the prestige of her glories under Turenne and Luxemburg was gone. | services so favorably accepted." He replied in very similar terms to "There never," says Cunningham, was a battle fought within the complimentary address of the House of Commons. A reward the memory of man, wherein either the courage of the soldiers or more solid than congratulations was immediately bestowed upon the prudence of the generals were more conspicuous than on this him. Soon after the Commons had unanimously voted their address, day, which first ruined the French fortunes, and put a stop to their the queen sent a message to the effect that her majesty having taken long course of victories." Louis received the fatal news on the 21st, into her consideration their address, "relating to the great services but without any details. For six days he remained in uncertainty as performed by the Duke of Marlborough, does incline to grant the into the real losses. "We were not used to misfortunes," says St.terest of the crown in the honor and manor of Woodstock, and hun Simon. 'The grief of the king at this disgrace and this loss, at the moment when he believed that the fate of Europe was in his hands, may be imagined. When he might have counted upon striking a decisive blow, he saw himself reduced to act simply upon the defensive," dred of Wootton, to him and his heirs"-desiring the assistance of the house to clear off the incumbrance of the property, the rents and profits having been granted for two lives. Upon this noble estate of Woodstock-the ancient palace of the Plantagenets-the favorite haunt of Chaucer-the retreat of Elizabeth in her early days of fear and sorrow-was built the palace of Blenheim. While Marlborough had been conducting his wonderful campaign of 1704, it had been felt by the violent Tory party in England that he had ceased to belong to them. The triumphant resistance to the power of France was not in harmony with their ancient hopes, which led them to look to some day when the great Louis should give them The day after a great victory rarely leaves the conqueror at his that could be conferred by an Act of Settlement. The wife of Burnet The Duke of Marlborough took his seat on his arrival in the House of Peers. When he stood up to answer the congratulatory address of the lord keeper, who ascribed everything to the general and nothing to his troops, he wisely and modestly replied: "My lords, I am extremely sensible of the great honor your lordships are pleased to do me. I must beg, on this occasion, to do right to all the officers and soldiers I had the honor of having under my command. Next to the blessing of God, the good success of this campaign is owing to their extraordinary courage. I am sure it will be a great satisfaction, as well as an encouragement to the whole army, to find their thinks of me, being resolved to recommend myself to the people of England, by being, to the best of my understanding, in the true interest of my country." When Marlborough came home he found the people of England ready enough to give him the heartiest welcome, without reference to the passionate quarrels of factions. The standards that had been taken in the campaign were carried in a grand military procession from the Tower to Westminster Hall, and there hung up, with the whole population of London shouting for Anne and Marlborough as a hundred and twenty pikemen each carried one of these tattered emblems of victory. When the hero was forth as hearty shouts of gratulation as when Raleigh and Drake went to St. Paul's to return thanks for the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The factions of the Commons cared nothing for a national triumph-they sought only the triumph of a party. They had for a third time brought forward the factious bill against occasional conformity, before Marlborough returned home; and they had made the most strenuous efforts to tack it to a money bill which was to enable the war to be continued. The scheme was defeated. The tackers, as they were called, became ridiculous to the nation. The Commons then passed the bill, without tacking it to a money bill. Marlborough arrived in time to vote against it in this amended form. It was thrown out by the Lords. On the 14th of March the queen, in proroguing the parliament, spoke of "unreasonable humor and animosity," and exhorted to prudence and moderation. "When this session," says Burnet, "and with it this parliament, came to an end, it was no small blessing to the queen and to the nation that they got well out of such hands. They had discovered, on many occasions, and very manifestly, what lay at bottom with most of them; but they had not skill enough to know how to manage their advantages, and to make use of their numbers. The constant successes with which God had blessed the queen's reign put it out of their power to compass that which was aimed at by them; the forcing a peace, and of consequence the delivering all up to France." Marlborough, though he