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THE LIFE OF THE 
 DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH 
 
 a 
 
Works by the same Author 
 
 Pocket Book of Songs and Poems for the Open Air 
 Oxford 
 Beautiful Wales 
 The Heart of England 
 Rose Acre Papers 
 Life and Writings of Richard Jefferies 
 Rest and Unrest 
 Light and Twilight 
 The South Country 
 Influence of Women on Poets 
 Maurice Maeterlinck 
 Celtic Stories 
 Norse Stories 
 George Borrow 
 Algernon Charles Swinburne 
 Walter Pater 
 Lafcadio Hearn 
 The Icknield Way 
 The Happy-go-Lucky Morgans 
 The Pursuit of Spring 
 The Country 
 
John, Duke of Marlborough 
 After I. Closterman, 1705 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 
THE 
 LIFE OF THE DUKE 
 OF MARLBOROUGH 
 
 By 
 EDWARD THOMAS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 CHAPMAN & HALL, LTD. 
 191S 
 
Printed by The Westminster Press, 
 41 la Harro-u) Road, London, W. 
 
TO 
 
 THOMAS SECCOMBE 
 
 334170 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I Jack Churchill 
 
 I 
 
 II The Handsome Englishman 
 
 10 
 
 III Sarah Jennings 
 
 18 
 
 IV Colonel Churchill 
 
 24 
 
 V Lord Churchill 
 
 31 
 
 VI The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 48 
 
 VII The Spirit of the Age 
 
 69 
 
 VIII Neither Whig nor Tory 
 
 79 
 
 IX The Battleground 
 
 94 
 
 X The Army 
 
 98 
 
 XI Commander-in-Chief 
 
 121 
 
 XII Duke of Marlborough 
 
 127 
 
 XIII Blenheim 
 
 133 
 
 XIV Between Whig and Tory 
 
 148 
 
 XV 1705 
 
 153 
 
 XVI The Wonderful Year 
 
 164 
 
 XVII Marlborough and Godolphin 
 
 173 
 
 XVIII Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 182 
 
 XIX Malplaquet 
 
 204 
 
 XX Sieges 
 
 214 
 
 XXI The Last Campaign 
 
 222 
 
 XXII In Disgrace 
 
 233 
 
 XXIII Letters and Speeches 
 
 243 
 
 XXIV Malbrouk 
 
 273 
 
 Index 
 
 286 
 
 vn 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 John, Duke of Marlborough. After Closterman 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Louis xiv. After Largilliere Facing p. 12 
 
 The Duchess of Marlborough . After Kneller 24 
 
 Queen Anne 32 
 
 Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford. After Kneller 84 
 
 Marlborough. After Kneller 120 
 
 Eugene and Marlborough 134 
 
 Sidney Godolphin. After Kneller 176 
 
 Oudenarde. After Van der Meulen 188 
 
 The Campaign of 1708 in Flanders 192 
 
 Lille. After Van der Meulen 194 
 
 Malplaquet. By Caran D'Ache 208 
 
 Tournai. After Van der Meulen 214 
 
 Reproduction of Broadside. Feb. 5, 171 1 226 
 
 Blenheim Palace 240 
 
 Marlborough. After Nicholas Vischer 272 
 
 Vlll 
 
I : JACK CHURCHILL 
 
 JOHN CHURCHILL, afterwards Earl, and 
 then Duke, of Marlborough, first attracted 
 attention at the Court of Charles II when 
 he was twenty, and he still attracts our attention 
 first in the same way, by being connected in fact 
 and in scandal with one of the King's mistresses, 
 Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland, was his cousin, 
 aged twenty-seven. She had recovered from her 
 last lying in with an unusual profusion of charms, 
 and had designed with them to recapture the 
 King. But she fell to the handsome guardsman. 
 
 He boasted of his good fortune. The court 
 talked about the intrigue, some saying that he 
 had succeeded to the salaries of former lovers, 
 others conjecturing that his indolent air and 
 delicate shape would not prove lasting merits, 
 and all agreeing that here began a successful 
 career. Charles himself thought of having nothing 
 more to do with the Duchess. He is said to have 
 caught Churchill in the most compromising 
 situation, and to have banished him for a time 
 from the court. But this was no harm. The Duchess 
 bought him a position in the household of James, 
 Duke of York, as gentleman of the bedchamber. 
 The £4,500 with which he bought an annuity 
 when he was twenty-four is supposed to have 
 come out of her pocket — that is to say, out of the 
 King's. 
 
 In 1673, two years after he began to frequent 
 
 I B 
 
Th6 Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 die ducheejs, Churchill, now Captain, won the 
 admiration of a man, and that man was the French 
 General, Turenne. He was fighting for the French 
 in the Netherlands with an English contingent 
 under the Duke of Monmouth. Turenne singled 
 him out for his good looks and his courage. 
 Already, with Monmouth and a handful of life- 
 guards and gentleman volunteers, he had dis- 
 tinguished himself before Maestricht, by running 
 across the open under heavy fire, instead of 
 round about the trenches, to a point in jeopardy. 
 It was on another occasion that Turenne won a 
 bet through Churchill's bravery. The French 
 had given up an outpost to the Dutch : Churchill 
 was to regain it, and Turenne wagered that he 
 would do so with half as many men as had just 
 lost it. Churchill won the post and Turenne a 
 supper with wine. 
 
 Churchill needed little more than courage, 
 good fortune and good looks, and that little more 
 he had. He was born a year after Monmouth, at 
 Ash House, near Axminster, in Devonshire. June 
 5th, 1650, was the day. Great men were alive in 
 England, few were born near that time. His 
 mother was a Drake, with a Cavalier father (Sir 
 John Drake, of Ash) and a Parliamentarian 
 mother, who was a Butler from Hertfordshire, 
 and had a sister who married James Ley, second 
 Earl of Marlborough. The father was Winston 
 Churchill, afterwards Sir Winston, a Dorsetshire 
 man living at Mintern, near Dorchester : the 
 paternal grandfather was from Wotton Glanvile, 
 in Dorset, who had married a Miss Winston, of 
 Standiston in Gloucestershire. Winston Churchill, 
 having been ruined by the Parliament for his 
 services to the King as a Captain of Horse, had 
 
Jack Churchill 
 
 to go to live in his wife's mother's house, then 
 half in ruins. There his children were born, first 
 Arabella in 1648 ; then Winston, who died young, 
 in 1649 ; John in 1650 ; George, afterwards 
 Admiral, in 1653 5 Charles, afterwards General, 
 in 1656 ; Theobald, afterwards a clergyman, in 
 1663 ; and also two later sons and four later 
 daughters, who died young. 
 
 Winston Churchill lived in obscurity at Ash till 
 1660, when, as he puts it, " the mists of Reforma- 
 tion vanishing, the blind multitude came to them- 
 selves." He was rewarded by being made a 
 Commissioner of the Court of Claims at Dublin 
 to consider the appeals against the Cromwellian 
 settlement. He became a member of Parliament for 
 Weymouth and a member of the Royal Society. 
 In 1663 he was knighted, in 1664 he was appointed 
 Junior Clerk Comptroller of the King's House- 
 hold. Then he wrote a book, Divi Britanniciy a 
 remark upon the lives of all the Kings of this isle 
 from 2855 B.C. to 1660 A.D., a very loyal and 
 ponderous book, which he dedicated to Charles H 
 in 1675. Yet he was no humble admirer of any- 
 thing a king might choose to do after 1660. When 
 the Test Act was being discussed in 1673, and 
 the King was opposing it, Winston Churchill, 
 in the Commons, said : " No song, no supper " ; 
 Charles must pay for his supplies with the Test 
 Act, or go without. " No song, no supper " became 
 the cry. Winston Churchill, it seems had a turn 
 for such phrases, and was better at speaking than 
 writing, as sometimes happens with grand writers. 
 Nevertheless, he remained a Clerk Comptroller 
 under James H and supported the King's request 
 for a large grant from the Commons for the army ; 
 " soldiers move not without pay," said he ; "no 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 penny, no paternoster " ; he was even promoted, 
 though he made no money that he did not spend, 
 and had to borrow of his son Charles and to ask 
 John to break the entail of the Ash estate to 
 provide for him. He left nothing to his sons when 
 he died in 1688. 
 
 While Winston Churchill was living at Ash, 
 begetting children, and brooding over the death 
 of Charles I, which was to him '* the consum- 
 matum est of all the happiness of this kingdom, 
 as well as of the life of this king ; for upon his 
 death the veil of the temple rent and the church 
 was overthrown, an universal darkness over- 
 spread the state, which lasted not for twelve 
 hours only but twelve years." John Churchill, 
 his son, was also there, learning, we know not 
 how, the rudiments of love, war and diplomacy. 
 It was a good household for the purpose, and when 
 necessary, escape must have been easy, and then 
 he doubtless had a choice of boys and of dogs ; 
 he was always a lover of dogs. The grandmother, 
 father and mother can seldom have been suffi- 
 ciently united to compete with a small boy who 
 was to win the battle of Blenheim and betray 
 two Sovereigns. The grandmother was a staunch, 
 unbending Puritan. The mother had a tongue, 
 and loved the sound of it, and pursued her husband 
 with it. Winston Churchill was an active man cut 
 off in the thirties from the soldiering of his youth 
 and the public affairs of his middle age. Lord 
 Wolseley divines that the boy drank in from his 
 father " a love of England and a deep respect for 
 its history, laws and liberties, which influenced 
 his whole subsequent career." What we know 
 is that while he was at Ash he had lessons from 
 the rector of the parish, Musbury parish, the 
 
Jack Churchill 
 
 Rev. R. Farrant. When he was with his father in 
 Dublin in 1662 he attended the City Free School. 
 In 1663 they were in London, and the boy was at 
 St. Paul's School, where George Jeffreys, after- 
 wards Judge Jeffreys, was almost a contemporary. 
 The school, I think, boasts of them both, though 
 it did not make the one a sanguinary judge or 
 the other a comparatively humane general. Sixty 
 years afterwards an old clergyman who was also 
 at the school in 1 663 affirmed that he had frequently 
 seen Churchill reading the *' De Re Militari " of 
 Vegetius, and that from it he *' first learnt the 
 elements of war." In 1665 the Great Fire put an 
 end for the time being to St. Paul's School, and 
 probably cut short Churchill's book-learning. One 
 of the few writers that we know he read was 
 Shakespeare. He is alleged to have told Burnet 
 that he got his English history from Shakespeare. 
 Evelyn speaks of him as without " acquired 
 knowledge," Chesterfield as " eminently illiterate,'* 
 Burnet as " bred up in the court with no liter- 
 ature." 
 
 To the Court he went not long afterwards as 
 page to the Duke of York. His sister, Arabella, 
 had lately entered the household of the Duchess, 
 and was now, at the age of seventeen or eighteen, 
 in 1665 or 1666, the Duke's mistress. Arabella 
 was a tall, pale girl who appeared to be nothing 
 but skin and bone, but an accident out hunting 
 revealed unexpected beauties. She was thrown 
 from her horse, and the Duke coming up, saw 
 and was overcome : those who crowded round 
 her, says De Grammont, could hardly believe 
 that limbs of such exquisite beauty could belong 
 to Arabella Churchill. Before she was twenty- 
 seven she bore the Duke four children, two sons 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and two daughters. James Fitzjames, the elder 
 son, born in 1670, was created Duke of Berwick, 
 and earned the rank of Marshal in the French 
 army. 
 
 His sister's position helped Churchill, whether 
 it gave him his start or not. At seventeen he was 
 an ensign in the King's or First regiment of Foot 
 Guards, now the Grenadier Guards. The story 
 is that he used to attend the Duke with special 
 pleasure in his reviews of the Foot Guards. The 
 Duke noticed his delight, and asked him what 
 his ambition was. '* To be a soldier," he answered, 
 and asked, on his knees, for *' a pair of colours," 
 that is to say a commission, which was granted 
 in the same year. The Duke soon had far more 
 regard for Churchill than he need have had for 
 his mistress' young brother. What use Churchill 
 made of his advantage is not known. His first 
 fighting came not more than two years after his 
 commission, at Tangier. 
 
 Tangier had become English property with 
 Charles H's marriage in 1662 to Catherine of 
 Braganza. For twenty years, says Wolseley, " it 
 was to our officers what Egypt has lately been, a 
 drill-ground for practical soldiering." Wolseley 
 assumes that Churchill was longing to distinguish 
 himself in some other field than Whitehall. It 
 has been asserted that the King sent him there to 
 get him out of the way of the Duchess of Cleve- 
 land. Whichever it was, few men who liked 
 Whitehall could have liked Tangier also, least of 
 all one who, as they used to say, was formed to 
 create love and had like Mars a heart susceptible 
 of those soft impressions which are the usual 
 effects of the charms of Venus. " What crime," 
 asked the satirists later, 
 
 6 
 
Jack Churchill 
 
 What crime so great Cethegus would not dare, 
 For one stolen rapture with the yielding fair. 
 
 Churchill went to Tangier as a volunteer with 
 the " ist Tangier Regiment," afterwards known 
 as Kirke's Lambs, and finally as " The Queen's," 
 or " Royal West Surrey." The garrison were at 
 half strength and overworked, yet they had gone 
 many months unpaid. The food was bad. They 
 were mutinous. Many were superannuated, more 
 were disabled by debauchery. Men coming to 
 Tangier " cast off all respect due to God, and 
 mind nothing but debauchery and lewdness." 
 Some English subjects and officers changed their 
 religions wantonly as often as their garments. 
 The mistakes were radical. Most of those who 
 went to Tangier did not intend to live there, but 
 only to make money quick there ; so that they 
 knew nothing beyond their walls and lines, and 
 unless they sent a flag of truce out on some 
 *' pitiful business " they scarce ever saw a Moor 
 close at hand. It was so ten years later when 
 Lieut.-Col. Talmash, who became Churchill's 
 rival, was out there ; it can hardly have been 
 much better in 1669 and 1670. Sometimes the 
 English horse were attacked while foraging by 
 the Moors. Sometimes they rode through bodies 
 of the enemy preparing to lay siege to the forts. 
 
 The town on the land side was protected by a 
 three-mile curve of forts within musket shot of 
 one another, and connected by ditches and pali- 
 sades. The Moors attacked these forts in 1679 
 with an army of six thousand foot and horse. 
 Two they, pressed so hard that the sergeants 
 commanding had to blow up the buildings and 
 themselves with them. But the Moors lost very 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 heavily from musket shot, pike and explosion, 
 and, after a truce, made their next attempts with 
 trenches and mines. Charles and Henrietta forts, 
 in particular, were ringed with trenches, mined 
 under, and battered by cannon. For a time Charles 
 fort held out without hope, and showed their 
 contempt for the enemy's work by refusing to 
 surrender even as the train to the mine under 
 them was about to be fired. The explosion failed 
 to destroy the fort. They had, however, to decide 
 to abandon it with the help of a sally from the 
 town ; for they were badly mined and the men 
 mutinied. They announced the decision to 
 Henrietta fort, in Irish for safety. But Henrietta 
 was already in the hands of the Moors, and they 
 had deserters with them who knew Irish. The 
 Moorish trenches were ready for the escaping 
 party from Charles fort. Three great trenches 
 had to be crossed, deep enough in mud to smother 
 the wounded. Captain Trelawney, who brought 
 up the rear, had his little son with him. Of the 
 party of one hundred and eighty, not sixty crossed 
 the three trenches to the town alive. Bullets, 
 scimitars and spears fretted them away ; the over- 
 whelming numbers of the enemy pressing on 
 them kept them almost stationary. The child was 
 captured. The father died. When the third ditch 
 was crossed and the handful joined with the 
 forlorn hope of the sallying party, a single Moor, 
 the Alcaid Garbuz, charged them all. But his 
 horse stumbled in riding over the Captain, 
 Captain Hume, and threw him to the ground, 
 where he was killed by clubbed muskets. A truce 
 followed. The English were free to go out and 
 carry back their headless dead ; the Alcaid sent 
 in their heads separately. English and Moors 
 
 8 
 
Jack Churchill 
 
 mingled freely, and two boys of the garrison and 
 a seaman stayed with the enemy and turned Moor, 
 as one of the defenders of Henrietta fort had done 
 and was now their master gunner. 
 
 Such was Tangier, a very desperate remedy for 
 the " silks and fine array," the " smiles and 
 languished air " of Charles the Second's court, 
 but a good place for a youth of twenty to accustom 
 himself to " the curious sensation of being shot 
 at." Churchill had a little of it, and returned to 
 Court about the end of 1670. Milton was thinking 
 of publishing Paradise Regained and Samson 
 Agonistes. 
 
II : THE HANDSOME ENGLISHMAN 
 
 IF Ensign John Churchill liked the Court he 
 must have enjoyed getting back to it from 
 Tangier. He pretty certainly did like the 
 Court. The Court liked him. Thirty years later 
 he was a very handsome person according to 
 Evelyn ; no man disputed the gracefulness of 
 his person, said Swift. At first he may have been 
 too indolent and slender, but a wart on his upper 
 lip was not all that saved him from effeminacy. 
 Wolseley says that he was fair-haired and blue- 
 eyed, and later portraits show him brown-eyed 
 and bewigged, with a fine straight nose, a skin 
 clear up to the eyes and delicate lips full rather 
 than not. His figure, says Chesterfield, was 
 beautiful, his manner irresistible either by man 
 or woman. The Duchess of Cleveland took him 
 to her hospitable heart. 
 
 The Court was an immoral Utopia or Thelema 
 or Avalon, all gallantry, fun, and magnificence. 
 Charles II interfered with nobody and wanted 
 nobody to interfere with him. Had jealousy, 
 quarrelsomeness and disease been shut out there 
 could have been nothing left for beauties, gallants 
 and wits to desire. It all sounds as improbable 
 now as any other Paradise, with its Miss Brookses 
 " formed by nature to excite love in others, as 
 well as to be susceptible of it themselves," its 
 Jermyn " a moving trophy and monument of 
 the favours and freedoms of the fair sex." If 
 
 lO 
 
The Handsome Englishman 
 
 Whitehall was surpassed it was by Tunbridge 
 Wells. " Never," says De Grammont, one spring, 
 " did love see his empire in a more flourishing 
 condition than at Tunbridge Wells. Those who 
 were smitten before they came to it felt a mighty 
 augmentation of their flame ; and those who 
 seemed the least susceptible of love, laid aside 
 their natural ferocity to act in a new character." 
 Churchill was drawn in by his relation to the 
 Duke of York and to the Duchess of Cleveland ; 
 but without any other strong temptations he 
 could hardly have refused those of the Court, for 
 *' the graces protected and promoted him," he 
 had " a genteel air and obhging deportment," and 
 his manner was to caress and oblige all and to be 
 ready always to do good offices. Of his diversions 
 from pleasure we know little. But he had some 
 duties, both in the Duke's household and as 
 Lieutenant in the First Foot Guards. In 1671, 
 for some unknown cause, he fought an unsuccess- 
 ful duel with Captain Henry Herbert. In 1672 he 
 went on the first of several continental campaigns, 
 which left him the winter only for the Duchess 
 of Cleveland. 
 
 It would be worth inquiry, said the author of 
 the Life afid Glorious History of Marlborough, how 
 England bred so great a soldier in that " inactive, 
 lazy reign " of Charles the Second, when there 
 was always more business for the Cabinet than 
 the camp, and greater application to luxury and 
 riot than to either. The writer was perhaps not a 
 soldier. Or he had never speculated how soldiers 
 could be " true to the kindred points " of Tangier 
 and Whitehall, the Punjaub and Piccadilly. Then, 
 as now, the soldier on active service and the soldier 
 at home appeared to be two men, not one. Another 
 
 II 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 early writer {A Short Narrative of the Life and 
 Action of the Duke of Marlborough, 171 1) speaks 
 of how the officers came home from Flanders 
 with ** a good air and genteel mien," and bringing 
 the newest fashions with them, and people who 
 never saw their hardships fancied them designed 
 only for pleasure and ease. Such people hear of 
 fights, sieges and many deaths. But they see 
 nothing ; the talk leaves a slight and transient 
 impression. They ought, says he, to see the dead 
 horses in the intolerable marches of a rainy season ; 
 they should smell "the stinks of mortality.'* 
 Churchill's virtues were no more inconsistent 
 than his vices with the Court, where he was 
 partly educated. He learnt to know men there 
 and in the camp. He became a soldier and a man 
 of the world. 
 
 In 1 67 1 -2, Charles H wanted to make war on 
 the Dutch to please Louis XIV, his ally and 
 paymaster. Two excuses were trumped up. Some 
 English subjects had been detained by the Dutch 
 in Surinam ; the Dutch fleet had not lowered its 
 flags to an English ship that sailed through with 
 orders to fire on any ships failing to salute. Louis 
 had no better excuses. The English Ambassador 
 at the Hague, chosen as a rough hand, to make 
 the most of the English complaints, had to slip 
 oflF without an answer for fear of the violence 
 which his message deserved. When the English 
 and French fleets combined off the Isle of Wight, 
 under the Duke of York, Churchill was in the 
 Admiral's ship serving as a marine. The Dutch 
 attacked them in Sole Bay, off Southwold, and a 
 very hard battle was fought without a decisive 
 result. Sandwich, who really commanded the 
 fleet, went down with his burning ship. De Ruyter, 
 
 12 
 
Louis XIV 
 After Largilliere 
 
 1 o face p. 
 
The Handsome Englishman 
 
 the Dutch Admiral, had never before fought so 
 hard an action, though he had fought thirty-two. 
 Churchill received a captaincy. This was in the 
 summer. Late in the autumn he took his company 
 out to join the triumphant French army, but the 
 troops went into winter quarters, and Churchill 
 among other officers returned home . Where that was, 
 if it was not at the Court or thereabouts, I do not 
 know. Ash House, his old home, was now in the hands 
 of a cousin Drake, their grandmother being dead. 
 It was in the next year's campaign that Churchill 
 won the praise of Louis XIV, of Monmouth, and 
 of the army and Court, for his gallantry before 
 Maestricht : then, too, that Turenne wagered on 
 his courage and won. Fear formed no part of his 
 discretion. He was one of the party that stormed 
 the counter-scarp at Maestricht ; he planted the 
 French flag at the top of the breach ; he and 
 but a few others ran " within twenty yards " of 
 heavy fire to recapture the point which had just 
 been lost again to the Dutch ; the soldiers who 
 were leaving it turned, fell in with this new attack, 
 and the point was won. Churchill had also saved 
 Monmouth's life, and Monmouth told King 
 Charles. Early in 1674 ^^ was promoted Lieutenant 
 Colonel. He was then twenty-three. The Duke 
 of York had already made him Master of the 
 Robes. In that same year he had bought his 
 annuity of £500 with the Duchess of Cleveland's 
 gift. Before this, Charles had been compelled by 
 his Parliament to make peace with the Dutch. 
 Churchill had gained credit ; doubtless con- 
 tractors had made money, and Charles had fulfilled 
 his obligations to Louis : otherwise the war was 
 as futile as it looked. But one of its accidents was 
 the passing of the Test Act. 
 
 13 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Till Charles had given his consent to the Act 
 the Commons would not grant the million and 
 a quarter for carrying on the war ; and the 
 immediate effect of the Test Act was that the 
 Duke of York, being a Roman Catholic, had to 
 resign from the Admiralty and all public offices. 
 In 1674, Arabella Churchill presented the Duke 
 with her last child, and her influence and her 
 wealth must by this time have become slight, and 
 of no use to her brother. Small wonder then that 
 he took the royal mistress's bounty. A man without 
 private means who devotes himself to pleasure 
 cannot aflPord many scruples. Had he spent the 
 money, had he been generous with it, he might 
 have earned another page in De Grammont's 
 Memoirs, but except as the Duchess of Cleve- 
 land's lover we should not have heard of him. A 
 man of pleasure has every reason to be ashamed 
 of poverty : he will never know that he has become 
 parsimonious till he ceases to think it a vice. As 
 a young man, we do not know how, he made a sum 
 of forty broad pieces of silver, and he never 
 touched the sum. Years later, as he was looking 
 over some papers with Lord Cadogan, his quarter- 
 master-general, he opened a little drawer, took 
 out a green purse and turned some broad pieces 
 out of it. For some time he looked at them with 
 very visible satisfaction. Then he said to Cadogan : 
 " Observe these pieces well ! they deserve to be 
 observed ; there are just forty of them ; 'tis the 
 very first sum I ever got in my life, and I have kept 
 it always unbroken from that time to this day." 
 He must have loved that cash or the security it 
 gave him. He knew the value of money : when he 
 was speaking of a present from the Duchess of 
 York to his wife he remarked that it was very 
 
 14 
 
The Handsome Englishman 
 
 fine for the price. Wolseley frankly says that 
 experience had taught Churchill " the miseries 
 of poverty," and he purchased the annuity to put 
 himself above " the daily sting of want " ; that 
 his action showed strength of character and a rare 
 power of looking ahead. We must assume that he 
 had ambition. That he had long to wait was some 
 excuse for his Court life. When Charles asked 
 Louis to give him the colonelcy of the English 
 regiment remaining in the French service, it was 
 argued that Churchill was too much a courtier. 
 Soldiering or pleasure he must have, and pleasure 
 was always to be had. He got his colonelcy, suc- 
 ceeding Lord Peterborough. There was fighting 
 at once. Louis was still at war with Holland and 
 the Empire. In the Netherlands Conde was 
 opposed to William of Orange. Turenne was 
 manoeuvring against the Duke de Bournonville 
 and an Imperial army upon the Rhine, and Churchill 
 was with Turenne and fought at Sintzheim in 
 June, and at Entzheim in October. At Entzheim 
 Turenne, with 22,000, attacked a force half as 
 large again which had taken up its position beyond 
 a river, but too far off to command it, very much 
 as the French did at Blenheim. Turenne crossed 
 by night and put the English and some of the 
 French foot into a wood in front of the enemy's 
 left. There the battle chiefly raged in the drizzling 
 rain. Twice the English and French were driven 
 out of the wood and twice recaptured it, and they 
 held it when night fell and Turenne had won — or, 
 at least, de Bournonville had imagined himself 
 beaten. Churchill's regiment lost ten out of its 
 twenty-two officers, five killed, five wounded, 
 and was commended for its courage in the action. 
 Next year, 1675, Turenne died in battle, with 
 
 15 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Churchill still serving under him. Nothing has 
 come to light concerning Churchill's part in the 
 campaigns of 1676 and 1677, except that in 1677, 
 at Metz, he was somehow the instrument in saving 
 a French lady's lands from those who came to 
 ravage them. At the end of 1677 he became a 
 Colonel in the English army, not merely in an 
 English regiment in France. 
 
 There were more penmen at the Court than at 
 the camp. We know that he spent his winter in 
 England, with a short break in Paris on his way 
 home from the campaign, and we know something 
 of his pleasures. Whether or not because he had 
 begun to meet Sarah Jennings, he gave up his 
 position with the Duchess of Cleveland. One story 
 is that he was tired of her, and got another lover 
 to take his place ; then, surprising them together, 
 he made the woman's infidelity an excuse for being 
 quit of her. Lediard, who tells the story, heard the 
 worst of Churchill. He it is who declares that the 
 money the Duchess gave to Churchill had been 
 given to her in advance by another gallant for 
 favours which he was not in a condition to accept 
 when the hour came, because he had thought 
 " to heighten the pleasures of Venus by those of 
 Bacchus." He also quotes the lines : 
 
 The gallant, too, to whom she paid it down 
 Lived to refuse that mistress half a crown. 
 
 If he was the father of her daughter Barbara, it 
 was his worst offence against the standards of his 
 time to refuse to lend her money to pay a card 
 debt. But the story is not proved. No doubt his 
 meanness made him a peg for all the stories of 
 meanness current. Another one told of him in 
 his last years at Bath has also a card room for its 
 
 16 
 
The Handsome Englishman 
 
 scene. He was playing at piquet with Dean Jones, 
 says Spence, for sixpence a game. When he had 
 won a game he left off. He did not forget 
 the sixpence. He kept asking for it, though the 
 Dean had no silver. At last he desired the Dean 
 to change a guinea, alleging as an excuse that he 
 should want sixpence to pay for a chair home. 
 So the sixpence was secured, and in the end the 
 Duke walked home to save it. It is not proved ; 
 but neither is anything known that makes it 
 unhkely. 
 
 17 
 
Ill : SARAH JENNINGS 
 
 AT some time in 1675 or 1676, then, 
 Churchill fell violently in love with Sarah 
 Jennings, a maid of honour to the Duke 
 of York's second wife, Mary of Modena, and ten 
 years younger than himself. In the words of Coxe, 
 " whatever may have been the conduct of Colonel 
 Churchill during the fervour of youth, and amidst 
 the temptations of a dissolute Court, his irregu- 
 larities soon yielded to the influence of a purer 
 passion, which recalled him from licentious con- 
 nexions, and gave a colour to his future life " : 
 fol-de-rol. Sarah Jennings and her elder sister, 
 Frances, were conspicuous in the Court for their 
 chastity. Frances was equally conspicuous for her 
 beauty. She had flaxen hair, a fair lustrous com- 
 plexion, a mouth not the smallest but the 
 handsomest in the world. Her expression was 
 animated, her movements easy and unexpected. 
 It mattered nothing that somebody else had a 
 better nose or better hands and arms : she had 
 charms, but she had also charm. She was witty 
 and quick ; her tongue could pierce ; and as her 
 imagination was subject to flights and she would 
 often begin to speak before she had done thinking ; 
 her talk was sometimes as fantastical as it was fas- 
 cinating, while she was too beautiful to have it 
 called unintelligible. The Duke of York thought 
 to make a mistress of her. He ogled her, he made 
 her speeches in a corner, he sent her billets which 
 
 18 
 
Sarah Jennings 
 
 she dropped out of her muff for any one to read. 
 The courtiers, says De Grammont, could not 
 understand how this girl " who had never tasted 
 anything more delicious than the plums and 
 apricots of Saint Albans " should become at once 
 the ornament and the example of the Court. The 
 King himself took aim at her. He liked her wit, 
 and she might very well have liked his. According 
 to De Grammont, Miss Stewart drove the King 
 off from what ought to be considered strictly his 
 brother's flock. Miss Jennings came off with the 
 additional glory of a royal approach. She " had 
 the greatest curiosity " to see Jermyn, that 
 " moving monument of the favours and freedoms 
 of the fair sex," and he courted her, and she 
 liked him, so that she sighed and even shed tears 
 for his absence when her other lover, big Dick 
 Talbot, was standing by, imagining himself suc- 
 cessful. She showed all her temperament on 
 this journey down to Tunbridge Wells. At first 
 she was irritable and displeased with everything 
 that pleased others. For Jermyn was away, ex- 
 hausted by riding on the high road twenty miles 
 in an hour for a wager. Then she seemed to be 
 lost in thought, but turned suddenly to sallies of 
 wit, which made Talbot think Jermyn had been 
 forgotten. Yet a little after she was laughing and 
 presently sighing " poor little David " at someone's 
 putting into her hand Rochester's witticism : " that 
 Talbot had struck terror among the people of 
 God by his gigantic stature ; but that Jermyn, 
 like a little David, had vanquished the great 
 Goliath." Talbot had to wait fifteen years for her. 
 For, in 1665, she married Count George Hamilton, 
 brother of Anthony, the author of Memoirs of 
 Count Grammont y and he did not die till 1676, 
 
 19 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and even then she enjoyed her widowhood three 
 years. Talbot's essential merit with her, says De 
 Grammont, was his forty thousand a year from 
 land. But she may have married Hamilton for 
 love. She was seventeen at the time. 
 
 Sarah Jennings must have been very much like 
 Frances. She had the same fair hair and com- 
 plexion, the same glancing moods, the same wit 
 and turns of haughtiness. She had not equal fame 
 at Court, though she, too, was ogled by the Duke 
 of York and had " received advantageous offers 
 of marriage from different persons of consider- 
 ation." Like her sister, she resisted all temptations 
 till she was married, like her, at seventeen. 
 
 In December, 1674, Sarah Jennings took 
 the part of Mercury in a performance of Crowne's 
 comedy, " Calisto, or the Chaste Nymph," at the 
 Court. All the performers were ladies, all were 
 *' covered with jewels," says Evelyn. Among the 
 actresses was the Duke of York's daughter Anne, 
 afterwards Queen ; and Sarah Jennings was 
 already her friend. Anne was nine, Sarah fourteen. 
 When she was fifteen, Sarah had begun to receive 
 love letters from Churchill and wrote others back. 
 Like other girls of the age, she sometimes welcomed 
 her lover in her bedroom, and it was known either 
 from her tattle or by way of the keyhole that she 
 allowed him to fasten or unfasten her garters, in 
 the strict, not necessarily in the metaphorical, 
 sense. But this might have been done in a public 
 place and in the public eye. De Grammont 
 describes some such familiarity in the card room ; 
 but the active party was the Duke of York ; it 
 may have been a royal privilege. Moreover, the 
 costume of the day was such that it is hard to see 
 what Arabella Churchill can have gained by that 
 
 20 
 
Sarah Jennings 
 
 fall from her horse. Sarah Jennings, at least, 
 drew distinctions. One of his letters praised 
 her fine shape. " Impertinent reflexions," she 
 called them, saying that they would provoke her 
 very much had he not already been miserable 
 and so given her her revenge. When they could 
 not be dancing or keeping close company in her 
 room, the young lovers wrote many letters. One 
 of his presents to her was a puppy. He sent her 
 two, of which she was to choose the best and feed 
 it on warm milk. By this letter it is plain that he 
 had expected to be with her the night before and 
 hopes to be the coming night ; he prays that she 
 will let him be with her, and that, if she has 
 nothing to do, she make it as late as possible. He 
 is, he says, never truly happy except with her. 
 It was an expression which he was to repeat many 
 times, with variations, over a period of forty years. 
 Never had he loved anybody " to that heat." He 
 is even willing not to meet her— so he says — if she 
 think he ought not to, or if it *' disquiets " her. 
 If she is to be with the Duchess of York he will 
 be there also ; but he prefers her chamber. 
 Sometimes he persuades her to make an excuse 
 for not attending the Duchess, so that they may 
 meet alone. Her letters do not always refer directly 
 to her feelings. One tells him that he need not 
 fear that her sister's coming will make a change 
 in her, or that anything will make a change except 
 his conduct. Another says she is willing to see 
 him, but thinks he ought rather to go to the play, 
 as he has a headache ; however, let him tell her 
 without compliment what he really thinks is best 
 for him. 
 
 When the Churchills were trying to arrange a 
 marriage between John Churchill and Catherine 
 
 21 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Sedley, and Sarah Jennings heard of it, her pride 
 was wonderful. She would not see him or be seen 
 by him at all, if it were possible : she expected 
 to suffer for his falseness, but she would bear it 
 and thank God because He showed her her mis- 
 take though it was late. She would have rather 
 cried than danced at a ball about this time, the 
 end of 1676, because Churchill was talking of 
 going to France for a change of air, pretending to 
 be in consumption, when his real trouble was 
 that he wished to break off from Sarah Jennings, 
 so it was thought. She also had threatened that 
 she was going to Paris with her sister, now Lady 
 Hamilton, and a widow. Whether or not Sarah 
 was irresistible, Catherine Sedley and her money 
 were not, and Churchill was soon begging to be 
 allowed to adore her all his life ; he would never 
 anger her again, but would show her the same 
 devotion " as to his God." She was relenting, yet 
 insisting that he was not to dispute with her and 
 prevent her answering him. He thought that if 
 she could ever love him the happiness would 
 make him immortal. He reminded her that he 
 was putting his father out by what he did. He 
 made proposals through the Duchess of York, 
 which were apparently to show Sarah what money 
 he was worth, or perhaps to procure some increase 
 or advance. Sarah at first resented her inter- 
 ference. She was touchy : she fancied one day 
 that he laughed at her, as he stood by the Duke, 
 though he says himself that he could have cried. 
 But they had arranged a meeting and had missed 
 one another, and she was irritated by it. At last 
 they were married, just when William of Orange 
 was marrying the Duke of York's eldest daughter, 
 Mary ; and the Duchess of York gave them some 
 
 22 
 
Sarah Jennings 
 
 pecuniary help and was the only person concerned 
 who knew of the marriage for some time. For the 
 Jenningses, moderate country gentry, of Holywell 
 House, St. Albans, Hertfordshire, had opposed 
 it as much as the Churchills. Sarah's grandfather 
 had been High Sheriff of Hertfordshire and M.P. 
 for St. Albans. Her mother was a violent woman, 
 who had lived with her for some time at Court 
 in spite of words and blows between them, till at 
 length she was turned out and had to leave her 
 daughter behind. Sarah called her a mad woman. 
 But they understood one another, and quarrels 
 begot reconciliations ; and in the end the mother 
 left Sarah all her property. 
 
 23 
 
IV : COLONEL CHURCHILL 
 
 CHURCHILL, for some years after his 
 marriage, had no settled home. His wife 
 stayed chiefly at his father's house at 
 Mint erne, in Dorset, while he himself went to 
 and from the Court, travelled on royal errands or 
 fought abroad. Early in 1678 he had been made 
 Colonel of a foot regiment, which was named 
 after him, Churchill's. Louis XIV had an army 
 in Flanders, but it was uncertain at first what 
 part the English troops were to play. To Parlia- 
 ment Charles proposed to equip a fleet and an 
 army to support his Allies, the Dutch, and a 
 million was voted. Still Churchill did not believe 
 that Charles intended war, though English troops 
 were at Ostend. In April he was sent to make an 
 agreement with William of Orange as to the forces 
 to be contributed by England, while Sir William 
 Temple negotiated a renewal of the triple alliance 
 against France. Charles himself had already 
 secretly signed a treaty with France, by which 
 he was bound to disband his army if the Dutch 
 did not accept the French terms at Nimeguen : 
 his price for the treaty was about a quarter of a 
 million. Churchill had, however, the advantage 
 of several meetings with William of Orange. 
 William, says Wolseley, must now have seen 
 Churchill's ability as diplomatist and man of 
 business, and may have anticipated that here was a 
 man '* who would be something more than a 
 
 24 
 
The Duchess of Marlborough 
 After Kneller 
 
 To face p. 34. 
 
Colonel Churchill 
 
 power in the great game which William already 
 hoped to play in England." The two men were 
 of exactly the same age ; both had been well 
 trained in dissimulation, both had the advantage 
 of coolness, which grace made an ornament in 
 Churchill. William stood to lose everything. 
 Churchill had only the beginnings of a reputation 
 to lose. He was working for masters whom he 
 could neither like nor respect, and at first, no 
 doubt, such negotiations were partly serious fun 
 for a man of the world, as well as a tricky game for 
 a man of ambition. William gained few victories 
 yet could not be beaten. Churchill was destined 
 never to lose a battle : the graces obviously 
 *' protected and promoted him." We know little 
 of what they thought of one another. When 
 William was King, Churchill was said to have 
 scoffed and laughed at him, while William made 
 no secret of the fact that if he was obliged by 
 Churchill's treason he did not love the traitor. 
 But now, at the age of twenty-eight, they silently 
 registered differences, and each in his own way 
 flattered for the future's sake. Some difficulties 
 there were, but Churchill told his wife no more 
 than that they had kept him abroad longer than 
 he expected and wished. With all his heart and 
 soul, he wrote from Brussels, he longed to be with 
 her, for she was " dearer than his own life." To 
 be " perpetually conversing " with her by letter 
 was his wish in absence ; she should have a letter 
 by every post if he could have his way. She, on 
 the other hand, kept him three weeks without a 
 letter, even when he was in England. 
 
 England was raising an army to fight either the 
 French or the Dutch. Those who thought it was 
 the Dutch deserted. The Dutch accepted the 
 
 25 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 French terms, but the French would not carry 
 them out, and only strong English feeling and 
 the stoppage of his pension from Louis forced 
 Charles to act as if he meant war. Churchill was 
 hopeful, and again he went out to arrange matters 
 with William of Orange. On his return, either his 
 wife attracted him more than war, or he had to 
 deceive her, but he told her he hoped peace would 
 be made. Even when at last he was ordered to 
 Flanders to command a brigade, he persisted that 
 there would be peace, and assured his wife that 
 she should see him as soon as he was back in 
 England. That was in September, 1678 ; the 
 Peace of Nimeguen was signed in the same month. 
 Less than twelve months after his letter from 
 Brussels, that is in March, 1679, Churchill was 
 again in that city. The Duke of York had been 
 banished, and Churchill, with his wife, the 
 Duchess and Lord Peterborough, accompanied him. 
 The discovery of the Popish plot and the murder 
 of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey had frenzied the 
 Protestants, and the Duke of York, being a Papist, 
 had to go. He was away five months, Churchill 
 going to and fro between him and Charles or 
 Louis. When he was summoned back to see Charles 
 in a dangerous illness, Churchill returned with 
 him. It was Churchill who went on a mission from 
 him to Louis with a letter asking that entire credit 
 should be given to the young man, the Master 
 of the Duke's Wardrobe. Churchill liked Courts 
 and the people round them and between them. 
 They gave him his pleasures and play for his 
 talents. Back again from Paris, he returned shortly 
 to Brussels with his master and went with him to 
 Scotland, where he was to reside, as being out of 
 the way, but not too much out of the way. 
 
 26 
 
Colonel Churchill 
 
 Mrs. Churchill remained behind in Jermyn Street, 
 St. James's, for her first confinement. From 
 Edinburgh he wrote many letters to her, telling 
 her the news, expressing his longing to be back 
 with her, swearing that the first night on which 
 he was blessed in having her in his arms had not 
 been more earnestly wished for by him than he 
 now wished for the day of seeing her again, swearing 
 that if they were not married he would beg her 
 on his knees to be his wife. The new-born child, 
 Henrietta, he hoped would be like her in every- 
 thing as in its fair hair, but it died in infancy. 
 Their next child was born eighteen months later, 
 and received the same name. 
 
 Husband and wife were soon joined again. 
 Charles recalled his brother, and the whole party 
 reached London in February, 1680. Seven months 
 they spent with the Court in London or at 
 Newmarket. Churchill apparently sought other 
 employments, for he was supposed to be going to 
 Paris or the Hague as Ambassador or to Sheerness 
 as Governor. But the Duke of York could not do 
 without him, at least so long as he was liable to 
 be asked to go on his travels again, as he was in 
 October. The Duke and his party, including 
 Churchill and his wife, returned to Edinburgh ; 
 and there for the most part they had to stay for 
 two years. Parliament was doing what it could 
 to exclude the Duke from the throne. It would 
 have him treated as a traitor if he attempted to 
 mount the throne or even if he appeared thence- 
 forward in England. But the Parliament that passed 
 the Exclusion Bill was at once dissolved. Churchill 
 now came to London once more on business for 
 the Duke with the King. He was to deal direct 
 with Charles, not with the ministers, and to propose 
 
 27 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 that he should not assemble Parliament, and not 
 form alliances with Spain and Holland which 
 would involve war with France, which would cost 
 money, which could only be obtained from 
 Parliament ; but on the contrary, to form an 
 alliance with France. Also, James wished either 
 to have leave to return to London, or even 
 Audley End, or, if not, to command the forces 
 in Scotland. Churchill could do nothing. Probably 
 he wished to succeed, at least because it would 
 have proved his merit in the game. If he did not 
 approve of the Duke's intentions — that England 
 should be ruled at home by a king in French pay 
 and should fight French battles abroad — he did 
 not disapprove. It seems most likely that he was an 
 indiiferent diplomatist working for hire and for 
 the incidental pleasures and advantages of the 
 game. Did he also know that by " toleration " 
 the Duke meant toleration for Catholics only ? 
 Or was he deceived as William Penn was ? It 
 may have been impossible for him to believe that 
 a King could be such a fool as James II. What 
 he said himself was that though he had an aversion 
 to Popery, he was no less averse to persecu- 
 tion for conscience sake. In Scotland he had 
 protected some who had been persecuted by 
 severe Episcopalians. He deemed it the highest 
 act of injustice, he said, to set any one aside 
 from his inheritance, upon bare suppositions of 
 intentional evils when nothing that is actual 
 appears to preclude him from the exercise of his 
 just rights. Some, including Lord Shaftesbury, 
 proposed that Lucy Walters 's son, Monmouth, 
 should be adopted as heir to the crown instead 
 of York. Monmouth and Churchill were just of 
 an age and well known to one another ; and 
 
 28 
 
Colonel Churchill 
 
 Churchill could not have felt that Monmouth 
 would succeed even against York. Four years 
 later it was that Churchill was reported to have 
 said : " If the King should attempt to change our 
 religion and constitution I will instantly quit his 
 service," James being then newly made King. 
 
 It would not be easy to define or describe 
 Churchill's religion. It was apparently something 
 which could be changed by a king, and something 
 which he would not allow even a king to change 
 for him. He had no aversion to Catholics ; he 
 had served one regularly from his youth up, and 
 he had mixed with them abroad as well as at home. 
 *' Our religion " (and constitution) was part of 
 the national idiosyncrasy which had not been 
 made and was not going to be unmade by machines 
 or kings. 
 
 Charles II was not dead yet, and if Churchill 
 had not already any alarms for our religion and 
 constitution, it is safe to say that his mind was 
 at rest. He supposed that the Duke of York would 
 succeed Charles, and had not yet begun to weigh 
 the chances of the Prince of Orange, who was in 
 London this year looking about him. It is known, 
 however, that the Prince had a good opinion of 
 Churchill, and had hoped to see him at the Hague 
 as English Minister. 
 
 The answers brought back by Churchill satisfied 
 the Duke of York, at any rate with the negotiator's 
 skill, and he was sent again and yet again to 
 London during 1681. Early in 1682 the Duke 
 himself was able to come to London, and that 
 permanently, because there was no longer any 
 Parliament, and he was able to oblige the King 
 in the matter of a settlement for Charles's mistress, 
 the little Duke of Richmond's mother, Louise de 
 
 29 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Querouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. Churchill 
 went back to Edinburgh with the Duke by sea to 
 fetch the Duchess of York, who was expecting a 
 confinement, and it was desirable it should take 
 place in the capital. Their ship, the Gloucester, 
 was wrecked on a sandbank off the Humber 
 mouth. One small boat only was there belonging 
 to the ship, so that two hundred must swim or 
 drown. James stepped out of his cabin window 
 into the boat, with some earls, some priests, and 
 Churchill. Churchill distinguished himself by 
 defending the boat against those of the crowd 
 who tried to leap into it. His sword saved the boat 
 and the Duke. Most of the two hundred were 
 drowned. 
 
 30 
 
V : LORD CHURCHILL 
 
 THE Duke of York was now settled at 
 Court. Churchill became Baron Churchill 
 of Aymouth, only just missed a D.C.L. 
 at Oxford by not attending, and was talked of 
 for Secretary of State. When the Princess Anne 
 was married in August, 1683, to Prince George 
 of Denmark, Lady Churchill became one of her 
 ladies of the bed chamber. She and the Princess 
 had been friends from childhood. They had been 
 together lately at Brussels and at Edinburgh. 
 Now Anne began to show a very strong affection 
 for Lady Churchill, a submissive and admiring 
 affection which compelled her to ask her friend 
 not to call her " Your Highness,'* but to be as 
 free with her as *' one friend ought to be with 
 another " : Lady Churchill was to tell her her 
 mind freely in all things. Anne confessed herself 
 all impatience for their next day of meeting. 
 Anne was eighteen, Sarah twenty-three, with two 
 daughters living. The dull, dressy, extravagant 
 Princess looked up to the woman whom she was 
 paying £200 a year. She could not, said Sarah 
 long afterwards, bear to hear from her the usual 
 terms of form and rank ; and one day she pro- 
 posed that they should address one another by 
 feigned names without distinction of rank. Anne, 
 it seems, hit upon two names, Morley and Freeman, 
 and left Sarah to choose which of them she would 
 have for herself. Sarah's " frank, open temper '* 
 
 31 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 — she says herself — ought to choose Freeman and 
 leave Morley to Anne ; and from this time Mrs. 
 Morley and Mrs. Freeman ** began to converse 
 as equals, made so by affection and friendship." 
 Anne, said Sarah long after, loved fawning and 
 adoration, but it is certain that if there was any 
 now Anne gave it, not received it ; and it is 
 probable that Sarah from the start took the upper 
 hand and put no restraint on her tastes or speech. 
 Nothing proves that Sarah, who had great in- 
 telligence, was above enjoying the devotion of a 
 fool, Princess or not. At first, ambition can have 
 done little to strengthen the connection, and as 
 to making money by it, Sarah declared that she 
 only sold two places — those of " pages of the 
 backstairs " — and that was when Anne particu- 
 larly kept them open for her to dispose of, 
 rather than Lady Clarendon, whom she was about 
 to succeed then (in 1685) as first lady of the bed- 
 chamber. Whatever she gained from her position, 
 she never sacrificed her principles and prejudices. 
 She never even controlled her temper to gain or 
 to save anything. That perhaps she could not do, 
 or she would not have fought with her mother, 
 spilt water over Queen Anne's dress to spite her, 
 and cut off her hair to spite her husband. She 
 cut off her hair in a rage and left it where Churchill 
 would be certain to see it. The next time she saw 
 it was after his death in a cabinet where he had 
 laid it up ; nor could she tell the story, which 
 she did often, without crying. 
 
 When Lady Churchill was new in her place 
 with Anne and accompanied her to Tunbridge 
 Wells, she left her children behind her, partly, it 
 seems, under Churchill's care. For he reports 
 how pleased he is with them and they with him — 
 
 32 
 
J/ rr/// ^ i/f// /// //)//•//// //rfrri/ ///t-f//f r//r/// 
 
 Queen Anne 
 
 To face />. ?i. 
 
Lord Churchill 
 
 having only their maid besides — so that Henrietta 
 is pulling his arm that he may help her to write to 
 her mother. Lady Sunderland's housekeeper had 
 brought the girls a bottle of something to drink, 
 which he thought too hot for them and was taking 
 over for his own use, unless she thought differently. 
 There was now little for Churchill to do. Par- 
 liament did not meet. No wars were fought. 
 The King and the Duke of York lived snug on 
 Louis' money, with only a plot or two to break 
 the monotony. Monmouth went in disgrace to 
 William of Orange, Russell and Algernon Sidney 
 were executed. But Churchill did nothing unless 
 it was the Duke of York's secret business. 
 
 James quietly succeeded his brother in Feb- 
 ruary, 1685. Churchill attended his Coronation, was 
 raised to the English peerage as Baron Churchill 
 of Sandridge in Hertfordshire, but not until after 
 he had gone to Paris for the King as Envoy 
 Extraordinary to notify his accession and offer 
 thanks for a gratuity of ^20,000. He carried the 
 message and the answer by word of mouth, so 
 much was he trusted. Yet he announced his in- 
 dependence at this time by saying that if the King 
 were to attempt to change " our religion and 
 constitution " he would instantly quit his service. 
 The House of Commons, too, doubted the King's 
 intention to maintain " our religion," but not 
 sufficiently to refuse to settle on him a sum of 
 money for life. 
 
 Churchill had a month or two of quiet in his 
 new house, Holywell House, at St. Alban's, where 
 he was High Steward and his next brother, George, 
 afterwards the Admiral, was Member of Par- 
 liament. His younger brother, Charles, who had 
 been in the service of Prince George of Denmark, 
 
 33 D 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and accompanied him to England, was now a 
 Lieutenant-Colonel. Then, in June, the Duke of 
 Monmouth, the " Protestant Duke," landed at 
 Lyme Regis and proclaimed King James a usurper, 
 a murderer, a traitor, and a tyrant. Protestant or 
 not, he was not the King for Churchill. The 
 forces to oppose Monmouth marched under 
 Churchill as their Major- General. In four days 
 he was at Chard, in Somerset, where, says 
 Wolseley, *' his local knowledge was of great use 
 to him." But Lord Feversham superseded him 
 a few days later, apparently because James wanted 
 to oblige Feversham, and did not know, or did 
 not care, that Churchill was the better soldier. 
 Churchill, resigned but resentful, finished the 
 campaign under Feversham. At first he commanded 
 a body of royal troops which hung about Mon- 
 mouth wherever he went, hustled him and cut 
 his fringes ; but in the first week of July he 
 combined with Feversham at Bath. Wolseley 
 thinks that the King wished Churchill always to 
 be at hand to advise Feversham, who professed 
 to be grateful and promised to write to the King 
 and commend him. Churchill saw significant 
 things as a boy sees nests. The enemy, he found, 
 desired horses and saddles more than anything 
 else. He concluded that they wanted to break 
 away with the horse, and he was right. But he 
 feared to give his opinion freely ; he may have 
 objected to giving all that he knew to a man so 
 thrust in over him, when the trouble would be 
 his and the honour another's. He would not, 
 however, neglect the men and all other things 
 that were his especial care. They were just then 
 about to face the enemy on Sedgemoor, where 
 Feversham, says Wolseley, " allowed himself to 
 
 34 
 
Lord Churchill 
 
 be surprised by an undisciplined mob." The 
 surprise would have been complete had the enemy 
 known that a great wet ditch lay just on their side 
 of Feversham, or had they been able to find 
 crossing places in the dark. Feversham, who was 
 a good eater and sleeper, was in bed. Many of his 
 men lay helpless or asleep with cider : one alert 
 regiment advertised itself by the slow matches 
 burning in readiness for the matchlocks. These 
 men settled the fate of the rebels, with Churchill's 
 help. They unexpectedly fired into the horse 
 trying to cross the ditch, and drove it oif in panic ; 
 and the panic spread confusion. Churchill took 
 command of the regiment, put the camp in a 
 posture of defence, and at length led the dragoons 
 over the ditch to begin the offensive, which drove 
 Monmouth into hiding and cut to pieces his 
 cloth- workers, Mendip miners, and Anabaptists. 
 From Churchill came the news of victory, and 
 Evelyn blessed God that there was now a fair 
 prospect of tranquility if people reformed and 
 were thankful and made a right use of this mercy 
 of Sedgmoor. " The sun," says Wolseley, " had 
 never shone throughout a day of more wicked, 
 more cruel butchery." Churchill occupied 
 Bridgewater, and in a week was on his way home 
 again, preceded by a letter asking his wife to be 
 in town on his arrival, because he would have no 
 ease till he was in her arms. He had no part in 
 the campaign of Jeffreys. We only know that he 
 warned a lady who had come to plead with the 
 King before Jeffreys tried her brothers that the 
 King's heart had no more compassion than the 
 marble chimney-piece in the room ; and that he 
 with the other Peers at the trial pronounced Lord 
 Delamere not guilty of treason for his part in the 
 
 35 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 rebelUon. Churchill's reputation as a soldier was 
 advanced. His reward was a Colonelcy in the Life 
 Guards. 
 
 The success of his regular troops against the 
 West Country rebels, and the failure of the militia, 
 pleased King James. For he believed that he could 
 rely on regular troops to do what he wished on 
 account of their more personal loyalty. The 
 loyalty of the militia, being rather national than 
 personal, he could not rely on so completely. 
 He was thus confirmed in his intention to have a 
 strong standing army. In the first year of his reign 
 he raised six new regiments of horse, two of 
 dragoons or mounted infantry, and nine of in- 
 fantry. As far as possible he inserted Papist officers, 
 and Mass was celebrated in the midst of the great 
 permanent camp at Hounslow. But though he 
 " made too much " of his soldiers so that they 
 became uncivil and unruly, and though " duty 
 and esprit de corps " alone will " evoke the most 
 splendid deeds of valour," * he discovered that 
 " you cannot drill even a savage into a mere 
 machine for the destruction of your enemies." 
 A test was deliberately applied, in order to learn 
 whether the army was going to side with him in 
 repealing the penal acts against Catholics. He told 
 any men of one regiment who were not in favour 
 of dispensing with the Test Act to lay down their 
 arms, whereupon all laid down their arms except 
 two officers and a few Catholic privates. 
 
 This was not Churchill's regiment. He was 
 now Colonel of the new Royal Dragoons, and 
 this position was practically his only employment 
 between the beginning and the end of James's 
 reign. If he saw the possibility of civil war he must 
 
 •Clifford Walton's " British Standingf Army." 
 
 36 
 
Lord Churchill 
 
 have been indined to prefer the Protestant side. 
 He would naturally choose the winning side if 
 he could, and he must have weighed the chances. 
 His wife and Anne were decidedly Protestant 
 and anti-Catholic. When James introduced four 
 Catholic Lords into the Privy Council, Anne, his 
 daughter, wrote to Lady Churchill to say how 
 much she was surprised, how sorry, because it 
 would give countenance to " those sort of people," 
 and made a very dismal prospect. At the court- 
 martial of the " five Portsmouth captains " who 
 had refused to have Irish Catholics foisted on 
 them, Churchill voted that they should be shot. 
 They were not, but James in after years came to 
 the conclusion that Churchill had voted for such 
 a sentence simply because it would be unpopular 
 and damage the King. Perhaps Churchill's eyes 
 had been opened by the appointment of Feversham 
 over his head before Sedgemoor, so that he saw 
 how few his chances were under James. Perhaps 
 he had foreseen what would happen to James. 
 At any rate, he was heard to swear that he would 
 not do what the King required of him in the 
 matter of the Test Act. When he saw Protestant 
 Colonels, members of Parliament, magistrates, 
 being removed for Protestantism, he could not 
 be indifferent. Being no longer in a confidential 
 high position, it was at least as easy to take the 
 popular as the royal side, so long as he could 
 maintain his inactivity. He appeared to be with 
 the majority, but as he did not come into conflict 
 with the King or his Catholic friends, James might 
 still think he was to be counted on. His brother- 
 in-law, Tyrconnel, formerly " lying Dick Talbot," 
 was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. And Churchill 
 never had been on the losing side. 
 
