Chapter XVI: The Reign of Anne (3)

The two Houses of Parliament continued fighting out the remainder of the Session with the case of the Aylesbury election. Encouraged by the conduct of the Lords and the declaration of Lord Chief Justice Holt--that if any messengers of the Commons dared to enter Westminster Hall to seize any lawyer who had pleaded in favour of the Aylesbury electors, he would commit them to Newgate,--five fresh electors sued the constables, on the ground of their having been impeded in the exercise of their franchise. The Commons committed these five persons to Newgate, and they thereupon applied to the Court of Queen's Bench for a Habeas Corpus. The Court refused to interfere. Two of the prisoners then petitioned the queen to bring their case before her in Parliament. The Commons immediately prayed the queen not to interfere with their privileges by granting a Writ of Error in this case. She replied that she would not willingly do anything to give them just cause of offence, but that this matter relating to judicial proceedings was of such high importance to the subject that she thought herself bound to weigh and consider everything relating to it. The Commons, fearing from this answer that the queen might be induced to grant the prisoners a Writ of Error, sent and took them from Newgate, and kept them in the custody of their Serjeant-at-Arms, at the same time voting all the lawyers who had pleaded in favour of the prisoners guilty of a breach of privilege. The prisoners then appealed to the Lords, and the Lords, after seeking a conference with the Commons to arrive at some conclusion as to the right in this case, but with no result, appealed to the queen, declaring that the Commons were assailing the birthright of every subject, and violating Magna Charta by refusing these citizens the right of appealing to a court of justice; and they prayed her to give orders for the immediate issue of the Writs of Error. Her Majesty assured them that she would have complied with their request, but that it was now absolutely necessary to prorogue Parliament, and therefore further proceedings, they would see, must be useless. The Lords considered this as a triumph, the queen's words implying that they had right on their side, and thus equally implying a censure on the Commons. In fact, the queen was glad to get rid of the dilemma and of this troublesome Tory Parliament at the same time. The same day that the Lords waited on her she went to their House and prorogued Parliament till the 1st of May, 1705; but on the 5th of April she dissolved it by proclamation, and writs were issued for calling a new one.

Marlborough in 1705 went early to the Continent. On the 13th of March he embarked for the Hague. He had a splendid plan of operations for this campaign on the Moselle, but he found, notwithstanding his now grand reputation, the usual obstacles to daring action in the Dutch phlegm. Having conquered this, and obtained leave to convey the troops to the Moselle, he was met by a still more mortifying difficulty in the conduct of the Prince of Baden, who was at the head of the German contingents. This man had never been cordial since the first successes of Marlborough. He was consumed with a deadly jealousy of his fame, and thought it no use fighting in company with him, as Marlborough would be sure to get all the honours. He therefore hung back from co-operation in Marlborough's plan, pretending illness; which, had the illness been real, should, at such a crisis for his country, have induced him to delegate the command of the forces for its defence to some other general. To add to the difficulties of Marlborough, the inferior French generals, Villeroi and others, who had risen into prominence through the interest of Madame de Maintenon and her priests and Jesuits, were removed from this quarter, and Villars, the most able commander now of the French, sent instead. The intention was to besiege Saar-Louis, but the wretched Prince of Baden did not keep his engagement. He had advanced, not with a strong army but only a small body of Imperial troops, to Kreutznach, where he again feigned illness, went off to the baths at Schlangenbad, and left the troops in the command of the Count Friez. The defection was so barefaced that many began to suspect him of being corrupted by the French; but he was really sick--of Marlborough's renown.

The duke, thus deceived, was unable to carry out his enterprise, and fell back instead of attacking Villars. In his contempt of the Prince of Baden, before retreating he sent a trumpet to Villars, saying, "Do me the justice to believe that my retreat is entirely owing to the failure of the Prince of Baden; but my esteem for you is still greater than my resentment of his conduct." But though forced to this mortifying expedient, Marlborough saw that he could quickly vindicate his reputation by uniting with the army of the Netherlands, and carrying operations against the enemy there. General Overkirk had not been able to stand his ground. The French had invested and taken Huy, and Villars had commenced the siege of Liége. Marlborough marched to Treves, where he called a council of war, and it was resolved to drive Villars from the walls of Liége. On the 19th of June the army commenced its march, and proceeded with such expedition that it passed the Meuse on the 1st of July. Villars, on Marlborough's approach, abandoned Liége and retired to Tongres, and thence retreated behind his lines, which extended to Marche aux Dames on the Meuse, along the Mehaigne as far as Lenuève. No sooner did Marlborough come up with Overkirk than he determined to recover Huy, and sent General Scholten, who reduced it in a few days. To wipe out as quickly the impression of his retreat from the Moselle, he despatched General Hompesch to the States-General to demand permission to attack the French lines, which was granted him.

