and increasing her secret aversion against the succession of the house of Hanover.(1)

This division in the English cabinet, and the discontents in Scotland, occasioned by the union, encouraged Lewis XIV. to make an attempt in favour of the pretended prince of Wales, whom he had acknowledged by the title of James III. not doubting but he should be able, at least, to create such distractions in Great Britain as would weaken the efforts of the allies in Flanders. To that attempt Lewis was farther incited by the eager solicitations of the Scottish jacobites, who offered to raise and equip thirty thousand men, at their own expense, and to furnish them with provisions until they could march into England.(2)

In consequence of these magnificent promises, the pretender, under the name of the Chevalier de St. George, sailed from Dunkirk on board a French fleet, commanded by M. de Fourbin, with between five and six thousand land forces, ten thousand muskets, and a supply of other implements of war. Their purpose was to enter the Frith of Forth, and land in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. But, through the ignorance or inattention of their pilots, they overshot their destination; and before they could recover their mistake, sir George Byng, with a superior English fleet, had taken possession of the Frith.(3) Seeing now no prospect of success, and afraid of the capture of his whole squadron, the French admiral returned to Dunkirk, with the loss of only one ship, but to the utter confusion of the hopes of the pretender and his adherents, both in France and Great Britain.(4)

The English ministry, in concert with the parliament, took the most vigorous measures for repelling the intended invasion, as well as for continuing the war. And no sooner had all apprehensions of danger ceased, than the duke of Marlborough, the great pillar of the nation, and the chief support of the grand alliance, went over to Flanders, in order to command the confederate army, in conjunction with prince Eugene, who, in the beginning of the campaign, had headed a separate army upon the Rhine. The French army, commanded by the duke de Vendome in the name of the duke of Burgundy, though more numerous than that of the confederates, studiously avoided an action, or any hostile attempt; until by treachery, under the appearance of surprise, they got possession of Ghent and Bruges. The duke of Marlborough, accused of being privy to this treachery, demonstrated by his conduct the injustice of the aspersion. Though not yet joined by prince Eugene's army, but assisted by the advice of that consummate general, he passed the Scheldt, by a forced march, and came up with the enemy near Oudenarde. They could no longer decline a battle; and their situation and superiority in numbers seemed to ensure them success.

The Scheldt, and several enclosures, covered the left wing of the French army. A morass lay along the hostile front; and on a rising ground, on their right, the enemy placed their cavalry, interlined with parties of foot. The infantry of the allies, advancing across the morass, were received with great firmness by the French foot. But the British cavalry broke the French

(1) Burnet, book vii. See also Stuart Papers.

(3) Burnet, book vii. Duke of Berwick's Mem. vol. i.

(2) Hook's Negotiations.

(4) It is truly amusing to observe the extravagance of the jacobite writers in speaking of this intended invasion. They confidently affirm, that if the pretender could have landed in Scotland, with only the appearance of an army, he would soon have been enabled to march into England, in spite of all opposition; and by the junction of his English and Scottish adherents, to have given law to a princess who was giving law to Europe! Nay, they do not scruple to declare that the queen's affection for her brother was so great, that, on his approach with a respectable force, she would readily have consented to the breaking of the union, and to his immediate accession to the Scottish crown, that she might have a more certain prospect of transmitting to him the crown of England; not reflecting that his natural right to both crowns was preferable to hers, and therefore, that any attempt to claim either, in her lifetime, must have excited the highest jealousy. The same writers, in the madness of rage at their cruel disappointment, even assert that Lewis XIV. gave Fourbin positive orders not to land the troops which he had ordered him to embark; though by their embarkation, which he was under no necessity of ordering, and the voyage to Scotland, in consequence of it, he hazarded the loss of a very considerable armament! (See Macpherson's History of Great Britain, vol. ii., where the reveries of all the jacobite writers may be found.) These are shocking absurdities: but it is the unhappiness of party writers in general, and particularly of the abettors of the rights of the unfortunate family of Stuart, to pay little regard to truth, to reason, or probability, in the vehement prosecution of their arguments; to the proofs founded on facts, or those arising from circumstances.

horse at the first shock, and the foot intermixed with the squadrons were cut in pieces on the spot. Meantime, the French infantry behind the morass had stood their ground against all the efforts of the confederates. In order, however, to avoid being flanked by the British cavalry, now triumphant, they sheltered themselves in the enclosures on the banks of the Scheldt; and, although the approach of darkness prevented the defeat from becoming general, the fears and misconduct of the enemy yielded to the allies all the advantages of a complete victory. So great was their panic and confusion, that, while the confederates expected nothing but a renewal of the action the next morning, the vanquished retreated by five different routes in the night: and that disgraceful and disorderly flight, by breaking the spirit of the soldiers, rendered all the operations of the French timid during the rest of the campaign.(1) Though they preserved their cannon and baggage, they lost by this defeat about twenty thousand men: they had five thousand killed, nine thousand taken prisoners, and near six thousand deserted.(2)

