THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE (continued).
Negotiations for Peace—The Ministry becomes Whig—Harley—Marlborough and Charles of Sweden—The Allies in Spain—Battle of Almanza—The French Triumphant in Spain—Attack on Toulon—Destruction of Shovel's Fleet—Jacobitism in Scotland—First Parliament of Great Britain—Abigail Hill—The Gregg Affair—Retirement of Harley and St. John from the Ministry—Attempted Invasion of Scotland—Campaign of 1708—Battle of Oudenarde—Capture of Lille—Leake takes Sardinia and Minorca—Death of Prince George of Denmark—The Junto—Terrible Plight of France—Marlborough's Plans for 1709—Louis Negotiates with Holland—Torcy's Terms—Ultimatum of the Allies—Rejection of the Terms—Patriotism of the French Nation—Fall of Tournay—Battle of Malplaquet—Meeting of Parliament—Dr. Sacheverell's Sermons—His Impeachment resolved upon—Attitude of the Court—The Trial and Sacheverell's Defence—The Riots—Dispersal of the Rabble—The Sentence—Bias of the Queen—The Tories in Power—Renewed Overtures for Peace—Their Failure—The Campaigns in the Netherlands and in Spain—Brihuega and its Consequence—Marlborough's Reign at an End—Unpopularity of Marlborough—Dismissal of the Duchess—Triumph of the Tories—Guiscard's Attack on Harley—Popularity of Harley—Marlborough's Last Campaign—Failure of the Attack on Quebec—The Ministry determine to make Peace—Overtures to the Pretender—He refuses to Change his Religion—Gualtier's Mission to Versailles—Indignation of the Dutch—The Basis of Negotiations—Signing of the Preliminaries—Excitement Abroad and at Home—Prorogation of Parliament—Strengthening of the Ministry—Debates in the two Houses—The Whigs adopt the Occasional Conformity Bill—Creation of Peers—Dismissal of Marlborough from his Employments—Walpole expelled the House.
The great event of the Union of the kingdoms has carried us somewhat past the course of general events. After the last disastrous campaign Louis XIV., humbled to a degree that he was hitherto unacquainted with, employed the Elector of Bavaria to propose a congress to the Duke of Marlborough and the States-General. He had already presented a memorial to the Dutch Government through the Marquis D'Alègre, and he besought the Pope to use his influence to this end. The terms which Louis offered in the moment of his alarm were such as well merited the attention of the Allies. He proposed to cede either Spain and the West Indies to King Charles, or Milan, Naples, and Sicily; to grant to the Dutch a barrier of fortified towns on the frontiers of the Spanish Netherlands; and to indemnify the Duke of Savoy for the ravages committed on his territories. Never since the commencement of the war had the Allies such an opportunity of closing the war triumphantly. They could thus balance the powers of France and Austria by dividing the Spanish monarchy, and give to the Dutch all they asked—a secure frontier. But the great doubt was whether Louis was in earnest, or only seeking to gain time during which he might continue to divide the Allies. And the Allies were by no means eager to accept Louis's offers. The Dutch were greatly elated by Marlborough's astonishing victories, and Marlborough himself was in no humour to stop in the mid-career of his glory. He is said to have induced the Grand Pensionary Heinsius—who was now as much devoted to him as he had formerly been to King William—to keep the Dutch high in their demands, whilst Marlborough induced the English Court to demand indemnity for the immense sums which England had expended in these wars. In these circumstances the offers of France were declined on the plea that England could not enter into any negotiations except in concert with the Allies. Had the English people known of the offers, there would have probably been a loud demand for peace; but they were kept secret, and the attention of the nation being then engrossed by the question of the Union, the matter was passed over,—not, however, without exciting fresh resentment against Marlborough amongst the Tory leaders.
During the Session of 1706-1707 the Ministry grew more completely Whig. Through the influence of Lady Marlborough rather than of the Duke, who was much averse from the free principles and free language of his son-in-law the Earl of Sunderland, that nobleman was made one of the Secretaries of State in the place of Sir Charles Hedges. This change was equally repugnant to Harley, the other Secretary, who was now the only Tory Minister left in the Cabinet. The three Tory Commissioners of the Board of Trade—Prior the poet being one—were removed, and three Whigs were introduced. Sir James Montague, the brother of the Earl of Halifax, was made Solicitor-General; and Sir George Rooke and the few remaining Tory Privy Councillors had their names erased. Harley was thus left, apparently without support, a Tory in a Cabinet all except himself Whig. But Harley was that kind of man that he not only managed to maintain his place, but eventually ruined and scattered the whole Whig party. He was by no means a man of genius, though he affected the company of such men. Pope, Swift, Bolingbroke, Arbuthnot, and Prior, were his friends and associates. His intellect was narrow and commonplace, but it was persevering; and though he was a wretched and confused speaker, yet he continually acquired more and more influence in the House of Commons, and ultimately raised himself to the peerage, and for many years to the chief direction of the national affairs. The secret of this was that he had made himself master of the laws and practices of Parliament, and on all disputed questions could clear up the point past dispute, so that he came to be regarded as far more profound than he was.