still affected to be of no faction, saw the time had passed by when he could have the support of the party which the queen had first marked by her favor. Those who had attempted to stop the supplies by tacking to their vote the Occasional Conformity Bill were the High Tories, with whom he long conspired to make the life of King William a burden to him, by disturbing all his designs for the independence of nations. Marlborough, after the session was ended, wrote to Godolphin, "As to what you say of the tackers I think the answer and method that should be taken is what is practised in all armies—that is, if the enemy give no quarter they should have none given to them." Godolphin's mode of giving no quarter was to deprive every man of public employment "who had given his vote for the tack." Whigs gradually were called by Godolphin into the public service, and political aspirants began to see that there was not only a virtue in moderation, but that it was a virtue which brought its own reward. CHAPTER CXXXVI. The war in Spain-Expedition to Catalonia-Gibraltar taken by Sir George Rooke and the Prince of Darmstadt-Sea-fight off MalagaSiege of Gibraltar by the Spaniards-Expedition to Spain under Peterborough-Siege of Barcelona-Peterborough surprises Montjouich-Barcelona taken-Peterborough's rapid successes in Valencia-Philip V. besieges Barcelona-It is relieved-The allies enter Madrid-Supineness of the Austrian king-Disgust of Peterborough-He leaves Spain-Prince Eugene drives the French out of Italy. The Prince of Darmstadt remained at Gibraltar with a force of two thousand men. The English fleet then went in search of a French fleet that had been equipped at Toulon, and was under the command of the high-admiral of France, the Count de Toulouse. Rooke had been joined by some Dutch vessels; the French admiral had also been joined by some Spanish vessels. These two armaments, formidable in the number of their ships, met off Malaga. They fought all day; but not a ship of the hundred vessels engaged was sunk, or burned, or taken, on either side. Nothing exhibits a more striking contrast to the naval engagements of the days of Nelson than this drawn battle. And yet we must not conceive that little damage was done, or that it was a bloodless action. Sir Cloudsley Shovel describes the fight as very sharp." He says, "There is hardly a ship that must not shift one mast, and some must shift all." "'* The French fleet was even more disabled. The Count de Toulouse sailed away to Toulon, and Rooke made for Gibraltar. Te Deum was sung in Paris for a great victory, and thanksgivings were offered up at St. Paul's for the blessing upon her majesty's arms. Three thousand English and Dutch were killed and wounded, and the estimated loss of the French was four thousand—a terrible slaughter of brave men without any decisive results. The capture of Gibraltar was considered a very serious blow by the court of Madrid, and before the autumn of 1704 was passed eight thousand men, under the Marquis of Villadaria, commenced a siege. The Earl of Galway, who in 1704 was appointed to the command of the troops in Portugal, sent four regiments to the aid of the garrison of Gibraltar, with supplies of ammunition and provisions.† The Prince of Darmstadt made a brave and judicious resistance. The Captain-General of Andalusia, whose energy had saved Cadiz in 1702, was unable to make any impression upon those who now held the rock with an adequate force. The English fleet constantly threw in fresh supplies to the besieged, which the French admiral, De Pontis, was powerless to prevent. The besiegers were ill supplied with necessaries. A French commander was sent to supersede Villadaria, but matters were not improved by the change. Sir John Leake, in March, attacked De Pontis, and swept away what remained of the French naval power. The siege was raised; and the Spaniards saw with dismay that a fortress which they had neglected properly to defend had been rendered impregnable. It was some time before the English government appreciated the true value of Gibraltar ; during the war of the succession it was always vigorously defended against many attempts to retake it, and in 1713 its possession was confirmed to England by the Peace of Utrecht. but WHILE Marlborough was leading the army of the allies to the Rhine-an army upon whose success depended the great issue between the King of France and the Emperor of Germany-the Archduke Charles, who had assumed the title of King of Spain, had landed at Lisbon, and was prepared to head the troops on the western frontier of the kingdom to which he laid claim. But instead of carrying the war into Spain, the army of English, Dutch, and Portuguese were completely held in check by the Duke of Berwick; and the allies were unable to prevent several of the Portuguese towns being taken by the Spaniards. At the opposite extremity of the peninsula an attempt was made to rouse the Catalans to declare for King Charles. The