patience, excused in his public despatches the treachery and imbecility
which had thwarted him, and prepared to effect his purpose in another
way. His movements were hastened by news that French reinforcements,
set free by the culpable inaction of Prince Lewis of Baden, were on
their way from Alsace. ◆Aug. 5/16.◆ Unable to pass the Dyle he turned
its head-waters at Genappe, and wheeling north towards the forest of
Soignies encamped between La Hulpe and Braine l’Alleud.[27] The French
promptly took the alarm and posted themselves behind the river Yssche,
with their left at Neeryssche, and their right at Overyssche resting
on the forest of Soignies. Marlborough at once resolved to force the
passage of the river. ◆Aug. 6/17.◆ On the evening of the 17th of
August he detached his brother Charles Churchill with ten thousand
foot and two thousand horse to advance through the forest and turn
the French right; while he himself marched away at daybreak with the
rest of the army and emerged into the plain between the Yssche and the
Lasne. ◆Aug. 7/18.◆ The Duke quickly found two assailable points, and
choosing that of Overyssche, halted the army pending the arrival of the
artillery. The guns were long in arriving, Slangenberg having insisted,
despite the Duke’s express instructions, on forcing his own baggage
into the column for the express purpose of causing delay. At last about
noon the artillery appeared, and Marlborough asked formal permission of
the Dutch deputies to attack. To his surprise, although Overkirk had
already consented, they claimed to consult their generals. Slangenberg
with every mark of insolence condemned the project as murder and
massacre, the rest solemnly debated the matter for another two hours,
the auspicious moment passed away exactly as they had intended, and
another great opportunity was lost. The French reinforcements arrived,
and having been the weaker became the stronger force. Nothing more
could be done for the rest of the campaign, but to level the French
lines from the Demer to the Mehaigne.
Thus for the third time a brilliant campaign was spoilt by the Dutch
generals and deputies. Fortunately the public indignation both in
England and in Holland was too strong for them, and Slangenberg, though
not indeed hanged as he deserved, was deprived of all further command.
Jealousy, timidity, ignorance, treachery, and flat imbecility seem
to have been the motives that inspired these men, whose conduct has
never been reprobated according to its demerit. It was they who were
responsible for the prolongation of the war, for the burden that it
laid on England, and for the untold misery that it wrought in France.
Left to himself Marlborough would have forced the French to peace in
three campaigns, and the war would not have been ended in shame and
disgrace by the Treaty of Utrecht.[28]
VOL. I. BOOK VI. CHAPTER V
◆1706.◆
It is now time to revert to England and to the preparations for the
campaign of 1706. Marlborough, as usual, directly that the military
operations were concluded, had been deputed to visit the courts of
Vienna and of sundry German states in order to keep the Allies up to
the necessary pitch of unity and energy. These duties detained him in
Germany and at the Hague until January 1706, when he was at last able
to return to England. There he encountered far less obstruction than in
former years, but found, nevertheless, an increasing burden of work.
The vast extension of operations in the Peninsula, and the general
sickliness of the troops in that quarter, demanded the enlistment of an
unusually large number of recruits. One new regiment of dragoons and
eleven new battalions of foot were formed in the course of the spring,
to which it was necessary to add yet another battalion before the
close of the year.[29] Again the epidemic sickness among the horses in
Flanders had caused an extraordinary demand for them. The Dutch, after
their wonted manner, had actually taken pains to prevent the supply
of these animals to the British,[30] though, even if they had not,
the Duke had a prejudice in favour of English horses, as of English
men, as superior to any other. Finally, the stores of the Ordnance
were unequal to the constant drain of small arms, and it was necessary
to make good the deficiency by purchases from abroad. All these
difficulties and a thousand more were of course referred for solution
to Marlborough.