The Duke of Marlborough, relying on the support of the Whig Cabinet, which the influence of his contriving wife had created, set out in the month of April for the Continent. The condition to which his successes had reduced France was such that the Allies were in the highest spirits. The French Treasury was exhausted; and, in the absence of real money, Louis endeavoured to supply the deficiency by mint bills, in imitation of the Bank of England bills; but they were already at a discount of fifty-three per cent. The lands lay uncultivated, manufacturers were at a pause for want of capital, the people were perishing with famine, and nothing could be more deplorable than the state of France. Nothing could have saved Louis at this crisis but want of unity amongst the Allies, and already the artful Louis had contrived to get in the wedge of disunion. The Emperor, allured by the prospect of the evacuation of Italy, and of seizing Naples for himself, had come to a secret understanding with the French king, which was equally treacherous and suicidal; for the direct result, as any man but the stolid Emperor would have foreseen, was to liberate the French forces from the North of Italy to reinforce those in the Netherlands and those endeavouring to drive his brother Charles from Spain.
Marlborough, on his part, did everything that he could to keep the Allies together, and to combine them into a victorious strength; but it had always been his misfortune, as it had been that of William, to have to suffer from their regard to their own petty jealousies rather than to the grand object in view. He set out directly from the Hague to visit Hanover, and stimulate the young Elector to active assistance. He then set out to pay a visit to Charles XII. of Sweden, who was encamped at Alt Ranstadt, only a few marches from the Court of Hanover. The Swedish military madman, neglecting the Czar Peter, who was making continual inroads on his Finnish and Esthonian territories, and was now actually laying the foundations of a new capital and seaport on the shores of the Baltic, had pursued, with blind and inveterate hatred, Augustus, the Elector of Saxony, who had presumed to allow himself, in spite of the Swedish king, to be elected King of Poland. Marlborough's flattery appeared to produce the intended effect. The rough Swede assured him that he had a great regard for the Queen of England, and for the objects of the Grand Alliance, and should do nothing contrary to it; that he detested the domineering spirit of the French, and that no good need be expected till they were reduced to the condition they were in at the peace of Westphalia; that he had come into Saxony to demand certain satisfaction, and that when he had obtained it he should go away, and not sooner. But notwithstanding Charles's profession, he continued to harass and alarm the Emperor until he had obtained from him all that he chose to demand, when he marched away into Poland to encounter the Czar. Marlborough himself returned by way of the Courts of Prussia and Hanover to the Hague, giving everywhere the utmost satisfaction by his arrangements with Charles XII., who had made every neighbouring Court uneasy lest he might turn his erratic arms against them.
But the campaign in the Netherlands this year bore no relation to the great expectations formed of it. No grand action was fought there; and in Spain the adroit manœuvre of Louis, by which, through his treaty with the selfish and short-sighted Emperor, he had liberated his troops from Italy to throw them upon that country, and the want of unity between Charles and his auxiliaries, quite changed the face of affairs. The Whigs had studiously left the reinforcements in Spain insufficient, from the idea that it was better to continue to distract the attention of Louis in that direction than by a bold and vigorous effort to drive him from the country. They had a vain idea of conquering France, and thought this more easy to achieve while the French arms were demanded in various quarters. But the astute Louis was not so readily dealt with. He contrived, as we have seen, to amuse the Allies in Flanders without coming to blows. He coped without difficulty with the Germans on the Rhine; and, though fiercely attacked at Toulon by the Savoyards, he defeated the Allies in Spain, to the great astonishment of Europe.
