CHAP. IX. 1712. Gibraltar and Minorca remained to England; Dunkirk was to be demolished; the Spanish Netherlands were to be ceded to Austria, with Naples, Milan, and Sardinia; the barrier towns were to be ceded to the Dutch, as required in 1709, with the exception of two or three places. Spain and her Indian colonies remained with the Duke of Anjou and his male heirs, as King of Spain. And thus, at the conclusion of the most glorious and successful war recorded in English history, did the English cabinet leave to France the great object of the contest, the crown of Spain placed on the head of a prince of the Bourbon race, and that of its magnificent Indian colonies. With truth did Marlborough observe, in the debate on the preliminaries-" The measures pursued in England for the last year are directly contrary to her Majesty's engagements with the Allies, sully the triumphs and glories of her reign, and will render the English name odious to all other nations." It was all in vain. The people loudly clamoured for peace; the cry against the taxes was irresistible. The Tory ministry was seconded by a vast numerical majority throughout the country. The peace was approved of by large majorities in both Houses. Parliament was soon 339. Parl. after prorogued; and Marlborough, seeing his public career terminated, solicited and obtained passports to go abroad, which he soon afterwards did.1 1 Schoell, Hist. de Trait. ii. 99-105. Dumont, Corp. Dip. viii. P. i. p. Hist. vi. 1146. 58. separation of the Eng Great was the mourning, and loud the lamentations, Mournful both among the British and allied troops, when the fatal day arrived that the former were to separate from their old companions in arms. On the 16th July, the very day on which Quesnoy surrendered, the last of their long line of triumphs, Ormond, having exhausted every sort of procrastination to postpone the dreaded hour, lish contingent from the Allies. IX. was compelled to order the English troops to march. CHAP. He in vain, however, gave a similar order to the auxiliaries in British pay. The hereditary prince of Cassel 1712. replied "The Hessians would gladly march, if it were to fight the French." Another, Another, "We do not serve for pay, but fame." The native English, however, were compelled to obey the order of their sovereign, and they set out, twelve thousand strong, from the camp at Cambresis. Of all the Germans in British pay, only one battalion of Holstein men, and a regiment of dragoons from Liege, accompanied them. Silent and dejected they took their way; the men kept their eyes on the ground, the officers did not venture to return the parting salute of the comrades who had so long fought and conquered by their side. Not a word was spoken on either part-the hearts of all were too full for utterance; but the averted eye, the mournful air, the blush of indignation, told the deep emotion which was everywhere felt. It seemed as if the Allies were following to the grave, with profound affliction, the whole body of their British comrades. But when the troops reached their restingplace for the night, and the suspension of arms was proclaimed at the head of each regiment, the general indignation became so vehement that even the bonds of military discipline were unable to restrain it. A universal cry, succeeded by a loud murmur, was heard through the camp. The British soldiers were seen tearing their hair, casting their muskets on the ground, and rending their clothes, uttering all the while furious exclamations against the government which had so shamefully betrayed them. The officers were so overwhelmed with vexation that they sat apart in their tents looking on the ground, through very shame; and CHAP. IX. 1712. for several days they shrunk from the sight even of their fellow-soldiers. Many left their colours to serve with the Allies, others withdrew, and whenever they ham, ii. 432. thought of Marlborough and their days of glory, tears Milner, 356. filled their eyes. 1 Cunning 59. culties now in the nego France. It soon appeared that it was not without reason that Great diffi- these gloomy presentiments prevailed on both sides, as experienced to the consequences of the British withdrawing from tiation with the contest. So elated were the French by this withdrawal that they speedily lost all sense of gratitude, and even honesty, and refused to give up Dunkirk to the British; and the cession was only effected with great difficulty, on the earnest entreaties of the British government. Such were the difficulties which beset the negotiation that St John was obliged to repair in person to Paris, where he remained incognito for a considerable time, and