CHAPTER XVI.

THE REIGN OF ANNE.

Accession of the Queen--Meeting of the Houses of

Parliament--Scotland and Ireland--Power of Marlborough--The

Revenue--Tory Colour of the Ministry--The Coronation--Declaration

of War--Marlborough goes to the Seat of War--General Aspect of

Affairs--Marlborough's Difficulties--His Campaign--Operations by

Sea--Meeting of Parliament--Supply--Marlborough's Dukedom--The

Occasional Conformity Bill--Dismissal of Rochester--Opening of the

Campaign of 1703--Fall of Bonn--Failure to take Antwerp--Savoy

and Portugal join the Allies--Visit of the Archduke Charles to

England--The Storm--Jacobite Conspiracy--Ashby versus White--Queen

Anne's Bounty--Marlborough's Great Plans--The States-General

hoodwinked--His March--Dismay of the French--Junction with

Eugene--Advance on the Danube--Assault of the Schellenberg--The

Prince of Baden's Conceit--Approach of Tallard--The Eve of

Blenheim--The Battle--Conclusion of the Campaign--Marlborough's

Diplomacy--Capture of Gibraltar--Battle of Malaga--Proceedings

in Parliament--The Campaign of 1705--Attempt to recover

Gibraltar--Peterborough's Exploits in Spain--Proposal to Invite

the Electress Sophia to England--Consequent Legislation--Battle

of Ramillies--Eugene relieves Turin--Disasters in Spain--Meeting

of the Commissioners for the Union--Condition of the

Treaty--Opposition in Scotland--Riots in Edinburgh--Conduct of the

Opposition--The Measure carried by Bribery--Its Discussion in the

English Parliament--The Royal Assent given.

When Anne succeeded to the throne she was in her thirty-eighth year.

She was fat, indolent, and good-natured. She had long been under the

complete management of the imperious Lady Marlborough, and through her

Marlborough expected to be the real ruler of the country. Through them

the queen had imbibed a deep-rooted hatred of the Whigs, whom they had

taught her to regard as the partisans of King William, and the real

authors of all the indignities and mortifications which she had endured

during his reign. The Tories therefore calculated confidently on

recovering full power under her, and had resolved to place Marlborough

at the head of the army. The queen, on her part, had a great leaning

towards the Tories, as the enemies of the Whigs and the friends of the

Church, to which she was strongly attached. The endeavours which had

been made in her father's time to make a Catholic of her, and in her

brother-in-law's time to level the distinctions between Church and

Dissent, had only rooted more deeply her predilection for the Church;

nor did the fact of her husband being a Lutheran, and maintaining

his Lutheran chapel and minister in the palace, at all diminish this

feeling.

No sooner was the king dead than Lord Jersey and other courtiers who

had been eagerly watching the shortening of his breath hastened to

bring the news to Anne, who, with Lady Marlborough, sat on that Sunday

morning waiting for the message which should announce her queen; and

Bishop Burnet, among others, conveyed the sad tidings to her. Though

it was Sunday, both Houses of Parliament met, for they were empowered

still to sit by an Act passed in William's reign, and the death of

William was announced to the Commons by Mr. Secretary Vernon. There

was much speechifying, Mr. Granville saying, "We have lost a great

king, and got a most gracious queen." Both Houses then proceeded

to the palace with addresses of felicitation, and were graciously

received. The Privy Council also waited on the queen, who assured them

of her determination to maintain the laws, liberties, and religion

of the country, to secure the succession in the Protestant line, and

the Church and State as by law established. The Privy Council having

taken the oaths, she caused a proclamation to be issued, signifying

her pleasure that all persons in office should continue to hold their

respective posts till further orders.

On the 11th of March she went in state to the House of Lords.

She was accompanied in her coach by her consort, the Prince of

Denmark, and Marlborough carried the Sword of State before her. Lady

Marlborough occupied the place close behind the queen. Anne had a

remarkably rich and touching voice, and it had been cultivated, at

the suggestion of her uncle, Charles II., for elocutionary delivery,

as especially important for a monarch. She concluded her speech with

these words:--"As I know my own heart to be entirely English, I can

sincerely assure you that there is not anything that you can expect

or desire from me which I shall not be ready to do for the happiness

and prosperity of England, and you shall always find me a strict and

religious observer of my word." Not only did she receive the thanks of

both Houses for her gracious assurances, but congratulatory addresses

from the City of London, from the bishop and clergy of London, from

the various bodies of Dissenters, and the different counties and chief

towns of the kingdom.

Some difficulty had been expected in Scotland from the Jacobites, but

all passed over easily, the Jacobites thinking that as Anne had no

issue, the Stuarts would be sure to enjoy "their ain again" on her

death. The Secretaries of State for Scotland, and such of the Scottish

Privy Councillors who were in London, waited on her, read to her their

"Claim of Rights," and tendered her the Coronation Oath with many

professions of loyalty; and this ceremony being completed, the Earl

of Marchmont, the Chancellor of Scotland, was dispatched to represent

the queen in the General Assembly of the Kirk which was about to meet.

In Ireland the natives were so rigorously ruled that they excited no

alarm.

The queen announced the coronation for the 23rd of April, and took up

her abode at Windsor, as St. James's was completely hung with black,

and was too gloomy for living in. She also took immediate possession of

William's favourite residence at Kensington, which George of Denmark

had always coveted. William's remains were unceremoniously transferred

to "the Prince's Chamber" at Westminster, and the Dutch colony, as the

attendants of William were called, were routed out, to their great

indignation. Before a week had expired Anne accomplished what she had

so often attempted in vain--she conferred the Order of the Garter on

Marlborough. He was appointed Captain-General of the English army, both

at home and abroad, and, soon after, Master of the Ordnance. The Prince

of Denmark was made Lord High Admiral, with the title of Generalissimo

of the Forces; but as he was both ignorant of and indisposed to the

management of both naval and military affairs, Marlborough was the real

Commander-in-Chief of the forces.

The Commons voted her Majesty the same revenue as King William had

enjoyed, and pledged themselves to the repudiation of the pretended

Prince of Wales, and to the defence of her Majesty's person and the

Protestant succession. On the 30th of March the queen went to the House

of Lords and ratified the Act for the revenue and for her household,

and generously relinquished one hundred thousand pounds of the income

granted. At the same time she passed a Bill continuing the Commission

for examination of the public accounts; but these necessary inquiries

were always defeated by the principal persons who were deep in the

corruption. The villainy was almost universal, and, therefore, was

carefully screened from efficient search.

In naming her Ministers the Tory bias of the queen at once showed

itself. Godolphin, the family ally of the Marlboroughs, was appointed

Lord Treasurer; Nottingham was made principal Secretary of State,

and was allowed to name Sir Charles Hedges as the other Secretary

in place of Mr. Vernon; Rochester, the queen's uncle, was made

Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; the Duke of Somerset, Lord President of

the Council, was dismissed to make way for the Earl of Pembroke, who

could scarcely rank as a Tory, but disclaimed being a Whig: the Earl

of Bradford was made Treasurer of the Household through the influence

of Rochester; the Marquis of Normanby received the Privy Seal--a

reward for his happy flattery; and the Earl of Jersey retained his

post of Chamberlain for his assiduous transmission of the news of

William's "shortening breath." Sir Nathaniel Wright remained Lord

Keeper; and Sharp, Archbishop of York, became the queen's adviser in

all ecclesiastical matters. The only Whigs who retained office were

the Duke of Devonshire, Lord High Steward, and Mr. Boyle, Chancellor

of the Exchequer; and, on Shrewsbury's refusing the post of Master of

the Horse, the Duke of Somerset, though displaced as Lord President,

was induced to accept that office. The Prince of Denmark appointed a

council for himself, into which he introduced none but Tories. At the

head of this board, which was deemed wholly illegal, but which was not

called in question by Parliament from respect to the queen, he placed

Sir George Rooke, a most decided antagonist to the Whigs, and made him

President of the Commission for Managing the Fleet.

[Illustration: BISHOP BURNET ANNOUNCING HER ACCESSION TO ANNE. (_See

p._ 535.)]

On the 23rd of April the coronation took place, being St. George's Day.

The queen was so corpulent and so afflicted with gout that she could

not stand more than a few minutes at a time, and was obliged to be

removed from one situation to another during this fatiguing ceremony in

an open chair. Tenison, the Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated, and

the whole ceremony and banquet did not end till eight in the evening.