Marlborough then detailed his plan of operation in two successive councils of war, where it was generally approved, but still opposed as rash by some of the Dutch generals. The enemy had manned his lines with a hundred battalions and forty-six squadrons; the forces of the Confederates were something more than that in amount; and in order to weaken the enemy on the point where he contemplated his attack, the duke directed Overkirk to make a feint, as though he were about to attack the lines on the Mehaigne. The ruse succeeded. The French weakened their lines where Marlborough really contemplated the attack, in order to strengthen them in the direction of Namur. All being ready. Marlborough marched in the night between the 17th and 18th of July, to force the lines at Heyselem, the castle of Wauge, and the villages of Wauge, Neerhespen, and Oostmalen. This succeeded, and after some hard fighting the duke extended his forces within a portion of the French lines, capturing the Marquis D'Alègre, Count Horne, a major-general, two brigadier-generals, and many other officers, besides ten cannon and numerous standards and colours. In consequence of this defeat the Elector of Bavaria and Marshal Villeroi retreated across the Geete and the Dyle in all haste. Marlborough marched after them, capturing twelve hundred prisoners who could not keep up with the retreating force, and on the 15th was at Mildert, whence he marched the next day to Genappe, and thence to Fischermont, driving in the enemy's post as he advanced. He was now on ground destined to become much more famous in our time. On the 17th Overkirk had his headquarters at Waterloo, the enemy lying in their front across the roads to Brussels and Louvain, near the wood of Soignies. Here Marlborough proposed to come to a general engagement with them, but again he was thwarted by the Dutch officers and deputies, and most determinedly by General Schlangenburg. The duke, indignant at this dastardly obstruction of his operations, wrote very plainly to the States-General, complaining of the uselessness of pursuing the campaign if they had yet no confidence in his prudence and military talent. In order that the Dutch people should know of his complaints, he took care to have the letter published in the papers at the Hague, and that similar complaints should reach his own Court. These being made public, roused a storm of indignation against the meddling Dutch field-deputies, who presumed to justify their conduct to the States-General in several letters. But the anger of both England and Holland soon roused the States-General to a sense of their folly. Hearing that the queen was about to despatch the Earl of Pembroke, the President of the Council, as Envoy Extraordinary to the Hague, to remonstrate on their suicidal conduct, the States-General hastened to apologise to the duke, and to remove Schlangenburg from his command. The opportunity, however, of a decisive blow on the French had been missed, and little was achieved this campaign.

Meanwhile the Spaniards were making a desperate effort for the recovery of Gibraltar. Marshal Tessé laid siege to it, whilst De Pointes blockaded it by sea. These French officers pushed on the siege with vigour, and the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt sent a despatch to Lisbon, desiring Sir John Leake to hasten to his assistance. Sir John set sail at once with five ships of the line and a body of troops, and on the 10th of March came in sight of five ships of De Pointes, who was evidently aware of him and getting out of the way. Leake gave chase, took one, and drove the rest on shore to the west of Marbella. The rest of the French ships in the bay of Malaga made the best of their way to Toulon. Gibraltar being thus again open from the sea, the Marquis de Tessé withdrew the greater part of his forces, leaving only sufficient to maintain the blockade on land.