 37 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Through his wife's position with Anne, too, 
 Churchill breathed inevitably a Protestant atmos- 
 phere. Lady Churchill, it seems, did not strike 
 people as religious ; but Anne defended her — 
 to Princess Mary in Holland — as one who had 
 a true sense of English Church doctrine, and 
 abhorred the Church of Rome ; as to Lord 
 Churchill, though he was a ** very faithful servant " 
 to the King and would obey the King in all things 
 " consistent with religion," yet he would rather 
 lose everything than change that. In fact, Churchill 
 was already pledged to Anne and against her 
 father. He wrote thus to the Prince of Orange in 
 May, 1687, after a conversation with the Prince's 
 envoy, Van Dykvelt. Anne had asked him to 
 assure William that she " was resolved, by the 
 assistance of God, to suffer all extremities, even 
 to death itself, rather than be brought to change 
 her religion." Also, Churchill himself " felt it his 
 duty " to assure the Prince that he valued his 
 places and the King's favour as nought " in com- 
 parison with being true to his religion " ; yes, 
 the King might command him in anything but 
 his religion. The rest is in a very humble strain : 
 *' I know the troubling you, sir, with thus much 
 of myself, I being of so little use to your Highness, 
 is very impertinent, but I think it may be a great 
 ease to your Highness and the Princess to be 
 satisfied that the Princess of Denmark is safe in 
 the trusting of me ; I being resolved, although I 
 cannot live the life of a saint, if there be ever 
 occasion for it, to show the resolution of a martyr." 
 Churchill, like most other Protestants of position, 
 from Sunderland, the Secretary of State, down- 
 wards, was beginning to conspire with William 
 against James. He could have endured Charles H 
 
 38 
 
Lord Churchill 
 
 to the end of time, but James was an impossible 
 creature for an English King at that time, being 
 a bigot and a tyrant of small ability, and as a man 
 false and unlikable. An Englishman needed not 
 to be a strong Protestant to object to this King, 
 and to see in his very Catholicism the symbol of 
 his offending. Churchill, however, was no more 
 martyr than saint. He was a diplomatist. He 
 continued to attend James, and was with him when 
 he made a progress through the country, touching 
 for the kings-evil and generally doing what he 
 could to make up to his people. At Winchester 
 Cathedral two Catholic priests officiated while 
 the King touched, and walking in the Deanery 
 garden before dinner afterwards, he asked Churchill 
 what the people said, and Churchill reported 
 his answer and the rest of the conversation 
 to a man, who put it in a book in 17 13.* The 
 people, said Churchill, showed very little liking 
 to it, and it was their general voice that his Majesty 
 was paving the way for the introduction of Popery. 
 The King talked about toleration, liberty of 
 conscience, and his royal word, and was angry. 
 Churchill said he had spoken only from zeal for 
 his Majesty's service, which he would venture 
 as much for as any subject in the three kingdoms ; 
 but, he concluded, he had been bred a Protestant 
 and intended to live and die in that communion, 
 and as above nine-tenths of the people were of 
 the same persuasion, he feared (which excess of 
 duty made him say) from the genius of the English 
 nation and their " natural aversion " to Cathol- 
 icism, he feared '* some consequences which I 
 dare not so much as name, and which it creates 
 
 * *' The Lives of the Two Illustrious Generals : the Duke of Marl- 
 borough and Prince Eugene." 
 
 39 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 a horror in me to think of." And the King said 
 he would exercise his religion, favour his Catholic 
 subjects, and be a common father to his Protestants, 
 but remembering that he was a King and to be 
 obeyed. The consequences he left to Providence 
 and the power God had put into his hands. At 
 dinner the King talked chiefly to the Dean, and 
 that about passive obedience, to show his resent- 
 ment, which the writer of the book says he was 
 witness of, for he stood by. But I cannot believe 
 the story. It is too heroical. Churchill could not 
 have been so direct ; nor could James have failed 
 to see in that threat of " consequences " practically 
 a proof of the conspiracy and of this lord's com- 
 plicity. The story reached this form in a book 
 which gave an heroical account of the life of 
 Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, in his time 
 of disgrace. It contains, embedded and concealed 
 in it, some talk which really passed between the 
 two men, but what it was I cannot divine, nor 
 whether it would justify Wolseley in pronouncing 
 that " Churchill fully realized the sacrifices which 
 his staunch Protestantism entailed upon him, 
 and deliberately chose the upright course." 
 
 Churchill, as has been seen, like most other 
 important men, stuck to his religion and se- 
 retly corresponded with their King's treacherous 
 daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of 
 Orange. Had he really warned and threatened 
 the King he would have deserved the same sort 
 of reputation as the Seven Bishops who refused 
 to issue an order in their dioceses for the reading 
 of the King's declaration of religious indulgence, 
 or as the royal troops at Hounslow who cheered 
 on their acquittal, or as the seven who signed 
 the invitation next day to William of Orange. 
 
 40 
 
Lord Churchill 
 
 Churchill, once the King's favourite, and Sun- 
 derland, his Secretary of State, did not sign that 
 document. But a few days afterwards he wrote 
 to William, saying that Sidney (one of the signa- 
 tories) would let the Prince know how he intended 
 to behave himself ; he thought " it was what he 
 owed to God and his country," and added that 
 he took leave to put his honour into his Highness's 
 hands, where he thought it safe, and that he was 
 resolved to die in that religion which it had 
 pleased God to give William the power and will 
 to protect. Wolseley describes it as the letter of 
 a patriot, not a mere conspirator, ** the letter of 
 one who was risking all for conscience sake." But 
 what did he risk ? He had had no advancement 
 under James : his hands had practically been 
 tied. Under a Protestant sovereign who would 
 be much indebted to him he might hope for more. 
 Knowing the temper of the army, knowing that 
 no powerful man was out of the conspiracy, he 
 could not have doubted of success. 
 
 Wolseley asks if Churchill was justified in desert- 
 ing James, if his treachery and the time chosen 
 for it can be excused or forgiven, and why 
 Churchill has been singled out for abuse among 
 all the traitors and conspirators of the time. The 
 last is easy to answer. Because he was a soldier. 
 Churchill is remembered chiefly as a soldier, 
 and we expect some degree of open courage 
 from a soldier. It looks ill for a soldier to lie to 
 his King up to the last moment and then slip 
 away to the hostile army : it looks worse still 
 when this soldier who is to slaughter Catholics 
 for the Protestant usurper is one who slaughtered 
 Protestants for the Catholic King a few years 
 before. We have no right or reason to apply a 
 
 41 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 different standard to a soldier, but I think we do ; 
 and being cheated of an heroical scene by a soldier 
 as sly as anyone, we have some indignation to 
 ease upon him. 
 
 As to forgiveness, that is not our trade, nor 
 yet condemnation. The excuse for Churchill's 
 treachery is that it greatly helped to consum- 
 mate the " glorious revolution." The longer the 
 treachery was drawn out, the surer was the power 
 of the conspirators and the impotence of James. 
 But it is to be doubted whether Churchill hung 
 on at James's side for the purpose of giving the 
 conspiracy full time to develop. The alternative 
 is that he waited to make sure which side was 
 going to win. If it is a question of morality, there 
 is nothing to choose between the two, though I 
 suppose the blackness of the first might be admired 
 for being so complete. 
 
 James suspected what was being done for some 
 time. He kept the navy in readiness, and would 
 have brought over troops from Ireland but for 
 the advice of Churchill, among others. Since all 
 were in the conspiracy it is no wonder that the 
 King was deceived. 
 
 On November 5th, WilHam, with his Dutch 
 troops and the English mercenaries in the Dutch 
 service, landed at Torbay. James reviewed his 
 troops in Hyde Park before setting out for Salis- 
 bury, and Churchill is reported, not by a panegyrist 
 or defendant, to have lolled out his tongue and 
 laughed at the whole proceeding. Lord Feversham 
 again was in command. Churchill was raised to 
 the rank of Lieutenant- General. He was still 
 behind with James at Windsor when the first of 
 the royal officers from Salisbury pushed forward 
 and joined the enemy, and with Sunderland and 
 
 42 
 
Lord Churchill 
 
 Godolphin, he was seen rejoicing at this news. 
 James now moved on to Salisbury, and Churchill 
 took command of his brigade. Still Churchill left 
 nothing undone that might preserve what remained 
 of the King's confidence. He recommended taking 
 the offensive ; he was among the first to swear 
 again, at the King's suggestion, to serve to the 
 last drop of his blood. Nor could James be per- 
 suaded by Feversham to arrest him when the 
 evidence was overwhelming. I think Churchill 
 must always suffer in his reputation from a re- 
 action in James's favour at seeing him so fearfully 
 confiding up to the last, and by the traitor escaping 
 without a word or a blow. He has been accused of 
 a plot for kidnapping the King. It would have 
 been a useless thing to do, but it would hardly 
 have given a worse look to Churchill's conduct. 
 When, as Wolseley says, " delay might imperil 
 their safety, and, as far as Churchill was con- 
 cerned, possibly the success of the plot," he went 
 off to William. This was the letter he left behind : 
 ** Sir, — Since men are seldom suspected of 
 sincerity when they act contrary to their interests, 
 and though my dutiful behaviour to your Majesty 
 in the worst of times (for which I acknowledge 
 my poor services much overpaid) may not be 
 sufficient to incline you to a charitable interpre- 
 tation of my actions, yet I hope the great advantage 
 I enjoy under your Majesty, which I can never 
 expect in any other change of Government, may 
 reasonable convince your Majesty and the world 
 that I am actuated by a higher principle when I 
 offer that violence to my inclination and interest, 
 as to treat your Majesty at a time when your 
 affairs seem to challenge the strictest obedience 
 from all your subjects, much more from one who 
 
 43 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 lies under the greatest obligations to your Majesty. 
 This, sir, could proceed from nothing but the 
 inviolable dictates of my conscience, and a neces- 
 sary concern for my religion (which no good man 
 can oppose), and with which I am instructed 
 nothing can come in competition. Heaven knows 
 with what partiality my dutiful opinion of your 
 Majesty has hitherto represented those unhappy 
 designs, which inconsiderate and self-interested 
 men have framed against your Majesty's true 
 interest and the Protestant religion ; but as I 
 can no longer join with such to give a pretence 
 by conquest to bring them to effect, so I will 
 always, with the hazard of my life and fortune (so 
 much your Majesty's due), endeavour to preserve 
 your royal person and lawful rights, with all the 
 tender concern and dutiful respect that becomes, 
 Sir, your Majesty's most dutiful and most obliged 
 subject and servant. — Churchill." 
 
 This was not the tone of the men who destroyed 
 Charles the First, and as there was hardly one 
 among Churchill's fellow conspirators who be- 
 haved much better, it may be put down in part to 
 the breeding they had had under the happy 
 Restoration of Charles II. It is hard to believe that 
 a man of another generation would have thought 
 his sincerity open to suspicion because he had 
 acted contrary to his interests. James said a better 
 thing on this point when in exile, and of Marl- 
 borough too : he said that the most interested 
 man's repentance may be credited when he can hope 
 to mend his fortune by repairing his fault and 
 returning to his duty. But perhaps in no age 
 would a comparatively honest man in this position 
 have troubled his victim by alleging that he ex- 
 pected to be the worse for the change. He was 
 
 44 
 
Lord Churchill 
 
 not the worse for the change, and only in a state 
 of aberration could he have expected to be, 
 unless indeed his conscience should perhaps later 
 on entertain doubts as to its inviolable dictates. 
 Or is there after all a thing called religion which 
 so alters what it touches that we must call this 
 letter, as Wolseley does, " straightforward, but 
 touching ? " 
 
 In this place I will not pause to do more than 
 remark that Churchill's later correspondence with 
 James and against William, even though it was 
 mostly ineffectual, seems to rule out of the argu- 
 ment anything that can be known as conscience. 
 
 Anne and Prince George and Lady Churchill 
 had behaved in the same way. The Prince 
 remained with James later than Churchill, and 
 Anne had written some days before to William 
 saying that he was to leave the King *' as soon 
 as his friends thought proper." Anne and Lady 
 Churchill went off in time to avoid meeting James 
 when he should return from Salisbury, for he 
 got no further west. Before Christmas James left 
 the country, and Churchill went ahead to London 
 to re-assemble his own troop of Life Guards and 
 command the regiments, that is the Protestant 
 part of them, disbanded by Feversham. Churchill 
 was the greatest man in the army next to Marshall 
 Schomberg. He was one of the Peers who formed 
 an association to promote the objects of the 
 revolution, and asked that a Convention Par- 
 liament should be called. The Parliament was 
 divided as to whether it should call William Regent 
 or King, but as William would not consent to be 
 Regent or his wife's gentleman usher, the throne 
 was declared vacant and William put into it. In 
 these discussions Churchill took no part except 
 
 45 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 to vote at first for a regency. When he saw that 
 James was to be turned out ahogether he pleaded 
 indisposition and kept away from the House of 
 Lords, out of " delicacy." A delicate situation it 
 was, because if William was to be King for Life, 
 Anne's chance of succession was slightly decreased, 
 and Anne objected and Lady Churchill took her 
 part, until it was discreet to change her mind and 
 the Princess's also. Thus, though William over- 
 came Anne through the Churchills' influence, 
 he appears to have conceived a dislike of them. 
 Mary already disliked Lady Churchill, her religion 
 or irreligion, and her influence over Anne. But 
 Churchill was rewarded by a place as Gentle- 
 man of the Bedchamber and the title of Earl of 
 Marlborough. By selling commissions in the 
 army as his right was, he became richer than 
 before ; but he had now a family of three girls 
 and a boy and was expecting another girl, and he 
 had the mansion to keep up which he had built 
 at the end of Charles's reign. He held, therefore, 
 at once at least as good a position as under James. 
 Nor could his prospects be thought worse. For 
 it is hardly true to say that James " would pre- 
 sumably have advanced his fortune," since James 
 had put Feversham over him at Sedgemoor at 
 the beginning of his reign and at the Revolution 
 and had given Churchill nothing to do between, 
 either as soldier or diplomatist. Had James grown 
 stronger, Churchill could only have fared worse, 
 unless he had changed his religion. His preference 
 for Feversham, a poor soldier and a Protestant, 
 was hardly consistent with a great esteem for 
 Churchill. It was justified by Feversham's fidelity. 
 James, in fact, could not have complained much 
 of him if it had been true, as Wolesley beUeves, 
 
 46 
 
Lord Churchill 
 
 that he " openly announced " that he would 
 " abandon James " if he attacked the English 
 laws and the English Church, and that he had 
 " solemnly warned the King not to attempt the 
 re-establishment of Popery." He had not threat- 
 ened to abandon James, but to quit his service ; 
 he had not openly announced it, but had said 
 it to Lord Gal way. The story of his *' solemn 
 warning " at Winchester lacks proof and prob- 
 ability. To establish further this solemnity, 
 Wolseley has the art to mention that *' he so fully 
 realized the gravity of his decision that he made 
 his will in the summer of this year." But Churchill 
 had also made a will before going to Holland with 
 his Brigade in 1678. He had to risk his life which- 
 ever side he took. 
 
 47 
 
VI : THE EARL OF MARLBOROUGH 
 
 WILLIAM III had now two wars on 
 hand, one in Ireland against James, one 
 in defence of his native country against 
 Louis XIV. Marlborough went out in May, 1689, 
 at the head of the English troops who were 
 to join the Dutch against the French. He may 
 have preferred not to fight against fellow sub- 
 jects led by his old King and master, and 
 William may have thought it discreeter to give 
 him a separate command, and that abroad. The 
 Prince of Waldeck, the Dutch commander, did 
 not deprive him of success or credit. After a 
 long inaction the army crossed the Sambre and 
 advanced as far as Walcourt, a few miles east of 
 the French border, and not much farther south of 
 Charleroi. Walcourt itself was garrisoned by the 
 Dutch. The French assaulted it in vain, and then 
 attacked the main allied army and was beating it 
 when Marlborough took them in flank with the 
 English cavalry, forcing them to retire. Prince 
 Waldeck particularly praised the English troops 
 for their behaviour and Marlborough for his 
 generalship, saying that he showed more talent 
 in this one battle than older Generals in many 
 years. He had turned the " sickly, listless, undis- 
 ciplined and disorderly " troops of whom Waldeck 
 complained, into a fighting power acknowledged 
 by the enemy as well as the allies. The King 
 himself wrote to express his " esteem and 
 
 48 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 friendship," and made him Colonel of the Royal 
 Fusiliers. 
 
 While Marlborough was fighting in the Nether- 
 lands his Countess was fighting at home for the 
 Princess Anne against the King. It was proposed 
 to grant Anne an independent revenue of £70,000 
 instead of leaving her with ^(^30,000 to come from 
 the King's pocket at his own will, and Lady 
 Marlborough took the Princess's part in spite of 
 approaches from the other side. At last the 
 difference was split, and Anne's income fixed at 
 -£50,000. She gave her friend ,£1,000 a year in 
 gratitude for her services, while it was alleged 
 that she lost very much larger sums to her by 
 gambling. Some said that the King bribed the 
 Marlboroughs to persuade Anne to accept the 
 compromise, so that they made money both ways. 
 Perhaps William was alarmed at the extent of 
 their influence even when used in his behalf, or 
 perhaps they had not used it enough — they had 
 not (as how could they ?) used it to persuade 
 Anne to forego her claim to the throne, supposing 
 William should survive Mary ; and the Countess 
 had almost directly opposed the Queen's wishes 
 when asked to prevent Prince George from 
 serving as a naval volunteer, but without letting 
 Anne know. The Countess was satisfied with 
 ruling Anne, whether she looked ahead or not. 
 Marlborough possibly did look ahead and saw 
 that it might be discreet to side with Anne. In 
 any case, while Mary felt unable to trust or esteem 
 him and disliked the Countess, William began to 
 disapprove of the Marlboroughs for this reason 
 or that. He liked his own generals at his side best, 
 men of his bookish school of war, men who had 
 not betrayed King James, as Marlborough had, 
 
 49 E 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 as he had himself. Of one thing we can be sure, 
 William did not punish Marlborough because 
 his brother, Captain George Churchill, extorted 
 payment from merchantmen whom he convoyed. 
 Wolseley says this weighed against him, even 
 though it is likely that his influence got his brother 
 speedily out of prison. " From some cause which 
 we are unable to trace," Marlborough was not 
 sent to Flanders for the campaign of 1690 and the 
 defeat of Fleurus. It is said, however, that William 
 pressed him to join him in Ireland for the Boyne 
 campaign, and that he " frankly declined acting 
 against his former Sovereign and benefactor " 
 in person. Yet the position he held during this 
 campaign hardly proves that William either 
 distrusted or disliked him. He commanded the 
 forces left in England, and was one of the Mary's 
 Council of nine, at a time when Jacobite con- 
 spirators were hard at work in the ranks of the 
 army, and when the French fleet beat the English 
 oflF Beachy Head and might have landed. His 
 chance came when James had lost Ireland : 
 Cork and Kinsale had to be taken, and he volun- 
 teered to take them while William was engaged 
 with Limerick. Though he was in a minority on 
 the Council, he persuaded Mary and convinced 
 the King. Such secrecy was kept that the Admiralty 
 did not know where the fleet was bound or what 
 the men were for. It was late for such an expedition; 
 the fleet could not be got off until the middle of 
 September ; yet Marlborough made it successful. 
 The King had returned to London just before 
 the start. Marlborough wrote ahead to the com- 
 mander left in Ireland, Ginkel, asking for the 
 help of English officers and troops on landing; 
 instead of which, he was saddled with the Duke of 
 
 50 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 Wirtemburg as a partner. After four days he 
 sailed into Cork harbour, his frigates silencing 
 the fire from the forts at the mouth of it. He was 
 allowed to land his troops without loss. A few 
 of the enemy lined the hedges along the route to 
 his position near the city, but were beaten out 
 easily. The enemy vacated or burnt the suburbs 
 and left to Marlborough an outlying fort that 
 commanded the Castle and the city. Thus Cork 
 was closely invested by the English, Germans and 
 Danes on every side, and on the third day they 
 had cut off the principal fort from the city gates. 
 The Irish forces, under Berwick and other Jacobites 
 neither attacked nor exerted any pressure. Then 
 appeared the young Duke of Wirtemburg with a 
 commission to take command. He was resolute on 
 the strength of his birth, Marlborough as much 
 so because he had the work well in hand and a 
 reputation to make. They settled the difficulty by 
 a compromise : Marlborough and the Duke were 
 to take the command in turns. Next day Marl- 
 borough gave " Wirtemburg " as the password, 
 and the day afterwards the Duke returned the 
 compliment by giving " Marlborough." The 
 Governor of the city was able to gain a little time 
 by negotiating with the Generals separately and 
 then breaking off when the tide had begun to 
 make it impossible to cross river and marsh, as 
 Marlborough had meant to do in order to assault 
 the walls where the artillery had breached them. 
 But next day, the fifth, the walls were again 
 attacked both from the land batteries and from 
 ships in the river. At low tide the Danes and the 
 English crossed and were at the breach when there 
 was another parley. The city surrendered and 
 the garrison became prisoners of war. Among the 
 
 51 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 English officers serving were Charles Churchill 
 and the Duke of Grafton, Charles IFs son by his 
 mistress, the Duchess of Cleveland, Marlborough's 
 cousin and former mistress. The Duke was 
 killed. 
 
 Marlborough then moved on to Kinsale, where 
 an advance party had already taken possession of 
 the town and summoned the garrison of the forts 
 to surrender. Rain fell continually. The roads 
 were heavy, and delayed the moving of the 
 artillery. Many of the men were sick. It was 
 October, and the English dreaded wintering in 
 Irish rains. Money for pay and provisions was 
 short. But Marlborough had luck. He ordered a 
 party to cross the river in darkness and attack the 
 Old Fort. This they were able to do with success. 
 They approached unnoticed, and at the moment 
 when the besieged were rushing to the weakest 
 point an explosion killed many and disorganised 
 the rest ; the assaulting party killed or took 
 prisoners the whole of this garrison. The other 
 fort was battered and mined for several days, but 
 they asked for terms just as it came to the point 
 of a general assault. They agreed on terms. In 
 seven weeks, therefore, after he left Portsmouth, 
 Marlborough was back in London, having done 
 what he set out to do and established such men as 
 had to be left behind in their winter quarters 
 under Charles Churchill. King William welcomed 
 him, and said that he knew no man who had 
 served so few campaigns who was so fit for com- 
 mand. Both sieges were ** almost equally bald of 
 incident because equally skilfully and quietly 
 conducted." From a military point of view this 
 campaign was the one redeeming event in 
 William's Irish wars, so Wolseley pronounces. 
 
 52 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 It stood out in the public eye as quick and masterly. 
 People were delighted with the success of an 
 English General with a high proportion of English 
 troops. 
 
 Nevertheless, Dutch generals continued to 
 direct the war in Ireland. Marlborough was merely 
 on the Irish Committee, and had the care of the 
 army in England and its recruiting. He now 
 began to correspond with James over the water. 
 It seems he wanted to be forgiven for acting as 
 he had done at Salisbury in accordance with the 
 inviolable dictates of his conscience. For the future 
 he promised loyalty. William was in Holland 
 negotiating the '* Grand Alliance " that bound 
 the Empire, the United Netherlands, and England, 
 chiefly to resist Louis XIV. His ministers, the 
 men of the Revolution, like Marlborough, were 
 repenting in letters to James. Marlborough was 
 not only sorry James had gone but wanted him 
 back." In treachery so extensive, which is the 
 prevailing vice of a revolutionary period, it is 
 matter rather of regret than of surprise to find 
 Marlborough implicated." So says his obedient 
 and humble posthumous servant. Archdeacon 
 Coxe. '* The cold and repulsive deportment " of 
 William towards the revolution men, and his pref- 
 erence for Dutchmen was too much for Marl- 
 borough. But above all, says Coxe, the motive of 
 these treacherous correspondents was " the 
 apprehension that a change of public sentiment 
 might eventually restore King James." They 
 showed contrition, therefore, to him, and anxiety 
 to atone. He and Godolphin even *' made many 
 communications on the state of public affairs and 
 domestic transactions." That they wished to 
 please James is certain. It is almost as certain that 
 
 53 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 they gave away only what was not very valuable, 
 but might be considered enough to purchase his 
 forgiveness, " in case of a counter revolution." 
 The professions of loyalty were " merely illusory." 
 For so afterwards thought James himself. His 
 historian, Clarke, says that he found no effect 
 from these mighty promises. When James wanted 
 him to fulfil some offer of bringing over the 
 English troops in Flanders, he would not, and 
 made the excuse that there had been " some 
 mistake in the message," and that he intended not 
 to bring over the troops in small parties but all 
 together — later on. James perfectly understood 
 that Marlborough chiefly sought a written pardon 
 for himself, the Countess, Godolphin, and others, 
 in return for " bare words and empty promises, 
 which, under pretence of being suspected, or 
 doing greater service afterwards, there was never 
 found suitable time to put the least of them in 
 execution." Yet he gave the pardon. 
 
 Wolseley thinks that Marlborough really loathed 
 James' principles and acted solely from selfish 
 motives. He must, then, have feared and believed 
 that James would return, and rather than fight 
 on William's side and perhaps lose and have to 
 reduce his expenditure on himself and his family, 
 he would treat with James and run the risk of 
 being detected by William. Not that it was a 
 fearful risk. Where so many were implicated, 
 probably none would suffer seriously. But I do 
 not see how such conduct is consistent with the 
 conscientiousness of the first betrayal except on 
 the ground that plotting was a mania or confirmed 
 bad habit with him, so long as there was some 
 one to plot with who had a chance. 
 
 So Marlborough gave information and advice 
 
 54 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 which were to help James to recover his crown ; and 
 professed himself ready at command to abandon 
 wife, children and country to regain his esteem, 
 and I surmise that if he had had to forsake William, 
 and William had let him, he would have left be- 
 hind him a letter not less " manly and touching " 
 than his farewell to James at Salisbury. It is 
 superfluous to imagine that perhaps he was subject 
 to recurrences of a belief in the Divine Right of 
 Kings — that at times " he almost repented " of 
 his disloyalty to James. 
 
 WilHam, perhaps, did not suspect these things 
 at first, though early in 1691 Lord Sidney was 
 reporting to him that Marlborough was behaving 
 better and with more diligence than before. In 
 May he joined William for the Flanders cam- 
 paign. His work was chiefly administration. No 
 battles were fought. There was no siege even. 
 They marched about in Flanders in the hope of 
 inducing the French, under Luxemburg, to fight 
 at a disadvantage. But Marlborough distinguished 
 himself by his skill in moving and providing for 
 the troops, so that one day the Prince of Vaude- 
 mont answered a question of the King's by saying 
 that of the English generals, Kirke had fire, Lanier 
 thought, Mackay skill, Colchester bravery, but 
 that there was " something inexpressible in the 
 Earl of Marlborough, and all their virtues seemed 
 to be united in him : if he had any skill in 
 physiognomy," said he, "no other Englishman 
 would rise to such a height of military glory as 
 was waiting for him." William replied with a smile 
 that he believed Marlborough would do his part 
 to verify the prediction. Thus he maintained his 
 reputation and still excited hope and curiosity. 
 With all his grace, too, that could condescend to 
 
 55 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 fawn for a purpose, he would not be put upon. 
 Once, when Count Solmes, one of William's 
 Dutchmen, was with the army, Marlborough 
 was neglected, and the Count ordered his baggage 
 on the march to take the place of the Englishman's 
 and cut it out of the Hne. But " with his cane 
 lifted up and some hard words in French," 
 Marlborough caused his baggage to take its place. 
 A single combat was expected until Solmes 
 " sheared off." In this campaign also Marlborough 
 experienced, not for the last time, the vexations 
 caused by the presence in the field of an advisory 
 committee of civilians from the States General 
 of the United Provinces. 
 
 Still Marlborough had to wait. He applied in 
 vain to succeed Schomberg as Master General 
 of the Ordnance. His friends also had in vain 
 asked for a Garter for him. After these dis- 
 appointments he spoke aloud his disgust at the 
 preferment of Dutchmen instead of Englishmen. 
 He said that William favoured Dutchmen in the 
 army as James did Irishmen. Except with English 
 troops he was unwilling to serve again in Flanders. 
 His phrases for certain of the King's favourites 
 were well known and repeated by the Countess 
 and her friends. Naturally William heard them, 
 and Marlborough is said also to have openly 
 complained to him of the large grants of Crown 
 land to Dutch families, and used terms showing 
 that he was the spokesman of several discontented 
 ** faithful servants " ; in fact, he said emphatically 
 that he himself had no cause to complain. Here 
 again he is said to have issued a warning as to the 
 *' disasters which might be the result of such 
 unpopular conduct." But the evidence is as 
 before. And as in the case of the remonstrance 
 
 S6 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 with James at Winchester, the King was angered. 
 If Marlborough said anything like this to him 
 he knew his man too well to fear that he would 
 be quick to take steps in active conspiracy ; he 
 would have been angered, if at all, at the im- 
 pudence of alluding thus to his treachery. From 
 Marlborough's point of view, the remark would 
 have been indiscreet. For at that time he had 
 plans for moving an address to the King against 
 the employment of foreigners and against the 
 foreign troops still in England. It is possible that 
 this scheme was the foundation on which the 
 story mentioned arose. It was upset by a Jacobite 
 who had imagined it at first a plot to restore James 
 and then grew so afraid that Anne was to be 
 crowned instead, that he betrayed Marlborough. 
 But the story, doubtless, owes something to 
 Marlborough's conversation at the time of his 
 disappointments, conversation addressed, how- 
 ever, to his friends and only reported to the 
 King ; it was apparently threatening and free, 
 and implied a union of the officers to repair their 
 wrongs ; and it was also abusive. Gossip said, 
 too, that while the King was putting on his shirt 
 and spitting with a consumptive cough, Marl- 
 borough " wished it would be his last," just as 
 he had " lolled out his tongue " and laughed at 
 James reviewing his troops. The man who tells 
 this, however, points out that Marlborough was 
 " a nice courtier, well-guarded in his words, and 
 one of the most mannerly, best bred men in the 
 nation."* He does not think Marlborough capable 
 of such an indiscretion as to use words that would 
 be barbarous and brutal from a porter. His 
 
 * "Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of the Duke of 
 Marlborough," 171 1. 
 
 57 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 circle used familiarly to refer to William as " the 
 monster," '' Caliban," and '' the Dutch^ abortion." 
 
 If William knew these things it was very 
 natural for him to tell the Prince of Vaudemont 
 that Marlborough was a vile man whom he hated, 
 '* for though he could profit of treasons he could 
 not bear the traitor." And suddenly he was dis- 
 graced for having " used words against the King," 
 so Evelyn thought. He was dismissed from his 
 offices, his wife was forbidden the Court, and 
 Anne, having been desired by the Queen to dismiss 
 her and having refused, retired to Sion House. 
 The disgrace was sudden : one morning after 
 Marlborough had given William his shirt, as his 
 duty was, but whether with any rudeness under 
 his breath is not told. Two hours later they 
 brought him news that he was dismissed and 
 forbidden the Court. 
 
 Where there were so many reasons for disgracing 
 Marlborough it is hard to say precisely what the 
 cause was. Horace Walpole tells a story as true 
 which another writer regards as mostly a design 
 to disgrace Marlborough.* It is that he betrayed 
 to the French the plan William had for taking 
 Dunkirk while it was undefended. He himself 
 was to have had a share in the attack. But the 
 French began setting the town in readiness for a 
 defence and the plan was abandoned. Walpole 
 says that Marlborough swore he had told it to 
 nobody but his wife, and that William replied 
 that he did not tell it to his. Once in Lady 
 Marlborough's head it might rapidly have got to 
 a Jacobite, and then to a French ear. The accu- 
 sation against Marlborough was fresh even in 
 
 * " Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of the Duke of 
 Marlborough," 171 1. 
 
 S8 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 171 1 in the minds of the common people, and 
 farmers over their pots of ale at market would 
 shake their heads at " Malbur " (for so they 
 called him) for losing Dunkirk.* But the fact is 
 that the design on Dunkirk came some months 
 after Marlborough's disgrace. 
 
 Another explanation is that Mary had lately 
 quarrelled again with Anne over the Marlboroughs, 
 objecting to the £1,000 a year which she was 
 allowing to the Countess. Marlborough's disgrace 
 would, it might have been thought, compel Anne 
 to give up his wife. But William did not take the 
 step for this alone. He said something about the 
 correspondence with James ; this also is alleged. 
 And what Evelyn heard at first was that Marl- 
 borough was dismissed " for his excessive taking 
 of bribes, covetousness, and extortions on all 
 occasions from his inferior officers " ; this also 
 was being talked of. Judging from a remark of 
 Burnet's, quoted in Wolesley from the " Rough 
 Draft " of his history, an accumulation of offences 
 account for the fall — the intrigue with James and 
 France, the factious attitude towards the Dutch 
 officers and officials, the influence exercised on 
 Anne to the disadvantage of Mary. All we know 
 is that Anne and the Marlboroughs could not 
 have been surprised. 
 
 Lady Marlborough was not forbidden the Court 
 till a short time after when she had shown that 
 without formal notice she would continue to 
 appear. She offered to leave Anne in order not 
 to involve her " For Christ Jesus 's sake " 
 Anne begged her not to suggest any such thing, 
 since if she left her she would never again enjoy 
 
 * " Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of the Duke of 
 Marlborough," 171 1. 
 
 59 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 a quiet hour. The resuh was that Anne only saw 
 her sister once again during her lifetime. 
 
 An anonymous letter had informed Anne in 
 January, at the time of the disgrace, that more 
 was to follow. In May, while William was abroad, 
 a French invasion threatened the country. The 
 people were in terror. The Cabinet Council 
 ordered the arrest of several known or suspected 
 Jacobites, and among them Marlborough, on a 
 charge of high treason. But the particular evidence 
 for this arrest was bad. One Young had forged 
 a document in which Marlborough and others 
 associated themselves in an undertaking to help 
 James to regain the throne. Marlborough was 
 able to swear truthfully that he had not put his 
 hand to the letters attributed to him ; but though 
 Young was convicted of forgery, and though the 
 French never landed and their fleet was beaten 
 off Cape La Hogue by the Jacobite Lord Russell, 
 Marlborough was not free until mid- June, and 
 then only on a writ of habeas corpus. Anne herself 
 at one time had fears of being surrounded by a 
 guard. She protested that she would not have 
 repined, so long as the Countess continued kind ; 
 she wished that she might never enjoy a moment's 
 happiness in this world or the next if she ever 
 proved false to the Countess. Anne, too, was 
 among the Jacobites. But she was powerless to 
 help Marlborough. Two of the lords, Halifax 
 and Shrewsbury, who went surety for him when 
 he was admitted to bail, had their names erased 
 at once from the Hst of Privy Councillors. With 
 no specific charge against him, his bail was not 
 released until this illegality had been violently 
 debated in the House of Lords, and in the end the 
 King himself discharged the recognisance. This 
 
 60 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 was quite in keeping with his remark that he did 
 not want to push Marlborough too far, but to 
 warn rather than punish him. 
 
 While Marlborough was being fretted thus, 
 William was lumbering through Flanders and 
 losing the battle of Steinkirk and a great many 
 English lives. A strong party in both Houses of 
 Parliament took Marlborough's line against the 
 Dutch officers, and in the House of Lords his 
 influence was direct, but not strong enough to 
 reduce the Supplies voted for the campaign to 
 come. 
 
 Marlborough, out of the Tower and out of 
 office, had too much leisure not to continue his 
 correspondence with James. He had no doubt 
 put money by ; his wife still attended Anne and 
 drew her salary ; he himself was offered £i,ooo 
 a year for a place which Anne was wiUing to create, 
 and, though he refused it, both of them practically 
 lived with Anne at Berkeley House. Had he formed 
 the habit of plotting as an intellectual recreation 
 when he could not dance or play tennis, this 
 idleness was not likely to break it. William was 
 again in Flanders in 1693. The battle of Neer- 
 winden, as usual, he lost, and with the English 
 people he gained no credit from the endurance 
 and brilliance of the English troops in their 
 defeat. If anything, Marlborough's disgrace would 
 gain credit for him with James. In this strength- 
 ened position he extracted a proclamation 
 promising all sorts of things at the coming restor- 
 ation — Parliament to meet, the Church to be 
 safeguarded, the Test Act enforced, and everyone 
 pardoned. He also even lectured James as to the 
 meekness which he was required to show if the 
 proposals made to him should seem hard. As 
 
 61 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 before, the chief English Admiral, Russell, was 
 a conspirator, but with Marlburian moderation. 
 They made great promises while out of office, 
 and great excuses for their caution in office. 
 Marlborough actually told James that he would 
 not take office under William without James's 
 consent. 
 
 In the spring of 1694 he committed his most 
 conspicuous act of treason on behalf of James. 
 An expedition sailed against Brest. Marlborough 
 and others forewarned James. Brest was ready, 
 and repulsed the expedition with heavy loss. 
 
 Preparations for this expedition were going on 
 when an agent arrived in London from James. 
 He took back an account to his master which had 
 been given him by Godolphin, one of William's 
 ministers and a great friend of Marlborough. 
 Shortly afterwards came the same information 
 by letter from Marlborough, with most earnest 
 prayers that *' for the love of God " it be kept 
 secret. He gave the size of the expedition, the 
 name of the commander (Talmach or Tollemache), 
 and the object — Brest. Furthermore, he accused 
 Admiral Russell of keeping this information from 
 him, " a bad sign of this man's intentions." 
 Godolphin must have given it to him, perhaps 
 without admitting it was already in James' hands ; 
 for otherwise Marlborough could hardly have 
 written with such urgency if he knew, and James 
 knew, that he was only confirming Godolphin. 
 
 But before his letter arrived on May 4th, 
 Louis had already sent orders to Vauban for the 
 strengthening of Brest.* Later, more pressing 
 orders were sent to him which might have been 
 the result of Marlborough's letter. The English 
 
 * E. M. Lloyd in " English Historical Review." Vol. 9, 1894. 
 
 62 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 on their arrival judged that an attack was hope- 
 less. Only Talmach would stick to it, and carried 
 the others with him. He was wounded at the 
 outset. They had to retreat, and a large proportion 
 of the men were killed, wounded, or taken 
 prisoners before they could get into the boats. 
 Talmach died of his wounds soon after landing 
 in England. 
 
 It is now probable that Marlborough did not 
 cause this disaster. But unless the eagerness of 
 his letter was a blind to conceal his knowledge 
 that he was delivering stale news, he was willing 
 to have caused it. And if he knew that it was stale, 
 then he knew that Godolphin had already given 
 it, and he was a traitorous accomplice for con- 
 cealing his knowledge from William. 
 
 Talmach 's death caused the suspicion that 
 Marlborough plotted to bring it about. For 
 Talmach might be regarded as his English rival. 
 He was Marlborough's age. He had fought at 
 Tangier and in Flanders as a young man. Before 
 deserting James H and joining William in Holland 
 he gave up his colonelcy. Under William he 
 fought in Ireland and again in Flanders, at Stein - 
 kirk, and Neerwinden. When Marlborough was 
 disgraced, Talmach took his place as Lieutenant- 
 General, first in Flanders, then in England 
 against the expected invasion. He, too, had not 
 concealed his opinion of the Dutch officers. 
 Marlborough may have been jealous of him, but 
 there is no proof that besides being lucky himself, 
 he could make his enemies unlucky, even when 
 they were not opposed to him in the field : no 
 proof that Talmach had the power of divination, 
 without which he could not have known that 
 English treachery had made Brest prepared for him. 
 
 63 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 to' 
 
 Wolseley is satisfied that Marlborough per- 
 suaded himself, as an injured man, that it could 
 not be wrong to give James information which 
 had already been* received from others : that it 
 was merely a piece of dirtyish smartness — "nothing 
 he had to tell, as he was well aware, could therefore 
 be really injurious to English interests ; whereas, 
 if cleverly laid before James, the intelligence 
 would have such an air of treachery to William 
 that it could not fail to strengthen the exiled 
 King's belief in his good faith." That is to say, 
 Marlborough did not mind who else injured 
 English interests so long as he himself did not 
 directly do so. It would be fairer to Marlborough 
 to say that he was a plain man with no sentiments 
 when he was at work, and on this occasion he was 
 at work as a diplomatist for himself and family. 
 If he had not afterwards risen to such grandeur 
 that ordinary taste would prefer to see him 
 equalling in virtue King Arthur or Albert the 
 Good, nobody would have troubled with his case 
 more than with little Sidney Godolphin's, whom 
 Lady Marlborough called " the best man that 
 ever lived." 
 
 At this very time Marlborough put forward his 
 name, or had it put forward, for office. But WilHam 
 only said : " I do not think it for the good of my 
 service to entrust the command of my troops to 
 him." The death of Queen Mary at the end of 
 the year improved his chances. Anne was now 
 heir to the throne. Not without the advice of the 
 Marlboroughs she made a " spontaneous over- 
 ture " to the King, regretting the differences 
 between Mary and herself and showing her 
 readiness to wait on him once more. William 
 saw her, welcomed her, and gave her the palace 
 
 64 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 of St. James's for her residence. Marlborough's 
 *' reversion " was great, but he got nothing 
 immediately. Again William passed a campaign 
 in Flanders — that of 1695 — without him. Namur 
 was taken from the French by William (and 
 Captain Toby Shandy). 
 
 The year after this Marlborough had another 
 set-back. Sir John Fenwick, a Jacobite implicated 
 in a plot to assassinate William, was arrested, and,, 
 throwing himself upon the King's mercy, he 
 accused a number of semi-Jacobites like Godol- 
 phin, Marlborough, aud Russell. Fenwick, how- 
 ever, would not answer all the questions asked 
 of him at the Bar of the House of Commons and 
 was ordered to withdraw. The charges were 
 declared false and scandalous. A Bill of Attainder 
 against Fenwick passed the Commons and came 
 to the Lords, where Marlborough and Godolphin 
 vindicated themselves, as Russell had done in the 
 Commons, by denying that they had ever held any 
 conversation with the man on any account 
 whatsoever. For in fact they had not ; he spoke 
 from the general knowledge of the Jacobite circle. 
 While he denied the imputation, Marlborough 
 said he had some satisfaction in finding himself 
 in such good company as Godolphin and the rest. 
 One of his opponents, but in secret, was Lord 
 Monmouth, afterwards Lord Peterborough. He 
 had sent Fenwick a paper of instructions as to his 
 defence. Marlborough, for example, was to be 
 cross-questioned on the causes of his late dismissal, 
 and the King was to be appealed to. When Fenwick 
 refused this service, Monmouth voted for the 
 Bill of Attainder, and then he was betrayed. The 
 House of Lords sent him to the Tower, the King 
 struck him off the Privy Council. 
 
 65 F 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Towards the end of 1697 Godolphin, in a fright, 
 retired from the Treasury. But next year Marl- 
 borough at last gained a position. The Duke of 
 Shrewsbury, his fellow conspirator, and Secretary 
 of State since 1694, had often spoken on behalf 
 of him to William. Sunderland, the darkest and 
 cleverest of all these lovers of liberty, Sacharissa's 
 son, Protestant one side, Catholic the other, who 
 knows what inside, had just come out into office 
 from the inner gloom of confidential adviser, and 
 he was well disposed towards Marlborough as 
 to all men of ability who were not fools. He, with 
 Shrewsbury and Dutch Albemarle, recom- 
 mended Marlborough for the post of governor 
 to Anne's son, the Duke of Gloucester. Anne, as 
 a matter of course, agreed. William at length 
 consented with the compliment : " My Lord, 
 teach him to be like yourself, and my nephew will 
 never want for accomplishments." For this the 
 salary was £2,000. At the same time he was re- 
 stored to his place in the Privy Council and in the 
 army. His coadjutor, preceptor to the young 
 prince, was Gilbert Burnet, the Scotch bishop of 
 Sahsbury, a Whig, who had a sackful of com- 
 pliments to his face for Marlborough. The 
 appointments gave less than universal satisfaction, 
 Burnet was first attacked as a Whig, and Marl- 
 borough had to persuade his brother, George 
 Churchill, the sailor M.P. for St. Albans, not to 
 appear in the Commons when a motion against 
 the bishop was put to the vote. For if Burnet had 
 gone, Marlborough must probably have followed. 
 Though Tory in principle, Marlborough had 
 thrown in his lot with Whigs more or less irre- 
 vocably since he joined the Whig Revolutionists 
 who turned out James, and the awkwardness of 
 
 66 
 
The Earl of Marlborough 
 
 his seat in this place might well explain his dislike 
 of politics. But for the time being he had nothing 
 but politics to occupy him. The Peace of Ryswick 
 in 1697 had suspended the wars with Louis XIV, 
 and the English army was reduced on a motion 
 of Robert Harley. The regiments raised since 
 September, 1680, were to be disbanded. People 
 were willing to believe that peace had really set 
 in. England had gained neither glory nor posses- 
 sions abroad, and when only a few thousand 
 troops remained in England, the fleet, the weather, 
 or the miscalculation of the enemy, had sufficed 
 to keep these shores inviolate. The only invader 
 who might have succeeded was James Stuart. 
 Had he landed it is likely that there would have 
 been more fighting than in 1688, and Marlborough 
 would inevitably have been on the winning side. 
 He was now in a substantial position. While 
 William was in Holland he was made one of the 
 Lord Justices to govern the country. His daughters 
 began to marry. Henrietta married Godolphin's 
 son in 1698 ; at the beginning of 1700 Anne 
 married Lord Spencer, Sunderland's eldest son. 
 Godolphin was a very old friend of Marlborough's. 
 He was Charles H's " little Sidney Godolphin," 
 who was never in the way and never out of the 
 way, a diligent, honest finance minister, a sporting 
 squire, but withal a timid one and a traitor like 
 the rest of them, both to James H and William HL 
 With Lady Marlborough he was so friendly that 
 people imagined, or at least spread a report, that 
 he was something more. When the children were 
 married Henrietta Churchill was eighteen, and 
 Francis Godolphin but twenty. Lady Sunderland 
 was an intimate friend of Lady Marlborough, 
 and had made Anne jealous of her. Her son was 
 
 67 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 comparatively a very upright man, a cold rasping 
 character of republican professions and something 
 like plain speech. Sunderland, who would say 
 anything, promised that he should nevertheless 
 be accommodating as a son-in-law, and went so 
 far as to say that if he saw him settled he would 
 desire nothing more than to die in peace *' if it 
 please God." Marlborough, who did not favour 
 uncompromising Whigs, was long being per- 
 suaded. The young man, too, was still mourning 
 his first wife, and required some tempting, while 
 Anne Churchill was not attracted to him. But, 
 as Coxe put it, at length her charms and 
 accomplishments dissipated the grief of the young 
 widower, and he felt all the passion which her 
 youth, beauty and merit could not fail to inspire ; 
 the impression sank deep in his reserved but 
 ardent mind ; he ended by showing no less 
 anxiety for the alliance than his parents. So both 
 daughters were married, with £5,000 apiece from 
 their father, and ;£5,ooo apiece from the Princess 
 Anne. 
 
 68 
 
VII : THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE 
 
 MARLBOROUGH was now nearly fifty, 
 Godolphin fifty-five, Sunderland sixty. 
 They and their contemporaries could 
 remember when the army was as small as it was 
 now being made, and the Dutch got to the 
 Medway, and all the money the King needed 
 was for his mistresses, or if he wanted an army it 
 was for King Louis, and King Louis would pay 
 for it. Most of the statesmen of 1698 had been 
 bred in the Court of Charles II. James had proved 
 too much for them : he had as it were disturbed 
 their bawdy Paradise, even during Charles' reign, 
 and offered them nothing reasonable in exchange. 
 They plotted against him, they ran some risks, 
 and they brought in another King as uncomfort- 
 able with a crowd of " Froglanders " about him 
 as objectionable as Papists. With no alternative 
 to William but James their middle age was un- 
 doubtedly harsh. They yearned after the fleshpots 
 of the Restoration. Religion, says Halifax, is a 
 cheerful thing : " Nothing unpleasant belongs 
 to it, though the spiritual cooks have done their 
 unskilful part to give an ill relish to it." A wise 
 epicure " would be religious for the sake of 
 pleasure ; good sense is the foundation of both." 
 So he says to his daughter, but elsewhere he says 
 that " most men's anger about religion is as if two 
 men should quarrel for a lady they neither of 
 them care for." But he was a thinker. Marlborough 
 
 69 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 with his God who had given up to party what 
 was meant for mankind, speaks more religiously 
 when he tells Godolphin that a campaign is ended 
 to his heart's desire, and as " the hand of the 
 Almighty is visible in the whole matter," he 
 hopes the Queen will *' think it due to him to 
 return public thanks ; and, at the same time, to 
 implore his blessing on the next campaign." 
 When he had done what he could to install the 
 right sort of bishop in a vacancy, he exclaimed, 
 *' I have done what in me is, so God's will be 
 done." Godolphin, on the other hand, was re- 
 solved to keep the bishoprics vacant, rather than 
 admit enemies. God was the power that brought 
 Marlborough luck and destroyed his enemies. 
 When he was anxious about home politics, he 
 said ... * but as God is above, so I trust in Him, 
 or else our prospect is very dreadful." He advises 
 Lady Marlborough to put her trust in God as he 
 does, adding " be assured that I can't be unhappy 
 as long as you are kind." Even Anne, at the best 
 of times, could not say much more for Lady 
 Marlborough's religion than that she was a 
 Christian, though she made no bustle about it, 
 and that she abhorred the Church of Rome. She 
 believed also in " balm of Gilead twice a day." 
 Their daughter Anne, who married Lord Spencer, 
 Sunderland's heir, showed the same faith, but in 
 a tender mood, in the letter which she left for her 
 husband to read when she was dead. He and her 
 dear children, she wrote, were her only concern 
 in this world ; she hoped in God he would find 
 comfort for the loss of a wife she was sure he 
 loved too well not to want a great deal. She would 
 be no further remembered than what would 
 contribute to his ease, that is, to be careful (as 
 
 70 
 
The Spirit of the Age 
 
 she was) not to make his circumstances uneasy, 
 by living beyond his means, which she could not, 
 with all the care that was possible, quite prevent. 
 When he had any addition to his income he must 
 think of his poor children, and remember that 
 he had not an estate to live on, without making 
 some addition, by saving. He would always, she 
 thought, be miserable if he gave way to the love 
 of play. As to the children, he was to get her 
 mother, the Duchess of Marlborough, to take 
 care of the girls and the boys also if she left any 
 too little to go to school ; for to be left to servants 
 is very bad for children, and a man cannot take 
 the care of little children that a woman can. . . 
 She ended by saying that her last prayers should 
 be for blessings on him in this world and their 
 happy meeting in the next. But there is nothing 
 in it to lead us to suppose she would have been 
 disturbed had she read Godolphin's letter to her 
 father where he says that the question is not so 
 much what is wrong and what is right, but what 
 gives a handle to the Duke of Somerset to tell 
 lies. . . . She would have smiled at her mother's 
 secretary describing the same Duke as, without 
 doubt, *' as honest as it is possible for so great a 
 statesman to be." Perhaps she would not have 
 been astonished when her mother wrote to the 
 Queen to point out that she could not carry on 
 her Government if she disobliged the Whigs, 
 because they would " join with any people " to 
 torment her and her true servants. 
 
 There, at least, the Duchess was telling what 
 she believed to be the truth. Sometimes Anne 
 tells a plain truth with the most refreshing effect, 
 as when she says she would never give an in- 
 vitation to the Electoral Prince (afterwards 
 
 71 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 George II), the Elector (afterwards George I), 
 or the Electress Sophia — " neither to the young 
 man, nor his father, nor his grandmother." 
 
 A certain mixture of hardness or coarseness and 
 effusiveness is characteristic of the age. They 
 had ceased to breed poets or to need them, and 
 they were left free to use *' the language of the 
 heart " in its extreme form, especially for pur- 
 poses of adulation. The only poet was Prior, and 
 his only poems were a pretty compliment to a 
 nobleman's little daughter and a genial elegy on 
 a plain, sensible old mistress. But take the case 
 of John Lord Cutts, one of Marlborough's generals. 
 He had fought against Turks, Irish and French, 
 and in London made a great display in the fire 
 which burnt down Whitehall in 1698. His bravery 
 was notorious, for he talked of nothing else, and 
 nobody disputed it. Burnet, in fact, says that he 
 lost the honour due to many of his brave acts by 
 talking too much of them. His debts were almost 
 as celebrated. And he was orthodox of the ortho- 
 dox, was a member of Parliament most of his 
 life, and died Commander-in-Chief in Ireland 
 and a Lord Justice. But he wrote verses. " Practical 
 exercises upon several occasions " he published 
 in 1687 and dedicated to Mary, the Princess of 
 Orange. For him Boileau was the only critic, and 
 he had his reward. For when he wrote of hunting, 
 which he probably knew something about, it was 
 in this style : 
 
 The bright, the chaste Diana I'll adore, 
 
 She'll free my heart from love's insulting power. 
 
 Yet he compared himself to the ploughman 
 whistling, the milkmaid singing : for even so he 
 sang his heedless thought in wild notes : 
 
 72 
 
The Spirit of the Age 
 
 And made the neighbouring groves and echoes 
 ring. 
 
 In a " Letter from a Scholar of Mars to one of 
 Apollo," he explains, however : 
 
 My genius points to other ways 
 And bids me strive for laurels, not for bays, 
 I'll keep my heart for great Bellona's charms ; 
 If e'er she takes me to her glorious arms 
 She shall command my fortune and my life. 
 My muse is but my mistress, not my wife. 
 
 But skill in words was the common one of that 
 age. It concealed his meaning : if that had been 
 possible, it would have concealed his character. 
 Between his acts and his words there is the same 
 disparity as between the private beliefs of Lord 
 Bolingbroke (in nothing in particular), and his 
 pubHc action as a supporter of the Schism Act 
 which forbade dissenters to teach children except 
 in noblemen's families. But either of these men 
 could on occasion speak as plain as they acted, 
 and could act without frills or flourishes. Men had 
 really no difficulty in being plain, then as now. 
 One day an Austrian, Count Zobor, made the 
 remark that three rogues caused a great deal of 
 mischief in the world, and he mentioned two — 
 Prince Rogotsky, the Hungarian leader, and 
 King Stanislas of Poland. As the third, however, 
 was unmistakably Charles XII of Sweden, the 
 Swedish envoy, who was present, felt himself 
 " obliged to give him a box on the ear." Not 
 satisfied with this, Charles XII regarded the 
 remark as a pretext for war with the Emperor. 
 Charles, hero as he was, was willing to listen to 
 the kind of speech that Marlborough made to 
 
 73 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 him in 1707 : " I present to your Majesty a letter 
 not from the Chancery, but from the Heart of the 
 Queen, my mistress, and written with her own 
 hand. Had not her sex prevented it, she would 
 have crossed the sea to see a Prince admired by 
 the whole world. I am in this particular more 
 happy than the Queen, and I wish I could serve 
 some campaigns under so great a General as your 
 Majesty, that I might learn what I yet want to 
 know in the art of war." The Duke got as much of 
 this as he gave. A man (John Mackqueen) dedi- 
 cated a book to the husbands of his daughters, 
 and told them that they had " obtained " ladies 
 who, by their sound sentiments of religion, their 
 intellectual endowments and moral accomplish- 
 ments, as well as beautiful aspect, graceful mien, 
 and charming address, were the wonder of their 
 age, the glory of their sex, the ornament of the 
 Court, the cordial of their parents in their de- 
 clining years, crowns of joy to their husbands, the 
 admiration of foreigners, a common benediction 
 to present and future generations ; for what 
 could be expected of them but a race of nobles, 
 who through God's goodness might prove public- 
 spirited patriots, zealous defenders of the Protestant 
 faith, loyal supporters of the throne, steady 
 maintainers of the Church, and strenuous pro- 
 moters of their country's interest and renown .'' 
 The poet Prior, who was a good poet for a 
 diplomatist, and not a good diplomatist, wrote 
 no better than this in compliment to Marlborough, 
 before it was convenient to become his enemy. 
 Statesmen could do nothing easier than emit 
 phrases like : "I have no motive but the honour 
 of the Queen and the service of her minister." 
 It is remarkable how many of them praised 
 
 74 
 
The Spirit of the Age 
 
 themselves. HaHfax, for example, writes to Marl- 
 borough to say that if Marlborough only knew, 
 he had really acted very well (it had by no means 
 appeared so ) ; but " as there is generosity in 
 acting such a part, there is good breeding and 
 good manners in not explaining particulars that 
 have not been successful." Lord Sunderland tells 
 Marlborough that he is at ease because he has 
 resolved " as an honest man," whatever happens, 
 to act upon the same principle and with the same 
 people as always. Harley writes to him that he 
 also is at ease, having the satisfaction to know that 
 he has always served Marlborough and Godolphin 
 " with the nicest honour and by the strictest rules 
 of friendship." Marlborough himself says time 
 after time that he is much more concerned for 
 the Queen's quiet and good than for his own life, 
 so that it is a relief to hear him say at a time when 
 he is much put out, that he *' can't hinder wishing 
 that the Queen may prosper," although he thinks 
 it impossible she will if she employs his enemies. 
 You would think Halifax wished to be regarded as 
 a susceptible girl, instead of a man who has just 
 missed a place and is very angry, when he writes 
 to beg the Duchess not to imagine him so vain 
 as to be much disturbed by missing the most 
 expensive, troublesome and dangerous place in 
 the world ; but to believe on the other hand that 
 he is almost distracted that he cannot by any means 
 get a share of Marlborough's esteem and friend- 
 ship : he hopes she will pity and forgive him for 
 his intention to deserve them ; and off he goes, 
 probably, for his revenge. An ordinary phrase for 
 a man to use who meant nothing was that he had 
 an intention and desire " to live well with " the 
 person addressed, and his party and also *' with 
 
 75 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 all others we would have him live well with " ; 
 whereupon the other answers with compliments 
 from himself and party and does not doubt but 
 their friends will be " all in the same disposition." 
 
