[Sidenote: 1707.]
Almanza was a bad opening for the new year, but worse was to
follow. Throughout the winter Marlborough had, as usual, been
employed in diplomatic negotiations, which nothing but his skill
and fascination could have carried to a successful issue. But on
one most important point the Duke was foiled by the treachery of
the Emperor, who, to further his own selfish designs on Naples,
secretly concluded a treaty with France for the neutrality of
Italy, and thus enabled the whole of the French garrisons in Italy
to be withdrawn unmolested. The forces thus liberated were at once
brought up to the scene of action on the Rhine and in Flanders,
and the French were enabled to bring a superior force in the field
against Marlborough. Again the Duke had hoped to save Spain by an
invasion of France from the side of Savoy, but this project again
had been deferred until too late, owing to the Emperor's cupidity
for the possession of Naples. Finally, though Prince Lewis of Baden
had died during the winter, he had been replaced on the Rhine by
a still more incompetent prince, the Margrave of Bayreuth, who,
far from making any diversion in the Duke's favour, never ceased
pestering him to come to his assistance. So flagrant was this
deplorable person's incapacity that he too was superseded before
the close of the campaign, though too late for any effective
purpose. His successor, however, deserves particular notice, being
none other than the Elector of Hanover, afterwards our own King
George the First, no genius in the field, but, as shall be seen in
due time, an extremely sensible and clear-headed soldier.
The result of these complications was that Marlborough spent the
greater part of the summer encamped, in the face of a superior
French force, at Meldert, on a branch of the Great Geete, to cover
his conquests in Flanders and Brabant. At last the Emperor, having
accomplished his desires in Naples, made a diversion towards
Provence which drew away a part of the French force to that quarter
and enabled the Duke to move. But then bad weather intervened to
prevent any successful operations. Twice Marlborough was within an
ace of surprising Vendôme, who had superseded Villeroy in Flanders,
and twice the marshal decamped in haste and confusion only just
in time to save his army. Even so the Duke would have struck one
heavy blow but for the intervention of the Dutch deputies. But
fortune favoured the French; the rain came down in torrents, and
the country was poached into such a quagmire by the cavalry that
many of the infantry were fairly swallowed up and lost.[345] Thus
tamely ended the campaign which should have continued the work of
Ramillies.[346]
Returning home in November Marlborough found difficulties almost
as great as he had left behind him in Flanders. There were quarrels
in the Cabinet, already foreboding the time when the Queen and the
people should turn against him. The Court of France was reverting
to its old methods and endeavouring to divide England by providing
the Pretender with a force for invasion. Again the hardships of
the campaign in Flanders and the defeat of Almanza had not only
created discontent, but had enormously increased the demand for
recruits. The evil work of the Dutch deputies and the incorrigible
selfishness and jealousy of the Empire had already prolonged the
war beyond the limit assigned by the short patience of the English
people.
Happily Parliament was for the present still loyal to the war,
and voted not only the usual supplies but money for an additional
ten thousand men. Five new battalions[347] were raised, and
three more of the old establishment were detailed for service in
Flanders.[348] But far more satisfactory was the fact that in 1708
all regiments took the field with new colours, bearing the cross of
St. Andrew blended with that of St. George, pursuant to the first
article of the Treaty of Union, passed in the previous year between
England and Scotland.
[Sidenote: 1708.]
[Sidenote:
March 29
--------
April 9.
]
The early spring of 1708 was wasted by the French in a futile
endeavour to set the Pretender afoot in Scotland with a French
force at his back; nor was it until the 9th of April that
Marlborough sailed for the Hague, where Eugene was already awaiting
him. There the two agreed that the Duke should as usual command
in Flanders, while Eugene should take charge of an army on the
Moselle, nominally for operations on that river, but in reality to
unite with Marlborough by a rapid march and give battle to the
French before they could call in their remoter detachments. There
was a considerable difficulty with the Elector of Hanover, who was
to command on the Rhine, owing to his jealousy of Eugene, but this
trouble was satisfactorily settled, as were all troubles of the
time, by the intervention of Marlborough. Thereupon the Electoral
Prince, true to the quarrelsome traditions of his family, at once
insisted on taking service with Eugene, simply for the sake of
annoying his father; thus adding one more to the many causes of
friction which, but for Marlborough, would soon have brought the
Grand Alliance to a standstill. This Electoral Prince will become
better known to us as King George the Second.
