44. His flattering Parliament, 15th Nov. the thanks of both houses of Parliament were reception from tendered to him for his great and glorious servthe houses of ices. The queen declared, in her speech from the throne, that this campaign had been at least as glorious as any which had preceded it; and the chancellor, in communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, added, "This high eulogium must be looked upon as added to, and standing upon the foundation already laid in the records of this House, for preserving your memory fresh to all future times; so that your grace has also the satisfaction of seeing this everlasting monument of your glory rise every year much higher." Such was the effect produced on both houses by the presence of the duke, and the recollection of his glorious services, that liberal supplies for carrying on the war were granted by them. The Commons voted £6,000,000 for the service of the ensuing year, and on the earnest representation of Marlborough, an addition was made to the military forces. But in the midst of all these flattering appearances, the hand of destruction was already impending over Increasing jeal the British hero. It was mainly caused by the greatness and invaluable nature of his services. Envy, the invariable attendant on exalted merit, had already singled him out as her victim; jealousy, the prevailing weakness of little minds, had prepared his ruin. The queen had become uneasy at the greatness of her subject. There had even been a talk of the Duke of Argyll arresting him in her name, when in command of the army. Anne lent a ready ear to an insinuation of her flatterers, especially Mrs. Masham, that she was inthralled by a single family; that Marlborough was the real sovereign of England, and that the crown was overshadowed by the field-marshal's baton. Godolphin having been violently libeled in a sermon by Dr. Sacheverell, at St. Savior's, Southwark, the doctor was impeached before the House of Lords for the offense. The government of the Tower, usually placed at the disposal of the commander-in-chief, was, to mortify Marlborough, bestowed, without consulting 45. ousies of him at court. him, on Lord Rivers. At length matters came to such a pass, and the ascendency of Mrs. Masham was so evident, while her influence was exercised in so undisguised a manner to humiliate him, that he prepared the draft of a letter of resignation of his commands to her majesty, in which, after enumerating his services, and the abuse which Mrs. Masham continued to heap on him and his relations, he concluded with saying, "I hope your majesty will either dismiss her or myself."* strances with Sunderland and several of the Whig leaders warmly approved of this vigorous step; but Godolphin, who 46. foresaw the total ruin of the ministry and himself His remon in the resignation of the general, had influence the queen. enough to prevent its being sent. Instead of doing so, that nobleman had a long private audience with her majesty on the subject, in which, notwithstanding the warmest professions on her part, and the strong sense she entertained of his great and lasting services, it was not difficult to perceive that a reserve as to future intentions was manifested, which indicated a loss of confidence. Marlborough declared he would be governed in the whole matter by the advice and opinion of his friends, but strongly expressed his own opinion “that all must be undone if this poison continues about the queen."+ Such, however, was the agony of apprehension of Godolphin at the effects of the duke's resignation, that he persuaded him to adopt a middle course, the usual resource of second-rate men in critical circumstances, but generally the most hazardous that can be adopted. This plan was to write a warm remon- ' strance to the queen, but without making Mrs. Masham's removal a condition of his remaining in office. In this letter, after many invectives against Mrs. Masham, and a full enumeration of his grievances, he concludes with these words: "This is only one of many mortifications that I have met * COXE, v., 124-133. + Duchess of Marlborough to Maynwaring, January 18, 1710. COXE, V., 134. with; and as I may not have many opportunities of writing to you, let me beg of your majesty to reflect what your own people and the rest of the world must think, who have been witnesses of the love, zeal, and duty with which I have served you, when they shall see that, after all I have done, it has not been able to protect me against the malice of a bed-chamber woman. But your majesty may be assured that my zeal for you and my country is so great, that in my retirement I shall daily pray for your prosperity, and that those who serve you as faithfully as I have done may never feel the hard return I have met with."* He determines Masham is not removed. These expressions, how just soever in themselves, and natu47. ral in one whose great services had been requited to resign if Mrs. as Marlborough's had been, were not likely to make a favorable impression on the royal mind, and, accordingly, at a private audience which he had soon after of the queen, he was received in the coldest manner.