 Swift's " Journal to Stella " reveals more 
 directly than the letters of the politicians. One 
 day he tears the journal open to add that his 
 party is safe now, having disgraced and turned 
 out Marlborough, because the Queen has given 
 them a majority in the Lords by creating twelve 
 Peers. And " three of the new lords are of our 
 Society." Next day he is at Court, resolved to 
 be very civil to the Whigs, and seeing Lady 
 Sunderland (Marlborough's daughter Anne) and 
 others whispering about himself, he asks Rochester 
 to take a message to her saying he doubted she 
 was not as much in love with him as he with her ; 
 but Rochester would not. Up came the Duchess 
 of Shrewsbury and clapped her fan up to hide 
 them while he and she gave one another joy of 
 this change. Marlborough was there, but hardly 
 noticed by anyone. His enemies had come in 
 under the skirts of the waiting woman who had 
 taken his wife's place with Anne — Mrs. Masham. 
 A year or two later Mrs. Masham 's eldest son 
 was very ill. Swift doubted he would not live, and 
 she stayed at Kensington to nurse him, which, 
 says he, " vexes us all." She was so excessively 
 fond of her son it made him mad. She should never 
 leave the Queen, but leave everything else, to stick 
 to what is so much the interest of the public, — of 
 the Tory party, — as well as her own. He told her 
 this ; but it was talking to the winds. 
 
 Party was so strong as to make Swift a party 
 man. He called a Parliament free which contained 
 a majority of his party. Liberty was a word. Even 
 
 76 
 
The Spirit of the Age 
 
 Kings used it. The King Charles whom England 
 and her allies had thrust upon Spain, writing to 
 Marlborough for subsidies, says that of course 
 he entertains only views that are most useful to 
 the common cause " and most advantageous to 
 the liberty of Europe." The English Parliament, 
 both Houses, ended an address to the Queen at 
 the time of a Jacobite scare, by announcing 
 that they would go on to the end with the war, to 
 restore Spain to Austria, to recover " the liberties 
 of Europe." Marlborough, taking advantage of 
 a victory, to press on the Queen the claims of 
 the party carrying on the war, points out that only 
 by making use of these men can " our religion 
 and liberties " be preserved. He repeats in a letter 
 to his wife the belief that he is acting for " the 
 liberties of Europe." Prior used it when he " sang " 
 how Anne 
 
 Sent forth the terror of her high commands, 
 To save the nations from invading hands. 
 To prop fair Liberty's declining cause. 
 And fix the jarring world with equal laws. 
 
 The phrase was just part of the efltusiveness 
 which the age had somehow assumed for pro- 
 tective colouring to cloak its hardness. When the 
 hardness comes through as in Swift's satire, 
 Savile's sense, or the Duchess of Marlborough's 
 temper, it is by comparison a beautiful thing. 
 Hear her describing the brother of her enemy, 
 Mrs. Masham, whom she had once been as kind 
 to as to her own child. She had got him made a 
 page and then a bed-chamber groom, and Marl- 
 borough thought him good-for-nothing, but to 
 oblige her, made him his aide-de-camp, and 
 afterwards gave him a regiment. Well, when 
 
 77 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Mr. Harley attacked the Duke in ParUament, this 
 honest Jack Hill, this once ragged boy whom she 
 clothed, was sick in bed, but was persuaded 
 by his sister to get up, wrap himself " in warmer 
 clothes than those I gave him," and go and vote 
 against the Duke. This temper may have done 
 Marlborough some harm, and shortened the 
 European war by putting power in England into 
 the hands of the Tories, but it is one of the things 
 out of that age that we have to be thankful for. 
 
 78 
 
VIII : NEITHER WHIG NOR TORY 
 
 MARLBOROUGH was for some time 
 sunk in politics. The Whigs, who were 
 shortly to leave office, were jealous of 
 him. He was also accused of being governed in 
 everything by Lord Sunderland. Skilful and 
 amiable as he was, and used to dissimulation, he 
 suffered from the discomforts of his position, and 
 complained of the jealousy surrounding him. But 
 the cloud which had been hanging over him was 
 clearing up, so said the Duke of Shrewsbury. 
 The King even spoke to him of his desire to leave 
 England altogether, in his indignation at the 
 reduction of the army and the personal attacks 
 involved in it. His brother George was admitted 
 to the Admiralty. If the King still looked on him 
 with *' coldness " it was on account of his half- 
 measures when the Bill was being passed for the 
 resumption of the Irish lands granted to William's 
 Dutchmen. His party was for the resumption, 
 and he personally favoured it. When the King's 
 friends in the Lords tried to destroy the Bill by 
 amendments he opposed them, but at length 
 refused to join in the violence of his party and 
 abstained from voting. Neither had he voted when 
 it was resolved, but with a protest, that the Dutch 
 Guards should be exempted from the disband- 
 ments. In the event, Marlborough was perplexed, 
 with friends and acquaintances unreasonably 
 jealous and the King angry. His wife, on her part, 
 
 79 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 had lately taken the first step towards his last fall by 
 admitting Abigail Hill, afterwards Mrs. Masham, 
 to the Princess Anne's household. Abigail's mother 
 was one of the twenty-two children of Lady 
 Marlborough's grandfather, Sir John Jennings. 
 Nevertheless, when she first heard of Mrs. Hill, 
 and that she was in want, some time after 1683, 
 she gave her money, and afterwards she gave 
 more money. When Mrs. Hill died she had 
 Abigail, the daughter, to live with her at St. 
 Albans, and treated her as a sister. Now, in 1698, 
 she introduced Abigail to Anne as bedchamber 
 woman. A younger sister became " laundress to 
 the Duke of Gloucester's family " (he was nine 
 in 1698). The eldest brother, '* honest Jack Hill " 
 became his groom of the bedchamber, aide-de- 
 camp to Marlborough, colonel, general, and a 
 " brother " of Swift's society or Club. 
 
 Lady Marlborough, having now a family of 
 four daughters and two sons, wanted a deputy 
 with the Princess Anne. Her duties gave her no 
 satisfaction. Her affection for the Princess could 
 be satisfied by a less constant intercourse : she 
 could hardly have been expected never to be 
 impatient of a woman so much her inferior in 
 talent and character and for so long under her 
 thumb. Whatever changes there are in the world, 
 said Anne to her in 1686, if only she would not 
 forsake her she would be happy. Anne was her 
 " dear adored Mrs. Morley." Anne was so entirely 
 hers that if she might have all the world given 
 her she could not be happy but in her love ; and 
 she would say that, to her last moment, " Your 
 dear unfortunate faithful Morley will be most 
 passionately and tenderly yours." When she gave 
 the Countess an annuity of j^ 1,000 she begged 
 
 80 
 
Neither Whig nor Tory 
 
 her not to thank her for what was so Httle com- 
 pared with her deserts. She would never get rid 
 of her for the sake of £20,000 to please anyone ; 
 she was certain, at the time, that is in 1689, that 
 she was the cause of the Marlboroughs' misfor- 
 tunes. 
 
 Lady Marlborough wished to retain her in- 
 fluence and authority with Anne and to have 
 more time to herself and her children. She thought 
 a relative like Abigail Hill, who owed everything 
 to her, would represent her faithfully. But 
 Abigail was quiet and supple, with the additional 
 advantage of a stupid appearance. She never- 
 bullied the Princess or told her what she thought 
 of her. She did not let people know that she thought 
 them all knaves or fools. Whatever she lacked in 
 wit or ambition was made up for by Robert Harley, 
 her cousin, as Lady Marlborough was, but never 
 her benefactor. At first, no doubt, she kept her 
 cousin's memory sweet with Anne, while at the 
 same time the Princess had the benefit of a mild, 
 submissive attendant after that unruly government 
 of twenty years. 
 
 Marlborough did not foresee anything, and if 
 he had he would either have said nothing or have 
 been overruled. He, no doubt, was counting on 
 Anne. That she or her son, the Duke of Gloucester, 
 or both, would survive William was very likely. 
 He was strong enough, therefore, to promote and 
 apparently to bring about the success of Prince 
 George's claim for the liquidation of William's 
 debt to him of ,£85,000. Parliament had to be 
 asked for the money, and the debates where his 
 foreign policy was criticised, oif ended the King, 
 and the grant appeared to be a personal triumph 
 over him by Prince George. After this Anne 
 
 81 G 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 became '* more, if possible, than ever her dear, 
 dear Mrs. Freeman's." This was at the end of 
 1699. ^^ August of the next year the Duke of 
 Gloucester died : Sophia, the Electress Dowager 
 of Hanover, Elizabeth of Bohemia's daughter, 
 James I's grand-daughter, became heir to the 
 throne after Anne. 
 
 More important to Marlborough and the world 
 was the death of Charles II of Spain in the 
 November of this year. He left no children, and 
 liis two sisters had renounced their claims on 
 marrying Louis XIV of France and the Emperor 
 Leopold I. But Leopold's mother was his wife's 
 aunt, and therefore the next in succession to the 
 crown of Spain, she being brotherless and sister- 
 less. And she had not renounced her rights when 
 she married the Emperor Ferdinand. As she was 
 dead her son Leopold's children, by a second 
 marriage, were not debarred from accepting the 
 Spanish crown, unless one became Emperor. 
 Charles, therefore, Leopold's second son, was, if 
 agreements are worth anything, the rightful heir. 
 But Louis XIV had married the elder sister of 
 the deceased Charles II, Maria Theresa, and 
 though he did not wish his son the Dauphin to 
 lay a claim, he was willing that the Dauphin's 
 second son should ; and King Charles II had, in 
 fact, left the crown to that prince, Philip of Anjou, 
 by his will. The Archduke Charles, Leopold's 
 second son, was the candidate agreed upon by 
 England, France and Holland, in a secret treaty 
 of partition — secret from the Emperor. Charles 
 was to have Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, and 
 the Indies ; the Dauphin the Spanish provinces 
 in north Italy ; England and Holland gained 
 commercial rights in America and the Indies. 
 
 82 
 
Neither Whig nor Tory 
 
 But the treaty including the Emperor in 1701 
 gave to Charles what had formerly been given to 
 France. The Spaniards rejected the treaty. They 
 acclaimed the Duke of Anjou as Philip V. Hence- 
 forward, said Louis XIV, with his grandson on 
 the way to Madrid, the Pyrenees do not exist. 
 On his other borders he or his grandson were to 
 have the Spanish Netherlands, or, roughly 
 speaking, what became Belgium. That is to say, 
 nothing lay between Holland and France except 
 land which was now apparently French territory. 
 Holland would next be eaten up. England would 
 then face on the east nothing but hostile shores, 
 instead of the shores of two or three countries at 
 enmity with one another and never all at enmity 
 with England. 
 
 William HI saw more clearly than any other 
 King would have, the danger of these changes. 
 For he personally was threatened first in Holland, 
 next in England. Already the Dutch had an agree- 
 ment to occupy certain of the forts of Brabant 
 and Flanders at their own expense, but in the 
 name of Spain, rather than let them be handed 
 over to France in exchange for lands on the 
 Spanish border. Now these forts Louis XIV 
 proceeded to attack. He had a sort of right, be- 
 cause he acted on behalf of the Prince, his grand- 
 son, who was actually King of Spain. 
 
 At first WiUiam asked his Tory Parliament for 
 support in vain. The Tory policy was the 
 traditional Stuart policy, the poHcy of Charles II 
 and James II, which was content with the sea 
 power and regarded Holland as the enemy, rather 
 than France. William, as a usurper, and as a 
 continental pohtician and hereditary enemy of 
 France, could not have expected the support of 
 
 83 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Tories. Harley was the Tory Speaker — Harley, 
 who, in 1697, had moved the resolution that all 
 forces that had been raised since 1680 should be 
 disbanded — who successfully moved the resolu- 
 tion, a year later, that the standing army should 
 be fixed at 7,000, and all to be British subjects, 
 a provision to exclude the Dutch. At first the 
 Tories compelled him to acknowledge Philip V 
 as Holland had done for the time being. They 
 would have no war on the question of the suc- 
 cession to the Spanish crown to save the Dutch. 
 They were willing to fulfil the terms of the treaty 
 of 1667 with the Dutch — to send ten thousand 
 men and twenty ships of war — but " Damn 
 the Dutch," people said, as people were 
 asked to say " To Hell with Servia " in July, 
 1914. 
 
 William had to involve them gradually "without 
 their perceiving it." By the occupation of the 
 Spanish border fortresses by the French, and the 
 insinuation that the Tories would not fight against 
 the French because they were Jacobites, popular 
 feeling was roused. The Tories found time to 
 impeach four Whig Lords for their share in the 
 Partition treaty, on the ground that it conceded 
 too much to Louis. Though the Lords acquitted 
 them, popular feeling expressed itself in petitions, 
 in accusations against the Tories that they were 
 accepting French-Jacobite-Catholic gold. Then 
 Parliament bethought itself of that word '* Liberty." 
 Supplies were voted and a resolution was passed 
 to help the allies to maintain " the liberty of 
 Europe." And Marlborough was naturally for 
 this resolution. The surprising thing is that he 
 had been in the minority which was against 
 acquitting the four Whig Lords. Why he did so 
 
 84 
 
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford 
 After Kneller 
 
 ' o face />. S4. 
 
Neither Whig nor Tory 
 
 is hard to say. It can hardly have been as a Tory. 
 For he knew that the reduction of the army by 
 the Tories had been responsible for the weakness 
 which caused the concessions to Louis. It is about 
 as likely that it was done to oblige James, for he 
 was still keeping up that conversation or James 
 would not let it drop. In any case, he lost nothing 
 by this vote. 
 
 The death of the Duke of Gloucester, how- 
 ever, caused some trouble in Marlborough's 
 mind. If Anne should die before William, it was 
 very far from certain that the Electress Sophia 
 would be comfortably wafted over into the throne 
 on William's death. The Tories and ordinary 
 loyalists who had accepted William at the Revo- 
 lution with misgiving could not as easily accept 
 such another break in hereditary succession, with 
 James II and his legitimate son still alive and 
 comparatively inoffensive over the water. Anne 
 herself was troubled. She wished to be Queen, 
 but preference for James absent to William 
 present had inclined her to reconsider the question 
 of the legitimacy of her father's son. On the other 
 hand she was strong, if in anything, in her 
 Protestantism : conscience forbade her to favour 
 Catholics, even her father and her brother. When 
 the Duke of Gloucester, her son, died, she sent 
 her father the news. When William's health began 
 noticeably to fail she wrote to her father to ask 
 for his permission to accept the crown as next 
 heir, but also declared herself ready to surrender 
 it if it could be arranged. James hung a curse 
 over her that was to fall if she took the crown 
 while he or his son yet lived. 
 
 William knew the danger both to England and 
 Holland of a disputed succession. He wished the 
 
 85 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 house of Hanover, as a Protestant family, to 
 succeed him. But, knowing that Anne and the 
 Tories disliked them, he pretended to have 
 thoughts of favouring James' son, the Old Pre- 
 tender, as successor. He " instigated or suffered " 
 his friends in Parliament to petition that he should 
 marry again in the hope of providing an heir, 
 though there was good reason not to expect a 
 legitimate child from a wife or mistress of William 
 — and he had had both — and no reason why a 
 large English party should adopt as heir a son of 
 William unless the mother was of the English 
 royal house. It was something of a threat to Anne. 
 Yet Anne hardly needed to be threatened into 
 an agreeable attitude. She wished to be Queen, 
 and the Marlboroughs wished her to be Queen, 
 particularly if they could be '* there to see." For 
 five and twenty years they had been attached to 
 her fortunes with little profit, and for long with 
 little hope. Marlborough was fifty in 1700. He 
 had been a dashing young officer of incalculable 
 promise. At long intervals he had done masterly 
 small things that led to nothing. Something in- 
 expressible he had in him, but William, out of 
 suspicion or jealousy, never gave him a chance. 
 Under Anne — he would be under nobody unless 
 it was Lady Marlborough. And in June, 1701, 
 Parliament passed the Act of Settlement. Anne 
 was William's heir, and after her the Electress 
 Sophia came, and then her heirs for ever, so long 
 as they were Protestant. 
 
 William foresaw that the reign of Anne meant 
 the rule of the Marlboroughs, and that her reign 
 was very near. His own feeling towards the Earl 
 may have changed ; certainly his knowledge of 
 the Earl's abilities had increased ; and, in any 
 
 86 
 
Neither Whig nor Tory 
 
 case, he had to accept the inevitable. Marlborough 
 was without rival. There were lawyers like 
 Somers, and financiers Hke Godolphin, intriguers 
 like Sunderland ; but William's reign scarcely 
 favoured statesmen more than Charles's or 
 James'. Among soldiers, there was only the Duke 
 of Ormond, who was superior to Marlborough 
 so far as a Duke is superior to an Earl. Marl- 
 borough alone, if one man could do it, could 
 represent England in the coming European war. 
 His position with Anne made it a necessity that 
 he should be tried first in the highest position. 
 In June, 1701, the month of the Act of Settle- 
 ment, Marlborough became Commander-in-Chief 
 of the English forces in the Netherlands. In July 
 he became Ambassador-Extraordinary and Pleni- 
 potentiary to the States of Holland, and proceeded 
 to the Hague with William. 
 
 His business was to renew the Grand Alliance 
 between the Empire, England and the States 
 General of Holland. All were fearful or jealous of 
 France. The difficulty was to persuade each party 
 to be content with something less than millennial 
 compromise and to fight for all. And in the mean- 
 time Louis XIV, with his troops in the barrier 
 fortresses, and the governor of the Netherlands, 
 the Elector of Bavaria, on his side, had begun to 
 negotiate at the Hague and convinced the Dutch 
 Minister, Heinsius, that he would make the 
 necessary concessions. Both in the field and in 
 the council Louis always had the advantage of 
 dealing with an enemy that was not one but three. 
 The Emperor wanted to make sure of Spain as 
 well as the Netherlands. Holland was most 
 anxious about the Netherlands, her barrier against 
 France. England did not want Louis to absorb 
 
 87 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 the Spanish power in the West Indies and the 
 Mediterranean. But in September they came to 
 an agreement ; in October Marlborough, by 
 compliments and cash, brought Sweden, that is to 
 say Charles XI I, to an agreement not to join France. 
 When the right moment came, and things were 
 grouped as he wished, Marlborough took on 
 himself the power to conclude a convention with 
 Sweden instantly, without consulting the Lords 
 Justices in England. But the greater treaty he 
 would not consent to conclude without Parlia- 
 ment, even with the King's advice, because he 
 knew too well the temper of Parliament and the 
 English tradition : he would " die rather than do 
 so fatal a thing." He began a treaty also with the 
 King of Prussia which, when concluded, brought 
 5,000 men to the army of the allies. 
 
 The alliance between England, Holland and 
 the Empire was to keep Spain, the Netherlands, the 
 Spanish provinces of Italy, and the Spanish 
 Indies out of the hands of France. The Empire 
 contributed 90,000 men, Holland 10,000, England 
 40,000 for the purpose. It was still uncertain how 
 far England would agree to carry on the war 
 energetically. The Tories, who were in power, 
 could not, or would not, work in harmony with 
 the King. But Marlborough also was a Tory, and 
 his friend, Godolphin, was a Tory. He strongly 
 resented Sunderland's private attempts to kindle 
 William's affections for the Whigs. The Dutch 
 war party used their influence to persuade William 
 to dismiss the Tory ministers. Some of the Whigs 
 were in Holland ready to pick up what might be 
 about to drop. Marlborough induced Godolphin 
 to write a letter, for the King's eyes, which might 
 convince the King that the Tories intended to 
 
 88 
 
Neither Whig nor Tory 
 
 act well with him in the war. The King was not 
 convinced ; his mind was made up against them. 
 His hands had been strengthened on the day of 
 the signing of the Grand Alliance by the death 
 of James II. For Louis XIV acknowledged his 
 son James as King of England. William was angry 
 at the moment, but pleased in the event. No 
 Jacobite effervescence took place. On the con- 
 trary, public feeling came strongly round to 
 William. It was then that he decided to get rid 
 of the Tories. Afraid lest Marlborough should 
 again attempt to check him, as he had done by 
 showing him Godolphin's letter, the King left 
 him behind in Holland during the change. The 
 news reached Marlborough as he was embarking 
 — that Parliament had been dissolved, that 
 Godolphin had retired. The new Parliament was 
 not Whig ; the Tories were still strong enough 
 to re-elect Marlborough's friend, Harley, as 
 speaker ; but it was national in feeling, and 
 responded favourably to the speech at the opening 
 of the Session. William spoke of the insult offered 
 by Louis in acknowledging the Pretender as 
 James III. It was an affront to English religion 
 and liberty. The aggression of Louis XIV, his 
 breaking of the treaty of Ryswick, endangered 
 Europe, England, religion, liberty and trade. He 
 called upon them to lay aside the animosities 
 which were dividing and weakening them. If 
 there were still to be two parties, as one would 
 maintain the Protestant religion and succession, 
 the other could only represent a Popish prince 
 and French government. Parliament approved 
 the treaties made by Marlborough, and voted 
 liberal supplies for carrying on the war with : 
 40,000 soldiers, of whom 18,000 were to be British, 
 
 89 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and 40,000 seamen for the navy. They passed 
 also an Act of Attainder against the French 
 King's nominee, James III, and an Act for 
 Securing the Protestant Succession and abjuring 
 the Pretender. Some very high Tories opposed 
 these Bills — men like Lord Nottingham — and 
 were naturally assumed or accused of favouring 
 Popery and French government. Marlborough 
 was none of these, and though dismayed at find- 
 ing Lord Carlisle in his friend Godolphin's 
 place, he had no difficulty in seeing where his 
 advantage lay. He had to choose between Anne 
 on the throne and James III over the water, and 
 he chose Anne. Yet he knew well, as the Jacobite 
 agents did with whom he still had conver- 
 sation, that if the Hanoverians should ascend the 
 throne very soon he could not hope for more 
 from them than from William III at his accession. 
 The Jacobites even thought it worth while to 
 discuss a marriage between the Pretender and 
 one of Marlborough's daughters. But Marlborough 
 was now secure, powerful, and confident. He had 
 the sweetness of a task before him and the bitter- 
 ness of the glory. It was not for him to complain 
 of Louis XIV's perfidy in breaking a treaty. He 
 was a diplomatist and a soldier, and when treaties 
 are broken it is fine weather for soldiers or diplo- 
 matists. He would have smiled when Mr. A., in 
 The Happy Land, describes a treaty as " that 
 useful instrument which enables the man of 
 honour to promise, when taken at a disadvantage, 
 that which (under happier circumstances) he has 
 not the remotest intention of performing " — 
 when Selene exclaims : *' O horrible ! And that 
 is earthly morality" — when Mr. A. corrects her : 
 *' No, that's not earthly morality. That's earthly 
 
 90 
 
Neither Whig nor Tory 
 
 diplomacy."* He would have understood the 
 comment of a soldier, Lord Wolseley : '* Yet we 
 must not judge him (Louis XIV) too harshly for 
 this breach of public faith, for powerful monarchs, 
 and States with great national aspirations, rarely 
 adhere to the terms of any treaty longer than it 
 serves their purpose to do so." 
 
 William died in March, 1702. Anne succeeded 
 him without delay or difficulty. As to her brother, 
 she told the Duchess she was not sure he was her 
 brother, and that it was not practicable for him 
 to come here without ruin to the religion and the 
 country. Her husband, the Prince of Denmark, 
 and Duke of Cumberland, she appointed General- 
 issimo and Lord High Admiral without army or 
 fleet. Marlborough stood in no need of William's 
 deathbed recommendation to Anne, as " the most 
 proper in all her dominions to conduct her armies 
 or preside in her councils, as being a man of 
 a cool head and a warm heart fit to encounter 
 the genius of France, and strangle her designs of 
 swallowing Europe. "f To him she gave a Garter 
 and the position of Captain-General of the English 
 forces at home and abroad, and Master of the 
 Ordnance. Lady Marlborough was made Groom 
 of the Stole and Mistress of the Robes, with the 
 management of the privy purse and the Rangership 
 of Windsor Park, and tenancy of the great lodge 
 there. For the Countess had long had a liking for 
 that house, and Anne was pleased to give it to her 
 for all her days, which she prayed God might be as 
 many and as truly happy as this world can make 
 them. The prayer seems to have been answered as 
 
 * "The Holy Land," a burlesque version of "The Wicked 
 World,' by F. Tomline and Gilbert i Beckett, 1873. 
 
 t " Churchill's Annals." 
 
 91 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 fully as possible, if not to the satisfaction of Anne. 
 The family and friends of the Marlboroughs also 
 found places. Lady Henrietta Godolphin and 
 Lady Spencer (soon to be Lady Sunderland) 
 became Ladies of the Bedchamber. Sunderland's 
 pension was renewed. Godolphin returned to 
 office as Lord High Treasurer. The Tories pre- 
 dominated, but William's policy was to be con- 
 tinued, and three weeks after Anne's accession 
 Marlborough was at the Hague as Ambassador 
 Extraordinary. But he was no more than Captain- 
 General of the English forces : it was only 
 after a vain attempt to secure for the Prince of 
 Denmark the command of the Dutch, that he 
 himself assumed the supreme position, with a 
 salary of ;£ 10,000 a year. Even so he had to consult 
 the civil deputies who followed the army into the 
 field, and to consider the Dutch and other generals 
 who had their independent commands. The 
 Prussians, for example, were now besieging Kaiser- 
 werth, a fortress belonging to the Electorate of 
 Cologne, which was one of the few States of the 
 Empire on the French side. The Emperor having 
 acknowledged the King of Prussia's title, he took 
 sides with the allies. 
 
 For a few weeks Marlborough returned to 
 England. Parliament sanctioned his agreements 
 with the Dutch, and war was formally declared 
 by England, Holland and the Empire against 
 France and Spain. He now left his wife with a 
 heavy heart. From the ship off Margate he wrote 
 telling her that he would have come back to her, 
 but for shame. For a long time he searched the 
 cliffs for her with a perspective glass. He took 
 command of the principal army at Nimeguen on 
 the Waal, at the Dutch frontier, where he had 
 
 92 
 
Neither Whig nor Tory 
 
 opposed to him sixty thousand French, under 
 Marshal Boufflers. The Prussians had already 
 taken Kaiserwerth, not far off on the Rhine, in 
 spite of Tallard's attempt to relieve it. He had 
 come for the purpose from the Upper Rhine. 
 There his business was to keep the Margrave of 
 Baden with a third army from entering Alsace. 
 On the southern Dutch frontier, near the mouth 
 of the Scheldt, lay a fourth army under Cohorn. 
 Thus the allied forces, with the exception of the 
 Margrave on the Rhine and Prince Eugene in 
 Italy, were posted on the frontier of Holland. 
 Between here and France was part of the territory 
 in dispute, the Spanish Netherlands. The Emperor 
 claimed it for the Archduke ; but French gar- 
 risons occupied its fortresses from the opening 
 of war. On this field chiefly Marlborough's battles 
 were fought. 
 
 93 
 
IX: THE BATTLEGROUND 
 
 THE Spanish Netherlands were what we 
 call Belgium and Luxemburg, except that 
 a large district about the Meuse, with 
 Liege as its centre, belonged to the Empire. But 
 the main battlefield does not include Luxemburg. 
 It is, roughly speaking, the southern half of the land 
 which is embraced by the curve of the Meuse 
 and Sambre : the Demer bounds it on the north. It 
 is the land, north of the Meuse and Sambre, 
 watered by the Scheldt, the Demer, and their 
 tributaries, which project southwards like the 
 seven prongs of a rake. At the farthest point from 
 the sea, it rises into low hills with woods ; but 
 for the most part it is sand dune, or land dyked 
 and reclaimed below sea level, or sandy soil still 
 lying to some extent waste and heathy. The water- 
 ways were good, the roads the best in Europe. 
 A more convenient arena for the tedious game 
 of war could not have been found. 
 
 It did not become the battlefield of Europe in 
 the sixteenth century because it was convenient. 
 This little country had no protecting boundaries ; 
 yet it lay between powerful countries which were 
 frequently at war, France, the Empire, Holland, 
 and England beyond the narrow seas. If Spain 
 was at war with France or Holland, the Spanish 
 Netherlands must suffer. If Spain was in alliance 
 with France, or with Holland, in either case the 
 middle land must suffer. It was, said James 
 
 94 
 
The Battleground 
 
 Howell, " the very cockpit of Christendom, the 
 school of arms and rendezvous of all adventurous 
 spirits and cadets, which makes most nations 
 beholden to them for soldiers." For him Brussels 
 was a centre for those who would see a main of 
 cocks : '* If there be any leaguers afoot or armies 
 in motion, it should be time well spent to see them." 
 As there were no natural obstacles except river 
 and flood, all towns were fortified, " and the 
 manoeuvres of contending forces were governed 
 very greatly by the effort on one side to relieve 
 these garrisons for active service in the field, and, 
 on the other, to keep them confined within their 
 walls as long as possible."* It became a tedious 
 game, suited particularly to Kings and elderly 
 generals. It was very bloody work, especially for 
 the besiegers, but could be watched in safety by 
 kings, ladies, and children. A battle was an 
 accidental incivility in the course of a game. The 
 genius of Marlborough was shown as much in 
 the number of battles he brought about as the 
 number he won. 
 
 Englishmen had been fighting in the Netherlands 
 from the beginning of the Spanish wars. They 
 went out as volunteers on the Dutch side, pro- 
 fessional soldiers like Captain Thomas Morgan, 
 gentlemen like Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Humphrey 
 Gilbert, and the " brave Lord Willoughby." In 
 Cromwell's time they fought on the French and on 
 the Spanish side. The Duke of York, afterwards 
 James II, was with the Spanish at Dunkirk Dunes, 
 commanding Irish, Scotch and English royalist 
 soldiers. The other Thomas Morgan, Sir Thomas 
 (son of Robert Morgan of Llanrhymny), led 
 Cromwell's contingent that so pleased Turenne. 
 
 * " History of the British Army," by J. W. Fortescue. V^oi. I. 
 
 95 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Turenne himself also had under him the French 
 King's Scotch bodyguard and the Irish regiment 
 of Dillon. Sir Thomas Morgan is the man to 
 remember. He fought as a young man in the 
 Netherlands, in England, Scotland and Wales, 
 and then again went out to the Netherlands in 
 1657 with Sir John Reynolds to help the French. 
 He fought at the battle of the Dunes, at the taking 
 of Dunkirk, at Ypres, with his *' immortal " six 
 thousand. Turenne embraced him in admiration 
 after his assault on Ypres. He was a little man, 
 " short and peremptory," with a high Welsh voice 
 like a eunuch, and used to smoke a pipe about 
 three inches long. He and his men fought all over 
 the sands and the dyked lands where the English 
 lie now ( 1 9 1 5 ) . What was once a battlefield was likely 
 to be so again. The Dutch Earl of Athlone, Ginkel, 
 who disputed the command with Marlborough 
 in his first campaign had a camp at Waterloo 
 in one of William's wars ; and again after Ramifies 
 the English army marched from Genappes to a 
 little below Waterloo and pitched tents there. 
 The ground chosen by the French at Ramifies 
 had already in an earlier campaign been rejected 
 by a better general. " New Capell," a small 
 chateau, was the Duke of Wirtemburg's quarters 
 when he took troops, at William's command, from 
 Dixmuyde to Fort le Kjiocque. Continually in 
 Marlborough's letters he names the places every- 
 one knows to-day. He posts sixteen hundred men 
 to Armentieres to protect the parties he was 
 sending to terrorise the French within their borders. 
 La Bassee was important as a central point in the 
 long defensive French lines which were named 
 after it. Mons was besieged again and again. The 
 Allies took it immediately after the battle of 
 
 96 
 
The Battleground 
 
 Malplaquet. It was one of the fortresses entered 
 by the French at the beginning of Marlborough's 
 war. All in one night they took Ostend, 
 Nieuport, Ath, Oudenarde, Mons, Charleroi, 
 and Namur. The French were as strong there 
 as at home with their all but impassable lines to 
 fall back behind, and Marshal Schomberg used to 
 say that to attack France in the Netherlands was 
 like taking the bull by the horns. No wonder the 
 Dutch took steps not to have their provinces 
 handed over to France at the peace of Ryswick, 
 and undertook to garrison its towns for Spain at 
 their own expense. The wonder is that they were^ 
 not garrisoned so as to prevent Brabant from be- 
 coming at once a French province, and once again 
 a battlefield and cemetery for men and horses., 
 with here and there an island of peace from which 
 the Abbess sends the Duke a present of fruit to 
 thank him and remind him that he can do what is 
 worth thanks. England, too, was to discover her 
 interest in this country. The Dutch showed great 
 anxiety during the war as to their barriers against 
 France. They would have liked Ostend also ; 
 but here Godolphin says emphatically that 
 England " never will nor can admit " that Ostend 
 should be theirs : it must be Spain's — Spain's 
 under the Archduke Charles, not the Bourbon 
 Philip — because Spain was impotent and could 
 not save the cities and villages, the roads, the corn, 
 and the heath, of the province from the armies 
 either of friends or enemies. 
 
 97 H 
 
X : THE ARMY 
 
 THE English Army, in 1702, was based 
 upon the two bodies of EngUsh who 
 fought on opposite sides, for French 
 or for Spanish, at Dunkirk Dunes. The Duke 
 of York's royaHsts became the First Foot Guards, 
 afterwards the Grenadier Guards, at the Restor- 
 ation. The victorious CromwelHan soldiers be- 
 came the Coldstream Guards, so called because 
 when General Monk marched from Scotland with 
 them he made his last halt at the border town of 
 Coldstream.* Charles H's bodyguard which re- 
 turned with him to England became the Life 
 Guards. The Scots in the French service, "a 
 regiment of Scottish mercenaries renowned 
 throughout Christendom, during four centuries 
 past, for soldierly conduct, conspicuous bravery, 
 and staunch fidelity, "f came to England as the 
 Royal Scots : the age of the regiment, and the 
 claim based on it for precedence, earned it the 
 nickname of " Pontius Pilate's Guards." The 
 Horse Guards or The Blues were a Cromwellian 
 Cavalry regiment re-enlisted in 1661 by the Earl 
 of Oxford . The foot regiments raised for Tangier 
 in the same year afterwards had the name of the 
 " Queen's," while the horse are now the First 
 Royal Dragoons. The English in the Dutch service 
 who came back when England declared war against 
 
 * " History of the British Standing Army," bv Clifford Walton, 
 t Ibid. 
 
 98 
 
The Army 
 
 Holland in 1665, were called The Buffs from the 
 colour of their facings. The Scots Greys date 
 from 1 68 1. The First to the Sixth Dragoon 
 Guards were raised in James IPs first year, 
 together with nine regiments of foot, which in- 
 cluded the Royal Fusiliers. In 1686 a Scottish 
 regiment raised at the Restoration came south 
 as the Scots Guards. For William Ill's wars in 
 Ireland and the Netherlands many more regiments 
 still existing were raised from time to time, 
 numbered as they arrived, the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, 
 Seventeenth of the Line, and so on, but named 
 also after their Colonels — Leven's, Angus's, 
 Wyndham's, Lumley's, Galway's, for example, 
 to mention only a few from " Tristram Shandy." 
 Now suddenly for the new war old regiments 
 had to be brought up to strength and new ones 
 formed. Three pounds a piece levy money (two 
 pounds of it to the man) was paid for recruits, 
 three times the usual price. The Colonel was 
 responsible, but Colonels give patents to 
 Lieutenant-Colonels, and they to Lieutenants, 
 and they again to Corporals. It was no easy task 
 to get the numbers. The ordinary method was to 
 attract men by a march with drums beating and 
 an announcement of the ceremony beforehand. 
 Farquhar, who himself served in Holland, opens 
 his Recruiting Officer (1706) with a recruiting 
 speech by Sergeant Kite. Says he : "If any 
 gentlemen soldiers, or others, have a mind to 
 serve his majesty and pull down the French King : 
 if any prentices have severe masters, any children 
 have undutiful parents : if any servants have too 
 little wages, or any husband too much wife : let 
 them repair to the noble Sergeant Kite at the sign 
 of the Raven in that good town of Shrewsbury, 
 
 99 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and they shall receive present relief and enter- 
 tainment. Gentlemen, I don't beat my drums 
 here to ensnare or inveigle any man ; for you 
 must know, gentlemen, that I am a man of honour. 
 Besides, I don't beat up for common soldiers ; no, 
 I want only grenadiers — grenadiers, gentlemen. 
 Pray, gentlemen, observe this cap. This is the cap 
 of honour ; it dubs a man a gentleman in the 
 drawing of a trigger ; and he who has the good 
 fortune to be born 6 feet high, was born to be a 
 great man. (To Coster Pearmain) Sir, will you 
 give me leave to try this cap upon your head ? " 
 And then Pearmain asks : "Is there no harm in 
 it ? Won't the cap list me ? " There can be no 
 doubt that putting on the cap and white plume 
 would make anyone but a lawyer a grenadier at 
 once. But recruiting by beat of drum is as honest 
 and unexceptionable as any other form of trading 
 and advertising, and the man who thus volun- 
 teered had ^2 paid him as levy-money, or twice 
 that of the man taken against his will.* 
 
 There were more disagreeable methods. When 
 an Act of Parliament (1694) insists upon 3,000 
 men enlisting in Scotland and the counties and 
 boroughs have to contribute in proportion, the 
 chances are that someone goes against his will. 
 By another Act (7 and 8 William III) a thousand 
 men every year were to be sent in from Scotland. 
 A sheriff had the power to seize men and choose 
 among them by throwing dice, so long as they 
 were idle, loose and vagabond men without lawful 
 calling or visible means of subsistence and without 
 families, or young able-bodied men without families 
 who earn their living by daily wages or are hired 
 for a term, but not menial or domestic^ servants. 
 
 * Act of 1704 for recruiting'. 
 100 
 
The Army 
 
 After 1702 debtors owing not more than £100 
 could escape prison, and criminals the scaffold, 
 if they were willing to enter the army. Or an 
 insolvent debtor would be set free if he could 
 procure a recruit. After 1703 anyone not a voter 
 who had no lawful calling or visible means of 
 subsistence might be snapped up by the Justices 
 of the Peace and rewarded with £1 sls levy-money ; 
 but in 1704, between June ist and October 15th, 
 harvesters with certificates from parson and 
 churchwarden of their parish were specially 
 excepted, or they would all have been taken, or 
 have been lost to the farmer by going into hiding, 
 or have mulcted him with extravagant demands. 
 Three pounds a man was payable to the parish 
 for relieving the soldiers' poor relatives. 
 
 It was possible, too, for Army officers to obtain men 
 from the naval press-gangs. Pressing for the navy 
 being allowed, the pressers could, if they wished, 
 send the men required over to the Netherlands. 
 Officers needing recruits could also be supplied 
 by crimps who contrived to get men to accept or 
 seem to accept the shilling while they were drunk, 
 or not looking, or under a threat. The " Authentic 
 Memoirs relating to lives and adventures of the 
 most eminent gamesters and sharpers from the 
 Restoration of King Charles " (1744) gives an 
 account of how one of these eminent men was 
 taken, one Joseph Haynes. In his roving about 
 London he became acquainted with persons as 
 wickedly inclined as himself and one day, while 
 he was in loose company at a bawdy-house in 
 Whetstone's Park, there being a hot " imprest " 
 then through the town on account of the Dutch 
 war, a gang of Tarpaulins took him along with 
 them and put him aboard a smack. He proved no 
 
 lOI 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 seaman and was discharged. But just as he landed 
 an officer impressed him for the land service, and 
 clapped him into the Tower till an opportunity 
 came to send him to the English forces then under 
 Monmouth in the Netherlands. 
 
 Whatever John Haynes was on the threshold 
 of his career, not all the human beings so netted 
 were the strong compact men, with lively vigorous 
 eye, countrymen or mechanics used to toil, who 
 made the best soldiers.* A high standard could 
 not possibly be kept when large numbers were 
 wanted in haste. A man had to be very sturdy or 
 very stupid to enlist of his own accord unless he 
 was a romantic, and was carried away by Sergeant 
 Kite's variation of "Over the hills and far away:" 
 
 Our prentice Tom may now refuse 
 To wipe his scoundrel master's shoes ; 
 For now he's free to sing and play 
 Over the hills and far away. 
 
 We all shall lead more happy lives 
 
 By getting rid of brats and wives, 
 
 That scold and brawl both night and day — 
 
 Over the hills and far away. 
 
 " Hey, boys ! thus we soldiers live ; drink, sing, 
 dance, play ! We live, as one should say — we live 
 — 'tis impossible to tell how we live. We are all 
 princes. ..." 
 
 Briefly, soldiers were not all princes, any more. 
 The Stuarts had done a little to deceive them by 
 giving them red coats or blue coats instead of 
 Cromwell's leather ; and a Colonel raising a 
 regiment might give them what colours he pleased. 
 Lord Lisburne might give his Herefordshire 
 
 * " Pallas Armata," by Sir James Turner, 1683. 
 102 
 
The Army 
 
 men orange or dark buff facings to their blue 
 coats ; Ingoldsby give his Staffordshire men red 
 stockings. But these were no armour against rain, 
 bullet, or lash. Marlborough's brother Charles 
 Churchill said that his men in Ireland in 1690 
 were fit to conquer because they must do that or 
 starve ; among five hundred men there were not 
 a hundred pairs of shoes, no money to buy them, 
 and no shoes there to be bought. Once upon a 
 time things may have been better. Men, for 
 example, who volunteered for a cause, for a good 
 wage, or for adventure, under Elizabeth or Crom- 
 well, created a higher standard for the soldier than 
 could be kept later on when much larger numbers 
 were required for who-knew-what, and paid less 
 and that not often regularly or in full. The big, 
 organised army fighting in a foreign country gave 
 some satisfaction still to the adventurer, but 
 chiefly to the coarsest and heaviest kind. Nor 
 was the equipment and organisation complete. 
 Bad weather, as in Ireland, killed thousands. It 
 was in the power of the officers to let men have 
 insufficient clothes, food, and pay ; and dishonest 
 officers abounded. Perhaps money promised for 
 special service was given on the spot. It is to be 
 hoped, for example, that their crown a man 
 reached the four hundred volunteer grenadiers 
 at the siege of Bouchain who marched under fire 
 and up to their middles in water four or five 
 hundred yards. They lost but two killed and four 
 or five wounded ; for the enemy fired but once 
 before turning from so determined an advance. 
 
 But certain it is that men no longer paid 
 premiums when enlisting as privates. Officers 
 bought and sold commissions and were so paid 
 that they and the contractors between them got a 
 
 103 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 good deal of what should have gone to the soldier 
 in clothing, food and pay. As they received so 
 much a head for the men on their lists it was 
 worth their while to give false returns and only 
 bring the numbers up to strength at the last 
 moment. And this was sometimes necessary to 
 save the officer from drawing on his own purse 
 for public expenses. " Enter him a grenadier by 
 the name of Francis Kite, absent upon furlough," 
 said Captain Plume to Sergeant Kite. He referred 
 to the baby of a woman whom he was persuading 
 the sergeant to make his sixth wife (not counting 
 the dead). If a little boy could be an officer, a 
 baby might pass muster as a grenadier at eight- 
 pence a day. The abuse was attacked in a proc- 
 lamation of 1689, announcing a commission of 
 " several nobility and gentry " to enquire into 
 the state of troops and companies and learn whether 
 officers respecting more their own profit than 
 the royal service, or the care and safety of the 
 men, have presumed by false muster to defraud 
 the Queen, and by detaining part of the monies 
 due to the soldiers, have given occasion for dis- 
 orders. Year by year (1702, 1703, 1704, etc.) the 
 Act for punishing mutiny and desertion also 
 provided against false musters, though an Act of 
 1709 authorised the use of fictitious names on 
 muster rolls as an excuse for payments which as 
 a matter of fact went to an officers' widows* 
 fund. 
 
 It was a system, now, of ancient usage, founded 
 on parsimony as well as on the dishonesty of 
 captains. By it the standard which had been raised 
 under the Commonwealth was rapidly lowered, 
 and after a very few years of the Stuarts the King 
 was compelled to resort to the press-gang. " The 
 
 104 
 
The Army 
 
 status of the soldier was lowered, and has never 
 recovered to this day."* Though the soldier was 
 allowed two pounds of bread and cheese a day 
 (but *' God knows he gets not so much many times 
 in four days "t)j he had to be a man who was used 
 to starvation or who could procure without pay- 
 ment. And there were places not even he could 
 endure under the conditions prevailing, places 
 far over the sea that were particularly not men- 
 tioned to the men destined for them, such as 
 Jamaica and Newfoundland. Some officers left 
 their men altogether, others took no care of them, 
 Only old men or boys fit for nothing could be 
 captured for the purpose, and some of these proved 
 so bad on arrival that the officers discharged them 
 in shame. The majority were the " oddest mortals 
 ever sent out of the kingdom, being of all nations 
 and languages and as many religions." The 
 unfit and discharged had to beg. And still 
 Marlborough could not get enough men. In 1708 
 he was telling Walpole that it was more necessary 
 than ever to think of a measure for raising recruits 
 from the parishes and hundreds by Act of 
 Parliament. What the recruit thought of it sounds 
 by this time, if at all, only in the Somersetshire 
 song beginning : 
 
 O Polly love, O Polly, the rout has now begun, 
 And I must march away at the beating of the drum. 
 Come dress yourself all in your best and come 
 
 along with me : 
 I'll take you to the cruel wars in High Germany. 
 
 Nor could every man have his Polly. But the 
 
 * J. W. Fortescue. f " Pallas Armata." 
 
 105 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 suffering of the soldier waiting weeks in a trans- 
 port for fine weather has been put on record.* 
 They were at Tynemouth in March, 1708. The 
 transports came to anchor and lay there till 
 further orders. The men lying on the bare deck 
 laboured under many " ill-conveniences " and 
 many " bade adieu to the world." There was 
 *' continued destruction in the foretop ; pox 
 above board ; plague between decks ; hell in 
 the forecastle ; and the devil at the helm." 
 Amongst all these plagues the worst was the short 
 allowances, " so sparingly distributed that the 
 purser was daily blest with the soldiers' prayers, 
 being grown as fat as a whipping post. Then to 
 land from this wooden and pinchgut world, to 
 taste brandy and a whole allowance, was to be 
 translated from Purgatory to Paradise. "t 
 
 Sometimes men mutinied. The Royal Scots 
 mutinied in 1689 because they had a foreigner 
 put over them as colonel — Schomberg. They 
 marched back from Ipswich instead of going on 
 to their port. But they were overtaken, and laid 
 down their arms, and in the end went as they were 
 told to the Netherlands, where it was easier to 
 desert. It was said by the Swiss that they would 
 not fight unless paid regularly. But the common 
 soldier had never heard of this ; at least it was an 
 officer who pointed out that if other nations were 
 of their humour princes and states would have to 
 agree better because their armies would seldom 
 fight for them. The United Provinces were re- 
 puted to pay best, and mercenaries ran to them. 
 
 Both Swiss and ordinary men deserted. When 
 his men deserted freely in June, 1705, Marlborough 
 
 * John Marshall Deane's Diary. 
 t John Marshall Deane's Journal. 
 
 106 
 
The Army 
 
 put it down to the very cold weather. While the 
 armies of William III and Luxembourg sat 
 opposite one another in bad weather in 1693, 
 soldiers deserted freely from both sides. The forest 
 between the armies tempted them. '* The Swiss 
 especially deserted from the French, and the Irish 
 Roman Catholics from the Allies." Both com- 
 manders offered 3(^10 and a free discharge to any 
 soldiers bringing in a deserter.* In one year 
 fifteen hundred English deserters alone lurked 
 in the Spanish Netherlands. In 1709 there was a 
 special fund for encouraging desertion from the 
 French army. In 1695, crowds of deserters came 
 to William, some of them Italians and Spaniards 
 taken in a battle in Piedmont and unjustly forced 
 into the French service. | But many men did not 
 cross the sea before deserting. They deserted at 
 once in order to re-enlist elsewhere and obtain a 
 fresh bounty. Or they deserted on the march to 
 the port of embarkation. A Highland regiment — 
 in fact, the first Highland regiment — was no 
 sooner ordered to Flanders than the men planned 
 to escape to the mountains, but were prevented 
 and had to go.X The newspapers of the day 
 advertised continually for deserters. In many cases 
 pardon was offered if they returned within a 
 fixed time. Anyone bringing them back was paid a 
 reward stated in the advertisement. One John Lind- 
 say, a sergeant in Captain Alexander Cunningham's 
 company in the Royal Regiment of foot deserted 
 with the men whom he had " seduced " to follow 
 him. Six men ran away together in the same year, 
 1688, from the Earl of Peterborough's late 
 
 * ClifFord Walton. 
 
 t " Exact Account of Siege of Namur," 1695^ 
 
 X Clifford Walton. 
 
 107 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 regiment of Horse ; a tailor of Long Acre, named 
 Richard Harford ; Israel Presseley, a butcher 
 of Abingdon ; William Bishop, of Reading, a 
 house painter ; Richard Mawer, simply a Lincoln- 
 shire man ; William Good, a Salisbury man ; 
 Charles Brace, a Bedfordshire man. In the first 
 year of her reign Anne proclaimed a royal pardon 
 for the " great numbers " of seamen, marine, 
 and land soldiers who had deserted. But if they 
 did not return and were caught they should have 
 no mercy and should suffer death. To help the 
 capture, the advertiser described the missing men, 
 their clothes, appearance, trade and residence or 
 place of birth. Thus a fairly long series of common 
 soldiers' portraits has been bequeathed to us. But 
 for the grace of God these might have fought at 
 Blenheim, for they were missing in April, May and 
 June of that year, 1704 : 
 
 John Reading, of Market Deeping, in Lincoln- 
 shire, a young man six feet high, of well-coloured 
 complexion and lank pale-coloured hair ; 
 
 And with him two other men of that country : 
 
 Richard Batteson, a sort of a leather-carrier 
 from Stamford, a middle-aged man, about five 
 feet high, with black hair and ruddy cheeks, burnt 
 in the cheek according to law, and wearing a 
 sad-coloured coat and black waistcoat ; and 
 William Potts, who lived about Thorny in the 
 Fens, a fair, fresh-coloured man about five feet 
 high, in a double-breasted brown coat : 
 
 Also Francis Hardy, a corporal twenty-nine 
 years old, five feet eleven inches high, a long- 
 faced man in a yellowish bob-wig — a later adver- 
 tisement adds he had a sanguine visage ; 
 
 Daniel Ward, from St. John's Street, West 
 Smithfield, a tall raw-boned man of about 
 
 108 
 
The Army 
 
 thirty-two, pitted with the small pox, with a 
 red nose and light brown hair ; 
 
 George Pollitor, a man of middle stature and 
 well-set, about thirty-six years old, with dark 
 brown hair ; 
 
 Joseph Williams, aged about forty, a tall, 
 raw-boned man of palish complexion, often 
 employed a-coal-heaving in the river ; 
 
 James Smith, a grenadier, aged about forty- 
 two, a lusty, well-set man, with dark brown hair, 
 wearing a red coat ; 
 
 George Wey, of Taunton Dean, in Somerset, 
 a middle-sized man of about thirty, in a grey suit 
 of clothes and a dark-brown wig ; 
 
 And Howell Lewis, from Beaumaris, in Anglesey, 
 with a strong Welsh accent, who shows legerde- 
 main or conjuring tricks, a middle-sized man full 
 of pockholes,and wearing a frieze coat and alight 
 brown wig. 
 
 The men who did not desert were further 
 weeded out by various punishments short of 
 death. There was, of course, the lash, which 
 must be as old as Eden. The stripes ran to hun- 
 dreds, and if the man with the lash did not lay 
 on hard enough he was sometimes punished by 
 the same or even twice the number of blows. A 
 Guardsman who killed his colonel's horse for the 
 hide was sentenced to 12,600 lashes, but being 
 nearly killed by the first i ,800, Queen Anne remitted 
 the rest. Some of the other punishments sound 
 like inventions by men of the same type as the 
 soldiers they were for. Running the gauntlet, for 
 example, was some fun for those who did not run 
 it, or it could have been no punishment to the 
 one who did. Drums were beaten to drown his 
 cries. Christian Davies, a woman who fought as 
 
 109 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 a man for many years in the Netherlands, but 
 was detected and became a camp-follower, says 
 that her husband would have had to run the 
 gauntlet after she had found him with another 
 woman, but she intervened. Sentiment must have 
 played a part here. For the wife had already cut 
 off the woman's nose in her rage, and the Colonel 
 had confined and reprimanded the husband. But 
 Christian was a favourite in the regiment. Another 
 punishment was used upon " his Dulcinea." 
 They put her in a turning stool and whirled her 
 round and round till she was sick, and then 
 turned her out of town.* The wooden horse was 
 another instrument such as simple, cruel men 
 would invent. It was no more like a horse than a 
 vaulting horse, but being for riding it was much 
 less comfortable. " The back was formed of 
 planks joined at a very acute angle." f On this 
 an oifender had to sit, with a token of his offence 
 round his neck, and on his feet sometimes a gun 
 or a heavy weight. Simpler still was " tying neck 
 and heels." The offender sat down with his head 
 bent, and one musket was laid across his neck and 
 another introduced under his thighs and then the 
 two drawn tight together with straps at each end. 
 Thus, with his chin between his knees and blood 
 gushing from his nose, mouth and ears, " many a 
 worthy subject has been lost to the service or 
 rendered incapable of maintaining himself when 
 the exigencies of the State no longer required his 
 duty." Yet a man who blasphemed — even an 
 officer — might have his tongue bored with a red- 
 hot iron. 
 When a regiment of men who had survived or 
 
 * Life of Mrs. Christian Davies, commonly known as Mother 
 Ross, by herself, 1740. 
 t Clifford Walton. 
 
 IIO 
 
The Army 
 
 avoided such punishment was disbanded, the 
 troops of the district patrolled the roads to protect 
 civilians. James's troops, marching to Sedgmoor 
 committed more offences where they were billeted 
 than the rebels did ; for the rebels were not 
 soldiers. The troops living at free quarters in 
 Ireland in 1690, English, Irish, Danes and 
 Germans, — but not the Dutch,— being unpaid and 
 unfed, did all that idle men can do in the way of 
 robbery and violence. But, says Gascoigne : 
 
 I cannot blame them, I, 
 If they at bar have once held up their hand. 
 And smelt the smoke which might have made 
 
 them fry. 
 Or learn 'd the leap out of their native land . . . 
 
 Talbot used to say that " if God Himself were a 
 soldier he would pillage." Captain Shandy re- 
 called that our armies swore terribly in Flanders, 
 but nothing compared with the curse of Ernulphus, 
 the bishop. 
 
 At certain times, by an old custom. Misrule 
 was dehberately put in the seat of honour. There 
 was a beat of drum, called the Long March, 
 which was a sign for the men to club their jfire- 
 locks and use every liberty and ribaldry of talk 
 not only about one another but about their officers.* 
 
 Rules, of course, were made for individuals 
 and for whole armies. Opposing armies in Flanders 
 agreed as to the country from which they might 
 levy contributions. Even so, things were supposed 
 to be taken in a regular manner. Country Mayors 
 and others complained to Marlborough, in 1706, 
 that the army waggoners had been cutting wheat 
 
 * Note to Journal of John Marshall Deane. 
 Ill 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and rye by the roadside, and he pointed out the 
 rule that troops passing through had no right to 
 take free quarters or the least thing from the 
 peasants, except wood, forage for horses, and 
 straw ; they must not take waggons unless for 
 the sick.* When men went into market in Flanders 
 a sergeant had to accompany them to be answer- 
 able for their behaviour. Men gathering peas or 
 beans might be hanged as marauders without 
 trial. Neither officers nor men might hunt or kill 
 game.f 
 
 But what if they were marching four or five 
 leagues a day and stopped at a place where there 
 was a scarcity of beer, but plenty of wine ? This 
 was the case when General Charles Churchill 
 and the infantry were marching towards the 
 Danube in the year of Blenheim. At Meckenheim 
 they had (May 12th) " plenty of wine and Spa 
 water." J That is all he says. Christian Davies 
 outlines a little incident on the Meuse. She was 
 one of a party escorting Marlborough, who was 
 in a boat, and, stumbling on a pigsty, she " made 
 bold with one." But a corporal of another regiment 
 tried to take the pig away. They had words. He 
 slashed at her with his sword and cut her little 
 finger, and she in return struck out one of his 
 eyes with the butt of a pistol. And it was on this 
 voyage that Marlborough and his suite were 
 captured by a French party. The rest held pass- 
 ports. Marlborough only escaped by calmly using 
 one made out for his brother. Meantime Christian 
 Davies would on no account lose that pig.§ 
 
 During a siege, this woman used to go with 
 
 * Marlborough's Despatches. 
 
 t Richard Kane, " Camp Discipline." 
 
 J John Millar, "Journal of Marches, &c." 
 