The French on their part had made extraordinary exertions in the
hope of a successful campaign. Since Ramillies they had drawn
troops from all quarters to Flanders; and from thenceforth the
tendency in every succeeding year grew stronger for all operations
to centre in that familiar battle-ground. On the Rhine the Elector
of Bavaria held command, with Berwick, much exalted since Almanza,
to help him. The French main army in Flanders numbered little less
than a hundred thousand men, and was under the orders of Vendôme,
with the Duke of Burgundy in supreme command. The presence of the
heir to the throne, of his brother the Duke of Berry, and of the
Chevalier de St. George, as the Pretender called himself, all
portended an unusual effort.
[Sidenote: May.]
[Sidenote:
May 24
------
June 4
to
June 24
-------
July 5.
]
[Sidenote:
June 23
-------
July 4.
]
Marching up at the end of May from their rendezvous on the south
of the Haine, the French army moved north to the forest of
Soignies. Marlborough thereupon at once concentrated at Hal and
summoned Eugene to him with all haste. His own army numbered but
eighty thousand men, and though as usual he showed a bold front he
knew that such disparity of numbers was serious. The French then
manœuvred towards Waterloo as if to threaten Louvain, a movement
which the Duke met by a forced march to Park on the Dyle. Here he
remained perforce inactive for a whole month, waiting for Eugene,
who was delayed by some petty formalities which were judged by the
Imperial Court to be far more important than military operations.
Suddenly, on the night of the 4th of July, the French broke up
their camp, marched westward to cross the Senne at Hal and detached
small corps against Bruges and Ghent. Unable to meet the Allies
with the sword, the French had substituted gold for steel and had
for some time been tampering with the new authorities in these
towns. The gold had done its work. Within twenty-four hours Ghent
and Bruges had opened their gates, and the keys to the navigation
of the Scheldt and Lys were lost.
[Sidenote:
June 24
-------
July 5.
]
[Sidenote:
June 25
-------
July 6.
]
Marlborough, who was quite ready for a march, was up and after the
French army immediately. At two o'clock in the morning his army
was in motion, streaming off to pass the Senne at Anderlecht. The
march was long and severe, the roads being in so bad a state that
the right wing did not reach its halting-ground until six o'clock
in the evening, nor the left wing till two o'clock on the following
morning; but this great effort brought the Allies almost within
reach of the French army. In the night intelligence was brought to
Marlborough that the enemy was turning back to fight him. He was in
the saddle at once, to form his line of battle; but the news was
false. The French in reality were making off as fast as they could;
and before the truth could reach Marlborough they were across the
Dender. Marlborough's cavalry was instantly on their track, but
could do no more than capture a few hundred prisoners together with
most of the French baggage. That same day came definite information
of the loss of Ghent and Bruges, and of the investment of the
citadel of Ghent. Brussels took the alarm at once. The French, as
they feared, had for once got the better of the Duke. The French
army was encamped at Alost, where, like a king between two pieces
at draughts, it threatened both the citadel of Ghent and Brussels;
and all was panic in the capital. The Duke was fain to move on
to Assche, midway between Alost and Brussels, to restore the
confidence of the fearful city.
[Sidenote:
June 28
-------
July 9.
]
Here Eugene joined him. Finding it hopeless to arrive in time
with his army, he had pushed on alone; nor could he have arrived
more opportunely, for the Duke was so much weakened by an attack
of fever that he was hardly fit for duty. It was indeed a trying
moment. The next design of the French was evidently aimed at
Oudenarde for the recovery of the line of the Scheldt. They were
already across the Dender and ahead of Marlborough on the road
to it, and moreover had broken down the bridges behind them; yet
Marlborough dared not move lest he should expose Brussels. He sent
orders to the Governor of Ath to collect as many troops as he could
and throw himself into Oudenarde, which that officer punctually
did; and then there was nothing to be done but to wait. Two days
sufficed to place the citadel of Ghent in the hands of the French,
and to set their army free for further operations. Accordingly
on the 9th of July Vendôme sent forward detachments to invest
Oudenarde, and moved with the main army up the Dender to Lessines,
from which point he intended to cover the siege. Great was his
astonishment on approaching the town on the following day to find
that Marlborough had arrived there before him, and was not only
within reach of Oudenarde but interposed between him and his own
frontier.
[Sidenote:
June 29
-------
July 10.
