9. Fall of Douay, 26th June.

Villars having retired without fighting, the operations of the siege were resumed with redoubled vigor. On the 16th of June, signals of distress were sent up from the town, which the French marshal perceived, and he made, in consequence, a show of returning to interrupt the siege; but his movements came to nothing. Marlborough, to counteract his movement, repassed the Scarpe at Vitry, and took up a position directly barring the line of advance of the French marshal, while Eugene prosecuted the siege. Villars again retired without fighting. On the 22d, the fort of Scarpe was breached, and the sap was advanced to the counterscarp of the fortress, the walls of which were violently shaken; and on the 26th, Albergotti, who had no longer any hope of being relieved, and who saw preparations made for a general assault, capitulated with the garrison, now reduced to four thousand five hundred men.* *

10. The allies are

Arras, but be

15th July.

On the surrender of Douay, the allied generals intended to besiege Arras, the last of the triple line of fortressunable to reach es which on that side covered France, and between siege Bethune, which and Paris no fortified place remained to arrest the march of an invader. On the 10th of July, Marlborough crossed the Scarpe at Vitry, and, joining Eugene, their united forces, nearly ninety thousand strong, advanced toward Arras. But Villars, who felt the extreme importance of this last stronghold, had exerted himself to the utmost for its defense. He had long employed his troops on the construction of new lines of great strength on the Crinchon, stretching from Arras to the Somme, and here he had collected nearly a hundred thousand men, and a hundred and thirty pieces of cannon. After reconnoitering this position, the allied generals concurred in thinking that it was equally impossible to force it, and to undertake the siege of Arras, while the enemy, in such strength and so strongly posted, lay on its flank. Their first intention, on finding themselves baffled in this project, was to seize Hesdin on the Cancher, which * Marlborough to Godolphin, 26th of June, 1710. Disp., iv, 696.

would have left the enemy no strong place between them and the coast. But the skillful dispositions of Villars, who on this occasion displayed uncommon abilities and foresight, rendered this design abortive, and it was therefore determined to attack Bethune. This place, which was surrounded with very strong works, was garrisoned by nine thousand men, under the command of M. Puy Vauban, nephew of the celebrated marshal of the same name. But as an attack on it had not been expected, the necessary supplies for a protracted resistance had not been fully introduced when the investment was completed on the 15th of July.*

11. Great skill

with which Vil

lars averted the

invasion of occasion. Fall

France on this

of Bethune,

28th August.

Villars, upon seeing the point of attack now fully declared, moved in right columns upon Horbarques, near Montenencourt. Eugene and Marlborough, upon this, assembled their covering army, and changed their front, taking up a new line stretching from Mont St. Eloi to Le Comte. Upon advancing to reconnoiter the enemy, Marlborough discovered that the French, advancing to raise the siege, were busy constructing a new set of lines, which stretched across the plain from the rivulet Ugie to the Lorraine, and the center of which, at Avesnes le Comte, was already strongly fortified. It now appeared how much Villars had gained by the skillful measures which had diverted the allies from their projected attack upon Arras. It lay upon the direct road to Paris. Bethune, though of importance to the ultimate issue of the war, was not of the same present moment. It lay on the flank on the second line, Arras in front, and was the only remaining fortress in the last. By means of the new lines which he had constructed, the able French marshal had erected a fresh protection for his country, when its last defenses were wellnigh broken through. By simply holding them, the interior of France was covered from incursion, time was gained not only for raising fresh armaments in the interior for its defense, but, what was of more

* Considerat. sur la Camp. de 1710, par M. le Marshal Villars; and COXE, iv., 192.

importance to Louis, for waiting the issue of the intrigues in England, which were soon expected to overthrow the Whig cabinet. Villars, on this occasion, proved the salvation of his country, and justly raised himself to the very highest rank His measures were the among its military commanders.

more to be commended that they exposed him to the obloquy of leaving Bethune to its fate, which surrendered by capitulation, with its numerous garrison and accomplished commander, on the 28th of August.*

Increasing ani

tends to be

siege Calais.

