and by weakening his centre, brought about the very end which his opponent had designed to effect. Marlborough was not slow in taking advantage of the opening thus afforded. The corps hitherto stationed on the Meuse, being promptly marched from its cantonments, was formed into an advanced guard under able leaders; while Marlborough himself, at the head of his own English and German army, made ready to support it. The same night, without any previous notice given, the whole began their march; each trooper being directed to carry a truss of hay on the croup of his saddle, and all continuing profoundly ignorant as to the nature of the service on which they were about to be employed.

Eight o'clock had barely passed, when the advance began to move; at nine, Marlborough with the main body followed; while Overkirk, repassing the Mehaigne by a pontoon bridge, fell in, as he had been appointed to do, in the line of march. There was neither facine nor gabion with any of these columns. The very act of preparing such implements might, as Marlborough well knew, have excited suspicions of the project in contemnplation. It was to the trusses of hay alone, borne by the cavalry, that the general looked for the means of crossing the enemy's ditch; nor was he deceived either in the applicability of these instruments, or in the valour and resolution of his men. With as little of confusion as usually accompanies a night march, the troops performed their journey; and at four in the morning found themselves in presence of the enemy. There was a dense fog in the air, which contributed something to the advantage of the assailants. Under cover of this they traversed the morass, cleared the villages of Neer-Winden and Neer-Hespen, took possession of the bridge of Elixheim, and carried the castle of Wange. Then rushing forward in three columns, they passed the Little Gheet; and ere the enemy were mado fully aware that danger threatened, the ditch was crossed, and the line of entrenchments penetrated.

So far, things had succeeded beyond Marlborough's most sanguine expectations; but the alarm now spread, and while the rear of the assailants were yet struggling through the obstacles opposed to them, a strong corps was observed to form on the high grounds above Oostmal. A heavy cannonade soon opened upon the Germans and English, by which some loss was sustained; while a general movement on the part of the enemy indicated a design of following up the impression thus made, by a more decisive attack. Marlborough put himself instantly at the head of the few squadrons of horse which had made good their passage. With these he charged, broke, and drove back the advancing line; and, though himself more than once repulsed, he contrived to maintain the contest till a sufficient force was enabled to form for his support. By and by the Dutch came up, when the whole pressed forward

in overwhelming numbers; and the enemy, after a random fire, retreated in confusion, leaving the whole of this section of their lines in the hands of the allies.

While these things were in progress, Villeroi and the elector, on whom the retrogression of Overkirk had not been lost, suffered an excess of anxiety and alarm. Ignorant where the storn would burst, though well aware that it was abou. to burst somewhere, they remained that night under arms, and arrived next morning at the scene of action only in time to perceive that they were too late to retrieve the evil consequences of their own negligence. The immense chain of fortifications, which had cost so much labour and expense to throw up, was no longer tenable; they therefore drew off their troops, passed the Dyle in all haste, broke down the bridges in their rear, and took up a new position under shelter of the river. It formed part of the stupendous plan as arranged by Marlborough to prevent the execution of this retrograde movement. He intended to make no pause after penetrating the lines till he should gain the strong position of Parc, where, throwing himself between Villeroi and the Dyle, he might separate one of the enemy's wings from the other; but the Dutch generals, less gratified with the result of the day's operations than offended that their sanction had not been previously sought, refused to march when ordered. They asserted that the men, worn out by the exertions of the last twenty-four hours, were incapable of any thing further; and they pitched their tents, in defiance of the entreaties and expostulations both of Marlborough and Overkirk. Not all the encomiums which poured in upon him from every quarter whither intelligence of his victory extended, served to reconcile the duke to this measure. He complained of it at the moment, as threatening to frustrate the entire object of his devices; and the result proved, that, in the estimate which he then formed of its tendency, he was not actuated by the workings of excessive chagrin.

The fate of empires has not unfrequently depended upon the judicious or injudicious use of a single day. On the present occasion, the loss of four and twenty hours may be truly said to have cost Marlborough a second victory; for though he reached Parc on the evening of the 20th, the enemy were already behind the Dyle; and the immediate commencement of a course of wet and stormy weather rendered them secure from all immediate molestation. Villeroi failed not to take advantage of this interval, as well by fortifying the weakest points in his new line, as by striving to free his troops from the depression which had scized them; and the stubbornness of the Dutch generals, if no worse principle may be laid to their charge, effectually seconded all his efforts. When the rains at length subsided, and Marlborough proposed to force the passage of the lines, these gentlemen stoutly objected to the measure. Being