]
For at two o'clock on the morning of the 9th of July the Allied
army had marched off in beautiful order in five columns, and by
noon had covered fifteen miles to Herfelingen on the road to the
Dender. Four hours later Cadogan was sent forward with eight
battalions and as many squadrons to occupy Lessines and throw
bridges over the Dender; and when tattoo beat that night the army
silently entered on a march of thirteen further miles to the same
point. Before dawn came the welcome intelligence that Cadogan
had reached his destination at midnight, laid his bridges, and
made his disposition to cover the passage of the troops. The army
tramped on, always in perfect order, crossed the river and was
taking up its camping-ground, when the heads of the enemy's columns
appeared on the distant heights and were seen first to halt and
then to retire. Marlborough on the curve of the arc had outmarched
Vendôme on the chord.
[Sidenote:
June 30
-------
July 11.
]
The French, finding the whole of their plans disconcerted, now
wheeled about north-westward towards Gavre on the Scheldt, to
shelter themselves behind the river and bar the advance of the
allies on Bruges. But the Duke had no intention to let them off
so easily. Burgundy and Vendôme were not on good terms; their
differences had already caused considerable confusion in the
army; and Marlborough was fully aware of the fact. At dawn on the
morning of the 11th the unwearied Cadogan started off with some
eleven thousand men[349] and twenty-four guns to prepare the roads,
construct bridges, and make dispositions to cover the passage of
the Scheldt below Oudenarde. By half-past ten he had reached the
river, just above the village of Eyne, and on ascending the low
heights above the stream and looking westward he saw before him a
kind of shallow basin or amphitheatre, seamed by little ditches and
rivulets, and broken by hedges and enclosures. To the south the
rising ground on which he stood swept round almost to the glacis of
Oudenarde, thence curved westward from the village of Bevere into
another broad hill called the Boser Couter to the village of Oycke
and beyond, thence round northward across the valley of the river
Norken to Huysse, whence trending still to northward it died away
in the marshes of the Scheldt. Near Oycke two small streams rise
which, after pursuing for some way a parallel course, unite to run
down into the Scheldt at Eyne; beyond them the Norken runs beneath
the heights of Huysse in a line parallel to the Scheldt.
Presently parties of French horse appeared on the ground to the
north. Vendôme's advanced-guard, under the Marquis of Biron, had
crossed the Scheldt leisurely at Gavre, six miles farther down
the river, and was now moving across his front with foragers out,
in happy unconsciousness of the presence of an enemy. A dash of
Cadogan's squadrons upon the foragers quickly brought Biron to Eyne
and beyond it, where he caught sight of Cadogan's detachment of
scarlet and blue battalions guarding the bridge, and presently of
a body of cavalry in the act of crossing; for Marlborough, uneasy
while his advanced-guard was still in the air, had caught up a
column of Prussian horse and galloped forward with it in all haste.
Biron at once reported what he had seen to Vendôme, who, perceiving
that the mass of the Allied army was still on the wrong side of the
Scheldt, gave orders to take up a position parallel to the river;
the line to rest its left on the village of Heurne and extend by
Eyne and Beveren to Mooregem on the right. In pursuance of his
design he directed seven battalions to occupy Heurne forthwith;
but at this point the Duke of Burgundy interposed. The heights
of Huysse in rear of the Norken from Asper to Wannegem formed in
his judgment a preferable position; and there, two miles from the
Scheldt, he should form his line of battle, facing south-east. So
the army was guided to the left bank of the Norken, while the seven
battalions, obeying what they conceived to be their orders, marched
down to the village not of Heurne but of Eyne, and backed by a few
squadrons, took up the position assigned to them by Vendôme.
Meanwhile, responding to urgent messages from Marlborough, the main
body of the Allies was hurrying forward, and by two o'clock the
head of the infantry had reached the Scheldt. Part of the cavalry
passed through Oudenarde to take advantage of the town bridge;
the foot began to cross by the pontoons, and Cadogan, whose eye
had marked the march of the French into Eyne, at once summoned
the whole of his advanced-guard across to the left bank. Sabine's
brigade supported by the other two crossed the rivulet against
Eyne, while the Hanoverian cavalry moved up to the rear of the
village and cut off all hope of retreat. Presently Sabine's British
were hotly engaged; but the French made but a poor resistance.