Immediately after the battle of Oudenarde, the French were reinforced by a strong detachment, under the duke of Berwick, from the Rhine; and the confederates were joined by prince Eugene's army, which escorted a grand convoy. This convoy the duke of Berwick, whose troops arrived first, proposed to attack; but that proposal, as well as every other which he made during the campaign, was rejected by the duke de Vendome, either from jealousy or timidity.(3) In consequence of the safe arrival of the convoy, and the troops that guarded it, the siege of Lisle, the principal city in French Flanders, and the second in the dominions of Lewis XIV. the key of the kingdom, fortified with all the art of Vauban, was undertaken by prince Eugene; while Marlborough lay encamped in the neighbourhood, in order to prevent the enemy from interrupting the operations, and to forward the necessary supplies to the besiegers.(4)

No town was ever, perhaps, more vigorously attacked or defended than Lisle; into which the mareschal de Boufflers, an old experienced officer, had thrown himself, with some of the best troops of France. The garrison consisted of about twelve thousand men, the besiegers, of at least thirty thousand. None of the works were carried without an obstinate struggle; and scarce were the assailants masters of one place, when they were driven from another, and in danger of losing all their former advantages, gained at a prodigious expense of blood and valour. Yet still they persevered, and by perseverance advanced their progress. Meanwhile Vendome endeavoured to distress them by cutting off their convoys. But in that service he most unaccountably failed, as well as in all his attempts to relieve the place; so that Boufflers, after a gallant defence of two months, was obliged to surrender Lisle. He retired into the citadel, which was also forced to capitulate; and Ghent and Bruges were recovered before the close of the campaign.(5)

No event of any importance happened in Germany during the summer. The electors of Hanover and Bavaria, who were opposed to each other on the Upper Rhine, not being in a condition to act with effect in the field, employed themselves chiefly in fortifying their lines; a precaution suggested by a mutual consciousness of their weakness. (6) On the side of Italy, where much was expected, some advantages were gained by the allies, but nothing (1) Fouquiers. Burnet. Voltaire. (2) Burnet, book vii. Duke of Berwick's Mem. vol. 1. (3) Duke of Berwick's Mem. vol. 1. As none of these proposals were embraced, it is impossible to say what success might have attended them; but military men, in general, seem to be of opinion, that most of the measures suggested were highly worthy of being adopted.

(4) Burnet, book vii. Duke of Berwick, vol. i.

(5) Id. ibid. The duke of Berwick particularly investigates the causes of the capture of Lisle. And it appears, if his advice had been followed, that the convoys of the confederates would have been effectually cut off, and perhaps prince Eugene, and even the duke of Marlborough, defeated by the assistance of troops that might have been drawn out of the neighbouring garrisons, without their knowledge, to reinforce an already strong army, by which they were surrounded; and which could, with such reinforce ment, have amused the one, while it gave battle to the other. It also appears, on the same authority, that Marlborough, on one occasion, would have totally defeated Vendome, if he had not been prevented from hazarding a battle by the field-deputies of the states. See the Duke of Berwick's Mem. vol. i., and the Letters at the end of the volume, which contain many curious particulars in the military line, and fully illustrate the principal events of the campaign in Flanders in 1708.

(6) Barre, Hist. d'Allemagne, tom. x. Burnet, book vii.

signal was performed. The duke of Savoy, who, besides his native troops, had in his army twenty thousand men in the pay of Great Britain and the states, had formed great and extensive projects. He designed to pass through the territories of the Swiss, to join the troops of the empire in Alsace, and to penetrate into France on that side. But he was so vigorously opposed by mareschal Villars, that he was happy in having opened a passage into the enemy's country, and secured his own dominions against the future invasions of the French on the most exposed side, by making himself master of Exilles, La Perouse, and Fenestrelles.(1)

The confederates were yet less successful in Spain. There the house of Bourbon had two armies in the field, on the side of Catalonia; one under the duke of Orleans, another led by the duke de Noailles: and a third army in Estramadura, commanded by the marquis de Bay. Though Charles III. had not a sufficient force to enable him to face the duke of Orleans in the field, the latter was prevented, by the unprovided condition of his army, from making such progress as might have been feared. He took, however, Tortosa in the month of July; and Dania and Alicant, in the province of Valencia, fell into the hands of the French before the close of the campaign. The duke de Noailles, opposed by the prince of Darmstadt, performed nothing of importance, except providing his troops with provisions at the expense of the Catalans; and the season of action, on the side of Portugal, was passed in a state of absolute inactivity.(2)

