made a successful irruption into Germany. In the Low Countries nothing was done; the allies indeed sustained no loss, for Marlborough was there, and his presence took away from the French all appetite for enterprize, though they were under so skilful a commander as the Duke de Vendôme. But the Dutch had relapsed into their old, jealous, narrow, hesitating policy. Marlborough was fully equal in effective force to the enemy, and possessed a prodigious superiority in the fear which his very name struck into them. Knowing this, and knowing that the French general knew it also, he hoped to do some considerable service; and flattered himself that the enemy, encouraged by the notorious timidity of the States, would grow insolent, and give him an opportunity of bringing them to battle. But the Dutch always prevented him from seeking or seizing the opportunity for success. They were satisfied with what had been done; they, said he, will never more this war venture any thing that may be decisive, being of opinion that they have already enough in their possession for their security, and that France will assist them in disposing of this possession as they shall think best. Six weeks he was detained in the camp of Meldert by their miserable deputies, who, however, had grace enough to acknowledge their error when, having at last allowed him to march on Genappe, the French immediately made what Marlborough calls a shameful retreat, shewing thereby plainly to both armies that they would not venture to fight. A succession of heavy rains then came on, and delayed him when he was in high hopes of retrieving the time which had been wasted, and the campaign ended without a blow being struck in this quarter. The French historians, not contented with extolling Vendôme for having suffered no loss, (which was no inconsiderable praise for a man who had been opposed to such an antagonist,) represent Marlborough as having used every means to bring him to action, and being constantly baffled by his consummate skill: and as if this falsehood were not sufficient, they affirm that the whole English nation and the parliament blamed his conduct.

The conduct of the States at this time had so incensed not the whigs alone, who never regarded any thing with moderation, but even the calm and temperate Godolphin, that it was proposed in the British cabinet to form a union with the rest of the allies for the purpose of deterring the Dutch from tampering with France. This was prevented by Marlborough. It was one of the merits of that incomparable Englishman that, however much he might suffer individually in feelings and in popular reputation, he never, under any impulse of chagrin or resentment, lost sight of the great object of the alliance, and the general good. He therefore conti

nually

nually laboured to conciliate the allies towards each other, and all to England, and England to each and all; while in his confidential correspondence with Godolphin, it appears how clearly he saw, and how deeply he felt, the mispolicy of one kind or other which prevailed in all their councils. No reasoning or success,' he said, 'could prevail with the States to think any thing reasonable but what tended to their own particular interest.' Godolphin said that the emperor's behaviour had been so unaccountable, as to put the rest of the allies under the same difficulties as if he had acted by directions from Versailles, and Marlborough acknowledged to his friend that he was weary of serving, because every country with which they had to deal, acted so contrary to the public good. In the army,' says he,-I must do them right,—there is all the desire imaginable to venture their lives for the public good; but all other sorts of people on this side of the water are so very wise, that I am afraid at last they will bring us to a bad peace. For myself, I am old, and shall not live to see the misfortunes that must happen in Christendom, if the French be suffered to get the better of this war.'

But there were greater embarrassments than these his consummate ability, both as a negociator and a general, and the deserved respect in which he was held upon the continent by foes and friends, counterbalanced all disadvantages there; the obstacles which no prudence, no desert could overcome, were at home, where he suffered alike from the imprudence of his friends and the treachery of his enemies. The Queen had not forgiven the whigs for the manner in which they had forced Sunderland into office; and the whigs had not learnt moderation. A struggle arose between the crown and the ministers concerning the disposal of church preferment. Godolphin and Marlborough would have conceded all they could to the inclinations, and even to the weakness and prejudice of their sovereign, and thus, by yielding, have in the end strengthened their influence. But their colleagues in office were uncompromising, overbearing men. Sunderland perpetually appealed to his mother-in-law, the duchess, and neither her husband nor Godolphin could allay the irritation which he excited. The Lord Treasurer and the Commander in Chief became, as before, objects of jealousy to the whigs, because, while they attempted to overcome the Queen's objections on the one hand, they deprecated the indecent violence of these persons on the other. I am out of heart,' says Marlborough, and wonder at the courage of the Lord Treasurer; for were I used (as I do not doubt but I shall) as he is by the whigs, who threaten to abandon him whenever the Queen does not do what they like, I would not continue in business for all this world

could

could give me; and I believe they would be the first that would have reason to repent.' As far as regarded the great objects of foreign policy, the whigs acted well; but in domestic concerns, they were not less indiscreet than intemperate, and sometimes indeed they betrayed a want of principle as well as of discretion. For the sake of intimidating the Queen they made advances to the violent tories, and for a time co-operated with them in parliament, at the risk of breaking up the whole system of policy, foreign and domestic.

