[Sidenote: 1708.]
Once more I return to Spain, where the armies of the Bourbons
had recommenced operations in the winter of 1708. At the end of
October General d'Asfeld having first captured Denia after a
short siege had advanced against Alicante, which was garrisoned
by eight hundred British[372] and Huguenots, under Major-General
John Richards. The siege of Alicante is memorable chiefly for the
manner of Richards's death. The castle was built on the solid
rock, and the only possible method of destroying its defences was
by means of mining. After three months of incessant work d'Asfeld
hewed a gallery through the rock beneath the castle, charged it
with seventy-five tons of powder, and then summoned Richards to
surrender, inviting him at the same time to send two officers to
inspect the mine. Two officers accordingly were sent, who returned
with the report that the explosion of the mine would doubtless be
destructive, but not, in their judgment, fatal to further defence.
Richards therefore rejected the summons, nor, though d'Asfeld
thrice repeated it, would he return any other answer.
[Sidenote: 1709.]
[Sidenote:
Feb. 20
-------
March 3.
]
Immediately over the gallery were two guards, each of thirty men,
which could not be withdrawn without peril to the safety of the
castle. Early in the morning fixed for the springing of the mine,
the sentries were posted as usual, pacing up and down in the keen
morning air, when General Richards and all the senior officers of
the garrison who were off duty came and joined them. They were
come to stand by their men in the hour of trial. A little before
six a thin column of blue smoke came curling up the rock, and a
corporal of the guard reported that the match had been fired.
Richards and his officers remained immovable, the guard stood
under arms, and the sentries stuck to their posts. Presently the
whole rock trembled again; the ground beneath their feet was rent
into vast clefts which yawned for a moment with a hideous hollow
roar and instantly closed. When the rumbling had ceased there were
still eighteen men left on the rock, but Richards with eleven other
officers and forty-two of their comrades had been swallowed up like
the company of Korah. Yet Richards was right, for when Admiral Byng
and General Stanhope arrived six weeks later the garrison still
remained unconquered in the castle. But it was thought best to
evacuate it, so the little force was carried away to Mahon, leaving
Richards and his brave companions asleep in the womb of the rock.
Among the forgotten graves of British soldiers that are sown so
thickly over the world, one at least is safe from the ravages of
time, the living tomb over which John Richards and his comrades
stood, waiting undismayed till it should open to engulf them at
Alicante.
[Sidenote:
April 26
--------
May 7.
]
Shortly after the removal of the garrison from the castle Lord
Galway and the Portuguese opened the campaign on the side of
Portugal near Campo Mayor. Their total force consisted of about
fifteen thousand men, including barely three thousand British
infantry[373] and artillery; but its weakest point was that it
was commanded by a Portuguese officer, the Marquis de Fronteria.
Opposed to it were five thousand Spanish horse and ten thousand
Spanish foot under the Marquis de Bay, who advanced with his
cavalry only to the plain of Gudina on the left bank of the Caya,
in order to entice Fronteria across the river. Galway entreated
Fronteria not to think of attacking Bay, but the Portuguese
commander, disregarding his advice, sent the whole of his horse
together with the Fifth, Twentieth, Thirty-ninth and Paston's
regiments of British Foot across the Caya, and drew them up, rather
less than five thousand men in all, on the plain beyond.
Bay at once sent for his infantry, but without waiting for them
boldly attacked the Portuguese horse on Fronteria's right wing.
Before the Spanish cavalry could reach them the Portuguese turned
and fled, leaving the flank of the British infantry uncovered. The
four regiments, however, stood firm, and having repulsed three
charges formed a hollow square and made a steady and orderly
retreat. Meanwhile Galway had sent forward Brigadier Sankey with
the Thirteenth, Stanwix's and a Catalan regiment in support, but
before they could reach their comrades Bay charged the other wing
of Portuguese horse, which fled as precipitately as the former, and
turning the whole of his force against Sankey's brigade isolated it
completely and compelled it to surrender. The whole of the loss, as
usual, fell on the British; and Galway, none too soon, vowed that
they would never fight in company with the Portuguese again.