effected a compromise with regard to the objects still in dispute between the parties. The secession of England from the confederacy was now openly announced; and, as the Allies refused to abide by her preliminaries, the separate negotiation continued between the two countries, and lingered on for nearly a year after the suspension of arms. St John now became sensible, when it was too late, of the enormous error into which he had fallen in committing England to a separate negotiation, and trusting to the gratitude of his enemies at such a defection for a suitable return in the conditions of the treaty. No return whatever was made the claims of Louis, not only against the Corresp. ii. Allies, but against England, every day became more vi. 211-213. exorbitant;2 and encouraged by the advantages which their withdrawing from the field gave him in military 2 Boling broke's 378. Coxe, operations, his demands rose in proportion, and the negotiation was repeatedly on the verge of rupture. CHAP. IX. 1712. 60. is ineffectu Meanwhile Eugene, after the departure of the British, continued his operations, and laid siege to Landrecies, Landrecies the last of the barrier fortresses on the road to Paris, in ally bethe end of July. But it soon appeared that England Eugene. sieged by had been the soul of the confederacy, and that it was the tutelary arm of Marlborough which had so long averted disaster and chained victory to its standards. Nothing but defeat and misfortune attended the Allies after her secession. Even the great and tried abilities of Eugene were inadequate to procure for them one single success, after the colours of England ceased to wave in their ranks. Encouraged by his long-continued success while acting with the English troops, he did not consider the diminution of force which their secession occasioned, or the means of augmenting their army which, by drawing reinforcements from the garrisons no longer threatened, it afforded to the enemy. Eugene, during the investment of Landrecies, stationed his magazines at Marchiennes, his park of artillery and ammunition at Quesnoy. He placed five thousand foot and three thousand horse at Denain, and three thousand between Marlb. iii. Denain and Thians, to keep up the communication Mém. de between it and the bulk of his forces, which were 396-421. encamped on the Escaillon, ready to succour any point 341, 342. which might be attacked. 1 1 Hist. de 426, 427. Villars, ii. Rousset, ii. 61. stroys the On this state of matters, Villars conceived and executed, with great ability, a project attended with the Villars demost important effects on the issue of the war. He detachment drew together the garrisons from the neighbouring towns July 24. no longer threatened by the English troops, and sud at Denain. IX. 1712. ance. CHAP. denly passing the Scheldt, surprised at Denain a body of twelve thousand men, stationed there for the purpose of facilitating the passage of convoys to the besieging army. This body was totally defeated, with a loss of eight thousand men. The blow was considerable in itself, but it was rendered doubly so by the position of Denain, a fortified post on the Scheldt, which kept up the communication between the portion of Eugene's army which was besieging Landrecies and that before Marchiennes. It cut his army in two; and Eugene had the mortification of arriving in person on the opposite side of the Scheldt at the close of the action, and witnessing the surrender of Lord Albemarle and three thousand men, without being able to render any assistThis disaster rendered it necessary to raise the siege of Landrecies, and Villars immediately resumed the offensive. Douai was speedily invested: a fruitless effort of Eugene to retain it only exposed him to the mortification of witnessing its surrender. Not expecting so sudden a reverse of fortune, the fortresses recently taken were not provided with provisions or ammunition, and were in no condition to make any effectual resist"The effects," says Marshal Saxe, "of this affair were inconceivable; it made the difference of above one hundred battalions to the two armies. Eugene was obliged to throw garrisons into the towns which were threatened; and Villars, seeing that his own fortresses Villars, ii. were no longer threatened, drew out their garrisons, and Capefigue, augmented his army by above fifty battalions, which so Louis XIV. increased his army that the Prince, no longer venturing to keep the field, was obliged to throw all his cannon into Quesnoy, when it was taken on the 4th October."1 Bouchain, the last trophy of Marlborough's victories, J Mém. de 396-421. Hist. de 272-275. Hist. de Marlb. iii. 430-443. ance. |