Brus- 
 Ana its great 
 
 results. “ sels, Louvain, Mechlin, Alort, Luise, and nearly all 
 the great towns of Brabant, opened their gates immediately 
 after it. Ghent and Bruges speedily followed the example ; 
 and Daun and Oudenarde soon declared for the Austrian 
 cause. Of all the towns in Flanders, Antwerp, Ostend, Nieu- 
 port, and Dunkirk alone held out for the French ; and to their 
 reduction the duke immediately turned Iris attention. The 
 public transports in Holland knew no hounds; they much 
 exceeded what had been felt for the victory of Blenheim, for 
 that only saved Germany, hut this delivered themselves. The 
 wretched jealousy which had so long thwarted the duke, as it 
 does every other really great man, was fairly overpowered in 
 “ the electric shock of a nation’s gratitude.” In England, the 
 rejoicings were equally enthusiastic, and a solemn thanksgiv¬ 
 ing at St. Paul’s, which the queen attended in person, gave a 
 willing vent to the general thankfulness. “ Faction and the . 
 French,” as Bolinghroke expressed it,f were all that Marlbor¬ 
 ough had to fear, and he had fairly conquered both. Above 
 all, the magnitude of his renown rid him for a time, at least, 
 of those vexatious councils of war which had so often thwart¬ 
 ed his best-laid plans. But the snake, though scotched, was 
 not killed, and hut replenished its venom and prepared future 
 stings even during the roar of triumphant cannon and the 
 festive blaze of rejoicing cities. J 
 
 * Kausler, 769. Coxe, ii., 350-353. 
 
 t “This vast addition of renown which your grace has acquired, and the 
 wonderful preservation of your life, are subjects upon which I can never ex¬ 
 press a thousandth part of what I feel. France and faction are the only en¬ 
 emies England has to fear, and your grace will conquer both ; at least, while 
 you beat the French, you give a strength to the government which the oth¬ 
 er dares not contend with.”— Bolinghroke to Marlborough, May 28, 1706. 
 Coxe, ii., 358. 
 
 1 “ I shall attend the queen at the thanksgiving on Thursday next: I as- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 M3 
 
 The French, after this terrible defeat, retired in the deep¬ 
 est dejection toward French Flanders, leaving gar- 44. 
 
 . . . Retreat of the 
 
 risons in the principal fortresses which still held French from^ 
 
 out for them. Marlborough made his triumphant universal joy 
 
 i no r at * ts libera- 
 
 entry into .Brussels in great pomp on the 2oth oi tion. 
 
 May, amid the acclamations of the inhabitants. The Three 
 Estates of Brabant, assembled there, acknowledged Charles 
 III. for their sovereign, and received, in return, a guaran¬ 
 tee from the English government and the States General 
 that the joyeuse entree, the Magna Charta of Flanders, 
 should be faithfully observed. “ Every where,” says Marl¬ 
 borough, “ the joy was great at being delivered from the inso¬ 
 lence and exactions of the French.” The victory of Ramil- 
 lies produced no less effect on the northern courts, whose jeal¬ 
 ousies and lukewarmness had hitherto proved so pernicious to 
 the common cause. The King of Prussia, who had hitherto 
 kept aloof, and suspended the march of his troops, now, on 
 the mediation of Marlborough, became reconciled to the em¬ 
 peror and the States General; and the Elector of Hanover, 
 forgetting his apprehensions about the English succession, was 
 among the foremost to offer his congratulations, and make a 
 tender of his forces to the now triumphant cause. It is sel¬ 
 dom that the prosperous want friends. , 
 
 The Dutch, upon the submission of Brabant, were anxious 
 to levy contributions on it as a conquered country, 45 
 for the purpose of relieving themselves of part of wfgjJ-^n ot° ua 
 the expenses of the war ; and Godolphin, actuated ^proterUn- 
 by the same short-sighted views, was eager to re- l he I ' lenm ‘ 4 s 
 plenish the English exchequer from the same slon - 
 source ; but Marlborough, like Wellington in after days, had 
 magnanimity and wisdom enough to see the folly, as well as 
 injustice, of thus alienating infant allies at the moment of 
 
 sure you I shall do it, from every vein within me, having scarce any thing else 
 to support either my head or heart. The animosity and inveteracy one has 
 to struggle against is unimaginable , not to mention the difficulty of obtaining 
 things to be done that are reasonable, or of satisfying people with reason 
 when they are done.”— Godolphin to Marlborough, May 24, 1706. 
 
144 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 their conversion, and he combated the project so successfully 
 that it was abandoned.* At the same time, he preserved 
 the strictest discipline on the part of his troops, and took every 
 imaginable precaution to secure the affections and allay the 
 apprehensions of the inhabitants of the ceded provinces. The 
 good effects of this wise and conciliatory policy were soon ap¬ 
 parent. Without firing a shot, the allies gained greater ad¬ 
 vantages during the remainder of the campaign than they 
 could have done by a series of bloody sieges, and the sacrifice 
 of thirty thousand men. Nor was it less advantageous to the 
 English general than to the common cause; for it delivered 
 him, for that season at least, from the thraldom of a council 
 of war, the invariable resource of a weak, as it is the aversion 
 of a lofty mind-f 
 
 The Estates of Brabant, assembled at Brussels, sent in- 
 46. junctions to the governor of Antwerp, Ghent, and 
 
 Capitulation of ..... 
 
 Ghent, Bruges, all the other fortresses within their territories, to 
 Oudenariie. declare for Charles III., and admit their troops. 
 The effect of this, in connection with the well-known disci¬ 
 pline preserved by the allied army, and the protection from 
 contributions, was very decided. No sooner were the orders 
 received at Antwerp, than a schism broke out between the 
 French regiments in the garrison and the Walloon Guards. 
 The latter declared for Charles III. ; and the approach of 
 Marlborough’s army, and the intelligence of the submission of 
 the other cities of Brabant, brought matters to a crisis. Aftei 
 some altercation, it was agreed that the French troops should 
 march out with the honors of war, and be escorted to Bou- 
 chain, -within the frontier of their own country. Accordingly, 
 
 * Duke of Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Harley, June 14, 1706. 
 
 t "The consequences of this battle are likely to be greater than that of 
 Blenheim; for we have now the whole summer before us, and, with the 
 blessing of God, I will make the best use of it. For as I have had no coun¬ 
 cil of uar before this battle, so I hope to have none during the whole cam¬ 
 paign ; and I think we may make such work of it as may give the queen 
 the glory of making a safe and honorable peace, for the blessing of God is 
 certainly with us."— Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, May 27, 1706. Coxb, 
 ii., 365. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 145 
 
 on the 6 th of June, this magnificent fortress, which it had 
 cost the Prince of Parma so vast an expenditure of blood and 
 treasure to reduce, and which Napoleon said was itself worth 
 a kingdom, was gained without firing a shot. Oudenarde, 
 which had been in vain besieged in the last war by William 
 III., at the head of sixty thousand men, immediately followed 
 the same example ; and Ghent and Bruges, besides, speedily 
 opened their gates. Flanders, bristling with fortresses, the 
 possession of which in the early part of the war had been of 
 such signal service to the French, was, with the exception of 
 Ostend, Dunkirk, and two or three smaller places, entirely 
 gained by the consternation produced by this single battle. 
 Well might Marlborough say, “ The consequences of our vic¬ 
 tory are almost incredible. A whole country, with so many 
 strong places, delivered up without the least resistance, shows, 
 not only the great loss they must have sustained, but likewise 
 the terror and consternation they are in.”* 
 
 At this period, Marlborough hoped the war would be 
 speedily brought to a close, and that a glorious 47 . 
 peace would reward his own and his country’s ef- ho^Xfor ”!" 3 
 forts. His thoughts constantly reverted, as his speudy P eace - 
 private correspondence shows, to home, quiet, and domestic 
 happiness. To the duchess he wrote at this period, “You 
 are very kind in desiring I would not expose myself. Be as¬ 
 sured, I love you so well, and am so desirous of ending my 
 days quietly with you, that I shall not venture myself but 
 when it is absolutely necessary ; and I am sure you are so 
 kind to me, and wish so well to the common cause, that you 
 had rather see me dead than not do my duty. I am per¬ 
 suaded that tins campaign will bring in a good peace ; and I 
 beg of you to do all that you can, that the house of Wood- 
 stock may be carried up as much as possible, that I may have 
 the prospect of living in it.”f But these anticipations were 
 not to be realized ; and before he sank mto old age, the hero 
 
 * Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Harley, 3d June, 1706. Marl. Disp., ii., 
 554. t Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough, May 31, 1706. 
 
 N 
 
146 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 was destined to drain to the dregs the cup of envy, jealousy, 
 and ingratitude. 
 
 His first step of importance, after consolidating these im- 
 
 4 g. portant conquests, and preventing the cupidity of the 
 capfureof Hutch from forcing contributions on the inhabitants, 
 Ostend. w hich would only have endangered his conquests be¬ 
 fore they were well secured, was to undertake the siege of Os- 
 tend, the most considerable place in Flanders which still held 
 out for the French interest. This place, celebrated for its 
 great strength and the long siege of three years which it had 
 stood against the Spanish under Spinola, was expected to make 
 a very protracted resistance ; hut such was the terror now in¬ 
 spired by Marlborough’s name, that it was reduced much 
 sooner than had been anticipated. Eveiy preparation had 
 been made for a vigorous defense. A fleet of nine ships of 
 the line lay off the harbor, and a formidable besieging train 
 was brought up from Antwerp and Brussels. Trenches Avere 
 opened on the 28th of June ; the counterscarp was blown in 
 on the 6th of July ; and the day following, the besieged, after 
 a fruitless sally, capitulated, and the Flemish part of the gar¬ 
 rison entered the service of the allies. The garrison Avas five 
 thousand strong when it surrendered ; two ships of the line 
 were taken in the harbor ; and the total loss of the besiegers 
 Avas only five hundred men. 
 
 Menin was next besieged; hut it made a more protracted 
 49- resistance. Its great strength consisted in the means 
 
 Commence- . 
 
 mcnt of the which the governor of the fortress possessed of flood- 
 
 siege of Me- . ^ 
 
 nin, and its mg at will the fiat and extensive plains in which it 
 ties. is situated. Its fortifications had always been reck¬ 
 
 oned among one of Vauban’s masterpieces ; the garrison was 
 ample; and the governor, who Avas a man of resolution, was 
 encouraged to make a vigorous resistance by assurances of 
 succor made to him by the French government. In short, 
 Louis XIV. had made the greatest efforts to repair the con¬ 
 sequences of the disaster at llamillies. Marshal Marsin had 
 been detached from the Rhine with eighteen battalions and 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 147 
 
 fourteen squadrons ; and, in addition to that, thirty battalions 
 and forty squadrons were marching from Alsace. These great 
 re-enforcements, with the addition of nine battalions which 
 were in the lines on the Dyle when the battle of Ramillies 
 was fought, would, when all assembled, have raised the French 
 army to one hundred and ten battalions and one hundred and 
 forty squadrons, or above ninety thousand men; whereas Marl¬ 
 borough, after employing thirty-two battalions in the siege, 
 could only spare for the covering army about seventy-two bat¬ 
 talions and eighty squadrons. The numerical superiority, 
 therefore, was very great on the side of the enemy, especially 
 when the allies were divided by the necessity of carrying on 
 the siege ; and Villeroi, who had lost the confidence of his 
 men, had been replaced by one of the best generals in the 
 French service, the Duke de Vendome, already illustrious by 
 his recent victory over the Imperialists in Italy. He openly 
 avowed his intention to raise the siege, and, as if with that 
 view, he approached the covering army closely. But Marl¬ 
 borough persevered in his design ; for, to use his own words, 
 “ the Elector of Bavaria says, he is promised a hundred and 
 ten battalions, and they are certainly stronger in horse than 
 we. But, even if they had greater numbers, I neither think 
 it is their interest nor their inclination to venture a battle, for 
 our men are in heart, and theirs are cowed.”* 
 
 Considerable difficulties were experienced in the first in¬ 
 stance hr bringing forward the siege equipage, in 50 . 
 consequence of the inundations which the governor carried byS 
 had let loose ; but a drought having set in in the sauIt ’ Aug ' 22 ‘ 
 beginning of August, before the blockade began, these obsta¬ 
 cles were soon overcome, and on the 9th of August the besieg¬ 
 ers’ fire opened, while Marlborough took post at Helchin to 
 cover the siege. On the 18th, the fire of the breaching bat¬ 
 teries had been so effectual, that it was deemed practicable to 
 make an assault on the covered way ; and as a determined re- 
 
 * Marlborough to Secretary Harley, Helchiu, 9th of August, 1706. Disp., 
 iii., 69. 
 
148 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 sistance was anticipated, the duke repaired to the spot to su¬ 
 perintend the attack. At seven in the evening, the signal 
 was given by the explosion of two mines, and the troops, with 
 the English hi front, rushed to the assault. They soon cut 
 down the palisades, and, throwing their grenades before them, 
 ere long got into the covered way; hut they were there ex¬ 
 posed to a dreadful fire from two ravelins which enfiladed it. 
 For two hours they bore it without flinching, laboring hard to 
 erect barricades so as to get under cover; hut this was not 
 accomplished before fourteen hundred of the brave assailants 
 had been struck down. The success, though so dearly pur¬ 
 chased, was decisive. The establishment of the besiegers hi 
 this important lodgment, in the heart, as it were, of their 
 works, so distressed the enemy, that on the 22d they hoisted 
 the white flag, and capitulated on the following day, though 
 still four thousand three hundred strong. The reduction of 
 this strong and celebrated fortress gave the most unbounded 
 satisfaction to the allies, as it not only materially strengthen¬ 
 ed the harrier against Franee, but, having taken place in pres¬ 
 ence of the Duke de Vendome and his powerful army, drawn 
 together with such diligence to raise the siege, it afforded the 
 strongest proof of the superiority the allies had now acquired 
 over their enemy in the field.* 
 
 Upon the fall of Menin, Vendome collected his troops, and 
 took up a position behind the Lys and the Dyle, in 
 order to cover Lille, against which he supposed the foJiofDcn- 
 intentions of Marlborough were next to be directed. September 
 But the duke had another object hi view, for he im- 5 - 
 mediately sat down before Dendermonde, still keeping post 
 with Iris covering army at Helchin, so as to bar the access to 
 that fortress. Being situated on the banks of the Scheldt, it 
 w r as so completely within the power of the governor to hinder 
 the approaches of the besiegers, by letting out the waters, that 
 the King of France said, on hearing they had commenced its 
 
 ' Marlborough to Duke of Savoy , Helchin, 25th of August, 1706. Marl. 
 Disp., iii., 101, 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 149 
 
 siege, “ They must have an army of ducks to take it.” An 
 extraordinary drought at this period, however, which lasted 
 seven weeks, had so lowered the Scheldt and canals, that the 
 approaches were pushed with great celerity, and on the 5tb 
 of September the garrison surrendered at discretion. Marl¬ 
 borough wrote to Godolphin on this occasion, “ The taking of 
 Dendermonde, making the garrison prisoners of war, was more 
 than could have been expected ; but I saw they were in a 
 consternation. That place could never have been taken but 
 by the hand of God, which gave us seven weeks without rain. 
 The rain began the day after we had taken possession, and 
 continued without intermission for the three next days.”* 
 Ath was the next object of attack. This small but strong 
 fortress was of great importance, as lying on the di- 50 
 rect road from Mons to Brussels by Halle ; and, in whfchcon- 
 consequence of that circumstance, it was rendered a campai^f 
 fortress of the first order, when the barrier of strong- 0ctober *■ 
 holds, insanely demolished by Joseph II. before the war of the 
 Revolution, was restored by the allies, under the direction of 
 Wellington, after its termination. Marlborough intrusted the 
 direction of the attack to Overkirk, while he himself occupied, 
 with the covering army, the position of Leuze. Vendome’s 
 army was so much discouraged that he did not venture to dis¬ 
 turb the operations of Marlborough, but, retiring behind the 
 Scheldt, between Conde and Montagne, contented himself 
 with throwing strong garrisons into Mons and Charleroi, winch 
 he apprehended would be the next objects of attack. The 
 operations of the besiegers against Ath were pushed with great 
 vigor till the 4th of October, when the garrison, eight hundred 
 strong, all that remained out of two thousand who maimed 
 the works when the siege began, surrendered as prisoners of 
 war. Marlborough was very urgent after this success to un¬ 
 dertake the siege of Mons, winch would have completed the 
 conquest of Brabant and Flanders ; but ho could not persuade 
 
 * Marlborough to Godolphin, September 4, 1706. Coxe, iii., 10. 
 
 N 2 
 
150 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the Dutch authorities to furnish him with the requisite stores.* 
 After a parade of his army in the open field near Cambron, 
 in the hope of drawing Vendome, who boasted of having one 
 hundred and forty battalions and one hundred and eighty 
 squadrons at his command, to a battle, in which he was dis¬ 
 appointed, Marlborough resigned the command to Overkirk, 
 put the army into winter quarters, and hastened to Brussels, 
 to commence the arduous duty of endeavoring to compose the 
 jealousies and secure the union of the discordant powers of the 
 alliance.! 
 
 Marlborough was received hi the most splendid manner, and 
 53. with unbounded demonstrations of joy, at Brussels, 
 ception of C * not only by the inconstant populace, but by the dep- 
 ntTirussuisf* uties of the Three Estates of Brabant, which were 
 suiw^f the 6 assembled there in regular and permanent sover- 
 campaign. eignty. Well might they lavish their demonstra¬ 
 tions of respect and gratitude on the English general; for 
 never, in modem times, had more important or glorious events 
 signalized a successful campaign. In five months the power 
 of France had been so completely broken, and the towering 
 temper of its inhabitants so lowered, that their best general, 
 at the head of above a hundred thousand men, did not venture 
 to measure swords with the allies, who were only about two 
 thirds of their numerical strength in the field. By the effects 
 of a single victory, the whole of Brabant and Flanders, stud- 
 
 * " If the DQtch can furnish ammunition for the siege of Mous, we shall un¬ 
 dertake it; for if the weather continues fair, we shall have it much cheaper 
 this year than the next, when they have had time to recruit their army. 
 The taking of that town would be a very great advantage to us for the open¬ 
 ing of next campaign, which we must make if we would bring France to 
 such a peace as will give us quiet hereafter .”—Marlborough to Godolphin, 
 October 14, 1706. Coxe, iii., 14. 
 
 t “ M. de Vendome tells his officers he has one hundred and forty battal¬ 
 ions and one hundred and eighty squadrons, and that, if my Lord Marlbor¬ 
 ough gives him au opportunity, he will pay him a visit before this campaign 
 ends. I believe he has neither will nor power to do it. which we shall see 
 quickly, for we are now camped in so open a couutry that if he marches to 
 us we can not refuse fighting .”—Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, October 
 14, 1706. Ibid. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 151 
 
 ded with the strongest fortresses in Europe, each of which, in 
 former wars, had required months—some, years—for their re¬ 
 duction, had been gained to the allied arms. Between those 
 taken on the field of Ramillies, and subsequently in the be¬ 
 sieged fortresses, above twenty thousand men had been made 
 prisoners, and twice that number lost to the enemy by the 
 sword, sickness, and desertion. France now made head 
 against the allies in Flanders only by drawing together her 
 forces from all other quarters, and starving the war in Italy 
 and on the Rhine, besides straining every nerve in the inte¬ 
 rior. This state of frenzied exertion could not last. Already 
 the effects of Marlborough’s triumph at the commencement of 
 the campaign had appeared, in the total defeat of the French 
 in their lines before Turin, by Prince Eugene, on the 18th of 
 September, and their expulsion from Italy. It was the re¬ 
 enforcements procured for him, and withheld from his oppo¬ 
 nents, by Marlborough, which obtained for the prince tliis glo¬ 
 rious victory, at which the English general, with the gener¬ 
 osity of true greatness, rejoiced even more sincerely than he 
 had done in any triumphs of his own ;* while Eugene, with 
 equal greatness of mind, was the first to ascribe his success 
 mainly to the succors sent him by the Duke of Marlborough.t 
 But all are not Marlboroughs or Eugenes : the really great 
 alone can witness success without envy, or achieve it without 
 selfishness. In the base herd of ignoble men who profited by 
 
 * “ I have now received confirmation of the success in Italy from the Duke 
 of Savoy and Prince Eugene, and it is impossible for me to express the joy 
 it has given me; for I not only esteem, but really love, that prince. This 
 glorious action must bring France so low, that if our friends can be per¬ 
 suaded to carry on the war one year longer with vigor, we could not fail, 
 with God's blessing, to have such a peace as would give us quiet in our 
 days. But the Dutch are at this time unaccountable.”— Marlborough to the 
 Duchess, Sept. 26, 1706. Coxe, iii., 20, 21. 
 
 t “ Your highness, I am sure, will rejoice at the signal advantage which 
 the arms of his Imperial majesty and the allies have gained. You have 
 had so great a hand in it, by the succors you have procured, that you must 
 permit me to thank you again.”— Eugene to Marlborough, 20th Sept., 1706. 
 Coxe, iii., 20. 
 
152 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the efforts of these great leaders, the malignant 
 passions were rapidly gaining strength by the very 
 magnitude of the triumphs. The removal of dan¬ 
 ger was producing its usual effect of reviving jeal¬ 
 ousy among the allies. Conquest was spreading its 
 invariable discord by inciting cupidity in the distribution of its 
 fruits. These divisions had appeared soon after the battle of 
 Ramillies, when the Emperor Joseph, as a natural mark of 
 gratitude to the general who had delivered his people from 
 their oppressors, as well as from a regard to Iris own interests, 
 appointed Marlborough to the general command as viceroy of 
 the Netherlands. The English general was highly gratified 
 by this mark of confidence and gratitude; and the appoint¬ 
 ment was cordially approved of by Queen Anne and the En¬ 
 glish cabinet, who without hesitation authorized Marlborough 
 to accept the proffered dignity. But the Dutch, who had al¬ 
 ready begun to conceive projects of ambition by an accession 
 of territory to themselves on the side of Flanders, evinced such 
 dislike to this appointment, as tending to throw the adminis¬ 
 tration of the Netherlands entirely into the hands of the En¬ 
 glish and Austrians, that Marlborough had the magnanimity 
 to solicit permission to decline an honor which threatened to 
 breed disunion in the alliance.* This conduct was as disin¬ 
 terested as it was patriotic ; for the emoluments of the govern¬ 
 ment, thus refused from a desire for the public good, were no 
 less than sixty thousand pounds a year. 
 
 * “ This appointment by the emperor has given some uneasiness in Hol¬ 
 land, by thinking that the emperor has a mind to put the power in this 
 country into the queen’s hands, in order that they may have nothing to do 
 with it. If I should find the same thing by the pensionary, and that nothing 
 can cure tins jealousy but my desiring to be excused from accepting this 
 commission, I hope the queen will allow of it; for the advantage and honor 
 I have by this commission is very insignificant in comparison of the fatal 
 consequences that might he if it should cause a jealousy between the two na¬ 
 tions. And though the appointments of this government are sixty thousand 
 pounds a year, I shall with pleasure excuse myself, since I am convinced 
 it is for her service, if the States should not make it their request, winch 
 they are very far from doing.”— Marlborough to Godolpliin, July 1 and 8, 
 1706. Coxe, iii., 391-393. 
 
 54. 
 
 Splendid and 
 disinterested 
 conduct of 
 Marlborough 
 in refusing 
 the govern¬ 
 ment of the 
 Netherlands. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 153 
 
 Although, however, Marlborough thus renounced this splen¬ 
 did appointment, the court of Vienna were not 55. 
 
 Jealousies of 
 
 equally tractable. It evinced the utmost jealousy the Dutch, and 
 ........ continued dis- 
 
 at the no longer disguised desire ol the Dutch to interestedness 
 
 ° . tii . . ofMarlbor- 
 
 gain an accession ot territory, and the barrier ol ough. 
 which they were so passionately desirous, at the expense of the 
 Austrian Netherlands. The project also got wind, and the 
 Catholic inhabitants of Brabant, whom difference of religion 
 and old-established national rivalry had long alienated from 
 the Dutch, were so much alarmed at the prospect of being 
 transferred to their hated Protestant neighbors, that the pro¬ 
 posal at once cooled their ardor in the cause of the alliance, 
 and went far to sow the seeds of irrepressible dissension among 
 them. The emperor, therefore, again pressed the appointment 
 on Marlborough; hut, from the same lofty motives, he con¬ 
 tinued to decline, professing a willingness, at the same time, 
 to give the emperor privately every assistance in his power in 
 the exercise of the new government, so that the emperor was 
 obliged to give a reluctant consent. Notwithstanding this 
 refusal, the jealousy of the Dutch was such, that on the re¬ 
 vival of a report that the appointment had been actually con¬ 
 ferred on the Duke of Marlborough, they were thrown into 
 such a ferment, that in the public congress the pensionary 
 could not avoid exclaiming in the presence of the English em¬ 
 bassador, “ Mon Dieu ! est-il possible qu’on voudrait faire ce 
 pas sans notre participation ?”* 
 
 The French government were soon informed of this jealousy, 
 and of the open desire of the Dutch for an acces- 56. 
 
 . . . , , Opening of a 
 
 sion of territory oil the side of Flanders, at the ex- separate se- 
 pense of Austria: and they took advantage of it, tionbetween 
 
 , . . . the Dutch 
 
 early m the summer ol 1706, to open a secret ne- and French, 
 gotiation with the States General for the conclusion of a sep¬ 
 arate peace with that republic. The basis of this accommo¬ 
 dation was to be a renunciation by the Duke of Anjou of his 
 
 * Mr. Stepney to Duke of Marlborough, Hague, Jan. 4, 1707. Coxe, 
 ii., 407. 
 
154 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 claim to the crown of Spain, upon receiving an equivalent in 
 Italy : he offered to recognize Anne as Queen of England, and 
 professed the utmost readiness to secure for the Dutch, at the 
 expense of Austria, that barrier in the Netherlands to which 
 he conceived them to be so w r ell entitled. These proposals 
 elated the Dutch government to such a degree, that they be¬ 
 gan to take a high hand, and assume a dictatorial tone at the 
 Hague ; and it was the secret belief that they would, if mat¬ 
 ters came to extremities, be supported by France in this ex¬ 
 orbitant demand for a slice of Austria, that made them resist 
 so strenuously the government of the Low Countries being 
 placed in such firm and vigorous hands as those of Marlbor¬ 
 ough. Matters had therefore come to such a pass in October 
 and November, 1706, that Godolphin regarded the state of 
 affairs as desperate, and thought that the alliance was on the 
 pomt of being dissolved.* Thus was Marlborough’s usual 
 winter campaign with the confederates rendered more difficult 
 on tlxis than it had been on any preceding occasion ; for he 
 had now to contend with the consequences of his own success, 
 allay the jealousies and stifle the cupidity which had sprung 
 up in the prospect of that magnificent spoil which he himself 
 had laid at the feet of the allies. 
 
 But in this dangerous crisis, Marlborough’s great diplomatic 
 57. ability, consummate address, and thorough devo- 
 address ob?* 18 tiou to the common good, stood him in as good 
 aU>fncaJii'- 7 stead as his military talents had done him in the 
 preceding campaign with Villeroi and Vendome. 
 In the beginning of November he repaired to the Hague, 
 and though he found the Dutch, in the first instance, so extrav¬ 
 agant in their ideas of the barrier they were to obtain that 
 he despaired of effecting any settlement of the differences be- 
 
 * “ Lord Somers has shown me a long letter which he has had from the 
 pensionary, very intent upon settling the harrier. The inclinations of the 
 Dutch are so violent and plain, that I am of opinion nothing will he able to 
 prevent their taking effect but our being as plain with them upon the same 
 subject, and threatening to publish to the whole world the terms for which 
 they solicit.”— Lord Godolphin to Marlborough, Oct. 24,1706. Coxe, iii.,74. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 155 
 
 tween them ana the emperor,* yet he at length succeeded, 
 though with very great difficulty, in appeasing, for the time, 
 the jealousies between them and the cabinet of Vienna, and 
 also in obtaining a public renewal of the alliance for the pros¬ 
 ecution of the war. The publication of this treaty diffused 
 the utmost satisfaction among the ministers of the allied pow¬ 
 ers assembled at the Hague; and this was further increased 
 by the breaking off, at the same time, of a negotiation which 
 had been pending for some months between Marlborough and 
 the Elector of Bavaria, for a separate treaty with that prince, 
 who had become disgusted with the French alliance. But 
 all Marlborough’s efforts failed to accomplish any adjustment 
 of the disputed matter of the barrier, on which the Dutch 
 were so obstinately set; and, finding them equally unreason¬ 
 able and intractable on that subject, he deemed himself fortu¬ 
 nate when he obtained the adjourning of the question, by the 
 consent of all concerned, till the conclusion of a general peace. 
 
 After the adjustment of this delicate and perilous negotia¬ 
 tion, Marlborough returned to England, where he 58. 
 
 _ ° # His return to 
 
 was received with transports of exultation by all England, and 
 
 i splendid recep- 
 
 classes. He was conducted in one of the royal tion there, 
 carriages, amid a splendid procession of all the nobility of the 
 kingdom, to Temple Bar, where he was received by the city 
 authorities, who feasted him in the most magnificent manner 
 at Vintners’ Hall. Thanks were voted to him by both houses 
 of Parliament; and when he took his seat in the House of 
 Peers, the lord-keeper addressed him in these just and appro¬ 
 priate terms : “ What your grace has performed in this last 
 
 * “ My inclinations will lead me to stay as little as possible at the Hague, 
 though the pensionary tells me I must stay to finish the succession treaty 
 and their bander, which, should I stay the whole winter, I am very confident 
 would not be brought to perfection ; for they are of so many minds, and are 
 all so very extravagant about their barrier, that I despair of doing any thing 
 good till they are more reasonable, which they will not be till they see that 
 they have it not in their power to dispose of the whole Low Countries at 
 their will and pleasure, in which the French flatter them .”—Marlborough 
 to Godolphin, Oct. 29, 1706. Coxe, iii., 79. 
 
156 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 campaign has far exceeded all hopes, even of such as were 
 most affectionate and partial to their country’s interest and 
 glory. The advantages you have gained against the enemy 
 are of such a nature, so conspicuous in themselves, so un¬ 
 doubtedly owing to your courage and conduct, so sensibly and 
 universally beneficial to the whole confederacy, that to at¬ 
 tempt to adorn them with the coloring of words would he vain 
 and inexcusable. Therefore I decline it, the rather because 
 I should certainly offend that great modesty which alone can 
 and does add luster to your actions, and which in your grace’s 
 example has successfully withstood as great trials as that vir¬ 
 tue has met with in any instance whatsoever.” The House 
 of Commons passed a similar resolution; and the better to 
 testify the national gratitude, an annuity of .£5000 a year, 
 charged upon the Post-office, was settled upon the duke and 
 duchess, and their descendants male or female ; and his duke¬ 
 dom, which stood limited to heirs-male, was extended also to 
 lieirs-female, “ in order,” as it was finely expressed, “ that 
 England might never be without a title which might recall 
 the remembrance of so much glory.” 
 
 So much glory, however, produced its usual effect in engen- 
 jeaiousy dering jealousy in little minds. The Whigs had 
 
 against him grown envious of that illustrious pillar of their 
 
 arises among . A 
 
 both the party ; they were tired of hearing him called the 
 
 Whigs and a 
 
 Tories, but just. Both Godolphin and Marlborough became 
 court. eVaUa at the objects of excessive jealousy to their own party ; 
 and this, combined with the rancor of the Tories, who could 
 never forgive his desertion of his early patron the Duke of 
 York, had welhiigh proved fatal to liim when at the very zen¬ 
 ith of his usefulness and popularity. Intrigue was rife at St. 
 James’s. Parties were strangely intermixed and disjointed. 
 Some of the moderate Tories were in power ; many ambitious 
 Whigs were out of it. Neither party stood on great public 
 principles: a sure sign of instability in the national councils, 
 and tending to the ultimate neglect of the national interests. 
 Harley’s intrigues had become serious, and the prime minister, 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 157 
 
 Godolphin, had threatened to resign. In this alarming junc¬ 
 ture of domestic affairs, the presence of Marlborough produced 
 its usual pacifying and benign influence. In a long interview 
 which he had with the queen on Iris first private audience, he 
 settled all differences ; Godolphin was persuaded to withdraw 
 liis resignation; the cabinet was reconstructed on a new and 
 harmonious basis ; Harley and Bolingbroke were the only 
 Tories of any note who remained in power ; and these new 
 perils to the prosecution of the war and the cause of Euro¬ 
 pean independence were removed. 
 
 Marlborough’s services to England, and the interests of 
 European freedom in this campaign, recall one 60. 
 
 r . . . Great error 
 
 mournful feeling to the British annalist. All that in the subse- 
 he had won for his country — all that Wellington, of England 7 
 with still greater difficulty, and amid yet brighter glories, re¬ 
 gained for it, has been lost. It has been lost, too, not by the 
 enemies of the nation, but by itself; not by an opposite fac¬ 
 tion, but by the very party over whom his own great exploits 
 had shed such imperishable luster ; not amid national humil¬ 
 iation, hut at the height of national glory; not in faithfully 
 defending, hut in basely partitioning an ally. Antwerp, the 
 first fruits of Ramillies—Antwerp, the last reward of Water¬ 
 loo—Antwerp, to hold which against England Napoleon lost 
 his crown, has been abandoned to France.* An English 
 fleet has combined with a French army to tear from Iloff and 
 the barrier of Dutch independence, and the key to the Low 
 Countries. The barrier so passionately sought by the Dutch 
 has been wrested from them, and wrested from them by Brit¬ 
 ish hands; a revolutionary power has been placed on the 
 throne of Belgium, the theater of Ramillies and Malplaquet, 
 of Oudenarde and Waterloo. Flanders, instead of the out¬ 
 work of Europe against France, has become the outwork of 
 France agaurst Europe. The tricolor flag waves in sight of 
 Bergen-op-Zoom ; within a month after the first European 
 
 * “ If I could have made up my mind to give up Antwerp, I might have 
 concluded peace at ChatiUon.” — Napoleon in Las Cases. 
 
 o 
 
158 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 war, the whole coast from Bayonne to the Texel will be ar¬ 
 rayed against Britain ! Such is the way in which empires 
 are ruined by the blindness of faction. It is in moments of 
 domestic convulsion that irrevocable and fatal mistakes in 
 policy are committed by nations, for it is then that the na¬ 
 tional are absorbed in the social passions, and durable public 
 interests forgotten in passing party contentions. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CAMPAIGNS OF 1707 AND 1708. -BATTLE OF OUDENAK.DE, CAP¬ 
 
 TURE OF LILLE, AND RECOVERY OF GHENT. 
 
 The campaign of 1707 opened under auspices veiy different 
 i. to the allies from any which had preceded it: 
 ^xperienced r3 Blenheim had saved Germany, Ramillies had de- 
 the preceding bvered Brabant. The power of the Grand Mo- 
 campaign. narque no longer made Europe tremble. The 
 
 immense advantage which he had gained in the outset of the 
 contest, by the declaration of the governor of Flanders for the 
 cause of the Bourbons, and the consequent transference of the 
 Flemish fortresses into his hands, had been lost. It was more 
 than lost—it had been won to the enemy. Brussels, Ant¬ 
 werp, Menin, Ath, Ostend, Ghent, Dendermonde, Louvain, 
 now acknowledged the Archduke Charles for their sovereign ; 
 the states of Brabant had sent in their adhesion to the Grand 
 Alliance. Italy had been lost as rapidly as it had been won ; 
 the stroke of Marlborough at Ramillies had been re-echoed at 
 Turin ; and Eugene had expelled the French arms from Pied¬ 
 mont as effectually as Marlborough had from Flanders. Re¬ 
 duced on all sides to his own resources, wakened from his 
 dream of foreign conquests, Louis XIV. now sought only to 
 defend his own frontier; and the arms which had formerly 
 reached the gates of Amsterdam, and recently carried terror 
 into the center of Germany, were now reduced to a painful 
 lefensive on Ihe Scheldt and the Rhine. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 159 
 
 These great advantages would, in all probability, notwith¬ 
 standing the usual supineness and divisions of the 2 . 
 
 . . ‘ . Appearance of 
 
 allied powers, have insured them the most signal Charles xii. 
 
 . , . of Sweden in 
 
 success m the next campaign, had not their atten- Germany. 
 
 tion been, early in spring, arrested, and their efforts paralyzed, 
 by a new and formidable actor on the theater of affairs. This 
 was no less a man than Charles XII., king of Sweden, 
 who, after having defeated the coalition of the northern sover¬ 
 eigns formed for his destruction, dictated peace to Denmark 
 at Copenhagen, dethroned the King of Poland, and wellnigh 
 overturned the empire of Russia, had now planted his vic¬ 
 torious standards in the center of Germany, and at the head 
 of an army fifty thousand strong, and hitherto invincible, had 
 stationed himself at Dresden. There he had become the ar¬ 
 biter of Europe, and in a position to threaten the destruction 
 of either of the parties engaged in the contest on the Rhine 
 against whom he chose to direct his hostility. 
 
 This extraordinary man approached closer than any war¬ 
 rior of modern times to the great men of antiquity. 3 
 More nearly than even Napoleon, he realized the charac,ei '- 
 heroes of Plutarch. A Stoic hi pacific, he was a Caesar in 
 military life. He had all their virtues, and a considerable 
 share of their barbarism. Achilles did not surpass him hi the 
 thirst for warlike renown, nor Hannibal in the perseverance 
 of Ids character and the fruitfulness of his resources; like 
 Alexander, he would have wept because a world did not re¬ 
 main to conquer. Almost unconquerable by fatigue, resolute 
 hi determination, and a lion in heart, he knew no fear but 
 that of his glory being tarnished. Endowed by nature with 
 a dauntless soul, a constitution of iron, he was capable of un¬ 
 dergoing a greater amount of exertion than any of his soldiers. 
 At the siege of Stralsund, when some of his officers were sink¬ 
 ing under the exhaustion of protracted watching, he desired 
 them to retire to rest, and himself took their place. Out¬ 
 stripping his followers in speed, at one time he rode across 
 Germany, almost alone, in an incredibly short space of time, 
 
160 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 at another, he defended himself for days together, at the head 
 of a handful of attendants, in a barricaded house, against 
 twenty thousand Turks. Wrapped up in the passion for 
 fame, he was insensible to the inferior desires which usually 
 rouse or mislead mankind. Wine had no attractions, women 
 no seductions for him : he was indifferent to personal comforts 
 or accommodations ; his fare was as simple, his dress as plain, 
 his lodging as rude, as those of the meanest of his followers. 
 To one end alone his attention was exclusively directed, on 
 one acquisition alone his heart was set. Glory, military glory, 
 was the ceaseless object of his ambition; all lesser desires 
 were concentrated in this ruling passion ; for this he lived, for 
 this he died. 
 
 "A frame of adamant, a soul of fire, 
 
 No dangers fright him, and no dangers tire; 
 
 O’er love, o’er fear, extends his wide domain, 
 
 Unconquer'd lord of pleasure and of pain ; 
 
 No joys to him pacific scepters yield, 
 
 War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field; 
 
 Behold surrounding kings their pow’rs combine, 
 
 And one capitulate, and one resign ; 
 
 Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain; 
 
 ‘ Think nothing gain’d,’ he cries, ‘ till naught remain : 
 
 On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly, 
 
 And all be mine beneath the polar sky.’ ”* 
 
 That his military abilities were of the very highest order, 
 *■ mav be iudged of by the fact that, with the re- 
 
 Great military J J ° J 
 
 abilities. sources of the poor monarchy of Sweden, at that 
 period containing less than two millions of inhabitants, he 
 long arrested the efforts of a coalition composed of Russia, 
 Denmark, and Poland, headed by the vast capacity and per¬ 
 severing energy of Peter the Great, and backed by not less 
 than forty millions of subjects under its various sovereigns. 
 Nor let it be said that these nations were rude in the military 
 art, and unfit to contend in the field with the descendants of 
 the followers of Gustavus Adolphus. The Danes are the 
 near neighbors and old enemies of the Swedes; their equals 
 * Johnson’s Vanity of Human Wishes. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 161 
 
 in population, discipline, and warlike resources. Thirty years 
 had not elapsed since the Poles had delivered Europe from 
 Mussulman bondage by the glorious victory of Vienna, gained 
 under John Sobieski, over two hundred thousand Turks. 
 Europe has since had too much reason to know what are the 
 military resources of Russia, against which all the power of 
 Western Europe, in recent times, has been so signally shat¬ 
 tered ; and though the soldiers of Peter the Great were very 
 different, in point of discipline, from those that repelled the 
 legions of Napoleon, yet their native courage was the same, 
 and they were directed by an energy and perseverance, on the 
 part of the Czar, which never has been exceeded in warlike 
 annals. What, then, must have been the capacity of the 
 sovereign who, with the resources of a monarchy not equaling 
 those of Scotland at this time, could gain such extraordinary 
 success over so powerful a coalition, from the mere force of 
 military ability, indefatigable energy, and heroic determina¬ 
 tion ! 
 
 Charles, however, had many faults. He was proud, over¬ 
 bearing, and self-willed. Like all men of powerful 5 
 original genius, he was confident in his own opin- ruMin'oea imd 
 ion, and took counsel from none ; but, unfortunate- cruelt > T - 
 ly, he often forgot also to take counsel from himself. lie did 
 not always weigh the objections against Iris designs with suffi¬ 
 cient calmness to give them fair play, or allow his heroic fol¬ 
 lowers a practical opportunity of crowning his enterprises with 
 success. He had so often succeeded against desperate, and 
 apparently hopeless odds, that he thought himself invincible, 
 and rushed headlong into the most dreadful perils, with no 
 other preparation to ward them off but his own calmness in 
 danger, his inexhaustible fecundity of resources, and the un¬ 
 daunted courage, as well as patience of fatigue and privation, 
 with which he had inspired liis followers. It is surprising, 
 however, how often he was extricated from his difficulties by 
 such means. Even in his last expedition against Russia, 
 which terminated in the disaster of Pultowa, he would, to all 
 O 2 
 
162 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 appearance, have been successful, had the Tartar chief, Ma- 
 zeppa, proved faithful to his engagement. Like Hannibal, 
 his heroic qualities had inspired a multifarious army— collu- 
 vies omnium gentium —with one homogeneous spirit, and 
 rendered them subject to his discipline, faithful to his stand¬ 
 ard, obedient to his will. But in some particulars Iris private 
 character was still more exceptionable, for it was stained by 
 the vices as well as adorned with the virtues of the savage 
 character. Though not habitually cruel, he was stem, vin¬ 
 dictive, and implacable; and his government was sullied by 
 acts of atrocious barbarity at which humanity shudders, and 
 which must ever leave an indelible blot on his memory. 
 
 Louis XIV., in his distress, was naturally anxious to gain 
 Eff ^ f the support of an ally so powerful as the Swedish 
 Louis xiv. monarch, who was now at Dresden at the head of 
 to his side, fifty-three thousand veteran soldiers, ready to fall 
 on the rear of Marlborough’s army, then threatening the de¬ 
 fensive barrier of France in the Low Countries. Every ef¬ 
 fort, accordingly, was made to gain Charles over to the French 
 interest. The ancient alliance of France with Sweden, their 
 mutual cause of complaint against the emperor, the glories of 
 Gustavus Adolphus and the thirty years’ war, in which their 
 armies had fought side by side, were held forth to dazzle his 
 imagination or convince his judgment. The Swedish mon¬ 
 arch appeared ready to yield to these efforts. He brought 
 forward various real or imaginary grounds of complaint against 
 the German powers for infractions of the constitution of the 
 empire, of which he put himself forth as the guarantee, in the 
 capacity of heir to the crown and fame of Gustavus Adolphus, 
 and for sundry insults alleged to have been offered to the Swed¬ 
 ish crown or subjects. These various subjects of complaint 
 were sedulously inflamed by the French agents; and the 
 weight of their arguments was not a little increased by the 
 knowledge of the fact that they were authorized to offer Count 
 Piper, the prime minister of Charles, 300,000 livres (=£12,000) 
 to quicken his movements in favor of the cabinet of Versailles, 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 163 
 
 besides bribes in proportion to the subordinate ministers of the 
 court of Sweden.* 
 
 Marlborough very naturally felt extremely uneasy at this 
 negotiation, which he soon discovered by secret hi- i- 
 
 . Measures of 
 
 formation, as well as from the undisguised reluct- Marlborough 
 
 .to counteract 
 
 ance of the German powers to furnish the contm- his efforts, 
 gents which they were bound to supply for the ensuing cam¬ 
 paign. Indeed, it could hardly be expected that the Northern 
 powers in Germany should send their chief disposable forces 
 to swell Marlborough’s army beyond the Rhine, when so 
 warlike a monarch, at the head of fifty thousand men, was hi 
 the center of the empire, with his intentions as yet undeclared, 
 and exposed to the influence of every imaginable seduction. 
 General Grumbkow, an adroit and intelligent diplomatist, who 
 had been sent by the King of Prussia on a mission to the al¬ 
 lied head-quarters, was accordingly dispatched to Dresden, to 
 endeavor to ascertain the real intentions of the Swedish mon¬ 
 arch. He was not long of discovering that Charles had as¬ 
 sumed an angry tone toward the confederates only in order tc 
 extract favorable terms of accommodation from them, and 
 that Muscovy was the real object on which the king’s heart 
 was set. The dispatches which the general transmitted to 
 Marlborough convey a curious and highly-interesting picture 
 of Charles and the Swedish court and army at this important 
 juncture.! The negotiation went on for some time with va- 
 
 * Coxe, iii., 156. Instructions pour le Sieur Recoux. Cardonell Pa¬ 
 pers, 137-149. 
 
 t “Coant Piper said, ‘ We made war on Poland only to subsist; our de¬ 
 sign in Saxony is only to terminate the war; but for the Muscovite he shall 
 pay les pots cassees, and we will treat the Czar in a manner which posteri¬ 
 ty will hardly believe.’ I secretly wished that already he was in the heart 
 of Muscovy. After dinner he conveyed me to head-quarters, and intro¬ 
 duced me to his majesty. He asked me whence X came, and where I had 
 served. I replied, and mentioned my good fortune in having served three 
 campaigns under your highness. He questioned me much, particularly con¬ 
 cerning your highness and the English troops; and you may readily believe 
 that I delineated my hero in the most lively and natural colors. Among 
 other particulars, he asked me if your highness yourself led the troops to the 
 charge. I replied, that as all the troops were animated with the same ar- 
 
164 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 rying success; but at length matters were brought to a -crisis 
 by the King of Sweden declaring that he would treat with 
 none but Marlborough in person. 
 
 Phis immediately led to the English general repairing to 
 ,,. 8 - , the court of Charles XII. at Dresden. He left the 
 
 v lsit of Marl- 
 
 borough to Hague on the 20th of April accordingly, and after 
 
 diaries at 
 
 Dresden. visiting Hanover on the way, where, as usual, there 
 were some jealousies to appease, arrived at the Swedish camp 
 of Alt-Ranstadt on the 28th. The duke drove immediately 
 to the head-quarters of Count Piper, from whom he received 
 the most flattering assurances of the gratification which the 
 Swedish monarch had felt at his arrival. He was shortly aft¬ 
 er introduced to the monarch, to whom he delivered a letter 
 from the Queen of England, and at the same time addressed 
 him in the following flattering terms: “I present to your maj¬ 
 esty a letter, not from the Chancery, but from the heart, of 
 the queen my mistress, and -written with her own hand. Had 
 not her sex prevented it, she would have crossed the sea to see 
 a prince admired by the whole universe. I am in this particu¬ 
 lar more happy than the queen, and I wish I could serve some 
 campaigns under so great a general as your majesty, that I 
 might learn what I yet want to know in the art of war.”* 
 
 dor for fighting, that was not necessary; but that you were every where, 
 and always in the hottest of the action, and gave your orders with that cool¬ 
 ness which excites general admiration. I then related to him that you had 
 been thrown from your horse, the death of your aid-de-camp Borafield, and 
 many other things. He took great pleasure in this recital, and made me re¬ 
 peat the same thing twice. I also said that your highness always spoke 
 of his majesty with esteem and admiration, and ardently desired to pay you 
 his respects. He observed, ‘That is not likely; hut I should be delighted 
 to see a general of whom I have heard so much.’ They intend vigorously 
 to attack the Muscovites, and expect to dethrone the Czar, compelling him 
 to discharge all his foreign officers, and pay several millions as an indemni¬ 
 ty. Should he refuse such conditions, the king is resolved to exterminate 
 the Muscovites, and make their country a desert. God grant he may persist 
 in this decision, rather than demand the restitution, as some assert, of the 
 Protestant churches in Silesia ! The Swedes in general are modest, but do 
 not scruple to declare themselves invincible when the king is at their head.” 
 —Gen. Grumbkow to Marlborough, Jan. II and 31, 1707. Coxe, iii., 159-161. 
 
 * Coxe, iii., 167-169. The authenticity of this speech is placed beyond 
 
MAELBOEOUG II. 
 
 165 
 
 This adroit compliment from a commander so great and 
 justly celebrated, produced an immediate effect on 9- 
 
 . His address 
 
 the Swedish monarch, who was passionately desirous and success 
 r , . r . ...... with that 
 
 ol military glory. His satisfaction was visible m his monarch, 
 countenance, and he returned a gracious answer in these terms : 
 “ The Queen of Great Britain’s letter and your person are 
 both very acceptable to me, and I shall always have the ut¬ 
 most regard for the interposition of her Britannic majesty and 
 the interests of the Grand Alliance. It is much against my 
 will that I have been obliged to give umbrage to any of the 
 parties engaged in it. I have had just cause to come into 
 this country with my troops ; but you may assure the queen, 
 my sister, that my design is to depart from hence as soon as I 
 have obtained the satisfaction I demand, but not till then. 
 However, I shall do nothing that can tend to the prejudice of 
 the common cause in general, or of the Protestant religion, of 
 which I shall always glory to be a zealous protector.” This 
 favorable answer was immediately followed by an invitation 
 to dine with the king, who placed him at his right hand, and 
 honored him with the most flattering attention. In the course 
 of the evening the conversation turned chiefly on military mat¬ 
 ters, in which Marlborough exerted himself with such skill and 
 success, that he obtained another long private audience of 
 Charles ; and before his departure, that monarch even exceed¬ 
 ed Iris views by declaring that there could be no security for 
 the peace of Europe till France was reduced to the rank she 
 held at the date of the treaty of Westphalia. 
 
 Though the address and abilities of Marlborough, however, 
 had thus removed the chief danger to be appre- jo. 
 bended from the presence of the Swedish monarch m'thw£chhe 
 at Dresden, yet other matters of great delicacy re- “ng'reUgio^ 
 mained behind for adjustment, requiring all his pru- differenccs > 
 dence and skill to bring to a satisfactory issue. Not the least 
 of these difficulties arose from the zeal of the King of Swe- 
 
 doubt by Lediard, who was then in Saxony, and gives it verbatim .—See 
 Lediaf.d, ii., 126 . 
 
166 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 den for the protection of the Protestant religion, and his de¬ 
 sire to revive and secure the privileges granted to the German 
 Protestants by the treaty of Westphalia. As Marlborough 
 justly apprehended that the court of Vienna might take um¬ 
 brage at these demands, and so be diverted from the objects 
 of the Grand Alliance, he exerted himself to the utmost to 
 convince his majesty that the great object in the mean time, 
 even as regarded the Protestant faith, was to humble the 
 French monarch, who had shown himself its inveterate ene¬ 
 my by the atrocious persecutions consequent on the revocation 
 of the Edict of Nantes ; and that, if this were once done, the 
 emperor would be unable to prevent the insertion of the requi¬ 
 site stipulations in favor of the Reformed faith in the general 
 treaty of peace which would follow. Charles was convinced 
 by these arguments, which, in truth, were well founded, and 
 even went so far as to propose a secret convention with En¬ 
 gland for the promotion of the Protestant interest: a proposal 
 most embarrassing at the moment when Great Britain was in 
 close alliance with the emperor, which Marlborough contrived 
 to elude with admirable dexterity. 
 
 Another matter of great delicacy was the conduct to be ob- 
 n - served toward the dethroned King of Poland, Au- 
 
 Hia satisfac- 
 
 toryarrange- gustus, who was also at Dresden, and of course 
 difficulties viewed the close intimacy between Marlborough 
 Poland. ° and his formidable enemy Charles with the utmost 
 jealousy. But here, also, the diplomatic skill of the English 
 general overcame all difficulties; for by skillfully taking ad¬ 
 vantage of the pecuniary embarrassments into which the king 
 had fallen after his territories had been ravaged and exhaust¬ 
 ed by the Swedish forces, and by engaging that the emperor 
 should take a large part of the Polish forces into his pay, he 
 succeeded at once in gaining over the dethroned monarch, and 
 securing a considerable body of fresh troops for the -service of 
 the allies. By these means, aided by judiciously bestowing on 
 Count Piper and the chief Swedish ministers considerable pen¬ 
 sions, which were paid in advance, Marlborough succeeded in 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 167 
 
 entirely allaying the storm that had threatened his rear. He 
 accordingly left the Saxon capital, after a residence of ten days, 
 perfectly confident in the pacific intentions of the Swedish 
 monarch, and having fully divined the intended direction of 
 his forces toward Moscow.* 
 
 The brilliant success with which this delicate and impor¬ 
 tant negotiation had been concluded, naturally in- jo 
 duced a hope that vigorous operations would be oudesandpro- 
 undertaken by the allied powers, and that the ome^Med 5 
 great successes of the preceding campaign would P ower3 - 
 be so far improved as to compel the court of France to sub¬ 
 mit to such terms as the peace of Europe, and the independ¬ 
 ence of the adjoining states, required. The result, however, 
 was quite the reverse, and Marlborough had again the inde¬ 
 scribable mortification of seeing month after month of the 
 summer of 1707 glide away, without a single measure con¬ 
 ducive to the success of the common cause, or worthy of the 
 real strength of the allied powers, having been attempted. 
 They had all relapsed into their former and fatal jealousies 
 and procrastination. The Dutch, notwithstanding the ines¬ 
 timable services which Marlborough had rendered to their re¬ 
 public, had again become distrustful, and authorized their 
 field-deputies to thwart and mar all his operations. They 
 made no secret of their resolution, that their interests being 
 now secured, the blood and treasure of the United Provinces 
 should no longer be expended on enterprises in wdiich the em¬ 
 peror or Queen of England was alone concerned. 
 
 They never failed, accordingly, to interfere when any ag¬ 
 gressive movement was in contemplation. Even 13 
 when the duke, in the course of his skillful march- Jaes*wart ep 
 es and countermarches, had gained the opportunity ^a^NWeiics 
 for which he longed, of bringing the enemy to 27th Mfly ' 
 an engagement on terms approaching to an equality, they 
 never failed to interpose with their fatal negative, and pre¬ 
 vent any thing being attempted. They did this, in particu- 
 * Coxz, iii., 174-182. 
 
168 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 iar, under the most vexatious circumstances, on the 27th of 
 May, near Nivelles, where Marlborough had brought his 
 troops into the presence of the enemy with every prospect of 
 signalizing the place hy a glorious victory. A council of war 
 was held, which forbade the engagement in spite of Marlbor¬ 
 ough’s most earnest entreaties, and compelled him, in conse¬ 
 quence, to fall back on Branheim, to protect Louvain and 
 Brussels. The indignation of the English general at this un 
 worthy treatment, and at the universal selfishness of the al¬ 
 lied powers, exhaled hi bitter terms in his private correspond¬ 
 ence.* 
 
 The consequence of this determination on the part of the 
 14 . Dutch field-deputies to prevent the undertaking of 
 SeTampaign 6 any serious operation was, that the whole summer 
 uscie'sTma- m passed away in a species of armed truce, or a se¬ 
 ries of maneuvers too insignificant to entitle them 
 to the name of a campaign. Vendome, who commanded the 
 French, though at the head of a gallant army above eighty 
 thousand strong, had too much respect for his formidable an¬ 
 tagonist to hazard any offensive operations, or run the risk of 
 a pitched battle, unless in defense of his own territory. On 
 the other hand, Marlborough, harassed by the incessant oppo¬ 
 sition of the Dutch deputies, and yet not strong enough to un¬ 
 dertake any operation of importance without the support of 
 their troops, was reduced to merely nominal or defensive ef¬ 
 forts. The secret of this ruinous system, which was, at the 
 time, the subject of loud complaints, and appeared wholly in¬ 
 explicable, is now fully revealed by the published dispatches. 
 The Dutch were absolutely set on getting an accession of ter¬ 
 ritory, and a strong line of barrier towns to be set apart for 
 
 * “ I can not venture unless I am certain of success ; for the inclinations 
 in Holland are so strong for peace, that, if we had the least disadvantage, it 
 would make them act very extravagant. I must own every country we 
 have to do with acts, in my opinion, so contrary to the general good, that it 
 makes me quite weary of serving. The emperor is in the wrong in almost 
 every thing he does .”—Marlborough to Godolphin, June 27, 1707. Coxe, 
 iii., 261. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 169 
 
 them out of the Austrian Netherlands ; and as the emperor, 
 not unnaturally, objected to being thus shorn of his territories, 
 as the return for his efforts in favor of European independence, 
 they resolved to thwart all the measures of the allied gener¬ 
 als, in the hope that, in the end, they would in this manner 
 prevail in their demands with the allied cabinets.* 
 
 It was not, however, in the Low Countries alone that the 
 selfish views and jealousies of the allies prevented 15. 
 
 Disasters of 
 
 any operation of importance from being undertaken, the allies in 
 and blasted all the fair prospects which the brilliant the Rhine, 
 victories of the preceding campaign had afforded. In Spain, 
 the allies had suffered a fearful reverse by the battle of Al¬ 
 manza, which in a manner ruined the Austrian prospects in 
 the Peninsula, and rendered some operation indispensable to 
 relieve the pressure experienced in that quarter. Peterbor¬ 
 ough, whose great military abilities had hitherto sustained, 
 nearly alone, their sinking cause in Spain, had been deprived 
 of his command in Catalonia, from that absurd jealousy of 
 foreigners which in every age has fonned so marked a feature 
 in the Spanish character. His successor, Lord Galway, was 
 far from possessing Iris military abilities ; and every thing pre¬ 
 saged that, unless a great effort was immediately made, the 
 crown of Spain, the prize for which all contended in the war, 
 would be lost to the allied powers. Nor was the aspect of 
 affairs more promising on the Rhine. The Margrave of 
 Baden had died there ; and his army, before a successor could 
 be appointed, sustained a signal defeat at Stodhofi'en. This 
 disaster having opened the gates of Germany, Marshal Yillars, 
 
 * Dispatches, iii-, 142-207. So much were the Dutch alienated from the 
 common cause at this time, and set on acquisitions of their own, that they 
 beheld with undisguised satisfaction the battle of Almanza, and' the other 
 disasters in Spain, as likely to render the emperor more tractable in consid¬ 
 ering their proceedings in Flanders. “ The States,” says Marlborough, “re¬ 
 ceived the news of this fatal stroke with less concern than I expected. This 
 blow has made so little impression in the great towns in this country, thaf the 
 generality of the people have shown satisfaction at it rather than otherwise, 
 which I attribute mainly to the aversion to the present government.”— Marl¬ 
 borough to Godolphin, May 13, 1707. Coxe, iii., 204. 
 
 P 
 
170 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 at the head of a powerful French army, hurst into the Palat¬ 
 inate, which he ravaged with fire and sword. To complete 
 the catalogue of disasters, the disputes between the King of 
 Sweden and the emperor were again renewed, and conducted 
 with such acrimony, that it required all the weight and ad¬ 
 dress of Marlborough to prevent a rupture between these 
 powers, winch would have been attended with the most fatal 
 consequences. 
 
 Surrounded by so many difficulties, Marlborough wisely 
 16. judged that the most pressing danger was that hi 
 inTonse™ 3 ' 1 ’ Spain, and that the first thing to be done was to 
 strongly urges stop the progress of the Bourbon armies in that 
 thVsouth°of 0f quarter. As the forces of the Peninsula afforded 
 France. u0 hopes of effecting that object, ho conceived, with 
 reason, that the only way to make an effectual diversion in 
 that quarter was to take advantage of the superiority 7 the al¬ 
 lies had enjoyed in Piedmont, since the decisive victory of 
 Turin in the preceding y'ear, and to threaten Provence with a 
 serious irruption. For this purpose, Marlborough no sooner 
 heard of the disasters in Spam, than he urged hi the strongest 
 manner upon the allied courts to push Prince Eugene with his 
 victorious army across the Maritime Alps, and lay siege to 
 Toulon. Such an offensive movement, which might be pow¬ 
 erfully aided by the English fleet in the Mediterranean, would 
 at once remove the war from the Italian plains, fix it in the 
 south of France, and lead to the recall of a considerable part 
 of the French forces now employed bey r ond the Pyrenees. 
 
 But, though the reasons for this expedition were thus press- 
 17. ing, and Marlborough’s project afforded the only 
 ductofAus- feasible prospect of bringing affairs round in the 
 niins'theex- Peninsula, yet the usual jealousies of the coalesced 
 pedition. powers, the moment it was proposed, opposed insur¬ 
 mountable objections to its being carried into effect with the 
 force adequate to insure its success. It was objected to the 
 siege of Toulon that it w r as a maritime operation, of value to 
 England alone : the emperor insisted on the allied forces being 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 171 
 
 exclusively employed in the reduction of the fortresses yet re¬ 
 maining' in the hands of the French in the Milanese ; while 
 Victor Amadeus, duke of Savoy, between whom and the Im¬ 
 perialists the most violent jealousy had arisen, threatened to 
 withdraw altogether from the alliance unless Eugene’s army 
 was directed to the protection and consolidation of his domin¬ 
 ions. The real object of the emperor, in throwing such ob¬ 
 stacles in the way of these operations, was, that he had am¬ 
 bitious designs of his own on Naples, and he had, to facilitate 
 their accomplishment, concluded a secret convention with 
 Louis for a sort of neutrality in Italy, which enabled that 
 monarch to direct the forces employed, or destined to he em¬ 
 ployed there, to the Spanish peninsula. Marlborough’s ener¬ 
 getic representations, however, at length prevailed over all 
 these difficulties; and the reduction of the Milanese having 
 been completed, the emperor, in the end of June, consented 
 to Prince Eugene invading Provence, at the head of thirty-five 
 thousand men.* But twelve thousand men, which the em¬ 
 peror had at his disposal in Italy, were, despite the utmost re¬ 
 monstrances of Marlborough and Eugene, withheld from the 
 Toulon expedition, in order to being employed in the reduction 
 of Naples : a dispersion of forces worse than useless, since, as 
 Bolingbroke justly observes, if Toulon fell, Naples could not 
 have held out a month, while, by attacking both at the same 
 time, the force directed against each was so weakened as to 
 render success more than doubtful.f 
 
 The invasion of the territory of the Grand Monarque ac¬ 
 cordingly took place, and was supported by a pow- 18 . 
 
 . ° „ , Invasion of 
 
 erlul English squadron, which, as Eugene s army Provence by 
 advanced into Provence by the Col di Tende, kept July, 
 the seacoast in a constant state of alarm. No resistance, as 
 Marlborough had predicted, was attempted; and the allies, 
 almost without firing a shot, arrived at the heights of Vilate, 
 in the neighborhood of Toulon, on the 27th of July. Had 
 
 * Coxe, iii., 196-5205. 
 
 t Bolingdroke’s State of Parties. Works, iii., 42. 
 
172 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Eugene been aware of the real condition of the defenses, and 
 the insubordination which prevailed in the garrison, he might, 
 without difficulty, have made himself master of this important 
 fortress ; but, from ignorance of these propitious circumstan¬ 
 ces, he deemed it necessary to commence operations against it 
 hi form, and the time occupied in the necessary preparations 
 for a siege proved fatal to the enterprise. The French made 
 extraordinary efforts to bring troops to the menaced point; 
 and, among other re-enforcements, thirteen battalions and 
 rune squadrons were detached from Vendome’s army in the 
 Netherlands. 
 
 No sooner did Marlborough hear of this detachment, than 
 19 _ he concentrated his forces, and made a forward 
 and retrea^of movement to bring Yendome to battle, to which 
 Eugene. the Dutch deputies had at length consented; but 
 that general, after some s kill ful marches and countermarches, 
 retired to an intrenched camp under the guns of Lille, of such 
 strength as to bid defiance to every attack for the remainder 
 of the campaign. Meanwhile, the troops, converging toward 
 Toulon, having formed a respectable array in his rear, Eugene 
 was under the necessity of raising the siege, and he retired, as 
 he had entered the country, by the Col di Tende, having first 
 embarked his heavy artillery and stores on board the English 
 fleet. But, though the expedition thus failed in its ostensible 
 object, it fully succeeded in its real one, which was to effect a 
 diversion in the south of France, and relieve the pressure on 
 the Spanish peninsula, by giving the armies of Louis employ¬ 
 ment in the defense of their own territory. 
 
 Marlborough led his army into winter quarters in the end 
 so. of October, and Vendome did the same, the weath- 
 
 Marlborough . . 
 
 closes the er being so thoroughly broken as to render it lm- 
 returns to En- possible to keep the field. He repaired first to 
 vember rtlN ° Frankfort, where he met the Elector of Hanover, 
 and then to the Hague, where he exerted himself to inspire a 
 better feeling in the Dutch government, and to get Eugene 
 appointed to the supreme command in Spain : a project which 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 173 
 
 afforded the only feasible prospect of retrieving affairs in the 
 Peninsula, and which, if adopted, might have changed the 
 fate and ultimate issue of the war. Neither the emperor nor 
 the court of Madrid, however, would consent to this arrange¬ 
 ment ; the former, because he feared to lose that great general 
 hi Italy, the latter, because they feared to gain him in Spam. 
 Marlborough, meanwhile, embarked for England on the 7th 
 of November, where Iris presence had now become indispens¬ 
 ably necessary for arresting the progress of public discontent, 
 fanned as it was by court and parliamentary intrigues, and 
 threatening to prove immediately fatal to his own influence 
 and ascendency, as well as the best interests of England. 
 
 The origin of these intrigues are to be found not merely hr 
 
 the asperity of party feeling, which at that time, 21 . 
 
 1 J r J . . Causes of the 
 
 owing to the recent revolution, prevailed to a degree reaction^ ^ 
 
 never before paralleled in English history, and the borough and 
 peculiar obloquy to which Marlborough was expos- this time, 
 ed, owing to the part he had taken in that transaction, but 
 to other causes of a general nature, which, more or less, in 
 every age, have exercised an important influence in English 
 history. Notwithstanding the powerful elements of popular 
 administration which from the earliest times have been at 
 work in this country, the English are at bottom a loyal and 
 orderly people. Fidelity to their sovereigns is linked in their 
 minds with obedience to their God ; their prayers rarely cease 
 to be at once for their king and country. It was a rare com¬ 
 bination of circumstances which, for a brief space during the 
 reign of Charles I., brought the sacred names of king and Par 
 liament into collision ; and the universal grief which followed 
 the death of that unhappy monarch, the transports of joy 
 which attended the Restoration, showed how deep were the 
 foundations of loyalty in the English heart. The tyrannical 
 conduct of James II., and his undisguised attempt to re-estab¬ 
 lish the Romish faith in his dominions, had for a time united 
 all parties against him, and made them all feel the necessity 
 of his expulsion. But when the deed was done, and the dan- 
 
 P 2 
 
174 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ger was removed—when the monarch was in exile, and a new 
 dynasty on the throne, the minds of men began to return to 
 their original dispositions. Old feelings revived, former asso¬ 
 ciations regained their sway, time softened animosities, mis¬ 
 fortune banished fear, and many who had been foremost in the 
 dethronement of the former monarch, in secret mourned over 
 their triumph, now that he was in exile and distress.* 
 
 In addition to these generous, and therefore honorable feel- 
 29- ings, there were others springing more immediately 
 
 Change in the ^ . .. . ", 
 
 system of gov- from the selfish affections, hut the influence of 
 ernmentbythe , . , 
 
 Revolution. which was not, on that account, the less likely to 
 be in the long run powerful in their operation. It never had 
 been intended, at least by the great body of those who united 
 in bringing about the Revolution, to make any change either 
 in the structure or administration of the government. What 
 they designed was to restore and secure the government, eccle¬ 
 siastical and civil, on its old and true foundations. “ What¬ 
 ever might happen,” says Bolingbroke, “to the king, there 
 was no room to suspect any change in the Constitution.”! 
 But with whatever intentions it may be set about, no estab¬ 
 lished government can be overturned, without inducing a very 
 great alteration in the subsequent administration of public af¬ 
 fairs. The new dynasty rests not merely on a different party, 
 but different principles from the old one : new passions are 
 awakened, new interests created, new classes brought into po¬ 
 litical power. This was immediately felt on the Revolution. 
 The principle of the former government had been loyalty; 
 that being destroyed, the principle of the new one was interest. 
 To attach men to the new order of things by the strong bond 
 of individual ambition became the great object of administra¬ 
 tion ; and this was accomplished in a way, and to an extent, 
 which ere long excited the most serious alarm through the 
 country. 
 
 William brought with him from Holland, where expe 
 rience had long made them known, a perfect acquaintance 
 
 * Boxingbroke’s State of Parties. Works, iii., 123, 124. t Ibid. 
 