Everybody, say the newspapers, was satisfied, even the thieves, who

managed to carry off the whole of the plate used at the banquet in

Westminster Hall, together with a rich booty of table-linen and pewter.

During March and April there was a continual arrival of

ambassadors-extraordinary to congratulate her Majesty on her accession.

Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, most of the German States, and particularly

those of Zell and Hanover, sent their envoys; and there was a strong

discussion in the Council on the necessity of declaring war against

France. Marlborough and his faction were, of course, for war, in

which he hoped to win both glory and affluence; but Rochester and the

majority of the Council, including the Dukes of Somerset and Devon,

and the Earl of Pembroke, strongly opposed it, on the ground that the

quarrel really concerned the Continental States and not us, and that

it was sufficient on our part to act as auxiliaries, and not as the

principal. The queen, however, being determined by the Marlborough

influence to declare war, laid her intentions before Parliament, which

supported her, and accordingly war was proclaimed on the 4th of May,

the Emperor and the States-General issuing their proclamations at the

same time. Louis was charged with having seized on the greater part of

the Spanish dominions, with the design of destroying the liberties of

Europe, and with grossly insulting the queen by declaring the pretended

Prince of Wales the real king of Great Britain and Ireland. When

these charges were read over by De Torcy to Louis, he broke out into

keen reproaches against the Queen of England, and vowed that he would

"make Messieurs the Dutch repent of their presumption." He delayed his

counter-declaration till the 3rd of July. The Commons presented an

address to her Majesty, praying her Majesty to unite with the Emperor

and the States to prohibit all intercourse with France and Spain, and

at the same time to promote commerce in other directions; and the Lords

addressed her, praying her to sanction the fitting out of privateers to

make reprisals on the enemies' ships, which interrupted our trade, and

also to grant charters to all persons who should seize on any of the

French and Spanish territories in the Indies. The queen thanked them

for their zeal, and prorogued Parliament on the 25th of May.

We may now turn our attention to the progress of the war. When the

States-General received the news of the death of William, they were

struck with the utmost consternation. They appeared to be absolutely

paralysed with terror and dismay. There was much weeping, and amid

vows and embraces they passed a resolution to defend their country

with their lives. The arrival of the address of the Queen of England

to her Privy Council roused their spirits, and this was followed by

a letter from the Earl of Marlborough, addressed to the Pensionary

Fagel, assuring the States of the queen's determination to continue the

alliance and assistance against the common enemy. The queen herself

addressed to the States a letter confirming these assurances, and

despatched it by Mr. Stanhope, who was again appointed Ambassador at

the Hague. Marlborough himself, who left England on the 12th of May

to assume his foreign command, arriving directly afterwards in the

character not only of Commander-in-Chief of the British forces, with a

salary of ten thousand pounds a year, but of Ambassador Extraordinary

and Plenipotentiary, assured the States that the Queen of England was

resolved to maintain all the alliances, and resist the encroachments of

the French in the same spirit as the late king.

War had been going on some time on the Rhine before Marlborough arrived

there, and still longer before he was prepared to join in it. In

Germany many negotiations had been going on to induce the petty States

to act as contingents of the Empire, or to keep them from joining the

French against their own nation. The House of Brunswick had engaged

to bring to the allied army ten thousand men; Prussia had engaged to

co-operate, and Saxe-Gotha and Wolfenbüttel to abandon the French. The

Electors of Bavaria and Cologne, who had, most traitorously to the

Empire, aided France in her attempts to enslave Germany, pretended now

to stand neutral, but the neutrality was hollow; and the position of

affairs in Poland effectually prevented the northern Powers of Germany

from sending assistance to the Allies in Flanders. Charles XII., still

pursuing the Elector of Saxony as King of Poland, threatened to invade

Saxony. He marched first to Warsaw, and ordered the Cardinal-Primate

to summon a Diet to choose another king, and Augustus, the Saxon King,

posted himself at Cracow. This state of affairs overawed Prussia, and

beyond the Alps the condition of Savoy and Milan, where the French

were strong, tended to prevent a full concentration of force in the

Netherlands against France.

The position of the contending forces on the Rhine and in the

Netherlands was this:--The Prince of Saarbrück, at the head of

twenty-five thousand men, Dutch, Prussians, and Badenese, was besieging

Kaiserwerth. Athlone and Cohorn were covering the siege of Kaiserwerth,

Athlone (Ginkell) lying between the Rhine and the Meuse, Cohorn with

ten thousand at the mouth of the Scheldt. On the other hand, Tallard,

with thirteen thousand men on the opposite side of the Rhine, annoyed

the besiegers of Kaiserwerth with his artillery, and managed to throw

into the town fresh troops, ammunition, and supplies. Count Delamotte

and the Spanish Marquis of Bedmar covered the western frontier of the

Spanish Netherlands, and the Prince of Baden was posted on the Upper

Rhine.

Whilst in this position Cohorn marched into the Netherlands, destroyed

the French lines between the forts of Donat and Isabella, and levied

contributions on the chatellany of Bruges; but Bedmar and Delamotte

advancing, he cut the dykes, inundated the country, and retired under

the walls of Sluys. Meanwhile the Duke of Burgundy, taking the command

of the army of Boufflers at Zanten, near Cleves, formed a design to

surprise Nimeguen in conjunction with Tallard, who suddenly quitted

his post near Kaiserwerth, and joined Burgundy. Nimeguen was without

a garrison, and ill supplied with artillery, and must have fallen an

easy prey, had not Athlone, perceiving the object of the enemy, by a

masterly march got the start of them, and posted himself under the

walls of the town before the arrival of the French guards.

Marlborough all this time was undergoing his first experience of the

difficulties of acting at the head of a miscellaneous body of allies,

and with the caution of Dutch burgomasters. He had blamed William

severely for his slow movements, and now he was himself hampered by

the same obstructions. It was the end of June before he could bring

into order the necessary arrangements for taking the field. Nor could

he have effected this so soon had not the near surprise of Nimeguen

alarmed the Dutch for their frontiers, and quickened their movements.

The fall of Kaiserwerth was another circumstance in his favour. He

collected the forces which had been engaged there, marched the English

troops up from Breda, and in the beginning of July found himself at

Nimeguen at the head of sixty thousand men. Even then he did not

find himself clear of difficulties. His bold plans were checked by

the presence of two field deputies which the Dutch always sent along

with their generals, and who would not permit him to undertake any

movement until they had informed the States-General of it and received

their sanction. Thus it was not the general in the field, but the

States-General at a distance, who really directed the evolutions

of the war; and the only wonder is, that a general in such absurd

leading-strings could effect anything at all. Besides this standing

nuisance, Marlborough found Athlone, the Prince of Saarbrück, and the

other chief generals, all contending for equal authority with him,

and refusing to submit to his commands; and when the States-General

freed him, by a positive order, from this difficulty, the Hanoverians

refused to march without an order from Bothmar, their Ambassador at the

Hague. Instead of sending to Bothmar, Marlborough summoned him to the

camp, as the proper place for him if he was to direct the movements of

the Hanoverian troops, and got rid of this obstacle only to find the

Prussians raising the same difficulties.

It was not till the 7th of July that he crossed the Waal and encamped

at Druckenburg, a little south of Nimeguen. It was the 16th when

he crossed the Meuse and posted himself at Overhasselt, with the

French forces in front at the distance of two leagues and a half,

entrenched between Goch and Gedap. Here, in a letter to Godolphin, he

complained that still the fears of the Dutch hampered his movements.

He then recrossed the river at Grave, and reached Gravenbroek, where

he was joined by the British train of artillery from Holland. Thus

prepared, he advanced on the French; on the 2nd of August was at Petit

Brugel in their front; but they retired before him, leaving Spanish

Guelderland in his power. He determined to bring the French to an

engagement, but was restrained by the fears of the Dutch deputies;

but, fortunately for him, the French generals had their fears too, and

the Duke of Burgundy, finding Marlborough pressing on him in spite

of his obstructions, resigned his command rather than risk a defeat,

and returned to Versailles, leaving the command to Boufflers. The

deputies of the States, encouraged by these symptoms, recommended

Marlborough to clear the French from Spanish Guelderland, where the

places which they still held on the Meuse interrupted the commerce of

that river. Though the Dutch were merely looking at their own interests

in this design, Marlborough was glad to attack the enemy anywhere. He

despatched General Schultz to reduce the town and castle of Werk, and

in the beginning of September laid siege to Venloo, which, on the 28th

of the month, surrendered. Fort St. Michael, at Venloo, was stormed by

the impetuous Lord Cutts, unrivalled at that work, at the head of the

English volunteers, amongst whom the young Earl of Huntingdon greatly

distinguished himself. He next invested and reduced Ruremond and the

fort of Stevensweert; and Boufflers, confounded by the rapid successes

of Marlborough, retiring on Liége, the English general followed

him, reduced the place, stormed the citadel, and seized in it three

hundred thousand florins in gold, and a million florins in bills on

the substantial merchants of the city, who promptly paid the money.

