298

RELIEF OF BARCELONA-THE ALLIES ENTER MADRID.

[1706.

and told him that the Catalans would never forsake him. Nevertheless Montjouich fell, after being bombarded for twenty-three days. Peterborough, meanwhile, had rapidly marched from Valencia, with two thousand foot and six hundred horse, and from the mountains above Barcelona he kept the besieging forces in perpetual alarm. But he had a project of more importance than this partisan warfare, however suited to his genius. A fleet was coming from England under admiral Leake, on board of which was general Stanhope with reinforcements. Leake, whose caution was in signal contrast to Peterborough's daring, would not risk an encounter with the French squadron before Barcelona until he was joined off the Spanish coast by another fleet, under admiral Byng. Stanhope, by an ingenious device agreed upon with Peterborough-that of transmitting a blank sheet of paper cut in a particular form-apprised him of the junction which had been so long delayed. Peterborough had a commission to command at sea. He immediately marched to a small sea-port, Stiges; made every preparation for his troops to embark; and for two nights, to the amazement of his officers and men, went out to sea in an open boat. He at last discerned the fleet; leapt on board one of the ships, and hoisted his flag; sent orders to Leake and Stanhope; had his men soon on board; and hoped to reach Barcelona in time to fight the count de Toulouse. But the Frenchmen had sheered off. The English troops were, however, thrown into Barcelona; and the French general Tessé, filled with apprehensions of defeat if he should attempt to storm the city, raised the siege, and the great army moved off, leaving their heavy cannon behind. King Philip retired to Madrid. But he had little time for resting there. The Allies from the Portuguese frontier were marching upon the capital; and the Court having fled, they entered Madrid on the 25th of June. Here they wasted their time, instead of marching after the duke of Berwick, who had been joined by Philip. In the same way Charles lingered at Barcelona, when it was no longer in danger. But success still followed the House of Austria. Aragon had imitated Catalonia and Valencia in acknowledging king Charles. It seemed as if the dominion of Spain was melting away from the House of Bourbon.

66

At this crisis, if one tenth of the energy of Peterborough, and even a smaller portion of the common sense of Stanhope, could have been infused into the slow and formal Austrian prince, the contest might have been decided. Charles was urged by them to take the road to Madrid through Valencia, whither Peterborough had gone by sea with his men. Charles lingered at first, without showing any inclination to move at all. His equipage was not ready, he said, to enable him to enter the capital with proper state. "Sir," said Stanhope, our William III. entered London in a hackney, with a cloak-bag behind it, and was made king not many weeks after."* When Charles did move, he went into Aragon and loitered at Saragossa. Peterborough was disgusted that his advice was not followed; and he gave himself up to the same inaction, which appeared a fatality in this summer. When he was sailing to Valencia he wrote a letter to Halifax, "aboard the Somerset," which sufficiently shows his gay temper under the most serious responsibilities: "There cannot be worse company than a

* Mahon, p. 99.

1706.]

DISGUST OF PETERBOROUGH,

299

beggarly German and a proud Spaniard, particularly to my humour; and were it not for the revenge we seek in the disagreeable men with the agreeable ladies, our condition were intolerable, black eyes and wit in the wives being what alone can make us endure the husbands."* But a cloud was to come over even Peterborough's gaiety. All that he had accomplished was to be thrown away.

Whether any energy on the part of Peterborough could have made effectual resistance against the spirit which was rising up in Spain may be doubted. Charles had done nothing to identify himself with the nation. The majority of the nation felt that foreign invaders had come against them. The Castilians took up the cause of Philip as if it were a national cause. The western provinces were imbued with the same spirit. Charles advanced towards Madrid. Peterborough was ordered to join him. But Berwick, knowing the full value of the enthusiasm which had gone so thoroughly in favour of Philip, compelled the Allies to evacuate the capital. Peterborough saw that the game was up; and declared " that all the force of Europe would not be sufficient to subdue Castile."+ Charles and he met, as the one was leading his forces from Saragossa, and the other from Valencia. They were unsuited to act in unison. The impetuosity of the one, and the frigid obstinacy of the other, made them natural antagonists. Peterborough, resolving, or affecting to resolve, upon transferring his services to another field, proposed that he should go to the relief of Turin. He was taken at his word. Charles and his advisers were left to their own ruinous course. What Peterborough's feelings were at this juncture may be collected from a letter of singular interest, addressed by him on the 25th of August to admiral Wassenaer: "Our circumstances, in a few words, are brought to this: from being sure of the monarchy of Spain without a blow, without further expense or hazard, it is now, not only a doubtful case, but I fear worse. Our army in the midst of an enemy's country (as it has been managed) without magazines, without any place of strength, without bread, or a farthing of money, the communication being cut off with Portugal, the enemy stronger in horse, and almost equal in foot: we lost Madrid like fools, with our army superior in number, without a blow, and such confusion and want of discipline was never known, the troops subsisting upon nothing but rapine. These are the effects of a young prince's giving ear to such wretched creatures who, contrary to such solemn councils of war, and measures so unanimously agreed to, contrary to the protestations of ambassadors and ministers, the repeated instances of generals and all mankind, have lost, perhaps, such an empire to their prince, by carrying him up and down, selling offices, and picking up little sums of money in exchange for Peru and Mexico." From this time we do not find Peterborough in any of the more important transactions of the war. returned early in 1707 to Spain as a volunteer; and he offered judicious advice which was rejected. He then received his formal recall to England; rushed about Europe, sometimes on public business and oftener for his private pleasures; seems to have looked with something like contempt upon his military vocation, when he said, "A general is only a hangman in chief; " §

Kemble, "State Papers and Letters," p. 445. Kemble, "State Papers and Letters," p. 452. § Spence's Anecdotes, edit. 1858, p. 116.