It is the weakness of the French soldier that he apprehends too
quickly when his officers have not given him a fair chance. Three
battalions out of the seven were captured entire, the remaining
four were killed or taken piecemeal in their flight. The cavalry,
flushed by their success, then advanced under Prince George against
the few French squadrons in rear of the village, charged them,
routed them, and drove them across the Norken. The Prince had his
horse shot under him in this encounter, for his family has never
wanted for courage, and he remembered the day of Oudenarde to the
end of his life.
The Duke of Burgundy now made up his mind to a general action,
and made every preparation for defence of the position behind the
Norken. But when four o'clock came and the Allied army was not
yet in order of battle, he changed his plan, pushed a body of
cavalry from his right across the stream, and set the whole of
his centre and right in motion to advance likewise. Marlborough,
perceiving the movement, judged that the attack would be directed
against his left, in the hope that Cadogan's battalions about Eyne
would be left isolated and open to be crushed by an advance of
the French left. Two of Cadogan's regiments, Prussians, which had
been pushed forward half a mile beyond Eyne to Groenewald were at
once reinforced by twelve more of the advanced guard; the British
cavalry was formed up on the heights at Bevere, and the Prussian
horse further to the Allied right near Heurne. No more could be
done until the rest of the army should gradually cross the river
which divided it from the battlefield.
At length about five o'clock thirty French battalions debouched
upon Groenewald, which was as yet held only by Cadogan's two
advanced regiments, and began the attack. The Prussians stuck
to their post gallantly and held their own among the hedges,
until presently Cadogan's reinforcement, and later on twenty
more battalions under the Duke of Argyll,[350] came up to their
assistance. Forming in succession on the left of the Prussians as
they reached the fighting line, these regiments extended the field
of action as far south as Schaerken; and the combat was carried on
with great spirit. The ground was so strongly enclosed that the
fight resolved itself into duels of battalions, the cream of the
infantry on both sides being engaged. At one moment the French
outflanked the left of the Allies and drove them back, but fresh
battalions of Marlborough's army kept constantly streaming into
action, which recovered the lost ground and prolonged the line of
fire always further to the south.
Marlborough and Eugene, who had hitherto remained together, now
parted, and the Duke handing over eighteen battalions to the Prince
entrusted him with the command of the right. This accession of
strength enabled Eugene to relieve Cadogan's corps, which had been
forced to give way before Groenewald, and even to pierce through
the first line of the enemy's infantry. General Natzmar thereupon
seized the moment to throw the Prussian cavalry against the second
line. His squadrons were received with a biting fire from the
hedges as they advanced; and the French Household Cavalry watching
the favourable moment for a charge drove back the Prussians with
very heavy loss.
Meanwhile Marlborough with the Hanoverian and Dutch infantry was
pressing forward slowly on his left, the French fighting with
great stubbornness and gallantry, and contesting every inch of
ground from hedge to hedge. At last the enemy being forced back to
Diepenbeck, a few hundred yards in rear of Schaerken, stood fast,
and refused despite all the Duke's efforts to give way for another
foot. But Marlborough had still twenty battalions of Dutch and
Danes with almost the entire cavalry of the left at his disposal,
and he had noticed that the French right flank rested on the air.
He now directed Marshal Overkirk to lead these troops under cover
of the Boser Couter round the French right and to fall with them
upon their rear. The gallant old Dutchman, though infirm and sick
unto death, joyfully obeyed. Two brigades were thrown at once on
the flank of the troops that were so stoutly opposing Marlborough;
while the cavalry advanced quickly on the reverse slope of the
Boser Couter,[351] and then wheeling to the right fell on the rear
of the unsuspecting French. A part of the Household Cavalry and
some squadrons of dragoons tried bravely to stand their ground,
but they were borne back and swept away. Overkirk's troops pressed
rapidly on; and the French right was fairly surrounded on all sides.
[Illustration: OUDENARDE
June 30^{th}
------------ 1708.