 § " Life of Mrs. Christian Davies." 
 
 112 
 
The Army 
 
 sword and grappling iron to deserted houses to 
 drag out what the country people hid in the wells. 
 The sword was to discover what was buried in 
 the ground, a sleight she learned from Dutch 
 soldiers in Ireland in King William's time. 
 When Liege was taken the grenadiers who broke 
 in left their horses to every tenth man and went 
 to plunder. After Webb's success at Wynendael, 
 when he beat a superior force menacing the allies^ 
 coming from the coast to Lille, Christian Davies; 
 got a fine bay horse with silver-capped pistols 
 and laced housings and pistol bags. The horse 
 she sold to Colonel Hamilton, the pistols to 
 Captain Brown, and the lace of the furniture 
 excepting what she reserved to lace the knees of 
 her husband's breeches, to a Jew at five livres the 
 ounce. She describes what fell to her share when 
 Marlborough ravaged Bavaria in 1704. They 
 spared nothing. What they could not carry off 
 they burnt or destroyed. They even broke the 
 bells of churches into convenient pieces for taking 
 away. Bell metal, clothes, velvet, a hundred Dutch 
 caps, she stuffed into two bed ticks. She had also 
 valuables, silver spoons, etc. All except these she 
 sold to a Jew for four pistoles. 
 
 This was after 1703. In that year Marlborough 
 attributes his lack of success to bad discipline, 
 and his camps afterwards won the reputation of 
 being quiet and well-governed, " the best academy 
 in the world to teach a young gentleman wit and 
 breeding " ; a school where '* poor soldiers that 
 are (too many of them) the refuse and dregs of 
 the nation, become tractable, civil, orderly, sensible 
 and clean, and have an air and spirit above the 
 vulgar."* It should, however, be noticed that 
 
 * Churchill's Annals, 1722. 
 
 113 I 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Marlborough is said not to have let any of the 
 troops immediately under him go burning and 
 ravaging in Bavaria.* Such days of plunder made 
 up to the men for their scanty pay (little more 
 than a labourer's) and their days of restraint. 
 Then they would sing '* Lilliburlero," as they 
 had done on Hounslow Heath under James and 
 through Flanders under William. If there was a 
 veteran from Tangier present, or if the men of 
 the Royals had brought it back with them, they 
 would sing the Grenadiers' Rant : 
 
 Captain Hume is bound to sea. 
 
 Hey boys, ho boys, 
 Captain Hume is bound to sea. 
 
 Ho: 
 Captain Hume is bound to sea, 
 And his brave companie ; 
 
 Hey the brave Grenadiers, 
 Ho. 
 
 We'll drink no more Irish beer, 
 
 Hey boys, ho boys : 
 We'll drink no more Irish beer 
 
 Ho: 
 
 We'll drink no more Irish beer 
 
 For we're all bound to Tangier 
 
 Hey the brave Grenadiers 
 
 Ho. 
 
 We'll drink the Spanish^wine 
 
 Hey boys, ho boys ; 
 We'll drink the Spanish wine 
 Ho: 
 
 * Robert Parker, 1746. 
 
 114 
 
The Army 
 
 We'll drink the Spanish wine, 
 And court their ladies fine, 
 Hey the brave Grenadiers 
 Ho . . . .* 
 
 Thirteen verses it has, and wit could soon double 
 them to taste. 
 
 The Jew following the army to buy the pillage 
 was a necessary parasite of the jackals. Still more 
 necessary were the women and boys who followed 
 in larger numbers, not the generals' wives in their 
 coaches, but the soldiers' wives and partners, 
 riding or walking beside the baggage. Those of 
 the lower condition gave great help to their 
 husbands, bought victuals, dressed the meat, 
 brought in fuel, washed the clothes. f The married 
 ones had the right to go out of camp to market, 
 and Marlborough had to complain to Boufflers 
 that sutlers, though provided with passports, 
 had been pillaged and entirely ruined. J They 
 attended their husbands in every situation. When 
 her husband was in the " forlorn hope " or 
 advance party at the siege of Ghent, Christian 
 Davies spent the cold night out with him ; they 
 had three flasks of beer, one of brandy, and one 
 of gin. According to their character the camp 
 followers could make a good or a bad position for 
 themselves in the camp. Christian Davies (if she 
 or her amanuensis was not writing with a picar- 
 esque novel as model) was in a position to have 
 horse play with the Colonel. After the battle of 
 Oudenarde she went to Courtray to buy pro- 
 visions and was coming back when Colonel 
 
 * A proper new ballad, entitled " The Grenadiers' Rant," i68i, 
 quoted in Clifford Walton. 
 
 t Churchill's Annals, 172a. X Marlborough's Despatches. 
 
 "5 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Cholmondeley turned loose his black stone horse 
 to trouble her mare. Four bottles of wine were 
 broken in this rough courtship before Christian 
 drove off the horse. She pursued the Colonel 
 with stones. On the eve of the battle of Mal- 
 plaquet she seems to make out that she was the 
 only one in the army who had the craft to get 
 some food and beer ; for she describes herself 
 dispensing them to officers and even to Lord 
 Orkney. As to the " abominable commonwealth " 
 of the unmarried women, they were lucky perhaps 
 to be organised as they were when they followed 
 Alva from Italy to the Low Countries, under their 
 capitanesses and she-cornets, and divided accord- 
 ing to their rank or the rank of those who might 
 pay addresses to them and " buy repentance." 
 Otherwise they were either " put away with 
 ignominy " or at best had to conform to all the 
 articles of war.* And yet war was their life, and 
 when peace was made, like Ferdinand Count 
 Fathom's mother, they prayed for war to bring 
 them again the pleasures and emoluments of a 
 Flanders campaign. f Some of the wives and women 
 had children born out there, and on the march 
 before Malplaquet, Christian Davies speaks of 
 taking up on to her horse the infant child of one 
 of her husband's mates, to save it from being lost 
 in the deep clay. They plodded on till they came 
 to a fallow ground, where they passed the night. 
 It was dappled over with many heaps of dung 
 and she says " he was a happy man who could 
 get one to sleep on." Her husband, when she found 
 him, was lying across another man fast asleep, 
 so that he had to be awakened to eat. 
 
 With the help of such women the common 
 
 * '• Pallas Armata." t Smollett's "Ferdinand Count Fathom.'' 
 
 ii6 
 
The Army 
 
 soldiers who did not want to desert had a much 
 better time than documents prove. The pleasures 
 of being aUve and well on a fine day with no care 
 recent or near at hand was theirs a thousand 
 times, and the pleasure that comes of esprit de 
 corps. At need they could act as bravely as if there 
 were some other cause for bravery than that 
 esprit de corps. They wore green boughs in their 
 hats to distinguish them from the enemy — ^the 
 enemy wore them, too, for a ruse, at Lille, for 
 example, when they slipped through the English 
 with gunpowder for the besieged* — and one with 
 another they made a brave army. The " com- 
 mendable custom of haranguing armies, "f was 
 worn out before this time, but it was still possible 
 to work up a more immediate ground for a quarrel 
 by exchanging jeers with the enemy. The Covenan- 
 ters in 1666 shouted " Episcopal Rogue " and 
 *' Saucy fellow " to the enemies' general and 
 muster-master when they came up near to try 
 the ground before battle. | If an officer would run 
 up to the palisade behind which the enemy were 
 firing, the men would follow him and not fire 
 until he struck the palisade with his sword, as at 
 Blenheim. At the siege of Namur one July after- 
 noon, the signal being given, the battalions 
 advanced without taking notice of the enemy's 
 furous fire and shouts of " Come on, you English 
 dogs " ; the fusiliers carried their fascines to the 
 very palisades, laid them down, and fired ; the 
 Grenadiers threw their grenades into the works ; 
 the main body following close after with arms 
 shouldered did not fire a shot till they presented 
 over the palisades. § When the French were 
 
 * Christian Davies. t " Pallas Armata." X Ibid, 
 
 § " Exact Account of the Siege of Namur," 1695. 
 
 117 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 besieging the allies with Charles III in Barcelona 
 in 1706, the English soldiers threw the enemy's 
 grenades back to them. They fought in armour 
 by lantern and candle in galleries thirty or forty 
 feet underground at Tournay ; they mined and 
 countermined, and blew men into the air or were 
 blown up, by hundreds at a time ; they were 
 suffocated by smoke, buried alive by falling earth, 
 drowned by inundations ; meeting unexpectedly 
 sometimes these moles fought by mistake with 
 friends. What with cannon, bombs, grenades, 
 small shot, boiling pitch, tar, oil, brimstone and 
 scalding water, the English Grenadiers had scarce 
 six sound men in a company after the siege of 
 Lille. There was no end to these sieges, any more 
 than to Captain Shandy's on the lawn : "it was 
 Landen,and Trerebach, and Santvliet,and Drusen, 
 and Hagenau — and then it was Ostend and 
 Menin, and Aeth, and Dendermond." And still 
 they came on, these fellows with the gunpowder 
 look and those lacking it who were led or pushed 
 by them. At Mons in 1709 the Duke of Argyle 
 shouted to the men who were shirking : " You 
 see, brothers, I have no concealed armour — I am 
 equally exposed with you ; I require none to go 
 where I refuse to venture. Remember, you fight 
 for the liberties of Europe and the glory of your 
 nation, which shall never suffer by my behaviour, 
 and I hope the character of a Briton is as dear to 
 every one of you."* With these words, or I should 
 perhaps say with words to this effect, the counter- 
 scarp was carried. 
 
 The lot of the wounded depended on luck. 
 Christian Davies was carried off the field at 
 Landen when she was merely grazed in the leg, 
 
 * Christian Davies. 
 118 
 
The Army 
 
 and this by special order of Lord Cholmondeley, 
 who did not know then that the fellow was a 
 woman. Corporal Trim, wounded in the same 
 battle, lay till noon the next day before he was 
 exchanged with some of the enemy's wounded. 
 At the siege of Namur the wounded had meat 
 and broth daily from the King's kitchen and 
 tent ; * and there was a hospital at Liege erected 
 for the purpose, " well furnished with doctors, 
 surgeons, and nurses." When the citadel capitu- 
 lated it was agreed that the besiegers should 
 remove the wounded from the citadel to the town 
 and there provide for them as in the Most Christian 
 King's hospitals ; and already 1,430 had been 
 left sick and wounded to the care of the allies 
 on the garrison retiring into the citadel after the 
 town capitulated. Prisoners must often have 
 wished that they had fallen into the hands of 
 God rather than of men. After Blenheim some of 
 the prisoners were '* naked as from the womb."f 
 But, on the other hand, while they were being 
 marched to Breda, they had what their conductors 
 had for refreshment at a halt — that is to say, a pint 
 of beer and a pennyworth of bread and cheese .| 
 Christian Davies and some other English, as well 
 as Dutch prisoners, being taken to St. Germain's, 
 they were noticed by King James II's Queen 
 (Mary of Modena) and she caused the English 
 to be lodged separately, to have clean straw every 
 night, a pound of bread and a pint of wine a day, 
 and five farthings a day for tobacco. Soldiers at 
 home, sick, wounded, worn out, or aged, fared 
 no better. A few got into Chelsea Hospital. A 
 
 * " Exact Account of the Siege of Namur.'' 
 
 t Christian Davies. + Jbid. 
 
 119 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 few had pensions or bonuses. Many begged or 
 starved. 
 
 And after it all, no doubt, a sergeant would 
 write home very much as Steele made Sergeant 
 John Hall write from Mons after Malplaquet. 
 They lost ten sergeants, six of them known to his 
 correspondent. He himself was shot in the head, 
 but hoped to recover. " I will not," he says, 
 " pretend to give you an account of the battle, 
 knowing you have a better in the prints. . . . 
 We had but an indifferent breakfast ; but the 
 mounseers never had such a dinner in all their 
 lives."* The same man on another occasion 
 might have written as Sergeant Deane did at the 
 end of the campaign before the campaign of 
 Oudenarde and Lille. " Thus," he says, " after 
 a very long, tiresome, troublesome, mischievous 
 and strange, yet very successful, campaign we 
 are safe arrived in garrison ; for which we ought 
 to return thanks to God for preserving us in the 
 dangers we have from time to time been exposed 
 unto ; and endeavour to live as we ought to do, 
 like men who carry our lives in our hands, not 
 knowing how soon it may be our turn to be cut 
 off as we have been eye-witnesses many brave 
 fellows have been before us ; that so we may 
 expect still greater success the summer ensuing, 
 to the prosperity of her Majesty and her three 
 Kingdoms ; and likewise her allies and generals 
 wherever engaged ; more especially his Highness, 
 Prince of the Holy Empire, John Duke and Earl 
 of Marlborough, our Captain General, and all 
 under his command from the highest to the 
 lowest : to which prayer God of his infinite mercy 
 say Amen."f 
 
 * Tailer, No. 87, Oct. 29, 1709. f John Marshall Deane. 
 
 130 
 
Marlborough 
 After Kneller 
 
 To fill,' />. lio. 
 
XI : COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 
 
 THE troops now facing Boufflers on the 
 Dutch border knew Uttle of success. 
 Perhaps they had been *' disciplined by 
 defeat " ;* but there was a new spirit in them 
 when Marlborough took command ; the soldiers 
 seemed to receive new life from the cheerfulness 
 of the officers. f He assured the Dutch deputies 
 that he would soon make the enemy march to 
 such a distance that they could no longer be bad 
 neighbours. He had 70,000 men to 40,000 French. 
 But the deputies were timid. Just before Marl- 
 borough's arrival Boufflers had made a sudden 
 attack on Nimeguen, which the Dutch had left 
 ungarrisoned, and the Earl of Athlone had saved 
 it by a very narrow margin. July passed before 
 they could be persuaded, after communications 
 with the Hague .and discussions among the 
 generals, to allow the army to quit the frontier. 
 By a movement southward, crossing the Meuse 
 at Grave, he drew the enemy after him on the 
 right bank of the river, lest he should enter 
 southern Brabant. Boufflers hastened in that 
 direction and crossed the Meuse higher up at 
 Venloo and Roermond. Marlborough, continuing 
 south, hoped to cut across the French line of 
 march and force them to an action. He hoped 
 
 * Bolingbroke, "On the Study of History." 
 
 t " A short Narrative of the Life and Actions of the Duke of 
 Marlborough," 171 1. 
 
 121 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 that it would be unavoidable, as his troops were 
 on an open heath and weaker by sixteen regiments 
 of foot than they were to be shortly. The enemy 
 were saved by the Dutch deputies. Passing 
 the heaths beyond Bree towards Sonhoven the 
 French could have been successfully attacked : 
 the Duke of Berwick, who was with them, gave 
 this as his opinion. Marlborough gave way but 
 asked the deputies to ride out with him and see the 
 enemy passing the heath. This they did, and most 
 of the generals. The French, hurrying over in 
 confusion, made all agree that a fair opportunity 
 had been lost. Marlborough bore the disappoint- 
 ment with good temper,* and turned to the French 
 fortresses on the Meuse. While he was approaching 
 Venloo to cover the siege a new opportunity 
 came. Boufflers, attempting to cut off a convoy 
 of artillery travelhng from Bois-le-duc, had to 
 retreat, and in doing so exposed himself in con- 
 fusion to the enemy. A cannonade was even begun, 
 but the Dutch general, Opdam, would not attack 
 and the French fell back to Beverloo. To 
 Godolphin Marlborough showed his vexation : 
 to the States- General he said nothing that could 
 give trouble with Opdam. He took up a position 
 at Asch to cover the sieges and protect com- 
 munications with Maestricht, from which his 
 bread came. 
 
 The siege of Venloo does not matter much now 
 except for one incident, the taking of Fort St. 
 Michael. Lord Cutts, " the Salamander," directed 
 the assault. The walls had been breached, and 
 Cutts ordered the men to storm it. If the enemy 
 gave way precipitately the party were to jump into 
 the works and follow, whatever the consequences. 
 
 * Robert Parker, 1746. 
 122 
 
Commander-in-Chief 
 
 Fine orders, says one who was there,* " but 
 as inconsiderate as they were, we as inconsid- 
 erately followed them." And other witnesses 
 agree in their record and their opinion. ,They 
 stormed the covered way and the ravelin, 
 in spite of a mine exploding, climbed the 
 breastwork with the help of the long grass 
 which should have been cut, crossed a 
 plank bridge that should have been withdrawn. 
 " Madmen-like," they pursued the French and 
 slaughtered them till Cutts stopped them. But 
 for the accidents all must have been killed, drowned 
 or taken. The men themselves were not less 
 astonished than the army that looked on. Though 
 Cutts never left the trenches until the fort was 
 won, he has the credit of it. For his name was 
 already " the Salamander." The town of Venloo 
 surrendered in the end through a mistake. A 
 breach had been made in the walls and the people 
 were begging for a surrender when a volley of 
 artillery was fired, which further terrified the 
 townsmen and made the garrison expect an 
 assault, so that they made up their minds and 
 hung out the white flag. Yet the firing was merely 
 an acknowledgment of a piece of good news for the 
 allies, the taking of Landau by the Imperial army. 
 The army proceeded up the Meuse, taking the 
 fortified towns of Roermond, Stevenswaert and 
 Maesyck, by proceedings which Cohorn, the 
 engineer in charge of the siege, a pedantic master 
 of difficulties, made tiresome and vexatious to 
 Marlborough. At last again he moved the army 
 to attack Liege, the next hostile fortress up the 
 Meuse. With an army weakened by a detach- 
 ment for the Rhine, Bouffiers lay at Tongres, 
 
 * Richard Kane. 
 123 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 near the Meuse, on Marlborough's Hne of march 
 to Liege. He had heard of this march and pre- 
 pared to take a position under the walls. But 
 Marlborough heard of his preparation, and arrived 
 before him at the very point which he designed 
 for his camp . Before he was aware of this , Boufflers 
 almost stumbled upon his enemy : only the care 
 of the Dutch deputies could extricate him. Liege 
 opened its gates. The citadel, defended by one 
 part of the garrison, held out till it was stormed ; 
 the fort of Chartreuse, across the river, which 
 was defended by the other, surrendered as soon 
 as it was threatened. As it was now November, 
 the campaign came to an end. 
 
 Marlborough had made an impression on the 
 Deputies and on the Earl of Athlone. The other 
 generals, even Athlone, *' gave an extraordinary 
 character of him."* Athlone, in particular, de- 
 clared that the success of the campaign was all 
 due to Marlborough, as he well knew, for he 
 himself, the second in command, had opposed 
 all his opinions and proposals. He had used 
 Athlone so well that the command seemed to be 
 equal between them.f He had not done what he 
 wished to do, but at least the enemy had done 
 nothing but vainly follow him, and when he 
 reached the Hague he was loudly welcomed. 
 This was, however, due partly to the escape he 
 had on the way down the Meuse. His boat was 
 surprised by the French, and he was the only 
 one in it without a French passport. But an 
 attendant happened to have an old pass for 
 General Charles Churchill, and by showing this 
 Marlborough got through. At the Hague they 
 imagined him a prisoner till he arrived. 
 
 * Robert Parker. f Burnet. 
 
 124 
 
Commander-in-Chief 
 
 The other commanders for the allies had been 
 less successful. The French, strengthened tby 
 the accession of the Elector of Bavaria, had taken 
 Ulm. The Margrave of Baden was paralysed and 
 then beaten by Villars at Friedlingen. In Italy, 
 Eugene had avoided defeat by Vendome. 
 
 Marlborough, therefore, stood out among the 
 generals of the year. The House of Commons 
 described him as having " signally retrieved the 
 ancient honour of this nation," the word 
 " retrieved " being a Tory backhander at 
 William III, which the Whigs in vain complained 
 of. The Queen offered him a Dukedom, which 
 he accepted after some hesitation as to whether 
 he ought not to have " a better estate " first. 
 £5,000 from the revenue of the Post Office was 
 conferred on him by the Queen ; but the Commons 
 rejected, with very violent debates and a remon- 
 strance, her proposal that the grant should be 
 settled eternally, not during her life only, on him 
 and his descendants. To make up for this scene 
 she offered the Duchess ^(^2,000 a year out of her 
 privy purse. For some reason the Duchess re- 
 fused ; but in her disgrace nine years later she 
 asked for £18,000 as if it had been a debt and 
 received it. When Lady Anne Churchill, the third 
 daughter, married the Earl of Bridgewater, Anne 
 gave her £10,000 as a portion. In the House of 
 Lords Marlborough won the gratitude of Anne by 
 his support of a Bill giving the Prince of Denmark 
 £100,000 a year and guaranteeing it to him 
 after her death. His son-in-law, now Lord Sunder- 
 land, opposed it vigorously. The Duke also 
 promoted a Tory Bill against Occasional Con- 
 formity, that is against persons who held offices 
 by occasional conformity which were really only 
 
 125 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 open to Church of England men. But this was 
 amended by the Lords into a condition which 
 caused the Commons to reject it. Supplies for 
 the army and navy, subsidies for the foreign 
 mercenaries, and an extra supply for 10,000 
 additional troops, were voted by Parliament. 
 
 This winter Marlborough lost his only son, the 
 Marquis of Blandford. While he was at Cambridge, 
 where he was an undergraduate, he was seized 
 by small pox. " If this uneasiness which I now 
 lie under should last long," wrote Marlborough 
 during the illness, " I think I could not Hve." 
 On the young man's death he begged in his will 
 that unless he should thereafter be blessed with 
 a son, the Queen would make his son-in-law, 
 Godolphin, Earl of Marlborough. Some hopes 
 he still had of a son, and when the Duchess fell 
 ill in the middle of the next campaign he wrote : 
 " For God's sake let me know exactly how you 
 are ; and if you think my being with you can do 
 you any good, you shall quickly see you are 
 dearer to me than fame, or whatever the world 
 can say ; for should you do otherwise than well, 
 I were the unhappiest man living." " For God's 
 sake " occurs often in his letters, along with many 
 expressions of eagerness and impatience. He had 
 a warm heart, said William III. No one could 
 doubt his affectionateness or that of his daughter, 
 Lady Sunderland, who ends a letter of condolence 
 to him '* with all passionate tenderness and duty.'* 
 
 126 
 
XII : DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH 
 
 MARLBOROUGH was at the Hague again 
 in March, and in the field in April, 
 1703, with Overkirk at the head of the 
 Dutch instead of Athlone, who had died that 
 winter. The plan was to penetrate farther into 
 Brabant, as could safely be done now that the 
 fortresses on the Meuse, up to Liege, were in the 
 hands of the allies. Antwerp and Ostend might 
 be taken, France invaded. But it was too bold a 
 scheme for the Dutch Deputies. They feared the 
 hostile garrisons of Cologne and Bonn upon the 
 Rhine, and insisted on these being attacked first. 
 April and half of May passed before Bonn was 
 taken, part of the army under Marlborough 
 covering the siege, part under Overkirk watching 
 near Liege. The siege was concluded in haste and 
 the garrison allowed to capitulate in order that 
 the army might reinforce Overkirk. For the 
 French army under Villeroi were planning an 
 attack on Maestricht. They found Overkirk there 
 before them and had to retire. 
 
 Marlborough was now free to carry out some- 
 thing like his original design, with the aid possibly 
 of an English landing on the French coast. Cohorn 
 was to besiege Ostend. Instead, he made a diversion 
 into Flanders chiefly to levy contributions, said 
 Marlborough, " which these people like but too 
 well " ; and Cohorn took the tenths of all the 
 contribution. And to cover this movement, 
 
 127 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Marlborough had to watch the main French army, 
 which he believed weaker than his — " which is 
 very plainly the opinion of the French, since they 
 always decamp when we come near them." 
 
 Cohorn having returned, was set, with two 
 other Dutch generals, Spaar and Opdam, to take 
 Antwerp, or at least the line by which it was 
 covered. Marlborough was to keep the main 
 army employed and off the scent until he could 
 make a rapid movement and combine with the 
 others to take Antwerp and then Ostend. But 
 again " the lure of having a little contribution 
 from the Pais de Waes " lured Cohorn and spoiled 
 the design. Opdam was left unsupported at Echeren, 
 and, though warned in time by Marlborough, 
 stuck there till he was attacked both by Boufflers 
 and the garrison of Antwerp, when he fled and 
 left his army, as he supposed, to be cut off. It was, 
 in fact, saved with heavy losses by the energy of 
 Slangenberg, who commanded them, and the 
 bravery of the Dutch. Marlborough was blamed 
 for the disaster ; Slangenberg even said that he 
 had deliberately arranged it. 
 
 It was now July, and the intention was to attack 
 the French ** Hnes of the Scheldt " which formed 
 a bow from Antwerp to Namur through Aerschot. 
 " If you have a mind to have Antwerp," he wrote 
 to the Pensionary Heinsius, " you must venture 
 something for it." The deputies were timid still. 
 They " gave no other reason for their proceeding 
 than that which is a reason against every battle, 
 the possibility of being beaten."* Marlborough 
 was confident that he had a good chance, that 
 success meant the capture of Antwerp and perhaps 
 the destruction of the French army between its 
 
 * Bolingbroke. 
 128 
 
Duke of Marlborough 
 
 lines and the river behind. But the Dutch generals 
 also opposed him. Slangenberg violently accused 
 him of having exposed Opdam's army. Cohorn 
 and Slangenberg quarrelled till Cohorn went off 
 angry. The Pensionary told Marlborough that he 
 could do nothing himself on account of factions 
 in Holland. At last, however, a move was made 
 to attack the French. They were not caught 
 outside their lines, as Marlborough hoped, on 
 the north of Antwerp. The fosse, nine yards wide 
 with nine feet of water in it, was too much for the 
 other generals. There was nothing for it but to 
 return to the Meuse and take Huy. *' If we cannot 
 bring the French to a battle," wrote Marlborough, 
 " we shall not do anything worth being com- 
 mended," Some hopes he had of a battle because 
 his army would be weakened enough by the siege 
 to tempt the French. He took Huy, and again 
 proposed to attack the French lines near Ramilies. 
 In vain : he besieged Limberg instead and took 
 it. Guelder, which had been blockaded since the 
 spring, also fell. And so the campaign ended in 
 vain. 
 
 On the Rhine Villars won a victory at Hochstadt 
 and formed the plan of attacking Vienna through 
 Bavaria. The Margrave of Baden lay like a badger 
 behind the Hnes at Stolhofen, which protected 
 the Rhine frontier by fortifications beginning at 
 Philipsburg and extending to the neighbourhood 
 of Kehl and thence away to the Black Forest ; and 
 afterwards at Kempten. The Elector of Bavaria 
 took Augsburg. Tallard took Landau back. In 
 North Italy Vendome had progressed. Thus again 
 Marlborough was, by comparison, triumphant. 
 
 His vexations had been very many. The Deputies 
 and Dutch generals averted or spoiled all his 
 
 129 K 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 plans. A new branch of the war had been added to 
 his cares by the coming in of Portugal on the Allies' 
 side. Small wonder that he had suffered from his 
 constitutional headache, so that he was " almost 
 mad " with it after some unreasonable opposition 
 had heated his blood. From England he had bad 
 political news. The Tories were remembering 
 their dislike of a continental war. Lord Rochester 
 was to have been got rid of by sending him as 
 Viceroy to Ireland, but he preferred to resign. 
 Lord Nottingham, Secretary of State, obstructed 
 business, so that Marlborough wrote to Godolphin 
 advising him " to be plain with him," for he 
 did not think he would care to part with his 
 secretaryship. Already they were accusing Marl- 
 borough of doing nothing, of protracting the war. 
 The Whigs would naturally have supported his 
 policy except that they were out of office and he 
 and his old friends in office were Tories. They 
 approached him or joined in the attacks. Marl- 
 borough himself talked of retiring, which had the 
 effect, perhaps the desired one, of making the 
 Queen say she would never forsake him or the 
 Duchess or Godolphin : "we four must never 
 part till death mows us down with an impartial 
 hand." An opinion which he often expressed was 
 that either party would be tyrants if left alone, 
 and he said in a sentence of very characteristic 
 unction that " we are bound not to wish for any- 
 body's death, but if Sir Edward Seymour should 
 die, I am convinced it would be no great loss to 
 the Queen nor the nation." On the other hand, 
 when the Duchess spoke of getting rid of seven 
 Tory ministers he was enough of a Tory to protest 
 " before God " that he knew no men fit for their 
 places. Harley, a man who still pleased Tories 
 
 130 
 
Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and some Whigs, pleased him best after Godolphin. 
 The Queen also was not quick at seeing good in 
 Whigs, because they were not such good church- 
 men. What Marlborough saw best was the necessity 
 for continuing the war and the Dutch alliance. 
 If this policy was changed the country would be 
 ruined and in the hands of Lord Rochester. 
 " May God preserve me and my dearest love 
 from seeing this come to pass," says he to the 
 Duchess, with an intensity now not easy to under- 
 stand until the intensity habitual to Marlborough 
 has become familiar. But it is quite plain that no 
 change could much benefit the Marlboroughs ; 
 it was natural in them to dread a change that 
 might upset what so many years had built up. A 
 more absurd charge could not be framed than 
 that he and Godolphin had designs against the 
 succession of the house of Hanover, since if it 
 availed anything he could not profit ; yet the 
 charge was made. 
 
 For Marlborough to return to this England 
 from the comparative freedom of a campaign was 
 something like going into exile. He arrived in 
 November, 1703, in some doubt whether he would 
 retire or his opponents tie his hands first. Two 
 thousand of his men had been drafted out of his 
 army, without consulting him, into the force for 
 Portugal, which made the Dutch fear further 
 reductions and threaten others on their side to 
 correspond. At home Godolphin was beginning 
 to be moved by the party which was against an 
 offensive war and favoured only a defensive one. 
 Again the ordeal of the Occasional Conformity 
 Bill had to be gone through. The Tories were 
 able to carry it through the Commons with a large 
 majority, but the Lords stopped it. The Duchess 
 
 131 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 of Marlborough took the Queen in hand, with 
 the result that she permitted the Prince, her 
 husband, to abstain from voting against it, as she 
 would really have wished. The Duke himself was 
 not to be persuaded, but signed the minority 
 protest. His caution is plainly exhibited in a letter 
 to the Queen, where he says that he will support the 
 Protestant succession *' by the help of Almighty 
 God " to his last drop of blood, but that he must 
 be careful not to please Rochester by voting 
 against the bill ; on the other hand, he will not ask 
 anyone to vote jfor it. At the same time, he admits 
 that he knows the Bill is lost unless he and 
 Godolphin do speak for it. And thrown out it was. 
 Nevertheless Marlborough was attacked, by those 
 whom he was mollifying, for duplicity and for 
 lukewarmness. Consolation came from the fact 
 that Lord Nottingham was replaced by Harley 
 as Secretary of State, while Henry St. John, 
 afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, took office as 
 Secretary of War ; and both were young men 
 who owed much to Marlborough ; yet the Duchess 
 also had been pressing him very hard to persuade 
 him to take the Whig side — too hard, so that she 
 said and wrote things that both wished to forget. 
 For when he was at the Hague in May he told her 
 that he had burnt the letter she had written from 
 Harwich after their parting. At the same time, he 
 put into his strong box the latest " dear, dear 
 letter " that it might be found there when he was 
 dead. 
 
 132 
 
XIII : BLENHEIM 
 
 THERE was no one in England, unless 
 perhaps Godolphin, to whom Marl- 
 borough would confide his plan for 1704. 
 It was to attack the enemy, where they most 
 threatened, on the Austrian border. Already, in 
 1703, they had planned a march on Vienna 
 through the Tyrol, which had only failed because 
 the Duke of Savoy changed over from the French 
 side to the allies. But in 1704 they could not 
 easily be stopped, since they had safe communi- 
 cations between the Rhine and the Danube, 
 from combining in Bavaria and attacking Vienna 
 from the west, while the Emperor was facing the 
 Hungarian rebels on the other side. The Elector 
 of Bavaria was at Ulm, on the Upper Danube, 
 Tallard with the French army on the Upper 
 Rhine. Villeroi commanded the principal French 
 army in the Netherlands, where Marlborough 
 and the chief attack was expected. Villars, who 
 formed the scheme for marching on Vienna, was 
 engaged in stamping out the religious insurrection 
 in the Cevennes, which English loyalists like 
 Marlborough were fanning. 
 
 Marlborough, the Dutch Pensionary Heinsius, 
 and Prince Eugene, now come from North Italy 
 to the middle Rhine, shared the secret which was to 
 upset Villars' scheme though not to prevent him 
 from explaining afterwards how the battle of Blen- 
 heim should have been won. Eugene's was the idea : 
 
 133 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 it became something more by the approval and 
 co-operation of Marlborough. The pretence was 
 that Marlborough was to operate in the Moselle. 
 The Dutch would not be overmuch alarmed by 
 this. Then, having got well on his way south- 
 eastward, he would not stop at the Moselle, but 
 continue until he could join the Margrave of 
 Baden and Prince Eugene and so strike Tallard 
 and the Elector of Bavaria. Heinsius overcame the 
 doubts of the Dutch. Their general Overkirk was 
 left to keep Villeroi employed, which he could 
 only do, since his force was much inferior, so long 
 as Villeroi remained ignorant of Marlborough's 
 plan and imagined him free to return and cope 
 with any strong advance on Holland. Even to the 
 Margrave of Baden he announced that he was 
 coming to the Moselle. When he had already 
 set out he had to combat the fears of Overkirk at 
 the crossing of the Meuse by Villeroi, the fears of 
 the Margrave that he was to be attacked at 
 Stolhofen. 
 
 At Bedburg, in Julich, Marlborough took 
 command of the army of fifty thousand — a third 
 of them British— which his brother. General Charles 
 Churchill, had brought there. Then they marched 
 south-east, he in front with the cavalry, Churchill 
 following with the infantry. They were at Bonn 
 by May 23rd, at Coblenz two days after. There, 
 at Coblenz, he had to show that he was not for 
 the Moselle, which runs there into the Rhine 
 from the south, and his objective compelled him 
 to cross the Rhine away from the Moselle. A 
 little east of the right bank he continued parallel 
 with the Rhine till he touched it at Cassel, opposite 
 Mainz, where it bends. The Elector Palatine, 
 before whom the cavalry were reviewed here, 
 
 134 
 
Eugene and Marlborough 
 
 To face p. 134. 
 
Blenheim 
 
 praised their smartness : the officers, he said, 
 seemed all to be dressed for the ball. Marlborough 
 dined with the Elector and wrote a letter to the 
 Duchess saying how much better pleased he would 
 have been to be at St. Albans. Having turned 
 that corner he again kept away from the river 
 and marched south to the Neckar. Here he might 
 still have been meaning to rejoin the Rhine and 
 follow it up along the borders of Alsace. But he 
 struck away into friendly Wurtemburg to cross 
 the Neckar again, and he had reached there before 
 he heard that Villeroi and Tallard were now 
 marching to unite and force a crossing over the 
 Rhine. The Margrave of Baden was to prevent 
 the crossing if possible, while Marlborough 
 marched on the Elector of Bavaria. The Elector 
 had safely received provisions and reinforcements 
 through the Black Forest, but the Margrave, 
 though he could not prevent this, compelled him 
 to retreat to the Danube. By feints, misinformation 
 to his friends, and lies specially constructed for 
 spies to carry to the enemy, Marlborough had 
 now a good start, which luck and swiftness main- 
 tained. 
 
 At Mondelsheim, just beyond the second cross- 
 ing of the Neckar, Eugene, the Margrave and 
 Marlborough met on June 13. It was the first time 
 Marlborough had seen Eugene, with his long face, 
 sunken cheeks, mouth always open, black hair 
 (he wore his own till it grew grey), a man who 
 took a great deal of snuff, which he carried loose 
 in his pocket. Eugene said he had never seen better 
 horses, better clothes, finer belts and accoutre- 
 ments. Above all, there was something which 
 could not be had for money — a spirit in the looks 
 of the men such as he had never seen in his life. 
 
 135 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 " It is inspired by your presence," said Marl- 
 borough.* The two men understood one another 
 so as to make a friendship which never had any- 
 thing to preserve or break it except work together, 
 work apparently without jealousy or distrust. 
 They wished now to act together on the Danube 
 and to leave the Margrave on the Rhine. But the 
 Margrave claimed to act in the chief field, and 
 Eugene was left on the Rhine. Marlborough 
 moved on in the rain to cross the hills between 
 the Rhine and the Danube : the Margrave 
 hastened on to rejoin his army, which was to unite 
 with Marlborough's above the Danube, near Ulm. 
 On June 22nd the two armies became one at the 
 appointed place. Churchill with the infantry and 
 artillery arrived a little later. The whole army 
 numbered perhaps 70,000. Marlborough and the 
 Margrave took command of it on alternate days, 
 the only arrangement which the Margrave — a 
 great prince of the Empire — ^would tolerate. 
 Neither apparently thought of attacking the enemy 
 at once though they lay close by, on and across 
 the Danube. They marched united towards 
 Donau worth, a city on the river where the Lech 
 runs into it. If they took it they would enter 
 Bavaria, with this good base behind them, and bring 
 the Elector to terms by ravaging the country. 
 He sent forward a detachment to save the city 
 from a movement that was now obvious. 
 
 The defence of Donauworth was an almost 
 isolated hill called the Schellenberg, rising out 
 of the low river land, but connected with the high 
 land farther from the river by a neck of about the 
 same height. This hill had to be mastered first 
 by any one wishing to possess the city below it. 
 
 * Francis Hare's " Conduct of the Duke of Marlborough," 1712. 
 
 136 
 
Blenheim 
 
 The Bavarians were busily improving its old de- 
 fences when Marlborough approached. Eight 
 guns, 10,000 infantry and two regiments of cavalry 
 lay there under Count d'Arco to hold it. 
 
 For some time England had been expecting a 
 battle. From Frankfort had come news on June 
 29th that some action on the Danube was hourly 
 expected ; that all the inhabitants of the Palatinate 
 on that side of the Rhine, between 20 and 40 
 years of age, had been ordered to the river with 
 arms and bread for eight days, to reinforce the 
 regulars and prevent the French from crossing.* 
 
 Before dawn on July 2nd, Marlborough started. 
 It was his day, not the Margrave's, and he in- 
 tended to make it long and full. With a selected 
 body of infantry and cavalry about equal to the 
 defenders in number he marched to assault the 
 Schellenberg. The main army was to follow as 
 rapidly as it could. Late in the afternoon about 
 6,000 infantry began the assault, about a third 
 of them British, the First Guards, the First 
 Royals, the Welsh Fusiliers, and the Thirty- 
 seventh. General Goor, a Dutchman, com- 
 manded the whole, Brigadier-General Ferguson 
 the first line. Lord Mordaunt the " forlorn hope " 
 of fifty grenadiers ahead of all . It was a very bloody 
 action. The attack was checked by the men mis- 
 taking a natural trench for the ditch of the forti- 
 fication, and down into this they flung their 
 fascines, which were useless, and there they 
 hesitated — fired on and charged with the bayonet 
 —till the firmness of the Guards enabled them to 
 renew their advance. Only ten of the Grenadiers' 
 *^ forlorn hope," with Lord Mordaunt himself, 
 escaped. The defence was so desperate and the 
 
 * TTie Postman, 29 vi, 1704. 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 hand to hand slaughter so great that the recruits 
 would have run away had not Lumley with his 
 cavalry herded them back. But when this attack 
 was still far from concluded and two thousand 
 had already fallen, the main army arrived. Then 
 it was seen that all of the enemy had concentrated 
 to repel this first onset. The rest of the defences 
 were all but deserted, and the Margrave easily 
 broke in and swept away the enemy. They hurried, 
 those that could, down to Donauworth and over the 
 Danube until the bridge fell. The city was set on 
 fire, but most of it was saved for the use of the 
 allies. 
 
 " It had pleased God, after a very obstinate 
 defence," said Marlborough, to give the Allies 
 the victory. They had ruined the best of the 
 Elector's infantry, but at a heavy cost. General 
 Goor, and many other officers, died. The English, 
 on the left, which was their usual place in these 
 early battles, endured the heat of the action and 
 lost about a third, and a third of those killed. 
 Marlborough seems to excuse the " extreme 
 vigour " of the action only by its necessity. 
 
 In his camp at Dillingen the Elector burnt his 
 magazines, such was his alarm. While his enemies 
 entered Bavaria he could only wait at Augsburg 
 for Tallard to join him from the Rhine. Marl- 
 borough was anxious about this even as he sent 
 the news of the Schellenberg. But he relied on the 
 assurance of Eugene that these reinforcements 
 should not pass quietly through the Black Forest. 
 
 " We shall have to do our utmost to ruin his 
 country," wrote Marlborough. For the Elector 
 would not come to terms. Marlborough would 
 rather not have ravaged Bavaria. He took pleasure, 
 as he said himself, in being easy when the service 
 
 138 
 
Blenheim 
 
 did not suffer by it. His " heart ached " when 
 the Elector asked him to forward a letter to the 
 Electress, and he thought of their separation. 
 And the country was beautiful, and he knew it. 
 War had not touched it for above sixty years, and 
 he told the Duchess how the clean towns and 
 villages would please her. He asked her to believe 
 that his nature suffered when he saw so many 
 fine places burnt, '* and that must be burnt if the 
 Elector did not hinder it." 
 
 On the fourth of August Tallard arrived at 
 Augsburg, in time to save the Elector from giving 
 up the French alliance. But he arrived with an 
 army in bad condition, men feeble, horses sick. 
 Moreover, only a few days later came Eugene 
 suddenly to Hochstadt, west of Donauworth, 
 and on the north of the Danube. Eugene had left 
 the Rhine and travelled with the same secrecy and 
 deceit as Marlborough. He himself came over at 
 once to see Marlborough on the south of the 
 Danube at Schobenhausen, and it was arranged 
 that while these two acted together, the Margrave 
 should go away to the siege of Ingolstadt and 
 cease to trouble with his dignity and heavy style. 
 But the two had still to join their forces, and that 
 before the French and Bavarians could set upon 
 Eugene's army, which was far weaker than 
 theirs ; and this must be done on the north 
 bank of the river in order to preserve com- 
 munications with Nordlingen and Nuremburg 
 northward, the bases of supply for the allies. 
 Eugene marched east along the Danube, 
 Marlborough marched north up to it until the 
 two armies faced over it and his own crossed at 
 Merxheim and Donauworth. The French marched 
 parallel with Marlborough, and, crossing west of 
 
 139 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Donauworth, were still a day's march behind on 
 the north bank when this union took place. 
 Eugene's wealth of cavalry in good condition gave 
 the allies the superiority. It was Tuesday, the 
 1 2th of August. 
 
 The French took up a position behind the brook 
 Nebel, with their right on the Danube, their left 
 up at the edge of the woods on the higher land 
 above the river. Here they stood in Marlborough's 
 way should he wish to go back west up the Danube. 
 In fact, unless he attacked them, all he could do 
 was to go on to his base northward, since if he 
 went south or east he must leave his communi- 
 cations exposed. That he should attack them, 
 with their ninety guns to his sixty and perhaps 
 fifty-four thousand men to his fifty-two, in their 
 chosen position, seemed to them improbable, 
 though he encamped by the Kessel, only five 
 miles to the east. But it is what Marlborough did 
 next day after watching their disposition from the 
 church tower of Tapfheim. His method was to be 
 swift. It was for Tallard two days after to tell him 
 that the Elector meant " to have waited on him 
 first." On August the 13th the drums beat the 
 general at one in the morning, the assembly at 
 half-past, the march at two. The word was given 
 —"Anna."* 
 
 For some time the French imagined that 
 Eugene and Marlborough were moving off to 
 Nordlingen. For the morning was misty. But by 
 nine o'clock cannonading had begun at long range, 
 though the battle was delayed by the difficulty 
 Eugene had in posting his troops on the right in 
 the woods of Schwennenbach and on the land 
 rising gently to the foot of the hills. Marlborough 
 
 * Royal United Service Institution Journal, vol. 42. 
 140 
 
Blenheim 
 
 had the left of the line — its extreme left, where 
 the British were, facing the village of Blenheim 
 across the Nebel in the angle between that brook 
 and the Danube ; the main army of two lines of 
 cavalry with two lines of infantry before and 
 behind it, lying across the road which ran parallel 
 with the river from Donau worth to Ulm. The 
 French and Bavarians across the Nebel were really 
 still two armies, one under the Elector and Marsin 
 on the left, opposite Eugene, and strongly occupy- 
 ing the village of Oberglauheim, the other under 
 Tallard in Blenheim and stretching along up to 
 the centre across the road. This centre was simply 
 the point at which the right of the one touched 
 the left of the other, and the line at this uncemented 
 centre, about a mile of cornfields, consisted of 
 cavalry, very slightly supported by foot. For a 
 large proportion of Tallard 's infantry, in which 
 he was stronger, were in and about and behind 
 Blenheim. That stockaded village, in fact, was made 
 impregnable. 
 
 The moving lines of troops, distinguishable by 
 their colours, the blocks ready posted, the general 
 officers and aide-de-camps running to and fro 
 over the three miles between the river and the 
 hills made a magnificent scene in the bright, 
 warm sun. So says Merode Westerloo, who fought 
 there on the French side. The cannonade con- 
 tinued while Eugene finished his dispositions, 
 and Marlborough, waiting for him, " ordered the 
 chaplains to perform the usual service at the head 
 of each regiment, and implore the favour of 
 heaven ; he was observed to join with peculiar 
 fervour in this solemn appeal to the giver of 
 victory."* He said that he never prayed so much 
 
 * Coxe. 
 141 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 as on this day. And he was cool. As he rode along 
 the lines or cannon ball passed under his horse 
 and struck up the earth over him, but without 
 touching him or his spirit. In the battle he showed 
 himself wherever his presence was needed, ex- 
 posing himself without fear, giving orders coolly, 
 and always calm and swift without haste. 
 
 At one Eugene was ready. Marlborough ordered 
 Lord Cutts to advance against Blenheim with his 
 four lines of foot, of which the first were some of 
 those who had borne the worst at the Schellenberg, 
 the Guards and the Welsh Fusiliers. The enemy 
 reserved their fire until they were within thirty 
 paces of the palisade. This line of British had 
 orders not to fire until their leader, Brigadier 
 Row, struck the palisade with his sword. Some 
 of the officers exchanged sword thrusts between 
 the pales.* Row himself fell mortally wounded 
 at the palisade. A third of the men fell and were 
 only saved in their retirement from a charge of 
 French cavalry, by the coming up of the Hessians 
 of the second line. They in turn had to be pro- 
 tected by Lumley's cavalry. With this second line 
 Orkney got some position in the village and drove 
 many of the enemy into the Danube, but had to 
 retire, retaining only the avenues of the village, 
 as Webb did a post on the Danube side which 
 prevented them from coming out.f The defenders 
 by this time were packed close in disorder behind 
 their entrenchments ; if they attempted to get 
 over and out they were so confused that the 
 platoons opposing them mowed them down.^ 
 Marlborough, in fact, ordered Cutts to give up 
 the assault, but to preserve a hostile appearance, 
 
 * John Millner. 
 
 t Letter from Lord Orkney, " English Historical Review," vol. 19. 
 
 X Robert Parker. 
 
 142 
 
Blenheim 
 
 by firing into the village by platoons, and so keep 
 the troops within from reinforcing other parts of 
 the line. 
 
 The main army crossed the brook without 
 opposition, but was charged by cavalry while 
 reforming beyond. Eugene was driven back again, 
 but General Churchill's infantry established them- 
 selves after a hustling from the cavalry. Before 
 the majority of Marlborough's cavalry had formed 
 across the brook, they were thrown into confusion 
 by the enemy's, but saved in time by the Danish 
 infantry and a reinforcement of cavalry swiftly 
 sent for and as swiftly delivered by Eugene. The 
 whole of Marlborough's force was now safe and 
 in order close to the weak French centre. Tallard 
 sent for reinforcements. His cavalry, he said 
 himself, had done " very ill." But Marsin could 
 not spare a man from the struggle with Eugene. 
 There were good troops to spare behind Blenheim, 
 but the message calling for them never arrived. 
 Then Marlborough sent in the Prussian cavalry, 
 and they scattered the enemy's horse and rode 
 down and cut to pieces the infantry who stood 
 their ground in square perfectly after the horse 
 deserted them.* The pursuing squadrons cut 
 down all : " for in all such close pursuits, 'tis 
 very rare that any quarter is given. "f Tallard 
 himself, hastening to Blenheim to bring out the 
 reserves that should have come, was taken 
 prisoner. 
 
 Eugene profited at once by this decisive stroke. 
 His opponents were now isolated : Marsin 's 
 right flank was exposed. Eugene, therefore, could 
 actually afford — though he had been maintaining 
 
 * Letter from Lord Orkney, "English Historical Review." 
 t Robert Parker. 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 a very uncertain struggle and his squadrons had 
 all charged at least four times — to send away his 
 remaining cavalry to help Marlborough's. Marsin 
 and the Elector fell back, but in good order. Only 
 the troops in the village of Blenheim stood where 
 they had been posted. They were unbeaten and 
 helpless. Their commander lay in the Danube 
 drowned. All the afternoon they had held their 
 own. Once Orkney got to the centre of the village, 
 but the churchyard wall turned him and he was 
 beaten out again. For long Orkney was ignorant 
 what had happened on the right. Cutts was about 
 to attack again, though on the other side the 
 French were being confined now by the Scots 
 Greys and Irish Dragoons, who charged into 
 them when they tried to break out. They asked for 
 a parley, and there was a brief truce, during which 
 time Orkney had time to notice with astonishment 
 that there were twenty battalions and twelve 
 squadrons there.* At last General Churchill 
 brought up his artillery close to the village. He 
 told them that as it was seven o'clock he had no 
 time to lose : they must lay down their arms or 
 the attack would be renewed. So they laid down 
 their arms. The regiment of Navarre burnt their 
 colours, buried their muskets, the officers broke 
 their swords to avoid having to give them up. 
 Other officers were specially permitted by Marl- 
 borough himself to retain their swords. Altogether 
 about 11,000 men without a wound surrendered. 
 Already when victory was certain, Marlborough 
 wrote a note to the Duchess on a slip of paper ,t 
 asking her to give his duty to the Queen and let 
 
 * Letter from Lord Orkney. But Fortescue says twenty-four 
 battalions of infantry and four regiments of dragoons ; Belloc says 
 twenty-seven battalions. 
 
 t Letter from Lord Orkney. 
 
 144 
 
Blenheim 
 
 her know that her army had had a glorious victory, 
 and that he had Tallard and two other generals 
 in his coach. Slowly, by private letters, referring 
 only to the fate of individuals, the news trickled 
 in to Louis XIV, the news of the capitulation of 
 the infantry in Blenheim village coming isolated 
 and unintelligible.* Twelve thousand French and 
 Bavarians lay dead and stripped ; about the 
 same number were captured ; many more were 
 wounded or missing. ** All Germany " was lost 
 to the French : Austria was saved from them and 
 from the Hungarian rebels. And here began the 
 series of reverses which upset the military prestige 
 and quieted the ambition of France. By those 
 seventeen hours in the saddle and the loss of 
 4,500 killed and 7,500 wounded, Marlborough 
 had sealed the reputation made by his march in 
 May and June to the Danube. He was pleased, 
 and told the Duchess that no victory so great had 
 been won within the memory of man. If, said he, 
 they could have another such day as that Wednes- 
 day they might have such a peace as would let 
 him enjoy the rest of his Hfe with her. He had been 
 ill for some days, and though he had *' no time 
 to be sick," yet he grew very lean and *' ten years 
 older" as autumn came on, and he feared con- 
 sumption. Had he been in London he would 
 have been in bed, he told Godolphin. 
 
 The Elector of Bavaria and Marsin went away 
 through the Black Forest and joined Villars for 
 their winter quarters near Strasburg. The garrison 
 they left in Ulm surrendered at once. The plan for 
 the rest of the season was to prepare for an invasion 
 of France. Eugene picked up the troops he had 
 left at Stolhofen and rejoined Marlborough at 
 
 * St Simon. 
 
 145 L 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Philipsburg. Thence they went to besiege Landau, 
 where presently Marlborough, tired of the oper- 
 ations, left Eugene, and himself took Treves and 
 then set the Prince of Hesse to take Trarbach. 
 He had a diplomatic visit to pay at Berlin before 
 returning home — to arrange for a contingent of 
 Prussians to fight in Savoy and to convince the king 
 that in their absence he need not fear Charles XH. 
 In December he reached England, anxious, angry 
 with his political enemies, and inclined to say 
 that were the affairs of the Queen and Europe in 
 such a condition that " one might sleep quietly 
 and safely in his own house " he would rather 
 anybody but himself were at the head of the 
 army. 
 
 The Lords and Commons voted addresses of 
 congratulation, and also further supplies to be 
 derived chiefly from the land tax. The trophies 
 of Blenheim were carried from the Tower to 
 Westminster Hall . Thirty-four out of one hundred 
 and seventy-one standards taken at Blenheim fell 
 to the English share. For many years they hung 
 in St. Paul's, but in 1835 Canon Sydney Smith 
 said that *' not a rag, not a staflF remained."* As a 
 permanent memorial of the victory. Parliament 
 passed a Bill granting the manor of Woodstock 
 and the hundred of Wootton to Marlborough for 
 his eminent services to Queen and people. The 
 Board of Works was ordered to build a palace on 
 the estate, to be named after the victory at 
 Blenheim. The Emperor had already made him 
 a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and con- 
 gratulated him on having broken the pride of 
 France and settled the affairs of Germany, *' or 
 rather, of all Europe." People with pens made 
 
 * Royal United Service Institution Journal, vol. 42. 
 
 146 
 
Blenheim 
 
 another stir. Addison wrote the poem which 
 likens Marlborough on the battlefield to an angel 
 in a storm : 
 
 Such as oF late o'er pale Britannia past, 
 Calm and serene he drives the furious blast ; 
 And, pleased the Almighty's orders to perform, 
 Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm. 
 
 Prior wrote no better : 
 
 Secret and swift behold the Chief advance ; 
 Sees half the Empire joined, and friend to France : 
 The British general dooms the fight : his sword 
 Needful he draws : the Captains wait the word. 
 Anne and St. George^ the charging hero cries : 
 Shrill echo from the neighbouring wood replies 
 Anne and St. George. — At that auspicious sign 
 The standards move ; the adverse armies join. 
 Of eight great hours, Time measures out the sands; 
 And Europe's fate in doubtful balance stands : 
 The ninth, Victoria comes : — o'er Marlbro's head 
 Confessed she sits : the hostile troops recede : — 
 Triumphs the Goddess, from her promise freed. 
 
 But Evelyn, a man with no gift for perverting 
 facts, made a note of how he saw the Duke in 
 February of that winter. It was long since Evelyn 
 had seen him, and he expected to be forgotten. 
 Nor had he ever liked the great man. But going 
 in to see Godolphin, he saw the Duke there before 
 him. And the Duke knew him at once and took 
 him by the hand " with extraordinary familiarity 
 and civility, as formerly he used to do, without 
 any alteration of his good nature." He was very 
 plainly dressed, but wore a " most rich George 
 in a Sardonyx " set with diamonds. 
 
 147 
 
XIV : BETWEEN WHIG AND TORY 
 
 WHILE Marlborough was marching to 
 the Danube his poHtical enemies did not 
 leave him alone. The expedition was 
 dangerous ; he was exceeding his powers ; the 
 Dutch were being left exposed. They shook a 
 very big stick at him, which was to descend if he 
 did not succeed. If he gained a victory they less- 
 ened it, but news to the French advantage they 
 could always believe. Even after Blenheim they 
 said that the enemy's losses meant no more to 
 Louis than a bucket of water out of a river. He 
 was annoyed, because he was not a Parliament 
 man accustomed to party abuse, and because he 
 could not really see why he and Godolphin and 
 the Queen should not rule quietly. Sometimes he 
 said that he was little concerned with what any 
 party thought, while in the same breath he talked 
 of trying to leave a good name behind him in 
 " countries where they have hardly any blessing 
 but that of not knowing the detested names of 
 Whig and Tory." The ideal position which he 
 imagined was to have a Parliament where Tories 
 and Whigs were about evenly balanced, so that 
 the Queen might be able to " influence what 
 might be for the common interest," that is for his 
 interest and what he thought the common interest. 
 Till this could be achieved the old difficulty 
 remained. So many uncomfortable persons were 
 Whigs, such as the Duchess and his son-in-law, 
 
 148 
 
Between Whig and Tory 
 
 Lord Sunderland ; the Queen and his old associ- 
 ates were Tories. The Whig policy he liked but 
 not the men ; the Tories he liked but not their 
 measures. So he would exclaim that never would 
 he meddle with any business but what belonged 
 to the army. What he did think, however, was that 
 the more Anne discountenanced *' such as are 
 not zealous to the common cause " the greater 
 would be her glory ; and he allowed himself at 
 last to be persuaded by the Duchess to agree that 
 the Duke of Newcastle should supersede the 
 Duke of Buckingham as Privy Seal. " I can refuse 
 you nothing," he wrote ; and " I beg you will give 
 me that quiet of mind, as to tell me you approve of 
 my resolution, and then I am sure I shall keep it." 
 Again, in this year of Blenheim, he protested that 
 only his duty to the Queen would ever take him 
 out of England again to expose himself to the 
 malice of faction. 
 
 Once more he had to choose between principle 
 and inclination over the Occasional Conformity 
 Bill. At first the enemy had tried to run it through 
 under the skirts of the Land Tax Bill, which 
 nobody would wish to reject ; but they were 
 foiled by the Whigs and moderate Tories, in what 
 Marlborough called a great victory when he wrote 
 to thank Harley for it. Later on, Marlborough 
 and Godolphin voted against it in the Lords 
 without speaking. 
 
