A.D. 1692. DISMISSAL OF MARLBOROUGH. 463 Barbour, were the actors in the slaughter, and ought to be prosecuted. The king knew perfectly well that these men had as sound a legal defence before a civil tribunal, as any of the privates who discharged their muskets under the orders of serjeant Barbour. In the course of the Glencoe inquiries the Highland chief Glengarry, and others, deposed that in offering them money, Breadalbane alleged that he continued in the interest of king James, and pressed them to make a show of pacification, that they might be ready to serve him at some future time. Breadalbane was committed to the castle of Edinburgh, on a charge of high treason. He, however, contrived that the inquiry should stand over from time to time, till the Session of Parliament came to an end. Burnet says, "he pretended he had secret orders from the king, to say anything that would give him credit with them; which the king owned so far, that he ordered a new pardon to be passed for him." On the 10th of January, 1692, Marlborough was dismissed from all his offices. The Lieutenant-General of William, who also held the domestic office of his Gentleman of the Bedchamber, had concerted with the Jacobites to effect the recall of James by the subtlest of plots. He was to produce a rupture between the king and the parliament. Then, says a letter of James, "my lord Churchill would declare with the army for the parlia ment; and, the fleet doing the same, they would have recalled me." The queen, three weeks after the dismissal of the earl, wrote to her sister that "it is very unfit lady Marlborough should stay with you, since that gives her husband so just a pretence of being where he ought not." Anne refused to be separated from her beloved Mrs. Freeman; and Mrs. Freeman being commanded to leave the palace, Mrs. Morley left with her, Anne chose her abode at Sion House. The Parliament was adjourned on the 20th of February, having met on the 2nd of the previous October. It was a session of great debate; but more remarkable for the discussion of important measures, than for their final enactment. The king set out for Holland on the 5th of March. At the beginning of the session he had told the Parliament that an army of sixty-five thousand men would be required, and the Houses voted that number. The distribution of the land force gave about eleven thousand men for England, thirteen thousand for Ireland, two thousand for Scotland, and thirty-eight thousand to serve beyond sea. The navy had been brought into a greater state of efficiency than at any previous period since the Revolution. James had at last induced the king of France to hazard the chance of a landing in England. Louvois, the minister who had constantly opposed that dangerous project, was dead. James announced that the Most Christian King had now "lent us so many troops as may be abundantly sufficient to untie the hands of our subjects, and make it safe for them to return to their duty and repair to our standard." James's Declaration, which breathed out vengeance against nobles and prelates who were proscribed by name, and threatened whole classes with punishment as guilty rebels, was not suppressed by the queen and her Council, but reprinted, and widely circulated with appropriate comment. This insane document had the effect of disgusting into something like a sense of honour and duty those English officers who had been tampered with by James-amongst whom was admiral Russell. James joined his camp at La Hogue on the 24th of April. On the 15th of May, the English fleet was at St. Helen's. It had been joined by the Dutch fleet, the whole force amounting to ninety sail of the line. Russell was in command on board the Britannia. A despatch arrived from Nottingham, the Secretary of State, which Russell was commanded to read to the commanders of the fleet. Nottingham alluded, in the queen's name, to a report that some of the officers of the fleet were not hearty in their service. Her majesty, however, expressed her entire confidence in their fidelity and zeal, and her resolution not to displace any one. Then, with one accord, an address full of devotion to the queen was signed-Russell probably not signing, as being too exalted for suspicion to attach to him. There was no time for the enthusiasm of that hour to cool. On the afternoon of that day the French fleet, under Tourville, was seen from the coast of Dorsetshire. On the 17th, the English and Dutch fleets were at sea off La Hogue, the French transports were receiving troops. Tourville was to convoy this fleet of the invaders. He had with him only his own squadron. On the morning of the 19th, the two fleets came in sight of each other. Tourville immediately bore down upon an armament more than double his number. The wind was favourable to him, and only half of the ships of the allies could come into action. The defection upon which he relied was nowhere to be seen. The battle lasted five hours, when the wind changed, and the whole force of the allies was brought together. The victory was complete, the French flying in every direction to their own shores. Tourville's ship, the Royal Sun, the finest vessel of that day, got to Cherbourg, with two other three-deckers. Admiral Delaval attacked them with his fire-ships and his boats' crews, and the pride of the French navy and the two other vessels were burned to the water's edge. Tourville, during the chase, had shifted his flag to the Ambitions, and with twelve other large ships had got into the bay of La