iHE BRITISH ARMY ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 
149 
William III. immediately proceeded to use the army which he had 
got for tho preservation of the balance of power against Louis XIV., 
and when you consider that the income of Euglaud at that period was 
some eleven millions, and when you consider the small population, 
which was some six millions, and the fact that Ireland was in open 
rebellion, and that Scotland might bo largely discounted, I think, 
gentlemen, you will agree that tho action of England in tho Nine 
Years’ War, from 1688 to 1697, was very highly distinguished. It 
preserved its own shores invulnerable, and yet found resources to enable 
it to play a leading part in the wars in Belgium. I need only mention 
the battles of Steenkirk and Landen and the siege of Namur, the 
result being that Louis XLV.’s policy was defeated and that the 
balance of power was maintained. If the British fought well under 
William III. they did better still under the great Marlborough. I 
believe some of you gentlemen were present last year at the discussion 
when tho Commander-in-Chief set forth his views with regard to the 
admirable tactics and strategy of Marlborough, and I quite admit all 
that can be said in praise of Marlborough. But I want to direct your 
attention to the British soldier and tho martial energy of the British 
race as well as to tho great ability of this particular General. 
Having regard to the means of communication and, having regard 
to the fact that the sea had to be crossed, it is a very remarkable thing 
indeed to find British troops moving through Holland, up the Rhine, 
across the Neckar and on to the Danube, between Ulm and Ingoldstadt 
in 1704. If the British soldiers could do that, thus preserving 
the balance of power with their comparatively small resources as 
compared with the resources of continental States, I have never 
been able to make out why they could not hold their own at present, hav¬ 
ing regard to the existing resources of tho British Empire 1 as compared 
with those of foreign States. But not only did the British fight all 
these battles: the battle of Blenheim, the battle of Ramillies, 
Ordenardo and Malplaquet, and take part in the great; sieges]in 
Belgium, but in Spain also they maintained armies and they entered 
Madrid twice. 
Macaulay eloquently describes the action of Peterborough at Barcelona 
and the capture of Gibraltar. The British have since^clung to the 
rock ; which guards tho entrance to the Mediterranean in spite of all 
attempts to retake it. 1 have here a quotation from a Spanish paper 
published in this month’s journal of the United Service Institute upon 
this very point, the enormous value of Gibraltar to Britain. The other 
principal Generals in Spain were Galway and Stanhope. 
The battle of Almanza in which, through the fault of our allies, the 
British were defeated, is a curious example of the state of things that 
then prevailed. Some of the best soldiers of each power were exiles 
from the hostile power. The leader of the British army at Almanza in 
1707 was a French protestant called De Ruvigny (Lord Galway) ; the 
leader of the French army was Berwick, an illegitimate son of James 
1 See Appendix, 