 M 2 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 175 
 
 with the principles on which, in republican states, . 23 - 
 
 r r 71 V ast increase 
 
 the influential classes are to be attached to the gov- of loai y- tax - 
 
 ° es, and cor- 
 
 ernment. He was aware that self-interest is all- ruption. 
 powerful in the long run with mankind; that, in republican 
 states, money, as the sole power, is omnipotent. He knew, 
 also, the wonderful, and, except to the Dutch, then unknown 
 influence of industry hi creating capital, as well as the power 
 of the borrowing system in eliciting it. On these two founda¬ 
 tions the new government was built up. Extensive and cost¬ 
 ly wars were undertaken, both to uphold the new dpiasty 
 and to maintain the balance of power in Europe. The am¬ 
 bition of Louis XIV., and his atrocious persecution of the 
 Protestant religion, served at once to furnish too good a 
 ground for these contests, and to inflame the national feelings 
 to carry them on. But hi their prosecution, the great change 
 made by the Revolution was immediately seen. Loans to an 
 immense extent were contracted every year; the national 
 debt, which had been £664,000 at the Revolution, was al 
 ready nearly £50,000,000 sterling. The taxes annually rais 
 ed had increased from £2,000,000, their extent when James 
 was dethroned, to above £5,000,000. This prodigious in¬ 
 crease not only formed a material addition to the public bur 
 dens, but inspired the most dismal apprehensions as to the ul 
 timate, and, as it was then thought, not remote absorption of 
 the whole property of the nation mto the hands of the public 
 creditors. Men could see no hope of salvation under a system 
 which had augmented the national debt eighty fold in twen¬ 
 ty years. The large addition which these loans brought to 
 the national resources had given the government a vast in¬ 
 crease of patronage, of which they made an unsparing use, for 
 securing their influence in the constituencies, and maintaining 
 a majority in the House of Commons. Every office, from the 
 premiership to the lowest excise appointment, was bestowed 
 as the reward of political support, and could be obtained in no 
 other way ; and to such extent was actual corruption carried 
 on in the constituencies, that the public mind was generallv 
 
176 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 24. 
 
 Decline of 
 Marlbor¬ 
 ough’s in¬ 
 fluence at 
 court, and 
 rise of Mrs. 
 
 debauched, and patriots of all parties mourned in secret over 
 the unbounded deluge of selfishness which had overspread tire 
 nation since the Revolution.* 
 
 In addition to these powerful causes of general discontent, 
 which were all visited on Marlborough’s head as 
 an important agent hr bringing about the Revolu¬ 
 tion, and the visible and acknowledged head of the 
 war party, there were others in operation, which, at 
 Masham. a p times and in all courts, but especially under a fe¬ 
 male reign, are likely to produce important public results. 
 During Marlborough’s absence from court, hr the command 
 of the armies in Flanders, his influence with the queen had 
 sensibly declined, and that of another had materially increas 
 ed. Queen Anne had become alienated from her former fa¬ 
 vorite, the Duchess of Marlborough, and, what is very re¬ 
 markable, in consequence of the growing ascendency of a per¬ 
 son recommended by the duchess herself. Worn out with the 
 incessant fatigue of atterrdance on the royal person, the duch¬ 
 ess had recommended a poor relative of her own, named Abi¬ 
 gail Hill, to relieve her of part of that laborious duty. This 
 young lady, who possessed considerable talents, and a strong 
 relish for intrigue and elevation, had been educated iir High 
 Church and Tory principles, and she had not been long. 
 about the royal person before she began to acquire an influ¬ 
 ence over the queen, who, like most of the sovereigns raised to 
 a throne by a successful revolution, was in secret attached 
 to those monarchical principles, which they never desire to see 
 in abeyance except when it is for their own elevation. Har¬ 
 ley, whose ambition and spirit of intrigue were at least equal 
 to her own, was not slow in perceiving the new source of in¬ 
 fluence thus opened up in the royal household, and a close al¬ 
 liance was soon established between them. These matters 
 are not beneath the dignity of history; they are the secret 
 springs on which its most important changes sometimes de¬ 
 pend. Abigail Hill soon after bestowed her hand on Mr 
 * Bolingbroke On Parties. Works, iii., 294-297. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 177 
 
 Masham, who had also been placed in the queen’s household 
 by the duchess, and, under the name of Mrs. Masham, be¬ 
 came the principal instrument in Marlborough’s fall, and the 
 mahi cause of the fruit of the glorious victories of the English 
 general being lost by the treaty of Utrecht. 
 
 Though the ascendency of Mrs. Masham, and the treach¬ 
 erous part she was playing to her benefactress, had 25. 
 
 1 . 1 J & Her great 
 
 long been evident to others, yet the Duchess of Marl- influence, 
 borough unaccountably continued blind to it. Her marriage, 
 however, opened the eyes of the duchess; and soon after the 
 promotion of Davies and Blackhall, both avowed Tories, and 
 not free from the imputation of Jacobitism, to the Episcopal 
 bench, hi opposition to the recommendation of Marlborough 
 and Godolphin, gave convincing proof that their influence at 
 court, in the disposal even of the highest offices, had been sup¬ 
 planted by that of the new favorite. The consequences were 
 highly prejudicial to Marlborough. The Whigs, who were 
 not fully aware of this secret influence, who had long distrust¬ 
 ed him on account of his former connection with James II., 
 and envied him on account of his great services to the coun¬ 
 try, and the reputation he had so long enjoyed at court, now 
 joined the Tories in bitter enmity against him. He was 
 charged with protracting the war for his own private pur¬ 
 poses ; and the man who had refused the government of the 
 Netherlands, and .£60,000 a year, lest his acceptance should 
 breed jealousies in the affiance, was accused of checking the 
 career of victory from sordid motives connected with the prof¬ 
 its of the war. His brother Churchill was prosecuted by Hal¬ 
 ifax and the Whigs on the charge of neglect of duty ; and 
 the intercession of the duke, though made in humble terms, 
 was not so much as even honored with a reply. The conse¬ 
 quences of this decline of court favor were soon apparent: re¬ 
 cruits and supplies were forwarded to the army with a very 
 scanty hand ; the military plans and proposals of the duke 
 were either overruled, or subjected to a rigid and often inim¬ 
 ical examination; and that division of responsibility and 
 
178 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 weakening of power became apparent, which is 80 often in 
 military, as well as political transactions, the forerunner of 
 disaster. 
 
 Matters were in this untoward state, when Marlborough, 
 26. in the middle of November, returned from the 
 party'contests Hague to London. The failure before Toulon, 
 m England. the disasters in Spain, the nullity of the campaign 
 hi Flanders, were made the subject of unbounded outcry in 
 the country ; and the most acrimonious debates took place in 
 Parliament, in the course of which violent reproaches were 
 thrown on Marlborough, and all his great services to his coun¬ 
 try seemed to be forgotten. Matters even went so far that 
 it was seriously proposed to draft fifteen thousand men from 
 Flanders to re-enforce the armies in the Peninsula, although 
 it might easily be foreseen that the only effect of this would 
 be to drive the Dutch to a separate peace, and lose the whole 
 of Brabant, wrested at such an expense of blood and treasure 
 from the French arms. The session of Parliament was one 
 incessant scene of vehement contention ; but at length the se¬ 
 cret league of Harley with Mrs. Masham and the Tories be¬ 
 came so apparent, that all his colleagues refused to attend a 
 cabinet council to which he w r as summoned, and he was oblig¬ 
 ed to retire. This decisive step restored confidence between 
 Marlborough and the Whigs, and for a time re-established his 
 influence in the government; but Mrs. Masham’s sway over 
 the queen was not so easily subverted, and, in the end, it proved 
 fatal both to his fortune and the career of glory he had open¬ 
 ed to his country. 
 
 Desirous of retaliating upon England the insult which the 
 27 - allied armies had inflicted upon France by the in- 
 
 Marlborough's 
 
 measures de- vasion of Provence, Louis XIV. now made serious 
 
 feat a threaten- . _ . • m 
 
 ed invasion of preparations ior the mvasion oi Ureat .Britain, with 
 the Pretender, the avowed object of re-establishing the Chevalier 
 of St. George, the heir of James II., on the throne from which 
 that unhappy monarch had been expelled. Under Marlbor¬ 
 ough’s able direction, to whom, as commander-in-chief, the 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 179 
 
 defensive measures were intrusted, every tiling was soon put 
 in a train to avert the threatened danger. Scotland was the 
 scene where an outbreak was to he apprehended, and all the 
 disposable forces of the empire, including ten battalions brought 
 over from Flanders, were quickly sent to that country. The 
 Habeas Corpus Act was suspended. Edinburgh Castle was 
 strongly garrisoned, and the British squadron so skillfully dis¬ 
 posed in the North Seas, that when the chevalier, with a 
 French squadron, put to sea, he was so closely watched, that 
 after vainly attempting to land, both in the Firth of Forth 
 and the neighborhood of Inverness, he was obliged to return 
 to Dunkirk. This auspicious event entirely restored Marl¬ 
 borough’s credit with the nation, and dispelled every remnant 
 of suspicion with which the Whigs regarded him in relation 
 to the exiled family ; and though his influence with the court 
 was secretly undermhied, his power, to outward appearance, 
 was unbounded. He resumed, in consequence, the command 
 of the army in the beginning of April, 1708, with authority 
 as paramount as he had enjoyed on any former occasion. 
 
 Every tiling announced a more important campaign than 
 the preceding had proved in the Low Countries. „ 3& 
 
 . . Vigorous prepa- 
 
 Encouraged by the little progress which the al- rations made by 
 , , . o • t - Louis XIV. for 
 
 lies had made in the former campaign, Louis the campaign in 
 r , , * . , , , , . the Low Coun- 
 
 XIV. had been niduced to make the most vigor- tries, 
 ous efforts to accumulate a preponderating force, and re-estab¬ 
 lish his affairs in that quarter. Vendome’s army had, by 
 great exertion, been raised to a hundred thousand men, and 
 at the same time secret communications were opened with a 
 considerable portion of the iidiabitants in some of the frontier 
 fortresses of Brabant, in order to induce them, on the first fa¬ 
 vorable opportunity, to surrender their strongholds to the 
 French arms. The unpopularity of the Dutch authorities in 
 those towns, and the open pretensions which they put forth of 
 wresting them from the emperor, and delivering them over at 
 a general peace to the hated rule of Protestant Holland, ren¬ 
 dered those advances peculiarly acceptable. Vendome’s in- 
 
180 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 stmctions were to act on the offensive, though hi a cautious 
 manner ; to push forward hi order to take advantage of these 
 favorable dispositions, and endeavor to regahi the important 
 ground which had been lost during the panic that had follow¬ 
 ed the battle of Ramilhes. 
 
 On their side the allies had not been idle, and preparations 
 29- had been made for transferring the weight of the 
 
 Preparations 1 T . . 
 
 and forces of contest to the Low Countries. The war ui Italy 
 
 the allies in _ . . , , . 
 
 Flanders. hemg in a maimer terminated by the entire ex¬ 
 pulsion of the French from that peninsula, and by the secret 
 convention for a sort of suspension of active operations in that 
 quarter, Prince Eugene had been brought to the theater of 
 real hostilities on the northern frontier of France. It was 
 agreed between Marlborough and the prince that two great 
 armies should be formed, one in Brabant under the former, 
 and the other on the Moselle under the latter ; that the Elect¬ 
 or of Hanover should act on the defensive on the Rhine; 
 that Eugene should join the English general, and that with 
 their united force they should force the French general to a 
 battle. This well-conceived plan having met with the usual 
 resistance on the part of the allied powers, Marlborough was 
 compelled to repair in person to Hanover, to smooth over the 
 objections of its elector. Meanwhile, the dissensions and dif¬ 
 ficulties of the cabinet in London increased to such a degree, 
 that he had scarcely quitted England when he was urged by 
 Godolphin, and the majority of his own party, to return, as 
 the only means of saving them from shipwreck. Marlborough, 
 however, with that patriotic spirit which ever distinguished 
 him, and not less than his splendid abilities formed so honor¬ 
 able a feature in his character, refused to leave the seat of 
 war, and left his political friends to shift for themselves as they 
 best could. Having obtained a promise from Eugene that he 
 would meet him before the month expired, he joined the army 
 at Ghent on the 9th of May, 1708, and on the same day re¬ 
 viewed the British division stationed in that city. 
 
 An event soon occurred which showed how wide-spread 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 181 
 
 were the intrigues of the French hi the Flemish 30 . 
 towns, and how insecure was the foundation on movements 
 which the authority of the allies rested there. An voUfciVnt- 
 accidental circumstance led to the discovery of a let- wcrp - 
 ter put into the post-office of Ghent, containing the whole par¬ 
 ticulars of a plan for admitting the French troops into the cit 
 adel of Antwerp. Venddme at the same time made a forward 
 movement to take advantage of these attempts ; hut Marlbor¬ 
 ough was on his guard, and both frustrated the intended ris¬ 
 ing in Antwerp, and barred the way against the attempted 
 advance of the French army. Disconcerted by the failure 
 of this enterprise, Vendome moved to Soignies at the head of 
 a hundred thousand men, where he halted at the distance of 
 three leagues from the allied armies. A great and decisive 
 action was confidently expected in both armies ; as, although 
 Marlborough could not muster above eighty thousand combat¬ 
 ants, it was well known he would not decline a battle, although 
 he was not as yet sufficiently strong to assume the offensive. 
 Vendome, however, declined attacking the allies where they 
 stood, and, filing to the right to Braine-le-Leude, close to the 
 field of Waterloo, again halted in a position threatening at 
 once both Louvain and Brussels. Moving parallel to him, 
 but still keeping on the defensive, Marlborough retired to An- 
 derleet. No sooner had he arrived there, than intelligence 
 was received of a further movement to the right on the part 
 of the French general, wlrich indicated an intention to make 
 Louvain the object of attack. Without losing an instant, 
 Marlborough marched on that very night, with the utmost ex¬ 
 pedition, amid torrents of rain, to Parc, where he established 
 himself in a position, covering that fortress, of such strength, 
 that Vendome, finding himself anticipated in his movements, 
 fell back to Braine-le-Leude without firing a shot.* 
 
 Though Marlborough, however, had in this manner foiled 
 the movement of the French general, he was not in a condi¬ 
 tion to undertake offensive operations until the arrival of Eu- 
 * Marlborough’s Dispatches, iv., 49. 
 
 Q 
 
182 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 31 - gene’s army from the Moselle would raise his force 
 Continued pro- ° J 
 
 crastination of nearer to an equality with the preponderating 
 
 the German 1 J r 1 ° 
 
 powers. masses of the enemy, headed as these were by so 
 able a general as Vendome. The usual delays, however, of 
 the German powers, long prevented this object being attained. 
 For about a month Marlborough was on this account retained 
 in a state of forced inactivity, during which period he bitterly 
 complained “ that the slowness of the German powers was 
 such as to threaten the worst consequences.” At length, how¬ 
 ever, the pressing representations of the English general, sec¬ 
 onded by the earnest entreaties of Prince Eugene, overcame 
 the tardiness of the German electors, and the army of the Mo¬ 
 selle began its march toward Brabant. But the prince was 
 too far distant to bring up his troops to the theater of active 
 operations before decisive events had taken place ; and, for¬ 
 tunately for the glory of England, to Marlborough alone and 
 to his army belongs the honor of one of the most decisive vic¬ 
 tories recorded in its annals. 
 
 Encouraged by his superiority of numbers, and the assur- 
 32 . anees of support he received from the malcontents in 
 nhie pi'an to the Flemish towns, Vendome, who was an able and 
 S d Ghent mS enterprising general, put in execution, in the begin- 
 and Bruges. r j ri g 0 f July, a design which he had long meditated 
 for the purpose of expelling the allies from Brabant. This 
 was by a sudden irruption to make himself master of Ghent, 
 with several of the citizens of which he had established a se¬ 
 cret correspondence. This city commanded the course of the 
 Scheldt and the Lys, and lay hi the very center of Marlbor¬ 
 ough’s water communications ; and as the fortifications of Ou- 
 denarde were in a very dilapidated state, it was reasonable to 
 suppose that its reduction would speedily follow. The cap¬ 
 ture of these fortresses would at once break up Marlborough’s 
 communications, and sever the connecting link between Flan¬ 
 ders and Brabant, so as to compel the English army to fall 
 back to Antwerp and the fine of the Scheldt, and thus de¬ 
 prive them of the whole fruits of the victory of Ramillies. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 183 
 
 Such was the able and well-conceived design of the French 
 general, which promised the most brilliant results, and which, 
 against a general less wary and able than Marlborough, would 
 unquestionably have obtained them. 
 
 Vendome executed the first part of this design with vigor 
 and success. On the evening of the 4th of July 33. 
 he suddenly broke up from Braine-le-Leude, and, himself mas- 
 marching rapidly all night, advanced toward Halle and Bruges, 
 and Tubise, dispatching, at the same time, parties toward 
 such towns in that quarter as had maintained a correspond¬ 
 ence with him. One of these parties, by the connivance of 
 the watch, by whom they were admitted within the gates 
 without firing a shot, made itself master of Ghent. At the 
 same time, Bruges was surrendered to another party under 
 the Count de la Motte ; the small but important fort of Plas- 
 sendael was carried by storm, and a detachment sent to re¬ 
 cover Ghent found the gates shut by the inhabitants, who 
 had now openly joined the enemy, and invested the allied gar¬ 
 rison in the citadel. Marlborough no sooner heard of this 
 movement than he followed'with his army; but he arrived 
 in the neighborhood of Tubise in time only to witness the 
 passage of the enemy over the Senne, near that place. Giving 
 orders to his troops to prepare for battle, he put himself in 
 motion at one the next morning, intending to bring the enemy 
 to an immediate action. The activity of Vendome, however, 
 baffled liis design. He made Iris men, weary as they were, 
 march all night, and cross the Dender at several points, break¬ 
 ing down the bridges between Alort and Oerdegun, and the 
 allies oidy arrived in tune to make three hundred prisoners 
 from the rear guard. 
 
 Scarcely had they recovered from this disappointment, when 
 intelligence arrived of the surprise of Ghent and 34 . 
 Bruges; while, at the same time, the ferment in a'tivl^sc 5 * 18 
 Brussels, owing to the near approach of the French nardea^sta 
 to that capital, became so great, that there was cou P- dc - main - 
 every reason to apprehend a similar disaster, from the disaf- 
 
184 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 fection of some of its inhabitants. The most serious appre¬ 
 hensions, also, were entertained for Oudenarde, the garrison 
 being feeble, and the works dilapidated. Marlborough’s meas¬ 
 ures at this crisis were prompt and decided. He dispatched 
 instant orders to Lord Chandos, who commanded at Ath, to 
 collect all the detachments he could from the garrisons in the 
 neighborhood, and throw himself into that fortress ; and with 
 such diligence were these orders executed, that Oudenarde 
 was secured against a coup-de-main before the French out¬ 
 posts appeared before it. Yendome, however, felt himself 
 strong enough to imdertake its siege in form. He drew his 
 army round it; the investment was completed on the evening 
 of the 9th, and a tram of heavy artillery was ordered from 
 Tournay to commence the siege,* while he himself, with the 
 covermg army, took post in a strong camp at Lessines, on the 
 River Dender. 
 
 Such was the chagrin experienced by Marlborough at these 
 35- untoward events, that he was thrown into a fever, 
 
 Extreme vex- . 
 
 ation and sen- the result of fatigue, watclung, and anxiety. He 
 
 ous illness of. ° . 
 
 Marlborough, was particularly disheartened by the loss of Ghent 
 and Bruges, as they lay in the very center of his water com¬ 
 munications, on which he mainly relied for getting up his pro¬ 
 visions and military stores. His physician earnestly counseled 
 him to leave the camp, and retire to Brussels, as the only 
 means of arresting his distemper ; but nothing could induce 
 him to abandon his post at such a crisis. He continued in his 
 tent accordingly, and the orders were issued by Marshal Over¬ 
 kirk. He was greatly relieved on the 7th by the arrival of 
 Prince Eugene, who, finding his troops could not come up in 
 time, had left his cavalry at Maestricht, and hastened hi per¬ 
 son, though without any followers but his private suite, to 
 take a part in the approaching conflict. Great was the joy 
 of Marlborough on learning the arrival of so illustrious a gen¬ 
 eral : not a feeling of jealousy crossed the breast of either of 
 these great men. His first words to Eugene were, “ I am not 
 * Disp., iv., 95-101. Coxe, iv., 128-131. 
 
[^3 Cavail’v 
 
 Tiifaartrrv lU^Ai-tillerv 
 
 UtYctiham 
 
 Ov<k, 
 
 tBheiell 
 
 M'truJnlUl of 
 Oycke 
 
 u wcur, 
 
 mu for 
 
 jJirr r Y/fitTm 
 
 r^'rr: 
 
 
 HARPER & 8 R 0 
 
RS, N L W YORK. 
 
 En £ d b v "V\ r BLetoblx* 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 185 
 
 without hopes of congratulating your highness on a great vic¬ 
 tory, for iny troops will he animated by the presence of so 
 distinguished a commander.” Eugene warmly approved the 
 resolution he had taken of instantly attacking the enemy ; and 
 a council of war having been summoned, their united opinion 
 prevailed over the objections of the Dutch deputies, who were 
 less obstinate in resisting vigorous measures than usual, from 
 having become seriously alarmed for their barrier. It was 
 resolved to attack the enemy in their position in front of Ou- 
 DENARDE.* 
 
 The plan resolved on for this purpose by Marlborough and 
 Eugene was as able as its execution was felicitous. 36 
 Instead of moving direct on the covering army of 3 
 
 Vendome, which lay between them and Oude- eommuaica- 0 ' 3 
 narde, they resolved to throw themselves on his tions,9th July, 
 communications, and, by interposing between him and the 
 French frontier, compel him to fight with his face toward 
 Paris and his back to Antwerp. It was precisely a repeti¬ 
 tion of wdiat Marlborough had already done in the campaign 
 of 1705, when the results which would have arisen from such 
 a plan were frustrated by the Dutch deputies.! Every thing 
 here depended on activity and rapidity of movement, and these 
 were not wanting. The allies broke up at two in the morning 
 of the 9th of July, and advanced, in four great columns, to¬ 
 ward the French frontiers at Lessines. So rapid and well 
 ordered was the march, that before noon the heads of the col¬ 
 umns had reached Ilerfilingen, fourteen miles from Asche, 
 whence they had started. Bridges were rapidly thrown over 
 the Dendcr, and it was crossed early qn the following morn¬ 
 ing in presence of Eugene and Marlborough, whom the ani¬ 
 mation of the great events in progress had, in a maimer, rais¬ 
 ed from the bed of sickness.! Here the duke halted, and the 
 
 * Disp., iv., 79-102. Coxe, iv., 130-132. t Ante, chap, iii., sec. 21. 
 
 t “ The treachery of Ghent, continual marching, and some letters I have 
 received from England (from the queen and the duchess), have so vexed me, 
 that I was yesterday in so great a fever, that the doctor would have per- 
 
 Q2 
 
186 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 troops encamped in their order of march, with their right on 
 the Dender, and their front covered by a small stream which 
 falls into that river. By this bold and rapid movement, Yen- 
 dome’s well-concerted plan was entirely disconcerted: Marl¬ 
 borough had thrown himself between the French and their 
 own frontier; he had rendered himself master of their com¬ 
 munications ; and, instead of seeking merely to cover his own 
 fortresses, his measures threatened to compel the enemy to fall 
 back, in order to regain the connection with their own coun¬ 
 try, and to abandon the whole enterprise, which they had 
 commenced with such prospects of success. 
 
 Vendome was extremely disconcerted at this able move- 
 37. ment, and immediately ordered his troops to fall 
 moves off, foi- hack upon Gavre, situated on the Scheldt below 
 SKf Oudenarde, where he had resolved to cross that 
 Ju]y - river. No sooner was this design made manifest, 
 
 than Marlborough followed with all his forces, with the 
 double design of raising the investment of Oudenarde, and, if 
 possible, forcing the enemy to give battle, under the disad¬ 
 vantage of doing so in a retreat. Anxious to improve their 
 advantage, the allied generals marched with the utmost ex¬ 
 pedition, hoping to come up with the enemy when their col¬ 
 umns and baggage were close upon the Scheldt, or at least 
 while they were in the very act of crossing that river. Col¬ 
 onel Cadogan, with a strong advanced guard, was pushed for¬ 
 ward by daybreak on the 11th toward the Scheldt, which he 
 reached by eleven. Having immediately thrown bridges over 
 it, he crossed with the whole cavalry and twelve battalions 
 of foot. This body advanced to the summit of the plateau on 
 the left hank of the river, and formed in battle array, the in¬ 
 fantry opposite Eynes, the cavalry extending on the left to¬ 
 ward Schaerken. Advancing slowly on in this regular array 
 
 suaded me to have gone to Brussels; but I thank God I am now better, and 
 by the next post I hope to answer your letters. The States have used this 
 country so ill, that I noways doubt but all the towns in it will play us the 
 same trick as Ghent if they have the power.”— Marlborough to Godolphin, 
 July 9, 1708. Co.XE, iv., 38. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 187 
 
 down the course of the river on its left bank, Cadogan was 
 not long of coming in sight of the French rear guard under 
 Biron, with which he had some sharp skirmishing. Mean¬ 
 while Marlborough and Eugene were pressing the passage at 
 the bridges with all imaginable activity ; but the greater part 
 of their army had not yet got across. The main body was 
 still half a league from the Scheldt, and the huge clouds of 
 dust which arose from the passage of the artillery and car¬ 
 riages in that direction, inspired Venddme with the hope that 
 he might cut of!' the advanced guard which was over the 
 Scheldt, before the hulk of the allied forces could get across to 
 their relief. With this view he halted his troops, and drew 
 them up hastily in order of battle. This brought on the 
 great and glorious action which followed, toward the due un¬ 
 derstanding of which, a description of the theater of combat 
 is indispensable.* 
 
 “ At the distance of a mile north of Oudenarde is the vil¬ 
 lage of Eynes. Here the ground rises into a spe- 38 
 cies of low but spacious amphitheater. From Afield o°fb°t- 
 thence it sweeps along a small plain till it nearly tle ' 
 reaches the glacis of Oudenarde, where it terminates in the 
 village of Bevere. To the west the slope ascends to another 
 broad hill called the Bosercanter; and at the highest point 
 of the eminence stands a wind-mill, shaded by a lofty lime- 
 tree, forming conspicuous objects from the whole adjacent 
 country. From thence the ground gradually declines toward 
 Mardlen; and the eye, glancing over the humid valley wa¬ 
 tered by the Norken, rests on another range of uplands, which, 
 gently sinking, at length terminates near Asper. Within this 
 space, two small streams, descending from the lower part of 
 the hill of Oycke, embrace a low tongue of land, the center 
 of which rises to a gentle elevation. The borders of these 
 rivulets are crossed by frequent inclosures, surrounding the 
 farm-yards of Barwaen, Chobon, and Diepenbeck. Near the 
 source of one of these streams is a castellated mansion; at 
 * Cose, iv., 130-133. Kausler, 713. 
 
188 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 that of the other is the hamlet of Rhetelhouk, imhosomed in 
 a wooded nook. These streams unite at the hamlet of Schaer- 
 ken, and their united current flows in a marshy bed to the 
 Scheldt, which it reaches near Eynes. The Norken, another 
 river traversing the field, runs for a considerable distance paral¬ 
 lel to the Scheldt, until, passing by Asper, it terminates in a 
 stagnant canal, which joins the Scheldt below Gavre. Its bor¬ 
 ders, like those of the other streams, are skirted with coppice- 
 wood thickets ; behind are the inclosures surrounding the lit¬ 
 tle plain. Generally speaking, this part of Flanders is even 
 not merely of picturesque beauty and high cultivation, hut 
 great military strength ; and it is hard to say whether its nu¬ 
 merous streams, hanging hanks, and umbrageous woods, add 
 most to its interest in the eye of a painter, or to its intricacy 
 and defensive character in warlike operations.”* 
 
 As fast as the allies got across the Scheldt, Marlborough 
 39 . formed them along the high grounds stretching 
 movements' from Bevere to Mooreghem Mill, with their right 
 ™d capture 3 ' res ti n £ on the Scheldt. Vendome’s men extend- 
 advanced nCh et ^ across the plain, from the hill of Asper on the 
 giiaxd. left, to Warreghem on the right. A considerable 
 body of cavalry and infantry lay in front of their position in 
 Eynes, of which they had retained possession after repulsing 
 Cadogan’s horse. No sooner had the English general got a 
 sufficient number of troops up, than he ordered that gallant 
 officer to advance and retake the village. The infantry at¬ 
 tacked in front, crossing the rivulet near Eynes; while the 
 horse, making a circuit higher up, descended on the enemy’s 
 rear, while the conflict was warmly going on in front. The 
 consequence was, that the village was carried with great loss 
 to the enemy ; three entire battalions were surrounded and 
 made prisoners, and eight squadrons were cut to pieces in 
 striving to make their way across the steep and tangled banks 
 
 * The above description of the field of Oudenarde is mainly taken from 
 Coxe, iv., f.31,135; but the author, from personal inspection of the field, can 
 attest its accuracy. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 189 
 
 of the Norken. This sharp blow convinced the French lead¬ 
 ers that a general action was unavoidable ; and though, from 
 the vigor -with which it had been struck, there remained but 
 little hope of overpowering the allied advanced guard before 
 the main body came up, yet they resolved, contrary to the 
 opinion of Vendome, who had become seriously alarmed, to 
 persist in the attack, and risk all on the issue of a general en¬ 
 gagement.* 
 
 It was four in the afternoon when the French commenced 
 the action in good earnest. The forces of the con- 40. 
 
 . . Forces on both 
 
 tending parties were nearly equal, with a slight Bides, andcom- 
 
 . . e i -ri i i mcncement of 
 
 superiority on the part ot the Jb rench ; they had the battle, 
 eighty-five thousand, Marlborough eighty thousand men.f 
 The Duke of Burgundy, who had a joint command with Ven- 
 dome, ordered General Grimaldi to lead Sistern’s squadron 
 across the Norken, apparently with the view of feeling his 
 way preparatory to a general attack. That general set out 
 to do so; but when, after passing the Norken, and arriving 
 on the margin of the rivulet of Diepenbeck, he saw the Prus¬ 
 sian cavalry already formed on the other side, he fell back to 
 the small plain near the mill of Royeghem. Vendome, mean¬ 
 while, directed his left to advance, deeming that the most 
 favorable side for an attack ; but the Duke of Burgundy, who 
 nominally had the supreme command, and who was jealous 
 of Vendome’s reputation, countermanded this order, alleging- 
 that an impassable morass separated the two armies in that 
 quarter. These contradictory orders produced indecision in 
 the French lines ; and Marlborough, divining its cause, in¬ 
 stantly took advantage of it. Judging with reason that the 
 real attack of the enemy would be made on his left by their 
 right, on his own left whig, in front of the castle of Bevere, he 
 
 t 
 
 Coxe, iv., 1 40-145. Kausler, 713. 
 The forces stood as follows: 
 
 Allies. 
 
 Men. 
 
 Battalions . . 112 
 
 Squadrons . . 180 
 
 i 
 
 80,000. 
 
 F rencli. 
 
 Battalions 
 
 Squadrons 
 
 Men. 
 
 . 121 
 . 198 
 Kausleu, 712. 
 
 • 85,000. 
 
190 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ordered, up the twelve battalions of foot under Cadogan trom 
 Heume and Eynes, which they occupied, to re-enforce the left. 
 In the mean time, he placed a strong guard .on the bridges of 
 the Norken, and disposed musketeers in the woods on its sides. 
 Marlborough himself, at the head of the Prussian horse, ad¬ 
 vanced by Heurne, and took post on the right flank of the lit¬ 
 tle plain of Diepenbeck, where it was evident that the heat 
 of the action would ensue. A reserve of twenty British bat¬ 
 talions, with a few guns, was stationed under Argyle, near 
 Schaerken, which proved of the most essential service in the 
 ensuing struggle. Few pieces of artillery were brought up on 
 either side, the rapidity of the movements of both having out¬ 
 stripped the slow pace at which those ponderous implements 
 of destruction were then conveyed.* 
 
 Hardly were these defensive arrangements completed when 
 41 the tempest was upon them. The whole French 
 B :“ uc - right wing, consisting of thirty battalions, embrac- 
 French right. j n g |] ie p renc ] 4 and Swiss guards, and the flower 
 of their army, debouched from the woods and hedges near 
 Groenvelde, and attacking four battalions stationed there, 
 quickly compelled them to retreat. Advancing then in the 
 open plain by echelon, the right in front, along the downward 
 bed of the Norken, they followed up their advantage with the 
 utmost vigor. The action ran like a running fire along the 
 course of this stream; the French constantly pressing on and 
 outflanking the allies, till they completely turned their left, and 
 made themselves masters of the hamlets of Barwaen and Bar- 
 lancy. Their advance entirely uncovered the allied left. Al¬ 
 ready the cries of victory were heard in the French right, 
 which advanced in good order through the tangled and brok¬ 
 en ground around those villages, with a rapid and w r ell-sus- 
 tained fire issuing from its ranks. This success exposed the 
 allies to imminent danger ; for in their rear was the Scheldt, 
 flowing lazily in a deep and impassable current, through 
 
 * Marlborough to Count Piper, 15th of July, 1708. Disp., iv., 115. Coxe, 
 iv., 144, 145. Kauslek, 713. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 191 
 
 marshy meadows, crossed only by a few bridges, over which 
 retreat would be impossible in presence of a victorious enemy ; 
 and the defeat already sustained by the left exposed them to 
 the danger of being cut off from the friendly ramparts of Ou- 
 denarde, their only resource in that direction. # 
 
 This alarming success of the French attracted the immedi¬ 
 ate attention of the vigilant English general. He 40 
 instantly hastened in person to the scene of danger ^Eugene 
 on the left, where the Dutch and Hanoverians were, onthen G ht - 
 dispatching Eugene to take the command on the right, where 
 the British troops, whose valor the prince had often observed 
 and praised, were posted. Marlborough then directed Count 
 Lottnow, with his twenty battalions, to extend his right to 
 support Eugene ; so that the Imperial general had now sixty 
 battalions under his orders, while Marlborough had only twen¬ 
 ty left. This re-enforcement came up just in time ; for the 
 prince was at first assailed by such superior numbers that he 
 was wellnigh overwhelmed. Cadogan’s men, under his or¬ 
 ders, had been driven, after a stout resistance, out of the wood¬ 
 ed coverts which they occupied near Herlelem, and were retir¬ 
 ing somewhat in disorder over the plain in its front. Pie-en¬ 
 forced, however, by the twenty battalions under Lottnow, 
 Eugene again advanced in good order, and broke the first line 
 of the enemy. General Natzmer, at the head of the Prus¬ 
 sian cuirassiers, took advantage of their disorder, and charged 
 headlong through the second line of the enemy’s left, so as to 
 reach the little plain near the chapel of Royeghem. But here 
 their career was stopped by a line of the French Horse-guards 
 in reserve, while a dreadful fire of musketry streamed out of 
 every hedgerow and copse with which the plain was environ¬ 
 ed. Half his men were speedily stretched on the plain ; the 
 remainder recoiled in disorder, and Natzmer himself with dif¬ 
 ficulty escaped by leaping over a broad ditch, while the French 
 household troops were thundering in pursuit.! 
 
 * Kausler, 714. Coxe, iv., 140-145. 
 
 t Coxe, iv., 14C, 147. Kausler, 717, 718. 
 
192 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 While Eugene was thus combating with various success 
 13 on the right, Marlborough had a more arduous con- 
 boroush'on fhct to maintain on the left. Placing himself at 
 Uic left. the head of the Dutch and Hanoverian battalions, 
 winch were with difficulty maintaining their ground against 
 the advancing line and increasing vehemence of the enemy, 
 the English general-led them again to the attack. But it is 
 no easy matter to make the French recede from the enthusi¬ 
 asm of victory to the hesitation which precedes defeat. They 
 opposed a most desperate resistance to this onset. The ground 
 on which the hostile lines met was so broken, that the battle 
 in that quarter turned almost into a series of partial conflicts, 
 and even personal encounters. Every bridge, every ditch, 
 every wood, every hamlet, every inclosure, was obstinately 
 contested; and so incessant was the roll of musketry, and 
 so intermingled did the hostile lines become, that the field, 
 seen from a distance, appeared an unbroken line of fire. If 
 the resistance, however, was obstinate, the attack was no less 
 vigorous ; and at length the enthusiastic ardor of the French 
 yielded to the steady valor of the Germans. Gradually they 
 were driven back, literally at the bayonet’s point; and at 
 length, recoiling at every point, they yielded all the ground 
 they had won at the commencement of the action.* 
 
 Barlancy and Barwaen w r ere soon regained, but not with- 
 44. out the most desperate resistance ; for not only did 
 movement by the enemy obstinately contest every field and in- 
 aga?ns° r °he Sh closure, but, in their fury, they set fire to such of 
 i-rencb left. the ] 10uses as could no longer be maintained. De¬ 
 spite all these obstacles, however, the English fairly drove 
 them back, at the musket’s point, from one inclosure to an¬ 
 other, till they reached the hamlet of Diepenbeck, where the 
 resistance proved so violent that he was compelled to pause. 
 His vigilant eye, however, ere long observed that the hill of 
 Oycke, which flanked the enemy’s extreme right, was unoc¬ 
 cupied. Conceiving that their right might be turned by this 
 * Coxe, iv., 146, 147. ICausler, 718. 
 
M AE L JJOB.OUG1I. 
 
 193 
 
 eminence, he directed Overkirk, with the reserve cavalry, and 
 twenty Dutch and Danish battalions, to occupy it. The vet¬ 
 eran general executed this important, and, as it proved, deci¬ 
 sive movement with his wonted alacrity and spirit. The 
 wooded dells round the castle of Bevere soon rang with mus¬ 
 ketry ; the enemy, forced out of them, were driven over the 
 shoulder of the Bosercanter, which being soon passed, the mill 
 of Oycke, and the plateau behind it, were immediately occu¬ 
 pied by the Danish and Dutch battalions.* 
 
 Arrived on the summit, Overkirk made his men bring up 
 their left shoulders, so as to wheel inward, and form 45. 
 
 Vigor with 
 
 a vast semicircle round the right wing of the French, which it was 
 
 1 executed by 
 
 which, far advanced beyond the center, was now Overkirk, 
 thrown back, and grouped into the little plain of turns^hem! 3 
 Diepenbeck. Observing the effect of this movement, Marl¬ 
 borough directed Overkirk to press forward his left still fur¬ 
 ther, so as to seize the passes of Mullem and mill of Royeghem, 
 by winch the communication between the enemy’s right and 
 center was maintained. This order was executed with vigor 
 and success by the Prince of Orange and General Oxenstiern. 
 The progress of the extreme allied left round the rear of the 
 French right was observed by the frequent flashes of their 
 musketry on the heights above Mullem, to which they began 
 to descend, driving the enemy before them with loud cheers, 
 which re-echoed over the whole field of battle. The victory 
 was now gained. Refluent from all quarters, enveloped on 
 every side, the whole French right was hurled together, in 
 wild confusion, into the plain of Diepenbeck, where seven reg¬ 
 iments of horse, which made a noble effort to stem the flood 
 of disaster, were all cut to pieces or taken. 
 
 Seeing his right wing on the verge of destruction, Vendome 
 made a gallant effort to rescue it. Dismounting 46 . 
 from liis horse, he led the infantry of his left near et?ecmai > cf m 
 Mullem, to the aid of their devoted comrades. But dame to arrest 
 the thick and frequent inclosures broke their array; the disorder - 
 
 Kausler, 715 
 
 COXE, iv., 146, 147. 
 
 R 
 
194 
 
 the soldiers tvere dismayed by the loud shouts of victor)'' from 
 their right; and when they emerged from the inclosures, and 
 approached the plain of Diepenbeck, the firm countenance of 
 the British horse, drawn up on its edge, and the sturdy array 
 of their infantry under Eugene, which advanced to meet them, 
 rendered the effort abortive. Meanwhile darkness set in, 
 though the battle still raged on all sides. The frequent flashes 
 of the musketry on the heights around, intermingled with the 
 shouts of the victors, showed but too clearly how nearly the 
 extremity of danger was approaching to the whole French 
 army. So completely were they enveloped, that the advance 
 guard of the right under Eugene, and the left under the Prince 
 of Orange, met on the heights in the French rear, when they 
 exchanged several volleys, and it was only after great exer¬ 
 tions had been made by the respective commanders that their 
 error was discovered, and a stop was put to such useless butch¬ 
 ery. To prevent a repetition of such disasters, orders were 
 given to the whole troops to halt where they stood; and to 
 this precaution many owed their safety, as it was impossible, 
 in the darkness, to distinguish friend from foe. But it enabled 
 great part of the center and left of the French to escape un¬ 
 observed, which, had daylight continued for two hours longer, 
 would have been all taken or destroyed. Then- gallant right 
 was left to its fate ; while Eugene, by directing the drums of 
 his regiments to beat the French assemblee, made great num¬ 
 bers of their left and center prisoners. Some thousands of the 
 right, by slipping unobserved to the westward, near the Castle 
 of Bevere, made their way in a confused body, in the interval 
 between the allied left and center, toward France, but the 
 greater part of that wing were killed or taken. Yenddme, 
 ■with characteristic presence of mind, formed a rear guard of 
 a few battalions and twenty-five squadrons, with which he 
 covered the retreat of the center and left; but the remainder 
 of those parts of the army fell into total confusion, and fled 
 headlong in wild disorder toward Ghent.* 
 
 Coxe, iv., 146-151. Marlborough to Count Piper. 16th of July, 1708. 
 Di j'., iv., 115. Duke of Berwick's Mem., ii. 12. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 195 
 
 We have the authority of Marlborough for the assertion 
 
 that, “if he had had two hours more of daylight, the 47. 
 
 ’ . . , Results of 
 
 French army would have been irretrievably routed, the battle, 
 great part of it killed or taken, and the war terminated on that 
 day.”* As it was, the effects of the blow which had been 
 struck were prodigious, and entirely altered the character and 
 fate of the campaign. The French lost six thousand men in 
 killed and wounded, besides nine thousand prisoners, and one 
 hundred standards wrested from them in fair fight. The al¬ 
 lies were weakened by five thousand men; for the French 
 were superior in numbers, and fought well, having been de¬ 
 feated solely by the superior generalship of the allied com¬ 
 manders. f 
 
 No' sooner did daylight appear than forty squadrons were 
 detached toward Ghent in pursuit of the enemy, 43 . 
 while Marlborough himself, with characteristic hu- enemy, and 10 
 rnanity, visited the field of battle, doing his utmost Sbrcements 
 to assuage the sufferings, and provide for the cure on both sldes ' 
 of the numerous wounded, alike friend and foe, who encum¬ 
 bered its bloody expanse. Count Lottnow was sent with 
 thirty battalions and fifty squadrons to possess himself of the 
 lines which the enemy had constructed between Ypres and 
 Warneton, which that officer did with vigor and success, 
 making five hundred prisoners. This was the more fortunate, 
 as, at the moment they were taken, the Duke of Berwick, 
 with the French army from the Moselle, was hastening up, 
 and had exhorted the garrison to defend the lines to the last 
 extremity. At the same time, the corresponding allied army, 
 commanded by Eugene, arrived at Brussels, so that both sides 
 were largely re-enforced. Berwick’s corps, which consisted of 
 thirty-four battalions and fifty-five squadrons, was so consid¬ 
 erable, that it raised Vendome’s army again to a hundred 
 thousand men. With tiffs imposing mass that able general 
 
 ’ Marlborough a M. De Tliemgue, 15th of July, 1708. Disp., iv., 111. 
 
 t Disp., iv.. 111. Berwick himself states the prisoners at 9000.— Marl- 
 borough, i’. 12. Marlborough to the Duchess, July 16, 1708. Coxe, iv., 157. 
 
196 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 took post in a camp which he strongly fortified, situated be¬ 
 hind the canal of Bruges, in the vicinity of Ghent, and com¬ 
 manding the navigation both of the Scheldt and the Lys. 
 He rightly judged that, as long as he was there at the head 
 of such a force, the allies would not venture to advance into 
 France, though it lay entirely open to their incursions, Marl¬ 
 borough being between him and Paris.* 
 
 Encouraged by this singular posture of the armies, Marl- 
 19.' borough strongly urged upon the allied council of 
 advice to "’ 1 ' 8 war the propriety of relinquishing all lesser objects, 
 £" overruled™ passing the whole fortified towns on the frontier, 
 ed'to layTiege an d advancing straight toward the French capi¬ 
 ta LiUc. tal.f This bold counsel, however—which, if acted 
 on, was precisely what Wellington and Blucher did a century 
 after hr advancing from the same country, and would have 
 been, perhaps, attended with similar success—was rejected. 
 Eugene, and the remainder of the council, considered the de¬ 
 sign too hazardous, while Vendome with so great an army lay 
 intrenched in their rear and threatening their communica¬ 
 tions. It was resolved, therefore, to commence the invasion 
 of the territory of the Grand Monarque by the siege of the 
 great frontier fortress of Lille, the strongest and most im¬ 
 portant place in French Flanders, and the possession of which 
 would give the allies a solid footing in the enemy’s territory. 
 This, however, was a most formidable undertaking; for not 
 only was the place itself of great strength, but the citadel 
 within its walls was still stronger, and it was garrisoned hy 
 Marshal Boufflers, one of the ablest officers in the French 
 
 * Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, July 16 and 17, 1708. Coxe, iv., 158, 
 159. 
 
 t Conscious of the panic which prevailed in France, and aware that some 
 brilliant enterprise was requisite to prevent the Dutch from listening to sep¬ 
 arate overtures for peace, Marlborough proposed to meet at Lille, and pen¬ 
 etrate by the northern frontier into the heart of France. An expedition 
 fitted out in England was to co-operate on the coast. But the design of 
 penetrating direct into France seemed too bold even to Eugene, and, of 
 course, encountered strong opposition from a government so timid and vacil¬ 
 lating as that of Holland.— Coxe, iv., 165. 
 
Haiibcntrdbi 
 
 PRINCE EXT GENE of SAVOY 
 ■from 13 * August to 9* September - 
 
 1708 N % 
 
 AX JOHNSTON F.R.GS 
 
 Fh'kth’rnjrni 
 
 C3V.1*’ 
 
 f 
 
 I L 
 
 JJuXfl 
 
 \Harcbetnavct 
 
 Unite ye lax 
 
 cmarvce flu 
 
 'nclos 
 
 iPeranri, 
 
 /x\shistaii i 
 
fcij Cavalry a» Infantry \\\ Artillery. 
 m AlKes mmm Prench. 
 
 E.R S , NEW YORK . 
 
 En^’fty'W KeraKLe 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 197 
 
 service, with fifteen thousand choice troops, and every requisite 
 for a vigorous defense. On the other hand, Vendome, at the 
 head of a hundred thousand men, lay in an impregnable camp 
 between Ghent and Bruges, ready to interrupt or raise the 
 siege; and his position there hampered Marlborough extremely 
 in bringing forward the requisite equipage for so great an un¬ 
 dertaking, by interrupting the whole water navigation of the 
 country, which was the only practicable mode of conveyance, 
 for the dragging it up by land would require sixteen thousand 
 horses. Nevertheless, it was resolved to undertake the enter¬ 
 prise, sanguine hopes being entertained that, rather than see 
 so important a fortress fall, Venddme would leave his intrench¬ 
 ed camp, and give the allies an opportunity of bringing him 
 again to battle on equal terms.* 
 
 No sooner was the undertaking resolved on, than the most 
 vigorous measures were adopted to carry it into ex- 50. 
 ecution. The obstacles which presented them- oftheMRes 9 
 selves, however, were great indeed, and proved even for the slege - 
 more formidable than had been at first anticipated. Every 
 gun, every wagon, every round of ammunition, required to be 
 transported almost all the way by land carriage from Holland ; 
 and Brussels, the nearest depot for ordinary and military stores 
 for the allies, was situated twenty-five leagues off. Then was 
 felt hi its full force the immense loss sustained by the allies in 
 the interruption of the water communications of the army by 
 the capture of Ghent and Bruges. Sixteen thousand horses 
 were requisite to transport the train which brought these 
 stores, partly from Maestricht, partly from Holland ; and 
 when in a line of march it stretched over fifteen miles. 
 Prince Eugene, with fifty-three battalions and ninety squad 
 rons, covered the vast moving mass; Marlborough himself 
 being ready, at a moment’s notice, in his camp near Menin, 
 to support him, if necessary. Between these two great men 
 there existed then, as ever, the most entire cordiality.! Their 
 
 * Marlboroxigh to Godolphin, July 23, 1708. Coxe, iv., 165. 
 
 t “ I need not tell you how much I desire the nation may be at last eased 
 
 R 2 
 
198 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 measures were all taken in concord, and with such ability, 
 that though Vendome with a hundred thousand men lay on 
 the flank of the line of march, which extended over above 
 seventy miles, not a gun was taken nor a carriage lost; and 
 the whole arrived in safety on the 12th of August at the camp 
 at Helchin, whither Marlborough had gone to meet it. So 
 marvelous were the arrangements made for the safe conduct 
 of this important convoy, and so entire their success, that they 
 excited the admiration of the French, and in no slight degree 
 augmented the alarm of their generals, who had hitherto treat¬ 
 ed the idea of Lille being besieged with perfect derision. 
 “Posterity,” says the French annalist Feuqueres, “will scarce¬ 
 ly believe the fact, though it is an undoubted truth. Never 
 was a great enterprise conducted with more skill and circum¬ 
 spection.”* 
 
 Prince Eugene was intrusted with the conduct of the siege, 
 51 while Marlborough commanded the covering army, 
 mentofthe The prince commenced the investment of the place 
 position of 011 ^ ie loth of August, while Marlborough remained 
 army i 3 th S at Helchin, taking measures for the protection of the 
 August. convoys, which were incessantly coming up from 
 Brussels. At length the whole, eighty-one, arrived in safety 
 hi the camp before Lille, amounting to one hundred and 
 twenty heavy guns, forty mortars, twenty howitzers, and four 
 hundred ammunition wagons. Eugene’s army for the siege 
 consisted of fifty-three battalions and ninety squadrons, in all 
 about forty thousand men. Marlborough’s covering force was 
 sixty-nine battalions and one hundred and forty squadrons, 
 numbering nearly sixty thousand men. But the force of the 
 French was still more considerable in the field. Vendome 
 and Berwick united on the 30th, on the plain between Gram- 
 
 of a burdensome war by an honorable peace ; and no one can judge better 
 than yourself of the sincerity of my wishes to enjoy a little retirement at a 
 place you have contributed in a great measure to make so desirable. I thank 
 you for your good wishes to myself on this occasion. I dare say, Prince 
 Eugene and I shall never differ about our laurels.”—Marlborough to Mr. 
 Travers, July 30, 1708. * Coxe, iv., 216-219. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 1 99 
 
 moat and Lessiues, and on the 2d of September advanced 
 toward Lille with one hundred and forty battalions and two 
 hundred and fifty squadrons, mustering one hundred thousand 
 combatants, besides twenty thousand left, under Count de la 
 Motte, to cover Ghent and Bruges. But Marlborough had 
 no fears for the result, and ardently longed for a general ac¬ 
 tion, which he hoped would one way or other conclude the 
 war. “ If we have a second action,” says he, “ and God 
 blesses our just cause, this, in all likelihood, will be our last 
 campaign; for I think they would not venture a battle, but 
 are resolved to submit to any condition, if the success be on 
 our side ; and if they get the better, they will think them¬ 
 selves masters; so that, if there should be an action, it is like 
 to be the last this war. If God continues on our side, we 
 have nothing to fear, our troops being good, though not so nu¬ 
 merous as theirs. I dare say, before half the troops have 
 fought, success will declare, I trust in God, on our side ; and 
 then I may have what I earnestly wish for quick.”* 
 
 No sooner was Marlborough informed of the junction of 
 Vendome and Berwick, than, anticipating the di- 52. 
 
 . . Marlborough 
 
 rection they would follow, and the point at which nrreste Ven- 
 
 . d6me and Ber- 
 
 they would endeavor to penetrate through to raise wick when try- 
 the siege, he marched parallel to the enemy, and siege? tuse 
 arrived on the 4th of September at a position previously se¬ 
 lected, having his right at Noyelle, and his left at Peronne. 
 So correctly had he divined the designs of the able generals to 
 whom he was opposed, that, within two hours after he had 
 taken up his ground, the united French army appeared in his 
 front. Notwithstanding their great superiority of forces, the 
 enemy, however, did not venture to attack, and the two ar¬ 
 mies remained watching each other for the next fortnight, 
 without any movement being attempted on either side.f 
 Meanwhile, Eugene was actively prosecuting the siege of 
 Lille. Trenches were opened on the 22d, and a heavy fire 
 
 * Marlborough to Godolpliin, August 30, 1708. Coxe, iv., 222. 
 t Disp., iv., 241-260. 
 
200 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 was opened from eighty pieces of cannon. On the following 
 night, an outwork, called the Chapel of St. Magdalene, was 
 stormed and taken. The second parallel was soon completed, 
 and some further outworks carried; and the whole battering 
 guns having at length been mounted, a breach was effected in 
 the salient angle of one of the horn-works, and on the same 
 night a lodgment was effected. A vigorous sortie, on the 10th 
 of September, hardly retarded the progress of the operations, 
 and a sap was made under the covered way. Marlborough, 
 however, who visited the besiegers’ lines on the 18th, express¬ 
 ed some displeasure at the slow progress of the siege, and an¬ 
 other assault was in consequence hazarded on the 20th of Sep¬ 
 tember. 
 
 This assault was most obstinately resisted; but at length 
 53. the assailants overcame all opposition, and burst- 
 ^egf^and°Eu e * n g in, carried a demi-bastion and several adjoin- 
 wMch'throws’ “!= works, though with a loss of two thousand 
 the direction of men Great as tliis loss was, it was rendered 
 
 the siege on 
 
 Marlborough. more severe hi consequence of the temporary loss 
 of one officer who fell; for Eugene himself, transported with 
 ardor, had taken part in the assault, and was seriously wound¬ 
 ed. Tliis grievous casualty not only gave the utmost distress 
 to Marlborough, but immensely augmented his labors, for it 
 threw upon him at once the direction of the siege and the 
 command of the covering army. Every morning at break of 
 day he was on horseback, recomioitering Vendome’s army; 
 and if all was quiet in front, he rode to the lines and directed 
 the siege in person till evening, when he again returned to 
 the camp of the covering force. By thus hi a manner doub¬ 
 ling himself, this great man succeeded in preventhig any seri¬ 
 ous inconvenience being experienced even from so great a ca¬ 
 tastrophe as Eugene’s wound ; and he infused such vigor into 
 the operations of the siege, that, on the 23d of September, 
 great part of the tenaillons and a large portion of the cover¬ 
 ed way were broken through. At the same time, the ammu¬ 
 nition of the garrison began to fail so much, in consequence of 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 201 
 
 the constant fire they had kept up for a month, that Marshal 
 Boutilers sent intimation to Vendome, that unless a supply of 
 that necessary article was speedily obtained, he would be 
 obliged to surrender.* 
 
 The French generals, aware how much the fortress was 
 straitened, were meanwhile straining every nerve 54. 
 
 J . . Efforts on both 
 
 to raise the siege ; but such was the terror inspir- sides to obtain 
 
 i i /r , l l l • i supplies of am- 
 
 ed by Marlborough s presence, and the skill with munition. 
 
 which his defensive measures were taken, that they did not 
 venture to hazard an attack on the covering army. A well- 
 conceived project of Vendome’s, however, for throwing a sup¬ 
 ply of powder into the fortress, in part succeeded. Many of 
 the horsemen engaged in this attempt were cut off, but some 
 succeeded in making their way in through the allied lines ; 
 and their success, and the stores which they had brought, 
 raised the spirits of the garrison, and prolonged their means 
 of defense. But meanwliile the ammunition of the besiegers 
 was also falling short; and as the enemy, since the concen¬ 
 tration of Marlborough’s army in front of Vendome, had be¬ 
 come completely masters of the communication with Brussels, 
 no resource remained but to get it up from Ostend. A convoy 
 was accordingly formed there by General Erie, which set out 
 on the 27th of September, and consisted of seven hundred 
 wagons, escorted by General Webb and ten thousand men. 
 Count de la Motte instantly set out with the troops under his 
 command from the vicinity of Ghent, and came up with the 
 convoy in the defile of Wynandals, when a sharp action en¬ 
 sued. The French advanced to the attack with their wonted 
 impetuosity; but Webb’s defensive arrangements were so skill¬ 
 ful, and the fire kept up by his troops so vigorous, that the 
 enemy were utterly routed; and the convoy, forcing its way 
 through the enemy’s forces, reached Menin on the following 
 day, and then, amid the acclamations of the whole army, 
 reached the allied camp on the 30th of September.! 
 
 * Disp., iv., 260-271. Marlborough to Godolphin, Sept. 24, 1708. Coxe, 
 iv., 243. t Marlborough to Godolphin, Oct. 1, 1708. Coxe, iv., 254. 
 
202 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The safe arrival of these supplies gave new energy to the 
 
 55. besiegers, while the recovery of Eugene relieved 
 Capitulation J 
 
 of the town of Marlborough of half the labor under which, to use 
 Lille, 22d Oc- ° 
 
 tober. his own words, he had been for a fortnight “ rather 
 
 dead than alive.” Three days afterward the whole tenaillon 
 was carried, and the troops were established directly opposite 
 the breaches of the ramparts. Meanwhile Vendome opened 
 the sluices, and inundated the country to the very borders of 
 the dike, so as to intercept Marlborough’s communication with 
 Ostend, and prevent the arrival of stores from it. But the 
 English general defeated this device by bringing the stores up 
 hi flat-bottomed boats from Ostend to Leffinghen, and thence 
 conveying them in carriages, mounted on very high wheels, to 
 the camp. Cadogan greatly distinguished himself in this dif¬ 
 ficult service. At this critical juncture General Overldrk died, 
 to the great regret of Marlborough, who could then ill spare 
 such an ardent and patriotic spirit. Meanwhile, however, the 
 siege continued to advance; and fifty-five heavy guns thun¬ 
 dered from the counterscarp on the breaches, while thirty-six 
 mortars swept all the works which commanded them. Find¬ 
 ing himself unable to withstand the assault which was now 
 hourly expected, Boufflers, on the 22d of October, beat a par¬ 
 ley and capitulated, having sustained, with unparalleled reso¬ 
 lution, a siege of sixty days, of which thirty were with open 
 trenches. Eugene was filled with admiration at his gallant 
 defense, and therefore granted the French general and his 
 brave garrison the most honorable terms. The gates were 
 surrendered on the 23d, and the remainder of the garrison, 
 still five thousand strong, retired into the citadel,* where they 
 prolonged their defense for six weeks more. 
 
 The fall of the external walls of Lille did not terminate the 
 struggle for that important fortress. Marshal 
 Boufflers still held the citadel, a stronghold in it¬ 
 self equal to most fortresses of the first order. No 
 sooner, however, were the allies in possession of 
 * Disp., iv., 271. Marlborough to Godolphvi, Oct. 24, 1708. Coxe, iv. ; 263,261. 
 
 56. 
 
 Siege of the 
 citadel of Lille 
 and diversion 
 of Venddme 
 against Brus¬ 
 sels. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 203 
 
 the town, than the attack on the citadel commenced with all 
 the vigor which the exhausted state of the magazines would 
 permit. Detached parties were sent into France, which, by- 
 levying contributions to a great extent, not only replenished 
 the stores of the allies, but depressed the spirits of the French, 
 by making them feel, in a manner not to be misunderstood, 
 that the war had at length approached their own doors. To 
 divert, if possible, Marlborough from his enterprise, the Elect¬ 
 or of Bavaria, who had recently returned from the Rhine, 
 was detached by Vendbme, with fifteen thousand men, against 
 Brussels, while he himself remained in his intrenched camp 
 on the Scheldt, barring the road from Lille to that city, so as 
 to stop the communication, and be ready to profit by ar^ ad¬ 
 vantage afforded by the measures which the English general 
 might make for its relief. The governor of Brussels, M. Pas¬ 
 chal, who had seven thousand men under his orders, rejected 
 the summons to surrender, and prepared for a vigorous de¬ 
 fense ; and meanwhile Marlborough prepared for its relief, by 
 one of those brilliant strokes which, in so peculiar a maimer, 
 characterize his campaigns. 
 
 Giving out that he was going to separate liis army into 
 
 winter quarters, he dispatched the iield-artillery 57. 
 
 , , , . .,. . , . Marlborough’s 
 
 toward Memn, and lie mmselt set out with his brilliant 
 
 ... . ~ „ march, which 
 
 stall m rather an ostentatious maimer for Lour- defeats it 
 tray ; but no sooner had he lulled the vigilance of the enemy 
 by these steps, than, wheeling suddeidy round, he advanced 
 with the bulk of his forces toward the Scheldt, and directed 
 them against that part of the French general’s lines where he 
 knew them to be weakest. The army, upon seeing these 
 movements, anticipated on the following day the bloodiest bat¬ 
 tle they had yet had during the w r ar ; but the skill of the En¬ 
 glish general rendered resistance hopeless, and gained his ob¬ 
 ject with wonderfully little loss. The passage of the river 
 was rapidly effected at three points; and the French corps 
 stationed at Oudenarde were vigorously assailed and driven 
 back on Grammont, with the loss of twelve hundred men, so 
 
204 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 as to leave the road uncovered, and the communication with 
 Brussels unimpeded. Having thus cleared the way, Marlbor¬ 
 ough sent back Eugene to resume the siege of the citadel of 
 Lille, while he himself, with the greater part of Iris forces, 
 proceeded on to Brussels, which he entered in triumph on the 
 29th of November. The Elector of Bavaria was too happy 
 to escape, leaving his guns and wounded behind ; and the cit¬ 
 adel of Lille at length, despairing of succor, capitulated on the 
 11th of December. Thus was this memorable campaign 
 terminated by the capture of the strongest frontier fortress of 
 France, under the eyes of its best general and most powerful 
 army.* 
 
 But Marlborough, like Caesar, deemed nothing done while 
 58. any thing remained to do. Nihil actum credens, 
 
 Marlborough J . 
 
 recovers dum quid superesset agendum. Though his troops 
 jnn., 1709 . were exhausted by marching and fighting almost 
 without intermission for five months, and he himself was la¬ 
 boring under severe illness in consequence of his fatigues, he 
 resolved, in the depth of winter, to make an attempt for the 
 recovery of Ghent, the loss of which in the early part of the 
 campaign had been the subject of such deep mortification. 
 The enemy, after the citadel of Lille capitulated, had natu¬ 
 rally broken up their army into cantonments, under the be¬ 
 lief that the campaign was concluded ; but Marlborough sud¬ 
 denly collected his forces, and drew round Ghent on the 18th 
 of December. Eugene formed the covering force with the 
 corps lately employed in the reduction of Lille. The garrison 
 was very strong, consisting of no less than thirty battalions 
 and nineteen squadrons, mustering eighteen thousand combat¬ 
 ants.! The governor had been instructed by Vendome to 
 defend this important stronghold to the last extremity ; but 
 he was inadequately supplied with provisions and forage, and 
 
 * Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, 17th of December, 1708. Disp., 
 iv., 362. 
 
 t Disp., iv., 315-323-345. Marlborough to Duke de Mole, 10th of Decem¬ 
 ber, 1708. Ibid., 346. OoxE, iv., 270. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 205 
 
 the result signally belied the expectations formed of his resist¬ 
 ance. The approaches were vigorously pushed. On the 24th 
 the trenches were opened ; on the 25th a sortie was repulsed; 
 on tire 28th of December the fire began with great vigor from 
 the breaching and mortar batteries ; and at noon the governor 
 sent a flag of truce, offering to capitulate if not relieved before 
 the 2d of January. This was agreed to ; and on the latter 
 day, as no friendly force approached, the garrison opened their 
 gates and marched out, in such strength that they were de¬ 
 filing incessantly from ten in the morning till seven at 
 night !* 
 
 Bniges immediately followed this example ; the garrison 
 capitulated, and the town again hoisted the Aus- , , jj 9 - 
 
 r ° And Bruges, 
 
 trian flag. The minor forts of Plassendael and concludes the 
 
 ° campaign, 
 
 Leffinghen were immediately evacuated by the en- and again re- 
 
 . . fuses the gov 
 
 emy. With such expedition were these important ernment of 
 operations conducted, that before Vendome could lands, 
 even assemble a force adequate to interrupt the besiegers’ op¬ 
 erations, both towns were taken, and the French were entire¬ 
 ly dispossessed of all the important strongholds they had gain¬ 
 ed in the early part of the campaign in the heart of Brabant. 
 Having closed his labors with these glorious successes, Marl¬ 
 borough put the army into winter quarters, now rendered se¬ 
 cure on the Flemish frontiers, and himself repaired to the 
 Hague to resume his usual contest with the timidity and 
 selfishness of the Dutch allies. Thus had Marlborough the 
 glory, in one campaign, of defeating in a pitched battle the 
 best general and most powerful army possessed by France, 
 and capturing its strongest frontier fortress, the masterpiece 
 of Vauban, under the eyes of one hundred and twenty thou¬ 
 sand men assembled from all quarters for its relief. He put 
 the keystone at the same time into this arch of glory by again 
 declining the magnificent offer of the government of the Low 
 Countries, with its appointment of sixty thousand a year for 
 
 * Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, 3d of January, 1709. Disp., iv., 
 389. 
 
 s 
 
206 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 life, a second time pressed upon him by King Charles, from 
 an apprehension that such an offer might give umbrage to the 
 government of Holland, or excite jealousy in the queen’s gov¬ 
 ernment at home.* 
 
 Such was the memorable campaign of 1708, one of the 
 6 o. most glorious in the military annals of England, 
 suhTof the and the one in which the extraordinary capacity 
 greataStyof °f the British general perhaps shone forth with 
 Marlborough, the brightest luster. The vigor and talent of Ven- 
 d6me, joined to the secret communication which he had with 
 those disaffected to the Austrian government in Ghent and 
 Bruges, procured for him, in the commencement of the cam¬ 
 paign, a great, and what, if opposed by less ability, might 
 have proved a decisive advantage. By the acquisition of 
 these towns, he gained the immense advantage of obtaining 
 the entire command of the water communication of Brabant, 
 and establishing himself in a solid manner in the heart of the 
 enemy’s territory. The entire expulsion of the allies from 
 Austrian Flanders seemed the unavoidable result of such a 
 success, by so enterprising a general at the head ol a hundred 
 thousand combatants. But Marlborough was not discour¬ 
 aged ; on the contrary, he built on the enemy’s early successes 
 a course of maneuvers, which in the end wrested all his con¬ 
 quests from him, and inflicted a series of disasters greater than 
 could possibly have been anticipated from a campaign of un¬ 
 broken success. 
 
 Boldly assuming the lead, he struck such a blow at Ouden- 
 61 arde as resounded from one end of Europe to the 
 dremeasOTes other, infused a terror into the enemy from which 
 mrecapture*" they never recovered during the remainder of the 
 of Liiie. campaign, paralyzed Vend6me in the midst of his 
 success, and reduced him from a vigorous offensive to a pain- 
 
 * “You will find me, my prince, always ready to renew tlie patent for 
 the government of the Low Countries formerly sent to yon, and to extend 
 it for your life.”—King Charles to Marlborough, August 8, 1708. Coxe, 
 iv., 245. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 207 
 
 ful defensive struggle. While the cabinet of Versailles were 
 dreaming of expelling the allies from Flanders, and detaching 
 Holland, partly by intrigue, partly by force of arms, from the 
 coalition, he boldly entered the territory of the Grand Mo 
 narque, laid siege to his chief frontier fortress, and captured it 
 in sight of Iris greatest army commanded by his best general. 
 In vain was the water communication of the Netherlands in¬ 
 terrupted by the enemy’s possession of Ghent and Bruges ; 
 with incredible activity he got together, and with matchless 
 skill conducted to the besiegers’ lines before Lille, a huge con¬ 
 voy fifteen miles long, drawn by sixteen thousand horses, in 
 the very teeth of Vendome, at the head of a hundred and 
 twenty thousand men. Lille captured, Ghent and Bruges 
 recovered, the allied standards solidly planted on the walls of 
 the strongest fortress of France, terminated a campaign in 
 which the British, overmatched and surrounded by lukewarm 
 or disaffected friends, had welhiigh lost at the outset hy for¬ 
 eign treachery all the fruits of the victory of Ramillies. 
 
208 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONFERENCES OF GERTRUTDENBERG.-LOUIS REFUSES THE UL¬ 
 TIMATUM OF THE ALLIES.-SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF TOUR- 
 
 NAY.-BATTLE OF MALPLAQUET.-FALL OF MONS. 
 
 The glorious termination of this campaign, and, above all, 
 !• the addition made to the immediate security of 
 
 Marlborough's ' 
 
 renewed dlffi- Holland by the recovery of Ghent and Bruges, 
 
 cultiee with the ... . . 
 
 aihed courts, sensibly augmented Marlborough s mfluence at 
 
 the Hague, and at length overcame the timidity and vacil¬ 
 lation of the Dutch government. When the English gen¬ 
 eral repaired there in the beginning of 1709, he quickly over¬ 
 awed the adherents of France, regained his wonted influence 
 over the mind of the Pensionary Heinsius, and at length suc¬ 
 ceeded in persuading the government and the States to aug¬ 
 ment their forces by six thousand men. This, though by no 
 means so great an accession of numbers as was required to 
 meet the vast efforts which France was making, was still a 
 considerable addition ; and by the influence of Prince Eugene, 
 who was well aware that the principal effort of the enemy in 
 the next campaign would he made in the Netherlands, he ob¬ 
 tained a promise that the Imperial troops should winter there, 
 and he recruited, so as to compensate their losses in the pre¬ 
 ceding campaign. Great difficulties were experienced with 
 the court of Turin, which had conceived the most extrava¬ 
 gant hopes from the project of an invasion of France on the 
 side both of Lyons and Franche Comte, and for this purpose 
 demanded a large subsidy in money, and the aid of fifty thou¬ 
 sand men, under Prince Eugene, to operate on the Upper 
 Rhine. 
 