This terminated the campaign. Marlborough had wonderfully raised his

reputation, won the entire confidence of the States, and, having seen

the French retire behind their lines, he distributed his troops into

winter quarters, and projected his journey homewards.

The operations at sea had not been so decisive as those of Marlborough

on land. On the 12th of May Sir John Munden, sent out to intercept the

French fleet convoying the Viceroy of Mexico from Corunna to the West

Indies, chased fourteen sail of French ships into Corunna, but, judging

the fortifications too strong to attack them there, put out to sea, and

soon afterwards returned home for provisions, to the great indignation

of the people. Munden was tried by court-martial and acquitted, but

the Prince of Denmark dismissed him from the service notwithstanding.

King William having planned the reduction of Cadiz, the queen was now

advised to put the project into execution. Sir George Rooke was sent

out with a squadron of fifty ships of the line, besides frigates,

fire-ships, and smaller vessels, and carrying the Duke of Ormond with a

land force of fourteen thousand men. The fleet sailed from St. Helens

near the end of June, and anchored on the 12th of August within two

leagues of Cadiz. The governor of fort St. Catherine was summoned to

surrender, but he refused; and on the 15th the Duke of Ormond landed

under a fire from the batteries, and soon took the forts of St.

Catherine and St. Mary. He issued a proclamation declaring that they

came, not to make war on the Spaniards, but to free Spain from the yoke

of France, and that the people and their property should be protected.

But the English soldiers paid no regard to the proclamation, but got

drunk in the wine stores and committed great excesses. Some of the

general officers were found as eager as the soldiers for pillaging; and

the inhabitants, resenting their sufferings, held aloof. To complete

the mischief, the land and sea commanders, as has been too commonly the

case, fell to quarrelling. Ormond wanted to storm the Isla de Leon;

Rooke deemed it too hazardous. An attempt was made to batter Matagorda

fort, but failed, and the troops were re-embarked.

As the fleet was returning from its inglorious enterprise, it was met

by Captain Hardy, who informed the commander that the galleons from the

West Indies had entered Vigo Bay under convoy of a French squadron. A

council of war was immediately summoned, and it was resolved to tack

about and proceed to Vigo. They appeared before the place on the 11th

of October. The passage into the harbour they found strongly defended

by forts and batteries on both sides, and the passage closed by a

strong boom of iron chains, topmasts, and cables. The admirals shifted

their flags into smaller vessels, for neither first nor second rates

could enter. Five-and-twenty English and Dutch ships of the line of

lesser size, with their frigates, fire-ships, and ketches, now prepared

to make the attempt to force the boom and burn the fleet, and the Duke

of Ormond prepared the way by landing two thousand eight hundred men

six miles from Vigo, and marching on the harbour, where he attacked and

carried a strong fort and a platform of forty pieces of cannon at its

mouth. The moment the British colours were seen flying on the fort the

fleet put itself in motion. Admiral Hopson led the way in the _Torbay_,

and, running with all sail set, dashed against the boom and burst

through it. He was followed by the whole squadron under a tremendous

fire from the ships and batteries; but both ships and batteries were

soon silenced, the batteries by the soldiers on land, the ships by the

fleet. They captured eight ships of war and six galleons; the rest

were set fire to by themselves or the French, to prevent them from

falling into the hands of the English. The Spaniards had lost no time

in removing as much of the plate and merchandise as they could; but the

Allies seized on seven millions of pieces of eight in plate and other

goods, and the Spaniards are supposed to have saved twice as much. Sir

George Rooke left Sir Cloudesley Shovel, who had just arrived, to bring

home the prizes, and sailed for England with the rest of the fleet and

troops in triumph, complaining that Cadiz, too, might have been taken

had Ormond done his duty, and Ormond retorting the blame upon him.

[Illustration: LORD GODOLPHIN. (_After the Portrait by Sir Godfrey

Kneller._)]

Had this terminated the usual campaign it might have been considered,

to a certain extent, a success; but an expedition, sent out to cruise

in the waters of the West Indies, under the brave old Benbow, had a

worse fate. He came up with a French fleet under Du Casse, steering

along the shore of Santa Martha, and though he had ten sail of the

line, and the enemy only the same, he found himself deserted by most

of his captains, under the plea that the enemy was too strong. Benbow,

upbraiding their cowardice, attacked the whole fleet with only two

vessels. The battle lasted, off and on, from the 19th of August to

the 24th, some others of the ships occasionally joining him. On the

last day his leg was shattered by a chain-shot, and he was wounded in

the face and in the arm; yet he caused himself to be placed on the

quarter-deck in a cradle, and continued issuing his orders to the

last. Seeing it in vain to contend longer, he returned to Jamaica,

and ordered a court-martial to be held. The reason assigned for the

disobedience of the officers was the rough conduct of Benbow, who was

one of the old boisterous school of seamen, but brave and honest. The

disgrace thus inflicted on his command, combining with his shattered

condition, soon also brought him to his grave.

Marlborough returned to England in November, and was received with

great applause. Notwithstanding some sharp criticisms on his campaign,

the public saw clearly enough that he was a far superior general to

William, and augured great things from his future command. The queen

met her new Parliament on the 20th of October, which turned out to be

so completely Tory as to carry all before it in that direction. The

Government had no occasion to make much exertion to obtain that result;

it was enough that the queen's decided leaning to the Tories was known.

Addresses of congratulation on the brilliant success of the British

arms under Marlborough were presented by both Houses, which, they said,

"retrieved" the ancient honour and glory of the English nation. This

word "retrieved" roused all the spleen of the Whigs, who knew that it

was meant as a censure on them and King William, who, they contended,

had maintained the honour of the English nation by joining the great

confederacy by which the security of the queen's throne at that moment

was established, and by training our soldiers to their ancient pitch of

discipline and valour. They moved that the word "maintained" should be

substituted for "retrieved," but it was carried against them, amid the

most unmeasured abuse of the memory of the late king, Marlborough being

cried to the skies at his expense.

The Tories next showed their strength in calling in question various

elections of Whig members, and carried the inquiry against them with

the most open and impudent partiality.

The Commons then voted the supplies, and in practice justified the

Whigs, by being as lavish for the war as they had been. They voted

forty thousand seamen, and the same number of land forces, to act along

with the Allies. They granted eight hundred and thirty-three thousand

eight hundred and twenty-six pounds for their maintenance; three

hundred and fifty thousand pounds for Guards and garrisons; seventy

thousand nine hundred and seventy-three pounds for ordnance; and

fifty-one thousand eight hundred and forty-three pounds for subsidies

to the Allies--altogether, one million three hundred and six thousand

six hundred and forty-two pounds for the war alone, independent of

the usual national expenses, and these soon required an increase. The

queen demanded of the Commons a further provision for her husband,

the Prince of Denmark, in case of her decease. Howe moved that one

hundred thousand pounds a year should be settled on the prince in case

he should be the survivor. No objection was offered to the amount, but

strenuous opposition was given to a clause in the Bill exempting the

prince from the provision in the Act of Settlement, which prevented any

foreigner, even though naturalised, from holding any employments under

the Crown; but the Court was bent on carrying this, and did so.

Having secured her husband, Anne then sent a message to the Commons to

inform them that she had created the Earl of Marlborough a duke for

his eminent services, and praying them to settle five thousand pounds

a year on him to enable him to maintain his new dignity. This was so

glaring a case of favouritism that the Commons, with all their loyalty,

expressed their decided disapprobation. The outcry was so great that

the Marlboroughs declined what they saw no means of getting--the

grant--and the queen intimated that fact to the House; but she

immediately offered her favourites two thousand pounds a year out of

her privy purse, which, with affected magnanimity, they also declined,

hoping yet to obtain, at some more favourable crisis, the Parliamentary

grant; and, after that really happened, they then claimed the queen's

offer too. But the opposition of the Tories, whom Marlborough had been

serving with all his influence in Parliament, alienated him from that

party, and he went over to the Whigs.

