sense of the superintendence of the Supreme Being, and CHAP. XII. 1714. Marlborough, however, was but a man, and therefore 19. and weak not without the usual blemishes and weaknesses of hu- His faults manity. The great blot on his character, the inexcus- nesses. able act in his life-that of having accepted a command from James II., and afterwards betrayed him-will be found on examination to be but a part, though doubtless the most conspicuous one, of the prevailing disposition CHAP. XII. 1714. 20. Circum stances liate these faults in him. and secret weakness of his character. He was extremely ambitious, and little scrupulous about the means by which elevation was to be attained or prolonged. He repeatedly yielded to the solicitations of those around him, from the desire to avoid ruining his party, under circumstances when the dignity of his character required a more independent and resolute conduct. He was not by nature a bad, or by habit a dishonourable man, and yet he did a most base and dishonourable thing; he abandoned his King and benefactor when holding an important command under him. He did not possess the mental independence, the strong sense of rectitude, the keen feelings of honour, which lead pure and elevated minds to make shipwreck of their fortunes in the cause of duty. He was possessed by strong moral and religious principles, but when a crisis arrived they yielded to the whisperings of expedience; or rather, the deceitfulness of sin made him believe that his duty pointed to the course which his interest demanded. He had more of Cæsar in him than Cato. It never would be said of him— “Victrix causa Deis placuit, sed victa Catoni.” In justice to Marlborough, however, it must be recollected that he lived in an age of revolutions, when the which pal- crown had been recently twice subverted, and a new dynasty placed on the throne; when men's minds were confused and their ideas unhinged with regard to public duty; and when that fatal effect of revolutionary success had taken place-the assigning to public actions no other test but success. And yet, so mixed is the condition of mankind, and so great the ascendancy of selfishness in human affairs, that Marlborough's extraordinary rise and long-continued power is in great part to be ascribed to these moral weaknesses in his character. Had he possessed the noble spirit of one of the old Cavaliers, he would have adhered to James in his misfortune, and become a respectable but unknown exile at St Germains, instead of the illustrious leader of the coalition. He thus affords another instance to the many which history affords of the truth of Johnson's saying, “That no man ever rose from a private station to exalted power amongst men, in whom great and commanding qualities were not combined with meannesses that would be inconceivable in ordinary life." CHAP. XII. 1714. 21. character ideas in the Marlborough was often accused of avarice; but his conduct through life sufficiently demonstrated that in His private him the natural desire to accumulate a fortune, which and elevated belongs to every rational mind, was kept in subjection disposal of to more elevated principles. The great wealth which he money. acquired from his numerous appointments, and the royal and parliamentary rewards bestowed on him for his services, were sufficient to excite the envy of the vulgar, and this feeling was eagerly fed by those who pandered to their passions. Swift contrasted, in a popular diatribe, the scanty rewards of Roman triumph with the half million which had attested British gratitude. But there was no real foundation for this aspersion; his conduct belied it. His repeated refusal of the government of the Netherlands, with its magnificent appointment of £60,000 a-year, was a sufficient proof how much he despised money when it interfered with public duty; his splendid edifices, both in London and Blenheim, attest how little he valued it for any other purpose, but as it might be applied to noble and worthy XII. CHAP. objects. Like many other men who have been the architects of their own fortune, he was economical in his 1714. habits, and little inclined to spend money on personal gratifications. But on great occasions he exhibited a splendour worthy of his station and his character; he could give all the money in his possession to the wounded among his enemies, and present a friendless and deserving officer with a thousand pounds to purchase a commission.1 1 Coxe, vi. 400. 22. nimity and He possessed the magnanimity in judging of others His magna- which is the invariable characteristic of real greatness. humanity. Envy was unknown, suspicion loathsome to him. He often suffered by the generous confidence with which he trusted his enemies. He was patient under contradiction, placid and courteous both in his manners and demeanour, and owed great part of his success, both in the field and in the cabinet, to the invariable suavity and charm of his manners. His humanity was uniformly conspicuous. Not only his own soldiers, but his enemies, never failed to experience it. Like Wellington, his attention to the health and comforts of his men was incessant; which, with his daring in the field, and uniform success in strategy, endeared him in the highest degree to the soldiers. Troops of all nations equally trusted him; and the common saying, when they were in any difficulty, "Never mind, Corporal John' will get us out of it," was heard as frequently in the Dutch, Danish, or German, as in the English language. He frequently gave the weary soldiers a place in his carriage, Capefigue, and got out himself to accommodate more;2 and his first vi. 129. care, after an engagement, invariably was to visit the Louis XIV. field of battle, and do his utmost to assuage the sufferMarlborough's house in London cost about £100,000.-Coxe, vi. 399. * XII. ings of the wounded, both among his own men and those CHAP. of the enemy. After the battle of Malplaquet, he divided all the money at his private disposal among the wounded officers of the enemy. The character of this illustrious man has been thus 1714. 23. ter as drawn Smith and broke. portrayed by two of the greatest writers in the English His characlanguage, the latter of whom will not be accused of by Adam undue partiality to his political enemy. "It is a char- Bolingacteristic," says Adam Smith, "almost peculiar to the great Duke of Marlborough, that ten years of such uninterrupted and such splendid successes as scarce any other general could boast of, never betrayed him into a single rash action, scarce into a single rash word or expression. The same temperate coolness and selfcommand cannot, I think, be ascribed to any other great warrior of latter times, not to Prince Eugene, nor to the late King of Prussia, nor to the great Prince of Condé, nor even to Gustavus Adolphus. Turenne seems to have approached the nearest to it; but several actions of his life demonstrate that it was in him by no means so perfect as in the great Duke of Marlborough." "By King William's death," says Bolingbroke, "the Duke of Marlborough was raised to the head of the army, and indeed of the confederacy, where he, a private man, a subject, obtained by merit and by management a more decided influence than high birth, confirmed authority, and even the crown of Great Britain, had given to King William. Not only all the parts of that vast 1 Smith's machine, the Grand Alliance, were kept more compact timents, ii. and entire, but a more rapid and vigorous motion was lingbroke's given to the whole; and instead of languishing or the Study disastrous campaigns, we saw every scene of the war ii. 172. full of action.1 All those wherein he appeared, and many Moral Sen 158. Bo Letters on of History, |