July 11^{th}
_To face page 500_
]
Now at last an effort was made to bring forward the French left,
which through Burgundy's perversity or for some inscrutable reason,
had been left motionless on the other side of the Norken; but
it was too late. The infantry, though led by Vendôme himself,
failed to make the slightest impression, and the cavalry dared not
advance. The ground before them was intricate and swampy, and the
whole of the British cavalry, withdrawn from their first position
by Eugene, stood waiting to plunge down upon them directly they
should move. The daylight faded and the night came on, but the
musketry flashed out incessantly in an ever narrowing girdle of
fire, as the Allies wound themselves closer and closer round the
enveloped French right. At length at nine o'clock Marlborough and
Eugene, fearful lest their own troops should engage each other in
the darkness, with some difficulty enforced the order to halt and
cease firing. Vast numbers of the French seized the moment to
escape, but presently all the drums of the Allies began with one
accord to beat the French retreat, while the Huguenot officers
shouted "A moi, Picardie! A moi, Roussillon!" to gather the relics
of the scattered regiments of the enemy around them. In this way
some thousands of prisoners were gleaned, but the harvest which
would have been reaped in another hour of daylight was lost. In the
French army all was confusion. Vendôme tried in vain to keep the
troops together till the morning, but Burgundy gave the word for
retreat; and the whole ran off in disorder towards Ghent.
[Sidenote:
1
July --.
12
]
[Sidenote:
2-3
July -----.
13-14
]
So ended the battle of Oudenarde, presenting on one side a feature
rare in these days, namely, a general engagement without an order
of battle.[352] It was undoubtedly the most hazardous action that
Marlborough ever fought. His troops were much harassed by forced
marches. They had started at two o'clock on Monday morning and had
covered fifty miles, including the passage of two rivers, when they
came into action at two o'clock on Wednesday afternoon. It would be
reckoned no small feat in these days to move eighty thousand men
over fifty miles in sixty hours, but in those days of bad roads and
heavy packs the effort must have been enormous. Finally, the army
had to pass the Scheldt in the face of the enemy, and ran no small
risk of being destroyed in detail. Yet the hazard was probably
less than it now seems to us, and generals in our own day have not
hesitated to risk similar peril with success. The French commanders
were at variance; the less competent of them, being heir-apparent,
was likely to be toadied by officers and supported by them against
their better judgment; and finally the whole French army was very
much afraid of Marlborough. Notwithstanding their slight success in
Ghent and Bruges, their elation had evaporated speedily when they
found Marlborough before them at Lessines. All this Marlborough
knew well, and knew also that if an impromptu action, if one may
use the term, must be fought, there was not a man on the other
side who had an eye for a battlefield comparable to Eugene's and
his own. The event justified his calculations; for the victory was
one of men who knew their own minds over men who did not. Another
hour of daylight, so Marlborough declared, would have enabled him
to finish the war. The total loss of the Allies in the battle was
about three thousand killed and wounded, the British infantry
though early engaged suffering but little, while the cavalry,
being employed to watch the inactive French left, hardly suffered
at all.[353] The French lost six thousand killed and wounded and
nine thousand prisoners only, but they were thoroughly shaken and
demoralised for the remainder of the campaign. The wearied army of
the Allies lay on its arms in the battlefield, while Marlborough
and Eugene waited impatiently for the dawn. As soon as it was light
forty squadrons, for the most part British, were sent forward in
pursuit, while Eugene returned to his own army to hasten its march
and to collect material for a siege. The main army halted to rest
for two days where it lay, during which time the intelligence came
that Berwick had been summoned with his army from the Moselle, and
was marching with all haste to occupy certain lines constructed
by the French to cover their frontier from Ypres to the Lys. At
midnight fifty squadrons and thirty battalions under Count Lottum,
a distinguished Prussian officer, started for these lines; the
whole army followed at daybreak, and while on the march the Duke
received the satisfactory news that Lottum had captured the lines
without difficulty. Next day the whole of Marlborough's army was
encamped along the Lys between Menin and Commines, within the
actual territory of France.
[Sidenote: July.]
Detached columns were at once sent out to forage and levy
contributions. The suburbs of Arras were burnt, and no effort
was spared to bring home to the French that war was hammering at
their own gates. But the Allies were still doubtful as to the
operations that they should next undertake. So long as the French
held Bruges and Ghent they held also the navigation of the Scheldt
and Lys, so that it was of vital importance to tempt Vendôme, if
possible, to evacuate them. The British Government was preparing a
force[354] under General Erie for a descent upon Normandy by sea,
and Marlborough was for co-operating with this expedition, masking
the fortress of Lille, and penetrating straight into France--a
plan which the reader should, if possible, bear in mind. But the
proposal was too adventurous to meet with the approval of the
Dutch, and was judged impracticable even by Eugene unless Lille
were first captured as a place of arms. Ultimately it was decided,
notwithstanding the closing of the Scheldt and Lys, to undertake
the siege of Lille; and all the energies of the Allies were
turned to the collection of sixteen thousand horses to haul the
siege-train overland from Brussels.