 Marlborough was well aware, from past experience, of the 
 flttle reliance to be placed on any military operations in 
 
HAELBOROUG II. 
 
 209 
 
 which the emperor and the Italian powers were to 3 
 he placed in co-operation. He was therefore far idea^of^he 
 from sanguine of the success of their design ; but BerHnaud 
 as it was material to keep the court of Turin in Tunn - 
 good-humor, he gave the proposal the most respectful atten¬ 
 tion, and sent General Palmer on a special mission to the 
 Duke of Savoy, to arrange the plan of the proposed irruption 
 into the Lyonnois. With the cabinet of Berlin the difficul¬ 
 ties were greater than ever, and, in fact, had become so urg¬ 
 ent, that nothing but the presence of the English general, or 
 an immediate agent from him, could prevent Prussia from se¬ 
 ceding altogether from the alliance. General Grumbkow 
 was sent there accordingly in March, and found the king in 
 such ill humor at the repeated disappointments he had expe¬ 
 rienced from the emperor and the Dutch, that he declared he 
 could only spare three battalions for the approaching cam¬ 
 paign.* By great exertions, however, and the aid of Marl¬ 
 borough’s letters and influence, the king was at length pre¬ 
 vailed on to continue his present troops in the Low Countries, 
 and to increase them by fourteen squadrons of horse.f 
 
 But it was not on the Continent only that open enemies or 
 
 lukewarm and treacherous friends were striving to 3. 
 
 . . . His cold re¬ 
 
 arrest the course ol Marlborough s victories. His eeptionfrom 
 
 difficulties at home, both with his own party and England, and 
 
 , ■ , • i •. mission to 
 
 his opponents, were hourly increasing; and it was the Hague, 
 already foreseen that they had become so formidable that, at no 
 very remote period, they would cause his fall. Though he was 
 publicly thanked, as well he might, by both houses of Parlia¬ 
 ment, when he came to London on the 1st of March, 1709, 
 
 * “ ‘ Can I do more than I do now ?’ said the king. ' I make treaties, but 
 the emperor breaks his word with me, as well as Holland, every moment. 
 Besides, it is impossible, without great inconvenience, to give more than 
 three battalions ; and he is a wretch who would advise me otherwise.’ I 
 said he was a wretch who should advise him not to do it. He replied, 
 ‘You speak very boldly, and may perhaps repent it, if your arguments are 
 not conclusive.’ ”— General Grumbkow to Marlborough, March 9, 1709 
 Coxe, iv., 341. 
 
 t King of Prussia to Marlborough, March 9, 1709. Coxe, iv., 346. 
 
 S 2 
 
210 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 yet he received no mark of favor from the queen, and was 
 treated with studied coldness at court.* Envy, the insepara¬ 
 ble attendant on exalted merit—ingratitude, the usual result 
 ol irrequitable services, had completely alienated the queen 
 from him. Mrs. Masham omitted nothing which could alien¬ 
 ate her royal mistress from so formidable a rival; and it was 
 hard to say whether she was most cordially aided in her efforts 
 by the open Opposition, or the half Tor}’-Whigs who formed 
 the administration. Both Godolplnn and the duke speedily 
 found that they were merely tolerated in office ; while, in or¬ 
 der to weaken their influence with the people, every effort was 
 made to depreciate even the glorious victories which had shed 
 such imperishable luster over the British arms. Deeply mor¬ 
 tified by this ingratitude, Marlborough gladly embraced an 
 offer which was made to him by the govermnent, in order to 
 remove him from court, to conduct the negotiation now pend¬ 
 ing at the Hague with Louis XIV. for the conclusion of a gen¬ 
 eral peace.f 
 
 The pride of the French monarch was now so much hum- 
 4. bled that he sent the President Bouile to Holland, 
 eions 1 offered 5 " with public instructions to offer terms to the allies, 
 by Louis. an fl private directions to do every thing possible to 
 sow dissensions among them, and, if possible, detach Holland 
 from the affiance. His proposals were to give up Spain, the 
 Indies, and the Milanese to King Charles, and cede the Ital¬ 
 ian islands, reserving Naples and Sicily for his grandson. In 
 the Netherlands and Germany, he offered to restore matters 
 to the state in which they were at the peace of Ryswick ; 
 and though he was very reluctant to give up Lille, he offered 
 to cede Menin in its place. These terms being communicated 
 
 # In communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, the chancellor said, 
 “ I shall not be thought to exceed my present commission, if, being thus led 
 to contemplate the mighty things which your grace has done for us, I can 
 not but conclude with acknowledging, with all gratitude, the providence of 
 God in raising you up to be an instrument of so much good, in so critical a 
 juncture, w r hen it was so much wanted.”—C oxe, iv., 375. 
 
 t Coxe, iv., 352-366-377. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 211 
 
 to the court of London, they returned an answer insisting on 
 the restoration of the whole Spanish monarchy to the house 
 of Austria, the acknowledgment of the title of Queen Anne 
 to the crown of England, and the Protestant succession, the 
 removal of the Pretender, the destruction of the harbor of 
 Dunkirk, and that an adequate barrier should be secured to 
 the Dutch. In their ideas upon this barrier, however, they 
 went much beyond what Marlborough was disposed to sanc¬ 
 tion, "and he therefore maintained a prudent reserve on the 
 subject. As the French plenipotentiary could not agree to 
 these terms, Marlborough returned to England, and Lord 
 Townsend was associated with him as plenipotentiary. They 
 were instructed to insist that Furnes, Ypres, Menin, Lille, 
 Toumay, Conde, Valencieimes, and Maubeuge, should be giv¬ 
 en up to form a barrier, and that Newfoundland and Hudson’s 
 Bay should be restored. Alarmed at the exaction of such rig¬ 
 orous terms, Louis sent M. de Torcy, who made large conces¬ 
 sions ; and Marlborough, who was seriously desirous of bring¬ 
 ing the war to a conclusion, exerted all his influence with the 
 States to induce them to accept the barrier offered. He so 
 far succeeded, that on the very day after his return to the 
 Hague, he wrote both to Lord Godolphin and the Duchess of 
 Marlborough, that he had prevailed on the Dutch commission¬ 
 ers to accede to the principal articles, and that he had no doubt 
 tbe negotiation would terminate in an honorable peace.* 
 These flattering prospects, however, were soon overcast. 
 The Dutch renewed their demand of having their 5 
 barrier strengthened at the expense of Austria, ofLouistobribe 
 and insisted that the Flemish fortress of Dender- Marlborough ' 
 
 * “ M. Do Torcy has offered so much, that I have no doubt it will end in a 
 good peace."— Marlborough to Godolphin, 19th of May, 1707. 
 
 “Every thing goes on so well here, that there is no doubt of its ending in 
 a good peace. Government have in readiness the sideboard of plate, and 
 the chairs of state and canopy; and I beg it may be made so as to form 
 part of a bed when I am done with it here, which I hope may be by the end 
 of this summer, so that I may enjoy your dear society in quiet, which is the 
 greatest satisfaction I am capable of having.’’— Marlborough to the Duchess, 
 19th of May, 1709. Coxe, iv., 393. 
 
212 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 raonde and Ghent, forming part of the Imperial dominions, 
 should be included in it. To this both Eugene and Marlbor¬ 
 ough objected, and the Dutch, in spite, refused to stipulate for 
 the demolition of Dunkirk. So violent an altercation took 
 place on the subject between the Pensionary Heinsius and 
 Marlborough, that it had wellnigh produced a schism in the 
 Grand Alliance. M. de Torcy at first endeavored to mitigate 
 the demands of the Dutch government; but, finding them al¬ 
 together immovable, he addressed himself privately to Marl¬ 
 borough, offering him enormous bribes if he could procure 
 more favorable terms for France. The offers were 2,000,000 
 livres (£80,000) if he could secure Naples and Sicily, or even 
 Naples alone, for the grandson of the King of France; and 
 4,000,000 livres (£160,000) if, in addition to this, he could 
 save Strasburg, Dunkirk, and Landau for France. Marlbor¬ 
 ough turned away from the disgraceful proposal with coldness 
 and contempt,* but enforced in the most earnest manner on 
 the French king the prudence and even necessity of yielding 
 to the proffered terms, if he would save his countiy from dis¬ 
 memberment, and himself from ruin. His efforts, however, 
 to bring matters to an accommodation with Franee proved in¬ 
 effectual, and, after some weeks spent in proposals and counter¬ 
 proposals, the ultimatum of the allies was finally delivered to 
 the French plenipotentiary by the Pensionary of Holland.! 
 
 By this ultimatum, Charles was to be acknowledged King 
 6 . of Spain and the Indies, and the whole Spanish 
 of tilt-am™, monarchy was to be ceded by France. All the con- 
 jectedby 6 quests of Louis in the Low Countries were to be 
 f ranee. given up ; the Duke of Anjou was to surrender Spain 
 and Sicily in two months, and if these kingdoms were not 
 then delivered, Louis teas to concur with the allies for his 
 expulsion. The barrier towns, so eagerly coveted by the 
 Dutch, were to be given up to them. Namur, Menin, Char¬ 
 leroi, Luxembourg, Conde, Tournay, Maubeuge, Nieuport, 
 
 * Mimoire M. de Torcy, ii., 104-111. 
 
 t Swift’s Conduct of the Allies, 73. Coxe, iv„ 395-115, 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 213 
 
 Fismes, and Ypres, were to be put into the possession of the 
 albes. 13e Torcy objected to the articles regarding the cession 
 of the whole Spanish monarchy hi two months, though he de¬ 
 clared his willingness to go to Paris, in order to persuade the 
 French monarch to comply with them, and actually set off 
 for that purpose. On the way to the French capital, how¬ 
 ever, he was met by a messenger from the French king, who 
 rejected the proposals. “ If I must continue the war,” said 
 Louis, with a spirit worthy of his race, “ it is better to contend 
 with my enemies than my own family.” So firmly had it 
 been heheved, both at the Hague and in London, that peace 
 was not only probable, but actuahy concluded, that letters of 
 congratulation poured in on the duke from ah quarters, cele¬ 
 brating his dexterity and address in negotiation not less than 
 his prowess in arms. So confident, indeed, was Marlborough 
 that peace would be concluded, that he was grievously disap¬ 
 pointed by the rupture of the negotiations ; and never ceased 
 to strive, during the whole summer, to smooth away difficul 
 ties, and bring the allies to such terms as the French king 
 would accept. He was overruled, however, by the ministry 
 at home, who concluded the celebrated barrier treaty with 
 the Dutch, which Marlborough refused to sign, and which was 
 accordingly signed by Townsend alone, without his concur¬ 
 rence ! And it is now decisively proved by the publication of 
 his private correspondence with Lord Godolphin, that he dis¬ 
 approved of the severe articles insisted upon by the allies and 
 his own cabinet; and that if the uncontrolled management of 
 the negotiation had been committed to him, it w r ould have 
 been brought to a favorable issue on terms highly advantageous 
 to England, and which would have prevented the treaty of 
 Utrecht from forming a stain on its annals.* 
 
 * “I have as much mistrust for the sincerity of France as any body living 
 can have ; but I will own to you, that in my opinion, if France had delivered 
 the towns promised by the plenipotentiaries, and demolished Dunkirk and 
 the other towns mentioned, they must have been at our discretion; so that 
 if they had played tricks, so much the worse for themselves.”— Marlbor¬ 
 ough to Lord Godolphin, June 10, 1709. Coxe, iv., 405. 
 
214 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The rigorous terms demanded, however, by the allied cab- 
 7 . inets, and the resolute conduct of the King of France 
 ofLouifto* i n rejecting them, had an important effect upon the 
 save France. waX) an( j ca n e ff f or more vigorous efforts on the 
 part of the confederates than they had yet put forth, or were 
 even now disposed to make. Louis made a touching appeal 
 to the patriotic spirit of Iris people, in an eloquent circular 
 which he addressed to the prelates and nobles of his realm. 
 He there set forth the great sacrifices which he had offered to 
 make to secure a general peace ; showed how willing he had 
 been to divest himself of all his conquests, and abandon all 
 his dreams of ambition ; and concluded by observing, that he 
 was now compelled to continue the, contest, because the allies 
 insisted upon his descending to the humiliation of joining his 
 armies to theirs, for the purpose of dispossessing his own grand¬ 
 son. The appeal was not made in vain to the spirit of a gal- 
 Lnt nobility, and the patriotism of a brave people. It kindled 
 a flame of general enthusiasm and loyalty. All ranks and 
 parties vied with each other in contributing their property 
 and personal service for the maintenance of the war ; and the 
 campaign which opened under such disastrous auspices, was 
 commenced with a degree of energy and unanimity on the 
 part of the French people which had never hitherto been 
 evinced in the course of the contest.* As afterward, in the 
 wars of the Revolution, too, the misfortunes of the state tend¬ 
 ed to the increase of its military forces. The stoppage of 
 commerce, and shock to credit, threw numbers out of employ¬ 
 ment ; and starving multitudes crowded to the frontier, to 
 find that subsistence amid the dangers of war which they 
 could no longer find in the occupations of peace.f 
 
 Skillfully availing themselves of this burst of patriotic fer- 
 8 - vor, the ministers of Louis were enabled to open 
 
 Forcesonboth 
 
 sides at the the campaign with greater forces than they had 
 campaign. 6 ever collected since the beginning of the war. The 
 principal effort was made in Flanders, where the cliief danger 
 * Coxe, iv., 401 t Capefigue, Histoirt de Louis XIV., vi., 42-46. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 215 
 
 was to be apprehended, and the enemy’s most powerful army 
 and greatest general were to he faced. Fifty-one battalions 
 and forty-nine squadrons were drawn from the Rhine to Flan¬ 
 ders ; and this large re-enforcement, joined to the crowds of 
 recruits which the public distress impelled to his standards, 
 enabled the renowned Marshal Villars, who had received the 
 command of the French, to take the field at the head of one 
 hundred and twelve thousand men. With this imposing 
 force, he took a position, strong both by nature and art, ex¬ 
 tending from Douay to the Lye, the right resting on the canal 
 of Douay, the center covered by the village of La Bassie, the 
 left supported by Bethune and its circumjacent marshes. The 
 whole line was strengthened by redoubts and partial inunda¬ 
 tions. Never at any former period had France sent such an 
 army into the field ; never had she one animated with so en¬ 
 thusiastic and gallant a spirit. The soldiers, equally with the 
 nobles, were aware that this was the last effort for the inde¬ 
 pendence of France. All felt, in the words afterward used by 
 Napoleon at Waterloo, “that the moment had arrived when 
 it behooved every Frenchman to conquer or die.” 
 
 Aware of the great augmentation of the enemy’s force whicli 
 was in progress in Flanders, seeing clearly that it 9- 
 
 x a . . Marlborough's 
 
 was there that the vital point of the contest was efforts to obtain 
 , , „ . an augmenta- 
 
 to be, and not less convinced ol the necessity ol tion of force in 
 
 re-enforcements to stem the progress of disaster in tries. 
 
 Spain, Marlborough made the most vigorous efforts to obtain, 
 
 both from the British government and the allied powers, an 
 
 increase of forces for carrying on the war. He knew well 
 
 that the enemy was bringing forth his last reserve ; that the 
 
 ban and arriere-ban of France was in the field ; that this was 
 
 their final effort; and that victory in this protracted struggle 
 
 would remain with the party in war, as in a battle, which 
 
 could throw in a reserve, to which the enemy had nothing at 
 
 the moment to oppose. By dint of vigorous representations, 
 
 and by still having the majority of the cabinet and House of 
 
 Commons on his side, though in a minority at court, he sue- 
 
216 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ceeded in obtaining a re-enforcement of ten thousand men to 
 the English army; and the supplies voted for the ensuing 
 year reached the unprecedented, and, as it was then thought, 
 enormous amount of <£7,000,000 sterling.* But the other 
 powers could not be prevailed on to make any similar addi¬ 
 tions to their contingents : and so little was the British gov¬ 
 ernment aware of the necessity of augmenting the forces at 
 the vital point, that instead of making any addition to their 
 troops in the Netherlands, they proposed to withdraw seven 
 regiments from Antwerp, and send them to Spain. Marlbor¬ 
 ough expressed, as well he might, the utmost uneasiness at 
 this extravagant proposal: a proposal which shows what so 
 many other events in English history demonstrate, how igno¬ 
 rant its government in general is of the first principles of mil¬ 
 itary operations.* 
 
 But all that he could obtain from the British government 
 
 * Coxe, iv., 351. 
 
 t “ I received last niglit the favor of yours of the 7th of January, in which 
 you continue of opinion that the seven regiments at Antwerp should be sent 
 to England. I can say no more on that subject. You will see what the in¬ 
 closed letter says as to the designs of France. As they draw their troops 
 from all parts to strengthen their army in this country', if we, at the same 
 time, are to be obliged to leave our troops where they can not be of much 
 use, there can he no doubt but at length my Lord Faversham will be grat¬ 
 ified by our being beaten, for so great a superiority will undo us. X am of 
 your opinion, that one reason for the enemy marching their troops from all 
 parts so early into this country is in hope they may incline the Dutch to 
 hearken to peace.”— Marlborough to Godolphin, Brussels, Feb. 7, 1710. 
 Coxe, iv., 37-2. Again: “ I know not what you may reason in England, but 
 I am fully persuaded that it is of the last consequence to have the troops of 
 Wirtemberg and the seven regiments serve in this country in the next cam¬ 
 paign ; for with those all the troops that we may be able to get for the sum 
 of money voted by Parliament for the troops of augmentation, will fall very 
 much short of the number of men the enemy will have in this country. Is 
 it possible that men of good sense, and that mean sincerely well to the com¬ 
 mon cause, can be in the least doubt, that if the enemy make their greatest, 
 indeed their only effort in this country', we must do the same, or expect to 
 be beaten ! which I pray Almighty God to avert, for it would be a fatal blow. 
 If any orders have been sent for the march of these seven regiments, I do 
 most earnestly beg you will lay before her majesty and the lords of the cab¬ 
 inet my apprehensions.”— Marlborough to the Lord Treasurer, Brussels, 
 February 11, 1710. Coxe, iv., 372. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 217 
 
 was a promise that the seven battalions should he 10 . 
 retained in Flanders, and shoidd not he removed i^thVrc par- 
 at the commencement of the campaign in the Low nSl' Theforces 
 Countries. At the same time, he made such vig- at i 113 disposal, 
 orous representations to the Dutch ministry of the danger of 
 taking the field with an inferior force, that he succeeded in 
 obtaining a re-enforcement of four thousand Wirtemberghers, 
 in their pay, who were to be drawn from the Rhine. Yet 
 with all this he was still inferior to the enemy when the cam¬ 
 paign commenced ; and hut for the re-enforcements thus tar¬ 
 dily yielded to his urgent representations, he would have been 
 so much so, that the campaign, so far from leading to a pros¬ 
 perous result, would in all probability have terminated in 
 nothing but disaster.* At length, however, Marlborough 
 took the field at the head of one hundred and ten thousand 
 men ; and although his force was composed of a heterogeneous 
 mixture of the troops of different nations, yet, like the colluvies 
 omnium gentium which followed the standards of Hannibal, 
 it was held together by the firm bond of military success, and 
 inspired with that unbounded confidence which is founded on 
 experience of the resources and capacity of its chief. Events 
 of the greatest and most interesting kind could not but be an¬ 
 ticipated, from the contest of two armies of such magnitude, 
 headed by such leaders, and when the patriotic ardor of the 
 French nation, now roused to the uttermost, was matched 
 against the military strength of the confederates, matured by 
 a series of victories so long and brilliant.f 
 
 Though relying with confidence on the skill and intrepidity 
 of his troops, Marlborough, according to his usual 11 . 
 system, resolved, if possible, to circumvent the measurestode- 
 enemy by maneuvering, so as to reserve his hard ceive v lllare ‘ 
 blows for the time when success was to be won in no other 
 way. His design was to begin the campaign either with a 
 general battle or by the reduction of Tournay, lying on the 
 direct road from Brussels by Mons to Paris, which would 
 * Coxe, iv., 371, 372 t Ibid., i., 5. 
 
 T 
 
218 
 
 THE LIFE OS’ 
 
 break through, in the most important part, the barrier for 
 tresses. To prepare for either event, and divert the enemy’s 
 attention, strong demonstrations were made against Villars’s 
 intrenched position. If it had been practicable, he would have 
 been attacked; but after a close reconnoiter, both generals 
 deemed it too hazardous an enterprise, and it was resolved to 
 besiege the fortress. On the 23d of June, the right under 
 Eugene crossed the lower Dyle below Lille; while the left, 
 with which were the whole English and Dutch contingents, 
 crossed the upper Dyle, and Marlborough fixed his head-quar¬ 
 ters at the castle of Looz. So threatening were the masses 
 which the allies now accumulated in his front, that Villars 
 never doubted he was about to be attacked; and, in conse¬ 
 quence, he strengthened his position to the utmost of his power, 
 called in all his detachments, and drew considerable re-en- 
 forcements from the garrisons of Tournay and the other for¬ 
 tresses in his vicinity. 
 
 Having thus fixed his antagonist’s attention, and concen- 
 
 12 . trated his force in his intrenched lines between Douay 
 
 And lays i i i J 
 
 siege to and Bethune, Marlborough suddenly moved off to the 
 27th June, left, in the direction of Tournay. This was done, 
 however, -with every imaginable precaution to impose upon the 
 enemy. The allied army decamped at nightfall on the 27th 
 in dead silence, and advanced part of the night straight toward 
 the French lines ; but at two in the morning, the troops were 
 suddenly halted, wheeled to the left, and marched in two col¬ 
 umns, by Pont a Bovines and Pont a Tressins, toward Tour¬ 
 nay. So expeditiously was the change in the line of march 
 managed, and so complete the surprise, that by seven in the 
 morning the troops were drawn round Tournay, and the in¬ 
 vestment complete, while half of the garrison being absent in 
 the lines of Marshal Villars, it was thereby rendered incapable 
 of making any effectual defense. Meanwhile, that commander 
 was so deceived, that he was congratulating himself that the 
 enemy had “ fixed on the siege of Tournay, winch should oc¬ 
 cupy them the whole remainder of the campaign, when it is 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 219 
 
 evident their design had been, after defeating me, to thunder 
 against Aire la Venant with their heavy artillery, penetrate 
 as far as Boulogne, and, after laying all Picardy under contri¬ 
 bution, push on even to Paris.”* 
 
 Tournay is an old town, the ancient walls of which are of 
 wide circuit; but it had a series of advanced works 13. 
 
 Description 
 
 erected by Vauban, and its citadel, a regular pent a- of Tournay. 
 gon, was considered by the great Conde as one of the most 
 perfect specimens of modem fortification in existence. So little 
 did the governor expect their approach, that many of the of¬ 
 ficers were absent, and a detachment of the garrison, sent out 
 to forage, were made prisoners by General Lumlcy, who com¬ 
 manded the investing corps. The fortifications, however, 
 were in the best state, and the magazines well stored with 
 ammunition and military stores. It was the ancient capital 
 of the Nervii, so celebrated for their valor in the wars with 
 Caisar; *and an inscription on its walls testified that Louis 
 XIV., after taking it in four days, had assisted in the con¬ 
 struction of additional works which it was supposed would 
 render it impregnable. The attempt to take such a place 
 with a force no greater than that which Villars had at hand 
 to interrupt the operations, would have been an enterprise of 
 the utmost temerity, and probably terminated in disaster, had 
 it not been for the admirable skill with which the attention 
 of the enemy had been fixed on another quarter, and the siege 
 commenced with one half of its garrison absent, and the other 
 imperfectly supplied with provisions.! 
 
 The heavy artillery and siege equipage required to be 
 brought up the Scheldt from Ghent, which in the M. 
 
 1 • i ii-i • -it, Sie f? e and 
 
 outset occasioned some delay m the operations. Marl- captured 
 borough-commanded the attacking, Eugene the cov- 29th July! 
 ering forces. By the 6th of July, however, the approaches 
 were commenced; on the 10th the battering train arrived, 
 
 * M(m. dc Villars, ii., G3. Marlborough to Godolpliin, June 27, 1709. 
 Coxe, iv., 5, 6. 
 
 t Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, 27th of June, 1709. Disp., iv.. 
 520 Coxe, v., 7, 8. 
 
220 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and the trenches were armed; repeated sallies of the enemy 
 to interrupt the operations were repulsed, and several of the 
 outworks were carried between that time and the 21st, on 
 which last occasion the besiegers succeeded in establishing 
 themselves in the covered ways. The breaching batteries 
 continued to thunder with terrible effect upon the walls ; and 
 on the 27 th, a strong horn-work, called the Seven Fountains, 
 was carried, and the allies were masters of nearly the whole 
 line of the counterscarp. Meanwhile, Villars made no seri¬ 
 ous movement to interrupt the besiegers, contenting himself 
 with making demonstrations between the Scarpe and the 
 Scheldt to alarm the covering forces. Eugene, however, 
 narrowly watched all his proceedings; and, in truth, the 
 French marshal, far from really intending to disquiet the allies 
 iu their operations, was busied with an immense army of pi¬ 
 oneers and laborers in constructing a new set of lines from 
 Douay along the Scarpe to the Scheldt near Conde, hi order 
 to arrest their progress in the direction they had now taken. 
 Seeing no prospect of being relieved, the governor, on the 29 th, 
 surrendered the town, and retired with the remains of the 
 garrison, still four thousand strong, into the citadel.* 
 
 On the surrender of the town, no time was lost in prosecu- 
 15. ting operations against the citadel, and the line of 
 citadel and circumvallation was traced out that very evening. 
 chances. rdte But this undertaking proved more difficult than had 
 been expected, and several weeks elapsed before any material 
 
 * Marlborough to Lord Galway, 4th of July, 1709 ; and to the Queen, 29th 
 of July, 1709. Disp., iv., 530 aud 556. Coxe, v., 8-13. Marlborough’s pri¬ 
 vate letters to the duchess at this period, as, indeed, throughout all his cam¬ 
 paigns, prove how tired he was of the war, and how ardently he sighed for 
 repose at Blenheim. "The taking of the citadel of Toumay will, I fear, 
 cost us more men aud time than that of the town; but that which gives me 
 the greatest prospect for the happiness of being with you is, that certainly 
 the misery of France increases, which must bring us a peace. The misery 
 of the poor people we see is such, that one must be a brute not to pity 
 them. May you be ever happy, and I enjoy some few years of quiet with 
 you, is what I daily pray for .”—Marlborough to the Duchess, July 30, 1709 
 Coxe, v., 12. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 221 
 
 progress was made in the operations, during which Villars 
 made good use of his time in completing his new lines to cover 
 Valenciennes and Conde. The garrison of the citadel, though 
 unequal to the defense of the town of Toumay, was quite ad¬ 
 equate to that of the citadel; and the vast mines with which 
 the whole outworks and glacis were perforated, rendered the 
 approaches in the highest degree perilous and difficult. The 
 governor, M. De Surville, proposed, on the 5th of August, to 
 capitulate in a month if not relieved ; and to this proposition 
 Marlborough and Eugene, with praiseworthy humanity, at 
 once agreed; hut the King of France refused to ratify the 
 terms proposed, unless the suspension of arms was made gen¬ 
 eral to the whole Netherlands, to which the allied general 
 would not accede. The military operations consequently 
 went on, and soon acquired a degree of horror hitherto unpar¬ 
 alleled even in that long and bloody contest. 
 
 The art of countermining, and of counteracting the danger 
 of mines exploding, was then very imperfectly un- 16. 
 
 i ill, - , . / f J Alarms of the 
 
 uerstood, though that ol besieging above ground troops at the 
 
 had been brought to the very highest degree of per- warfare, 
 fection. The soldiers, in consequence, entertained a great and 
 almost superstitious dread of the perils of that subterraneous 
 warfare, where prowess and courage were alike unavailing, 
 and the bravest, equally with the most pusillanimous, were 
 liable to he at any moment blown into the air, or smothered 
 under ground, by the explosions of an unseen, and, therefore, 
 appalling enemy. The allies were inferior in regular sappers 
 and miners to the besieged, who were singularly well supplied 
 with that important arm of the service. The ordinary sol¬ 
 diers, how brave soever hi the held, evinced a repugnance at 
 engaging in this novel and terrihe species of warfare ; and it 
 was only by the officers personally visiting the trenches hi the 
 very hottest of the lire, and offering high rewards to the sol¬ 
 diers who would enter hito the mhies, that men could be got 
 to venture on the perilous service.* 
 
 * Dumont’s Military History, ii., 104. Coxe, v., 15, 16. 
 
 T 2 
 
222 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 It was not surprising that even the bravest of the allied 
 !7 troops were appalled at the new and extraordina- 
 rors,' August H dangers which now awaited them, for they were 
 truly of the most formidable description. What 
 rendered them peculiarly so was, that the perils in a peculiar 
 maimer affected the hold and the forward. The first to 
 mount a breach, to effect a lodgment in a horn-work, to pene¬ 
 trate into a mine, was sure to perish. First a hollow, rum¬ 
 bling noise was heard, which froze the bravest hearts with 
 horror ; a violent rush as of a subterraneous cataract succeed¬ 
 ed ; and immediately the earth heaved, and whole companies, 
 and even battalions, were destroyed in a frightful explosion. 
 On the 15th of August a sally by M. De Surville was brave¬ 
 ly repulsed, and the besiegers, pursuing their advantage, effect¬ 
 ed a lodgment in the outwork ; but immediately a mine was 
 sprung, and a hundred and fifty men were blown into the air. 
 In the night between the 16th and 17th, a long and furious 
 conflict took place below ground and in utter darkness, be¬ 
 tween the contending parties, which at length terminated to 
 the advantage of the besiegers.* On the 23d a mine was 
 discovered, sixty feet long by twenty broad, which would have 
 blown up a wdrole battalion of Hanoverian troops placed above 
 it; but while the allies were in the mine, congratulating 
 themselves on the discovery, a mine below it was suddenly 
 sprang, and all within the upper one w'ere buried in the ru¬ 
 ms. On the night of the 25th, three hundred men, posted in 
 
 * A very striking incident occurred in the siege, which shows to what a 
 height the heroic spurt with which the troops were animated had risen. 
 An officer commanding a detachment was sent by Lord Albemarle to occu 
 py a certain lunette which had been captured from the enemy ; and though 
 it was concealed from the men, the commander told the officer he had 
 every reason to believe the post was undermined, and that the party would 
 be blown up. Knowing this, he proceeded with perfect calmness to the 
 place of his destination ; and when provisions and wine were served out to 
 the men, he desired them to fill their calashes, and said, “Here is a health 
 to those who die the death of the brave.” The mine was immediately after 
 sprung; but, fortunately, the explosion failed, and his comrades survived to 
 relate their commander’s noble conduct. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 223 
 
 a large mine discovered to the allies by an iidiabitant of Tour- 
 nay, were crushed in a similar maimer by the explosion of an¬ 
 other mine directly below ; and on the same night, one hund¬ 
 red men posted hi the town ditch were suddenly buried under 
 a bastion blown out upon them. 
 
 Great was the dismay which these dreadful and unheard- 
 of disasters produeed among the allied troops. But ig. 
 at length the resolution and energy of Marlbor- at length tak* 
 ough and Eugene triumphed over every obstacle. en ’ Sept 3 ‘ 
 Early on the morning of the 31st of August, the white flag 
 was displayed, and a conference took place between the two 
 commanders in the house of the Earl of Albemarle ; but the 
 governor having refused to accede to the terms demanded— 
 that the garrison should surrender as prisoners of war—the 
 fire recommenced, and a tremendous discharge from all the 
 batteries took place for the next three days. This compelled 
 the brave Do Surville to submit; and Marlborough, in con¬ 
 sideration of Ills gallant defense, permitted the garrison to 
 march out with the honors of war, and return to France, on 
 condition of not serving again till they were exchanged. On 
 the 3d of September the gates were surrendered, and the en¬ 
 tire command of this strong fortress and rich city, which en¬ 
 tirely covered Spanish Flanders, was gained by the aides.* 
 
 No sooner was Toumay taken than the allied generals 
 
 turned tlieir eyes to Mons, the next great for- i 9 - 
 
 . . Vigorous move- 
 
 tl’ess on the road to Pans, and which, with Va- ments of Mari- 
 . -iii • • borough toward 
 
 lcnciennes, constituted the only remaining strong- Mons. 
 holds that lay on that hue between them and Paris. So 
 i.nxious was Marlborough to hasten operations against this 
 important town, that on the very day on which the white flag 
 was displayed from the citadel of Toumay, he dispatched 
 Lord Orkney with all the grenadiers of the army, and twen¬ 
 ty squadrons, to surprise Ghislam, and secure the passage of 
 
 * Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, 31st of August and 3d of Sep 
 tember, 1709. Disp., iv., 585-588. Coxe, v., 14-18. Dumont's Military 
 History, ii., 103. 
 
224 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the Haine. On the 3d, the Prince of Hesse-Cassel was dis¬ 
 patched after him with four thousand foot and sixty squadrons. 
 Lord Orkney, on arriving on the banks of the Haine, found 
 the passage so strongly guarded that he did not deem it pru¬ 
 dent to alarm the enemy by attempting to force it. The 
 Prince of Hesse-Cassel, however, was more fortunate. He 
 marched Math such extraordinary diligence, that he got over 
 forty-nine English miles in fifty-six successive hours ; a rapid¬ 
 ity of advance, for such a distance, that had never been pre¬ 
 viously surpassed, though it has been outdone in later times.* 
 By this means he reached the Haine on the other side of 
 Mons, and surprised the passage near Obourg, at two in the 
 morning of the 6th, and at noon entered the French hues of 
 the Trouble without opposition, the enemy retiring with pre¬ 
 cipitation as he advanced. He immediately extended his 
 ■forces over the valley of the Trouble, fixed his head-quarters 
 at the abbey of Behan, and with his right occupied in strength 
 the important plateau of Jemappes, which intercepted the 
 communication between Mons and Valenciennes. It was on 
 this height that the famous battle was fought with the French 
 Republicans under Dumourier in 1792 : another proof, among 
 the many winch history affords, how frequently the crisis of 
 war, at long distances of time from each other, takes place in 
 the same vicinity. By this decisive movement, Marlborough 
 gained an immense advantage ; Mons was now passed and 
 invested on the side of France; and the formidable lures, 
 thirty leagues in length, on which Marshal Villars had been 
 laboring with such assiduity during the two preceding months, 
 were turned, and made of no avail.! 
 
 While the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with the advanced guard 
 of the army, gained this brilliant success, Marlborough w r as 
 rapidly following with the main body in the same direction. 
 
 * Mackenzie’s brigade, which joined Wellington’s army after the battle of 
 Talavera, marched sixty-two English miles in twenty-six hours.— Napier, 
 ii., 412. 
 
 t Coxe, v., 20-25. Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, 7th of Septem¬ 
 ber, 1709. Disp., iv„ 590. 
 
MARL BO ROUGH. 
 
 225 
 
 The force besieging Tournay crossed, the Scheldt 20 . 
 at the bridge of that town, and joined the covering lars’s lines, and 
 force under Eugene. From thence they advanced fhemMi'i een 
 to Sirant, where they were joined by Lord Orkney France - 
 with his detachment, which had failed in passing the Haine. 
 On the 6th, having learned the success of the Prince of Hesse- 
 Cassel in turning the enemy’s lines, and getting between Mons 
 and France, the allied generals pushed on with the utmost ex¬ 
 pedition, and leaving their army to form the investment of 
 Mons, joined the prince in the abbey of Belian. Both com¬ 
 manders complimented his royal highness highly on the ad¬ 
 vantages he had gained; but he replied, “ The French have 
 deprived mo of the glory due to such a compliment, since they 
 have not even waited my arrival.” In truth, such had been 
 the celerity and skill of his dispositions, that they had render¬ 
 ed resistance hopeless, and achieved success without the neces¬ 
 sity of striking a blow. Meanwhile, Marshal Boufflers, hear¬ 
 ing a battle was imminent, arrived in the camp as a volunteer, 
 to serve under Villars, his junior in military service ; a noble ex¬ 
 ample of disinterested patriotism, which, not less than the just¬ 
 ly popular character of that distinguished general, raised the 
 enthusiasm of the French soldiers to the very highest pitch.* 
 Every thing announced a more important and sanguinary con¬ 
 flict between the renowned commanders and gallant armies 
 now arrayed on the opposite sides than had yet taken place 
 since the commencement of the war.f 
 
 During those rapid and vigorous movements, which entirely 
 turned and broke through his much-vaunted lines 21 . 
 
 . , Concentration 
 
 of defense, Villars remained with the great body of the allied 
 
 . . . ° •'and Villars’s 
 
 of Ins forces in a state of inactivity. Aware that army.TthSept. 
 
 * A similar incident occurred in the British service when Sir Henry, now 
 Lord Hardinge, and Governor-general of India, served as second in command 
 to Sir Hugh Gough, his senior in military rank, but subordinate in station, 
 at the glorious battles of Ferozepore and Sobraon, with the Sikhs. How 
 identical is the noble and heroic spirit in all ages and countries ! It forms 
 a freemasonry throughout the world. 
 
 t Coxe, v., 24, 25. Disp., iv., 588-595. 
 
226 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 he was to he attacked, hut ignorant where the blow was likely 
 to fall first, he judged, and perhaps rightly, that it would he 
 hazardous to weaken his fines at any one point by accumulat¬ 
 ing forces at another. No sooner, however, did he receive in¬ 
 telligence of the march of the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, than he 
 broke up from the lines of Douay, and, hastily collecting his 
 forces, advanced toward that adventurous commander. At 
 two in the morning of the 4th, Ins cavalry approached the 
 front of the prince’s position ; hut, conceiving the whole allied 
 army was before him, he did not venture to make an attack 
 at a time when his great superiority of force would have en¬ 
 abled him to do it with every chance of success. The move¬ 
 ment of Villars, however, and the general feu-de-joie which 
 resounded through the French lines on the arrival of Marshal 
 Boufflers, warned the allied leaders that a general battle was 
 at hand, and orders were in consequence given to the whole 
 army to advance at four o’clock on the afternoon of the 7th. 
 A detachment of Eugene’s troops was left to watch Mons, the 
 garrison of which consisted only of eleven weak battalions and 
 a regiment of horse, not mustering above five thousand com¬ 
 batants ; and the whole remainder of the allied army, ninety 
 thousand strong, pressed forward in dense masses into the level 
 and marshy plain in the middle of which Mons is situated. 
 They advanced in different columns, headed by Marlborough 
 and Eugene; and never was a more magnificent spectacle 
 presented than when the troops, consisting of cavalry, artille¬ 
 ry, and infantry, defiled in the finest order from the woods into 
 the plain, and ascended the undulating ground which lies to 
 the south of that town. They arrived at night, and bivou¬ 
 acked in a line stretching along the heights of Quaregnon, near 
 Genly, to the village of Quevy, about three miles in length, 
 and only five distant from the enemy; so that it was evident 
 that a general battle would take place on the following day, 
 unless Villars was prepared to abandon Mons to its fate.* 
 
 * Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, 7th and 11th of September, 1709. 
 Disp., iv., 591, 592. Coxe, v., 25, 26. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 227 
 
 The French marshal, however, had no intention of declin¬ 
 ing the combat. His army was entirely fresh, and 22 . 
 
 . , . 2 1 J . Composition 
 
 in the finest order ; it had engaged in no previous and strength 
 . . ii of the French 
 
 operations ; whereas a bloody siege, and subsequent army. 
 
 fatiguing marches in had weather, had sensibly weakened the 
 strength, though they had not depressed the spirits, of the 
 allied soldiers. The vast efforts of the French government, 
 joined to the multitude of recruits which the public distress 
 had impelled into the army, had in an extraordinary degree 
 strengthened its ranks. After making provision for all the 
 garrisons and detached posts with which he was charged, Vil- 
 lars could bring into the field no less than one hundred and 
 thirty battalions and two hundred and sixty squadrons, and 
 all raised to their full complement, mustering sixty-five thou¬ 
 sand infantry and twenty-six thousand horse, with eighty guns ; 
 in all, witli the artillery, ninety-five thousand combatants. 
 This vast array had the advantages of being almost entirely 
 of one nation, speaking one language, and animated by one 
 spirit; while the allied force was a motley assemblage of many 
 different races and nations of men, held together only by the 
 strong tie of military success and confidence in their generals. 
 Both armies were of nearly equal strength ; they were under 
 the command of the ablest and most intrepid commanders of 
 their day ; the soldiers of both had long acted together, and 
 acquired confidence in each other; and each contained that 
 intermixture of the fire of young, with the caution of veteran 
 troops, which affords the happiest augury of military success. 
 It was hard to predict, between such antagonists, to which 
 side the scales of victory would incline.* 
 
 The face of the country occupied by the French army, soon 
 
 * Mini. M. de Villars, ii., 167-184. Coxe, v., 26-28. 
 The relative force of the two armies was as follows: 
 
 Allies. 
 
 Battalions 
 Squadrons 
 Gnns . . 
 
 Men. 
 
 . 139 ) 
 . 252 5 
 . 105. 
 
 93,000. 
 
 French and Bavarians. Men. 
 
 Battalions . . 130 ) 
 Squadrons . . 260 ) 95 ' 000 - 
 Guns .... 80. 
 
 Kausler, 769. 
 
228 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 23 to lie the theater of the great battle which was ap- 
 ofthe Held of preaching, is an irregular plateau, interspersed by 
 battle. woods, intersected by streams, and elevated from a 
 hundred and fifty to two hundred feet above the meadows of 
 the Trouille. Mons and Bavay, the villages of Quevrain and 
 Giory, formed the angular points of this broken surface. Ex¬ 
 tensive woods on all the principal eminences gave diversity 
 and beauty to the landscape, and, in a military point of view, 
 added much to the strength of the position as defensible ground 
 against an enemy. Near Malplaquet, on the west of the 
 ridge, is a small heath, and immediately to the south of it the 
 ground descends by a rapid slope to the Hon, which finds its 
 way to the Trouille, which it joins near Conde, by a circuit¬ 
 ous route in the rear of the French position. The streams 
 from Malplaquet to the northward all flow by a gentle slope 
 through steep wooded banks to the Trouille, into which they 
 fall near Mons. The woods on the plateau are the remains 
 of a great natural forest which had formerly covered the 
 whole of these uplands, and out of which the clearings round 
 the villages and hamlets which now exist have been cut by 
 the hands of laborious industry. Two woods near the sum¬ 
 mit level of the ground are of great extent, and deserve par¬ 
 ticular notice. The first, called the wood of Louviere, stretch¬ 
 es from Longueville in a northeasterly direction to Cauchie; 
 the second, named the wood Taisniere, of still larger size, ex¬ 
 tends from the Chaussee de Bois to the village of Bouson. 
 Between these woods are two openings, or Trouees, as they 
 are called in the country—the Trouee de la Louviere, and 
 the Trouee d’Aulnoet. Generally speaking, the ground occu¬ 
 pied by the French, and which was to be the theater of the 
 battle, may be described as a rough and woody natural bar¬ 
 rier, stretching across the high plateau which separates the 
 Haine and the Trouille, and pervious only by the two open¬ 
 ings of Louviere and Aulnoet, both of which were in a very 
 great degree susceptible of defense.* 
 
 * Coxe, v., 29, 30. The author has passed over the ground, and can at¬ 
 test the noon racy of the description here given. 
 
I. RS , NEW YORK. 
 
 jRn c . Vv’W! Kemble. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 229 
 
 The allied army consisted of one hundred and thirty-nine 
 battalions and two hundred and fifty-two squad- 24. 
 
 J , Noble force 
 
 rons, with one hundred and five guns, mustering ou both sides, 
 ninety-three thousand combatants. The two armies, there¬ 
 fore, were as nearly as possible equal in point of military 
 strength, a slight numerical superiority on the part of the 
 French being compensated by a superiority of twenty-five guns 
 ou that of the allies. Among the French nobles present at 
 the battle were no less than twelve who were afterward mar¬ 
 shals of France.* The son of James II., under the name of 
 the Chevalier de St. George, who combined the graces of youth 
 with the hereditary valor of his race, was there ; St. Hilaire 
 and Folard, whose works afterward threw such light on mili¬ 
 tary science, were to be found in its ranks. The Garde-du- 
 corps, Mousquctaires gris, Grenadiers a cheval, French, Swiss, 
 and Bavarian guards, as well as the Irish brigade, stood among 
 the combatants. The Montmorencies were there, and the De 
 Guiches, the De Grammonts, and De Coignys. The reverses 
 of Louis had called forth the flower of the nobility, as well as 
 the last reserves of the monarchy.! 
 
 Early ou the morning of the 9th, Marlborough and Eugene 
 were on the look-out at the Mill of Sart, with 25 . 
 
 Preparatory 
 
 a strong escort, consisting ol thirty squadrons ol movements on 
 
 . both sides, and 
 
 horse, krona the reports brought in, it was soon interference of 
 ascertained that the whole forces of the French utie?. Ut l d 
 were marching toward the plain of Malplaquet, on the west 
 of the plateau, and that Villars himself was occupying the 
 woods of Lasniero and Taisniere. His head-quarters were at 
 Blaugnics, in the rear of the center. The two armies were 
 now only a league and a half separate, and Marlborough and 
 Eugene were clear for immediately attacking the enemy, be¬ 
 fore they could add to the natural strength of their position by 
 
 * Viz., Artagnan, Marechal de Montesquieu; De Guiche, Marshal do 
 Grammont; Puysegur, Montmorenci, Coigny, Broglio, Chaulnes, Nangis, 
 Isenghien, Duras, Houdancourt, and Sanneterre. The monarchy never sent 
 fortli a nobler array. 
 
 t Coxe, v., 32. M6m. M. de Villars, ii., 280. 
 
 u 
 
230 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 mtrenchments. But the Dutch deputies, Hooft and Goslinga, 
 interfered, as they had done on a similar occasion between 
 Wavre and Waterloo, and so far modified this resolution as 
 to induce a council of war, summoned on the occasion, to de¬ 
 termine not to fight till the troops from Tournay were within 
 reach, and St. Ghislain, which commanded a passage over the 
 Haine, was taken. This was done next day, the fort being 
 carried by escalade, and its garrison of two hundred men made 
 prisoners ; and on the day following,' all the reserves from 
 Tournay came up. But these advantages, which in them¬ 
 selves were not inconsiderable, were dearly purchased by the 
 time which Villars gamed for strengthening his position. In¬ 
 stead of pushing on to attack the allies, as Marlborough and Eu¬ 
 gene had expected, in order to raise the siege of Mons, that able 
 commander employed himself with the utmost s kill and vigor 
 in throwing up intrenchments in every part of his position. 
 
 The nature of the ground singularly favored Iris efforts. 
 
 sc. The heights he occupied, plentifully interspersed 
 Villars fortifies ° . r J r 
 
 his position, with woods and eminences, formed a concave semi¬ 
 circle, the artillery from which enfiladed on all sides the little 
 plain of Malplaquet, so as to render it literally, in Dumont’s 
 words, “ une trouee d’enfer.” Around this semicircle, re¬ 
 doubts, palisades, abattis, and stockades were disposed with 
 such skill and judgment, that, literally speaking, there was 
 not a single inequality of ground (and there were many) which 
 was not turned to good account. The two trouees or open¬ 
 ings, in particular, already mentioned, by which it was fore¬ 
 seen the allies would endeavor to force an entrance, were so 
 enfiladed by cross batteries as to be wellnigh unassailable. 
 Twenty pieces of artillery were placed on a redoubt situated 
 on an eminence near the center of the field; the remainder 
 were arranged along the field-works, constructed along the 
 lines. Half the army labored at these works without a mo¬ 
 ment’s intermission during the whole of the 9th and 10th, 
 wdiile the other w r ere under arms, ready to repel any attack 
 which might be hazarded. With such vigor were the opera- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 231 
 
 lions conducted, that by the night of the 10th the position was 
 deemed impregnable.* 
 
 The allied forces passed these two days in inactivity, await¬ 
 ing the arrival of the re-enforcements from Tour- 
 
 ° _ . Plan of attack 
 
 nav, which the council of war had deemed indispen- by the allied 
 
 J # generals, 10th 
 
 sable to the commencement of operations. Mean- Sept, 
 while, Marlborough and Eugene had repeatedly reconnoitered 
 the enemy’s position, and were fully aware of its growing 
 strength. Despairing of openly forcing such formidable hues, 
 defended by an army so numerous and gallant, they resolved 
 to combine their first attack Avith a powerful demonstration in 
 rear. With this view, the rear guard, of nineteen battalions 
 and ten squadrons, which was coming up from Tournay un¬ 
 der General Withers, received orders not to join the main 
 body of the army, hut, stopping short at St. Ghislain, to cross 
 the Haine there, and, traversing the wood of Blangris by a 
 country road, assail the extreme left of the enemy at the farm 
 of La Folie, when the combat had been seriously begun in 
 front. Baron Schulemberg was to attack the wood of Tais¬ 
 niere with forty of Eugene’s battalions, supported by forty 
 pieces of cannon, so placed that their shot reached every part 
 of the wood. To distract the enemy’s attention, other attacks 
 were directed along the whole line ; but the main effort was 
 to be made by Eugene’s corps on the wood of Taisniere ; and 
 it was from the co-operation of the attack of Schulemberg on 
 its flank that decisive success was expected.! All the corps 
 had reached their respective points of destination on the even¬ 
 ing of the 10th. Schulemberg was near La Folie ; Eugene 
 was grouped, in four lines, in front of Taisniere ; and the men 
 lay down to sleep, anxiously aAvaiting the dawn of the event¬ 
 ful morrow.! 
 
 At tlnee in the morning of the lltli, divine service was 
 
 * Coxe, v., 34-37. Dumont’s Military History, ii., 381-387. Kauslek, 
 770. 
 
 t Marlborough's General Orders, Sept. 10, 1709. Kausler, 784, 785. 
 
 t Coxe, v., 40-44. 
 
232 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 28 . performed with the utmost decorum at the head 
 soidier^on"both °f every regiment, and listened to by the soldiers, 
 sides, lith sept. a f ter ^he exam pl e of their chief, with the most 
 devout attention. The awful nature of the occasion, the mo¬ 
 mentous interests at stake, the uncertainty who might survive 
 to the close of the day, the protracted struggle soon to be 
 brought to a decisive issue, had banished all lighter feelings, 
 and impressed a noble character on that impressive solemnity. 
 A tliick fog overspread the field, under cover of which the 
 troops marched, with the utmost regularity, to their appoint¬ 
 ed stations : the guns were brought forward to the grand bat¬ 
 tery in the center, which was protected on either side by an 
 epaidement to prevent an enfilade. No sooner did the French 
 outposts give notice that the allies were preparing for an at¬ 
 tack, than the whole army stood to their arms, and all the 
 working parties, who were still toiling in the trenches, cast 
 aside their tools, and joyfully resumed their places in the 
 ranks. Never, since the commencement of the war, had the 
 spirit of the French soldiers been so high, or had so enthu¬ 
 siastic a feeling been infused into every bosom. They looked 
 forward with confidence to regaining, under their beloved com¬ 
 mander, Marshal Villars, the laurels which had been wither¬ 
 ed in eight successive campaigns, and arresting the flood of 
 conquest which threatened to overwhelm their country. When 
 the general mounted his horse at seven, loud cries of “ Vive 
 le lloi!” “ Vive le Marechal de Villars !” burst from their 
 
 ranks. He himself took the command of the left, giving the 
 post of honor on the right, in courtesy, to Marshal Boufflers. 
 On the allied side, enthusiasm was not so loudly expressed, 
 but confidence was not the less strongly felt. They relied 
 with reason on the tried and splendid abilities of their chiefs, 
 on their own experienced constancy and success hi the field. 
 They had the confidence of veteran soldiers, who had long 
 fought and conquered together. In allusion to the numerous 
 field-works before them, which almost concealed the enemy’s 
 ranks from their view, the sarcastic expression passed through 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 233 
 
 the ranks, “ We are again about to make war on moles.” 
 The log still lingered on the ground, so as to prevent the gun¬ 
 ners seeing to take aim; but at half past seven it cleared up, 
 the sun broke forth with uncommon brilliancy, and imme¬ 
 diately the fire commenced with the utmost vigor from the 
 artillery on both sides.* 
 
 For about half an hour the cannon continued to thunder, 
 so as to reach every part of the field of battle with 29 . 
 their balls, when Marlborough moved forward his mentTo/ n the 
 troops in echelon, the right in front, in order to com- battle - 
 mence his projected attack on the French center and left. 
 The Dutch, who were on the left, agreeably to the orders 
 they had received, halted when within range of grape, and a 
 violent camionade was merely exchanged on both sides ; but 
 Count Lottum, who commanded the center of twenty battal¬ 
 ions, continued to press 011 , regardless of the storm of shot and 
 grape with which he was assailed, and when well into the en¬ 
 emy’s line, he brought up his left shoulders, and in three lines 
 attacked the right of the wood of Taisniere. Schulemberg, 
 at the same time, with his forty battalions to the right of 
 Lottum, advanced against the wood of Taisniere in front, 
 while Lord Orkney, with his fifteen battalions, as Lottum’s 
 men inclined to the right, marched straight forward to the 
 ground they had occupied, and attacked the intrenchment be¬ 
 fore him in the opening. Eugene, who was with Schulem- 
 berg’s men, advanced without firing a shot, though suffering 
 dreadfully from the grape of the batteries, till within pistol- 
 shot of the batteries. They were there, however, received by 
 so terrible a discharge of all arms from the intrenchments— 
 the French soldiers laying their pieces deliberately over the 
 parapet, and taking, aim within twenty yards of their oppo¬ 
 nents—that they recoiled about two hundred yards, and were 
 only brought back to the charge by the heroic efforts of Eu¬ 
 gene, who exposed his person in the very front of the line. 
 During this conflict, three battalions, brought up from the 
 * Lediard, Life of Marlborough, ii., 172-180. Coxe, v., 45-47. 
 
234 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 blockade of Mons, stole unperceived, amid the tumult in front, 
 into the southeastern angle of the wood of Taisniere, and were 
 making some progress, when they were met by three battal¬ 
 ions of French troops, and a vehement fire of musketry soon 
 rang in the recesses of the wood.* 
 
 Meanwhile, Marlborough in person led on D’Auvergne’s 
 30 - cavalry in support of Lottnm’s men, who speedily 
 
 Marlborough, J . . 1 J 
 
 alter a despe- were engaged in a most terrific conflict. They 
 
 rate conflict, oit-i . 
 
 carries the bore without flinching the fire of the French bri- 
 
 niere. gade du Roi, which manned the opposite works, 
 
 and, crossing a ravine and small morass, rushed with fixed 
 bayonets, and the most determined resolution, right against 
 the intrenchment. So vehement was the onset, so impetuous 
 the rush, that some of the leading files actually reached the 
 summit of the parapet, and those behind pushing vehemently 
 on, the redoubt was carried amid deafening cheers. But Vil- 
 lars was directly in its rear, and he immediately led up in per¬ 
 son a brigade in the finest order, which expelled the assailants 
 at the point of the bayonet, and regained the work. Marl¬ 
 borough, upon this, charged at the head of D'Auvergne’s cav¬ 
 alry ; and that gallant body of men, three thousand strong, 
 dashed forward, and entered the intrenchments, which were, 
 at the same time, surrounded by some of Lottum’s battalions. 
 While this desperate conflict was going on hi front and flank 
 of the wood, Withers, with his corps brought up from Tour- 
 nay, was silently, and with great caution, entering the wood 
 on the side of La Folie, and had already made considerable 
 progress before any great efforts were made to expel them. 
 The advance of this corps in his rear rendered it impossible 
 for Villars any longer to maintain the advanced line of works 
 in the front of the wood ; it was therefore abandoned, but 
 slowly, and in admirable order, the troops retiring through the 
 trees to the second line of works in their rear, which they pre¬ 
 pared to defend to the last extremity.f 
 
 * KaUSLER, 786, 787. CoXE, v., 44-49. 
 
 t COXE, v., 48-52. K.AUSEER, 786, 787. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 235 
 
 While this bloody conflict was raging in and around the 
 wood of Taisniere, the half hour during which the 31. 
 
 ° Bloody repulse 
 
 Prince of Orange had been directed to suspend of the Prince of 
 
 i • iiii i ii . f . Orange on the 
 
 Ins attack had elapsed, and that gallant chief ini- left 
 patient of inactivity when the battle was raging with such 
 fury on his right, resolved to move forward in good earnest. 
 The Scotch brigade, led on by the Marquis of Tullibardine, 
 headed the column on the left; to their right were the Dutch, 
 under Spaar and Oxenstiern ; while the Prince of Hesse-Cas- 
 sel, with twenty-one squadrons, was in reserve to support and 
 follow the infantry into the works, when an opening was made. 
 On the word “ march” being given, the troops of these various 
 nations, with rival courage, advanced to the attack. The 
 Scotch Highlanders, headed by the gallant Tullibardine,* 
 rushed impetuously forward to the attack, despite a tremen¬ 
 dous fire of grape and musketry which issued from the works, 
 and succeeded in reaching the top of the intrenchment; hut, 
 before they could deploy, they were charged by the French 
 infantry in close order, and driven out. Tullibardine met a 
 glorious death in the redoubt he had won. Equally gallant 
 was the assault, and unpropitious the result of the Prince of 
 Orange’s attack on the right of the left toward the French 
 center. There, too, by a vehement rush, the intrenchment 
 was carried; hut the troops which surmounted it had no 
 sooner penetrated it than they were attacked by Boufflers, at 
 the head of fresh troops in close order in front, while a power¬ 
 ful battery opened with grape on their flank. This double 
 attack proved irresistible ; the assailants were pushed out of 
 the works with dreadful slaughter. Spaar lay dead on the 
 spot; Hamilton was carried off wounded, f 
 
 Seeing his men recoil, the Prince of Orange seized a stand¬ 
 ard, and, advancing alone to the slc^e of the intrencliment, 
 said aloud, “ Follow me, my friends ; here is your post.” But 
 it was all in vain. Boufflers’ men from the French second 
 
 * The regiments of Tullibardine and Hepburn were almost all Atholl High¬ 
 landers. t Kausler, 788. Coxe. v., 53, 54. 
 
236 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 TT . . , line had now closed up with the first, which lined 
 
 Heroic butinef- 1 
 
 fectuiJ efforts the works, and a dense mass of bayonets, six 
 
 of the l’rince of * 
 
 Orange to re- deep, bristled at their siunmit behind the em- 
 store the com- . 
 
 bat. brasures of the guns. A dreadful rolling fire is¬ 
 
 sued from them ; their position could be marked by the cease¬ 
 less line of flame, even through the volumes of smoke which 
 enveloped them on all sides ; and at length, after displaying 
 the most heroic valor, the Prince of Orange was obliged to 
 draw off Iris men, with the loss of three thousand killed, and 
 twice that number wounded. Instantly the brigade of Na¬ 
 varre issued with loud shouts out of the intrenchments. Sev¬ 
 eral Dutch battalions were driven back, and some colors, with 
 an advanced battery, fell into the enemy’s hands. BoufRers 
 supported this sally by Iris grenadiers a clieval; but the Prince 
 of Hesse-Cassel came up with his well-appointed squadron on 
 the other side, and, after a short struggle, drove the French 
 back into their works.* 
 
 Hearing that matters were in this precarious state on the 
 33 . left, Marlborough galloped from the right center, 
 hS'enTtofhe accompanied by his staff, where Lottum’s infantry 
 storeethebat- aill l D’Auvergne’s horse had gained such important 
 tJe - advantages. Matters ere long became so alarm¬ 
 
 ing, that Eugene also followed in the same direction. On his 
 way along the rear of the line, the English general had a 
 painful proof of the enthusiastic spirit with which Iris troops 
 were animated, by seeing numbers of the wounded Dutch and 
 Hanoverians, whose hurts had just been bound up by the 
 surgeons, again hastening to the front, to join their comrades, 
 though some, fault from the loss of blood, yet tottered under 
 the weight of their muskets. The reserves were hastily di¬ 
 rected to the menaced front, and by their aid the combat was 
 in some degree restored ffi that quarter, while Marlborough 
 and Eugene labored to persuade the Prince of Orange, who 
 was burning with anxiety at all hazards to renew the attack, 
 that his operations were only intended as a feint, and that the 
 * Coxe, V., 55. L EDI ART), it, 182-185. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 237 
 
 real eflort was to be made on the right, where considerable 
 progress had already been made.* 
 
 Order was hardly restored hi this quarter, when intelli¬ 
 gence arrived from the right that the enemy were . . 34 - 
 
 • A vigorous nt- 
 
 assuming the initiative in the wood of Taisniere, tack of vmara 
 
 ° on the right 
 
 and were pressing hard upon the troops both at La weakens his 
 
 x . , center, which 
 
 Folio and in front of the wood. In fact, Vmars, Marlborough 
 
 . , . i • i p • prepares to at- 
 
 alarmed at the progress ot the enemy on Ins left in tack, 
 the wood, had drawn considerable re-enforcements from his 
 center, and sent them to the threatened quarter. Marlbor¬ 
 ough instantly saw the advantage which this weakening of 
 the enemy’s center was likely to give him. While he hasten¬ 
 ed back, therefore, with all imaginable expedition to the right, 
 to arrest the progress of the enemy in that quarter, he direct¬ 
 ed Lord Orkney to advance, supported by a powerful body of 
 horse on each flaidr, directly in at the opening between the 
 two woods, and, if possible, force the enemy’s intrenchments 
 in the center, now stripped of their principal defenders. 
 These dispositions, adopted on the spur of the moment, and 
 instantly acted upon, proved entirely successful. Eugene gal¬ 
 loped to the extreme right, and renewed the attack with 
 Schulemberg’s men, while Withers again pressed on the rear 
 of the wood near La Folic. So vigorous was the onset, that 
 the allies gained ground on both sides of the wood, and Villars, 
 hastening up with the French guards to restore the combat 
 near La Folie, received a wound in the knee, when gallantly 
 heading a charge of bayonets, which obliged him to quit the 
 field. Unable any longer to sit on horseback, he was placed, 
 at his earnest desire, in a chair, that he might see the battle, 
 and continue in the field ; but the pain of the wound and loss 
 of blood soon became such that he fainted, and was carried 
 senseless to Quesnoy. Eugene also was wounded on the head 
 while rallying his men and leading them gallantly to the 
 charge. His attendants pressed him to retire that the wound 
 might be dressed ; but he replied, “ If I am fated to die here, 
 * CoXE, v., 56, 57. Kausi.ER, 789, 790. 
 
238 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to what purpose dress the wound ? If I survive, it will he 
 time enough in the evening.” With these words he advanc¬ 
 ed again to the head of the line, and the troops, animated by 
 the heroism of their beloved general, who pressed on though 
 the blood was streaming over his shoulders, followed with such 
 impetuosity that the w r orks were carried, and the victors re¬ 
 entered the wood pell-mell with the broken enemy.* 
 
 In the center, still more decisive advantages were gamed. 
 
 35 . Lord Orkney there made the attack with such 
 
 Decisive attack . 
 
 by Lord Ork- vigor, that the intrenchments, now not adequately 
 
 ney on the cen- . • 
 
 ter. manned, were at once carried ; and the horse, fol- 
 
 lowing rapidly on the traces of the foot soldiers, broke through 
 at several openings made by the artillery, and spread them¬ 
 selves over the plain, cutting down the fugitives in every di¬ 
 rection. Marlborough, upon seeing this advantage, instantly 
 gave the grand battery of forty cannon in the allied center 
 mders to advance. With the utmost rapidity the guns were 
 limbered up, and moving on at a quick trot. They soon 
 passed the intrenchments in the center, and facing to the right 
 and left, opened a tremendous fire of canister and grape on the 
 dense masses of the French cavalry which stood in the rear of 
 the infantry, who were almost all in front among the works. 
 These noble troops, however, bore up gallantly against the 
 storm, and even charged the allied horse before they had time 
 to form within the lines ; but they were unable to make any 
 impression, and retired from the attack sorely shattered by the 
 allied artillery.! 
 
 The battle was now gained. Villars’s position, how strong 
 
 36. and gallantly defended soever, was no longer ten- 
 
 Admirable ef- . . 
 
 forta of Bouf- able. Pierced through in the center, with a for¬ 
 th!dayf egam midable enemy’s battery on either side, thundering 
 on the reserve squadrons, in the very heart of his line, and 
 turned and menaced with rout on the left, it was no longer 
 possible to keep the field. Boufflers, upon whom, in the ab- 
 
 * CoXE, v., 57. LEDlARD,-ii., 289-291. KausLER, 789. 
 t COXE, v, 59, 60. KaUSLER, 788, 799. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 239 
 
 sence of Villars in consequence of his wound, the direction of 
 affairs had devolved, accordingly prepared for a retreat; and 
 he conducted it with consummate skill, as well as the most 
 undaunted firmness. Collecting a body of two thousand chos¬ 
 en horse yet fresh, consisting of the elite of the horse-guards 
 and garde-du-corps, he charged the allied horse which had 
 penetrated into the center, at this time much blown by its 
 severe fatigues in the preceding part of the day. It was ac¬ 
 cordingly worsted and put to flight; but all the efforts of this 
 noble body of horsemen were shattered against Orkney’s in¬ 
 fantry, which, posted on the reverse of the works they had 
 won, poured in, when charged, so close and destructive a fire, 
 that half of the gallant cavaliers were stretched on the plain, 
 and the remainder were forced to make a precipitate retreat.* 
 Still the indefatigable Boufflers made another effort. Draw¬ 
 ing a large body of infantry from the works on his . 3~- 
 
 extreme right, which had been little engaged, he deriy retreat, 
 marched them to the left, and, re-forming his squadrons again, 
 advanced to the charge ; but Marlborough no sooner saw this, 
 than lie charged the garde-du-corps with a body of English 
 horse which he himself led on, and drove them back, while 
 the infantry staggered and reeled, like a sinking ship, under 
 the terrific fire of the allied guns, which had penetrated the 
 center. At the same time, the Prince of Orange and the 
 Prince of Ilesse-Cassel, perceiving that the intrenchments be¬ 
 fore them were stripped of great part of their defenders, re¬ 
 newed the attack ; in ten minutes these works were carried ; 
 and a tremendous shout, heard along the whole line, announc¬ 
 ed that the whole left of the position had fallen into the hands 
 of the allies. In these desperate circumstances, BoufRers and 
 his brave troops did all that skill or courage could to arrest 
 the progress of the victors, and withdraw from the field with¬ 
 out any additional losses. Forming his troops into three great 
 masses, with the cavalry which had suffered least in the rear, 
 he slowly, and in perfect regularity, commenced his retreat. 
 
 * CoXE, v., 59, 60. Kacsler, 789, 790. 
 
240 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The allies had suffered so much, and were so completely ex¬ 
 hausted by the fatigue of this bloody and protracted battle, 
 that they gave them very little molestation. Contenting 
 themselves with pursuing as far as the heath of Malplaquet, 
 and the level ground around Taisniere, they halted, and the 
 men lay down to sleep. Meanwhile the French, in the best 
 order, but in deep dejection, continued their retreat still in 
 three columns ; and after crossing the Hon in their rear, re¬ 
 united below Quesnoy and Valenciennes, about twelve miles 
 from the field of battle.* 
 
 Such was the desperate battle of Malplaquet, the most 
 38 bloody and obstinately contested which had yet oc- 
 batSeto'&e 6 curre ^ m the war, and in which it is hard to say 
 allies - to which of the gallant antagonists the palm of 
 valor and heroism is to be given. The victory was unques¬ 
 tionably gained by the allies, since they forced the enemy’s po¬ 
 sition, drove them to a considerable distance from the field of 
 battle, and hindered the siege of Mons, the object for which 
 both parties fought, from being raised. The valor they dis¬ 
 played had extorted the admiration of their gallant and gen¬ 
 erous enemies.f Both Eugene and Marlborough exposed 
 themselves more constantly than they had ever done hi any 
 former action ; and cordial as had been their understanding 
 on all previous occasions, it was generally observed that on 
 this they seemed animated only by a generous emulation which 
 should most aid and support the other. On the other hand., 
 these advantages had been purchased at an enormous sacrifice, 
 
 * Coxe, v., 54-63. Disp., v., 562, Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, 
 Sept. 11, 1709, and to Mr. Wauchopc, same date, v., 598. 
 
 t “ The Eugenes and Marlboroughs ought to be well satisfied with us 
 during that day, since till then they had not met with resistance worthy of 
 them. They may now say with justice that nothing can stand before them; 
 and, indeed, what shall be able to stay the rapid progress of these heroes, 
 if an army of one hundred thousand men of the best troops, strongly posted 
 between two woods, trebly intrenched, and performing their duty as well 
 as any brave men could do, were not able to stop them one day ? W ill you 
 not then own with me that they surpass all the heroes of former ages V — 
 Letter of a French Officer who fought at Malplaquet. Coxe, v., 65. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 241 
 
 and never since the commencement of the contest had the 
 scales hung so even between the contending parties. In truth, 
 the battle of Malplaquet was a desperate duel between France 
 and England, in which the whole strength of eafch nation was 
 put forth, and the successful result was rather owing to the 
 superior talent of the English general, and the unconquerable 
 resolution he had communicated to his followers, than to any 
 superiority either of military skill or national resources enjoyed 
 by the victorious party. Nothing had occurred like it since 
 Azincour; nothing occurred like it again till Waterloo. Blen¬ 
 heim itself was not nearly so hard fought. The allies lost, 
 killed in the infantry alone, five thousand five hundred and 
 forty-four ; wounded and missing, twelve thousand seven hun¬ 
 dred and six ; in all, eighteen thousand two hundred and fifty, 
 of whom two hundred and eighty-six were officers killed, and 
 seven hundred and sixty-two wounded. Including the casu¬ 
 alties in the cavalry and artillery, their total loss was not less • 
 than twenty thousand men, or nearly a fifth of the number 
 engaged.* 
 
 The French loss, though they were worsted in the fight, 
 was less considerable ; it did not exceed fourteen 39. 
 
