In 1683 Lord Dartmouth was sent with the fleet to Africa, to destroy the works of Tangier and bring home the garrison and English inhabitants; on his return he was rewarded by his Majesty with a grant of ten thousand pounds. On the accession of King James II. his lordship was continued as master-general of the ordnance, and one of the privy council; he also held the appointment of constable of the Tower of London; and on the augmentation of the army in 1685, he was appointed Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. In 1687, when King James II. was making a tour through part of his dominions, the city of Coventry presented His Majesty with a large gold cup and cover, which he immediately delivered to Lord Dartmouth, telling him, "There was an acknowledgment from the citizens of Coventry for his father's sufferings in their town:"—Colonel Legge having endured a long imprisonment there, after being wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester, in 1651, and he escaped from thence by a stratagem on the part of his wife, in woman's attire.
When the Prince of Orange prepared an armament for a descent on the English coast, Lord Dartmouth was appointed admiral of the fleet of England sent out in the autumn of 1688 to intercept the Dutch. He accepted this employment out of gratitude to the King, "who," as Bishop Burnet observes, "loved him, and in whose service he had long been." The bishop adds,—"He was, indeed, one of the worthiest men of his court, and, although much against the conduct of his affairs, he was resolved to stick to him at all hazards." His conduct while in command of the fleet has been variously represented; but it appears evident he was only prevented fighting the Dutch fleet by unfavourable weather.
On the accession of the Prince of Orange to sovereign power, Lord Dartmouth was deprived of his appointments, and in 1691 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for corresponding with King James. After three months' confinement, he died suddenly of apoplexy, and King William commanded the same honours to be paid at his lordship's funeral which would have been due to him if he had died possessed of all his late employments. He was interred near his father, in a vault in Trinity Chapel, in the Minories.
JOHN, EARL OF MARLBOROUGH,
Appointed 26th August, 1689.
This talented and brave nobleman attained the summit of military fame, and was equally celebrated for sound judgment in the cabinet, and for persuasive eloquence in conversation; while he swayed the councils of foreign courts, and reconciled conflicting interests among the states of Christendom, he led their armies to battle and to victory, acquiring a renown which will live in the page of history to the remotest ages, and the record of his achievements serves as a monument to commemorate the national glory. He was born on the 24th of June, 1650, and before he was sixteen years of age he was page of honour to the Duke of York, who procured him the commission of ensign in the first foot guards in 1666. Being an enthusiast in his profession, he resigned the pleasures of the court to engage in actual warfare on the shores of Africa, and distinguished himself as a volunteer against the Moors under the walls of Tangier. In 1672 he was appointed captain of a company in the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of foot, and served with the French army, commanded by Louis XIV. in person, against the Dutch, where he signalized himself by a regular attention to duty, and volunteered his services on every occasion of difficulty and danger. He soon attracted the attention of the celebrated Marshal Turenne; distinguished himself at the siege of Nimeguen in 1672; and, in 1673, added to his rising honours by his gallantry at the siege of Maestricht, where he was wounded. In the following campaign he served with the French army on the Rhine, and was rewarded on the 3rd of April, 1674, with the colonelcy of an English regiment in the pay of Louis XIV., with which corps he continued to serve in the German war. In 1678 his regiment was recalled from France; and he proceeded to Flanders in command of a brigade of infantry; but the peace of Nimeguen taking place, he returned to England, and his regiment was disbanded. He continued in the suite of the Duke of York, whose constant attendant he became, and was employed in several delicate missions between His Royal Highness and the King, in which he evinced signal address. In 1633, he raised a troop of dragoons, and was appointed colonel of the royal regiment of dragoons,—a corps formed of two newly-raised troops of dragoons and four troops of Tangier horse. He was also elevated to the peerage of Scotland by the title of Baron Churchill of Aymouth; and soon after the accession of the Duke of York to the throne, he was created an English peer by the title of Baron Churchill of Sundridge, and promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. On the breaking out of the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, in June, 1685, Lord Churchill was detached with a body of troops against the insurgents, and his excellent conduct at the battle of Sedgemoor was rewarded with the colonelcy of the third troop of Life Guards, which gave him the privilege of taking the court duty of gold stick; but his devotion to the Protestant cause having induced him to join the standard of the Prince of Orange at the revolution in 1688, he was deprived of his appointment.