During the enforced inaction of the army for the next few weeks,
the monotony was broken only by the arrival of a distinguished
visitor, Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland,
together with one of his three hundred and sixty-four bastards, a
little boy of twelve named Maurice, who had run away from school to
join the army. We shall meet with this boy again as a man of fifty,
under the name of Marshal Saxe, at a village some twenty miles
distant called Fontenoy.
[Sidenote:
1
Aug. --.
12
]
At length the preparations for the siege were complete, and the
huge convoy set out from Brussels for its long march. Now, if ever,
was the time for the French to strike a blow. Vendôme in the north
at Ghent and Berwick in the south at Douay had, between them, one
hundred and ten thousand men: the distance to be traversed by the
convoy was seventy-five miles, and the way was barred by the Dender
and the Scheldt. Such, however, was the skill with which the march
was conducted that the French never succeeded even in threatening
the vast, unwieldy columns, which duly reached their destination
without the loss even of a single waggon. Of all the achievements
of Marlborough and Eugene, this seems to have been judged by
contemporary military men to be the greatest.[355]
Lille, the capital of French Flanders, was one of the early
conquests of Lewis the Fourteenth, and, if the expression may be
allowed, the darling town of the Court of Versailles. Situated in a
swampy plain and watered by two rivers, the Deule and Marque, its
natural position presented difficulties of no ordinary kind to a
besieging force, and, in addition, it had been fortified by Vauban
with his utmost skill. The garrison, which had been strengthened
by Berwick, amounted to fifteen thousand men, under the command
of brave old Marshal Boufflers, who had solicited the honour of
defending the fortress. To the north, as we have seen, lay Vendôme,
and to the south Berwick, with a joint force now amounting to about
ninety-four thousand men.[356] It was for Marlborough and Eugene
with an inferior strength of eighty-four thousand men[357] to hold
them at bay and to take one of the strongest fortresses in the
world before their eyes.
[Sidenote:
2
Aug. --.
13
]
A detailed account even of so famous a siege would be wearisome,
the more so since the proportion of British troops detailed for
regular work in the trenches was but five battalions,[358] but
there are a few salient features which cannot be omitted. The
point selected for attack was the north side, the first advance
to which was opened by a single English soldier, Sergeant Littler
of the First Guards,[359] who swam across the Marquette to a
French post which commanded the passage of the stream and let down
the drawbridge. Two days later the town was fully invested, and
Marlborough took post with the covering army at Helchin on the
Scheldt.
The investment had not been accomplished for more than a fortnight
when the Duke was informed that Berwick and Vendôme were advancing
towards the Dender to unite their forces at Lessines. After
manœuvring at first to hinder the junction Marlborough finally
decided to let it come to pass, being satisfied that, if the
French designed to relieve Lille, they could not break through
in the face of his army on the east side, but must go round and
approach it from the south. In this case, as both armies would
move in concentric circles around Lille as a centre, Marlborough
being nearer to that centre could be certain of reaching any given
point on the way to it before the French. Moreover, the removal of
the enemy from the east to the south would free the convoys from
Brussels from all annoyance on their march to the siege.
[Sidenote:
Aug. 22
-------
Sept. 2.
]
As he had expected, the French moved south to Tournay, and then
wheeling northward entered the plain of Lille, where they found
Marlborough and Eugene drawn up ready to receive them.[360] Vendôme
and Berwick had positive orders to risk a battle; and there had
been much big talk of annihilating the Allies. Yet face to face
with their redoubtable enemies they hesitated. Finally, after a
week's delay, which enabled Marlborough greatly to strengthen his
position by entrenchment, they advanced as if to attack in earnest,
but withdrew ignominiously after a useless cannonade without
accepting battle. Had not Marlborough and Eugene been restrained by
the Dutch deputies, the marshals would have had a battle forced on
them whether they liked it or not, but, as things were, they were
permitted to retire. To such depth of humiliation had Marlborough
reduced the proud and gallant French army.
[Sidenote:
Aug. 27-28
----------
Sept. 7-8.
]
[Sidenote:
9-10
Sept. -----.
