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DECISIVE VICTORY OF RAMILIES.

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then issued a proclamation, at the instance of Parliament, declaring that the authors or spreaders of the cry that the Church is in danger should be proceeded against with the utmost severity the law should allow of.

On the 27th of April, Marlborough was again at the Hague. The French on the Upper Rhine having obtained some successes, the Dutch became alarmed for their own safety, and Marlborough consented to remain in command of the English and Dutch armies, provided that his power was unfettered. To this the States consented; and the troops began to march from the Hague on the 7th of May. They were to be joined by various garrisons, and to encamp near Maestricht. On the 20th the French had drawn all their forces together, had passed the Dyle, and were posted at Tirlemont. On the 23rd, Whit Sunday, Marlborough began his march, at three o'clock in the morning, to gain the open space between the Mehaigne and the Great Gheet. That position was found to be occupied by the enemy. The Allies, in eight columns, passed the once formidable lines which had been demolished in the preceding year; and having cleared the village of Mierdorp, formed in order of battle in the plain of Jandrinœuil. Villeroy's army of French and Bavarians, amounting to sixty-two thousand, was posted in two lines on eminences above the marshes, stretching from the Little Gheet to the Mehaigne, having in the centre the village of Ramilies, which was defended by twenty battalions of French. It was a formidable position. Villeroy waited for the attack in his camp, on the rising ground of Mont St. André, in front of the Great Gheet. The Allies formed their order of battle in the plain, between the village of Boniffe, on the Mehaigne, and the village of Foulaz, on the Little Gheet-having two lines, the infantry in the centre, the cavalry on the wings, with twenty squadrons of Danes to support the left of the infantry. The duke's whole army amounted to sixty thousand men. Marlborough determined to make a demonstration of attack upon the left of the French, at Autre-église and Offuy. Villeroy immediately drew his troops from the centre to support his left. Marlborough then ordered the second line of the troops that were advancing to Autre-église, to defile to the left, by a hollow way that concealed them. The first line of his right wing ascended the rising ground at Autre-église, and opened their fire. On his left the French were attacked at Ramilies, and the Dutch infantry made a successful assault at Tavieres, a village on the Mehaigne. But the French cavalry then came into conflict with the Dutch cavalry under Auverquerque, and repelled them in great disorder. Marlborough immediately put himself at the head of seventeen squadrons, and charged the French cavalry. He was recognised, was surrounded, and nearly made prisoner. He cut his way through; his charger fell; his equerry had his head shot off by a cannonball as he held the stirrup for his general to mount another horse. But now a reserve of cavalry that Marlborough had sent for, came up; and an irresistible charge determined the battle on the left. The Allies gained the heights above Ramilies, but the conflict in and around that village was still doubtful. The ever watchful general ordered up a reserve of infantry, and the allied horse descending from the heights, their united force completed the triumph of the left and centre. But Marlborough was compelled to form his troops again upon the ground they had won.

Villeroy

now endeavoured to take up a new line, but before he could get his bat talions formed, Marlborough ordered a general advance, and the French began to fly. Onward went the pursued and the pursuers towards Louvain. Marlborough did not halt till he had reached Mildert, thirteen miles from the battle-field. The French and Bavarians determined to abandon their fortified towns, and save the remnant of their force by a hurried retreat. They had lost seven thousand men, killed and wounded, and six thousand prisoners. The Allies lost nearly four thousand men. The artillery, baggage, and eighty standards, were the spoil of the victors. Marlborough entered Louvain without meeting any obstacle. Malines, Alost, and other places had submitted. The Estates of Brabant assembled at Brussels had acknowledged the authority of king Charles III., and they sent out their commands to other fortified towns to make a like submission. Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, and Oudenarde were surrendered without a shot being fired. St. Simon says, "with the exception of Namur, Mons, and a very few other places, all the Spanish Low Countries were lost-Ostend, having been besieged by a powerful land force and by nine ships of the line, capitulated on the 7th of July. Menin, one of the greatest fortresses of Vauban, was carried by assault, with immense loss, on the 22nd of August. Dendermonde surrendered on the 3rd of September. Ath was the last fortress to fall, on the 4th of October.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE Commissioners appointed in 1702 to negotiate the Union of England and Scotland had debated for six months, without any result. The Scottish Parliament, or Convention of Estates, had sat from the time of the Revolution. A new Parliament was assembled in May, 1703. This Parliament was not in a state of conciliation towards England. Glencoe and Darien were still watchwords of strife. The failure of the negotiations for Union necessarily produced exasperation. There was manifested a decided inclination to the interests of France. In the "Act for the Security of the Kingdom" an open declaration was made of the disposition to separate wholly from England. The English Act of Settlement was not to be accepted, but the Estates of Scotland were to name a successor to queen Anne from the Protestant descendants of the Stuart line. For four months this matter was vehemently debated in the Scottish Parliament. The Act of Security was carried, but the Lord High Commissioner refused his assent. Following this legislative commotion came what was called in England the Scottish Plot-a most complicated affair of intrigue and official treachery, with some real treason at the bottom of it. The House of Lords in England took cognizance of the matter, which the Scottish Estates, when they re-assembled in 1704, denounced as an interference with the prerogative of the queen of Scotland. The Security Act was