Hogue. On the 23rd of May, admiral Rooke led a flotilla of two hundred boats and numerous fire-ships into the bay. The boats' crews of Tourville fled in confusion. The crews of the French ships abandoning them, the English sailors boarded, and set them on fire. At eight the next morning again came Rooke into the bay with his terrible flotilla. The remaining vessels were in like manner burned, after their guns had been turned against the French batteries. James was looking on from the shore. In commemoration of the victory of La Hogue, the royal palace of Greenwich was converted into an asylum for disabled mariners. When the news of La Hogue reached the great supporter of James, the French army was besieging Namur. The army of the allies, under the command of William, was encamped in the neighbourhood. The French general, Luxemburg, with an overwhelming force, prevented any near advance for the relief of the besieged. Louis himself conducted the siege, which, according to Saint-Simon, would never have been successful without his presence. The besiegers were in extremity for want of provisions. The Sambre had overflowed its banks; and this difficulty was added to those created by Cohorn, the engineer of the States-General, who was in A.D. 1692. THE DISASTER OF STEINKIRK. 465 the citadel. Unfortunately Cohorn was wounded. The governor of Namur and the garrison lost heart, and the town was first surrendered, and afterwards the citadel. During the siege of Namur the army of William had often a distinct view of the operations of the French army, but the low grounds on each side of the river were so flooded by incessant rains, that it was impracticable to cross, so as to attack the enemy on the opposite side. After the fall of Namur, Louis returned to Paris. William remained to watch Luxemburg, and to fight if opportunity offered. Three prisoners -Grandval, Dumont, and Leefdale--were brought to the allied camp at Genappe, accused of a design to assassinate William. A court-martial of general officers commenced sitting on the 23rd of July, but the proceedings were put a stop to by the sudden determination of William to attack Luxemburg. The French army was encamped between Enghien and Steinkirk, a few miles to the north-west of Hal. The head-quarters of William's army were at Lambecque. Luxemburg had a spy in the allied camp. The correspondence was accidentally discovered, and William forced the traitor to write a letter of false intelligence to the French commander. Under cover of this, the whole force of the allies marched towards Steinkirk at dawn on the morning of the 3rd of August. Luxemburg was incredulous of the news which his scouts brought him, for he relied upon the informant in whom he thoroughly trusted. When he at last roused himself, the nature of the ground was in his favour. The march had been tedious, for there were defiles to pass, and the country was enclosed. The duke of Würtemberg led the vanguard, and drove the advanced brigade of the French from hedge to hedge. But Luxemburg, with the rapidity of genius, had soon the main body of his army in order of battle. The allied cavalry could not act, on account of the nature of the ground, and the main body of the infantry was still at some distance. Five English regiments were cut to pieces. Mackay, their brave leader, fell in the desperate conflict. The English life-guards were only saved by Auverquerque's timely relief. William made every effort to bring up his men, but Luxemburg was now reinforced by Boufflers, who heard the firing, and advanced from his neighbouring quarters. On each side there were about seven thousand killed and wounded. The allies marched from the field of battle in good order. Three months after, the disaster of Steinkirk was commented upon very severely in the House of Commons. The anger of the House centred upon count Solmes, who was chief in command of the English, and who looked on whilst they were slaughtered. The court-martial on Grandval was re-opened in a week after the battle, The duty of the court was not very embarrassing, for the prisoner had made a circumstantial confession. He declared that the late French minister, Louvois, had in 1691 entered into an agreement with Dumont to murder William; that upon the death of Louvois the design dropped; but that Barbesieux, the son of Louvois, who succeeded him as Secretary of State to the French king, had revived the project, and had arranged with him, Dumont, and Leefdale to shoot William, when he exposed himself during the campaign. The most material averment of the prisoner was, that he had seen James at St. Germains, his queen being present, and that James said, "Parker has given me an account of the business; if you and the other officers do me this service, you shall never want." Grandval was executed in the camp at Hal, according to his sentence. The king returned to England on the 18th of October. The outward signs of a cordial welcome awaited him. But there were many symptoms of political and social distempers, which made sober men uneasy. William opened the Parliament on the 4th of November. In this Session an Act was passed, which was the commencement of the National Debt of England. A million of money, to supply a portion of the expenses of the war, was to be voluntarily advanced on the credit of the special provision of the new duties of excise, which were to be set apart as they were paid into the Exchequer. The ten hundred thousand pounds were speedily subscribed; for the industry of the people had