20-21
]
The retreat left Eugene free to press the siege with vigour; but
a great assault, which cost him three thousand men,[361] failed
to give him the advantage for which he had hoped, and a week
later Marlborough was called in from the covering army to give
assistance. For the next assault, on the counterscarp, the Duke
lent the Prince five thousand English, and it is said that English
and French never fought more worthily of their reputation than on
that day; but the assault was thrice repelled, and it was only
through the exertions of Eugene himself that a portion of the works
was at last captured after a desperate effort and at frightful cost
of life. Altogether the siege was not going well. The engineers
had made blunders; a vast number of men had been thrown away to no
purpose; and ammunition and stores were beginning to run short.
Lastly, Boufflers maintained always a very grand and extremely able
defence.
[Sidenote:
16
Sept. --.
27
]
Vendôme and Berwick could now think of no better expedient than
to throw themselves into strong positions along the Scarpe and
Scheldt, from Douay to Ghent, in order to cut off all convoys from
Brussels. But Marlborough was prepared for this, and had not
captured Ostend after Ramillies for nothing. England held command
of the sea; and Erle's expedition, which had effected little or
nothing on the coast of Normandy, was at hand to help in the
transport of supplies from the new base. Erle, who had considerable
talent for organisation, soon set Ostend in order, seized two
passages over the Newport Canal at Leffinghe and Oudenburg and
prepared to send off his first convoy. As its arrival was of
vital importance to the maintenance of the siege, the French were
as anxious to intercept as the English to forward it. Vendôme
accordingly sent off Count de la Mothe with twenty-two thousand
men to attack it on its way, while Marlborough despatched twelve
battalions and fifteen hundred horse to Ostend itself, twelve
battalions more under General Webb to Thourout, and eighteen
squadrons under Cadogan to Roulers, at two different points on the
road, to help it to its destination.
[Sidenote:
17
Sept. --.
28
]
The convoy started at night, and in the morning Cadogan sent
forward Count Lottum with a hundred and fifty horse to meet it. At
noon Lottum returned to Thourout with the intelligence that he had
struck against the advanced-guard of a French force at Ichtegem,
two miles beyond Wynendale and some four miles from Thourout on
the road to Ostend. Webb at once collected every battalion within
his reach, twenty-two in all, and marched with all speed for
Ichtegem, with Lottum's squadron in advance. The horse, however, on
emerging from the defile of Wynendale, found the enemy advancing
towards them into the plains that lay beyond it. Lottum retired
slowly, skirmishing, while Webb pushed on and posted his men in
two lines at the entrance to the defile. The strait was bounded on
either hand by a wood, and in each of these woods Webb stationed a
battalion of Germans to take the French in flank. The dispositions
were hardly complete when the enemy came up and opened fire from
nineteen pieces of artillery. Lottum and his handful of horse then
retired, while just in the nick of time three more battalions
reach Webb from the rear and formed his third line.
The French cannonade was prolonged for nearly two hours, but
with little effect, for Webb had ordered his men to lie down.
At length at five o'clock the French advanced in four lines of
infantry backed by as many of horse and dragoons. They came on
with great steadiness and entered the space between the two woods,
their flank almost brushing the covert as they passed, serenely
unconscious of the peril that awaited them. Then from right and
left a staggering volley crashed into them from the battalions
concealed in the woods. Both flanks shrank back from the fire, and
huddled themselves in confusion upon their centre. De la Mothe
sent forward some dragoons in support; and the foot, recovering
themselves, pressed on against the lines before them. So vigorous
was their attack that they broke through two battalions of the
first line, but the gap being instantly filled from the second,
they were forced back. Again they struggled forward, trusting by
the sheer weight of eight lines against two to sweep their enemy
away. But the eternal fire on front and flank became unendurable,
and notwithstanding the blows and entreaties of their officers the
whole eight lines broke up in confusion, while Webb's battalions,
coolly advancing by platoons "as if they were at exercise," poured
volley after volley into them as they retired. Cadogan, who had
hastened up with a few squadrons to the sound of the firing, was
anxious to charge the broken troops, but his force was considered
too weak; and thus after two hours of hot conflict ended the
combat of Wynendale. The French engaged therein numbered almost
double of the Allies, and lost close on three thousand men, while
the Allies lost rather less than a thousand of all ranks. The
signal incapacity displayed by the French commander did not lessen
the credit of Webb, and Wynendale was reckoned one of the most
brilliant little affairs of the whole war.[362]
[Sidenote:
11
Oct. --.
