Against this position, defended by fifty-seven thousand men, or about five thousand more than the Allies, advanced the Confederate army. In front of the enemy also ran the little river Nebel, which was deep, and the bottom muddy. Marlborough led on the left wing against Blenheim, and Eugene the right against Lutzingen. The first of the army to cross the Nebel and advance against Blenheim was a body of English and Hessians under Major-General Wilkes and Lord Cutts. Cutts, who was famous for a storm, was ordered to make an impetuous attack on the village; and, getting across the Nebel by means of fascines, he led his horse under a terrible fire of grape right against the palisadoes and barricades. The French poured into the assailants, however, such a storm of grape as mowed down great numbers of officers and men, amongst whom was General Rowe, who had advanced to the very face of the palisadoes with his lieutenant-colonel and major. The English in the van were thrown into confusion and assailed by three squadrons of gendarmes; but the Hessians advanced to their aid, and the French were driven back to their lines. Lord Cutts then led on his horse, and maintained a desperate fight under the fire of the protected French. Whilst they were engaged in this deadly mélée the brigades of Hudson and Ferguson had crossed the stream, and marched right up to the village, silencing some batteries which commanded the fords of the river. The fight was maintained hand to hand, the opponents thrusting at each other through the interstices of the palisadoes; but the contest was too unequal between the covered and uncovered, and with the soldiers from the old castle and the church-tops pouring down showers of musket-balls on the Allies.

During this time Marlborough had been leading another body of troops along the banks of the Nebel, and joining them under a terrible fire of grape opposite to the gap between the villages, and only waiting, to bear on this point, for the artillery, under the Prince of Holstein-Beck, getting over the river. The Prince no sooner had got partly across the stream than his advance was furiously attacked by the Irish Brigade, which was in the pay of Louis XIV. They cut the advance nearly to pieces, and would have effectually prevented the transit of artillery had not Marlborough himself hastened to the spot and beaten them off, as well as heavy bodies of French and Bavarian cavalry. He then posted a body of horse along the river to protect the crossing of the forces.

Lord Cutts during this had fallen back from the entrenchments of the village, finding it impossible to clear a way into it without artillery. But the artillery over, Marlborough united his forces with those of Eugene, which were bearing on Lutzingen, and was preparing for his grand design of cutting the French and Bavarians asunder, by throwing his whole weight on the cavalry posted between the villages. It was not, however, till five in the afternoon that he was able to lead on the attack, consisting of two columns of horse supported by infantry. He dashed rapidly up the hill towards the important point, on which was concentrated Tallard's cavalry, and part of the infantry from the village. Marlborough gained the summit of the hill under heavy loss, but there the enemy stood in such solid force that he was driven back for a hundred paces. The heat of the battle was at this point, and if Marlborough had been compelled to give way, there was little chance of succeeding against the enemy; but he returned with all his vigour to the charge, by this time his artillery had gained the summit, and after a desperate struggle the fire of the French began to slacken. As soon as he perceived that, he made a grand charge, broke the horse, and cut to pieces or made prisoners of seven regiments of infantry.

Tallard, seeing his cavalry in flight, and his infantry fast being overpowered, sent messengers to call the Elector to his aid, and to order up the rest of the infantry from Blenheim. But the Elector was in full engagement with Eugene, and found enough to do to maintain possession of Lutzingen. Nor did Marlborough allow time for the coming up of fresh enemies. He attacked Tallard with such impetuosity, and such an overwhelming force of cavalry, that he was completely disorganised, and, turning his horse, galloped off towards Sonderheim, another part of his cavalry making for Hochstadt. Marlborough pursued Tallard at full speed, slaughtering his men all down the declivity towards the Danube, where they had thrown over a bridge between Hochstadt and Blenheim; but being so pressed, and at the same time attacked in the flank, numbers were forced into the river and perished. Tallard, being surrounded, and his son killed, was compelled to surrender near a mill behind the village of Sonderheim, together with the Marquis of Montperous, General of Horse, the Majors-General de Seppeville, De Silly, De la Valiere, and many other officers. Those who fled towards Hochstadt fared little better. They became entangled in a morass, where they were cut to pieces, drowned in the Danube, or made prisoners, except the celebrated brigade of Grignan, and some of the gendarmes, who regained the heights of Hochstadt.

