dom and European independence. Influenced by these considerations, Marlborough withheld his intended resignation. The Duchess of Somerset was made mistress of the robes, and Mrs. Masham obtained the confidential situation of keeper of the privy purse. Malignity, now sure of impunity, heaped up invectives on the falling hero. His integrity was calumniated, his courage even was questioned, and the most consummate general of that, or perhaps any other age, was represented as the lowest of mankind.* It soon appeared how unfounded had been the aspersions cast upon the duchess, as well as the duke, for their conduct in office. Her accounts, after being rigidly scrutinized, were returned to her without any objection being stated against them; and Marlborough, anxious to quit that scene of ingratitude and intrigue for the real theater of his glory, soon after set out for the army in Flanders.† He arrived at the Hague on the 4th of March; and, although no longer possessing the confidence of government, or intrusted with any control over diplo- condition of matic measures, he immediately set himself with the utmost vigor to prepare for military operations. Countries. Great efforts had been made by both parties, during the winter, for the resumption of hostilities on even a more extended scale than in the preceding campaign. Marlborough found the army in the Low Countries extremely efficient and powerful; diversions were promised on the side both of Spain and Piedmont; and a treaty had been concluded with the Spanish malcontents, in consequence of which a large part of the Imperial forces were rendered disposable, and Prince Eugene was preparing to lead them into the Low Countries. But, in the midst of these flattering prospects, an event occurred which suddenly deranged them all, postponed for above a month the opening of the campaign, and, in its final result, changed the fate of Europe.

25.

Prosperous

the army in the Low

This was the death, by the small-pox, of the Emperor Jo*SMOLLET, c. x., § 20.

+ Marlborough to the Duchess, 24th of May, 1711. COXE, v., 417-431.

26.

Death of the

Emperor Jo

VI. as emper

seph, which happened at Vienna on the 16th of April: an event which was immediately followed seph, and election of Charles by Charles, king of Spain, declaring himself a canor, 16th April. didate for the Imperial throne. As his pretensions required to be supported by a powerful demonstration of troops, the march of a large part of Eugene's men to the Netherlands was immediately stopped, and that prince himself was hastily recalled from Mentz, to take the command at Ratisbon, as marshal of the forces of the empire. Charles was soon after elected emperor. Thus Marlborough was left to commence the campaign alone, which was the more to be regretted, as the preparations of Louis, during the winter, for the defense of his dominions, had been made on the most extensive scale, and Marshal Villars's lines had come to be regarded as the ne plus ultra of field fortification. Yet were Marlborough's forces most formidable; for, when reviewed at Orchies on the 30th of April, between Lille and Douay, they were found, in cluding Eugene's troops which had come up, to amount to one hundred and eighty-four battalions and three hundred and six ty-four squadrons, mustering above one hundred thousand combatants. But forty-one battalions and forty squadrons were in garrison, which reduced the effective force in the field to eighty thousand men.

27.

Great lines

The great object of Louis and his generals had been to construct such a line of defenses as might prevent the constructed irruption of the enemy into the French territory, by Villars. now that the interior and last line of fortresses was so nearly broken through. In pursuance of this design, Villars had, with the aid of all the most experienced engineers in France, and at a vast expense of labor and money, constructed during the winter a series of lines and field-works, exceeding any thing yet seen in modern Europe in magnitude and strength, and to which the still more famous works of Torres Vedras have alone, in subsequent times, afforded a parallel. The for

* Eugene to Marlborough, 23d of April, 1710; Marlborough to St. John, 29th of April, 1710. CoXE, vi., 16. Disp., v., 319.

tifications extended from Namur on the Meuse, by a sort of irregular line, to the coast of Picardy. Running first along the marshy line of the Canche, they rested on the forts of Montreuil, Hesdin, and Trevant; while the great fortresses of Ypres, Calais, Gravelines, and St. Omer, lying in their front, and still in the hands of the French, rendered any attempt to approach them both difficult and hazardous. Along the whole of this immense line, extending over so great a variety of ground, for above forty miles, every effort had been made, by joining the resources of art to the defenses of nature, to reder the position impregnable. The lines were not continuous, as in many places the ground was so rugged, or the obstacles of rocks, precipices, and ravines were so formidable, that it was evidently impossible to overcome them; but, wherever a passage was practicable, the approaches to it were protected in the most imposing manner. If a streamlet ran along the lino, it was carefully dammed up, so as to become impassable. Every morass was deepened, by stopping up its drains, or letting in the water of the larger rivers by artificial canals; redoubts were placed on the heights, so as to enfilade the plains between them; while in the open country, where no advantage of ground was to be met with, field-works were erected, armed with abundance of heavy cannon. To man these formidable lines, Villars had under his command one hundred and fifty-six battalions and two hundred and twenty-seven squadrons in the field, numbering seventy thousand infantry and twenty thousand horse. He had ninety field guns and twelve howitzers. There were, besides, thirty-five battalions and eighty squadrons detached or in the forts; and, as Eugene soon took away twelve battalions and fifty squadrons from tho allied army, the forces on the opposite sides, when they came to blows, were very nearly equal.*

20.