 Nevertheless, they ruled. With the Whig junta 
 alongside of them, Somers, Wharton, Halifax, 
 Orford (formerly Admiral Russell), and Sunder- 
 land, they could never have ruled. These men 
 were too strong and too uncongenial as a body 
 and to some extent as individuals, to Marlborough. 
 Younger Whigs like Robert Walpole were one by 
 
 149 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 one admitted to office, but only necessity could 
 make room for Lord Sunderland, for example, 
 as Ambassador to Vienna after the Emperor 
 Leopold's death in 1705. Such concessions were 
 too little to please the Duchess of Marlborough, 
 too great not to displease the Tories on the Duke's 
 side, so that his friends gave him more uneasiness, 
 he said, than his enemies, and he begged his wife 
 not to use the expression " Tory friends," be- 
 cause he would have no friends but such as 
 supported '* the Queen and Government." But 
 she exuded whiggery. She told the Queen that 
 her Government could not be carried on by a 
 part of the Tories, with the Whigs *' disobliged," 
 Whigs ready to " join with any people to torment 
 you and those that are your true servants." 
 
 What the nature of the affection was which 
 Marlborough still felt for the Duchess is hard to 
 say. His affectionate expressions repeated in all 
 his letters unfailingly were an old custom : he 
 must address her at frequent intervals as " my 
 dear soul whom I love above my life." She was 
 a great strain and drain upon him, but he could 
 not do without her ; not so much that she was 
 useful, as that she was a necessity. It was a relief 
 perhaps to be away from her, yet he never con- 
 templated being away except during a campaign. 
 In the end it may be said that the ivy pulled the 
 oak down, but also that the oak could not have 
 stood up without the ivy. The two were never 
 one, but they were inseparable. He was as neces- 
 sary to her as she to him. Without him she could 
 not have compelled Anne to retain her so long 
 in a semblance of the old position. Few others 
 pretended to love her. She terrified or she angered 
 them, but the Duke she could bully without 
 
 150 
 
Between Whig and Tory 
 
 reprisals, with frequent successes, and with the 
 triumph, which perhaps she never heard, of 
 making him declare that a man must give up a 
 great deal to live in peace with such a woman. 
 She knew everything about him except this. 
 
 They had disputes — concerning the Queen, for 
 example — and they had differences, but she had 
 so much the upper hand that he sidled out in a 
 manner suggesting a dread of what might happen 
 by direct opposition, and then concluded by 
 asking her to burn the letter if there was anything 
 in it not fit to be seen, and to " think kindly of one 
 who loves you with all his heart." Anne showed 
 the same fear, but Anne got somebody to take the 
 Duchess's place. The Duke — a friendless man, 
 unless the necessary Godolphin was a friend — 
 had nobody. The most he could do was to beg her 
 to let him have " a little more quiet in England 
 than I have been used to have." Or he said that 
 he would not have her constrain herself in any- 
 thing — that he valued her quiet and happiness 
 above all — even when he had the serious point to 
 make, that she could not please her rival, Mrs. 
 Masham, more than by staying away from the 
 Queen. Once he expressed the opinion that 
 after a certain interview between her and the 
 Queen, when the Queen was harsh, she should be 
 persuaded not to expose herself any more in 
 speaking to Anne ; on another occasion he 
 begged her straight out " to keep out of the way " 
 of Anne. He might almost be ironical when he 
 warned her to be careful of her behaviour since 
 she was in a country of wolves and tigers ; when, 
 having asked her very solemnly not to say angry 
 things to or about their enemies so long as he 
 continued in the service because she only roused 
 
 151 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 them to attack him, he hoped that what he so 
 earnestly desired for his own quiet might not be 
 uneasy to her ; when, over and over again, he talked 
 of being weary of business and professed that if 
 he could be "so happy as to have the liberty 
 of remaining quiet with her he should be at 
 the height of his wishes.** 
 
 152 
 
XV: 1705 
 
 MARLBOROUGH had already taken 
 steps at the end of the last campaign 
 towards an invasion of France in 1705. 
 Bases were ready at Treves and Trarbach. If the 
 Margrave of Baden were early enough they would 
 lay siege to Saarlouis before the French took the 
 field. Ninety thousand men he hoped for. But the 
 Dutch were not ready, and their wish to keep half 
 the troops on the Meuse was not overcome until 
 the end of April. The Emperor, too, was feeling 
 safe to devote himself to Hungary instead of 
 helping to raise the allies' army to ninety thousand 
 men ; and he sent Eugene to Italy to act against 
 Vendome instead of sharing the command again 
 with Marlborough. Moreover, the Margrave had 
 discovered that he was less esteemed than his 
 colleague, and only on an order from the new 
 Emperor Joseph would he promise to come. In 
 the end the wound he had got at the Schellenberg 
 kept him at home, and his soldiers, such as they 
 were, arrived without him. Thus when he began 
 to move in June, Marlborough had an army less 
 than half what he wished. He himself was out of 
 sorts. The Dutch minister at the Hague made 
 him long to get away " in hopes to find more quiet 
 in the army." The sick and testy Margrave made 
 him think again of the charms of being ** a much 
 privater man than he was," to escape other 
 people's humours. And the season was late, the 
 
 153 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 grass for the horses very short. And the man in 
 charge of the stores during the winter had de- 
 camped after robbing them. The enemy were a 
 far larger army under Villars, but acted on the 
 defensive, which gave great heart to the men of 
 the allies. 
 
 Villars took up a strong position near Sirreck. 
 Marlborough could not attack him, and had 
 to send a letter to ask him to beUeve that, if 
 the Margrave had kept his word, he would not 
 have avoided an action. Only politeness passed 
 between the generals. Marlborough, for example, 
 began by sending Villars some English Hquors, 
 Palma wine and cider, and expressing a hope that 
 the campaign would be a fine one since he had such 
 an opponent. Later there were requests for 
 packets taken from prisoners to be restored and 
 offers to perform the same courtesy in return. 
 And yet Marlborough was so troubled by dis- 
 appointments that a fortnight more of them would 
 finish his life, he said ; he was weary of his life, 
 and the Queen wrote specially to console him. 
 
 Things went ill in the Netherlands, where 
 Villeroi, with sixty thousand men, took Huy and 
 laid siege to Liege. Overkirk's army could not 
 oppose him, and Marlborough had to give up the 
 campaign on the Moselle to come to his relief. 
 He marched in the night, without beat of drum, 
 so that Villars did not know he had gone till he 
 saw the camp empty. He hoped also to take 
 Villeroi by surprise before Liege. But Villeroi 
 fell back behind the fortified Hues between 
 Antwerp and Namur, and allowed Marlborough 
 and Overkirk to recapture Huy. There was 
 nothing then to be done except wait and keep 
 Villeroi behind those lines unless he could be 
 
 154 
 
1705 
 
 attacked in them. They were supposed to be 
 impregnable with their ditches, their inundations, 
 their cannon and redoubts. But though the force 
 behind outnumbered Marlborough's, it was dis- 
 tributed along a very long line and could only be 
 slowly concentrated. Strong parties would lie at 
 weaker, small at stronger, portions of the works. 
 Marlborough decided to attack what appeared to 
 be the most difficult point near Tirlemont after 
 feinting at other more probable points. Overkirk, 
 for instance, crossed the Mehaigne by his orders, 
 and marched toward Bourdine and Namur, while 
 he himself feinted in that direction at a weak place 
 where a large army was promptly collected. Then 
 in the night Overkirk led back his men and joined 
 Marlborough. And so unexpected were these 
 movements that though delayed, and though the 
 point of attack was not reached till it was light, 
 only a handful of the enemy received them and 
 the troops crossed the river and the entrenchments 
 without opposition or loss. The whole army lay 
 safe on the enemy's side before the Marquis 
 d'Allegre hurried up with nine thousand men 
 and some artillery. Marlborough himself led the 
 attack on this body with the cavalry. The enemy 
 were repulsed, but his own squadron having to 
 give ground, he was at one time surrounded and 
 nearly killed ; for an officer came and struck at 
 him with the sabre so hard, however, that when 
 he missed his stroke he fell to the ground. Villeroi, 
 with his main army, withdrew from the lines 
 through Jodoigne and across the Dyle to Louvain, 
 by a forced march, accelerated by hostile cavalry 
 in the rear. The bridges by which they crossed 
 the Dyle were broken down by the French and 
 the flooded river temporarily stopped the attack. 
 
 155 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Marlborough was so far delighted. It was im- 
 possible for him to praise the troops too much, 
 the men who had been with him at Blenheim 
 never men fought better ; their '* kindness " 
 transported him. His blood was so hot that he 
 could scarcely hold the pen. The swift, inex- 
 pensive victory was celebrated by a Te Deum at 
 St. Paul's in the Queen's presence. 
 
 When at last a crossing of the Dyle was possible 
 the Dutch intervened. Bridges were made ; the 
 grenadiers, in fact, crossed ; but the Dutch 
 generals would not. Slangenberg exclaimed '* For 
 God's sake, my Lord Duke, don't," with wild 
 gesticulations. The men on the other side had to 
 return, which they did in safety, and the success 
 was at an end. Marlborough showed his anger 
 in a private letter to Heinsius. '' Before God," 
 he declared that but for Slangenberg by this 
 day they could have prescribed what peace they 
 liked to the French.* The army was laid up witn 
 a disease for which he saw no cure.f But in his 
 despatches to Holland he omitted to mention the 
 subject. 
 
 The next movement was up the Dyle, round 
 the head waters of the river to Genappe, and to 
 the edge of the forest of Soignies, near Waterloo 
 and between the enemy and France. The enemy 
 took a position behind the river Issche to cover 
 Brussels. They were willing to fight. Marlborough 
 approached them — so near that he was saluted 
 with cannon-shot and remarked with a smile : 
 *' These gentlemen do not choose to have this 
 spot too narrowly inspected." His army was 
 delayed in coming up by Slangenberg putting 
 
 * "English Historical Review," 1896. 
 t Marlborough's Despatches. 
 
 156 
 
1 70S 
 
 his own baggage in the midst of the column. At 
 last all was ready. Marlborough told the officers 
 that he had made dispositions for an attack, that 
 the enemy were embarrassed but could throw up 
 entrenchments in the night, that now was the 
 time to attack, and they could not draw back in 
 honour. Slangenberg gave his opinion that the 
 passage at Over-Issche was impracticable, but 
 said he would obey. The Duke, pretending not 
 to notice, flattered him with the proposal that he 
 should direct the attack at Over-Issche. *' Murder 
 and massacre," said Slangenberg. He was offered 
 English troops instead of Dutch, but said he did 
 not understand English. Nor would he have 
 Germans. The thing was impracticable. Then 
 Marlborough himself proposed to lead the troops 
 at the danger point. But the Deputies were still 
 talking, and in the end they decided against 
 attacking. Only Overkirk took his view. Even so 
 Marlborough got three of their generals to go out 
 and see the ground. The result was the same. 
 He exclaimed bitterly that he was ten years older 
 than he was four days ago. In the night the enemy 
 strengthened their position. Deserters coming in 
 revealed that they would have retired on Brussels 
 if attacked. 
 
 The chance was lost. Marlborough complained 
 this time to Holland, represented to their High 
 Mightinesses that his authority now was much 
 less than it had been in the last campaign. On the 
 other hand, the Deputies complained that he had 
 not given them notice of his marches. Slangenberg 
 was removed, the Dutch minister in London 
 apologised. But nothing more was done. The 
 army retired to level the lines between the Demer 
 and the Mehaigne, and Marlborough drank the 
 
 157 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Spa waters but without much hope. He was anxious 
 for the future. To act offensively seemed almost 
 impossible. His abortive success was likely to 
 increase the difficulty of obtaining supplies for 
 another year and must strengthen his enemies 
 at home. And yet he had been most careful not 
 to have a direct complaint made from home to 
 the Dutch against the conduct of their generals, 
 preferring the indirect working of opinion and 
 private suggestion, and not wishing to spoil them, 
 should another chance of battle come, which he 
 thought shame would compel them to accept. 
 He repeated the hint that he wished to retire. His 
 spirit was broken, he said, and he must get away 
 and live quietly or die. But the Queen herself 
 wrote to say that she hoped that, for her country's 
 and her friends' sake, he would banish his melan- 
 choly thoughts. 
 
 It is doubtful whether his talk of retirement 
 was more than a threat to remind Anne and the 
 Dutch that he could not be done without. For 
 when he heard secretly that the French were 
 proposing terms of peace to the Dutch he took 
 a decided line with Heinsius that the English 
 would have no peace unless Charles had Spain 
 instead of the Bourbon Philip, and that the Duke 
 of Savoy should be *' our particular care."* But 
 the French were, in fact, offering only Naples 
 and Sicily to Charles, and the Duke of Savoy was 
 only promised an indemnity in general terms. 
 To Godolphin Marlborough wrote a letter saying 
 that he hoped to be able to break the negotiation 
 when he reached the Hague. He showed the same 
 determination when confronted by those at home 
 who stood in his way. To the Queen he sent the 
 
 * " English Historical Review," 1896. 
 
 158 
 
1705 
 
 simple advice that she should consult Godolphin 
 as to what should be done, in order to carry on 
 the war and oppose *' the extravagances of these 
 mad people." 
 
 The Spa waters or the troubles of the campaign 
 reduced Marlborough to such leanness that he 
 could not lie comfortable in bed. But he had still 
 a round of diplomatic visits to pay after leaving 
 the army at the end of October. The ministers at 
 Vienna wished to see him to arrange for troops 
 and money to save North Italy, and to complain 
 of the republicanism of Lord Sunderland and 
 the other English envoy, George Stepney (a 
 diplomatist and a poet whose juvenilia once upon 
 a time " made grey authors blush ") : Lord Sunder- 
 land, who was anxious to see some justice done 
 in Hungary, said that his coming was a necessity, 
 and that if he came there was nothing in the 
 power of the Court which he would not persuade 
 them to. The King of Prussia wanted payment 
 for his troops in Italy, or else the return of the 
 men. But the Emperor could ill spare them, 
 neither could the Dutch afford at once to pay 
 their arrears according to promise. So, said 
 Marlborough, he would endeavour that they 
 should give the King '* a great many good words." 
 The Duke himself was an adept at good words. 
 More than once, when the Dutch had resolved 
 to oppose a plan of his, he came in and spoke in 
 his bad French and overpowered them.* 
 
 On his way to Vienna he saw the dignified 
 Margrave with the bad foot, and no doubt taking 
 advantage of his success late in the campaign in 
 Alsace, talked to him without betraying the least 
 impatience or didike. Yet he came away from the 
 
 * Voltaire's " Charles XII." 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 interview without much confidence in what the 
 Margrave would perform in the coming year. '* I 
 do not intend to oppose his project," says Marl- 
 borough, " but I cannot rely on what he says." 
 On coming to Vienna he was reminded by a letter 
 from Eugene of the various armies to be main- 
 tained by the Emperor and the great loans 
 necessary. He promised a loan in the name of 
 England and Holland, pledging himself, so that 
 the bankers of Vienna made an immediate advance. 
 There was a hitch some time later when the 
 Imperial Minister had to write for the money or 
 else a plain statement that it could not be granted. 
 But Parliament did grant it. It was arranged also 
 for Stepney to leave Vienna for the Hague. But 
 when the Emperor complained of the Dutch, on 
 account of their negotiations with France and 
 backward payment, he soothed him and let him 
 see that " his affairs would not allow of his 
 quarrelling." By his intercession some good words 
 were promised both to the King of Prussia and 
 the Hungarians. And he personally received the 
 Emperor's portrait, a diamond ring, and a com- 
 pliment for '* the conqueror of Blenheim," from 
 Joseph himself. From the King of Prussia he 
 obtained consent to the renewal of the treaty for 
 sending troops to Italy and for himself a be- 
 diamonded sword. At the Court of Hanover he 
 had to deal with the old Tory Electress and the 
 Whig Elector. Anne was depending on him to set 
 these people right " in their notions of things here," 
 and, said she, " if they will be quiet I may be so 
 too." She did not want them in England, nor did 
 the Whig party. But he was able to inform them 
 the Whigs were passing a Bill to naturalise the 
 Elector and his family. So great was his success 
 
 1 60 
 
1705 
 
 that the Elector commanded him to assure the 
 Queen that " he would never have any thoughts 
 but what may be agreeable to hers." With the 
 Dutch, whom he came to last in December, he 
 got the spleen, and could have said more than he 
 did to Godolphin. He knew that they would go 
 on with the war, though not with the right vigour. 
 They were in a distracted state, and proposed to 
 send an Embassy to the Queen. And in the end 
 they promised their share of the money for Spain 
 and for Eugene's Italian army, and consented to 
 let a further 10,000 troops go to Italy and to 
 pay a third of the expense to England's two- 
 thirds. 
 
 On arriving in England at the end of the year, 
 Marlborough stepped into the usual tumult of 
 congratulation and political difference. While he 
 was trying to attack Villeroi on the Issche he 
 received news of the Tory cry that the Church 
 was in danger, and now it had just been decided 
 by vote in the Commons that those who accused 
 ministers of exposing the Church to danger (by 
 not passing the Bill against people who held office 
 but only went occasionally to church) were enemies 
 to Her Majesty. It had been a Whig and Tory 
 conflict. Somers, Halifax and Wharton all spoke 
 against the pretence that the Church was in danger. 
 Harley and a few " moderate Tories " were still 
 on the same side, but their party had been in a 
 minority in the Commons since the election in 
 the spring of 1705, and St. John had said in July 
 that though the moderates might cease to be Tories 
 they could never become Whigs. The Whigs had 
 now more claim than ever to offices in the Ministry. 
 Godolphin and the Duchess of Marlborough 
 approached the Queen to overcome her Tory 
 
 i6i M 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 scruples. The Queen applied directly to Marl- 
 borough ; and at last Cowper took the place of a 
 Tory as Lord Keeper, and a Whig Speaker was 
 chosen. The Queen's speech reflected Marl- 
 borough's opinion that Europe had to be saved 
 by England and Anne's resolution of carrying on 
 the war. " If the French King continues master 
 of the Spanish Monarchy," so ran the speech in 
 one place, " the balance of power is destroyed, 
 and he will engross the trade and wealth of the 
 world." There were still two Kings in Spain, and 
 Lord Peterborough's lightning operations and 
 bluff gave the English candidate a semblance of 
 a chance in 1705. 
 
 But the Tories wanted Marlborough's blood, 
 and soon had another cry. The Protestant suc- 
 cession was in danger, they said. The Electress 
 Sophia should be invited over so as to step straight 
 into Anne's shoes when the time came. But Anne 
 would not have the Hanoverians near her. Her 
 ministers, therefore, had to oppose the suggestion 
 and thus offend Sophia and give colour to the 
 Tory charge. To counteract these bad effects a 
 Bill was passed naturalising the Hanoverians. 
 And this the Tories opposed, with so much 
 rancour that one of them ventured to refer to 
 Marlborough as "a noble lord without whose 
 advice the Queen does nothing, who in the late 
 reign was known to keep a constant correspond- 
 ence with James at the Court of St. Germain's." 
 
 Under these attacks Marlborough either ex- 
 ecrated the vile faction or reminded the Duchess 
 that the best of men and women in all ages have 
 been ill-used. But he came round to the opinion 
 which Godolphin already held at home that the 
 Whigs must be welcomed as well as accepted for 
 
 162 
 
1705 
 
 allies. With all his heart he agreed to " live friendly 
 with those that have shown so much friendship 
 to you and service to the Queen." Anne herself, 
 too, was able to tell the Duchess that she was 
 sensible of the services *' those people " had done 
 her. Marlborough and Godolphin and Sunderland 
 and Harley and St. John and Halifax and Cowper 
 dined together. 
 
 163 
 
XVI : THE WONDERFUL YEAR 
 
 MARLBOROUGH left England in March, 
 1706, with some hope that he would 
 serve in Italy instead of the Netherlands, 
 and with authority to ask the Dutch to send a 
 detachment to Italy or, if they refused, to go 
 himself with the English troops. For he had reason 
 to believe, since the Blenheim campaign, that the 
 farther away he was from Dutch deputies and the 
 Hague, the easier it was to do as he wished. 
 Another campaign like the last or like that of 1703 
 he could not endure the thought of. The Emperor 
 proposed another campaign on the Moselle, and 
 undertook to see that the Margrave did his part, 
 but he refused. Then the people to whom he had 
 given good words in the past winter failed him : 
 the King of Prussia, the Emperor, and the Dutch 
 kept their differences as bright as ever. The Court 
 of Hanover were so ill-disposed that not even a 
 Garter would soothe them. Anne wrote them a 
 stiff letter for Marlborough to deliver, but he took 
 it upon him to withhold it, which she afterwards 
 approved. Neither the Dutch nor the German 
 princes wished their troops to go to Italy. Finally 
 Villars began a campaign on the Rhine by revers- 
 ing the Margrave's successes of the past year and 
 capturing his magazines, which alarmed the Dutch 
 and decided Marlborough to stay in the Nether- 
 lands. He joined the army near Tongres. " God 
 knows," he said, he had a heavy heart and no 
 
 164 
 
The Wonderful Year 
 
 prospect of doing anything considerable. But he 
 was at any rate not to be questioned or interfered 
 with by his Dutch subordinates. 
 
 Villeroi, with a French army of 62,000, lay 
 behind the Dyle at Louvain. 
 
 Marlborough intended to move first for Namur, 
 still without his Hanoverian troops, and with his 
 Danes immoveable until paid. This tempted 
 Villeroi out. Namur must be saved. The enemy 
 was weak and might be beaten at once. So he 
 marched south to Tirlemont, while the English, 
 with the Dutch, and at last the Danes also, com- 
 bined near Tongres, about 60,000 men in all. 
 Marlborough advanced westward between the 
 sources of the northward and southward flowing 
 streams towards Tirlemont. On the comparatively 
 high land about Ramillies the enemy blocked the 
 way. Cadogan, riding in advance, discovered them 
 in the morning fog of Sunday, May 23rd, quite 
 suddenly. While it was still uncertain whether it 
 was their main army, the whole of the allied army 
 came up, and, the sun breaking out, revealed the 
 two to one another. 
 
 The French were drawn up in a four-mile 
 crescent, their left at L 'autre Eglise, their right 
 at Taviers, on the Mehaigne. The village of 
 Ramillies marked their centre : behind it was a 
 noticeable large tumulus, called the Tomb of 
 Ottomond ; from it to Taviers the country was 
 open and gently undulating, a fine plain for 
 cavalry ; and there Villeroi had his best cavalrj 
 interlined with his best infantry. The left was 
 protected by the marshy ground in the fork be- 
 tween the head waters of two streamlets, the 
 Little Gheet and the Janche. Their artillery stood 
 as usual in front and chiefly before the centre. 
 
 165 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 They had outposts in the hedges about Franq- 
 uinaise, in front of their left, and the villages, 
 particularly Ramillies, were strongly held. 
 
 But Marlborough, coming up the slight ascent 
 over the undulations, saw that the enemy's left 
 was useless, because the marsh which lay in front 
 of it protected it, but so completely that it must 
 remain inactive or change its position. He there- 
 fore massed a good show of troops against that 
 left, and then, under cover of a fall in the land, 
 drew them nearly all off to his centre and left. His 
 whole line was scarcely above two miles and a half 
 in length, being straight. The enemy's four mile 
 line lay in a crescent bowed inwards, and therefore 
 obliging men who had to change their place to 
 travel further than if it were straight. 
 
 Villeroi, seeing the English troops facing his 
 left, expected to have most of the fighting there, 
 and reinforced it accordingly. But the attack 
 began upon the weakened centre and the right, 
 while Marlborough's right had nothing to do 
 until the end of the day. His left advanced through 
 the skirmishers and snipers in the hedges of 
 Franquinaise, to where the infantry massed in 
 and before Taviers opposed them. The fighting 
 was even there, and lasted so long that Villeroi 
 had time to bring back again some of the troops 
 from his left as reinforcements. But the Danish 
 hussars, getting between Taviers and the river, 
 cut some of these newcomers to pieces, and the 
 infantry also, before the village, drove back their 
 opponents until checked by the cavalry. Here the 
 allied cavalry of the left charged the enemy's and 
 broke them, but only their first line. They in turn 
 were thrown into a confusion. To some extent 
 they were relieved by the attack now made on 
 
 1 66 
 
The Wonderful Year 
 
 Ramillies and the French centre. To complete 
 their relief, Marlborough himself called up all 
 the horse from the right and charged with it. He 
 himself was unhorsed by a shot, but untouched. 
 When he was remounting, Colonel Bingfield, the 
 secretary, who held his stirrup, had his head 
 carried off. Still more cavalry came up, and he 
 led them in a charge that drove the French left 
 far back to the tomb of Ottomond. Ramillies itself, 
 its defence of artillery, its hedges, fences and 
 buildings lined with troops, French and Irish, 
 kept the allies busy for some time, fighting from 
 garden to garden in smoke and dust, and not a 
 bayonet left bright. When they got through the 
 village they were checked by two fresh battalions 
 of the enemy, and then knocked violently back 
 by galloping cavalry. But again Marlborough 
 appeared with his cavalry. They ran into the 
 French on the flank, cut the infantry to pieces and 
 drove off the cavalry. Thus the French right and 
 centre was driven back and huddled in confusion 
 near the tomb of Ottomond. There Villeroi tried 
 to reform them as a new line, but with his impotent 
 left as before. But now he had to contend with 
 his own baggage waggons, which had been left 
 behind his centre, and were now a terrible hin- 
 drance to his cavalry. And Marlborough was 
 ready to launch a fresh attack. First of all the 
 British troops from his right wing turned their 
 opponents out of the village of Offuz in the marsh. 
 The French cavalry tried to save the position, 
 but the Scots Greys intervened. This was the 
 beginning of the last great cavalry advance, and 
 it swept the enemy away. The Danish hussars 
 and the Scots Greys rode in amongst them con- 
 tinually. The Danes, said one who was there, 
 
 167 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 would not halt when ordered, but drove on 
 " Jehu-like," giving no quarter, while the English, 
 more merciful, gave quarter to the Regiment du 
 Roy when they laid down their arms at their 
 horses' feet and begged for their lives.* The 
 Spanish and Bavarian Horse Guards, even in the 
 presence of the Elector of Bavaria, could do 
 nothing but stand firm and be overwhelmed. And 
 after this the enemy simply fled, with or without 
 their arms, towards Louvain. The baggage and 
 most of the cannon were abandoned. Four thousand 
 of the French were killed, four thousand wounded 
 or taken prisoners ; seven thousand deserted. The 
 infantry continued to pursue through the night 
 for fifteen miles. Lord Orkney's squadrons did 
 not turn back until they had seen the fugitives 
 over the Dyle at Louvain. Finally the French left 
 Louvain and Brussels to their fate and took up a 
 position behind the Scheldt. Their wounded were 
 cared for under the orders of Marlborough, who 
 " always showed the utmost attention to his 
 prisoners and set the example of that humanity 
 which has since soothed the horrors and calamities 
 of war." f The cost to the allies was i,ioo killed 
 and 2,500 wounded, and a headache for days to 
 Marlborough. 
 
 Nothing could now stop Marlborough rejoicing 
 in the freedom from councils of war and in^the 
 belief that the *' blessing of God " was with his 
 army. Louvain, Brussels, Malines surrendered at 
 once. The French could have opposed him at 
 Ghent, but retired again, leaving him to take 
 Ghent instead of having to cross the Scheldt and 
 cut them out of their lines. The city welcomed the 
 
 • Quoted by Gerald B. Hertz in " United Service Magazine," 
 191 1, 
 t Duclos, quoted in Coxe 
 
 168 
 
The Wonderful Year 
 
 conqueror. " It really looks more like a dream 
 than truth," he said himself. Everywhere the 
 people declared for King Charles. Bruges sur- 
 rendered. Oudenarde, of its own accord, got rid 
 of its French garrison. Antwerp invited a siege, 
 but presently the Walloon half of the garrison 
 opened negotiations with Marlborough, and he 
 was admitted on condition that the French half 
 was allowed to retire to the army. Godolphin 
 hoped for Dunkirk. For, said he, we ought to get 
 what we could now, since it was unlikely that 
 anything much would be got by a peace. But first 
 Ostend and Nieuport and Ypres were to be 
 taken. Ostend was very strong, but the garrison 
 was partly native and the attack was fierce. War- 
 ships bombarded it from the sea ; by land it was 
 bombarded from batteries constructed on the 
 glacis itself ; and after a short siege it capitulated. 
 Menin was captured by assault before the end of 
 August. 
 
 As Marlborough had foreseen, the French had 
 to withdraw troops from France, and thus gave 
 Eugene the success which also he had foreseen, 
 saving Turin and driving the enemy almost from 
 Italy. These new troops, led by Vendome, made, 
 with those beaten at Ramillies and others from 
 the Rhine, an army of about 90,000, which looked 
 threatening, but did not save Menin. Thinking 
 Lille would be attacked next, they fell back be- 
 tween the Deule and Lys to cover it. But the allies 
 turned next to Dendermond, and " by the hand 
 of God which gave us seven weeks without any 
 rain," they took it, though Louis XIV said they 
 needed an army of ducks. Ath also fell to Overkirk. 
 He and Marlborough then united again midway 
 between Ath and Mons, and Vendome talked of 
 
 169 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 " paying them a visit," but never did. His men 
 were not eager to encounter Marlborough, at 
 whose name they would take off their hats. Mons 
 might now have been taken by the allies, which 
 would have given them an advantage at the open- 
 ing of the next campaign. The Dutch, however, 
 failed to supply the stores, and the Duke left the 
 army to Overkirk while he went negotiating and 
 receiving honours. Brussels treated him as it used 
 to treat Dukes of Burgundy. The people of 
 Amsterdam crowded the streets and windows, 
 shouting " Long live de Herzog von Marl- 
 borough."* 
 
 One of the effects of Ramillies, which gave 
 " Lou vain, Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges 
 and Ostend, with the greatest part of Brabant and 
 Flanders " to Charles III, was to bring Marlborough 
 an offer of the government of the Netherlands. 
 The Emperor hoped thus to save the country 
 from the Dutch, as well as to gain a powerful 
 administrator. Marlborough took steps to find 
 what the Queen thought, and how his friends in 
 Holland liked it. From the Queen and the ministers 
 he learnt that he should do as he thought best 
 for her service *' and the good of the common 
 cause." But the Dutch were so unkind as to think 
 the Emperor had done this to keep them out. He, 
 in reply, said that naturally he would take no 
 steps without consulting them, whose friendship 
 he preferred before his own interest. To Godol- 
 phin he said that he willingly gave up the j(^6o,ooo 
 a year because he thought it best, yet that he 
 hoped this *' compliance " would give him weight 
 with them. The Dutch, on the other hand, busied 
 themselves to get control of the Government, so 
 
 * John Hill Burton's '* Reign of Queen Anne." 
 
 170 
 
The Wonderful Year 
 
 that Marlborough had to remind them that their 
 rights were a good barrier and reasonable security. 
 With the utmost suavity he told them his thoughts 
 " without disguise." Two days later he disguised 
 them less, and said he hoped Godolphin would 
 find some way of " not letting them play the fool." 
 Yet the Queen " cannot give too kind an answer " 
 to their proposals — at the same time that she 
 must be careful to give Spain and Austria no 
 reason to be angry. The next plan was that England 
 and Holland jointly should govern in Charles Ill's 
 name. It did not please the Emperor, who wished 
 to do without Dutch help. And now Charles 
 himself confirmed the oflPer to Marlborough in a 
 manner suggesting that he accepted it, and the 
 Dutch were upset again, though the fact was that 
 the offer had been finally refused. 
 
 The question was complicated by the English 
 desire to have the Protestant succession guar- 
 anteed by the Dutch. For it was as the price of 
 this guarantee that the English offered a barrier 
 to protect Holland from France. The Dutch 
 wished that barrier to be as sound and thick as 
 possible. They were so extravagant that Marl- 
 borough feared it would hinder the treaty for the 
 succession. But what made them bold was not 
 only the knowledge that England very much 
 wanted their guarantee, but the talks they were 
 having with the French about a peace. Marl- 
 borough suspected this as early as July, because 
 they insisted so much about their barrier. By 
 September he thought them running very fast 
 towards peace, angry with the Emperor, jealous of 
 England. Marlborough himself was approached 
 by the Elector of Bavaria in October with a view 
 to " advancing a good so great and necessary to 
 
 171 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Europe which has too long suffered the inevitable 
 calamities of war." The good referred to was 
 peace. But as these separate approaches seemed 
 meant to divide the allies, in November the 
 English Government took notice of them by 
 giving the opinion that the allies should all be 
 parties together in any treaty. Holland declared 
 her willingness not to accept overtures for peace 
 without her allies. 
 
 Marlborough was relieved. He was sure that 
 if she had peace now France would soon be as 
 strong and ambitious as ever. The war, he said and 
 reiterated, must be carried on with vigour for 
 " another year." Godolphin agreed, and had 
 figures to show that France was fallen very low 
 and would be on her knees in a year. Then there 
 would be an *' honourable, safe, and lasting peace " 
 — the kind of peace that never was on sea or land. 
 By November, 1706, Marlborough, then, was 
 relieved by the resumption of an appearance of 
 unanimity among the allies, and hoped all would 
 agree that the war must be carried on till the 
 French were more reasonable. Non generant 
 aquilce columhas. They believe too firmly that from 
 the beginning wars begat treaties and treaties 
 begat wars, and are content to leave peaceable 
 citizens to puzzle over which came first. 
 
 172 
 
XVII: MARLBOROUGH AND GODOLPHIN 
 
 ARRIVING in England in November, 
 1706, Marlborough met with a good 
 reception. The Queen's speech might 
 have been written by himself ; for it spoke of 
 *' steady and serious resolutions to prosecute the 
 advantages we have gained, till we reap the desired 
 fruits of them in an honourable and durable 
 peace. The Lords also expressed a hope, by 
 continuing the war, to win a " just, safe and 
 honourable " peace, with the Protestant succes- 
 sion guaranteed, trade and commerce improved, 
 Charles III established in Spain, Holland with its 
 barrier. And the Commons, in the same way, 
 after congratulating the Queen on the successes 
 of 1706 " that no age can equal," made mention 
 of a " safe, honourable, and lasting peace." Six 
 millions of money were voted for the coming 
 year. It was also settled that the titles and honours 
 of the Duke, and the palace of Blenheim, should 
 descend through his daughter and their male 
 heirs, since he had no son. These descendants 
 were to have the pension of five thousand a year 
 " for the more honourable support of their dig- 
 nities." The standards taken at Ramillies were 
 exhibited. There were cavalcades that passed in 
 a few hours, and verses of praise and flattery that 
 never died because they never lived. In the 
 Government the Whigs took more places, Sunder- 
 land coming in as Secretary of State. Only St. 
 
 173 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 John and Harley remained, of the Tories, in 
 positions of power. 
 
 Marlborough, with the Duchess, Anne and 
 Godolphin, was now supreme. When the Duke 
 wrote to Godolphin, he spoke constantly of " you 
 and me." " You and I are in conscience and honour 
 bound ... to bring this war to a happy end." 
 Other men spoke of themselves as " trusty servants 
 to the Queen, and who are entirely attached to 
 your Grace and to my Lord Treasurer." The 
 words are St. John's ; and he goes on to speak of 
 every man " that wishes the Queen's glory and 
 prosperity, and that loves and honours my Lord 
 Treasurer and your Grace." Lord Sunderland 
 spoke of a letter being " for the service of the 
 Queen, your Grace and Lord Treasurer." When 
 Marlborough and Godolphin absented them- 
 selves from a Cabinet Meeting once, and Harley 
 attempted to begin the business, the Duke of 
 Somerset simply said he did not see how they 
 could go on without the General and Lord 
 Treasurer, and the Queen broke up the meeting. 
 And Somers once took the liberty to tell Anne 
 that the Duke was not merely a private subject. 
 The eyes of Europe were fixed on him, and business 
 was done with him as with one honoured by her 
 '* entire trust and favour." As all men depended 
 on him it gave full force and effect to all that he did. 
 The army unanimously obeyed him, because the 
 soldiers looked up to him for advancement. 
 Unspeakable inconvenience must ensue if any 
 alteration were made which could induce ill- 
 intentioned people to suppose that his position 
 was no longer the same. 
 
 Marlborough would write to Godolphin of the 
 necessity of letting Anne know *' what you and I 
 
 174 
 
Marlborough and Godolphin 
 
 think is her interest." It was implied over and 
 over again that without them England would be 
 lost. Marlborough wrote to Godolphin that he 
 did with all his heart wish England prosperity, 
 but that if she could not have it then it would be 
 some satisfaction to him that she was no longer 
 in his hands. In the same way he owned to the 
 Duchess he had a tenderness for the Queen and 
 could not agree with her opinion of her ; he could 
 only believe that all the mischief came from Mrs. 
 Masham's ambition and ill-judgment and Harley's 
 knavery and artfulness. He would protest some- 
 times to the Queen that so long as she was served 
 well he was indifferent who her servants were : 
 at the same time, he must add that if he were with 
 her and not in the Netherlands he could make 
 her see — ^" let " her see — ^what trouble she must 
 look forward to if she did without him and the 
 Lord Treasurer. This was by no means as far as 
 he sometimes went. 
 
 In the Examiner (No. 20) Swift said that the 
 ministry had introduced certain new phrases into 
 the Court style, such as " Madam, I cannot serve 
 you while such a one is in employment. I desire 
 
 humbly to resign my commission, if Mr. 
 
 continues Secretary of State . . ." Both Marl- 
 borough and Godolphin used this style. For 
 example, the Duke humbly acquainted the Queen 
 that " no consideration could make him serve any 
 longer with that man,*' Harley. Once, when 
 Amsterdam was pressing him to take steps towards 
 a peace, he told Anne that the reason was not fear 
 of France, but knowledge that she was resolved 
 to change parties. In the same letter he seems to 
 attempt to bowl the Queen over by suggesting 
 that he may die soon. He says that the French 
 
 175 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 have orders to venture a battle, and he will not 
 avoid it, thinking it absolutely necessary for her 
 service ; so that " God only knows," whether this 
 may not be the last letter he may have the honour to 
 write, which causes him to beg with the same 
 earnestness as if it were certainly to be his last, 
 that she will only listen to Godolphin, for he 
 would never have any thought but what was for 
 her honour and true interest. So when the Queen 
 congratulated him after Oudenarde, he took the 
 opportunity of saying that he wished to serve her 
 in the army only. But he went on to say that the 
 victory showed the hand of God and the favour of 
 Heaven to her ; and then that she must be con- 
 vinced now that he only lived to serve her and 
 thank God ; and at last, he told her that he 
 thought her obliged as a good Christian to forgive 
 and have no resentment against persons or parties, 
 but to make use of such as would carry on this 
 just war with vigour, which was the only way to 
 preserve our religion, liberties and her crown. 
 This he confirmed later by saying that he meant 
 she could make no good use of the victory unless 
 she followed Godolphin's advice ; in this also he 
 drew her attention to the fact that certain unkind 
 letters of hers before the battle had such an effect 
 on his body as to make him very ill. He was certain 
 that they could make the Queen comply " with 
 what was necessary for saving herself " if only 
 the Duchess, Godolphin, and he let her see that 
 they were in despair. Once he told Anne straight 
 that on the principle that " interest cannot lie " 
 they could have no other interest but hers, and to 
 make her throne powerful and stronger. They 
 were taking care of her as if she were already 
 imbecile, as Marlborough was reported to have 
 
 176 
 
Sidney Godolphin 
 After Kneller 
 
 'J'o face /4. 176. 
 
Marlborough and Godolphin 
 
 said she would be ; and they familiarly referred to 
 themselves as her friends in phrases like " If the 
 Queen is not governed by her friends." Godol- 
 phin told Marlborough that she should not be 
 ** countenanced and encouraged " in making 
 complaints of the Duchess. His woefulness was 
 very amusing when Anne stood out against him 
 with " unaccountable " obstinacy : the battle — 
 over an appointment for one of the Montagues — 
 might have lasted till now, he said, if the Prince 
 of Denmark had not thought fit to come in and 
 look as if he thought it were dinner-time. 
 
 Marlborough had at his disposal several varieties 
 of the indirect command to be used on Anne. 
 One was that, as he would in return for her many 
 favours die to make her government easy, he 
 would take the liberty, " with all submission on 
 my knees," to beg her for her own sake, the 
 good of her country, and all the liberties of 
 Europe — to let Godolphin have his own way. 
 Another form was : " For God's sake, madam, 
 consider that whatever may be said to amuse or 
 delude you, it is utterly impossible for you to 
 have ever more than a part of the Tories ; and 
 though you could have them all, '* their number 
 is not capable of doing you good. These things 
 are so plain that I can't doubt but your Majesty 
 will be convinced that nothing can be so fatal to 
 your service, as any way to discourage the Whigs » 
 at this time, when after the blessing of this victory, 
 you may be sure, that if you show a confidence 
 m their zeal for your interests, they will all concur 
 very cheerfully to make you great and happy as I 
 wish. God Almighty bless and preserve you." 
 When an enemy was to be promoted to the rank 
 of General he said that it would set up a standard 
 
 177 N 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 of disaffection to rally all the malcontent officers 
 in the army." But this was towards the end. 
 When he knew himself beaten he used phrases 
 which he could hardly have expected to act as 
 commands, as when he begged the Queen to 
 reflect what would be thought by all who had seen 
 the *' love, zeal, and duty " with which he had 
 served her, when they saw that all he had done 
 was not able to protect him against the malice of 
 a bedchamber woman. If only the Duchess could 
 have fought some of his campaigns for him and 
 left him to talk to the Queen all might have been 
 well. The Duchess was too hard, and Godolphin 
 too soft, or, what comes to the same thing in a 
 weak man, he was not adroit. 
 
 Marlborough and Godolphin were as two 
 halves of a whole. Godolphin did what he was told 
 and Marlborough always asked to be told what to 
 do, promising to be governed entirely by that. 
 Godolphin would ask Marlborough to write to the 
 Queen begging her to comply with a request he 
 (Godolphin) had made in vain, and insisting to her 
 that he (Godolphin) would never propose anything 
 which was not to her honour and advantage. 
 With or without such instructions Marlborough 
 was always advising her to trust Godolphin. The 
 ordinary form was that she ought to give him the 
 assistance he thinks proper and so enable her 
 business to go well. But once he put it in a form 
 showing perfectly how the sheep may be per- 
 suaded to think it leads the shepherd. It was, he 
 said, necessary and just that she should *' follow 
 her inclinations " and support the Lord Treasurer, 
 or all would go to confusion. To Godolphin he 
 said at this point : " whatever man is your enemy 
 shall never be my friend." Godolphin reciprocated 
 
 178 
 
Marlborough and Godolphin 
 
 with a promise to second what Marlborough 
 thought proper, however different it might be 
 from what he should have chosen. 
 
 Godolphin used Marlborough's phraseology 
 exactly, and when the Queen was refractory, spoke 
 of her unwillingness to do anything for " those who 
 have shown themselves most forward and zealous 
 in promoting all the present advantages." How 
 absolutely right he thought they were he showed 
 when he had failed with the Queen, by quoting : 
 ** If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither 
 will they be persuaded though one rose from the 
 dead." And he could put into Marlborough's 
 mouth the very words he would naturally use. 
 Thus he advised him to press the Queen by re- 
 minding her that he had done some successful 
 services to her and the country, and must beg 
 leave to look on his own enemies as hers and 
 would not therefore suffer these provocations to 
 hinder him from activity for her service and the 
 good of the country. When he was disgraced, he 
 advised Marlborough to tell the Queen how much 
 he was affected by the blow ; in fact, to such a 
 degree as would hardly leave him heart to carry 
 on her service as before, so that he hoped she 
 would let him retire. 
 
 The root of their difficulty lay in the fact that 
 all depended on Anne's submissiveness and that 
 this had been enforced by the Duchess, whose 
 power had for a long time been but a shadow. 
 The Queen had to be taken into partnership, nor 
 could they conceal from her the fact that she was 
 to have power only in so far as they exerted it for 
 her. Anne had as much respect for the Duke as 
 fear, but for the Duchess fear only. She was 
 restive. " Why, for God's sake," she asked, must 
 
 179 
 
The Life|of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 she be made miserable by having men of an in- 
 compatible temper, like Sunderland, thrust upon 
 her ? To admit Somers, again, seemed to her to 
 mean ** utter destruction " to her. When accused 
 of discussing things with Harley she had to dis- 
 claim it altogether, and some time afterwards she 
 protested that she had only Marlborough and 
 Godolphin to rely on, could refuse them nothing; 
 and though she called their talk of retiring 
 ** splenetic " she said it must not be, and to the 
 end she did such things as write out and sign a 
 letter sketched by the Prussian minister, shown 
 to Marlborough, transmitted by him to Godolphin 
 and then to her, and so to the minister, and finally 
 the King — a letter to the King of Prussia designed 
 to make him favourable to Anne and her Com- 
 mander-in-Chief. The Duchess, too, was per- 
 mitted to be truculent almost to the last. For a 
 long time Anne would still speak of preserving 
 for ever '* a most sincere and tender passion " for 
 her, and the Duchess would sign herself her 
 ** poor forsaken Freeman." But the Duchess 
 would neither accept her successor, Mrs. Masham's 
 position, nor take any steps to destroy it by 
 blustering. When the woman married secretly, 
 only the Queen knowing it, the Duchess must 
 treat it as if it were an affront ; for, under these 
 circumstances, she pleaded her right to know as 
 a relation. Naturally, then, at last Anne had to 
 tell her that the same kindness could never exist 
 again between them, but that she would be treated 
 as the Duke of Marlborough's wife and the 
 Queen's Groom of the State. 
 
 Marlborough and the Whigs knew as early as 
 1706 that she was " very ill with the Queen," as 
 Sunderland put it, for speaking and acting honestly. 
 
 180 
 
Marlborough and Godolphin 
 
 The Duke tried to induce her to be moderate, 
 but continued to confide in her and showed her 
 the Queen's letters to him with the warning that 
 she was to be careful not to betray the fact in 
 conversation, which would make the Queen more 
 shy. He hoped, too, that ways might be found to 
 make Mrs. Masham '* very much afraid." But he 
 had come in up the back stairs and he had to go 
 down that way, since he could not beat the bed- 
 chamber woman by riding the high horse or going 
 down on his knees. 
 
 In the year of Ramillies these things cast very 
 short, unapprehended shadows. Not yet was 
 Godolphin compelled to say that the Queen's 
 stubbornness made his life a burden, and repeat 
 the words of Lord Croft : ** Well, sirs, God's 
 above." 
 
 i8i 
 
XVIII : SIEGES AND OUDENARDE 
 
 THE year 1707 did Marlborough little 
 good. Spain was finally lost by the defeat 
 at Almanza. Eugene failed in an attack on 
 Toulon. Villars routed the Imperial army on the 
 Upper Rhine. England was strengthened by 
 union with Scotland, and the consequent lapse 
 of the Act of Security which might have brought 
 Scotland a separate King at Anne's death. But 
 those who liked the war were inclined to be satis- 
 fied with the success of 1706, and those who 
 disliked it saw only that nothing came of the 
 success. Even Marlborough, writing to Heinsius, 
 spoke of the scarcity of money in the country and 
 the decay of trade in the ports. 
 
 The campaign began in April with Marl- 
 borough's visit to Charles XII to divert him from 
 an alliance with France and from breaking with ^, 
 Germany. By diplomacy and money he succeeded r'^'^,< 
 Then in May he came to the Netherlands. The V-^' 
 defeat of Almanza had already been announced, 
 without producing any dissatisfaction among the 
 people of the Netherlands, who were not enjoying 
 the new united government. The French had 
 taken the field under Vendome and the Elector 
 of Bavaria at Mons, and the prospect of an invasion 
 of France from the point of leaving ojff in 1706 was 
 lost. Marlborough joined his army at Anderlercht. 
 The enemy moved to Sombreffe, the allies to 
 Soignies, and Marlborough was for advancing 
 
 182 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 to Nivelle to attack them, but the Deputies, after 
 giving their consent, decided that it was dangerous, 
 and they retreated to Beaulieu. Marlborough's 
 plan, then, was to obtain more freedom by telling 
 Heinsius that he intended not to take risks. But 
 for a long time the two armies sat at Meldert and 
 at Gembloux, each waiting for the other to make 
 the mistake of moving. 
 
 After six weeks the allies' army moved from 
 Meldert over the Dyle to Genappe, meaning to 
 offer battle, only to find Vendome made a " shame- 
 ful march " to Mons. Marlborough advanced to 
 Nivelle. Again he had hopes of getting into touch 
 with the enemy as they changed camps, but they 
 escaped to the neighbourhood of Mons. The allies 
 retired to Soignies again, where they had a fort- 
 night of rain. 
 
 The Duke himself, however, had at least some 
 entertainment from a visit paid him now by Lord 
 Peterborough, who was increasing his knowledge 
 of kings and postillions by a European tour, before 
 going home to give an account of his conduct to 
 Parliament. He was the man who called the two 
 claimants for the Spanish crown an odd " pair of 
 louts " to raise such a stir. He conjured with small 
 armies, and his quickness deceived the eye, and 
 when he had gone through all his tricks he fell 
 through a trap door, and, reappearing in the 
 Netherlands, came to see Marlborough. Marl- 
 borough did not like him, and had refused to let 
 his daughter marry the Earl's son. Moreover, he 
 had done Marlborough an ill turn under William 
 in the matter of Fenwick's plot. But the man was 
 by nature vinegar to the Duke's oil. He could 
 write, for example, and he could talk, brilliantly 
 and never discreetly, though he, too, could flatter 
 
 •83 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and He. There was nothing that might not be 
 expected from him, said Marlborough, who 
 had observed that the next misfortune to having 
 friendship with such people was having a dispute. 
 And after he had left Soignies the Duke wrote to 
 the Duchess bidding her be careful how she 
 answered him, if Peterborough wrote to her, '* for 
 sooner or later it will be in print." The Earl 
 carried with him a sort of letter of recommendation 
 to Godolphin, which said chiefly that so far as 
 the Duke was capable of judging he had " acted 
 with great zeal." 
 
 When the rain was over, Marlborough marched 
 to Ath and over the Dender to turn the enemy's 
 position at Chievres. But the enemy fell back to 
 the Scheldt. At Oudenarde he crossed the Scheldt 
 with every confidence that the enemy would avoid 
 battle. The most he could do was to drive them 
 into their own country ; and this he did. His 
 camping at Helchin forced them over the Scheldt 
 away to a strong post under the cannon of Lille, 
 well within their boundary. The artillery for 
 besieging Lille was not ready, and the rains began. 
 Here, therefore, the campaign ended in Septem- 
 ber, and Marlborough had time to digest the 
 news of the defeat at Toulon, to look about for a 
 successor to Stepney — " somebody that has 
 dexterity and no pride " — at the Hague, to 
 correspond with Godolphin about the next cam- 
 paign and the possibility of Eugene commanding 
 m Spain, and to wish he was nothing but a soldier, 
 with no Whigs, Tories, or bedchamber women 
 to consider. At the Hague in October he found 
 reason to expect nothing better next year from 
 the Dutch. So sick was he that he was genuinely 
 inclined to resign for fear of another blank year. 
 
 184 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 Nothing, he said, should prevail with him to lose 
 the reputation he had hazarded for the war. And 
 things were not " so well with the Queen " ; in 
 fact, he was not perfectly confident that if he and 
 Godolphin threatened to resign she would not 
 part with them ; for she had just chosen two 
 bishops who were more to Harley's taste than his, 
 and Harley was protesting that of course the 
 Duke and Godolphin were the fixed centre of 
 the nation, and that he himself was *' above 
 telling a solemn lie," and never spoke or thought 
 of those *' two persons," the bishops. The Duke's 
 last letter to the Duchess from the Hague pro- 
 nounced : '* Believe me, nothing is worth rowing 
 for against wind and tide — at least you will think 
 so when you come to my age." 
 
 This year he was home early — in the middle 
 of November. Except that there were no pro- 
 cessions, he might almost have been a victorious 
 general, so thick was the political air with quarrel 
 and discontent. He had always said that he belonged 
 to no party, which might have been explained by the 
 fact that the Queen was a Tory and his wife a 
 Whig, while he himself was naturally Tory, and 
 yet found his supporters chiefly among the Whigs. 
 Now it appeared that he and Godolphin had got 
 so far from the parties that they had both against 
 them. The Whig Lords spoke on the decay of 
 trade and the scarcity of money, and on the mis- 
 management of the Navy and the consequent 
 losses of merchant ships. Admiral Churchill, in 
 particular, a pure ancient Tory, naked and un- 
 ashamed, was pointed at for the bad state of the 
 Navy ; it was hoped that seamen would be 
 encouraged, trade protected, and a new spirit and 
 vigour put into the administration of the Navy. 
 
 i8s 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 And the Tory leaders appeared on the same side 
 as the Whigs. But their motives were not the 
 same. The Whigs, so far as their attitude was 
 interested, wanted to assert themselves and obtain 
 new power : the Tories wanted to destroy ; they 
 attacked Churchill in order to destroy Marl- 
 borough, and the Whigs drew back. This differ- 
 ence was increased when the case of Peterborough 
 came up. The Tories were willing to support him 
 to the end, which the Whigs could not do. He 
 was distinctly an opposition hero or man of straw. 
 When he was done with, the Tories crept nearer 
 to the Duke. The Whig Commons had voted the 
 supplies, and the Queen had repeated her desire 
 to bring the war to a safe and honourable con- 
 clusion, but in the Lords the Tories objected to 
 the war of offence in the Netherlands. There the 
 Duke was using great armies, while in Spain, 
 which the whole war was about, the smallest 
 armies were used, and Generals like Peterborough 
 took the blame. But for the time being the Duke 
 quieted his opponents by leading them to expect 
 that Eugene would take command in Spain and 
 that the Emperor in future would punctually 
 perform his promises. The Whigs then passed 
 resolutions for carrying on the war until neither 
 Spain nor the West Indies remained with France. 
 They had made a display of strength and gained 
 a bishopric and assurance from the Queen that 
 the Tories were to have no more. 
 
 The chief person to suffer was Harley, who 
 had once seemed a ** moderate Tory " created in 
 Marlborough's own image for use in Parliament. 
 He used to hope the Duke would rescue them 
 from the violence of either party, and to be " unable 
 to forbear " saying that he knew no difference 
 
 i86 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 between a mad Whig and a mad Tory. In reality 
 he was, hke Marlborough, for the Queen. By 
 means of Mrs. Masham he was hoping to " set 
 up for himself " with a new party, which, like 
 Marlborough's, was to be no party. But the result 
 of the latest shuffling was to place the Duke with 
 the Whigs, far too definitely and decisively for 
 his purpose. A clerk in Harley's office was found in 
 secret correspondence with France. He himself 
 was found trying to manipulate the moderate of 
 both parties for a coalition. He fell, therefore, 
 " under the displeasure of Godolphin," and 
 Marlborough told the Queen to regard him as 
 forced out of her service if she kept Harley in it. 
 He tried to carry on a Cabinet Meeting, from 
 which Marlborough deliberately kept away, and 
 failing altogether, he had to go. With him went 
 also St. John and others of that particular shade. 
 Robert Walpole came in as Secretary at War in 
 place of St. John. This was a victory, wrote 
 Bishop Burnet's wife, which might have as happy 
 effects as any of the Duke's. It coincided, too, 
 with the failure of a Jacobite conspiracy and 
 French invasion which had been wrung out of 
 the Stuart party, as a necessary effort, by the 
 union of England and Scotland. The French fleet 
 appeared off the Firth of Forth, but found an 
 English fleet there. This failure could not but 
 help to combine the Protestant parties for Anne 
 and the Protestant succession and against France, 
 and to discredit all Jacobite Tories. It should, there- 
 fore, have been a good moment for Marlborough 
 to leave England for another campaign, had not 
 the Duchess given the Queen an unusual amount 
 of trouble at the very moment when she was 
 sullen at parting with Harley, Abigail's relative. 
 
 187 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 As Eugene did not go to Spain, he became 
 Marlborough's colleague in the northern seat of 
 war. The Elector of Hanover commanded a lesser 
 army on the Rhine. Marlborough opened the 
 campaign near Brussels, while Eugene collected 
 an army that was to appear to act separately but 
 to be ever ready to unite with the other. Some 
 delay had been caused by Marlborough having 
 to go to Hanover to induce the Elector to take 
 the Army on the Rhine and promise him troops, 
 and also by the backwardness of the spring which 
 provided no grass for the horses till early May. 
 As usual, the Duke was full of complaints, be- 
 cause nobody was pleased though he gave himself 
 no rest and ruined his constitution : next winter 
 he hoped he might make it necessary that he should 
 stay abroad to avoid trouble at home. The French, 
 under Vendome, were as strong as ever again. 
 Marlborough, with a bad year behind him, was 
 also in a condition likely to produce a decisive 
 engagement if a chance were given. The allied 
 army was some 70,000 strong. The French had 
 nearly 100,000, but some of these were likely to 
 be drawn upon for the other quarters of the war. 
 
 The enemy moved first towards the forest of 
 Soignies, which drew Marlborough to the south 
 of Hal. And here they might have fought over the 
 question of Brussels had Eugene been able to 
 come up. The French seemed to be inclined for 
 an action. Instead they moved on towards 
 Louvain, and Marlborough, moving more rapidly 
 stood between them and the Dyle on their arrival. 
 Nothing was done there. Eugene was again sent 
 for. He was to come with his cavalry rapidly 
 through Maestricht, and the Duke would make 
 his dispositions for the moment of his arrival. 
 
