ples, will be regarded by the equitable observer with charitable, if not forgiving eyes. He will recollect that perfection never yet belonged to a child of Adam; he will measure the dreadful nature of the struggle which awaits an upright and generous mind when loyalty and gratitude impel one way, and religion and patriotism another. Without attempting to justify an officer who employs the power bestowed by one government to elevate another on its ruins, he will yet reflect, that in such a crisis even the firmest heads and the best hearts may be led astray he will recollect that, as already noticed, the heroic Ney, in another age, did the same. If he is wise, he will ascribe the fault, for fault it was, not so much to the individual, as to the time in which he lived; and feel a deeper thankfulness that his own lot has been cast in a happier age, when the great moving passions of the human heart act in the same direction, and a public man need not fear that he is wanting in his duty to his sovereign because he is performing that due to his country.

Marlborough, however, was but a man, and therefore not

His faults and

18. without the usual blemishes and weaknesses of huweaknesses. manity. The great blot on his character, the inexcusable act in his life—that of having accepted a command from James II., and afterward betrayed him—will be found, on examination, to be but a part, though doubtless the most conspicuous one, of the prevailing disposition and secret weakness of his character. He was extremely ambitious, and little scrupulous about the means by which elevation was to be attained or prolonged. He repeatedly yielded to the solicitations of those around him from the desire to avoid ruining his party, under circumstances when the dignity of his character required a more independent and resolute conduct. He was not by nature a bad, or by habit a dishonorable man, and yet he did a most base and dishonorable thing; he abandoned his king and benefactor when holding an important command under him. He did not possess the mental independence, the strong sense of rectitude, the keen feelings of honor, which lead

pure and elevated minds to make shipwreck of their fortunes in the cause of duty. He was possessed by strong moral and religious principle; but when a crisis arrived, they yielded to the whisperings of expedience, or, rather, the deceitfulness of sin made him believe that his duty pointed to the course which his interest demanded. He had more of Cæsar in him than Cato. It never would be said of him,

Victrix causa Deis placuit sed victa Catoni.

In justice to Marlborough, however, it must be recollected that he lived in an age of revolutions, when the

crown had been recently twice subverted, and a

19. Circumstances

which palliate

these faults in

new dynasty placed on the throne; when men's him. minds were confused and their ideas unhinged with regard to public duty; and when that fatal effect of revolutionary success had taken place-the ascribing to public actions no other test but success. And yet, so mixed is the condition of mankind, and so great the ascendency of selfishness in human affairs, that Marlborough's extraordinary rise and long-continued power is in great part to be ascribed to these moral weaknesses in his character. Had he possessed the noble spirit of one of the old cavaliers, he would have adhered to James in his misfortune, and become a respectable but unknown exile at St. Germain's, instead of the illustrious leader of the coalition. He thus affords another instance to the many which history affords of the truth of Johnson's saying, "that no man ever rose from a private station to exalted power among men, in whom great and commanding qualities were not combined with meannesses that would be inconceivable in ordinary life.” Marlborough was often accused of avarice; but his conduct through life sufficiently demonstrated that in him the natural desire to accumulate a fortune, which belongs to every rational mind, was kept in subjection to more elevated principles. The great wealth which he acquired from his numerous appointments, and the royal and parliamentary rewards bestowed on him for his services, were sufficient to excite the envy of the vulgar, and this feeling was eagerly fed by those who pandered to

20.

character and His private

elevated ideas

in the disposi

tion of money.

their passions. Swift contrasted, in a popular diatribe, the scanty rewards of Roman triumph with the half million which had attested British gratitude. But there was no real foundation for this aspersion. His conduct belied it. His repeated refusal of the government of the Netherlands, with its magnificent appointment of £60,000 a year, was a sufficient proof how much he despised money when it interfered with public duty; his splendid edifices, both in London and Blenheim, attest how little he valued it for any other purpose but as it might be applied to noble and worthy objects.*

21.

His magna

manners.