overborne by the arguments of their nominal chief, they at last consented, provided no risk should be run in the attempt; they even went so far as to move their troops in the direction of the points where the passage was proposed to be made; but when the day of action arrived, they positively refused to engage. According to the arrangements previously laid down, the duke of Wirtemberg was to construct a bridge at Corbeck, while general Heukelom, traversing the river at NeerIsche, should carry the village by assault; and they were both to be supported by the Dutch and English, as these could be respectively brought to bear. Marlborough has left it upon record, not only that the Dutch failed to execute their part of the agreement, but that they betrayed the whole plan to the enemy. Be this, however, as it may, we know from the best authority that all the manœuvres of the English general failed to draw the attention of Villeroi from his left. On the morning of the attack, likewise, though at first all went on as could be desired; though the duke of Wirtemberg, throwing a bridge over the stream at Corbeck, established himself, with 500 grenadiers, on the opposite bank; though general Heukelom was in possession of Neer-Ische with an entire brigade, and his artillery, superior to that of the enemy, kept their columns at bay, the Dutch determined that neither attack should be supported. It was to no purpose that Marlborough, whose troops lay farthest from the scene of action, hurried forward to ascertain the causes of delay. He was held in earnest conversation by Slangenberg, the most inveterate of his personal enemies; while the rest sent instructions to the officers in command of the detached corps that they should fall back. These orders, however unlooked-for and distasteful, were obeyed; and the allied forces returned to their camp, having sustained the disgrace of a repulse, and with the loss of scarcely 100 men in killed and wounded.

The mortification produced by such an unlooked-for issue to plans arranged with so much care, can scarcely be said to have received any increase from the malignity with which the blame of failure was cast upon the commander-in-chief, Taught by nature to hold his passions under control, Marlborough paid to these calumnies very little heed. Nay, he permitted them to run their course, rather than incur the hazard, by any publie contradiction, ot' wounding the feelings of the states, or thoroughly alienating those of their generals. But the annoyances to which he was in the sequel made subject, proved too heavy for endurance. After consenting to hazard a second attempt at the points lately attempted, the Dutch again violated their stipulations, and proposed in their turn that the enemy's left should be assailed, a section by far the most defensible in their line. Marlborough, though he could not refuse to take this proposal into consideration, foresaw that it would bad to nothing. He accordingly deter

mined upon a total change of system, and he despatched his trustworthy adjutant-general, baron Hompesch, to the assembly at the Hague, for the purpose of obtaining the sanction of the states in its adoption.

To do them justice, the states-general seem not to have been ignorant of the motives by which their own officers were guided throughout the late operations. They received, therefore, in good part, the complaints of Hompesch, but all his arguments failed to extract from them an order which should empower Marlborough to act for the future independently of the approval of the field-deputies. The latter gentlemen were indeed instructed never, except in the most urgent cases, to summon a council of war; yet were they fully authorised to check any movement, no matter how critical or important, till they should themselves be convinced of its expediency. Now, as Marlborough justly stated in his private correspondence, no benefit was secured to him by these instructions. The field-deputies, being civilians, and ignorant of the business of a campaign, could form no judgment, even in the most trivial case, except by consulting such as possessed more information than themselves and as they would naturally turn for advice to their own countrymen alone, all real power would still remain in the hands which had hitherto so unworthily used it. Still, Marlborough was not of a temper to give way under any diffi culties. In the sanguine hope that he might again "cheat them into victory," he gave orders that the tents should be struck; and on the 14th of August began his march, in three columns, towards the sources of the Dyle.

The object of this movement was to turn the flank of that position, his efforts to carry which, by an attack in front, had hitherto failed. It led him away, indeed, from all his depôts and magazines; but as he had taken care to provide bread enough for six days' consumption, he anticipated from that circumstance no evil. Nor had he miscalculated the time required for the full accomplishment of his object; for the 16th found the whole army united at Genappe, and on the 17th head-quarters were established at Fischermont in the vicinity of the forest of Soignies. Meanwhile the enemy, who remained not long in ignorance of Marlborough's designs, made haste to change their order. They established themselves behind the Ische, so as that their front should be protected by the stream; threw their left towards the Dyle, and leaned their right and rear for support upon the forest: thus hoping to cover Brussels, for the safety of which they were jealous; at the same time that they lost not their own hold upon the Dyle.

