IX. 44. dismisses In this extremity the Tories were saved, Marlborough CHAP. disgraced, and the face of Europe changed, by the vigour and audacity of one man. Oxford showed himself on 1711. this crisis not awanting in that quality which Bacon, Oxford and, after him, Danton, have described as the first requi- Marlbosite in civil conflicts-" Boldness, boldness, boldness." Dec. 31. rough, Being convinced that the peace could not be carried through, and that the Tories would fall, if Marlborough continued in power, he resolved on his dismissal; and being well aware that no charge is so readily credited by the vulgar, because there is none to which they are themselves so much inclined, as one founded on an alleged embezzlement of the public money, he resolved to make such a charge the foundation of his impeachment. Deeming themselves pushed to extremities, and having failed in all attempts to detach Marlborough from the Whigs, Bolingbroke and the Ministers resolved on the desperate measure of bringing forward an accusation. against him, of fraud and peculation in the management of the public monies intrusted to him in the Flemish campaign. The charges were founded on the report of the commissioners already mentioned, to whom the matter had been remitted, and which accused the Duke of having appropriated £63,319 of the public monies destined for the use of the English troops, and £282,366, as a per-centage of two per cent on the sum paid to foreign ambassadors during the ten years of the war. In reply to these infamous insinuations, the letter of the Duke to the commissioners was published on the 27th December, in which he entirely refuted the charges, and showed that he had never received any sums or perquisites not sanctioned by previous and uniform usage, and far fewer than had been received by the general in the IX. 1711. CHAP. reign of William III. And in regard to the £282,000 of per-centage on foreign subsidies, this was proved to have been a voluntary gift from those powers to the English general, authorised by their signatures and sanctioned by warrants from the Queen. This answer made a great impression; but Ministers had gone too far to retreat, and they ventured on a step which, for the honour of the country, has never, even in the worst times, been since repeated. Trusting to their majority in the Commons, and without awaiting the issue of any trial or judicial investigation of the charges, they dismissed the Duke from all his situations on the 31st December; * and in order to stifle the voice of justice in the Peers, on the following day patents were issued ham, ii. 367. calling twelve new peers to the Upper House. They 311. Lock- were introduced amidst the groans of the House: the 1 Cunning Conduct, hart Papers, Coxe, vi. i. 351-362.' Whig noblemen, says a contemporary annalist, “casting 151, 152. their eyes on the ground as if they had been invited to the funeral of the peerage." 45. "1 Unbounded was the joy diffused among the enemies Universal of England by these unparalleled measures. On hearjoy among the enemies ing of Marlborough's fall, Louis XIV. said with triumph, of England «The dismission of Marlborough will do all we can at measures. desire." The court of St Germains was in exultation; and the general joy of the Jacobites, both at home and abroad, was sufficient to demonstrate how formidable an enemy to their cause they regarded the Duke, and how destitute of truth are the attempts to show that he had been engaged in a secret design to restore the exiled family. Marlborough disdained to make any defence of * 66 Being informed that an information against the Duke of Marlborough was laid before the House of Commons by the commissioners of the public accounts, Her Majesty thought fit to dismiss him from all his employments, that the matter might undergo an impartial investigation."-COXE, vi. 152. IX. 1712. himself in Parliament; but an able answer on his part CHAP. was prepared and circulated, which entirely refuted the whole charges against the illustrious general. So convinced were Ministers of this, that, contenting themselves with resolutions against him in the House of Commons, where their influence was predominant, they declined to prefer any impeachment or accusation in the Upper House, swamped even as it was by their recent creations. The greatness of Marlborough was proved, the vindication of his character, the refutation of all the false and malignant accusations which had been brought against him, rendered complete, by the very measures adopted by his enemies. The French were in exultation, the court of St Germains in ecstasies, every real patriot in Eng-1 Somerland in mourning, the giddy multitude in amazement, Queen the constitution violated for his destruction, and not even Conduct, a charge preferred against him after his overthrow had vi. 154, 155. been effected.1 ville's Anne, 498. 311. Coxe, Upon receiving the letter intimating his dismissal, 46. rough's no the Queen missal, Jan. which was written with the Queen's own hand, Marl- Marlboborough, in a transport of indignation at such unparal- ble letter to leled baseness and ingratitude, threw it into the fire. on his disBut he wrote the following noble letter to his sovereign 3, 1712. on the occasion, which, if anything could, might have convinced her of the generosity of his character, and his entire innocence of all the charges which the malignity of faction had heaped up against him: "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 IX. 1712. CHAP. 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 insinuation, 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 extremes against me. But I am much more concerned at an expression in your Majesty 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, through a great many undeserved mortifications. But if your Majesty does intend by that expression 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 counsels 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 government, 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.-I am, with the greatest duty and submission," &c.1 1 Conduct, 312. In the midst of this disgraceful scene of passion, envy, and ingratitude, Prince Eugene arrived in London, for the purpose of trying to stem the torrent, and, if pos IX. 47. arrival in and noble sible, prevent the secession of England from the Confe- CHAP. deracy. This was justly deemed by the Allies a matter of the utmost consequence, for they already anticipated, 1712. what the event soon after proved to be true, that the Eugene's conclusion of a separate peace by England would at once England, break the bond and ruin the fortunes of the Grand conduct. Alliance. He was lodged with the Lord-Treasurer, and the generous Prince omitted no opportunity of testifying, in the day of his tribulation, his undiminished respect for his illustrious rival. "It is a mistake," he observed, "to suppose that I came to England to give the least disturbance to the Ministry; but it is wholly inconsistent with my honour and temper to be wanting in respect to a friend in his adverse fortune, for whom I always professed so much regard in the time of his prosperty." The Treasurer having said to him at a great dinner, “I consider this day as the happiest of my life, since I have the honour to see in my house the greatest captain of the age, "If it be so," replied Eugene, “I owe it to your lordship;" alluding to his dismissal of Marlborough, which had caused him to cease to be one. On another occasion, some one having pointed out a passage in one of the libels against Marlborough, in which he was said to have been "perhaps once fortunate,”"It is true," said Eugene," he was once fortunate; and it is the greatest praise which can be bestowed on him: for, as he was always successful, that implies that all his other vi. 116. successes were owing to his own conduct."1 Alarmed at the weight which Marlborough might derive from the presence and support of so great a commander, and the natural sympathy of all generous minds aroused by the cordial admiration which these two great men entertained for each other, the Ministers had re 1 Burnet's Hist. of his Own Times, |