A. D. 1703.

QUEEN ANNE'S FOREIGN POLICY.

493

with a rude battering-ram; set the building on fire; and murdered the arch-priest as he attempted to escape. The insurrection now became general. Marlborough desired to render assistance to the insurgents. Nottingham, and the other Tory ministers, would not sanction any rebellion against a legitimate king. In 1703, the Camisards, as the insurgents were denominated, were opposed, under the leadership of a young man named Cavalier, to a marshal of France, with twelve thousand veteran troops under his command. Cavalier displayed a courage, a sagacity, and a military genius, which compelled marshal de Montrevel to give up in despair his system of terror and wholesale destruction by fire and sword. He was recalled, and marshal Villars was substituted, who adopted milder measures. Cavalier concluded a negotiation with Villars in 1704. The allies could render him no assistance, such as he had expected. Villars promised amnesty, with free egress to those who chose to emigrate, and a toleration of religion. This last promise was soon broken. The war was continued by another chief, Roland, who was killed in 1704. Cavalier afterwards served in Spain; subsequently entered the English service; and died at a very advanced age as governor of Jersey, with the rank of a major-general.

The elector of Bavaria had now proclaimed his adhesion to France; had surprised the strong fortress of Ulm; and by effecting a communication with the French on the Upper Rhine, had opened a way for the armies of Louis to the centre of Germany. Marlborough secured Bonn, which capitulated after a short siege. Three months later, Huy was surrendered to the Allies. But these successes were of comparatively small import. Marlborough and Cohorn had matured a plan for attacking Antwerp, and carrying the war into Flanders. The failure is attributed by Marlborough to "M. de Cohorn's stubbornness, and the dissensions amongst the generals." The French forces under Boufflers in the Netherlands threatened Holland. The duke proposed, in a council of war, on the 20th of August, to attack the French lines between Mehaigne and Leuwe. This plan was agreed to by the generals in command of the forces of Denmark, Luneburg, and Hesse, as well as by the English generals. It was submitted to the States-General, and by them rejected. They wanted another fortress, Limburg, to be taken. Marlborough was naturally irritated by this interference with his plans; but he submitted, and attacked Limburg, which surrendered after a short siege.

On the 9th of November, the queen opened the second Session of her first Parliament. The foreign policy which she announced had now for its object to recover the monarchy of Spain from the House of Bourbon, and to restore it to the House of Austria. The queen said that she had made a treaty for this object with the king of Portugal; and that subsidies would be required for the duke of Savoy, who had declared his intention to join the Alliance. The arch-duke Charles of Austria was now hailed by the Allies as king Charles of Spain. The principles of the agreement with Portugal were laid down in what is known as the Methuen Treaty,called after the name of the ambassador who negotiated it. Under this treaty the wines of Portugal were to be admitted upon the payment of a duty 33 per cent. less than the duty paid upon French wines; and the woollen

cloths of England, which had been prohibited in Portugal for twenty years, were to be admitted upon terms of proportionate advantage. In all subsequent commercial negotiations with France, the Methuen Treaty stood in the way, and France invariably pursued a system of retaliation.

The

A fortnight had scarcely elapsed since the opening of the Session, when a new Bill against Occasional Conformity was brought in, and the Commons renewed the work of the previous Session with a redoubled fury. They passed the Bill very quickly by a majority of two hundred and twentythree to a hundred and forty. The Lords rejected it by a majority of twelve. Marlborough, perhaps very little to his taste, was dragged in by the Tories, to whom he yet pretended allegiance, to vote for the Bill. There were other parliamentary turmoils in this Session which involved the most serious disputes between the Lords and Commons. One of these -a controversy connected with the case of a Returning Officer having maliciously refused the vote of an Aylesbury Elector-was only put an end to by the prorogation of Parliament, and was renewed with increased violence in the next Session. The Lords took strong measures that affected, or appeared to affect, the privilege of the Commons. quarrel finally expired when the Parliament expired under the Triennial Act. The commotions of party at this time were so extreme, that men who had higher aims than the possession of power for its own sake looked on with dread and sorrow. And yet calm and earnest reformers of gross abuses did contrive to carry some measures that were untainted by the breath of faction, and whose benefits still remain to us. One measure of law reform was passed in 1702, by which the witnesses in favour of a prisoner under trial were placed upon an equality with the witnesses for the Crown. Before the passing of this Statute, witnesses against the prisoner were examined on oath, and those in his favour were not examined on oath. Another measure of real benefit, was that popularly known as "Queen Anne's Bounty," by which the first-fruits and tenths of the larger benefices were vested in trustees, to form a fund for the augmentation of the smaller livings. These first-fruits and tenths had become part of the revenues of the Crown under the Statute of Henry VIII., which assigned to the king what the clergy had been accustomed to assign to the pope.

