jealous of the achievements and the intentions and the influence of the rest. Yet Marlborough, as we shall call him by anticipa tion, united these jarring elements, controlled these rival impulses, moulded this heterogeneous mass to his will; and in spite of all that the selfishness of unprincipled factions could do at home, or the perverseness of refractory cabinets could effect abroad-in spite of the sordid selfishness of his Whig co-adjutors, the unprincipled baseness of his Tory supplanters-the vacillation o the Northern courts-the distraction of the emperor-the unutter able meanness of the Dutch councils-and the execrable cowardice of the Dutch deputies-succeeded in saving Europe from the arms of France; humbling in the dust the ablest and proudes monarch that the house of Capet has ever given to her throne exalting his native land to a high place amongst the kingdoms o the earth, and establishing her freedom and her power upon basis which has never since been shaken.

"Marlborough's first mission to the Continent, after the accession Anne, was of a diplomatic character; and it was by his unwearie efforts, suavity of manner, and singular talents for negotiation, that th difficulties which attend the formation of all such extensive confederacie were overcome. He arrived at the Hague on the 28th March, and left it to attend the obsequies of William on the 5th April; but during that short period all obstacles were adjusted, and th conditions of the alliance finally arranged."-Vol. i. p. 83.

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"But it was not in foreign negotiations alone that the great civil an political talents of Marlborough proved at this juncture of the mo essential service to Europe. Queen Anne, at her accession to th throne, was deeply imbued with the prejudices, in ordinary circum stances not unreasonable, of the Tories against foreign connexion Her cabinet was composed almost entirely of men of that party, ins much that Marlborough, when urging his friend Godolphin to accept th important situation of lord-treasurer-corresponding to our first lord the treasury on the formation of the cabinet, used as his main arg ment, that unless he took that office he could not hold the command the armies, as he could rely on no one else to provide the requisite su plies.' But although the obvious danger to the independence of t country, from the union of the strength of France and Spain in t person of so able and ambitious a monarch as Louis XIV., rendered a matter of necessity for the Tory majority in the cabinet to go in measures for the defence of Europe, yet they were inclined to do so the most economical manner, and on the smallest possible scale, a poli which would have proved altogether fatal to the common cause, a rendered the war productive only of expense, defeat, and disast Marlborough, who clearly discerned that England was the soul of t Grand Alliance, and that, unless she came forward in a manner wort of her strength and renown, all their efforts would prove ineffectu

exerted himself to the utmost, after his return from the Hague, to combat these ruinous views. He represented that to desert the alliance concluded by the late king would be to dishonour the nation; that nothing but the whole power of England, joined to that of the allied states on the Continent, could promise it a successful issue; and that the slightest appearance of vacillation in executing the engagements he had recently come under with the States of Holland, would alienate the powers with whom we were united, and lead to the dissolution of the Grand Alliance. These arguments, recommended alike by their intrinsic weight, the eloquence and address of Marlborough, and his known influence with the queen, proved successful. A majority of the cabinet came over to his views; war was proclaimed against France, on the 4th of May, at London, the Hague, and Vienna; and the British cabinet took the most energetic steps to prosecute it with vigour, and execute its engagements with exemplary fidelity."-Vol. i. pp. 84-86.

Another difficulty and dispute arose regarding the choice of a commander-in-chief. The King of Prussia, the Archduke Charles, the Elector of Hanover, and the Duke of Zell, were all equally desirous of obtaining this important post; and, to add to confusion of interests and inclinations, the Queen of England peremptorily required that the office in question should be conferred upon her husband, Prince George of Denmark. The States-general, however-partly from a just estimate of Marlborough's abilities, partly from an apprehension that the Prince-Consort would resist the control of the field-deputies whom they always sent to headquarters to control the commander-in-chief-made a determinate and successful stand for the destined deliverer of Europe.