Prince of Darmstadt was sanguine of success, and a little army of five or six thousand men was put under his command. They embarked at Lisbon in May, in a fleet of which Sir George Rooke was the admiral. The expedition landed at Barcelona; but receiving very little support from the people, it re-embarked, and Rooke sailed down the Mediterranean, and passed through the Straits, where he effected a junction with a fleet under Sir Cloudsley In our brief relation of the great campaign of 1704 we have exhibShovel. It was not in the nature of English sailors willingly to re-ited, however imperfectly, those wonderful qualities of Marlborough turn to port without effecting anything; and so the admirals planned by which he appears, in all his movements, to have left nothing to an attack upon Gibraltar, in which the Prince of Darmstadt agreed to join. The famous rock on which the Saracens had built their castle in the eighth century, and which they held till the middle of the fifteenth century, was strongly fortified by the Spaniards; but its vast importance as the key of the Mediterranean was not estimated as in more recent times. In 1704 there were not more than a hundred men within the works; but they were commanded by a brave veteran who rejected with disdain the summons to surrender. Two thousand marines, under the command of the Prince of Darmstadt, landed on the isthmus, now known as the Neutral Ground, and the supplies from the mainland were thus cut off. On the 2d of August Rooke commenced a bombardment from his ships, which was continued on the next day. That day was a great festival, and a part of the garrison went to pray to their saint, instead of standing by their guns. The eastern part of the rock was thus imperfectly defended, and the English sailors scaled the precipice. At the same time the South Molehead was stormed, with a heavy loss to the assailants by the springing of a mine. But they gained the ramparts, and all resistance was at an end. The brave governor made honorable terms for himself and his garrison; and upon the rock which has defied every besieger through a century and a half, the English flag floated in an easy victory. Sir George Rooke took possession in the name of the Queen of England; although the Prince of Darmstadt would have hoisted the Spanish standard and proclaimed King Charles.* * Mahon, "War of the Succession," p. 100. accident. The most enduring patience; a temper never to be disturbed; a caution that allowed no surprise; a foresight that left no contingency unprovided for-these were qualities even more remark. able than his daring and courage when the hour arrived for their display. It has been said of Marlborough—by a writer who has succeeded in the very difficult task of presenting the broadest aspects of history with the clearness and precision that are rarely obtained without minute detail-" for the first time, in English history at least, a march was equivalent to a battle. A change of his camp, or even a temporary retreat, was as effectual as a victory; and it was seen by the clearer observers of his time, that a campaign was a game of skill, and not of the mere dash and intrepidity which appeal to the vulgar passions of our nature." As if to exhibit, upon a different theatre of the same great warfare, the most remarkable contrast to the character and actions of Marlborough, Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough, took the command of an expedition to Spain. He has come upon the scene at times in various characters. He has accompanied William of Orange to England in 1689. He has lost his position as a statesman; has been sent to the Tower; has been deprived of his places and emoluments, in carrying on a system of intrigues in the proceedings against Fenwick in 1696. He attempted to save the life of the accused-endeavoring to implicate two of the leading * Letter printed in Tindal, vol. iv. p. 665. Galway's Narrative. Parliamentary Hist." vol. vi. col. 941. p. 485. one of Whigs in the conspiracy, by inducements to Fenwick to accuse of recruits which he had brought from England. The Prince of them; and then he turned round upon the unhappy man when the Darmstadt also here joined Peterborough. That prince had one scheme broke down, and was strenuous for his attainder. Restless dominant idea--a siege of Barcelona. Peterborough opposed the and changeable, vain and flighty, too adroit to be wise, all parties be- plan. The archduke upheld his countryman, in the scheme of atcame afraid of him. But with all his eccentricities, his genius com- tempting, with seven thousand men, the reduction of a place which mands the admiration of the cleverest, and his profusion buys the was far better prepared for defence than when the expedition of the flattery of the meanest. He adores the ladies with the homage of a previous summer had resulted in a complete failure, and which reknight-errant; and he rushes into war as if he were to be the first quired thirty thousand men