The operations by sea were attended with very considerable success, on the part of the confederates. Sir John Leake, having carried to Catalonia the princess of Wolfenbuttle, whom Charles III. had espoused, took on board some troops, and directed his course to Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia. No sooner did the English fleet appear, than the monks, gained by cardinal Grimani, who was in the interest of the house of Austria, ran in bodies to the streets and public places, holding the crucifix in their hands, and assured the inhabitants, who flocked around them, that God had made use of heretics to give them a better master. This made such an impression on the populace, that the viceroy was forced to accept of such terms as the invaders chose to grant; and the whole island submitted without drawing a sword.(3) The same admiral, assisted by major-general Stanhope, also took the island of Minorca ;(4) a conquest, in itself less valuable than Sardinia, but of more importance to England when at war with Spain, on account of the excellent harbour of Mahon, and the strong castle of St. Philip, by which it is defended. The reduction of those islands, which, in conjunction with the fortress of Gibraltar, gave the maritime powers the absolute command of the Mediterranean, induced the Italian states to submit to certain antiquated claims of the emperor Joseph, that they would otherwise have rejected with disdain. Even the pope, who had hitherto adhered to the interests of Philip V., and who had raised an army for the defence of the ecclesiastical state, no sooner heard of the surrender of Bologna to the imperialists, and that an English fleet was ready to bombard Civita Vecchia, than he promised to acknowledge Charles III. as lawful king of Spain, in order to prevent Rome itself from being again sacked by the barbarians of the north ;(5) for as such the Italians still considered the English and Germans.

The death of the prince of Denmark, the queen of England's husband, which happened during these transactions abroad, made no alteration in the state of English politics on which his feeble genius and unimportant character had never had any influence. The great success of the campaign confirmed the ascendant that Marlborough and Godolphin had acquired, in

(1) Burnet, ubi sup. State of Europe, 1708.

(2) Hist. d'Espagne, tom. ii. Mem. de Noailles, tom. ii. But the generals who commanded there, and whose conduct in the field was so little worthy of praise, gained great credit by a wise and humane con wention that can never be enough admired. They agreed, that the peasants, on the frontiers of Spain and Portugal, should not be disturbed, by the troops of either party, in cultivating the soil, or in feeding their cattle; and that the war should, for the future, be considered as subsisting only between regular armies, or men in military service, and not between the private inhabitants of the two kingdoms. Id. ibid. (3) Hist. d'Espagne, tom. ii. State of Europe, 1708. (4 Id. ibid.

(5) Burnet, book vii. State of Europe, 1708.

consequence of the expulsion of Harley from the cabinet: and they found means to reconcile the dissatisfied whigs to their measures, by dividing with the leaders of that party the power and emoluments of government. The earl of Pembroke was appointed to the place of lord high-admiral, vacant by the decease of the prince of Denmark; lord Somers, who had been out of office ever since deprived of the great seal by king William, was made president of the council; and the earl of Wharton, a man of vast abilities, but void of any steady principle, was declared lord-lieutenant of Ireland.(1) These judicious promotions contributed to preserve that unanimity which had hitherto appeared in parliament, and which produced the most liberal supplies for continuing the war. Seven millions were voted for the service of the ensuing campaign, and ten thousand men were added to the establishment of the preceding year. (2) The Dutch also agreed to an augmentation of their troops.

While the confederates were taking such vigorous measures for the prosecution of hostilities, serious proposals were made by the French monarch for restoring tranquillity to Europe. A variety of circumstances, the defeat at Oudernarde, the taking of Lisle, a famine in France; the consequent failure of resources; the discontents of the people; and a want of harmony among the servants of the crown, induced Lewis XIV. to offer terms of peace, at once adequate to the success of his enemies, and suitable to the melancholy situation of his own affairs. He agreed to yield the whole Spanish monarchy to the house of Austria, without any equivalent; to cede to the emperor his conquests on the Upper Rhine; to give Furnes, Ypres, Menin, Tournay, Lisle, Condé, and Maubeuge, as a barrier to Holland; to acknowledge the elector of Brandenburg as king of Prussia; the duke of Hanover, as ninth elector of the empire; to own the right of queen Anne to the British throne; to remove the pretender from the dominions of France; to acknowledge the succession to the crown of Great Britain in the Protestant line; to restore every thing required to the duke of Savoy: and to agree to the cessions made to the king of Portugal, by his treaty with the confederates.(3)

