CHAP. X. 1713. 2. Marlborough is received with the highest honours on nent, Nov. 24, 1713. demonstrated in the clearest manner the force of his genius, by the disasters which had befallen the Alliance since he had been removed from its direction. But Providence, even during the few remaining years allotted to his earthly career, had reserved for him another triumph, which involved within itself the dearest objects for which he had contended in the field. As the life of Queen Anne drew towards a close, the efforts of the opposite parties to secure the Hanoverian and Stuart succession respectively became more animated; and they were so nearly balanced that it was hard to say to which side success would incline. But in this crisis the influence and counsels of Marlborough interposed with decisive effect in favour of the Hanoverian family; and to his wisdom and patriotism we are mainly indebted for the establishment of a family on the throne, whose title to it is founded on the assertion of the great principles of civil and religious freedom. If Marlborough had experienced in his own country the usual envy of little at great minds, and the wellknown and oft-experienced ingratitude of sovereigns and their subjects for inappreciable services, he was in some the Conti- degree indemnified by his reception on the Continent. On landing at Brille, on the 24th November, he was received with such demonstrations of gratitude and respect as showed how deeply his public services had sunk into the hearts of men, and how warmly they appreciated his efforts to avert from England and the coalition the evils likely to flow from the Treaty of Utrecht. He departed on the following morning under a triple discharge of artillery, and was received at Antwerp, outside the walls, by the governor, the Marquis of Terracina, who paid him every respect in his power. CHAP. X. 1714. Unanimous acclamations burst from the multitude, as the great general, who had delivered them from the yoke of France, passed through the streets. At Maestricht he was welcomed with the honours usually reserved for sovereign princes; and although he did his utmost, on the journey to Aix-la-Chapelle, to avoid attracting the public attention, and to slip unobserved through byways, yet the eagerness of the public, or the gratitude of his old soldiers, discovered him wherever he went. Wherever he passed, crowds of all ranks were waiting to see him, were it only to get a glimpse of the hero who had saved the Empire, and filled the world with his renown. All were struck with his noble air and demeanour, softened, though not weakened, by the approach of age. They declared that his appearance was not less overpowering than his sword. Many burst into tears when they recollected what he had been, and what he was, and how unaccountably the great nation to which he belonged had fallen from the height of glory to such degradation. Yet was the manner of Marlborough so courteous and yet animated, his conversation so simple and yet cheerful, that it was commonly said at the time, "that the only things he had forgotten were his own. deeds, and the only things he remembered were the misfortunes of others." Crowds of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest, hastened to attend his levee at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 17th January 1714; and the Duke de Ledeguires, on leaving it, said, with equal jus- Marlb. iii. tice and felicity, "I can now say that I have seen the Life of man who is equal to the Maréschal de Turenne in con- rough, 175. duct, to the Prince of Condé in courage, and superior to 225-227. the Maréschal de Luxembourg in success.' "1 But if the veteran hero found some compensation, 1 Hist. de 460, 461. Marlbo Coxe, vi. CHAP. X. 1714. 3. titude of the imperial court to him. in the unanimous admiration of foreign nations, for the ingratitude with which he had been treated by the Government of his own, he was soon destined to find Base ingra- that substantial gratitude for past services was not to be looked for among foreign potentates any more than his own countrymen. Upon the restoration of the Elector of Bavaria, by the Treaty of Rastadt, the principality of Mindelsheim, which had been bestowed upon him after the battle of Blenheim by the Emperor Joseph, and was situated in that Electorate, was resumed by the Elector. No stipulation in his favour was made either by the British government or the Imperial court, and therefore the estate, which yielded a clear revenue of £2000 a-year, was lost to Marlborough. He transmitted, through Prince Eugene, a memorial to the Emperor, claiming an indemnity for his loss; but though it was earnestly supported by that generous prince, yet, being unaided by any efforts on the part of the English ministry, it was allowed to fall asleep.