 Loss ol the 
 
 thousand men : an unusual circumstance with a French,andhu- 
 beaten army, but easily accounted for, if the for- borough, 
 midable nature of the intrenchments which the allies had to 
 storm in the first part of the action is taken into considera¬ 
 tion. In proportion to the numbers engaged, the loss to the 
 victors was not, however, nearly so great as at Waterloo.! 
 Then was seen the prophetic wisdom with which Marlborough 
 had so strongly urged upon the British government the propri¬ 
 ety of augmenting the allied force at t he commencement of the 
 
 * Kausi.er, 791. Coxe, v., 64. 
 
 t At Waterloo, there were sixty nine thousand six hundred and eighty- 
 six men in Wellington’s army, and the loss was twenty-two thousand four 
 hundred and sixty-nine, or one in three nearly; at Malplaquet, it was one 
 in five; at Talavera, one in four—five thousand being killed and wounded 
 out of nineteen thousand eight hundred engaged.—S ieorne’s Waterloo, ii., 
 
 352 and 519. 
 
 X 
 
242 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 campaign. But for these, the campaign would have been in¬ 
 decisive, or terminated in misfortune. With the additional 
 troops he so strongly pleaded for, it would have terminated in 
 a decisive victory, and Malplaquet had been Waterloo. Ferv 
 prisoners, not above five hundred, were made on the field ; but 
 the woods and intrenchments w r ere filled with wounded French, 
 whom Marlborough, with characteristic humanity, proposed 
 to Villars to remove to the French head-quarters, on condition 
 of their being considered prisoners of war—an offer which that 
 general thankfully accepted. A solemn thanksgiving was read 
 in all the regiments of the army two days after the battle, 
 after which the soldiers of both armies joined in removing the 
 wounded French on two hundred wagons to the French camp. 
 Thus, after the conclusion of one of the bloodiest fights re¬ 
 corded in modern history, the first acts of the victors were in 
 raising the voice of thanksgiving, and doing deeds of mercy.* 
 
 No sooner were these pious cares concluded, than the allies 
 40 . resumed the investment of Mons; Marlborough, 
 Mans) and con- with the English and Dutch, having his head- 
 campaign, 26th quarters at Belian, and Eugene, with the Ger- 
 October. mans, at Quaregnon. The Prince of Orange, 
 with thirty battalions and as many squadrons, was intrusted 
 with the blockade. Great efforts were immediately made to 
 get the necessary stores and siege equipage up from Brussels; 
 but the heavy rains of autumn set in with such severity, that 
 it was not till the 25th of September that the trenches could 
 be opened. Boufflers, though at no great distance, did not 
 venture to disturb the operations. On the 9th of October, a 
 lodgment was effected in the covered way ; on the 17th, the 
 outworks were stormed; and on the 26th, the place surren¬ 
 dered with its garrison, still three thousand five hundred strong. 
 By this important success, the conquest of Brabant was finish¬ 
 ed ; the burden and expense of the war removed from the 
 Dutch provinces ; the harrier which they had so long sought 
 
 * Marlborough to Marshal Villars, 13tli of September, 1709, and to Mr. 
 Secretary Boyle, 16th of September, 1709 ; Disp., v., 596-599. Coxe, v., 64. 
 
MAUL BORO UGH. 
 
 243 
 
 after was rendered nearly complete ; and the defenses of France 
 were so far laid bare, that by the reduction of Valenciennes and 
 Quesnoy, hi the next campaign, no fortified place would re¬ 
 main on this great road between the allies and Paris. Having 
 achieved this important success, the allied generals put their 
 army into winter quarters at Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, and on 
 the Meuse, while fifty battalions of the French, with one hund¬ 
 red squadrons, were quartered, under the command of the Duke 
 of Berwick, in the neighborhood of Maubeuge, and the remain¬ 
 der of their great army in and around Valencieimes and Ques¬ 
 noy.* 
 
 During the progress of this short hut brilliant campaign, 
 Marlborough was more than ever annoyed and dis- H. 
 
 ° . Continued de- 
 
 heartened by the evident and increasiag decline dine of Mari- 
 . . i n/r n/r borough’s influ- 
 
 of his influence at home. Harley and Mrs. Ma- ence at court, 
 sham continued to thwart him in every way in their power, 
 and scarcely disguised their desire to make the situation of the 
 duke and Godolphin so uncomfortable, that out of spleen they 
 might resign, in which case the entire direction of aflairs would 
 have fallen into their hands.! Influenced by these new fa¬ 
 vorites, the queen became cold and resentful to the Duchess 
 of Marlborough, to whom she had formerly been so much at¬ 
 tached ; and the duke, perceiving this, strongly advised her to 
 abstain from any correspondence with her majesty, being con¬ 
 vinced that to continue it would be more likely to increase 
 than diminish the estrangement so rapidly growing between 
 them. The duchess, however, was herself of too irritable a 
 temper to follow this wise advice; reproaches, explanations, and 
 renewed complaints ensued on both sides; and, as usual in such 
 
 * Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, October 21, 1709. Disp., v., 617— 
 621. 
 
 t “ Be assured that Mrs. Masham and Mr. Harley will, underhand, do ev¬ 
 ery thing that can make the business uneasy, particularly to you the lord- 
 treasurer, and me, for they know well that if we were removed every thing 
 would he in their power. This is what they labor for, believing it would 
 make them both great and happy ; but I am very well persuaded it would be 
 their destruction .”—Marlborough to Godolphin, Nov. 1, 1709. Coxe, v., 105. 
 
244 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 cases, where excessive fondness has heen succeeded by cold¬ 
 ness, all attempts to repair the breach had only the effect of 
 widening it. Numerous events at court, trifles in themselves, 
 but to the jealous “ confirmation strong,” served to show in 
 what direction the wind was setting. The duchess took the 
 strong and injudicious step of intruding herself on the queen, 
 and asking what crime she had committed to produce so great 
 an estrangement between them. This drew from her majes¬ 
 ty a letter, exculpating her from any fault, but ascribing their 
 alienation to a discordance in political opinion, adding, “ I do 
 not think it a crime in any one not to be of my mind, or blam- 
 able, because you can not see with my eyes, or hear with my 
 ears.” While this relieved Marlborough from the dread of a 
 personal quarrel between the duchess and her royal mistress, 
 it only aggravated the precarious nature of his situation, by 
 showing that the split was owing to a wider and more irre¬ 
 mediable division on political subjects.* 
 
 Encouraged by this powerful support at court, Harley now 
 42. openly pursued his design of effecting the downfall 
 
 Unjust criti- 1 J 1 6 ° 
 
 cisms and cen- of Marlborough, and his removal from office and 
 
 sures on the , . 
 
 campaign. the command ot the armies. The whole cam- 
 paign, which had terminated so gloriously, was criticised in 
 the most unjust and malignant spirit. The siege of Tournay 
 was useless and expensive ; the battle of Malplaquet an un¬ 
 necessary carnage. It was even insinuated that the duke had 
 purposely exposed the officers to slaughter, that he might ob¬ 
 tain a profit by the sale of their commissions. The prelim¬ 
 inaries first agreed to at the Hague were too favorable to 
 France ; when Louis rejected them, the rapture of the nego¬ 
 tiations rested with Marlborough. In a word, there was 
 nothing done by the English general, successful or unsuccess¬ 
 ful, pacific or warlike, which was not made the subject of 
 strong condemnation and unmeasured invective. Harley 
 even corresponded with the disaffected party in Holland, 
 in order to induce them to cut short the duke’s career of 
 
 Cose, v.. 105-111. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 245 
 
 victory by clamoring for a general peace. Louis was repre¬ 
 sented as invincible, and rising stronger from every defeat; 
 and the prolongation of the war was alleged to be entirely 
 owing to the selfish interests and ambition of the allied chief. 
 These and similar accusations, loudly re-echoed by all the To¬ 
 ries, and sedulously poured into the royal ear by Harley and 
 Mrs. Masham, made such an impression on the queen, that 
 she did not offer the smallest congratulation to the duchess on 
 the victory of Malplaquet, nor express the least satisfaction at 
 the duke’s escape from the innumerable dangers which he had 
 incurred.* 
 
 An ill-timed and injudicious step of Marlborough at this 
 juncture, and one of the few which can be imputed 43 . 
 to him in his whole public career, inflamed against quest'ot 0 Mari- 
 him the jealousy of the queen and the Tories. Per- ^de captain^ 
 ceiving the decline of his influence at court, and s enerallorllte - 
 anticipating his dismissal from the command of the army at 
 no distant period, he solicited from the queen a patent consti¬ 
 tuting him captain-general for life. In vain he was assured 
 by the lord-chancellor that such an appointment was wholly 
 unprecedented in English history; he persisted in laying the 
 petition before her majesty, by whom it was of course refused. 
 Piqued at this disappointment, he wrote an acrimonious letter 
 to the queen, in which he reproached her with the neglect of 
 his public services, and bitterly complained of the neglect of 
 the duchess, and the transfer of the royal favor to Mrs. Ma¬ 
 sham. So deeply did Marlborough feel this disappointment, 
 that on leaving the Hague to return to England, he said pub¬ 
 licly to the deputies of the States, “ I am grieved that I am 
 obliged to return to England, where my services to your re¬ 
 public will be turned to my disgrace.”! 
 
 Marlborough was received in the most flattering manner 
 by the people, when he landed on the 15th of November, and 
 
 * Coxe, V., 115-116. 
 
 t Swift, Mem. on Queen’s Change of Ministry in 1710, p. 37. Coxe, 
 v., 117, 118. 
 
 N 2 
 
246 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 44. the thanks of both houses of Parliament were 
 reception from tendered to him for his great and glorious serv- 
 ParUament,° f ices. The queen declared, in her speech from the 
 
 throne, that this campaign had been at least as glo¬ 
 rious as any which had preceded it ; and the chancellor, in 
 communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, added, 
 “ This high eulogium must be looked upon as added to, and 
 standing upon the foundation already laid in the records of 
 this House, for preserving your memory fresh to all future 
 times; so that your grace has also the satisfaction of seeing 
 this everlasting monument of your glory rise every year much 
 higher.” Such was the effect produced on both houses by the 
 presence of the duke, and the recollection of his glorious serv¬ 
 ices, that liberal supplies for carrying on the war were grant¬ 
 ed by them. The Commons voted £6,000,000 for the serv¬ 
 ice of the ensuing year, and on the earnest representation of 
 Marlborough, an addition was made to the military forces. 
 
 But in the midst of all these flattering appearances, the 
 
 45 . hand of destruction was already impending over 
 ousie^ofljim 1 the British hero. It was mainly caused by the 
 at court greatness and invaluable nature of his services. 
 Envy, the invariable attendant on exalted merit, had already 
 singled him out as her victim; jealousy, the prevailing weak¬ 
 ness of little minds, had prepared his ruin. The queen had 
 become uneasy at the greatness of her subject. There had 
 even been a talk of the Duke of Argyll arresting him in her 
 name, when in command of the army. Anne lent a ready 
 ear to an insinuation of her flatterers, especially Mrs. Masham, 
 that she was inthralled by a single family ; that Marlborough 
 was the real sovereign of England, and that the crown was 
 overshadowed by the field-marshal’s baton. Godolphin hav¬ 
 ing been violently libeled in a sermon by Dr. Sacheverell, at 
 St. Savior’s, Southwark, the doctor was impeached before the 
 House of Lords for the offense. The government of the Tow¬ 
 er, usually placed at the disposal of the commander-in-chief, 
 was, to mortify Marlborough, bestowed, without consulting 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 247 
 
 him, on Lord Rivers. At length matters came to such a 
 pass, and the ascendency of Mrs. Masham was so evident, 
 while her influence was exercised in so undisguised a manner 
 to humiliate him, that he prepared the draft of a letter of res¬ 
 ignation of his commands to her majesty, in which, after enu¬ 
 merating his services, and the abuse which Mrs. Masham 
 continued to heap on him and his relations, he concluded with 
 saying, “ I hope your majesty will either dismiss her or my¬ 
 self.”* 
 
 Sunderland and several of the Whig leaders warmly ap¬ 
 proved of this vigorous step ; hut Godolphin, who 46 . 
 foresaw the total ruin of the ministry and himself ^nees^-ith 
 in the resignation of the general, had influence 1116 queen ' 
 enough to prevent its being sent. Instead of doing so, that 
 nobleman had a long private audience with her majesty on 
 the subject, hi which, notwithstanding the warmest profes¬ 
 sions on her part, and the strong sense she entertained of his 
 great and lasting services, it was not difficult to perceive that 
 a reserve as to future intentions was manifested, which indi¬ 
 cated a loss of confidence. Marlborough declared he would 
 be governed in the whole matter by the advice and opinion 
 of his friends, but strongly expressed Iris own opinion “ that all 
 must be undone if this poison continues about the queen.”f 
 Such, however, was the agony of apprehension of Godolphin 
 at the effects of the duke’s resignation, that he persuaded him 
 to adopt a middle course, the usual resource of second-rate men 
 in critical circumstances; but generally the most hazardous 
 that can be adopted. This plan was to write a warm remon¬ 
 strance to the queen, but without making Mrs. Masham’s re¬ 
 moval a condition of his remaining in office. Li this letter, 
 after many invectives against Mrs. Masham, and a full enu¬ 
 meration of his grievances, he concludes with these words: 
 “ This is only one of many mortifications that I have met 
 
 * CoXE, v., 124-133. 
 
 t Duchess of Marlborough to Maymvaring, January 18, 1710. Cose, v., 
 134. 
 
248 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 with; and as I may not have many opportunities of writing 
 to you, let me heg of your majesty to reflect what your own 
 people and the rest of the world must think, who have been 
 witnesses of the love, zeal, and duty with which I have serv¬ 
 ed you, when they shall see that, after all I have done, it has 
 not been able to protect me against the malice of a bed-chain-' 
 her woman. But your majesty may be assured that my zeal 
 for you and my country is so great, that in my retirement I 
 shall daily pray for your prosperity, and that those who servo 
 you as faithfully as I have done may never feel the hard re¬ 
 turn I have met with.”* 
 
 These expressions, how just soever in themselves, and natu- 
 47 . ral in one whose great services had been requited 
 
 He determines y 
 
 to resign it Mrs. as Marlborough s had been, were not likely to 
 removed. make a favorable impression on the royal mind, 
 and, accordingly, at a private audience which he had soon 
 after of the queen, he was received in the coldest manner.! 
 He retired, in consequence, to Blenheim, determined to resign 
 all his commands unless Mrs. Masham was removed from the 
 royal presence. Matters seemed so near a rupture, that the 
 queen personally applied to several of the Tories, and even 
 Jacobites, who had long kept aloof from court, to support her 
 in opposition to the address expected from both houses of Par¬ 
 liament on the duke’s resignation. 
 
 Godolpliin and Somers, however, did their utmost to bend 
 the firm general; and they so far succeeded in opposition to 
 his better judgment, and the decided opinions of the duchess, 
 
 * Marlborough to Queen Anne, January 19,1710. 
 
 t “ On Wednesday se’nnight I waited upon the queen, in order to repre¬ 
 sent the mischief of such recommendations in the army, and before I came 
 away I expressed all the concern for her change to me that is natural to a 
 man that has served her so faithfully for many years, which made no im¬ 
 pression, nor was her majesty pleased to take so much notice of me as to 
 ask my lord-treasurer where I was upon her missing me at council. I have 
 had several letters from him since I came here, and I can not find that her 
 majesty has ever thought me worth naming; when my lord-treasurer once 
 endeavored to show her the mischief that would happen, she made him no 
 answer hut a how.”— Marlborough to Lord Somers, January 21, 1710. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 249 
 
 as to induce him to continue in office without re- 48 . 
 quiring the removal of Mrs. Masham from court, edtdj?eid™smd 
 The queen, delighted at this victory over so for- recondSelYo 
 midable an opponent, received him at his next au- tlle quee!1 ' 
 dience in the most flattering maimer, and with a degree of 
 apparent regard which she had scarcely ever evinced to him 
 in the days of liis highest favor. But in the midst of these 
 deceitful appearances his ruin was secretly resolved on; and 
 in order to accelerate Iris departure from court, the queen in¬ 
 serted in her reply to the address of the Commons at the close 
 of the session of Parliament, a statement of her resolution to 
 send him immediately to Holland, as “ I shall always esteem 
 him the chief instrument of my glory and of my people’s hap¬ 
 piness.” He embarked accordingly, and landed at the Brill 
 on the 18th of March, in appearance possessing the same 
 credit and authority as before, but in reality thwarted and op¬ 
 posed by a jealous and ambitious faction at home, which re¬ 
 strained liis most important measures, and prevented him from 
 effecting any thing in future on a level with his former glori¬ 
 ous achievements. 
 
 The year 1709 was signalized by the decisive victory of 
 the Czar Peter over Charles XII. at Pultowa, 49. 
 
 1, 1 , . , Battle of Pul- 
 
 who was totally routed and irretrievably rumed by towa, and 
 the Muscovite forces, commanded by the Czar in Charles xii. 
 person on that disastrous day. This overthrow was one of 
 the most momentous which has occurred in modern times. 
 Not only was a great and dreaded conqueror at once over¬ 
 turned, and, ere long, reduced to captivity, but a new balance 
 of power was established in the north which has never since 
 been shaken. Sweden was reduced to her natural rank as a 
 third-rate power, from which she had been only raised by the 
 extraordinary valor and military talents of a series of warlike 
 sovereigns, who had succeeded in rendering the Scandinavian 
 warriors, like the Macedonians of old, a race of heroes. Rus¬ 
 sia, by the same event, acquired the entire ascendency over 
 the other Baltic powers, and obtained that preponderance 
 
250 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 which she has ever since maintained in the affairs of Europe 
 Marlborough sympathized warmly with the misfortunes of the 
 heroic sovereign, for whose genius and gallantry he had con¬ 
 ceived the highest admiration. But he was too sagacious not 
 to see that his disasters, like those of Napoleon afterward in 
 the same regions, were entirely the result of his own impru¬ 
 dence, and that, if he had judiciously taken advantage of the 
 terror of his name and the success of his arms in the outset 
 of his invasion, he might have gained all the objects for which 
 he contended without incurring any serious evil.* 
 
 Peter the Great, who gained this astonishing and decisive 
 50 . success, was one of the most remarkable men who 
 PeterTho Great ever appeared on the theater of public affairs. 
 
 He was nothing by halves. For good or for evil 
 he was gigantic. Vigor seems to have been the great char¬ 
 acteristic of his mind ; hut it was often fearfully disfigured by 
 passion, and he was not unfrequently misled by the example 
 of more advanced states. To elevate Russia to an exalted 
 place among nations, and give her the influence which her 
 vast extent and physical resources seemed to put within her 
 reach, was throughout life the great object of his ambition ; 
 and he succeeded in it to an extent which naturally acquired 
 for him the unbounded admiration of mankind. His over¬ 
 throw of the Strelitzes, long the Prsetorian guards and terror 
 of the czars of Muscovy, was effected with a vigor and stain¬ 
 ed by a cruelty similar to that with which Sultan Mah¬ 
 moud, a century after, destroyed the Janizaries at Constant i- 
 nople. The sight of a young and despotic sovereign leaving 
 the glittering toys and real enjoyments of royalty to labor in 
 the dock-yards of Saardem with Iris own hands, and instruct 
 
 * " If this unfortunate king liad been so well advised as to have made 
 peace the beginning of this summer, he might, in a great measure, have in¬ 
 fluenced the peace between France and the allies, and made other king¬ 
 doms happy. I am extremely touched with the misfortunes of this young 
 king. His continued successes, and the contempt he had of his enemies, 
 have been his ruin .”—Marlborough to Godolphin, August 26, 1709. Disp., 
 v.. 510. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 25* 
 
 his subjects in ship-building by first teaching himself, was too 
 striking and remarkable not to excite universal attention. 
 And when the result of this was seen—when the Czar was 
 found introducing among his subjects the military discipline, 
 naval architecture, nautical skill, as well as other arts and 
 warlike institutions of Europe, and, in consequence, long re¬ 
 sisting, and at length destroying, the mighty conqueror who 
 had so long been the terror of Northern Europe, the astonish¬ 
 ment of men knew no bounds. He was celebrated as at once 
 the Solon and Scipio of modern times; and literary servility, 
 vying with great and disinterested admiration, extolled him 
 as one of the greatest heroes and benefactors of liis species 
 who had ever appeared among men. 
 
 But time, the great dispeller of illusions, whose mighty arm 
 no individual greatness, how great soever, can long 51 , 
 withstand, has begun to abate much of this colos- deTusionre- n<1 
 sal reputation. His temper was violent in the eanlln ° him ‘ 
 extreme; frequent acts of hideous cruelty, and occasional op¬ 
 pression, signalized his reign: he was often impelled, by ill- 
 directed zeal for the advancement of his people, into measures 
 which in reality and in the end retarded their improvement. 
 More than any other man, he did evil that good might come 
 of it. He impelled his people, as he thought, to civilization, 
 though, while launching into the stream, hundreds of thousands 
 perished in the waves. “ Peter the Great,” says Mackintosh, 
 “ did not civilize Russia : that undertaking was beyond liis 
 genius, great as it was ; he only gave the Russians the art of 
 civilized war.” The truth was, he attempted what was al¬ 
 together impracticable. No one man can at once civilize a 
 nation: he can only put it in the way of civilization. To 
 complete the fabric must be the work of continued effort and 
 sustained industry during many successive generations. That 
 Peter failed in raising liis people to a level with the other na¬ 
 tions of Europe in refinement and industry, is no reproach to 
 him. It was impossible to do so hi less than several centu¬ 
 ries. The real particular in which he erred was, that he de- 
 
252 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 parted from the national spirit, that he tore up the national 
 institutions, and violated, hi numerous instances, the strongest 
 national feelings. He clothed his court and capital in Eu¬ 
 ropean dresses ; hut men do not put off old feelings with the 
 costume of their fathers. 
 
 Peter’s civilization extended no further than the surface. 
 
 5-i. lie succeeded in inducing an extraordinary degree 
 
 Real character . ° ~ 
 
 of bis changes, of discipline m his army, and the appearance of 
 
 considerable refinement among his courtiers. He effected no 
 material ameliorations in the condition of his subjects; and 
 by endeavoring to force them at once up to a level with the 
 states of Western Europe, he not only rendered his govern¬ 
 ment unpopular with the rural population, but also prevented 
 his improvements from penetrating the great body of the peo¬ 
 ple. It is easier to remodel an army than change a nation; 
 and the celebrated bon-mot of Diderot, that the Russians were 
 “ rotten before they were ripe,” is too happy an expression, 
 indicating how much easier it is to introduce the vices than 
 the virtues of civilization among an unlettered people. To 
 this day the civilization of Russia has never descended below 
 the higher ranks ; and the efforts of the really patriotic czars 
 who have since 'wielded the Muscovite scepter, Alexander and 
 Nicholas, have been mainly in abandoning the fictitious ca¬ 
 reer into which Peter turned the people, and the reviving 
 with the old institutions the true spirit and inherent aspira 
 tions of the nation. The immense, though less obtrusive suc¬ 
 cess with which their efforts have been attended, and the 
 gradual, though still slow descent of civilization and improve¬ 
 ment through the great body of the people, prove the wisdom 
 of the principles on which they have proceeded. Possibly 
 Russia is yet destined to afford another illustration of the 
 truth of Montesquieu’s maxim, that no nation ever yet rose 
 to durable greatness but through institutions hi harmony with 
 its spirit. Yet was Peter’s attempt, though hi many respects 
 a mistaken, a great and glorious one : it was the effort of a 
 rude, but lofty and magnanimous mind, which attributes to 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 253 
 
 mankind in general that vigor and ambition of which it is 
 itself conscious. And without shutting our eyes to his many 
 and serious errors, in charity let us hope that the words of 
 Peter on his death-bed have been realized : “I trust that, in 
 respect of the good I have striven to do my people, God will 
 pardon my sins.” 
 
 . CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1710. -PASSAGE OF VILLARs’s LINES.-CAPTURE 
 
 OF DOUAY, AIRE, BETHUNE, AND ST. VENANT.-LAST CAMPAIGN 
 
 OF MARLBOROUGH IN 1711.- SECOND PASSAGE OF VILLARs’s 
 
 LINES.-CAPTURE OF BOUCHAIN.-FALL AND DEATH OF MARL¬ 
 
 BOROUGH. 
 
 On his arrival in Holland on the 18th of March, 1710, 
 Marlborough again found himself practically in- i. 
 volved hi the still pending negotiations for peace, negotiations 1 '^ 
 over which, from the decline of his influence at the Ha = uo - 
 court, he had ceased to have any real control. Still exposed 
 to the blasting imputation of seeking to prolong the war for 
 his own private purposes, he was, in reality, doing his utmost 
 to terminate hostilities. As the negotiation with the osten¬ 
 sible plenipotentiaries of the different courts was at an end, 
 though Louis still continued to make private overtures to the 
 Dutch, in the hope of detaching them from the confederacy, 
 Marlborough took advantage of this circumstance to endeavor 
 to effect an accommodation. At his request, the Dutch agent, 
 Petcum, had again returned to Paris hi the end of 1709, to 
 resume the negotiation; and the Marlborough Papers con¬ 
 tain numerous letters from him to the duke, detailing the 
 progress of the overtures.* On the very day after Marlbor- 
 
 * Marlborough to the Earl of Sunderland, 8th of Nov., 1709. Disp., iv., 
 047. COXE, iv., 167. 
 
 Y 
 
254 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ough’s arrival at the Hague, the plenipotentiaries made their 
 report of the' issue of the negotiation; hut the views of the 
 parties were still so much at variance, that it was evident no 
 hopes of peace could he entertained. Louis was not yet suffi¬ 
 ciently humbled to submit to the arrogant demands of the al¬ 
 lies, which went to strip him of nearly all his conquests; and 
 the different powers of the confederacy were each set upon 
 turning the general success of the alliance to their own pri¬ 
 vate advantage. 
 
 Zenzindorf, on the part of Austria, insisted that not the 
 2 . smallest portion of the Spanish territories in Italy 
 mands of the should he ceded to a prince of the house of Bour- 
 aUies ' bon, and declared the resolution of liis Imperial mas¬ 
 ter to perish with arms in his hands rather than submit to 
 a partition which would lead to his inevitable ruin. King 
 Charles expressed the same determinatioti, and contended 
 further for the cession of Roussillon, winch had been -wrested 
 from Spam since the treaty of the Pyrenees. The Duke of 
 Savoy, who aimed at the acquisition of Sicily from the spoils 
 of the fallen monarch, was equally obstinate for the prosecu¬ 
 tion of the war. Godolphin, Somers, and the Dutch Pen¬ 
 sionary inclined to peace, and were willing to purchase it by 
 the cession of Sicily to Louis ; and Marlborough gave this his 
 entire support, provided the evacuation of Spain, the great ob¬ 
 ject of the war, could he secured.* But all their efforts were 
 in vain. The ambitious designs of Austria and Savoy pre¬ 
 vailed over their pacific counsels; and we have the valuable 
 authority of De Torcy, who in the former congress had ac¬ 
 cused the duke of breaking off the negotiation, that in this 
 year the rupture was entirely owing to the efforts of Count 
 Zenzindorf.f Marlborough, however, never ceased to long 
 for a termination of hostilities, and took the field with a heavy 
 heart, relieved only by the hope that one more successful cam* 
 
 * Coxe, iv., 169. Lamberti, vi., 37-49. 
 
 t Note to Petcum, August 10, 1710. Marlborough Papers; and Coxe, 
 iv., 173. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 255 
 
 paign would give him what he so ardently desired, the rest 
 consequent upon a general peace.* 
 
 War being resolved on, Marlborough and Eugene met at 
 Tournay on the 28tli of April, and commenced 3 . 
 the campaign by besieging the fort of Mortagne, pl^^reeifon 
 which capitulated on the same day. Their force and^arliol 6116 
 already amounted to sixty thousand men, and as oush- 
 the troops were daily coming up from their cantonments, it 
 was expected soon to amount to double that number. The 
 plan of operations was soon settled between these two great 
 men ; no difference of opinion ever occurred between them, no 
 jealousy ever marred their co-operation. They determined to 
 commence serious operations by attacking Douay, a strong 
 fortress, and one of the last of the first order which in that 
 quarter guarded the French territory. To succeed in this, 
 however, it was necessary to pass the French lines, which 
 were of great strength, and were guarded by Marshal Mon¬ 
 tesquieu at the head of forty battalions and twenty squadrons. 
 Douay itself was also strongly protected both by nature and 
 art. On the one side lay the Haine and the Scarpe ; in the 
 center was the canal of Douay; on the other side were the 
 lines of La Bassie, which had been strengthened with addi¬ 
 tional works since the close of the campaign. Marlborough 
 was very sanguine of success, as the French force was not yet 
 collected, and he was considerably superior in number ; and he 
 wrote to Godolphin on the same night, “ The orders are giv¬ 
 en for marching this night, so that I hope my next will give 
 you an account of our being in Artois.”f 
 
 * “I am very sorry to tell you that the behavior of the French looks as if 
 they had no other desire than that of carrying on the war. I hope God will 
 bless this campaign, for I see nothing else that can give us peace either at 
 home or abroad. I am so discouraged by every thing I see, that I have nev¬ 
 er, during this war, gone into the field with so heavy a hearths at this time. 
 I own to you that the present hnmor in England gives me a good deal of 
 trouble, for I can not see how it is possible they should mend till every 
 thing is yet worse.”— Marlborough to the Duchess, Hague, 14 th of April, 1710. 
 Coxe, iv., 179. 
 
 t Marlborough to Godolphin, 20th of April, 1710. Coxe, iv., 182. 
 
256 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The duke operated at once by both wings. On the one 
 
 4 . wing he detached the Prince of Wirtemberg, with 
 Passage of the 
 
 lines of the fifteen thousand men, hv Pont-a-Tessiu to Pont-a- 
 Scarpe, 28th J . . 
 
 April. V endin, where the French lines met the Dyle and 
 
 the canal of Douay, while on the other Prince Eugene moved 
 forward Count Fels, -with a considerable corps, toward Pont 
 Auby on the same canal. The whole army followed in two 
 columns, the right commanded by Eugene, and the left by 
 Marlborough. The English general secured the passage at 
 Pont-a-Vendin without resistance; and Eugene, though baf¬ 
 fled at Pont Auby, succeeded in getting over the canal at 
 Sant and Courieres without serious loss. The first defenses 
 were thus forced ; and that night the two wings having form¬ 
 ed a junction, lay on their arms in the plain of Lens, while 
 Montesquieu precipitately retired behind the Scarpe, in the 
 neighborhood of Vitry. Next morning, the troops, overjoyed 
 at their success, continued their advance. Marlborough sent 
 forward General Cadogan, at the head of the English troops, 
 to Pont-a-Rache, to circumscribe the garrison of Douay, on 
 the canal of Marchieimes, on the north, while Eugene, en¬ 
 camping on the other side of the Scarpe, completed the invest 
 ment on the west. The perfect success of this enterprise with¬ 
 out any loss was matter of equal surprise and joy to the duke, 
 who wrote to the duchess in the highest strain of satisfaction 
 at his bloodless triumph. It was entirely owing to the sud¬ 
 denness and secrecy of his movements, which took the enemy 
 completely unawares ; for had the enterprise been delayed 
 four days longer, its issue would have been extremely doubt¬ 
 ful, and thousands of men must, at all events, have been sac¬ 
 rificed.* 
 
 * " In my last I had but just time to tell you we had passed the lines. I 
 hope this happj^beginning will produce such success this campaign as must 
 put an end to the war. I bless God for putting it into their heads not to de¬ 
 fend their lines ; for at Pont-a-Vendin, when I passed, the Marshal D'Artag- 
 na.u was with twenty thousand men, which, if he had stayed, must have 
 rendered the event very doubtful. But, God be praised, we are come with¬ 
 out the loss of any men. The excuse the French make is, that we came 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 257 
 
 Douay, which was immediately invested after this success, 
 
 is a fortress of considerable strength, in the second 5. 
 
 • Description 
 
 line which covers the French province of Artois, of Douay. 
 Less populous than Lille, it embraces a wider circuit within 
 its ample walls. Its principal defense consists in the marshes, 
 which, on the side of Tournay, where the attack might be ex¬ 
 pected, render it extremely difficult of approach, especially in 
 the rainy season. Access to it is defended by Fort Scarpe, a 
 powerful outwork, capable of standing a separate siege. The 
 garrison consisted of eight thousand men under the command 
 of the Marquis Albergotti, an officer of the highest talent and 
 bravery ; and under him were the renowned Valory, to direct 
 the engineers, and the not less celebrated Chevalier de Jau- 
 court, to command the artillery. From a fortress of such 
 strength, so defended, the most resolute resistance might be 
 expected, and no efforts were spared on the part of the allied 
 generals to overcome it. 
 
 The investment was completed on the 4th, and the trenches 
 opened on the 5th of May. On the 7th, the head e. 
 of the sap was advanced to within two hundred andsfe^ 1611 . 1 
 and fifty yards of the exterior palisades; hut the toYdse 3 
 besiegers that night experienced a severe check from llth May - 
 a vigorous sally of the besieged with twelve hundred men, by 
 which two English regiments were nearly cut to pieces. But, 
 on the Gth, a great train of artillery, consisting of two hund¬ 
 red pieces, with a large supply of ammunition, arrived from 
 Tournay ; on the 11 th, the advanced works were strongly 
 armed, and the batteries were pushed up to the covered way, 
 where they thundered across the ditch against the rampart. 
 The imminent danger of this important stronghold now seri¬ 
 ously alarmed the French court; and Marshal Villars, who 
 commanded their great army on the Flemish frontier, received 
 the most positive orders to advance to its relief. By great ex¬ 
 ertions, he had now collected one hundred and fifty-three bat- 
 
 four days before they expected us .''—Marlborough to the Duchess, 21st of 
 April, 1710. Coxe, ix., 184. 
 
 Y 2 
 
258 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 talions and two hundred and sixty-two squadrons, which were 
 pompously announced as mustering one hundred and fifty thou¬ 
 sand combatants, and certainly amounted to more than ninety 
 thousand. The allied force was almost exactly equal in bat¬ 
 talions and squadrons; it consisted of one hundred and fifty- 
 five battalions and two hundred and sixty-one squadrons, but 
 the number of men was less than that of the French, being 
 only eighty thousand. 
 
 Villars broke up from the vicinity of Cambray on the 21st 
 7 of May, and advanced in great strength toward 
 expecTSf 8 Don ay. Marlborough and Eugene immediately 
 other battle. mac j e the most vigorous preparations to receive him. 
 Thirty battalions only were left to prosecute the siege ; twelve 
 squadrons were placed in observation at Pont-a-Rache; and 
 the remainder of the army, about sixty thousand strong, were 
 concentrated in a strong position, so as to cover the siege, on 
 which all the resources of art, so far as the short time would 
 admit, had been lavished. Every thing was prepared for a 
 mighty struggle. The whole guns were mounted on batteries 
 four hundred paces from each other ; the infantry was drawn 
 up in a single line along the intrenchment, and filled up the 
 entire interval between the artillery; the cavalry were ar¬ 
 ranged in two lines, seven hundred paces in rear of the foot 
 soldiers. It seemed another Malplaquet, in which the rela¬ 
 tive position of the two armies was reversed, and the French 
 were to storm the intrenched position of the allies. Every 
 man in both armies expected a decisive battle ; and Marlbor¬ 
 ough, who was heartily tired of the war, wrote to the duchess 
 that he hoped for a victory which should at once end the war 
 and restore him to private life.* 
 
 * “ I hope God will so bless our efforts, that if the queen should not he so 
 happy as to have a prospect of peace before the opening of the next session 
 of Parliament, she and all her subjects may be convinced we do our best 
 here in the army to put a speedy and good period to this bloody war.”— 
 Marl-borough to the Duchess, May 12, 1710. 
 
 " 1 hear of so many disagreeable things, that make it very reasonable, both 
 for myself and you, to take no steps but what may lead to a quiet life. This 
 being the case, am I not to be pitied that am every day in danger of expos 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 259 
 
 Yet there was no battle. The luster of Blenheim and 
 Ramillies played round Marlborough’s bayonets, g. 
 and the recollection of Turin tripled the effective without fight 3 
 force of Eugene’s squadrons. Villars advanced on ln =' 
 the 1st of June, with all the pomp and circumstance of war, 
 to within musket-shot of the allied position; and he had not 
 only the authority, but the recommendation of Louis to hazard 
 a battle. He boasted that his force amounted to a hundred 
 and sixty thousand men.* But lie did not venture to make 
 the attack. To Marlborough’s great regret, he retired with¬ 
 out fighting ; and the English general, at the age of threescore, 
 was left to pursue the fatigues and the labors of a protracted 
 campaign, in which, for the first time in his life, he was doubt- 
 lid of success, from knowing the malignant eyes with which 
 he was regarded by the ruling factions in his own country. 
 “ I long,” said he, “ for an end of the war, so God’s will be 
 done; whatever the event may be, I shall have nothing to 
 reproach myself with, having, with all my heart, done my 
 duty, and being hitherto blessed with more success than was 
 ever known before. My wishes and duty are the same ; but 
 I can’t say I have the same prophetic spirit I used to have; 
 for in all the former actions I never did doubt of success, we 
 having had constantly the great blessing of being of one mind. 
 I can not say it is so now ; for I fear some are run so far into 
 villainous faction, that it would more content them to see us 
 beaten ; but if I live, I will be watchful that it shall not be 
 in their power to do much hurt. The discourse of the Duke 
 of Argyll is, that when I please there will then be peace. I 
 suppose his friends speak the same language in England; so 
 that I must every summer venture my life in a battle, and be 
 found fault with in winter for not bringing home peace. No, 
 I wish for it with all my heart and soul.”f 
 
 ing my life for the good of those who are seeking my rain ? God's will be 
 done. If I can bo so blessed as to end this campaign with success, things 
 must very much alter to persuade me to come again at the head of the army.” 
 —Marlborough to the Duchess, 19th of May, 1710. Coxe, iv., 191, 192. 
 
 * Marlborough to Godolphin, 26th of May and 2d of June, 1710. 
 
 t Marlborough to the Duchess, 12th of June, 1710. Coxe, iv., 197. 
 
26U 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Villars having retired without fighting, the operations of 
 
 9- the siege were resumed with redoubled vigor. On 
 Fall of Douay, ° ... 
 
 2Gth June. the 16th of June, signals of distress were sent up 
 
 from the town, which the French marshal perceived, and he 
 made, in consequence, a show of returning to interrupt the 
 siege ; but Ins movements came to nothing. Marlborough, 
 to comiteract his movement, repassed the Scarpe at Yitry, 
 and took up a position directly barring the line of advance of 
 the French marshal, while Eugene prosecuted the siege. Vil¬ 
 lars again retired without fighting. On the 22d, the fort of 
 Scarpe was breached, and the sap was advanced to the coun¬ 
 terscarp of the fortress, the walls of which were violently shak¬ 
 en ; and on the 26th, Albergotti, who had no longer any hope 
 of being relieved, and who saw preparations made for a gen¬ 
 eral assault, capitulated with the garrison, now reduced to 
 four thousand five hundred men.* 
 
 On the surrender of Douay, the allied generals intended to 
 
 10 . besiege Arras, the last of the triple line of fortress- 
 uuabletoreach es which on that side covered Franee, and between 
 siee'e' Bethmi'e which and Paris no fortified place remained to ar- 
 lotu July. res t the march of an invader. On the 10th of 
 July, Marlborough crossed the Scarpe at Yitry, and, joining 
 Eugene, their united forces, nearly ninety thousand strong, 
 advanced toward Arras. But Villars, who felt the extreme 
 importance of this last stronghold, had exerted himself to the 
 utmost for its defense. He had long employed his troops on 
 the construction of new lines of great strength on the Crin- 
 clion, stretching from Arras to the Somme, and here he had 
 collected nearly a hundred thousand men, and a hundred and 
 thirty pieces of camion. After reconnoitering tliis position, 
 the allied generals concurred in thinking that it was equally 
 impossible to force it, and to undertake the siege of Arras, 
 while the enemy, hi such strength and so strongly posted, lay 
 on its flank. Their first intention, oil finding themselves baf¬ 
 fled in this project, was to seize Hesdin on the Cancher, which 
 
 * Marlborough to Godolphin, 26th of June, 1710. Di$p-, iv, 696. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 261 
 
 would have left the enemy no strong place between them and 
 the coast. But the skillful dispositions of Villars, who on this 
 occasion displayed uncommon abilities and foresight, rendered 
 this design abortive, and it was therefore determined to attack 
 Bethune. This place, which was surrounded with very strong 
 works, was garrisoned by nine thousand men, under the com¬ 
 mand of M. Puy Vauban, nephew of the celebrated marshal 
 of the same name. But as an attack on it had not been ex¬ 
 pected, the necessary supplies for a protracted resistance had 
 not been fully introduced when the investment was completed 
 on the 15th of July.* 
 
 Villars, upon seeing the point of attack now fully declared, 
 
 moved in right columns upon Horbarques, near U- 
 6 1 a > Great skm 
 
 Montenencourt. Eugene and Marlborough, upon with which Vil- 
 . . lars averted the 
 
 this, assembled their covering army, and changed invasion of 
 
 France on this 
 
 their iront, taking up a new line stretching irom occasion. Fall 
 Mont St. Eloi to Lc Comte. Upon advancing to re- 28th August, 
 coimoiter the enemy, Marlborough discovered that the French, 
 advancing to raise the siege, were busy constructing a new 
 set of lines, which stretched across the plain from the rivulet 
 Ugie to the Lorraine, and the center of which, at Avesnes le 
 Comte, was already strongly fortified. It now appeared how 
 much Villars had gained by the skillful measures which had 
 diverted the allies from their projected attack upon Arras. It 
 lay upon the direct road to Paris. Bethune, though of im¬ 
 portance to the ultimate issue of the war, was not of the same 
 present moment. It lay on the flank on the second line, Ar¬ 
 ras in front, and was the only remaining fortress in the last. 
 By means of the new lines which he had constructed, the 
 able French marshal had erected a fresh protection for his 
 country, when its last defenses were wellnigh broken through. 
 By simply holding them, the interior of France was covered 
 from incursion, time was gained not only for raising fresh ar¬ 
 maments in the interior for its defense, but, what was of more 
 
 * Considerat. sur la Comp, de 1710, par M, le Marshal Villars; and 
 Coxe, iv., 192. 
 
 r 
 
262 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 importance to Louis, for waiting the issue of the intrigues in 
 England, which were soon expected to overthrow the Whig 
 cabhiet. Yillars, on this occasion, proved the salvation of his 
 country, and justly raised himself to the very highest rank 
 among its military commanders. His -measures were the 
 more to be commended that they exposed him to the obloquy 
 of leaving Bethune to its fate, which surrendered by capitu¬ 
 lation, with its numerous garrison and accomplished com¬ 
 mander, on the 28th of August.* 
 
 Notwithstanding the loss of so many fortresses on the cn- 
 12 . dangered frontier of his territory, Louis XIV. was 
 
 Increasing ani- 
 
 mosity to Mari- so much encouraged by what he knew of the great 
 
 borough in En- , . , . . . „ r 
 
 gland. Hein- change which was gomg on m the councils ol 
 siege Calais. Queen Anne, that, expectmg daily an entire rev¬ 
 olution in the ministry, and the overthrow of the war party 
 in the cabinet, he resolved on the most vigorous prosecution 
 -f the contest. He made clandestine overtures to the secret 
 advisers of the queen, in the hope of establishing that separate 
 negotiation which at no distant period proved so successful. 
 Torcy, the duke’s enemy, triumphantly declared, “ what we 
 lose in Flanders, we shall gain in England.”! To frustrate 
 these machinations, and, if possible, rouse the national feeling 
 more strongly in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war, 
 Marlborough determined to lay siege to Aire and St. Venant, 
 which, though off the line of direct attack on France, laid 
 open the way to Calais, which, if supported at home, he 
 hoped to reduce before the conclusion of the campaign.! He 
 entertained the most sanguine hopes of success from this de¬ 
 sign, which was warmly approved of by Godolphin; hut he 
 * Marlborough to Godolphin, 29th of August, 1710. Disp., iv., 581. 
 Coxe, iv., 294. t Coxe, iv., 343, 344. 
 
 t " I am of opinion that, after the siege of Airo, I shall have it in my pow¬ 
 er to attack Calais. This is a conquest which would very much prejudice 
 France, and ought to have a good effect for the queen’s service in England ; 
 but I see so much malice leveled at me, that I am afraid it is not pafe for 
 me to make any proposition, lest, if it should not succeed, my enemies 
 should turn it to my disadvantage.”— Marlborough to Godolphin , 11th of 
 August, 1710. Coxe, iv.. 343. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 263 
 
 received at this tune such discouraging accounts of the preca¬ 
 rious condition of his influence at court, that he justly conclud¬ 
 ed he would not receive adequate support from England, out 
 of Avhich the main supplies for the enterprise must be drawn. 
 He, in concert with Eugene, therefore, wisely resolved to fore¬ 
 go this dazzling hut perilous project for the present, and to 
 content himself with the solid advantages, unattended with 
 risk, of reducing Aire and St. Yenant. 
 
 Having taken their resolution, the confederate generals be¬ 
 gan their march in the beginning of September, 13. 
 
 b ° ° 1 Siege and cap- 
 
 and on the Gth of that month both places were ture of st.Re¬ 
 invested, Aire, which is comparatively of small tember. 1 
 extent, was garrisoned by only five thousand seven hundred 
 men; but Yenant was a place of great size and strength, and 
 had a garrison of fourteen battalions of foot and three regi¬ 
 ments of dragoons, mustering eight thousand combatants. 
 They were under the command of the Count do Guebriant, a 
 brave and skillful commander. Both were at this time pro¬ 
 tected by inundations, which retarded extremely the opera¬ 
 tions of the besiegers, the more especially as the autumnal 
 rains had set in early this year, and with more than usual se¬ 
 verity. While anxiously awaiting the cessation of this obsta¬ 
 cle, and the arrival of a great convoy of heavy cannon and 
 ammunition which was coming up from Ghent, the allied gen¬ 
 erals received the disheartening intelligence of the total defeat 
 of this important convoy, which, though guarded by sixteen 
 hundred men, was attacked and destroyed by a French corps 
 on the 19th of September. This loss affected Marlborough 
 the more sensibly, that it was the first disaster of moment 
 winch had befallen him during nine years of incessant war¬ 
 fare.* But, notwithstanding this loss, St. Yenant was so se- 
 
 * 11 Till within these few days, during these nine years I have never had 
 occasion to send ill news. Our powder and other stores, for the carrying on 
 these two sieges, left Ghent last Thursday, under the convoy of twelve 
 hundred foot and four hundred and fifty horse. They were attacked by the 
 enemy and beaten, so that they blew up the powder and sunk the store 
 boats .”—Marlborough to the Duchess. 22d Sept, 1710. Coxe, iv., 365 
 
264 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 verely pressed by the fire of the besiegers, under the Prince of 
 Anhalt, who conducted the operations with uncommon vigor 
 and ability, that the garrison was compelled to capitulate on 
 the 29th, on condition of being conducted to St. Omer, not to 
 serve again till regularly exchanged. 
 
 Aire still held out, as the loss of the convoy from Ghent, 
 
 and the dreadful rains which fell almost without in- 
 And of Aire, . . . 
 
 12th Nov. termission during the whole of October, very greatly 
 retarded the progress of the siege. The garrison, too, under 
 the command of the brave governor, made a most resolute de¬ 
 fense. Sickness prevailed to a great extent in the allied 
 army; the troops were for the most part up to the knees in 
 mud and water ; and the rains, which fell night and day with¬ 
 out intermission, precluded the possibility of finding a dry 
 place for their lodging. It was absolutely necessary, however, 
 to continue the siege; for, independent of the credit of the 
 army being staked on its success, it had become impossible, as 
 Marlborough himself said, to draw' the camion from the trench¬ 
 es.* The perseverance of the allied commanders was at length 
 rewarded by success. On the 12th of November the fortress 
 capitulated, and the garrison, still three thousand six hundred 
 and twenty-eight strong, marched out prisoners, leaving six¬ 
 teen hundred sick and wounded in the town. This conquest, 
 which concluded the campaign, was, however, dearly pur¬ 
 chased by the loss of nearly seven thousand men killed and 
 wounded in the allied ranks, exclusive of the sick, who, amid 
 those pestilential marshes, had now swelled to double that 
 number.! «- 
 
 Although the capture of four such important fortresses as 
 Douay, Bethune, St. Venant, and Aire, with their garrisons, 
 amounting to thirty thousand men, who had been taken in 
 
 * “ Take it we must, for we can not draw the guns from the batteries. 
 But God knows when we shall have it; night and day our poor men are up 
 to the knees in mud and water.”— Marlborough to Godolphin, 27th of Octo¬ 
 ber, 1710. 
 
 t Marlborough to Godolphin, 13th of November, 1710. Disp., iv., 685- 
 689. Coxe, iv., 366, 367. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 265 
 
 them during the campaign, was a most substantial , 15 - , 
 
 ° r n Increase of 
 
 advantage, and could not fail to have a most im- Marlborough's 
 
 u # difficulties at 
 
 portant effect on the final issue of the war, yet these home, 
 results were not productive of so much natural exultation as 
 the victories of the preceding campaigns. There had been no 
 brilliant victory like Blenheim, Ramillies, or Oudenarde, to 
 silence envy and defy malignity ; the successes, though little 
 less real, had not been so dazzling. The intriguers about the 
 court, the malcontents in the country, eagerly seized on this 
 circumstance to calumniate the duke, and accused him of un¬ 
 worthy motives in the conduct of the war : he was protract¬ 
 ing it for his own private purposes, reducing it to a strife of 
 lines and sieges, when he might at once terminate it by a de¬ 
 cisive battle, and gratifying his ruling passion of avarice by 
 the lucrative appointments which he enjoyed himself, or di¬ 
 vided among his friends. 
 
 The great increase in the public burdens of the country, a 
 subject which never fails to find a responsive echo 16. 
 
 t. General alarm 
 
 in the English breast, added tenfold weight to at the augmen- 
 . ", _ tation of the 
 
 these representations. such was the clamor public burdens, 
 
 against the augmentation of the public debt and taxes, that 
 it had become absolutely stunning. It must be confessed there 
 was great foundation for the complaints so generally made on 
 this subject. The annual expenditure of the nation in the 
 last year of the reign of James II. had been, as Bolingbroke 
 tells us, about £2,000,000 ; and the supplies voted by the 
 Commons had already for several years been six, and had this 
 year reached the unprecedented amount of seven millions. 
 Large loans were annually contracted, the interest of which 
 was not only burdensome in itself, but threatened, as it was 
 thought, at no distant period entirely to swallow up the whole 
 landed and realized property of the country. Men could see 
 no end to this constant increase of taxation and such additions 
 to the public debt. They began to think they might pay too 
 dear for glory, for independence, or even for freedom. The 
 public debt, which was only £664,000 at the Revolution, had 
 
 Z 
 
266 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 since increased so rapidly that it was swelled by £16,000,000 
 during the reign of William, and that contracted in the reign 
 of Anne already exceeded £34,000,000, while at her death it 
 amounted to £37,000,000.* The public taxes had nearly 
 tripled during the same period. Where, it was asked, is this 
 to end ? Of twenty-two years which have elapsed since the 
 Revolution, eighteen have been spent in constant and expens¬ 
 ive wars. What national resources, what public freedom 
 can stand such a strain ? 
 
 “ It is impossible,” says Bolingbroke, “ to look back without 
 17. indignation at the mysterious iniquity by which 
 Bolingbroke^ this system has been matured, or horror to the con- 
 on the subject. ge q uences that may ensue from it. The ordinary 
 expenses of government are defrayed, even in time of peace, 
 in great part by anticipations and mortgages. In time of 
 peace—in days of prosperity, as we boast them to be—we 
 contract new debts, we create new funds. What must hap¬ 
 pen when we go to war, or are in national distress ? What 
 will happen when we have mortgaged and funded all we 
 have to mortgage and fund; when we have mortgaged all 
 the produce of land, and all the land itself? Who can an¬ 
 swer that, when we come to such extremities, or have them 
 more nearly in prospect, ten millions of people will consent to 
 be mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, to maintain 
 the two hundredth part of that number in ease and plenty ? 
 Who can answer that the whole body of the people will sutler 
 themselves to be treated, in favor of a handful of men, as the 
 poor Indians are in favor of the Spaniards ; to be parceled 
 out in lots, as it were, and to be assigned, like these Indians, 
 to the Spanish planters, to toil and starve for the proprietors 
 
 Debt. Interest. Revenue. 
 
 * National Debt at the Revolution . . £664,253 £39,865 £2,001,865 
 
 Increase during William’s reign . .. 15,730,439 1,271,087 
 
 Debt at Anne’s accession .... 16,394,702 1,310,952 
 
 Increase during Anne’s reign . . . 37,750,661 2,040,216 
 Debt at the death of Anne . . . . 54,145,363 3,351,368 5,641,803 
 
 Alison’s Europe . v., 538. Revenue Tables, 70-891 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 267 
 
 of the several funds ?”* Probably most persons will be of 
 opinion that these questions suggest matter for serious and 
 anxious thought, even with all the experience we have since 
 had of the prodigious resources which the industry and activ¬ 
 ity of Great Britain can develop. It may he conceived, then, 
 what a sensation they produced, when the funding system, 
 introduced with the Revolution, was yet in its infancy ; when 
 the capability of the nation to bear an increase of burdens 
 was unknown, and when all the obloquy arising from so rapid 
 and alarming an increase of the public debts and burdens 
 was, alike by friends and enemies, directed against the victo¬ 
 rious general, who alone, it was said, profited by them ! 
 
 And, in truth, Marlborough bore the brunt of the whole. 
 Yet nothing could be more unjust than this con- lg 
 centration of the public discontent on his head, u^e^ia^om- 
 when, in reality, the evils complained of were the plamcd ot- 
 direct and unavoidable consequences of the great revulsion by 
 which the family on the throne had been changed. It was 
 no fault of Marlborough that the nation since the Revolution 
 had been involved in almost constant wars : they had only to 
 thank him for having rendered them for the last ten years 
 constantly successful. The real cause of the warfare, and of 
 the enormous increase of the debt to which it had given rise, 
 was the ambition of Louis XIV., which had arrayed all Eu¬ 
 rope in a league against him, and the Revolution of 1688, 
 which had placed England at its head. Great as had been, 
 and were destined to be, the benefits of that change, it was 
 attended in the first instance by most disastrous consequences. 
 No nation, even for the most just of causes, can overturn an 
 existing government without suffering deeply for it, especially 
 in its pecuniary interests. France felt this bitterly after its 
 two successful revolutions in 1789 and 1830 ; England felt it 
 with almost equal severity after the expulsion of the Stuarts. 
 The “ unbought loyalty of men, the cheap defense of nations,” 
 
 * A Dissertation upon Parties. Bolingbroke’s Works, iii., 296, 297. 
 Ed. 1809. 
 
268 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 was at an end. Generous attachment to the crown being no 
 longer to he relied on, the foundations of government required 
 to he laid in the selfish interests of its supporters. Corruption 
 on a great scale became necessary to maintain the authority 
 of government; the contraction of debt became a part of its 
 policy to interest the public creditors in the existing order of 
 things. Parliamentary influence had come in place of pre¬ 
 rogative. The king did nothing of his own authority, but he 
 got an obsequious Parliament to do whatever he desired. The 
 national debt and public taxes grew alike with the external 
 dangers and internal insecurity of the new government. 
 These evils had no connection with Marlborough; but they 
 were all imputed to him, because of his great influence and 
 colossal fame, and because he was the visible head of the war 
 party. Hence the general obloquy with which he was as¬ 
 sailed. Men will impute evils under which they suffer to 
 any tiling but the real cause—their own conduct. 
 
 But it was not only among the populace and his political 
 29 opponents that these prejudices prevailed ; his great- 
 among Ws™ ness an( l fame had become an object of envy to his 
 jwn party. own party. Orford, Wharton, and Halifax had on 
 many occasions evinced their distrust of him ; and even Som¬ 
 ers, who had long stood his friend, was inclined to think the 
 power of the Duke of Marlborough too great, and the emolu¬ 
 ments and offices of his family and connections immoderate.* 
 The duchess inflamed the discord between him and the queen 
 by positively refusing to come to any conciliation with her 
 rival, Mrs. Masham. The discord increased daily, and great 
 were the efforts made to aggravate it. To the queen, the 
 never-failing device was adopted of representing the victorious 
 general as lording it over the throne ; as likely to eclipse even 
 the crown by the luster of his fame; as too dangerous and 
 powerful a subject for a sovereign to tolerate. Matters came 
 to such a pass, in the course of the summer of 1710, that 
 Marlborough found himself thwarted in every request he 
 * Cunningham, ii., 305. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 269 
 
 made, every project he proposed ; and he expressed his entire 
 nullity to the duchess by the emphatic expression that he was 
 a “ mere sheet of white paper, upon which his friends might 
 write what they pleased.”* 
 
 The envy at the duke appeared in the difficulties which 
 were now started by the Lords of the Treasury in 20 . 
 regard to the prosecution of the works at Bleu- p^hrown'in 
 heim. This noble monument of a nation’s grat- tomriirticni'of 
 itude had hitherto proceeded rapidly; the stately Blenheim - 
 design of Vanbrugh was rapidly approaching its completion ; 
 and so anxious had the queen at first been to see it finished, 
 that she got a model of it placed in the royal palace of Ken¬ 
 sington. Now, however, petty and unworthy objections were 
 started on the score of expense, and attempts were made, by 
 delaying payment of the sums from the treasury, to throw the 
 cost of completing the building on the great general. lie had 
 penetration enough, however, to avoid falling into the snare, 
 and actually suspended the progress of the work when the 
 treasury warrants were withheld. He constantly directed 
 that the management of the building should be left to the 
 queen’s officers ; and, by steadily adhering to tins system, he 
 shamed them into continuing the work.f 
 
 Marlborough’s name and influence, however, were too great 
 to be entirely neglected, and the party which was 21 . 
 
 . 1 J * Attempts to 
 
 now rising into supremacy at court were anxious, if pain over 
 
 1 J . Marlborougl 
 
 possible, to secure them for their own side. They to the Tories 
 made, accordingly, secret overtures to him; and it was even 
 insinuated that, if he would abandon the Whigs and coalesce 
 with them, he would entirely regain the royal favor, axrd 
 might aspire to the highest situation which a subject could 
 hold. Lord Bolingbroke has told us what the conditions of 
 this alliance were to be : “ He was to abandon the Whigs, 
 Ills new friends, and take up with the Tories, his old friends; 
 
 * Marlborough to the Duchess, 26th of July, 1710. CoxE, iv., 299. 
 t Marlborough to the Duchess, 23th of October and 24th of November. 
 1710. Coxe, iv., 351, 352. 
 
 Z 2 
 
270 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to engage heartily in the true interests, and no longer leave 
 his country a prey to rapine and faction. He was, besides, 
 required to restrain the rage and fury of his wife. Their of¬ 
 fers were coupled with threats of an impeachment, and boasts 
 that sufficient evidence could he adduced to carry a prosecu¬ 
 tion through both houses.”* To terms so degrading, the 
 duke answered in a manner worthy of his high reputation. 
 He declared his resolution to he of no party, to vote according 
 to his conscience, and to he as hearty as his new colleagues in 
 support of the queen’s government and the welfare of the coun¬ 
 try. This manly reply increased the repulsive feelings with 
 which he was regarded by the ministry, who seem now to 
 have finally resolved on his ruin ; while the intelligence that 
 such overtures had been made having got wind, sowed distrust 
 between him and the Whig leaders, which was never after¬ 
 ward entirely removed. But he honorably declared that he 
 would he governed by the Whigs, whom he would never de¬ 
 sert ; and that they could not suspect the purity of his mo¬ 
 tives in so doing, as they had now lost their majority in the 
 House of Commons.! 
 
 Parliament met on the 25th of November; and Marlbor- 
 22 . ough, in the end of the year, returned to London. 
 ^ptionomSi- But he soon received decisive proof of the altered 
 m!nUU'rs b and e temper both of government and the country toward 
 country. him. The majority in the House of Commons 
 was now against him, as it had for some time been in the 
 country. The last election had turned the scale in favor of 
 the Tories. In the queen’s speech, no notice was taken of the 
 late successes in Flanders, no vote of thanks for his services 
 
 * Bolingbroke’s Corresp., i., 41; Mr. Secretary St. John to Mr. Drum¬ 
 mond, 20th of Dec., 1710. 
 
 t “ I beg you to lose no time in sending me, to the Hague, the opinion 
 of our friend mentioned in my letter ; for I would be governed by the Whigs, 
 from whose principle and interest I will never depart. While they had a 
 majority in the House of Commons, they might suspect it might be my in¬ 
 terest ; but now they must do me the justice to see that it is my inclination 
 and principle which makes me act.”— Marlborough to the Duchess, Nov. 9 
 1710. Coxe, iv., 360. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 271 
 
 in the campaign was moved by the ministers; and they even 
 contrived, by a side wind, to get quit of one proposed, to their 
 no small embarrassment, by Lord Scarborough. The duch¬ 
 ess, too, was threatened with removal from her situation at 
 court; and Marlborough avowed that he knew the queen was 
 “ as desirous for her removal as Mr. Harley and Mrs. Masham 
 can be.” The violent temper, and proud, unbending spirit 
 of the duchess, were ill calculated to heal such a breach, 
 which in the course of the winter became so wide, that her 
 removal from the situation she held, as mistress of the robes, 
 was only prevented by the fear that, in the vehemence of her 
 resentment, she might publish the queen’s correspondence, and 
 that the duke, whose military services could not yet be spared, 
 might resign his command. Libels against both the duke and 
 the duchess daily appeared, and passed entirely unpunished, 
 though the freedom of the press was far from being established. 
 Three officers were dismissed from the army for drinking his 
 health. When he waited on the queen, on his arrival in En¬ 
 gland, in the end of December, she said, “ I must request you 
 will not sutler any vote of thanks to you to be moved in Par¬ 
 liament this year, as my ministers ivill certainly oppose it .” 
 Such was the return made by government to the hero who had 
 raised the power and glory of England to an unprecedented 
 pitch, and who, in that very campaign, had cut deeper into 
 the iron frontier of France than had ever been done in any 
 former one.* 
 
 The female coterie who aided at St. James’s the male op¬ 
 ponents of Marlborough, were naturally extremely 23 - 
 
 ... . - , . . J , . Dismissal of 
 
 solicitous to get the duchess removed Irom her situ- the Duchess 
 ations as head of the queen’s household and keeper ough. 
 of the privy purse; and ministers were only prevented from 
 carrying their wishes into effect by their apprehension, if these 
 wishes were executed, of the duke’s resigning liis command of 
 the army. In an audience on the 17th of January, 1711, 
 Marlborough presented a letter to her majesty from the duch- 
 * Coke, iv., 405. 
 
272 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ess, couched :w terms of extreme humility, m which she declar¬ 
 ed that his anxiety was such at the requital his services had 
 received, that she apprehended he would not live six months.* 
 The queen at first refused to read it; and when at length, at 
 the duke’s earnest request, she agreed to do so, she coldly ob¬ 
 served, “ I can not change my resolution.” Marlborough, in 
 the most moving terms, and with touching eloquence, entreat¬ 
 ed her majesty not to dismiss the duchess till she had no more 
 need of her services, by the war being finished, which, he hop¬ 
 ed, would he in less than a year ; but he received no other an¬ 
 swer than a peremptory demand for the surrender of the gold 
 key, the symbol of her office, within three days. Unable to 
 obtain any relaxation in his sovereign’s resolution, Marlbor¬ 
 ough withdrew with the deepest emotions of indignation and 
 sorrow. The duchess, in a worthy spirit, immediately took 
 her resolution ; she sent in her resignation, with the gold key, 
 that very night. So deeply was Marlborough hurt at this ex¬ 
 traordinary ingratitude for all his services, that he at first re¬ 
 solved to resign his whole commands, and retire altogether into 
 private fife. 
 
 From this intention he was only diverted, and that with 
 24. great difficulty, by the efforts of Godolphin and 
 
 Marlborough J J r 
 
 with great re- the Whigs at home, and Prince Eugene and the 
 holds his hi- Pensionary Heinsius abroad, who earnestly be- 
 nation. sought him not to abandon the command, as that 
 
 would at once dissolve the Grand Alliance, and ruin the com¬ 
 mon cause. We can sympathize with the feelings of a vic¬ 
 torious warrior who felt reluctant to forego, by one hasty step, 
 the fruit of nine years of victories : we can not but respect the 
 self-sacrifice of the patriot who preferred enduring mortifica¬ 
 tions himself to endangering the great cause of religious free- 
 
 * "Though I never thought of troubling your majesty again in this man¬ 
 ner, yet the circumstances I see my Lord Marlborough iu, and the appre¬ 
 hension I have that he can not live six months, if there is not some end put 
 to his sufferings on my account, make it impossible for me to resist doing 
 every thing in my power to ease him.”— Duchess of Marlborough to Queen 
 Anne, 17th of Jan., 1711. Coxe, iv., 410. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 273 
 
 dom and European independence. Influenced by these con¬ 
 siderations, Marlborough withheld his intended resignation. 
 The Duchess of Somerset was made mistress of the robes, and 
 Mrs. Masham obtained the confidential situation of keeper of 
 the privy purse. Malignity, now sure of impimity, heaped up 
 invectives on the falling hero. His integrity was calumniated, 
 his courage even was questioned, and the most consummate 
 general of that, or perhaps any other age, was represented as 
 the lowest of mankind.* It soon appeared how unfounded 
 had been the aspersions cast upon the duchess, as well as the 
 duke, for their conduct in office. Her accounts, after being 
 rigidly scrutinized, were returned to her without any objec¬ 
 tion being stated against them ; and Marlborough, anxious to 
 quit that scene of ingratitude and intrigue for the real thea¬ 
 ter of his glory, soon after set out for the army in Flanders.t 
 
 He arrived at the Hague on the 4th of March ; and, al¬ 
 though no longer possessing the confidence of gov- 05 
 eminent, or intrusted with any control over diplo- co "£of 
 matic measures, he immediately set himself with 111 
 
 the utmost vigor to prepare for military operations. Countries - 
 Great efforts had been made by both parties, during the 
 winter, for the resumption of hostilities on even a more ex¬ 
 tended scale than in the preceding campaign. Marlborough 
 found the army in the Low Countries extremely efficient and 
 powerful; diversions were promised on the side both of Spain 
 and Piedmont; and a treaty had been concluded with the Span¬ 
 ish malcontents, in consequence of which a large part of the 
 Imperial forces were rendered disposable, and Prince Eugene 
 was preparing to lead them into the Low Countries. But, in 
 the midst of these flattering prospects, an event occurred winch 
 suddenly deranged them all, postponed for above a month the 
 opening of the campaign, and, in its final result, changed the 
 fate of Europe. 
 
 This w'as the death, by the small-pox, of the Emperor Jo- 
 
 * Smollet, c. X., § 20. 
 
 t 1Marlborough to the Duchess, 24th of May, 1711. Coxe, v., 417-431. 
 
274 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 26 . seph, which happened at Vienna on the 16th of 
 Emperor Jo- Aprilan event which was immediately followed 
 tion of Charles by Charles, king of Spain, declaring himself a can- 
 or, i6th ApS. didate for the Imperial throne. As his pretensions 
 required to he supported by a powerful demonstration of troops, 
 the march of a large part of Eugene’s men to the Netherlands 
 was immediately stopped, and that prince himself was hastily 
 recalled from Mentz, to take the command at Ratisbon, as 
 marshal of the forces of the empire. Charles was soon after 
 elected emperor. Thus Marlborough was left to commence 
 the campaign alone, which was the more to be regretted, as 
 the preparations of Louis, during the winter, for the defense 
 of his dominions, had been made on the most extensive scale, 
 and Marshal Villars’s lines had come to be regarded as the 
 ne plus ultra of field fortification. Yet were Marlborough’s 
 forces most formidable ; for, when reviewed at Orchies on the 
 30th of April, between Lille and Douay, they were found, in 
 eluding Eugene’s troops which had come up, to amount to one 
 hundred and eighty-four battalions and three hundred and six 
 ty-four squadrons, mustering above one hundred thousand com¬ 
 batants.* But forty-one battalions and forty squadrons were 
 m garrison, wliich reduced the effective force in the field to 
 eighty thousand men. 
 