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again passed, and the royal assent was not now withheld. The Parlia ment of England then addressed the queen, requesting her to put Carlisle, Newcastle, Tynemouth, and Hull in a state of defence, and to send forces to the border. A Statute was passed, which in the first place provided for a treaty of Union; and then enacted, that until the Scottish Parliament should settle the succession to the Crown in the same line as that of the English Act of Settlement, no native of Scotland, except those domiciled in England, or in the army or navy, should acquire the privileges of a natural-born Englishman; and prohibiting all importations of coals, cattle, sheep, or linen from Scotland. It was evident that there must be Union or war. A collision between the Darien Company and the two East India Companies filled the cup of bitterness to the brim. In this defiant attitude towards England stood Scotland in 1704 and in 1705. Her mobs were howling for English blood before her courts of justice; her patriots were hooting and hissing when the name of the princess Sophia was uttered in the Parliament House. The northern population of England were filled with apprehensions of a Scottish war. These apprehensions were happily averted by a show of moderation in the Scottish Parliament; and by a consummate exercise of prudence on the part of Godolphin, who was now the head of a ministry chiefly composed of moderate Whigs. In August, 1705, the draft of an Act for a Treaty of Union was brought into the Scottish Parliament. Violent were the debates; but it was at last passed, by a majority of two; but accompanied by a Resolution "against any progress in the treaty of Union, till the Act which declared them aliens by such a day should be repealed." In the new English Parliament of 1705, to the surprise of all parties, the ministers of the queen advocated this repeal, not only as regarded the question of denying the Scots the privileges of native-born subjects, but as to the restrictions of that Statute upon commercial intercourse. The friendly hand was cordially held out, and the English statesmen went calmly forward with their great work, which they accomplished by honest perseverance, without trickery and without coercion. Their success may be attributed in no small degree to the wisdom and justice of lord Somers, whose ruling principle was that of acting with perfect fairness to Scotland. In the spring of 1706, thirtyone Commissioners were nominated on the part of each kingdom, for negotiating the terms of Union. After some violent opposition, the nomination of the Scottish Commissioners was left to the queen. To the surprise of many, that nomination included several violent opposers of the Union. On the 16th of April, the Commissioners assembled in the Cockpit, at Whitehall. They sat till the 22nd of July, when the Articles of Union were finally agreed upon. At the opening of the negotiations, the English Commissioners proposed an entire Union of the two kingdoms-one kingdom, one crown, one parliament. The Scottish Commissioners demurred, but the Englishmen were resolute, and the Scots yielded; but at the same time demanded reciprocity of citizenship and of privileges of trade. This point was granted at once. It was thus settled that "the two nations should be formed into one Government, be under one sovereign head, in one represented body, standing upon one foundation, enjoying equal privileges, and in common bearing one general pro

