The investment was formed on the very day after the lines had been passed, and an important piece of ground occupied, which might have enabled Villars to communicate with the town, and regain the defensible position. On the morning of the 8th of August a bridge was thrown over the Scheldt at Neuville, and sixty squadrons passed over, which barred the road from Douay. Villars, upon this, threw thirty battalions across the Senzet, and made himself master of a hill above, on which he began to erect works, which would have kept open his communications with the town on its southern front. Marlborough at once saw this design, and at first determined to storm the works ere they were completed; and, with this view, General Fagel, with a strong body of troops, was secretly passed over the river. But Villars having heard of the design, attacked the allied posts at Ivry with such vigor, that Marlborough was obliged to countermarch in haste to be at hand to support them. Baffled in this attempt, Marlborough erected a chain of works on the right bank of the Scheldt, from Houdain, through Ivry, to the Sette, near Haspres, while Cadogan strengthened himself with similar works on the left. Villars, however, still retained the fortified position which has been mentioned, and which kept up his communication with the town; and the cutting him off from this was another, and the last, of Marlborough's brilliant field operations.*

were

38. Interesting op

erations on both sides dur

ing its prog

ress.

Notwithstanding all the diligence with which Villars labored to strengthen his men on this important position, he could not equal the activity with which the English general strove to supplant them. During the night of the 13th three redoubts marked out, which would have completed the French marshal's communication with the town; but on the morning of the 14th they were all stormed by a large body of the allied troops before the works could be armed. That very day the allies carried their zigzag down to the very edge of a morass which adjoined Bouchain on the south, so as to command a * Marlborough to Secretary St. John, 10th of August, 1711. Disp., v., 437.

causeway through the marshes from that town to Cambray, which the French still held, communicating with the besieged town. But, to complete the investment, it was necessary to win this causeway; and this last object was gained by Marlborough with equal daring and success. A battery, commanding the road, had been placed by Villars in a redoubt garrisoned by six hundred men, supported by three thousand more close in their rear. Marlborough, with incredible labor and diligence, constructed two roads, made of fascines, through part of the marsh, so as to render it passable to foot soldiers; and, on the night of the 16th, six hundred chosen grenadiers were sent across them to attack the intrenched battery. They rapidly advanced in the dark till the fascine path ended, and then boldly plunging into the marsh, struggled on, with the water often up to their arm-pits, till they reached the foot of the intrenchment, into which they rushed, without firing a shot, with fixed bayonets. So complete was the surprise, that the enemy were driven from their guns with the loss only of six men; the work was carried; and with such diligence were its defenses strengthened, that, before morning, it was in a condition to bid defiance to any attack.*

Fall of Bouchain, Sept.

12.

Villars was now effectually cut off from Bouchain, and the 39. operations of the siege were conducted with the utmost vigor. On the night of the 21st the trenches were opened; three separate attacks were pushed at the same time against the eastern, western, and southern faces of the town, and a huge train of heavy guns and mortars thundered upon the works without intermission. The progress of the operations, notwithstanding a vigorous defense by the besieged, was unusually rapid. As fast as the outworks were breached they were stormed; and repeated attempts on the part of Villars to raise the siege were baffled by the skillful disposition and strong ground taken by Marl

* CoXE, vi., 71-80. Marlborough to Mr. Secretary St. John, 14th, 17th and 20th of August, 1711. Disp, V., 445-450-453.

borough with the covering army. At length, on the 12th of September, as the counterscarp was blown down, the rampart breached, and an assault of the fortress in preparation, the governor agreed to capitulate; and the garrison, still three thousand strong, marched out upon the glacis, laid down their arms, and were conducted prisoners to Tournay.* The two armies then remained in their respective positions, the French under the cannon of Cambray, the allied in the middle of their lines, resting on Bouchain. Marlborough here gave proof of the courtesy of his disposition, as well as of his respect for exalted learning and piety, by planting a detachment of his troops to protect the estates of Fenelon, archbishop of Cambray, and to conduct the grain from thence to the dwelling of the illustrious prelate in the town, which now began to be straitened for provisions.†

40.