On the accession of King William III. and Queen Mary, Lord Churchill was restored to the command of the third troop of Life Guards; advanced to the title of Earl of Marlborough; and subsequently appointed colonel of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. He commanded the troops on the continent in 1689; gained additional laurels at the battle of Walcourt; and was appointed commander-in-chief in June, 1690. In the autumn of the same year he reduced Cork and Kinsale in Ireland;—and served at the head of the British infantry under King William III. in Flanders, in 1691; but, in May, 1692, he was sent prisoner to the Tower on a charge of high treason, which was not substantiated. In 1698 he was again received into royal favour; and in 1701 King William III. appointed him to the command of the British troops in the Netherlands, and to negotiate the treaties to be formed with foreign powers on the prospect of a war with France; he also appointed him, on the 12th of February, 1702, colonel of the twenty-fourth regiment of foot. On the accession of Queen Anne, he was appointed captain-general of the forces, and to the chief command of the English, Dutch, and auxiliary armies employed against the French; and all his operations were crowned with success. He took Venloo, Ruremonde, Stevenswaert, and Liege with surprising rapidity;—extended and secured the Dutch frontiers, and forced the enemy to seek shelter behind their lines. His great ability had become so conspicuous that on his return to England he was raised to the rank of Duke of Marlborough. In the spring of 1703 he once more took the field;—forced Bonn, Huy, and Limburg; but was impeded in his brilliant career by the jealousy or timidity of the Dutch generals. In April, 1704, he was appointed colonel of the first foot guards;—and in the succeeding campaign his grace led the army from the Ocean to the Danube;—he attacked the enemy on the 2nd of July, 1704, and forced the intrenchments at Schellenberg with distinguished gallantry. The decisive battle of Blenheim was fought on the 13th of August following, and the legions of France and Bavaria were overthrown;—there, the heaps of slain gave dreadful proofs of British valour; and whole legions of prisoners were proofs of their mercy. This victory, which exalted the reputation of the Duke of Marlborough, and displayed in its true light the distinguished character of the British troops, produced the most important results;—Bavaria was subdued:—Ratisbon, Augsburg, Ulm, Meminghen,—all were recovered. From the Danube he marched towards the Rhine and Moselle. Landau, Treves, and Traerback were taken; and the British commander was created a Prince of the Empire. His abilities in the field were equalled by his judgment in the cabinet; and his council guided the confederate princes of Europe. In the spring of 1705 he once more took the field, and menaced the French in Alsace. From the Moselle he proceeded to the Maese. Liege was relieved, Huy retaken, and the boasted impregnable French lines were forced at Helixem and Neer-Hespen; but his career of victory was again impeded by the opposition he met with from the Dutch generals. These difficulties were however removed. In the spring of 1706 another campaign opened,—when the discipline he had introduced, and the confidence he inspired, again proved invincible. He met, attacked, and triumphed over the French and Spaniards at Ramilies on the 23rd of May, 1706. This decisive victory was followed by the surrender of Louvain, Brussels, Malines, Liere, Ghent, Oudenarde, Antwerp, Damme, Bruges, and Courtray: in the meantime Ostend, Menin, Dendermond, and Aeth, were taken:—places which had resisted the greatest generals for months—for years:—provinces disputed for ages were the conquests of a summer. So great was the reputation of the armies of the allies, and of their distinguished commander, that throughout the campaign of 1707 the enemy avoided a general engagement; but in the following summer a gallant French army, led by the princes of the blood, was overcome at Oudenarde:—new armies and new generals appeared; but the career of Marlborough could not be stopped. The barriers of France on the side of the Low Countries, the work of half a century, were attacked. A numerous French army were spectators of the fall of Lisle,—the bulwark of their barriers. Every campaign added new conquests. Tournay was taken. The French army—posted near Malplaquet, in a position covered by thick woods, defended by treble entrenchments—was attacked. The battle was bloody—the event decisive. The woods were pierced. The fortifications were trampled down. The enemy fled. After this victory Mons was taken; and in the succeeding years, Douay, Bethune, Aire, St. Venant, Bouchain,—all underwent the same fate. Nothing availed against a general whose sagacity foresaw everything, whose vigilance attended to everything, whose constancy no labour could subdue, whose courage no danger could dismay, and whose intuitive glance always caught the decisive moment and insured victory; while the discipline he maintained and the confidence he inspired were equivalent to an army. The ambitious Louis XIV. saw his generals over-matched,—his armies beaten and dispirited,—his possessions wrested from him,—the barriers of his kingdom trampled down, and a powerful army ready to carry the horrors of war into the heart of his kingdom. The disasters of ten campaigns having proved that Marlborough was invincible, the French monarch sued for peace. The din and calamities of war were succeeded by the smile of plenty, tranquillity, and enjoyment: but, for some political cause, the gallant Marlborough was divested of all his offices dependent on the British crown. Continuing a stedfast adherent to the Protestant succession, he retired to the continent until the accession of George I., and was then replaced in his former posts, in which he continued until his decease in 1722. His unremitting exertions to inculcate the principles of order and discipline; his discernment in bringing merit into notice; his impartiality; and a series of glorious victories by which he upheld the national honour, and proved himself a valuable servant of the crown and kingdom, occasioned his memory to be deeply engraved on the hearts of the brave men who had fought under his command.