the best.' Marlborough was of so sensitive a nature that he felt the breath of censure keenly, and the villains who slandered him with such persevering malice wounded his peace. The greater therefore is his merit for the undeviating magnanimity of his conduct as a general, for never having in any instance forborne to act according to his judgment from the fear of failure; and when his measures were frustrated by the misconduct and treachery of those with whom he acted, for having endured reproach without uttering a word in his vindication which could possibly have injured the public cause.

This expedition was successful. By the celerity of his movements he arrived just in time to prevent the enemy from pre-occupying Treves; and having settled the distribution of winter-quarters in its vicinity, and taken steps for reducing Traerbach, measures which he said would give France as much uneasiness as any thing that had been done that summer, he reckoned the campaign well over. He stood in need of rest. His attacks of fever and head-ache were so frequent, that had he been an idle man he would have been pitied as a confirmed valetudinarian. After the action at Blenheim, where he was seventeen hours on horseback, he was obliged to be bled, when he had no time to be sick;' and during the subsequent operations, when he had not an hour's quiet, his state of body was such that he said, if he were in London, he should be in his bed in a high fever. The fatigue and anxiety of three months had made him in his own feeling and appearance ten years older, and he was so emaciated that he apprehended nothing but extreme care and good nursing during the winter could save him from consumption. But the cares of the whole confederacy were laid on him. At this time affairs in Italy bore the worst aspect; on that side every thing must have been lost without a prompt reinforcement of troops; the only power who could supply them was Prussia; and the Duke of Savoy, the emperor and the king of the Romans, whose admiration for the great Englishman amounted almost to a feeling like friendship, knew that Marlborough's personal representations to the King of Prussia might succeed, when every other mode of negociation would surely fail. In the worst season of the year therefore, Marlborough undertook this fatiguing journey of eight hundred miles, less, as he himself said, from any hope of success, than that he might not be reproached for leaving any thing undone. He was however successful, and the force thus obtained was the means of saving the Duke of Savoy from being totally overpowered. On his way back he met the welcome tidings that Landau and Traerbach had surrendered; and he then returned to England to reap

the

the well deserved reward of public applause, and to counteract the machinations of what he properly called a villainous faction.

Such was the effrontery of that faction, that in the House of Commons as much praise was bestowed upon a naval action so ill-fought, or so ill-followed, that both parties claimed the victory, as upon the battle of Blenheim, and a campaign arduous and glorious beyond all former example. Amends were made for this injustice in the Upper House, where the naval action was passed over in silence; and Marlborough now received those marks of honour which he had so well deserved. He was thanked by both Houses of Parliament. The trophies of the victory were paraded from the Tower to Westminster Hall, and through the Green Park, that the Queen, from one of the palace windows, might behold them. England had seen no such triumph since the defeat of the Armada. The City gave the victorious general a splendid entertainment: the Commons presented an address soliciting that means might be taken for perpetuating the memory of his services; the crown-lands at Woodstock were conveyed to him and his heirs, and orders were given to erect a palace there at the royal expense, to be called the Castle of Blenheim.

6

On the last day of March Marlborough again embarked for the continent. At the Hague he found, as usual, want of order, want of vigour, want of unanimity, want of resolution, want of authority, all the vices, absurdities and evils which are inherent in a feeble and many-headed government. Harassed and fretted by the perpetual opposition which he endured from the half or whole traitors of the hostile party, he says to the Duke of Savoy, like a sick body that turns from one part of the bed to the other, I would fain be gone hence, in hopes to find more quiet in the army; God only knows what ease I may have when I come there!' This fore feeling was lamentably justified by the event. The death of Leopold, and the consequent succession of the king of the Romans, made no favourable alteration in the wretched system of the Austrian court, notwithstanding the personal good will of the new emperor toward Marlborough, and his good intentions. That court still continued poor in resources, and poorer still in statesmen. Its main efforts were directed toward the subjugation of the Hungarians, whom a wiser and juster policy would have conciliated; and the troops which were sent to the Moselle wanted more than one third of their complement. Not a single draught horse was supplied:-the Emperor, the German Princes and the States, acting for once alike, all disappointed him; and instead of an army of at least 80,000 men, for which the campaign had been planned, he found himself with little more than half the number. Villars was opposed to him with 55,000.

'I do

I do not,' said Marlborough, 'apprehend his venturing a battle; but it will put him in a condition to act in such a manner as may make us want all sorts of provisions, which we ought to be more afraid of than fighting; for our men are in great heart, so that with the blessing of God we might expect good success.-It would be very happy for us if the marshal would venture a battle, for in all likelihood that would put us at ease.' Villars was too wise to do this. He took the position of Sirk, well known in military history by that name, on the right of the Moselle, and arranged his forces so as to protect Luxembourg, Thionville and Saar Louis. The latter places Marlborough would have besieged if the allies had not deceived him. If I had known beforehand,' says he, 'what I must have endured by relying on the people of this country, no reasons should have persuaded me to undertake this campaign. I will, by the help of God, do my best, and then I must submit to what may happen. But it is impossible to be quiet and not complain, when there is all the probability imaginable for a glorious campaign, to see it all put in doubt by the negligence of princes whose interest it is to help us with all they have!'