Ostensible

for war, and

real secret negotiations

for peace, by 27th Sept.

the ministry,

After the reduction of Bouchain, Marlborough was anxious to commence without delay the siege of Quesnoy, the capture of which would, in that quarter, have preparations entirely broken through the French barrier. He vigorously stimulated his own government accordingly, as well as that at the Hague, to prepare the necessary supplies and magazines, and expressed a sanguine hope that the capture of this last stronghold would be the means of bringing about the grand object of his ambition, a general peace. The ministry, to appearance, went with alacrity into his projects, and every thing seemed to promise another great success, closing the campaign with honor, and probably leading to a glorious and lasting peace. Mr. Secre* Marlborough to Mr. Secretary St. John, 14th of Sept., 1711. Disp., v., 490. COXE, vi., 78-88.

+ Victoires de Marlborough, iii., 22. COXE, vi., 87.

"The siege, so far as it depends on me, shall be pushed with all possible vigor, and I do not altogether despair but that, from the success of this campaign, we may hear of some advances made toward that which we so much desire. And I shall esteem it much the happiest part of my life if I can be instrumental in putting a good end to the war, which grows so burdensome to our country, as well as to our allies."-Marlborough to Lord Oxford, Aug. 20, 1711. COXE, vi., 92.

tary St. John, in particular, wrote in the warmest style of cordiality, approving the project in his own name as well as in that of the queen, and reiterating the assurances that the strongest representations had been made to the Dutch, with a view to their hearty concurrence. But all this was a mere cover to conceal what the Tories had really been doing to overturn Marlborough, and abandon the main objects of the war. Unknown to him, the secret negotiation with the French cabinet, through Torcy and the British ministers, by the agency of Mesnager, had been making rapid progress. No representations about providing supplies were made to the Dutch, who were fully in the secret of the pending negotiation; and on the 27th of September, preliminaries of peace, on the basis of the seven articles proposed by Louis, were signed by Mesnager on the part of France, and by the two English secretaries of state, in virtue of a special warrant from the queen.*

Conditions of

aries which

to.

The conditions of these preliminaries, which were after41. ward imbodied in the Treaty of Utrecht, were the the prelimin. acknowledgment of the queen's title to the throne, were agreed and of the Protestant succession, by Louis; an engagement to take all just and reasonable measures that the crowns of France and Spain should never be united on the same head; the providing a sufficient barrier to the Dutch, the empire, and the house of Austria; and the demolition of Dunkirk, on a proper equivalent. But the crown of Spain was left to the Duke of Anjou, and no provision whatev er was made to exclude a Bourbon prince from succeeding to it. Thus the main object of the contest-the exclusion of the Bourbon family from the throne of Spain-was abandoned; and at the close of the most important, successful, and glorious war ever waged by England, terms were agreed to which left to France advantages which could scarcely have been hoped by the cabinet of Versailles as the fruit of a long series of victories. Marlborough felt deeply chagrined at this clandestine ne

COXE, vi., 93.

42.

Marlborough returns home deeply hurt at this clandes

tine accom

gotiation, which not only deprived him of the main object for which, during his great career, he had been contending, but evinced a duplicity and want of confidence on the part of his own government at modation. its close, which was a melancholy return for such inestimable public services.* But it was of no avail; the secession of England proved, as he had foreseen from the outset, a deathblow to the confederacy. Finding that nothing more was to be done, either at the head of the army or in directing the negotiations, he returned home by the Brille, after putting his army into winter quarters, and landed at Greenwich on the 17th of November. Though well aware of the private envy, as well as political hostility of which he was the object, he did nothing that could lower or compromise his high character and lofty position; but in an interview with the queen, fully expressed his opinion on the impolicy of the course which her ministers were now adopting.† He adopted the same manly course in the noble speech which he made in his place in Parliament, on the debate on the address. Ministers had put into the royal speech the unworthy expression, "I am glad to tell you, that notwithstanding the arts of those who delight in war, both place and time are appointed for opening the treaty of a general peace." Lord Anglesea followed this up by declaring, in the course of the debate, that the country might have enjoyed the blessing of peace soon after the battle of Ramillies, "if it had not been deferred by some person whose interest it was to prolong the war."

* "As you have given me encouragement to enter into the strictest confidence with you, I beg your friendly advice in what manner I am to conduct myself. You can not but imagine it would be a terrible mortification for me to pass by the Hague when our plenipotentiaries are there, and myself a stranger to their transactions; and what hopes can I have of any countenance at home if I am not thought fit to be trusted abroad?"-Marlborough to the Lord Treasurer, 21st of Oct., 1711.

"I hear that, in his conversation with the queen, the Duke of Marlborough has spoken against what we are doing; in short, his fate hangs heavy upon him, and he has of late pursued every counsel which was worst for him"-Bolingbroke's Letters, i., 480, Nov. 24, 1711.