the excesses which had been committed on his own. An extent of sixty leagues of country was exposed to all the ravages of war. Broken, ruined, and dispersed, the forces of Louis left a free and uninterrupted march to the confederates from the Danube to the Rhine; and the wretched remains of that army, which at the beginning of the season had spread terror to the gates of Vienna, were obliged to take shelter within the frontiers of France. The victors crossed the Rhine; they entered Alsace; and the important fortresses of Landau and Traerbach were surrendered to them before the close of the year'.

But the same good fortune which attended the arms of the confederates in Germany did not extend to every scene of operations. In Flanders, the war, being merely defensive, produced no memorable event. On the Portuguese side of Spain, the archduke, who had assumed the title of Charles III., was unable to make any progress. On the contrary, Philip, assisted by the duke of Berwick, carried the war into Portugal; took several places, and defeated the attempts of the allies for the invasion of Spain. In Italy, the campaign proved, upon the whole, favourable to the house of Bourbon. The castle of Susa, the city of Pignerol, Vercelli, Yvrea, and Sansano, were reduced by Vendome3.

The operations at sea, during this memorable year, were scarcely less important than those by land. The combined fleet of England and Holland, which carried the archduke to Lisbon, having failed in an attempt upon Barcelona, where a party was supposed to have been formed for the house of Austria, appeared before Gibraltar; and that fortress, hitherto deemed impregnable,

1 Voltaire. Boyer-Burnet.

2 Notwithstanding these services, the duke of Berwick was recalled. Of this matter, he gives the following curious account: "The duke of Grammont, the French minister at Madrid, had taken it into his head that he was to govern there as despotically as the cardinals Richelieu and Mazarine had formerly done in France. I had no objection to this with respect to the civil department; but, in the military, I was resolved that he should not have the same sway; thinking it reasonable that I should be consulted in every thing, and even that my plans should be adopted, as I must be answerable for the success of the whole. From these contrary humours it followed, that Grammont took upon him to order every thing, without consulting or communicating with me; and I, on the other hand, steady to my principle, refused to execute any enterprise which I did not approve." The duke's recall was the consequence of this commendable pride.

66

When the marechal de Tessé, who succeeded to the chief command in Spain, arrived at Madrid, he naturally inquired of the queen if she had not reason to be satisfied with the duke's campaign. She said, that he was much esteemed, and had rendered great service to the kingdom. Why, then," answered Tessé, "have you had him recalled?"-" If I must tell you," replied the queen peevishly, "he is a great obstinate devil of an Englishman, who will always have his own way." Mem. of the duke of Berwick, tome i.

' Henault, 1704.

was taken at the first assault. Astonished at the intrepidity of the English sailors, who ascended the mole sword in hand, the governor immediately surrendered the place: which was committed to the care of the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, for the queen of England'.

Nor was the acquisition of this great key of the Mediterranean the only advantage resulting from the enterprise. Part of the Spanish army employed in Portugal being withdrawn, for the purpose of retaking Gibraltar, a stop was thus put to the progress of Philip, who might otherwise have advanced to the gates of Lisbon; and the French fleet (to the number of fifty-two ships of the line, under the count de Toulouse) coming to the aid of the besiegers, was defeated off Malaga by the combined fleet, commanded by sir George Rooke and the Dutch admiral Calemberg. The force, on both sides, was nearly equal; and the battle was obstinate and bloody, though no ship was either sunk or taken. This was partly the consequence of the interposition of night, and partly of the shifting of the wind, which enabled the French to elude all the endeavours of the confederates for a renewal of the engagement'. Louis affected, however, to claim the victory. But it was obvious to all Europe, that the combined fleet kept the sea; and that the French took refuge in their own ports, instead of affording any assistance to the Spaniards before Gibraltar.

These fortunate events, particularly the memorable victory obtained at Blenheim, which was justly ascribed to British valour, diffused a general joy over the nation. This joy communicated itself to the representatives of the people, who voted ample supplies for prosecuting the war with the utmost readiness; and the whole business of parliament was not only conducted with harmony, but carried forward with zeal and expedition. Pleased with the humiliation of the house of Bourbon, the Whigs, instead of opposing the ministry, used every endeavour to engage the duke of Marlborough in their cause; and Godolphin, either from policy or principle, threw himself entirely into their hands.

The queen dissolved the parliament; and the Whigs, whose A. D. principles recommended them to the independent part of 1705. the kingdom, having the countenance of government, and the support of the monied interest, obtained a decided majority

1 Burnet, book vii.—Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vol. iii.
2 Id. ibid.

૨૭

in the new house of commons. The elections went generally in their favour, notwithstanding the clamour raised by the Tories of the danger of the church, and the growth of Presbyterianism. Both houses now passed a vote, that the church was in a safe and flourishing condition, and that whoever advanced a contrary assertion was an enemy to the queen, the church, and the kingdom'. They also, to the great disappointment of the Tories, already mortified by the foregoing vote, repealed two severe laws against the commerce and people of Scotland, in order to induce the parliament of that kingdom to settle the crown on the house of Hanover, as well as to listen to proposals for a treaty of union with England; measures highly necessary to the welfare of both kingdoms, and essential to the security of the Protestant succession.

While the English were taking these prudent steps, France was not only depressed by external misfortunes, but distracted by internal commotions. Though the Huguenots had been in a great measure exterminated, or induced from motives of fear or interest to conform to the established religion, by the rewards that were offered to them, and the severe persecution which they had suffered, both before and after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, yet many of them had taken refuge in the Cevennes, a mountainous country in the south of France, where, mingling with the rude natives, called Camisards, they enjoyed their religion in a state of barbarism. Like zealots of all sects, when ignorant and persecuted, they believed themselves to be the peculiar favourites of Heaven, and laid claim to the highest gifts of inspiration. They had their prophets and prophetesses, who assumed absolute authority over them, and are said to have incited them to the most atrocious cruelties, both against the Catholics and the refractory part of their own sect2.