◆April 14/25.◆
When in April he crossed once more to the Hague he found a most
discouraging state of affairs. The Dutch were backward in their
preparations; Prussia and Hanover were recalcitrant over the furnishing
of their contingents; Prince Lewis of Baden was sulking within his
lines, refusing to communicate a word of his intentions to any one; and
everybody was ready with a separate plan of campaign. The Emperor of
course desired further operations on the Moselle for his own relief;
but, after the experience of the last campaign, the Duke had wisely
resolved never again to move eastward to co-operate with the forces
of the Empire. The Dutch for their part wished to keep Marlborough in
Flanders, where he should be under the control of their deputies; but
the imbecile caprice of these worthies was little more to his taste
than the sullen jealousy of Baden. Marlborough himself was anxious
to lead a force to the help of Eugene in Italy, a scheme which, if
executed, would have carried the British to a great fighting ground
with which they are unfamiliar, the plains of Lombardy. He had almost
persuaded the States-General to approve of this plan, when all was
changed by Marshal Villars, who surprised Prince Lewis of Baden in his
lines on the Motter, and captured two important magazines. The Dutch at
once took fright and, in their anxiety to keep Marlborough for their
own defence, agreed to appoint deputies who should receive rather than
issue orders. So to the Duke’s great disappointment it was settled that
the main theatre of war should once again be Flanders.
Villeroy meanwhile lay safely entrenched in his position of the
preceding year behind the Dyle, from which Marlborough saw little
hope of enticing him. It is said that an agent was employed to rouse
Villeroy by telling him that the Duke, knowing that the French were
afraid to leave their entrenchments, would take advantage of their
inaction to capture Namur.[31] Be that as it may, Villeroy resolved to
quit the Dyle. He knew that the Prussian and Hanoverian contingents had
not yet joined Marlborough, and that the Danish cavalry had refused
to march to him until their wages were paid; so that interest as well
as injured pride prompted the hazard of a general action. ◆May 8/19.◆
On the 19th of May, therefore, he left his lines for Tirlemont on the
Great Geete. Marlborough, who was at Maestricht, saw with delight
that the end, for which he had not dared to hope, was accomplished.
Hastily making arrangements for the payment of the Danish troops, he
concentrated the Dutch and British at Bilsen on the Upper Demer, and
moved southward to Borchloen. ◆May 9/20.◆ Here the arrival of the Danes
raised his total force to sixty thousand men, a number but little
inferior to that of the enemy. ◆May 11/22.◆ On the very same day came
the intelligence that Villeroy had crossed the Great Geete and was
moving on Judoigne. The Duke resolved to advance forthwith and attack
him there.
◆May 12/23.◆
At one o’clock in the morning of Whitsunday the 23rd of May,
Quartermaster-general Cadogan rode forward from the headquarters at
Corswarem with six hundred horse and the camp-colours towards the head
of the Great Geete, to mark out a camp by the village of Ramillies. The
morning was wet and foggy, and it was not until eight o’clock that,
on ascending the heights of Merdorp, the party dimly descried troops
in motion on the rolling ground before them. The Allied army had not
marched until two hours later than Cadogan, but Marlborough, who had
ridden on in advance of it, presently came up and pushed the cavalry
forward through the mist. Then at ten o’clock the clouds rolled away,
revealing the whole of the French army in full march towards them.
Villeroy’s eyes were rudely opened, for he had not expected Marlborough
before the following day; but he knew the ground well, for he had been
over it before with Luxemburg, and he proceeded to take up a position
which he had seen Luxemburg deliberately reject. The table-land whereon
he stood is the highest point in the plains of Brabant. To his right
flowed the Mehaigne; in his rear ran the Great Geete; across his centre
and left the Little Geete rose and crept away sluggishly in marsh and
swamp.[32] In his front lay four villages: Taviers on the Mehaigne to
his right, Ramillies, less advanced than Taviers, on the source of the
Little Geete to his right centre, Offus, parallel to Ramillies but
lower down the stream, to his left centre, Autréglise or Anderkirch,
between two branches of the Little Geete and parallel to Taviers, to
his left. Along the concave line formed by these villages Villeroy drew
up his army in two lines facing due east.