portion of burdens, the same in end and mean, having but one common interest, one name, and being but ever hereafter but one people." The question of "proportion of burdens" was arranged by the English Commissioners proposing an equivalent to Scotland in a money payment, for any disadvantages she might be subjected to in a joint principle of finance. A system of equal duties upon imports and exports was established. The Land Tax was arranged in a manner eminently favourable to Scotland. The difficulties arising from the Darien affair were smoothed by the English Commissioners agreeing to purchase the shares of the particular members of the African and Indian Company. The stock had been a dead weight upon many families; and this relief "took off the edge of the opposition which some people would otherwise have made to the Union in general." On the complex question of representation, the English Commissioners proposed that Scotland should have thirty-eight members in the united House of Commons. The Scottish Commissioners proposed fifty. The number was settled at forty-five-about one-twelfth of the whole House. Sixteen peers were taken out of the hundred and fifty-four who were then peers of Scotland. The laws of Scotland, with the exception of those relating to trade, customs, and excise, were to remain in force, although subject to alterations by the Parliament of Great Britain, as the united kingdom was to be called. The standards of the coin, of weights, and of measures, were to become uniform with those of the English. The crosses of St. George and St. Andrew were to be conjoined when used in flags, banners, standards, and ensigns. In these negotiations all matters relating to the Church of Scotland were excluded. The preservation intact of the constitution and rights of that Church was provided for in the Acts of Parliament under which the Union was established. On the 12th of October, 1706, the Estates of Scotland began to consider the Articles of Union. Immense pains had been taken by the opponents of the measure to rouse the people to a tumultuous opposition. They were in some degree successful. There was a riot in Edinburgh on the 23rd of October; and addresses came from many places to the Parliament against the incorporating principle of the Union. The popular arguments against the Union were chiefly appeals to a narrow nationality. The first great oratorical display was made by a young man, lord Belhaven, whose speech "was circulated in all known shapes among the people.' Belhaven, and others of the honest patriots at this great crisis of their country's destiny, rested their opposition to an incorporating Union upon their belief that it would destroy the nationality of Scotland, without any corresponding public benefits. Mr. Seton, of Pidmedden, pointed out, with strong common sense, the benefits to Scotland of an incorporating Union, "I may assert, that by this Union we will have access to all the advantages in commerce, which the English enjoy: we will be capable, by a good government, to improve our natural products, for the benefit of the whole island; and we will have our liberty, property, and religion, secured under the protection of one sovereign, and one Parliament, of Great Britain." There was a majority of thirty-three in favour of the fundamental proposition, that the two kingdoms should be united into one kingdom by the name of Great Britain. The second Article for the

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Succession of the Monarchy, and the third for representation by one Parliament, were also carried within the next fortnight. The question which was excepted from the Treaty, that of the Church of Scotland, was then agitated. A separate Act was passed, under which every sovereign of Great Britain, upon his or her accession, was to take an oath to protect the government, worship, discipline, rights, and privileges of the Church of Scotland. This Act was to be repeated as a part of any Act of the Scottish or English Parliament adopting the Union. The Estates then proceeded to the consideration of the minute details of the remaining twenty Articles of the Treaty. This discussion lasted till the middle of January, 1707.

There was a formidable opposition to the Union beyond the walls of the Scottish Parliament, manifesting itself amongst very various parties and conditions of society. There was a second outbreak in Edinburgh, but without bloodshed. There was a more serious riot at Glasgow on the 7th of November, which lasted several days. But neither did this rude mob take any life away. The duke of Queensberry, the queen's High Comissioner, was instrumental in disarming the violence, both within the Parliament and without, by his patience and moderation. On the 20th the Cameronians burnt the Articles publicly at the market-cross of Dumfries, and published a declaration that all who supported the Union were enemies and traitors to their country. The Government had received advices that the Cameronians and Jacobites were to meet in arms on the river Nith, near Sanquhar, to put an end to the Parliament, and that the French king would send over troops, "to improve the opportunity." Vast things were expected from the junction of the True League and Covenant men with the Jacobites, Papists, and Episcopalians. They were to march to Hamilton, seven thousand in number. The duke of Athol was to lead his Highlanders through the famous pass where Dundee scattered six thousand veterans. The duke of Hamilton was to head this motley army. The duke, however, sent orders to the Highlanders and Cameronians to disperse and return home.

Despite the Jacobites and Cameronians, the timid Presbyterians and the semi-Papist Episcopalians, the Act of the Scottish Estates for the Union was finally passed on the 16th of January, 1707, by a hundred and ten votes againsty sixty-nine. The last meeting of the Scotch Estates was on the 26th of March, 1707. The Parliament of England had met in December. At the end of January the queen sent to the House of Peers, and announced that the Treaty for an Union had been ratified by Act of Parliament in Scotland, with some alterations and additions. The Articles were then presented. The debates in the English Parliament were animated, but were not violent. In the Lords a Bill was brought in for the Security of the Church of England, as by law established. The ministry succeeded in preventing a debate on each clause of the Treaty of Union by inserting the Articles in the preamble of the bill, with the two Acts for the Security of the Churches of each country. The measure was passed without difficulty, and on the 6th of March it received the royal assent.

An indirect overture for peace had been made by Louis; but the English Parliament was in no pacific attitude. The queen made a public declara