Page images
PDF
EPUB

to be prosecuted upon it, which they directed the attorney-general to do. It was apparent there was a train of dangerous negotiations that passed between Scotland and St. Germains, though they could not penetrate into the bottom and depth of it; and the design of Keith's bringing in his uncle was managed so remissly, that it was generally concluded that it was not in earnest desired it should succeed. During these debates, one very extraordinary thing happened. The earl of Nottingham did, upon three or four occasions, affirm that some things had been ordered in the cabinet council, which the dukes of Somerset and Devonshire, who were likewise of that council, did not agree with him in.

After all these examinations and debates, the lords concluded the whole matter with voting that there had been dangerous plots between some in Scotland and the court of France and St. Germains; and that the encouragement of this plotting came from the not settling the succession to the crown of Scotland in the house of Hanover. These votes they laid before the queen, and promised, that when this was done, they would endeavour to promote the union of the two kingdoms, upon just and reasonable terms.

This being ended, they made a long and vigorous address, in answer to that which the commons had made against them. They observed how uneasy the commons had been at the whole progress of their inquiry into this matter, and had taken methods to obstruct it all they could; which did not show that zeal for the queen's safety, and the preservation of the nation, to which all men pretended. They annexed to their address a list of many precedents, to show what good warrants they had for every step they had made. They took not the examination to themselves, so as to exclude others who had the same right, and might have done it as well as they if they had pleased. Their proceedings had been regular and parliamentary, as well as full of zeal and duty to the queen. They made severe observations on some of the proceedings in the house of commons, particularly on their not ordering writs to be issued out for some boroughs, to proceed to new elections, when they, upon pretence of corruption, had voted an election void; which had been practised of late, when it was visible that the election would not fall on the person they favoured. They charged this as a denial of justice, and of the right that such boroughs had to be represented in parliament, and as an arbitrary and illegal way of proceeding. This address was penned with great care and much force. These addresses were drawn by the lord Somers, and were read over and considered and corrected very critically by a few lords, among whom I had the honour to be called for one. This, with the other papers that were published by the lords, made a great impression on the body of the nation: for the difference that was between these, and those published by the house of commons, was indeed so visible, that it did not admit of any comparison, and was confessed even by those who were the most partial to them.

An act passed in this session, which may be of great advantage to the nation, if well executed; otherwise, since it is only enacted for one year, it will not be of much use. It empowers the justices of peace, or any three of them, to take up such idle persons as have no callings nor means of subsistence, and to deliver them to the officers of the army, upon paying them the levy money that is allowed for making recruits. The methods of raising these hitherto by drinking and other bad practices, as they were justly odious, so they were now so well known that they were no more of any effect: so that the army could not be recruited, but by the help of this act. And if this is well managed it will prove of great advantage to the nation; since, by this means, they will be delivered from many vicious and idle persons, who are become a burden to their country. And indeed there was of late years so great an increase of the poor, that their maintenance was become in most places a very heavy load, and amounted to the full half of the public taxes. The party in both houses, that had been all along cold and backward in the war, opposed this act with unusual vehemence; they pretended zeal for the public liberty and the freedom of the person, to which, by the constitution, they said every Englishman had a right; which they thought could not be given away but by a legal government, and for some crime. They thought this put a power in the hands of justices of peace, which might be stretched and abused to serve bad ends. Thus men that seemed engaged to an interest that was destructive to all liberty, could yet

make use of that specious pretence, to serve their purpose. The act passed, and has been continued from year to year with a very good effect; only a visible remissness appears in some justices, who are secretly influenced by men of ill designs*.

The chief objection made to it in the house of lords was, that the justices of peace had been put in and put out in so strange a manner, ever since Wright had the great seal, that they did not deserve so great a power should be committed to them. Many gentlemen of good estates and ancient families had been of late put out of the commission, for no other visible reason, but because they had gone in heartily to the revolution, and had continued zealots for the late king. This seemed done on design to mark them, and to lessen the interest they had in the elections of members of parliament: and at the same time, men of no worth nor estate, and known to be ill-affected to the queen's title, and to the protestant succession, were put in, to the great encouragement of ill-designing men. All was managed by secret accusations and characters that were very partially given. Wright was a zealot to the party, and was become very exceptionable in all respects. Money, as was said, did every thing with him; only in his court I never heard him charged for any thing but great slowness, by which the chancery was become one of the heaviest grievances of the nation. An address was made to the queen, complaining of the commissions of the peace, in which the lords delivered their opinion, that such as would not serve or act under the late king, were not fit to serve her majesty.