created capital which was seeking employment, although they had been far more heavily taxed during four years than at any previous period. In this Statute the government did not contemplate a permanent loan. In the next year, when the Bank of England was established upon the condition of lending a sum of money to the government, of which the principal could not be demanded by the lenders, though the borrowers had the privilege of paying it off, a permanent debt was begun to be contracted. The country was steadily growing more prosperous, as the National Debt went on increasing. There can be no doubt that the means first created by the Act of 1693 for the investment of superfluous capital, have largely contributed to the progressive development of the national resources. The licenser of the Stuarts, sir Roger Lestrange, was ejected from his office at the Revolution. The last of his successors, Edmund Bohun, was dismissed for having licensed a pamphlet which rested the rights of William and Mary upon a principle that would confer upon them absolute power. With the removal of this licenser, the system of licensing came to an end. The Act for regulating printing expired. There were two attempts made in this Session to produce what may be called a Reform in Parliament. It was unwisely proposed to exclude all persons who should in future hold office under the Crown. The Lords rejected this measure by a very small majority. A Bill providing that the existing Parliament should end on the 1st of January, 1694, and that no Parliament should in future sit more than three years, was introduced to the House of Lords, by Shrewsbury, who represented the Whigs. It passed both Houses. On the last day of the Session, the king put his veto on the measure. The Bill for triennial parliaments was passed in the next year, without opposition from the Crown. Slightly connected with the political transactions of the beginning of 1693 was a tragical event that occasioned great public scandal. This was the murder of an actor, William Mountfort, by lord Mohun, a dissolute young nobleman, not eighteen years old. The Grand Jury found a true bill against Mohun, and his accomplice Hill, for the murder. Hill escaped. The judges had declared Mohun guilty, but the peers acquitted him by a majority of fifty-five. The people cried out that when blood was shed by the great there was no justice for the poor. A.D. 1693. BATTLE OF LANDEN. 467 CHAPTER XXXVI. IN March William left London for the Hague. At the beginning of June king Louis was with the army of Boufflers, who had taken up a position at Gembloux. Another army, commanded by Luxemburg, was only half a league distant from that of Boufflers. William entrenched himself near Louvain so as to prevent an advance of the French upon Liège or upon Brussels. To the astonishment of the French armies the king announced his determination, on the 8th of June, to return to Versailles, and to send part of the great force into Germany under Boufflers. Luxemburg was thus left in the sole command of the French army, which was still superior to that of William. This ablest of the generals of Louis by a skilful manœuvre contrived to make William separate his forces, and then suddenly advanced upon him with a greatly superior army. William would not retreat. All that could be done was to strengthen his position. In one night of incessant labour entrenchments were thrown up; redoubts were constructed; the hedges and mud walls of the two villages which the Allies occupied were converted into barricades. On the morning of the 29th of July, the sun had scarcely risen when the batteries of the allied army opened upon the enemy. The French artillery could not be brought up till an hour afterwards. The Allies occupied the heights, and the two villages of Neerwinden and of Bas-Landen, one on the right and the other on the left. A long entrenchment, on the high ground, connected one village with the other. The great struggle was for the possession of these villages, especially of Neerwinden. The French infantry attacked with the impetuosity of their nation, and they were repulsed by the English characteristic obstinacy. During four hours this struggle was carried on. Twice had the French infantry been repulsed, and thrice the French cavalry. A third time it was resolved to attack Neerwinden, but with such an overwhelming force as should carry the victory, if victory were to be won. The household troops of Louis, headed by the prince of Conti, attacked with irresistible fury. The allies began to retreat as the French gained possession of Neerwinden. Suddenly William appeared at the head of his guards, and the famous household troops of France gave way before him. But all was in vain. The entrenchments of the main line could not be adequately defended, whilst the brunt of the conflict had to be borne in the two villages on the extreme right and left. The line was broken; a retreat was necessary; but it was not a disorderly retreat. William fought to the last. The exhausted victors remained upon the ground they had won. There had been twelve hours of fighting. Twenty thousand of both armies fell in that terrible battle-field, which the French call Neerwinden and the English call Landen. The victory of Luxemburg had no direct results. The retreat of William involved no greater disaster. In three weeks he had gathered all his forces around him at Brussels. The only successful result of the campaign in which Louis took the field with a hundred and forty thousand |