The War in the Netherlands being finish’d by the Peace at Utrecht, the Marshal de Villars had again the Command of the Army in Germany. When he took his Leave of the King, he said to him, I most humbly intreat your Majesty to consider, that I leave you in the midst of my Enemies, whilst I am going to fight yours. He actually took Landau and Fribourg, and afterwards return’d to Versailles, to receive the King’s Orders to go and treat of a Peace with Prince Eugene of Savoy. During the Campaign his Enemies told the King, in hopes his Majesty would blame him for it, that he had laid out the Sum of 1800,000 Livres in the Purchase of an Estate. The King asking him one Day at Dinner, if it was true that he had made such a Purchase; Yes, Sir, replied the Marshal, who suspected that those who told the King of it were then at the Table, I have bought an Estate which cost me 1800,000 Livres; and if the War continues, and your Majesty trusts me with the Command of your Army, I hope to purchase a more considerable one next Year at the Expence of your Enemies. But instead of making another Campaign, the Marshal went to Rastadt,
where he and Prince Eugene of Savoy sign’d the Preliminaries of the Peace, which those two Generals concluded afterwards at Baden on the seventh of June 1714. Since that time the Marshal has always resided at Court. The French look upon him as the Restorer of their Reputation in the Netherlands, the Support of the State, and the chief Captain of his Time: He is loaded with Wealth and Dignities: He is a Duke and Peer, a Marshal of France, a Grandee of Spain, a Knight Commander of the King’s Orders, a Knight of the Golden Fleece, and Governor of Provence. He has an only Son, for whom he has obtain’d the Reversion of his Government[68].
Perhaps I have detain’d you too long about the Marshal de Villars; but I thought the little Particularities
I have given you would do you a Pleasure, and that you would not be sorry to know some Circumstances of a Man, who, after all, has been much cry’d-up in Europe. I shall be more brief in my Account of the other Noblemen, and of these I shall name but two or three, of whom you have heard some Talk, and such as are in most Reputation with us.
James Fitz-James Duke of Berwic, a Peer and Marshal of France, a Peer of England, a Grandee of Spain, a Knight of the Garter, and of the Golden Fleece, is the legitimated Son of James II. King of Great Britain[69]. He follow’d his Father to France, where he served with Distinction. In 1706 he had the Marshal’s Staff given him; and in 1707 he commanded the Army of the two Crowns in Spain, where he defeated the Lord Gallway near Almanza. The King of Spain, to reward him for such great Service, made him a Grandee of Spain, and gave him the Duchy of Liria, which M. de Berwic yielded to his eldest Son, who is actually in Possession of it. In 1714 the Marshal-Duke of Berwic reduc’d Barcelona under the Obedience of Philip V. This City had refus’d to acknowledge that Prince, and tho’ abandon’d, and without any Hopes of Relief,
continued the War with an Obstinacy of Men who seem’d to be desperate. The very Women, the Priests, Friers, all were Soldiers in Barcelona; and during the Siege, which held sixty-one Days with open Trenches, after a Blockade of eleven Months, there were five hundred and forty-three Friers and Priests kill’d and wounded in the Sallies and Attacks. The City was taken on the eleventh of September by Storm: The Battle lasted from Four o’Clock in the Morning till Eleven, when the Inhabitants retir’d into the new Town, which is only separated from the other by a single Wall. They surrender’d next Day at Discretion to the Marshal-Duke de Berwic, who gave them a verbal Promise to save their Lives, and to protect the City from Plunder, on their paying down a large Sum of Money. Barcelona being thus reduc’d, the Marshal return’d to France loaded with Wealth and Honours. Upon the Death of King Lewis XIV. he was admitted to the Council of the Regency, and sent soon after to command in Guienne. The Regent gave him the Command of the Army against the King of Spain, which his Royal Highness had before offer’d to the Marshal de Villars; but that Nobleman told him, He would never draw his Sword against a Prince who might one Day become his Sovereign, a Prince for whose Service he had already spilt some Blood, and one for whom the Kingdom had expended such a Treasure. The Marshal-Duke of Berwic, being not so delicate, accepted of the Command, took St. Sebastian, and obey’d the Regent much more than he was bound to do in Duty.
For this he was continued in the Command of Guienne, and particularly of Bourdeaux. For some time past the Marshal-Duke has been very much
at Court, and often at his Ducal Lordship in Picardy[70].
Victor-Maria Duke d’Estrées, whom I ought to have mention’d before the Duke of Berwic, as being