What galled Marlborough as much as anything was that he had been in the

House of Lords strongly supporting one of the most illiberal attempts

of the Tories to destroy the effect of the Act of Toleration. The

extreme Tories regarded the Church as entitled to confer all favours,

and they were determined to give it a power by which all corporations

and elections should be thrown into the hands of the Government. For

this purpose Mr. Bromley, Mr. Annesley, and Mr. St. John, who, as a

man of notoriously unorthodox principles, ought at least to have been

tolerant, brought in the Occasional Conformity Bill. They complained

that Dissenters and other disaffected persons took the oaths, and often

went again to the Dissenting meetings; that this was a gross piece of

hypocrisy, and left the Church exposed to much danger from them. They

proposed, therefore, to insist that all who had taken the Sacrament

and test for offices of trust, or for the magistracy of corporations,

and afterwards went to any meeting of the Dissenters, should forfeit

their employments, pay a fine of one hundred pounds, and five pounds

for every day that they continued to hold their office after having

been at a Dissenters' meeting, as well as be disabled from holding any

other employment till after a year's conformity. The Bill was carried

in the Tory Commons by an overwhelming majority; but it was as strongly

opposed in the Lords, where the Whigs were not disposed to pull down

the greatest trophy of their legislation. The Bishops generally voted

against the Bill, and Burnet was extremely active against it. Probably

few of them were actuated by a sense of the monstrosity of the Test and

Corporation Acts, which compelled all to take the Sacrament, whether

opposed to it in that form or not, and thus shut out the honest and

pious, and let in those who had neither honesty nor religion. But they

saw that it would again let loose all the detestable race of spies

and informers from which the country was now happily free, and would,

in reality, only injure instead of benefiting the Church, by making

her an object of general hatred. The Tories themselves affected great

veneration for the Toleration Act, whilst they would thus have stifled

all toleration.

The queen and the whole Court exerted themselves to force the Bill

through the Upper House, as they had done that for the prince's salary.

Marlborough argued vehemently for it, but the Whig lords hit upon a way

of defeating it by seeming to comply. They agreed to its passing on

condition that all who took the test, and then went to conventicles,

should simply be deprived of their employments and be fined twenty

pounds. They knew that the Commons would not allow the slightest

interference of the Lords with the money part of the Bill, and this

proved to be the case. The Lords searched their rolls, and showed

numerous cases in which they had altered fines, but the Commons refused

to admit any such power. A conference in the Painted Chamber was held,

but with a like result, and after long contention the Bill was, happily

for the nation, dropped.

A Bill was next brought in to allow another year of grace to all who

had not taken the oath abjuring the pretended Prince of Wales. The

Tories contended that the Jacobite party had now come over to the

queen; but it was shown on the other side that this was but a specious

deception; that the agents of St. Germains were in as full activity as

ever; were constantly coming and going; and whilst they appeared to

favour the queen, it was only to get as strong a party as possible into

the House, eventually to abolish both the abjuration and the Protestant

Succession Bill: that to this end they now advised all persons to take

the Abjuration Bill, and to be able to get into Parliament or power.

The Bill was carried in the Commons; but the Lords again tacked two

clauses to it, one declaring it high treason to endeavour to alter

the succession as settled in the Princess Sophia, and the other to

impose the oath on the Irish. These were not money clauses; whoever

refused them must appear disinclined to the Protestant succession. The

Commons were completely entrapped, and, to the surprise of everybody,

they accepted the clauses, and thus the Bill, which was originally

favourable to the Jacobites, became much more rigid against them. The

queen sent the Lord Keeper, on the 27th of February, 1703, to prorogue

Parliament.

Lord Rochester was now entirely removed from the queen's councils. His

near relationship to the queen, and his being accounted the champion of

the Church, made him presume in the Council, where he was blustering

and overbearing. He was disappointed in not being placed at the head

of the Treasury, and quarrelled continually with Lord Godolphin. He

had now voted against Marlborough's grant of five thousand pounds a

year, and thus incurred the mortal hatred of the all-powerful Lady

Marlborough. It was clear that Rochester must give way, or the Council

must be rent by continual feuds. He was opposed to the war--another

cause of hostility from the Marlboroughs--to whom it was money, fame,

and everything. He received such intimations from the queen as caused

him to retire into the country in disgust. As he refused all summonses

to attend the Council, her Majesty ordered him to proceed to his

government in Ireland, where his presence was much needed. He replied

with great insolence that he would not go to Ireland, and the post of

Lord-Lieutenant was conferred on the Duke of Ormond. Still declining

to attend the Council, the queen ordered that he should no more be

summoned, and thus terminated Anne's connection with her relatives by

the mother's side. The elder brother of Rochester, Lord Clarendon, had

been excluded the Court for refusing the abjuration of the pretended

Prince of Wales, and his son, Lord Cornbury, little better than an

idiot, was sent to govern the North American colonies, that he might be

out of the way, a system of colonial management by which these colonies

were at length entirely estranged. Rochester survived this disgrace but

a very few weeks.

It was proposed between the Emperor of Germany and the Allies that the

campaign of 1703 should be opened with effect, and by measures which

should go far to paralyse France. The Archduke Charles, the Emperor's

second son, was to declare himself King of Spain, to propose for

the hand of the Infanta of Portugal, and to proceed to that country

to prosecute his claims on Spain by the assistance of the English

and Dutch fleets. Meanwhile the Emperor promised to take the field

with such a force as to drive the Elector of Bavaria, the active and

able ally of France, out of his dominions. But Louis, as usual, was

too rapid in his movements for the slow Germans. He ordered Marshal

Villars, who lay with thirty thousand men at Strasburg, to pass the

Rhine, and advance into Bavaria to the support of the Elector. The

war was thus skilfully diverted by Louis from the Rhine into the very

neighbourhood of the Emperor. On the other hand, Marlborough, who

was the soul of the war on the Lower Rhine, had been detained by his

exertions to counteract the efforts of Louis XIV. in another quarter.

Insurrections had broken out amongst Louis's Protestant subjects in

the Cevennes, who had been barbarously oppressed. Marlborough, who

cared more for the paralysing of Louis than for the interests of

Protestantism, strongly proposed in the Council that assistance should

be sent to the mountaineers of the Cevennes. This was fighting Louis

with his own weapons, who was exciting insurrection in Hungary and

Bohemia amongst the subjects of the Emperor. Nottingham and others of

the Council as strongly opposed this measure, on the principle of not

exciting subjects against their legitimate sovereign; but Marlborough

prevailed. Arms and ammunition were forwarded to the Cevennes, and

direct communications were ordered to be opened with the insurgents,

which would have compelled Louis to detain a large force for the

subjugation of these rebels, which otherwise would have gone to the

Rhine; but these aids never reached the unfortunate mountaineers.

Marlborough reached the Hague on the 17th of March, much earlier still

than William used to arrive there. Nor had the war paused for his

arrival. He had stimulated the Prussians to be in action much earlier.

In February they had reduced the fortress of the Rhineberg, and then

proceeded to blockade Guelders, the last place in the power of France

on the frontiers of Spanish Guelderland. It was fortunate, for the

unity of command, that Athlone and Saarbrück, Marlborough's jealous

rivals, were both dead; so that now Marlborough had only the Dutch camp

deputies as clogs on his movements, but they were quite sufficient

often to neutralise his most spirited projects. He found Villeroi and

Boufflers posted on the frontiers of the Spanish Netherlands, and his

design was to attack and drive them out of Flanders and Brabant. But

here, in the very commencement, he was obliged by the States-General

to give up his own views to theirs. They desired an immediate attack

on Bonn, persuading themselves that the Elector of Cologne would

rather capitulate than risk the ruin of the town. Marlborough went

reluctantly but not inertly into this plan, foreseeing that it would

waste much precious time, and prevent him from falling on Villeroi and

Boufflers at the right moment, when the attempt to support the Elector

of Bavaria had drawn many of their forces away into Germany. He was the

more chagrined the more he saw of the want of energy in the Allies.

He proceeded to Nimeguen to arrange with Cohorn the plan of the siege

of Bonn. He visited and inspected the garrisons at Venloo, Ruremond,

Maestricht, and the other places which he took in the previous campaign

on the Meuse. Arriving at Cologne, he found preparations made for a

siege, but in a most negligent manner; and Cohorn especially excited

his disgust by proposing to defer the siege of this place till the end

of summer. But Marlborough knew too well the necessity of preventing

an attack from that quarter; ordered the place to be invested, and

then marched on Bonn with forty battalions, sixty squadrons, and a

hundred pieces of artillery. The trenches were opened on the 3rd of

May, and it was assaulted from three different quarters at once; on one

side by the forces under the hereditary prince of Hesse-Cassel, on

another by those under Cohorn, and on the third by Lieutenant-General

Fagel. The city capitulated on the 15th, and the commander, the Marquis

D'Allegré, and his garrison were conducted to Luxemburg. During the

siege continually arrived the news of the successes of the Elector of

Bavaria, and the failures of the Imperial troops; and Villeroi and

Boufflers advanced, took Tongres, and menaced the Allies from that

quarter with forty thousand men.