[Sidenote: 1710.]
The action on the Caya practically ended the campaign in Portugal
for 1709. The operations in Catalonia during the same year call for
little notice; nor was it until July of the following year that
Staremberg, reinforced by British[374] and Germans to a strength of
twenty thousand foot and five thousand horse, was able to take the
field with activity. He lay at the time at Agramont on the Segre,
the Spanish army under Villadarias, the unsuccessful besieger of
Gibraltar, being a couple of marches to south of him at Lerida.
Staremberg resolved to take the offensive forthwith and to carry
the war into Aragon.
[Sidenote:
16
July --.
27
]
Crossing the Segre he sent forward General Stanhope with a small
force of dragoons and grenadiers to seize the pass of Alfaraz,
before the Spaniards could reach it. Stanhope executed his task
with his usual diligence; and the arrival of the Spanish army a
few hours after him led to a brilliant little combat of cavalry
at Almenara. The odds against the Allies were heavy, for they had
but twenty-six squadrons against forty-two of the enemy. Both
sides, each drawn up in two lines, observed each other inactive
for some time, Staremberg hesitating to permit Stanhope to charge.
At length, however, he let him go. The first line, wherein all
the British were posted, sprang forward with Generals Stanhope
and Carpenter at their head against the Spanish horse, and after
a sharp engagement drove them back. The second line followed and
forced them back still further upon their infantry. Panic set in
among the Spaniards, and presently the whole of the Spanish army
was in full retreat to Lerida. The loss of the enemy was thirteen
hundred killed and wounded; that of the Allies did not exceed four
hundred, half of whom were British.[375]
[Sidenote:
7
Aug. --.
18
]
[Sidenote:
17
Sept. --.
28
]
After more than a fortnight's stay at Lerida King Philip summoned
Bay to supersede Villadarias, but finding it impossible to advance
in face of Staremberg retreated in the direction of Saragossa.
Staremberg at once started in pursuit, overtook Bay under the walls
of Saragossa and totally defeated him.[376] Contrary to his own
better judgment he then marched for Madrid, and led the Archduke
Charles for the second time into his capital. The bulk of the army
was quartered in the suburbs, but a strong detachment was sent away
under Stanhope to occupy Toledo, and, this done, to follow the
Tagus to the bridge of Almaraz, where it should join hands with a
force that was to advance from Portugal.
[Sidenote: Sept.]
The plan was hardly formed before it was broken to pieces. On
receiving the news of the defeat at Saragossa Lewis the Fourteenth
at once formed an army of his garrisons on the frontier and sent
it southward under the command of Vendôme. By the end of September
he had united his force with Bay's at Aranda on the Douro and was
drawing in fresh troops from all sides. The whole population being
in his favour kept him well supplied with intelligence. Before
either Stanhope or the Portuguese could reach Almaraz, Vendôme had
pounced upon it and destroyed the bridge. Stanhope perforce retired
to Toledo, and Vendôme, having by this time collected a force
superior to that of the Allies, moved up the Tagus and encamped on
the historic field of Talavera.
[Sidenote:
Nov. 22
-------
Dec. 3.
]
[Sidenote:
Nov. 25
-------
Dec. 6.
]
[Sidenote:
Nov. 27
-------
Dec. 8.
]
Staremberg now found it necessary to evacuate Madrid. The Archduke
Charles had been coldly received, supplies were failing, and the
army was much weakened by sickness. Recalling Stanhope, therefore,
from Toledo, he retired up the left bank of the Tajuña; the army,
for convenience of forage and supplies, marching in five columns
of different nations--Germans, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and
British. The third day's march brought the first four columns to
Cifuentes, the British who formed the rearguard diverging across
the river to Brihuega some fourteen miles from the rest. Stanhope
had observed a large body of horse following close at his heels
during the march, and had reported the fact to Staremberg, but none
the less received orders to halt for another day and to collect
provisions. Next morning the enemy's horse appeared on the hill in
force, and was joined after a few hours, to the great astonishment
of Stanhope, by its infantry. His efforts to obtain intelligence
had been foiled by the hostility of the peasants, and neither he
nor Staremberg had the faintest idea that there was any infantry
within fifty miles of them. In truth this body of foot had, under
Vendôme's direction, covered one hundred and seventy miles in seven
days, a march of incredible speed, which, in Stanhope's own words,
was his undoing. By five o'clock in the evening Brihuega was fully
invested by nine thousand men, and the escape of the British was
impossible.