 188 
 
Td ^ 
 
 O > 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 The next move, however, was Vendome's. At the 
 beginning of July he marched to Hal, and at the 
 same time Bruges and Ghent admitted some of 
 his officers by a preconcerted treachery. They 
 took Plassendael, they threatened Oudenarde, 
 and intended to take up a position at Lessines to 
 cover the siege. Marlborough himself had to stay 
 at Assche covering Brussels, but Oudenarde was 
 strengthened, and at this moment Eugene arrived, 
 without an army but with a stimulus to general 
 and men. Very rapidly the army marched from 
 Assche to Lessines on the Dender, so as to arrive 
 before Vendome, which they did during the night. 
 The enemy fell back to cross the Scheldt at Gavre, 
 to the north of Oudenarde. Marlborough was 
 between them and France : if he could reach 
 Oudenarde in strength before them he would 
 still be so. The army marched again therefore at 
 daybreak, with an advance party under Cadogan 
 to bridge the Scheldt near Oudenarde. The 
 enemy were over first. Their advance guard coming 
 down the river on the far side could see the mass 
 of the allies still on the other side, but the cavalry 
 crossing. Vendome would have attacked at once, 
 but he had a royal Duke with him, the Duke of 
 Burgundy, who could do as he wished. Vendome 
 preferred to occupy the villages close down along 
 the river. The Duke of Burgundy preferred the 
 higher ground above the brook Norken, which 
 runs parallel to the Scheldt and about two miles 
 north of it. For the most part this higher ground 
 above Huyse was chosen : only a small detach- 
 ment by a mistake occupied the village of Eyne. 
 By the time these men reached Eyne some of the 
 allied infantry and cavalry were ready for them, 
 attacked them there, and killed, captured or 
 
 189 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 scattered the whole. Prince George of Hanover, 
 afterwards George II, fought here with great 
 bravery. When his horse was shot under him he 
 charged on foot, sword in hand, and brought off 
 an officer prisoner.* 
 
 The Duke of Burgundy would have been willing 
 to avoid a battle even now, too late. But still he 
 could not decide whether to attack or to wait for 
 the enemy. He did both. He waited above the 
 Norken, and he sent cavalry down towards Oud- 
 enarde, and he recalled those cavalry. When the 
 allies had almost all crossed the Scheldt the Duke 
 of Burgundy again thought he would advance, 
 and Vendome advanced, but was ordered to remain 
 on the left. Marlborough had nothing to fear on 
 his right. Towards the as yet uncompleted left 
 came the French infantry, thirty battalions of 
 guards. The allied infantry in Groenwald were 
 pressed back, but it was a much enclosed country 
 about a brook, and they made a stubborn resist- 
 ance behind the hedges. The superior numbers 
 of the French, however, were not fully occupied, 
 and could extend along the brook and occupy 
 villages further to their right, outflanking their 
 opponents. Marlborough was ready with relief. 
 His fresh infantry stopped the French at close 
 quarters, got in amongst them, and heaved them 
 back to a certain distance, where for a time 
 they kept the enemy employed without giving 
 way. 
 
 On the right Eugene advanced and broke the 
 first line of the enemy. The Prussian cuirassiers 
 coming in then charged through the second to 
 the chapel of Royeghem, near the Norken brook ; 
 but there they in turn were stopped by French 
 
 * Millner. 
 
 190 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 squadrons and riddled by bullets from every 
 hedge around them. 
 
 Marlborough, at the centre, pressed back the 
 enemy as far as Diepenbech by stern fighting 
 from hedge to hedge. It was while he paused there 
 that he saw the opportunity which he won the 
 victory by taking swiftly. The French right 
 reached only to the foot of the hill of Oycke. The 
 higher ground, capped by a windmill, was un- 
 occupied. To this then he sent Overkirk with 
 infantry and the Danish cavalry. When this ex- 
 tended left had touched the village of Oycke, with 
 its left it began to turn upon its right, down upon 
 the hostile right flank so as to enclose it and to 
 threaten its line of retreat back to the Norken 
 and the hills of Huyse. This enclosing movement 
 was continued until the line of retreat was quite 
 cut off and the hostile right was being attacked 
 on both sides. Their cavalry trying to break out 
 were killed or captured. 
 
 Vendome himself tried to stiffen the centre by 
 dismounting and leading the infantry from the 
 extreme left, but in vain. The ground was difficult, 
 the battle already lost. The right was being 
 annihilated, and would have been so entirely but 
 that in the falling darkness the right of Eugene 
 and the extreme left were beginning to fire into 
 one another. At nine, therefore — it was a July 
 evening, July nth — the troops were ordered to 
 halt where they stood. Thus the enemy's centre 
 escaped. In order to retire regularly Vendome 
 would have united the infantry that was still 
 almost untouched, on the left at MuUem, to the 
 fragments of the right. But the majority were 
 panic-stricken, and he could make but a small 
 rearguard to cover their flight. 
 
 191 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 Marlborough and Eugene were in no condition 
 for a regular pursuit. Night coming they were 
 forced to leave the enemy, who were " glad to go 
 so well off with their warm supper."* But still more 
 French were decoyed by the allied drummers 
 beating the French assembly while some French 
 refugee officers gave the rallying words of the 
 regiments ; and at dawn next day forty squadrons 
 of the allied cavalry were sent to goad the 
 flight. 
 
 The French lost 4,000 killed and 2,000 wounded 
 and 9,000 prisoners ; 5,000 deserted. The allies, 
 who had marched nearly fifty miles in the sixty 
 hours preceding the battle, lost perhaps 5,000 
 killed and wounded. The dead and the crying 
 wounded lay in every hole and corner of the 
 field, f in that narrow space where the allied left 
 had rolled round their right. Marlborough told 
 the Duchess there was much blood, but thanked 
 God the English had suffered least, being on the 
 right. For thus protecting him and making him 
 the instrument of so much happiness to the Queen 
 and nation (if she would please to make use of it), 
 he thanked God. But his head ached terribly. He 
 wished he could have had two hours or even one 
 hour more of daylight to destroy the enemy and 
 " finish the war." 
 
 On the next day he sent on Count Lottum to 
 the enemy's lines between Ypres and Warneton, 
 which were captured at once, just before Berwick 
 came up from the Moselle with a reinforcement. 
 Marlborough, with his main army, took up his 
 position between Menin and Comines on the 
 15th. He was to be reinforced by Eugene's army. 
 
 * John Marshall Deane. 
 t Ibid, 
 
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Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 France lay open to him. His advance parties 
 burnt the suburbs of Arras. They exacted five 
 hundred thousand crowns from Artois, and hoped 
 for as much from Picardy. A small party of English 
 had landed in Normandy to co-operate in the 
 invasion of France. But the French were still 
 masters of Ghent, denying him the use of the 
 Scheldt and the Lys ; nor had he cannon yet for 
 a siege. Lille, then, he proposed to mask and to 
 push on into France. 
 
 But both Eugene and the Dutch thought this 
 too bold. To take Lille was considered necessary 
 first, and was begun in the middle of August. 
 Fifteen thousand soldiers, under Boufflers, de- 
 fended it. Vendome and Berwick, with over a 
 hundred thousand men lay near, to molest the 
 besiegers or cut off their communications. Half 
 of the allies' much smaller army was occupied at 
 Lille under Eugene. Marlborough, with the other 
 half at Helchin, covered the siege and watched 
 the movements of the enemy. Many troops had 
 to be detached also to safeguard the stores and 
 artillery coming from Brussels. The siege materials 
 alone employed sixteen thousand horses. 
 
 When the second parallel of the besiegers' 
 entrenchments had been drawn, the guns mounted 
 and brought to bear, and some assaults made on 
 the fortifications, Vendome and Berwick com- 
 bined their armies near Lessines. Marlborough 
 waited for them. His troops were in good heart, 
 their foot, he believed, in a bad condition. Eusjene 
 was with him in consultation. Moreover, their 
 two marshals differed in opinion, which gave him 
 time to entrench. In any case, he wished they 
 would venture, and thought ** with the blessing 
 of God" to beat them. The enemy came round 
 
 193 o 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 France lay open to him. His advance parties 
 burnt the suburbs of Arras. They exacted five 
 hundred thousand crowns from Artois, and hoped 
 for as much from Picardy. A small party of English 
 had landed in Normandy to co-operate in the 
 invasion of France. But the French were still 
 masters of Ghent, denying him the use of the 
 Scheldt and the Lys ; nor had he cannon yet for 
 a siege. Lille, then, he proposed to mask and to 
 push on into France. 
 
 But both Eugene and the Dutch thought this 
 too bold. To take Lille was considered necessary 
 first, and was begun in the middle of August. 
 Fifteen thousand soldiers, under Boufflers, de- 
 fended it. Vendome and Berwick, with over a 
 hundred thousand men lay near, to molest the 
 besiegers or cut oflf their communications. Half 
 of the allies' much smaller army was occupied at 
 Lille under Eugene. Marlborough, with the other 
 half at Helchin, covered the siege and watched 
 the movements of the enemy. Many troops had 
 to be detached also to safeguard the stores and 
 artillery coming from Brussels. The siege materials 
 alone employed sixteen thousand horses. 
 
 When the second parallel of the besiegers* 
 entrenchments had been drawn, the guns mounted 
 and brought to bear, and some assaults made on 
 the fortifications, Vendome and Berwick com- 
 bined their armies near Lessines. Marlborough 
 waited for them. His troops were in good lieart, 
 their foot, he believed, in a bad condition. Eu;^ene 
 was with him in consultation. Moreover, :heir 
 two marshals differed in opinion, which gave liim 
 time to entrench. In any case, he wished they 
 would venture, and thought *' with the blessing 
 of God" to beat them. The enemy came r.;and 
 
 193 o 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 through Orchies and waited, while an appeal was 
 made to the Court for directions. Chamillart 
 arrived, and together they decided that the position 
 was too strong. They appealed to Versailles again. 
 
 Marlborough would have come out at them, 
 had the Dutch deputies not been alarmed. Ber- 
 wick himself thought the French would have lost. 
 When at length orders came to Vendome to risk 
 an attack it was too late ; he took his army across 
 the Scheldt, where he could threaten Brussels, 
 Oudenarde and Menin. 
 
 The siege went ill. The engineers dissatisfied 
 Marlborough. The storming parties suffered to 
 the extent of four and five thousand in a day on 
 two occasions, and in one of them, where 3,000 
 British fell, Eugene was wounded. For some time, 
 therefore, Marlborough had charge of his army 
 and the siege, too. It was during these days, at 
 the end of September, that the French rushed a 
 large supply of gunpowder into Lille. The horse- 
 men, carrying each a sack of powder, bore the 
 friendly sign of a green sprig in their hats, and 
 when challenged gave themselves out as German 
 dragoons. A large number got through before the 
 ruse was discovered, and then of those in the rear 
 a good many were blown to pieces by the powder 
 exploding under the enemy's fire. But half of them 
 — ^they had been 2,500 — got through to the 
 besieged. 
 
 Marlborough had now to open a new line of 
 communication, since the French mastered the 
 one to Brussels ; and he chose Ostend, where 
 supplies had arrived with the General Erie, who 
 had made the useless attempt on the coast of 
 Normandy. After draining an inundation between 
 Ostend and Nieuport and bridging the Nieuport 
 
 194 
 
CD u 
 
 <f. 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 Canal, the way was open, and seven hundred 
 waggons were ready to travel by Thourout and 
 Roulers. The enemy sent 22,000 men, under 
 Count de la Mothe, to Bruges for attacking it. 
 To defend it Brigadier Webb went to Thourout 
 a third of the way from Ostend, with 8,000 men. 
 Cadogan was at Roulers, the half-way house, with 
 cavalry. And there were 2,500 men escorting it 
 when the convoy left Bruges. When the waggons 
 were coming through Cochlaer, Webb had news 
 that De la Mothe was at Ichteghem, five miles 
 off. He moved in that direction and posted himself 
 at Wynendael in a gap among woods which the 
 enemy must pass through. Infantry in the woods 
 on both sides and infantry and artillery across 
 the gap had made it impregnable when de la 
 Mothe arrived, after being amused and delayed 
 by a few of Count Lottum's cavalry. Some time 
 was wasted in cannonading which effected little 
 before the enemy attempted the gap. It was nearly 
 dark, and the fire of the infantry and grenadiers 
 at close quarters on both sides took them by 
 surprise. The cavalry coming up only completed 
 the slaughter and confusion. De la Mothe moved 
 off before a general advance and the convoy was 
 through. Four thousand was the French loss, the 
 allies' under one thousand. Cadogan, coming up 
 after seeing the convoy pass, wanted to charge 
 the retreating force with his cavalry, but Webb 
 was content. It was Cadogan who brought the 
 news to Marlborough, who at once congratulated 
 Webb. In a letter to Godolphin he spoke of Webb 
 and Cadogan, having done well " as they always 
 do." If they had not succeeded the convoy must 
 have been lost and the siege of Lille raised. But 
 when the Gazette printed the news on October 
 
 195 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 3rd it was Cadogan who was reported the victor, 
 this being a mistake or a part of a plot, for the 
 Duke's Secretary, Cardonnel, had so announced 
 it to the editor, Steele. Cadogan was a Whig and 
 a favourite of Marlborough's. And Webb, 
 
 As Paris handsome and as Hector brave, 
 
 went home to tell the Queen about it and his 
 account duly appeared in the Gazette. Here then 
 was a tale that could be used to adorn an argument 
 against Marlborough or Whigs in general, and it 
 was so used, for Webb was a friend of Swift. Yet 
 Marlborough hoped that he would be made 
 Lieutenant-General for the action, and he was. 
 
 Lille was not taken yet. Vendome flooded the 
 country again, which Marlborough countered by 
 low boats and high carts to carry ammunition, 
 packed in skins. When the road from Ostend was 
 at length closed by the surprising of Nieuport 
 and a hostile garrison there, Lille was doomed. 
 The assault was prepared, and Boufflers capitu- 
 lated on October 23rd. But there was still the 
 citadel, which the surviving 5,000 men of the 
 garrison now entered. Marlborough was prepared 
 for a winter campaign, and the enemy was made 
 to suff"er for it by his foraging parties in Artois and 
 Furnes, supported by detachments at La Bassee, 
 at Lens and at Dixmude. A new enemy now 
 appeared. The Elector of Bavaria came to Mons 
 at the end of November with 15,000 men from 
 the Rhine and proceeded to threaten Brussels. 
 Nor, it seemed, could Marlborough relieve it, 
 since Vendome held the Scheldt at a series of 
 strong positions from Tournay to Ghent, but 
 especially about Oudenarde. Marlborough re- 
 sorted to a trick. He pretended that his army was 
 
 196 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 to be put into cantonments till the end of the siege 
 and would then approach Ghent. The field 
 artillery was sent to Menin, quarters for the 
 Commander-in-Chief were fixed at Courtray. 
 The army itself was looking forward to rest, when 
 the order came to march. Detachments went 
 ahead to throw bridges over the Scheldt above 
 and below Oudenarde, the plan being to rush 
 through the lines of the Scheldt to Brussels while 
 the enemy were still drowsed by the rumour that 
 the allies were at rest. The enemy were not pre- 
 pared. A thick fog hung over the river. The whole 
 army crossed unmolested. The Elector of Bavaria, 
 who had summoned Brussels to surrender and 
 begun to storm it, heard the news and left before 
 Marlborough with a detachment reached Alost. 
 So precipitately had he gone that he left his cannon 
 and his wounded to the enemy. 
 
 Communications between Lille and Brussels 
 were now safely re-opened, and Eugene informed 
 Boufflers of it and suggested favourable con- 
 ditions for a surrender. But the old marshal 
 waited yet another week before leaving the citadel 
 and setting free the allies' army, which had been 
 reduced by about one half. It was December i ith, 
 and the fourth month of the siege was almost at 
 an end. Though the usual time for going into 
 winter quarters was passed, Marlborough secured 
 his communications by bridges over the Scheldt 
 and Lys and began the siege of Ghent, while 
 Eugene covered it with the rest of the troops. 
 The weather was cold and foggy, and frost delayed 
 the opening of trenches and froze the canals. 
 Marlborough got wet feet every day in the trenches 
 and a cold and sore throat. But Ghent surrendered 
 on January ist, 1709. At the same time the enemy 
 
 197 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 abandoned Bruges, and the campaign was now 
 ended, to Marlborough's " heart's desire." The 
 army went into winter quarters. 
 
 After so much war Marlborough immediately 
 began a long campaign of peace. Secret unofficial 
 negotiations between France and Holland had 
 been going on for some time, and now Marl- 
 borough was to take his part. The basis suggested 
 by Louis was that he should not have Spain, the 
 Indies, Milan, or the Netherlands ; that the 
 Dutch should have a barrier. Marlborough trans- 
 mitted the proposal to Godolphin and the Queen, 
 without himself offering an opinion, but urging 
 that the Dutch should not be informed yet of the 
 terms in case they should insist on peace. In fact, 
 he was against the peace. He drew attention to the 
 activity which the French were already showing 
 in collecting troops and stores, and gave his 
 opinion that they were not yet brought nearly so 
 low as was imagined in England. 
 
 At the beginning of March, 1709, he arrived 
 in London. The Peers congratulated and thanked 
 him and carried an address that the Queen should 
 include among the conditions of peace the 
 acknowledgment by Louis of the Queen's title 
 and the Protestant succession, and the removal 
 of the Pretender out of France. The Commons 
 added that Dunkirk harbour and fortifications 
 ought to be demolished. News then arrived that 
 the French had made fresh proposals at the Hague, 
 this time to the Dutch Government openly. They 
 would give up Spain, the Indies, Milan — the 
 Netherlands as at the Peace of Ryswick, and 
 Menin, too, hardly Lille, but Ypres instead of it. 
 The Empire was to be as after Ryswick. Th 
 terms were not refused. Eugene was coming to 
 
 198 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 represent the Empire. Marlborough went over 
 for England, with these conditions to insist on, 
 that the whole Spanish monarchy should be 
 restored to the House of Austria, the Queen's 
 title and the Protestant succession acknowledged, 
 the Pretender removed, Dunkirk demolished, a 
 barrier ensured to the Dutch with the Queen's 
 guarantee if they in return would guarantee the 
 Protestant succession. Heinsius at once told him 
 that terms so extreme would ruin the negotiations. 
 He in his turn thought the barrier required by 
 the Dutch — to include Ostend and Dendermond 
 — exorbitant, '* a small kingdom." The Dutch, 
 too, distrusted him because the offer of the Gov- 
 ernment of the Netherlands had been renewed 
 after Oudenarde. He had not positively rejected 
 it. Somers advised him to accept ; the Queen left 
 it to him. The Dutch, too, believed that he was 
 prolonging the war for his own purposes, while 
 they fought only with great reluctance for practical 
 ends which they now saw within reach. 
 
 There is little doubt but that Marlborough 
 preferred war abroad to the kind of peace he would 
 have had at home between the politicians and the 
 Duchess. It was his element, and he was supreme 
 in it. Being a man of genius as soldier and diplo- 
 matist, and being in no form a man of pleasure, 
 he would naturally give up very reluctantly what 
 was life to him. And so long as he was abroad 
 winning a battle now and then he suffered 
 comparatively little from his English enemies. 
 Godolphin bore the brunt. He himself remained 
 indispensable to the Queen. Moreover, he made 
 money by salaries, percentages, sales of commis- 
 sions, perquisites, etc. But at home, the clever 
 Whigs, uncomfortable men, younger men than 
 
 199 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 himself for the most part, would have made life 
 intolerable. He preferred Cadogan or Villars. At 
 the same time he was always talking about an 
 honourable, safe and lasting peace. If Holland 
 would go on another year he said in 1706 such a 
 peace might be expected. Whenever he won a 
 battle he said that now you could have any terms 
 you wished. This remark alternated with the other 
 one that you must let the French see that the war 
 will be carried on till you can have a good peace. 
 What he meant when he said over and over again 
 that he was tired and wanted to be quiet if only 
 the Queen was safe, who knows ? Was it as much 
 as an idle dream when he wished that the cam- 
 paign would be successful so that he could have 
 the happiness of being with the Duchess in quiet 
 next summer for the remainder of his Hfe ? It 
 seems possible that when he was exhausted and 
 felt his age he exaggerated to himself the pleasures 
 of ease, but that his normal condition of activity 
 was really satisfying on the whole, and that he 
 had perhaps intimations that should it cease by 
 some mischance he would become scrap iron. Of 
 course he knew and felt that as a general and a 
 diplomatist, as ruler of England, he should bring 
 the war to an end at some time, and his conscience 
 reminded him of it at intervals. But he knew also 
 that at any time he could make peace, if he wished, 
 on fair terms. 
 
 Now, in the winter of 1708- 1709, after a very 
 long campaign, he saw that peace might be un- 
 avoidable. That he believed it seems certain from 
 the letters to the Duchess where he requests her 
 to have the sideboard of plate in readiness, and 
 reminds her that he must now have a canopy or cha r 
 of State which he has never had since the Queen's 
 
 200 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 accession. As he was nearly fifty-nine, the weakness 
 would have been excusable had he grasped 
 eagerly at peace. It is said that there was, how- 
 ever, one particular reason why he did not. His 
 nephew, the Duke of Berwick, relates that in 1708 
 he received a private letter from Marlborough 
 signifying that it was a favourable moment for 
 peace negotiations. He did it through his nephew, 
 thinking it might advantage him. But de Chamillart 
 ** through excess of policy " thought the overture 
 due to the bad situation of the allies, though 
 Berwick was sure that apprehension had no share 
 in the matter. De Chamillart's answer so offended 
 Marlborough, says his nephew, that it was the 
 principal cause of his aversion to peace thereafter. 
 After a visit to England, Marlborough came 
 back to the Hague with Lord Townshend as a 
 fellow plenipotentiary. They were to insist further 
 that certain towns, from Furnes along the frontier 
 to Maubeuge, should be delivered by France to 
 King Charles, that the French Protestants should 
 be restored to their civil and religious rights, that 
 a commercial treaty favourable to England should 
 be prepared, that Newfoundland and Hudson's 
 Bay were to be restored. The French tried to get 
 at the allies separately. They are said to have 
 offered Marlborough four millions if he obtained 
 certain concessions for Louis. But he maintained 
 that Philip was to have no compensation. Lest 
 he should look singular, he appears not to have 
 contested the humiliation clause that Louis should 
 himself take steps to turn his grandson out of 
 Spain. He said, too, that he should do all he could 
 to keep up the spirit there was in Holland against 
 the French. He repeated that ** in one year more " 
 they could have what peace they liked. Yet he 
 
 201 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 appears to have been surprised when Louis re- 
 fused the terms, and announced to his people that 
 if he must continue the war it was better to con- 
 tend with his enemies than with his own family. 
 In the negotiations following between England 
 and Holland, Marlborough still showed his fear 
 that the Dutch would concede something of 
 Spain to Philip, and that once their barrier was 
 assured they would think only of peace. Nor did 
 he sign the treaty, with Townshend, because he 
 disliked the sort of peace which it boded. 
 
 On the whole, another campaign must have 
 been a more agreeable prospect for him than a 
 peace. At the thanksgiving for the victory of 
 Oudenarde, the Duchess had treated the Queen 
 to an exhibition of all her tantrums, reproach- 
 ing and commanding her. Yet the Whigs were 
 still relying on her to get what they wanted out 
 of the Queen, and as she herself was powerless, 
 Marlborough had to do it himself. He had thus to 
 force Somers upon the unwilling Queen as 
 President of the Council. To offend the Queen 
 or the Whigs was inevitable, and he could not 
 choose : so strong was his wiiFe, and so necessary 
 was it that he should still believe that the Queen 
 would stand anything. What wonder that Anne 
 should prefer Tories ? They were mostly stupid, 
 but so was she, and she was a Tory, and so were 
 her friends. The Whigs were the friends, or had 
 been, of those who were no longer her friends. 
 And for the same reason the Whigs had no more 
 need to fear than to like Godolphin. He was no 
 Whig, and his Toryism was no longer sacred to 
 Anne since he had helped to thrust so many Whigs 
 on her. The Duke, too, with his impossible and 
 now useless wife, was not one of them. Perhaps 
 
 202 
 
Sieges and Oudenarde 
 
 they could do better if they took to Harley and 
 Mrs. Masham instead, duller people whom it was 
 easier to manipulate. At any rate, they succeeded 
 almost in making a Tory of the Duchess by their 
 approach to Mrs. Masham and retirement from 
 herself. 
 
 203 
 
XIX : MALPLAQUET 
 
 THANKS to long preparations and the 
 King's appeal, the French had as strong an 
 army as ever in 1709 when Villars took 
 the field in May at Lens. Next month the Marshal 
 was joined by the old Pretender, with a recom- 
 mendation from Madame de Maintenon, saying 
 that he was an adventurer who would need nothing 
 more if he died, while if he lived he would have a 
 reputation that might be useful to him.* Negoti- 
 ations were about to be broken off when the 
 allies also took the field in June between Menin 
 and Oudenarde. They had over a hundred 
 thousand men, the French ninety thousand. 
 Marlborough and Eugene moving past Lille into 
 France, encamped beside the upper Deule, 
 opposite the enemy's strong lines that stretched 
 fromAunayby La Bassee to Bethune. Villars drew 
 in behind the lines, in case of an attack, even parts 
 of the garrison of Tournay. In reality his position 
 was too strong, but Marlborough pretended to be 
 about to attack it at La Bassee, and then, by a 
 sudden and silent movement, withdrew to Tournay. 
 He surrounded the town unexpectedly, while it 
 still lacked part of its garrison. It was still excep- 
 tionally strong in its fortifications, and Villars, 
 expecting it to occupy the allies the whole of the 
 campaign, set to work to strengthen his lines and 
 continue them along the Scarpe to the Scheldt. 
 
 * Villars. 
 
 204 
 
Malplaquet 
 
 But at the end of July the town capitulated before 
 Villars could carry out his intention of breaking 
 through the besiegers. The garrison retired into 
 the citadel for another siege. The " infernal 
 labyrinth " of subterranean works, defensive and 
 offensive, made the warfare the most horrible to 
 which men had at that time advanced. Soldiers 
 refused to enter some of the dungeons, until led 
 on by experienced miners, or driven by the en- 
 couragements of Eugene and Marlborough visiting 
 the trenches in person. By the beginning of 
 September, nevertheless, a general assault was 
 ready. The garrison hung out a white flag and 
 surrendered the citadel. They, or the two-thirds 
 of the original number surviving, returned to 
 France to serve, when an equal number of prisoners 
 had been restored. The besieged had lost nearly 
 two thousand killed, the besiegers five thousand. 
 The only relief seems to have been hunting, 
 for in August Villars sent back some hounds with 
 huntsmen who were taken at the gate of Mar- 
 chiennes, saying that he did not really suspect 
 them of curiosity about Marchiennes, but 
 counted on their not hunting another time so near 
 him. 
 
 Marlborough at once set about his next business 
 of investing Mons and breaking through the 
 lines of the Trouille, the Trouille being the tribu- 
 tary which enters the Haine near Mons. Lord 
 Orkney went ahead to take St. Ghislain and cross 
 the Haine there, but failed and crossed at Havre, 
 on the east of Mons. The main army crossed the 
 lines of thf. Trouille successfully, isolating Mons. 
 But Villars lay ready in a strong position behind 
 the forest land between Mons and Bavai, with 
 his left to the Haine. If the enemy advanced they 
 
 205 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 must pass either through the woods or by one of 
 the two gaps of Boussu and Aulnois, which Villars 
 watched.* On September 9th the armies faced 
 one another through the gap of Aulnois. 
 
 It is a comparatively high country, little broken 
 with features of interest or of advantage to armies 
 manoeuvring. The woods of beech, birch, ash and 
 sycamore are the remnants of the old forest of 
 Laniere,t and the gap of Aulnois between the two 
 portions known as Laniere wood and Taisniere 
 or Blaregnies wood, is about half a mile across. 
 A small old church, called by the peasantry La 
 Chapelle Malbrouk, marks the centre of the 
 battle of Malplaquet, or of Taisniere, as Orkney 
 thought it would be known, or the battle of the 
 woods. It is the country spread out before anyone 
 looking south from the highest point about Mons. 
 On September nth it was sodden with long rain. 
 
 On Monday, the 9th, for all that can be learnt, 
 it was possible for Eugene and Marlborough to 
 attack. A council of war decided to wait for troops 
 from St. Ghislain, and Villars spent this grace in en- 
 trenching his gap and the woods. His army had been 
 exhilarated and strengthened by the arrival of 
 Boufflers to serve under him. Close behind lay 
 the frontier of France. They were its only defences, 
 and they were about 80,000 against 100,000. 
 
 Eugene and Marlborough rode to and fro 
 reconnoitring. Orkney believed that Boufflers 
 sought an interview. The delay continued through- 
 out Tuesday. The French and allied officers were 
 conversing in a hundred different places, and 
 Orkney concluded there would not be a battle. t 
 
 * " Malplaquet " by Hilaire Belloc. 
 + John Hill Burton. 
 
 J English Historical Review. Vol. 19. 
 
 206 
 
Malplaquet 
 
 The result of the delay was the very strong en- 
 trenching of the gap that made the soldiers of the 
 allies, remembering Lille and Tournai, exclaim 
 that they were obliged again to make war on 
 " moles." The battle was like an attack on a 
 counterscarp. 
 
 It began as soon as the mist allowed the artillery- 
 men to get their range. The Prince of Orange on 
 the left led his Dutchmen and Highlanders, and 
 the Prince of Hesse-Carrel his cavalry, against the 
 French right in the wood of Laniere. Schulemberg 
 and Lottum (Lottum with a few English) led the 
 right against two sides of the wood of Taisniere 
 which meet at a right angle. For on our right, 
 and actually on the French side of the forest, 
 coming from the St. Ghislain road. General 
 Withers was to attack the French left and rear. 
 Thus the right was very strong, as the French left 
 opposed to it was comparatively weak. In the 
 centre the allies had artillery facing down the gap 
 to the enemy's entrenchments, and behind it 
 Lord Orkney with the English. 
 
 In the French centre, too, were the Irish brigades. 
 At first the attack came only from the strong left 
 and right and from the artillery of the centre. 
 Marlborough and Eugene were both with the 
 troops attacking on the right. Villars was with the 
 French defending the salient angle. The attacks 
 were very slow to make an impression. They were 
 stopped and thrown back several times. But in 
 an hour or two the battle was being fought amongst 
 the trees, for Marlborough and Lottum's infantry 
 had slipped round the end of the French entrench- 
 ment, and the attack on the other side being 
 pressed on, the enemy had to give way. The wood 
 was thick with smoke and the dust of earth and 
 
 207 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 of bark. The bullets flew so thick that a young 
 soldier wondered how anyone escaped them. The 
 bark dust got in behind the stays of Christian 
 Davies, who had a bottle of beer for her husband 
 and was seeking him with her dog. Lord Orkney 
 moved up to keep touch with the advancing right, 
 but still out of reach of the artillery. 
 
 On their left the Dutch and Highlanders had 
 no such success. There was no weak salient for 
 them to take advantage of. Instead, they were 
 fighting inside the angle between the defences of 
 the gap and those along the edge of the wood of 
 Laniere. They could force the breastwork, but 
 then in turn the French defenders stopped them, 
 pursued them out, and captured their guns. 
 Marlborough in person could now do nothing at 
 this point. He withdrew the survivors to a point 
 out of range where they might still confine the 
 enemy to their trenches. At the same time, he sent 
 Orkney against the trenches of the gap. The 
 French centre there had been weakened to save 
 the left from the combined pressure of Schulem- 
 berg, Lottum and Withers, which Villars himself 
 was opposing with bayonet charges. Orkney 
 swiftly succeeded. His infantry surged over and 
 occupied the entrenchments. His cavalry came 
 up and passed through the gaps between the 
 redans. Even the allied artillery was brought on 
 to the French side of the lines, but not before the 
 cavalry had been broken into by the French horse, 
 which stood ready and untouched in the rear. 
 They were charged and they countercharged. 
 The artillery fired into them, but fresh cavalry 
 charged again, only to be countercharged. The 
 retreating French infantry had time to restore its 
 ranks : the victorious allies had equal need of 
 
 208 
 
Malplaquet, aIthouc,'-h as^reat 
 English victor)', was deemed 
 by the French to have re- 
 rstablislied the honour of their 
 flacr. 
 
 Malplaquet 
 By Caran D'Ache 
 
 To fa ce p. 2o8. 
 
Malplaquet 
 
 doing so when they emerged from the wood. But 
 nothing could be done. The losers could not 
 renew the battle, nor the winners pursue it. 
 Probably the allies' artillery, with that captured 
 from the French, and the triumphant fresh 
 infantry of Orkney, compelled the enemy to move 
 farther and farther away from their position, while 
 the cavalry scrimmages may have ended with the 
 French somewhat at an advantage. Though 
 "Jimmy Campbell, at the head of the grey dragoons,, 
 behaved like an angel," there was much give and 
 take, and had it not been for the foot the French 
 *' might have driven our horse out of the field."* 
 They moved off quite unmolested, leaving four- 
 teen thousand killed and wounded. The allies lost 
 twenty thousand. All was over early in the after- 
 noon. By ten o'clock at night it was known at 
 Brussels that the French were defeated. Ostend 
 knew it by express at seven next evening. The 
 London Gazette printed the news on September 
 14th. 
 
 Where the Dutch guards attacked in the morning 
 the dead lay so thick "it is a miracle," said 
 Orkney, who hoped in God it would be the last 
 battle he might ever see.f The oldest general 
 living never saw such butchering. Most generals, 
 had three, four or five horses shot under them ; 
 his own horse, by luck, was struck only on the 
 iron buckles. Eugene was wounded, and Villars 
 so badly that he directed the battle from a chair, 
 till he fainted and was replaced by Bouffiers. 
 The French, said Marlborough, defended better 
 than he had ever seen them. " The lamentable 
 sight and thoughts " of the slaughter, the losing 
 so many brave men whom he had lived with eight 
 
 * " English Hist. Review," 1904. -f Ibid, 1904. 
 
 209 P 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 years, upset him. His head ached, he was feverish. 
 He was too tired to say more than that the battle 
 had been very bloody, and that he thought " if 
 the Dutch please " the allies could now have 
 what peace they liked. It is what he always said. 
 If he thought it hardly anyone else did. The 
 French called it a glorious defeat. Villars himself 
 said that if God gave the French another such 
 defeat, the King might consider his enemies 
 destroyed. 
 
 On September 25th Mons was invested. It 
 held out jfor a month before being taken, and the 
 army went into winter quarters. The commanders 
 went to the Hague. With a heavy heart Marl- 
 borough returned home early in November. He 
 was grieved, he said, to go to England where his 
 services to the Dutch Republic would be turned 
 to his disgrace. The future cannot have been 
 altogether hid from him. Everything, he knew, 
 depended on his military success, if indeed even 
 that could save it ; and he knew that Malplaquet 
 was not what he said it was when he was newly 
 elated by the victory — it had not crushed the 
 enemy, it could not lead to peace. Nor had the 
 allied armies elsewhere had any valid success. 
 That he wished for peace now is almost certain. 
 He hesitated only because he knew it could not 
 be a peace of his own choosing. Perhaps he was 
 softening when he took notice of the misery of 
 the poor French people about Tournay, arguing 
 from it that Louis must end the war ; and when 
 he begged the Duchess to be " obliging and kind " 
 to all friends. 
 
 All through the campaign of Malplaquet, as 
 usual, he was being troubled with politics. Once 
 more he had to write a letter, with the Duchess 
 
 210 
 
Malplaquet 
 
 and Godolphin looking over his shoulder, to ask 
 the Queen to appoint Orford, whom he did not 
 like, at the head of the Admiralty. Thus he pleased 
 the Whigs and still further exasperated Anne and 
 her Tories. The Duchess also did her worst, by 
 still attempting to obtain favours from the Queen, 
 by reminding her of old services, by vilifying 
 Mrs. Masham. Harley and his peace policy be- 
 came more and more attractive to Anne, and 
 consequently to those who looked forward to the 
 Duke's fall and to obtaining places after it. 
 
 In his distress the Duke was consistent only 
 in wishing to retain his position. At times he was 
 high-handed. Thus he asked to be made Captain- 
 General for life, which his friend the Lord 
 Chancellor pronounced at once to be uncon- 
 stitutional : his bad grace when the Queen refused 
 seems to confirm the suspicion roused by the 
 extravagance of the request. At other times he 
 consented to ask for a crown and accept sixpence. 
 When the Queen asked him to appoint Mrs. 
 Masham 's brother — Hill — to a vacant regiment 
 he took the opinion of the Whigs, found it on his 
 side, and made strong objections to Anne. The 
 Queen not giving way, Marlborough left London. 
 He was absent and not missed from a Cabinet 
 Council. His intention had been to take a strong 
 line. He even wrote to the Queen hoping that she 
 would dismiss Mrs. Masham or himself, and he 
 had the Whigs upon his side. Somers had two 
 interviews with the Queen on the Duke's behalf, 
 and at the second she came down so far as to say 
 that if the Duke came to see her she would con- 
 vince him of her entire friendship. Somers and 
 Godolphin, too, advised him to accept this. But 
 he did not know what to do. He asked them, 
 
 211 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 therefore, to meet and talk it over, and whatever 
 they decided on he would do. Instead of 
 repeating his ultimatum he wrote a letter to Anne, 
 referring to his many mortifications, begging 
 her to reflect what people must think of her thus 
 treating him who had served her so well, and all 
 to oblige a bedchamber woman, — yet assuring her 
 that in his retirement he should pray for her 
 prosperity and that her next faithful servants 
 should never meet with so hard a return. The 
 Whigs showed her how important the occasion 
 was. So at last she told Godolphin that she had 
 considered what Somers said, and she would not 
 insist on Colonel Hill's appointment. And 
 Marlborough accepted this as the end of the matter. 
 Godolphin, at the same time, did a foolish 
 thing which helped to concentrate the Church of 
 England party against him and the Ministry. He 
 took notice of a foolish sermon by one Dr. 
 Sacheverell in which he was pointed at as a man of 
 no principles, a wily " Volpone." This clergyman, 
 Sacheverell, talked hke a Jacobite. For him " the 
 grand security of our government and the very 
 pillar on which it stands is founded upon the 
 steady belief of the subjects' obligations to an 
 absolute and unconditional obedience to the 
 supreme power in all things lawful, and the utter 
 illegality of resistance upon any pretence what- 
 ever." His dread was that a prince should be just 
 the breath of his subjects' nostrils, " to be blown 
 in and out at their caprice and pleasure." It was 
 his own privilege to become the breath of the 
 Church's nostrils for a time. His portrait was to 
 be found in all " magnitudes and dimensions " 
 on lady's snuflF-boxes, handerchiefs, fans, etc.* 
 
 • SpeclatoTt No. 57. 
 
 212 
 
Malplaquet 
 
 And all because Godolphin would have him 
 impeached and so advertised. The lady in the 
 Spectator asked Will Honeycomb if he was for 
 the Doctor, and the crowd about Queen Anne 
 going to the trial cried : " God bless your Majesty 
 and the Church. We hope your Majesty is for Dr. 
 Sacheverell." He was found guilty of high crimes 
 and misdemeanours by a majority of seventeen. 
 The sentence for suspending him for three months 
 from preaching was carried only by six, while the 
 attempt to incapacitate him during that time from 
 taking dignity or preferment in the Church was 
 lost. There were feasts, bonfires, bell-ringings, 
 processions, and addresses, as if he had been a 
 conqueror. A twopenny broadside was printed 
 with his portrait in the middle, surrounded by an 
 alphabetical list of the Lords and Commons 
 who were for him. Marlborough congratulated 
 Godolphin on getting his man condemned, but 
 remained for the rest indifferent. He would never 
 have had Sacheverell impeached. For he was 
 proud but he was not vindictive. 
 
 213 
 
XX : SIEGES 
 
 MARLBOROUGH was safe out of Eng- 
 land in March, 1710, when Godolphin 
 sent the resuh of Sacheverell's trial. A 
 Congress at Gertruydenberg was to discuss peace, 
 and he and Townshend represented England. 
 The Dutch protested against the severity of the 
 terms demanded by the allies, and the English 
 also were willing to let Philip have Sicily instead 
 of Spain. In the December of this winter, Marl- 
 borough had told Heinsius privately that he 
 thought it unreasonable to press the French " to 
 do so treacherous a thing as deliver towns in 
 Spain," but he said also that if Holland would 
 continue the war three years more the French 
 proposals might be rejected and the allies could 
 ** with the blessing of God," impose any terms 
 they liked. But in public, he added, he durst not 
 be of any other opinion than he had expressed to 
 Townshend. Whichever of the two views we 
 prefer to think was Marlborough's, the Hapsburgs 
 stood out. They would not give up any part of the 
 Spanish dominions. Louis did not pretend that 
 he could turn Philip out ; but his Allies insisted 
 that he should. There was no peace to be had this 
 spring. 
 
 Never had Marlborough gone into the field, he 
 said, " with so heavy a heart." He could not see 
 how things should mend without first getting 
 worse. Yet he had a large scheme to attempt, to 
 
 214 
 

 h 
 
Sieges 
 
 take Douai and Arras, and, in combination with 
 the fleet, Calais and Abbeville, and so to Paris. 
 He and Eugene met at Tournai in the middle of 
 April and led their army in two columns over the 
 lines of La Bassee to Lens. The weak force defend- 
 ing the lines had fallen back almost without a 
 blow. The allies laid siege to Douai, and spread 
 out their main army behind a long line between 
 Douai and Arras, while Villars strengthened the 
 lines protecting Arras with an army of ninety, or as 
 he put it, a hundred and sixty, thousand. Marl- 
 borough believed that, allowing for the sickness 
 among their foot, he had as many men as the 
 French, though he did speak a week later of their 
 great superiority in numbers. At one time Villars 
 came up to the allied position near Vitry to give 
 battle. But the position was impregnable. Marl- 
 borough pronounced that there could be no action 
 unless they did " contrary to reason." His dread 
 was greater of sickness. Most of the country 
 people, he reported, were sick and crowded into 
 the churches, and the towns had a spotted fever. 
 Villars, independently, said at the same time that 
 to attack a superior enemy so entrenched would 
 be contrary to all reason, and he retired. At the 
 end of June Douai surrendered. Arras had next to 
 be attacked, but first the new lines from Arras 
 towards the Somme, and they proved impassable, 
 so that the allies turned aside to besiege Bethune. 
 Villars followed them out to the position between 
 Mont St. Eloi and Houdain, higher up the straight 
 road pointing to Calais. Marlborough thought 
 that a battle was at hand, made his dispositions, 
 and drew in reinforcements from the besieging 
 army at Bethune. But he was mistaken. Villars 
 was at mole's work again, making another line of 
 
 215 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 entrenchments. Bethune, therefore, fell. St. Ve- 
 nant and Aire were next invested, in the direction 
 of Calais, and here Marlborough's first misfortune 
 "during these nine years" befell him: his convoy 
 of powder and other stores coming from Menin was 
 captured. St. Venant was taken, but Aire held out 
 in very wet weather. The men, up to their knees 
 in mud and water, were a grievous sight to the 
 Duke, and he knew that sickness would come of 
 it ; yet the place must be taken, if only because the 
 cannon could not be drawn from the batteries in 
 this state of the ground. Seven thousand men 
 were lost at Aire before it fell in the middle of 
 November. And here ended the campaign, with- 
 out any of that success which could encourage his 
 hopes of rest or his resolve not to be " over- 
 solicitous " about the constructions put on his 
 actions by his enemies. 
 
 All through the campaign he had been hearing 
 the worst political news possible from home, and 
 had suffered not only the inevitable moral loss, 
 but, towards the end, an actual curtailment of his 
 power, so that when, putting the men into winter 
 quarters, he asked for the Queen's confirmation 
 of his dispositions, " as it is grown too much the 
 fashion to canvas and reflect on what I do, with- 
 out any consideration of the service," the Queen, 
 without consulting him, had given Lord Argyle 
 leave to go home. She had also given military 
 promotion on her own authority to friends whom 
 he neglected. 
 
 The Duchess had, as usual, done her part. She 
 herself wished formally to retire from the Queen's 
 service, but to preserve from the enemy the 
 advantages of it ; she had the boldness to think 
 her daughters might have them, and as she could 
 
 216 
 
Sieges 
 
 not ask herself, she persuaded the Duke to do so. 
 The Duke beUeved that he had gained the point 
 in an interview. The Duchess found that he had 
 not, and made repeated attempts to see the Queen 
 on the matter. At last, thrusting herself in to open 
 her mind, she was met with a request to put it in 
 writing. She began a general assault, accusing her 
 enemies of accusing her of speaking ill of the 
 Queen. 
 
 Harley, still under the surface, had gained 
 ground. Through him the Duke of Shrewsbury 
 came into the Cabinet as Lord Chamberlain, 
 whom Godolphin protested against in vain as 
 certain to cause all the ministers to run as if from 
 the plague. Among the consequences Godolphin 
 foretold a peace favourable to France and a 
 possible return of the Pretender. He did not 
 resign because he did not take decided steps, and 
 because he had to finance Marlborough's army. 
 Whether by the force of Shrewsbury's ingratiating 
 affability or not, he afterwards came to think that 
 perhaps the intruder would " live well with us 
 three." Not long afterwards he declared that 
 Shrewsbury alone of the new set had delayed the 
 dismissal of Lord Sunderland. Marlborough, when 
 he heard the news about Shrewsbury, hoped that 
 the Whigs would hold together. He did more ; he 
 asked favours of Shrewsbury, asked him to help to 
 get a Garter for Lord Orford,and was refused. How 
 far he would go, to keep as well as possible with 
 the Queen, may be seen in his falling m at last with 
 the Queen's desire to make Colonel Hill a general. 
 In the matter of Lord Sunderland, too, he ap- 
 proached Shrewsbury, announced that if his 
 son-in-law were dismissed he himself could no 
 longer serve, and asked for his good offices. He also 
 
 217 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 wrote a letter, practically drafted for him by 
 Godolphin, which the Queen was to see, speaking 
 of his services and his mortification. Lord Sunder- 
 land, he said, was singled out purely as his son- 
 in-law. He did not remember how unwilling he 
 had been to help Sunderland into office in the 
 first place, nor how plainly Anne had spoken of 
 his temper as incompatible with hers. Now, when 
 she dismissed Sunderland she made a point of 
 saying that she had no thoughts of doing without 
 Marlborough, and the Whigs drew up a memorial 
 asking him not to think of resigning. He did not 
 resign. To Shrewsbury he wrote a letter saying 
 that he was convinced the Queen had not meant 
 him personally an unkindness in dismissing his 
 son-in-law, but mentioning the fact that Argyle 
 and others gossipped of it as a step towards his 
 own fall. Of the approaching fall he must have 
 been all but certain, not quite so because it 
 was too painful to be credible, and because the 
 tangle and the mixture of motives was so great. 
 Moreover, the rising party was anxious to make 
 use of him up to the last moment. When Sunder- 
 land's dismissal was announced to Holland it 
 was with an explanation that it did not mean a 
 loss of credit to Marlborough. Yet it was to the 
 Hague, and as joint plenipotentiary with him, that 
 Halifax, whom he had long kept out, was appointed. 
 There were reasons, too, for suspecting that the 
 command of the army was to be offered to the 
 Elector of Hanover. 
 
 As usual, Marlborough showed his distress in 
 two apparently different ways. To the Duchess 
 he said that he would go on with the war so that 
 his conscience would not reproach him, and as 
 for his enemies he ** in a great degree " contemned 
 
 218 
 
Sieges 
 
 them and was resolved to " suffer for the good of 
 his country." To Godolphin he owned his weak- 
 ness at bearing mortification : it was all that he 
 could do not to be ill. In another letter he speaks 
 of dreading the noise of the cannon and small shot 
 at the siege of Bethune. 
 
 He was soon to lose Godolphin. Neither the 
 Whigs nor the Tories nor the Queen liked Godol- 
 phin, but he was Marlborough's one intimate. He 
 admired and understood the Duke, and used to 
 say that he always knew when to expect great 
 news because the Duke's last letter, though vague, 
 was in high spirits.* Of all the ministers the Duke 
 could count only on him to the very end. But now 
 he quarrelled at a Cabinet Meeting with Shrews- 
 bury ; even to the Queen, who was present, he 
 said something which she resented. Feeling that 
 there was a threat hanging, he asked her if she 
 wished him to go on, and she said yes. That 
 evening she wrote to him telling him that his 
 ** uneasiness " and " unkind returns " made it 
 impossible for her to keep him in her service. She 
 asked him to break the staff of office instead of 
 bringing it, which would be " easier to us both." 
 To the Duke she made the announcement with 
 the remark that she would take care the army 
 wanted nothing. Godolphin himself wrote a letter 
 showing that he thought Marlborough ought to 
 resign. His secretary at war, Adam Cardonnel, 
 was dismissed. Harley became Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer. Somers, Wharton, Orford, and others 
 resigned. St. John and the Duke of Ormond were 
 among the Tories who replaced them. The works 
 at Blenheim Palace, still uncompleted, were 
 
 * "John and Sarah, Duke and Duchess of Marlborough," by 
 Stuart J. Reid. 
 
 219 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 stopped. When the Duke appUed for the governor- 
 ship of the Netherlands which had been offered 
 to him, he was told that perhaps he might have it, 
 if the Dutch agreed. He was undermined, and a 
 French minister said that what the French lost in 
 Flanders they would gain in England. 
 
 In making overtures to the Duke the Tories did 
 what must have been as insincere as it was un- 
 necessary, since he was of no use unless he could 
 have his own way and that was not theirs. He was 
 to abandon the Whigs and their policy and 
 restrain the Duchess, or he might be impeached. 
 Such were the conditions. His reply that he was 
 of no party but the Queen's did not wholly satisfy 
 the Whigs or the Duchess or Godolphin. 
 
 That he called the English a " villainous 
 people " at this time is not surprising. On his 
 arrival at the end of 171 o the Queen asked him 
 not to allow a vote of thanks to be moved to him 
 in Parliament, because her ministers would oppose 
 it. The ministers themselves, Shrewsbury, Harley, 
 St. John, tried to show him how well he might 
 do yet if he " got rid of his wife," and forgot 
 the past ; for ** if he looked back to make com- 
 plaints he would have more retorted upon him 
 than it was possible to answer." From St. John's 
 account it is pretty certain that he did hesitate, 
 but could not conceal either his anger at Argyle's 
 appointment or his desire to have his old absolute 
 power. In consenting to remain at the head of the 
 army he had a sort of belief that he was retaining 
 a great part of that power. The ministers, it is 
 plain, would support him in his command only 
 for their purposes and for a time. His health was 
 bad. The Duchess thought he suffered chiefly on 
 account of her coming fall, and wrote a letter 
 
 220 
 
Sieges 
 
 expressing her regret and attacking the Queen's 
 tenderness by saying she feared the Duke would 
 not live six months if the cause of his suffering 
 was not removed. The Duke himself delivered 
 the letter. After he had tried to persuade her not 
 to dismiss the Duchess he asked, on his knees, for 
 ten days' grace, whereupon she reduced it to two. 
 But he did not resign. He could not himself take 
 the step down, though he knew well that he must 
 soon be pushed down. The Duchess was dis- 
 missed, and ordered the locks and marble chimney- 
 pieces of her lodgings to be removed, though the 
 Duke begged her not to. That was by letter. His 
 last campaign had begun. 
 
 221 
 
XXI : THE LAST CAMPAIGN 
 
 SUPPLIES for the campaign had been 
 voted as usual, and now that he was a 
 servant and not a master he was flattered (as 
 a servant) in the party journal. Now it was said 
 that his courage, conduct, and success had never 
 been disputed ; " the Nation only wished to see 
 him taken out of ill hands, and put into better."* 
 If the party could win his good will, so much the 
 better for them, for they were in a risky position, 
 *' like an isthmus between the Whigs on one side, 
 and the violent Tories on the other, "f and needed 
 all available prestige. Whigs and Tories squabbled 
 over him. The Whigs said he would serve no 
 more, because they wished him not to. The Tories 
 hoped he would. But he himself felt chiefly their 
 blows, '* especially by the villainous way of 
 printing, which stabs me to the heart." He was 
 weakened, too, by Eugene and his troops with- 
 drawing when Charles, soi-disant King of Spain, 
 succeeded his brother Joseph as Emperor. Things 
 looked ill, and Marlborough despaired of success. 
 The warfare was to be of the same kind as in 1710, 
 tedious to the men and leading to no substantial 
 or brilliant advantage. For the French had spent 
 the winter in making a long line of entrenchments 
 behind rivers, canals, and inundations, to protect 
 their frontier from Namur to the sea. May was 
 
 ^5i* Swift. Examiner. No. 29. 
 t Journal to Stella. 
 
 222 
 
The Last Campaign 
 
 wet. Since constant success had not met with 
 approbation, he reflected, what was he to expect 
 when nothing was done ? And he had a giddiness 
 and swimming in his head, with sickness. Villars 
 had orders to avoid an engagement. Marlborough 
 feared a disaster because it must finally tip over 
 his position at home. There was plenty of time, 
 therefore, to think about that position. 
 
 First he approached the lines, then he withdrew 
 towards Lens, followed by Villars, with a show of 
 desiring battle which flickered out in skirmishes. 
 At last, in July, he began the movements by which 
 at last he penetrated the lines, the impenetrable, 
 " Ne plus ultra," lines. There were two ways 
 between Arras and Bouchain by which the inun- 
 dations could be passed and the lines entered, 
 and one was at Arleux. A fort, of course, protected 
 it. Marlborough took this fort and greatly strength- 
 ened it in order to make Villars think he valued it. 
 Villars recaptured it, as it was intended he should, 
 and by this, and by an almost successful attack 
 on Douai, he was much elated. And he destroyed 
 its fortifications. This also was what was expected 
 of him, but Marlborough affected to be upset by 
 it, to be annoyed, to the extent of vowing to 
 penetrate the lines by storming if necessary. His 
 own army thought this was his intention, mad as 
 it was. They marched west as far as St. Pol and 
 Houdain. They were drawn up against the lines 
 and the enemy concentrated opposite them. Both 
 sides expected an encounter. Marlborough rode 
 along the lines pointing with his cane and explain- 
 ing his designs, with a confidence which astonished 
 everyone and made them think him desperate, 
 considering the impossibility of the task. One who 
 was in the army as it lay in standing wheat, eighty 
 
 223 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 paces from the entrenchments, saw the Duke 
 come up and stand a Httle to one side where he 
 had a fair view of the works. Nothing, said the 
 man, ever gave him more pleasure than seeing 
 Marlborough there those five or six minutes, 
 though he was anxious too, seeing the enemy's 
 cannon pointed on the general and the trenches 
 thick with men.* But at night they moved off in 
 silence back to the east. Already Cadogan had 
 gone ahead to warn the detachment at Douai, 
 and while the army was still marching came the 
 news from him that he had entered the lines at 
 three in the morning at Arleux. Thirteen hours 
 later the main army lay there within the lines. 
 Thirteen leagues they had marched in eighteen 
 hours, with Villars hastening parallel to them so 
 that some fainted and died, and some of the foot did 
 not come up for two days. Villars himself, rushing 
 up with a handful of cavalry that had survived his 
 haste, was all but captured. 
 
 But Marlborough was not strong enough to take 
 Arras or to risk a battle at Cambrai, and turning 
 round by Cambrai and over the Scheldt, without 
 molestation, he invested Bouchain. August 
 passed. Villars, with a superior army, was powerless 
 to relieve the town. Early in September the garrison 
 of Bouchain surrendered, prisoners of war. Marl- 
 borough had intended then to take Quesnoy in the 
 east, and far behind the lines which the loss of it 
 would make useless to the French. But he was 
 prevented by the ripening of the Government's 
 secret negotiation with France. By a series of 
 ** bamboozling " letters Harley, now Lord Oxford, 
 had told him enough of what was being done to tie 
 his hands. On September 27th the preliminaries 
 
 * Richard Kane. 
 
 224 
 
The Last Campaign 
 
 of a treaty were signed between France and 
 England, as if no promise had ever been made by 
 all the allies that none should enter into separate 
 negotiations with the enemy. Marlborough was 
 left. He was, he said, really at a loss what part to 
 take. Of course, he said, he was not curious about 
 the treaty but it would — and he confessed it to 
 Oxford — be a terrible mortification to him to pass 
 by the Hague, with the plenipotentiaries there, 
 and himself a stranger to the transactions. There 
 were no hopes for him at home if he was not thought 
 fit to be trusted abroad. If the Dutch had not very 
 naturally and swiftly refused to do their part for 
 the army, he could have passed the winter on the 
 frontier. Also he had an apology or explanation 
 to make. Oxford must not suppose that anyone 
 promoting the continuance of the war was uttering 
 his sentiments. 
 
 What he referred to was a sermon, preached 
 before him after taking Bouchain, and now pub- 
 lished as a pamphlet, by his own chaplain, Francis 
 Hare. 
 