At the commencement of the contest between the two conflicting parties, on the side of Louis were France, which, with its population of 20,000,000, could maintain 200,000 in arms; and Spain, with its possessions in Flanders; and Italy, besides the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, containing at least 30,000,000: there were also the Spanish colonies beyond sea bringing in a revenue of 5,000,000l. Bavaria formed a valuable ally to France. Its geographical position rendered it an important outwork against the confederates; whilst the courage of its inhabitants, their jealousy of the power of Austria, and their firm adhesion to the French interest, gave it an additional value.

The allies possessed the troops of Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and the lesser states of Germany, Holland, Austria, and England, with slight succour from Prussia and Denmark. The forces on either side were nearly equal, but the French monarch possessed an immense advantage in the unity and secrecy of undivided councils, and in the homogeneous character of the troops commanded by his various generals.

We may not pause to describe the successful campaign of 1702, the siege and fall of Kaiserwerth, Venloo, and Liege, nor enlarge on the moral results of these achievements so ably brought out by Mr. Alison. Nor can we dwell upon the campaign of 1703, in the course of which the mischievous interference of the Dutch deputies twice prevented Marlborough from gaining a decisive and important victory over the enemy.

"But while a certain degree of success had attended the operations of the allies in Flanders, where the English contingent acted and Marl borough had the command, affairs had assumed a very different aspec in Germany and Italy, where the principal efforts of Louis had been made."-Vol. i. p. 138.

And the year 1704 opened with gloomy prospects:

"The state of affairs in Germany was melancholy in the extreme The accession of Portugal and Savoy to the alliance had suspended, no averted, the peril. The advantages of the last campaign had not onl made the French masters of the passage of the Rhine, but it had opene to them a passage into the heart of Germany. By the acquisition Landau and New Brisach, they had secured the means of passing th former; by the alliance with Bavaria they became masters of the mos important fortresses in the latter. The Elector of Bavaria had the com mand of the Danube from its source to the Austrian frontier: he had i his hands Ulm, with a strong garrison, Ratisbon, Augsburg, and he ha recently taken Passau and Lintz, the keys of Upper Austria. Th French armies only required to force the defiles of the Black Fores occupied by some thousands of undisciplined peasants, to reach th Elector of Bavaria, who had fixed his head-quarters in the neighbour hood of Ulm, where he was at the head of 45,000 men, whom recer victory had rendered doubly formidable. Louis XIV. had not bee slow to take advantage of this auspicious state of affairs; and his gene rals were prepared, in the very outset of the campaign, to act with th utmost vigour. Besides the army in the Netherlands opposed to Mar borough, Marshal Tallard, with 45,000 men, was posted on the Upp Rhine, ready to co-operate with the advanced body, of equal amoun resting on the Bavarian fortresses, and pour with their united for 90,000 strong down the valley of the Danube, where the Imperialis had neither fortresses nor any adequate force in the field to oppose ther For so entirely was the strength of Austria prostrated by the expens of the contest, and the formidable nature of the Hungarian insurrecti -which had acquired such strength that its leader, Prince Ragotsk was levying contributions to the very gates of Vienna, and had drive his opponent, Schliek, back to Presburg-that they could not colle 20,000 men to cover the western frontier of the Hereditary States, save the monarchy from ruin.