 The great object of Louis and his generals had been to con- 
 27. struct such a fine of defenses as might prevent the 
 corsn-ucted irruption of the enemy into the French territory, 
 by v iiiars. now ^hat the interior and last fine of fortresses was 
 so nearly broken through. In pursuance of this design, Vil- 
 lars had, with the aid of all the most experienced engineers 
 in France, and at a vast expense of labor and money, construct¬ 
 ed during the winter a series of lines and field-works, exceeding 
 any thing yet seen in modern Europe in magnitude and strength, 
 and to which the still more famous works of Torres Vedras 
 have alone, in subsequent times, afforded a parallel. The for- 
 
 * Eugene to Marlborough, 23d of April, 1710 ; Marlborough to St. John, 
 29th of April, 1710. Coxe, vi., 16. Disp., v., 319. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 27b 
 
 tifications extended from Namur on the Meuse, by a sort of 
 irregular line, to the coast of Picardy. Running first along 
 the marshy line of the Canche, they rested on the forts of 
 Montreuil, Hesdin, and Trevant; while the great fortresses of 
 Ypres, Calais, Gravelines, and St. Omer, lying in their front, 
 and still in the hands of the French, rendered any attempt to 
 approach them both difficult and hazardous. Along the whole 
 of this immense line, extending over so great a variety of 
 ground, for above forty miles, every effort had been made, by 
 joining the resources of art to the defenses of nature, to rcu 
 dcr the position impregnable. The lines were not continuous, 
 as in many places the ground was so rugged, or the obstacles 
 of rocks, precipices, and ravines were so formidable, that it was 
 evidently impossible to overcome them ; but, wherever a pas¬ 
 sage was practicable, the approaches to it were protected in 
 the most imposing manner. If a streamlet ran along the lino, 
 it was carefully dammed up, so as to become impassable. 
 Every morass was deepened, by stopping up its drains, or let¬ 
 ting in the water of the larger rivers hy artificial canals ; re¬ 
 doubts were placed on the heights, so as to enfilade the plaint, 
 between them; while in the open country, where no advan¬ 
 tage of ground was to be met with, field-works were erected, 
 armed with abundance of heavy cannon. To man these for¬ 
 midable lines, Villars had under his command one hundred 
 and fifty-six battalions and two hundred and twenty-seven 
 squadrons in the field, numbering seventy thousand infantry 
 and twenty thousand horse. He had ninety field guns and 
 twelve howitzers. There were, besides, thirty-five battalions 
 and eighty squadrons detached or in the forts ; and, as Eugene 
 soon took away twelve battalions and fifty squadrons from tho 
 allied army, the forces on the opposite sides, when they came 
 to blows, were very nearly equal.* 
 
 Marlborough took the field on the 1st of May with eighty 
 thousand men ; and his whole force was soon group- 
 
 b 1 Plan of the 
 
 ed hi and around Douay. The head-quarters of campaign. 
 
 # Lediard, ii., 42G. Coxe, vi., 21, 22. 
 
276 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Villars were at Cambray; but, seeing the forces of his adver¬ 
 sary thus accumulated at one point, he made a corresponding 
 concentration, and arranged his whole disposable forces be¬ 
 tween Bouchain on the right, and Monchy le Preux on the 
 left. The position of the French marshal, which extended in 
 a concave semicircle, with the fortresses covering either flank, 
 he considered, and with reason, as heyond the reach of attack. 
 The English general was meditating a great enterprise, which 
 shoidd at once deprive the enemy of all Iris defenses, and re¬ 
 duce him to the necessity of fighting a decisive battle, or losing 
 his last frontier fortresses. But he was overwhelmed with 
 gloomy anticipations; he felt his strength sinking under his 
 incessant and protracted fatigues, and knew well he was serv¬ 
 ing a party who, envious of Ids fame, were only ready to de¬ 
 cry his achievements.* He lay, accordingly, for three weeks, 
 waiting for his illustrious colleague, Prince Eugene, who ar¬ 
 rived on the 23d of May, in time to engage hi a great celebra¬ 
 tion of the anniversary of the victory at Ramillies, which had 
 taken place on that day. 
 
 The plans of the allied generals were soon formed ; and, 
 29- talcing advantage of the enthusiasm excited bv that 
 
 Fatal separa- . . J 
 
 tionofEu- commemoration, and the arrival of so illustrious a 
 
 gene with his . . 
 
 troops from warrior, preparations were made tor the immediate 
 
 Marlborough, „ . ^ 
 
 13th June. commencement ol active operations. On the 28th, 
 the two generals reviewed the whole army. But their de¬ 
 signs were soon interrupted by an event which changed the 
 whole fortune of the campaign. Early in June, Eugene re 
 ceived positive orders to march to Germany, with a consider¬ 
 able part of his troops, to oppose a French force which was 
 moving toward the Rhine to influence the approaching elec- 
 
 * "I see my Lord Rochester has gone where we all must follow. I be¬ 
 lieve my journey will be hastened by the many vexations I meet with. I 
 am sure I wish well to my country, and if I could do good, I should think 
 no pains too great; but I find myself decay so very fast, that from my heart 
 and soul I wish the queen and my country a peace by which I might have 
 the advantage of enjoying a little quiet, which is my greatest ambition.”— 
 Marlborough to the Duchess, 25th of May. 1711 Coxe, vi., 28. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 277 
 
 tion of the emperor. On the 13th of June, Eugene and 
 Marlborough separated, for the last time, with the deepest ex¬ 
 pressions of regret on both sides, and with gloomy forebodings 
 oi'the future. The former marched toward the Rhine with 
 twelve battalions and fifty squadrons, while Marlborough’s 
 whole remaining force moved to the right in six divisions.* 
 Though Villars was relieved by the departure of Eugene 
 from a considerable part of the force opposed to 3a 
 him, and he naturally felt desirous of now measur- ' Hattie by or" 
 ing his strength with his great antagonist in a de- ders ot Lou18, 
 cisive affair, yet he was restrained from hazarding a general 
 engagement. Louis, trusting to the progress of the Tory in¬ 
 trigues in England, and daily expecting to see Marlborough 
 and the war party overthrown, sent him positive orders not to 
 fight; and soon after detached twenty-five battalions and forty 
 squadrons, in two divisions, to the Upper Rhine, to watch the 
 movements of Eugene. Villars encouraged this separation, 
 representing that the strength of his position was such that he 
 could afiord to send a third detachment to the Upper Rhine, 
 if it was thought proper. Marlborough, therefore, in vain of¬ 
 fered battle, and drew up Ins army in the plain of Lens for 
 that purpose. Villars cautiously remained on the defensive ; 
 and, though he threw eighteen bridges over the Scarpe, and 
 made a show of hitending to fight, he cautiously abstained 
 from any steps which might bring on a general battle.! It 
 was not without good reason that Louis thus enjoined his lieu¬ 
 tenant to avoid compromising his army. The progress of the 
 negotiations with England gave him the fairest ground for 
 believing that he would obtain nearly all he desired, from the 
 favor with which he was regarded by the British cabinet, 
 without ruiming any risk. He had commenced a separate 
 negotiation with the court of St. James, which had been fa¬ 
 vorably received; and Mr. Secretary St. John had already 
 transmitted to Lord Raby, the new plenipotentiary at the 
 
 * Marlborough to St.John, 14th of June, 1711. Disp., v., 428. Coxe, 
 vi., 29, 30. t VlLLARS’s Mem., tom. ii., ami. 171] 
 
 A A 
 
278 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Hague, a sketch of six preliminary articles proposed by the 
 French king, which were to he the basis of a general peace.* 
 The high tone of these proposals proved how largely Louis 
 
 31. counted upon the altered dispositions of the British 
 gun a separate cabinet. The Spanish succession, the real object 
 gofJtion^th °f the w r ar, was evaded. Every thing was direct¬ 
 ed to British objects, and regulated by the desire 
 
 to tempt the commercial cupidity of England to the abandon¬ 
 ment of the great objects of her national policy. Real secu¬ 
 rity was promised to the British commerce with Spain, the 
 Indies, and the Mediterranean ; the barrier the Dutch had so 
 long contended for was agreed to; a reasonable satisfaction 
 was tendered to the allies of England and Holland; and, as 
 to the Spanish succession, it was to be left to “ new expedi¬ 
 ents to the satisfaction of all parties interested.” These pro¬ 
 posals were favorably received by the British ministry; they 
 were in secret communicated to the Pensionary Heinsius, but 
 concealed from the Austrian and Piedmontese plenipotentia¬ 
 ries ; and they were not communicated to Marlborough: a 
 decisive proof both of the altered feeling of the cabinet toward 
 that general, and of the consciousness on their part of the tor¬ 
 tuous path on which they were now entering.* 
 
 After much deliberation, and a due consideration of what 
 
 32. could be effected by the diminished force still at 
 determines to his disposal, which, by the successive drafts to Eu- 
 
 pass the ene- .. , , 
 
 my’s lines. gene s army, was now reduced to one hundred 
 and nineteen battalions and two hundred and fity-six squad¬ 
 rons, not mustering above seventy-five thousand combatants, 
 Marlborough determined to break through the enemy’s boast¬ 
 ed lines, and, after doing so, undertake the siege of Bouchain, 
 the possession of which would give him a solid footing within 
 the French frontier. With this view, he had long and mi- 
 
 * Bolingbrokf.’s Corresp., i., 172. 
 
 t “ The Duke of Marlborough has no communication from home on this 
 affair; I suppose he will have none from the Hague.”— Mr. Secretary St. 
 John to Lord, Raby, 27th of April, 1711. BolingbROKe's Corresp., i., 175. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 279 
 
 nutely studied the lines of Villars; and he hoped that, even 
 with the force at his disposal, they might he broken through. 
 To accomplish this, however, required an extraordinary combi¬ 
 nation of stratagem and force ; and the manner in which Marl¬ 
 borough contrived to unite them, and bring the ardent mind 
 and lively imagination of his adversary to play into his hands, 
 to the defeat of all the objects he had most at heart, is perhaps 
 the most wonderful part of his whole military achievements.* 
 During his encampment at Lewarde, opposite Villars, the 
 English general had observed that a triangular 33. 
 
 . . .. His project for 
 
 piece of ground in front of the French position, he- achieving this, 
 tween Cambray, Aubanchocil-au-bac, and the junction of the 
 Sauzet and Scheldt, offered a position so strong, that a small 
 body of men might defend it against a very considerable force. 
 He resolved to make the occupation of this inconsiderable piece 
 of ground the pivot on which the whole passage of the lines 
 should be effected. A redoubt at Aubigny, which command¬ 
 ed the approach to this position, was first carried without dif¬ 
 ficulty. Arleux, which also was fortified, was next attacked 
 by seven hundred men, who issued from Douay in the night. 
 That post also was taken, with one hundred and twenty pris¬ 
 oners. Marlborough instantly used all imaginable expedition 
 in strengthening it; and Villars, jealous of a fortified post so 
 close to his lines remaining in the hands of the allies, attacked 
 it in the night of the 9th of July; and, though he failed in 
 retaking the work, he surprised the allies at that point, and 
 made two hundred men and four hundred horses prisoners. 
 Though much chagrined at the success of this nocturnal at¬ 
 tack, the English general now saw his designs advancing to 
 maturity. He therefore left Arleux to its own resources, and 
 marched toward Bethune. That fort was immediately at¬ 
 tacked by Marshal Montesquieu, and, after a stout resistance, 
 carried by the French, who made the garrison, five hundred 
 strong, prisoners. Villars immediately razed Arleux to the 
 ground, and withdrew his troops; while Marlborough, who 
 * Coxe, vi., 52-54. 
 
280 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 was in hopes the lure of these successes would induce Villars 
 to hazard a general engagement, shut himself up in his tent, 
 and appeared to be overwhelmed with mortification at the 
 checks he had received.* 
 
 Villars was so much elated with these successes, and the 
 34 . accounts he received of Marlborough’s chagrin, 
 fore^cuting that he wrote to the King of France a vainglori- 
 in"theenemy ous l e V er > hi which lie boasted that he had at 
 4th August. length brought his antagonist to a ne plus ultra. 
 Meanwhile, Marlborough sent off his heavy baggage to Douay, 
 dispatched his artillery under a proper guard to the rear, and, 
 with all imaginable secrecy, obtained supplies of bread for 
 the whole troops for six days. Thus disencumbered and pre¬ 
 pared, he broke up at four in the morning on the 1st of Au¬ 
 gust, and marched in eight columns toward the front. Dur¬ 
 ing the three following days the troops were kept collected, 
 and menacing sometimes one part of the French lines and 
 sometimes another, so as to leave the real point of attack in 
 a state of uncertainty. Seriously alarmed, Villars concentra¬ 
 ted his whole force opposite the allies, and drew in all his de-. 
 tachments, evacuating even Aubigny and Arleux, the object of 
 so much eager contention some days before. On the evening of 
 the 4th, Marlborough, affecting great chagrin at the check he 
 had received, spoke openly to those around him of his inten¬ 
 tion of avenging them by a general action, and pointed to the 
 direction the attacking columns were to take. He then re¬ 
 turned to the camp, and gave orders to prepare for battle 
 Gloom hung on every countenance of those around him ; it 
 appeared nothing short of an act of madness to attack an en¬ 
 emy superior in number, and strongly posted in a camp sur 
 rounded with intrenchments and bristling with cannon. They 
 ascribed it to desperation, produced by the mortifications re¬ 
 ceived from the government, and feared that, by one rash act, 
 he would lose the fruit of all his victories. Proportionally 
 great was the joy in the French camp, when the men, never 
 * Kane’s Memoirs, p. 89. Coxr., vi., 53-55. Disp., v., 421-428 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 281 
 
 doubting they were on the eve of a glorious victory, spent the 
 night in the exultation which, in that excitable people, has so 
 often been the prelude to disaster.* 
 
 Having brought the feeling of both armies to this point, 
 and produced a concentration of Villars’s army di- 35 . 
 rectly in his front, Marlborough, at dusk on the lYnee'with en° 
 4th, ordered the drums to heat, and, before the roll tire succees - 
 had ceased, directions were given for the tents to be struck. 
 Meanwhile Cadogan secretly left the camp, and met twenty- 
 three battalions and seventeen squadrons, drawn from the gar¬ 
 risons of Lille and Tournay, and other towns in the rear, 
 which instantly marched ; and, continuing to advance all 
 night, they passed the lines rapidly to the left, at Arleux, and 
 without opposition, at break of day. A little before nine, the 
 allied mam army began to defile rapidly to the left, through 
 the woods of Villers and Neuville, Marlborough himself lead¬ 
 ing the van at the head of fifty squadrons. With such expe¬ 
 dition did they march, still holding steadily on to the left, that 
 before five in the morning of the 5th they reached Vitry on 
 the Scarpe, where they fomrd pontoons ready for their passage, 
 and a considerable train of field artillery. At the same time, 
 the English general received the welcome intelligence of Ca- 
 dogan’s success. He instantly dispatched orders to every man 
 and horse to press forward without delay. Such was the ar¬ 
 dor of tire troops, who all saw the brilliant maneuver by which 
 they had outwitted the enemy, and rendered all their labor 
 abortive, that they marched sixteen hours without once halt¬ 
 ing ; and by ten next morning, the whole had passed the en¬ 
 emy’s lines without opposition, and without firing a shot.f 
 Villars received intelligence of the night-march having be¬ 
 gun at eleven at night; but so utterly was lie in 3G 
 the dark as to the plan his opponent was pursuing, ^success 1 * 
 that he came up to Verger, when Marlborough had tlms s ained - 
 
 * Kane’s Memoirs, p. 92. Marlborough to Mr. Secretary St. John, 6tb 
 of August, 1711. Disp., v., 428. 
 
 t Coxe, vi., 60-63. Kane, 96-99. Marl., Disp., v., 428. 
 
 A A 2 
 
282 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 drawn up his army on the inner side of the lines in order of 
 battle, attended only by a hundred dragoons, and narrowly es¬ 
 caped being made prisoner. Altogether, the allied troops 
 marched thirty-six miles in sixteen hours, the most part of 
 them in the dark, and crossed several rivers, without either 
 falling into confusion or sustaining any loss. The annals of 
 war scarcely afford an example of such a success being gained 
 in so bloodless a manner. The famous French lines, which 
 Villars boasted w y ould form the nc plus ultra of Marlborough, 
 had been passed without losing a man; the labor of nine 
 months was at once rendered of no avail; and the French 
 army, in deep dejection, had no alternative but to retire imder 
 the camion of Cambray.* 
 
 This great success at once restored the luster of Marlbor- 
 37 . ough’s reputation, and for a short season put to si- 
 mentofthe lence liis detractors. Eugene, with the generosity 
 chain°8th° U " which formed so striking a feature in his character, 
 A ugust. wrote to congratulate him on his achievement ;f 
 and even Bolingbroke admitted that this bloodless triumph 
 rivaled his greatest achievements.:!: Marlborough immedi¬ 
 ately commenced the siege of Bouchain ; but this was an en¬ 
 terprise of no small difficulty, as it w T as to be accomplished on 
 very difficult ground, in presence of an army superior in force. 
 
 * Marlborough to Mr. Secretary St. John, 6th of August, 1711. Disp., v., 
 428. Coxe, vi., 60-65. Kane’s Mil. Mem., 96-99. 
 
 t “ No person takes a greater interest in your concerns than myself; your 
 highness has penetrated into the ne plus ultra. I hope the siege of Bou¬ 
 chain will not last long.”— Eugene to Marlborough, 17th of August, 1771. 
 Coxe, vi., 66. 
 
 t “ My Lord Stair opened to us the general steps which your grace in¬ 
 tended to take, in order to pass the lines in one part or another. It was, 
 however, hard to imagine, and too much to hope, that a plan, which consist¬ 
 ed of so many parts, wherein so many different corps were to co-operate 
 personally together, should entirely succeed, and no one article fail of what 
 your grace had projected. I most heartily congratulate your grace on this 
 great event, of which I think no more needs be said, than that you have ob¬ 
 tained, without losing a man, such an advantage as we should have been 
 glad to have purchased with the loss of several thousand lives.”— Mr. Sec¬ 
 retary St.John to Marlborough, 31st of July, 1711. Disp., v., 429. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 283 
 
 The investment was formed on the very day after the lines 
 had been passed, and an important piece of ground occupied, 
 which might have enabled Villars to communicate with the 
 town, and regain the defensible position. On the morning of 
 the 8 th of August a bridge was thrown over the Scheldt at 
 Neuville, and sixty squadrons passed over, which barred the 
 road from Douay. Villars, upon this, threw thirty battalions 
 across the Senzet, and made himself master of a hill above, 
 on which he began to erect works, which would have kept 
 open his communications with the town on its southern front. 
 Marlborough at once saw this design, and at first determined 
 to storm the works ere they were completed; and, with this 
 view, General Fagel, with a strong body of troops, was se¬ 
 cretly passed over the river. But Villars having heard of the 
 design, attacked the allied posts at Ivry with such vigor, that 
 Marlborough was obliged to countermarch in haste to be at 
 hand to support them. Baffled in this attempt, Marlborough 
 erected a chain of works on the right bank of the Scheldt, 
 from Houdain, through Ivry, to the Sette, near Haspres, while 
 Cadogan strengthened himself with similar works on the left. 
 Villars, however, still retained the fortified position which has 
 been mentioned, and which kept up his communication with 
 the town ; and the cutting him off from this was another, and 
 the last, of Marlborough’s brilliant field operations.* 
 
 Notwithstanding all the diligence with which Villars la¬ 
 bored to strengthen his men on this important po- 33 
 sition, he could not equal the activity with which erations on° P " 
 the English general strove to supplant them. [|° ( | 1 ‘y K jj‘ r s (i ' r i , ur ' 
 During the night of the 13th three redoubts were rcss - 
 marked out, which would have completed the French mar¬ 
 shal’s communication with the town ; but on the morning of 
 the 14th they were all stormed by a large body of the allied 
 troops before the works could be armed. That very day the 
 allies carried their zigzag down to the very edge of a morass 
 which adjoined Bouchain on the south, so as to command a 
 * Marlborough to Secretary St. John, 10th of August, 1711. Disp.,v., 137. 
 
284 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 causeway through the marshes from that town to Cambray, 
 which the French still held, communicating with the be¬ 
 sieged town. But, to complete the investment, it was neces¬ 
 sary to win this causeway; and this last object was gained 
 by Marlborough with equal daring and success. A battery, 
 commanding the road, had been placed by Yillars in a re¬ 
 doubt garrisoned by six hundred men, supported by three 
 thousand more close hi their rear. Marlborough, with incred¬ 
 ible labor and diligence, constructed two roads, made of fas¬ 
 cines, through part of the marsh, so as to render it passable 
 to foot soldiers; and, on the night of the 16th, six hundred 
 chosen grenadiers were sent across them to attack the in¬ 
 trenched battery. They rapidly advanced hi the dark till the 
 fascine path ended, and then boldly plunging hito the marsh, 
 struggled on, w'ith the water often up to their arm-pits, till 
 they reached the foot of the intrenchment, into which they 
 rushed, without firing a shot, with fixed bayonets. So com¬ 
 plete was the surprise, that the enemy were driven from their 
 guns with the loss only of six men; the work was carried; 
 and with such diligence were its defenses strengthened, that, 
 before morning, it was hi a condition to bid defiance to any 
 attack.* 
 
 Villars was now effectually cut off from Bouchain, and the 
 39 operations of the siege were conducted with the ut- 
 chain f Jept most vigor. On the night of the 21st the trenches 
 12 - were opened; three separate attacks were pushed 
 
 at the same time against the eastern, western, and southern 
 faces of the town, and a huge train of heavy guns and mor¬ 
 tars thundered upon the works without intermission. The 
 progress of the operations, notwithstanding a vigorous defense 
 by the besieged, was unusually rapid. As fast as the out¬ 
 works were breached they were stormed; and repeated at¬ 
 tempts on the part of Villars to raise the siege were baffled 
 by the skillful disposition and strong ground taken by Marl- 
 
 * Coxe, vi., 71-80. Marlborough to Mr. Secretary St. John, 14tli, 17th 
 and 20th of August, 1711. Disp-,v., 445-450-453. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 285 
 
 borough with the covering army. At length, on the 12th of 
 September, as the counterscarp was blown down, the rampart 
 breached, and an assault of the fortress in preparation, the 
 governor agreed to capitulate ; and the garrison, still three 
 thousand strong, marched out upon the glacis, laid down their 
 arms, and were conducted prisoners to Tournay.* The two 
 armies then remained in then - respective positions, the French 
 under the cannon of Cambray, the allied in the middle of 
 their lines, resting on Bouchain. Marlborough here gave 
 proof of the courtesy of his disposition, as well as of his re¬ 
 spect for exalted learning and piety, by planting a detachment 
 of his troops to protect the estates of Fenelon, archbishop of 
 Cambray, and to conduct the grain from thence to the dwell¬ 
 ing of the illustrious prelate in the town, which noxv began to 
 be straitened for provisions.! 
 
 After the reduction of Bouchain, Marlborough was anxious 
 
 to commence without delay the siege of Quesnoy, 40. 
 
 *1 . Ostensible 
 
 the capture of which would, m that quarter, have preparations 
 
 entirely broken through the French barrier. He real secret 
 
 vigorously stimulated his own government accord- for peace” by 
 
 ingly, as well as that at the Hague, to prepare the sntiTsep'tP' 
 
 necessary supplies and magazines, and expressed a sanguine 
 
 hope that the capture of this last stronghold would be the 
 
 means of bringing about the grand object of his ambition, a 
 
 general peace.! The ministry, to appearance, went with 
 
 alacrity into his projects, and every thing seemed to promise 
 
 another great success, closing the campaign with honor, and 
 
 probably leading to a glorious and lasting peace. Mr. Secre- 
 
 * Marlborough to Mr. Secretary St. John, 14tli of Sept., 1711. Disp., v., 
 490. Coxe. vi., 78-88. 
 
 t Victoires de Marlborough, iii., 22. Coxe, vi., 87. 
 
 t “The siege, so far as it depends on me, shall be pushed with all possi¬ 
 ble vigor, and I do not altogether despair but that, from the success of this 
 campaign, we may hear of some advances made toward that which we so 
 much desire. And I shall esteem it much the happiest part of my life if I 
 can be instrumental in putting a good end to the war, which grows so burden¬ 
 some to our country, as well as to our allies.’’— Marlborough to Lord Oxford, 
 Aug. 20, 1711. Coxe, vi., 92. 
 
286 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tary St. John, in particular, wrote in the warmest style of 
 cordiality, approving the project in his own name as well as 
 in that of the queen, and reiterating the assurances that the 
 strongest representations had been made to the Dutch, with a 
 view to their hearty concurrence. But all this was a mere 
 cover to conceal V'hat the Tories had really been doing to 
 overturn Marlborough, and abandon the main objects of the 
 war. Unknown to him, the secret negotiation with the 
 French cabinet, through Torcy and the British ministers, by 
 the agency of Mesnager, had been making rapid progress. 
 No representations about providing supplies were made to the 
 Dutch, wdio were fully in the secret of the pending negotia¬ 
 tion ; and on the 27th of September, preliminaries of peace, 
 on the basis of the seven articles proposed by Louis, were 
 signed by Mesnager on the part of France, and by the two 
 English secretaries of state, in virtue of a special warrant 
 *Yom the queen.* 
 
 The conditions of these preliminaries, which w r ere after- 
 41 . ward imbodied in the Treaty of Utrecht, were the 
 theTpreHmin^ acknowledgment of the queen’s title to the throne, 
 were iv-reed an< l of the Protestant succession, by Louis ; an en¬ 
 gagement to take all just and reasonable measures 
 that the crowns of France and Spain should never be united 
 on the same head; the providing a sufficient barrier to the 
 Dutch, the empire, and the house of Austria ; and the demo¬ 
 lition of Dunkirk, on a proper equivalent. But the crown of 
 Spain was left to the Duke of Anjou, and no provision whatev 
 er was made to exclude a Bourbon prince from succeeding to it. 
 Thus the main object of the contest—the exclusion of the Bour¬ 
 bon family from the throne of Spain—w r as abandoned ; and at 
 the close of the most important, successful, and glorious w-ar 
 ever w r aged by England, terms were agreed to which left to 
 France advantages which could scarcely have been hoped by 
 the cabinet of Versailles as the fruit of a long series of victories. 
 
 Marlborough felt deeply chagrined at this clandestine ne- 
 * Coxe, vi., 93. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 287 
 
 eotiation, which not only deprived him of the main 42. 
 
 6 . J , r Marlborough 
 
 obiect for which, during; his great career, he had returns home 
 J . ... . deeply hurt at 
 
 been contending, but evinced a duplicity and want this ciandes- 
 n n r t • , , tine accom- 
 
 oi confidence on the part of his own government at modation. 
 its close, which was a melancholy return for such inestimable 
 public services.* But it was of no avail; the secession of 
 England proved, as he had foreseen from the outset, a death¬ 
 blow to the confederacy. Finding that nothing more was to 
 be done, either at the head of the army or in directing the 
 negotiations, he returned home by the Brille, after putting his 
 army into winter cpiarters, and landed at Greenwich on the 
 17th of November. Though well aware of the private envy, 
 as well as political hostility of which he was the object, he 
 did nothing that could lower or compromise his high charac¬ 
 ter and lofty position; but in an interview with the queen, 
 fully expressed his opinion on the impolicy of the course which 
 her ministers were now adopting.! He adopted the same 
 manly course in the noble speech which he made in his place 
 in Parliament, on the debate on the address. Ministers had 
 put into the royal speech the unworthy expression, “ I am 
 glad to tell you, that notwithstanding the arts of those ivlio 
 delight in war, both place and time are appointed for opening 
 the treaty of a general peace.” Lord Anglesea followed this 
 up by declaring, in the course of the debate, that the country 
 might have enjoyed the blessing of peace soon after the battle 
 of Ramillies, “ if it had not been deferred by some person 
 whose interest it was to prolong the war.” 
 
 * "As you have given me encouragement to enter into the strictest confi¬ 
 dence with you, I beg your friendly advice in what manner I am to conduct 
 myself. You can not but imagine it would be a terrible mortification for me 
 to pass by the Hague when our plenipotentiaries are there, and myself a 
 stranger to their transactions; and what hopes can I have of auy counte¬ 
 nance at home if I am not thought fit to be trusted abroad V — Marlborough 
 to the Lord Treasurer, 21st of Oct., 1711. 
 
 t “I hear that, in his conversation with the queen, the Duke of Marlbor¬ 
 ough has spoken against what we are doing ; in short, his fate hangs heavy 
 upon him, and he has of late pursued every counsel which was worst for 
 him Bolingbrokc's Letters, i., 480, Nov. 24, 1711. 
 
288 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Fusing upon this, with inexpressible dignity, and turning to 
 43 . where the queen sat, Marlborough said, “ I appeal 
 noble speech ' to the queen whether I did not constantly, while 
 ifonseofPeers^ I was plenipotentiary, give her majesty and her 
 ioth Dec., Lii. colluc j| an account of all the propositions which 
 were made, and whether I did not desire instruction for my 
 conduct on this subject. I can declare with a good conscience, 
 in the presence of her majesty, of this illustrious assembly, 
 and of God himself, who is infinitely superior to all the pow¬ 
 ers of the earth, and before whom, by the ordinary course of 
 nature, I shall soon appear to render account of my actions, 
 that I was very desirous of a safe, honorable, and lasting 
 peace, and was very far from wishing to prolong the war for 
 my own private advantage, as several libels and discourses 
 have most falsely insinuated. My great age, and my numer¬ 
 ous fatigues in war, make me ardently wish for the power to 
 enjoy a quiet repose, in order to think of eternity. As to oth¬ 
 er matters, I have not the least inducement, on any account, 
 to desire the continuance of the war for my own interest, since 
 my services have been so generously rewarded by her majesty 
 and her Parliament; but I think myself obliged to make such 
 an acknowledgment to her majesty and my country, that I 
 am always ready to serve them, whenever my duty may re¬ 
 quire, to obtain an honorable and lasting peace. Yet I can 
 by no means acquiesce in the measures that have been taken 
 to enter into a negotiation of peace with France, upon the 
 foot of some pretended preliminaries, which are now circula¬ 
 ted, since my opinion is the same as that of most of the allies, 
 that to leave Spain and the West Indies to the house of Bour¬ 
 bon will be the entire ruin of Europe , which I have with all 
 fidelity and humility declared to her majesty, when I had the 
 honor to wait upon her after my arrival from Holland.”* 
 
 This manly declaration, delivered in the most emphatic 
 manner, produced a great impression; a resolution against min¬ 
 isters, and an address imbodying these sentiments, were car- 
 * Pari. Hist., 10th of December, 1711. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 289 
 
 ried in the House of Peers by a majority of twelve. „ , 41 ■ 
 
 J J Resolution car- 
 
 To this address the queen replied, “ I take your ried against 
 
 ministers in 
 
 thanks kindly, but should be sorry that any one the Peers. 
 should think I ivould not do my utmost to recover Spain and 
 the West Indies from the hmisc of Bourbon." In the Com¬ 
 mons, however, they had a large majority, and an address 
 containing expressions similar to those used by Lord Anglesea, 
 reflecting on Marlborough, was introduced and carried. 
 
 The Whig majority, however, continued firm in the Upper 
 House, and the leaders of that party began to en- 45 . 
 
 , , • -i r mi Counter address 
 
 tertam sanguine hopes ot success. 1 he queen cnr ried in the 
 had let fall some peevish expressions in regard to jir^s^uSou'of 
 her ministers. She had given her hand, in re- the queel1 ' 
 tiring from the House of Peers on the 15th of December, to 
 the Duke of Somerset instead of her own lord-treasurer; it 
 was apprehended that her old partiality for Marlborough was 
 about to return; Mrs. Masham was in the greatest alarm ; 
 and St. John declared to Swift that the queen was false.* 
 The ministers of the whole alliance seconded the efforts of the 
 Whigs, and strongly represented the injurious effects which 
 would ensue to the cause of European independence in gen¬ 
 eral, and the interests of England in particular, if the prelim¬ 
 inaries which had been agreed to should be made the basis 
 of a general peace. The Dutch made strong and repeated 
 representations on the subject, and the Elector of Hanover 
 delivered a memorial strongly urging the danger which would 
 ensue if Spain and the Indies were allow’ed to remain in the 
 hands of a Bourbon prince. 
 
 Deeming themselves pushed to extremities, and having fail¬ 
 ed in all attempts to detach Marlborough from the Whigs, 
 Bolingbroke and the ministers resolved on the desperate meas¬ 
 ure of bringing forward an accusation against him, of fraud 
 
 * Swift’s Journal to Stella, Dec. 8, 1711. Swift said to the lord-treas¬ 
 urer, in his usual ironical style, “ If there is no remedy, your lordship will 
 lose your head; but 1 shall only be hung, and so carry my body entire to the 
 grave.”— Coxe, vi., 148-157. 
 
 B B 
 
290 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 46. 
 
 The Tories dis¬ 
 miss Marlbor¬ 
 ough, charge 
 him with pec¬ 
 ulation, and 
 swamp the 
 House of Peers, 
 31st Dec. 
 
 and peculation in the management of the public 
 moneys intrusted to Iris management in the 
 Flemish campaign. The charges were founded 
 on the report of certain commissioners to whom 
 the matter had been remitted, and which charged 
 the duke with having appropriated £63,319 of the public 
 moneys destined for the use of the English troops, and 
 £282,366, as a per centage of two per cent, on the sum paid 
 to foreign embassadors during the ten years of the war. In 
 reply to these abominable insinuations, the letter of the duke 
 to the commissioners was published on the 27th of December, 
 in which he entirely refuted the charges, and showed that he 
 had never received any sums or perquisites not sanctioned by 
 previous and uniform usage, and far fewer than had been re¬ 
 ceived by the general in the reign of William III. And in 
 regard to the £282,000 of per centage on foreign subsidies, 
 this was proved to have been a voluntary gift from those pow¬ 
 ers to the English general, authorized by their signatures and 
 sanctioned by warrants from the queen. This answer made 
 a great impression ; but ministers had gone too far to retreat, 
 and they ventured on a step which, for the honor of the coun¬ 
 try, has never, even in the Avorst times, been since repeated 
 Trusting to their majority in the Commons, they dismissed 
 the duke from all his situations on the 31st of December, and 
 in order to stifle the \ r oice of justice in the Upper House, on 
 the following day patents Avere issued calling twelve new peers 
 to the Upper House. On the following day they were intro¬ 
 duced, amid the groans of the House; the Whig noblemen, 
 says a cotemporary annalist, “ casting their eyes on the ground, 
 as if they had been invited to the funeral of the peerage.”* 
 Unbounded was the joy diffused among the enemies of En¬ 
 gland by these unparalleled measures. On hear¬ 
 ing of Marlborough’s fall, Louis XIV. said with 
 triumph, “ The dismission of Marlborough will do 
 all we can desire.” The court of St. Germain’s 
 * Cunningham, ii., 367. 
 
 47. 
 
 Universal joy 
 among the en¬ 
 emies of En¬ 
 gland, and gen¬ 
 erous conduct 
 of Eugene. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 291 
 
 was in exultation ; and the general joy of the Jacobites, both 
 at home and abroad, was sufficient to demonstrate how formi¬ 
 dable an enemy to their cause they regarded the duke ; and 
 how destitute of truth are the attempts to show that he had 
 been engaged in a secret design to restore the exiled family. 
 Marlborough disdained to make any defense of himself in Par¬ 
 liament ; but an able answer on his part was prepared and 
 circulated, which entirely refuted the whole charges against 
 the illustrious general. So convinced were ministers of this, 
 that, contenting themselves with resolutions against him in 
 the House of Commons, where their influence was predomi¬ 
 nant, they declined to prefer any impeachment, or accusation 
 in the Upper House, swamped even as it was by their recent 
 creations. In the midst of this disgraceful scene of passion, 
 envy, and ingratitude, Prince Eugene arrived in London for 
 the purpose of trying to stem the torrent, and, if possible, pre¬ 
 vent the secession of England from the confederacy. He was 
 lodged with the lord-treasurer, and the generous prince omit¬ 
 ted no opportunity of testifying, in the day of his tribulation, 
 his undiminished respect for his illustrious rival. The treas¬ 
 urer having said to him at a great dinner, “ I consider this 
 day as the happiest of my life, since I have the honor to see 
 in my house the greatest captain of the age.” “ If it be so,” 
 replied Eugene, “ I owe it to your lordshipalluding to his 
 dismissal of Marlborough, winch had caused him to cease to 
 be one. On another occasion, some one having pointed out a 
 passage in one of the libels against Marlborough, in which he 
 was said to have been “ perhaps once fortunate,” “ It is true,” 
 said Eugene, “ he was once fortunate, and it is the greatest 
 praise which can be bestowed on him ; for, as he was always 
 successful, that implies that all his other successes were owing 
 to his own conduct.”* 
 
 Alarmed at the weight which Marlborough might derive 
 from the presence and support of so great a commander, and 
 the natural sympathy of all generous minds at the cordial ad- 
 * Burnet’s History of his own Times, vi., 116 . 
 
292 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 48. miration which these two great men entertained 
 of the Tones for each other, the ministers had recourse to a pre- 
 queena^ainst tended conspiracy, which it was alleged had heen 
 Marlborough. ( j] scovere( j j on t] le p al q of Marlborough and Eugene, 
 to seize the government and dethrone the queen, on the 17th 
 of November. St. John and Oxford had too much sense to 
 publish such a ridiculous statement; but it was made the 
 subject of several secret examinations before the Privy Coun 
 cil, in order to augment the apprehensions and secure the 
 concurrence of the queen in their measures. Such as it was, 
 the tale was treated as a mere malicious invention even by 
 the cotemporary foreign annalists,* though it has since heen 
 repeated as true by more than one party historian of our own 
 country.! This ridiculous calumny, and the atrocious libels 
 as to the embezzlement of the public money, however, pro 
 duced the desired effect. They inflamed the mind of the 
 queen, and removed that vacillation in regard to the meas¬ 
 ures of government, from which so much danger had heen ap¬ 
 prehended by the Tory administration. Having answered 
 the desired end, they were allowed quietly to go to sleep. No 
 proceedings in the House of Peers, or elsewhere, followed the 
 resolutions of the Commons condemnatory of Marlborough's 
 financial administration in the Low Countries. His defense, 
 published in the newspapers, though abundantly vigorous, 
 was neither answered nor prosecuted as a libel on the com¬ 
 missioners or House of Commons; and the alleged Stuart 
 conspiracy was never more heard of, till it was long after 
 drawn from its slumber by the malice of English party spirit. 
 
 Meanwhile the negotiations at Utrecht for a general peace 
 
 49. continued, and St. John and Oxford soon found 
 hri'doirumdsat themselves embarrassed by the extravagant pre¬ 
 turns intoaprri tensions which their own favor had revived in the 
 tween FnLce plenipotentiaries of Louis. So great w r as the gen- 
 and England. era } indignation excited by the publication of the 
 
 * Mem. De Torcy , iii., 268, 269. 
 
 t Swift’s Years of Queen Anne, 59. Coniin.of Rapin, xviii., 468, 8vo. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 293 
 
 preliminaries at Utrecht, that St. John felt the necessity of 
 discontinuing' any general negotiation, and converting it into 
 a private correspondence between the plenipotentiaries of the 
 English and French crowns.* Great difficulty was experi¬ 
 enced in coming to an accommodation, hi consequence of the 
 rising demands of the French plenipotentiaries, who, deeming 
 themselves secure of support from the English ministry, not 
 only positively refused to abandon Spain and the Indies, but 
 now demanded the Netherlands for the Elector of Bavaria, 
 and the cession of Lille and Tournay in return for the seizure 
 of Dunkirk. The sudden death, however, first of the Dau- 
 phiness of France, and then of the dauphin, the former of 
 whom was carried off by a malignant fever on the 12th, the 
 latter on the 18th of February, 1712, followed by the death 
 of their eldest son on the 23d, produced feelings of commis¬ 
 eration for the aged monarch, now in his seventy-third year, 
 and broken down by misfortunes, which rendered the progress 
 of the separate negotiations more easy. England agreed to 
 abandon its allies, and the main object of the war, on condi¬ 
 tion that a guarantee should be obtained against the crowns 
 of France and Spain being united on the same head. On 
 this frail security, and the promised demolition of Dunkirk, 
 the English ministry agreed to withdraw their contingent 
 from the allied army ; and to induce the Dutch to follow then- 
 example, Ypres was offered to them on the same terms as 
 Dunkirk had been to Great Britain.! So overjoyed was 
 Louis at the signing of these conditions on the part of Bol- 
 ingbroke, that he immediately sent Queen Anne a present of 
 six splendid dresses, and two thousand Jive hundred bottles of 
 Champagne.X 
 
 The disastrous effects of this secret and dishonorable seces- 
 
 * “The French will see that there is a possibility of reviving the love of 
 war in our people, by the indignation that has been expressed at the plan 
 given in at Utrecht.’’ — Mr. Secretary St. John to Brit. Plenip., Dec. 28, 
 1711. Bolingbkoke-’s Corresp., ii., 93. 
 
 t Coxe, vi., 189, 194. t Capefigue, Louis XIV., vi., 249. 
 
 B B 2 
 
294 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 50 . sion, on the part of England, from the confederacy, 
 UeJand°French were soon apparent. Great had been the prep- 
 despSatesituff- orations of the continental allies for continuing 
 tion of Louis. con test; and while the English contingent re¬ 
 
 mained with them, their force was irresistible. Prince Eu¬ 
 gene was at the head of the army in Flanders, and, including 
 the British forces under the Duke of Ormond, it amounted to 
 the immense force of one hundred and twenty-two thousand 
 effective men, with one hundred and twenty guns, sixteen 
 howitzers, and an ample pontoon train. To oppose this, by 
 far the largest army the French had yet had to confront in 
 the Low Countries, Villars had scarcely at his command one 
 hundred thousand men, and they were ill equipped, imper¬ 
 fectly supplied with artillery, and grievously depressed in 
 spirit by a long series of disasters. Eugene commanded the 
 forces of the confederates ; for although the English ministry 
 had been lavish in their promises of unqualified support, the 
 Dutch had begun to entertain serious suspicions of their sin¬ 
 cerity, and bestowed the command on that tried officer in¬ 
 stead of the Duke of Ormond, who had succeeded Marlbor¬ 
 ough in the command of the English contingent. But Marl¬ 
 borough’s soul still directed the movements of the army ; and 
 Eugene’s plan of the campaign was precisely that which that 
 great commander had chalked out at the close of the preced¬ 
 ing one. This was to besiege Quesnoy and Landrecies, the 
 last of those fortresses forming the iron barrier of France 
 which in this quarter protected the frontier, and immediately 
 after to inundate the open country, and advance as rapidly as 
 possible to Paris. It was calculated they might reach it in 
 ten marches from Landrecies; and it was well known that 
 there was neither a defensible position nor fortress of any sort 
 to arrest the invaders’ march. Already the light horse had 
 overspread the country as far as the Oise, within forty miles 
 of Paris, and a plan had even been formed for surprising the 
 king in his palace of Versailles by a body of hussars, which 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 295 
 
 had very nearly succeeded.* The court of Versailles was in 
 despair; the general opinion was, that the king should leave 
 Paris and retire to Blois ; and although the proud spirit of 
 Louis recoiled at such a proposal, yet, in taking leave of Mar¬ 
 shal Villars, he declared, “ Should a disaster occur, I will go 
 to Peronne or St. Quentin, collect all my troops, and with you 
 risk a last effort, determined to perish or save the state.”! 
 
 But the French monarch was spared this last desperate 
 alternative. The defection of the British cabinet 51 
 
 The defection 
 
 saved his throne when all his means of defense of Britain 
 
 . saves France, 
 
 were exhausted. Eugene, on opening the cam- Mayio. 
 paign on the 1st of May, anxiously inquired of the Duke of 
 Ormond whether he had authority to act vigorously in the 
 campaign, and received an answer that he had the same au¬ 
 thority as the Duke of Marlborough, and was prepared to join 
 in attacking the enemy. Preparations were immediately made 
 for forcing the enemy’s hues, which covered Quesnoy, previous 
 to an attack on that fortress. But at the very time that this 
 was going on, the work of perfidious defection was consum¬ 
 mated. On the 1 Oth of May, Mr. Secretary St. John sent 
 positive orders to Ormond to take no part in any general en¬ 
 gagement, as the questions at issue between the contending 
 parties were on the point of adjustment.! Intimation of this 
 
 * La Scarpe une fois passee, toute la province de Picardie fut couverte 
 de partisans eunemies ; on vit des hussards Allemands sur les bords de 
 l’Oise, des hardis cavaliers vinrent meme 4 quelquis lieues de Versailles 
 pour effrayer lo vieux raouarque, dans son palais de Versailles, plein de 
 grandeur et de merveilles.— Capefigue, Louis XIV., vi., 147, 148. 
 
 t Mtrri. de Villars, ii., 197. 
 
 J “ Her majesty, my lord, has reason to believe that we shall come to an 
 agreement upon the great article of the union of the monarchies as soon as 
 a courier sent from Versailles to Madrid can return. It is, therefore, the 
 queen's positive command to your grace that you avoid engaging in any 
 siege, or hazarding a battle, till you have further orders from her majesty. 
 I am, at the same time, directed to let your grace know that you are to dis¬ 
 guise the receipt of this order; and her majesty thinks you can not want pre¬ 
 tenses for conducting yourself, without owning that which might at present 
 have an ill effect if it was publicly known. P.S. —I had almost forgot to tell 
 your grace that communication is made of this order to the court of France, 
 
 » 
 
296 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 private order was sent to the court of France, but it was di¬ 
 rected ‘to be kept a positive secret from the allied geherals. 
 Ormond, upon the receipt of these orders, opened a private 
 correspondence with Villars, informing him that their troops 
 were no longer enemies, and that the future movements of the 
 forces under his command would only be to get forage and 
 provisions. 
 
 This correspondence was unknown to Eugene ; hut circum- 
 50 stances soon brought the defection of England to 
 ture'o't^Ques 3 -" light. In the middle of it, the allied forces had 
 noy, July ic. p as5C( j the Scheldt, and taken post between Noyel- 
 ler and the Boiase, close to Villars’s position. To bring the 
 sincerity of the English to a test, Eugene proposed a general 
 attack on the enemy’s lines, which was open and exposed, 
 on the 28th of May. But Ormond declined, requesting the 
 operation might be delayed for a few days. The defection 
 was now apparent, and the Dutch deputies loudly condemned 
 such dishonorable conduct; but Eugene, anxious to make the 
 most of the presence of the British troops, though their co-op¬ 
 eration could no longer be relied on, proposed to besiege Ques- 
 noy, which was laid open by Villars’s retreat. Ormond, who 
 felt acutely the painful and discreditable situation in which, 
 without any fault of his own, he was placed, could not refuse, 
 and the investment took place that very day. The opera¬ 
 tions were conducted by the Dutch and Imperial troops alone ; 
 and the town was taken, after a siege of six weeks, on the 
 16th of July.* 
 
 This disgraceful defection on the part of the English gov- 
 53 eminent excited, as well it might, the utmost in- 
 dignaripp ™ dignation among the allies, and produced mingled 
 which this ex- f ee [i n cr S 0 f shame and mortification among all real 
 
 cites in the o o 
 
 allied powers, patriots or men of honor in Great Britain. By 
 abandoning the contest in this manner, when it was on the 
 so that if Marshal de Villars takes, in any private way, notice of it to you, 
 your grace will answer it accordingly.”— Mr. Secretary St. John to the Duke 
 of Ormond, May 10, 1712. Bolingbroke’s Correspondence, ii., 320. 
 
 * Eugene to Marlborough , June 9,1712. Coxe, vi., 199. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 297 
 
 very point of being crowned with success, the English lost the 
 fruit of ten costly and bloody campaigns, and suffered the war 
 to terminate without attaining the main object for which it 
 had been undertaken. Louis XIV., defeated, and all but 
 ruined, was permitted to retain for his grandson the Spanish 
 succession ; and England, victorious and within sight, as it 
 were, of Paris, was content to halt in the career of victory, 
 and lost the opportunity, never to be regained for a century to 
 come, of permanently restraining the ambition of France. It 
 was the same as if, a few days after the battle of Waterloo, 
 England had concluded a separate peace, guaranteeing the 
 throne of Spain to Joseph Bonaparte, and providing only for 
 its not being held also by the Emperor of France. 
 
 Lord Halifax gave vent to the general indignation of all 
 generous and patriotic men, when he said, in the 54 
 debate on the address, on the 28th of May, after ppcech^fLord 
 enumerating the proud list of victories which, aepeacef^the 
 since the commencement of the war, had attend- Houseof Peere - 
 ed the arms of England, “ But all this pleasing prospect is 
 totally effaced by the orders given to the queen’s general not 
 to act offensively against the enemy. I pity that heroic and 
 gallant general, who, on other occasions, took delight to charge 
 the most formidable corps and strongest squadrons, and can 
 not but be uneasy at his being fettered with shackles, and 
 thereby prevented from reaping the glory which he might well 
 expect from leading on troops so long accustomed to conquer. 
 I pity the allies, who have relied upon the aid and friendship 
 of the British nation, perceiving that what they had done at 
 so great an expense of blood and treasure is of no effect, as 
 they will be exposed to the revenge of that power against 
 whom they have been so active. I pity the queen, her royal 
 successors, and the present and future generations of Britain, 
 when they shall find the nation deeply involved in debt, and 
 that the common enemy who occasioned it, though once near 
 being sufficiently humbled, does still triunrph, and design their 
 ruin ; and are informed that this proceeds from the conduct 
 
298 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of the British cabinet, in neglecting to make a right use of 
 those advantages and happy occasions which their own cour¬ 
 age and God’s blessing had put into their hands.”* 
 
 Marlborough seconded the motion of Halifax in a speech of 
 55- peculiar interest, as the last which he made on the 
 
 Marlborough’s 
 
 speech in sec- conduct of this eventful war. “Although,” said 
 
 ondingtherao- . 
 
 tion of Halifax, he, “ the negotiations for peace may he far ad- 
 vanced, yet I can see no reason which should induce the allies 
 or ourselves to remain inactive, and not push on the war with 
 the utmost vigor, as we have incurred the expense of recruit¬ 
 ing the army for the service of another year. That army is 
 now in the field ; and it has often occurred that a victory or a 
 siege produced good effects and manifold advantages when 
 treaties were still further advanced than in the present nego¬ 
 tiation. And as I am of opinion that we should make the 
 most we can for ourselves, the only infallible way to force 
 France to an entire submission is to besiege and occupy Cam- 
 bray or Arras, and to carry the war into the heart of the 
 kingdom. But as the troops of the enemy are now encamped, 
 it is impossible to execute that design, unless they are with¬ 
 drawn from their position ; and as they can not be reduced to 
 retire from want of provisions, they must be attacked and 
 forced. For the truth of what I say, I appeal to a noble duke 
 (Argyll), whom I rejoice to see in this house, because he knows 
 the country, and is as good a judge of these matters as any 
 person now alive.” Argyll, though a bitter personal enemy 
 of Marlborough, thus appealed to, said, “ I do indeed know 
 that country, and the situation of the enemy in their present 
 camp, and I agree with the noble duke that it is impossible 
 to remove them without attacking and driving them away; 
 and, until that is effected, neither of the two sieges alluded to 
 can be undertaken. I likewise agree that the capture of these 
 two towns is the most effectual way to carry on the war with 
 advantage, and would be a fatal blow to France.”! 
 
 * Pari. Hist., May 28, 1712. Lockhart Papers, i., 392. 
 
 t Coxe, vi., 192, 193. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 299 
 
 Notwithstanding the creation of twelve peers to swamp the 
 Upper House, it is doubtful how the division would 56 . 
 have gone, had not Lord Strafford, a cabinet min- Sse™ declare 
 ister, observed, hi reply to the charge that the 
 British government was about to conclude a sep- ne e otiation - 
 arate peace, “ Nothing of that nature has ever been intended ; 
 for such a peace would be so foolish, villainous, and knavish, 
 that every servant of the queen must answer for it, with his 
 head, to the nation. The allies are acquainted tvith our 'pro¬ 
 ceedings, and satisfied with our terms." This statement was 
 made by a British minister, in his place in Parliament, on the 
 28th of May, eighteen days after the private letter had been 
 dispatched from Mr. Secretary St. John to the Duke of Or¬ 
 mond, already quoted, mentioning the private treaty with 
 Louis, enjoining him to keep it secret from the allies, and com- 
 municater clandestinely with Villars. But such a declaration, 
 coming from an accredited minister of the crown, produced a 
 great impression, and ministers prevailed by a majority of six¬ 
 ty-eight to forty. In the course of the debate, Earl Poulett 
 let fall such cutting expressions against Marlborough for hav¬ 
 ing, as he alleged, led his troops to certain destruction, in or¬ 
 der to profit by the sale of the officers’ commissions,* that the 
 duke, without deigning a reply, sent him a challenge 011 leav¬ 
 ing the house. The agitation, however, of the earl, who was 
 less cool than the iron veteran in the prospect of such a meet¬ 
 ing, revealed what was going forward, and, by an order from 
 the queen, the affair was terminated without bloodshed.! 
 
 It soon appeared what foundation there was for the asser¬ 
 tion of the queen’s ministers, that England was en- 57. 
 gaged hi no separate negotiation for a peace. On of the Treaty 
 
 h 6 , „ T 1 , ®. . , r , of Utrecht, 
 
 the Gth of June, the outhnes of the treaty, which 6th June, 
 afterward became so famous as the Peace of Utrecht, were 
 
 * “ No one can doubt the Duke of Onnond's bravery; but he is not like 
 a certain general who led troops to the slaughter, to cause a great number 
 of officers to be knocked on the head in a battle, or against stone walls, in or¬ 
 der to fill his pockets by the sale of their commissions.”— Coxe, vi., 196. 
 
 t Lockhart Papers, i., 392. Coxe, vi., 196-199. 
 
300 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 divulged. The Duke of Anjou was to renounce forever, for him¬ 
 self and his descendants, all claim to the French crown ; and 
 the crown of Spain was to descend, by the male line only, to 
 the Duke of Anjou, and failing them, to certain princes of the 
 Bourbon line by male descent, always excluding him who was 
 possessed of the French crown.* Gibraltar and Minorca re¬ 
 mained to England; Dunkirk was to be demolished; the 
 Spanish Netherlands w r ere to be ceded to Austria, with Na¬ 
 ples, Milan, and Sardinia ; the barrier towns were to be ced¬ 
 ed to the Dutch, as required in 1709, with the exception of 
 two or three places. Spain and her Indian colonies remained 
 with the Duke of Anjou and his male heirs, as King of Spain 
 And thus, at the conclusion of the most glorious and success¬ 
 ful war recorded in English history, did the English cabinet 
 leave to France the great object of the contest—the crown of 
 Spain placed on the head of a prince of the Bourbon race, and 
 of its magnificent Indian colonies. With truth did Marlbor¬ 
 ough observe, in the debate on the preliminaries, “ The meas¬ 
 ures pursued in England for the last year are directly contra¬ 
 ry to her majesty’s engagements with the allies, sully the tri¬ 
 umphs and glories of her reign, and will render the English 
 name odious to all other nations.”! It xvas all hi vain. The 
 people loudly clamored for peace; the cry against the taxes 
 was irresistible. The Tory ministry was seconded by a vast 
 numerical majority throughout the country. The peace was 
 
 * The words of the treaty, which subsequent events have rendered of im¬ 
 portance on this point, were these: Philippe V., king of Spain, renounced 
 "a toutes pretensions, droits, et titres qui lui et sa posterite avaient on pour- 
 raient avoir a 1’avenir a la couronne de France. II consentit pour lui et sa 
 posterite que ce droit fut tenu et consid6re corume passe au Due de Berry 
 son frere et a ses descendants et post6rit£ male et au defaut de ce prince; 
 et de sa posterite malt, au Due de Bourbon son cousin et a ses heritiers, et 
 aussi successivement a tous les princes du sang de France.” The Duke of 
 Saxony and his male heirs were called to the succession, failing Philippe V. 
 and his male heirs. Tibs act of renunciation and entail of the crown of 
 Spain on male heirs was ratified by the Cortes of Castile and Arragon; by 
 tbe Parliament of Paris, by Great Britain and France in the sixth article of 
 the Treaty of Utrecht.— Vide Schoei.l, Hist, de Trait., ii., 99-105, and Du¬ 
 mont, Carp. Dipl., tom. viii., p. 1, p. 339. t Co.XE, vi., 205. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 301 
 
 approved of by large majorities in both houses. Parliament 
 was soon after prorogued ; and Marlborough, seeing his pub¬ 
 lic career terminated, solicited and obtained passports to go 
 abroad, which he soon afterward did. 
 
 Great was the mourning, and loud the lamentations, both 
 m the British and allied troops, when the fatal 53 
 day arrived that the former were to separate from ratiorTof the 
 their old companions hi arms. On the 16th of 
 July, the very day on which Quesnoy surrendered, allies - 
 the last of their long line of triumphs, Ormond having exhaust¬ 
 ed every sort of procrastination to postpone the dreaded hour, 
 was compelled to order the English troops to march. He in 
 vain, however, gave a similar order to the auxiliaries in Brit¬ 
 ish pay. The hereditary Prince of Cassel replied, “ The Hes¬ 
 sians would gladly march if it were to fight the French.” An¬ 
 other, “We do not serve for pay, but fame.” The native 
 English, however, were compelled to obey tbe order of their 
 sovereign, and they set out, twelve thousand strong, from the 
 oamp at Cambresis. Of all the Germans in British pay, only 
 one battalion of Holstein men, and a regiment of dragoons 
 from Liege, accompanied them. Silent and dejected they took 
 their way ; the men kept their eyes on the ground; the offi¬ 
 cers did not venture to return the parting salute of the com¬ 
 rades who had so long fought and conquered by their side. 
 Not a word was spoken on either side ; the hearts of all were 
 too full for utterance ; but the averted eye, the mournful air, 
 the blush of indignation, told the deep emotion which was ev¬ 
 ery where felt. It seemed as if the allies were following to 
 the grave, with profound affliction, the whole body of their 
 British comrades. But when the troops reached their resting- 
 place for the night, and the suspension of arms was proclaim¬ 
 ed at the head of each regiment, the general indignation be¬ 
 came so vehement, that even the bonds of military discipline 
 were unable to restrain it. A universal cry, succeeded by a 
 loud murmur, was heard through the camp. The British 
 soldiers were seen tearing their hair, casting their muskets on 
 
 Cc 
 
302 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the ground, and rending their clothes, uttering all the while 
 furious exclamations against the government which had so 
 shamefully betrayed them. The officers were so overwhelm¬ 
 ed with vexation, that they sat apart in their tents looking on 
 tne ground, through very shame; and for several days they 
 shrunk from the sight even of their fellow-soldiers. Many left 
 their colors to serve with the allies; others withdrew; and 
 whenever they thought of Marlborough and their days of glo¬ 
 ry, tears filled their eyes,* 
 
 It soon appeared that it was not without reason that these 
 
 59 . gloomy presentiments prevailed on both sides, as 
 tiesnowexpo- i° the consequences of the British withdrawing 
 negotiation * 10 f rom the contest. So elated were the French by 
 with France, this withdrawal, that they speedily lost all sense 
 of gratitude and even honesty, and refused to give up Dun¬ 
 kirk to the British; and the cession was only effected with 
 great difficulty, on the earnest entreaties of the British gov¬ 
 ernment. So great were the difficulties which beset the ne¬ 
 gotiation, that St. John was obliged to repair in person to 
 Paris, where he remained incognito for a considerable time, 
 and effected a compromise with regard to the objects still in 
 dispute between the parties. The secession of England from 
 the confederacy was now openly announced; and, as the al¬ 
 lies refused to abide by her preliminaries, the separate nego¬ 
 tiation continued between the two countries, and lingered on 
 for nearly a year after the suspension of arms. 
 
 Meanwhile, Eugene, after the departure of the British, con- 
 
 6 0. tinued his operations, and laid siege to Landrecies, 
 the last of the barrier fortresses on the road to Paris, 
 
 Eugene? who hi the end of July. But it soon appeared that En- 
 veSTat De- fd an( l had been the soul of the confederacy, and 
 nain - that it was the tutelary arm of Marlborough which 
 
 had so long averted disaster, and chained victory to its stand¬ 
 ards. Nothing but defeat and misfortune attended the allies 
 after its secession. Even the great and tried abilities of Eu- 
 * Cunningham, ii., 342. Milnsk, 356. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 303 
 
 gene were inadequate to procure for them one single success, 
 after the colors of England ceased to wave in their ranks. 
 During the investment of Landrecies, Villars drew together 
 the garrisons from the neighboring towns, no longer threat¬ 
 ened by the English troops, and surprised at Denain a body 
 of twelve thousand men, stationed there for the purpose of fa¬ 
 cilitating the passage of convoys to the besieging army. This 
 body was totally defeated, with a loss of eight thousand. The 
 blow was considerable in itself, hut it was rendered doubly so 
 by the position of Denain, a fortified post on the Scheldt, 
 which kept up the communication between the portion of his 
 army which was besieging Landrecies and that before Mar- 
 chiennes. It cut his army in two ; and Eugene had the mor¬ 
 tification of arriving hi person on the opposite side of the 
 Scheldt at the close of the action, and witnessing the surren¬ 
 der of Lord Albemarle and three thousand men, without be¬ 
 ing able to render any assistance. This disaster rendered it 
 necessary to raise the siege of Landrecies, and Villars imme¬ 
 diately resumed the offensive. Douay was speedily invested : 
 a fruitless effort of Eugene to retain it only exposed him to 
 the mortification of witnessing its surrender. Not expecting 
 so sudden a reverse of fortune, the fortresses recently taken were 
 not provided with provisions or ammunition, and were in no con¬ 
 dition to make any effectual resistance. Quesnoy soon fell from 
 this cause; and Bouchain, the last trophy of Marlborough’s vic¬ 
 tories, opened its gate on the 10th of October. The coalition 
 was paralyzed ; and Louis, who so lately trembled for his cap¬ 
 ital, found his armies advancing from conquest to conquest, 
 and tearing from the allies the fruits of all their victories.* 
 These disasters, and the evident inabiliy tof the allied ar¬ 
 mies, without the aid of the English, to keep their gi. 
 ground in Flanders, in a manner compelled the S^war be-° f 
 Dutch, however unwilling, to follow the example of nnd^rfmciTat 
 Great Britain, in treating separately with France. 
 
 They became parties, accordingly, to the pacifica- Utrecht. 
 
 * Mem. dc Villars, ii., 396-421. CapefigUE, Louis XIV., vi., 272-275. 
 
304 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tion at Utrecht; and Savoy also concluded peace there. But 
 the harrier for which they had so ardently contended was, by 
 the desertion of England, so much reduced, that it ceased to af¬ 
 ford any effectual security against the encroachments of France. 
 That power held the most important fortresses in Flanders 
 which had been conquered by Louis XIV.—Cambray, Valen¬ 
 ciennes, and Arras. Lille, the conquest on which Marlbor¬ 
 ough most prided himself, was restored by the allies, and with 
 it Bethune, Aire, St. Venant, and many other places. The 
 Dutch felt, in the strongest manner, the evil consequences of 
 a treaty which thus, in a manner, left the enemy at their 
 gates; and the irritation consequently produced against En¬ 
 gland was so violent, that it continued through the greater 
 part of the eighteenth century. Austria, indignant at being 
 thus deserted by all her allies, continued the contest alone 
 through another campaign. But she was overmatched in the 
 struggle ; her resources were exhausted ; and, by the advice 
 of Eugene, conferences were opened at Rastadt, from which, 
 as a just reward for her perfidy, England was excluded. A 
 treaty was soon concluded on the basis of the Treaty of Rys- 
 wick. It left Charles the Low Countries, and all the Spanish 
 territories in Italy, except Sicily ; but, with Sardinia, Bavaria 
 was restored. France retained Landau, but restored New 
 Brisach, Fribourg, and Kehl. Thus was that great power 
 left in possession of the whole conquests ceded to Louis XIV. 
 by the treaties of Aix la Chapelle, Nimeguen, and Ryswick, 
 with the vast addition of the family alliance with a Bourbon 
 prince, possessing Spam and the Indies. A century of repeat¬ 
 ed wars on the part of England and the European powers, 
 with France, followed by the dreadful struggle of the Revo¬ 
 lutionary contest, and the costly campaigns of Wellington, 
 were the legacy bequeathed to the nation by Bolingbroke and 
 Harley, in arresting the course of Marlborough’s victories, and 
 restoring France to a preponderance, when on the eve of be¬ 
 ing reduced to a level consistent with the independence of oth- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 305 
 
 er states. Well might Mr. Pitt style the Treaty of Utrecht 
 “ the indelible reproach of the age.”* 
 
 Marlborough’s public career was now terminated ; and the 
 dissensions which cast him down from power had G ' 2 - 
 
 Marlborough is 
 
 so completely extinguished his pohtical influence, received with 
 
 r . " n . . r the highest hon- 
 
 that, during the remaining years of his hfe, he ors on the Con- 
 rarely appeared at all in public hfe. On landing Nov., m3, 
 on the Continent, at Brille, on the 24th of November, he was 
 received with such demonstrations of gratitude and respect as 
 showed how deeply Iris public services had sunk into the hearts 
 of men, and how warmly they appreciated his efforts to avert 
 from England and the Coalition the evils likely to flow from 
 the Treaty of Utrecht. At Maestricht he was welcomed with 
 the honors usually reserved for sovereign princes ; and al¬ 
 though he did his utmost, on the journey to Aix la Chapelle, 
 to avoid attracting the public attention, and to slip unobserv¬ 
 ed through by-ways, yet the eagerness of the public, or the 
 gratitude of his old soldiers, discovered him wherever he went. 
 Wherever he passed, crowds of all ranks were waiting to see 
 him, were it only to get a glimpse of the hero who had saved 
 the empire, and filled the world with his renown. All were 
 struck' with his noble air and demeanor, softened, though not 
 weakened, by the approach of age. They declared that his 
 appearance was not less overpowering than his sword. Many 
 burst into tears when they recollected what he had been and 
 what he was, and how unaccountably the great nation to 
 which he belonged had fallen from the height of glory to such 
 degradation. Yet was the manner of Marlborough so cour¬ 
 teous and yet animated, his conversation so simple and yet 
 cheerful, that it was commonly said at the time, “ that the 
 only things he had forgotten were his own deeds, and the oidy 
 things he remembered were the misfortunes of others.” 
 Crowds of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest, hastened 
 to attend his levee at Aix la Chapelle on the 17th of Janu- 
 
 * Mr. Pitt to Sir Benjamin Keene. Coxe’s Memoirs of the Spanish 
 Kings of the House of Bourbon, c. 57. 
 
 C c 2 
 
306 
 
 THE LITE OF 
 
 ary, 1713 ; and the Duke de Ledeguires, on leaving it, said, 
 with equal justice and felicity, “ I can now say that I have 
 seen the man who is equal to the Mareschal de Turenne in 
 conduct, to the Prince of Conde in courage, and superior to 
 the Mareschal de Luxembourg in success.”* 
 
 But if the veteran hero found some compensation in the 
 63. unanimous admiration of foreign nations for the in- 
 
 Base ingrati- 
 
 tude of the im- gratitude with which he had been treated by the 
 perial court to i • i 
 
 him. government oi his own, he was soon destined to 
 
 find that gratitude for past services w r as not to be looked for 
 among foreign potentates any more than his own countrymen. 
 Upon the restoration of the elector, by the treaty of Rastadt, 
 the principality of Mendleheim, which had been bestowed 
 upon him after the battle of Blenheim by the Emperor Jo¬ 
 seph, was resumed by the elector. No stipulation in his fa¬ 
 vor w r as made either by the British government or the Impe¬ 
 rial court, and therefore the estate, which yielded a clear rev¬ 
 enue of £2000 a year, was lost to Marlborough. He trans¬ 
 mitted, through Prince Eugene, a memorial to the emperor, 
 claiming an indemnity for his loss; but, though it was earn¬ 
 estly supported by that generous prince, yet, being unaided by 
 any efforts on the part of the English ministry, it was allow¬ 
 ed to fall asleep. An indemnity was often promised, even by 
 the emperor in writing,! but performance of the promise was 
 always evaded. The duke was made a prince of the Holy 
 Roman Empire, but obtained nothing but empty honors for 
 his services; and at this moment these high-sounding titles 
 are all that remain in the Marlborough family to testify the 
 gratitude of the Caesars to the hero who saved their Imperial 
 and royal thrones.! 
 
 * Life of Marlborough, 175. 
 
 t “ At the future congress, his Imperial majesty will do all that is possi¬ 
 ble to sustain my lord duke in the principality of Mendleheim; but if it 
 should so happen that any invincible difficulty should occur in that affair, his 
 Imperial highness will give his highness an equivalent out of his own hered¬ 
 itary dominions.”— Emperor Charles VI. to Duchess of Marlborough, Au¬ 
 gust 8, 1712. Coxe, vi., 248. t CoxE, vi., 249-251. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 307 
 
 The same oblivion of past and invaluable services, when 
 they were no longer required, pursued the illustri- 64 . 
 ous general in his declining years, on the part of Ec^ainst^him 
 liis own countrymen. The got-up stories about atllome - 
 embezzlement and dilapidation of the public money in Flan¬ 
 ders were allowed to go to sleep when they had answered their 
 destined purpose of bringing about his fall from political pow¬ 
 er. No grounds were found for a prosecution, or which could 
 afford a chance of success, even in the swamped and now 
 subservient House of Peers. But every thing that malice 
 could suggest, or party bitterness effect, was employed to fill 
 the last days of the immortal hero with anxiety and disquiet. 
 Additional charges were brought against him by the commis¬ 
 sioners, founded on the allegation that he had drawn a pistole 
 per troop, and ten shillings a company, for mustering the sol¬ 
 diers, though, in the foreign auxiliaries, it was often not done. 
 Marlborough at once transmitted a refutation of these fresh 
 charges, so clear and decisive, that it entirely silenced those 
 accusations.* But his enemies, though driven from this 
 ground, still persecuted him with unrelenting malice. The 
 noble pile of Blenheim, standing, as it did, an enduring monu¬ 
 ment at once of the duke’s services and the nation’s gratitude, 
 was a grievous eyesore to the dominant majority in England, 
 and they did all in their power to prevent its completion. 
 