 The use to be made of this success, said Hare, 
 was not to be faint and weary as men without 
 hope, not to leave imperfect the great work which 
 God had so visibly declared himself the patron of, 
 but to be strong in the Lord and persevere in this 
 just and necessary war, till such a peace should 
 be obtained as the Duke's victories would assuredly 
 and must end in if they could be content to wait the 
 leisure of the Lord. If, he said, the common enemy 
 was still so strong that they despaired of reducing 
 him to reason, how much stronger he must have 
 been before all the Duke's victories ! and what a 
 condition they would have been in by now ! He 
 urged them to have patience, to go on cheerfully, 
 
 225 Q 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 wait God's leisure, and then nothing could dis- 
 appoint their hopes but what it was in their power 
 to prevent, nothing but their own ingratitude and 
 impenitence. 
 
 As Hare was loyal to the Duke to the point of 
 panegyric, I assume that the sermon pleased 
 Marlborough, as it was meant to do, when it was 
 delivered. That he was really displeased by its 
 publication is possible. It is likelier that he would 
 have been content to profit by it and yet disclaim 
 its inspiration. But it was far too late for anything 
 to profit him, though even in July there had been 
 a whisper of an understanding between Harley 
 and the Whigs, a reed stout enough for Marl- 
 borough to grasp at. 
 
 As early as April, England had begun to treat 
 with France, and Marlborough was particularly 
 excluded. When Heinsius heard of the treaty he 
 was told that the Duke knew nothing of it from 
 England, and would presumably learn nothing of 
 it from Holland. The object was peace at prac- 
 tically any price. The war was costly, the difl^culty 
 of managing the allies and their various contribu- 
 tions of men and money was great, and could not 
 be overcome except by Marlborough, and no end 
 was visible. People were tired of the war, and in 
 any case a new ministry, and that mainly a Tory 
 one, could not expect to produce a stronger war 
 policy than Marlborough's. And, as St. John, or 
 rather Lord Bolingbroke, said : " Bouchain may 
 be said properly and truly to have cost our 
 nation very near ^£7, 000,000."* He said also that 
 the war had at least taught them that the French 
 were not to be feared. 
 
 Nor was this negotiation the only offence offered 
 
 * Bolingbroke, "On the Study of History." 
 226 
 
 ^/^ 
 
RESOLUTIONS Without Doors. 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 RESOLUTIONS Within Uoors, 
 
 In the Votes of the H of C 
 
 Mnrtis 5 die Feir. 17 ii. 
 
 Refolvec/, 
 
 TH A T no Nation, no, not a petty Conqucr'd 
 Province, was ever treated with more Contempt, 
 or more infamouny Bubbl'd and Abus'd^ than 
 
 Great-Britain has been bv us Al s. efpccially the 
 
 D—k 
 
 Refo/ve^, 
 That fuch abominable Corruptions cannot be paral- 
 lell'd in any Hiftory, from the Creation of the World; 
 to this Day. 
 
 That thofe of Great-Britain, who adled thofe Corrup- 
 tions, or even futtcr'd them, when it was in their Power 
 
 to prevent therri, are Tr rs to their Q , 
 
 Betr rs and Sellers of their C — try 5 and ought to 
 
 be H g'd, Dr n, and Qu r'd, as fuch. 
 
 Refolvec/, 
 
 That an Humble AJ fs from the Gentlemen 
 
 Without Doors be Prcfcnted to the Gentlemen Within 
 Poors, Definng them to bring in a B — II for the more 
 cafic Recovery of Money which the Pubhck has been 
 Robb'd of; and for the Preventing of fuch Robberies for 
 the future. 
 
 Refo/vec/, 
 
 That the H of C which Difcovcrs and 
 
 Expofcs thcfe Plundnngs of the Publick, is the Bert 
 
 /^ cf C- that ever (ate in Great-Britain; 
 
 And that thefc Loral Subjects and Worthy Patriots, de- 
 ferve to be (as They adually are) the Darling of their 
 Qu :: and Couiniy. 
 
 ' Reproduction of Broadside 
 
 Feb. 5, 1711 
 
 To /(lie p. .:i6. 
 
The Last Campaign 
 
 to Marlborough by the new ministry. They attacked 
 the late ministry, and Godolphin in particular, 
 for misappropriating public money, leaving thirty 
 millions unaccounted for. After its effect, the 
 charge turned out to be either false or rhetorical ; 
 the real facts could not be objected to by any 
 politician who accepted the custom of the age — 
 that is to say, by any minister or ex-minister. 
 Similar charges were brought against Marlborough 
 and his secretary, Cardonnel. Two and a half per 
 cent, of the money voted by Parliament for paying 
 foreign mercenaries, nearly ^300,000, was re- 
 turned to the Commander-in-Chief by the rulers 
 who sent them. He had also received sums of 
 money amounting to ^£63,000 in four years from 
 the Jewish contractor who supplied bread to the 
 forces. On each contract, Cardonnel took a 
 gratuity of 500 ducats. These offences also were 
 proved to be no offences against custom. The 
 money was the general's perquisite which he spent, 
 he said himself, " in keeping secret correspondence, 
 and getting intelligence of the enemy's motions 
 and designs." But Cardonnel lost his seat in the 
 House of Commons and the publicity had its 
 effect. In the year before. Swift had entertained 
 readers of the Examiner with some account of the 
 rewards for Marlborough's services, " to con- 
 vince the world that we are not quite so ungrateful 
 either as the Greeks or the Romans." He was, in 
 fact, one of the richest of men, one of those who 
 offered to lend to the Bank of England when fear 
 of the Pretender was draining it in 1708. Now 
 every Casca with a pen put forth his broadside, 
 calling the Duke Midas, for example : 
 
 And Midas now neglected stands 
 With asses' ears and dirty hands. 
 227 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 It was this charge which was made the excuse for 
 dismissing the Duke. 
 
 For a moment at the end of the year there 
 seemed a possibihty that the Whigs would unite 
 with the Tories not in office against the ministry. 
 Whigs were willing to vote for an Occasional 
 Conformity Bill, Tories to insist on preserving 
 Spain from the Bourbons, if only they could 
 defeat Oxford. The Dutch and the Emperor joined 
 the confederacy, because Oxford's kind of peace 
 was not theirs. The Elector of Hanover's minister, 
 too, tried to insist that the allies should " require 
 not only positive declarations but real securities " 
 from France, lest the treaty should leave her an 
 opening for " her usual chicanes." This memorial 
 had the approval of Marlborough as well as the 
 Whigs. That he had hopes still is plain, then. 
 Swift had it from Mrs. Masham that he told a 
 hundred lies to his friends of what she said to 
 him, and that he was " one day humble, and the 
 next day on the high ropes."* When Parliament 
 met in December, 171 1, this policy all but tri- 
 umphed. The speech from the throne alluded 
 with satisfaction to the opening of a treaty for a 
 general peace, " notwithstanding the arts of those 
 who delight in war," and in the debate Marl- 
 borough was obviously aimed at in a phrase 
 referring to " the arts and designs of those who, 
 for private reasons, might delight in war." Marl- 
 borough replied. Before the Queen, the Lords, 
 and *' God Himself, who is infinitely superior to 
 all the powers of the earth, and before whom, by 
 the ordinary course of nature, I shall soon appear, 
 to render account of my actions," he declared 
 that he had desired a safe, honourable, and lasting 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Dec. 6, 171 1. 
 228 
 
The Last Campaign 
 
 peace. On the other hand, he did not acquiesce 
 in the intention of leaving Spain and the West 
 Indies to the Bourbons. This view had a majority 
 which was counteracted by the creation of twelve 
 Tory Peers in a bunch. But the speech destroyed 
 Marlborough. The ministers proceeded with the 
 charges against him. Rumours ran abroad. Hardly 
 anyone at Court noticed him on December 30th.* 
 On December 31st, the Queen dismissed him 
 from all his employments that the matter might 
 undergo an impartial investigation. With the 
 dignity, rather overpowered by pathos, that he 
 could always command, he wrote a reply, ending 
 thus : 
 
 ** I am much more concerned at an expression 
 in your Majesty's letter, which seems to complain 
 of the treatment you had met with. I know not 
 how to understand that word, nor what construc- 
 tion to make of it. I know I have endeavoured to 
 serve your Majesty faithfully and zealously 
 through a great many undeserved mortifications. 
 But if your Majesty does intend, by that expres- 
 sion, to find fault with my not coming to the 
 Cabinet Council, I am very free to acknowledge 
 that my duty to your Majesty and country would 
 not give me leave to join in the counsel of a man 
 who, in my opinion, puts your Majesty upon all 
 manner of extremities. And it is not my opinion 
 only, but the opinion of all mankind, that the 
 friendship of France must needs be destructive 
 to your Majesty, there being in that Court a root 
 of enmity irreconcilable to your Majesty's gov- 
 ernment and the religion of these kingdoms. I 
 wish your Majesty may never find the want of so 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Dec. 6, 1711. 
 229 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 faithful a servant as I have always endeavoured 
 to approve myself to you." 
 
 He threw the Queen's letter into the fire. 
 
 Marlborough's enemies were delighted. Louis 
 XIV said that the dismissal of the Duke would 
 do all that they desired. One scribbler rhymed, 
 " The History of the Three Goddesses and the 
 Golden Apple of Prince Paris and Prince Avaro," 
 who 
 
 Turned bread to gold, which is his God. 
 
 There is an allusion to Hare's sermon at Bouchain 
 in these lines : 
 
 Had Paris' head been so well turned 
 Troy town in flames had never burned. 
 Old Troy might then a general vaunt 
 As great as one in Troynovant, 
 Whose love for war renewed appears 
 At the end of more than twice ten years ; 
 While mitred priests to his assistance 
 Preach up a war and more resistance. 
 
 A piece called *' The Loyal Trimmer " contains 
 the verse : 
 
 From heroes whose honour immortal is fled. 
 From starving poor soldiers, curtailing their 
 
 bread, 
 Which was certainly done, there's no more to 
 be said : 
 
 Libera nos, Domine. 
 
 To the tune of " I laugh at the Pope's Devices " 
 some one sang : 
 
 Sing praise to our gracious Queen Anne, 
 Who quietly sits on her throne, 
 Having well got rid of a clan 
 That too saucily wise were grown. 
 230 
 
The Last Campaign 
 
 There is a rhyme of a shepherd and his dog that 
 fell into disgrace : 
 
 How, few can tell. 
 Some say he had regard for pelf 
 And pilfered mutton for himself. 
 
 But another rhyme, called '* Truth in Disguise, 
 or the Lady and her Huntsman," takes the other 
 view. The Lady's lambs were stolen by wolves, 
 and the shepherd cried: 
 
 O, send for Huntsman John. 
 
 He killed the wolves, but 
 
 For every head a crown was paid, 
 Which vexed the new steward Robin, 
 And Abigail, the chamber-maid. 
 With whom this Robin often played 
 The game of Hey Gee Dobbin. 
 
 The Duke was labelled coward — incompetent — 
 a dictator like Cromwell. 
 
 But the truth and nothing but the truth was 
 written on the matter by Swift on January ist, 
 when he told Stella that Anne and Oxford mortally 
 hated Marlborough, and that was the reason of 
 his fall, unless he had been " tampering with his 
 party." He thought the Duke had no good quality 
 but as a general. Even that he had heard denied, 
 but undoubtedly the French thought it impossible 
 to beat an army led by the Duke, and " our 
 soldiers think the same." How far his fall might 
 encourage the French to *' play tricks with us " 
 no one knew. He — ^who had often attacked the 
 Duke, who finding that Lady Godolphin, the 
 Duke's eldest daughter, would not be acquainted 
 with him or give him a word, said " I'll pull her 
 
 231 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 down "* — yet professed that he did not Uke to 
 see personal resentment mix with public affairs ,f 
 and questioned whether a wise state ever laid 
 aside so successful a general. J And after all, 
 the Commons decided that the two and a half 
 per cent, should still be deducted from the mer- 
 cenaries' pay, but applied to the public service, 
 and nobody complained when some of the princes 
 preferred to give the money direct to Ormond, 
 the new Commander-in-Chief, and he accepted 
 it. 
 
 * Journal to Stella, March 2, 17 13. 
 
 t Jbid, Jan. i, 1712. + Ibid, Jan. 7, 17 12. 
 
 232 
 
XXII : IN DISGRACE 
 
 NEITHER the campaign nor the negoti- 
 ations of 171 2 can have given Marlborough 
 any satisfaction except that of seeing his 
 adversaries behaving ill. The Duke of Ormond was 
 a general of straw. For a time his part was to pretend 
 to be co-operating with Eugene, yet to give no 
 offence to Villars by opposing him. When at last 
 his instructions came for a cessation of arms with 
 France, he had to turn back with as many of his 
 mercenaries as would obey his orders. As they 
 marched away, they and their former companions 
 in arms looked very dejectedly on each other, but 
 in silence ; for they were not permitted to speak 
 on " the strange revolution between us and our 
 allies." The English soldiers were furious, their 
 officers wretched, at this humiliation in the eyes 
 of enemies whom they had always beaten and 
 friends whom they could not have done without 
 in the time of victory. As to Ormond, the experi- 
 ence might have made him the Jacobite he proved 
 himself. 
 
 The Ministry having to provide a change of 
 diet to the nation could, of course, only offer 
 peace, peace in a hurry and at almost any price, 
 therefore perhaps not so good a one as could have 
 been won at the sword's point, and certainly one 
 far from the idyllic safe, honourable and lasting 
 one which all sorts of men talked about. Early in 
 171 1 Swift had said that the only thing to save 
 
 233 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 his party was a peace, and he was certain they 
 could not have such a one as they had hoped for, 
 or as the Whigs would " bawl " that they would 
 have got had they remained.* Now, with the Duke 
 against them, the French, elated by a year of 
 nothings and the prospect of better, the Emperor 
 and the Dutch already roused by the English 
 betrayal and their consequent defeat, the Ministry 
 could get nothing but just a plain peace. In return 
 for Dunkirk they consented to remove Ormond 
 from the side of the allies in the middle of the 
 campaign. They were attacked for it in the House 
 of Lords. One of their side, in retorting, dragged 
 in Marlborough and accused him of leading troops 
 to the slaughter in order to sell the officers' com- 
 missions. To which the Duke replied by calling 
 the man out to a duel. The Queen intervened, and 
 the enemy had the advantage of being able to accuse 
 him of bringing in a custom of party duels. At 
 length, in June, the negotiations that had been 
 going on in darkness were partly revealed in 
 Parliament. Philip of Anjou was to keep Spain, 
 but never to succeed to the French crown. England 
 was to keep Gibraltar and Minorca and have 
 Dunkirk demolished. The Netherlands were to 
 go to Austria, but the Dutch were to have fortresses 
 enough to make a barrier against France. The 
 Rhine was to be the boundary of the Empire. 
 With these terms the Commons were satisfied, 
 and the Lords could not even carry an amendment 
 recommending that the allies should be persuaded 
 to guarantee the Protestant succession. An attempt 
 was made to gain the consent of the allies to these 
 terms ; it failed without affecting the treaty 
 already so far incubated. The Dutch had to fall 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Jan. 7, 1711. 
 
In Disgrace 
 
 in at the last moment. The Emperor held out 
 another year. Thus ended the Grand Alliance. 
 In the following March, 1713, England and France 
 signed the Peace of Utrecht. The Bourbon, 
 Philip V, kept Spain and the Indies, but the 
 crowns of France and Spain were never to be 
 united. Louis XIV promised to respect the 
 Protestant succession, to demolish Dunkirk, not 
 to help the Pretender. England gained New- 
 foundland, Nova Scotia, the Hudson's Bay- 
 territory, and the right which France had had to 
 import 4,800 slaves into the Indies within thirty 
 years ; her position in the Mediterranean was 
 secured by the possession of Gibraltar and 
 Minorca. The Dutch kept a few of the fortresses 
 taken during the war, and the Netherlands being 
 Austrian, served as a barrier against France, so 
 long as Austria was not in alliance with France. 
 And among the many ill consequences of the 
 treaty " it was within 3. point of giving my Uncle 
 Toby a surfeit of sieges."* 
 
 Such terms, or better, might have been had in 
 the year of Ramillies. Nothing had been gained 
 by the six years of war following ; nor probably 
 could anything have been gained by another 
 six years, even had Marlborough kept his health 
 and succeeded as well as ever in using, more or 
 less as if they were one crown and one army, his 
 various scattered allies and their forces. Swift 
 accepted as a compliment the Spanish Ambassador's 
 remark that he, more than any man in Europe, 
 had put Louis XIV and the King of Spain under 
 an obligation. And being an easy, it was also an 
 enduring, peace. 
 
 Before the signing of the peace the Duke went 
 
 * Tristram Shandy. 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 abroad. He was being harrassed by the Press and 
 the Government. Blenheim was not finished, and 
 the contentions and delays connected with it 
 cannot have left it many attractions except its 
 name and its size. His health, too, was failing. For 
 ten years he had called himself an old man, and 
 now that he was sixty-two, he was reported to be 
 ** growing ill of his diabetes ; which, if it be true, 
 may soon carry him off ; and then the Ministry 
 will be something more at ease."* He was still 
 thought dangerous, and malice or fancy or both 
 had credited him with joining a conspiracy to set 
 fire to London. Among reasons for his going 
 abroad, gossip said that it was consciousness of 
 guilt, and that he would fling odium on the 
 Government for molesting a great general in his 
 retirement.! Even travelling in the Netherlands 
 and Germany he was pursued not only by an 
 applauding populace, but by contractors con- 
 nected with the building of Blenheim who had not 
 been paid, and ministers who applied to his actions 
 as Commander-in-Chief an exceptional standard 
 borrowed from Utopia, or a remote posterity. 
 He had mustered defective troops and companies 
 as complete and taken the gratuity allowed for 
 complete ones, with the excuse that this gratuity 
 went to make up the recruiting money to something 
 like completeness, but even so did not save the 
 captains' own pockets. As the answer to such a 
 case is always less simple, and to the majority less 
 interesting than the charge, doubtless he lost more 
 than he regained by his refutation. But, except 
 that in 17 14 on a report of his death at Antwerp 
 someone wrote him eight pages of epitaph, he 
 suffered less out of England than in it. This alone 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Sept. 15, 1712. f Ibid, Oct., 1712. 
 
 236 
 
In Disgrace 
 
 might have been one of the reasons which incHned 
 him to leave his country and its '' villainous 
 people." The Duchess soon followed him. 
 Godolphin was dead. Another reason was the 
 greater freedom he had in communicating with 
 Hanover. He gave it as his opinion that the 
 ministers meant to bring in the Pretender at 
 Anne's death, and he took the opposite side 
 definitely enough to have been foreshadowed as 
 her Commander-in-Chief by the Electress Sophia, 
 should she come to the throne. Though he knew 
 Anne's dislike of having the Hanoverians in 
 England so long as she lived, he sent to the Court 
 of Hanover to warn them against Oxford's repre- 
 sentative there, and to advise the Electoral Prince to 
 proceed to England and take his seat in the House 
 of Lords. The death of Sophia lessened the Duke's 
 position at Hanover ; for the Elector, now supreme 
 there, had thought himself slighted sometimes 
 in the past war, when he served on the Rhine, and 
 was treated as the Margrave of Baden had been 
 before him ; nor was Marlborough, on the strength 
 of his past and of his enemies' recent insinuations, 
 above suspicion as a possible Jacobite. Perhaps 
 the only party that had no hopes of him was the 
 Jacobites. However it was, when Anne died — and 
 he came over at Anne's death — he found he was not 
 (but neither was Somers nor Sunderland) one of 
 the new King's Lords Justices, though the people 
 shouted *' Long live King George ! Long live the 
 Duke of Marlborough ! " He made a motion of 
 retiring, but was persuaded to become Captain- 
 General again, and the Duchess Lady of the 
 Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales. Bowing 
 and smiling in the ante chamber, he made almost 
 the same figure as ever. The Duchess, with her 
 
 237 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 fine fair hair, which she had preserved in colour 
 by the constant use of honey water, not liking 
 Walpole in the " insolence of new favour " used 
 to make public jokes of the beggary she first knew 
 him in.* 
 
 The Duke was to live to be almost seventy-two, 
 and he had the leisure that he had often wished for, 
 though it may be of a different kind. One story 
 goes that he came once to the Cabinet saying that 
 his faculties were not what they had been and he 
 knew it, but he feared lest they should decline 
 further and unawares, so that he begged not to be 
 called again. 
 
 Holywell House, near St. Albans, seems to 
 have been his favourite home. He had built it 
 under James. It was of this that he thought abroad. 
 The hot weather of July, 1702, he hoped, would 
 ripen the fruit there. While he was on the way to 
 the Danube in 1704, resting at Weinheim, in 
 sight of the Neckar and the Rhine, of Mannheim 
 and Heidelberg, he told the Duchess that he 
 would be better pleased with the prospect of St. 
 Albans, though it was not famous for seeing far. 
 And later in the campaign he reminded her that 
 she had not sent him the draught of a stable for 
 the lodge, with the remark that as she had set her 
 heart on it he would be glad that it had every 
 convenience. This must have been Windsor 
 Lodge, which she had from Anne, and it was there 
 that he wished to retire with her after the 
 victory of Blenheim when he was so lean that he 
 feared consumption. But if St. Albans touched 
 his heart, Blenheim became a great idea with him. 
 Building, said the Duchess, was his greatest 
 weakness. She had wanted a house to live in ; he 
 
 * Lady Mary Wortley Montague. 
 
In Disgrace 
 
 thought of it as a monument, but when in 17 lo 
 nearly a quarter of a million had been spent on it 
 out of the Civil List, she persuaded him to over- 
 come his " passion." It was left still far from 
 completion in that year, resumed in 171 1, but 
 left more decidedly in 17 12 by the Queen's com- 
 mand after she had dismissed him from his offices. 
 In 171 5 a further small sum was voted towards pay- 
 ing the creditors, who were troubling Vanbrugh, the 
 architect. He and Vanbrugh were both sued by 
 two creditors in 17 18 ; but the case was unsettled 
 at his death. The house was only completed in 
 1724, by the Duchess, not Vanbrugh, with whom 
 she had quarrelled, and the last payments to the 
 architect were not got out of her until a year later. 
 All through the long years of building, Marl- 
 borough used to send enquiries or instructions 
 about the palace. He looked forward to seeing the 
 new plantations in 1705, and some day to living 
 there with the Duchess. When he fancied there 
 would be a peace in 1706 he begged her to do all 
 she could to see that the building was carried on 
 that he might have a prospect of living in it. The 
 Duke of Shrewsbury had been there, and sent 
 him an account of it which made him regret he 
 never saw it except in winter. But these hopes of 
 living in it in 1707 were, he confessed, idle dreams. 
 When it was half built, he said in that year it 
 would be enough for the two of them. With her 
 he said he would live in a cottage. The news of the 
 gardens and plantations in the wet season pleased 
 him, though it was a better season for gardens 
 than buildings. It was the third year of the trees, 
 and he wished her to " taste the fruit of each one " so 
 that the poor ones might be changed. But to have to 
 wait three years before the ice house was fit to be 
 
 239 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 used was a melancholy prospect for him at fifty- 
 seven. He wanted Sir Godfrey Kneller to paint 
 Anne and the Prince of Denmark to hang in the 
 house, so that he would have nothing in sight but 
 his friends. When he was at Brussels in 1708 he 
 went to see some hangings that were being made 
 for her apartment and his : the Duchess was to 
 provide everything necessary for those rooms ; 
 he was resolved to furnish them with " the finest 
 pictures he could get." If she herself went there, 
 the work indoors would advance the faster. To 
 see it in the summer was his hope, if Vendome 
 would permit him by venturing on another battle. 
 The fine weather in March, 1710, made him 
 anxious that all the hands possible were employed 
 at Blenheim. But in that year his " gold mine " 
 of Blenheim was attacked by the new ministry. 
 They tried to inveigle him into paying the arrears 
 himself, and they granted only enough to cover 
 in and protect what had been done. Vanbrugh, 
 unable to draw his dues, called it a monument 
 of ingratitude. The Duke adopted the phrase to 
 express his own view. Yet he never quarrelled 
 with the house, as Pope did by calling it a house, 
 but not a dwelling. Since he did not see how he 
 could enjoy living in a country where he had so 
 few friends, he would be indifferent. When Oxford 
 spoke of resuming payments for the work in 171 1, 
 he mentioned that the debt on the Marlborough 
 family amounted to about four hundred thousand 
 pounds on the Civil List during the Queen's 
 reign. In 171 6 the Duchess thought it " nothing 
 like a habitation " yet. But somewhere in it he 
 presumably did spend some time as early as 1712. 
 For in March that year he wrote to Sir Thomas 
 Wheate at Glympton, near Woodstock, about his 
 
 240 
 
<u 
 
In Disgrace 
 
 beagles. He thanked Sir Thomas for reminding 
 him of his want of beagles, though he was at a 
 loss where to keep them. He would be glad to 
 know where they were and if the huntsman would 
 keep them till he had a proper place, and on what 
 terms would he do so .'* 
 
 In 171 6 he had a paralytic stroke and lost his 
 speech and his reason for a time. In this attitude 
 he has been most remembered as an old man. 
 The Duchess was said to lead him about in public. 
 His servants were said to have exhibited him, for 
 an extra fee, to people who came to look at 
 Blenheim. But he sat in the House of Lords as 
 late as 1721, and his luck still attending him, 
 under the Duchess's management, he made a 
 hundred thousand pounds out of the South Sea 
 Scheme. He listened to his grand children playing 
 ** Tamerlane " and " All for Love " at Blenheim, 
 the amorous speeches having been scratched out, 
 all embraces forbidden, by the Duchess, and a 
 flattering prologue added by a bishop. He played 
 cards, but badly, he said, which made it an ex- 
 pensive amusement. Therefore he preferred to 
 hear singing : it pleased him '* mightily without 
 any expense." From the letter in which he says 
 this, and describes a visit to the Prince and 
 Princess of Wales at Richmond in 1720, it is very 
 plain that his old age is not summed up in the 
 line : 
 
 From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage 
 flow. 
 
 A letter more graceful, cheerful and precise could 
 not be written by a man of seventy. Before he was 
 seventy-two he died at Windsor Lodge and was 
 buried in Westminster Abbey. The choir sang 
 
 241 R 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 ** When Saul was King over us, thou wast he that 
 leddest out and broughtest in Israel." The Garter 
 King-of-Arms pronounced at the grave's edge : 
 ** Thus it has pleased Almighty God to take out 
 of this transitory world, into his mercy, the most 
 high, mighty, and noble prince, John, Duke of 
 Marlborough." 
 
 242 
 
XXIII : LETTERS AND SPEECHES 
 
 FOR one of his eminence Marlborough has 
 left behind a very slight impression as a man. 
 He is just a great soldier. Even his fall has 
 done his reputation no good. He fell far, but it 
 is hard to pity one who showed that he 
 would have done anything whatever to save 
 himself. 
 
 He survives, then, as a bad man in Macaulay's 
 history, as a mean one in ** Esmond," as a mere 
 great man in a thousand lifeless verses and histories. 
 To the eye he is shown clearest perhaps by those 
 words of Evelyn after an interview in February, 
 1705, the year after Blenheim : "I went to wait 
 on my Lord Treasurer [Godolphin], where was 
 the victorious Duke of Marlborough, who came 
 to me, took me by the hand with extraordinary 
 familiarity and civility, as formerly he used to do, 
 without any alteration of his good nature. He had 
 a most rich George in a sardonyx, set with dia- 
 monds of very great value : for the rest very plain. 
 I had not seen him for some years, and believed 
 he might have forgotten me." Evelyn never liked 
 him ; yet here he is plainly conquered by Marl- 
 borough's grace. The great man had a perfect 
 kindliness. You see it in his references to his 
 steward and his dog when they died together in 
 1 7 10, to the poor people of France as the war 
 drew on, to the Electress of Bavaria when her 
 husband had been beaten at Blenheim, to his 
 
 243 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 soldiers in bad weather or after the bloody battle 
 of Malplaquet. You see it in his speech to the 
 guards in 171 5 when they had been complaining 
 contemptuously of their *' Hanover shirts." 
 ** Gentlemen," he said, " I am much concerned 
 to find your complaints so just about the ill state 
 of your clothes. I take this opportunity to tell you 
 that I am wholly innocent of this grievance ; and, 
 depend upon it, no application shall be wanting 
 on my part to trace out the measures that have 
 been taken to abuse you and me. I am resolved 
 nothing shall divert me from demanding forth- 
 with satisfaction (wherever it may happen to fall), 
 and shall think nothing too much on my part 
 for your great services. I have ordered you a new 
 set of clothing, such as will be every way becoming 
 His Majesty's first regiment of foot guards. I 
 desire you will return, then, and take your old, 
 till such time as the new can be completed, which, 
 I give you my word, shall be as soon as possible. 
 I have had the honour to serve with some of you 
 a great many campaigns, and believe you will do 
 me the justice to tell the world that I never willingly 
 wronged any of you ; and if I can be serviceable 
 to any (the least) of you, you may readily command 
 it, and I shall be glad of any opportunity for that 
 purpose. I hope I shall now leave you good sub- 
 jects to the best of Kings, and every way entirely 
 satisfied." 
 
 He added beer, and the men were satisfied. 
 
 Apart from a very few contemporaries like 
 Evelyn he is himself his own best chronicler. He 
 wrote a prodigious number of long private letters 
 and official despatches. There is hardly one that 
 does not reveal his moderation, grace and kind- 
 liness mingled either with ambition or with 
 
 244 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 domestic affection. A few examples tell us more 
 about him than Macaulay and Thackeray. The 
 first is a letter to the Duchess in the year of 
 Blenheim, written from the Hague soon after they 
 had parted in some disagreement : 
 
 '* Your dear letter of the 15th came to me but 
 this minute. My Lord Treasurer's letter, in which 
 it was enclosed, by some mistake was sent to 
 Amsterdam. I would not for anything in my 
 power it had been lost ; for it is so very kind, 
 that I would in return lose a thousand lives, if I 
 had them, to make you happy. Before I sat down 
 to write this letter, I took yours that you wrote 
 at Harwich and have burnt it ; and if you will 
 give me leave it will be a great pleasure to me to 
 have it in my power to read this dear, dear letter 
 often, and that it may be found in my strong box 
 when I am dead. I do this minute love you better 
 than ever I did before. This letter of yours has 
 made me so happy that I do from my soul wish 
 we could retire and not be blamed. What you 
 propose as to coming over, I should be extremely 
 pleased with ; for your letter has so transported 
 me that I think you would be happier in being 
 here than where you are, although I should not be 
 able to see you often. But you will see by my last 
 letter, as well as this, that what you desire is im- 
 possible, for I am going up into Germany, where 
 it would be impossible for you to follow me ; 
 but love me as you now do, and no hurt can come 
 to me. You have by this kindness preserved my 
 quiet, and I believe my life ; for till I had this 
 letter, I had been very indifferent of what should 
 become of myself. I have pressed this business of 
 carrying an army into Germany, in order to leave 
 a good name behind me, wishing for nothing 
 
 245 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 else but good success. I shall now add, that of 
 having a long life and that I may be happy with 
 you." 
 
 The second letter is also to the Duchess, in 
 1706, the year of Ramillies, when she was forcing 
 him to force Sunderland, their son-in-law, upon 
 the Queen : " You know that I have often dis- 
 putes with you concerning the Queen ; and by 
 what I have always showed, when she thinks 
 herself in the right she needs no advice to help 
 her to be very firm and positive. But I doubt but 
 a very little time will set this of Lord Sunderland 
 very right, for you may see by the letter that she 
 has a good opinion of him. I have writ as my 
 friends would have me, for I had much rather be 
 governed than govern. But otherwise I have really 
 so much esteem and kindness for him, and have 
 so much knowledge of the place you would have 
 for him, that I have my apprehension he will be 
 very uneasy in it ; and that when it is too late, 
 you will be of my opinion, that it would have been 
 much happier if he had been employed in any 
 other place of profit and honour. I have formerly 
 said so much to you on this subject and to so little 
 purpose that I ought not now to have troubled 
 you with all this, knowing very well that you rely 
 on other people's judgments in this matter. I do 
 not doubt but they wish him very well ; but in this 
 they have other considerations than his good, 
 and I have none but that of a kind friend, that 
 would neither have him nor my daughter 
 uneasy. Writing this by candle light, I am so 
 blind that I cannot read it, so that if there be 
 anything in it that should not be seen, burn it 
 and think kindly of one who loves you with all his 
 heart." 
 
 246 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 This third letter was written to the Duchess 
 in 1703 when she wished him to oppose the Tory 
 Bill against Occasional Conformity : '* I do own 
 a great deal of what you say is right ; but I can 
 by no means allow that all the Tory party are for 
 King James, and consequently against the Queen, 
 but the contrary ; I think it is in her power to 
 make use of almost all, but [except] some of the 
 heads, to the true interests of England, which I 
 take to be the Protestant succession, to the sup- 
 porting of which, by the help of Almighty God, 
 I will venture my last drop of blood. As you are 
 the only body that could have given me happiness, 
 I am the more concerned we should differ so much 
 in opinion. But as I am firmly resolved never to 
 assist any Jacobite whatsoever, or any Tory that 
 is for persecution, I must be careful not to do the 
 thing in the world which my Lord Rochester 
 would most desire to have me do, which is to give 
 my vote against this Bill [and his old Tory 
 friends] ; but I do most solemnly promise that I 
 will speak to nobody living to be for it ; and to 
 show you that I would do anything that were 
 not a ruin to the Queen, and an absolute destruc- 
 tion to myself, to make you easy, at this time by 
 what has been told me, the Bill will certainly be 
 thrown out, unless my Lord Treasurer and 
 I will both speak to people and speak in the 
 House, which I do assure you for myself I will 
 not do." 
 
 This fourth to the Duchess belongs to 1706 
 and is again on the subject of Sunderland : 
 " What you write me concerning the Queen and 
 the Lord Treasurer gives me a great deal of 
 trouble ; for should the consequence be what 
 you say, that there is no relying on the Tories, 
 
 247 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and that the Whigs will be out of humour, it must 
 end in confusion, which will have the consequence 
 of the Dutch making peace with France. I am 
 afraid this is what will gratify many of the Tory 
 party ; but I can see no advantage that can come 
 to the Whigs by the ruin of the Lord Treasurer ; 
 so that I hope they are too wise a people to expose 
 themselves and the liberties of Europe because 
 some things are not done with a good grace. I 
 would not have you mistake me ; for as far as it 
 is in my power, for the sake of my country and 
 the Queen, for whom, had I a thousand lives, I 
 would venture them all, I would have everything 
 that is reasonable done to satisfy the Whigs, of 
 which I think the Lord Treasurer is the best 
 judge. If it were not for my duty to the Queen 
 and friendship to Lord Treasurer, I should beg 
 that somebody else might execute my office — not 
 that I take anything ill, but that the weight is too 
 great for me, and I find a decay in my memory. 
 Whatever may be told to you of my looks, the 
 greatest part of my hair is grey, but I think I am 
 not quite so lean as I was." 
 
 The next letter to the Duchess follows close on 
 this one : "I will frankly own to you that the 
 jealousy some of your friends have that I and the 
 Lord Treasurer do not act sincerely makes me 
 so weary that, were it not for my gratitude to the 
 Queen and concern for him, I would now retire, 
 and never serve more. For I have had the good 
 luck to deserve better from all Englishmen than 
 to be suspected of not being in the true interest 
 of my country, which I am in, and ever will 
 be, without being of a faction ; and this prin- 
 ciple shall govern me for the little remainder of 
 my life. I must not think of being popular, but I 
 
 248 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 shall have the satisfaction of going to my grave 
 with the opinion of having acted as became an 
 honest man ; and if I have your esteem and love, 
 I shall think myself entirely happy. Having writ 
 thus far, I have received your two letters of the 
 20th and 21st, which confirm me in my opinion 
 before. And since the resolution is taken to vex 
 and ruin the Lord Treasurer, because the Queen 
 has not complied with what was desired for Lord 
 Sunderland, I shall from henceforth despise all 
 mankind, and think there is no such thing as 
 virtue : for I know with what zeal the Lord 
 Treasurer has pressed the Queen in that matter. 
 I do pity him, and shall love him as long as I live, 
 and never will be a friend to any that can be his 
 enemy. 
 
 *' I have writ my mind very freely to the Queen 
 on this occasion, so that whatever misfortune 
 may happen, I shall have a quiet mind, having 
 done what I thought my duty. And as for the 
 resolution of making me uneasy, I believe they 
 will not have much pleasure in that, for as I have 
 not set my heart on having justice done me, I 
 shall not be disappointed, nor will I be ill-used 
 by any man." 
 
 And this one is of the same set and year : "I 
 hope you will order it so, that after I have been 
 some days at London we may go to the Lodge, 
 and be quiet, for I am quite weary of the world ; 
 and since I am afraid there is a necessity of my 
 serving in this country [Flanders] as long as this 
 war lasts, let me have a little more quiet in England 
 than I have been used to have, and then I shall 
 be the better able to go through what I must 
 endure in this country ; for upon the success 
 we have had this year [the year of Ramillies] our 
 
 249 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 friends grow less governable than when they were 
 afraid of the French. . . . 
 
 *' I have already more than once writ my mind 
 very freely, so that my conscience is at ease, 
 though my mind is very far from it ; for I did 
 flatter myself that my zeal and sincerity for the 
 Queen were so well known to her that my repre- 
 sentations would have had more weight than I 
 find they have. But nothing can ever hinder me 
 from being ready to lay down my life when she 
 can think it for her service, for I serve with an 
 entire affection, as well as the utmost duty ; for 
 you and I, and all ours, would be the most un- 
 grateful people that ever lived if we did not venture 
 all for her good. By this, do not mistake me ; for 
 I am very sensible that if my Lord Treasurer be 
 obliged to retire, I cannot serve in the Ministry. 
 But when those projectors have put all in con- 
 fusion, I shall then readily not only venture my 
 life, but all that I have, to show my gratitude. 
 When the express comes, by which I shall see all 
 that has passed, I shall once more write, as be- 
 comes me, and will yet hope it may have its 
 effect." 
 
 The letter written to the Queen a week later 
 was as follows : "I have had the honour of your 
 Majesty's of the 27th and ist of this month. The 
 last has mortified and troubled me very much, 
 since by it I see the little effect my letters have 
 had with your Majesty, so that I was resolved to 
 have been silent, till I should have had the honour 
 of being near your person. But finding by the 
 Lord Treasurer's letter, as well as by others, 
 that the measures you must take before the meet- 
 ing of the Parliament will have the consequence 
 of making everything go easy, or ruining your 
 
 250 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 business, I could not avoid troubling you on this 
 subject. The Lord Treasurer assures me that any 
 other measures but those he has proposed must 
 ruin your business, and oblige him to quit his 
 staff, which would be a great trouble to him, and 
 I am afraid will have the fatal consequence of 
 putting you into the hands of a party which God 
 only knows how you would then be able to get 
 out of it. It is true that your reign has been so 
 manifestly blessed by God that one might reason- 
 ably think you might govern without making use 
 of the heads of either party, but as it might be 
 easy to yourself. This might be practicable if both 
 parties sought your favour, as in reason and duty 
 they ought. But, madam, the truth is, that the 
 heads of one party have declared against you and 
 your government, as far as it is possible, without 
 going into open rebellion. Now, should your 
 Majesty disoblige the other, how is it possible to 
 obtain near five millions for carrying on the war 
 with vigour, without which all is undone ? Your 
 Majesty has had so much knowledge and experi- 
 ence yourself of the capacity and integrity of the 
 Lord Treasurer that you cannot but know you 
 may safely rely upon his advice, and if there be 
 any opinions different from his, your Majesty 
 will allow me to say, they neither know so much 
 of these matters, nor can they judge so well of 
 them. 
 
 " I take the liberty of sending a copy of a letter 
 the Lord Treasurer writ to me on the 13th of the 
 last month. I shall repeat nothing in it, but 
 earnestly desire you will once more read it. And 
 as I would in return for your many favours die to 
 make you and your government easy, makes me 
 take the liberty, with all submission on my knees, 
 
 251 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 to beg for your own sake, the good of your country, 
 and all the liberties of Europe, that you would 
 not lose one day in giving the Lord Treasurer 
 that necessary assistance he thinks proper for 
 carrying on of your business in Parliament, by 
 which you will not only enable him to make your 
 business go well, but also that of governing the 
 only party that can be made use of. I am very 
 confident the Lord Treasurer thinks he shall be 
 able to govern them to your satisfaction, or he 
 would not say as much as he does ; and, as for 
 myself, I beg your Majesty's justice in believing 
 that I shall take all the care I can to make them 
 sensible of the obligations they have to you, so 
 that you may never have reason to repent the 
 measures, I hope in God, you will now take. I 
 can have no ease nor quiet." 
 
 This letter to the Duchess shows another side 
 of his importance and his sense of it. It belongs to 
 1708, the year of Oudenarde. " You say," he 
 writes, " that Lord Sunderland has assured you 
 that I may depend upon the friendship of the 
 Whigs, if I will make it possible. You and Lord 
 Sunderland may be assured that I have no in- 
 tentions or thoughts but that of deserving well of 
 England, and consequently must and will depend 
 on the friendship of the Whigs ; and if my good 
 intentions are not seconded with success, I think 
 I shall have nothing justly to reproach myself 
 withal, so that I may retire with quietness and 
 honour. 
 
 *' The siege of Lille, which was begun on 
 Monday last, is of that consequence to France 
 that I nowise doubt of their drawing all the troops 
 that is in their power together to give us what 
 disturbance they can. I pray God to bless this 
 
 252 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 undertaking, and all others that may tend to the 
 bringing of us to a safe and lasting peace, and 
 then I will not put the visit of Lord Haversham 
 to Abigail [Mrs. Masham] much to heart. But 
 as that angry Lord has not for some years made 
 any visit to any belonging to the Court, I think his 
 visit to Abigail will not be much for her service, 
 nor that of the Queen, since it must appear to all 
 the world that she is the protectress of those who 
 would destroy the Queen's ministers, which must 
 occasion a great prejudice to her service. 
 
 " But I think we are now acting for the liberties 
 of all Europe, so that till this matter is a little more 
 over, tho' I love the Queen with all my heart, I 
 can't think of the business of England till this great 
 affair is decided, which I think must be by another 
 battle; for I am resolved to risk anything rather 
 than suffer Brussels to be taken, though the number 
 of this army is very much diminished by the siege. 
 But I rely on the justness of our cause, and that 
 God will not forsake us, and that he will continue 
 to keep our troops in good heart, as they are at 
 present. I beg you to be so kind and just as to be 
 assured that my kindness for you is such that my 
 greatest ambition is bounded in that of ending 
 my days quietly with you." 
 
 The last letter to the Duchess that I shall quote 
 shows something of a religion as simple as his 
 policy, and easier, because God, who was as much 
 greater than he as he was greater than Anne, 
 showed no special favour, as Anne did, to Harley 
 and Mrs. Masham. " Yesterday being thanks- 
 giving day," says he, " I was in devotion, and 
 earnestly hope God will forgive what is past and 
 strengthen our hearts ; so that for the time to 
 come we may bear with patience the ingratitude 
 
 253 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 we have met with, which he no doubt, in due time, 
 will punish ; for we, I fear, have so justly merited 
 his anger, but no ways have we deserved this usage 
 from the Queen. We must look upon this correc- 
 tion of his as a favour, if it atones for our past 
 actions. As I would not be a favourite, were it 
 in my power, my daily prayers shall be that you 
 and I might be so strengthened by His grace that 
 the remainder of our lives might be spent in doing 
 good, by which we might at last be acceptable to 
 Him. You do not give any account of how you are 
 going to pass this summer [1710] : I should hope 
 it would be with your children, as much as possible, 
 so that you might not be alone, which might give 
 you so much occasion for the spleen. Whilst the 
 Queen is at Windsor, I should think you should 
 avoid being at the Lodge ; but pray do whatever 
 shall make you most easy." 
 
 In this letter to the Queen he prays God to 
 direct her for her own good and that of Europe — 
 that is to say, he prays that she may continue to 
 employ him and Lord Treasurer Godolphin and 
 not interfere with them. It dates from 1707 when 
 Harley had risen and begun to shed darkness. " I 
 beg the justice of you to believe," he says, " that 
 I am no ways concerned for the power that the 
 Whigs may have with you, but the great concern 
 that I must always have for your quiet and safety ; 
 for if you are served to your satisfaction and 
 security I am very indifferent who the persons 
 are. And as you desire that I would speak freely, 
 I do protest in the presence of God Almighty 
 that I am persuaded that if you continue in the 
 mind that I think you now are, and will not suffer 
 those that have the honour to serve you to manage 
 your affairs agreeably to the circumstances of the 
 
 254 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 times, your business must inevitably run into 
 confusion, and consequently make it impossible 
 for my Lord Treasurer to serve ; for if he is 
 thought to have the power when he has not, both 
 parties will be angry with him, though both 
 would admire him and be his friends if he were 
 out of the service. If I were with your Majesty I 
 believe I could let you see the trouble and dis- 
 traction you are like to be in this winter, which 
 you must prevent before the meeting of ParUament 
 or it will be too late. 
 
 " I find the Duke of Savoy, Prince Eugene, the 
 Elector of Hanover, and the Emperor are all 
 desirous that you would be pleased to allow me 
 to continue so long on this side the water as might 
 be necessary for concerting the operations of 
 the next campaign. This will make it impossible 
 for me to be in England before the meeting of the 
 Parliament ; and should I come at that time it 
 might create jealousies on this side the water. 
 But as I prefer your quiet and service above all 
 other considerations, if your Majesty thinks my 
 being with you, for one day or two, may be of 
 any use I am ready to obey. If I come in a yacht one 
 man of war should be ordered to Ostend, and 
 not be told what it is for, for I would endeavour 
 to be back with the army before the French 
 should know I am gone for England. What I 
 now propose will make so much noise that I 
 beg you will be pleased to advise with my 
 Lord Treasurer before you send me your com- 
 mands. 
 
 "It is impossible for me to finish this letter 
 without assuring your Majesty of what I know of 
 Lady Marlborough, that nobody could serve 
 you with more zeal and true aflPection than she has 
 
 255 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 done for many years ; and I must do her judg- 
 ment that right, as to say, that she has foreseen 
 some things which I thought would never have 
 happened ; I mean concerning the behaviour of 
 some in your service [Mrs. Masham]. I pray God 
 to direct you in all things for your own good, and 
 that of all Europe, that your own affairs may 
 prosper and be glorious, as they have been for 
 some years, and I shall then enjoy all the happiness 
 and quiet that this world can give me." 
 
 The three other letters to Anne which I shall 
 quote all relate to his important task of keeping 
 his place. The first was written in 1708, before 
 the battle of Oudenarde. He did not scruple to 
 remind Anne that he might die during the cam- 
 paign : "I must begin in observing to your 
 Majesty that the town of Amsterdam, which has 
 always been the most zealous for the carrying on 
 of this war with vigour, has, as your Majesty 
 may have seen by my former letter to Lord 
 Treasurer, pressed me in two conferences, by 
 their burgomaster and pensioner, for the making 
 steps towards a peace, which I think not for the 
 honour or interest of your character. I have 
 reason to believe this change of theirs does not 
 proceed from the apprehensions they have of 
 France, but from what passed in England last 
 winter, and from the continued intelligences they 
 have of your Majesty's being resolved to change 
 hands and parties. They being sensible of the 
 fatal consequences this may have in the next 
 Parliament, is the true reason of their being earnest 
 to have propositions of peace made this cam- 
 paign. 
 
 " As for England, I do not doubt but care is 
 taken to incline your Majesty to believe that the 
 
 256 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 Tories will have this next Parliament a majority 
 in the House of Commons. But I beg your Majesty 
 to consider, before it is too late, how that is possible 
 after the attempt that has been made by France 
 for the Pretender ; and that the greatest part of 
 that party is suspected either to have known, or, 
 at least, to have wished success to the attempt. 
 Besides, their continual endeavours to incline the 
 people to a peace which, in the circumstances 
 we are in, can only tend to the lessening your 
 Majesty, and, consequently, the advancement of 
 the Pretender's interest. 
 
 ** This being the truth, how is it possible, 
 madam, that the honest people of England, who 
 wish well to you, and the carrying on of the war, 
 can be prevailed upon to choose such men as 
 they believe would ruin all that is dear to them ? 
 If what I have the honour to write to your 
 Majesty be the truth, for God's sake consider 
 what may be the consequences of refusing the 
 request of the Dukes of Newcastle and Devon- 
 shire, since it will be a demonstration not only to^ 
 them, but to everybody, that Lord Treasurer and 
 I have no credit with your Majesty, but that 
 you are guided by the insinuation of Mr.. 
 Harley. 
 
 ** We are assured that the Duke of Burgundy- 
 is coming to the head of this army, with the King 
 of France's leave, and orders to venture a battle. 
 I shall be so far from avoiding it that I shall seek 
 it, thinking it absolutely for your service ; so 
 that God only knows whether this may not be 
 the last I may have the honour to write to you,, 
 which makes me beg with the same earnestness 
 as if I were sure it was to be my last, that your 
 Majesty will let no influence or persuasion hinder 
 
 257 s 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 you, not only in this, but in all your worldly 
 affairs, to follow the advice and good counsel 
 of Lord Treasurer, who will never have any 
 thought but what is for your honour and true 
 interest." 
 
 Unwounded at Oudenarde he was yet able to 
 affect the Queen by alleging the effect of her 
 letters had only been relieved by the battle. 
 ** The uneasiness of my mind," he writes, " upon 
 receiving your Majesty's letters of the i8th and 
 22nd of June had such an effect upon my body as 
 to make me very ill, but it pleased God to bless 
 me with such good success, as in great measure 
 recovered me ; though my sickness before the 
 battle, and the hurry in which I have been almost 
 ever since, joined with the uneasiness of the sub- 
 ject, have hindered me from returning your 
 Majesty an answer as soon as I ought to have done. 
 I was glad to observe that the impressions which 
 your Majesty seemed to have in yours of the i8th, 
 of my Lord Sunderland's having made use of 
 your name in his letters to Scotland, had been so 
 far set right, by the assurances he gave you, as 
 to let you see all possible endeavours had been 
 used from thence to incense you against him. 
 And though he may have done, upon that occasion, 
 what your Majesty does not like, yet I beg leave 
 to say, with all humility and duty to your Majesty, 
 that I did flatter myself nobody could have pre- 
 vailed with you to carry your resentment so far 
 against him in my absence, as is mentioned in 
 your letter, and to give me so great a mortification 
 in the face of all Europe, at a time when I was so 
 zealously endeavouring to serve you, at the hazard 
 both of my reputation and of my blood. But 
 though any consideration of me were wholly out 
 
 258 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 of the case, I should think, for your own sake, 
 you would suspend any further resentment in 
 this matter till I have the honour to see you, and 
 opportunity of thoroughly examining and dis- 
 coursing upon it with your Majesty. For God's 
 sake, madam, consider, that whatever may be said 
 to amuse or delude you, it is utterly impossible 
 for you to have ever more than a part of the 
 Tories, and though you could have them all, 
 their number is not capable of doing you good. 
 These things are so plain that I can't doubt but 
 your Majesty will be convinced nothing can be 
 so fatal to your service as any way to discourage 
 the Whigs, at this time when after the blessing 
 of that victory, you may be sure that if you show 
 a confidence in their zeal for your interests, they 
 will all concur very cheerfully to make you great 
 and happy as I wish. God Almighty bless and 
 preserve you. 
 
 ** I had writ thus far before I had the honour of 
 your Majesty's of the 13th, by Lord Stair, and as 
 I shall always endeavour to deserve from your 
 Majesty, so I shall never doubt of having your 
 esteem and protection. Your Majesty might see, 
 by the shortness of the letter that was shown you, 
 that I was in great haste when I writ it, and my 
 fulness of heart for your service made me use 
 that expression. What I then meant, as I must 
 always think is, that you can make no good use 
 of this victory, nor of any other blessing, but by 
 following the advice of my Lord Treasurer, who 
 has been so long faithful to you ; for any other 
 advisers do but lead you into a labyrinth, to play 
 their own game at your expense. Nothing but your 
 commands should have obliged me to say so 
 much, having taken my resolution to suffer with 
 
 259 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 you, but not to advise, being sensible that if 
 there was not something very extraordinary your 
 Majesty would follow the advice of those that 
 have served you so long, faithfully and with 
 success." 
 
 This was a letter drafted by the Duke but 
 corrected by the Duchess, except the last paragraph 
 which relates to his letter written to the Duchess 
 immediately after Oudenarde. The Duchess 
 had shown the letter to the Queen, and the Queen 
 had not been as pleased as could have been wished 
 with the phrase : " I do, and you must, give thanks 
 to God for his goodness in protecting and making 
 me the instrument of so much happiness to the 
 Queen and nation, if she will please to make use 
 of it." He had also in a letter to the Queen rubbed 
 the same matter in, saying : " Your Majesty shall 
 be convinced from this time that I have no am- 
 bition or anything to ask for myself or family ; 
 but I will end the few years which I have to live 
 in endeavouring to serve you, and to give God 
 Almighty thanks for his infinite goodness to me. 
 But as I have taken this resolution to myself, 
 give me leave to say, that I think you are obliged, 
 in conscience and as a good Christian, to forgive, 
 and to have no more resentments to any particular 
 person or party, but to make use of such as 
 will carry on this just war with vigour, which 
 is the only way to preserve our religion and 
 liberties, and the crown on your head ; which 
 that you may long enjoy and be a blessing to 
 your people, shall be the constant wish and 
 prayer of him that is with the greatest truth 
 and duty. ..." 
 
 The following long letter was drafted by 
 Godolphin for Marlborough to send to the Queen 
 
 260 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 when she had been threatened with resignation 
 by them both. She was sorry to find him " in such 
 a splenetic way as to talk of retiring," but at the 
 same time she thought his desire to flood her 
 with Whigs would " tear that little prerogative 
 the Crown has to pieces." Said Godolphin for 
 Marlborough : " As to the reflections your Majesty 
 is pleased to make upon my real inclination to 
 retire, tho' it be natural and very desirable, after 
 one has lived a great many years in a hurry, to 
 enjoy some quiet in one's old age ; yet I will own 
 freely to your Majesty my inclinations to retire 
 proceed chiefly from finding myself incapable 
 of being of any further use to your Majesty. The 
 long and faithful services I have endeavoured to 
 perform to your Majesty, and the goodness you 
 had expressed to me upon several occasions, had 
 created a general opinion, both abroad and at 
 home, that your Majesty had placed entire trust 
 and confidence in me ; and upon that fact I was 
 the more capable of doing many great and effectual 
 services, both here abroad, and in England. 
 But your Majesty will give me leave to say, with 
 all imaginable duty, that is now reduced singly 
 to serving you at the head of the army this cam- 
 paign ; for your Majesty having shown so publicly 
 last winter and this spring, that you have no more 
 trust and confidence in me, nor any reliance 
 upon my opinion, but much more upon the opinion 
 of those who have neither honesty nor capacity 
 to serve you, and who visibly ruined your service 
 last winter in several undeniable instances, nor 
 no longer possible for me to be of any further use 
 to you ; and to continue in your Council to advise, 
 without credit enough to prevail with you to 
 follow good advice, would only expose myself 
 
 261 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and my reputation in the world, by making 
 myself answerable for other people's follies, or 
 worse. 
 
 *' And by what your Majesty is pleased to say 
 in your letter of the Lord Treasurer, tho' I have 
 nothing so far as that from himself, I believe his 
 opinion, and his reasons for that opinion, must 
 be the same with mine. Your Majesty is pleased 
 to think we should be blamed for quitting ; but, 
 not to reflect upon that coldness, and that be- 
 haviour in yourself, which forces us to quit, by 
 withdrawing your trust and confidence from us, 
 to give it to insinuating, busy flatterers, who 
 can't serve you for one month this winter without 
 danger of being torn to pieces in the streets. I 
 don't doubt but these things are very sensible to 
 Lord Treasurer, as I am sure they are to me. 
 However, I shall not trouble your Majesty any 
 further with the consequences that must follow, 
 since I find plainly by your Majesty's letter that 
 all I have said and written hitherto is to no pur- 
 pose, nor indeed, ever can be, while your Majesty's 
 heart is possessed by all the false and malicious 
 insinuations which are possible to be suggested 
 by our enemies ; and, therefore, I shall conclude 
 this head, with wishing your Majesty may find 
 abler servants than we have been, more faithful 
 and affectionate, I will beg leave to say, you never 
 can. 
 
 '* As to the tyranny of the five [Whig] Lords, 
 which you seem so much to apprehend, and so 
 much desire that you might be kept out of their 
 hands, if your Majesty were disposed to hearken 
 to the advice of those who have supported you for 
 almost seven years upon the throne, and much 
 more before you came to it, you would be in no 
 
 262 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 danger of falling into any hands but ours, whom 
 you did not, till very lately, care to think danger- 
 ous ; and certainly we are not altered. By a maxim 
 I have often heard, that "interest cannot lie," we 
 can have no other interest but your Majesty's, 
 and to make your throne powerful and your 
 government strong. But your Majesty will allow 
 some people may have an interest to our prejudice ; 
 they may have an interest to create difficulties 
 every day in your Majesty's mind against us, and 
 by that means to force us out of your service, and 
 then, indeed, I am afraid you will be in very 
 dangerous hands. But as to the five Lords, if your 
 Majesty will be inclined to do great things only, 
 as in themselves are not only just and reasonable, 
 with regard to all that is past, but useful and 
 necessary for all that is to come, your Majesty 
 needs not to apprehend falling into other hands 
 but ours, who have done you very many faithful 
 services, and who, whatever return we are like to 
 have for them, will never fail to pray for your 
 Majesty's long life and prosperity." 
 