With this the session of parliament was brought to a quiet conclusion, after much heat and a great deal of contention between the two houses. The queen, as she thanked them for the supplies, so she again recommended union and moderation to them. These words, which had hitherto carried so good a sound, that all sides pretended to them, were now become so odious to violent men, that even in sermons, chiefly at Oxford, they were arraigned as importing somewhat that was unkind to the church, and that favoured the dissenters. The house of commons had, during this session, lost much of their reputation, not only with fair and impartial judges, but even with those who were most inclined to favour them. It is true, the body of the freeholders began to be uneasy under the taxes, and to cry out for a peace and most of the capital gentry of England, who had the most to lose, seemed to be ill-turned, and not to apprehend the dangers we were in, if we should fall under the power of France, and into the hands of the pretended prince of Wales; or else they were so fatally blinded, as not to see that these must be the consequences of those measures in which they were engaged.

The universities, Oxford especially, have been very unhappily successful in corrupting the principles of those who were sent to be bred among them: so that few of them escaped the taint of it, and the generality of the clergy were not only ill-principled but ill-tempered. They exclaimed against all moderation, as endangering the church, though it is visible that the church is in no sort of danger from either the numbers or the interest that the dissenters have among us, which by reason of the toleration is now so quieted, that nothing can keep up any heat in those matters but the folly and bad humour that the clergy are possessed with, and which they infuse into all those with whom they have credit. But at the same time, though the great and visible danger that hangs over us is from popery, which a miscarriage in the present war must let in upon us, with an inundation not to be either resisted or recovered, they seem to be blind on that side, and to apprehend and fear nothing from that quarter.

The convocation did little this winter, they continued their former ill practices; but little opposition was made to them, as very little regard was had to them. They drew up a representation of some abuses in the ecclesiastical discipline, and in the consistorial courts; but took care to mention none of those greater ones, of which many among themselves were eminently guilty, such as pluralities, non-residence, the neglect of their cures, and the irrcgularities in the lives of the clergy, which were too visible.

Soon after the session was ended, the duke of Marlborough went over to Holland. He had gone over for some weeks, at the desire of the States, in January, and then there was a scheme formed for the operations of the next campaign. It was resolved that, instead of a This despotic statute, 2 & 3 Anne, c. xix. was allowed to expire.

fruitless one in the Netherlands, they would have a small army there, to lie only on the defensive, which was to be commanded by M. Auverquerque; but that, since the Rhine was open, by the taking of Bonn, all up to the Moselle, their main army, that was to be commanded by the duke of Marlborough, should act there. More was not understood to be designed, except by those who were taken into the confidence. Upon this all the preparations for the campaign were ordered to be carried up to the Rhine; and so every thing was in a readiness when he returned back to them in April. The true secret was in few hands, and the French had no hint of it, and seemed to have no apprehensions about it.

The earl of Nottingham was animated by the party, to press the queen to dismiss the dukes of Somerset and Devonshire from the cabinet council, at least that they might be called thither no more. He moved it often, but finding no inclination in the queen to comply with his motion, he carried the signet to her, and told her he could not serve any longer in councils to which these lords were admitted; but the queen desired him to consider better of it. He returned next day, fixed in his first resolution, to which he adhered the more steadily, because the queen had sent to the earl of Jersey for the lord chamberlain's staff, and to sir Edward Seymour for the comptroller's. The earl of Jersey was a weak man, but crafty and well practised in the arts of a court: his lady was a papist: and it was believed that, while he was ambassador in France, he was secretly reconciled to the court of St. Germains; for after that he seemed in their interests. It was one of the reproaches of the last reign that he had so much credit with the late king, who was so sensible of it, that if he had lived a little while longer, he would have dismissed him. He was considered as the person that was now in the closest correspondence with the court of France; and though he was in himself a very inconsiderable man, yet he was applied to by all those who wished well to the court of St. Germains. The earl of Kent had the staff: he was the first earl of England, and had a great estate. Mansell, the heir of a great family in Wales, was made comptroller. And, after a month's delay, Harley, the speaker, was made secretary of state.