Notwithstanding the loss of so many fortresses on the en12. dangered frontier of his territory, Louis XIV. was mosity to Marl- so much encouraged by what he knew of the great borough in England. He in- change which was going on in the councils of Queen Anne, that, expecting daily an entire revolution in the ministry, and the overthrow of the war party in the cabinet, he resolved on the most vigorous prosecution of the contest. He made clandestine overtures to the secret advisers of the queen, in the hope of establishing that separate negotiation which at no distant period proved so successful. Torcy, the duke's enemy, triumphantly declared, "what we lose in Flanders, we shall gain in England."+ To frustrate these machinations, and, if possible, rouse the national feeling more strongly in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war, Marlborough determined to lay siege to Aire and St. Venant, which, though off the line of direct attack on France, laid open the way to Calais, which, if supported at home, he hoped to reduce before the conclusion of the campaign.‡ He entertained the most sanguine hopes of success from this design, which was warmly approved of by Godolphin; but he * Marlborough to Godolphin, 29th of August, 1710. Disp., iv., 581. COXE, iv., 294. + COXE, iv., 343, 344.

"I am of opinion that, after the siege of Aire, I shall have it in my pow. er to attack Calais. This is a conquest which would very much prejudice France, and ought to have a good effect for the queen's service in England; but I see so much malice leveled at me, that I am afraid it is not safe for me to make any proposition, lest, if it should not succeed, my enemies should turn it to my disadvantage."-Marlborough to Godolphin, 11th of August, 1710. CoxE, iv., 343.

received at this time such discouraging accounts of the precarious condition of his influence at court, that he justly concluded he would not receive adequate support from England, out of which the main supplies for the enterprise must be drawn. He, in concert with Eugene, therefore, wisely resolved to forego this dazzling but perilous project for the present, and to content himself with the solid advantages, unattended with risk, of reducing Aire and St. Venant.

13. Siege and capture of St. Ve

nant, 29th Sep

Having taken their resolution, the confederate generals began their march in the beginning of September, and on the 6th of that month both places were invested. Aire, which is comparatively of small tember. extent, was garrisoned by only five thousand seven hundred men; but Venant was a place of great size and strength, and had a garrison of fourteen battalions of foot and three regiments of dragoons, mustering eight thousand combatants. They were under the command of the Count de Guebriant, a brave and skillful commander. Both were at this time protected by inundations, which retarded extremely the operations of the besiegers, the more especially as the autumnal rains had set in early this year, and with more than usual severity. While anxiously awaiting the cessation of this obstacle, and the arrival of a great convoy of heavy cannon and ammunition which was coming up from Ghent, the allied generals received the disheartening intelligence of the total defeat of this important convoy, which, though guarded by sixteen hundred men, was attacked and destroyed by a French corps on the 19th of September. This loss affected Marlborough the more sensibly, that it was the first disaster of moment which had befallen him during nine years of incessant warfare.* But, notwithstanding this loss, St. Venant was so se

* "Till within these few days, during these nine years I have never had occasion to send ill news. Our powder and other stores, for the carrying on these two sieges, left Ghent last Thursday, under the convoy of twelve hundred foot and four hundred and fifty horse. They were attacked by the enemy and beaten, so that they blew up the powder and sunk the storeboats."―Marlborough to the Duchess, 22d Sept., 1710. COXE, iv., 365.

verely pressed by the fire of the besiegers, under the Prince of Anhalt, who conducted the operations with uncommon vigor and ability, that the garrison was compelled to capitulate on the 29th, on condition of being conducted to St. Omer, not to serve again till regularly exchanged.

Aire still held out, as the loss of the convoy from Ghent,

14. and the dreadful rains which fell almost without inAnd of Aire, 12th Nov. termission during the whole of October, very greatly retarded the progress of the siege. The garrison, too, under the command of the brave governor, made a most resolute defense. Sickness prevailed to a great extent in the allied army; the troops were for the most part up to the knees in mud and water; and the rains, which fell night and day without intermission, precluded the possibility of finding a dry place for their lodging. It was absolutely necessary, however, to continue the siege; for, independent of the credit of the army being staked on its success, it had become impossible, as Marlborough himself said, to draw the cannon from the trenches.* The perseverance of the allied commanders was at length rewarded by success. On the 12th of November the fortress capitulated, and the garrison, still three thousand six hundred and twenty-eight strong, marched out prisoners, leaving sixteen hundred sick and wounded in the town. This conquest, which concluded the campaign, was, however, dearly purchased by the loss of nearly seven thousand men killed and wounded in the allied ranks, exclusive of the sick, who, amid those pestilential marshes, had now swelled to double that number.†

Although the capture of four such important fortresses as Douay, Bethune, St. Venant, and Aire, with their garrisons, amounting to thirty thousand men, who had been taken in

"Take it we must, for we can not draw the guns from the batteries. But God knows when we shall have it; night and day our poor men are up to the knees in mud and water.”—Marlborough to Godolphin, 27th of October, 1710.

+ Marlborough to Godolphin, 13th of November, 1710. Disp., iv., 685COXE, iv., 366, 367.

689.