On the night of the 27th of November, 1703, the nation was terrified by a great storm of wind, which toppled down steeples, unroofed houses, drove great ships from their anchorage, and swept away the watch-towers of the coast. The shores of the Channel were strewn with wrecks. Fourteen or fifteen men of war were cast away, and fifteen hundred seamen perished with them. A general fast on the 19th of January was observed with unusual devotion. But Marlborough's wonderful campaign of 1704 caused the passed terror of 1703 to be soon forgotten.

A.D. 1704.

MARLBOROUGH IN GERMANY.

495

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

On the 29th of March, 1704, Marlborough wrote to M. Hop, the Dutch minister, that the public funds not being sufficient to carry on the war with vigour, the queen had provided additional means out of the privy purse; and he announced that the transports would speedily arrive in the Meuse, with nearly a thousand recruits for the infantry of the English army. On the 23rd of March an Act of Parliament had been passed "for raising recruits for the land forces and marines," by which justices of the peace, and mayors, or other head-officers of boroughs, were empowered "to raise and levy such able-bodied men as have not any lawful calling or employment, or visible means for their maintenance and livelihood, to serve as soldiers." The Bavarians and the French, having defeated the Imperial troops, were now masters of Augsburg and Passau. Through the successes of their joint forces, the way to Vienna was open to a great army to be collected on the Danube. Large detachments from the French army were to be led by Marshal Villeroy. Marshal Tallard was to leave the Rhine, and advance into Suabia through the Black Forest. The army of Italy was to march through the Tyrol into Austria. The Hungarians, then in a state of insurrection, were to be assisted by French troops. Marlborough had devised a vast series of operations upon a similar scale with those of Louis. His design had to be matured with small counsel from those who were to join him in carrying it out, and absolutely concealed from those who were to tender him the most efficient assistance. On the 5th of May, the States having consented that Marlborough should lead the joint forces to the Moselle, the troops began to march out of their garrisons. On the 11th, the great general wrote from Ruremonde to M. St. John, on Wednesday next, the troops will pass the Meuse at Ruremond, on their way to the Moselle; "and I may venture to tell you, though I would not have it public as yet, I design to march a great deal higher into Germany." By this impenetrable secresy the great general prevented the Dutch opposing his resolves upon the ground that it would leave their own frontier defenceless. The French themselves could not understand the movements of Marlborough. The French marshal, Villeroy, who had been ordered to observe him wheresoever he marched, suddenly lost sight of him altogether, and only learned where he really was, when he received the news of his first victory over the Bavarians. Marlborough's troops crossed the Rhine at Coblentz, where his artillery and stores, as well as his sick soldiers, were put on board transports. On the 3rd of June, he passed the Neckar at Ladenburg, by a bridge of boats. He here halted for two days. Troops were drawing near to join him as he advanced-Dutch, Luxemburg, Hesse, and Danish allies. At Mundelsheim, on the 10th, Marlborough and prince Eugene met for the first time, and after three days they were joined by prince Louis of Baden. Prince Eugene was in Marlborough's full confidence, and they hoped to act together for their common object. But prince Louis asserted his claim of precedence to be with the main army