for a regular siege. With the squadron lance in a tournament. His craving for excitement kept him always under Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the fleet sailed from Gibraltar. Makin motion; and it was said that he had seen more kings and more ing Altea Bay, a landing was effected near Valencia; and here the postilions than any man in Europe. Pope declared of him, with people were found favorable to the cause of the Austrian prince, who sound judgment, "He has too much wit as well as courage to make was proclaimed, upon the surrender of the Castle of Denia, as a solid general." What he did in Spain is one of the marvels of his- Charles III., King of Spain and the Indies. Peterborough, encourtory-a series of exploits beside which romance may "pale its un-aged by this reception, conceived an enterprise, “which would in effectual fire." When Peterborough sailed from Portsmouth, in all probability have brought that war to a much more speedy conJune, 1705, having the command of five thousand men, and with clusion, and at the same time have obviated all those difficulties general directions "to make a vigorous push in Spain." he had pre- which were but too apparent in the siege of Barcelona."* King cisely that commission which suited his character. It was a service Philip was at Madrid with few troops. All the Spanish forces were of hazard which was agreeable to his chivalric nature; for he on the frontiers of Portugal, or in Catalonia. It was only a march scarcely did justice to his own courage when he said that it pro- of fifty leagues from Valencia to Madrid, and the centre of Spain ceeded from his not knowing when he was in danger. He had very was undefended. Such an exploit had every chance of success, if inadequate resources of men and money, and thus he had difficulties Peterborough could have dashed upon the capital without being fetto overcome which pleasurably tasked all his mental energies. He tered by the hesitation of Charles or the preconceptions of Darmwas left unfettered by minute instructions, and had unlimited stadt. He was overruled. The Valencians were left to shout authority over the land forces and a divided command with Sir" Viva Carlos" in vain. The expedition went on, under the pressCloudesley Shovel at sea-which circumstances gave him, as he imag-ure of weak and timid, but truly rash counsels, to attack “ ined, free scope for the pursuit of his own road to fame, by the the largest and most populous cities in all Spain, fortified by basshortest and steepest path. Macaulay calls Peterborough "the most tions, one side secured by the sea, and the other by a strong fortificaextraordinary character of that age, the King of Sweden himself not tion called Montjouich." A council of war had decided against excepted. .. a polite, learned, and amorous Charles the Peterborough's plan of a march to Madrid; but when the expedition Twelfth."* Swift pointed to some such comparison in well-arrived before Barcelona, another council thought the undertaking of known lines on Peterborough: a siege too formidable. Charles, however, pressed the enterprise with a tenacity that could not be resisted, and to which Peterborough at length yielded. The troops were landed on the 27th of August. In three weeks there was nothing but dissensions among the great men of this expedition. Peterborough had received new instructions from home to respect the opinions of the princes and of councils of war. They were all differing in opinion. The Prince of Darmstadt and the earl had come to an open rupture. The Dutch officers said their troops should not join in an enterprise so manifestly impossible of success for a small force. It was considered by them an act of madness to attack the town from the eastern plain where the troops were encamped-a position which involved the necessity of making regular approaches under the fire of heavy batteries. Peterborough conceived a plan of attack totally opposed to all the routine modes of warfare. The citadel of Montjouich, built on the summit of a ridge of hills skirting the sea, commanded the town. Peterborough went out secretly from the camp, viewed the ground, and determined upon attempting a surprise of a garrison that considered themselves safe in an impregnable place. IIe gave notice that he should raise the siege, sent his heavy artillery on board the ships, and made every preparation for embarking the troops. With twelve hundred foot soldiers and two hundred horse he marched out of the camp on the evening of the 13th of September, and, passing by the quarters of the Prince of Darmstadt, told him that if he chose to come with him he might see what troops could do that had been subjected to his reproaches. The prince took "Ne'er to be match'd in modern reading But by his namesake, Charles of Sweden." The wit, the learning, the accomplished manners, the very faults of Peterborough made him a favorite with the most celebrated men of his time. "I love the hang-dog