The Mehaigne, on which his right rested, is at ordinary times a rapid
stream little more than twelve feet wide, with a muddy bottom, but is
bordered by swampy meadows on both sides, which are flooded after heavy
rain. From this stream the ground rises northward in a steady wave
for about half a mile, sinks gradually and rises into a higher wave
at Ramillies, sinks once more to northward of that village and rolls
downward in a gentler undulation to Autréglise. Between the Mehaigne
and Ramillies, a distance of about a mile and a half, the ground east
and west is broken by sundry hollows of sufficient inclination to offer
decided advantage or disadvantage in a combat of cavalry. A single
high knoll rises in the midst of these hollows, offering a place of
vantage from which Marlborough must almost certainly have reconnoitred
the disposition of the French right. The access to Ramillies itself is
steep and broken both to north and south; but on the eastern front the
ground rises to it for half a mile in a gentle, unbroken slope, which
modern rifles would make impassable by the bravest troops. In rear,
or to westward of the French position, the table-land is clear and
unbroken, and to the right rear or south-west stands a mound or barrow
called the tomb of Ottomond, still conspicuous and still valuable as a
key to the actions of the day.[33] The full extent of the French front
from Taviers to Autréglise covered something over four miles.
[Illustration:
RAMILLIES
May 12/23 1706.
_Stanford’s Geogl. Estabt., London._
]
Having chosen his position, Villeroy lost no time in setting his troops
in order. His left, consisting of infantry backed by cavalry,[34]
extended from Autréglise to Offus, both of which villages were strongly
occupied. His centre from Offus to Ramillies was likewise composed of
infantry. On his right, in the expanse of sound ground which stretches
for a mile and a half from the marshes of the Geete at Ramillies to
those of the Mehaigne, were massed more than one hundred and twenty
squadrons of cavalry with some battalions of infantry interlined with
them, the famous French Household Cavalry (Maison du Roi) being in the
first line. The left flank of this expanse was covered by the village
of Ramillies, which was surrounded by a ditch and defended by twenty
battalions and twenty-four guns. On the right flank not only Taviers
but Franquinay, a village still further in advance, were occupied by
detachments of infantry, while Taviers was further defended by cannon.
Marlborough quickly perceived the defects of Villeroy’s dispositions,
which were not unlike those of Tallard at Blenheim. Taviers was too
remote from Ramillies for the maintenance of a cross-fire of artillery.
Again, the cavalry of the French left was doubtless secure against
attack behind the marshes of the Geete, but for this very reason it was
incapable of aggressive action. The French right could therefore be
turned, provided that it were not further reinforced; and accordingly
the Duke opened his manœuvres by a demonstration against the French
left.
Presently the infantry of the Allied right moved forward in two lines
towards Offus and Autréglise, marching in all the pomp and circumstance
of war, Dutch, Germans, and British, with the red-coats conspicuous on
the extreme right flank. Striding forward to the river they halted and
seemed to be very busy in laying their pontoons. Villeroy marked the
mass of scarlet, and remembering its usual place in the battlefield,
instantly began to withdraw several battalions from his right and
centre to his left. Marlborough watched the white coats streaming
away to their new positions, and after a time ordered the infantry of
his right to fall back to some heights in their rear. The two lines
faced about and retired accordingly over the height until the first
line was out of sight. Then the second line halted and faced about once
more, crowning the ascent with the well-known scarlet, while the first
marched away with all speed, under cover of the hill and unseen by the
French, to the opposite flank. Many British battalions[35] stood on
that height all day without moving a step or firing a shot, but none
the less paralysing the French left wing.
About half-past one the guns of both armies opened fire, and shortly
afterwards four Dutch battalions were ordered forward to carry
Franquinay and Taviers, and twelve more to attack Ramillies, while
Overkirk advanced slowly on the left with the cavalry. Franquinay was
soon cleared; Taviers resisted stoutly for a time, but was carried;
and a strong reinforcement on its way to the village was intercepted
and cut to pieces. Then Overkirk, his left flank being now cleared,
pushed forward his horse and charged. The Dutch routed the first
French line, but were driven back in confusion by the second; and the
victorious French were only checked by the advance of fresh squadrons
under Marlborough himself. Even so the Allies were at a decided
disadvantage; and Marlborough, after despatching messengers to bring
up every squadron, except the British, to the left, plunged into the
thick of the mêlée to rally the broken horse. He was recognised by
some French dragoons, who left their ranks to surround him, and in the
general confusion he was borne to the ground and in imminent danger of
capture. His aide-de-camp, Captain Molesworth, dismounted at once, and
giving him his own horse enabled him to escape. The cavalry, however,
encouraged by the Duke’s example, recovered themselves, and Marlborough
took the opportunity to shift from Molesworth’s horse to his own.