as its commander. It was at last agreed that he and Marlborough should command on alternate days; and that Eugene should return to the Rhine to command a body of thirty thousand men. On the 29th the army, in camp at Giengen, was within two leagues of the elector of Bavaria; but the Danish horse were not come up. Marshal Tallard and marshal Villeroy were at Strasburg, preparing to send the elector a great reinforcement, through the Black Forest. The English infantry and artillery had at length joined the cavalry with which Marlborough himself had pushed on, and he was desirous of striking a decisive blow at the elector before his friends came to his aid. On the 1st of July, thirteen thousand Bavarians and French were posted in an intrenched camp upon the Schellenberg, an eminence of about two English miles in circumference at the base, having a gradual ascent, and a large flat at the top, where the enemy was encamped in several lines. The Schellenberg joined the town of Donawert, from which an intrenchment was carried round the top of the hill, at whose base, on the south, flowed the Danube. The intrenchment was the strongest and the most regular on the north, where the hill is accessible from a spacious plain. At three o'clock on the morning of the 2nd of July, Marlborough marched out of his camp with a detachment of six thousand foot, thirty squadrons of horse, and three regiments of Imperial grenadiers. The main body of the army followed. After a fatiguing march of fifteen miles over very rough roads the duke resolved to storm the Schellenberg before the night closed. At six o'clock the attack began. The foot advanced in four lines up the rising ground; the horse in two lines. The cannon from the intrenchments of the hills, and from the works at Donawert, swept away officers and men with case-shot. The enemy charged out of their trenches, but the English guards stood their ground, and the Gallo-Bavarians retired. The whole force of the Schellenberg was now concentrated upon the English and Danish assailants. The infantry shrunk before the incessant fire; but the horse closed up and rallied them, and again they attacked with redoubled vigour. Meanwhile, prince Louis of Baden led the Imperialists to the feebly defended intrenchments, and they, throwing their fascines into the ditch, passed over with slight loss. The contest on the left still raged. The intrenchments were obstinately disputed, but at the end of an hour and a half the lines were forced; the allies possessed the camp; the routed enemy fled towards Donawert, whither they were pursued with great slaughter, and as the flying crowds crossed the bridge of the Danube, it broke down, and the waters swallowed those who had escaped the sword. Only three thousand of the men of the entrenched camp of the Schellenberg joined the elector of Bavaria, out of the twelve or thirteen thousand that occupied that almost impregnable position. But the allies also sustained a loss of more than five thousand killed and wounded. There were fourteen English infantry regiments in the action, and seven of cavalry. Twenty-nine of their officers were killed,

and eighty-six wounded.

Negotiations had been going on between the emperor and the elector of Bavaria to induce the elector to join the Allies. Articles had been agreed upon; but when the elector was expected to sign, he sent his secretary to say that as marshal Tallard was marching with an army of thirty thousand

A.D. 1704.

BATTLE OF BLENHEIM.

497

men to his relief, it was not in his power, nor consistent with his honour, to quit the French interest. Marlborough writes: "We are now going to burn and destroy the elector's country, to oblige him to hearken to terms.' This disgraceful work was set about in a very business-like manner, and all the terrors of fire and sword were let loose upon the quiet population.

On the 3rd of August, Marlborough was encamped at Friedberg. On the 8th Tallard had joined the elector, and their united forces were encamped at Biberach. Marlborough had weakened his main army by dispatching prince Louis to carry on the siege of Ingolstadt. On the 9th, prince Eugene, who was encamped at Donawert, hastily rode into Marlborough's camp, to announce that the united Gallo-Bavarian army had advanced from Bibrach towards Lauingen, with the supposed intention of passing the Danube. It was agreed that Eugene should be immediately reinforced, and that the whole army should advance nearer the Danube, in order to join him. The prince had now a force of twenty thousand men, composed of Prussians, Danes, Austrians, and troops of the empire. Marlborough commanded a force of thirty-six thousand men, composed of English, Dutch, Hessians, Hanoverians, and Danes. Tallard, and his fellow-general Marsin, commanded forty-eight thousand Frenchmen, and the Bavarians numbered twelve thousand. These forces passed the Danube on the 10th, and encamped at Dillingen. On that day Marlborough was encamped at Schonefeldt. On the 11th he crossed the Lech at Rain, and joined Eugene that night, having passed the Danube at Donawert. They intended to advance and encamp at Hochstet, but they found that the enemy had already possessed themselves of the ground. Marlborough, therefore, resolved on an attack. The allied army was encamped to the north-west of the river Kessel. The French and Bavarian army was encamped beyond the river Nebel, in the broadest part of the valley of the Danube, their right resting upon the great stream; marshal Tallard having his headquarters at the village of Blenheim. Their left was at the village of Lutzingen, covered by a wood. The space occupied by their lines was in length about four miles, upon rising ground which commanded the whole plain to the Nebel, in front. The distance between the Kessel and the Nebel is four or five miles. At three o'clock in the morning of the 13th of August, the army of Eugene, filing by the right, in four columns, and the army of Marlborough, also in four columns, were passing the Kessel, over bridges which had been constructed on the previous day. A ninth column, under the command of the gallant lord Cutts, marched along the Danube, upon the extreme left, with orders to attack the village of Blenheim. The morning was hazy, and Tallard was somewhat unaccountably deceived into the belief that Marlborough and Eugene were intending to march away to Nordlingen. When he found out his mistake, his first operation was to call in his foragers, and to set fire to the villages on that side of the Nebel on which the Allies were advancing. At eight o'clock the French began to cannonade, and the batteries of Marlborough and Eugene soon replied. It had been agreed between the two commanders that the battle should not commence till both were ready. Eugene found considerable difficulty in taking up his ground, and it was past noon

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