1710 been broken off in 1709, were renewed, and conferences held for that purpose at Gertruydenberg (April to July). But they The Conferdid not lead to any practical result, and although hostili- ences at Gerties had not ceased in the meantime, the campaign in truydenberg. Flanders was barren of any achievements which could uphold the tottering power of the Whigs, or justify the continuance of the war. the allies at Almenara Some vigorous operations, however, occurred in Spain; but even these ended disastrously for the fallen party. In the spring of 1710 two armies assembled in Portugal and Catalonia, the latter under Marshal Staremberg and General Stanhope. Owing to their inferiority of force, these chiefs remained on the defensive throughout May and June; but towards the middle of July they received considerable reinforcements, and Philip's army, under the command of the Marquis of Villadarias, was compelled to fall back towards Lerida, from whence they drew their supplies. The allies then rapidly advanced and overtook the enemy near Almenara. Both kings were present with their armies, and an irregular engagement took place (27th of July, Victory of 1710) in which Philip was defeated, and compelled to make a hasty retreat towards Zaragosa. On the 20th of and Zaragosa. August another and more decisive battle was fought under the walls of this ancient city. The allies achieved a complete victory, and the remnant of the Spanish army fled towards the frontier of the province of Soria. King Philip, with some attendants, made a precipitate retreat to Madrid, and after two days removed to Valladolid, the ancient capital of Castile. presently followed by his rival; but when the latter made his public entry into the capital (28th of September), he The found the city a desert. The people shut themselves up in Madrid. in their houses, and refused to pay him any mark of respect; all the nobles and prelates had accompanied Philip to Valladolid, and Stanhope reported in his despatches home, that the allies were masters in Castile of no more ground than that which was contained within their own encampment. Thus surrounded by a hostile population, the confederate commanders waited till November for the arrival of the Portuguese army, which never came. Unable therefore to maintain themselves in the capital any longer, they commenced a retreat towards Arragon in December, He retires to the Archduke, whose personal safety was in danger, being first sent back to Barcelona with an escort of 2,000 cavalry. He was Archduke Barcelona. 38. Surrender of Stanhope and the British Army.-In the Vendome rouses himself CHAP. II. meantime, the Castilians, had enlisted by thousands in Philip's army, whom they also abundantly supplied with money, arms and provisions, and the Duke of Vendome, had assumed the command. Eager to retrieve the reputation he had lost to action. in Flanders, Vendome roused himself from the sluggishness and torpidity which were among his most besetting sins, and took bold and vigorous measures. He secured the bridge of Almarez, on the Tagus, so as to prevent any possible junction of the Portuguese and Catalonian armies, and then advanced to Talavera, whence he pressed forward after the retreating army with incredible speed. The allies had been compelled by the want of supplies to break up into three separate bodies, English, Germans, and Spaniards, each taking different lines of march. Stanhope with the first of these, comprising 5,500 men, left Chinchon for Brihuega, which he entered late at night on the 6th of December. Next day his men were employed in collecting corn and baking bread, in the full belief that Vendome was several days' march behind them. But that general now thoroughly roused, had pushed direct from Talavera across the Henares by the Guadalaxara bridge; in seven days had completed a distance of forty-five leagues, and now on the 8th of December suddenly came upon the English column with a force of nearly 20,000 men. In the He surprises face of a force so superior to his own, it was impossible for Brihuega. Stanhope to leave Brihuega and effect a junction with. Staremberg at Cifuentes, distant about five hours' march. He sent a message however to that marshal, apprising him of his danger, and then prepared for a resolute defence, until succour should arrive. All next day the British fought with desperation. They kept up a terrible fire from behind their barricades and the old Moorish wall of the town, until their powder was spent. They then turned fiercely upon their assailants with the bayonets, and burned down the houses upon them. But all was to no purpose. Staremberg never made his appearance; and the British general seeing that further resistance would produce only a useless carnage, capitulated about seven o'clock in the evening, on honourable terms. He and his gallant little army became prisoners of war, and remained in Spain till a little before the Peace of Utrecht. Stanhope at Scarcely had Vendome signed this capitulation when he learned, that Staremberg was marching to the relief of Stanhope. He instantly made preparations for a general action, and on Battle of Villa the 10th of December encountered the Austrian general with 13,000 men at Villa Viciosa. The contest was Viciosa. 1710 obstinate and bloody, and was only closed by the early fall of the winter night. But next day Staremberg resumed his retreat, and reached Barcelona with only 7000 men, while Vendome advanced to Zaragosa, where Philip established his court. The cause of Charles in Spain was henceforth hopeless, and before the end of February 1711, his possessions were circumscribed to Balaguer and the two maritime fortresses of Tarragona and Barcelona, with the intermediate and dependent districts.* SECTION II.-HARLEY'S TORY ADMINISTRATION. 1710-1714. 1.-HARLEY AT THE ZENITH OF HIS POWER. 