dearly," wrote Swift to Stella. Johnson, with the same feeling of respect for Peterborough's brilliant qualities, was curious in the later years of his life to learn more about him, saying, "He is a favorite of mine, and is not enough known." It is remarkable that the most trustworthy as well as the most interesting account of Peterborough's actions in Spain was for some time thought to be a fictitious narrative. "The Military Memoirs of Captain George Carleton" have been unhesitatingly ascribed to Defoe-chiefly because we are reminded of him by the plain matterof-fact, and off-handed manner of telling a story"-and because the events, which are matters of history, are related with all the minuteness and personality of an eye-witness, and an actor upon the spot." The very existence of Captain George Carleton has been questioned. Lord Stanhope [Mahon] has settled this doubt; and he believes, as Dr. Johnson believed, in the perfect authenticity of this, "the most valuable, perhaps, because the most undoubtedly faithful and impartial, of all our materials for this war."§ We may safely follow this guide, in tracing the actions of a man who, "by a course of conduct and fortune almost miraculous, had nearly put us into the possession of the kingdom of Spain; was left wholly unsup-him at his word. They marched all night by the side of the mounported; exposed to the envy of his rivals; disappointed by the caprices of a young inexperienced prince, under the guidance of a rupacious German ministry; and at last called home in discontent." When Peterborough with his troops arrived at Lisbon he was reinforced by two regiments of dragoons-men without horses, which the earl, who never made difficulties, had to provide. He here took on board the Archduke Charles and a numerous suite. At Gibraltar he received two veteran battalions, in exchange for the same number tains, and before daybreak were under the hill of Montjouich, and and was himself killed at the moment when Peterborough came to about three thousand men under his command. The Duke of Arcos, his rescue. Intelligence then arrived that three thousand men were the Spanish general, was encamped upon a wide plain, over which marching from Barcelona. Peterborough rode out to reconnoitre. Peterborough must pass on his way to Valencia. Between him and As he returned he was told by Carleton that the men were flying out the plain was a formidable pass under the walls of Murviedro, built of their posts, in one general panic, with Lord Charlemont at their under the hill upon which Carleton saw "the ruins of the once fahead. 'Immediately upon this notice from me," says Carleton, mous Saguntum; famous sure to eternity, if letters shall last so long, "the earl galloped up the hill, and alighting when he came to Lord for an invincible fidelity to a negligent confederate against an imCharlemont, he took his half-pike out of his hand, and turning to placable enemy.' The classic mind of Peterborough might have the officers and soldiers, told them, if they would not face about and thought of Hannibal's eight months' siege of Saguntum; but he was follow him they should have the scandal and eternal infamy upon not to be stopped by any such tedious process. The commander at them of having deserted their posts and abandoned their general." Murviedro, Mahoni, was of Irish extraction, and was not unknown All the posts were regained; and the three thousand Spaniards re- to Peterborough, having been related to his first wife. By a strataturned alarmed to Barcelona. The citadel held out for several days, gem of no very worthy character-more resembling some of his old but was finally reduced by a bombardment from the hills, the cannon political manœuvres than the frank honesty of a soldier-he suchaving been relanded from the ships. The reduction of Montjouich ceeded in throwing Mahoni off his guard, and then in inspiring the by this extraordinary act of daring was very soon followed by the sur-Duke of Arcos with suspicion of his faithful officer at Murviedro. render of Barcelona. Success gave spirit to those who had before Peterborough requested a conference with Mahoni; endeavored in been hopeless. The sailors dragged heavy guns up the hills, and vain to induce him to join the cause of King Charles; drew from joined the land-troops in forming intrenchments. The town was so him an admission of the advice which he meant to give to Arcos, fiercely bombarded that a breach was soon effected; and the besieg-which was to remain in the plain; and then contrived to send the ers were preparing to storm, when the governor beat a parley, and duke an intimation, through two of his men, who pretended to be agreed to surrender with all honors of war. His soldiers had muti- deserters, that Mahoni had undertaken to betray his post, and to adnied; the people of the city were in a state of riot; and the gov-vise the duke to remain in his position, that he might there be sacriernor, who was unpopular, was in danger of his life. Peterborough, ficed. When the frank Irishman's letter of advice was delivered to with the same indomitable courage that he had shown in the assault Arcos, he determined to move precisely in an opposite direction to of Montjouich, being apprised of the tumult, demanded admittance that which was advised. He thus left the way open to Peterborough at one of the gates. Carleton, who accompanied him, describes a to march to Valencia; for Mahoni was arrested, and as Arcos was scene very characteristic of this modern Amadis. He met a lady of gone, the pass of Murviedro was undefended.