Meanwhile Prince Eugene had been sharply engaged with the Elector of Bavaria at Lutzingen, and after receiving several repulses had succeeded in driving the Elector out of Lutzingen; and, turning his flank, he posted himself on the edge of a ravine to mark the condition of the field in general. He there received a message from Marlborough to say that he was now able to come to his assistance if he needed it; but the prince replied that he had no need of it, for the forces of Marsin and the Elector were driven out of Lutzingen and Oberclau, and that his cavalry were pursuing them to Morselingen and Teissenhoven, whence they retreated to Dillingen and Lauingen. Marlborough despatched a body of cavalry to Eugene near the blazing village of Lutzingen; but the darkness now settling down, the commander, amid the smoke of powder and of the burning village, mistook the troops of Eugene for the Bavarians and wheeled round, so that the opportunity was lost of inflicting fresh injury on the fugitives.

There were still twelve thousand men unsubdued in Blenheim, and Marlborough began to surround the place. These forces had lost their commander, Clerambault, who had been carried away in the rush down the hill and was drowned in the Danube; but the men still made a vigorous resistance. Every minute, however, they were getting more hemmed in by troops and artillery. Fire was set to the buildings, and every chance of escape was cut off. For some time they maintained a killing fire from the walls and houses; but as the flames advanced, they made several attempts at cutting through their assailants, but were driven back at every point. They finally offered to capitulate, but Marlborough would hear of nothing but an unconditional surrender, to which they were obliged to assent. Besides these, whole regiments had laid down their arms, and begged for quarter. Thus was annihilated at a blow the invincible army of France, which was to have seized on Vienna, destroyed the Empire, and placed all Germany and the Continent under the feet of Louis. The event had fully justified the bold design of Marlborough; instead of fighting the enemy in detail, he attacked him at his very heart, and closed the campaign by a single master-stroke.

Soon after the battle three thousand Germans, who had been serving in the French army, joined the Allies; and on the 19th of August, six days after the battle, Marlborough and Eugene began their march towards Ulm. Three days before that, the garrison of Augsburg had quitted that city, and Marlborough and Eugene called on the Prince of Baden to leave a few troops at Ingolstadt to invest it, as it must now necessarily surrender, and to join them with the rest of his forces, that they might sweep the enemy completely out of Germany. Marshal Tallard was sent under a guard of dragoons to Frankfort, and Marlborough encamped at Sefillingen, near Ulm. There he and Eugene were joined by Louis of Baden, and, leaving a sufficient force to reduce Ulm, the combined army marched towards the Rhine. At Bruchsal, near Philippsburg, the Prince of Baden insisted that they should all stay and compel the surrender of Landau. This was opposed to the whole plans of Marlborough and Eugene, which were to give the French no time to reflect, but to drive them over their own frontiers. The Prince was now more than ever obstinate. The glory which Marlborough had won, and part of which he had tried to filch from him, was extremely galling to him, and especially that so much honour should fall to the lot of a heretic. The generals were obliged to follow his fancy; they allowed the Prince to sit down before the town, and Marlborough and Eugene encamped at Croon-Weissingen to support him. This took place on the 12th of September, and Landau held out till the 23rd of November, when it capitulated on honourable terms, and the King of the Romans characteristically came into the camp to have the honour of taking the place—so fond are these German princes of stepping into other people's honours instead of winning them for themselves. By this delay the precious remainder of the campaign was lost, and the French had time given them to recover their spirits, and to take measures for holding what was yet left them. After this the Confederate army sat down before Trarbach, which surrendered to the hereditary Prince of Hesse-Cassel in the middle of December, which closed the campaign.

BATTLE OF BLENHEIM: CHARGE OF MARLBOROUGH'S HORSE. (See p. [555].)

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