Colonel Bringfield, his equerry, held the stirrup while he mounted,
but Marlborough was hardly in the saddle before the hand that held the
stirrup relaxed its grasp, and the equerry fell to the ground, his head
carried away by a round shot.[36]
Meanwhile the attack of the infantry on Ramillies was fully developed,
and relieved the horse from the fire of the village. Twenty fresh
squadrons came galloping up at the top of their speed and ranged
themselves in rear of the re-forming lines. But before they could come
into action the Duke of Würtemberg pushed his Danish horse along the
Mehaigne upon the right flank of the French, while the Dutch guards
advanced still further so as to fall upon their rear. These last now
emerged upon the table-land by the tomb of Ottomond, and the rest of
the Allied horse dashed themselves once against the French front. The
famous Maison du Roi after a hard fight was cut to pieces, and the
whole of the French horse, despite Villeroy’s efforts to stay them,
were driven in headlong flight across the rear of their line of battle,
leaving the battalions of infantry helpless and alone, to be ridden
over and trampled out of existence.
Villeroy made frantic efforts to bring forward the cavalry of his left
to cover their retreat, but the ground was encumbered by his baggage,
which he had carelessly posted too close in his rear. The French troops
in Ramillies now gave way, and Marlborough ordered the whole of the
infantry that was massed before the village to advance across the
morass upon Offus, with the Third and Sixth Dragoon Guards in support.
The French broke and fled at their approach; and meanwhile the Buffs
and Twenty-first, which had so far remained inactive on the right,
forced their way through the swamps before them, and taking Autréglise
in rear swept away the last vestige of the French line on the left.
Five British squadrons followed them up and captured the entire King’s
Regiment (Régiment du Roi). The Third and Sixth Dragoon Guards also
pressed on, and coming upon the Spanish and Bavarian horse-guards, who
were striving to cover the retreat of the French artillery, charged
them and swept them away, only narrowly missing the capture of the
Elector himself, who was at their head.[37] On this the whole French
army, which so far had struggled to effect an orderly retreat, broke up
in panic and fled in all directions.
The mass of the fugitives made for Judoigne; but the ways were blocked
by broken-down baggage-waggons and abandoned guns, and the crush and
confusion was appalling. The British cavalry, being quite fresh,
quickly took up the pursuit over the table-land. The guns and baggage
fell an easy prey, but these were left to others, while the red-coated
troopers, not without memories of Landen, pressed on, like hounds
running for blood, after the beaten enemy. The chase lay northwards
to Judoigne and beyond it towards the refuge of Louvain. Not until
two o’clock in the morning did the cavalry pause, having by that time
reached Meldert, fifteen miles from the battlefield; nay, even then
Lord Orkney with some few squadrons spurred on to Louvain itself,
rekindled the panic and set the unhappy French once more in flight
across the Dyle.
◆May 13/24.◆
Nor was the main army far behind the horse. Marching far into the
night, the men slept under arms for two or three hours, started again
at three o’clock, and before the next noon had also reached Meldert and
were preparing to force the passage of the Dyle. Marlborough, who had
been in the saddle with little intermission for nearly twenty-eight
hours, here wrote to the Queen that he intended to march again that
same night; but, through the desertion of the lines of the Dyle by the
French, the army gained some respite. ◆May 14/25.◆ The next day he
crossed the Dyle at Louvain and encamped at Betlehem, ◆May 15/26.◆ the
next he advanced to Dieghem, a few miles north of Brussels, the next he
passed the Senne at Vilvorde and encamped at Grimberghen, ◆May 16/27.◆
and here at last, after six days of incessant marching, the Duke
granted his weary troops a halt, while the French, hopelessly beaten
and demoralised, retired with all haste to Ghent.