But these terms, so honourable as well as advantageous to the allies, and humiliating to the house of Bourbon, were rejected by the plenipotentiaries of the confederates, the duke of Marlborough, prince Eugene, and the pensionary Heinsius, from the same motives that had led them to reject the proposals made by France in 1706,-their personal interests, their prejudices, and their passions. Lewis was not permitted to form the most distant hopes of peace, without surrendering the strongest towns in his dominions, as pledges for the entire evacuation of the Spanish monarchy by his grandson. The marquis de Torcy, who was employed in the negotiation, went beyond his powers in making concessions; but all in vain: in proportion as he yielded, the plenipotentiaries of the confederates rose in their demands. Conference followed conference without effect. At last the pensionary Heinsius framed forty preliminaries, as the ultimatum of the allies; and although every one of these articles, besides being hard in itself, was expressed in the most dictatorial language, France agreed to thirty-five of them. The other five were rejected with disdain by Lewis, notwithstanding the distressed state of his kingdom, and the evils which he apprehended from the continuance of the war.(4) He threw himself upon his people, explained his own ample concessions, and the haughty terms proposed by the allies. pride of the French nation was roused. They resolved to make new efforts in support of their humbled monarch; and the very famine, which occasioned so much misery, proved of advantage to the state in this necessity, as many young men who wanted bread became soldiers.(5)

The

As soon as the conferences for the re-establishment of peace were broken off, the army of the allies, amounting to above a hundred thousand men, commanded by prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough, was formed on the plains of Lisle. Mareschal Villars, who had been called to the command of

(1) Burnet, book vii. State of Europe, 1708. (3) Printed Preliminaries.

(4) M. de Torcy, tom. i.

(2) Journals, Nov. 1708.
(5) Voltaire, Siècle, chap. xx.

the French forces in Flanders, as the last support of his sinking country, occupied a strong post between Couriere and the town of Bethune. Those places covered his two wings, and he was defended in front by the villages of Îa Bassée and Pont Avendin. By this position of his army, he covered the cities of Douay and Arras, the reduction of which would have opened a passage for the allies into the heart of France. After advancing within two leagues of his camp, and viewing his situation, the generals of the confederates, not judging it prudent to attack him, suddenly drew off their troops, and sat down before Tournay, one of the strongest and most ancient cities in Flanders. The citadel, constructed with all the skill of Vauban, was yet stronger than the town. But with so much vigour and address were both attacked, that the place itself was taken in twenty-one days; and the citadel, into which the governor had retired with the remains of his garrison, was forced to surrender at the end of a month.(1)

The confederates no sooner found themselves masters of Tournay, which they had been permitted to reduce without any annoyance from the enemy, than they formed the design of besieging Mons. They accordingly pursued the necessary steps for that purpose; while Villars, having embraced the bold resolution of protecting or relieving the place, passed the Scarpe, and encamped between that river and the Scheldt. Disappointed in his hopes of arriving at Mons before the main army of the allies, under prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough, the French general took possession of a strong camp about a league distant from the invested city, determined to give all possible disturbance to the operations of the besiegers. His right extended to the village of Malplaquet, which lay behind the extensive and impenetrable wood of Saart: his left was covered by another thick wood; and his centre was defended by three lines of trenches, drawn along a narrow plain; the whole being secured by a fortification of trees, which had been cut down and carried from the neighbouring woods, surrounded with all their branches.(2)

The generals of the confederates, elated with past success, or persuaded that Mons could not be taken without dislodging the enemy, resolved to attack Villars in that strong position, although his army was little inferior to theirs, each amounting to near one hundred and twenty thousand combatants. In consequence of this resolution, they advanced to the charge early in the morning, both armies having prepared themselves for action during the preceding night. The British troops were opposed to the left, the Dutch to the right, and the Germans to the centre of the French army. Mareschal Villars placed himself at the head of his left wing, and committed the charge of his right to Boufflers; who, though a senior officer, condescended to act under him, that he might have an opportunity of saving his country. After an awful pause of almost two hours, the engagement was begun; and the firing, in a moment, extended from wing to wing. Few battles, in any age, have been so fierce and bloody, and none had been so long contested, since the improvement of the art of war in consequence of the invention of gunpowder. The British troops, led by the duke of Argyle, having passed a morass, deemed impracticable, attacked with such fury the left of the enemy, stationed in the wood, that they were obliged to retire into the plain behind it; where they again formed, and renewed their efforts. Meanwhile, the Dutch, under count Tilly and the prince of Orange, were engaged with the right of the French army and advancing in three lines to the intrenchments, gave and received a terrible fire for the space of an hour. Some French battalions being thrown into disorder, were rallied and confirmed in their station, by the vigilance and courage of mareschal Boufflers; and the Dutch also yielding, in their turn, were brought back to the charge by the activity and perseverance of the prince of Orange. Enraged at this unexpected obstinacy of the French in both wings, and perceiving that Villars had weakened his centre in order to support his left, prince Eugene determined to attack, in person, the

(1) Kane's Campaigns. Life of Marlborough.

(2) Mem. de Fouquieres. Kane's Campaigns.