In the House of Lords, Lord Haversham proposed that, for the security of the Protestant succession and of the Church, the House should address the queen, praying her to invite over the heir-presumptive to the Crown—that is, the Electress Sophia of Hanover. The Tories trusted that if they could get over the Princess Sophia and her son George, they would be able to play off one Court against the other; that, though the Whigs had got possession of the queen, they should then be able to ingratiate themselves with her successor, and thus prepare to supersede the Whigs altogether in the new reign. At the same time they should be supporting the popular feeling regarding the Protestant succession, and annoying the queen, who had dismissed them from her favour. There had been for some time a party called the Hanoverian Tories, who were bent on securing their interest with that House; and the Jacobites joined this party, hoping, under cover of a pretence for the Protestant succession, they might yet find an occasion for promoting the hopes of the Pretender. But this was a hazardous policy for both parties; for, as Anne was mortally jealous of her successor, as is generally the case with princes, the Tories only more completely lost all chance of regaining her favour; and as the Electress Sophia, knowing Anne's feeling, was obliged to disclaim any wish to come to England during the queen's life, she was thus, in fact, obliged to disown the efforts of the Tories. Sophia, indeed, wrote to the queen herself, informing her that an agent from the discontented party in England had come to her Court to invite herself and the Electoral Prince, her son George, into England, assuring them that a party there was ready to propose it; but that she had caused the said person to be acquainted that she judged the message to come from such as were enemies to her family, that she would never hearken to such a proposal but when it came from the queen herself, and that she had discouraged the attempt so much that it was believed nothing more would be heard of it.
The Tories thought that they had now placed the Whigs on the horns of a dilemma; that they must either offend the House of Hanover and the popular feeling of the country by opposing the motion, or lose the favour of the queen by conceding this specious measure; for Anne would have resented above everything the slightest suggestion that her successors were waiting for her throne in England, and courted by whichever party was in opposition.
But the Whigs had weighed all the dangers of the dilemma, and were prepared with special remedies for them. So far did they profess themselves from wishing to weaken the certainty of the Protestant succession that, without adopting the very dubious measure recommended, they proposed to appoint a regency to hold the government, in case of the death of her present Majesty, for the successor, till he or she should arrive in this country. By this adroit measure the queen was spared the annoyance of seeing her successor converted into a rival, and yet the prospects of this succession were strengthened. Accordingly, a Bill was brought in, appointing the seven persons who should at the time possess the offices of Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper, Lord Treasurer, Lord President, Lord Privy Seal, Lord High Admiral, and Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, as a regency, who should proclaim the next successor throughout the kingdom, and join with a certain number of persons, named also regents by the successor, in three lists, to be sealed up and deposited with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Keeper, and the Minister residentiary at Hanover. These regents were to conduct the administration; and the last Parliament, even though dissolved, should reassemble and continue to sit for six months after the decease of her Majesty. This Bill, notwithstanding the opposition of the Tories, was carried through both Houses.
To prevent any unpleasant feeling at Hanover, the Whigs immediately passed another Bill, naturalising not only the Princess Sophia but all her descendants, wheresoever or whensoever born, and they sent over to Hanover the Earl of Halifax, with letters from Lord Somers, Lord Cowper, and other leading Whigs, but, above all, from the Duke of Marlborough, and conveying to the Prince George the Order of the Garter from the queen. By these measures the Whigs completely turned the Tory stratagems against that party itself, whose attempts to damage them they thus rendered the means of a perfect triumph, not only retaining the warm favour of the queen, but establishing an alliance with the House of Hanover which, with few interruptions, continued to the commencement of the reign of George III.
On the 19th of March, 1706, the queen prorogued Parliament till the 21st of May. Towards the end of April Marlborough proceeded to Holland to commence the campaign. The severe defeat which the troops of Louis had received in Germany the last year nerved him to fresh exertions. He had little fear of dealing with the Prince of Baden on the Upper Rhine; but Marlborough in the Netherlands, Eugene in Savoy, and Peterborough in Spain, demanded his whole vigour, and he determined to act with decision on all points, and especially against Marlborough. He heard that the Danes and Prussians had not yet joined the Confederate army, and he ordered Villeroi to attack it before these reinforcements could come up. In consequence of this order Villeroi and the Elector of Bavaria—who, in spite of his severe chastisement, still adhered to France against his own country—passed the Dyle, and posted themselves, on the 19th of May, at Tirlemont. They were there joined by the cavalry under Marshal Marsin, and encamped between Tirlemont and Judoigne.