[Illustration: H.R.H. THE PRINCESS ANNE OF DENMARK, AFTERWARDS QUEEN OF

ENGLAND.

FROM THE PAINTING BY W. WISSING AND J. VANDERVAART.]

No sooner was Bonn reduced than Marlborough determined to prosecute his

original plan of driving the French from Flanders. He now dispatched

Cohorn, Spaar, and Opdam to commence operations at Bergen-op-Zoom,

whilst he addressed himself to dislodge Villeroi and Boufflers from

Tongres. In order to divide the energies of the French, a part

of his plan was that the powerful English and Dutch fleet was to

keep the coast of that country in alarm from Calais to Dieppe, and

actually to make a descent on the land near the latter port. But the

French resolved to cut off the division of Opdam from the main army.

Boufflers, with twenty thousand men, surprised him, and the Dutch

falling into confusion, Opdam believed the day lost, and fled to Breda.

[Illustration: VIEW IN LISBON: THE PRÁÇA DE DOM PEDRO.]

Opdam's miscarriage had greatly deranged Marlborough's plan of attack

on Antwerp. Spaar and Cohorn were already near Antwerp with their

united forces, but the check received by Opdam's division delayed the

simultaneous advance. Villeroi lay in the path of Marlborough near St.

Job, and declared that he would wait for him; but the moment the duke

advanced to Hoogstraat to give him battle, he set fire to his camp and

retreated within his lines with all haste. Boufflers had joined Bedmar

in Antwerp, and Marlborough advanced and laid siege to Huy, which

surrendered on the 27th of August. He now called a council of war to

decide the plan of attack on Antwerp, and was well supported by the

Danish, Hanoverian, and Hessian generals, but again found opposition

from the Dutch officers and the deputies of the States, who deemed the

attempt too dangerous. They recommended him to attempt the reduction of

Limburg, by which they would acquire a whole province; and despairing

now of accomplishing his great object, the reduction of Antwerp, this

campaign--having the Dutch officers, the Dutch deputies, and the Dutch

Louvestein faction all working against him--he turned aside to Limburg,

and reduced it in a couple of days. This acquisition put into the power

of the Allies the whole country from Cologne, including Liége; and

Guelders being afterwards stormed by the Prussian General Lottum, the

whole of Spanish Guelderland remained theirs.

Elsewhere the war went in favour of the French, and the affairs of

the Emperor never appeared more gloomy; instead of recovering Spain,

Louis was fast depriving him of his Empire. He was supporting against

him the rebellious Hungarians, who were in arms under Prince Ragotski,

and who had plenty of oppressions to complain of. Suddenly, however,

some gleams of light shot across his gloom. The Duke of Savoy, who

seldom remained true to one side long, grew alarmed at the French

being masters of the Milanese, and was induced to open communications

with the Emperor. But the secret negotiations were speedily discovered

by the French, and the Duke of Vendôme received orders to disarm the

Savoyards who were in his army; to demand that the troops of Savoy

should be reduced to the scale of 1696, and that four principal

fortresses should be put into the hands of France. But the Duke of

Savoy was by no means inclined to submit to these demands. He treated

them as insults to an ally, and ordered the arrest of the French

ambassador and several officers of his nation. Louis, astonished at

the decision of these proceedings, wrote the duke a most menacing

letter, informing him that as neither honour, interest, religion, nor

the oaths of alliance were regarded by him, he should leave the Duke

of Vendôme to deal with him, who would give him four-and-twenty hours

to determine his course in. This imperious letter only hastened the

duke's alienation. He concluded the treaty with Vienna, and answered

Louis's letter by a defiance. He acknowledged the Archduke Charles

King of Spain, and despatched envoys to Holland and England. Queen

Anne immediately sent an ambassador to Turin; and a body of Imperial

horse under Visconti, followed by fifteen thousand foot under Count

Staremberg, issued from the Modenese, and in the midst of the most

stormy weather and through miry roads marched to join the Duke of Savoy

at Canelli. The French harassed them fearfully on the march, but could

not prevent their junction, by which Piedmont was placed in security.

In the same way, Portugal had declared for the Emperor. The fear of

having Louis in possession of Spain had operated with Portugal, as

similar causes had operated with Savoy. The King of Portugal agreed to

give his daughter to the Archduke Charles, on condition that the right

to the throne of Spain was transferred to him. England and Holland were

to support the Portuguese and the new King of Spain from the sea.

The treaty was concluded at Lisbon, and a fleet of forty-nine sail,

under Sir Cloudesley Shovel, lay off Lisbon to protect the coasts from

the French. Charles was to be conveyed to Lisbon by a powerful fleet,

having on board twelve thousand soldiers, who were, on landing, to be

joined by twenty-eight thousand Portuguese. The allied fleets had done

nothing of importance during this summer.

The Archduke Charles, having assumed the title of King of Spain, set

out from Vienna about the middle of September, and reached Düsseldorf

on the 16th of October, where he was met by the Elector Palatine and

the Duke of Marlborough, who was commissioned by Queen Anne to offer

his congratulations. Marlborough accompanied Charles of Austria to

the Hague, where they were both received with high honours by the

States-General. Marlborough then hastened over to England to be

ready to receive the royal guest on his way to Portugal. On the 26th

of December the new King of Spain arrived at Spithead in the Dutch

squadron sent to convey him. The queen dispatched the Dukes of Somerset

and Marlborough to conduct him to Windsor, and Prince George met him on

the way at Petworth, the seat of the Duke of Somerset, and conducted

him to Windsor on the 29th. The king was entertained in great state

for three days at Windsor, during which time he was politic enough to

ingratiate himself with the Duchess of Marlborough. When the duchess

presented the bason and napkin after supper to the queen for her to

wash her hands, the king gallantly took the napkin and held it himself,

and on returning it to the queen's great favourite, he presented her

with a superb diamond ring.

After three days the king returned to Portsmouth, and on the 4th of

January, 1704, he embarked on board the fleet commanded by Sir George

Rooke, for Portugal, accompanied by a body of land forces under the

Duke of Schomberg. The voyage was, however, a most stormy one, and when

the fleet had nearly reached Cape Finisterre, it was compelled to put

back to Spithead, where it remained till the middle of February. His

next attempt was more successful, and he landed in Lisbon amid much

popular demonstration, though the Court itself was sunk in sorrow by

the death of the Infanta, whom he went to marry.

Before the arrival of Charles in England, it had been visited by one

of the most terrible storms on record. The tempest began on the 27th

of November, 1703, attended by such thunder and lightning as had never

been experienced by living man. The Thames overflowed its banks, and

was several feet deep in Westminster Hall. The houses in London seemed

shaken from their foundations, and many actually fell, burying the

inhabitants in their ruins. The loss in London alone was estimated

at a million sterling, and the storm raged with equal fury in other

places. Bristol was a great sufferer; but the greatest destruction fell

on the fleet. Thirteen ships of war were lost, and fifteen hundred

seamen, including Rear-Admiral Beaumont, who foundered in the Downs.

Many of the oldest trees in the parks were torn up, and the lead on the

churches was rolled up in scrolls. This unparalleled storm raged most

fiercely along the southern and western counties, being scarcely felt

in the northern ones. The Bishop of Bath and Wells, with his wife, was

killed in the episcopal palace by the fall of a stack of chimneys.

The queen opened Parliament on the 9th of November. She spoke of

the new treaties with the Duke of Savoy and the King of Portugal as

subjects of congratulation; and on the 12th the Lords presented an

address to the queen, expressing their satisfaction at her having

entered into these treaties, and even displayed a zeal beyond them. The

Commons on their part voted fifty-eight thousand soldiers and forty

thousand sailors as the standard of the army and navy, and they granted

the requisite supplies with the utmost readiness. No sooner was this

patriotic demonstration made, than the Commons again introduced the

Occasional Conformity Bill, and carried it by a large majority, on

pretence that the Church was in danger; but the Lords attacked it with

greater animosity than ever, and threw it out.