But a far more striking demonstration was made from another quarter. This was made on Valencia and Catalonia by the witty and accomplished, and equally unscrupulous, Earl of Peterborough, formerly known as Lord Mordaunt. This dashing nobleman, become Earl of Peterborough by the death of his uncle, was despatched with reinforcements amounting to five thousand soldiers and a strong fleet under command of Sir Cloudesley Shovel. On the 20th of June they arrived at Lisbon, where they were joined by Sir John Leake and the Dutch Admiral Allemonde. They proposed to put to sea with eight-and-forty ships of the line, and cruise between Cape Spartel and the Bay of Cadiz to prevent the junction of the Toulon and Brest fleets. But the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, who had arrived from Gibraltar, assured them that the people of Catalonia and Valencia were strongly attached to King Charles, and only required the presence of a sufficient force to declare themselves. The adventure was just of the kind to charm the active spirit of Lord Peterborough. It was proposed that King Charles should sail with them on board the fleet, and that they should make a descent on Barcelona. On the 11th of August they anchored in the Bay of Altea, and issued a proclamation in the Spanish language, and found that the people flocked in to acknowledge King Charles. They took the town of Denia and garrisoned it for Charles with four hundred men under Major Ramos.

Such was the enthusiasm of the inhabitants that Peterborough proposed to make a forced march right for Madrid at once, and set Charles on the throne without further delay, declaring that he was confident of taking the capital by a _coup de main_; and there is little doubt but he would have succeeded had he had the sole command. But such daring projects, the flashes of genius, only confound matter-of-fact men; the plan was looked on as little short of madness, the adventure was overruled, the fleet sailed, and on the 22nd arrived in the bay of Barcelona. There was a garrison of five thousand men within the town and castle of Barcelona, and the English force amounted to little more than six thousand. But the inhabitants displayed the utmost loyalty to the new king; they received him with acclamations, and the English landed and invested the town. Here again, however, the erratic genius of Lord Peterborough startled more orthodox commanders. By all the rules of war the town ought to be taken first, and the castle afterwards; but Peterborough saw that the castle commanded the town, and must be continually inflicting injury on them in the course of the siege. He determined, therefore, not by the laws of war, but of common sense, to take the castle first. None but the brave Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt held his view of the matter, and to him alone did he, therefore, communicate his plans; but he took a close survey of this strong castle of Montjuich, convinced himself that it was not so well garrisoned as was represented, and that it might be taken by address and promptitude. He instantly began to re-embark some of his troops, as if about to abandon the enterprise, so as to throw the Spaniards off their guard, and then suddenly, on the night of the 3rd of December, sent about fourteen hundred men by two different routes to attack the castle. He himself, accompanied by the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, led the first of these bodies, General Stanhope the other. It was not till about daybreak that the earl made his attack on the outworks of the castle, and established himself on a platform with a few small field-pieces and mortars. There they awaited the coming up of General Stanhope; but he had missed his way, and did not arrive in time. The governor of the castle, seeing the small number of the assailants, made a headlong sally from the castle, thinking to sweep the rash detachment down the hill, but he found himself mistaken; and whilst Lord Peterborough was in close engagement with him, General Stanhope came up, and the governor withdrew within the walls. The English then began to throw bombshells into the castle, and one of these speedily ignited a magazine, and blew it up with a tremendous explosion. The governor himself was killed by it, and the garrison in consternation surrendered.

Lord Peterborough could now not only invest the city without annoyance from the castle, but could turn the guns of the castle on the Spaniards, showing the correctness of his ideas in opposition to the red-tape of war. He pursued the siege with such effect that Velasquez, the governor, agreed to surrender in four days if he did not receive relief in that time; but he was not able to hold out even these four days, for the country swarmed with Miquelets, a sort of lawless Catalans, who declared for the Austrians. Numbers of these, who had assisted the seamen in throwing bombs from the ketches into the city, and in other operations against the town, now clambered over the walls, and began plundering the inhabitants and violating the women. The governor and his troops were unable to put them down. They threatened to throw open the gates and let in whole hordes of the like rabble, to massacre the people and sack the place. Velasquez was therefore compelled, before the expiration of the four days, to call in the assistance of the Earl of Peterborough himself, who rode into the city at the head of a body of troops with General Stanhope and other officers, and amid the random firing of the Miquelets, by his commands and by the occasional use of the flat of their swords, the marauders were reduced to quiet. Having quelled this frightful riot, Lord Peterborough and his attendants again quitted the city, and awaited the rest of the four days, much to the astonishment of the Spaniards, who had been taught to look on the English as a species of lawless and heretical barbarians. Barcelona surrendered on the day appointed, and immediately the whole of Catalonia, and every fortified place in it, except Rosas, declared for Charles.