"The measures of Marlborough, who had concerted the whole pl

of the campaign with Eugene, were calculated to meet these most appalling dangers. He had influence enough with the British cabinet to obtain an addition of 10,000 men to the English contingent, which raised the British native troops in the Low Countries to 30,000 men, and the force under his immediate command to 50,000. He communicated the same impulse to the confederates, having persuaded the Dutch to take 4000 Wirtemberg troops into their pay, and grant a subsidy of 200,000 crowns to the Elector of Baden and the circle of Swabia, to enable their forces to take the field. More difficulty was experienced in getting the States to consent to the proposed measures for the liberation of Germany, as they involved a temporary abandonment of their own frontier; but at length his great influence and engaging manners, joined to the evident peril of the empire, procured a tardy acquiescence in all his proposals. It was agreed that the English general was to advance vigorously against Villeroi in the Low Countries, and force him either to accept battle or retire to the Moselle or the Rhine. In either case, as success was not doubted, he was to cross over into Germany by the Electorate of Cologne, advance as rapidly as possible into Bavaria, and either form a junction with Prince Eugene, who commanded the Imperial army in that quarter, or, by threatening the communications of the French army in Swabia, compel it to fall back to the Rhine. The great object was to save Vienna, and prevent the advance of the French into Hungary, where a few of their regiments might fan the insurrection, already so formidable, into an inextinguishable flame. This plan, by weakening the allies in the Low Countries, might expose them, and especially the Dutch, to disadvantage in that quarter; but that was of little consequence. The vital point was in the valley of the Danube: it was there that the decisive blows were to be struck. Marlborough, in resisting the French invasion, proceeded on exactly the same principles, and showed the same decision of mind, as Napoleon in 1796, when he raised the siege of Mantua to meet the Austrian armies under Wurmser descending from the Tyrol; or Suwarroff in 1799, when he raised that of Turin to march against Macdonald, advancing from Southern Italy towards the fatal field of the Trebbia, In all these measures he received the cordial support of his illustrious colleague, Prince Eugene, who was so far from envying his rival, or joining the clamour raised against him for the unsatisfactory issue of the last campaign, that he said, when the subject was mentioned, 'I suspect, if Alexander the Great had been obliged to await the approbation of the Dutch deputies before he executed his projects, his conquests would not have been quite so rapid as they were.""-Vol. i. pp. 144-147.

Again we must hurry forward, nor do more than allude to Marlborough's cross march into Germany, his first interview with Eugene, his successful attack on the Schellenberg, and the various marches and counter-marches, difficulties and dangers, arrangements and achievements, which preceded and ushered in the day on which the English hero was to win the first of those four

mighty battles which have made his name the pride of his coun trymen, and the terror of his country's foes.

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By the rapidity of his march, which had altogether outstripped th slower movements of Marshal Villeroi, who was still in the neighbour hood of the Moselle, Marlborough had defeated one important part o the combinations of the French king. But if Vendôme, with the Italia army, had succeeded in penetrating through the Tyrol, and joining th French and Bavarian armies to the north of the Alps, their unite forces would have greatly preponderated over those of Marlborough an Eugene. .... On this occasion, however, as subsequently in th wars of 1805 and 1809, the courage and loyalty of the Tyrolese prove the salvation of the Austrian monarchy. These sturdy mountaineer flew to arms; every defile was disputed-every castle required a sepa rate siege. Thus Marshal Tallard and the Elector of Bavaria were left to make head alone against Prince Eugene and the Duke o Marlborough."-Vol. i. pp. 158, 159.

The numbers, however, of the French and Bavarians were stil superior to those of the allies; as the former had sixty-five thousand men, of whom forty-five thousand were French troops, the very bes which the monarchy could produce, besides ninety guns; wherea the latter had about fifty-six thousand men, and only fifty-on guns. A further advantage on the French side was, that four fifths of their army were national troops, speaking the same lan guage, animated by the same feelings, and accustomed to serv together; whereas the troops under Marlborough's comman were a motley assemblage of English, Prussians, Danes, Wirtem burghers, Dutch, Hanoverians, and Hessians. The allied army wa divided into two corps d'armée; the first, commanded by Marl borough in person, which was destined to bear the weight of th contest, and carry the enemy's position in front, being by far th strongest; the second, commanded by Eugene, consisting chiefl of cavalry, and being far smaller in numbers, was intended for subordinate attack, to distract the enemy's attention from th principal onset.

And here we may observe, as Mr. Alison does, not only her but in many other places, the noble absence of jealousy or rivalr which characterized the intercourse, and cemented the friendshi of these two great men. In fact, they were both of them to great, as well as too generous, to be jealous of each other. Th loftiest genius alone feels secure in its own high eminence; alon can fully perceive-alone dare fully acknowledge, the lofty geniu of another. So is it with wit; so is it with beauty; so is it wit every other human endowment. And no higher proof has eithe left behind of their exceeding greatness, than this their trul noble friendship. But let us return to Mr. Alison, and describ