At this moment the nation became alarmed with the rumour of a

conspiracy amongst the Jacobites in Scotland. When the queen, on

the 17th of December, went to the Lords to give her assent to the

Land Tax Bill, she informed them that she had made discoveries of a

seditious nature in Scotland, which, as soon as it could be done with

prudence, she assured them should be laid before them. The Lords, in

their loyalty, were not disposed to wait for these disclosures, but

appointed a Committee to inquire into the plot, and even went so far as

to take some of the parties implicated out of the hands of the queen's

messengers, to examine them themselves.

The year 1704 opened amid these inquiries. The Queen laid before the

House of Lords the papers concerning the Highland plot, with one

exception, which the Earl of Nottingham asserted could not yet be

made public without tending to prevent further discovery. This only

stimulated the Lords, who addressed the queen, praying that the whole

of the papers might be submitted to them. The queen replied that she

did not expect to be pressed in this manner, but she ordered the papers

in question to be delivered to them under seal. The Peers pursued the

inquiry with renewed vigour, and soon issued a report that it appeared

to them that there had been a dangerous conspiracy, instigated by Simon

Fraser, Lord Lovat, carried on for raising a rebellion in Scotland,

and invading that kingdom with French forces, in order to subvert her

Majesty's Government and bring in the pretended Prince of Wales, and

that they were of opinion that nothing had given so much encouragement

to this conspiracy as the Scots not coming into the Hanover succession

as fixed in England. They therefore besought the queen to procure the

settlement of the Crown of Scotland on the Princess Sophia, and when

that was done they would use all their influence for a union of the two

kingdoms.

Anne expressed her entire concurrence in these views, and the Lords

then presented another address in answer to the second address of the

Commons. They charged the Commons with manifesting a want of zeal for

the queen's safety, and with showing a strange reluctance that the

particulars of the plot should be brought to light, obstructing all

through, as much as in them lay, the necessary inquiry; and fresh fuel

was immediately furnished to the flame already blazing between the two

Houses. One Matthew Ashby, a freeman of Aylesbury, brought an action

against William White and others, the constables of Aylesbury, for

preventing him from exercising his franchise at the last election.

This was an unheard-of proceeding, all matters relating to elections

being from time immemorial referred to the House of Commons itself.

The circumstances of the case, however, furnished some reason for this

departure from the rule. It appeared that four constables made the

return, who were known to have bargained with a particular candidate,

and to have so managed that the election should be his. In appeals

to the Commons the party which happened to be in power had in a most

barefaced manner always decided in favour of the man of their own side.

Ashby, therefore, sought what he hoped would prove a more impartial

tribunal. He tried the cause at the assizes, and won it; but it was

then moved in the Queen's Bench to quash these proceedings as novel and

contrary to all custom. Three of the judges were opposed to hearing the

case, the matter belonging notoriously to the House of Commons; and

they argued that, if this practice were introduced, it would occasion

a world of suits, and make the office of returning members a very

dangerous one. The Lord Chief Justice Holt alone was in favour of it.

He contended that there was a great difference between the election of

a member and a right to vote. The decision of the election undoubtedly

belonged to the Commons, but the right to vote being founded upon a

forty-shilling freehold, upon burgage land, upon a prescription, or the

charter of a borough, was clearly establishable by a court of law. The

judges at length permitted the trial, but, being three against one,

the decision was for the constables. This aroused the indignation of

the whole Whig party, and the cause was removed by a writ of error to

the House of Lords. The Lords, after a full hearing, and taking the

opinions of the judges, confirmed the judgment given in favour of Ashby

at the assizes.

The Commons now took up the affair with great warmth. They passed

five resolutions--namely, that all matters relating to elections and

the right of examining and determining the qualifications of electors

belonged solely to them; that Ashby was guilty of a breach of their

privileges, and they denounced the utmost weight of their resentment

against all persons who should follow his example and bring any such

suit into a court of law, as well as against all counsel, attorneys, or

others who should assist in such suit. They ordered these resolutions

to be affixed to the gates of Westminster Hall. The Lords took instant

measures to rebut these charges. They appointed a committee to draw

up a statement of the case, and resolved upon its Report "that every

person being wilfully hindered from exercising his right of voting

might seek for justice and redress in common courts of law against

the officer by whom his vote had been refused; that any assertion to

the contrary was destructive of the property of the subject, against

the freedom of election, and manifestly tending to the encouragement

of bribery and corruption; and finally that the declaring Matthew

Ashby guilty of a breach of privilege of the House of Commons was an

unprecedented attempt upon the Judicature of Parliament in the House

of Lords, and an attempt to subject the law of England to the will and

votes of the Commons."

They ordered the Lord-Keeper to send copies of the case and their

votes to all the Sheriffs of England, to be by them communicated to

the boroughs in their respective counties. The House of Commons was

greatly enraged at this, but it had no power to prevent it, and it had

the mortification to see that the public feeling went entirely with the

Lords, who certainly were the defenders of the rights of the subject,

whilst the Commons, corruptly refusing a just redress to such appeals,

endeavoured to prevent the sufferers from obtaining it anywhere else.

One of the most striking acts of this reign was the grant of the

first-fruits and tenths of church livings to the poor clergy. The

tenths were about eleven thousand pounds a year, and the first-fruits

about five thousand pounds. These moneys had been collected by the

bishops since the Reformation and paid to the Crown. They had never,

says Burnet, "been applied to any good use, but were still obtained

by favourites for themselves and friends, and in King Charles's time

went chiefly amongst his women and children. It seemed strange that,

whilst the clergy had much credit at Court, they had never resented

this as sacrilege unless it were applied to some religious purpose,

and that during Archbishop Laud's favour with King Charles I., or at

the restoration of King Charles II., no endeavours had been used to

appropriate this to better uses; sacrilege was charged on other things

on very slight grounds, but this, which was more visible, was always

forgot." But the fund was too convenient a fund for favourites to

get grants upon. It is much to the credit of Burnet that he managed

to divert this misused fund from the greedy clutches of courtiers

and mistresses, to the amelioration of the condition of the unhappy

working clergy. He proposed the scheme first to William, who listened

to it readily, being assured by Burnet that nothing would tend to

draw the hearts of the clergy so much towards him, and put a stop to

the groundless clamour that he was the enemy of the clergy. Somers

and Halifax heartily concurred in the plan; but the avaricious old

Sunderland got a grant of it upon two dioceses for two thousand pounds

a year for two lives, which frustrated the aims of the reformers.

Burnet, however, succeeded better with Anne. He represented that there

were hundreds of cures that had not twenty pounds a year, and some

thousands that had not thirty pounds, and asked what could the clergy

be or do under such circumstances? Therefore, on the 7th of February,

1704, Sir Charles Hedges, the Secretary of State, announced to the

Commons that her Majesty had remitted the arrears of the tenths to the

poor clergy, and had resolved to grant in future the whole of the

first-fruits and tenths for the augmentation of small livings. The

Commons replied in an address, expressing their sense of her pious

care for the Church, and brought in a Bill to enable her to alienate

this branch of the revenue, and to create a corporation by charter,

to apply the money, according to the queen's intention, in increasing

the wretched stipends of the poorer clergy. There was an attempt made

to relieve the clergy altogether from the payment of first-fruits and

tenths, and to devote some other fund to the relief of the poor clergy;

but as Anne's intention was not to relieve the rich but to comfort the

poor, she would not listen to it. The Statute of Mortmain was also

relaxed by a provision of the Bill, so far as to allow individuals to

make augmentations to benefices by deed of gift or by bequest. The

Bishops were unanimous for the Bill, and addresses of thanks from all

the clergy of England were presented to Anne on the occasion of this

noble gift of what has been ever since known as Queen Anne's Bounty.

However, Anne was far from being so generous to Dissenters, or to any

other sect in the kingdom. On the contrary, she had just before allowed

the Parliament of Ireland to stop the poor sum of twelve hundred

pounds per annum, which had been paid by the late king to the indigent

Presbyterian ministers of Ulster, who had so manfully defended the

north of Ireland against James.

[Illustration: THE KING OF SPAIN AT WINDSOR: HIS GALLANTRY TO THE

DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. (_See p._ 546.)]

On the 3rd of April the queen prorogued Parliament till the 4th

of July. The Convocation had during this time kept up its bitter

controversy, and had done nothing more except thank the queen for

the grant of the first-fruits and tenths, and the Commons for having

espoused their cause.

