trative of the silent changes of time on human affairs, that the Whigs of 1688 took the crown from his head, and placed a new dynasty on the throne, for attempting to do the very thing which their successors in 1829, after thirty years' incessant efforts, actually accomplished. As it was, the attempt lost James and his family the throne, threw England permanently into the Protestant alliance, and, by giving her the lead in the great confederacy against France, contributed more than any other cause to place her on that lofty eminence which she has ever since maintained in European affairs. The constancy of James in misfortune was as remarkable and more respectable than his vehemence in prosperity; with mournful resolution he continued to assert to his dying hour the cause of legitimacy against that of revolution, and died an exile in a foreign land, the martyr of religious fidelity and royal resolution. 22. ment of the war. War having been resolved on, the first step was taken by the emperor, who laid claim to Milan as a fief of Commence- the empire, and supported his pretensions by moving an army into Italy under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy, who afterward became so celebrated as the brother and worthy rival in arms of Marlborough. The French and Spaniards assembled an army in the Milanese to resist his advance; and the Duke of Mantua having joined the cause, that important city was garrisoned by the French troops. But Prince Eugene ere long obliged them to fall back from the banks of the Adige to the line of the Oglio, on which they made a stand. But though hostilities had thus commenced in Italy, negotiations were still carried on at the Hague. It was soon found, however, that the pretensions of the French king were of so exorbitant a character that an accommodation was impossible. He had recently taken a step which showed how much his ambition had increased with the vast accession of power he had received. Charles II. had declared in his testament that the Duke of Anjou should renounce his rights to the crown of France be fore receiving that of Spain; but Louis would not permit him to make such a renunciation, and he accepted the Spanish crown without any qualification. The resolution to unite the two crowns on the same head was therefore not attempted to be disguised. Forces on France. When the contest commenced, the forces which the contending parties could command seemed nearly equal 23. to each other, and the result showed that they were the side of very equally matched. On the side of Louis was France, which, with a population of twenty millions, could maintain two hundred thousand soldiers in arms, and Spain, with its vast and varied possessions in the Peninsula, Flanders, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia,* containing at least thirty millions of inhabitants, besides the colonies beyond seas, of great importance from the revenue-not less than five millions sterling-which they furnished to the Spanish government. Bavaria, too, was an important outwork, not merely from the courageous disposition of its inhabitants, and the firm adherence of its government, through jealousy of Austria, to the French interest, but from the entrance which it afforded to hostile armies into the heart of Germany. The central position, however, of France, and the close proximity of its frontiers to the seat of war in Flanders, Italy, and on the Rhine, rendered it easy to foresee, what the event soon demonstrated, that the weight of the contest; save in the Peninsula, would fall on its forces. But they were numerous and efficient, admirably disciplined, and led by generals of talent and experience; and, above all, they were inspired with that confidence in themselves, and justifiable pride, which is the invariable consequence of a long train of military success. Forces of On the other hand, the allies had the troops of Austria, England, Holland, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and the 24. lesser states of Germany, with slight succor from the allies. Prussia and Denmark. These powers had a numerical * SISMONDI, Xxvi., 286, 290. CAPEFIGUE, Hist. de Louis XIV., iv., 296, 320. amount of inhabitants little inferior, if put together, to those of the French and Spanish monarchies, but they were incomparably more divided and distracted by separate interests and necessities, and the military resources of none of them, except Austria, had been fully drawn forth. The latter power had its forces, great as they were, divided by the pressure of a Hungarian insurrection and the dangers of a Turkish invasion, which the activity of French diplomacy kept continually impending over it; and they were at such a distance from the scene of action that they could seldom be relied on to appear in requisite time at the decisive point. The interests of the different powers were as various as their territories were far severed. England was sincerely set on preventing the union of the French and Spanish monarchies, because its independence was seriously threatened by their junction. But the other powers were actuated by very different motives. Austria was intent on regaining in whole the splendid inheritance of the Spanish monarchy, of which