After a trifling skirmish at Waterloo, since so famous in military story, and some delay in bringing up the artillery, occasioned by the perverseness of Slangenberg, the allies began to penetrate the forest; which, not less to their surprise than satisfaction, they found everywhere pervious to

infantry, with here and there a good road for the transport of guns and carriages. At an early hour in the evening of the 18th, two columns debouched into the plain between the Ische and the Lane; a third, under general Churchill, defiled to the left, and following a causeway that led towards the convent of Greenendale, found a division of the enemy entrenched behind an abatis, and halted for further orders. In the mean time Marlborough, accompanied by his principal staff officers, closely examined the enemy's dispositions. He saw that the ground in front of OverIsche afforded peculiar advantages to an assailing force, and that Holberg, though the main key of the position, was but slenderly provided with troops. His arrangements were made in a moment. As fast as the infantry came up, they were formed in columns of attack, one threatening the former, another the latter of these points; while the cavalry, partly to draw attention elsewhere, partly for the purpose of seizing such opportunities as might offer, was moved en masse towards Neer-Ische. But, at the moment when all things were ready, when the guns, so long delayed, had arrived, and the troops waited only for the signal, the Dutch deputies, according to their usual custom, interfered. It was to no purpose that Marlborough assured them of victory, explaining that the whole of the enemy's allignment had been examined; they could not consent to risk a great action till after their own generals had been consulted. The consequences may be anticipated. After wasting many hours in fruitless debate, after refusing to be guided by the opinion even of Overkirk, and absolutely scouting that of Marlborough, certain individuals were despatched from their own body to reconnoitre, who delayed to send in any report till darkness had closed around them. Upon this the troops, who had remained all day under arms, were ordered to encamp; and the principal officers, in no very agreeable mood, returned to their respective quar

ters.

It had been asserted during this memorable oonference, by those envious of the duke's renown, that the points of attack selected by the British general were absolutely impregnable: the officers employed in making the reconnoissance just alluded to, adopted a similar opinion. Their report being handed to Marlborough, he exclaimed in bitterness of heart, "I am, at this moment, ten years older than I was four days ago." Nor were the determinations of the morrow different; for even Overkirk seems at last to have surrendered his own judgment to that of his intemperate rival, Slangenberg. Nothing therefore remained, except to abandon at once a project which had received all but its accomplishment, and to withdraw the troops from a country where the means of subsistence were wanting. On the 19th, this disastrous step was taken; on the 24th, the allied armies were in cantonments between Lower

Wavre and Corbais; and the end of the month saw them stationed in their old quarters between Bossut and Meldert.

If we except the capture of Leuwe, and the demolition of that portion of the lines in its vicinity, nothing farther was affected this season by the allies. Marlborough, worn out in body and irritated in mind, experienced, indeed, few inducements to embark on fresh enterprises; but he felt that the moment had arrived when the interests of the common cause, not less than the respect due to his own reputation, demanded from him a novel style of communication with the governments under which he acted. Quitting the army, therefore, and retiring to Tirlemont, the mineral waters of which had been recommended to him, he wrote, both to London and the Hague, in strong terms; and his complaints were not slow in making a deep impression upon those to whom they were addressed. On the part of the British cabinet it was resolved, that a formal remonstrance should be laid before the states-general, and a better method of action peremptorily insisted upon; indeed, the nobleman selected to carry the remonstrance to the Hague was named, and the day of his departure fixed. But the more sober judgment of Marlborough saw that, however well intentioned, such a measure could lead to no good; he entreated the queen to suspend the execution of her design till the effect of his own statements should appear: and the result proved that he acted, on the present occasion, with his usual foresight and temper. The states-general could not deny that some of their officers had treated Marlborough with shameful disrepect: Slangenbergh, as the inost troublesome, was immediately removed from his command; nor could all the interest which he possessed procure for him again employment in the public service.

Towards the end of October the campaign came formally to a close, by the establishment of the troops in winter quarters; but a measure which brought rest to others, brought no relaxation either of body or mind, to Marlborough. Through out the entire summer, and amid all his own vexations, the state of things in other quarters had afforded to him constant anxiety; for, in spite of a few successes in Portugal and Spain, the issues of the contest were far from advantageous to the allies. In Italy, for example, the French arms proved eminently victorious; the emperor, complaining of poverty, that the neglect of his friends, professed himself incapable of further exertion; while the king of Prussia spoke of recalling his contingent, on the ground that the subsidies promised by the maritime powers were withheld. Meanwhile, the court of France opened a secret negotiation with the states-general, for the purpose of drawing Holland into the conclusion of a separate peace; and at home, the struggle between the whigs and tories continued with unabated violence. There was not one of these

