they had left in Judoign, and in all possible confusion they passed the Dyle, our men pursuing till it was dark. The duke of Marlborough said to me, the French army looked the best of any he had ever seen; but that their officers did not do their part, nor show the courage that had appeared among them on other occasions. And when I asked him the difference between the actions at Hockstedt and at Ramillies; he said, the first battle lasted between seven and eight hours, and we lost above twelve thousand men in it; whereas the second lasted not above two hours, and we lost not above two thousand five hundred men. Orders were presently sent to the great cities, to draw the garrisons out of them, that so the French might have again the face of an army; for their killed, their deserters, and their prisoners, on this great day, were above twenty thousand men. The duke of Marlborough lost no time, but followed them close: Louvain, Mechlin, and Brussels submitted, besides many lesser places: Antwerp made a show of standing out, but soon followed the example of the rest: Ghent and Bruges did the same: in all these king Charles was proclaimed. Upon this unexpected rapidity of success, the duke of Marlborough went to the Hague, to concert measures with the States, where he stayed but a few days; for they agreed to every thing he proposed, and sent him back with full powers. The first thing he undertook was the siege of Ostend, a place famous for its long siege in the last age. The natives of the place were disposed to return to the Austrian family, and the French that were in it had so lost all heart and spirit, that they made not the resistance that was looked for. In ten days after they sat down before it, and within four days after the batteries were finished, they capitulated. From thence the confederates went to Menin, which was esteemed the best finished fortification in all those parts: it was built after the peace of Nimeguen; nothing that art could contrive was wanting to render it impregnable; and it was defended by a garrison of six thousand men, so that many thought it was too bold an undertaking to sit down before it. The French army was become considerable by great detachments brought from the Upper Rhine, where mareschal Villars was so far superior to the Germans, that, if it had not been for this revulsion of his forces, the circles of Suabia and Franconia would have been much exposed to pillage and contribution.

The duke of Vendome's conduct in Italy had so raised his character, that he was thought the only man fit to be at the head of the army in Flanders; so he was sent for, and had that command given him, with a very high compliment, which was very injurious to the other officers, since he was declared to be the single man on whom France could depend, and by whom it could be protected, in that extremity. The duke of Orleans was sent to command in Italy, and mareschal Marsin was sent with him to assist, or rather in reality to govern him. And so obstinately was the king of France set on pursuing his first designs, that notwithstanding his disgraces both in Spain and in the Netherlands, yet (since he had ordered all the preparations for the siege of Turin) he would not desist from that attempt, but ordered it to be pursued with all possible vigour. The siege of Menin was in the meanwhile carried on so successfully, that the trenches were opened on the 24th of July, and the batteries were finished on the 29th; and they pressed the place so warmly, that they capitulated on the 11th of August, and marched out on the 14th, being St. Lewis's day: four thousand men marched out of the place.

It seemed strange that a garrison, which was still so numerous, should give up, in so short a time, a place that was both so strong and so well furnished. But as the French were much sunk, so the allies were now become very expert at carrying on of sieges, and spared no cost that was necessary for dispatch. Dendermonde had been for some weeks under a blockade this, the duke of Marlborough ordered to be turned into a formal siege. The place was so surrounded with water, that the king of France, having once begun a siege there, was forced to raise it; yet it was now so pressed, that the garrison offered to capitulate, but the duke of Marlborough would give them no other terms but those of being prisoners of war, to which they were forced to submit. Ath was next invested; it lay so inconveniently between Flanders and Brabant, that it was necessary to clear that communication, and to deliver Brussels from the danger of that neighbourhood. In a fortnight's time, it was also obliged to capitulate, and the garrison were made prisoners of war.

During those sieges, the duke of Vendome, having fixed himself in a camp that could not

be forced, did not think fit to give the duke of Marlborough any disturbance, while he lay with his army covering the sieges. The French were jealous of the elector of Bavaria's heat, and though he desired to command an army apart, yet it was not thought fit to divide the forces, though now grown to be very numerous. Deserters said the panic was still so great in the army, that there was no appearance of their venturing on any action. Paris itself was under a high consternation, and though the king carried his misfortunes with an appearance of calmness and composure, yet he was often let blood, which was thought an indication of a great commotion within, and this was no doubt the greater, because it was so much disguised. No news was talked of at that court, all was silent and solemn ; so that even the duchess dowager of Orleans knew not the true state of their affairs, which made her write to her aunt, the electress of Hanover, to learn news of her.

