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 pracDispatches, 21st of September, 1702. * 26. Storming of ticable on the 23d of the same month. The assault was immediately ordered, and, “by the exChartreuse, traordinary bravery," says Marlborough, “of the officers and soldiers, the citadel was carried by and conclu sion of the campaign. 23d Sept. 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 es borough from being made prisoner. The campaign being now concluded, and both parties having gone into winter quarters, Marlborough emcape of Marl- barked on the Meuse to return to London, where his presence was much required to steady the authority and direct the cabinet of the queen, who had so recently taken her seat on the throne. When dropping down the Meuse, in company of the Dutch commissioners, he 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. made prisoners the small detachment of soldiers who accompanied them; but, ignorant of the inestimable prize within his grasp, allowed the remainder of the party, including Maflborough, to proceed on their way. On this occasion, it may truly be said, the boat carried Cæsar and his fortunes. He arrived in safety at the Hague, where the people, who regarded him as their guardian angel, and had heard of his narrow escape, received him with the most enthusiastic acclamations. From thence, having concerted the plan for the ensuing campaign with the Dutch government, he crossed over to London, where his reception by the queen and nation was of the most gratifying description. Her majesty conferred on him the title of Duke of Marlborough and Marquis of Blandford, and sent a message to the House of Commons suggesting a pension to him of £5000 a year, secured on the revenue of the post-office; but that house refused to consent to the alienation of so considerable a part of the public revenue. He was amply compensated, however, for this disappointment by the enthusiastic reception he met with from all classes of the na tion, who, long unaccustomed to military success, at least in any cause in which they could sympathize, hailed with transports of joy this first revival of triumph in support of the Protestant faith, and over that power with which for centuries they had maintained so constant a rivalry. Alliance with Sweden, and campaign of The campaign of 1703 was not fruitful of great events. Taught, by the untoward issue of the preceding one, 28. the quality of the general and army with whom he had to contend, the French general cautiously 1703. Capremained on the defensive, and ably carried into ture of Bonn. execution the plan of the French king, which was to remain on the defensive in Flanders, and reserve the weight of his strokes for the valley of the Danube, where a great effort threatening Vienna was to be made. So skillfully were the measures of Marshal Boufflers taken, that all the efforts of Marlborough to force him to a general action proved abortive. The war in Flanders was thus limited to one of posts and G sieges; but in that the superiority of the allied arms was successfully asserted, Parliament having been prevailed on to consent to an augmentation of the British contingent. But a treaty having been concluded with Sweden, and various reenforcements having been received from the lesser powers, preparations were made for the siege of Bonn, on the Rhine, a frontier town of Flanders, of great importance from its commanding the passage of that artery of Germany, and stopping, while in the enemy's hands, all transit of military stores or provisions for the use of the armies in Bavaria, or on the Upper Rhine. The batteries opened with seventy heavy guns and English mortars on the 14th of May, 1703; a vigorous sortie with a thousand foot was repulsed, after having at first gained some success, on the following day, and on the 16th, two breaches having been declared practicable, the garrison surrendered at discretion. After this success the army moved against Huys, which was taken, with its garrison of 900 men, on the 23d of August. Marlborough and the English generals, after this success, 29. paign con cludes with the taking of were decidedly of opinion that it would be advisaThe Dutch able at all hazard to attempt forcing the French prevent Marlborough from fighting, lines, which were strongly fortified between Meand the cam- haigne and Leuwe, and a strong opinion to that effect was transmitted to the Hague on the very Limbourg. day after the fall of Huys.* They alleged, with reason, that the allies being superior in Flanders, and the French having the upper hand in Germany and Italy, it was of the utmost importance to follow up the present tide of success in the only quarter where it flowed in their favor, and counterbalance disasters elsewhere by decisive events in the quarter where it was most material to obtain it. The Dutch government, however, set on getting a barrier for themselves, could not be brought to agree to this course, how great soever the advantages which it promised, and insisted instead that Marlborough should undertake the siege of Limbourg, * Memorial, 24th August, 1703.-Dispatches, i., 165, which lay open to attack. This was accordingly done; the trenches were commenced in the middle of September, and the garrison capitulated on the 27th of the same month: a poor compensation for the total defeat of the French army, which would, in all probability, have ensued if the bolder plan of operation he had so earnestly counseled had been adopted.* This terminated the campaign of 1703, which, though successful, had led to very different results from what might have been anticipated if Marlborough's advice had been followed, and an earlier victory of Ramillies laid open the whole Flemish plains. Having dispatched eight battalions to re-enforce the Prince of Hesse, who had sustained serious disaster on the Moselle, he had an interview with the Archduke Charles, whom the allies had acknowledged as King of Spain, and by whom he was presented with a magnificent sword set with diamonds; he went next to the Hague, and from thence proceeded to London to concert measures for the ensuing campaign, and stimulate the British government to the efforts necessary for its successful prosecution. 30. Disasters on Rhine and in Bavaria. But while success had thus attended all the operations of the allies in Flanders, where the English contingent acted, and Marlborough had the command, the Upper affairs had assumed a very different aspect in Germany and Italy, where the principal efforts of Louis had been made. The French were there superior alike in the number and quality of their troops, and, in Germany at least, in the * Marlborough was much chagrined at being interrupted in his meditated decisive operations by the States General on this occasion. On the 6th of September he wrote to them, "Vos Hautes Puissances jugeront bien par le camp que nous venons de prendre, qu'on n'a pas voulu se résoudre à tenter les lignes. J'a été convaincu de plus en plus, depuis l'honneur que j'ai eu de vous écrire, par les avis que j'ai reçu journellement de la situation des enemies, que cette entreprise n'était pas seulement practicable, mais même qu'on pourrait en espérer tout le succès que je m'étais proposé: enfin l'occa sion en est perdue, et je souhaite de tout mon cœur qu'elle n'ait aucune fâcheuse suite, et qu'on n'ait pas lieu de s'en repentir quand il sera trop tard." MARLBOROUGH aux Etats Généraux, 6 Septembre, 1703. Dispatches, i., 173. |