Encouraged by these visionaries, by their increasing numbers, and by the promises of the confederates, the Camisards, on the commencement of the war, in 1701, began to mingle politics with their religion. They demanded "liberty of conscience, and an exemption from taxes ;" and took arms to support their preten

Journals, Dec. 1705.

Memoirs of the duke of Berwick.-"I have heard marechal Villars relate," says Voltaire, "that when he asked Cavalier, the most considerable of their chiefs, how, at his years, being little above twenty, he could acquire so much authority over a headstrong undisciplined rabble? the bold leader replied, that, whenever they refused to obey, his prophetess (known among them by the name of the Great Mary) was instantly seized with a fit of inspiration, and condemned the refractory to the punishment of death, without any form of trial." Siècle, chap. xxxii.

sions. Several generals were sent against them, with various success, and among others the celebrated marechal Villars; who, after making them sensible of his power, entered into treaty with them, in 1704. But they, suspecting the sincerity of the court, broke off the negociation, when it was almost finished; and Villars being recalled, to enter on a more important scene of action, the duke of Berwick was dispatched against them, on his return from Spain. Severity being now as necessary as it was formerly impolitic, the duke exercised it without reserve, and soon reduced the Camisards to obedience'.

Louis, although destitute of that superior magnanimity which is never vainly elate, and which can calmly look down on the highest success, possessed in an eminent degree that Christian fortitude which enables the soul to bear misfortunes with composure and resignation. Though accustomed to victory, he received the intelligence of the ruin of his army at Blenheim without any marks of confusion, and took the most vigorous steps for repairing his loss, as well as for checking the progress of the victorious enemy. At the end of the campaign, however, he found that he had been deprived of a considerable part of his former conquests. But France was still entire, and his power in Flanders was not very seriously impaired; and, as he understood that the duke of Marlborough intended, in the next campaign, to carry the war by the Moselle into the heart of his dominions, he assembled on that side an army of seventy thousand men, under the command of Villars. The English general, having crossed the Moselle and the Saar, arrived at Sirck; but not being joined by the prince of Baden, as he expected, he was obliged to retreat and so masterly was the conduct of Villars, that the duke was not able to effect any enterprise of consequence during the campaign'.

Though the emperor Leopold, whose death made no change

1 For this severity, the duke makes the following manly apology: "Assisted by the understanding and advice of M. de Basville, one of the most sensible men in France, I made it my business to prevent every thing that might tend to excite commotions: and declared, that I came neither as a persecutor nor a missionary, but with a resolution to do equal justice to every one; to protect all who should behave themselves as faithful subjects of the king, and to punish with the utmost rigour those who should dare to oppose his authority.-I know," adds he, "that attempts have been made, in many countries, to blacken our proceeding against these people; but I can protest, as a man of honour, that the Camisards were guilty of every species of outrage and criminality. To rebellion, sacrilege, murder, theft, and licentiousness, they joined the most atrocious and unprecedented cruelties; so far even as to have priests broiled, to rip out the bowels of pregnant women, and to roast their children!" Mem. vol. i.

2 Burnet.-Henault.

in the political system of the confederates, was succeeded May 5, on the imperial throne by his son Joseph, a prince of N. S. greater vigour and abilities, the sluggishness of the Germanic body, and the obstinacy of the prince of Baden, prevented the allied army from triumphing on the side of Flanders. In Italy the French still maintained their superiority. The duke de Vendome took Villa Franca and Verona: he repulsed the Imperialists, who, under prince Eugene, attempted to force the passage of the Adda, at the bridge of Cassano; and the duke of Savoy, no longer able to keep the field, was obliged to shut himself up in Turin, with little prospect of relief'.

The confederates were more fortunate in Spain. The marechal de Tessé, after losing a great number of men, was forced to raise the siege of Gibraltar; and he had also the mortification, a few days before he abandoned the enterprise, to behold a French fleet that came to his assistance, under the famous Pointis, defeated, and chiefly taken or destroyed, by an English squadron, commanded by sir John Leake. Encouraged by these favourable events, the confederates entered the enemy's country, on the frontiers of Beira and Alentejo, and reduced some of the towns of Estremadura. In other quarters they were still more successful. An English fleet, conducted by sir Cloudesly Shovel, carrying five thousand soldiers, under the celebrated earl of Peterborough, being joined at Lisbon by sir John Leake and the Dutch admiral Allemond, and reinforced with some troops from the confederate army in Portugal, took the archduke on board, and sailed for the coast of Catalonia, where he was supposed to have many friends. Intimidated at the appearance of this armament, the people in general declared for the house of Austria. The fortresses of Lerida and Tortosa were yielded without a blow: Barcelona, though furnished with a garrison of five thousand men, under the duke de Popoli, was obliged to surrender; and almost the whole kingdom of Valencia, as well as the province of Catalonia, submitted to Charles III.'

The particulars of the siege of Barcelona, as related by Voltaire, are so honourable to this country, that they ought not to be omitted by an English historian. The earl of Peterborough, says he, a man in every respect resembling the imaginary heroes that the Spaniards have represented in their romances, proposed to the prince of Hesse Darmstadt to force, sword in hand, the intrenchments that covered fort Montjuy and the town. The

1 Burnet.-Boyer.

VOL. III.

2 Burnet, book vii.—Mém. de Noailles, tome ii.

C