* An indemnity was often promised, even by the Emperor in writing;+ but performance of the promise was always evaded.1 The duke was made a prince of the Holy 1 Coxe, vi. 248, 249. Hist. de Marlb. iii. * "As soon as I received your Highness's letter, I did not fail to give the memorial to his Imperial and Catholic Majesty, who ordered me to assure you that he will never forget the great services you have rendered him and his family, and that he will contrive that your Highness shall keep your estate; and in case the restitution of Mindelsheim takes place, will indemnify you. You may be assured I shall omit nothing that may be serviceable to you. Of this, the friendship that has always existed between us may convince you." -Prince Eugene to Duke of Marlborough, Vienna, May 25, 1714; Coxe, vi. 248. + At the future congress, his Imperial Majesty will do all that is possible to sustain my Lord Duke in the principality of Mindelsheim; but if it should so happen that any invincible difficulty should occur in that affair, his Imperial Highness will give his Highness an equivalent out of his own hereditary dominions."-Emperor Charles VI. to Duchess of Marlborough, August 8, 1714; COXE, vi. 248. Roman Empire, but obtained nothing but empty honours for his services; and at this moment these high-sounding titles are all that remain in the Marlborough family to testify the gratitude of the Cæsars to the hero who saved their imperial and royal thrones. CHAP. X. 1714. 4. malice at home. The same oblivion of past and invaluable services, when they were no longer required, pursued the illus- Continued trious general in his declining years, on the part of his against him own countrymen. The got-up stories about embezzlement, and dilapidation of the public money in Flanders, were allowed to go to sleep when they had answered their destined purpose of bringing about his fall from political power. No grounds were found for a prosecution, or which could afford a chance of success, even in the swamped and now subservient House of Peers. But everything that malice could suggest, or party bitterness effect, was employed to fill the last days of the immortal hero with anxiety and disquiet. Additional charges were brought against him by the commissioners, founded on the allegation that he had drawn a pistole Duke of per troop, and ten shillings a company, for mustering rough's the soldiers, though in the foreign auxiliaries it was June 2, often not done. Marlborough at once transmitted a vi. 231. refutation of those fresh charges, so clear and decisive vi. 1182. that it entirely silenced those accusations.1 * But his "MY LORD,-I was extremely surprised to find myself charged with mismanagement of the public money, in the report of the commissioners of accounts, on pretence of the subject-troops having been mustered complete during the war, and the foreigners not being mustered at all. It is easy to misrepresent the best things, and give the greatest falsehoods an air of truth, by suppressing of circumstances; by relating facts by halves; by reporting only parts of answers; by confounding of times, and drawing conclusions from inuendos and suppositions, which I shall demonstrate to be the manner I am treated on this occasion. I am charged, first, with the want of authority for passing the troops complete; and it is insinuated, in the next 1 Marlbo Answer, 1713. Coxe, Parl. Hist. CHAP. X. 1714. 5. of the build heim at the public ex pense. enemies, though driven from this ground, still persecuted him with unrelenting malice. The noble pile of Blenheim, standing, as it did, an enduring monument at once of the Duke's services, and the nation's gratitude, was a grievous eyesore to the dominant majority in England, and they did all in their power to prevent its completion. Orders were first given to the Treasury, on June 1, Suspension 1712, to suspend any further payments from the royal ing of Blen- exchequer; and commissioners were appointed to investigate the claims of the creditors and expense of the work. They recommended the advance of a third to each claimant, which was accordingly made; but as many years elapsed, and no further payments to account were made, the principal creditors brought an action in the Court of Exchequer against the Duke, as personally liable for the amount, and the court pronounced decree in favour of the plaintiffs, which was affirmed, after a long litigation, in the House of Lords. Meanwhile the building itself, for want of any pay place, that the doing it was a detriment and prejudice to the public. As to the want of authority, this objection is, in fact, false; for the late high treasurer, Lord Godolphin, and myself, were empowered by Parliament to take off respites, to pass musters complete, and to act as we should find most for her Majesty's service in those matters; as appears by a clause in an act of Parliament, passed in the year 1702, or 1703, of which Mr Cardonel can give an exact and particular account: and I appeal to the testimony of my Lord Bolingbroke, who was then Secretary of War, for a confirmation of what I allege in this affair. As to the pretending it has increased the public expense, the contrary is so manifestly known, that, had the commissioners examined any one officer of the army on that point, or taken the trouble to compute how little the non-effective money amounted to, and how much the recruits cost, it would have appeared as plain as a mathematical demonstration that very great sums had been saved to the public by this way of recruiting. I am certain no officer will refuse to attest, on oath, that this fund was seldom or ever sufficient to complete their companies; and I appeal to all those who sit in the House, whether my obliging the captains to recruit out of the noneffective money was not complained of as a hardship on them, since they |