While the English general was thus crippled by the failure of his allies, the French were enabled to make an effort on the Meuse, where Villeroy got possession of Huy, entered Liege, and besieged the citadel of that great city. The terrified Dutch immediately sent to recall thirty of their battalions from Marlbo→ rough's army. This, with the want of all means for executing his own intentions, made him determine upon marching to the Meuse. The many disappointments which he had endured, he said, made him weary of his life, and I think, he adds, that if it were possible to vex me so for a fortnight longer, it would make an end of me. No part of Marlborough's history has been more misrepresented by the French writers than this. Villars, with a gasconading style, and a disregard to truth which would be dishonourable to any one, and especially to a general of such unquestionable abilities as himself, has doubled in his Memoirs the number of Marlborough's army, asserting, that it contained German auxiliaries of all the provinces, commanded by their princes in person, and that the Margrave of Baden (to whose neglect more than to that of any other person the failure is imputable) was there; he declares that he threw up no entrenchment, insinuates that he repeatedly offered battle, which his antagonist declined, and concludes with a remark to which, Mr. Coxe rightly observes, no language can render justice but his own: ces gens-là ont voulu m'avaler comme un grain de sel. Ils ont fini par nous croire de trop dure digestion. Upon such representations as these, Villars has the credit among French readers of having

foiled Marlborough in this campaign! and even the last historian of these wars, who, writing Marlborough's life by order of Buonaparte, for the instruction of military men, has detailed his campaigns for the most part with remarkable impartiality, adopts in this instance the falsehoods and fanfaronnade of Villars in their full extent. To complete the Duke's vexation, Treves and Saarbruck were abandoned by the allies in mere panic. His private letters at this time are full of the breathings of a wounded spirit. He, says to his wife, Pray press on my house and gardens, for I think I shall never stir from my own home.-It is impossible to serve with any satisfaction, where it is in so many people's power to do mischief.-The Moselle most certainly is the place where we might have done the French most hurt. But I see but too plainly that the jealousy of Prince Louis and the backwardness of the German princes will always hinder us from succeeding there.' What stung him most was the pleasure which the opposition in England felt and openly expressed at his disappointment, saying, that if he had succeeded this year as he had the last, the constitution of England would have been ruined. He did not conceal the pain which this base ingratitude gave him: as I have no other ambition,' he says to Godolphin, but that of serving well her Majesty, and being thought what I am, a good Englishman, this vile enormous faction of theirs vexes me so much, that I hope the Queen will, after this campaign, give me leave to retire, and end my days in praying for her prosperity, and making my own peace with God.'

The campaign however was not yet over, and Marlborough's spirit, when it could make its way into action, always recovered its tone. Huy was presently recovered, the French withdrew from Liege within their formidable lines, and he resumed his plan of forcing them, and bursting into Brabant. Villeroy and the Elector were deceived by his movements, and while they directed their attention to one point, and waited all night in momentary expectation of an attack, he effected his object at another, and with little loss carried the posts of Hespen and Helixem, which, from their strength and distance, had been deemed secure, and therefore almost stript of troops. Upon the first intimation that the blow had been struck, the enemy's generals hastened to the spot, too late to repair the evil; they retreated, therefore, with the utmost speed. To those who congratulated him, Marlborough replied, with a smile which evinced his confidence of succeeding further, all is well, but much is yet to be done.' But the Dutch generals, as usual, interfered, and prevented him from pushing on between the enemy and Louvain, in which case they would not have been able to take refuge behind the Dyle; and Louvain, Brussels and Antwerp would

C 2

would in all likelihood have been open to the conqueror. Blackader saw that an error had been committed, and imputed it to Marlborough, whose fate it was always to be censured for the faults of others. 'This shews us,' he says, 'men are but men, and the weakness and flaws that are in the wisest men's prudence. One day an heroic action, the next a great blunder. But let God have all the glory, and all flesh be grass.' What had been done, however, was of such importance that it raised Marlborough's spirits as well as his pulse, and writing to the Duchess while his 'blood was so hot, that he could scarcely hold the pen,' he told her that his heart was full of joy. The Dutch had been cheated into this action; they did not believe he would make the attack, so much had they exaggerated the strength of the enemy; and their deputies had grace enough in the first warm feelings of success, to acknowledge to him that the lines could not have been forced if he had not been there. Overkirk's army did not come up till the business was over, and this gave the men who had been actually engaged occasion to speak of their general in the heat of action with so much affection, that Marlborough owned the pleasure which it gave him, and said that it made him resolve to endure any thing for their sake. And to the Duchess, who had expressed her uneasiness lest he should expose his person unnecessarily, he says, 'I am now at an age when I find no heat in my blood that gives me temptation to expose myself out of vanity: but as I would deserve and keep the kindness of the army, I would let them see that when I expose them, I would not exempt myself.' Perhaps if there was any error in Marlborough's conduct, it was that he let this feeling sometimes carry him too far: for at this time Harley cautioned him upon that subject. Your friends and servants,' said he, 'cannot be without concern upon your Grace's account,

when we hear how much you expose that precious life of yours

upon all occasions, and that you are not contented to do the part of a great general, but you condescend to take your share as a common soldier.' This very Harley was afterwards base enough to encourage and sanction libellers who insinuated that Marlborough was deficient in personal courage!

The improved disposition of the Dutch generals did not last long. A few weeks afterwards, when he could have brought the French to action nearly upon the ground where, in our own days, the most momentous victory in modern history has been achieved by the British arms,-these wretched Dutchmen again forbade him to engage when he expected a greater victory than Blenheim, and when the enemy was so sure of defeat, that it was afterwards ascertained they would not have ventured to stand their ground.