various matters which failed to be brought, in an especial manner, under the cognizance of Marlborough. Eugene wrote to him in a style more reproachful than he had ever previously used; count Wratislaw, the emperor's prime minister made use of terms still more warm; and even the king of Prussia adopted a language which left but small room to question his desire of freeing himself from the trammels of the league. In like manner, the war party at the Hague appealed to him, as alone capable of preserving their country from the disgrace which threatened to overtake it; while Harley, Godolphin, St. John, and the duchess plied him with constant reports as to the progress which his own or their enemies were making in public favour. Of these last complaints he took as little notice as the circumstances of the times would allow he threw his influence, indeed, into the scale of the party which seemed best disposed to support the line of policy which he had himself chosen ; and while he overcame his own prejudices against some of the individuals composing it, he laboured to remove those of his royal mistress. But of the libels which were ceaselessly poured forth against himself he seldom deigned to take notice, trusting to his own acts as the best vindication of the motives from which they sprung. One prosecution, and only one, was conducted in his name to a successful issue. A Mr. Stephens, a clergyman of the established church, was convicted of a gross libel, and, besides paying a fine, condemned to the pillory; but, by the duke's desire, he was, on acknowledging his error, excused from the most degrading part of his punishment. "I am very glad," says Marlborough on this occasion, when writing to the duchess, " you have prevailed with the queen for pardoning Stephens; I should have been very uneasy if the law had not found him guilty, but much more uneasy if he had suffered the punishment on my account."

With affairs in this state, it was strongly urged upon Marlborough, that nothing short of his personal interference at the several courts, could by any possibility keep the alliance together. The emperor wrote repeatedly to this effect: Eugene pressed the same truth upon his attention; and even Godolphin, though anxious on many accounts for his return to London, saw the matter in a similar light. Marlborough himself, moreover, could not but perceive that affairs were fast approaching to a crisis; and neither ignorant of his own powers of persuasion, nor disposed with false modesty to under-rate them, he determined to follow the course which circumstances pointed out. The troops were no sooner disposed, if not in quarters, at all events in a safe position, than, armed with full powers from the governments both of England and Holland, he made ready for his journey. He had previously visited the Hague during the month of September, where his presence alone sufficed to defeat the intrigues of the French

emissaries; and now, on the 22d of October, he gave up the command to Overkirk, and took the road to Vienna.

Passing through Dusseldorf, amid the enthusiastic plaudits of the people, Marlborough mado a brief stay at Bernsberg, that he might negotiate with the elector palatine an increase of his contingent, as well as prevail upon him to march them into Italy. He perfectly succeeded in both objects, after which he pushed on to Frankfort, where he held a long and confidential communication with the margrave of Baden. His next halting place was Ratisbon, where he embarked upon the Danube, and he finally arrived at the capital of the Germanic empire on the 12th o November, Nothing could exceed the cordiality and warmth of his reception. The emperor raisec him at once to the rank of prince, conferring upon him at the same time the lordship of Mindelheim the nobles vied with one another in the attentions which they heaped upon him; and the common people greeted him, as often as he appeared, with shouts and acclamations of applause. But the most gratifying event attending his sojourn, was the facility with which he obviated difficulties, and bore down the prejudices that had threatened to interrupt the general union. In a word, he satisfied the emperor that England was not less sincere than ever; that Holland beheld with disgust the artful proceedings of the enemy, and that both powers were ready to fulfil their engagements, or, in case of need, to surpass them. Thus was Joseph roused from the despondency which had begun to affect him; and a portion of the stipulated loan being opportunely advanced, the most perfect concord succeeded to distrust and misgiving.

Having happily completed this great work, as well as prevailed upon the emperor to adopt a more liberal policy towards Hungary, Marlborough set out for Berlin, where he was welcomed with a degree of cordiality which the recent letters of the king had hardly prepared him to expect, Capricious as Frederick was, and at the present moment more than usually inclined to change, Marlborough contrived, by the application of an extraordinary address, to mould him to his will. The orders which had been issued for the recall of the Prussian corps from Italy were revoked; the casualties which it had sustained during the war were commanded to be supplied; and he himself was honoured with a sword of great value, a diamond ring being at the same time presented to lord Sunderland. On one point alone the Prussian monarch remained immovable. His personal antipathy to the margrave of Baden was such, that he would enter into no standing engagement as to the continuance of a Prussian force in his army; nor was it without the most urgent entreaties that he was hindered from withdrawing at the moment the regiments then serving on the Upper Rhine.