Stanhope's position was desperate. He had but eight battalions and
eight squadrons, all so much weakened as to number together but
two thousand five hundred men. The town, which was of considerable
extent, had no defences but an old Moorish wall, too narrow in most
places to afford a banquette for musketeers. Further, the streets
were narrow and commanded on all sides by hills within range of
artillery and even of musketry. Nevertheless he might hold out
till Staremberg came to his relief; so rejecting the summons to
surrender, he barricaded the gates, threw up entrenchments as well
as he could, and at nightfall sent away his aide-de-camp, who at
great risk passed through the enemy's lines, to Staremberg's camp.
[Sidenote:
Nov. 28
-------
Dec. 9.
]
At midnight King Philip and Vendôme arrived with the rest of the
army, horse, foot, and artillery, increasing the investing force to
over twenty thousand men. Before morning two batteries had already
been erected, which opened fire at nine o'clock. Two breaches were
speedily made in the wall, which the British could not repair
except under fire, and a mine was dug to make a third. At three
o'clock in the afternoon an assault was delivered at both breaches,
and was met by a vigorous resistance. While the combat was raging
around them, the mine was fired and a third breach was formed,
through which large bodies of the enemy effected an entrance before
they were perceived. The British however turned upon them and beat
them out again. Finally, the first attack was totally repulsed;
and the French entrenched themselves in the breaches to await
reinforcements. Again the assault was renewed and again it was
driven back with heavy loss by the deadly English fire. Ammunition
now began to fail, but the little garrison held its own with
the bayonet, contesting every inch of ground, horse and dragoons
fighting dismounted by the side of the foot, and every man doing
his utmost. Forced back at length from their entrenchments the
British set fire to the houses which had been gained by the enemy,
and after four hours of hard fighting still held the best part of
the town. But their ammunition by this time was almost exhausted,
and there was no sign of Staremberg's appearance; so at seven
o'clock Stanhope, unwilling uselessly to sacrifice the lives of
his men, capitulated, and he and his gallant little force became
prisoners of war. Never did British troops fight better than at
Brihuega; but even where all were so much distinguished Stanhope
could not refrain from giving special praise to the Scots Guards.
The total loss of the British was six hundred killed and wounded.
That of the enemy was nearly three times as great.
[Sidenote:
Nov. 29
-------
Dec. 10.
]
[Sidenote:
Nov. 30
-------
Dec. 9.
]
It was not until the morning of the next day that Staremberg
approached Brihuega, and meeting the advanced squadrons of
Vendôme's, drew up his army for battle in the plains of Villa
Viciosa. He had but thirteen thousand men against twenty thousand,
but he made skilful dispositions, posting his left behind a deep
ravine and strengthening his right, which lay on the open plain, by
interlacing the battalions with his few feeble squadrons of horse.
The British troops present, Lepell's dragoons, Dubourgay's and
Richard's foot, were stationed on the left. The action opened with
a long cannonade, after which Vendôme's horse of the right crossed
the ravine, and coming down with great spirit and in overwhelming
numbers on Staremberg's left swept it after a short resistance
completely away. The English dragoons were very heavily punished
and the two battalions were cut to pieces. The centre also was
broken; and the victorious Spaniards at once fell on the baggage
beyond it and began to plunder. But the right of the Allies had
held its own, and Staremberg, taking advantage of the disorder
among the Spaniards, contrived with great coolness and skill to
convert the action into a drawn battle. The whole engagement,
indeed, reproduces curiously the features of the early battles
of our own Civil War. On the next day, however, Staremberg was
compelled to retreat, leaving his artillery to the enemy; and
though Barcelona, Tarragona, and Balaguer were still kept for the
Austrian side, the campaign closed with the loss to the Allies of
the whole of Spain.