* Peterborough had extraordinary beauty flying from the fury of the Miquelets-the not long rested in this pleasant city when he sallied forth to attack a armed peasants of the province-who implored his protection. Pe- body of four thousand horse; came upon their encampment with a terborough took the lady by the hand-she proved to be the Duchess force not a third of their number, and returned to Valencia with six of Popoli-and conveyed her through the wicket by which he hundred prisoners, having utterly routed the troops of King Philip. entered, to a place of safety without the town. "I believe it was 'Here," says Carleton, "the Earl of Peterborough made his resi much the longest part of an hour," says Carleton, "before he re- dence for some time. He was extremely well beloved; his affable turned." When he did return he saved the governor, got him on behavior exacted as much from all; and he preserved such a good board one of the ships, and by that extraordinary ascendency which correspondence with the priests and the ladies that he never failed a determined will and the total absence of fear have over the passions of the most early and best intelligence." of a multitude, "wherever he appeared the popular fury was in a moment allayed." The possession of Barcelona, in which King Charles III. was proclaimed with great solemnity, was followed by the adhesion to his cause of the chief towns of Catalonia. Peterborougn was for following up his wonderful success by other daring operations. The German ministers and the Dutch officers opposed all his projects. At length a pressing request came to Charles to send assistance to San Mateo, which was besieged by the Count of Las Torres. There were twelve hundred troops at Tortosa, to which Peterborough sent orders to cross the Ebro. He was with them as soon as his messenger, expecting to find a large army of peasantry ready to join him, as he had been informed. The army was a mere illusion. But there was a small force only, he was told, before San Mateo. He found seven thousand; and yet, by a series of daring efforts, he raised the siege and entered the town in triumph. But for him there was no repose. He determined to follow Las Torres. "His foot were marching on the stony mountains, and in a winter season, without clothes or shoes, and his few dragoons were upon horses that could hardly go on." * He received an express, commanding him to send his troops back to Barcelona, for the safety of the king's person. He sent back his infantry, and followed the retreating army of Las Torres with only two hundred cavalry. What would have been mere desperation in another man, was, in his conduct of such a warfare, the most perfect strategy. By his rapid marches, his confident tone, his disguise of his real strength, he kept up the terror of the thousands who were flying before his two hundred, and towns opened their gates to him without a blow. But a more important service awaited Peterborough. The magistrates of Valencia, which city had thrown off its allegiance to King Philip, sent messengers to implore the aid of Peterborough; for a body of ten thousand men was approaching to invest their city. He managed to recall the infantry which he had sent back to Barcelona, and obtained some other reinforcements. On the 1st of February, 1706, Peterborough had * Friend's Account, quoted by Lord Mahon, p. 163. While Peterborough was carrying on this astonishing warfare in Valencia, the news of the fall of Barcelona had reached England, and the queen had gone to parliament in great exultation, to recommend the Commons especially to improve the opportunity which God Almighty is pleased to afford us, of putting a prosperous end to the present war." Such was the estimation in which the deeds of Peterborough were then regarded. A sum of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds was voted, "for her majesty's proportion of the charge of prosecuting the successes already gained by King Charles III., for the recovery of the monarchy of Spain to the house of Austria." It was soon found that King Charles was incompetent to follow up the successes which Peterborough had accomplished for him. The young Bourbon king, Philip V., took a vigorous resolution. He marched from Madrid with a force which, being joined by that of Marshal Tessé, enabled him to enter Catalonia with twenty thousand men. Charles in April