The Earl of Peterborough did not, however, pause in his movements. He marched for San Matteo, at a distance of thirty leagues, to raise the siege carried on by the forces of King Philip. Through roads such as Spain has always been famous for down to the campaigns of Wellington, he plunged and dragged along his cannon, appeared before San Matteo in a week, raised the siege, and again set forward towards the city of Valencia, which he speedily reduced, and took in it the Marquis de Villagarcia, the Viceroy, and the Archbishop. Soon every place in Catalonia and Valencia acknowledged the authority of King Charles except the seaport of Alicante. The whole campaign resembled more a piece of romance than a reality. The earl's own officers could scarcely believe their senses; and as for the Spaniards, they said he had a devil in him, and was master of all magic and necromancy.

When the Parliament met on the 25th of October, it was found that a strong majority of Whigs had been returned; and, in the struggle for the Speakership, the nominee of the Tories, Mr. Bromley, was rejected, and the nominee of the Whigs, Mr. John Smith, chosen by a majority of two hundred and fifty to two hundred and seven. The speech of the queen was said to be the composition of the new Lord Keeper, Cowper, but to have undergone considerable revision in the Council. In this the Whig policy shone strongly forth. She expressed her determination to continue the war till the Bourbon prince was driven from the throne of Spain, and the Austrian prince established.

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.

On the heels of Ramillies came the tidings of a still less expected defeat in Savoy. The Duke de Vendôme was recalled from Piedmont after the defeat of Ramillies to supersede Villeroi, and the Duke of Orleans, under the direction of Marshal de Marsin, was sent to Piedmont, with orders to besiege Turin. This siege was carried on through the summer; and when the Duke of Savoy had refused all offers of accommodation made by France, the Duke de Feuillade, having completed his lines of circumvallation, made the last offer of courtesy to the impassive Duke of Savoy. Eugene was beyond the Adige, and knew the formidable obstacles in his path; but at the call of the distressed duke he forced his way in the face of every opposition, crossed river after river, threaded his way between the lines, and at length formed a junction with the Duke of Savoy. After this union they advanced undauntedly on Turin, and reached its vicinity on the 13th of August. They crossed the Po between Montcalier and Cavignan, and on the 5th of September captured a convoy of eight hundred loaded mules. They then crossed the Doria, and encamped with their right wing on that river, and their left on the Stura. The entrenchments of the foe had the convent of the Capuchins, called Notre Dame, in their centre opposite. The Duke of Orleans proposed to march out of their entrenchments and attack the army of Savoy, but Marsin showed him an order from the Court of Versailles forbidding so much hazard. The Prince did not leave them long to deliberate, but attacked them in their entrenchments, he himself leading up the left wing, and the duke the centre. After some hard fighting both commanders forced the entrenchments, and drove the French in precipitation over the Po. The Savoyards had about three thousand men killed and wounded. Prince Eugene pursued the Duke of Orleans and the Duke de Feuillade to the very borders of Dauphiné. Unbroken gloom now hung over Versailles. Louis affected to bear his reverses with indifference; but the violent restraint he put upon himself so much endangered his health that his physicians were compelled frequently to bleed him. The only gleams of comfort which broke through the ominous silence of the gay Court of France were afforded by an advantage gained by the Count de Medavi-Grancey over the Prince of Hesse-Cassel in the neighbourhood of Castiglione, and the forcing him to the Adige, with a loss of two thousand men. Besides this, the mismanagement of King Charles in Spain, which prevented the success of the Earl of Peterborough, was calculated in some degree to solace the confounded French.

King Philip had made a great effort to recover the city of Barcelona. Early in the spring he appeared before that city with a considerable army of French and Spaniards, and invested it. He was supported by a fleet under the Count de Toulouse, and succeeded in re-taking the castle of Montjuich; and King Charles, who was cooped up in the town, sent urgent despatches to Lord Peterborough at Valencia to come to his assistance. Peterborough immediately marched to his relief with two thousand men, but found Philip's besieging army too numerous to engage with. On the 8th of May, however, Sir John Leake, who had sailed from Lisbon with thirty ships of the line, showed himself in the bay, and the Count de Toulouse sailed away for Toulon without attempting to strike a blow; and Philip no sooner saw himself abandoned by the French fleet, and in danger of an attack from both land and sea, than he made as hasty a retreat, leaving his tents with the sick and wounded behind him.