I shall not trouble the reader with the petty operations of the
following year, for the war in the Peninsula was practically closed
by the battles of Brihuega and Villa Viciosa. The spasmodic nature
of the operations has made them difficult and, I fear, wearisome
to the reader to follow, quite apart from the dissatisfaction that
necessarily attends a long tale of failure. Disunion of purpose
and the extreme inefficiency of the Portuguese were the principal
infirmities of the Allies throughout the war; the long distance
from their true bases at Portsmouth and at Brill their principal
disadvantage. Again and again the French were able to retrieve a
defeat by sending their garrisons from the frontier-towns across
the Pyrenees. Too late, on the appointment of Staremberg, the
Allies decided that it would be better to fight the war in the
Peninsula with Germans, who could march over Italy and cross the
Mediterranean to Catalonia, instead of with English and Dutch, who
must make the long and dangerous passage across the Bay of Biscay
and through the Straits. But the true secret of the success of the
Bourbons, as Lord Macaulay long ago pointed out, lay in the fact
that the general sentiment of Spain was on their side, a force
which, after another century, shall be seen working to make the
fame of a great English commander in another and greater Peninsular
war.
Unfortunately the disasters of the year 1710 were not confined to
Spain. Up to the autumn of 1709 it seemed that England was still
bent on prosecuting the war till the ends of the Grand Alliance
should have been attained. Seven new regiments[377] at any rate
had been formed during the year, which might be taken as an earnest
of serious intentions. But ever since 1707 Robert Harley, who
will be remembered as the proposer of the imbecile motion for
disbandment which nearly drove King William from England, had been
working with all the resources of a weak, crafty, and dishonest
nature to undermine the Government that had so far carried the
country triumphantly through the struggle. It was the misfortune
of Great Britain at this time to lie at the mercy principally of
three women, Queen Anne, the Duchess of Marlborough, and Mrs.
Masham. Of these the Duchess alone had any ability, which ability,
however, was greatly discounted by her meddlesome and imperious
disposition. So long as she retained her ascendency over Anne,
things went unpleasantly for the Queen but on the whole well for
the country; when her ungovernable temper drove Anne into the arms
of Mrs. Masham, the Queen led a quieter life, but the country
suffered. Marlborough, who was aware of his wife's waning influence
and foresaw the consequences, tried hard on his return from the
campaign of 1709 to assure himself a permanent station of power
by asking to be made commander-in-chief for life. The request was
tactless as well as unprecedented. Anne, greatly offended, replied
by a positive refusal, which Marlborough, for once forgetting his
usual serenity, received with culpably ill grace.
So far the Queen was undoubtedly right and Marlborough undoubtedly
wrong; but at the beginning of the new year the situation was
reversed. The colonelcy of a regiment fell vacant and was filled up
by the Queen on the nomination not of the commander-in-chief but
of Mrs. Masham by the appointment of her brother, Colonel Hill.
Marlborough naturally resolved to resign at once, while the wise
and sagacious Somers remonstrated most strongly with the Queen
against this foolish step, as subversive of all discipline and
injurious to the army. Unfortunately the Duke, instead of insisting
that either he or Mrs. Masham must go, was persuaded to consent to
a compromise, which the Queen regarded as a victory for herself and
rejoiced over with all the fervour of a weak nature. In the intense
personal bitterness of the struggle no one but Somers, outside
the military profession, paused for a moment to reflect on its
consequences to the Army.
[Sidenote:
11
April --.
22
]
[Sidenote:
15
June --.
26
]
[Sidenote:
17
Aug. --.