Marlborough had left London for the Hague on the 15th of January whilst

Parliament was sitting. He was promised fifty thousand British troops

under his own immediate command, and he was planning a campaign which

gave the first evidence of a real military genius being at the head

of the Allied forces, since these Dutch wars began. He saw that the

Elector of Bavaria, by his alliance with the French, was striking at

the very heart of the Empire, and that, if permitted to continue his

plans, he would soon, with his French allies, be in possession of

Vienna. Nothing could be more deplorable than the condition of Austria.

Besides the successes of the Elector of Bavaria, the insurgents of

Hungary were triumphant, and between the two the Empire was on the

verge of ruin. The Elector of Bavaria had possessed himself of all

the places on the Danube as far as Passau, and should he come to act

in concert with the Hungarians, Vienna would be lost. Prince Eugene

put himself into communication with Marlborough, and these two great

generals determined on striking a blow which should at once free

Austria from its dangers. This was no other than a bold march of a

powerful army to the Danube, and the destruction of the Elector of

Bavaria.

This was a design so far out of the mediocre range of Dutch campaigns

that it was determined not to let its real character become known

till it could be instantly put in execution, certain that the

States-General, terrified at so daring a scheme, would prohibit it at

once. To go securely to work, therefore, by the advice of Eugene, the

Emperor applied to the Queen of England to send an army to his rescue.

Marlborough supported the application with all his energy, and, having

procured the queen's consent, he left England on the 15th of January,

was in the Hague on the 19th, and put himself into secret communication

with the Grand Pensionary Heinsius. He fully approved of the scheme,

and promised to give it his most strenuous support. It was thought,

however, imprudent to confide the real extent of the plan to other

persons, not only because it was sure to alarm the States-General,

but because it had been all along observed that every proposal, as

soon as it became known to the Government or heads of the army, was

immediately treacherously conveyed to the French. The proposal made to

the States-General, therefore, was merely that the next campaign should

be made on the Moselle, as if the design were to penetrate into France

along that river.

The States-General, as was expected, appeared thunderstruck by even

the proposal of carrying the war to the Moselle, and it was only by

the zeal of Heinsius that they were brought to consent to it. That

accomplished, they were induced to grant a subsidy to the Prince of

Baden, and another to the Circle of Suabia, and to take into pay

four thousand Würtembergers instead of the same number of Dutch and

English despatched to Portugal. There was a promise of money given to

the Prince of Savoy, with an assurance of so vigorous a campaign on

this side of the Alps that the French should not be able to send many

troops against him. Similar assurances of co-operation were given to

the Elector Palatine and to the new King of Prussia. These matters

being arranged, Marlborough hastened back to England, and persuaded

the queen to remit a hundred thousand crowns to Suabia, and to make a

large remittance to the Prince of Baden out of the privy purse. He then

put himself on a good understanding with the now partly Whig Ministry,

himself as well as his indefatigable duchess coming out in Whig

colours. He then returned to the Netherlands in the beginning of April.

He found in his absence that the terms of his design, little of it as

was known, had been actively operating in the cautious Dutch mind,

and the States of Zealand and Friesland in particular were vehemently

opposed to so bold a measure as carrying the war to the Moselle.

Marlborough, who had brought with him to support him in command his

brother General Churchill, Lieutenant-General Lumley, the Earl of

Orkney, and other officers of distinction, told the States plainly

that he had the authority of his queen for taking such measures as he

thought best for the common cause, and that he was determined to march

with his forty thousand men to the Moselle. This struck with silence

the opposers of the measure: the States consented with a good grace to

the proposition, and gave him such powers as they never would have done

had they any idea to what an extent he meant to use them. Prince Eugene

alone, who was commanding the Allied army on the Upper Danube, was in

the secret. Leaving Overkirk with a strong force to guard the frontiers

of Holland, he commenced at once his march to Utrecht, where he spent a

few days with Albemarle, thence to Ruremond, and so to Maestricht, and

on the 8th of May advanced to Bedburg, in the Duchy of Juliers, which

had been appointed as the place of rendezvous. There he found General

Churchill with fifty-one battalions, and ninety-two squadrons of horse.

Being joined by various detachments of Prussians, Hessians,

Lüneburgers, and others, and also by eleven Dutch battalions,

Marlborough, on the 19th of May, commenced his great expedition into

the heart of Germany. On the 26th he was at Coblentz, and from the

grand old fortress of Ehrenbreitstein he watched the passage of his

army over the Moselle and the Rhine. He wrote to the States-General for

fresh reinforcements in order to secure his most important movement,

and marched along the banks of the Rhine to Broubach. There he also

wrote to the King of Prussia, praising the Prussian troops, and

entreating him to send him more of them. While he was at Mainz, he

halted a day to rest his troops, and there received the agreeable news

that the States were sending after him twenty squadrons, and eight

battalions of Danish auxiliaries; but at the same time he was mortified

to find that the Prince of Baden had managed so badly as to allow the

ten thousand troops forwarded by Tallard to join the Elector of Bavaria

without molestation, and had lost the most tempting opportunities,

whilst the Elector was marching through narrow defiles, of cutting off

his march and reducing him to extremities.

The French were filled with wonder at this march of Marlborough, far

out from the usual scene of the English operations, and could not for

some time realise the object of it. At one time they expected only an

attack on the Moselle, but that river and the Rhine being crossed,

they apprehended that his design was to raise the siege of Landau,

and this was confirmed by the advance of the Landgrave of Hesse to

Mannheim. But when he crossed the Neckar and advanced on Erpingen, and

was continually strengthened by fresh junctions of Prussians, Hessians,

and Palatines, they began to comprehend his real object. He waited at

Erpingen for the coming up of General Churchill with the artillery and

part of the infantry, and he employed the time in sending a despatch

to warn the Prince of Baden that Tallard and Villeroi were about to

unite their armies, pass the Rhine, and hasten to the support of the

Elector of Bavaria. He pressed on the prince the extreme importance of

preventing this passage of the French army. He told him that they must

not trouble themselves about any damage that Villeroi might do on the

left bank of the Rhine, if he could only be kept there, as in that case

he felt assured that six weeks would see the army of the Elector of

Bavaria annihilated, and the Empire saved.

Marlborough was anxious to keep the Prince of Baden engaged on the

Rhine, so that he might himself have the co-operation of the far abler

Eugene on the Danube. On the 9th of June he crossed the Neckar again,

marched to Mondelsheim, and on the 10th met for the first time Prince

Eugene, who was destined to be for ever connected with his name in

military glory. At Hippach Marlborough reviewed his cavalry in the

presence of Eugene, who expressed his utmost admiration at their

appearance and discipline. He was equally struck with the lively and

ardent expression of the countenances of the English soldiers, which

Marlborough handsomely assured him was caused by their pleasure in

seeing so renowned a commander. To the intense mortification of Eugene

and Marlborough, the Prince of Baden, whom they were anxious to detain

on the Rhine, quitted the post where his presence was so much required,

and came up and joined them. He was determined to be in the quarter

where the greatest share of reputation was to be won, and from his

princely rank he did not hesitate to claim the chief command.

This notion of their princely claims, combined with their mediocrity of

military talent, has always been the mischief of a campaign in alliance

with the small princes of Germany. The whole plan of Marlborough and

Eugene was in danger of defeat, and Eugene was compelled to go to the

Rhine, and Marlborough to admit of the Prince of Baden taking the

command on alternate days. He secretly resolved, however, that any

actions of consequence should be entered upon only on his own day.

Eugene had now taken his departure, and on the 15th of June was at

Philippsburg, on the Rhine, and Marlborough felt it time to press on,

for the States-General were now continually sending to him alarming

accounts of the French, and entreating him to send back part of his

army for their defence. Accordingly, on the 20th, he set forward, and

passed successfully the narrow, dangerous, and troublesome pass of

Geislingen, lying amongst the mountains which separated him from the

plains of the Danube. This pass was two miles long, heavy with the

deepest mud, and abounding with torrents swollen by the rains. Once

through, he came into contact with the forces of the Prince of Baden,

which were posted at Wertersteppen. On the 24th the united armies

reached Elchingen, near the Danube. The Elector of Bavaria, who was

posted at Ulm, retired, at his approach, along the banks of the Danube

to a former encampment of himself and his French allies, in a low and

swampy place between Lauingen and Dillingen. Marlborough advanced to

the little river Brenz, and encamped within two leagues of the enemy,

with his right at Amerdighem and his left at Onderingen. There he

waited till the 27th, when his brother, General Churchill, came up

with the artillery and part of the infantry. The army now amounted to

ninety-six battalions, two hundred and two squadrons, with forty-eight

pieces of artillery, pontoons, etc. He still, however, judged it

prudent to wait for the Danish horse under the Duke of Würtemberg,

which were daily expected.