It was Marlborough's fortune to experience the truth of his own observation, that a great many who can do no good have it always in their power to do hurt. The Duchess had placed about the person of the Queen one of her distant relations, the daughter of a merchant who had been reduced to poverty; she had saved the family from want, obtained places and establishments for all the children, and took this Abigail Hill from service in the family of Lady Rivers, to make her one of the bed-chamber women. This woman, afterwards so conspicuous in the history of Queen Anne's reign by the name of Mrs. Masham, did for Louis XIV. what all his generals and armies, all his power, and all his policy could not have done: by her means, the counsels of Godolphin and the victories of Marlborough were frustrated, and France, at a moment when she must otherwise have received the law of peace from England, was enabled to dictate it to Europe. It was at this time that her influence was first discovered. Abigail, by the father's side, stood in precisely the same degree of affinity to Harley as by the mother's to the Duchess; he had neglected her and her family when they were in distress, but he acknowledged the relationship when he perceived that by means of this instrument he could establish a secret influence with the Queen. History cannot be perused without some feeling of humiliation for our country and our kind, when it cannot be understood without developing such pitiful intrigues as these. The violence of Sunderland, Halifax and Somers, and the extreme imprudence with which the Duchess espoused their cause, assailing her royal mistress with perpetual solicitations, and wearying, and even worrying her with reproaches for her diminished friendship and alienated confidence, disposed Anne to commit herself to the guidance of this bed-chamber woman, who possessed just talent enough to direct her inclinations by always appearing to assent to them, and of Harley, who flattered her weakness, strengthened all her prejudices, confirmed her in her antipathies, and succeeded in making her as complete a dissembler as himself. The cause of her pertinacious resistance to every promotion which could strengthen the whigs, or satisfy them, and this VOL. XXIII. NO. XLV.

D

not

not only to the rash solicitations of the Duchess, but to Godolphin and Marlborough when they represented the impossibility of carrying on the public business against open enemies and discontented friends, was explained, when it was ascertained that Harley held midnight conferences with her, to which he was admitted by Mrs. Masham's means. But when Marlborough, whose letters to the Queen breathed always the genuine spirit of respectful and affectionate loyalty, hinted at those secret counsels by which her Majesty was estranged from her old tried servants, the Queen denied the existence of any such counsels with such protestations of sincerity and such solemnity of falsehood, as must stamp her memory with disgrace.

Harley indeed, to whose tuition she had committed herself, was a man of matchless insincerity. Even Dr. Somerville, the ablest apologist of the tories of that reign, declares with an honourable feeling of an historian's highest duties, that the part which Harley acted, exhibits a scene of dissimulation and duplicity, for which neither his sympathy with the sovereign, nor the unjustifiable conduct of the junta to her, nor the goodness of the end which he had in view, supposing that to be admitted, can afford any apology.' Marlborough and Godolphin were long before they would believe the treachery of a man whom they had so essentially served and so entirely trusted; and Sunderland reproached them with this. But it is no dishonour to have been deceived by solemn asseverations and consummate falsehood. The facts however at length were established beyond all possibility of further doubt. The thorough-paced dissembler still persisted in denying them, and addressed a letter to Godolphin full of professions of innocence and zeal for his service. Godolphin replied in these words, I have received your letter, and am very sorry for what has happened, to lose the good opinion I had so much inclination to have of you. But I cannot help seeing, nor believing my senses. I am very far from having deserved it of you. God forgive you!' The discovery of a treasonable correspondence which one of Harley's clerks carried on with France, and by which means the intended expedition against Toulon had been revealed, enabled the ministers to demand his dismissal; for though the clerk at the time of his execution fully exculpated Harley of any participation in the treason, it was plain that he had been guilty of culpable negligence in leaving papers of the highest importance and secrecy open to the common clerks in his office. Still the Queen would have retained him in office, even though Godolphin and Marlborough tended their resignation as the alternative. Godolphin's tender she received with unconcern, but she was much affected at Marlborough's; her personal regard

for

for a man as amiable as he was great was not yet extinguished, and the sense of his splendid actions was before her. She entreated him not to leave her service, but his resolution was made to stand or fall with Godolphin; and when that was not to be shaken, the Queen remained obstinate in her purpose. The cabinet council assembled, and Harley would have proceeded to business without the two heads of the administration. He was interrupted by the Duke of Somerset, who, while the members were looking at each other with surprize and uneasiness, rose and said, I do not see how we can deliberate when the Commander in Chief and the Lord Treasurer are absent. This broke up the council, the Queen withdrew with evident emotions of anger and disappointment; but she felt that a minister could not be constituted by mere favour, and sending for Marlborough the next day, informed him that Harley should retire. Perhaps from that day her hatred to Marlborough may be dated.

In the spring of the ensuing year, 1708, an attempt at invasion was made, upon which great hopes had been founded by the French. The ministers were aware of this danger, and had provided against it. They blockaded Dunkirk, and when the French squadron, with the Pretender on board, taking advantage of a gale which enabled them to escape out of port, sailed for Scotland, and reached the frith of Forth, they found the English ships were there before them. An attempt to land at Inverness was baffled by the winds, and thus the troops which had been brought from the continent were left again disposable for foreign service, As soon as the danger was averted, Marlborough recrossed the sea, and arranged the plan of the campaign at the Hague with Eugene and the Pensionary Heinsius. It was agreed that one army should be formed on the Moselle under the Prince, another under Marlborough in the Netherlands, and that the ostensible project should be, an invasion on the side of Lorraine, but that the two armies should unite by a rapid march in the Netherlands and endeavour to give battle to the enemy before they could receive the reinforcements drawn from distant quarters. Before this could be effected, there were difficulties to overcome with the German princes, and with the Elector of Hanover, who now commanded the imperial troops; and this occasioned so many delays, that Marlborough began to fear his measures would be in a great degree broken. See,' said he, the great advantage the King of France has over the allies, since we depend upon the humours of several princes, and he has nothing but his own will and pleasure! And in another letter he says, the slowness of the Germans is such, that we must be always disappointed.' More than a month was lost by these vexatious impediments;

D 2

and