So ended the fight and pursuit of Ramillies, which effectually
disposed of the taunt levelled at Marlborough after Blenheim, that
he did not know how to improve a victory. The loss of the French in
killed, wounded, and prisoners was thirteen thousand men, swelled by
desertion during the pursuit to full two thousand more. The trophies
of the victors were eighty standards and colours, fifty guns, and a
vast quantity of baggage. The loss of the Allies was from four to five
thousand killed and wounded, which fell almost entirely on the Dutch
and Danes, the British, owing to their position on the extreme right,
being but little engaged until the close of the day. The chief service
of the British, therefore, was rendered in the pursuit, which they
carried forward with relentless thoroughness and vigour. The Dutch were
delighted that their troops should have done the heaviest of the work
in such an action, and the British could console themselves with the
performance of their cavalry, and above all, with the reflection that
the whole of the success was due to their incomparable chief.
◆May–June.◆
The effect of the victory and of the rapid advance that followed
it was instantaneous. Louvain and the whole line of Dyle fell into
Marlborough’s hands on the day after the battle; Brussels, Malines,
and Lierre surrendered before the first halt, and gave him the line
of the Senne and the key of the French entrenchments about Antwerp;
and one day later, the surrender of Alost delivered to him one of the
strongholds on the Dender. Never pausing for a moment, he sent forward
a party to lay bridges on the Scheldt below Oudenarde in order to cut
off the French retreat into France, a movement which obliged Villeroy
forthwith to abandon the lines about Ghent and to retire up the Lys to
Courtrai. Ghent, Bruges, and Damme thereupon surrendered on the spot;
Oudenarde followed them, and after a few days Antwerp itself. Thus
within a fortnight after the victory the whole of Flanders and Brabant,
with the exception of Dendermond and one or two places of minor
importance, had succumbed to the Allies, and the French had fallen back
to their own frontier.
◆June.◆
Nor was even this all. A contribution of two million livres levied in
French Flanders brought home to the Grand Monarch that the war was
now knocking at his own gates. Villars, with the greater part of his
army, was recalled from the Rhine to the Lys, and a number of French
troops were withdrawn to the same quarter from Italy. Baden had thus
the game in his own hand on the Rhine, and though he was too sulky and
incapable to turn the advantage to account, yet his inaction was no
fault of Marlborough’s. We are hardly surprised to find that in the
middle of this fortnight the Duke made urgent request for fresh stores
of champagne; he may well have needed the stimulant amid such pressure
of work and fatigue.[38]
He now detached Overkirk to besiege Ostend and another party to
blockade Dendermond, at the same time sending off five British
battalions, which we shall presently meet again, for a descent on the
Charente which was then contemplated in England. This done he took post
with the rest of the Army at Roulers, to westward of the Lys, whence
he could at once cover the siege of Ostend and menace Menin and Ypres.
The operations at Ostend were delayed for some time through want of
artillery and the necessity of waiting for the co-operation of the
Fleet; ◆June 6/17.◆ but the trenches were finally opened on the 17th of
June, and a few weeks later the town surrendered.
◆June 27./July 8.◆
Three days after this the army was reassembled for the siege of Menin.
This fortress was of peculiar strength, being esteemed one of Vauban’s
masterpieces, and was garrisoned by five thousand men. Moreover,
the French, being in command of the upper sluices of the Lys, were
able greatly to impede the operations by cutting off the water from
the lower stream, and thus rendering it less useful for purposes of
transport, But all this availed it little; for three weeks after the
opening of the trenches Menin surrendered. ◆Aug. 11/22.◆ The British
battalions[39] which had been kept inactive at Ramillies took a leading
share in the work, and some of them suffered very heavily; but they had
the satisfaction of recapturing four of the British guns that had been
taken at Landen.
◆Aug. 25./Sept. 5.◆