Philip had recalled to his service the Duke of Berwick, who had only been dismissed because he was no favourite with the queen, and he was posted on the Portuguese frontiers. But, notwithstanding this, the Earl of Galway crossed these frontiers with an army of twenty thousand men, took Alcantara, and made prisoners of the garrison, numbering four thousand men. He then advanced on Madrid, Lord Peterborough engaging to meet him, with King Charles, at the capital. At his approach Philip fled with his queen to Burgos, carrying with him all the valuables he could convey, and destroying what he could not take. About the end of June the Earl of Galway entered Madrid without resistance; and had the Earl of Peterborough, with the king, met him, according to agreement, the war would have been at an end. But Peterborough, who, had he been at liberty to act as he pleased, would have soon been in Madrid, was sorely hampered by the king. Charles had reached Saragossa, and been acknowledged sovereign of Aragon and Valencia; but he was afraid of advancing towards the capital, lest they should be cut off by the enemy. In vain did Peterborough urge and entreat, and show the necessity of despatch to meet Galway. The wretched monarch had made his chief councillor the Prince of Lichtenstein, who had none of the brilliant dashing qualities of Peterborough, and against that dead German weight Peterborough strove in vain. The timid stupid king was immovable, till Galway--finding that he was unsupported in Madrid, and that the Spaniards looked with indignation on an army of Portuguese with a heretic general in possession of their capital--took his departure. Meanwhile King Philip and the Duke of Berwick had met, and, on the frontier, had received fresh reinforcements from France. They therefore returned and availed themselves of Galway's unfortunate position to recover the capital. Galway evacuated the place on their approach without a blow, and retreated towards Aragon to form a junction with Peterborough and the king. On the 6th of August Charles and Peterborough came up with Galway at Guadalaxara; but, notwithstanding this increase of force, nothing could persuade the dastard Austrian prince to advance. Peterborough, who had all the fiery temperament of a hero of romance, instead of the patience of Marlborough, which had so often triumphed over German pride and Dutch phlegm, lost all patience and gave up the enterprise. He returned to the coast of the Mediterranean, and with him went all chance of Charles of Austria securing the Spanish throne. Peterborough set sail with a squadron to endeavour to aid the Duke of Savoy, the victory of Eugene not yet having occurred.

When Peterborough was gone, nothing but distraction raged in the camp of the confederates. Lord Galway could assert no supreme command against the Prince of Lichtenstein and the Portuguese general; every one was at variance with his fellow-officer, and all were disgusted with the Austrian counsellors of Charles, and with his inert and hopeless character. The Duke of Berwick, availing himself of their divisions, marched down upon them, and they made a hasty retreat towards Valencia and the mountains of New Castile. After incredible sufferings they reached Requena, the last town of New Castile, where, considering themselves secure, from the nature of the country, they went into winter quarters at the end of September, and Charles and his attendants proceeded to Valencia, where he wrote to the Duke of Marlborough, recounting his misfortunes--the result of his own incapacity--and vehemently entreating for fresh forces and supplies from England and Holland. Could a large army have been sent under the Earl of Peterborough, with authority for his undisputed command, there is no doubt but that he would very speedily have cleared Spain of the French; but against this was supposed to operate the influence of Marlborough himself, who did not wish to see another English general raised to a rivalry of glory with him.

The victory of Prince Eugene rendering the presence of the Earl of Peterborough unnecessary in Piedmont, he made a second voyage to Genoa, to induce that republic to lend King Charles and his Allies money for his establishment. The English fleet in the Mediterranean continued sailing from place to place with six or eight thousand men on board, seeking some occasion to annoy the coast of France, whilst these men might have been of the utmost service in Spain if commanded by Peterborough. As it was, half of them are said to have perished in this objectless cruise; and another squadron under the Earl of Rivers, sent to join Lord Galway at the siege of Alicante, suffered as much. In short, no campaign ever appears to have combined more mismanagement than this in Spain, including the movements of the fleet to support it.