He possessed the magnanimity in judging of others which is the invariable characteristic of real greatness. nimity and Envy was unknown, suspicion loathsome to him. humanity. He often suffered by the generous confidence with which he trusted his enemies. He was patient under contradiction; placid and courteous both in his manners and demeanor; and owed great part of his success, both in the field and in the cabinet, to the invariable suavity and charm of his His humanity was uniformly conspicuous. Not only his own soldiers, but his enemies, never failed to experience it. Like Wellington, his attention to the health and comforts of his men was incessant; which, with his daring in the field and uniform success in strategy, endeared him in the highest degree to the men. Troops of all nations equally trusted him; and the common saying, when they were in any difficulty, "Never mind, Corporal John' will get us out of it," was heard as frequently in the Dutch, Danish, or German, as in the English language. He frequently gave the weary soldiers a place in his carriage, and got out himself to accommodate more; and his first care, after an engagement, invariably was to visit the field of battle, and do his utmost to assuage the sufferings of the wounded, both among his own men and those of the enemy. After the battle of Malplaquet, he divided all the money at his private disposal among the wounded officers of the enemy.t

* Marlborough's house in London cost about £100,000. COXE, vi., 399. CAPEFIGUE, Louis XIV., vi., 125.

"It is

22.

His character as drawn by and BolingAdam Smith broke.

The character of this illustrious man has been thus portrayed by two of the greatest writers in the English language, the latter of whom will not be accused of undue partiality to his political enemy. a characteristic," says Adam Smith, "almost peculiar to the great Duke of Marlborough, that ten years of such uninterrupted and splendid successes as scarce any other general could boast of, never betrayed him into a single rash action, scarce into a single rash word or expression. The same temperate coolness and self-command can not, I think, be ascribed to any other great warrior of later times, not to Prince Eugene, nor to the late King of Prussia, nor to the Great Prince of Condé, nor even to Gustavus Adolphus. Turenne seems to have approached the nearest to it; but several actions of his life demonstrate that it was in him by no means so perfect as in the great Duke of Marlborough."* "By King William's death," says Bolingbroke, "the Duke of Marlborough was raised to the head of the army, and, indeed, of the confederacy, where he, a private man, a subject, obtained by merit and by management a more decided influence than high birth, confirmed authority, and even the crown of Great Britain had given to King William. Not only all the parts of that vast machine, the Grand Alliance, were kept more compact and entire, but a more vigorous motion was given to the whole; and instead of languishing or disastrous campaigns, we saw every scene of the war full of action. All those wherein he appeared, and many of those wherein he was not then an actor, but abettor, however, of their actions, were crowned with the most triumphant success. I take with pleasure this opportunity of doing justice to that great man, whose faults I know, whose virtues I admire, and whose memory, as the greatest general and greatest minister that our country or any other has produced, I honor."+

* SMITH'S Moral Sentiments, ii., 158.

† BOLINGBROKE's Letters on the Study of History, ii., 172.

generals of

Five generals, by the common consent of men, stand forth 23. pre-eminent in modern times for the magnitude of The five great the achievements they effected, and the splendor modern times. of the talents they displayed-Eugene, Marlbor ough, Frederic, Napoleon, and Wellington. It is hard to say which appears the greatest, whether we regard the services they have rendered to their respective countries, or the durable impress their deeds have left on human affairs. All had difficulties the most serious to contend with, obstacles apparently insurmountable to overcome, and all proved in the brightest parts of their career victorious over them. All have immortalized their names by exploits far exceeding those recorded of other men. All have left the effects of their exploits durably imprinted in the subsequent fate of nations. The relative position of the European states, the preservation of public rights, the maintenance of the balance of power, the salvation of the weak from the grasp of the strong, have been mainly owing to their exertions. To their biography is attached not merely the fortune of the countries to which they belonged, but the general destinies of Europe, and, through it, of the human race.

acteristics of

each.

To give a faithful picture, in a few pages, of such men, may 24. seem a hopeless, and to their merits an invidious Leading chartask. A brief summary of the chief actions of those of them to ordinary readers least known, is, however, indispensable to lay a foundation for their comparison with the character of those whose deeds are as household words. It is not impossible to convey to those who are familiar with their exploits, a pleasing resumé of their leading features and salient points of difference; to those who are not, to give some idea of the pleasure which the study of their characters is calculated to afford. Generals, like writers or artists, have certain leading characteristics which may be traced through all their achievements; a peculiar impress has been communicated by nature to their minds, which appears, not less than on the painter's canvass or in the poet's lines, in all