From Berlin Marlborough bent his steps to Hanover, where a game different in kind, but scarcely less difficult of management, awaited him. We have alluded in another place to the changes which were by degrees effected in the councils of queen Anne. We have spoken of the gradual advance of the whigs into power; of the substitution of several individuals belonging to that party in the room of the tory holders of place; and finally, of their triumph, by the removal of sir Nathan Wright from the office of lord-keeper, in order that Mr. Cowper might be advanced to that dignity. This appointment was speedily followed by others not less decisive. Lord Sunderland came into power; he was now ambassador at the court of Vienna; and Godolphin, Harley, St. John, and the moderate tories, making a virtue of necessity, finally threw themselves into the arms of the whigs. That the queen would have ever become reconciled to her new ministers is in the highest degree improbable, had her late adherents acted with common prudence and common honesty; but their irritated feelings led them into a line of conduct which before long reconciled her to the change, and covered themselves with obloquy.

In

Among other questions agitated during this important session was one which involved the propriety of inviting to England the elector and electress of Hanover, on the ground that they were the presumptive heirs to the British crown, and the guardians of the protestant succession. Had this proposition been brought forward by the whigs, no blame could have attached to them. their estimation every measure was expedient which held out the prospect of adding fresh barriers to the possible return of the ancient family; but for the tories to advocate such a step, hateful as they knew it to be to the wishes of the queen, and diametrically opposed to their own avowed principles, was indeed the reverse of creditable. Yet they pressed the point upon both houses with a pertinacity and eagerness which gave proof that their sole actuating motive was hostility to their rivals. To the honour of the whigs be it recorded, that they resisted the motion with manliness and vigour. The question was accordingly lost in the house of commons by a considerable majority, and the queen's affections, for a time at least, were alienated from those whom she had been hitherto accustomed to trust.

As far as the interests of England were concerned, the issue of this struggle was advantageous; but it gave great umbrage in Hanover, exciting in the mind of the elector a particular jealousy of Mariborough and his friends. These, however, were too politic not to devise a measure which might in some degree make amends for this apparent dereliction of principle. A bill was prepared, having for its object the naturalization of the electoral family; and the draft of it being sent to Marlborough, he conveyed it on the pre

sent occasion to Hanover. Of the instrument thus intrusted to him, this able politician made the best use. Though received at first with coldness, and even upbraided as a faithless friend, he succeeded in an inconceivably short time in overcoming the doubts of the court, and he departed, after a sojourn of a few days only, in full favour both with the elector and his mother.

On the 15th of December, Marlborough reached the Hague. He had already cleared away the chief difficulties which threatened to oppose him there, and found little to call for the exertion of those powers which he knew so well how to employ. Nevertheless, he was in no hurry to depart. He desired to see the measures agreed to by the states in process of execution; and he lingered among them, in spite of his own anxiety to revisit England, till that desire was gratified. Early in January 1706, however, he took ship, and on the 7th made his appearence in the house of lords, charged with authority by the Dutch to disown the acceptance on their part of any overture from France, and to mature the preparations and arrangements necessary for the opening of a new campaign.

Not at any previous period in his public life had Marlborough greater apparent reason to congratulate himself on the preponderancy in the councils of his sovereign of the party of which he was at the head. The whigs, moderating their violence, and adapting themselves with ready com. plaisance to the state of the times, carried every question with triumphant majorities. The moderate tories, including Marlborough in the list, gave the right hand of fellowship to their new supporters; while the people at large, believing the reconciliation to be sincere, were every where satisfied. The high tories ceased in a great measure to be listened to or respected, and all classes seemed bent on a vigorous prosecution of the war. Nor is this circumstance greatly to be wondered at. However hardly pressed their allies might be, the English had embarked of late in no enterprise, except with success. Gibraltar, after sustaining a protracted siege, had repulsed the assailants; Peterborough had added much to the glory of the English army in Catalonia; and the merits of Marlborough himself were never more justly appreciated than by the present house of parliament. We cannot, therefore, be surprised that the voice of wrangling ceased for a time to be heard; or that the nation, remarkable above all others for its proneness to faction, should, during a brief space, act in unison. "The kingdom," says a writer whose judgment was not marked by prejudice in favour of the whigs,* "was blessed with plenty; the queen was universally beloved; the people in general were zealous for the prosecution of the war; the forces were well paid; the treasury was punctual; and though a great quantity of

* Smollett.