By this time the opinion formed of King Charles when he was in England by those who had opportunity of observing him, was now become that of all who had come near him in Spain—that he was a very poor creature. The Earl of Peterborough, who had been travelling about with little success to borrow money for such a contest, and had returned to Spain, but without any command, did not hesitate to say that people were great fools to fight for such a couple of simpletons as Charles and Philip. Charles was surrounded by a set of Austrians who were utterly incapable of commanding, and who made it equally impossible for any one else to command. The great plan of the campaign was to march boldly on Madrid; but Charles was, as before, too timid to venture on such a step. He remained in Catalonia, and ordered the Earl of Galway with the Dutch and English forces, and Das Minas, with the Portuguese, to defend the frontiers of Aragon and Valencia; and thus he contrived to wait for fresh troops from England, or from Italy, where they were no longer wanted. Whilst Das Minas and Galway, who was only second in command, were laying siege to Velina, in Valencia, and were in want of almost everything—food, clothes, and ammunition—they heard that the Duke of Berwick was hastening, by forced marches, to attack them. They therefore drew off towards the town of Almanza, and there fell in with the enemy, who proved to be considerably stronger than themselves. They came to an engagement, however, on the 14th of April. The battle began about two in the afternoon, and the whole force of each army was engaged. The centre of the Allies, consisting of Dutch and English, fought most valiantly, and repeatedly threw back the forces of the Duke of Berwick. For six long and bloody hours they maintained the fight; but the two wings were beaten and dispersed; the Portuguese horse on the right at the first charge, but the Dutch and English on the left, only after a brave but unequal resistance. When the gallant centre was thus exposed on both flanks, they formed themselves into a square, and retired from the field, fighting doggedly as they went. But at length their ammunition was spent, they were worn out with fatigue, and they surrendered, to the extent of thirteen battalions. The Portuguese, part of the English horse, and the infantry who guarded the baggage, retreated to Alcira, where the Earl of Galway joined them with about two thousand five hundred horse, and they escaped. It was a complete triumph for the French and Spaniards. The Allies lost five thousand men, besides the wounded and the large force which surrendered.
Nothing now could stop Berwick, who won great reputation by this decisive action. He marched into Valencia, taking town after town, whilst Saragossa at the same time surrendered, without a shot, to the Duke of Orleans. Berwick marched for the Ebro, which he crossed on the 4th of June, and at length pursued and shut up the flying confederates in Lerida. Charles was too inert or too dastardly to lead his troops thither, though they lay at no great distance; and the place was taken by storm, and given up to all the licence of the soldiery. After this Manilla surrendered so late as the 17th of December, and with that the campaign closed. The Duke of Orleans returned to Paris, and the Duke of Berwick remained with the army till towards spring, when Louis sent for him in haste into France, ordering him to quit Spain unknown to Philip, lest he should endeavour to detain him. The Earl of Galway and Das Minas embarked at Barcelona for Lisbon, leaving General Carpenter with the English forces remaining in Catalonia, the only portion of Spain now left to the pusillanimous Charles.
The operation, however, which most alarmed the French Court was that of the Duke of Savoy against Provence. This had been planned by Marlborough and Prince Eugene, and would undoubtedly have had a brilliant success had not the Emperor been secretly planning his attempt on Naples, instead of sending all his forces into Italy to the support of this enterprise. The Duke of Savoy and Prince Eugene, though abandoned by this selfish and small-souled Emperor, on whose account the great Powers of Europe were expending so much life and wealth, crossed the Alps by the Col de Tende with twenty thousand men, whilst Sir Cloudesley Shovel appeared on the coast of Provence with the united fleet of England and Holland to support them. Eugene crossed the Var on the 10th of July, Sir John Norris and his English sailors clearing the way for him in their gunboats. But the French were fast marching towards Toulon from various quarters, Villars having been despatched with a large force, as we have stated, from the army of Flanders. The Duke of Savoy, on the other hand, instead of pushing on to Toulon with all speed, halted his army to rest, and then marched leisurely forward. By this means, not only had the French been able to collect a very powerful army, but had had time to strengthen greatly the fortifications of Toulon. When the practised eye of Prince Eugene took a survey of the formidable heights of Toulon, and of the great force on the outworks, with the power of the batteries, he advised the duke not to attempt the siege of the place with the forces at his command. The duke, however, would persist, and an assault was made on the outworks on the hill of St. Catherine, and on two small forts near the harbour. These were carried, but at a great cost of life, including that of the gallant Prince of Saxe-Gotha. But fresh French troops kept pouring in; it was impossible to maintain even this advantage. On the 15th of August the hill of St. Catherine was recovered by the French, and the Savoyards were even attacked in their own camp. On this an order was given to bombard the place, both from sea and land, in retaliation for the ravages committed by the French on Turin; the bombardment, especially from the sea, was made with terrible effect. A great part of the city was demolished, and the English and Dutch sailors destroyed eight ships of the line in the harbours, and utterly ruined two batteries. In the night of the 25th of August the army of Savoy retired; on the 31st it crossed the Var without any pursuit of the French, and then laid siege to Susa, an old and strong town at the foot of the Alps, which surrendered after a fortnight's investment.