† He retired, in consequence, to Blenheim, determined to resign all his commands unless Mrs. Masham was removed from the royal presence. Matters seemed so near a rupture, that the queen personally applied to several of the Tories, and even Jacobites, who had long kept aloof from court, to support her in opposition to the address expected from both houses of Parliament on the duke's resignation. Godolphin and Somers, however, did their utmost to bend the firm general; and they so far succeeded in opposition to his better judgment, and the decided opinions of the duchess, * Marlborough to Queen Anne, January 19, 1710. "On Wednesday se'nnight I waited upon the queen, in order to represent the mischief of such recommendations in the army, and before I came away I expressed all the concern for her change to me that is natural to a man that has served her so faithfully for many years, which made no impression, nor was her majesty pleased to take so much notice of me as to ask my lord-treasurer where I was upon her missing me at council. I have had several letters from him since I came here, and I can not find that her majesty has ever thought me worth naming; when my lord-treasurer once endeavored to show her the mischief that would happen, she made him no answer but a bow."-Marlborough to Lord Somers, January 21, 1710. as to induce him to continue in office without re 48. But is persuad ed to yield, and is seemingly reconciled to the queen. quiring the removal of Mrs. Masham from court. The queen, delighted at this victory over so formidable an opponent, received him at his next audience in the most flattering manner, and with a degree of apparent regard which she had scarcely ever evinced to him in the days of his highest favor. But in the midst of these deceitful appearances his ruin was secretly resolved on; and in order to accelerate his departure from court, the queen inserted in her reply to the address of the Commons at the close of the session of Parliament, a statement of her resolution to send him immediately to Holland, as I shall always esteem him the chief instrument of my glory and of my people's happiness." He embarked accordingly, and landed at the Brill on the 18th of March, in appearance possessing the same credit and authority as before, but in reality thwarted and opposed by a jealous and ambitious faction at home, which restrained his most important measures, and prevented him from effecting any thing in future on a level with his former glorious achievements. Battle of Pul towa, and The year 1709 was signalized by the decisive victory of the Czar Peter over Charles XII. at Pultowa, 49. who was totally routed and irretrievably ruined by the Muscovite forces, commanded by the Czar in Charles XII. person on that disastrous day. This overthrow was one of overthrow of the most momentous which has occurred in modern times. Not only was a great and dreaded conqueror at once overturned, and, ere long, reduced to captivity, but a new balance of power was established in the north which has never since been shaken. Sweden was reduced to her natural rank as a third-rate power, from which she had been only raised by the extraordinary valor and military talents of a series of warlike sovereigns, who had succeeded in rendering the Scandinavian warriors, like the Macedonians of old, a race of heroes. sia, by the same event, acquired the entire ascendency over the other Baltic powers, and obtained that preponderance Rus which she has ever since maintained in the affairs of Europe. Marlborough sympathized warmly with the misfortunes of the heroic sovereign, for whose genius and gallantry he had conceived the highest admiration. But he was too sagacious not to see that his disasters, like those of Napoleon afterward in the same regions, were entirely the result of his own imprudence, and that, if he had judiciously taken advantage of the terror of his name and the success of his arms in the outset of his invasion, he might have gained all the objects for which he contended without incurring any serious evil.* Peter the Great, who gained this astonishing and decisive Character of of Russia. 50. success, was one of the most remarkable men who Peter the Great ever appeared on the theater of public affairs. He was nothing by halves. For good or for evil he was gigantic. Vigor seems to have been the great characteristic of his mind; but it was often fearfully disfigured by passion, and he was not unfrequently misled by the example of more advanced states. To elevate Russia to an exalted place among nations, and give her the influence which her vast extent and physical resources seemed to put within her reach, was throughout life the great object of his ambition; and he succeeded in it to an extent which naturally acquired for him the unbounded admiration of mankind. His overthrow of the Strelitzes, long the Prætorian guards and terror of the czars of Muscovy, was effected with a vigor and stained by a cruelty similar to that with which Sultan Mahmoud, a century after, destroyed the Janizaries at Constantinople. The sight of a young and despotic sovereign leaving the glittering toys and real enjoyments of royalty to labor in the dock-yards of Saardem with his own hands, and instruct * "If this unfortunate king had been so well advised as to have made peace the beginning of this summer, he might, in a great measure, have influenced the peace between France and the allies, and made other kingdoms happy. I am extremely touched with the misfortunes of this young king. His continued successes, and the contempt he had of his enemies, have been his ruin."—Marlborough to Godolphin, August 26, 1709. Disp., v.. 510. |