22
]
The safe arrival of the convoy before Lille raised the hopes of
the besiegers; and Vendôme, now fully alive to the importance
of cutting off communication with Ostend, marched towards that
side with a considerable force, and opening the dykes laid the
whole country under water. Marlborough went quickly after him,
but the marshal would not await his coming; and the Duke by means
of high-wheeled vehicles and punts contrived to overcome the
difficulties caused by the inundation. At last, after a siege of
sixty days the town capitulated; and the garrison retired into the
citadel, where Eugene proceeded to beleaguer it anew.
[Sidenote:
13
Nov. --.
24
]
[Sidenote:
15
Nov. --.
26
]
[Sidenote:
17
Nov. --.
28
]
While the new siege was going forward the Elector of Bavaria
arrived on the scene from the Rhine, from whence the apathy of the
Elector of Hanover had most unpardonably allowed him to withdraw,
and laid siege to Brussels with fifteen thousand men. This was an
entirely new complication; and since the French held the line of
the Scheldt in force, it was difficult to see how Marlborough could
parry the blow. Fortunately the garrison defended itself with great
spirit, the English regiments[363] setting a fine example, and the
Duke, in no wise dismayed, laid his plans with his usual secrecy
and decision. Spreading reports, which he strengthened by feint
movements, that he was about to place his troops in cantonments, he
marched suddenly and silently eastward on the night of the 26th of
November, crossed the Scheldt at two different points before the
enemy knew that he was near them, took a thousand prisoners, and
then remitting the bulk of his force to the siege of Lille, pushed
on with a detachment of cavalry and two battalions of English
Guards to Alost. On his arrival he learned that the Elector had
raised the siege of Brussels and marched off with precipitation.
The bare name of Marlborough had been sufficient to scare him away.
[Sidenote:
Nov. 28
-------
Dec. 9.
]
Meanwhile Eugene's preparations before the citadel of Lille were
in rapid progress, and Marlborough was already maturing plans
for a further design before the close of the campaign. It had
been the earnest desire of both commanders to reduce Boufflers to
unconditional surrender; but time was an object, so on the 9th of
December the gallant old marshal and his heroic garrison marched
out with the honours of war. So ended the memorable siege of Lille.
It had cost the garrison eight thousand men, or more than half of
its numbers, and the Allies no fewer than fourteen thousand men.
The honours of the siege rested decidedly with Boufflers, and
were paid to him by none more ungrudgingly than Marlborough and
Eugene. Yet as an operation of war, conducted under extraordinary
difficulties in respect of transport, under the eyes of a superior
force and subject to diversions, such as that of the Elector of
Bavaria, it remains one of the highest examples of consummate
military skill.
The fall of Lille was a heavy blow for France, but it was not the
last of the campaign. Within eight days Marlborough and Eugene had
invested Ghent, which after a brief resistance surrendered with the
honours of war. The capitulation of Bruges quickly followed, and
the navigation of the Scheldt and Lys having been regained, the two
commanders at last sent their troops into winter quarters.
[Sidenote:
13
Sept. --.
24
]
But even this did not close the sum of English successes for 1708,
for from the Mediterranean had come news of another conquest, due
to the far-seeing eye and far-reaching hand of Marlborough. Early
in the year Galway had withdrawn from Catalonia to Lisbon, and
the command in Catalonia had been given at Marlborough's instance
to Field-Marshal von Staremberg, an Imperial officer of much
experience and deservedly high reputation. Staremberg, however,
could do little with but ten thousand men against the Bourbon's
army of twice his strength, so by Marlborough's advice the troops
were used to second the operations of the Mediterranean squadron.
Sardinia, the first point aimed at, was captured almost without
resistance, and the fleet then sailed for Minorca. Here somewhat
more opposition was encountered; but after less than a fortnight's
work, creditably managed by Major-General Stanhope, the Island was
taken at a trifling cost of life.[364] Thus the English gained
their first port in the Mediterranean; and the news of the capture
of Minorca reached London on the same day as that of the fall of
Lille.
NOTE.--I have been unable to discover any Order of Battle for the
campaign of 1708. The regiments that bear the name of Oudenarde
on their appointments are the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th
Dragoon Guards, the 2nd Dragoons, 5th Lancers, Grenadier Guards,
Coldstream Guards, 1st, 3rd, 8th, 10th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 21st,
23rd, 24th, 26th, 37th Foot.