 Orders were first given to the Treasury on the 1st of June, 
 1712, to suspend any further payments from the 65 . 
 royal exchequer, and commissioners were appoint- thebSjdSgof 
 ed to investigate the claims of the creditors and ex- fhe^uhui“ex¬ 
 pense of the work. They recommended the ad- pense ' 
 vance of a third to each claimant, which was accordingly 
 made; but as many years elapsed, and no further payments 
 to accoimt were made, the principal creditors brought an ac¬ 
 tion in the Court of Exchequer against the duke, as personally 
 liable for the amount, and the court pronounced decree in fa¬ 
 vor of the plaintiffs, which was affirmed, after a long litiga- 
 * Duke of Marlborough's Answer, June 2, 1713. 
 
308 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tion, in the House of Lords. Meanwhile, the building itself, 
 for want of any paymaster, was at a stand ; and this noble 
 pile, this proud monument of a nation’s gratitude, would have 
 remained a modem ruin to this day, had it not been completed 
 from the private funds of the hero whose services it was in¬ 
 tended to commemorate. But the Duke of Marlborough, as 
 well as the duchess, were too much interested in the work to 
 allow it to remain unfinished. He left by his will fifty thou¬ 
 sand pounds to complete the building, which was still in a 
 very unfinished state at the time of his death, and the duty 
 was faithfully performed by the duchess after his decease. 
 From the accounts of the total expense, preserved at Blen¬ 
 heim, it appears that out of three hundred thousand pounds 
 which the whole edifice cost, no less than sixty thousand 
 pounds were provided from the private funds of the Duke of 
 Marlborough.* 
 
 It may readily be believed that so long-continued and unre- 
 66. lenting a persecution of a man, so great and so dis- 
 froinajSm 6 tinguished a benefactor of his country, proceeded 
 ratiarfof the f rom something more than mere envy at greatness, 
 Stuarts. powerful as that principle ever is in little minds. In 
 truth, it was part of the deep-laid plan for the restoration of 
 the Stuart fine, which the declining state of the queen’s health, 
 and the probable unpopularity of the Hanover family, now re¬ 
 vived in greater vigor than ever. During this critical pe¬ 
 riod, Marlborough, who was still on the Continent, remained 
 perfectly firm to the Act of Settlement and the Protestant 
 cause. Convinced that England was threatened with a coun¬ 
 ter-revolution, he used his endeavors to secure the fidelity of 
 the garrison of Dunkirk, and offered to embark at their head 
 in support of the Protestant succession. He sent General Ca- 
 dogan to make the necessary arrangements with General 
 Stanhope for transporting troops to England to support the 
 Hanoverian succession, and offered to lend the Elector of 
 Hanover £20,000 to aid him in his endeavor to secure the 
 * Coxe, vi„ 369-373. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 309 
 
 succession. So sensible was the electoral house of the mag¬ 
 nitude of his services, and his zeal in their behalf, that the 
 Electress Sophia intrusted him with a blank warrant, ap¬ 
 pointing him commander-in-chief of her troops and garrisons, 
 on her accession to the crown.* 
 
 On the death of Queen Anne, on the 1st of August, 1714, 
 
 Marlborough returned to England, and was soon 67. 
 
 r , . . n . • it . Death of Anne, 
 
 alter appointed captain-general and master-gener- an d Maribor- 
 
 al of the ordnance. Bolingbroke and Oxford were on^'ieacces-'' 1 
 shortly after impeached, and the former then threw H^orcr'fami- 
 off the mask by flying to France, where he open- ly ' 
 ly entered into the service of the Pretender at St. Germain’s. 
 The duke’s great popularity with the army was soon after 
 the means of enabling him to appease a mutiny in the Guards, 
 which at fast threatened to be alarming. During the rebell¬ 
 ion hi 1715, he directed, in a great degree, the operations 
 against the rebels, though he did not actually take the field; 
 and to his exertions its rapid suppression is in a great measure 
 to be ascribed. 
 
 But the period had now arrived when the usual fate of mor¬ 
 tality awaited this illustrious man. Severe do- 68. 
 mestic bereavements preceded his dissolution, and bereavements 
 hi a manner weaned hhn from a world which he 
 had passed through with so much glory. His May ’ 1716 - 
 daughter, Lady Bridgewater, died in March, 1714 ; and this 
 was soon followed by the death of his favorite daughter Anne, 
 Countess of Sunderland, who united uncommon elegance and 
 beauty to unaffected piety and exemplary virtue. Marlbor¬ 
 ough himself was not long of following his beloved relatives 
 to the grave. On the 28th of May, 1716, he was seized with 
 a fit of palsy, so severe that it deprived him, for a time, alike 
 of speech and resolution. He recovered, however, in a cer¬ 
 tain degree, and went to Bath for the benefit of the waters; 
 and a gleam of returning light shone upon his mind when he 
 visited Blenheim on the 18th of October. He expressed great 
 satisfaction at the survey of the plan, which reminded him of 
 * Coxe. vi , 263 
 
310 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 his great achievements, and in which he had always felt so deep 
 an interest; but when he saw, in one of the few rooms wliich 
 were finished, a picture of himself at the battle of Blenheim, 
 he turned away with a mournful air, with the words, “ Some- 
 tiring then, but now—” 
 
 On the 18th of November he was attacked by another 
 „ stroke, more severe than the former, and his fami- 
 His last years ]y hastened to pay the last duties, as they conceiv- 
 
 and death, J r J J 
 
 June 16 , 1722 . ed, to their departing parent. The strength of his 
 constitution, however, triumphed for a time even over tins 
 violent attack; but though he continued, contrary to his own 
 wishes, in conformity with those of his friends, who needed 
 the support of his great reputation, to hold office, and occa¬ 
 sionally appeared in Parliament, yet his public career was at 
 an end. A considerable addition was made to his fortune by 
 the sagacity of the duchess, who persuaded him to embark 
 ’'art of his fmids in the South Sea scheme; but, foreseeing 
 the crash which was approaching, they sold out so opportune¬ 
 ly, that instead of losing, she gained £100,000 by the trans¬ 
 action. On the 27th of November, 1721, he made his last 
 appearance in the House of Lords ; but in June, 1722, he was 
 again attacked with paralysis so violently, that he lay for some 
 days nearly motionless, though in perfect possession of Iris fac¬ 
 ulties. To a question from the duchess whether he heard the 
 prayers read as usual at night, on the 15th of June, in his 
 apartment, he replied, “Yes ; and I joined hr them.” These 
 were his last words. On the morning of the 16th he sank 
 rapidly, and calmly breathed his last at four o’clock, in the 
 72d year of his age.* 
 
 Envy is generally extinguished by death, because the object 
 70 of it has ceased to stand hr the way of those who 
 28 th of June' f ee i it- Marlborough’s fimeral obsequies were cele- 
 1722. brated with uncommon magnificence, and all ranks 
 
 and parties joined in doing him honor. His body lay in state 
 for several days at Marlborough House, and crowds flocked 
 together from all the three kingdoms to witness the imposing 
 * Lediakd, 496 CoXE, vi , 384. 385. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 311 
 
 ceremony of his funeral, which was performed with the ut¬ 
 most magnificence, on the 28th of June. The procession was 
 opened hy a long array of military, among whom were Gen¬ 
 eral, now Lord Cadogan, and many other officers who had 
 suffered and bled in his cause. Long files of heralds, officers- 
 at-arms, and pursuivants followed, hearing banners emblazon¬ 
 ed with his armorial achievements, among which appeared, in 
 uncommon luster, the standard of Woodstock exhibiting the 
 arms of France on the cross of St. George. In the center of 
 the cavalcade was a lofty car, drawn by eight horses, which 
 bore the mortal remains of the hero, under a splendid canopy 
 adorned hy plumes, military tropliies, and heraldic devices of 
 conquest. Shields were affixed to the sides, bearing the names 
 of the towns he had taken and the fields he had won. Blen¬ 
 heim was there, and Oudenarde, Ramil lies and Malplaquet, 
 Lille and Tournay, Bethune, Douay, and Ruremonde, Bou- 
 chain and Mons, Aire, St. Yenant and Liege, Maestricht and 
 Ghent. The number made the English blush for the manner 
 in which they had treated their hero. On either side were 
 five generals in military mourning, bearing aloft banderoles, 
 on which were emblazoned the arms of the family. Eight 
 dukes supported the pall; besides the relatives of the deceased, 
 the noblest and proudest of England’s nobility joined in the 
 procession. Yet the most moving part of the ceremony was 
 the number of old soldiers who had combated with the hero 
 on his fields of fame, and who might now be known, in the 
 dense crowds which thronged the streets, by their uncovered 
 heads, gray hairs, and the tears which trickled down their 
 cheeks. The body was deposited, with great solemnity, in 
 Westminster Abbey, at the east end of the tomb of Henry 
 VII.; but this was not its final resting-place in this world. 
 It was soon after removed to the chapel at Blenheim, where 
 it was deposited in a magnificent mausoleum, and there it still 
 remains, surmounted by the noble pile which the genius of a 
 Vanbrugh had conceived to express a nation’s gratitude.* 
 
 * CoxE, vi., 384-387. 
 
312 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MARLBOROUGH.-EUGENE.-FREDERIC.-NAPOLEON.-WEL¬ 
 
 LINGTON. 
 
 The extraordinary merit of Marlborough’s military talents 
 i- will not be duly appreciated, unless the peculiar 
 
 Change m the * A A 1 
 
 system of war nature of the contest he was called on to direct, 
 
 in Marlbor- . 
 
 ough’s time, and the character winch he assumed in his time, 
 are taken into consideration. The feudal times had ceased, at 
 least so far as the raising of a military force by its machinery 
 was concerned. Louis XIV., indeed, when pressed for men, 
 more than once summoned the ban and the arriere-ban of 
 France to his standards, and he always had a gallant array 
 of feudal nobility in his ante-chambers or around his head¬ 
 quarters. But war, both on his part and that of his antago¬ 
 nists, was carried on, generally speaking, with standing armies, 
 and supported by the belligerent state. The vast, though gen¬ 
 erally tumultuary array which the Plantagenet or Valois sov¬ 
 ereigns summoned to their support, but which, bound only to 
 serve for forty days, generally disappeared before a few months 
 of hostilities were over, could no longer be relied on. The 
 modern system invented hy revolutionary France, of making 
 w r ar maintain war, and sending forth starving multitudes with 
 anus in their hands, to subsist by the plunder of the adjoining 
 states, was unknown. The national passions had not been 
 roused, which alone could bring it into operation. The de¬ 
 cline of the feudal system forbade the hope that contests could 
 be maintained by the chivalrous attachment of a faithful no¬ 
 bility : the democratic spirit had not been so aroused as to 
 supply its place by popular fervor. Religious passions, indeed, 
 had been strongly excited ; but they had prompted men rather 
 to suffer than to act: the disputations of the pulpit were their 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 313 
 
 natural arena : in the last extremity, they were more allied to 
 the resignation of the martyr than the heroism of the soldier. 
 Between the two, there extended a long period of above a 
 century and a half, during which governments had acquired 
 the force, and mainly relied on the power, of standing armies ; 
 but the resources at their disposal for their support were so 
 limited, that the greatest economy in the husbanding both of 
 men and money was indispensable. 
 
 Richard Cceur de Lion, Edward III., and Henry V. were 
 
 the models of feudal leaders, and their wars were a 2 . 
 
 . Nature of the 
 
 faithful mirror of the feudal contests. Setting forth feudal wars, 
 at the head of a force, which, if not formidable in point of 
 numbers, was generally extremely so from equipment and the 
 use of arms, the nobles around them were generally too proud 
 and high-spirited to decline a combat, even on any possible 
 terms of disadvantage. They took the field, as the knights 
 went to a champ clos, to engage their adversaries in single 
 conflict; and it was deemed equally dishonorable to retire 
 without fighting from the one as the other. But they had no 
 permanent force at their disposal to secure a lasting fruit, even 
 from the greatest victories. The conquest of a petty prov¬ 
 ince, a diminutive fortress, was often their only result. Hence 
 the desperate battles, so memorable in warlike annals, which 
 they fought, and hence the miserable and almost nugatory re¬ 
 sults which almost invariably followed the greatest triumphs. 
 Cressy, Poictiers, and Azincour, followed by the expulsion of 
 the English from France ; Methven and Dunbar, by their 
 ignominious retreat from Scotland ; Ascalon and Ptolernais, 
 by their being driven from the Holy Land, must immediately 
 occur to every reader. This state of war necessarily imprint¬ 
 ed a corresponding character on the feudal generals. They 
 were high-spirited and daring in action ; often skillful in tac¬ 
 tics ; generally ignorant of strategy ; covetous of military re¬ 
 nown, but careless of national advancement; and often more 
 solicitous to conquer an adversary in single conflict, than to 
 reduce a fortress or win a province. 
 
 D t> 
 
314 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 But when armies were raised at the expense, not of nobles, 
 3. but of kings — when their cost became a lasting and 
 
 Great change . , 
 
 when armies heavy dram on the royal exchequer, and they were 
 government 7 yet felt to he indispensable to national security — 
 sovereigns grew desirous of a more durable and profitable re¬ 
 sult from their victories. Standing armies, though commonly 
 powerful — often irresistible when accumulated in large bodies 
 — were yet extremely expensive. Their expense was felt the 
 more from the great difficulty of getting the people in every 
 country, at that period, to submit to any considerable amount 
 of direct taxation. More than one flourishing province had 
 been lost, or powerful monarchy overturned, in the attempt to 
 increase such burdens ; as, for example, the loss of Holland to 
 Spain, and the execution of Charles I. in England. In this 
 dilemma, arising from the experienced necessity of raising 
 standing armies on the one hand, and the extreme difficulty 
 of permanently providing for them on the other, the only re¬ 
 source was to spare both the blood of the soldiers and the ex¬ 
 penses of the government as much as possible. Durable con¬ 
 quests, acquisitions of towns and provinces which could yield 
 revenues and furnish men, became the great object of ambi¬ 
 tion. The point of feudal honor was forgotten in the inanity 
 of its consequences ; the benefits of modem conquests were felt 
 in the reality of their results. A methodical cautious system 
 of war was thus made imperative upon generals by the neces¬ 
 sities of their situation, and the objects expected from them 
 by their respective governments. To risk little and gain much 
 became the great object : skill and stratagem gradually took 
 the place of reckless daring; and the reputation of a general 
 came to be measured rather by the permanent addition which 
 his successes made to the revenues of his sovereign, than by the 
 note with which the trumpet of Fame had proclaimed his own 
 exploits. 
 
 Turenne was the first, and, in his day, the greatest general 
 in this new and scientific system of war. He first applied to 
 the military art the resources of prudent foresight, deep thought 
 
m a n 1, no i; o ucj ii. 
 
 315 
 
 and profound combination; and the results of his 4 
 successes completely justified the discernment Ayhich Educed this 
 had prompted Louis XIV. hi placing him at the bought it* to 
 head of his armies. His methodical and far-seeing P erfectiou - 
 campaigns hi Flanders, Franche Comte, Alsace, and Lorraine, 
 in the early part of the reign of that monarch, added these 
 valuable provinces to France, which have never since been 
 lost. His conquests have proved more durable than those of 
 the great emperor, all of which were lost during the lifetime 
 of their author. Napoleon’s legions passed like a desolating 
 whirlwind over Europe, but they gave only fleeting celebrity, 
 and entailed lasting wounds on France. Turenne’s slow, or 
 more methodical and cautious conquests, have proved lasting 
 acquisitions to the monarchy. Nancy still owns the French 
 allegiance; Besanqon and Strasbourg are to this day two of 
 its frontier fortresses ; Lille is yet a leading stronghold in its 
 iron barrier. Napoleon, it is well known, had the highest 
 possible opinion of Turenne. He was disposed to place him 
 at the head of modern generals; and his very interesting 
 analysis of his campaigns is not the least important part of 
 his invaluable memoirs. 
 
 Conde, though living in the same age, and alternately the 
 
 enemy and comrade of Turenne, belonged to a totally 5 . 
 
 J J Character 
 
 diiferent class oi generals, and, indeed, seemed to per- of Conds. 
 
 tarn to another age of the world. He was warmed by the 
 spirit of chivalry; he bore its terrors on his sword’s point. 
 Heart and soul he was heroic. Like Clive or Alexander, he 
 was consumed by that thirst for fame, that ardent passion for 
 glorious achievements, which is the invariable characteristic 
 of elevated, and the most inconceivable quality to ordinary 
 minds. In the prosecution of this object, no difficulties could 
 deter, no dangers daunt him. Though his spirit was chival¬ 
 rous ; though cavahy was the arm which suited his genius, 
 and in which lie chiefly delighted, he brought to the military 
 art the power of genius and the resources of art; and no man 
 could make hotter use of the power which the expiring spirit 
 
316 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of feudality bequeathed to its scientific successors. He de¬ 
 stroyed the Spanish infantry at Ilocroy and Lens, not by mere 
 desultory charges of the French horse, but by efforts of that 
 gallant body as skillfully directed as those by which Hannibal 
 overthrew the Roman legions at Thrasymenae and Cannai. 
 His genius was animated by the spirit of the fourteenth, but 
 it was guided by the knowledge of the seventeenth century, 
 lived in the school of Turenne, placed, like him, at the head 
 s. of a force raised with difficulty, and maintained with 
 
 Peculiar 
 
 character of still greater trouble, Marlborough was the greatest 
 as a general, general of the methodical or scientific school which 
 modern Europe has produced. No man knew better the im¬ 
 portance of deeds which fascinate the minds of men; none 
 could decide quicker, or strike harder, when the proper time 
 for doing so arrived. None, when the decisive crisis of the 
 struggle approached, could expose his person more fearlessly, 
 or lead his reserves more gallantly into the very hottest of the 
 enemy’s fire. To his combined intrepidity and quickness in 
 thus bringing the reserves, at the decisive moment, into action, 
 all his wonderful victories, and, in particular, Ramillies and 
 Malplaquet, are to be ascribed. But, hr the ordinary case, 
 he preferred the bloodless methods of skill and arrangement. 
 Combination was his great forte ; and in this he was not ex¬ 
 ceeded by Napoleon himself. To deceive the enemy as to the 
 real pouit of attack ; to perplex him by marches and counter¬ 
 marches ; to assume and constantly maintain the initiative; 
 to win by skill what could not be achieved by force, was his 
 great delight; and in that, the highest branch of the military 
 art, he was unrivaled in modem times. He did not despise 
 stratagem. Like Hannibal, he resorted to that arm frequent¬ 
 ly, and with never-failing success. His campaigns, in that 
 respect, hear a closer resemblance to those of the illustrious 
 Carthaginian than to those of any general in modem Europe. 
 Like him, too, his administrative and diplomatic qualities 
 were equal to his military powers. By his winning maimers 
 he retained in unwilling, but still effective union, an alliance, 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 317 
 
 unwieldy l'rom its magnitude, and discordant by its jealousies ; 
 and kept, in willing multitudes, around his standards, a coUu- 
 vies omnium gentium , of various languages, habits, and re¬ 
 ligion, held in subjection by nothing else but the strong bond 
 of admiration for their general, and a desire to share in his 
 triumphs. 
 
 Consummate address and never-failing prudence were the 
 great characteristics of the English commander. 7 
 With such judgment did he measure his strength jS^pnSenee 
 against that of his adversary; so skillfully did he and adJress - 
 choose the point of attack, whether in strategy or tactics; so 
 well weighed were all his enterprises, and so admirably pre¬ 
 pared the means of carrying them into execution, that none 
 of his arrangements ever miscarried. It was a common say¬ 
 ing at the time, and the preceding narrative amply justifies it, 
 that he never fought a battle which he did not gain, nor laid 
 siege to a town which he did not take. This extraordinary 
 and miDroken success extended to all his maneuvers, however 
 trivial; and it has been already noticed, that the first disaster 
 of any moment which occurred to his arms during nine suc¬ 
 cessive and active campaigns, was the destruction of a convoy- 
 destined for the siege of St. Venant, in October, 1710, by one 
 of Villars’s detachments.* It was the admirable powers of 
 arrangement and combination which he brought to bear on 
 all parts of Iris army, equally from the highest to the lowest 
 parts, which was the cause of this extraordinary and uninter¬ 
 rupted success. 
 
 He was often outnumbered by the enemy, and was always 
 opposed by a homogeneous army, animated by one 8 
 strong national and military spirit; while he was or'in tbrce^Te 
 himself at the head of a discordant array of many ^laie^th'e Si- 
 different nations, some of them with little turn for tlatlTe - 
 warlike exploit, others lukewarm, or even treacherous in the 
 cause. But, notwithstanding this, he never lost the ascend¬ 
 ant. From the time when he first began the war on the 
 * Ante, chap, vi., $ 13, page 263. 
 
 D d 2 
 
318 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 banlcs of the Maese in 1702, till his military career was closed 
 in 1711, within the iron barrier of France, by the intrigues 
 of his political opponents at home, he never abandoned the 
 initiative. He was constantly on the offensive. When infe¬ 
 rior in force, as he often was, he supplied the deficiency of 
 military strength by skill and combination ; when his position 
 was endangered by the errors or treachery of others, as was 
 still more frequently the case, he waited till a false move on 
 the part of his adversaries enabled him to retrieve his affairs 
 by some brilliant and decisive stroke. It was thus that he 
 restored the war in Germany, after the cause of the emperor 
 had been wellnigh ruined, by means of the brilliant cross¬ 
 march into Bavaria, and the splendid victoiy at Blenheim. 
 Thus, also, he regained Flanders for the archduke by the 
 stroke at Ramillies, after the imperial cause in that quarter 
 had been all but lost by the treacherous surrender of Ghent 
 and Bruges, in the very center of his water communications. 
 
 War, in the days of Marlborough, was a totally different 
 9. art from what it had been or afterward became, 
 iu^thc^time^of The conqueror neither swept over the world with 
 Marlborough. g erce tempest of Scythian war, nor mastered it 
 by the steady superiority of Roman discipline. No vehement 
 and universal passions had brought whole nations into the 
 field ; mankind were roused neither by the fanaticism of Mo¬ 
 hammedan delusion nor the dreams of French democracy. 
 Europe had not risen up as one man to shake off’ the cruel 
 despotism of a Napoleon. The forces of the powers on either 
 side were very nearly matched, and the armies which their 
 generals led into action were almost constantly equal to each 
 other. Any superiority that did exist in point of numbers 
 was almost invariably on the side of the French; and, hi the 
 homogeneous quality of their troops, they always had the ad¬ 
 vantage. Success in these nicely-balanced circumstances 
 could be gained only by superiority of skill; and the smiles 
 of fortune were reserved, not for the most daring, but the most 
 judicious. A campaign resembled a protracted game at chess 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 319 
 
 between two players of nearly equal ability, in which the an¬ 
 tagonists set out at first uniformly with equal forces, and the 
 victory could only be gained by a skillful plan laid on the one 
 side, or the felicitous advantage taken of a false move on the 
 other. The campaigns of Marlborough and Villars or Ven- 
 ddme were exactly of this description. And perhaps in no 
 other contests, since the dawn of the military art, was so much 
 talent exerted by the commanders on either side, or was suc¬ 
 cess so evidently the result of the superior generalship of the 
 one who in the end proved victorious. 
 
 Prudence and circumspection in the conduct of such a war 
 was not less imposed on Marlborough by Iris situa- . 10 - 
 
 . . . Circumspec- 
 
 tion than in unison with his character. The gen- tion was m 
 eral of a coalition has one duty which beyond all of necessity, 
 others it behooves him to discharge, and that is, to avoid dis¬ 
 aster. The leader of the troops of a popular state must al¬ 
 ways regard his domestic enemies at home at least as formi¬ 
 dable as those to whom he is opposed in the field. They 
 proved more so to Marlborough; he conquered France and 
 Louis XIV., but he was overturned by the Tories and Bol- 
 ingbroke. Such are the jealousies of governments, so diverse 
 and opposite the interests of nations, that a coalition, unless 
 in the tumult of unhoped-for success, or under the terrors of 
 instant danger, is always on the verge of dissolution. It 
 proved so both with that which Marlborough led, and that 
 wliich Castlereagh guided. A single considerable disaster at 
 once breaks it up. Long-continued success, by averting dan¬ 
 ger, has not less certainly the same effect. Of eveiy coalition 
 it may be truly said what Wellington, in a moment of irrita¬ 
 tion, said of the English army, that it is liable to be dissolved 
 equally by victory or defeat. The general of a confederacy 
 is constantly surrounded by lukewarm, selfish allies ready to 
 fall off, and envenomed domestic factions ready to fall on. 
 Such was the position of Marlborough ; such, a century after¬ 
 ward, was the situation of Wellington. Unbroken success 
 was to both the condition of existence. Marlborough was 
 
320 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ruined by the indecisive result of the campaign of 1711 ; 
 Wellington all but ruined by the retreat from Talavera in 
 1809. A fourth part of the defeats from which Frederic or 
 Napoleon recovered, and which were the price at which they 
 purchased their astonishing triumphs, would, from the clamor 
 they raised at home, have destroyed Marlborough or Welling¬ 
 ton. A despotic monarch commanding his own armies can 
 afford to be daring in the field, for he has to take counsel 
 only from the intrepidity of his own breast; the general of a 
 coalition must be circumspect, for he is dependant on the fears, 
 and liable to be thwarted by the jealousies of others. 
 
 The same necessity was the cause of the adoption of the 
 Tr u - system of sieges, and of the fixing of the war in 
 
 He was com- J ° 
 
 peiiedto adopt Flanders, which formed such striking features in 
 
 the system of 
 
 sieges, and fix the military career of Marlborough. This matter 
 
 the war in J 
 
 Flanders. has been the subject of extraordinary misconcep- 
 tion and unbounded misrepresentation, from the cotemporary 
 period to the present time. It was said that in attacking the 
 enemy in the Low Countries, he took the bull by the horns, 
 w r hile in assaulting him from Lorraine or Alsace, he would 
 have taken lfim on his defenseless side ; and the successful 
 results of the invasions of 1814 and 1815 are referred to as 
 proving what may be expected from disregarding frontier for¬ 
 tresses, and striking at once at the heart of the enemy’s pow¬ 
 er. Those who make these remarks would do well to con¬ 
 sider what force Marlborough had at his disposal to make 
 such a daring invasion. He was constantly inferior to the 
 enemy's army immediately opposed to him. The successes 
 which he gained were entirely the result of superior skill in 
 strategy or tactics on his part; their constant recurrence made 
 men forget, and has made posterity forget, the extraordinary 
 difficulties which had to be overcome before they were attain¬ 
 ed. If we would see what would have been the issue of the 
 war if his tutelary arm and far-seeing genius had been want¬ 
 ing, we have only to look at Denain and the campaign of 
 1713, even when the ardent genius of Eugene directed the 
 allied forces. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 321 
 
 To have invaded a compact monarchy like France, pos¬ 
 sessing such vast military resources, and animated 12 
 by so strong a military spirit, with an inferior force, SeoppoSto 
 leaving the whole triple line of frontier fortresses e y stem - 
 behind, would have been to expose the allied army to certain 
 destruction. It must have left half its numbers behind to 
 blockade the fortresses and keep up the communications; the 
 enemy’s force, by falling back to the center of his resources, 
 would have been doubled. Arrived on the Oise, Marlborough 
 would have found himself with fifty thousand men in presence 
 of a hundred thousand. The result of the invasions of Ger¬ 
 many in 1704 by Tallard, of France in 1792 by the Duke of 
 Brunswick, of Russia in 1812 by Napoleon, demonstrate the 
 extreme danger of penetrating into an enemy’s country, even 
 with the greatest force, without adequate regard to the com¬ 
 munications of the invading army. The cases of 1814 and 
 1815, when a million of experienced soldiers fell on a single 
 and exhausted state, is the exception, not the rule ; and their 
 narrow escape from defeat in the first of these years proves 
 the hazard of such a proceeding. By assailing France on the 
 side of the Low Countries, and working by degrees through 
 its iron frontier, Marlborough took the only certain way of re¬ 
 ducing its power, because he secured his rear as he advanced, 
 and reduced the enemy’s strength by the successive captures 
 of the frontier garrisons, till, when the line was broken through, 
 like a knight when his armor -was uncased, it lay without de¬ 
 fense. 
 
 Lord Chesterfield, who knew him well, said that Marl¬ 
 borough was a man of excellent parts, and strong 13 
 good sense, but of no very shining genius. The wa^horowra 
 uninterrupted success of his campaigns, however, 
 joined to the unexampled address with which he 
 allayed the jealousies and stilled the discords of the confedera¬ 
 cy whose armies lip led, decisively demonstrates that the pol¬ 
 ished carl’s opinion was not a just one, and that his partiality 
 for the graces led him to ascribe an undue influence hi the 
 
322 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 great duke’s career to the inimitable suavity and courtesy of 
 his manner. His enterprises and stratagems, his devices to 
 deceive the enemy, and counterbalance inferiority of force by 
 superiority of conduct; the eagle eye, which in the decisive 
 moment he brought to bear on the field of battle, and the ra¬ 
 pidity with which in person he struck the final blow from 
 which the enemy never recovered, bespeak the intuitive genius 
 of war. It was the admirable balance of his mental qualities 
 which caused Iris originality to be undervalued : no one pow¬ 
 er stood out in such bold relief as to overshadow all the oth¬ 
 ers, and rivet the eye by the magnitude of its proportions. 
 Thus his consummate judgment made the world overlook his 
 invention; his uniform prudence caused his daring to be for¬ 
 gotten ; his incomparable combinations often concealed the ca¬ 
 pacious mind which had put the whole in motion. He was so 
 invariably successful, that men forgot how difficult it is al¬ 
 ways to succeed in war. It was not till he was withdrawn 
 from the conduct of the campaign, when disaster immediate¬ 
 ly attended the allied arms, and France resumed the ascend¬ 
 ant over the coalition, that Europe became sensible who had 
 been its soul, and how much had been lost when his mighty 
 understanding was no longer at the head of affairs. 
 
 Lord Bolingbroke, whose great abilities caused him to dis- 
 14 . cern exalted merit, even through all the mists of 
 perfecfiou of party prejudice, said that Marlborough was the 
 turedby'ex- “ perfection of genius matured by experience." He 
 penence. did not say by knowledge. This was really his 
 character: Bolingbroke has said neither more nor less than 
 the truth. Marlborough had received a very limited educa¬ 
 tion ; he had never been at a university; he had none of the 
 varied and extensive erudition which enriched the minds of 
 his great rivals in politics, St. John and Harley. Thrown 
 into the Guards at the age of sixteen, having been previously 
 only at a grammar school, and afterward a page to the Duke 
 of York, he entered upon life without any of the vast advan¬ 
 tages which knowledge aflords. What he subsequently gain- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 323 
 
 ed was acquired in courts and camps. It is the strongest 
 proof of the extraordinary strength and sagacity of his mind, 
 that with such limited advantages he became what he was— 
 the first in arms, and second to none in politics of the age in 
 which he lived. He made admirable use of the opportuni¬ 
 ties he afterward enjoyed. In the school of Turemre he im¬ 
 bibed the art of war; in the palace of St. James he learned 
 the mysteries of courts; in the House of Peers and at the 
 Hague he became master of the art of diplomacy. In these 
 varied situations he acquired the knowledge, of all others the 
 most valuable, which can nowhere be learned so well—that 
 of the world and the human heart. His career affords the 
 most striking proof of how much the real education of every 
 mind depends upon itself, and how much it is in the power 
 of strong sense, accompanied by vigilant observation in after 
 life, to compensate the want of those advantages which, un¬ 
 der more favorable circumstances, give to early youth the ben¬ 
 efit of the acquirements and experience of others. 
 
 A most inadequate opinion would be formed of Marlbor¬ 
 ough’s mental character if his military exploits 15 
 alone are taken into consideration. Like all dresfandsuav- 
 otlier intellects of the first order, he was equally lty of manner - 
 capable of great achievements in peace as in war, and shone 
 forth with not less luster hi the deliberations of the cabinet or 
 in the correspondence of diplomacy, than hr directing columns 
 on the field of battle, or tracing out the line of approaches for 
 the attack of fortified towns. Nothing could exceed the judg¬ 
 ment and temper with which he reconciled the jarring inter¬ 
 ests, and smoothed down the rival pretensions of the coalesced 
 cabinets. The danger was not so pressing as to unite their 
 rival governments, as it afterward did those of the Grand 
 Alliance in 1813, which overthrew Napoleon ; and incessant 
 exertions, joined to the highest possible diplomatic address, 
 judgmentof conduct, and suavity of manner, were required to 
 prevent the coalition, on various occasions during the course 
 of the war, from falling to pieces. As it was, the intrigues 
 
324 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of Bolingbroke and the Tories in England, and the ascendency 
 of Mrs. Masham in the queen’s bed-chamber councils, at last 
 counterbalanced all his achievements, and led to a peace 
 which abandoned the most important objects of the war, and 
 was fraught, as the event has proved, with serious danger to 
 the independence and even the existence of England. His 
 winter campaign at the allied courts, as he himself said, always 
 equaled in duration, and often exceeded in importance and dif¬ 
 ficulty, that in summer with the enemy ; and nothing is more 
 certain than that, if a man of less capacity had been intrusted 
 with the direction of its diplomatic relations, the coalition 
 would have soon broken up without having accomplished any 
 of the objects for which the war had been undertaken, from 
 the mere selfishness and dissensions of the cabinets by whom 
 it was conducted. 
 
 With one blot, for winch the justice of history, or the par- 
 16 . tiality of biography neither can nor should at- 
 as a statesman, tempt to make any apology, Marlborough’s pri- 
 and m private. va q e character seems to have been unexception¬ 
 able, and was evidently distinguished by several noble and 
 amiable qualities. That he was bred a courtier, and owed his 
 first elevation to the favor with which he w'as regarded by 
 one of the king’s mistresses, was not his fault: it arose, per¬ 
 haps, necessarily from his situation, and the graces and beauty 
 with which he had been so prodigally endowed by nature. 
 The young officer of the Guards, w r ho in the army of Louis 
 XIV. passed by the name of the handsome Englishman, could 
 hardly be expected to be free from the consequences of female 
 partiality at the court of Charles II. Shortly after the Rev¬ 
 olution he was undoubtedly involved in many dark intrigues 
 for the restoration of the exiled family: he seemed to be de¬ 
 sirous to undo what he himself had done. It is the fatal ef¬ 
 fect of one deviation from rectitude that it renders subsequent 
 ones almost unavoidable, or so confounds the moral sense as to 
 make their turpitude be unfelt. But in maturer years, his 
 conduct in public, after Anne had placed him in high com- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 325 
 
 mand, was uniformly consistent, straightforward, and honor¬ 
 able. He was a sincere patriot, and ardently attached both 
 to his country and to the principles of freedom, at a time when 
 both were wellnigh forgotten in the straggles of party, and 
 the fierce contests for royal or popular favor. Though bred 
 up in a licentious court, and early exposed to the most en¬ 
 trancing of its seductions, he was in mature life strictly cor¬ 
 rect, both in his conduct and conversation. He resisted every 
 temptation to which his undiminished beauty exposed him 
 after his marriage, and was never known either to utter, or 
 permit to be uttered in his presence, a light or indecent ex¬ 
 pression. He discouraged to the utmost degree all intemper 
 ance and licentiousness hi his soldiers, and constantly labored 
 to impress upon them a sense of moral duty and supreme su¬ 
 perintendence. Divine service was regularly performed in all 
 his camps, both morning and evening ; previous to a battle, 
 prayers were read at th6 head of every regiment, and the first 
 act, after a victory, was a solemn thanksgiving. “ By those 
 means,” says a cotemporary biographer, who served in his 
 army, “ his camp resembled a quiet, well-governed city. 
 Cursing and swearhig were seldom heard among the officers ; 
 a drunkard was the object of scorn ; and even the soldiers, 
 many of them the refuse and dregs of the nation, became, at 
 the close of one or two campaigns, tractable, civil, sensible, 
 and clean, and had an air and spirit above the vulgar.” 
 
 In political life, during his career after the Revolution, he 
 was consistent and firm ; faithful to his party, 17 
 but more faithful still to his country. He was a charwterlrftcr 
 generous friend, an attached, perhaps a too fond the Revolution, 
 husband. During the whole of his active career he retained 
 a constant sense of the superintendence of the Supreme Being, 
 and was ever the first to ascribe the successes which he had 
 gained to Divine protection; a disposition which shone forth 
 with peculiar grace amid the din of amis and the flourish of 
 trumpets for his own mighty achievements. Even the one 
 occasion, on which, like David, he fell from his high princi- 
 
 E E 
 
326 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 pies, will be regarded by the equitable observer with chari¬ 
 table, if not forgiving eyes. He will recollect that perfection 
 never yet belonged to a child of Adatn; he will measure the 
 dreadful nature of the struggle which aw'aits an upright and 
 generous mind when loyalty and gratitude impel one way, and 
 religion and patriotism another. Without attempting to jus¬ 
 tify an officer who employs the power bestowed by one gov¬ 
 ernment to elevate another on its ruins, he will yet reflect, 
 that in such a crisis even the firmest heads and the best hearts 
 may be led astray : he will recollect that, as already noticed, 
 the heroic Ney, hi another age, did the same. If he is wise, 
 he will ascribe the fault, for fault it was, not so much to the 
 individual, as to the time in which he lived ; and feel a deeper 
 thankfulness that his own lot has been cast in a happier age, 
 when the great moving passions of the human heart act hi the 
 same direction, and a public man need not fear that he is 
 wanting hi his duty to Ins sovereign because he is performing 
 that due to his country. 
 
 Marlborough, however, was but a man, and therefore not 
 if. without the usual blemishes and weaknesses of hu- 
 
 His faults and . , 
 
 weaknesses, manity. The great blot on his character, the in- 
 
 excusable act hi his life—that of having accepted a command 
 from James II., and afterward betrayed him—will be found, 
 on examination, to be but a part, though doubtless the most 
 conspicuous one, of the prevailing disposition and secret weak¬ 
 ness of his character. He was extremely ambitious, and lit¬ 
 tle scrupulous about the means by which elevation was to be 
 attained or prolonged. He repeatedly yielded to the solicita¬ 
 tions of those around him from the desire to avoid ruining his 
 party, under circumstances when the dignity of his character 
 required a more independent and resolute conduct. He was 
 not by nature a bad, or by habit a dishonorable man, and yet 
 he did a most base and dishonorable thing ; he abandoned his 
 king and benefactor when holding an important command 
 under him. He did not possess the mental independence, the 
 strong sense of rectitude, the keen feelings of honor, wliicli lead 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 327 
 
 pure and elevated minds to make shipwreck of their fortunes 
 in the cause of duty. He was possessed by strong moral and 
 religious principle; but when a crisis arrived, they yielded to 
 the whisperings’of expedience, or, rather, the deceitfulness of 
 sin made him believe that his duty pointed to the course which 
 his interest demanded. He had more of Caesar in him than 
 Cato. It never would be said of him, 
 
 Victrix causa Deis placuit sed victa Catoni. 
 
 In justice to Marlborough, however, it must be recollected 
 that he lived in an age of revolutions, when the M- 
 
 Circumstances 
 
 crown had been recently twice subverted, and a which palliate 
 
 ? these faults in 
 
 new dynasty placed on the throne ; when men s him. 
 minds were confused and their ideas unhinged with regard to 
 public duty; and when that fatal effect of revolutionary suc¬ 
 cess had taken place—the ascribing to public actions no other 
 test but success. And yet, so mixed is the condition of man¬ 
 kind, and so great the ascendency of selfishness in human af¬ 
 fairs, that Marlborough’s extraordinary rise and long-continu¬ 
 ed power is in great part to be ascribed to these moral weak¬ 
 nesses in his character. Had he possessed the noble spirit of 
 one of the old cavaliers, he would have adhered to James in 
 his misfortune, and become a respectable but unknown exile 
 at St. Germain’s, instead of the illustrious leader of the coali¬ 
 tion. He thus affords another instance to the many which 
 history affords of the truth of Johnson’s saying, “ that no man 
 ever rose from a private station to exalted power among men, 
 in whom great and commanding qualities were not combined 
 with meannesses that would be inconceivable in ordinary life.” 
 
 Marlborough was often accused of avarice; but his con¬ 
 duct through life sufficiently demonstrated that hi 20 . 
 him the natural desire to accumulate a fortune, chnracter^and 
 which belongs to every rational mind, was kept in fn'thedisposL 
 subjection to more elevated principles. The great 110,1 of money, 
 wealth which he acquired from his numerous appointments, 
 and the royal and parliamentary rewards bestowed on him for 
 his services, were sufficient to excite the envy of the vulgar, 
 and this feeling was eagerly fed by thoso who pandered to 
 
328 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 their passions. Swift contrasted, in a popular diatribe, the 
 scanty rewards of Roman triumph with the half million which 
 had attested British gratitude. But there was no real foun¬ 
 dation for this aspersion. His conduct belied it. His repeat¬ 
 ed refusal of the government of the Netherlands, with its mag¬ 
 nificent appointment of £60,000 a year, was a sufficient proof 
 how much he despised money when it interfered with public 
 duty ; Iris splendid edifices, both in London and Blenheim, at¬ 
 test how little he valued it for any other purpose hut as it 
 might be applied to noble and worthy objects.* 
 
 He possessed the magnanimity in judging of others which 
 
 21 . is the invariable characteristic of real greatness. 
 nimUyand Envy was unknown, suspicion loathsome to him. 
 humumty. jj e 0 f\ ell suffered by the generous confidence with 
 which he trusted his enemies. He was patient under contra¬ 
 diction ; placid and courteous both in his manners and de¬ 
 meanor ; and owed great part of his success, both in the field 
 and in the cabinet, to the invariable suavity and charm of liis 
 maimers. His humanity was uniformly conspicuous. Not 
 only his own soldiers, hut his enemies, never failed to experi¬ 
 ence it. Like Wellington, his attention to the health and 
 comforts of his men was incessant; which, with his daring in 
 the field and uniform success in strategy, endeared him in the 
 highest degree to the men. Troops of all nations equally trusted 
 him; and the common saying, when they were in any difficul¬ 
 ty, “ Never mind, ‘ Corporal John’ wall get us out of it,” was 
 heard as frequently in the Dutch, Danish, or German, as in 
 the English language. He frequently gave the w r eary soldiers 
 a place in his carriage, and got out himself to accommodate 
 more ; and his first care, after an engagement, invariably was 
 to visit the field of battle, and do Ins utmost to assuage the suf¬ 
 ferings of the wounded, both among his oxen men and those 
 of the enemy. After the battle of Malplaquet, he divided all 
 the money at Iris private disposal among the wounded officers 
 of the enemy.f 
 
 * Maxi borough's house in London cost about Xl00,000. Coxe, vi., 399. 
 
 t Capefigue, Louis XIV., vi., 125. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 329 
 
 The character of this illustrious man has been thus portray¬ 
 ed by two of the greatest writers in the English 22 . 
 language, the latter of whom will not he accused as'drawn by" 
 of undue partiality to his political enemy. “ It is and™oiiS^- h 
 a characteristic,” says Adam Smith, “ almost pe- broke - 
 culiar to the great Duke of Marlborough, that ten years of 
 such uninterrupted and splendid successes as scarce any other 
 general could boast of, never betrayed him into a single rash 
 action, scarce into a single rash word or expression. The 
 same temperate coolness and self-command can not, I think, 
 he ascribed to any other great warrior of later times, not to 
 Prince Eugene, nor to the late King of Prussia, nor to the 
 Great Prince of Conde, nor even to Gustavus Adolphus. Tu- 
 renne seems to have approached the nearest to it; but sever¬ 
 al actions of his life demonstrate that it was in him by no 
 means so perfect as in the great Duke of Marlborough.”* 
 “ By King William’s death,” says Bolingbroke, “ the Duke 
 of Marlborough was raised to the head of the army, and, in¬ 
 deed, of the confederacy, where he, a private man, a subject, 
 obtained by merit and by management a more decided influ¬ 
 ence than high birth, confirmed authority, and even the crown 
 of Great Britain had given to King William. Not only all 
 the parts of that vast machine, the Grand Alliance, were kept 
 more compact and entire, hut a more vigorous motion was 
 given to the whole; and instead of languishing or disastrous 
 campaigns, we saw cveiy scene of the war full of action. All 
 those wherein he appeared, and many of those wherein he 
 was not then an actor, hut abettor, however, of their actions, 
 were crowned with the most triumphant success. I take with 
 pleasure this opportunity of doing justice to that great man, 
 whose faults I know, whose virtues I admire, and whose mem¬ 
 ory, as the greatest general and greatest minister that our 
 country or any other has produced, I honor.”! 
 
 * Smith’s Moral Sentiments, ii., 158. 
 
 t Bolingbuoke’s Letters on the Study of History, ii., 179. 
 
 E E 2 
 
330 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Five generals, by the common consent of men, stand forth 
 
 23. pre-eminent in modem times for the magnitude of 
 
 general S eat the achievements they effected, and the splendor 
 modem times. talents they displayed—Eugene, Marlbor 
 
 ough, Frederic, Napoleon, and Wellington. It is hard to say 
 which appears the greatest, whether we regard the services 
 they have rendered to their respective countries, or the dura¬ 
 ble impress their deeds have left on human affairs. All had 
 difficulties the most serious to contend with, obstacles appar¬ 
 ently insurmountable to overcome, and all proved in the bright¬ 
 est parts of their career victorious over them. All have im¬ 
 mortalized their names by exploits far exceeding those record¬ 
 ed of other men. All have left the effects of their exploits 
 durably imprinted in the subsequent fate of nations. The 
 relative position of the European states, the preservation of 
 public rights, the maintenance of the balance of power, the 
 salvation of the weak from the grasp of the strong, have been 
 mainly owing to their exertions. To their biography is at¬ 
 tached not merely the fortune of the countries to which they 
 belonged, but the general destinies of Europe, and, through it, 
 of the human race. 
 
 To give a faithful picture, in a few pages, of such men, may 
 
 24. seem a hopeless, and to their merits an invidious 
 
 nctcristics oT task. A brief summary of the chief actions of 
 each ' those of them to ordinary readers least known, is, 
 
 however, indispensable to lay a foundation for their compari¬ 
 son with the character of those whose deeds are as household 
 words. It is not impossible to convey to those who are famil¬ 
 iar with their exploits, a pleasing resume of their leading fea¬ 
 tures and salient points of difference ; to those who are not, to 
 give some idea of the pleasure which the study of their char¬ 
 acters is calculated to afford. Generals, like writers or art¬ 
 ists, have certain leading characteristics which may be traced 
 through all their achievements ; a peculiar impress has been 
 communicated by nature to their minds, which appears, not 
 less than on the painter’s canvass or in the poet’s lines, in all 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 331 
 
 their actions. As much as grandeur of conception distin¬ 
 guishes Homer, tenderness of feeling Virgil, and sublimity of 
 thought Milton, does impetuous daring characterize Eugene, 
 consummate generalship Marlborough, indomitable firmness 
 Frederic, lofty genius Napoleon, unerring wisdom Wellington. 
 Greatness in the military, as in every other art, is to be attain¬ 
 ed only by strong natural talents, perseveringly directed to one 
 object, undistracted by other pursuits, undivided by inferior 
 ambition. The men who have risen to the highest eminence 
 in war, have done so by the exercise of faculties as great, and 
 the force of genius as transcendent, as those which produced 
 a Homer, a Bacon, or a Newton. Success, doubtless, com¬ 
 mands the admiration of the multitude ; military glory capti-. 
 vates the unthinking throng ; but to those who know the mil¬ 
 itary art, and can appreciate real merit, the chief ground for 
 admiration of its great masters is a sense of the difficulties, to 
 most unknown, which they have overcome. 
 
 Prince Eugene, though belonging to the same age, often 
 acting in the same army, and sometimes command- 25. 
 
 “ J ■ Earlylifeof 
 
 nig alternately with Marlborough, was a general of Eugene, 
 an essentially different character. A descendant of the house 
 of Savoy, born at Paris in 1663, and originally destined for 
 the Church, he early evinced a repugnance to theological stud¬ 
 ies, and instead of his breviary, was devouring in secret Plu¬ 
 tarch’s lives of ancient heroes. His figure was slender, and 
 his constitution at first weak ; but these disadvantages, which 
 caused Louis XIV. to refuse him a regiment, from an opinion 
 that he was not equal to its duties, were soon overcome by the 
 ardor of his mind. Immediately upon this refusal, setting 
 out for Vienna, he entered the Imperial service; but he was 
 still pursued by the enmity of Louvois, who procured from 
 Louis a decree which pronounced sentence of banishment on 
 all Frenchmen in the armies of foreign powers who should 
 fail to return to their country. “ I will re-enter France in 
 spite of him,” said Eugene; and he was more than once as 
 good as his word. 
 
332 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 His genius for war was not methodical or scientific, like 
 26 . that of Turenne and Marlborough, nor essentially 
 his warfore°and chivalrous, like that of the Black Prince or the 
 virto^orerthe Great Conde. It was more akin to the terrible 
 i urks. sweep of the Tartar chiefs; it savored more of 
 
 Oriental daring. He was as prodigal of the blood of his sol¬ 
 diers as Napoleon ; but, unlike him, he never failed to expose 
 his own person with equal readiness in the fight. He did not 
 reserve his attack in person for the close of the affray, like the 
 French emperor, but was generally to be seen in the fire from the 
 very outset. It was with difficulty he could be restrained from 
 heading the first assault of grenadiers, or leading on the first 
 charge of horse. His earliest distinguished command was in 
 Italy, in 1691, and his abilities soon gave his kinsman, the 
 Duke of Savoy, an ascendant there over the French. But 
 it was at the great battle of Zenta, on the Teife, where he 
 surprised and totally defeated Cara Mustapha, at the head of 
 one hundred and twenty thousand Turks, that his wonderful 
 genius for war first shone forth in its full luster. He there 
 killed or wounded twenty thousand of the enemy, drove ten 
 thousand into the river, took their whole artillery and stand¬ 
 ards, and entirely dispersed their mighty array. Like Nelson 
 at Copenhagen, Eugene had gained this glorious victory by 
 acting hi opposition to his orders, which were positively to 
 avoid a general engagement. This circumstance, joined to 
 the envy excited by his unparalleled triumph, raised a storm 
 at court against the illustrious general, and led to liis being 
 deprived of his command, and even threatened with a court- 
 martial. The public voice, however, at Vienna, loudly con¬ 
 demned such base ingratitude toward so great a benefactor to 
 the Imperial dominions ; and the want of his directing eye be¬ 
 ing speedily felt in the campaign with the Turks, the emperor 
 was obliged to restore him to the command, which he, how¬ 
 ever, oidy agreed to accept on receiving a carte blanche for the 
 conduct of the war. 
 
 The peace of Carlowetz, in 1699, between the Imperialists 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 333 
 
 and the Ottomans, soon after restored him to a 27 . 
 pacific fife, and the study of history, in which, ^'ital^and 713 
 above any other, lie delighted. But on the break- German y- 
 mg out of the War of the Succession in 1701, he was restored 
 to liis military duties, and during two campaigns measured 
 his strength, always with success, in the plains of Lombardy, 
 with the scientific abilities of Marshal Catinat, and the learn¬ 
 ed experience of Marshal Villeroi, the latter of whom he made 
 prisoner during a nocturnal attack on Cremona in 1703. In 
 1704 he was transferred to the north of the Alps, to unite 
 with Marlborough in making head against the great army of 
 Marshal Tallard, which was advancing, in so threatening a 
 maimer, through Bavaria ; and he shared with the illustrious 
 Englishman the glorious victory of Blenheim, which at once 
 delivered Germany, and hurled the French armies, with dis¬ 
 grace, behind the Bhine. Then commenced that steady 
 friendship, and sincere and mutual regard, between these il¬ 
 lustrious men, which continued unbroken till the time of their 
 death, and is not the least honorable trait in the character of 
 each. But the want of his protecting arm was long felt in 
 Italy. The great abilities of the Duke de Vondome had well- 
 nigh counterbalanced there all the advantages of the allies in 
 Germany ; and the issue of the war hi the plains of Piedmont 
 continued doubtful till the glorious victory of Eugene, on the 
 7th of September, 1706, when he stormed the French in- 
 trenclunents around Turin, defended by eighty thousand men, 
 at the head of thirty thousand only, and totally defeated Mar¬ 
 shal Marsin and the Duke of Orleans, with such loss, that the 
 French armies were speedily driven across the Alps. 
 
 Eugene was now received hi the most flattering manner at 
 Vienna; the luster of his exploits had put to si- 28 . 
 lonce, if not to shame, the malignity of his enemies. Marlborough 
 “ I have but one fault to find with you,” said the Flandcrs - 
 emperor, when he was first presented to him after his victory, 
 “ and that is, that you expose yourself too much.” He was 
 next placed at the head of the Imperial armies in Flanders, 
 
334 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and shared 'with Marlborough in the conduct, as he did hi the 
 glories, of Oudenarde and Malplaquet. Intrusted -with the 
 command of the corps which besieged Lille, he was penetrated 
 with the utmost admiration for Marshal Boufflers, and evinced 
 the native generosity of his disposition by the readiness -with 
 which he granted the most favorable terms to the illustrious 
 besieged chief, who had, with equal skill and valor, conducted 
 the defense. When the articles of capitulation proposed by 
 Boufflers were placed before him, he said immediately, with¬ 
 out looking at them, “ I will subscribe them at once, know¬ 
 ing well you would propose notliing unworthy of you and me.” 
 The delicacy of his subsequent attentions to his noble prisoner 
 evinced the sincerity of his admiration. When Marlborough’s 
 influence at the English court was sensibly declining, in 1711, 
 he repaired to London, and exerted all his talents and address 
 to bring the English council back to the common cause, and 
 'istore his great rival to his former ascendency with Queen 
 Anne. When it was all in vain, and the English armies 
 withdrew from the coalition, Eugene did all that skill and 
 genius could achieve to make up for the great deficiency aris¬ 
 ing from the withdrawal of Marlborough and Iris gallant fol¬ 
 lowers ; and when it had become apparent that he was over¬ 
 matched by the French armies, he was the first to counsel his 
 Imperial master to conclude peace, which was done at Rastadt 
 on the 6th of March, 1714. 
 
 Great as had been the services then performed by Eugene 
 09. for the Imperialists, they were outdone by those 
 F»ccrs?cT!m:f which he subsequently rendered in the wars with 
 the Turks. the Turks. In truth, it was he who first effectu¬ 
 ally broke their power, and forever delivered Europe from the 
 sabers of the Osmanlis, by which it had been incessantly 
 threatened for three hundred years. Intrusted with the com¬ 
 mand of the Austrian army in Hungary, sixty thousand strong, 
 he gained at Peterwardin, in 1716, a complete victory over a 
 hundred and fifty thousand Turks. This glorious success led 
 him to resume the offensive, and in the following year he laid 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 335 
 
 siege, with forty thousand men, to Belgrade, the great frontier 
 fortress of Turkey, in presence of the whole strength of the 
 Ottoman empire. The obstinate resistance of the Turks, as 
 famous then as they have ever since been in the defense of 
 fortified places, joined to the dysenteries and fevers usual on 
 the marshy banks of the Danube in the autumnal months, 
 soon reduced his effective force to twenty-five thousand men, 
 while that of the enemy, by prodigious efforts, had been swell¬ 
 ed to a hundred and fifty thousand around the besiegers’ litres, 
 besides thirty thousand within the walls. 
 
 Every thing presaged that Eugene was about to undergo 
 the fate of Marshal Marsin twelve years before 30 . 
 at Turin, and even his most experienced officers ^om°nun^ C and 
 deemed a capitulation the only way of extricating toryaTBel-” 0 " 
 them from their perilous situation. Eugene him- & rade - 
 self was attacked and seriously weakened by the prevailing 
 dysentery, and all seemed lost in the Austrian camp. It was 
 in these circumstances, with this weakened and dispirited 
 force, that he achieved one of the most glorious victories ever 
 gamed by the Cross over the Crescent. With admirable skill 
 he collected his little army together, divided it into columns 
 of attack, and, though scarcely able to sit on horseback him 
 self, led them to the assault of the Turkish intrenchments. 
 The result was equal to the success of Cassar over the Gauls 
 at the blockade of Alesia, seventeen centuries before. The 
 innumerable host of the Turks was totally defeated ; all their 
 artillery and baggage was taken, and their troops were entirely 
 dispersed. Belgrade, immediately after, opened its gates, and 
 has since remained, with some mutations of fortune, the great 
 frontier bulwark of Europe against the Turks. The successes 
 which he gained in the following campaign of 1718 were so 
 decisive, that they entirely broke the Ottoman power ; and he 
 was preparing to march to Constantinople, when the treaty 
 of Passarowitz put a period to his conquests, and gave a hreat h- 
 ing time to the exhausted Ottoman empire.* 
 
 * Biog. Univ., xiii.. 182-491 (Eugene). 
 
336 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 From tliis brief sketch of his exploits, it may readily be un- 
 31 - derstood what was the character of Eugene as a 
 
 His character . 
 
 as a general, general. He had none of the methodical prudence 
 
 and parallel to _ _ . . 
 
 Napoleon. of Turenne, Marlborough, or Villars. His gemus 
 was entirely different; it was more akin to that of Napoleon, 
 when he was reduced to counterbalance inferiority of num¬ 
 bers by superiority of skill. The immortal campaigns of 1796 
 in Italy, and of 1814 in Champagne, bear a strong resem¬ 
 blance to those of Eugene. Like the French emperor, his 
 strokes were rapid and forcible ; his coup-d’ccil was at once 
 quick and just; his activity indefatigable; his courage un¬ 
 daunted , liis resources equal to any undertaking. He did 
 not lay much stress on previous arrangements, and seldom 
 attempted the extensive combinations which enabled Marl¬ 
 borough to command success, but dashed fearlessly on, trust¬ 
 ing to his own resources to extricate him out of any difficulty 
 —to his genius, in any circumstances, to command victory. 
 
 Yet was this daring disposition not without peril. His au- 
 32 dacity often bordered on rashness, his rapidity on 
 with^Mch'hc haste ; and he repeatedly brought his armies into 
 seiffromdS^ situations all but desperate, and which, to a gen- 
 s er3 - eral of less capacity, would unquestionably have 
 
 proved so. But in these difficulties no one could exceed him 
 in the energy and vigor with which he extricated himself from 
 the toils ; and many of his greatest victories, particularly those 
 of Turin and Belgrade, were gained under circumstances 
 where even the boldest officers in his army had given him 
 over for lost. He was prodigal of the blood of his soldiers, 
 and, like Napoleon, indifferent to the sacrifices at which he 
 purchased Iris successes; but he was still more lavish of Iris 
 own, and never failed to share the hardships and dangers of 
 the meanest of his followers. Engaged during his active 
 life in thirteen pitched battles, in all he fought like a common 
 soldier. He was, in consequence, repeatedly, sometimes dan¬ 
 gerously, wounded ; and it was extraordinary that he escaped 
 the reiterated perils to which he was exposed. He raised the 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 337 
 
 Austrian monarchy by his triumphs to the very highest pitch 
 of glory, and finally broke the power of the Turks, the most 
 persevering and not the least formidable of its enemies. But 
 the enterprises which his genius prompted the cabinet of Vi¬ 
 enna to undertake, were beyond the strength of the heredita¬ 
 ry states; and for nearly a century after, it accomplished 
 nothing worthy either of its growing resources, or of the mili¬ 
 tary renown which he had achieved for it. 
 
 Frederic II., surnamed the Great, with more justice 
 than any other to whom that title has been applied 33 
 in modern times, was born at Berlin on the 24th of Freduricthi 
 January, 1712. His education was as much neg- Great - 
 lected as ill directed. Destined from early youth for the mil¬ 
 itary profession, he was, in the first instance, subjected to a 
 discipline so rigorous, that he conceived the utmost aversion 
 for a career in which he was ultimately to shine with such 
 eclat, and, as his only resource, threw himself with ardor into 
 the study of French literature, for which he retained a strong 
 predilection through the whole of his subsequent fife. Unfor¬ 
 tunately, his knowledge was almost entirely confined to that 
 literature. That of his own country, since so illustrious, had 
 not started into existence. Of Italian and Spanish he was 
 ignorant. lie could not read Greek ; and with Latin his ac¬ 
 quaintance was so imperfect as to be of no practical service to 
 him through life. To this unfortunate contraction of his ed¬ 
 ucation, his limited taste in literature, in subsequent life, is 
 chiefly to be ascribed. He at first was desirous of espousing 
 an English princess ; but his father, who was most imperious 
 in his disposition, decided otherwise, and he was compelled, in 
 1733, to marry the Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick. This 
 union, like most others contracted under restraint, proved un¬ 
 fortunate ; and it did not give Frederic the blessing of an 
 heir to the throne. Debarred from domestic enjoyments, the 
 young prince took refuge with more eagerness than ever in 
 literary pursuits ; the chateau of Rhinsberg, which was his 
 favorite abode, was styled by him in his transport the “ Pal- 
 
 F F 
 
338 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ace of the Musesand the greatest general and most hardy 
 soldier of modern times spent some years of his youth in corre¬ 
 sponding with Maupertuis, Voltaire, and other French philos¬ 
 ophers, and hi making indifferent verses and madrigals, which 
 gave no token of any remarkable genius. He had already 
 prepared for the press a book entitled “ Refutation of the 
 Prince of Machiavel,” when, in 1740, the death of his father 
 called him to the throne, its duties, its dangers, and its am¬ 
 bition. 
 
 The philosophers were in transports when they beheld “ one 
 34. of themselves,” as they styled him, elevated to a 
 toth^tJarone! throne; they indulged hi hopes that he would con- 
 appiicftio^to ti nue i n his literary pursuits, and acknowledge 
 its duties. their influence, when surrounded by the attractions, 
 and wielding the patronage of the crown. They soon found 
 their mistake. Frederic retained through life his literary 
 tastes : he corresponded with Voltaire and the philosophers 
 through all his campaigns ; he made French verses in his 
 tent, after tracing out the plans of the battles of Leuthen and 
 Rosbaoh. But his heart was in his kingdom ; his ambition 
 was set on its aggrandizement; his passion was war, by which 
 alone that aggrandizement could be achieved. Without be¬ 
 ing forgotten, the philosophers and madrigals were soon com¬ 
 paratively discarded. The finances and the army occupied 
 his whole attention. The former were in excellent order, and 
 his father had even accumulated a large treasure which re¬ 
 mained in the exchequer. The army, admirably equipped and 
 disciplined, already amounted to sixty thousand men : he aug¬ 
 mented it to eighty thousand. Nothing could exceed the 
 vigor he displayed in every department, or the unceasing at¬ 
 tention he paid to public affairs. Indefatigable day and night, 
 sober and temperate in his habits, he employed even artificial 
 means to augment the time during the day he could devote to 
 business. Finding that he was constitutionally''inclined to 
 more rest than he deemed consistent with the full discharge 
 of all his regal duties, he ordered his servants to waken him 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 339 
 
 at five in the morning; and if words were not effectual to 
 rouse him from his sleep, he commanded them, on pain of dis¬ 
 missal, to apply linen steeped in cold water to his person. 
 This order was punctually executed, even in the depth of whi¬ 
 ter, till nature was fairly subdued, and the king had gained 
 the time he desired from his slumbers. 
 
 It was not long before he had an opportunity of evincing 
 at once the vigor and unscrupulous character of 35 
 his mind. The Emperor Charles VI. having died oa S fmcfcon-° n 
 on the 20th of October, 1740, the immense pos- 2nd first victory 
 sessions of the house of Austria devolved to his at MoUwltz - 
 daughter, since so famous by the name of Maria Theresa. 
 The defenseless condition of the Imperial dominions, consist¬ 
 ing of so many different and discordant states, some of them 
 but recently muted under one head, when under the guidance 
 of a young unmarried princess, suggested to the neighboring 
 powers the idea of a partition. Frederic eagerly united with 
 France in this project. He revived some old and obsolete 
 claims of Prussia to Silesia; but in his manifesto to the Eu¬ 
 ropean powers upon invading that province, he was scarcely 
 at the pains to conceal the real motives of his aggression. 
 “ It is,” said he, “ an army ready to take the field, treasures 
 long accumulated, and perhaps the desire to acquire glory.” 
 He was not long in succeeding in the object of his ambition, 
 though it was at first rather owing to the skill of his generals, 
 and discipline of his soldiers, than to his own capacity. On 
 the 10th of April, 1741, the army under his command gained 
 a complete victory over the Austrians, at Mollwitz, in Silesia, 
 which led to the entire reduction of that rich and important 
 province. The king owed little to his own courage, however, 
 on this occasion. Like Wellington, the first essay in arms of 
 so indomitable a hero was unfortunate. He fled from the 
 field of battle at the first repulse of his cavalry; and he was 
 already seven miles off, where he was resting in a mill, when 
 he received intelligence that his troops had regained the 
 day ; and at the earnest entreaties of General, afterward 
 
340 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Marshal, Schwerin, he returned to take the command of the 
 army. 
 
 Next year, however, he evinced equal courage and capacity 
 
 36 . in the battle of Czaslau, which he gained over the 
 sucre8ec°over Prince of Lorraine. Austria, on the brink of ruin, 
 the Au&trians. p ag | ene( ^ ^o di sarm the most formidable of her as¬ 
 sailants ; and by a separate peace, concluded at Breslau on 
 the 11th of June, 1742, she ceded to Prussia nearly the whole 
 of Silesia. This cruel loss, however, was too plainly the re¬ 
 sult of necessity to be acquiesced in without a struggle by the 
 cabinet of Vienna. Maria Theresa made no secret of her de¬ 
 termination to resume possession of the lost province on the 
 first convenient opportunity. Austria soon runted the whole 
 of Germany in a league against Frederic, who had no ally 
 but the King of France. Assailed by such a host of enemies, 
 however, the young lung was not discouraged, and, boldly as¬ 
 suming the initiative, he gained at Hohenfriedberg a com¬ 
 plete victory over his old antagonist, the Prhice of Lorraine. 
 This triumph was won entirely by the extraordinary genius 
 displayed by the King of Prussia. “It was one of those bat¬ 
 tles,” says the military historian Guibert, “where a great 
 master makes every thing give way before him, and which is 
 gained from the very beginning, because he never gives the 
 enemy time to recover from their disorder.” 
 
 The Austrians made great exertions to repair the conse- 
 
 37. quences of tins disaster, and with such success, that 
 k'nit^obiiged i 11 four months Prince Charles of Lorraine again 
 to make peace. a ^(_ ac ] £e{ j l a ixn, at the head of fifty thousand men, 
 near Soor. Frederic had not twenty-five thousand, but •with 
 these he again defeated the Austrians with immense loss, and 
 took up his whiter quarters in Silesia. So vast were the re¬ 
 sources, however, of the great German League, of which Aus¬ 
 tria was the head, that they were enabled to keep the field 
 during winter, and even meditated a coup-dc-main against 
 the king, in his capital of Berlin. Informed of this design, 
 Frederic lost not a moment in anticipating it by a sudden at- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 341 
 
 tack, ou his part, on his enemies. Assembling- his troops in 
 the depth of winter with perfect secrecy, he surprised a large 
 body of Saxons at Naumberg, made himself master of their 
 magazines at Gorlitz, and soon after made his triumphant 
 entry into Dresden, where he dictated a glorious peace, on the 
 25th of December, 1745, to his enemies, which permanently 
 secured Silesia to Prussia. It was full time for the Imperial¬ 
 ists to come to an accommodation. In eighteen months Fred¬ 
 eric had defeated them in four pitched battles, besides several 
 combats ; taken forty-five thousand prisoners, and killed or 
 wounded an equal number of his enemies. His own armies 
 had not sustained losses to a fifth part of this amount, and the 
 chasms in his ranks were more than compensated by the mul¬ 
 titude of the prisoners who enlisted under his banners, anxious 
 to share the fortunes of the hero who had already filled Eu¬ 
 rope with his renown. 
 
 The ambitious and decided, and, above all, indomitable 
 character of Frederic, had already become conspic- 3 e. 
 uous during these bnei campaigns. His corre- andindomita- 
 spondence, all conducted by himself, evinced a vig- already^- 67 
 or and tranchant style at that period unknown in pear3- 
 European diplomacy, but to which the world has since been 
 abundantly accustomed in the proclamations of Napoleon. 
 Already he spoke on every occasion as the hero and the con¬ 
 queror—to conquer or die was his invariable maxim. On the 
 eve of his invasion of Saxony, he wrote to the Empress of 
 Russia, who was endeavoring to dissuade him from that de¬ 
 sign : “ I wish nothing from the King of Poland (Elector of 
 Saxony) but to punish him in his electorate, and make him 
 sign an acknowledgment of repentance in his capital.” Dur¬ 
 ing the negotiations for peace, he wrote to the King of En¬ 
 gland, who had proposed the mediation of Great Britain: 
 “ These are my conditions. I will perish with my army be¬ 
 fore departing from one iota of them : if the empress does not 
 accept them, I will rise in my demands.” 
 