was shut up in Barcelona, while a large army was investing the city by land, and it was blockaded by a French fleet. The officers of Charles exhorted him to fly. Though he wanted energy he had passive courage; and he remained in the beleaguered city, animating the population with appeals to their superstitious feelings, for he declared that the Holy Virgin had manifested herself to him, and told him that the Catalans would never forsake him. Nevertheless Montjouich fell, after being bombarded for twenty-three days. Peterborough, meanwhile, had rapidly marched from Valencia, with two thousand foot and six hundred horse, and from the mountains above Barcelona he kept the besieging forces in perpetual alarm. But he had a project of more importance than this partisan warfare, however suited to his genius. A fleet was coming from England under Admiral Leake, on board of which was General Stanhope with reinforcements. Leake, whose caution * Carleton's "Memoirs" relate this strange story in considerable detail. The captain does not appear to think that his general was doing anything beyond his duty in carrying out this complicated deception. It is satisfactory to know that honest Mahoni, though sent a prisoner to Madrid, was acquitted and promoted. "Parliamentary History," vol. vi. col. 477. was in signal contrast to Peterborough's daring, would not risk an|terest, addressed by him on the 25th of August to Admiral Wasseencounter with the French squadron before Barcelona until he was naer : "Our circumstances, in a few words, are brought to this : joined off the Spanish coast by another fleet, under Admiral Byng. from being sure of the monarchy of Spain without a blow, without Stanhope, by an ingenious device agreed upon with Peterborough further expense or hazard, it is now not only a doubtful case, but I that of transmitting a blank sheet of paper cut in a particular form-fear worse. Our army in the midst of an enemy's country (as it has apprised him of the junction which had been so long delayed. Peterborough had a commission to command at sea. He immediately marched to a small seaport, Stiges; made every preparation for his troops to embark; and for two nights, to the amazement of his officers and men, went out to sea in an open boat. He at last discerned the fleet; leaped on board one of the ships, and hoisted his flag; sent orders to Leake and Stanhope; had his men soon on board; hoped to reach Barcelona in time to fight the Count de Toulouse. But the Frenchmen had sheered off. The English troops were, however, thrown into Barcelona, and the French general Tessé, filled with apprehensions of defeat if he should attempt to storm the city, raised the siege, and the great army moved off, leaving their heavy cannon behind. King Philip retired to Madrid. But he had little time for resting there. The allies from the Portuguese frontier were marching upon the capital, and the court having fled, they entered Madrid on the 25th of June. Here they wasted their time, instead of marching after the Duke of Berwick, who had been joined by Philip. In the same way Charles lingered at Barcelona when it was no longer in danger. But success still followed the house of Austria. Arragon had imitated Catalonia and Valencia in ac knowledging King Charles. It seemed as if the dominion of Spain was melting away from the house of Bourbon. At this crisis, if one tenth of the energy of Peterborough, and even a smaller portion of the common-sense of Stanhope, could have been infused into the slow and formal Austrian prince, the contest might have been decided. Charles was urged by them to take the road to Madrid through Valencia, whither Peterborough had gone by sea with his men. Charles lingered at first, without showing any inclination to move at all. His equipage was not ready, he said, to enable him to enter the capital with proper state. "Sir," said Stanhope, “our William III. entered London in a hackney, with a cloakbag behind it, and was made king not many weeks after." When Charles did move, he went into Arragon and loitered at Saragossa Peterborough was disgusted that his advice was not followed, and he gave himself up to the same inaction, which appeared a fatality in this summer. When he was sailing to Valencia he wrote a letter to Halifax, “aboard the Somerset," which sufficiently shows his gay temper under the most serious responsibilities: "There cannot be worse company than a beggarly German and a proud Spaniard, particularly to my humor; and were it not for the revenge we seek in the disagreeable men with the agreeable ladies, our condition were intolerable, black eyes and wit in the wives being what alone can make us endure the husbands." But a cloud was to been managed) without magazines, without any place of strength,without bread, or a farthing of money, the communication being cut off with Portugal, the enemy stronger in horse, and almost equal in foot: we lost Madrid like fools, with our army superior in number, without a blow, and such confusion and want of discipline was never known, the troops subsisting upon nothing but rapine. These are the effects of a young prince's giving ear to such wretched creatures who, contrary to such solemn councils of war, and measures so unanimously agreed to, contrary to the protestations of ambassadors and ministers, the repeated instances of generals and all mankind, have lost, perhaps, such an empire to their prince, by carrying him up and down, selling offices, and picking up little sums of money in exchange for Peru and Mexico."