+ Mahon, p. 207.

He

300

PRINCE EUGENE DRIVES THE FRENCH OUT OF ITALY.

[1706.

and exhibited the versatility of his talents in dictating to nine amanuenses at once, and in superintending Pope's horticulture at Twickenham.

"He whose lightning pierced the Iberian lines,

Now forms my quincunx, and now ranks my vines."

Peterborough, we have seen, had proposed to go to the relief of Turin. The duke of Savoy, having been enabled through the subsidies of England and Holland to expend large sums in preparations for the defence of his capital, treated with contempt the summons to surrender of La Feuillade, the French general, who invested the city with an immense army. The successes of the French in the early part of the campaign had been very great; and though Victor Amadeus lost not heart, even when he left Turin with a part of his forces, whilst the siege was carried on for three months with a fearful loss of life, it appeared very doubtful whether Savoy could be Prince Eugene was beyond the Adige with an army of Imperialists. By a series of movements, in which he displayed that skill and energy which fitted him to be the colleague of Marlborough, he united his forces with the cavalry of the duke of Savoy in September; attacked the French in their entrenchments; obtained a complete victory; and finally drove them out of Italy.

The great campaign of Marlborough in 1706, which we shall have to relate in the next chapter, completed a series of triumphs for the Allies, which made this year one of the most memorable of the great war of the Succession.

S

Marlborough's Campaign of 1705-His disappointments and anxieties-He forces the French lines-Retreat of the French under Villeroy-New Parliament-State of Parties-The Regency Bill-Cry of the Church in danger-Marlborough's Campaign of 1706 in the Netherlands-The French and Bavarian armies under Villeroy pass the Dyle-The battle of Ramilies-Results of the Victory.

"I NEVER knew the duke of Marlborough go out so full of hopes as in the beginning of this campaign," says Burnet.* He embarked at Harwich on the 31st of March. His ardent expectations were soon cooled by the opposition which the Dutch made to his plans. It was a month before he could get the States to agree to his design of leading the English and Dutch troops to the Moselle, there to co-operate with the forces under prince Louis of Baden; and, marching from Treves between the Moselle and the Saar, to penetrate into Lorraine and thus carry the war into the French territory. Without waiting for the force of Baden, Marlborough crossed the Moselle and the Saar on the 3rd of June. The French armies under Villars and Marsin had united. Marlborough was anxious to give them battle; but they retreated; and he followed, though ill-provided with artillery. He encamped at Elft, and there waited for reinforcements. On the 9th he wrote to Harley, that he had not one man with him but those in the English and

"Own Time," vol. v. p. 203.

302

MARLBOROUGH'S CAMPAIGN-HIS DISAPPOINTMENTS.

[1705.

Dutch pay. He was desirous to begin the siege of Saar-Louis; yet for want of the troops under the prince of Baden and the Prussians, we are obliged to be idle a good part of the campaign, while the enemy are pursuing their designs without any manner of interruption." Such was the essential disadvantage of an army composed of the various contingents of Allied powers, compared with an army of one great military state. In the campaign of the Danube, the English commander, by wonderful exertions, contrived to make a compact body out of many heterogeneous parts. In the campaign of 1705, he had to prove the full difficulty of divided counsels and petty jealousies. Whilst in camp at Elft the weather was bitterly cold; and to this circumstance he attributes in some measure the desertions which weakened his army. On the 15th of June he writes to the States General, that the season is so inclement that there is nothing on the earth-that all the grass and oats have been destroyed by the cold-that he has no horses or carriages for the conveyance of heavy artillery, the German princes having utterly failed in their engagements.† Villeroy and the elector of Bavaria were rapidly advancing so as to threaten Holland; and the States, in great alarm, sent express upon express to Marlborough, to march with all haste to their succour. Villeroy had taken Huy, and was investing Liège. Marlborough apprehended that the Dutch would be frightened into a negotiation for peace. The imperturbable general is very nearly broken down with anxiety. He writes to Godolphin on the 16th, "I have for these last ten days been so troubled by the many disappointments I have had, that I think if it were possible to vex me so for a fortnight longer, it would make an end of me. In short, I am weary of my life." A vigorous resolution roused Marlborough out of this despondency. On the 17th of June, at midnight, he broke up the camp at Elft, and marched back to the position which he had occupied a fortnight before. By a series of rapid movements he united his army with that of the Dutch general, D'Auverquerque ; and Villeroy retreated within the formidable lines which the French had constructed, extending from the Meuse, near Namur, to the Scheldt at Antwerp. Marlborough's first object was to regain possession of Huy, in which he succeeded by the capitulation of the garrison on the 11th of July. But this success was accompanied by a bitter mortification. Upon the approach of a French detachment, the Palatine general D'Aubach abandoned Treves and Saarbruch, and burned the magazines which contained stores that were essential to the further prosecution of the operations on the Moselle. Marlborough's disappointments in the campaign were matters of rejoicing to the High Tories in England, who were now distinguished as "the tackers." The great general took this so to heart that he writes to Godolphin, "this vile enormous faction of theirs vexes me so much, that I hope the queen will after this campaign give me leave to retire." § In answer to a consolatory letter from the queen, he writes to her majesty that he has received a list of the new parliament, by which he sees that there are enough tackers returned, to stir everything that may be uneasy to the government; "to prevent which, I think your majesty should advise with lord treasurer [Godolphin], what encouragement may be proper to give the Whigs." But Marlborough does not want the Whigs to be in power.