There was another alarm given them, which heightened the disorder they were in. The queen and the States formed a design of a descent in France, with an army of about ten thousand foot and one thousand two hundred horse. The earl of Rivers commanded the land army, as Shovel did a royal fleet that was to convoy them, and to secure their landing : it was to be near Bordeaux; but the secret was then so well kept, that the French could not penetrate into it: so the alarm was general. It put all the maritime counties of France to a vast charge, and under dismal apprehensions. Officers were sent from the court to exercise them; but they saw what their militia was, and that was all their defence. I have one of the manifestos that the earl of Rivers was ordered to publish upon his landing: he declared by it, that he was come neither to pillage the country, nor to conquer any part of it; he came only to restore the people to their liberties, and to have assemblies of the states, as they had anciently, and to restore the edicts to the protestants; he promised protection to all that should come in to him. The troops were all put aboard at Portsmouth, in the beginning of July, but they were kept in our ports by contrary winds, till the beginning of October. The design on France was then laid aside; it was too late in the year for the fleet to sail into the bay of Biscay, and to lie there for any considerable time in that season. The reduction of Spain was of the greatest importance to us; so new orders were sent them to sail first to Lisbon, and there to take such measures, as the state of the affairs of Spain should require.

The siege of Turin was begun in May, and was continued till the beginning of September. There was a strong garrison within it, and it was well furnished both with provisions and ammunition. The duke of Savoy put all to the hazard: he sent his duchess with his children to Genoa, and himself, with a body of three thousand horse, was moving about Turin, from valley to valley, till that body was much diminished; for he was, as it were, hunted from place to place, by the duke of Feuillade, who commanded in the siege, and drove the duke of Savoy before him; so that all hope of relief lay in prince Eugene. The garrison made a noble resistance, and maintained their outworks long: they blew up many mines, and disputed every inch of ground with great resolution: they lost about six thousand men, who were either killed or had deserted during the siege; and their powder was at last so spent, that they must have capitulated within a day or two, if they had not been relieved. The siege cost the French very dear: they were often forced to change their attacks, and lost about fourteen thousand men before the place; for they were frequently beat from the posts that they had gained.

Prince Eugene made all the haste he could to their relief. The court of Vienna had not given due orders, as they had undertaken, for the provision of the troops that were to march through their country to join him. This occasioned many complaints and some delay. The truth was, that court was so much set on the reduction of Hungary, that all other things were much neglected, while that alone seemed to possess them. A treaty was set on foot with the malcontents there, by the mediation of England and of the States; a cessation of arms was agreed to for two months; all that belonged to that court were very uneasy while that continued; they had shared among them the confiscations of all the great estates in Hungary, and they saw that, if a peace was made, all these would be vacated, and the estates would be restored to their former owners; so they took all possible means to traverse the negotiation, and to enflame the emperor. There seemed to be some probability of