* From this time we do not find Peterborough in any of the more important transactions of the war. He returned early in 1707 to Spain as a volunteer; and he offered judicious advice which was rejected. He then received his formal recall to England; rushed about Europe, sometimes on public business and oftener for his private pleasures; seems to have looked with something like contempt upon his military vocation, when he said, “A general is only a hangman in chief ;” † and exhibited the versatility of his talents in dictating to nine amanuenses at once, and in superintending Pope's horticulture at Twickenham. "He whose lightning pierced the Iberian lines, Now forms my quincunx, and now ranks my vines." Peterborough, we have seen, had proposed to go to the relief of Turin. The Duke of Savoy, having been enabled through the sub sidies of England and Holland to expend large sums in preparations surrender of La Feuillade, the French general, who invested the city with an immense army. The successes of the French in the early part of the campaign had been very great; and though Victor Amadeus lost not heart, even when he left Turin with a part of his forces, while the siege was carried on for three months with a fearful loss of life, it appeared very doubtful whether Savoy could be saved. Prince Eugene was beyond the Adige with an army of Imperialists. By a which fitted him to be the colleague of Marlborough, he united his series of movements, in which he displayed that skill and energy the French in their intrenchments, obtained a complete victory, forces with the cavalry of the Duke of Savoy in September ; attacked and finally drove them out of Italy. for the defence of his capital, treated with contempt the summons to The great campaign of Marlborough in 1706, which we shall have to relate in the next chapter, completed a series of triumphs for the War of the Succession. come over even Peterborough's gayety. All that he had accomplished allies, which made this year one of the most memorable of the great was to be thrown away. Whether any energy on the part of Peterborough could have inade effectual resistance against the spirit which was rising up in Spain may be doubted. Charles had done nothing to identify himself with the nation. The majority of the nation felt that foreign invaders had come against them. The Castilians took up the cause of Philip as if it were a national cause. The western provinces were imbued with the same spirit. Charles advanced toward Madrid. Peterborough was ordered to join him. But Berwick, knowing the full value of the enthusiasm which had gone so thoroughly in favor of Philip, compelled the allies to evacuate the capital. Peterborough saw that the game was up; and declared" that all the force of Europe would not be sufficient to subdue Castile." Charles and he met as the one was leading his forces from Saragossa and the other from Valencia. They were unsuited to act in unison. The impetuosity of the one and the frigid obstinacy of the other made them natural antagonists. Peterborough resolving, or affecting to resolve, upon transferring his services to another field, proposed that he should go to the relief of Turin. He was taken at his word. Charles and his advisers were left to their own ruinous course. What Peterborough's feelings were at this juncture may be collected from a letter of singular in CHAPTER CXXXVII. Marlborough's campaign of 1705-His disappointments and anxieties -He forces the French lines-Retreat of the French under Villeroy -New parliament-State of parties-The Regency Bill-Cry of the Church in danger-Marlborough's campaign of 1706 in the Netherlands-The French and Bavarian armies under Villeroy pass the Dyle-The battle of Ramilies-Results of the victory. I NEVER knew the Duke of Marlborough go out so full of hopes as in the beginning of this campaign," says Burnet. He embarked at Harwich on the 31st of March. His ardent expectations were soon cooled by the opposition which the Dutch made to his plans. It was a month before he could get the States to agree to his design of leading the English and Dutch troops to the Moselle, there to co-operate with the forces under Prince Louis of Baden, and, marching from Treves between the Moselle and the Saar, to penetrate into Lorraine and thus carry the war into the French territory. Without waiting for the force of Baden, Marlborough crossed the Moselle and the Saar |