But now I turn to give an account of the affairs abroad. The emperor was reduced to the last extremities; the elector of Bavaria was master of the Danube all down to Passau ; and the mal-contents in Hungary were making a formidable progress. The emperor was not in a condition to maintain a defensive war long on both hands, so that when these should come to act by concert, no opposition could be made to them. Thus his affairs had a very black appearance, and utter ruin was to be apprehended. Vienna would be probably besieged on both sides, and it was not in a condition to make a long defence; so the house of Austria seemed lost. Prince Eugene proposed that the emperor should implore the queen's protection: this was agreed to, and count Wratislaw managed the matter at our court with great application and secrecy. The duke of Marlborough saw the necessity of undertaking it, and resolved to try, if it was possible, to put it in execution. When he went into Holland in the winter, he proposed it to the pensioner and other persons of the greatest confidence; they approved of it: but it was not advisable to propose it to the States: at that time many of them would not have thought their country safe, if their army should be sent so far from them; nothing could be long a secret that was proposed to such an assembly, and the main hope of succeeding in this design lay in the secresy with which it was conducted. Under the blind of the project of carrying the war to the Moselle, every thing was prepared that was necessary for executing the true design. When the duke went over the second time, that which was proposed in public related only to the motions towards the Moselle: so he drew his army together in May. He marched towards the Moselle; but he went further; and, after he had gained the advance of some days of the French troops, he wrote to the States, from Ladenburg, to let them know that he had the queen's order, to march to the relief of the empire, with which he hoped they would agree, and allow of his carrying their troops to share in the honour of that expedition. He had their answer as quick as the courier could carry it, by which they approved of the design, and of his carrying their troop with him.

So he marched with all possible expedition from the Rhine to the Danube; which was a great surprise to the court of France, as well as to the elector of Bavaria. The king of

France sent orders to mareschal Tallard to march in all haste with the best troops they had to support the elector, who apprehended that the duke of Marlborough would endeavour to pass the Danube at Donawert, and so to break into Bavaria. To prevent that, he posted about sixteen thousand of his best troops at Schellenberg, near Donawert, which was looked on as a very strong and tenable post. The duke of Marlborough joined the prince of Baden, with the imperial army, in the beginning of July, and after a long march, continued from three in the morning, they came up to the Bavarian troops towards the evening. They were so well posted that our men were repulsed in the three first attacks, with great loss: at last the enemy were beaten from their posts, which was followed with a total rout, and we became masters of their camp, their artillery, and their baggage. Their general, Arco, with many others, swam over the Danube: others got into Donawert, which they abandoned next morning with that precipitation, that they were not able to execute the elector's cruel orders, which were, to set fire to the town, if they should be forced to abandon it; great quantities of straw were laid in many places as a preparation for that, in case of a misfortune.

The best half of the Bavarian forces were now entirely routed, about five thousand of them were killed. We lost as many, for the action was very hot, and our men were much exposed; yet they went still on, and continued the attack with such resolution, that it let the generals see how much they might depend on the courage of their soldiers. Now we were masters of Donawert, and, thereby, of a passage over the Danube, which laid all Bavaria open to our army. Upon that the elector, with mareschal Marsin, drew the rest of his army under the cannon of Augsburg, where he lay so well posted, that it was not possible to attack him, nor to force him out of it. The duke of Marlborough followed him, and got between him and his country, so that it was wholly in his power. When he had him at this disadvantage, he entered upon a treaty with him, and offered him what terms he could desire, either for himself or his brother, even to the paying him the whole charge of the war, upon condition that he would immediately break with the French and send his army into Italy, to join with the imperialists there. His subjects, who were now at mercy, pressed him vehemently to accept of those terms: he seemed inclined to hearken to them, and messengers went often between the two armies: but this was done only to gain time, for he sent courier after courier, with most pressing instances, to hasten the advance of the French army. When he saw he could gain no more time, the matter went so far that the articles were ordered to be made ready for signing. In conclusion, he refused to sign them; and then severe orders were given for military execution on his country. Every thing that was within the reach of the army, that was worth taking, was brought away, and the rest was burnt and destroyed.

