on the Upper Rhine, and in the Low Countries, had become involved in serious hostilities in Hungary; and they felt the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of maintaining the contest at once in so many different quarters. The cross-march of Marlborough from the Moselle to Flanders, however loudly called for by the danger and necessities of the States, had been viewed with a jealous eye by the emperor, as tending to lead the war away from the side of Lorraine, with which the German interests were wound up; and his demands were loud and frequent, now that the interests of the Dutch were sufficiently provided for, that the duke should return with the English contingent to this, the proper theater of offensive operations. But Marlborough's experience had taught him that as little reliance was to be placed on the co-operation of the Margrave of Baden, and the lesser German powers, as on that of the Dutch; and he felt that it was altogether in vain to attempt another campaign, either in Germany or Flanders, unless some more effectual measures were taken to appease the jealousies, and secure the co-operation of this discordant alliance, than had hitherto been adopted. With this view, after having arranged matters to his satisfaction at the Hague, and after Slangenberg had been removed from the command, he repaired to Vienna in November, and thence soon after to Berlin.

29.

Extraordina

them at Vi

Marlborough's extraordinary address and powers of persua sion did not desert him on this critical occasion. Never was more strongly exemplified the truth of ry success of Marlborough Chesterfield's remark, that manner had as much in appeasing weight as matter in procuring him success, and enna. that he was elevated to greatness as much on the wings of the Graces as by the strength of Minerva. Great as were the difficulties which attended the holding together the grand alliance, they all yielded to the magic of his name and the fascination of his manner. At Bernsberg he succeeded in obtaining from the elector a promise for the increase of his contingent, and leave for sending it into Italy, where its co-operation was

required; at Frankfort he overcame, by persuasion and ad dress, the difficulties of the Margrave of Baden; and at Vienna he was magnificently received, and soon acquired unbounded credit with the emperor. Besides being raised to the rank of a prince of the empire, with the most flattering assurances of esteem, he was fêted by the nobles, who vied with each other in demonstrations of respect to the illustrious conqueror of Blenheim. During his short sojourn of a fortnight there, he succeeded in allaying the suspicions and quieting the apprehensions of the emperor, which no other man could have done; and, having arranged the plan of the next campaign, and raised, on his own credit, a loan from the bankers, for the Imperial court, of 100,000 crowns, as well as the promise of another of £250,000, which he afterward obtained in London, he set out for Berlin, where his presence was not less necessary to stimulate the exertions and appease the complaints of the King of Prussia.

And at Ber

over.

He arrived there on the 30th of November, and on the 30. same evening had an audience of the king, to whose lin and Han- strange and capricious temper he so completely accommodated himself, that he allayed all his discontents, and brought him over completely to his views. He prevailed on him to renew the treaty for the furnishing of eight thousand men to aid the common cause, and to repair the chasms in their ranks produced by the campaign, as well as to revoke the orders which had been issued for the return of the troops from Italy, where their removal would have proved of essential detriment. This concession, in the words of the prime minister who announced it, was granted "as a mark of respect to the queen, and of particular friendship to the duke." From Berlin he proceeded, loaded with honors and presents, to Hanover, where jealousies of a different kind, but not less dangerous, had arisen in consequence of the apprehensions there entertained that the Whigs were endeavoring to thwart the eventual succession of the house of Hanover to the throne of England. Here also Marlborough's addross

succeeded in overcoming all difficulties; and, after a sojourn of only a few days, he departed in the highest favor both with the elector and his mother. From thence he hastened to the Hague, where he remained a fortnight, and succeeded in a great degree in removing those difficulties, and smoothing down those jealousies, which had proved so injurious to the common cause in the preceding campaign. He prevailed on the Dutch to reject the separate offers of accommodation which had been made them by the French government. Having thus put all things on as favorable a footing as could be hoped for on the Continent, he embarked for England in the beginning of January, 1706, having overcome greater difficulties and obtained greater advantages in the course of this winter campaign, and with divided allies, than he ever did during a summer campaign with the enemy.

31.

Similarity

between his

present situa

of Wellington

Every one, however cursorily he may be acquainted with Wellington's campaigns, must be struck with the great similarity between the difficulties which thus beset the Duke of Marlborough in the earlier pe- tion and that riods of his career, and those which at a subsequent in his early period so long hampered the genius and thwarted campaigns. the efforts of England's greatest general. Slangenberg's jealousy was an exact counterpart of that of Cuesta at Talavera; the timidity of the Dutch authorities was precisely similar to that of the Portuguese regency; the difficulty of appeasing the jealousy of Austria and Prussia, identical with that which so often compelled Wellington to hurry from the field to Lisbon and Cadiz. . Such is the selfishness of human nature, that it seems impossible to get men, actuated by different interests, to concur in any measures for the general good but under the pressure of immediate danger so threatening as to be obvious to every understanding, or by the influence of ability and address of the very highest order. It is this which in every age has caused the weakness of the best-cemented confederacies, and so often enabled single powers, not possessing a fourth part of their material resources, to triumph over them; and

it is in the power of overcoming these difficulties and jealousies that one of the most important qualities of the general of an alliance is to be found.

Marlborough sailed for the Continent, to take the command of the armies in the Low Countries, on the 20th

32.

Universal backwardness of the allies in the commence

of April, 1706. His design was to have transferred the seat of war into Italy, as affairs had bement of 1706. come so unpromising in that quarter as to be wellnigh desperate. The Imperialists had been surprised by the French general Vendôme, in their quarters near Como, and driven into the mountains behind that town with the loss of three thousand men, so that all hold of the plain of Lombardy was lost. The Duke of Savoy was even threatened with a siege in his capital of Turin. The Margrave of Baden was displaying his usual factious and impracticable disposition on the Upper Rhine: it seemed, in Marlborough's words, "as if he had no other object in view but to cover his own capital and residence." In Flanders, the habitual procrastination and tardiness of the Dutch had so thrown back the preparations, that it was impossible to begin the campaign so early as he had intended; and the jealousies of the cabinets of Berlin and Copenhagen had again revived to such a degree, that no aid was to be expected either from the Prussian or Danish contingents. It was chiefly to get beyond the reach of such troublesome and inconstant neighbors that Marlborough was so desirous of transferring the seat of war to Italy. But all his efforts to induce the States General to allow any part of their troops to be employed to the south of the Alps were unavailing; nor, indeed, could it reasonably have been expected that they would consent to hazard their forces in an expedition to so distant a quarter, not immediately connected with their interests. The resentment of the Elector of Hanover at the conduct of Queen Anne had become so excessive, that he positively refused to let his contingent march. The Danes and Hessians excused themselves on various pretenses from moving their troops to the south; and the emperor, instead