28
]
The next object of the opposing faction was to get Marlborough
out of England to the Low Countries as soon as possible, which
was duly effected, at Harley's instance, by ordering him to take
a part in the negotiations for a peace. These negotiations coming
to naught, he opened the campaign in April by a rapid movement,
which brought him safely over the lines of La Bassée, and laid
siege to Douay. The town made a firm defence for two months,
but fell on the 26th of June; and Marlborough now proposed to
himself either to invest Arras or to advance further into France
and cross the Somme. Villars, however, though he had failed to
relieve Douay, had made excellent dispositions for the defence of
the frontier, and was lying unassailable behind a new series of
lines, which he had drawn, as he said later, to be the _ne plus
ultra_ of Marlborough. The Duke therefore turned to the siege of
Bethune, which surrendered on the 28th of August, and thereafter
to the sieges of Aire and St. Venant on the Upper Lys, which
closed the campaign. Each one of these fortresses was strong and
made a spirited resistance, costing the Allies altogether some
fifteen thousand men killed and wounded. The operations, though
less brilliant than those of other campaigns, completed the
communication with Lille, opened the whole line of the Lys, and
increased the facilities for joint action with an expedition by
sea, landing at Calais or Abbeville. Another such blow as Ramillies
would have gone near to bring the Allies before the walls of Paris.
Throughout the campaign, however, Marlborough acted always with
extreme caution, abandoning the plans which he had once favoured
for concerted operations with the fleet. He knew that the slightest
failure would lay him open to overwhelming attack from his enemies
at home, whose triumph would mean not only his own fall but, what
he dreaded much more, the ascendency of unscrupulous politicians
who would sacrifice the whole fruits of the war to factious ends,
and bring disgrace, perhaps ruin, upon England.
Meanwhile the Queen, with all the pettiness of a weak nature, kept
parading her power by foolish interference with matters which she
did not understand. Marlborough had submitted a list of colonels
for promotion to general's rank, but as the name of Colonel Hill
was not among them she insisted on promoting every colonel of this
year, regardless of expense, propriety, justice, or discipline,
merely for the sake of including him. In August came a heavier blow
in the dismissal of Godolphin and the appointment of Harley as
Lord Keeper in his place, which accomplished the long-threatened
downfall of the Government. By a refinement of insult the Duke's
Secretary-at-War, Adam Cardonnel, was also removed and replaced,
without the slightest reference to Marlborough, by Mr. Granville.
Finally, shortly after his return from the campaign the Queen,
despite his entreaties, definitely dismissed the Duchess from all
her posts, and even went the length of ordering the Duke to forbid
the moving of any vote of thanks for his services by Parliament.
The example thus set in high places was quickly followed. A few
even of the Duke's own officers, such as the Duke of Argyll, to
the huge disgust and contempt of the Army, turned against him. The
mouth of every libeller and slanderer was opened. Swift and St.
John, the only two Englishmen whose intellect entitled them to be
named in the same breath with Marlborough, vied with each other in
blackening his character. Nothing was too vile nor too extravagant
to be insinuated against the greatest soldier, statesman, and
diplomatist in Europe. He was prolonging the war for his own ends;
he could make peace if he would, but he would not; he delighted
in the wanton sacrifice of life; finally, he had neither personal
courage nor military talent. "I suppose," wrote Marlborough
bitterly, "that I must every summer venture my life in battle, and
be found fault with in the winter for not bringing home peace,
though I wish for it with all my heart and soul."
He would fain have resigned but for the remonstrances of Godolphin
and Eugene, who entreated him to hold the Grand Alliance together
for yet a little while, and gain for Europe a permanent peace.
They might have spared their prayers had they known the secrets
of the Cabinet, for Harley and his gang were already opening the
secret negotiations with Lewis which were to dissolve the Alliance
and grant to France all that Europe had fought for ten years to
withhold from her. For these men, who accused Marlborough of wilful
squandering of life, thought nothing of sending brave soldiers
forth to lose their lives for a cause which they had made up their
minds to betray. But it is idle to waste comment on such creatures,
long dead albeit unhanged; though the fact must not be forgotten in
the history of the relations of the House of Commons towards the
Army. It will be more profitable to accompany the great Duke to his
last campaign.