The two generals did after that resolve on further action, and since the elector's camp could not be forced, the siege of Ingolstad was to be carried on: it was the most important place he had, in which his great magazines were laid up. The prince of Baden went to besiege it, and the duke of Marlborough was to cover the siege, in conjunction with prince Eugene, who commanded a body of the imperial army, which was now drawn out of the posts in which they had been put, in order to hinder the march of the French: but they were not able to maintain them against so great a force as was now coming up; these formed a great army. Prince Eugene, having intelligence of the quick motions of the French, posted his troops, that were about eighteeen thousand, as advantageously as he could, and went to concert matters with the duke of Marlborough, who lay at some distance. He upon that marched towards the prince's army with all possible haste, and so the two armies joined. It was now in the beginning of August. The elector, hearing how near M. Tallard was, marched with M. Marsin and joined him. Their armies advanced very near ours, and were well posted, having the Danube on one side and a rivulet on the other, whose banks were high, and in some places formed a morass before them. The two armies were now in view one of another. The French were superior to us in foot by about ten thousand; but we had three thousand more horse than they. The post of which they were possessed was capable of being, in a very little time, put out of all danger of future attacks. So the duke of Marlborough and prince Eugene saw how important it was to lose no time, and resolved

to attack them the next morning. They saw the danger of being forced otherwise to lie idle in their camp, until their forage should be consumed, and their provisions spent. They had also intercepted letters from mareschal Villeroy to the elector, by which it appeared that he had orders to march into Wirtemberg, to destroy that country, and to cut off the communication with the Rhine, which must have been fatal to us. So the necessary dispositions were made for the next morning's action. Many of the general officers came and represented to the duke of Marlborough the difficulties of the design. He said he saw these well, but the thing was absolutely necessary. So they were sent to give orders everywhere, which was received all over the army with an alacrity that gave a happy presage of the success that followed.

I will not venture on a particular relation of that great day: I have seen a copious account of it, prepared by the duke of Marlborough's orders, that will be printed some time or other; but there are some passages in it, which make him not think it fit to be published presently. He told me he never saw more evident characters of a special providence than appeared that day; a signal one related to his own person: a cannon-ball went into the ground so near him, that he was some time quite covered with the cloud of dust and earth that it raised about him. I will sum up the action in a few words.

Our men quickly passed the brook, the French making no opposition. This was a fatal error, and was laid wholly to Tallard's charge. The action that followed was for some time very hot, many fell on both sides: ten battalions of the French stood their ground, but were in a manner mowed down in their ranks; upon that the horse ran many of them into the Danube, most of these perished: Tallard himself was taken prisoner. The rest of his troops were posted in the village of Blenheim: these, seeing all lost, and that some bodies were advancing upon them, which seemed to them to be thicker than indeed they were, and apprehending that it was impossible to break through, they did not attempt it, though brave men might have made their way. Instead of that, when our men came up to set fire to the village, the earl of Orkney first beating a parley, they hearkened to it very easily, and were all made prisoners of war: there were about thirteen hundred officers and twelve thousand common soldiers, who laid down their arms, and were now in our hands. Thus all Tallard's ariny was either killed in the action, drowned in the Danube, or become prisoners by capitulation. Things went not so easily on prince Eugene's side, where the elector and Marsin commanded he was repulsed in three attacks, but carried the fourth, and broke in; and so he was master of their camp, cannon, and baggage. The enemy retired in some order, and he pursued them as far as men wearied with an action of about six hours, in an extremely hot day, could go. Thus we gained an entire victory. In this action there were on our side about twelve thousand killed and wounded: but the French and the elector lost about forty thousand killed, wounded, and taken*.

:

The elector marched with all the haste he could to Ulm, where he left some troops, and then with a small body got to Villeroy's army. Now all Bavaria was at mercy: the electress received the civilities due to her sex, but she was forced to submit to such terms as were imposed on her: Ingolstad and all the fortified places in the electorate, with the magazines that were in them, were soon delivered up: Augsburg, Ulm, and Meming, quickly recovered their liberty: so now our army, having put a speedy conclusion to the war that was got so far into the bowels of the empire, marched quickly back to the Rhine. The emperor made great acknowledgments of this signal service which the duke of Marlborough had done him, and upon it offered to make him a prince of the empire. He very decently said he could not accept of this till he knew the queen's pleasure: and, upon her consenting to it, he was created a prince of the empire, and about a year after Mindleheim was assigned him for his principality.

Upon this great success in Germany, the duke of Savoy sent a very pressing message for a present supply. The duke of Vendome was in Piedmont, and after a long siege had taken Verceil, and was likely to make a further progress. The few remains of the imperial army

It was for this victory of Blenheim that the honour of Woodstock, now known as Blenheim House, &c. were bestowed upon the duke of Marlborough. For particulars of this and others of the duke's exploits, the reader is again referred to Coxe's "Memoirs and Correspondence" of that great general.

« PreviousContinue »