39. Attempts made by the Tories to depress the Whigs.These disasters in Spain were not regarded without a certain degree of satisfaction by the Tories, since they gave them an excellent opportunity for depressing the Whigs. The House of Lords entered into an examination of the whole history of the war in Spain, and while the Tory Lord Peterborough was accorded a vote of thanks for his "great and eminent services" in that country, Lord Galway, a Whig, was sharply censured; and a vote of censure was passed against the late Ministers for the failure Marlborough of the attack against Toulon. About the same time also (January) the Duchess of Marlborough was dismissed from The Duchess all her offices, and although the Duke retained his com- from court. mand, this year witnessed his last campaign. indirectly censured. dismissed Still further to distress their political adversaries, the Tories brought in a bill, which was finally rejected, for the resumption of all grants made by King William, and they also made an attempt, which shared the same fate, to repeal the Act passed two years before, for the general naturalisation of all Protestants. This Act had been made chiefly for the benefit of the poor Lutheran emigrants, who had been driven out of the Palatinate by the ravages of the French. They had been generously received by the late Whig Ministry, and special efforts had been made for their reception and establishment in England, Ireland, and the Colonies. Another party manœuvre of the predominant faction was more successful, although it failed of its ultimate object. For some years the Tories had complained that too many seats in the * Stanhope's Queen Anne, II., Chap. XIII. the property qualification of Parliament. CHAP. II. House of Commons fell to men of no hereditary rank and of no landed property, and that military officers, lawyers, merEnactment of chants, and others living in towns were gradually assuming that superiority which naturally ought to belong to the lords for members of the soil. of the soil. For the purpose, therefore, of excluding these men, (who were generally Whigs) and of adding strength to the landed interest and the Church, a Bill was carried through both houses, and passed into law, making a qualification in land essential to a seat in Parliament ;-£300 a year for a burgess, and £600 for a knight of the shire. But this measure, like all other expedients for setting the interests of one class above those of another, was defeated in practice by fabricated and fictitious qualifications, at which all parties connived, and it was finally repealed in 1858 as utterly useless.* The Whigs failed to the Press. 40. Party Use of the Press. Swift's Attacks against the Whigs. -While the Tories thus displayed in Parliament such a spirit of hostility and vengeance against their opponents, they also bitterly attacked them in the Press, which now for the first time assumed an important position in political warfare. make use of Neither Marlborough nor Godolphin had turned their attention to this new weapon of attack; and although the Duke had extended his patronage to Prior and Addison, the cold and reserved Lord Treasurer had treated literary men with contempt, and had particularly offended both Swift and Prior. Harley and St. John, on the contrary, had learned to estimate the force of these allies; they took care to interest the ablest writers in their cause, and eagerly welcomed the offers of those whom Godolphin had repulsed. Swift cherished the bitterest resentment against his former patrons, for not having given him any valuable preferment; and in the Eraminer, which had been started by Prior, and was now the literary organ of the new Ministry, he struck at the Whig leaders without the slightest compunction, clothing his sarcasms in a style and language which were calculated to take the deepest hold on the public mind. Against such a combatant, the genial frankness of Steele, and the amiable decorum of Addison, who were too upright to desert their fallen friends, had no chance. No one felt the effects of this more than Marlborough. He was the object of Swift's most savage attacks, the great libeller even going so far as to insinuate that the Duke was a coward, and had always taken safe care of himself in the heat of battle.† * Knight's Popular Hist., V., 371; Stanhope's Queen Anne, II., 213; Pictorial Hist. Knight's Popular History, V., 361-371; Coxe's Marlborough, III., chap. 99. 1711 among the 41. Guiscard's Attempt upon Harley.-While the Tories thus made use of every means at their disposal for degrading their adversaries, they were by no means agreed among themselves. One section, led by Nottingham, was not satisfied Divisions so long as there remained a single Whig official about the Tories. court; and finding Harley unwilling to proceed to extreme measures, they began to suspect him. Others had already perceived that the uncertainty of his views and the indecision of his conduct, rendered him unfit for the supreme conduct of affairs ; a third section accustomed to meet in what was termed, the October Club, toasted the Earl of Rochester the Queen's uncle, as the minister they would prefer; while the avowed Jacobites looked to the rising genius of St. John, as their great hope in bringing about their most cherished designs. An odd accident in which a French adventurer named Guiscard, stabbed Harley with a penknife, during an examination before the Council, temporarily united these conflicting elements, restored to the minister his popularity, and relieved the Government from a very critical situation. The Prime Minister's hurt was slight, but it called forth the strongest expressions of sympathy. The two Houses presented an address to the Queen, and it being stated therein that Guiscard was a French Papist," the laws against Roman Catholics were ordered to be strictly enforced, and these unfortunate recusants were forthwith directed to remove from London and Westminster. When Harley re-appeared in the House of Commons he was warmly congratulated by Harley's the Speaker; and his scheme of finance, for redeeming company. all the public debts and deficiencies by the incorporation of a South Sea Company was received with applause, although it was a specious project, as the event afterwards proved. At the same time it so happened that Rochester, Harley's principal rival in the favour of his party, died; the Queen then created him Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, and on the 29th of May, she raised him to the dignity of Lord Treasurer. Guiscard's attack led to the passing of the statute (9 Anne, c. 21) which makes an attempt on the life of a Privy Councillor in the execution of his office, a felony without benefit of clergy.* 66 South Sea 42. Marlborough's last Campaign, 1711.-Guiscard's attack upon. Harley was also serviceable to that Minister, in averting suspicion from his secret correspondence with the Courts of France and St. Germain's. Clandestine negotiations for peace had been going on * Stanhope's Queen Anne, II., 210-217; Knight's Pop. Hist., V., 372. |