bringing things to a settlement, but that could not be brought to any conclusion during the term of the cessation; when that was lapsed, the emperor could not be prevailed on to renew the recalled his troops from the Upper Rhine, though that was contrary to all his agreements with the empire. Notwithstanding all this ill management of the court of Vienna, prince Eugene got together the greatest part of those troops that he expected in the Veronese before the end of June: they were not yet all come up, but he, believing himself strong enough, resolved to advance; and he left the prince of Hesse with a body to receive the rest, and by them to force a diversion, while he should be going on. The duke of Vendome had taken care of all the fords of the Adige, the Mincio, and the Oglio, and had cast up such lines and entrenchments every where, that he had assured the court of France it was not possible for prince Eugene to break through all that opposition, at least to do it in any time to relieve Turin. By this time the duke of Orleans was come to take the army out of Vendome's hands; but before that duke had left it, they saw that he had reckoned wrong in all those hopes he had given the court of France, of stopping prince Eugene's march. For, in the beginning of July, he sent a few battalions over one of the fords of the Adige, where the French were well posted, and double their number; yet they ran away with such precipitation, that they left every thing behind them. Upon that, prince Eugene passed the Adige with his whole army, and the French, in a consternation, retired behind the Mincio. After this, prince Eugene surprised the French with a motion that they had not looked for, nor prepared against, for he passed the Po: the duke of Orleans followed him, but declined an engagement; whereupon prince Eugene wrote to the duke of Marlborough, that he felt the effects of the battle of Ramillies, even in Italy, the French seeming to be every where dispirited with their misfortunes. Prince Eugene, marching nearer the Apennines, had gained some days' march of the duke of Orleans; upon which, that duke repassed the Po, and advanced with such haste towards Turin, that he took no care of the pass at Stradella, which might have been kept and disputed for some days. Prince Eugene found no opposition there; nor did he meet with any other difficulty, but from the length of the march and the heat of the season, for he was in motion all the months of July and August In the beginning of September the duke of Savoy joined him with the small remnants of his army, and they hasted on to Turin. The duke of Orleans had got thither before them, and the place was now reduced to the last extremities. The duke of Orleans, with most of the chief officers, were for marching out of the trenches; Marsin was of another mind, and when he found it hard to maintain his opinion, he produced positive orders for it, which put an end to the debate. The duke of Savoy saw the necessity of attacking them in their trenches: his army consisted of twenty-eight thousand men, but they were good troops; the French were above forty thousand, and in a well fortified camp: yet after two hours' resistance, the duke of Savoy broke through, and then there was a great destruction, the French flying in much disorder, and leaving a vast treasure in their camp, besides great stores of provisions, ammunition, and artillery. It was so entire a defeat, that not above one thousand six hundred men of that great army got off in a body, and they made all the haste they could into Dauphiny. The duke of Savoy went into Turin, where it may be easily imagined he was received with much joy: the garrison, for want of powder, was not in a condition to make a sally on the French, while he attacked them; the French were pursued as far as men wearied with such an action could follow them, and many prisoners were taken. The duke of Orleans, though he lost the day, yet gave great demonstrations of courage, and received several wounds. Mareschal Marsin fell into the enemy's hands, but died of his wounds in a few hours; and upon him all the errors of this dismal day were cast, though the heaviest part of the load fell on Chamillard, who was then in the supreme degree of favour at court, and was entirely possessed of madam Maintenon's confidence. Feuillade had married his daughter, and, in order to the advancing him, he had the command of this siege given him, which was thus obstinately pursued till it ended in this fatal manner. The obstinacy continued, for the king sent orders, for a month together, to the duke of Orleans, to march back into Piedmont, when it was absolutely impossible; yet repeated orders were sent, and the reason of this was understood afterwards. Madam Maintenon (it seems) took that care of the king's health and humour, that she did not suffer the ill state of his affairs to

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be fully told him he all that while was made believe, that the siege was only raised upon the advance of prince Eugene's army, and knew not that his own was defeated and ruined. I am not enough versed in military affairs to offer any judgment upon that point, whether they did well, or ill, not to go out of their camp to fight; it is certain, that the fight was more disorderly, and the loss was much greater, by reason of their lying within their lines in this I have known men of the trade of different opinions.

While this was done at Turin, the prince of Hesse advanced to the Mincio, which the French abandoned; but as he went to take Castiglione, Medavi, the French general, surprised him, and cut off about two thousand of his men, upon which he was forced to retire to the Adige. The French magnified this excessively, hoping, with the noise they made about it, to balance their real loss at Turin. The prince of Vaudemont, upon the news from Turin, left the city of Milan, and retired with the small force he had to Cremona. The duke of Savoy and prince Eugene marched with all haste into the Milanese. The city of Milan was opened to them; but the citadel and some strong places that had garrisons in them stood out some time; yet place after place capitulated, so that it was visible all would quickly fall into their hands.

Such a succession of eminent misfortunes in one campaign, and in so many different places, was without example. It made all people conclude that the time was come, in which the perfidy, the tyranny, and the cruelty, of that king's long and bloody reign, was now to be repaid him with the same severe measure with which he had formerly treated others. But the secrets of God are not to be too boldly pried into, till he is pleased to display them to us more openly. It is certainly a year that deserves to be long and much remembered.

In the end of the campaign, in which Poland had been harassed with the continuance of the war, but without any great action, the king of Sweden, seeing that king Augustus supported his affairs in Poland by the supplies, both of men and money, that he drew from his electorate, resolved to stop that resource: so he marched through Silesia and Lusatia into Saxony. He quickly made himself master of an open country, that was looking for no such invasion, and was in no sort prepared for it, and had few strong places in it capable of any resistance. The rich town of Leipsic and all the rest of the country was, without any opposition, put under contribution. All the empire was alarmed at this: it was at first apprehended that it was set on by the French councils, to raise a new war in Germany, and to put the North all in a flame. The king of Sweden gave it out that he had no design to give any disturbance to the empire; that he intended by this march, only to bring the war of Poland to a speedy conclusion: and it was reasonable to believe that such an unlooked for incident would soon bring that war to a crisis.