 The peace of Dresden lasted ten years ; and these were of 
 F f 2 
 
342 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 39 , inestimable importance to Frederic. He employ- 
 ices to his king- C( 1 that precious interval in consolidating his con- 
 neS'ten’ylars quests, seeming the affections hy protecting the 
 of peace. interests of his subjects, and pursuing every de¬ 
 sign which could conduce to their welfare. Marshes were 
 drained, lands were broken up and cultivated, manufactures 
 established, the finances were put in the best order, and agri¬ 
 culture, as the great staple of the kingdom, was sedulously 
 encouraged. His capital was embellished, and the fame of 
 his exploits attracted the greatest and most celebrated men in 
 Europe. Voltaire, among the rest, became for years his guest; 
 but the aspiring genius and irascible temper of the military 
 monarch could ill accord with the vanity and insatiable thirst 
 for praise of the French author, and they parted with mutual 
 respect, but irretrievable alienation. Meanwhile, the strength 
 of the monarchy was daily increasing under Frederic’s wise 
 and provident administration. The population nearly reached 
 six millions of souls ; the cavalry mustered thirty thousand, all 
 in the highest state of discipline and equipment; and the in¬ 
 fantry, esteemed with reason the most perfect in Europe, num¬ 
 bered a hundred and twenty thousand bayonets. 
 
 These troops had long been accustomed to act together in 
 
 40. large bodies; the best training next to actual serv- 
 
 CoaUtion of , ° ’ 6 
 
 Austria,Russia, ice in the field which an army can receive. They 
 
 France, Sax- 
 
 ony, and Swe- had need of all their skill, and discipline, and cour- 
 i’russfa. lnSt age ; for Prussia was ere long threatened by the 
 most formidable confederacy that ever yet had been directed 
 in modern times against a single state. Austria, Russia, 
 France, Sweden, and Saxony united in alliance for the pur¬ 
 pose of partitioning the Prussian territories. These allies had 
 ninety millions of men in their dominions, and could with ease 
 bring four hundred thousand men into the field. Prussia had 
 less than six millions of inhabitants, who were strained to the 
 uttermost to array a hundred and twenty thousand combat¬ 
 ants ; and even with the aid of England and Hanover, not 
 more than fifty thousand auxiliaries could be relied on. Prus- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 343 
 
 sia had neither strong fortresses like Flanders, nor mountain 
 chains like Spain, nor a frontier stream like France. Its ter¬ 
 ritory, open on every side, was entirely composed of flat plains, 
 unprotected by great rivers, and surrounded on the south, east, 
 and north by its enemies. The contest seemed utterly des¬ 
 perate, and there did not seem a chance of escape for the Prus¬ 
 sian monarchy. 
 
 Frederic began the contest by one of those strokes which 
 demonstrated the strength of his understanding 41. 
 
 D D Frederic in- 
 
 and the vigor of his determination. Instead of vades saxony, 
 
 . . . and conquers 
 
 waiting to be attacked, he carried the war at once that country, 
 into the enemy’s territories, and converted the resources of the 
 nearest of them to his own advantage. Having received au¬ 
 thentic intelligence of the signature of a treaty for the partition 
 of his kingdom by the great powers, on the 9th of May, 1756, 
 he suddenly entered the Saxon territories, made himself mas¬ 
 ter of Dresden, and shut up the whole forces of Saxony in the 
 intrenched camp at Pirna. Marshal Brown having advanced 
 at the head of sixty thousand men to relieve them, he en¬ 
 countered and totally defeated him at Lowositz, with the loss 
 of fifteen thousand men. Deprived of all hope of succor, the 
 Saxons in Pirna, after having made vain eflorts to escape, 
 were obliged to lay down their arms, still fourteen thousand 
 strong. The whole of Saxony submitted to the victor, who 
 thenceforward, during the whole war, turned its entire re¬ 
 sources to his own support. Beyond all question, it was this 
 masterly and successful stroke, in the very outset, and in the 
 teeth of his enemies, which added above a third to his war¬ 
 like resources, and enabled him subsequently to maintain his 
 ground against the desperate odds by which he was assailed, 
 Most of the Saxons taken at Pirna, dazzled by their conquer¬ 
 or’s fame, entered his service: the Saxon youth hastened in 
 crowds to enroll themselves under the banners of the hero of 
 the North of Germany. Frederic, at the same time, effectu¬ 
 ally vindicated the step he had taken in the eyes of all Eu¬ 
 rope, by the publication of the secret treaty of partition, which 
 
344 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 he had discovered in the archives at Dresden, in spite of the 
 efforts of the electress to conceal it. Whatever might have 
 been the case in the former war, when he siezed on Silesia, it 
 was apparent to the world that he now, at least, was strictly 
 in the right, and that his invasion of Saxony was not less jus¬ 
 tifiable on the score of public morality, than important in its 
 consequences to the great contest in which he was engaged. 
 
 The allies made the utmost efforts to regain the advantages 
 40 they had lost. France, instead of the twenty-four 
 Austrian !* 16 thousand men she was bound to furnish by the 
 defeated a? Ko^ treaty °f partition, put a hundred thousand on 
 lm - foot; the Diet of Ratisbon placed sixty thousand 
 
 troops of the empire at the disposal of Austria ; hut Frederic 
 still preserved the ascendant. Breaking into Bohemia in 
 March, 1757, he defeated the Austrians in a great battle un¬ 
 der the walls of Prague, shut up forty thousand of their best 
 troops in that town, and soon reduced them to such extremi¬ 
 ties, that it was evident, if not succored, they must surrender. 
 The cabinet of Viemia made the greatest efforts for their re¬ 
 lief. Marshal Daun, whose caution and scientific policy was 
 peculiarly calculated to thwart the designs and baffle the au¬ 
 dacity of his youthful antagonist, advanced at the head of six¬ 
 ty thousand men to their relief. Frederic advanced to meet 
 them with less than twenty thousand combatants. He at¬ 
 tacked the Imperialists in a strong position at Kolin, on the 
 18th of July, and, for the first time in his life, met with a 
 bloody defeat. His army, especially that division commanded 
 by his brother, the prince royal, sustained severe losses in the 
 retreat, which became unavoidable, out of Bohemia ; and the 
 king confessed in his private correspondence that an honora¬ 
 ble death alone remained to him. 
 
 Disaster accumulated on every side. The English and 
 43 . Hanoverian army, his only allies, capitulated at 
 
 Desperate sit- 
 
 uation of the Closterseven, and left the French army, sixty thou- 
 
 Prussianmon- . n 
 
 archy. sand strong, at liberty to lollow the Frussians ; 
 
 the French and the troops of the empire, with the Duke of 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 345 
 
 Richelieu at their head, menaced Magdeburg, where the roy¬ 
 al family of Prussia had taken refuge, and advanced toward 
 Dresden. The Russians, seventy thousand strong, were mak¬ 
 ing serious progress on the side of Poland, and had recently 
 defeated the Prussians opposed to them. The king was put 
 to the ban of the empire ; and the army of the empire, mus¬ 
 tering forty thousand, was moving against him. Four huge 
 armies, e;lch stronger than his own, were advancing to crush a 
 prince who could not collect thirty thousand men round liis 
 banners. At that period he aarried a sure poison always with 
 him, determined not to fall alive into the hands of his ene¬ 
 mies. He seriously contemplated suicide, and gave vent to 
 the mournful, hut yet heroic sentiments with which he was 
 inspired, in a letter to Voltaire, terminating with the lines, 
 
 Pour moi, menace de naufrage, 
 
 Je dois, en affrontaut l’orage, 
 
 Penser, vivre, et mourir en roi. 
 
 Then it was that the astonishing vigor and powers of his 
 mind shone forth with their full luster. Collect- 44. 
 
 The king’s mar¬ 
 ine hastily twenty-five thousand men out of his veious victories 
 . , i , atRosbachand 
 
 shattered battalions, he marched against the Leuthen. 
 
 Prince of Soubise, who, at the head of an army of sixty thou ■ 
 sand French and Imperial troops, was advancing against him 
 through Thuringia, and totally defeated him, with the loss of 
 eighteen thousand men, on the memorable field of Rosbach. 
 Hardly was this triumph achieved, when he was called, with 
 his indefatigable followers, to stem the progress of the Prince 
 of Lorraine and Marshal Daun, who were making the most 
 alarming progress in Silesia. Schweidnitz, its capital, had 
 fallen ; a large body of Prussians, under the Duke de Bevorn, 
 had been defeated at Breslau. That rich and important prov¬ 
 ince seemed on the point of falling again into the hands of the 
 Austrians, when Frederic reinstated his affairs, which seemed 
 wholly desperate, by one of those astonishing strokes which 
 distinguish him, perhaps, above any general of modern times. 
 In the depth of winter he attacked, at Leuthen, on the 5th 
 
346 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of December, 1757, Marshal Daun and the Prince, of Lor¬ 
 raine, who had sixty thousand admirable troops under their 
 orders, and, by the skillful application of the oblique method 
 of attack, defeated them entirely, with the loss of thirty thou¬ 
 sand men, of whom eighteen thousand were prisoners! It 
 was the greatest victory that had been gained in Europe since 
 the battle of Blenheim. Its effects were immense : the Aus¬ 
 trians were driven headlong out of Silesia; Schweidnitz was 
 regained; the King of Prussia, pursuing them, carried the 
 war into Moravia, and laid siege to Ohnutz; and England, 
 awakening, at the voice of Chatham, from its unworthy slum¬ 
 ber, refused to ratify the capitulation of Closterseven, resinned 
 the war on the Continent with more vigor than ever, and in¬ 
 trusted its direction to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who 
 soon rivaled Turennc in the shill and science of his method 
 ical warfare. 
 
 But it was the destiny of the King of Prussia—a destiny 
 45- which displayed his great qualities in their full lus- 
 
 Disasters sus¬ 
 tained by his ter—to be perpetually involved in difficulties, from 
 
 erquarters, the enormous numerical preponderance of his ene- 
 Zorndorr y ° f mies, or the misfortunes of the lieutenants to whom 
 his subordinate armies were intrusted. Frederic could not 
 be personally present every where at the same time ; and 
 wherever he was absent, disaster revealed the overwhelming 
 superiority of the force by which he was assailed. The siege 
 of Olmutz, commenced in March, 1758, proved unfortunate. 
 The battering train at the disposal of the king was unequal 
 to its reduction, and it became necessary to raise it on the ap¬ 
 proach of Daun with a formidable Austrian army. During 
 this unsuccessful irruption into the south, the Russians had 
 been making alarming progress in the northeast, where the 
 feeble force opposed to them was welhiigh overwhelmed by 
 their enormous superiority of numbers. Frederic led back 
 the flower of his army from Olmutz, in Moravia, crossed all 
 Silesia and Prussia, and encountered the sturdy barbarians at 
 Zorndorf, defeating them with the loss of seventeen thousand 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 347 
 
 men, an advantage which delivered the eastern provinces of 
 the monarchy from this formidable invasion. This victory 
 was dearly purchased, however, by the sacrifice of ten thou¬ 
 sand of his own best soldiers. 
 
 But, during the king’s absence, Prince Henry of Prussia, 
 whom he had left in command of sixteen thousand 46 . 
 men, to keep Marshal Daun in check, was well- fcat'nuiohen- 
 nigh overwhelmed by that able commander, who kirchon - 
 was again at the head of an army of fifty thousand. Fred¬ 
 eric flew back to his support, and, having joined his brother, 
 took post at Hohenkirchen. The position was unfavorable; 
 the army inferior to the enemy. “If Daun does not attack 
 us here,” said Marshal Keith, “ he deserves to be hanged.” 
 “I hope,” answered Frederic, “he will be more afraid of us 
 than the rope.” The Austrian veteran, however, saw his ad¬ 
 vantage, and attacked the Prussians during the night with 
 such skill, that he threw them into momentary confusion, took 
 one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, and drove them from 
 their ground, with the loss of seven thousand men. Then it. 
 was that the courage and genius of the king shone forth with 
 their full luster. Though grievously wounded in the conflict, 
 and after having seen his best generals fall around him, he ral¬ 
 lied his troops at daybreak, formed them in good order behind 
 the village which had been surprised, and led them leisurely 
 to a position a mile from the field of conflict, where he offer¬ 
 ed battle to the enemy, who did not venture to accept it. 
 Having remained two days in this position to reorganize his 
 troops, he decamped, raised the siege of Neiss, and succeeded 
 in t akin g up his winter quarters at Breslau, in the very mid¬ 
 dle of the province he had wrested from the enemy. 
 
 The campaign of 1759 was still more perilous to Frederic ; 
 
 but, if possible, it displayed his extraordinary 47. 
 
 / . / / Terrible battle 
 
 talents in still brighter colors. He began by ob- otcunnersdorf, 
 
 , A • 1 ill which Fred- 
 
 serving the Austrians, under Daun and the Prince eric is defeated, 
 of Lorraine, in Silesia, and reserved his strength to combat 
 the Prussians, who were advancing, eighty thousand strong, 
 
348 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 through East Prussia. Frederic attacked them at Cunners- 
 dorf, with forty thousand only, in an intrenched position, guard¬ 
 ed by two hundred pieces of cannon. The first onset of the 
 Prussians was entirely successful: they forced the front line 
 of the Russian intrenchment, and took seventy-two pieces 
 of cannon. The victory seemed gained : he wrote to Berlin 
 that they might soon expect to hear of a glorious triumph. 
 But the situation of the king was such, pressed on all sides 
 by superior armies, that he could not stop short with ordinary 
 success ; and, in the attempt to gain a decisive victory, he had 
 wellnigh lost all. The heroism of his troops was shattered 
 against the strength of the second line of the Russians; a 
 large body of Austrians came up to their support during the 
 battle, and, after having exhausted all the resources of cour¬ 
 age and genius, he was driven from the field with the loss of 
 twenty thousand men and all his artillery. 
 
 The Russians lost eighteen thousand men in this terrible 
 48 . battle, the most bloody winch had been fought 
 mlsfortimeara f° r centuries in Europe, and were in no condition 
 othei qumtera. f 0 ]j 0W U p ^heir victory. Other misfortunes, 
 however, in appearance overwhelming, succeeded each other. 
 General Schmettau capitulated in Dresden; and General 
 Finch, with seventeen thousand men, was obliged to lay down 
 his arms in the defiles of the Bohemian mountains. All seem¬ 
 ed lost ; but the king still persevered, and the victory of Min- 
 den enabled Prince Ferdinand to detach twelve thousand men 
 to his support. The Prussians nobly stood by their heroic 
 sovereign in the hour of trial; new levies supplied the wide 
 chasms in his ranks. Frederic’s great skill averted all future 
 disasters, and the campaign of 1759, the fourth of the war, 
 concluded with the king still in possession of all his dominions 
 in the midst of the enormous forces of his enemies. 
 
 The campaign of 1760 began in March by another disaster 
 49 at Landshech, where ten thousand Prussians 
 eric oTer f Lau d were cut to pieces under one of his generals, and 
 don at Lignetz. important fortress of Glatz was invested by 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 349 
 
 the Austrians. Frederic advanced to relieve it, but soon re¬ 
 measured his steps to attempt the siege of Dresden. Daun, 
 in his turn, followed him, and obliged the Prussian monarch 
 to raise the siege. Frederic then resumed his march into Si¬ 
 lesia, closely followed by three annies, each more numerous 
 than his own, under Laudon, Daun, and Lacy, without their 
 being able to obtain the slightest advantage over him. Lau¬ 
 don, the most active of them, attempted to surprise him ; but 
 Frederic was aware of his design, and received the attacking 
 columns at Lignetz in so masterly a manner, that they were 
 totally defeated, with the loss of twelve thousand men. 
 
 Scarcely had he achieved this victory, when he had to make 
 head against Lacy, withstand Daun, repel an so. 
 
 ° S, i Dreadful brittle, 
 
 enormous body of Russians, who were advancing and victory of 
 through East Prussia, and deliver Berlin, which at Torgau. 
 had been a second time occupied by liis enemies. Driven to 
 desperate measures by such an unparalleled succession of dan¬ 
 gers, he extricated himself from them by the terrible battle 
 and extraordinary victory of Torgau, on the 3d of November, 
 17G1, in which, after a dreadful struggle, he defeated Daun, 
 though intrenched to the teeth, with the loss of twenty-five 
 thousand men : an advantage dearly purchased by the loss of 
 eighteen thousand of his own brave soldiers. But this victory 
 saved the Prussian monarchy : Daun, severely wounded in 
 the battle, retired to Vienna; the army withdrew into Bo¬ 
 hemia ; two thirds of Saxony was regained by the Prussians; 
 the Russians and Swedes retired; Berlin was delivered from 
 the enemy ; and the fifth campaign terminated with the un¬ 
 conquerable monarch still in possession of nearly his whole 
 dominions. 
 
 The military strength of Prussia was now all but exhausted 
 by the unparalleled and heroic efforts she had 51 . 
 made. Frederic has left us the following picture ^i^ofrrassia 
 of the state of his kingdom and army at this dis- at this time ' 
 astrous period : “ Our condition at that period can only be 
 likened to that of a man riddled with balls, weakened by the 
 
 G o 
 
350 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 loss of blood, and ready to sink under the weight of his suffer¬ 
 ings. The noblesse was exhausted, the lower people ruined ; 
 numbers of villages burned, many towns destroyed; a com¬ 
 plete anarchy had overturned the whole order and police of 
 government; in a word, desolation was universal. The army 
 was in no better situation. Seventeen pitched battles had 
 mowed down the flower of the officers and soldiers ; the regi¬ 
 ments were broken down, and composed in part of deserters 
 and prisoners ; order had disappeared, and discipline relaxed 
 to such a degree, that the old infantry was little better than 
 a body of newly-raised militia.”* Necessity, not less than 
 prudence, in these circumstances, which to any other man 
 would have seemed desperate, prescribed a cautious defensive 
 policy; and it is doubtful whether in it his greatness did not 
 appear more conspicuous than in the bolder parts of his for¬ 
 mer career. 
 
 The campaign of 1761 passed in skillful marches and coun- 
 
 52. termarches, without his numerous enemies being 
 
 the camp of able to obtain a single advantage, where the king 
 Bunzelwitz . 
 
 in 1761. commanded in person, lie was now, literally 
 speaking, assailed on all sides; the immense masses of the 
 Austrians and Russians were converging to one point; and 
 Frederic, who could not muster forty thousand men under his 
 banners, found himself assailed by one hundred thousand allies, 
 whom six campaigns had trained to perfection in the military 
 art. It seemed impossible he could escape; yet he did so, 
 and compelled his enemies to retire without gaining the slight¬ 
 est advantage over him. Taking post in an intrenched camp 
 at Bunzelwitz, fortified with the utmost skill, defended with 
 the utmost vigilance, he succeeded in maintaining himself and 
 providing food for his troops for two months within cannon- 
 shot of the enormous masses of the Russians and Austrians, 
 till want of provisions obliged them to separate. “ It has just 
 come to this,” said Frederic, “who will starve first?” He 
 made his enemies do so. Burning with shame, they were 
 ’ Histoire de mon Temps, par Frederic IV., p. 174. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 351 
 
 forced to retire to their respective territories, so that he was 
 enabled to take up his winter quarters at Breslau in Silesia. 
 But, during- this astonishing struggle, disaster had accumula¬ 
 ted in other quarters.' His camp at Bunzelwitz had only 
 been maintained by concentrating in it nearly the whole 
 strength of the monarchy, and its more distant provinces suf¬ 
 fered severely under the dram. Schweidnitz, the capital of 
 Silesia, was surprised by the Austrians, with its garrison of 
 four thousand men. Prince Henry, after the loss of Dresden, 
 had the utmost difficulty in maintaining himself in the part 
 of Saxony wliich still remained to the Prussians; in Silesia 
 they had lost all but Glogau, Breslau, and Neiss; and, to 
 complete his misfortune, the dismissal of Lord Chatham from 
 office in England had led to the stoppage of the wonted sub¬ 
 sidy of £750,000 a year. The resolution of the king did not 
 sink, but his judgment almost despaired of success under such 
 a complication of disasters. Determined not to yield, he dis¬ 
 covered a conspiracy at his head-quarters to seize him, and 
 deliver him to his enemies. Dreading such a calamity more 
 than death, lie carried with him, as formerly hi similar cir¬ 
 cumstances, a sure poison, intended, in the last extremity, to 
 terminate his days. 
 
 “ Nevertheless,” as he himself said, “ affairs which seemed 
 desperate, in reality were not so ; and perseverance 5:! 
 at length surmounted every peril.” Fortune often, ^Empress 
 in real life, as well as in romance, favors the brave, etoresbis 
 In the case of Frederic, however, it would be unjust fmrs - 
 to say he was favored by Fortune. On the contrary, she long 
 proved adverse to him ; and lie recovered her smiles only by 
 heroically persevering till the ordinary chances of human af¬ 
 fairs turned in his favor. He accomplished what hi serious 
 cases is the great aim of medicine ; he made the patient sur¬ 
 vive the disease. In the winter of 1761, the Empress of 
 Russia died, and was succeeded by Peter III. That prince 
 had long conceived the most ardent admiration for Frederic, 
 and he manifested it in the most decisive maimer on his ac- 
 
352 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 cession to the throne, by not only withdrawing from the alli¬ 
 ance, but uniting his forces with those of Prussia against Aus¬ 
 tria. This great event speedily changed the face of affairs. 
 The united Prussians and Russians under Frederic, seventy 
 thousand strong, retook Schweidnitz, in the face of Daun, who 
 had only sixty thousand men ; and, although the sudden death 
 of the Czar Peter in a few months deprived him of the aid of 
 his powerful neighbors, yet Russia took no further part in the 
 contest. France, exhausted and defeated in every quarter of 
 the globe by England, could render no aid to Austria, upon 
 whom the whole weight of the contest fell. It was soon ap¬ 
 parent that she was overmatched by the Prussian hero. Re¬ 
 lieved from the load which had so long oppressed him, Fred¬ 
 eric vigorously resumed the offensive. Silesia was wholly re¬ 
 gained by the king in person ; the battle of Freyberg gave his 
 brother, Prince Henry, the ascendant in Saxony; and the 
 cabinet of Vienna, seeing the contest hopeless, were glad to 
 make peace at Hubertsbourg, on the 15th of February, 1763, 
 on terms which, besides Silesia, left entire the whole domin¬ 
 ions of the King of Prussia. 
 
 He entered Berlin in triumph after six years’ absence, in an 
 54 . open chariot, with Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick 
 re.TOifof the seated by his side. No words can paint the enthu- 
 stmggie. siasm of the spectators at the august spectacle, or 
 the admiration with which they regarded the hero who had 
 filled the world with his renown. It was no wonder they 
 were proud of their sovereign. His like had never been seen 
 since the fall of the Roman empire. He had founded and 
 saved a kingdom. He had conquered Europe in arms. With 
 six millions of subjects he had vanquished powers possessing 
 ninety millions. He had created a new era in the art of war. 
 His people were exhausted, pillaged, ruined; their numbers 
 had declined a tenth during the contest. But what then ? 
 They had come victorious out of a struggle unparalleled in 
 modem times : the halo of Leuthen and Rosbach, of Zomdorf 
 and Torgau, played round their bayonets; they were inspired 
 
M A R L B O It O U G II. 
 
 353 
 
 with the energy which so speedily repairs any disaster. Fred¬ 
 eric wisely and magnanimously laid aside the sword when he 
 resumed the pacific scepter. His subsequent reign was almost 
 entirely spent in tranquillity ; all the wounds of war were 
 speedily healed under his sage and beneficent administration. 
 Before his death, his subjects had been doubled, the national 
 wealth had been made triple of what it had been at the com¬ 
 mencement of his reign, and Prussia now boasts of sixteen 
 millions of inhabitants, and a population increasing faster in 
 numbers and resources than that of any other state in Europe. 
 
 No labored character, no studied eulogium, can paint Fred¬ 
 eric like this brief and simple narrative of his ex- 55. 
 
 His character 
 
 ploits. It places him at once at the head of mod- as a gaieral. 
 ern generals ; if Hannibal be excepted, perhaps of ancient and 
 modern. He was not uniformly successful; on the contrary, 
 he sustained several dreadful defeats. But that arose from 
 the enormous superiority of force by which he was assailed, 
 and the desperate state of his affairs, which were generally so 
 pressing, that even a respite in one quarter could be obtained 
 only by a victory instantly gained, under whatever circum¬ 
 stances, in another. What appears rashness was often in him 
 the height of wisdom. He had no Parliament or coalition to 
 consider, no adverse faction was on the watch to convert cas¬ 
 ual disaster into the means of rum. He was at liberty to take 
 counsel only from his own heroic breast. He could protract 
 the struggle, however, by no other means but strong and vig¬ 
 orous strokes, and the luster of instant success, and they could 
 not be dealt out without the risk of receiving as many. The 
 fact of his maintaining the struggle against such desperate 
 odds proves the general wisdom of his policy. No man ever 
 made more skillful use of an interior line of communication, or 
 flew with such rapidity from one threatened part of his do¬ 
 minions to another. None ever, by the force of skill in tac¬ 
 tics and sagacity in strategy, gained such astonishing success¬ 
 es with forces so inferior. And if some generals have com¬ 
 mitted fewer faults, none were impelled by such desperate cir- 
 G g 2 
 
354 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 cumstances to a hazardous course, and none had ever greater 
 magnanimity in confessing and explaining them for the bene¬ 
 fit of future times. 
 
 The only general in modem times who can bear a compar- 
 56. ison with Frederic, if the difficulties of his situa- 
 f redpric'and° * tion are considered, is Napoleon. It is a part only 
 Napoleon. 0 f pjg campaigns, however, which sustains the 
 analogy. There is no resemblance between the mighty con¬ 
 queror pouring down the valley of the Danube, at the head 
 of one hundred and eighty thousand men, invading Russia 
 with five hundred thousand, or overrunning Spam with three 
 hundred thousand, and Frederic the Great, with thirty thou¬ 
 sand or forty thousand, turning every way against quadruple 
 the number of Austrians, French, Swedes, and Russians. Yet 
 a part, and the most brilliant part of Napoleon’s career, bears 
 a close resemblance to that of the Prussian hero. In Lom¬ 
 bardy in 1796, in Saxony in 1813, and in the plain of Cham¬ 
 pagne in 1814, he was, upon the whole, inferior in force to 
 his opponents, and owed the superiority which he generally 
 enjoyed on the point of attack to the rapidity of his move¬ 
 ments, and the skill with which, like Frederic, he availed 
 himself of an interior line of communication. His immortal 
 campaign in France in 1814, in particular, where he bore up 
 with seventy thousand men against two hundred and fifty 
 thousand enemies, bears the closest resemblance to those which 
 Frederic sustained for six years against the forces of the coa¬ 
 lition. Both were often to appearance rash, because the af¬ 
 fairs of each were so desperate that nothing could save them 
 but an audacious policy. Both were indomitable in resolu¬ 
 tion, and preferred ruin and death to sitting down on a dis¬ 
 honored throne. Both were from the outset of the struggle 
 placed in circumstances apparently hopeless, and each succeed¬ 
 ed in protracting it solely by his astonishing talent and reso¬ 
 lution. The fate of the two was widely different: the one 
 transmitted an honored and aggrandized throne to his success¬ 
 ors ; the other, overthrown and discrowned, terminated his 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 355 
 
 days on the rock of St. Helena. But success is not always 
 the test of real merit: the verdict of ages is often different 
 from the judgment or fate of present times. Hannibal con¬ 
 quered, has left a greater name among men than Scipio vic¬ 
 torious. In depth of thought, force of genius, variety of infor¬ 
 mation, and splendor of success, Frederic will bear no compar¬ 
 ison with Napoleon. But Frederic’s deeds, as a general, were 
 more extraordinary than those of the French emperor, because 
 he bore up longer against greater odds. It is the highest 
 praise of Napoleon to say, that he did in one campaign—his 
 last and greatest—what Frederic had done in six. 
 
 If the campaigns of Eugene and Frederic suggest a com¬ 
 parison with those of Napoleon, those of Marlbor- 57 . 
 
 1 1 Of Marlborough 
 
 ough challenge a parallel with those of the other and Wellington. 
 
 great commander of our day—Wellington. Their political 
 and military situations were in many respects alike. Both 
 combated at the head of the forces of a coalition, composed of 
 dissimilar nations, actuated by separate interests, inflamed by 
 different passions. Both had the utmost difficulty in soothing 
 the jealousies and stifling the selfishness of these nations ; and 
 both found themselves often more seriously impeded by the 
 allied cabinets in their rear, than by the enemy’s forces in 
 their front. Both were the generals of a nation which, albeit 
 covetous of military glory, and proud of warlike renown, is to 
 the last degree impatient of previous preparation ; which ever 
 frets at the cost of wars that its political position renders un¬ 
 avoidable, or that in its ambitious spirit it had readily under¬ 
 taken. Both were compelled to husband the blood of their 
 soldiers, and spare the resources of their governments, from 
 the consciousness that they had already been strained to the 
 uttermost in the cause, and that any further demands would 
 render the war so unpopular as speedily to lead to its termina¬ 
 tion. The career of both occurred at a time when political 
 passions were strongly roused in their coiuitry ; when the war 
 in which they were engaged was waged against the inclina¬ 
 tion, and, in appearance at least, against the interests, of a 
 
356 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 large and powerful party at home, who sympathized from po¬ 
 litical feeling with their enemies, and were ready to decry 
 every success and magnify every disaster of their own arms, 
 from a secret feeling that their party elevation was identified 
 rather with the successes of the enemy than with those of 
 their own countrymen. The Tories were to Marlborough 
 precisely what the Whigs were to Wellington. Both were 
 opposed to the armies of the most powerful monarch, led by 
 the most renowned generals of Europe, whose forces, prepon¬ 
 derating over those of the adjoining states, had come to threat¬ 
 en the liberties of all Europe, and against whom there had at 
 last been formed a general coalition, to restrain the ambition 
 from which so much detriment had already been experienced. 
 
 But while in these respects the two British heroes were 
 53 placed very much in the same circumstances, in 
 tiie^triruaiiMs other particulars, not less material, their situa- 
 diftered. tions were widely different. Marlborough had 
 never any difficulties in the field to struggle with, approach¬ 
 ing those which beset Wellington. By great exertions, both 
 on his own part and that of the British and Dutch govern¬ 
 ment, his force was generally almost equal to that with which 
 he had to contend. It was often exactly so. War at that 
 period, in the Low Countries at least, consisted chiefly of a 
 single battle during a campaign, followed by the siege of two 
 or three frontier fortresses. The number of strongholds with 
 which the country bristled, rendered any further or more ex¬ 
 tensive operations, in general, impossible. This state of mat¬ 
 ters at once rendered success more probable to a general of 
 superior abilities, and made it more easy to repair disaster. 
 No vehement passions had been roused, bringing whole na¬ 
 tions into the field, and giving one state, where they had burn¬ 
 ed the fiercest, a vast superiority in point of numbers over its 
 more pacific or less excited neighbors. But hi all these re¬ 
 spects, the circumstances hi winch Wellington was placed 
 were not only not parallel—they were contrasted. From first 
 to last, in the Peninsula, he was enormously outnumbered by 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 357 
 
 the enemy. Until the campaign of 1813, when his force in 
 the field was, for the first time, equal to that of the French, 
 the superiority to which he was opposed was so prodigious, 
 that the oidy surprising thing is, how he was not driven into 
 the sea at the very first encounter. 
 
 While the French had never less than two hundred thou¬ 
 sand effective troops at their disposal, after pro- 59 , 
 viding for all their garrisons and communications, it£ of force with 
 the English general had never more than thirty tonhaiLtcfcon- 
 thousand effective British, and twenty thousand tend ' 
 Portuguese around liis standard. The French w r ere direct¬ 
 ed by the emperor, who, intent on the subjugation of the Pen¬ 
 insula, and wielding the inexhaustible powers given by the 
 conscription for the supply of Ids armies, cared not though he 
 lost a hundred thousand men in every campaign, provided he 
 purchased success by their sacrifice. Wellington was sup¬ 
 ported at home by a government which, raising its soldiers by 
 voluntary enrollment, could with difficulty supply a drain of 
 fifteen thousand men a year from their ranks for service in 
 every quarter of the globe. lie was watched by a party 
 which decried every advantage and magnified every disaster, 
 in order to induce the entire withdrawal of the troops from 
 the Peninsula. Napoleon sent into Spain a host of veterans 
 trained in fifteen years’ combats, who had carried the French 
 standards into every capital of Europe. Wellington led to 
 their encounter troops admirably disciplined indeed, but al¬ 
 most all unacquainted with actual war, and having often to 
 learn the rudiments even of the most necessary field opera¬ 
 tions hi presence of the enemy. Marlborough’s troops, though 
 heterogeneous and dissimilar, had been trained to their prac¬ 
 tical duties in the preceding wars under William III., and 
 brought into the field a degree of experience noways inferior 
 to that of their opponents. Bolingbroke tells us that, from 
 the very outset of his command, in the wars of the Succession, 
 Marlborough placed his main reliance on this circumstance. 
 Whoever weighs with impartiality those different circum- 
 
358 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 stances, can not avoid arriving at the conclusion, that as Wei 
 lington’s difficulties were incomparably more formidable than 
 Marlborough’s, so his merit., in surmounting them, was pro¬ 
 portionally greater. 
 
 Though similar in many respects, so far as the general con¬ 
 duct of their campaigns is concerned, from the ne- fi0 . 
 cessity under which both labored of husbanding ^e°Aaracter- 
 the blood of their soldiers, the military qualities of lstlcs ' 
 England’s two chiefs were essentially different, and each pos¬ 
 sessed some points in which he was superior to the other. By 
 nature Wellington was more daring than Marlborough, and 
 though soon constrained, by necessity, to adopt a cautious sys¬ 
 tem, he continued, throughout all his career, to incline more 
 to a hazardous policy than his great predecessor. The in¬ 
 trepid advance and fight at Assaye ; the crossing of the Douro 
 and movement on Talavera in 1809 ; the advance to Madrid 
 .nd Burgos in 1812; the actions before Bayonne in 1813, 
 the desperate stand made at Waterloo in 1815, place this be¬ 
 yond a doubt. Marlborough never hazarded so much on the 
 success of a single enterprise ; he ever aimed at compassing his 
 objects by skill and combination, rather than risking them on 
 the chance of arms. Wellington was a mixture of Turenne 
 and Eugene ; Marlborough was the perfection of the Turenne 
 school alone. No man could fight more ably and gallantly 
 than Marlborough; his talent and rapidity of eye in tactics 
 were at least equal to his skill hi strategy and previous com¬ 
 bination. But he was not partial to such desperate passages 
 at arms, and never resorted to them but from necessity, or 
 when encouraged by a happy opportunity for striking a blow. 
 The proof of this is decisive. Marlborough, during ten cam¬ 
 paigns, fought only five pitched battles. Wellington, in sev¬ 
 en, fought fifteen, in every one of which he proved victorious.* 
 
 Marlborough’s consummate generalship throughout his 
 
 * Viz., Vimiera, the Douro, Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes d’Onoro, Sala¬ 
 manca, Vittorin, the Pyrenees, the Bidassoa, the Nive, the Nivellc, Orthos, 
 Toulouse, (Auatre Bras, and Waterloo. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 359 
 
 whole career kept him out of disaster. It was 6i. 
 
 / # A Wellington’s 
 
 said, with justice, that he never fought a battle policy was 
 
 . . more daring, 
 
 wluch he did not gain, nor laid siege to a town but more haz- 
 which he did not take. He took above twenty Marlborough’s, 
 fortified places of the first order, generally in presence of an 
 enemy’s army superior to his own. Wellington’s holder dis¬ 
 position more frequently involved him in peril, and on some 
 occasions caused serious losses to his army ; hut they were the 
 price at which he purchased his transcendent successes. Wel¬ 
 lington’s holder strategy gained for him advantages which the 
 more circumspect measures of his predecessor never could have 
 attained. Marlborough would never, with scarcely any artil¬ 
 lery, have hazarded the attack on Burgos, nor incurred the 
 perilous chances of the retreat from that town ; hut he never 
 would have delivered the south of the Peninsula in a single 
 campaign, by throwing himself, with forty thousand men, upon 
 the communications in the north, of a hundred and fifty thou¬ 
 sand. It is hard to say which was the greater general, if 
 their merits in the field alone are considered; but Welling¬ 
 ton’s successes were the more vital to his country, for they 
 delivered it from the greater peril; and they were more hon¬ 
 orable to himself, for they were achieved against greater odds. 
 And his fame, in future times, will be proportionally brighter ; 
 for the final overthrow of Napoleon, and the destruction of 
 the revolutionary power, in a single battle, present an object 
 of surpassing interest, to which there is nothing in history, 
 perhaps, parallel, and which, to the latest generation, will fas¬ 
 cinate the minds of men. 
 
 Marlborough laid great stress on cavalry in war; his chief 
 successes in the field were owing to the skillful 62 
 use made of a powerful reserve body of horse in Semoreuse 
 the decisive point and at the decisive moment. It weiu^to^ an 
 was thus that he overthrew the French center at and wliy - 
 Blenheim by the charge of six thousand cavalry, headed by 
 himself in person, in the interval between that village and 
 Oberglau ; struck the decisive blow at Pi amillies by the charge 
 
360 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of a reserve of twenty squadrons drawn from the rear of the 
 right; and broke through the formidable intrenchments at 
 Malplaquet by instantly following up the irruption of Lord 
 Orkney into the center of the lines by a vigorous charge of 
 thirty squadrons of cavalry in at the opening. The propor¬ 
 tion of horse to infantry was much greater in his armies than 
 it has since been in the British service; it was never under 
 eighty, and at last as high as a hundred and sixty squadrons, 
 which, at the usual rate of a hundred and fifty to a squadron, 
 must, when complete, have mustered twelve and twenty-four 
 thousand sabers. This w T as from a fourth to a fifth of their 
 amount at each time. His horse, in great part composed of 
 the steady German dragoons, was in general of the very best 
 description. Wellington’s victories were, for the most part, 
 less owing to the action of cavalry ; but that was because the 
 country, which was the theater of war—Portugal, Spain, and 
 the south of France—was commonly too rocky or mountain¬ 
 ous to admit of the use of horse on an extended scale, and he 
 had not nearly so large a body of cavalry at his disposal. 
 Where they could be rendered available, he made the best 
 use of tliis powerful arm, as was shown in Le Mar chant’s no¬ 
 ble charge at Salamanca, Bock’s with the heavy Germans 
 next day, and Ponsonby’s and Somerset’s at Waterloo. In 
 recent times, and especially since the campaigns of Frederic 
 the Great, the importance of cavalry has been too much un¬ 
 derrated by military men. Napoleon had the highest opinion 
 of the value of cavalry in war ; he constantly said, that if the 
 courage and leading on both sides were equal, horse should 
 break the steadiest infantry. Almost all Iris great victories— 
 Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Borodino, Dresden, Montmirail, 
 Vauchamps—were owing to the terrible charge at the close 
 of the day by Murat or his successors, with Iris immense body 
 of heavy horse. This vehemence all but reft the day from 
 the British at Waterloo; opposed by any other infantry, it 
 unquestionably would have done so. Haimibal’s victories 
 were all gained by his Numidian cavalry; the sight of the 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 361 
 
 uniform of two or three of them was sufficient after Cannae 
 to make a whole Roman legion stand to arms. This is ad¬ 
 verse to the general doctrine of military men at this period, 
 but there are phases in opinion on war as in other things; 
 what is commonly thought at a particular time is not always 
 right. The recent victories of Aliwal and Sobraon in India 
 have gone far to shake the validity of the more current opin¬ 
 ion ; and if authority is to decide the matter, he is a hold man 
 who gainsays the united judgment of Hannibal, Marlborough, 
 and Napoleon. 
 
 Marlborough was more fortunate than Wellington, perhaps 
 more so than any general of modern times, in sieges. 63 - 
 
 * D . ° Marlborough 
 
 He took twenty of the strongest places in Europe was more sue- 
 
 cessful than 
 
 in presence of an enemy s army, always equal, gen- Wellington in 
 erally superior to his own ; he never once laid siege why.*' dU< 
 to a fortress that he did not subdue. His reduction of Lille, 
 with its noble garrison of fifteen thousand men, in presence of 
 Vendome at the head of a hundred and twenty thousand, was 
 the most wonderful achievement of the kind which modern Eu¬ 
 rope had witnessed. Wellington was less fortunate in this 
 branch of warfare. He made three successful sieges, those of 
 Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, and St. Sebastian ; but he sustained 
 three bloody repulses, at Badajoz in 1811, Burgos in 1812, and 
 St. Sebastian in the first siege in 1813. But, hi justice to Wel¬ 
 lington, the essential difference between his situation and that 
 of Marlborough in this respect must be considered. The latter 
 carried on the war in Flanders close to the strongholds of Aus¬ 
 tria and Holland, at no great distance from the arsenals of En¬ 
 gland, and with the facilities of water-carriage in general for 
 bringing up his battering trains. His troops, trained by ex¬ 
 perience in the long war which terminated with the peace of 
 Ryswick in 1697, had becorde as expert as their enemies hi all 
 the branches of the military art. Wellington carried on the 
 war at a great distance from the resources of Great Britain, 
 with little aid from the inefficient or distracted councils of Por¬ 
 tugal or Spain, in a mountainous country, where water com¬ 
 bi H 
 
362 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 munication could only penetrate a short way into the interior, 
 in presence of an enemy’s force always double, often triple his 
 own, and with troops whom a century of domestic peace, 
 bought by Marlborough’s victories, had caused so completely 
 to forget the practical details of w r ar, that even some of the 
 best of the general officers, when they embarked for the Pen¬ 
 insula, had to be told what a ravelin and a counterscarp 
 were.* He was compelled by the pressure of time, and the 
 approach of forces greatly superior to his own, to make as¬ 
 saults as his last chance, when the breaches were scarcely 
 practicable, and the parapets and defenses around them had 
 not even been knocked away. The attacks on Ciudad Rod¬ 
 rigo and Badajoz were not regular sieges ; they were sudden 
 assaults on strong places by a sort of coup-de-main, under cir¬ 
 cumstances where methodical approaches were impossible. 
 Whoever weighs these circumstances, so far from wondering 
 at the checkered fortune of Wellington in sieges, will rather 
 be surprised that he was successful at all. 
 
 The examination of the comparative merits of these two il- 
 G 4 . lustrious generals, and the enumeration of the 
 markable land names of their glorious triumphs, suggests one re- 
 EngUmd 9 over flection of a very peculiar kind. That England 
 France. - g a mar jtj me power, that the spirit of her inhab¬ 
 itants is essentially nautical, and that the sea is the element 
 on which her power has chiefly been developed, need be told 
 to none who reflect on the magnitude of her present colonial 
 empire, and how long she has wielded the empire of the 
 waves. The French are the first to tell us that her strength 
 is confined to that element; that she is, at land, only a third- 
 rate pow T er; and that the military career does not suit the 
 genius of her people. How, then, has it happened that En¬ 
 gland, the nautical power, and little inured to land operations, 
 
 * This was literally true of the generals of infantry. Picton, whose gal¬ 
 lant assault won the castle of Badajoz. and closed its terrible siege, spent 
 some days with a celebrated officer, still alive, whose knowledge of fortifi¬ 
 cation and gunnery is well known, in learning the rudiments of fortification 
 and the attack of places. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 363 
 
 has inflicted greater wounds upon Franee by military success 
 than any other power, and that in almost all the pitched bat¬ 
 tles which the two nations have fought during five centuries, 
 the English have proved victorious ? That England’s mili¬ 
 tary force is absorbed in the defense of a colonial empire which 
 encircles the earth, is indeed certain ; and, in every age, the 
 impatience of taxation in her people has starved down her 
 military establishment, during peace, to so low a point, as 
 rendered the occurrence of disaster, in the first years subse¬ 
 quent to the breaking out of war, a matter of certainty. On 
 the other hand, the military spirit of her neighbors has al¬ 
 most constantly kept theirs at the level which insures early 
 success. Yet with all these disadvantages, and with a pop¬ 
 ulation which, down to the close of the last war, was little 
 more than half that of France, she has inflicted far greater 
 land disasters on her redoubtable neighbor than all the mili¬ 
 tary monarchies of Europe put together. 
 
 English armies, for a hundred and twenty years, ravaged 
 France; but England has not seen the fires of a gs. 
 French camp since the battle of Hastings. En- ^^asters 
 glish troops have twice taken the French capital; ^ai^e e from 
 an English king was crowned at Paris; a French En s Iand - 
 king rode captive through London; a French emperor died in 
 English captivity, and his remains were surrendered by En¬ 
 glish generosity. Twice the English horse marched from Ca¬ 
 lais to the Pyrenees; once from the Pyrenees to Calais; the 
 monuments of Napoleon in the French capital at this moment 
 owe their preservation from German revenge to an English 
 general. All the great disasters and days of mourning for 
 France, since the battle of Hastings—Tenchebray, Cressy, 
 Poitiers, Azincour, Verneuil, Crevont, Blenheim, Oudenarde, 
 Ramillies, Malplaquet, Minden, Dettingen, Quebec, Egypt, 
 Talavera, Salamanca, Vittoria, Orthes, the Pyrenees, Water¬ 
 loo—were gained by English generals, and won, for the most 
 part, by English soldiers. Even at Fontenoy, the greatest 
 victory over England of which France can boast since Has- 
 
364 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tings, every regiment in the French army was, on their own 
 admission, routed by the terrible English column, and victory 
 was snatched from its grasp solely by want of support on the 
 part of the Dutch and Austrians. No coalition against France 
 has ever been successful, in which England did not take a 
 prominent part ; none, in the end, has failed of gaining its 
 objects, in which she stood foremost in the fight. This fact 
 is so apparent on the most superficial survey of history, that it 
 is admitted by the ablest French historians, though they pro¬ 
 fess themselves unable to explain it. 
 
 Is it that there is a degree of hardihood and courage in the 
 66. Anglo-Saxon race, which renders them, without 
 been the cau 9 - the benefit of previous experience in war, adequate 
 es oi this ? £ 0 conquest, on land, even of the most warlike 
 
 Continental military nations ? Is it that the quality of dog¬ 
 ged resolution, determination not to he conquered— bottom , in 
 the familiar English phrase—is of such value in war, that it 
 compensates almost any degree of inferiority in the practical 
 acquaintance with war ? Is it that the North brings forth a 
 bolder race of men than the South, and that, other things 
 being equal, the people nursed imder a more rigorous climate 
 will vanquish those of a more genial ? Is it that the free 
 spirit which, in every age, has distinguished the English peo¬ 
 ple, has communicated a degree of vigor and resolution to their 
 warlike operations, which has rendered them so often victori¬ 
 ous in land-fights, albeit nautical and commercial in their 
 ideas, over their military neighbors ? Or is it that this cour¬ 
 age in war, and this vigor in peace, and this passion for free¬ 
 dom at all times, arise from, and are but symptoms of, an ar¬ 
 dent and aspiring disposition, imprinted by Nature on the race 
 to whom the dominion of half the globe has been destined ? 
 Experience has not yet determined to which of these causes 
 this most extraordinary fact has been owing; but it is one 
 upon which our military neighbors, and especially the French, 
 would do well to ponder, now that the population of the Brit¬ 
 ish isles will, on the next census, be thirty millions. If En- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 365 
 
 gland has done such things in Continental warfare, with an 
 army which never brought fifty thousand native British sabers 
 and bayonets into the field, what would be the result if na¬ 
 tional distress or necessities, or a change in the objects of gen¬ 
 eral desire, wore to send two hundred thousand ? 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. 
 
 The wars in which the Duke of Marlborough was engaged 
 were not contests produced merely bv the ambi- i. 
 
 . J . . Moral charac- 
 
 tions of lungs or the rivalry of ministers; they ter of the Duke 
 
 . „ , ... . of Marlbor- 
 
 were not waged tor the acquisition of a provuice ough’s wars, 
 or the capture of a fortress ; they were not incurred, like those 
 of Frederic, for the gain of Silesia, or impelled to, like those 
 of Charles XII., by the thirst for glory. Great moral princi¬ 
 ples were involved in the contest. The League of Augsburg, 
 which terminated in the peace of Ryswick, and first put a 
 bridle on the ambition of France, was the direct and immedi¬ 
 ate consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and 
 the exile of the persecuted Protestants by Louis XIV. The 
 War of the Succession arose unavoidably from this selfish am¬ 
 bition, and desire to appropriate the whole magnificent spoils 
 of the Spanish monarchy, which he had won by diplomatic 
 astuteness, for the aggrandizement of the house of Bourbon. 
 The great interests of religious freedom and national independ¬ 
 ence were at stake in the struggle. 
 
 Freedom of thought, emancipation from Romish tyranny, 
 liberty in the choice of worship, the preaching of o 
 the Gospel to the poor, were borne aloft on Marl- <° s ^7dca^ra 
 borough’s banners; national independence, death 
 to the Bourbons, hatred to France, were inscribed tcnded - 
 on those of Eugene. The Church of Rome, indeed, had few 
 more faithful subjects than the house of Hapsburg ; but dread 
 H h 2 
 
366 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of the ambition of Louis XIV., and the glittering prospect of 
 the Spanish succession, had brought her Catholic sovereigns 
 into a close union with the Protestants of the north ; and the 
 admirable temper and judgment of the English and Austrian 
 chiefs kept their troops in a state of concord and amity, rarely 
 witnessed in the best-cemented alliances. Feudal honor, chiv¬ 
 alrous loyalty, the unity of the Church, were the principles 
 which had roused the armies and directed the councils of Louis 
 XIV. The exaltation of France, the glory of their sovereign, 
 the spoils of Spain, awakened the ambition of its government, 
 and animated the spirit of its people. The influence of these 
 opposite principles was felt not only in the council, but in the 
 field; not only in the minister’s cabinet, but in the soldier’s 
 tent. Divine service, after the Protestant form, was regularly 
 performed, morning and evening, in every regiment of Marl¬ 
 borough’s army; they prepared for battle by taking the sacra¬ 
 ment ; they terminated their victories by thanksgiving. The 
 armies of Louis, in a gay and gallant spirit, set out for the 
 conflict. If any ecclesiastic appeared to bless their arms, it 
 was the gorgeous priests of the ancient faith ; they struck rath¬ 
 er for the honor of their country, or the glory of their sovereign, 
 than the unity in Church and State on which he was so strong¬ 
 ly bent; and went to battle dreaming more of the splendor of 
 Versailles or the smiles of beauty, than the dogmas of religion 
 or the crusade of the Church of Rome. 
 
 As the principles and passions which animated the contend- 
 3. ing parties were thus opposite, proportionately great 
 thfMiancer ° f was peril alike to the cause of religious freedom 
 ened Europe ail( l European independence, if the coalition had not 
 proved C suc- d P rove( l successful. That no danger was to be ap- 
 cessfui. prehended from its triumph has been decisively prov¬ 
 ed by the event; the allies were victorious, and both have been 
 preserved. But very different would have been the results if 
 a power, animated by the ambition, guided by the fanaticism, 
 and directed by the ability of that of Louis XIV., had gained 
 the ascendency in Europe. Beyond all question, a universal 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 367 
 
 despotic dominion would have been established over the bod¬ 
 ies, a cruel spiritual thraldom over the minds of men. France 
 and Spain united under Bourbon princes, and in a close family 
 alliance—the empire of Charlemagne with that of Charles V. 
 —the power which revoked the Edict of Nantes, and perpe¬ 
 trated the massacre of St. Bartholomew, with that which ban¬ 
 ished the Moriscoes, and established the Inquisition, would 
 have proved irresistible, and beyond example destructive to the 
 best interests of mankind. 
 
 The Protestants might have been driven, like the Pagan 
 heathens of old bv the son of Pepin, beyond the 
 
 J 1 J Results which 
 
 Elbe ; the Stuart race, and with them Romish might have foi- 
 
 ... . . lowed the tri- 
 
 aseendency, might have been re-established in umph of France. 
 England ; the fire lighted by Latimer and Ridley might have 
 been extinguished in blood ; and the energy breathed by relig¬ 
 ious freedom into the Anglo-Saxon race might have expired. 
 The destinies of the world would have been changed. Eu¬ 
 rope, instead of a variety of independent states, whose mutual 
 hostility kept alive courage, while their national rivalry stim¬ 
 ulated talent, would have sunk into the slumber attendant on 
 universal dominion. The colonial empire of England would 
 have withered away and perished, as that of Spain has done 
 in the grasp of the Inquisition. The Anglo-Saxon race would 
 have been arrested in its mission to overspread the earth and 
 subdue it. The centralized despotism of the Roman empire 
 would have been renewed on Continental Europe ; the chains 
 of Romish tyranny, and with them the general infidelity of 
 Franee before the Revolution, w r ould have extinguished or per¬ 
 verted thought in the British Islands. There, too, the event 
 has proved the justice of these anticipations. France, during 
 the eighteenth century, has taught us in what state our minds 
 would have been had Marlborough been overthrown; the in¬ 
 fidelity of Voltaire, to what a state of anarchy our religious 
 opinions would have been reduced; the despotism of Napo¬ 
 leon at its close, to what tyranny our persons would have been 
 subjected. 
 
368 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The opposite principles which animated the contending par- 
 
 5 ties were very similar to those which a century aft- 
 ?n politic id dtS er ranged Europe against France, in the wars of 
 which the par- ^ ie French Revolution ; the great conflict of the 
 e^sImtiarTo eighteenth century was but an extension, to the 
 ward occur political and social relations of men, of the relig- 
 red. ious divisions which distracted the seventeenth. 
 
 But in one respect the antagonists were on opposite sides. In 
 so far as they were handed together against the ambition of 
 France, the coalition of 1689 was guided by the same princi 
 pies as that of 1793 ; the armies of Eugene struck for the 
 same cause as those of the Archduke Charles. But in so far 
 as they contended for a moral principle, their relative position 
 was in a great measure reversed : England, in the wars of 
 William and Anne, was on the side of civil and religious free¬ 
 dom ; she stood foremost in the contest for liberty of thought 
 and the free choice of worship ; she was herself the first and 
 greatest of revolutionary powers. France supported the des¬ 
 potism of the Romish faith, and that system of unity in civil 
 government which aimed at extending claims as strong over 
 the temporal concerns of men. The industry of towns, the 
 wealth of commerce, arrayed a numerous but motley array of 
 many nations aroimd the banner of St. George ; the strength 
 of feudal attachment, the loyalty of chivalrous devotion, brought 
 the strength of a gallant people round the oriflamme of St. 
 Denis. 
 
 Yet, though apparently on opposite, the forces of the Coali- 
 
 6. tion and of France were in reality ranged on the 
 Yet fundament- . J ° . 
 
 ally the allies same sides in the War of the Succession as m that 
 
 and France . . . 
 
 were in both of the French Revolution. In both, religion and 
 the same’sides. freedom were the principles on which the allies 
 rested, and unity of government and military glory were the 
 moving springs of effort in France. The iron rule of the Con¬ 
 vention, the despotism of Napoleon, were essentially identical, 
 though wielded by different hands and hi a different name, 
 with the government of Louis XIV. National independence, 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 369 
 
 religious duty, breathed in the proclamations of Alexander, not 
 less than the daily services amid the tents of Marlborough. It 
 matters not by whom despots are elected, provided they are 
 despots and support power. The absolute nature of a contest 
 is not to be judged of merely by the war-cries which the par¬ 
 ties raise, or the banners under which their forces are nomin¬ 
 ally enrolled. The true test is to be found in the practical 
 tendency and social results of the institutions for which its 
 partisans contend. The cause of real freedom is often ad¬ 
 vanced by the victories gained by a monarch’s armies; the 
 march of practical despotism is never so accelerated as by the 
 triumph of Republican bayonets. William III. was the head 
 of a revolutionary dynasty, but he established the government 
 of Great Britain on a far more aristocratic basis during the 
 succeeding century than it had ever before attained. Louis 
 XIV. was the leader of a crusade of the faithful against the 
 Protestant party, but he bequeathed a century of irreligion to 
 France, which ended in the overthrow of its government. 
 The Committee of Public Salvation, wielding the forces of the 
 Revolution, established a centralized military despotism in 
 France, far exceeding any thing dreamed of by Richelieu or 
 Louvois, and which has never since been shaken off in that 
 country. The spread of political power, the popularization 
 of social institutions, have never been so rapid in Great Brit¬ 
 ain as during the thirty years which immediately succeeded 
 the glorious termination of the anti-revolutionary war. 
 
 But from this ranging of the contending parties, in name at 
 least, on opposite sides, and the important fact of Impor j ant dif 
 the legitimate dynasty having been displaced by a ference in the 
 
 ° _ J J O r j parties by 
 
 revolutionary monarch on the throne of England, whom the war 
 
 J t . was opposed 
 
 there arose a most important difference between in the time of 
 
 Marlborough 
 
 the respective parties who opposed the war, com- and Napoleon, 
 mencing in 1679, and that which began in 1793. The war 
 Avhich terminated with the Treaty of Ryswick was waged by 
 William, himself the Louis Philippe of the younger branch of 
 the Stuart dynasty; that of the Succession was headed by 
 
370 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Anne, his successor on the revolutionary throne. It was car 
 ried on for the freedom of conscience and liberty of worship, 
 and supported by the whole strength of the Whig aristocracy, 
 and the whole vehemence of the Protestant fervor. Hence, 
 the enemies of the war, the opposition to the government, nat¬ 
 urally espoused the other side. The Tory and High-Church 
 party gradually became estranged from the government, and 
 at length openly came into hostility with it, in consequence of 
 the continued increase which the prosecution of the war gave 
 to the influence of its opponents, and the dreadful and interm¬ 
 inable dangers with which it seemed to threaten the finances 
 of the country. Then the positions of parties became precise¬ 
 ly the reverse of what they subsequently were during the war 
 with revolutionary Franee ; and yet both at heart were actu¬ 
 ated by the same motives. The Tories opposed the War of 
 the Succession and decried Marlborough’s victories as warmly 
 as the Whigs resisted the contest with France, and strove to 
 lessen Wellington’s fame, a century later. Both put forth 
 public principle and the interest of the nation as the ostensible 
 grounds of their conduct; but both in secret were actuated, 
 perhaps unconsciously, by different and more pressing motives. 
 The Tories opposed the war with Louis XIV. because it tend¬ 
 ed to confirm their opponents in power, and postpone, if not 
 destroy, their hopes of restoring the exiled family. The 
 Whigs opposed the war with Napoleon because it was waged 
 against a power which at least began with the principles of 
 democracy, and because they expected its successful issue 
 would, for perhaps more than a generation, confirm the Tories 
 in possession of the reins of government. 
 
 Political parties, and the alliances of cabinets in Europe, 
 8. had been long actuated and regulated by these 
 porite parties Si principles, which had, in an especial mamier, be- 
 siScethe’Great come predominant since the terrible conflict of the 
 Rebellion. Great Rebellion in England. All the foreign al¬ 
 liances of Charles II. had in secret been suggested by jealousy 
 of the Republican party, from which his family had sustained 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 371 
 
 such grievous injuries at home. French mistresses, the charms 
 of the Duchess of Portsmouth, were not disregarded by the 
 amorous monarch ; but the chief motive of his conduct was a 
 desire to extinguish the Puritan faction and the Protestant 
 faith in his dominions. It was an article of the secret treaty 
 between Charles and Louis XIV., that the Republican forms 
 of government, as existing in Holland, should be superseded 
 by an hereditary monarchy in the person of the stadtholder 
 and his family ; and that the English monarch should, as soon 
 as prudent, do what was possible for the re-establishment of 
 the Roman Catholic religion in Great Britain.* These so¬ 
 cial and political divisions, naturally arising from the vehe¬ 
 ment contests of the seventeenth century, derived additional 
 strength from the expulsion of the ancient dynasty, and the 
 successful result of the Revolution of 1688 in Great Britain. 
 Personal animosity and party ambition were inunediately add¬ 
 ed to the flames of political hostility. It was felt by all that 
 the change of dynasty had been brought about by many dis¬ 
 graceful acts of treachery in the leaders of the movement, as 
 well as by the generous indignation of a nation at attempts to 
 enslave them. The bitterness of lost influence, the recollec¬ 
 tion of shattered power, were added to the broad lines of po¬ 
 litical distinction ; and a cast-down party, which had generous 
 feelings and profound attachments to rest upon, ere long gath¬ 
 ered strength from the very circumstances, in the external 
 condition of the nation, which to appearance had established 
 the power of their opponents on an immovable foundation. 
 
 The Revolution had been brought about by a coalition of 
 parties, arising from the general feeling of unbear- 9 
 able oppression experienced by the nation. The plrti'^had* 
 Tories had joined in it as cordially as the Whigs; about the 
 the High-Church party as much as the Dissenters. Resolution. 
 It began with sending the seven bishops to the Tower; it 
 was ended by the cheers of the troops at their acquittal on 
 Hounslow Heath. Bolingbroke has well expressed the views 
 * Capefigue, Hist, de Louis XIV., ii., 167. 
 
372 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 which induced the Tory party and ancient cavaliers of the 
 realm to take part in this great movement, and there is no 
 reason to believe that he was insincere in what he said. 
 “ Many,” says he, “ of the most distinguished Tories, some of 
 those who carried highest the doctrines of passive obedience 
 and non-resistance, were engaged in it, and the whole nation 
 was ripe for it. The Whigs were zealous in the same cause, 
 hut their zeal was not such as I think it had been some years 
 before, a zeal without knowledge. I mean, it was better tem¬ 
 pered and more prudently conducted. Though the king was 
 not the better for his experience, parties were. Both saw 
 their errors. The Tories stopped short in pursuit of a bad 
 principle ; the Whigs reformed the abuse of a good one. Both 
 had sacrificed then country to their party ; both, on this oc¬ 
 casion, sacrificed their party to their country. The cause of 
 liberty was no longer made the cause of a party, by being set 
 on such a bottom as one party alone approved. The Revolu¬ 
 tion was plainly designed to restore and secure the government, 
 ecclesiastical and civil, on true foundations; and whatever 
 might happen to the king, there was no room to apprehend 
 any change hi the Constitution. The Republican whimsies, 
 indeed, that reigned in the days of usurpation and confusion, 
 still prevailed among some of that party. But this leaven 
 was so near worn out, that it could neither corrupt, nor seem 
 any longer to corrupt, the mass of the Whig party. That 
 party never had been Republicans or Presbyterians any more 
 than they had been Quakers—any more than the Tory party 
 had been Papists when, notwithstanding their aversion to 
 popery, they were undeniably under the accidental influence 
 of popish councils. But even the appearances were now rec¬ 
 tified. The Revolution was a fire which purged off the dross 
 of both parties ; and the dross being purged off, they appeared 
 to be the same metal, and answered the same standard.”* 
 But it is a dangerous thing for the people, even for the best- 
 founded causes of dissatisfaction, to overturn an established 
 * A Dissertation on Parties. Boungbroke’s Works, iii., 125. 
 
MARLBOROUGH 
 
 373 
 
 government. Such a step generally remedies the d 10 . 
 immediate evils which produced the discontent, hut which flowed 
 it does so only by introducing a host of others, oiution. 
 often still more injurious, and which become, by the triumph 
 of the first convulsion, wholly irremovable. No nation ever 
 had juster cause for dispossessing a sovereign than England 
 had in 1688 ; for James was striving at once and by force to 
 subvert the civil liberties, and change the established religion 
 of his people. Yet from this just and necessary change, as 
 all parties then felt it to be, were soon found to flow a series 
 of causes and effects which induced a host of evils so serious 
 and appalling, that the cotemporary age was seized with con¬ 
 sternation at their magnitude, and the effects of which will 
 be felt to the latest generation in Great Britain. 
 
 The first effect which immediately followed was the com¬ 
 mencement of the great war with France, which, 11 . 
 
 . . . The funding 
 
 beginning in 1G89, continued, with a cessation only system isin- 
 
 troduced by 
 
 oi nve years, till 1/13. Jsngland was now the William hi. 
 head of the Protestant and independent league, and upon her 
 fell the weight of the contest with Romish and despotic France. 
 The finances of Great Britain, as they were managed in for¬ 
 mer times, could never have sustained the cost of such a war 
 for a tenth part of the time. But expense now seemed to be 
 no obstacle to the government. A new engine of surpassing 
 strength had been discovered for extracting capital out of a 
 country; and the able statesmen who had it in their hands, 
 felt it to be not less serviceable in consolidating the internal 
 power than in meeting the external expenses of the new dy¬ 
 nasty. The revenue at the dethronement of James II. was 
 only £2,000,000 a year, a sum not equal to three months’ ex¬ 
 penditure of the war; and long experience had proved the 
 extreme difficulty of getting the people, even under the most 
 pressing emergencies of government, to make any addition to 
 the public burdens. But William brought with lum from 
 Holland the secret of the Funding System. He showed the 
 nation what may be done by forestalling the resources of future 
 
 I i 
 
374 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 years in the present, by pledging the industry of a people to 
 its capital. It was this marvelous discovery, then new to the 
 world, which at once occasioned the successes which signal¬ 
 ized the external government of the Revolution, and engen¬ 
 dered the internal discontent which all but produced its down¬ 
 fall. 
 
 When this system first began, the nation was not sensible 
 12. of the important consequences to which it could 
 it exdtedS 0 ” lead. They thought that it could only be a tem- 
 Great Britain. p 0rar y expedient; and that, though perhaps it 
 might lead to a few millions being unnecessarily added to the 
 national debt, yet that would be all. Though from the first, 
 accordingly, its progress was viewed with a jealous eye by the 
 thinking few, it made but little impression upon the unthink¬ 
 ing many before the peace of Ryswick. But when the War 
 of the Succession began in 1702, and continued without in¬ 
 termission, and attended by daily increasing expenditure for 
 ten years, the apprehensions of a large part of the nation be¬ 
 came excessive. At the Revolution, the national debt, as al¬ 
 ready mentioned, was £601,000 ; by the year 1710 it exceed¬ 
 ed £50,000,000 sterling. Though this sum may seem incon¬ 
 siderable to us who have become accustomed to the much 
 greater debts which have since been contracted, yet it appear¬ 
 ed prodigious to a people then beginning to learn for the first 
 time to what burden the finances of a nation may, by the fund¬ 
 ing system, be subjected. It was a terrible thing to think that 
 in twenty years the public debt had been augmented eighty¬ 
 fold ; that in that short time it had come to amount to ticcn- 
 ty-five times the revenue of the nation at its commencement. 
 And it had, in reality, become a formidable burden, as com¬ 
 pared with the resources of the state even at that time; for 
 the public income, which had been two millions at the de¬ 
 thronement of James, had only risen to £5,691,000 at the 
 death of Anne, while the debt was £54,000,000, being near¬ 
 ly ten times its amount, and about half in proportion to the 
 national revenue of what it is at this time. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 375 
 
 Bolingbroke has left us the following vivid picture of the 
 apprehensions with which, in the latter years of 13 
 the War of the Succession, the minds of men were ^Jmmt'onts 
 filled on this dismal subject. “It is impossible to ,lan s er3 - 
 look back without grief on the necessary and miavoidable con¬ 
 sequences of this establishment, or without indignation on that 
 mystery of iniquity which hath been raised upon it, and car¬ 
 ried on by means of it. Who can answer that a scheme which 
 oppresses the farmer, ruins the manufacturer, breaks the mer¬ 
 chant, discourages industry, and reduces fraud to a system; 
 which drains continually a portion of our national wealth 
 away to foreigners, and draws most perniciously the rest of 
 that immense property that was diffused among thousands into 
 the pockets of a few—who can answer that such a scheme 
 will always endure ? The whole art of stock-jobbing, the 
 whole mystery of iniquity mentioned above, arises from this 
 establishment, and is employed about the funds; and the main¬ 
 springs which turn or may turn the artificial wheel of credit, 
 and make the paper estates that are fastened to it rise or fall, 
 lurk behind the veil of the treasury. That luxury which be¬ 
 gan to spread after the restoration of Charles II. hath increas¬ 
 ed ever since from the growth of wealth among the stock-job¬ 
 bers from this system. Nothing can be more certain than 
 this, that national luxury and national poverty may in time 
 establish national prostitution. The immense wealth of par¬ 
 ticular men is a circumstance which always attends national 
 poverty, and is, in a great measure, the cause of it. We may 
 already apply to our country what Sallust makes Cato say of 
 the state of Rome, and I wish we could apply no more : ‘ Pro 
 his nos habemus luxuriam ; publice egestatem, privatim opu- 
 lentiam.’ ‘ Public want and private wealth abound in all 
 declining states.’ ”* 
 
 What rendered this system peculiarly alarming was the 
 simultaneous development of a new and apparently intermin¬ 
 able system of government by which it was to be carried 
 * Bolingbroke's Dissertation on Parties. Works, iii., 298, 299. 
 
