BRITAIN. 



621 



> for 



*, 

 700. 



ich are 

 cen off. 



.paign 

 T10. 



leof 

 pla- 



troops at a time when there were not half that num- 

 ber of British forces in Scotland ; when the fontrcsses 

 were in doubtful hands; and when the equivalent was 

 in Edinburgh castle, then unprovided for defence. 

 Tlir noi them nobility, Gordon, Athol, Errol, Pan- 

 inure, and others, had engaged to take arms ; but the 

 French retired on descrying the English fleet, and 

 the prisons were immediately crowded with suspected 

 persons. Among thJse, were lielhaven and Fletcher, 

 who were conveyed to London ; and the prostrate na- 

 tion was unnecessarily insulted with the spectacle of 

 its nobility, its gentry, and its patriots, led in osten- 

 tatious triumph to the English capital. Belhavcn 

 did not long survive his country's and his own dis- 



frace, but died soon after his release of grief and in- 

 ignation. A few who were remanded for trial to 

 Scotland were acquitted by the justiciary court, in 

 consequence of a list of witnesses having been refused 

 to them ; an acquittal which disappointed and enraged 

 the English ministry, and occasioned their obtaining 

 a bill in the succeeding parliament, for extending the 

 English treason laws to Scotland. 



The triumphs of the Whigs were carried still high- 

 er after the union by the successes of the allies in 

 Germany. In 1 708, the allied and French armies 

 met at Qudenarde, on the Scheldt, where th'e latter 

 were defeated with immense loss ; and Lisle, Ghent, 

 Bruges, and the other strongest towns of Flanders, 

 fell into the hands of the victors. The campaign se- 

 cured the Dutch frontier,' and left France open to in- 

 vasion. 



The French. monarch, long persecuted by fortune, 

 and every hour fearing for his capital, once more pe- 

 titioned for peace. The Tories, some from a par- 

 tiality to France, and others from conceiving the war 

 unnecessary for national advantage, were desirous to 

 put an end to it ; but when conferences were at length 

 begun at Gertruydenburgh, they were conducted 

 under the influence of Marlborough, Eugene, and 

 Linzendorf, all three entirely averse to the treaty. 

 The French ministers were subjected to every species 

 of mortification, their conduct narrowly watched, 

 their master insulted, their letters opened. They 

 offered the utmost concessions to abandon Philip, 

 and even to aid in dethroning him, and to grant the 

 Dutch a large barrier ; but the conference was bro- 

 ken off, and Louis resolved to hazard another cam- 

 paign. 



The first attempt of the allies in the campaign of 

 1710, was on the city ofTournay, strong by art and 

 nature, and garrisoned by 12,000 men, which sur- 

 rendered after a dreadful siege of 21 days. They 

 concluded the campaign by taking possession of 

 Mons after the battle of Malplaquet, in which the 

 French, 120,000 strong, were posted behind the 

 woods of La Merte and Tanieres, in a camp that 

 seemed impregnable with triple entrenchments. On 

 the llth of September, Marlborough led the allies to 

 storm this position, and drove the French at last 

 from it after a dreadful carnage, in which the allies 

 lost npt loss than twenty thousand men. 



But in spite of splendid victories, the influence of 

 Marlburough and the Whigs was declining. The 

 influence of the Duchess of Marlbo, ough, which 

 had long been almost despotic over the queen, was 



inpplanted by aliother favourite, Mrs Masham, whom 

 the duchess herself had raised to favour. Mr Hill, 

 the brother of the new favourite, being appointed by 

 the quern to the command of a regiment, the Duke 

 of Marlborough sent a letter to the queen, desiring 

 she would peunit him to retire from his employments. 

 This was the conjuncture for which the Tories had 

 long wished, and with which the queen herself was 

 secretly pleased ; and she was exhorted by the Tories 

 to set herself free from an arbitrary party, by which 

 she had been long kept in dependence. The Earl of 

 Godolphin, the duke's son-in-law, was divested of hi>; 

 office, and the treasury was submitted to Harley. 

 Lord Somcrs was dismissed from being president of 

 the council, and the Earl of Rochester appointed in 

 his room : not a Whig was left in office, except Marl- 

 borough himself, who retained his employments for 

 some time, the object of envy and reproach. 



The last campaign, however, of this great com- 

 mander, exceeded, if possible, his other exploits. 

 Villars, the French commander, had prepared for the 

 campaign of 1711, by fortifying his lines from 15ou- 

 chaiii, on the Scheldt, along the Sanset and the 

 Scarpe, so strongly, that he pronounced them im- 

 pregnable, and called them the nc jilus ultra of Marl- 

 borough. Marlborough, however, crossed them with- 

 out the loss of a man, by making a dextrous feint of 

 attacking them in one quarter, and suddenly march- 

 ing to surprise them in another. After taking pos- 

 session of the enemy's lines, he besieged Bouchain, 

 and obliged the garrison to surrender prisoners of 

 war. This was Marlborough' s last exploit : He 

 had never fought a battle which he did not win, nor 

 laid siege to a place which he did not take. By his 

 final campaign, he left the allies in possession of the 

 Maese almost as far as the Sambre, of the Scheldt 

 from Tournay, and of the Lys as far as it is navi- 

 gable. They had reduced Spanish Guelderland, 

 Limbourg, Brabant, Flanders, and the greatet part 

 of Hainault, and had opened a way into the very 

 heart of France. The duke returned to England, 

 after humbling her proudest enemy, to receive in his 

 own person every indignity that party-spirit and in- 

 gratitude could attach to him. He was accused of 

 having taken a bribe from a Jew, who contracted to 

 furnish the army with bread ; and with having appro- 

 priated 2{- per cent, from the pay of the foreign 

 troops. The present from the Jew was a customary 

 perquisite, and the per centage had been granted by 

 an express warrant from the queen. The money had 

 been expended in procuring private intelligence for 

 the army ; and the value of the intelligence which 

 the duke had always procured, may be best estima- 

 ted by his successes. H was, however, dismissed 

 from his employments. 



On his removal, the command of the English ar- 

 my on the continent was given to the Duke of Or- 

 mond, who had private orders not to act with vigour 

 against the enemy : a caution scarcely necessary to a 

 general, who was every way unqualified to follow up 

 the career of Marlborough ; and which leaves us at a 

 loss, whether most to admire the meanness or the in- 

 consistency of a cabinet, who durst not at once con- 

 clude a peace till they had made the war disgraceful. 

 The defection of the British troops was severely felt 



Britiiii,. 

 v 



17 in. 



Tht Torici 

 come into 

 office. 



Campaign 

 of 1711, 



Duke of 

 Marlbo- 

 rough dis- 

 missed. 



The com- 

 mand of 

 the army 

 given to 

 the Duke 

 of Ormond. 