 The letter to Godolphin relates to the same 
 agitations in the same tone. Thus the Duke wrote 
 to the Treasurer during the troublesome year 
 after Ramillies : "I am a good deal concerned 
 at a letter I received by the last post from Lady 
 Marlborough, in which she tells me that Mr. 
 Harley has the entire confidence of the Queen. 
 If she has good reason for this opinion, I can't 
 but think there should be no time lost in speaking 
 plainly to her Majesty, in letting her know what 
 you and I think is her interest. If she be of another 
 opinion, I think you and I should honestly let 
 her know that we shall not be able to carry her 
 business on with success, so that she might have 
 
 263 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 time to take her measures with such as will be 
 able to serve her. I shall always be ready to 
 sacrifice myself for the prosperity of the Queen ; 
 but I will not be thought to have credit, when her 
 business is managed in a way which, in my 
 opinion, must be her ruin. I beg you will let me 
 know your thoughts on this matter, and what you 
 think may be proper to be done ; for though I 
 am weary of all sorts of business, I know her 
 meaning is so sincerely honest that I would 
 undergo any trouble or hazard that you think 
 may do good. On the other side, if I can't do 
 good, nothing can make me so happy as a quiet 
 life." 
 
 To Sunderland a few weeks later he said nearly 
 the same thing, dreading the surreptitious destruc- 
 tion of his policy, by the enemy abroad taking 
 confidence from the power of the enemy at home. 
 ** I agree entirely with you," he says, *' that the 
 success the French have had is very discouraging ; 
 and, if care be not taken in the manner you 
 mention [by England taking spirited action to 
 counterbalance the failure at Toulon], the con- 
 sequences may be dangerous with Holland, for I 
 have received very desponding letters from those 
 parts. Either we were in the wrong in the be- 
 ginning of the war, or we have reason to continue 
 it with vigour, or content ourselves with losing 
 our liberties, for the French are very insolent 
 in success, notwithstanding their great desire 
 for peace. If the allies continue firm this win- 
 ter, I am of opinion the enemy will, at the 
 entrance of the next campaign, venture a battle 
 in this country, since they see that success in 
 any other part of the world cannot give them 
 peace. 
 
 264 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 " You may be sure I long extremely for quiet- 
 ness ; but, at the same time, I am very sensible 
 that during this war I must continue in this galley. 
 My great uneasiness is what I hear from England ; 
 and my concern for the Lord Treasurer is such 
 that, as a friend, I could wish he would take the 
 resolution of retiring ; for, by the letters I receive, 
 he will unavoidably be mortified, and consequently 
 not be able to serve England with the success he 
 has done hitherto. I do, with all my heart, wish 
 England prosperity ; but if that cannot be, it 
 would be some ease that it was not in the hands of 
 Lord Treasurer. If you are of my opinion, I shall 
 ever acknowledge it as a mark of your kindness 
 to me if you advise him to make this step, for I 
 am much more concerned for him than for 
 myself." 
 
 This next letter, of 1710, to Godolphin reflects 
 his perplexity when his enemies at home were 
 isolating him. " I take the liberty," he says, " of 
 putting several letters under your cover rather 
 than to let the messenger deliver them ; that to 
 the Lords you will give yourself, and for Lady 
 Marlborough, from henceforward I shall send it 
 always under your cover, for I hope she will not 
 be prevailed upon to come to town ; for, in my 
 opinion, the intercourse of letters between the 
 Queen and herself has no other end than making 
 things worse. The enclosed, which I send open, 
 to the Duke of Shrewsbury, I leave it to your 
 discretion of giving or not giving, for if he be 
 afraid of living civilly with Lady Marlborough, 
 I can have nothing to do with him ; on the other 
 side, I think the consequence of preserving this 
 Parliament is of so much consequence to the 
 Queen and nation that I would omit nothing 
 
 265 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 that could be in my power ; for I am as sure as 
 I can be of anything in this world, that if this 
 Parliament be broke, the Queen's glory and in- 
 terest is lost, both in Holland and the Empire, 
 the fatal consequences of which you can best 
 judge ; so that let me, as a faithful friend, beg of 
 you that if you can help this fatal step you will do 
 it ; if not, that you will give demonstrations of 
 its being contrary to your advice, so that when 
 men shall return to their wits the true authors 
 may meet with their reward. If you think it can 
 be of any use you may let the Duke of Shrewsbury 
 know my opinion of a new Parliament. This 
 going by a safe hand, I do not make use of the 
 cipher ; otherwise, I shall never fail, believing 
 Mr. Harley has it in his power and incHnations to 
 open my letters at the Post Office." 
 
 Still hoping to keep the peace, but ready to 
 ** throw away the scabbard " and " make some 
 of their hearts ache," he wrote to Shrewsbury, as 
 it fell out, in vain. ** My age and circumstances," 
 he said, *' make me not capable of tasting much 
 pleasure, yet the assurances of your esteem and 
 friendship give me great satisfaction. I am of 
 opinion with your Grace that her Majesty has 
 not done this step to Lord Sunderland [dismissing 
 him] with intention to mortify me ; but the world 
 will consider him as my son. I shall speak very 
 freely on this and everything else when I shall 
 have the happiness [what happiness !] of being 
 with you. I wish the time were nearer — I mean 
 by my being able to return speedily with a peace ; 
 but I fear the alarm which has been given so far 
 encouraged our enemies, that they may less 
 apprehend the continuance of the war, they having 
 been always apt to flatter themselves. As I am 
 
 266 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 convinced the Queen does not personally mean 
 anything unkind to me in this change of Lord 
 Sunderland, so you may assure yourself that my 
 behaviour shall be governed by what I shall judge 
 may be the most useful for hers and the public 
 good. But nothing but time can convince the 
 world of this truth, especially when an acquaint- 
 ance of yours, I mean the Duke of Argyle, to the 
 few discontented officers that go near him has, 
 for some time, told them that the Queen was 
 weary of my services, which would quickly appear 
 by the removal of Lord Sunderland. God knows 
 my heart, that the true reason of the resolution 
 I have taken of staying at the head of the army 
 is the tender concern I have for the Queen's 
 interest ; for I am, as to my fortune, so at ease, 
 that nothing would be more agreeable to myself 
 than a retired life, for the little time I have to live ; 
 and, upon my word, whenever her Majesty's 
 services can permit it, you shall see me live very 
 contented. . . " 
 
 Diplomacy was the marrow of his bones. 
 
 Just before Godolphin's dismissal the Duke 
 wrote to him : "I am informed that Mr. Harley, 
 in his conversations, keeps no sort of decency for 
 you and me, by which it is plain that the Queen 
 has no design of reconciling you and Mr. Harley, 
 as was mentioned to me in a former letter. I know 
 by the commission Mr. Cresset was charged with, 
 what you and I are to expect. When I see you, 
 you shall have particulars how I came to be in- 
 formed of this business. When I tell you the whole 
 I should think you would be of my opinion that 
 it is impossible they should trust the Queen with 
 their whole design, for it is for tying her hand and 
 foot. I beg you will never mention this to 
 
 267 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 anybody; for, though I think I shall have the glory 
 of saving the Queen, she must know nothing of 
 it ; for she certainly would tell so much of it to 
 Mrs. Masham and Mr. Harley that they would 
 for the future order it so that I should not come 
 to know, which, otherwise, I shall know, all that 
 passes. I am very sensible of the hard usage I 
 have met with ; but my own honour, and my 
 love for my country, must not suffer me to take 
 anything ill of the Queen, but attribute my cruel 
 usage to the influence of my enemies. Our ex- 
 travagant behaviour in England has so encouraged 
 the French that they take measures as if the war 
 were but just beginning, so that our new ministers 
 will be extremely deceived, for the greater desire 
 they shall express for peace, the less they will have 
 it in their power to obtain it. For our enemies 
 live by no other hopes but that the allies will not 
 have the same confidence which has hitherto been, 
 but quarrel among themselves, which I pray God 
 may not happen, and then everything must go 
 well — I mean abroad." 
 
 All but everything can be excused in one nurtured 
 under Charles II and engaged without end in 
 this kind of intrigue among men and nations 
 similarly engaged. A letter to Godolphin, written 
 when the Dutch were entertaining French over- 
 tures in 1705, gives some notion of the turbid 
 waters in which he kept calm and clear. '* You 
 will observe," says he, " that he [Heinsius, the 
 Dutch Pensionary] reasons much more than 
 formerly. The business itself is so very difficult 
 that, let them have never so much mind [to a peace] 
 they will not be able to bring it to perfection, for 
 the people will never consent to what the French 
 desire ; so that I believe neither side dares speak 
 
 268 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 plainly, for should the French offer what they 
 have a mind to give, it might disgust the Spaniards, 
 and the Dutch cannot make proposals, but 
 they will inevitably disoblige their allies ; so 
 that I think we may depend upon another year's 
 war. 
 
 ** I see you have a mind I should be in England, 
 if possible, before the meeting of the Parliament. 
 It will be uneasy to me, as things are, to be here ; 
 but some of my officers, already fearing I would 
 take measures to leave the army as soon as possible, 
 have represented to me that they fear, when I am 
 gone, the French, knowing how little respect 
 would be paid to an officer that shall be left to 
 command, may not only attempt but succeed. 
 However, be assured I shall turn my thoughts to 
 be able to do what may be an ease to you. I am 
 very sorry for what you tell me of 79 [cipher for 
 the Queen] ; but I am confident she esteems you 
 more than all the rest that talk to her, and you may 
 imagine she is pressed by people that do not 
 judge so well as you, so that I pity her extremely. 
 However, I hope and am sure she will always be 
 directed by you in everything that is good for her 
 service." 
 
 Even victory had its drawbacks. After Blenheim 
 he told Godolphin : ** I have been so employed 
 about our own wounded men and the prisoners 
 that I have not one hour's quiet, which has so 
 disordered me that if I were in London I should 
 be in my bed in a high fever. . . . 
 
 " I am suffered to have so little time to myself 
 that I have a continual fever on my spirits, which 
 makes me very weak, but, when I go from hence, 
 I am resolved to go in my coach till I come to the 
 Rhine, which I do not doubt will restore me to 
 
 269 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 perfect heahh. Nothing but my zeal for her 
 Majesty's service could have enabled me to have 
 gone through the fatigues I have had for the last 
 three months ; and I am but too sure when I 
 shall have the happiness of seeing you, you will 
 find me ten years older that when I left England. 
 I do not say this to complain, for I esteem myself 
 very happy if I can make any return to her Majesty's 
 goodness to me and mine." 
 
 I will conclude these selections with the Duke's 
 reply to the Queen's letter of dismissal in 1712, 
 the letter which he threw into the fire in anger : 
 " Madam, I am very sensible of the honour your 
 Majesty does me in dismissing me from your 
 service by a letter of your own hand, though I 
 find by it that my enemies have been able to 
 prevail with your Majesty to do it in the manner 
 that is most injurious to me. And if their malice 
 and inveteracy against me had not been more 
 powerful with them than the consideration of 
 your Majesty's honour and justice, they would 
 not have influenced you to impute the occasion 
 of my dismission to a false and malicious insinu- 
 ation, contrived by themselves and made public 
 when there was no opportunity for me to give in 
 my answer, which they must needs be conscious 
 would fully detect the falsehood and malice of 
 their aspersions, and not leave them that handle 
 for bringing your Majesty to such extremities 
 against me. 
 
 "But I am much more concerned at an expression 
 in your Majesty's letter, which seems to complain 
 of the treatment you had met with. I know not how 
 to understand that word, nor what construction 
 to make of it. I know I have always endeavoured 
 to serve your Majesty faithfully and zealously 
 
 270 
 
Letters and Speeches 
 
 through a great many undeserved mortifications. 
 But if your Majesty does intend, by that ex- 
 pression, to find fault with my not coming to the 
 Cabinet Council, I am very free to acknowledge 
 that my duty to your Majesty and country would 
 not give me leave to join in the counsel of a man 
 who, in my opinion, puts your Majesty upon all 
 manner of extremities. And it is not my opinion 
 only, but the opinion of all mankind, that the 
 friendship of France must needs be destructive 
 to your Majesty, there being in that Court a root 
 of enmity irreconcilable to your Majesty's gov- 
 ernment and the religion of these kingdoms. I 
 wish your Majesty may never find the want of so 
 faithful a servant as I have always endeavoured 
 to approve myself to you." 
 
 In the last sentence but one he says as much 
 as he ever put into words of his policy. He was for 
 the Queen's government and the country's 
 religion : he was against France. Much as the 
 letters show us of his manner they say nothing 
 more of his policy. They are packed full of sus- 
 picions, contrivances and alarms. What lay behind 
 we are left to guess. Something, no doubt, was 
 omitted for diplomacy's sake, or from caution ; 
 for no man's letters were safe. More still, probably, 
 was omitted because the policy could not easily 
 be defined. The policy was Marlborough. 
 William Ill's Court had been his finishing school, 
 and, like William III, he saw France as the enemy 
 to Europe, and, above all, to England and the 
 Protestant succession. Beyond this he openly 
 said nothing. Probably he could have said little 
 more, even had he tried. For, as I say, the policy 
 was just Marlborough's attitude in face of France 
 and his English political enemies. He had to 
 
 271 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 succeed. If only he and Godolphin could have 
 shut up the Queen, Harley, Mrs. Masham, and 
 perhaps the Duchess of Marlborough, he would 
 have succeeded perfectly in imposing his policy, 
 which was his will, upon the country. England, 
 the Churchills, and himself — these three. . . . 
 It was not necessary, if it was possible, to put so 
 simple a policy into words. In the same way he 
 does not reveal the enemy's policy, but simply 
 the fact of their opposition : their schemes were 
 to turn him out ; they lay across his path only 
 to upset him. He was England. They were the 
 enemy. The one word he had for his policy when 
 he wrote to the Queen was *' your business." 
 He continually spoke of himself as being " in 
 business." England was his business, and in 
 asking the Queen not to interfere with his friend 
 Godolphin he explained that it was for " your 
 own sake, the good of your country, and all the 
 liberties of Europe." So simple was it. He laboured 
 for the Queen, his country, Europe, and himself 
 and family, with the help of " the only party that 
 could be made use of." They had the honour to 
 serve the Queen and ** manage her affairs," as he 
 says himself, " agreeably to the circumstances of 
 the time." People at home might pass Bills for 
 regulating fisheries, manufactures, trade, and 
 taxation. But he in Flanders managed the Queen's 
 affairs agreeably to the circumstances of the 
 times, while his enemies attacked him and the 
 war and attempted to ruin ** all that was dear," 
 as he said, to the people of England. 
 
 272 
 
Marlborough 
 After Nicholas Vischer 
 
 To fiicf f>. i-i. 
 
XXIV : MALBROUK 
 
 THE world has made up its mind about 
 Marlborough, and as he was neither 
 hero nor saint, the world probably is 
 right. He was a great soldier and diplomatist, and 
 he was devoted to his wife, but he was neither 
 honest nor generous. Had he not been mean the 
 verdict might have been far different. Perhaps 
 even that fault would have sunk out of sight if it 
 had not been brought into relief by a very hand- 
 some person and a grace and charm which made- 
 meanness an unpardonable accompaniment. Also* 
 he has suffered in memory because he was not 
 loved except by his wife. Admiration and envy 
 he won, but not love. Kindly, tender and: 
 forgiving he was, but he did not live outside his. 
 family. He had great dignity without pride ; for,, 
 though he adorned any place, he would do any- 
 thing to obtain it. So he was left friendless to the 
 panegyrists, the satirists and the historians. 
 
 As a soldier he had every merit except that 
 he was not original. He saw and foresaw. He 
 acted swiftly and could hide his intentions 
 from friends and enemies. Again and again he 
 won by feinting and moving swiftly to a place 
 where he was not expected. Waiting never wore 
 him out, yet his patience was equalled by his 
 energy in delivering, at the critical moment or 
 at the end, heavy blows with his cavalry. No 
 enemy ever beat him in the field or compelled 
 
 273 T 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 liim to raise a siege ; he was taken by surprise 
 perhaps once. And as he had both patience and 
 energy, so he was both cool and brilliant under 
 fire and strain. His friends were alarmed at the 
 way he exposed himself, but though he was 
 unhorsed, nearly captured, and lost friends at 
 his side, he never had a wound after he was a 
 young man. The soldiers could not help liking 
 such a commander. " Corporal John " they called 
 him. He seems to have thought more of them sick 
 or wounded than other generals. As to discipline, 
 there is a story suggesting that he made many 
 offences punishable, but often remitted the pun- 
 ishments out of kindliness. 
 
 He never speaks of enjoying a campaign, but 
 after his youth there was nothing he enjoyed 
 more unless it was imagining the relief of being 
 quiet at home. In the field he was under nobody, 
 not even the Duchess. All that he knew could 
 be employed, and the pursuit engrossed him till 
 the victory was won, and his eyes were sore and 
 his head ached and he missed his sleep. Towards 
 the end he mentions dreading the sound of firing, 
 and his sensitiveness recalls the impression he 
 made as Cleveland's lover — that with that slender 
 figure and languor he would not keep the place 
 long. A little of the artist may be observed 
 in him, for example, in the amendments he 
 made in a letter drafted by his Secretary, 
 altering " inferred " to " thought," *' alleviate " 
 to ** lessen," " sympathising " to ** partaking," 
 ** deviate " to ** depart." He was never clumsy. 
 When he heard of Guiscard's attack on Harley 
 with a penknife, he blessed God that the Queen 
 escaped, and hoped " Mr. Harley will long enjoy 
 the honour of being first aimed at." He fell 
 
 274 
 
Malbrouk 
 
 perhaps something short of being robust, but 
 discretion and his liking for the game kept him 
 well through ten campaigns between the ages of 
 fifty-one and sixty-one. 
 
 Apart from war, but not far apart, his great gift 
 was diplomacy. Nature had given him an eye for 
 men and a hand for managing them, and the 
 Court of Charles the Second had shown him the 
 men. While he was still a young man the woman 
 who became his wife mastered him, and he had 
 no other intimacy. To treat a friend as a possible 
 enemy, and an enemy as a possible friend, was 
 natural to him. If people felt this so as not to like 
 him, yet they could not resist him and his grace. 
 It was that greatest gift of the ambitious — a 
 natural ease and freedom of manner beyond all 
 politeness — a grace that grew side by side with 
 his knowledge of men, and was part of it. He 
 used it, no doubt, chiefly for its own sake and as 
 part of the ordinary course of life, but also for 
 his own ends, or for his country's, which were 
 much the same when he was plenipotentiary 
 extraordinary in Europe and practically ruler of 
 England. When once he had this great power, 
 which he had a foretaste of under James and an 
 unsatisfied ambition for under William, he could 
 not relinquish it. It compensated him for his 
 friendlessness. It brought him great wealth, 
 but wealth was not his aim, and though his caution 
 made him miserly and ridiculous to others, it 
 did not master him. His aim was to satisfy the 
 pleasure which he took in winning and ruling. 
 No wonder the Jacobites in Paris were upset in 
 1 7 14 when they heard that he was returning to 
 England, for he was never on the losing side. He 
 watched, he waited, and if necessary he begged 
 
 275 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 and besought, appealed to the Queen's gratitude, 
 reminded her of his faithful and disinterested 
 services, insinuated that he would not live long — 
 anything, however pathetic. " It is pretty hard to 
 me to give an honest answer," he said on one 
 occasion. 
 
 Truth also was one of the possible weapons of 
 the statesman, nor did he disdain it, but he sub- 
 ordinated it to the desire to please and give 
 ** right impressions." On the other hand, he 
 seldom spoke ill of anyone, whether it was the 
 truth or not. Partly the difficulty may be a matter 
 of style. They wrote extravagantly. Marlborough 
 would say that he would willingly die a thousand 
 deaths for the Queen's sake. 
 
 Once, when he was reporting that the Princess 
 Anne was resolved with God's help to suffer all 
 extremities, even to death itself, rather than change 
 her religion, he said that he also, though he could 
 not live a saint, could show the resolution of a 
 martyr. It was in an overture made to William 
 of Orange while James was being betrayed. The 
 assertion was not put to the proof. No one in 
 England at that time was ever even invited to die 
 for his religion. But no one doubts that Marl- 
 borough held sincerely to the religion of the 
 Church of England. The church was part of the 
 country, and without the country he could be 
 nothing. It was part of the scheme of things 
 which smiled at him from the time he met the 
 Duchess of Cleveland onwards. For a time he 
 was even inclined to attack those who only occa- 
 sionally conformed to the church for the sake of 
 holding office, but this unbecoming excess he 
 gave up on resorting to the Whig party which 
 had to consider Nonconformists. He remained, 
 
 276 
 
Malbrouk 
 
 however, perfectly serene. God, he said, had made 
 him the instrument of doing the Queen some 
 service. But he did not exaggerate the importance 
 of God. For after repeating that he was doing 
 his best for Anne and England, and complaining 
 that he was not being properly treated in return, 
 he said that he should be " wanting to himself 
 and ungrateful to God Almighty " if he did not 
 retire soon and leave the country to go its own 
 way to heaven. He saw " the hand of God " in 
 each campaign. When his political enemies seemed 
 to prosper, he said that his prospect would be 
 dreadful if " I did not trust in Him." He prayed to 
 God to strengthen his heart that he might bear 
 ingratitude patiently — the Queen's ingratitude, 
 " which He, no doubt, in due time will punish." 
 Sometimes he consoled himself and the Duchess 
 with the reflection that in all ages the best have 
 been ill-used : " If we can be so happy as to 
 behave ourselves so as to have no reason to re- 
 proach ourselves, we may then despise what rage 
 and faction do." That he ever reproached himself 
 is not probable. " You and I," he wrote to the 
 Duchess after their son's death in 1703, '* have 
 great reason to bless God for all we have, so that 
 we must not repine at his taking our poor child 
 from us ; and I do beseech him with all my heart 
 and soul, that he would comfort and strengthen 
 both you and me, not only to bear this, but any 
 other correction he shall think fit to try on us. 
 The use, I think, we should make of this correc- 
 tion is, that our chief est time should be spent in 
 reconciling ourselves to him, and having in our 
 minds always that we may not have long to live 
 in this world. I do not mean by this that we 
 should live retired from the world ; for I am 
 
 277 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 persuaded that, by Hving in the world, one may 
 do much more good than by being out of it, but 
 at the same time to live so as that one should 
 cheerfully die when it shall be his pleasure to 
 call for us. I am very sensible of my own frailties ; 
 but if I can be ever so happy as to be always with 
 you, and that you comfort and assist me in these 
 thoughts, I am then persuaded I should be as 
 happy and contented as it is possible to be in this 
 world ; for I know we should both agree, next 
 to our duty to God, to do what we ought for the 
 Queen's service." 
 
 Whether we call this the religion of the Church 
 of England or the " religion of all sensible men," 
 or, better still, the religion of successful men, 
 plain it is that he worshipped the God of Jacob 
 with an easy, natural confidence and expectation. 
 The Lord was on his side, and he knew it. With- 
 out this God, Whose name was so much upon his 
 lips, as without his country, he would have been 
 nothing at all. He may be said to have been born 
 a patriot and a religious man, and to have remained 
 in those matters as he was in the beginning. By 
 fighting for the policy and religion of his country 
 he gained honours and £50,000 a year, founded 
 a family, and earned the envy of his greatest 
 opponent, Marshal Villars, who lived on plunder- 
 ing the enemy. 
 
 His victories revived the military fame of this 
 nation. In the words of his French biographer, 
 he did more than anyone else, by his diplomacy 
 and generalship, to " reduce the laurels of Louis 
 XIV to powder." If he and Western Europe in 
 arms did not crush France, it was because it was 
 impossible. France was united and one. The allies 
 were half-a-dozen. They may have thought Louis 
 
 278 
 
Malbrouk 
 
 a treacherous tyrant whose ambition menaced 
 Europe, but each fought for his own and was 
 never satisfied with what the others did, however 
 many *' good words " Marlborough gave them all 
 round. For the Lord was on Louis' side also, 
 and, for some generations yet, on his family's 
 side. Otherwise, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, 
 and Malplaquet would have done more than give 
 England the glory which used to belong to France, 
 and Marlborough the name of perhaps the greatest 
 English soldier. The very perfection of his 
 success — to have not a defeat to his credit — has 
 robbed his reputation of glamour, as his character 
 for treachery and covetousness has dulled it, 
 leaving him just the generalissimo of general- 
 issimos, in armour and a wig, a not quite living 
 figure compared with his termagant Duchess. 
 
 But, like Wellington, he has passed into myth- 
 ology. Men in the South Sea Islands tell the 
 story of Wellington and Napoleon as if they had 
 been kings of chivalry. The Duke of Marlborough 
 was sung, perhaps in his lifetime, after the same 
 fashion, and in France. It is a mistake to say of 
 *' Malbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre," as Gustave 
 Masson does in his note in La Lyre Francaise, that 
 the French, not being able to vanquish the Duke, 
 avenged themselves by composing this song 
 upon him. For the hero of it is a knight whose 
 lady goes up to the summit of her tower to watch 
 for his returning and has the news of his death 
 brought to her by a page in black. The page had 
 seen Malbrouk's funeral, and men bearing his 
 sword and shield, and others planting rosemary 
 about the tomb, and heard the nightingale singing 
 from the tree top, and seen the spirit flitting away 
 among the laurels, and then the crowd rising up 
 
 279 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 to hymn the victories of his Ufetime, and so to 
 bed, the married men with their wives, the rest 
 by themselves — though there were plenty of 
 maidens, too, fair ones, dark ones, and nut-brown 
 ones. No English prose or verse has done so great 
 or so curious an honour to the great Duke. 
 
 But it is more than doubtful whether the song 
 was *' composed upon " the Duke of Marlborough. 
 It has the appearance of being far older than 1709, 
 the year of Malplaquet, to which it is sometimes 
 attributed. In outline and in some of its phrases 
 it resembles the " Mort du Due de Guise," 
 which dates from about 1563. Its flavour is 
 mediaeval. It has been alleged that it comes down 
 from the age of the Crusades, when it had a hero 
 named Mambron ; and the similarity of Mal- 
 brouk, Malbroug, or Marlborough, may have 
 been sufficient to suggest the transformation. An 
 English officer has stated that the tune of it was 
 the only one which excited the natives when 
 played by our regimental bands in Egypt. One 
 writer (like the last, in Notes and Queries) says 
 that the Arabs sing it ; another that it took root 
 in the East and is to be heard in many an Oriental 
 city, while the Fellaheen claim it as their own. 
 This much seems likely — that the ballad is very 
 old, and has been modified, possibly in the name 
 of the hero only, to suit different occasions in the 
 course of history. The least acceptable suggestion 
 as to its authorship is that Madame de Sevigne 
 wrote it. She might well have wished to. 
 
 The earliest reputed connection of the song with 
 Marlborough is not probable. It is said to have 
 been hurled at the English by some French troops 
 besieged in the Netherlands in 1705. If it were 
 true, gentler weapon was never hurled. Less 
 
 280 
 
Malbrouk 
 
 improbable is the story that it was brought back to 
 France and spread among the villages by Villars* 
 soldiers after Malplaquet, that terrible victory, 
 where Prince Eugene was wounded and so many 
 English died, but not Marlborough. I have not 
 found that it was printed in that year. At the 
 British Museum the earliest copies of the song 
 are dated 1775 and 1785. 
 
 As early as 171 5, John Mackqueen, in a book 
 called British Valour triumphing over French 
 Courage^ says that, " as masters and parents in 
 Turkey were wont to fright their children and 
 servants, and neighbours were wont to threaten 
 one another in those days, with the name of 
 Huniades, so the very name of Marlborough was 
 for the same purpose applied." But this can 
 hardly refer to the song, which is no more fright- 
 ful than laughable. It came first fully into the 
 light of day and of Paris in 1781, when Marie 
 Antoinette gave birth to the Dauphin of France. 
 For a peasant nurse, Madame Poitrine, grand- 
 daughter perhaps of a veteran from Malplaquet, 
 sang it to the Royal child. The air caught on. 
 Versailles hummed it. The street took it up. 
 Articles of food and clothing were named after 
 it. It was used in the " Mariage de Figaro " of 
 Beaumarchais. Goethe heard it so much in France 
 that he grew to hate the hero whose name was 
 drilled into his head thus. And England welcomed 
 it. A Frenchman was reported to have found his 
 way to Marlborough Street by whistling it. Only 
 the fall of the Bastille, says one, could drown the 
 tune. But it did not. Napoleon, according to 
 legend, sang it aloud as he got on horseback at 
 the beginning of a campaign. The historians 
 who wrote Marlborough's life at his command 
 
 281 
 
The Life of the Duke of Marlborough 
 
 in 1806, have put it on record that the Duke's 
 name rang in their ears daily, repeated without 
 ceasing by children and nurses, who afflicted 
 them with the song, a grotesque one, indeed, and 
 ridiculous, but nevertheless a genuine echo of 
 fame. That Napoleon, who admired Marlborough, 
 should sing the song, seemed to one writer to 
 prove that its hero was a later and inferior Duke. 
 So blind are some to the devious ways of popular 
 fame. 
 
 In 1865, and I daresay much later, the ballad 
 was sold in Paris as a broadside with illustrations. 
 As to the air, its life in England depends on its 
 illegitimate association with the words of " For 
 he's a jolly good fellow " and ** We won't go 
 home till morning." These, for all I know, may 
 be the sentiments which it conveys in Alexandria 
 and all the East. His Grace, a man of clear 
 sense and no literature, must be astonished, 
 with all his urbanity, when he hears this kind 
 of echo in the Elysian fields. But the Duchess 
 frankly despised poetry. Mironton, mirontotiy 
 mirontaine. 
 
 282 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Act for Securing Protestant Argyle, Duke of, 216, 218, 
 
 Succession, 90 
 Act of Security, 182 
 Act of Settlement, 86, 87 
 Addison, Joseph, 147 
 Aerschot, 128 
 Aire, 216 
 
 St. Albans, 19, 23, 33, 66 
 Albemarie, 66 
 d'Allegre, Marquis, 155 
 Alliance, Grand, 53, 89, 235 
 Alliance, Triple, 24 
 Almanza, 182 
 Alost, 197 
 Alsace, 135, 159 
 Amsterdam, 170, 254 
 
 220, 267 
 Arieux, 23, 234 
 Armentieres, 96 
 Army, English, 98 et seq. 
 Arras, 193, 215, 223, 224 
 Ash, 2, 3, 4, 13 
 Ath, 97, 118 
 
 Athlone, Earl of, see Ginkel 
 Augsburg, 138 
 
 Baden, Margrave of 93, 125, 
 
 129, 134. 135.136, 138, i39> 
 153. 159. 160, 164, 237 
 Barcelona, 118 
 
 Anderlercht, 182 Barrier, Dutch, 87, 97 
 
 Anne, Queen of England, Bath, 16, 34 
 
 20, 31, 32, 37, 38, 45, 46, Bavai, 205 
 
 49, 58, 59, 60, 61, 64, 66, Bavaria, 113, 129, 139, 145 
 
 68, 70, 71, 74, 76, 80, 81, Bavaria, Elector of, 87, 124, 
 
 82, 85, 86, 91, 125, 130, 129, 133, 134, 138, 141, 
 
 144, 148, 149, 150, 157, 144, 145, 168, 171, 182, 
 
 158, 160, 161, 162, 164, 196, 197 
 
 170, 172, 173, 174, 175, Bavaria, Electress of, 243 
 
 176, 178, 179, 180, 181, Beachy Head, 50 
 
 182, 185, 199, 200, 202, Bedburg, 134 
 
 211, 213, 216, 217, 218, Berlin, 146 
 
 219, 220, 231, 234, 237, Berwick, Duke of, 6, 192, 
 
 240, 249, 251, 253, 254, 193, 201 
 
 255. 256, 257, 258, 259, Bethune, 215, 216 
 
 261, 263, 264, 265, 267, Blandford, Marquis of, 126 
 
 268, 271, 272, 276, 277 Blenheim, Battle of, 112, 117, 
 
 Antwerp, 127, 128, 129, 154 119, 133 et seq., 148, 155^ 
 
 d'Arco, Count, 137 160, 164, 238, 243, 269 
 
 285 
 
Index 
 
 Blenheim, Losses at, 145 
 Blenheim, Poems on, 147 
 Blenheim, Results of, 145 
 Blenheim, Trophies of, 146 
 Blenheim Palace 173, 236, 
 
 238, 239, 241 
 Blues, The, 98 
 Bolingbroke, Viscount, 73, 
 
 121, 128, 132, 161, 162, 
 
 174, 187, 219, 220, 226 
 Boileau, 72 
 Bouchain, 223, 224, 225, 
 
 226, 230 
 Boufflers, Marshal, 93, 115, 
 
 121, 123, 124, 193, 196, 
 
 197, 206, 209 
 Bournonville, Duke of, 15 
 Boyne, Battle of, 50 
 Braganza, Catherine of, 6 
 Brest, 62, 63 
 
 Bruges, 169, 189, 195, 198 
 Brussels, 31, 35, 36, 37, 68, 
 
 70. 87, 93, 94, 96, 97, 209, 
 
 253 
 Buckingham, Duke of, 149 
 Buffs, The, 99 
 Burnet, Bishop, 5, 59, 66, 
 
 187 
 Burton, J. Hill, 170 
 
 Cadogan, Lord, 14, 165, 
 189, 195, 196, 200, 224 
 
 Calais, 215, 216 
 
 Cambrai, 224 
 
 Cardonnel, Adam, 196, 219, 
 227 
 
 Cevennes, 133 
 
 Chamillart, 194, 201 
 
 Chard, 34 
 
 Charleroi, 48, 97 
 
 Charles, Archduke, 93, 97, 
 158 
 
 Charles II of England, i, 6, 
 9, 10, II, 12, 13, 14, 15, 
 27. 29, 32, 38, 44, 46, 51, 
 67, 69, 83, 275 
 
 Charles II of Spain, 82 
 
 Charles III of Spain, 118, 
 169, 170, 171, 173, 201 ; 
 became Emperor, 222 
 
 Charles XII of Sweden, 73, 
 88, 146, 182 
 
 Charles XII, Voltaire's, 
 
 159 
 Chelsea Hospital, 119 
 Chesterfield, Lord, 5, 10 
 Church of England, 212, 213 
 Churchill, Anne, 67, 68, 70, 
 
 71, 76, 125, 126 
 Churchill, Arabella, 5, 6, 14, 
 
 20 
 Churchill, Charles, 3, 33, 
 
 52, 112, 124, 143, 144 
 Churchill George, 3, 33, 50, 
 
 66, 79, 185 
 
 Churchill, Henrietta, 27, 32, 
 
 67, 92, 231 
 
 Churchill, John, Duke of 
 Marlborough. Birth, 2 ; 
 boyhood, 4 et seq ; youth, 
 I et seq. ; at Restoration 
 court, I, 5, 10, 18; Baron 
 Aymouth, 31 ; Baron 
 Sandridge, 33 ; Earl of 
 Marlborough, 46 ; Duke, 
 125 ; Prince of Holy 
 Roman Empire, 120 ; 
 offered Government of 
 Netherlands, 170, 220 ; 
 talk of retirement, 158, 
 239, 240, 249, 250, 261 ; 
 charges against, 60, 65, 
 
 229, 236 ; attacks on, 227, 
 
 230, 231, 236 ; decline, 
 216, 220, 225 ; keeping 
 
 286 
 
Index 
 
 Churchill, John — continued. 
 power, 211, 212, 221 ; dis- 
 grace, 59, 65, 236 ; dis- 
 missal, 228, 229, 270 ; 
 Captain- General again, 
 237 ; duel, 234 ; reported 
 death, 236 ; paralysed, 
 241 ; burial, 241, 242 ; 
 myth of, 279, 282 ; ap- 
 pearance of, 147 ; charac- 
 ter, 273 ; courage of, 2, 
 142 ; coolness, 91, 142 ; 
 " Corporal John," 274 ; 
 despatches, 112, 156; 
 diplomacy, 24, 39, 267, 
 275, 276 ; as General, 55, 
 274; health, 145, 159, 
 168, 210, 223, 236, 245, 
 269 ; " interest cannot lie," 
 263 ; kindliness, 243 ; 
 letters and speeches, 243 
 et seg. ; love of peace, 145, 
 171, 172, 192, 199, 200, 
 201, 225, 226, 228, 233, 
 256, 257, 268 ; love of 
 war, 274, ; love of power, 
 217 ; marriage, 22, 23, 
 24 ; meanness, 16 ; 
 policy, 148 ; politics, 146, 
 148, 210, 222, 248 ; re- 
 ligion, 39, 40, 47, 70, 126, 
 253, 260, 276, 277 ; Rule 
 of, 86, 174, 250, 272; 
 saving habits, 141 ; treach- 
 ery, 4, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 
 
 49. 53. 54. 57. 58, 62, 64 ; 
 wealth, 227, 240, 241, 
 278 
 Churchill, Sarah, 16, 18, 20, 
 21, 23, 27, 31, 32, 45, 49, 
 58, 59, 60, 64, 67, 70, 71, 
 73, 80, 91, 92, 125, 126, 
 130, 131, 132, 144, 148, 
 
 Churchill, Sarah — continued. 
 149, 150, 151, 152, i6i, 
 162, 174, 175, 176, 178, 
 179, 184, 185, 187, 192, 
 199, 200, 202, 203, 210, 
 
 211, 217, 219, 220, 221, 
 
 223, 237, 238, 240, 241, 
 
 245, 247, 248, 253, 265, 
 
 272, 274, 275, 277, 279, 
 281 
 
 Churchill, Sir Winston, 2, 
 
 3.4 
 Churchill's Annals, 91, 113 
 Clarendon, Lady, 32 
 Cleveland, Duchess of, i, 6, 
 
 10, II, 13, 16, 51 
 Coblenz, 134 
 Cologne, 92, 127 
 Conde, 15 
 Cork, 51 
 
 Cowper, Lord, 134 
 Coxe, Archdeacon, 53, 68, 
 
 141, 168, 274, 276 
 Cutts, John Lord, 72, 122, 
 
 123, 142, 144 
 
 Danes, 51, iii, 143, 166, 
 
 167, 191 
 Danube, 133, 135, 136, 137, 
 
 139, 142, 144, 145 
 Davies, Christian, 109, no, 
 
 112, 113, 115, 116, 117, 
 
 n8, 129, 208 
 Deane, J. M., 106, in, 120, 
 
 192 
 Delamere, Lord, 35 
 Demer, 94, 157 
 Dender, 184, 189 
 Dendermond 169, 199 
 Denmark, Prince George of, 
 
 33, 49, 81, 91, 125, 177 
 Deputies, Dutch, 121, 122, 
 
 124, 127, 129, 157, 164, 183 
 
 287 
 
Index 
 
 Fortescue, J. W., 95, 105, 
 
 144 
 Franquinaise, 166 
 Fusiliers, Royal, 49, 99 
 Fusiliers, Royal Welsh, 
 
 137, 142 
 
 Genappe, 183 
 Gertruydenberg, Congress 
 
 of, 214 
 Ghent, 168, 189, 193, 196 
 Ghislain, St., 205, 207 
 
 De Ruyter, 12 
 Deserters, 107, 108 
 Deule, 169, 204 
 Devonshire, Duke of, 257 
 Dillingen, 138 
 Diplomacy, 91 
 Dixmude, 96, 196 
 Donauw5rth, 136, 138, 139, 
 
 140 
 Douai, 215, 223 
 Dragoons, Royal, 36, 98 
 Dragoons, Irish, 144 
 Drake, family of, 2 
 
 Dyle, 155, 156, 165, 168, Ginkel, 50, 96, 121, 124 
 183, 188 " Gloucester," The, 30 
 
 Gloucester, Duke of, 66, 80, 
 
 81, 82, 85 
 Godolphin, Francis, 67, 126 
 Godolphin, Henrietta, see 
 
 Churchill 
 Godolphin, Sidney, 43, 53, 
 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 
 70, 71, 88, 89, 97, 130, 
 
 131. 132. 133. 158, 162, 
 
 171, 172, 174, 176, 177, 
 
 178, 180, 181, 185, 187, 
 
 195. 199. 202, 211, 212, 
 
 213, 214, 216, 218, 219, 
 
 220, 227, 237, 243, 249, 
 
 250, 251, 252, 254, 255, 
 
 256, 258, 259, 260, 262, 
 263, 265, 267, 268 
 
 " Ferdinand, Count Fathom" Goethe, 281 
 
 116 Goor, General, 137, 138 
 
 Ferguson, Brigadier- General, Grammont, Count, 5, 10, 
 137 14, 18, 19, 20 
 
 Feversham, Lord, 34, 37, " Grenadiers' Rant," 114, 
 
 .42,45.46 115 
 
 Fitzjames, James, see Duke Guards, Coldstream, 97 
 
 of Berwick Guards, Grenadier, 6, 11, 
 Flanders, 54, 55, 56, 61, 63, 98, 117, 118, 137, 142 
 
 65, 83, 94, et seq, iii, H2, Guards, Life, 98 
 
 114, 116, 127, 272 Guards, Scots, 99 
 
 288 
 
 Edinburgh, 27, 30, 31 
 
 St. Eloi, 215 
 
 Empire, Holy Roman, 53, 
 
 87, 88, 94, 146, 198 
 England, Church of, 161, 
 
 276, 278 
 English Historical Review^ 
 
 156, 158, 206 
 Entzheim, 15 
 Erie, General, 194 
 Evelyn, John, 5, 20, 59, 147, 
 
 243 . 
 Exclusion Bill, 27 
 
Index 
 
 Hague, The, 12, 27, 87, 92, Houdain, 223 
 
 121, 124, 127, 131, 153, 
 158, 164, 184, 185, 198, 
 201, 218, 220 
 
 Haine, 205 
 
 Hal, i88, 189 
 
 Halifax, Earl of, 60, 75, 149, 
 161, 162, 218 
 
 Halifax, George Savile, Mar- 
 quis of, 69 
 
 Hamilton, Count George, 
 19, 20 
 
 Happy Land The, 90 
 
 Hanover, Elector of, 72, 
 160, 161, 188, 218, 237, 
 
 Hanover, Electoral Prince of, 
 
 71, 190 
 Hanover, Electress of, 82, 
 
 85, 86, 160, 237 
 Hanover, House of, 86, 134 
 
 160, 164 
 Hare, Francis, 136, 225, 226, 
 
 230 
 Harley, 67, 78, 81, 84, 130, 
 
 149, 161, 162, 174, 175, 
 
 Hounslow, 36, 40 
 Howell, James, 95 
 Hume, Captain, 8, 114 
 Hungary, 133, 145, 159, 160 
 Huy, 129, 154 
 
 ICHTEGHEM, 1 95 
 
 Ingoldsby, Col., 103 
 Ingolstadt, 139 
 Issche, 156, 161 
 
 James, Duke of York, after- 
 wards James H, i, 4, 5, 
 6, II, 12, 14, 16, 20, 22, 
 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 
 
 34. 36, 37. 38, 39. 40. 41. 
 42, 43, 44, 48, 49, 50, 53, 
 54. 55. 56, 57. 61, 62, 63, 
 67. 69, 83, 85, 95, 162, 
 238, 275, 276 
 
 "James HI," see the Old 
 Pretender 
 
 Jeffreys, George, 5, 35 
 
 180, 185, 186, 187, 203, Jennings, Frances, 18, 19, 20 
 216, 219, 220, 224, 226, Jennings, Sir J., 80 
 
 228, 231, 237, 253, 257, 
 
 266, 267, 268 
 Haversham, Lord, 253 
 Heidelberg, 238 
 Heinsius, 87, 128, 129, 133, 
 
 134, 158, 182, 183, 214, 
 
 226, 268 
 Helchin, 184, 193 
 Herbert, Capt. H., 11 
 Hertz, G. B., i68 
 Hill, Abigail, see Masham 
 Hill, Colonel Jack, 211, 212, 
 
 217 
 Hochstadt, 129, 139 
 Holywell House, 23, 33, 238 La Bassee, 96, 196, 204, 215 
 
 Jennings, S., see Churchill 
 
 Jodoigne, 155 
 
 St. John, Henry, see Boling- 
 
 broke 
 Junta, The, 149 
 
 Kaiserwerth, 92, 93 
 
 Kane, Richard, 112, 123, 224 
 
 Kessel, 140 
 
 Kinsale, 50, 51 
 
 Kirke, Col., 55 
 
 289 
 
 U 
 
Index 
 
 Landau, ii8, 123, 129, 146 
 Land Tax Bill, 149 
 Lediard, 16 
 
 Lens, 196, 204, 215, 223 
 Leopold, Emperor, 73, 82, 
 
 83, 87, 150, 160, 164, 171 
 Lessines, 193 
 Liberty, 76, 77, 84, 118, 177, 
 
 248, 253 
 Liege, 119, 123, 124, 154 
 Life and Glorious History 0/ 
 
 Marlborough, 11 
 Lille, 117, 118, 120, 169, 
 
 193, 194, 196, 197, 198, 
 
 204, 207, 252 
 Lilliburlero, 114 
 Limerick, 50 
 Lisburn, Lord, 102 
 Lives oj the Two Illustrious 
 
 Generals, 39 
 Lloyd, E. M., 62 
 Lottum, Count, 192, 195, 
 
 207, 208 
 Louis XIV, 12, 13, 15, 24, 
 
 26, 32, 53, 62, 82, 84, 87, 
 
 89. 9o» H5. 198, 201, 214, 
 
 230, 235, 278 
 Louvain, 155, 165, 168, 188 
 Lumley, 142 
 Luxemburg, Marshal, 55, 
 
 107 
 Lys, 169, 193, 197 
 
 Macaulay, 245 
 Mackqueen, J., 74, 281 
 Maestricht, 2, 13, 122, 127, 
 
 188 
 Mainz, 134 
 
 Maintenon, Madame de, 204 
 " Malbrouk," 279 et seq. 
 "Malbrouk," La Chapelle, 
 
 206 
 
 Malbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre, 
 
 279, 281, 282 
 Malines, 168 
 Malplaquet, 97, 120, 206, 
 
 210, 244, 281 
 Marchiennes, 205 
 Maria Theresa, 82 
 Marsin, Marshal, 141, 143, 
 
 145 
 Mary, Queen of England, 
 
 50. 58, 59. 64, 72 
 Mary of Modena, 5, 7, 14, 
 
 18, 21, 22, 119. 
 Masham, Mrs., 76, 77, 80, 
 
 81, 151, 181, 187, 203, 
 
 211, 228, 253, 256, 268, 
 272 
 
 Maubeuge, 201 
 Mehaigne, 155, 157, 165 
 Meldert, 183 
 Menin, 169, 192, 194, 197, 
 
 198, 204 
 Merxheim, 139 
 Metz, 16 
 Meuse, 94, 112, 121, 123, 
 
 124, 127, 129, 182, 183, 
 
 196, 205, 210 
 Millar, John, 112 
 Milton, John, 9 
 Mondelsheim, 135 
 Monmouth, Duke of, 2, 13, 
 
 28, 29, 32, 34, 35, 102 
 Mons, 96, 97, 120, 169, 170 
 Montagu, Lady M. W., 238 
 Mordaunt, Lord, 137 
 Morgan, Thomas, 95 
 Morgan, Sir Thomas, 95, 196 
 Moselle, 134, 164, 192 
 Mothe, de la. Count, 195 
 
 Namur, 65, 97, 117, 119, 
 128, 154, 155 222 
 
 290 
 
Index 
 
 Namiir, Exact Account of 
 
 Siege of, 119 
 Napoleon, 281, 282 
 Navarre, Regiment of, 144 
 Navy, 185, 187 
 Nebel, 141 
 Neckar, 135, 238 
 Neerwinden, 6i 
 " Ne plus ultra " lines, 
 
 223 
 Neuve Chapelle, 96 
 Newcastle, Duke of, 149, 
 
 257 
 Nieuport, 97, 169, 194, 196 
 Nimeguen, 92, 122 
 Nivelle, 182, 183 
 Nordlingen, 139, 140 
 Notes and Queries, 280 
 Nottingham, Lord, 90, 130, 
 
 132 
 Nuremburg, 139 
 
 Occasional Conformity 
 Bill, 125, 131, 149, 228 
 Opdam, 122, 128, 129 
 O Polly, Love, 105 
 Orange, Prince of, 207 
 Orange, Wm., of, see William 
 
 III 
 Orchies, 194 
 
 Orford, Lord, see Russell 
 Orkney, Lord, 116, 142, 143, 
 168, 205, 206, 207, 208, 
 209 
 Ormond, Duke of, 87, 232, 
 
 234 
 
 Ostend, 24, 194, 196 
 
 Oudenarde, 97, 169, 184, 
 
 189, 194, 196, 199, 204 
 
 Oudenarde^ Battle of, 115, 
 
 120, 176, 189, 202, 252, 
 
 258, 260 
 
 Overkirk, 127, 134, 154, 155, 
 
 157, 169, 170 
 Overissche, 157 
 Oxford, Earl of, see Harley 
 
 Pallas Armata, see Sir James 
 
 Turner 
 Parker, Robert, 114, 122, 
 
 142, 143 
 St. Paul's School, 5 
 Penn, Wm., 28 
 Pensionary, see Heinsius 
 Peterborough, Earl of, 15, 
 
 26, 65, 107, 183, 184, 186 
 Philip V. of Spain, 83, 84, 
 
 97, 158 201 202, 214, 
 234 
 
 Philipsburg, 129, 146 
 
 Piccadilly, 11 
 
 Pol, St., 223 
 
 Pope, Alexander, 240 
 
 Popery, 28, 36, 37, 39, 70, 89 
 
 Postman, The, 137 
 
 Pretender, Old, 86, 198, 199, 
 
 204, 235, 237, 257 
 Prior, Matthew, 74, 77, 147 
 Prussia, King of, 88, 92, 
 
 159, 160, 164, 180 
 Prussians, 92, 93, 143, 146, 
 
 190 
 Punjaub, 11 
 
 " Queen's " Regiment, 7, 98 
 Querouaille, Louise de, 29 
 Quesnoy, 224 
 
 Ramilies, 129 
 
 Ramilies, Battle of, 165, 169, 
 
 i70> 173. 181, 235, 246, 
 
 249, 263 
 
 291 
 
Index 
 
 Reid, Stuart, J., 219 
 Recruiting, 99 et seq. 
 Reynolds, Sir J., 97 
 Rhine, 93, 127, 133, 134, 
 
 135. 136, 137. 138, 169, 
 
 188, 196, 234, 238 
 Richmond, Duke of, 29 
 Rochester, Earl of, 76, 130, 
 
 131. 247 
 Rogotsky, 73 
 Roermond, 121, 123 
 Row, Brigadier, 142 
 Royals, First, 137 
 Russell, Admiral, 60, 62, 
 
 65, 149, 211, 217 
 Ryswick, Peace of, 67, 89, 
 
 99. 198 
 
 Sacheverell, Henry, 212, 
 
 213, 214 
 Savoy, Duke of, 133, 158 
 Savoy, Eugene, Prince of, 
 
 133. 134. i35» 136, 140. 
 
 141, 143, 145, 161, 182, 
 
 184, 188, 192, 193, 194, 
 
 197, 198, 204, 205, 206, 
 
 207, 209, 233, 255, 281 
 Scarpe, 204 
 Scheldt, 94, 128, 168, 184, 
 
 189 190 193, 194, 196, 
 
 197, 204, 224 
 Schellenberg, 136, 138, 
 
 142 
 Schism Act, 73 
 Schobenhausen, 139 
 Schomberg, Marshal, 45, 56, 
 
 97, 106 
 Schulemburg, 207, 208 
 Scots, Royal, 98, 106 
 Scots Greys, 99, 144, 167 
 Sedgmoor, Battle of, 34, 35, 
 
 37.46 
 
 Sedley, Catherine, 22 
 Seymour, Sir E., 130 
 Shaftesbury Earl of, 28 
 Shandy, Toby, 65, iii, 118, 
 
 235 
 Shandy, Tristram, 99, 235 
 
 Sheerness, 27 
 
 Short Narrative of Life and 
 
 Actions of Marlborough, 12 
 
 57 
 Shrewsbury, Duke of, 60, 
 
 66, 79, 217, 218, 220, 239, 
 
 265, 266 
 Sidney, Algernon, 33 
 Sidney, Lord, 41, 55 
 Sintzheim, 15 
 Sirreck, 154 
 Slangenberg, 125, 129, 156, 
 
 157 
 Soignies, 156, 182, 183, 184, 
 
 188 
 Smith, Sydney, 146 
 Smollett, Tobias, 116 
 Somers, Lord, 87, 149, 
 
 161, 180, 202, 211, 219, 
 
 237 
 
 Sole Bay, 12 
 
 Somerset, Duke of, 71 
 
 Spencer, Lord, see Sunder- 
 land, the younger 
 
 Spectator, The, 212, 213 
 
 Spence, 17 
 
 Stair, Lord, 259 
 
 States General, 56, 87 
 
 Steele, Richard, 120, 196 
 
 Steinkirk, 62 
 
 Stepney, George, 159, 
 184 
 
 Stolhofen, 129, 134, 145 
 
 Strasburg, 145 
 
 Sunderland, the Earl of, 
 the elder, 38, 40, 42, 66, 
 69 
 
 292 
 
Index 
 
 Sunderland, the Earl of, the 
 younger, 68, 70, 125, 148, 
 149, 150, 162, 173, 180, 
 217, 218, 237, 246, 247, 
 248, 249, 258, 264, 266, 
 267 
 
 Sunderland, Lady, see Anne 
 Churchill 
 
 Swift, Jonathan, 10, 76, 79, 
 175, 196, 222, 227, 228, 
 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 
 236 
 
 Trelawny, Capt., 8 
 Trim, Corporal, 119 
 Tunb ridge Wells, 11, 19, 
 
 32 
 Turenne, Marshal, 2, 15, 
 
 97 
 Turner, Sir James, 102, ii6 
 
 Ulm, 133, 136, 141, 145 
 Utrecht, Peace of, 224, 225, 
 233. 234, 235 
 
 Talbot, Earl of Tyrcon- 
 
 nel, 19, 20, 37 
 Tallard, Marshal, 129, 133, 
 
 134. 135. 138, 139. 140. 
 
 143. 145 
 Talmash, Lieut.-Col., 7, 62, 
 
 63 
 Tangier, 6 et seq., 10, ii, 
 
 98 
 Tangier, Siege of, 7, 9 
 Tapfheim, 140 
 Taviers, 165, 166 
 Test Act, 13, 14, 36, 61 
 Thackeray, 245 
 Thirty Seventh Regiment, 
 
 .137 
 Tirlemont, 155, 165 
 Tongres, 123, 164, 165 
 Tories, 76, 78, 83, 84, 85, 
 88, 89, 90, 125, 130, 148, 
 i6i, 184, 185, i86, 187, 
 202, 211, 220, 222, 229 
 Toulon, 182, 184, 264 
 Tournay, n8, 196, 204, 207, 
 
 210-215 
 Tower of London, 146 
 Townshend, Lord, 201, 214 
 Treaty of Partition, 82 
 Treaties, 91 
 
 Vanbrugh, 239 
 
 Vauban, 62 
 
 Vaudemont, Prince of, 55, 
 
 58 
 Venant, St., 216 
 Venloo, 121, 122 
 Vendome, Due de, 169, 
 
 182, 188, 189, 190, 193, 
 
 196 
 Vienna, 159, 160 
 Villars, Marshal, 125, 129, 
 
 133, 154, 164, 182, 200, 
 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 
 209, 210, 215, 223, 224, 
 233, 278, 281 
 
 Villeroi, Marshal, 127, 133 
 
 134. 135. 154. 155. 161, 
 164 165 166 
 
 Vitry, 215 
 
 Voltaire see Charles XII 
 
 Waal, 92 
 Walcourt, 48 
 Waldeck, Prince of, 48 
 Walpole, Horace, 58 
 Walpole, Robert, 105, 149, 
 187, 238 
 
 293 
 
Index 
 
 Walton, Clifford, 36 no, 
 
 115 
 Waterloo, 96, 156 
 Webb, General, 113, 142, 
 
 195, 196 
 Westerloo, Merode, 141 
 Wharton, Lord, 149, 161, 
 
 219 
 Wheate, Sir Thos., 240 
 Whetstone's Park, loi 
 Whigs, 66, 71, 79, 84, 89, 
 125, 130, 160, 161, 173, 
 177, 180, 184, 185, 186, 
 187, 202, 211, 218, 220, 
 222, 225, 252, 259, 261, 
 263, 276 
 Wight, Isle of, 12 
 William III of England, 15, 
 24» 25, 29, 38, 40, 41, 42, 
 43. 45. 46, 48, 49. 52, 53. 
 
 54. 55. 56, 57. 58. 59. 60, 
 61, 63, 65, 66, 67, 81, 83, 
 86, 87, 91, 99, 107, 125, 
 126, 271, 275, 276 
 
 Windsor Park, 91 
 
 Windsor Lodge, 238, 241, 
 258 
 
 Wurtemburg, 51, 96 
 
 Withers, General, 113, 142, 
 195, 196 
 
 Wolseley, Lord, 4, 6, 15, 
 24. 34. 35. 40. 43. 45. 4^, 
 50. 52. 54. 59. 64. 81 
 
 Woodstock, 146, 240 
 
 Wootton, 146 
 
 Wynendaal, 113, 195 
 
 Ypres, 96, 169, 192, 198 
 
 294 
 
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