376 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 „ 14 - on. The Stuarts had tried to reign by prerogative; 
 
 General cor- n j r o 
 
 ruption which and as one monarch had lost his head and anoth- 
 
 was induced in . 
 
 the country, er his crown in the attempt, the friends of freedom 
 flattered themselves that the liberties of the nation were now 
 established on a foundation which no future sovereign woul 
 attempt to shake. But the accession of William soon showed 
 that there are other ways of managing a people than by open 
 force. The Stuarts had failed because they had been bred 
 under monarchical habits, and had no other ideas of govern¬ 
 ment than those of prerogative and power. Experience had 
 not taught them the secret, so well known to the Roman em¬ 
 peror, of veiling authority under the name of freedom, and dis¬ 
 arming opposition by attending to the interests of its leaders. 
 William brought from the commercial republic of Holland, 
 where they had been long practiced and were perfectly under¬ 
 stood, a thorough knowledge of both these important state se¬ 
 crets. Introduced by Parliament, having no legitimate title 
 to the throne, standing solely on the choice of the nation, he 
 was careful in all his measures not to run counter either in 
 form or substance to the power which had raised him to the 
 throne. Every thing originated with the Legislature. The 
 House of Commons stood forth in appearance as the ruler of 
 the state. But then he contrived, by a simple expedient, to 
 rule the House of Commons. The wars hi which he was of 
 necessity engaged; the loans which they rendered unavoida¬ 
 ble, and which the commercial wealth of the nation enabled 
 it to advance; and the great increase in the general expendi¬ 
 ture of the Exchequer, all conspired to place a vast and un¬ 
 precedented amount of patronage in the hands of government. 
 This was systematically directed to buy off opposition in Par¬ 
 liament, and secure a majority in the constituencies. Corrup¬ 
 tion in every possible form, from the highest to the lowest, was 
 employed in all parts of Great Britain, especially among tho 
 urban electors ; and with such success, that almost every meas¬ 
 ure of government passed without difficulty through both 
 houses of Parliament. The nation had shaken off the prerog- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 377 
 
 atives of the crown, hut they had fallen under the domination 
 of its influence. The gold of the Exchequer was found to be 
 more powerful than the penalties of the Star Chamber, and 
 the last state of the realm was worse than the first 
 
 If this enormous increase in the public debt, under the in¬ 
 fluence of the funding system, awakened the ap- „ , 15 - 
 
 ° J m Bolingbroke’e 
 
 prehension of the thoughtful, not less did the un- account of the 
 
 Jr ....... general indig- 
 
 bounded spread of corruption excite the indignation nation at this 
 
 r , r , . mi r -1 demoralizing 
 
 oi the virtuous part ol the nation. 1 he hrst might system, 
 embarrass the revenue and cripple the resources of the nation, 
 but this threatened to sap the foundations of its prosperity 
 by undermining its virtue. Bolingbroke, whose genius, how¬ 
 ever brilliant, seldom did more than reflect the ideas of that 
 part of the empire which constituted his section of the com¬ 
 munity, has left the following account of the sentiments with 
 which this new and demoralizing system of influence was re¬ 
 garded by the sturdy English or country party. “ As the 
 means of influencing by prerogative and of governing by force 
 were considered to be increased formerly upon every addition 
 to the power of the crown, so are the means of influencing by 
 money and of governing by corruption to be considered as in¬ 
 creased now, upon that increase of power which hath accrued 
 to the crown by the new constitution of the revenue since the 
 Revolution. Not only the means of corrupting are increased 
 on the part of the crown, but the facility of employing these 
 means with success is increased, on the part of the people, on 
 the part of the electors, and the part of the elected. The 
 power of the crown to corrupt, and the proneness of the peo¬ 
 ple to be corrupted, must continue to increase on the same 
 principles, until a stop be put to the growing wealth and 
 power of the one, and the growing depravity of the other. 
 The ministers, though never so weak, are always impudent 
 enough to act, and able enough to get frequent supplies on na¬ 
 tional pretenses for private purposes. The consequences of 
 this are manifold; for the more money passes through their 
 hands, the more opportunities they have of gain ; and, in par- 
 11 2 
 
378 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ticular, they may share it, if they please, iii every bad bai - ' 
 gain they make for the public ; and the worse their bargain, 
 the better their share will he. Then an immense subsidy 
 given to some little prince who deals in soldiers, or an im¬ 
 mense arrear stated in favor of these little 'merchants of hu¬ 
 man flesh, may be so ordered as to steal enough from the pub¬ 
 lic to replenish the royal coffers, glut the ministers, feed some 
 of their hungry creatures, and bribe a Parliament besides. 
 The establishment of public funds on the credit of these taxes 
 hath been productive of far greater mischiefs than the taxes 
 themselves, not only by increasing the means of corruption 
 and the power of corruption, but the effect it hath had on the 
 spirit of the nation, its manners and morals. Britain will soon 
 be in the state described by Philip II. of his own court: 
 1 They all take money except myself and Sapona.’ Britain 
 may ere long be in that very condition in which, and in which 
 alone, her Constitution and her liberty, in consequence, may 
 be destroyed, because the people may, in a state of universal 
 corruption, and mil in no other, either suffer others to betray 
 them or betray themselves. How near a progress we had 
 made to this, I determine not. This I say, that it is time for 
 every man who is desirous to preserve the British Constitu¬ 
 tion, to contribute all he can to prevent the ill effects of that 
 new influence and power which has gained strength in every 
 reign since the Revolution; of those means of corruption that 
 may be employed one time or other on the part of the crown ; 
 and of that proneness to corruption on the part of the people 
 that hath been long growing, and still grows.”* 
 
 Independent of these considerations, which were so obvious 
 16 - that they forced themselves on the consideration of 
 
 Strong prin- . 
 
 cipies of free- every thinking person in the country, there were a 
 
 dom and loy- 
 
 aity in theEn- powerful set of feelings, which ere long began to 
 ter. h charac impel the public mind in the same direction. Not¬ 
 withstanding the strong love of freedom which has in every 
 age characterized the English people, and which has been 
 * Bolingbroke’s Dissertation on Parties. Works, iii., 302. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 379 
 
 evinced for nearly a thousand years by the constant struggles 
 they have made to maintain and extend their liberties, there 
 is no nation in whom the principle of loyalty has taken a 
 stronger root, or in which the precept to “ fear God and honor 
 the King” is more thoroughly interwoven with their domestic 
 affections. It is the contest of these opposite principles which 
 has produced such constant struggles in every period of En¬ 
 glish history ; for not only has the strife repeatedly been fierce 
 between them while it lasted, hut the temporary triumph of 
 the one has invariably and speedily been followed by a decided 
 reaction hi favor of the other. Vehement and energetic in 
 whatever it undertakes, the Anglo-Saxon race rush alternate¬ 
 ly into the extreme of Republican licentiousness and the en¬ 
 thusiasm of chivalrous loyalty. It was thus that the general 
 and unaccountable submission to their Norman rulers was 
 succeeded by the rebellion of Jack Cade ; the fervor of the 
 Reformation by the slavish crouching to Henry VIII., and 
 devoted loyalty to Elizabeth ; the bloodshed of the Great Re¬ 
 bellion by the transports of the Restoration ; and that, after 
 running wellnigh mad on occasion of the Popish plot in the 
 reign of Charles II., the people flew into excesses as great 
 against the other party on occasion of the R-ye-house conspiracy. 
 
 A similar reaction took place after James II. was expelled 
 and William III. seated on the throne. The im- 17 . 
 minent danger winch the civil and religious liber- generous feel- 
 ties of the country had run of being subverted by th^Toriesh^ 
 the arbitrary measures of that sincere and consci- |,eriod T of the 
 entious, but headstrong and senseless prince, had war - 
 produced a general combination of parties, which rendered the 
 monarch powerless, and occasioned his bloodless fall from the 
 throne. But after the deed was accomplished, and the king 
 dethroned, the nation began to reflect on what it had done. 
 Divisions, as usual, were consequent on success. A reaction, 
 similar in kind, though inferior in degree, to what took place 
 when the head of Charles I. fell on the scafiold, took place 
 over the whole country. Surrounded by his guards, directed 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 380 
 
 by his priests, preceded by Ids lawyers, aided by Jefferies, 
 James had been regarded with deserved hatred and dread. 
 Exiled from his country, cast down from his throne, eating 
 the bread of the stranger, he became the object of pity. The 
 loyal and generous feelings revived with additional force on 
 the cessation of the dangers which had for a time restrained 
 their manifestation. These feelings became peculiarly strong 
 in the rural or country party', which beheld, with undisguised 
 indignation, their fortunes eclipsed and their influence destroy¬ 
 ed by the sycophants and capitalists who crowded the royal 
 ante-chamber, and participated hi the gains of the treasury. 
 It was soon found that the Revolution had removed one set 
 of dangers only to introduce another. Protestantism was se¬ 
 cure, but public morality was sinking; the Star Chamber 
 was no longer to be feared, but corruption had become gener¬ 
 al ; nothing was heard of the prerogative, but Parliament had 
 become so obsequious that its submission seemed almost a mat¬ 
 ter of course, even to a despotic prince. When to this natu¬ 
 ral reaction against a great and violent change in the govern¬ 
 ment was added the spontaneous return of a loyal people to 
 that attachment to their sovereign from which they could not 
 be long estranged, and the enormous and seemingly intermina¬ 
 ble expenses of a protracted and burdensome contest, it is not 
 surprising that the war became daily more unpopular, and 
 Marlborough, who was with justice regarded as its head, the 
 object of general obloquy. 
 
 Voltaire, who never lost an opportunity of representing hu- 
 
 . hdi-tinc t man a S an ' s as governed entirely by caprice or ac- 
 iy appeared in c ident, would make his readers believe that the 
 
 the votes and 
 
 composition of whole change was the result oi a bed-chamber 
 the House of . _ . 
 
 Commons. mtngue at the court ot t^ueen Aime, and that a 
 
 fit of passion in Mrs. Masfram arrested the course of Marlbor¬ 
 ough’s victories, and preserved the tottering throne of Louis 
 XIV. But the considerations which have now' been stated, 
 demonstrate that this was very far from being the case; that 
 general causes co-operated with special ones in producing the 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 381 
 
 grand result; and that the palace intrigue was not so much 
 the cause as the effect of that general change in the public 
 mind, which had come over the nation in the later years of 
 the war, and which all the luster of Marlborough’s victories 
 had not been able to arrest. And this appeared in the most 
 decisive maimer in the votes of the House during the progress 
 of the contest. When the war began, it was supported by a 
 large majority in both houses; but as the contest rolled on 
 and its expenses increased, the majority in the lower House 
 gradually dropped off; when Harley and St. John were in¬ 
 troduced into the ministry, it assumed that transition charac¬ 
 ter which is seldom of long duration, but which always ac¬ 
 companies a coalition; and when at length the Whigs, with 
 the exception of Marlborough, were entirely turned out, and 
 he was left alone to conduct the war, amid his political ene¬ 
 mies, the government was supported by a large majority in 
 the House of Commons. All the violent and ungenerous pro¬ 
 ceedings against that great general, his dismissal from office, 
 the innumerable vexations to which he was exposed, and the 
 accusations of peculation which were brought against him, 
 were carried by large majorities in the House of Commons; 
 the House of Peers, after it had been swamped by the crea¬ 
 tion of twelve, ceased to struggle any longer with the declared 
 voice of the public ; and, whatever posterity may have thought 
 of it, nothing is more certain than that the peace of Utrecht 
 itself was, despite the cutting strictures of a few indignant 
 patriots, cordially approved of at the time by a great majority 
 in the nation. 
 
 Bolingbroke, whose great abilities, both as a statesman, an 
 orator, and a writer, rendered him the real head of ^ 19^ ^ 
 
 the party in England that ultimately effected the Bolingbroke. 
 great change in its foreign policy which altered the whole face 
 of Europe, was one of the most remarkable men, even among 
 the brilliant wits of Queen Anne’s reign. It could not be 
 said of him, as he said of Marlborough, that he was the per¬ 
 fection of genius aided only by experience. On the contrary, 
 
382 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 he shared largely in the advantages of a refined education, and 
 his native abilities acquired additional luster from the brilliant 
 foreign setting in which they never failed to appear. An ac¬ 
 complished classical scholar, profoundly versed in the philoso¬ 
 phy, history', and poetry of Greece and Rome, he not only 
 made use of the treasures of ancient genius to enrich his 
 thoughts, hut brought forward then - expressions with the hap¬ 
 piest effect, to aid and adorn his eloquence. Nature had been 
 prodigal to him of those gifts, without which the most brilliant 
 genius can seldom produce any lasting effect on popular as¬ 
 semblies. His countenance was in the highest degree express¬ 
 ive, his elocution rapid and easy, his memory ready' and te¬ 
 nacious, his imagination vivid and impassioned. Such was 
 the power of extempore composition which he possessed, that 
 on the testimony, even of the most inveterate of his political 
 opponents, you might have printed what fell from him, during 
 •“he warmth of convivial conversation, without any inelegance 
 or inaccuracy being perceptible. These brilliant qualities 
 shone forth with peculiar luster in the ease and abandon of 
 social intercourse with the illustrious literary men who adorn¬ 
 ed the reign of Queen Anne, and the early part of that of 
 George I. Pope, it is well known, almost idolized him ; and 
 the thoughts in the “ Essay on Man” are said to have been in 
 great part suggested by his conversation. 
 
 “ Awake, my St. John, leave all meaner things 
 To low ambition and the pride of kings ; 
 
 Let us, since life can little more supply, 
 
 Than just to look about us and to die. 
 
 Expatiate free o’er all this scene of man, 
 
 A mighty maze ! but not without a plan ; 
 
 Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, 
 
 But vindicate the ways of God to man.” 
 
 Had Bolingbroke’s steadiness of principle and consistency 
 20 . of conduct been equal to these shining abilities, 
 
 His inconsisten¬ 
 cies and faults, he would. have been one of the most eminent men 
 
 that England ever produced. But this, unfortunately', was 
 
 very far from being the case. In him, more truly than any 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 383 
 
 other man, might be seen the truth of the words of Scripture, 
 “ mis table as water, thou shalt not excel.” Inconsistency and 
 want of rectitude were the bane at once of his political con¬ 
 duct and literary compositions. He was so changeable in Ins 
 partialities, so variable in his declamations, that there is hardly 
 an eminent man, and certainly not a political party of his 
 time, that he has not alternately praised to the skies, and load¬ 
 ed with vituperation. It is scarcely possible to say what his 
 principles were, for at different periods of his life he espoused 
 those of all men. His only steady aversion seemed to have 
 been to Christianity ; and Voltaire acquired almost all the ar¬ 
 guments which he afterward wielded with so much effect 
 against religion from his conversation and knowledge. Yet 
 he was not an atheist. Pope’s “ Essay on Man,” and many 
 other passages in his own writings, demonstrate that he had 
 exalted but vague and dreamy ideas of natural religion. 
 Horace Walpole said of him, “ With the most agreeable tal¬ 
 ents in the world, and with great parts, he was neither happy 
 nor successful. He wrote against the king who had forgiven 
 him, against Sir Robert Walpole who did forgive him, against 
 the Pretender and the clergy wdro never will forgive him. He 
 is one of our best winters, though his attacks on all govern¬ 
 ments and all religions (neither of which he cared directly to 
 own) have necessarily involved his style in a want of perspi¬ 
 cuity. One must know the man before we can often guess 
 his meaning.”* This inconsistency tainted his private and 
 moral, as well as public and political character. He was am¬ 
 bitious, and unscrupulous as to the means of elevation ; vehe¬ 
 ment in hatred ; variable in principle. Capable of profound 
 dissimulation, he occasionally exercised it, and effectually de¬ 
 ceived the most penetrating of his opponents. But, in gen¬ 
 eral, the liveliness of his imagination and quickness of his tem¬ 
 per caused him to give vent to the desire or feeling of the 
 moment with an ardor which admitted neither of concealment 
 nor moderation. And hence the otherwise inexplicable incon- 
 * Royal and Noble Authors, 74. 
 
384 
 
 TI1E LIFE OF 
 
 sistencies and contradictions both of his public life and private 
 thoughts. 
 
 Harley, afterward created Earl of Oxford, brought to the 
 21 . support of the same party talents of a much infe- 
 Hariey,oarklf r ior, but still very serviceable kind. He had not 
 Oxford. the brilliancy of St. John’s imagination, Iris vast 
 stores of erudition, or his power of ready and extempore elo¬ 
 quence ; but he was more prudent and sagacious, had more 
 worldly wisdom, and incomparably more of a statesman’s tact 
 than his brilliant coadjutor. His wisdom and discretion, like 
 that of Sir Robert Peel in the reconstruction of the same 
 party after its discomfiture by the Revolution of 1832, brought 
 the Tories up from a small minority in the commencement of 
 the War of the Succession, to a decided majority before its 
 close, in the Commons, Lords, and queen’s council. He was 
 no common man who, in the face of a large Whig majority 
 at the commencement of the struggle, and despite the luster 
 of Marlborough’s victories, could so take advantage of the mu¬ 
 tations of fortune, the changes of public opinion, and the still 
 more variable gales of court favor, as, under such circumstan¬ 
 ces, to accomplish such a success. 
 
 It was not, however, either in Parliament or the cabinet 
 22 that the main strength of the party which over¬ 
 ly writers threw Marlborough, and brought about the peace 
 m the press. 0 f Ut re cht, was found. It w r as the vast abil¬ 
 ity and sarcastic powers of their allies in the press which 
 chiefly produced the result. The Tories were supported by 
 a band of writers who, in the war of pamphlets by which 
 the contests of parties out of Parliament at that period 
 were carried on, never have been exceeded as regards the 
 versatility of their powers, and thorough knowledge they 
 possessed of the means of rousing and inflaming the general 
 mind. Swift w'as the most powerful of that determined 
 band ; and never did intellectual gladiator bring to the dead¬ 
 ly strife of envenomed rapiers qualities more admirably adapt¬ 
 ed for success. Able, penetrating, and sagacious; possessed 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 385 
 
 of great powers of argument; greater still of sarcasm ; thor¬ 
 oughly acquainted with human nature, and unfettered hy any 
 of the delicacies which, in men of more refined minds, often 
 prevent the stirring of its passions, he knew how to excite the 
 public mind hy awakening their jealousy in regard to matters 
 which came home to every understanding. Disregarding all 
 remote considerations adapted only for the thoughtful, drawn 
 from the balance of power, matters of foreign policy, or the 
 ultimate danger of England, he at once fastened on Marlbor¬ 
 ough the damning charge of pecuniary cupidity ; held forth 
 the continuance of the war as entirely owing to his sordid 
 thirst of gain ; and all the wealth which flowed into the cof¬ 
 fers of the great commander as wrung from the labors of hard- 
 wrought Englishmen. Concealing and perverting what he 
 knew was the truth of ancient history, he represented the Ro¬ 
 man consul as rewarded for his victories by a triumph which 
 cost less than a thousand pounds, and Marlborough enjoying 
 five hundred thousand as the fruit of his laurels. He forgot 
 to add, that such were the means of amassing a fortune which 
 victory gave to the Roman proconsuls, that Caesar, before ob¬ 
 taining the province of Gaul, was enabled, on its prospect, to 
 contract ,£2,500,000 of debt. It may be conceived what ef¬ 
 fect such misrepresentations had upon a people already groan¬ 
 ing under new taxes, terrified at the growth of the national 
 debt, and inflamed with that envy which the rapid rise, even 
 of the most exalted merit, scarce ever fails to produce in the 
 great majority of men. The Whigs had able writers, too, on 
 their side, but they were no match for their adversaries in the 
 power of producing a present effect on the multitude, what¬ 
 ever they might be on the cultivated in future ages; and the 
 elegant papers of Addison and Steele, in the Spectator and 
 Freeholder , were hut a poor set-off to the coarse invectives 
 and withering sarcasms of Swift. 
 
 Bolingbroke and Harley were Tory and monarchical in 
 their ideas : they belonged to the High-Church party in relig¬ 
 ion ; and in secret, they dreamed of the restoration of the ex- 
 
 K K 
 
384 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 sistencies and. contradictions both of his public life and private 
 thoughts. 
 
 Harley, afterward created Earl of Oxford, brought to the 
 
 21 support of the same party talents of a much infe- 
 Harley eari'of rior > but still very serviceable kind. He had not 
 Oxford. the brilliancy of St. John’s imagination, liis vast 
 stores of erudition, or his power of ready and extempore elo¬ 
 quence ; but he was more prudent and sagacious, had more 
 worldly wisdom, and incomparably more of a statesman’s tact 
 than his brilliant coadjutor. His wisdom and discretion, like 
 that of Sir Robert Peel in the reconstruction of the same 
 party after its discomfiture by the Revolution of 1832, brought 
 the Tories up from a small minority in the commencement of 
 the War of the Succession, to a decided majority before its 
 close, in the Commons, Lords, and queen’s council. He was 
 no common man who, in the face of a large Whig majority 
 at the commencement of the struggle, and despite the luster 
 of Marlborough’s victories, could so take advantage of the mu¬ 
 tations of fortune, the changes of public opinion, and the still 
 more variable gales of court favor, as, under such circumstan¬ 
 ces, to accomplish such a success. 
 
 It was not, however, either in Parliament or the cabinet 
 
 22 that the main strength of the party which over¬ 
 ly writers threw Marlborough, and brought about the peace 
 m the press. 0 j- Utrecht, was found. It was the vast abil¬ 
 ity and sarcastic powers of their allies in the press which 
 chiefly produced the result. The Tories were supported by 
 a band of writers who, in the war of pamphlets by which 
 the contests of parties out of Parliament at that period 
 were carried on, never have been exceeded as regards the 
 versatility of their powers, and thorough knowledge they 
 possessed of the means of rousing and inflaming the general 
 mind. Swift was the most powerful of that determined 
 band ; and never did intellectual gladiator bring to the dead¬ 
 ly strife of envenomed rapiers qualities more admirably adapt¬ 
 ed for success. Able, penetrating, and sagacious; possessed 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 385 
 
 of great powers of argument; greater still of sarcasm ; thor¬ 
 oughly acquainted with human nature, and unfettered by any 
 of the delicacies which, in men of more refined minds, often 
 prevent the stirring of its passions, he knew how to excite the 
 public mind by awakening their jealousy in regard to matters 
 which came home to every understanding. Disregarding all 
 remote considerations adapted only for the thoughtful, drawn 
 from the balance of power, matters of foreign policy, or the 
 ultimate danger of England, he at once fastened on Marlbor¬ 
 ough the damning charge of pecuniary cupidity; held forth 
 the continuance of the war as entirely owing to his sordid 
 thirst of gain; and all the wealth which flowed into the cof¬ 
 fers of the great commander as wrung from the labors of hard- 
 wrought Englishmen. Concealing and perverting what he 
 knew was the truth of ancient history, he represented the Ro¬ 
 man consul as rewarded for his victories by a triumph which 
 cost less than a thousand pounds, and Marlborough enjoying 
 five hundred thousand as the fruit of his laurels. He forgot 
 to add, that such were the means of amassing a fortune which 
 victory gave to the Roman proconsuls, that Ceesar, before ob¬ 
 taining the province of Gaul, was enabled, on its prospect, to 
 contract £2, 500,000 of debt. It may be conceived what ef¬ 
 fect such misrepresentations had upon a people already groan¬ 
 ing under new taxes, terrified at the growth of the national 
 debt, and inflamed with that envy which the rapid rise, even 
 of the most exalted merit, scarce ever fails to produce in the 
 great majority of men. The Whigs had able writers, too, on 
 their side, but they were no match for their adversaries in the 
 power of producing a present effect on the multitude, what¬ 
 ever they might be on the cultivated in future ages; and the 
 elegant papers of Addison and Steele, in the Spectator and 
 Freeholder , were but a poor set-off to the coarse invectives 
 and withering sarcasms of Swift. 
 
 Bolingbroke and Harley were Tory and monarchical in 
 their ideas : they belonged to the High-Church party in relig¬ 
 ion ; and in secret, they dreamed of the restoration of the ex¬ 
 it K 
 
388 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ferred the covert attacks of envy, malice, and uncharitable¬ 
 ness. Their weapons, with the people, were malignant libels; 
 at court, underhand bed-chamber intrigues. They did not de¬ 
 prive the hero of his command, but they strove to thwart his 
 measures so that they might prove unsuccessful. Openly 
 they declared that any minister deserved to lose his head who 
 should propose to abandon Spain and the Indies to a Bourbon 
 prince ; in secret they were negotiating with Louis at that 
 very moment a treaty of peace, the basis of which was that 
 very relinquishment. Ostensibly they still paid to Marlbor¬ 
 ough the external marks of respect, but they ceased to admit 
 him to their confidential councils ; they denied him the thanks 
 of Parliament for his services; they encouraged the circula¬ 
 tion of the most malignant falsehoods regarding his character; 
 they did their utmost to load him with indignities and morti¬ 
 fications at court. Their object seems to have been to induce 
 him, through disgust at their ingratitude, to resign, and thus 
 to have spared them the discredit of removing the greatest 
 general of England from a command which he had held with 
 so much glory. And when the temper or patriotism of Marl¬ 
 borough was proof against their attack, they descended to the 
 infamy of charging him with peculation, on grounds so false 
 that they did not venture to bring them to judicial investiga¬ 
 tion, even in the House of Peers, which they had swamped 
 for his overthrow. At last they drove the greatest general of 
 England, and the most signal benefactor that had ever arisen 
 to his country, into disgrace, in order to bring about a dis¬ 
 creditable peace, which deprived the nation of the chief fruit 
 of his victories. 
 
 And the result has now decisively proved that Bolingbroke 
 25. and the Tories were as wrong on this occasion in 
 
 What was the . . . 
 
 danger to be their general policy, as in the means for ijs accom 
 
 guarded against 
 
 in the peace, plishment; and that the course which Lrodolpnin 
 and Marlborough contended for, and, but for the change of 
 ministry, undoubtedly would have carried into effect, was the 
 one imperatively required by the honor and interests of En- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 389 
 
 gland. Spain and France were the two powers by whom 
 the independence of England had been separately threatened 
 for two centuries. The narrow escape made from invasion, 
 and possibly dismemberment, on occasion of the Spanish Ar¬ 
 mada in 1588, and the battle of La Hogue in 1692, suffi¬ 
 ciently demonstrate this. The Union of the two under one 
 head, therefore, could not but prove in the highest degree per¬ 
 ilous to the independence of England. Both parties seemed 
 to admit this ; but they proposed different means to avert the 
 danger. Marlborough and the Whigs maintained that it 
 could be effectually done only by separating, in a permanent 
 manner, the reigning families, in France and Spam; and to 
 effect this, they proposed to settle the crown of Spain on 
 Charles VI., archduke of Austria. Provided this was done, 
 they had no objections that an appanage for the Duke of An¬ 
 jou, the other competitor for the throne, should be carved out 
 of the other possessions of the Spanish crown hi Italy and 
 Sicily. This was substantially the basis they assumed in the 
 conferences of Gertruydenberg in 1709. Bolingbroke and the 
 Tories, again, contended that it was necessary to separate the 
 reigning families, provided only that the two crotons were pre¬ 
 vented from uniting on one head; and to prevent this, they 
 introduced the stringent clauses into the Treaty of Utrecht, 
 already mentioned, providing that the Salic law, which ex¬ 
 cludes females from the succession, should be the law of the 
 Spanish throne, and that hi no event, and under no circum- 
 stanees, should the crowns of Spain and France be muted on 
 the same head. 
 
 These provisions appeared, at first sight, to guard, in part 
 
 at least, against the danger which threatened: and 26 . 
 ... .... ii- The result haa 
 
 this circumstance, coupled with the natural desire proved the 
 
 of men to terminate a long and burdensome war, wrong in their 
 
 rendered the peace of Utrecht generally acceptable mg'it re§ard ‘ 
 
 to the nation. It was foreseen, however, at the time, and 
 
 loudly declared by the Whigs, both in Parliament and the 
 
 country, that this security was seeming only, and that leav ing 
 
 K k 2 
 
390 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 a grandson cl Louis XIV. on the throne of Spain, with the 
 name of an independent kingdom, was in reality more danger¬ 
 ous to the security of England than the junction of the two 
 crowns on the same head would have been. The event has 
 now decisively proved the justice of this view. Had the crown 
 of Spain been openly placed on the same head as that of 
 France, the alliance of the two powers could not have been 
 of long continuance. Castilian pride would have revolted at 
 the idea of being subjected to the government of Paris; the 
 war of independence in 1808 has shown what results follow 
 the open assertion over the Peninsula of French domination. 
 Cut by leaving Spain a crown nominally independent, but 
 closely united by blood and interest with the French monarchy, 
 the object of Louis XIV. was gained, and in a way more safe 
 and certain than even the union of the crowns could have af¬ 
 forded. The family compact succeeded. A close and indis¬ 
 soluble alliance between France and Spain, which subsisted 
 unbroken for above a century, was the result. Spanish pride 
 was soothed by the appearance of an independent government 
 at Madrid ; French ambition was gratified by the substantial 
 devotion of the whole resources of Spain to the purposes of 
 France. 
 
 The effects were soon apparent. In every war which en- 
 27. sued between France and England for the next 
 
 Disastrous ef- 
 
 fects and sen- century—that of 1739, that of 1756, the Ameri- 
 
 ous dangers to n w ~ 1 
 
 England which can war, that ot 1793—Spain and h ranee ere 
 leaving a Bour- long united in hostilities against Great Britain. 
 Spanish throne. Astonishing exertions of vigor and bravery on the 
 part of our countrymen alone prevented the alliance proving 
 fatal to the independence of England. We were worsted by 
 them in the very next contest which followed the Treaty of 
 Utrecht, that which was terminated by the peace of Aix la 
 ChapeHe. The extraordinary genius of Frederic of Prussia 
 and of Lord Chatham, joined to corresponding incapacity in 
 the government of Louis XIV., gave us, indeed, a glorious ca¬ 
 reer of triumphs during the Seven Years’ War. But when 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 391 
 
 another power was added to their league, it became evident 
 that England was overmatched by France and Spain. En¬ 
 gland was brought by the forces of France, Spain, and Amer¬ 
 ica, to the brink of ruin in the American war. The want of 
 any popular historian to recount the events of that calamitous 
 period, has rendered the nation insensible to the dangers it 
 then ran ; when the American colonies were in open and fierce 
 revolt, when Hyder Ali had driven the English into Madras, 
 and preparations were making for crossing the surf and aban¬ 
 doning India forever; and when our colonial empire in the 
 East was saved solely by the firmness of one man, whom En¬ 
 gland rewarded for his conduct by an impeachment! At that 
 dreadful moment, the French and Spanish armies and fleets 
 besieged Gibraltar, which was saved only by an extraordi¬ 
 nary effort of skill on the part of Lord Howe, and soon after 
 the combined fleets rode triumphant in the Channel, and 
 blockaded Plymouth with forty-seven sail of the line, where 
 the English fleet had sought refuge with twenty-one sail only. 
 
 At the commencement of the Revolutionary war, the French 
 and Spanish navies greatly outnumbered those of 2 8. 
 Great Britain,* and in every one of the actions thfoS^ate? 
 which followed from that of St. Vincent, where the time3, 
 English fleet was fifteen sail to twenty-seven, to that of Traf¬ 
 algar, where it was twenty-seven to thirty-three, the combin¬ 
 ed fleets were superior in numerical amount to our own. It 
 is not generally known, but it is historically certain, that En¬ 
 gland was brought nearer to destruction by the alliance of 
 Louis XVI. and the Spanish monarchy in 1782, than she af¬ 
 terward was by the arms and power of Napoleon. And who¬ 
 ever contemplates these events with calmness and impartiali- 
 
 * Viz.: 
 
 
 Line fit for Service. 
 
 Frigates. 
 
 French. 
 
 . . 82 
 
 79 
 
 Spanish. 
 
 . . 76 
 
 68 
 
 
 158 
 
 147 
 
 English. 
 
 . . 115 
 
 85 
 
 of French and Spanish . 
 
 . . 43 
 
 62 
 
 James’s Naval History, i., 49-51-53. Appx. 11, 6 and 7. 
 
392 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ty, -will have little difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that, 
 had not the naval resources of France been destroyed by the 
 confiscations and disasters of the Revolution, and the strength 
 of the Peninsula been bound to our side by the unprovoked at¬ 
 tack of Napoleon on Spanish independence in 1808, it is more 
 than doubtful whether, ere this, the maritime superiority and 
 colonial empire of England would not have been destroyed, 
 and with them our national independence forever lost. Such 
 and so real were the dangers which Marlborough strove to 
 avert; such and so great the perils brought upon the state by 
 the Tories in 1712, from suffering political passions and private 
 interests to render them insensible to the calls of public duty. 
 
 And it is worthy of especial observation, that this danger, 
 29 . from the close alliance of France and Spain, was 
 have arisen^ entirely owing to the family compact, arising from 
 SpanLh°iS- hL th e Bourbons having been permitted by the Treaty 
 ance ' of Utrecht to remain on the throne of Spain. Pri¬ 
 
 or to that succession, France and Spain were not only never 
 in alliance, but always on terms of the most bitter and ran¬ 
 corous hostility. “ My father’s bones would rise from their 
 grave,” was a common saying in Castile, “ if he could foresee 
 a war with France.” All the greatest wars in which France, 
 prior to the succession of 1703, had engaged with continental 
 powers, had been with Spain. A French monarch had been 
 made prisoner at Pavia, and conducted to Madrid: French 
 chivalry avenged the insult at Rocroy and Lens ; Henry IV. 
 and the Prince of Parma had exerted their rival talents against 
 each other ; and even in the early part of the reign of Louis 
 XIV., the Spaniards were the most formidable enemies with 
 which that monarch had to contend on the Continent. So 
 late as 1688, the same disposition of the cabinets of Madrid 
 and Paris continued; and it was the knowledge that Spain 
 had in secret joined the league of Augsburg in that year against 
 him, which determined Louis XIV. to exert all his influence 
 to obtain the Spanish succession for his grandson.* With an 
 * Capefigue, Hist, de Louis XIV., iii., 296. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 393 
 
 Austrian prince seated on the throne at Madrid, this alliance 
 of France and Spain was not only impossible, but it was cer¬ 
 tain that the resources of the Peninsula would be mainly di¬ 
 rected in hostility to French interests. Mutual necessity, and 
 jealousy of their formidable common enemy, would have made 
 Spam and England as cordial allies during the whole of the 
 eighteenth century, as Scotland and France were in the days 
 of Scottish independence ; as Turkey and France were during 
 the long wars of the latter power with the Imperialists in Ger¬ 
 many ; or as Spain and England became on the occasion of 
 the invasion of the Peninsula by Napoleon in 1808. It was 
 this great benefit which Marlborough’s victories had secured 
 for his country; it is this alliance which his diplomacy, had 
 it been unopposed at home, would have secured, instead of the 
 subservient government which, for a whole century after, 
 placed its fleets and armies at the disposal of the French gov¬ 
 ernment, and brought Great Britain to the verge of perdition 
 in consequence. 
 
 If any doubt could exist on this subject, and with regard to 
 the imminent danger of a family alliance between T 30 - 
 
 ° . . It was a sense of 
 
 France and Spain to Great Britain, it would be this advantage 
 
 x , which made Na- 
 
 removed by the following consideration. Though poieon engage 
 
 J _ . . . in the Peninsu- 
 
 Spam, in the first instance, joined the coalition lar War. 
 against the French republic, she soon fell off from it; and the 
 treaty between the two countries in 1795 was immediately 
 followed by the accession of the court of Madrid to the league 
 of our enemies. With Spain by his side, Napoleon was con¬ 
 stantly victorious; but from the moment that, through Iris 
 perfidious aggression, he converted the Peninsular power into 
 an enemy, his fortunes declined, until, from the effects of the 
 double strain on his resources, he was involved in ruin. Taught 
 by this great example, we shall no longer wonder that Louis 
 XIV. made it the chief boast of his reign, “ Enfin il n’y a plus 
 de Pyrenees;” and braved the hostility of combined Europe, 
 and risked destruction from Marlborough’s victories, in order 
 to secure tho succession for his grandson. It will no longer 
 
394 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 appear surprising that Napoleon hazarded all upon preserving 
 his hold of the Peninsula, and incurred destruction rather than 
 abandon its strongholds when he set out on his Russian expe¬ 
 dition. It will cease to he a matter of wonder that Parisian 
 diplomacy has been so incessantly directed since 1830 to se¬ 
 cure this benefit for the King of the French, and that Louis 
 Philippe regards the Montpensier alliance as the brightest 
 event of his reign. United by family compact to Spain, 
 France has been proved by experience to be so strong as to 
 become formidable to the liberties of all Europe. Severed 
 from Spam, she is deprived of her chief means of aggrandize¬ 
 ment, and in an especial manner ceases to be dangerous to the 
 independence of Great Britain. 
 
 The circumstance which, in every age, and in the opinion 
 31 - of the most penetrating statesmen of Europe, has 
 
 Causes which . . . . 
 
 render the ai- rendered the Spanish alliance of such vital import- 
 
 liance of Spain 
 
 of such vital ance to the French monarchy, is not merely the ac- 
 
 importance to . , . , , . . . , , 
 
 France. cession of power which it brings, considerable 
 though that has often proved, to the court of the Tuilleries. 
 It is the securing it in rear which is the great advantage. In 
 alliance with §jpain,'Franee can send her whole military force 
 to the Rhine; the weight of thirty-four millions of men is at 
 once felt by Germany. In hostility to Spain, half the force 
 of France must be reserved at home, or placed in observation 
 on the Pyrenees to secure the southern provinces of the mon¬ 
 archy from insult. The doubtful chance of the War of the 
 Succession, the disastrous termination of the Peninsular con¬ 
 test, has shown France but too clearly what a dangerous bat 
 tie-field for foreign hostility the mountains of Spain and Por¬ 
 tugal afford. If we would duly estimate the addition the 
 Spanish affiance makes, even without any actual increase of 
 soldiers or sailors, to the power of France, we have only to re¬ 
 flect on the vast increase which the strength of England re¬ 
 ceived without any great addition to its material resources, 
 from the mere union with Scotland, and consequent termina¬ 
 tion of those mischievous intrigues which, before that auspi- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 395 
 
 cious event, constantly, on the breaking out of hostilities with 
 France, occasioned a distracting warfare on the banks of the 
 Tweed. Or perhaps a still apter illustration may he found in 
 the present state of Great Britain and Ireland. Certainly no 
 minister ever could add so much to the power of Great Britain 
 as that one who, without drawing any supplies from the Em¬ 
 erald Isle, should merely prevent the constant distraction of 
 the resources of the empire from the alternately turbulent and 
 miserable state of its inhabitants; and whatever cause the 
 people of Great Britain might have to applaud, most certainly 
 its enemies would have little reason to thank the statesman 
 who kindly provided a princess, the marriage of whom with 
 an English prince might render real an alliance which all the 
 eflorts of six centuries had been unable to consummate. 
 
 If any surprise should exist as to the blindness of Boling- 
 broke and the Tories, when they arrested the 32. 
 
 ... , Instance of the 
 
 course of Marlborough’s victories and secured the same political 
 
 i n- i i i infatuation in 
 
 fepamsh alliance to the h rench monarchy, or any our times, 
 doubt as to political passion being the real cause which in¬ 
 duced this insensibility to national interests, it would be re¬ 
 moved by what has occurred in our own time. The heroic 
 and persevering eflorts of the nation during the Revolutionary 
 war, the victories of Nelson and Wellington, had again re¬ 
 duced France to its original limits; and though the Bourbon 
 dynasty was still on the throne of Madrid, yet the exaspera¬ 
 tion and exhaustion of the Peninsula, consequent on the dread¬ 
 ful war it had sustained with France, had rendered it no long¬ 
 er formidable, at least for the present, as an ally of that power. 
 But political passions in 1830, as in 1712, got possession of 
 England, and with an infatuation which would be incredible, 
 if the blindness ever produced by those passions was not con¬ 
 sidered, we surrendered the whole objects for which we had 
 so long been contending, and which had, in part, at least, 
 been secured by the triumphs of Marlborough and Welling¬ 
 ton. With one hand we favored the partition of the kingdom 
 of the Netherlands, which we ourselves had created to be a 
 
396 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 check on France, and had guaranteed by the Treaty of Vienna 
 in 1815 as a united power; aided with our fleets the army 
 of Louis Philippe in restoring Antwerp, the great outwork of 
 Napoleon against this country, to the sway of the tri-color 
 flag; and converted the Flemish fortresses, the outwork of 
 Europe against France, into the outwork of France against 
 Europe. With the other we have crushed the efiorts of the 
 Spanish people to place a king of their choice on the throne; 
 kept alive for years a frightful and desolating civil war in the 
 Basque provinces; concluded the Quadruple Alliance, in or¬ 
 der to change the Salic law, which we ourselves had stipula¬ 
 ted for Spain, and solemnly guaranteed by the Treaty of 
 Utrecht; and violated our pledged national faith, in order to 
 place a succession of revolutionary queens on the throne of the 
 Peninsula. 
 
 We have got our reward. The result has followed which 
 33- the few thoughtful persons, whom the prevailing 
 
 Results which 6 f r ° 
 
 have followed mania of the day had not carried away, clearly an- 
 
 from it in the .... r r , 
 
 last instance, ticipated at the very hrst, from our revolutionary 
 propagandism. Our whole policy, for the ten years during 
 which it was dictated by political passions—not regulated by 
 regard to national interests—has turned to the advantage of 
 our enemies. Louis Philippe has profited, as well he might, 
 by the temporary eclipse of our reason. He has secured the 
 Netherlands for France, with its magnificent fortresses, and 
 noble harbor of Antwerp, by the marriage of a daughter, 
 and to all appearance gained Spam, with its vast sea-coast 
 and boundless capabilities, by the marriage of a son. He has 
 united these powers to France by a more enduring bond than 
 even family alliance—the lasting tie of common interest aris¬ 
 ing from a common origin. Through all the changes of for¬ 
 tune, revolutionary powers will hold by each other, because 
 they feel that mutual support is essential to their defense 
 against legitimate monarchies. He has condescended to ac 
 cept the princess, whom our strange and perfidious policy had 
 rendered the heiress-presumptive of the throne of Madrid, for 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 397 
 
 a son of France. The dream of Louis XIV. is realized : 
 there are no longer any Pyrenees. By erecting the revolu¬ 
 tionary throne of Belgium, and dispossessing the male line in 
 Spain, we have at one blow abandoned the whole security 
 gained by the victories of Marlborough and Wellington. We 
 have done that for France which neither the ambition of 
 Louis XIV. nor the arms of Napoleon could effect. We have 
 abandoned even the slight security against the union of the 
 French and Spanish powers which Bolingbroke stipulated by 
 the Treaty of Utrecht. There is no longer any real impedi¬ 
 ment to the union of the French and Spanish crowns. Back¬ 
 ed by the Belgian and Spanish alliances, Louis Philippe may 
 deride our impotent protests. And when next we go to war 
 with France, we shall have to confront a power stretching 
 from the Scheldt to Gibraltar, and to combat fleets which 
 in 1782 blockaded Plymouth with forty-seven sail of the line, 
 and in 1793 outnumbered the English navy by forty-three 
 line of battle ships ! 
 
 It is stated by Capefigue, in his admirable History of Louis 
 XIV.,* that we should err much if we imagined 34 
 that the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was re- fensibulty to 
 garded in the same light by its cotemporaries with which often 3 
 which it is viewed by ourselves. Notwithstanding P revails - 
 its frightful cruelty, it was universally regarded by the domi¬ 
 nant Catholic majority over all Europe as a master-piece of 
 political wisdom; a measure alike called for by its evident 
 justice and its palpable expedience.! Even the massacre of 
 St. Bartholomew is never mentioned by the cotemporary Cath¬ 
 olic historians save with exultation; and Charles IX., who 
 perpetrated it, is the object of universal eulogium.t It was 
 the same in 1793. The expatriation of a hundred thou¬ 
 sand emigrants, the confiscation of their estates, the mur¬ 
 der of a tithe of their number on the scaffold, the destruction 
 
 * By far the best history of that eventful reign which has yet appeared 
 in Europe. t Capefigue, Hist, de Louis XIV., iii., 172. 
 
 j: Capefigue, Hist, de la Reforme, iii., 239, 240. 
 
 L L 
 
398 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of a million of lives during the Revolution, excited neither in¬ 
 dignation nor commiseration in the Jacobin majority in France. 
 It was universally regarded by them as a measure equally ex¬ 
 pedient, justifiable, and necessaiy. The entire abandonment 
 at once of our public faith and national policy, in like manner, 
 during the fervor of political passions in this country, some 
 years ago, in relation both to Spain and the Netherlands ; the 
 nourishing a frightful civil war for years together on the hanks 
 of the Ebro; the dispossessing a sovereign we were pledged 
 as a nation to maintain on the throne of Spain, excited no 
 general feeling, either of pity or indignation, in Great Britain. 
 It was thought to be quite natural and proper that we should 
 supplant legitimate kings by revolutionary queens in every 
 country around us. Examples of this sort are fitted to awaken 
 at once feelings of charity and distrust in our breasts—charity 
 to others, distrust of ourselves. They may teach us to view 
 with a lenient, if not a forgiving eye, the aberrations of those 
 nations which have yielded to the force of those passions un¬ 
 der which, with so many more means of resistance, our own 
 understandings have so violently reeled ; and to examine anx¬ 
 iously whether many of the public measures which at the 
 time are the subject of the most general approbation in Great 
 Britain, are not in reality as unjust, and will not be condemn¬ 
 ed by posterity as unanimously, as the revocation of the Edict 
 of Nantes, or any other of the most atrocious acts by which 
 the pages of history are stained. 
 
 The remarkable analogy must strike even the most super- 
 35 . ficial observer, between the position of the Tories, 
 tween’fce^iit- and the policy which they adopted during the con- 
 Torfes in the test of the Succession, and that which the Whigs 
 Succession occupied, and their conduct during the war of the 
 that of the* 111 Revolution. On both occasions, the opposition was 
 Revolution, determinedly set against a war, which a ministry 
 in power was carrying on with vigor and success against a 
 preponderating power in France, that threatened, and had 
 wellnigh overturned, the independence of all the adjoining 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 399 
 
 states in Europe. In both, the contest was one of life or death 
 for the liberties and even the existence of England ; and yet 
 the opposition in both exerted their whole influence and abil¬ 
 ities to mar its progress and impede its success. In both, a 
 great and victorious English general headed the forces of the 
 alliance ; and in both, for a series of years, his successes were 
 underrated, his achievements vilified, his efforts thwarted, by 
 the opposition in the very country whose glory he was daily 
 augmenting, and securely establishing on a more durable foun¬ 
 dation. In both, Great Britain was combating a power which 
 had proved itself to be the deadliest enemy to real freedom, 
 for it is hard to say whether Louis XIV.’s persecution of the 
 Protestants, or the atrocities of the Convention at Paris a cen¬ 
 tury after, inflicted the crudest wounds on the cause of liber¬ 
 ty. In both, the league of the allies, though originally spring¬ 
 ing out of this unbearable oppression, had come to hinge main¬ 
 ly on the necessity of preventing the political power of France 
 being extended over Spain. In both, the chief seats of war 
 for the English and French armies were Spain and the Low 
 Countries; and in both, the decisive blows were at length 
 struck on the Flemish plains. 
 
 And the crisis in both brings the parallel still closer, and 
 
 to a most singular, and some may think almost 36 - 
 
 . ■ ir Extraordinary 
 
 providential, coincidence ; for in May , 1712, the coincidence in 
 rn ■ , . the crisis of the 
 
 Pones consummated the w r ar on which they had two contests. 
 
 so long been engaged, by effecting the separation of England 
 from the alliance, when the iron barrier of France was at last 
 effectually broken through, and nothing remained to prevent 
 Marlborough and Eugene from marching in triumph to Paris ; 
 and in May, 1812, just a hundred years after, the Whigs had 
 the means put into their hands of effecting their long-desired 
 pacification with France, by the prince regent sending for their 
 leaders to form a ministry on the expiry of the year of restric¬ 
 tion enforced on him by act of Parliament, on his assuming 
 the power of king. If the Whigs had succeeded in forming 
 a government at that period, if the apparently trivial dispute 
 
400 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 about the household appointments had not restored their op¬ 
 ponents to power, there can he no doubt that a peace, similar 
 to that of Utrecht, would have stopped the war for a time, 
 and bequeathed its dangers and its burdens to another, per¬ 
 haps the present age. And this was on the eve of the Sala¬ 
 manca campaign, at the opening of the Moscow expedition !* 
 
 It must appear, at first sight, not a little extraordinary, that 
 „ , 3 ~- , conduct so precisely similar, and in both cases so 
 
 Real causes of r J # 
 
 this identity of diametrically at variance with the real interests of 
 
 conduct of the J 
 
 opposite par- the country, should in this manner have been ai¬ 
 des on these . 
 
 occasions. temately pursued by the two great parties whose 
 contests have for nearly two hundred years so entirely en¬ 
 grossed English domestic history. But the marvel ceases when 
 their internal political situation is considered. In both cases, 
 the opposition who resisted the war and strove to arrest its 
 progress, which was conducted with glory and success by their 
 opponents, had recently before been dispossessed of power. 
 The Tories, by the Revolution of 1688, had been so complete¬ 
 ly driven from the helm, that, as the event proved, they did 
 not recover their ground for seventy years, and a change of 
 dynasty at the time could alone secure them in it. The 
 Whigs had, by the ministerial revolutions of 1784, been, aft¬ 
 er the most strenuous efforts on their part, so effectually dis¬ 
 possessed of power, that they had no prospect of recovering it 
 but by the national calamity of a failure in the war in which 
 their antagonists were engaged. Thus, by a singular combi¬ 
 nation of circumstances, the two parties, at the interval of a 
 century from each other, stood in precisely the same situation, 
 so far as the foreign war and its reactions upon their domes¬ 
 tic prospects was concerned. The interests of both were iden¬ 
 tified with the misfortunes of their country and the triumphs of 
 
 * “ The negotiation between the prince regent and the Whigs was broken 
 off on the 6th of June, 1812. On the 13th of the same month Wellington 
 crossed the Portuguese frontier and commenced the Salamanca campaign, 
 while on the 23d Napoleon passed the Niemen, and periled his crown and 
 his life on the precarious issue of a Russian invasion.”— Alison’s Europe, 
 chap, lxiv., § 45. 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 401 
 
 its enemies. Their wishes, as is generally the case, followed 
 in the same direction. The secret inclinations of the Tories, 
 in the War of the Succession, were with the court of St. Ger¬ 
 main’s, because its restoration to royalty would at once have 
 replaced them at the helm ; the secret wishes of the Whigs, 
 in the war of the Revolution, were with the tricolor flag, be¬ 
 cause its triumphs would at once have ruined the Tories, and 
 restored them to the much-coveted possession of power. In 
 both cases the selfish prevailed over the generous, the party 
 over the patriotic, feelings of our nature. In both the party 
 in opposition were false to their country, but true, as they 
 thought, at least to themselves. And both have obtained 
 their just punishment by receiving the merited condemnation 
 of succeeding times. 
 
 Though the event, however, has decisively proved that Bo 
 lingbroke and Oxford judged wrong in detaching 38 . 
 England from the Grand Alliance in 1712, and existed fomhe 
 that their measures, by securing to France the nesattheTrea- 
 family compact with the Spanish Bourbons, ^omtf^djfad 
 brought the country to the brink of ruin in 1782, ot s P ain - 
 yet it must be admitted, in their vindication, that plausible 
 arguments were not wanting to justify the unpatriotic course 
 which they adopted. Great as was the power of France in 
 the time of Louis XIV., it was comparatively of recent growth. 
 Serious as had been the perils of the nation from his ambition, 
 it had been placed in yet greater danger by the enterprises of 
 the Spanish monarchy. The terrors of the Armada were yet 
 fresh in the minds of the people ; the monarchy of Charles V. 
 was the nearest approach to universal dominion which had 
 been made since the days of Charlemagne. If the Whigs had 
 succeeded in making Louis XIV. accept the terms offered to 
 him by the allies at Gertruydenberg in 1709, which they were 
 within a hair-breadth of doing, the monarchy of Charles V. 
 was reconstructed in favor of the Emperor of Germany, with 
 an apparently considerable accession of power. The whole 
 present dominions of Austria in Germany and Lombardy, Na- 
 L l 2 
 
402 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 pies and Sicily, Flanders, Spain, and South America, would 
 have constituted the hereditary dominions of a power to which 
 the imperial crown would, as a matter of course, have come 
 to he permanently united. 
 
 The Tories, however, in the time of Queen Anne, were too 
 
 „ 39 - , clear-sighted not to see that the danger from the 
 
 Bolingbroke’s # ° 
 
 picture of the Spanish monarchy, great as it had been a century 
 
 ruined state J J 
 
 oftheSpanish before, had passed away before their time, and that 
 this period. France was the power by which the independence 
 of England was really threatened. If circumstances had ren¬ 
 dered the junction of the Spanish dominions to one or other 
 unavoidable, it was evidently for the interest of Great Britain 
 that it should be united to the distant and inland territories of 
 the house of Austria, destitute of fleets and harbors, and con¬ 
 stantly engrossed with wars with the Turks, rather than to 
 the great and flourishing monarchy of France, with an ex¬ 
 tensive sea-coast, and a navy rivaling our own, in close vicin¬ 
 ity, and actuated by a jealousy of England of many centuries’ 
 standing. Bolingbroke has shown that he perceived these ob¬ 
 vious truths as clearly as any man, and consequently that the 
 terrors expressed by the Tories on occasion of the peace of 
 Utrecht, at the prospect of reconstructing the empire of Charles 
 V., were hypocritical, and had been got up to conceal objects 
 fundamentally different. “ Philip II.,” says he, “ left his suc¬ 
 cessors a ruined monarchy. He left them something worse ; 
 he left them his example and his principles of government, 
 founded in ambition, pride, ignorance, bigotry, and all the ped¬ 
 antry of state. The war in the Low Countries cost him, by 
 his own confession, five hundred and sixty-four millions, a pro¬ 
 digious sum, in whatever specie he reckoned. At home, there 
 was much form, but no good order, no economy or wisdom of 
 policy in the state. The Church continued to devour its re¬ 
 sources ; and that monster, the Inquisition, to dispeople the 
 country, even more than perpetual war, and all the numerous 
 colonies that Spain had sent out to the West Indies; for 
 Philip III. drove more than nine hundred thousand Moris- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 403 
 
 coes out of his dominions by one edict, with such circumstances 
 of inhumanity as the Spaniards alone could exercise, and that 
 tribunal, which had provoked that unhappy race to revolt, 
 could alone approve. Abroad, the conduct of that prince was 
 directed by the same wild spirit of ambition. Rash in un¬ 
 dertaking, though slow to execute, obstinate in pursuing, though 
 unable to succeed, they opened a new sluice to let out the little 
 life and vigor that remained in the monarchy. What com¬ 
 pleted their ruin was this, they knew not how to lose nor 
 when to yield. They acknowledged the independence of the 
 Dutch commonwealth, and became the allies of their ancient 
 subjects by the Treaty of Munster; hut they would not fore¬ 
 go their usurped claims on Portugal, and they persisted in car¬ 
 rying on singly the war against France. Thus they were 
 reduced to such a lowness of power as can scarcely be paral¬ 
 leled in any other kingdom. As to France, this era of tho 
 entire fall of the Spanish power is likewise that from which 
 we may reckon that France grew as formidable as we have 
 seen her to her neighbors in power and pretensions.”* 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, which subsequent events have 
 proved to he entirely well founded, it is not surpris- 40. 
 
 ^ What course 
 
 ing that the 1 ones, in the days of Queen Anne, the Tories 
 paused before contributing to such a result, as the pursued at 
 consequence of the national efforts during ten cam- Utrecht! 17 ° f 
 paigns for the preservation of the balance of power in Europe. 
 There were difficulties, and those, too, of a very serious na¬ 
 ture, on all sides. They were right in their dread of recon¬ 
 structing the monarchy of Charles V.; their great error con¬ 
 sisted in the way they set about preventing it. They did this 
 by giving Spain and the Indies to a Bourbon prince, which at 
 once closely united two great maritime powers, far more for¬ 
 midable to Britain than the union of one of these with the in¬ 
 land and far-severed monarchy of Charles V. ever could have 
 been. What they should have done was to have given tho 
 crown of Spain and the Indies to the Austrian archduke, but 
 * Bolingbroke, On the Study of History, Let. 6. Works, iii., 4C4, 465 
 
404 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to have stipulated that it should never he placed on the same 
 head as the Imperial crown, or on that which wore the dia¬ 
 dem of the hereditary dominions in Germany. But, though 
 this would have preserved the balance of power, it would not 
 have answered their secret views for rescuing Louis XIV. from 
 
 his difficulties, in order to prop the exiled throne of St. Ger¬ 
 main’s. Thence it was that they preferred all the risks of 
 leaving Spain and the Indies in the hands of a Bourbon 
 prince, the result of which, seventy years afterward, brought 
 England to the verge of ruin in consequence. Thence it is 
 that they have incurred the merited condemnation of all sub¬ 
 sequent ages. 
 
 It is difficult, however, to see even a plausible reason on the 
 4 i. surface of things for the conduct of Great Britain 
 
 canbe°foundfor bi 1834, hi violating the Treaty of Utrecht, and 
 the" Treaty of° f forming the Quadruple Affiance with France, for 
 Quadruple aiu- the purpose of dispossessing the male line, which 
 ance in 1834 . p a d herself established in Spam, as a security 
 
 against its crown falling into the hands of a French prince, 
 and establishing the female succession in its stead. Was it 
 that the experience of the preceding forty years had shown 
 that revolutionary dynasties were so very stable, that it was 
 necessary to violate our faith plighted at Utrecht in order to 
 establish a lasting democratic sovereign power in the Peninsu¬ 
 la ? Was it that revolutionary governments had been found 
 by experience to be so strict and honorable in their deahngs, 
 so correct and punctual in their payments, so abhorrent to any 
 tiling like repudiation of debts, that it was for the interest of 
 the commercial and money-lending state to uphold their estab¬ 
 lishment ? Was it that the annals of the French Revolution 
 had demonstrated that the universal suffrage by which the 
 S panish Cortos was elected was so very safe and workable a 
 s :ie engine, that it might securely be intrusted to the fiery 
 p. Ions of Spain, in its apprenticeship to freedom ? Was it 
 tii it we were so very secure, that a queen or princess of Spain, 
 heiress presumptive to the throne, would not attract the no- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 405 
 
 tice and win the regard of a prince of France ; and that thus 
 the slender security provided even by the Treaty of Utrecht 
 against the union of the two crowns on the same head might 
 not be entirely destroyed ? Was it that French princes had 
 been proved by history to he so singularly repulsive in their 
 maimers, or ungainly in their appearance, that there was no 
 risk of their attracting the notice of the heiress of Spain ? We 
 know not what the motive was which led this nation to inter¬ 
 fere in breaking through the male succession as settled by the 
 Treaty of Utrecht, and establishing the female line in its stead. 
 We know only that the thing was done, and by ourselves. It 
 is for the authors of the Quadruple Alliance of 1834 to ex¬ 
 plain its motives, and point out its advantages. 
 
 The common argument used on this head, viz., that the 
 young queen, to whom the crown of Spain had 42. 
 
 J O A . Answer to the 
 
 been bequeathed by Ferdinand VII., had been ac- common argu- 
 
 . ment used in 
 
 knowledged by the Cortes and constitutional au- behalf of the 
 
 , . . . ' . . Quadruple Al- 
 
 thonties m bpain, and that we, a constitutional liance. 
 monarchy, could not oppose a sovereign of the people’s choice, 
 is obviously devoid of foundation. The settlement of the crown 
 of Spain on the male line, by the Treaty of Utrecht, was a 
 public act guaranteed by all the powers of Europe, for pur¬ 
 poses of general policy and the preservation of the balance of 
 power. It was meant to guard against the precise danger 
 which has since occurred, viz., the marriage of a Spanish 
 princess, heiress presumptive to the throne, to a prince of 
 France. Serious deliberations, a congress of all the powers 
 which had signed the Treaty of Utrecht, were requisite, be¬ 
 fore the main security it provided against the dangers which 
 had rendered the War of the Succession necessary was aban¬ 
 doned. But nothing of that sort was thought of. The thing 
 was done at once, without either congress or deliberation, and 
 in defiance of a solemn protest by Don Carlos, as the head of 
 the male line, against such an invasion of his rights and those 
 of his family. The northern powers of Europe have never 
 yet recognized the female line in Spain. And yet the English 
 
406 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 nation never seems to have been awakened to the impolicy, as 
 well as bad faith, of these proceedings, till a Spanish princess, 
 as the result to he naturally expected from such a splendid en¬ 
 dowment of English creation, dropped into the arms of a prince 
 of France. 
 
 But the matter does not rest here. It would be well for 
 43 . the honor and future fate of England if it did. 
 terference to We not only recognized the Queen of Spain in de- 
 Cariosandthe fiance of the Treaty of Utrecht, hut we concluded 
 stin C more with France the Quadruple Alliance, to uphold 
 
 justifiable. her and the Queen of Portugal on the throne, in 
 opposition to the male and legitimate line in both countries. 
 We followed this up by an armed intervention, to put down 
 the Carlists and Royalists in the northern provinces. Lord 
 John Hay was sent with the royal marines; General Evans 
 was allowed to go with ten thousand volunteers, armed with 
 Tower muskets, and in the scarlet uniform. Warlike stores, 
 to the amount of £450,000, were sent to Queen Christina in 
 the space of three years. We thus succeeded, after a dread¬ 
 ful civil war of four years’ duration, in beating down the he¬ 
 roic mountaineers in the Basque provinces, and fixing a dy¬ 
 nasty hateful to nine tenths of the Spanish nation on the 
 throne of Madrid. Was this non-intervention? Was this 
 following up the principles of our Revolution, that every na¬ 
 tion may choose its own dynasty ? Did we not rather imitate 
 the conduct of Louis XIV., who for twenty years strove to 
 impose the Chevalier St. George and the Stuart fine on an 
 unwilling people ? Can there he a doubt, that if the Span¬ 
 iards and Portuguese had been let alone by France and En¬ 
 gland, the revolutionary dynasty of queens, with all its at¬ 
 tendant dangers of French princes, would long since have 
 been sunk to the earth in both parts of the Peninsula ? If 
 not, why did we interfere, and nourish for four long years a 
 frightful civil war on the Ebro ? In concluding the Quadru¬ 
 ple Alliance, and aiding the Spanish revolutionists to establish 
 a queen upon the throne of Madrid, we forced a hated dynasty 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 407 
 
 upon an unwilling nation, as much as the allies did when, in 
 1815, they restored the Bourbons to the throne of France by 
 the force of English and Prussian bayonets. And we acted 
 not less in opposition to the principles of our own Revolution 
 than to the national faith pledged at Utrecht, or the plainest 
 national interests, demonstrated by the most important events 
 of the subsequent period. 
 
 What we should have done is quite plain. It was prescrib¬ 
 ed alike bv national faith and public expedience. 44 . 
 
 J 1 r What England 
 
 We should have done what Cardinal Mazarine should have 
 • l doneontheoc- 
 
 did during the English, Mr. Pitt during the early casion. 
 
 part of the French, Revolution. We should have interfered 
 neither in favor of the one party nor the other ; but, preserv¬ 
 ing a strict neutrality, recognized and continued the national 
 treaties with that government which the nation ultimately 
 adopted, as the one suited to the wishes, and protective of the 
 interests, of the majority of its inhabitants. If driven by 
 necessity to interfere, it should have been in support of that 
 line of descent which our own security and the interests of Eu¬ 
 rope required, and the faith of treaties guaranteed, rather than 
 of that which endangered the former and violated the latter. 
 We did none of these things. We interfered by the w r eight 
 of diplomacy and the force of arms to force a hateful demo¬ 
 cratic regime upon a people whose hearts were essentially 
 monarchical; and we succeeded in establishing a government 
 at Madrid against the wishes of nine tenths of the people of 
 the country. 
 
 We now see the result. We have received our just pun¬ 
 ishment in beholding the consummation of the 45 . 
 Montpensier alliance, and the dream of Louis wehavenowre- 
 XIV. and Napoleon realized, by the extension of celved - 
 French influence from the Scheldt to Gibraltar. At one 
 blow we have undone the whole work of the wars of the 
 Succession and Revolution. We have lost, by a single act, 
 the fruit of the victories of Marlborough and the triumphs of 
 Wellington. The barrier in the Netherlands, the counter- 
 
408 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 poise in the Peninsula, have been alike lost, or, rather, their 
 weight has been added to the power of our enemies. England 
 sees clearly enough now the erroneous policy in which her 
 rulers have got themselves involved, and the manner in which 
 they have played into the hands of our enemies ; but she does 
 not see as yet where the fault really lay, and of what we re¬ 
 ally ought to be ashamed. She is ashamed of having been 
 deceived, but not of having been the deceiver. It is for the 
 latter, however, she should really feel humiliation. To be 
 duped in negotiation, or outdone in love, is no unusual occur¬ 
 rence ; diplomatic cunning is frequently the resource of the 
 weak against the strong, of the perfidious against the unsus¬ 
 pecting. To break treaties, oppress allies, and foment direful 
 civil wars for the propagation of political opinions or supposed 
 party advantages—these are the real offenses for which na¬ 
 tions must answer, and which call down a righteous retribu¬ 
 tion upon their rulers and themselves. 
 
 By the course which England has of late years adopted in 
 46. regard to Spain, she has deprived herself of all ti- 
 
 England has 6 r . r . 
 
 lost all title to tie to complain, even of any real violation of the 
 
 any violation Treaty of Utrecht by any other power. Having 
 of Utrecht' 1 ' set the first example of violating its provisions, in 
 the essential article of the succession to the throne, she can no 
 longer, with effect, upbraid France for infringement of it in in¬ 
 ferior particulars. But, in truth, Louis Philippe, in the Mont- 
 pensier marriage, violated none of the provisions of the Treaty 
 of Utrecht; whether he deviated from any promises made at 
 the Chateau d’Eu is a matter of comparatively little import¬ 
 ance, concerning which the statesmen of the two countries are 
 at variance. There is no prohibition in the Treaty of Utrecht 
 of the marriage of French princes with Spanish princesses, or 
 vice versa ; there is not a word said about such marriages at 
 all. It was as unnecessary as it would have been ungracious; 
 for when the succession to the crown of Madrid was strictly 
 entailed on heirs male, no prince of the French blood, by mar¬ 
 rying an Infanta of Spain, could endanger the peace ol Eu- 
 
MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 409 
 
 rope by succeeding, through her, to the throne. Accordingly, 
 numerous instances have since occurred of such marriages, 
 without their having excited any attention, or been ever deem¬ 
 ed infringements of the Treaty of Utrecht.* 
 
 But when England joined with France in 1834 to alter the 
 order of succession in Spain, and to force a dynas- 47 . 
 ty of queens, surrounded by Republican institu- wMchthesub- 
 tions, on an unwilling people, the case was entire- feSeHnefcr 
 ly altered. The marriage of a prince of France fjfaSmtde in 
 with an Infanta of Spain became then a matter theinteresta'o! 
 of the very highest importance ; it threatened the other P° wers - 
 precise danger which the War of the Succession was under¬ 
 taken to avert; which the Treaty of Utrecht was concluded, 
 though in an imperfect manner, to prevent. There is, indeed, 
 in that treaty, the most express prohibition against the crowns 
 of France and Spain being united on the same head ; but that 
 is neither the real danger to be threaded, nor has England left 
 herself any means of preventing it. It is the “ Family Alli¬ 
 ance” noAV concluded which is the real evil; and if the suc¬ 
 cession to the Spanish crown should open to the French king, 
 in consequence of it, how could we, who, in defiance of the 
 Treaty of Utrecht, have opened to the Infanta the succession 
 
 * Such marriages between French princes and Spanish princesses took 
 place on the 21st of January, 1721, and the 25th of August, 1739; and on the 
 23d of January, 1745, the Dauphin of France married the princess who, but 
 for the Treaty of Utrecht excluding the female line, would have been heir¬ 
 ess of the crown of Spain. But on none of these occasions was it ever sup¬ 
 posed any infringement of the Treaty of Utrecht had taken place, or any 
 danger to the balance of power in Europe had occurred. Nay, Louis XY. 
 was publicly, and with the knowledge of the whole of Europe, affianced, 
 early in life, to the Infanta of Spain; the Spanish princess was brought and 
 lived long at Versailles, in order to be initiated into the duties of French 
 royalty; and the match was at length broken off, not from any remonstrance 
 on the part of the English embassador or the diplomatic body in Europe, but 
 because the princess being six years younger than the French king, who 
 was nineteen years of age, his subjects were too impatient for his marriage 
 —were too impatient to wait till it could with propriety be solemnized; and 
 he manned, in consequence, Maria Leckzinske, daughter of the King of Po¬ 
 land—See Dk Tocqukvii.i.k's Hist, dc Louis XV., i., p. 172. 
 
 M M 
 
410 
 
 THE LIFE OF MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 to the throne, object to his ascending it ? We have fallen 
 into the pit which we ourselves dug; we have been punished 
 by the work of our own hands : another among the numerous 
 proofs which cotemporary as well as past history affords, that 
 there is a moral superintendence of the affairs of men, and 
 that great violations of national duty work out, in the nation¬ 
 al consequences to which they lead, a just retribution upon the 
 third and fourth generations. 
 
 THE END. 
 

 
 
 
 


Date Due 
 
 NOV •' 
 
 m s s 5 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 rnsx g jjn 
 
 
 
 mv&‘ 
 
 l 
 
 
 
 w A R24iGe 
 
 
 
 
 T)ecl8’3£ 
 
 ; P4 
 
 
 
 . ,\i\ wiay23 
 
 w 
 
 ** 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Nov 1 4 »4£ 
 
 
 
 
 DEC 4 ’4fc 
 
 
 
 
 utci-s* 8 
 
 
 
 
 i e n> 
 
 
 
 
 APRS5N* 
 
 
 
 
 tt! r! fl 
 
 % 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 L. B. Cat. No. 1137 
 

 X 
 
 ■'M