This was the state of our affairs abroad in this glorious and ever-memorable year. At home, another matter of great consequence was put in a good and promising method: the commissioners of both kingdoms sat close in a treaty till about the middle of July; in conclusion, they prepared a complete scheme of an entire union of both nations; some particulars being only referred, to be settled by their parliaments respectively. When every thing was agreed to, they presented one copy of the treaty to the queen, and each side had a copy, to be presented to their respective parliament, all the three copies being signed by the commissioners of both kingdoms *. It was resolved to lay the matter first before the parliament of Scotland, because it was apprehended that it would meet with the greatest opposition there.

The union of the two kingdoms was a work of which many had quite despaired, in which number I was one; and those who entertained better hopes, thought it must have run out into a long negotiation for several years: but beyond all men's expectation it was begun and finished within the compass of one. The commissioners brought up from Scotland, for the treaty, were so strangely chosen (the far greater number having continued in an opposition to the government ever since the revolution), that from thence many concluded that it was not sincerely designed by the ministry, when they saw such a nomination. This was a piece of the earl of Stair's cunning, who did heartily promote the design: he then thought that if * See the speeches of the two lord chancellors and of the queen, on this occasion, in Chandler's Debates, iii. 477.

such a number of those who were looked on as jacobites, and were popular men on that account among the disaffected there, could be so wrought on, as to be engaged in the affair, the work would be much the easier when laid before the parliament of Scotland: and in this the event showed that he took right measures. The lord Somers had the chief hand in projecting the scheme of the union, into which all the commissioners of the English nation went very easily. The advantages that were offered to Scotland in the whole frame of it were so great and so visible, that nothing but the consideration of the safety, that was to be procured by it to England, could have brought the English to agree to a project, that, in every branch of it, was much more favourable to the Scotch nation*.

They were to bear less than the fortieth part of the public taxes; when four shillings in the pound was levied in England, which amounted to two millions, Scotland was only to be taxed at 48,000 pounds, which was eight months' assessment; they had been accustomed for some years to pay this, and they said it was all that the nation could bear. It is held a maxim, that in the framing of a government, a proportion ought to be observed between the share in the legislature and the burden to be borne; yet in return of the fortieth part of the burden, they offered the Scotch nearly the eleventh part of the legislature; for the peers of Scotland were to be represented by sixteen peers in the house of lords, and the commons by forty-five members in the house of commons; and these were to be chosen according to the methods, to be settled in the parliament of Scotland. And since Scotland was to pay customs and excises, on the same footing with England, and was to bear a share in paying much of the debt England had contracted during the war, 398,000 pounds was to be raised in England, and sent into Scotland, as an equivalent for that; and that was to be applied to the recoining the money, that all might be of one denomination and standard, and to paying the public debts of Scotland, and repaying, to their African company, all their losses with interest; upon which that company was to be dissolved, and the overplus of the equivalent was to be applied to the encouragement of manufactures. Trade was to be free all over the island, and to the plantations; private rights were to be preserved, and the judicatories and laws of Scotland were still to be continued: but all was put, for the future, under the regulation of the parliament of Great Britain; the two nations now were to be one kingdom, under the same succession to the crown, and united in one parliament. There was no provision made in this treaty, with relation to religion; for in the acts of parliament, in both kingdoms, that empowered the queen to name commissioners, there was an express limitation that they should not treat of those matters.

This was the substance of the articles of the treaty, which being laid before the parliament of Scotland, met with great opposition there. It was visible that the nobility of that kingdom suffered a great diminution by it; for though it was agreed that they should enjoy all the other privileges of the peers of England, yet the greatest of them all, which was the voting in the house of lords, was restrained to sixteen, to be elected by the rest at every new parliament; yet there was a greater majority of the nobility that concurred in voting for the union, than in the other states of that kingdom. The commissioners from the shires and boroughs were almost equally divided, though it was evident they were to be the chief gainers by it; among these the union was agreed to by a very small majority: it was the nobility that in every vote turned the scale for the union: they were severely reflected on by those who opposed it; it was said many of them were bought off, to sell their country and their birth-right: all those who adhered inflexibly to the jacobite interest, opposed every step that was made with great vehemence; for they saw that the union struck at the root of all their views and designs, for a new revolution. Yet these could not have raised or maintained so great an opposition as was now made, if the presbyterians had not been possessed with a jealousy, that the consequence of this union would be, the change of churchgovernment among them, and that they would be swallowed up by the church of England. This took such root in many that no assurances that were offered could remove their fears: it was infused in them chiefly by the old duchess of Hamilton, who had great credit with them; and it was suggested, that she, and her son, had particular views, as hoping, that if For the Scotch jacobinical narrative of the Union, see Lockhart's "Memoirs" and Swift's "Public spirit of the Whigs;" "The Examiner may also be consulted.