she regarded herself, not without reason, as defrauded by the testament of Charles II. Holland longed for a barrier of fortresses to shelter her from the invasion of France, which had at no distant period brought her to the very verge of destruction; while Prussia and Denmark were so far removed from the danger, that it was with difficulty they could be induced to make any considerable efforts in the common cause. England, albeit placed in the very front of the conflict, was so ignorant of her strength, and so little accustomed to exert it, that with a population, including Ireland, of little less than ten millions of souls, she had only forty thousand men under arms; while France, with her twenty millions, had two hundred thousand. Thus, though the physical resources on the two sides were not materially different, yet the superiority in point of numerical amount of forces, central situation, and homogeneity of descent, was decisively on the side of France; and the danger was very great that the coalition would be dissolved by weighty strokes received by its exposed members, before the requisite succor could arrive from its distant and less menaced extremities. Marlborough's and first cam Marlborough's first mission to the Continent, after the accession of Anne, was of a diplomatic character; 25. and it was by his unwearied efforts, suavity of first mission to manner, and singular talents for negotiation, that the Continent, the difficulties which attend the formation of all paign. such extensive confederacies were overcome. It was not, however, till war was declared, on the 4th of May, 1702, that he first became commander-in-chief of the allied armies. The first operation of the allies was an attack on the small fort of Kaiserworth, on the right bank of the Rhine, belonging to the Elector of Cologne, which surrendered on the 15th of May. The main French army, nominally under the direction of the Duke of Burgundy, really of Marshal Boufflers, entered the duchy of Cleves in the end of the same month, and soon became engaged with the allied forces, which at first, being inferior in numbers, fell back. Marlborough reached head-quarters when the French lay before Nimeguen; and the Dutch trembled for that frontier town. Re-enforcements, however, rapidly came in from all quarters to join the allied army, and Marlborough, finding himself at the head of a gallant force sixty thousand strong, resolved to commence offensive operations. His first operation was the siege of Venloo, which was carried by storm on the 18th of September, after various actions in the course of the siege. My Lord Cutts," says Marlborough, "commanded at one of the breaches; and the English grenadiers had the honor of being the first that entered the fort."* Ruremonde was next besieged; and the allies, steadily advancing, opened the navigation of the Meuse as far as Maestricht. Stevenswart was taken on the 1st of October, and on the 6th Ruremonde surrendered. Liege was the next object of attack; and the breaches of the citadel were, by the skillful operations of Cohorn, who commanded the allied engineers and artillery, declared prac* Dispatches, 21st of September, 1702. 26. Storming of sion of the ticable on the 23d of the same month. The as sault was immediately ordered, and, "by the ex and traordinary bravery," says Marlborough, "of the officers and soldiers, the citadel was carried by storm; and, for the honor of her majesty's subjects, the English were the first that got upon the breach.”* So early in this, as in every other war where ignorance and infatuation has not led them into the field, did the native-born valor of the Anglo-Saxon race make itself known! Seven battalions and a half were made prisoners on this occasion; and so disheartened was the enemy by the fall of the citadel, that the castle of the Chartreuse, with its garrison of fifteen hundred men, capitulated a few days afterward. This last success gave the allies the entire command of Liege, and concluded this short but glorious campaign, in the course of which they had made themselves masters, by main force, in the presence of the French army, of four fortified towns, conquered all Spanish Guelderland, opened the Meuse as far as Maestricht, carried the strong castles of Liege by storm, advanced their standards from the Rhine far into Flanders, and became enabled to take up their winter quarters in the enemy's territory, amid fertile fields. 27. Narrow escape of Marl The campaign being now concluded, and both parties having gone into winter quarters, Marlborough embarked on the Meuse to return to London, where borough from his presence was much required to steady the authority and direct the cabinet of the queen, who When drop being made prisoner. ers, had so recently taken her seat on the throne. ping down the Meuse, in company of the Dutch commissionhe was made prisoner by a French partisan, who had made an incursion into those parts; and owed his escape to the presence of mind of a servant named Gill, who, unperceived, put into his master's hands an old passport in the name of General Churchill. The Frenchman, intent only on plunder, seized all the plate and valuables in the boat, and * Dispatches, 23d of October, 1702. |