During this delay the Elector forestalled the Allies in securing the

fortress of the Schellenberg, situated on a lofty hill overhanging the

town of Donauwörth. Marlborough saw the immense advantage thus gained,

and determined, cost what it might, to drive them from this stronghold.

It was held by the General Count D'Arco, with twelve thousand men;

and it was clear that it could not be forced without great loss. But

there was no time to delay. So long as the Elector held Schellenberg he

kept them in check, and was enabled to wait for the arrival of French

forces sent to relieve him. The Prince of Baden was confounded at the

daring of such an undertaking, and strongly opposed it; but Marlborough

told him that every day's delay only enabled the enemy to strengthen

himself by fresh entrenchments both there and in their swampy camp. On

the 1st of July Marlborough, having the command for the day, ordered

the assault of the Schellenberg. At three o'clock in the morning this

hardy attempt began. The picked troops advanced to the front of the

Schellenberg, crossing, on bridges prepared for the occasion, the

deep and rapid stream called the Wernitz, about noon. The Austrian

grenadiers were far in the rear, and it was five in the afternoon

before the order was given for the column to ascend. It was a murderous

prospect for the assailants. The hill was steep and rugged; the ascent

was rendered additionally difficult by a wood, a rivulet, and a deep

ravine; whilst the summit of the hill was covered with soldiers

ready to pour down the most destructive storm of shot, and that with

the prospect of an unlimited supply of soldiers and ammunition from

Donauwörth and the camp on the other side of the Danube, which was

connected with this side by a bridge. Lord Mordaunt with fifty English

grenadiers led the way as a forlorn hope. The officers of the attacking

column were nearly all killed, and it appeared likely to be swept down

the hill, but a battalion of English Guards stood its ground firmly,

and restored the courage of the rest, and once more they advanced.

D'Arco then gathered in his flanks and threw the whole weight of

his soldiery upon them to annihilate them, still pouring murderous

discharges of grape into them. It appeared impossible that any body of

men could exist under such disadvantages, and the whole column seemed

giving way, when General Lumley rushed forward at the head of a body of

horse, rallied the failing ranks, and led them again to the charge.

During this terrible conflict the assailants had not been sacrificed

unavenged. They had exterminated their enemies almost as fast as they

came, and at this moment a powder magazine exploding in the camp of the

Bavarians, spread such consternation that the Allies, taking advantage

of the panic, rushed forward, burst into the entrenchments, and threw

the whole force into confusion. This confusion was put to the climax by

the Bavarians observing the Prince of Baden ascending the hill from the

side of Donauwörth, at the head of the Imperial troops. The panic was

complete; the French and Bavarians broke in every direction, and made

the best of their way down the hill to secure the passage of the bridge

over the Danube. The Allies gave chase, and made a fearful carnage

amongst the fugitives. By the time they reached the bridge, such was

the rush and crush to cross it that it gave way. Numbers were plunged

into the stream and perished; numbers were driven by the force behind

over the banks; numbers were massacred on the spot. Of the twelve

thousand troops who had ascended the Schellenberg, only three thousand

ever rejoined the Elector of Bavaria, but many came in as stragglers

and joined the Allies. There were seven or eight thousand destroyed on

that bloody evening.

What was to be expected from the particular spirit which the Prince

of Baden had shown, took place. Though he deprecated the attack of

the Schellenberg at all, and though he allowed the English to bear

the terrible brunt of the ascent, and came up in the rear of the

engagement, because he reached the entrenchments before Marlborough

himself came up, he claimed the honour of the victory. Had he headed

the attacking column, he would have had no other claim but that of a

brave officer, for the whole plan of the campaign and the whole plan of

the attack of the Schellenberg were Marlborough's. Had the prince had

his way, there would have been no battle at all. Marlborough repelled

the mean attempt to steal his victory with contempt, and spoke some

homely truths to the Prince. It served the Louvestein faction in the

Netherlands, however, with a pretext to injure Marlborough, by casting

a medal bearing the portrait of the Prince, and on the reverse the

lines of Schellenberg. But all over the world, not excepting Germany,

justice was done to Marlborough, and from that moment his name became

famous, celebrated in songs even by the French, dreaded by French

children, whose mothers stilled them with the terrible word "Malbrouk."

But the French were hastening to prevent the destruction of their

Bavarian ally. Marlborough received the news that they had promised to

send to the Elector, under Tallard, fifty battalions of foot, and sixty

squadrons of horse of the best troops in France, which should make him

stronger than the Confederates. These troops had already crossed the

Rhine, and were making their way through the Black Forest. At the same

time Eugene, though obliged to divide his forces, at once to watch

Villeroi on the Rhine and to check the march of Tallard, promised

Marlborough that he would do his uttermost to retard the junction.

Meanwhile the Elector, in too dangerous a proximity to the victorious

army, abandoned Donauwörth, broke up his camp, and retreated towards

Augsburg, leaving his own dominions open to the incursions of the

Allies. Marlborough lost no time in availing himself of the chance. He

prepared to cross the deep and rapid river Lech, which was effected on

the 7th of July at Gunderkingen.

[Illustration: PRINCE EUGINE OF SAVOY. (_After the Portrait by Sir

Godfrey Kneller._)]

Marlborough was now in Bavaria, and the garrison at Neuburg retreating

to Ingolstadt, he had the whole of the country at his mercy. He posted

his camp at Mittelstetten on the 10th, and sent word to the Elector

that if he did not choose to come to terms he would do his best to

ruin his country; but the Elector, strongly encamped under the walls

of Augsburg, and promised early succour by the French, made no sign of

treating. Marlborough suffered his troops to levy contributions on the

country round, and his army lived luxuriously at the expense of the

unfortunate Bavarians. The true policy of the Allies was to march on

the Elector, and dispose of him before the French could come up; but

for this the Prince of Baden was in too ill a humour. In fact, the

two generals were on the worst possible terms with each other, and the

consequence was, the obvious interests of the campaign were sacrificed

to the feud and jealousy of the leaders. Marlborough proposed to march

on Munich, the capital, and take it, but the Prince would not furnish

the necessary artillery, and the thing was impossible. Marlborough

spent five days in taking Rain, a fortress of little consequence. He

also dispatched thirty squadrons to assist Eugene in obstructing the

march of the French to join the Elector. He contrived also to open

negotiations with the Elector of Bavaria. The envoy of the Emperor

offered to the Elector to restore all his dominions, and pay him a

subsidy of two hundred thousand crowns, on condition of his breaking

with the French and assisting the Emperor with twelve thousand men. But

the negotiation came to nothing, for Tallard was now rapidly advancing

with his army, and the Elector, instead of keeping an appointment with

the Emperor's envoy, sent him word that since the King of France had

made such powerful exertions to support him, he thought himself in

honour obliged to remain firm to his alliance. The Allied generals were

so much exasperated at this result that they gave up the whole country,

as far as the walls of Munich, to the ravages of the soldiery, and

three hundred burning towns, villages, and castles marked the terrible

fury of the Allies, and left an indelible stain on the glories of that

campaign.

Scarcely had Marlborough removed from before Augsburg when the Elector

quitted his camp and marched to Biberach, and there effected a junction

with Tallard.

On the 6th of August Prince Eugene galloped into Marlborough's camp to

announce this fact, and to take measures for competing with them. It

was resolved between them to get rid of the fatal incubus of the Prince

of Baden, with his pride and his jealousy, by leaving him to continue

the siege of Ingolstadt, for which purpose they left him twenty-three

battalions and thirty-one squadrons. Marlborough then prepared again

to cross the Lech and the Danube, and advance to Exheim. Here Prince

Eugene, who had set out to bring up his force to form a junction with

Marlborough, galloped back to inform him that the united French and

Bavarian army was in full march towards Dillingen, evidently intending

to attack the little army of Eugene. It was, therefore, agreed that

the troops of Eugene should fall back, and those of Marlborough should

cross the Danube to make a speedy junction with them. Eugene took

possession of the strong camp on the Schellenberg, and had his main

position at Donauwörth. On the evening of the 10th Marlborough began

to throw detachments of his army across the Danube--an operation of no

little difficulty, owing to his having to cross the Aicha, the Lech,

and the Wernitz, as well as the Danube, and all these floods were

swollen by the rains. The whole of the army, however, was got over at

different points on the 11th, and on the 12th Marlborough's baggage and

artillery came up.