Marlborough assembled his army between Borschloen and Groswaren, and found it to consist of seventy-four battalions of foot, and one hundred and twenty-three squadrons of horse and dragoons, well supplied with artillery and pontoons. Hearing that the French were advancing towards him, Marlborough, being now joined by the Danes, set forward and appeared in eight columns before the village of Ramillies. The French, who had already taken possession of Ramillies, and strongly fortified it, entrenched themselves in a strong camp, the right extending to the Mehaigne, and covered by the villages of Tavière and Ramillies, and their left to Autre-Église. The duke posted his right wing near Foltz, on the brook of Yause, and his left at the village of Franquenies. Villeroi had committed the capital blunder of leaving his wings sundered by impassable ground, so that they could not act in support of each other.
It was about half-past one o'clock when Marlborough ordered General Schulz, with twelve battalions, to attack Ramillies, whilst Overkirk attacked Autre-Église on the left. Schulz, who had twenty pieces of cannon, opened fire on Ramillies, but met with so warm a reception that he had great difficulty in maintaining his ground; but Marlborough supported him with column after column, and the fight there was raging terribly. In the midst of it Marlborough, seeing some of the men driven from the guns, galloped up to encourage them. He was recognised by the French, who made a dash and surrounded him. He broke through them, however, by a desperate effort; but in endeavouring to regain his own ranks, his horse fell in leaping a ditch, and the duke was thrown. As the French were hotly upon them, another moment and he must have been taken, but Captain Molesworth, one of his aide-de-camps, mounted him on his own horse. As he was in the act of springing into the saddle, a cannon-ball took off the head of Colonel Brenfield, who held the stirrup; but Marlborough himself escaped, and regained the main body unhurt, except for a few bruises. Meanwhile Overkirk, with the Dutch guards, and by help of the Danes, had succeeded in driving the French from the enclosures of Autre-Église, cutting off the communication between the two wings, and driving numbers of the French into the Mehaigne. The Bavarians under the Elector fought bravely; more so than the French, for these were become dispirited by their repeated defeats, and especially the rout of Blenheim. Their veteran troops were extremely reduced in numbers; and Louis, to fill the ranks, had forced the unwilling peasantry into the army, sending them even in chains to the campaign to prevent them from deserting on the way. Such troops could not do much against the victorious Allies under a general like Marlborough.
On Marlborough regaining the ranks, he led up the attack with fresh vigour. The village of Ramillies was carried and most of the French who defended it were cut to pieces. The Prince of Würtemberg and the Prince of Hesse-Cassel got into the rear of Villeroi, and the panic became general. The infantry began to retreat—at first in tolerable order, protected by the cavalry, which were posted between Ossuz and Autre-Église; but the English cavalry, under General Wyndham and General Ward, having managed to get over a rivulet which separated them, fell on them with such spirit near the farm of Chaintrain that they were thrown into confusion. The Bavarians suffered severely, and the Elector had a narrow escape for his life. Villeroi himself with difficulty made good his flight. In the midst of the rout a narrow pass, through which the French were flying, suddenly became obstructed by the breakdown of some baggage waggons. The cavalry, pressing on in their rear, then made terrible havoc amongst them. The flight was continued all the way to Judoigne, and Lord Orkney, with some squadrons of light horse, never drew bit till they had chased the fugitives into Louvain, nearly seven leagues from Ramillies. The baggage, cannon, colours—everything fell into the hands of the Allies. There were one hundred and twenty colours, six hundred officers, and six thousand private soldiers captured.
Besides these, it was calculated that eight thousand were killed and wounded. Of the Allies, Marlborough declared that only one thousand fell, and two thousand were wounded. The Prince Maximilian of Bavaria and Prince Monbason were among the slain; amongst the prisoners were Major-Generals Palavicini and Mezières, the Marquises De Bar, De Nonant, and De la Baume (the son of Marshal Tallard), Montmorency (nephew of the Duke of Luxemburg), and many other persons of rank.
Villeroi had fled to Brussels, but Marlborough was soon at the gates; the French general took his departure, and Marlborough entered that city in triumph, amid the acclamations of the people. The whole of the Spanish Netherlands was recovered by the battle of Ramillies; Louvain, Mechlin, Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, threw open their gates. Ostend, Menin, Dendermonde, and Ath, made some resistance, but successively surrendered and acknowledged King Charles. The delighted Emperor and King Charles offered to make Marlborough Governor of Flanders, which he willingly accepted, but was compelled to relinquish the honour by the indomitable jealousy of the Dutch. At the beginning of November Marlborough sent his army into winter quarters—the English at Ghent, the Danes at Bruges, and the Germans along the River Demer—and betook himself to the Hague, to hold consultations on the plan of the next campaign, and to receive proposals from Louis, which, however, ended in nothing.