Marlborough took the field on the 1st of May with eighty thousand men; and his whole force was soon group- Plan of the ed in and around Douay. The head-quarters of campaign.

*LEDIARD, ii., 426. CoxE, vi., 21, 22.

Villars were at Cambray; but, seeing the forces of his adversary thus accumulated at one point, he made a corresponding concentration, and arranged his whole disposable forces between Bouchain on the right, and Monchy le Preux on the left. The position of the French marshal, which extended in a concave semicircle, with the fortresses covering either flank, he considered, and with reason, as beyond the reach of attack. The English general was meditating a great enterprise, which should at once deprive the enemy of all his defenses, and reduce him to the necessity of fighting a decisive battle, or losing his last frontier fortresses. But he was overwhelmed with gloomy anticipations; he felt his strength sinking under his incessant and protracted fatigues, and knew well he was serving a party who, envious of his fame, were only ready to deery his achievements.* He lay, accordingly, for three weeks, waiting for his illustrious colleague, Prince Eugene, who arrived on the 23d of May, in time to engage in a great celebration of the anniversary of the victory at Ramillies, which had taken place on that day.

29.

Fatal separation of Eugene with his

troops from Marlborough, 13th June.

But their de

The plans of the allied generals were soon formed; and, taking advantage of the enthusiasm excited by that commemoration, and the arrival of so illustrious a warrior, preparations were made for the immediate commencement of active operations. On the 28th, the two generals reviewed the whole army. signs were soon interrupted by an event which changed the whole fortune of the campaign. Early in June, Eugene re ceived positive orders to march to Germany, with a considerable part of his troops, to oppose a French force which was moving toward the Rhine to influence the approaching elec

* "I see my Lord Rochester has gone where we all must follow. I believe my journey will be hastened by the many vexations I meet with. I am sure I wish well to my country, and if I could do good, I should think no pains too great; but I find myself decay so very fast, that from my heart and soul I wish the queen and my country a peace by which I might have the advantage of enjoying a little quiet, which is my greatest ambition."— Marlborough to the Duchess, 25th of May, 1711 COXE, vi., 28.

tion of the emperor.

30. Villars avoids a battle by or.

ders of Louis.

On the 13th of June, Eugene and Marlborough separated, for the last time, with the deepest expressions of regret on both sides, and with gloomy forebodings of the future. The former marched toward the Rhine with twelve battalions and fifty squadrons, while Marlborough's whole remaining force moved to the right in six divisions.* Though Villars was relieved by the departure of Eugene from a considerable part of the force opposed to him, and he naturally felt desirous of now measuring his strength with his great antagonist in a decisive affair, yet he was restrained from hazarding a general engagement. Louis, trusting to the progress of the Tory intrigues in England, and daily expecting to see Marlborough and the war party overthrown, sent him positive orders not to fight; and soon after detached twenty-five battalions and forty squadrons, in two divisions, to the Upper Rhine, to watch the movements of Eugene. Villars encouraged this separation, representing that the strength of his position was such that he could afford to send a third detachment to the Upper Rhine, if it was thought proper. Marlborough, therefore, in vain of fered battle, and drew up his army in the plain of Lens for that purpose. Villars cautiously remained on the defensive; and, though he threw eighteen bridges over the Scarpe, and made a show of intending to fight, he cautiously abstained from any steps which might bring on a general battle.† It was not without good reason that Louis thus enjoined his lieutenant to avoid compromising his army. The progress of the negotiations with England gave him the fairest ground for believing that he would obtain nearly all he desired, from the favor with which he was regarded by the British cabinet, without running any risk. He had commenced a separate negotiation with the court of St. James, which had been favorably received; and Mr. Secretary St. John had already transmitted to Lord Raby, the new plenipotentiary at the.

* Marlborough to St. John, 14th of June, 1711. Disp., v., 428. COXE, vi., 29, 30. + VILLARS'S Mem., tom. ii., ann. 1711

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