But whilst these various fortunes of war were taking place on the Continent, a victory greater than that of Ramillies or of Turin was achieved at home. This was the accomplishment of the Union of the two kingdoms of Scotland and England, and with it the extinction of those heartburnings and embarrassments which were continually arising out of the jealousies of Scotland of the overbearing power of England. In the last Session nothing appeared farther off; nay, a Bill--the Bill of Security--had passed, which threatened to erect again two thrones in the island, with all the rivalries and bloodshed of former years. The provisions of this Bill, which practically excluded the House of Hanover from the throne of Scotland, were much resented in England, and the two nations seemed to be on the brink of war. The Commissioners, however, appointed by England and Scotland to decide the terms of this agreement, met on the 16th of April in the council-chamber of the Cockpit, near Whitehall, and continued their labours till the 22nd of July, when they had agreed upon the conditions, and on that day mutually signed them. In discussing the proposed plans of this Union, the Scots were found to incline to a federal Union, like that of Holland; but the English were resolved that, if made at all, the Union of the two kingdoms should be complete--a perfect incorporation of Scotland, so that there should be for ever an end of the troubles and annoyances of the Scottish Parliament. The last reign, and the present, had shown too clearly the inconveniences of that Parliament, the means it gave to disaffected men--and especially to such as were disappointed of their ambitious aims by the Government--of fanning up feuds and stopping the business of the country; nay, of threatening, as of late, to establish again their own independent state, and their own king. Therefore the English Commissioners would listen to nothing but a thorough amalgamation. The Lord Keeper proposed that the two kingdoms should for ever be united into one realm by the name of Great Britain; that this realm should be represented by one and the same Parliament; and that the succession to the Crown should be such as was already determined by the Act of Parliament passed in the late reign, called "An Act for the Further Limitation of the Crown and the Better Securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject." The Scots, whilst seeming to comply with this proposal, endeavoured to introduce various clauses about the rights and privileges of the people of Scotland in England, and of the English in Scotland, and that the Crown should be established in the same persons as those mentioned in the Act referred to; but the Lord Keeper declined to enter into any consideration of any proposals, but simply for a full and complete Union of the two kingdoms into one, with the same universal rights, declaring that nothing but such solidification would effect perfect and lasting harmony. The Scots gave way, and the terms agreed upon were mutually signed on the 22nd of July, 1706.

The conditions of this famous treaty were--That the succession to the throne of Great Britain should be vested in the Princess Sophia and her heirs, according to the Act passed by the English Parliament for that purpose; that there should be but one Parliament for the whole kingdom; that all the subjects should enjoy the same rights and privileges; that they should have the same allowances, encouragements, and drawbacks, and lie under the same regulations and restrictions as to trade and commerce; that Scotland should not be charged with the temporary duties on certain commodities; that the sum of three hundred and ninety-eight thousand one hundred and three pounds should be granted to the Scots as an equivalent for such parts of the customs and excise charged upon that kingdom in consequence of the Union as would be applicable to the payment of the debts of England, according to the proportions which the customs and excise of Scotland bore to those of England; that as the revenues of Scotland should increase, a fair equivalent should be allowed for such proportion of the said increase as should be applicable to payment of the debts of England; that the sums to be thus paid should be employed in reducing the coin of Scotland to the standard and value of the English coin, in paying off the capital, stock, and interest due to the proprietors of the African Company, which should be immediately dissolved, in discharging all the public debts of the kingdom of Scotland, in promoting and encouraging manufactures and fisheries under the direction of Commissioners to be appointed by her Majesty, and accountable to the Parliament of Great Britain; that the laws relating to public right, policy, and civil government, should be alike throughout the whole kingdom; that no alteration should be made in laws which concerned private right, except for the evident benefit of the people of Scotland; that the Court of Session and all other courts of judicature in Scotland should remain as constituted, with all authority and privileges as before the Union, subject only to the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; that all heritable offices, superiorities, heritable jurisdictions, offices for life, and jurisdictions for life, should remain the same as rights and properties as then enjoyed by the laws of Scotland; that the rights and privileges of the royal boroughs in Scotland were to remain unaltered; that Scotland should be represented in Parliament by sixteen peers and forty-five commoners, to be elected in a manner to be settled by the present Parliament of Scotland; that all peers of Scotland and the successors to their honours and dignities should, from and after the Union, take rank and precedency next and immediately after the English peers of the like orders and degrees at the time of the Union, and before all English peers of the like orders and degrees as should be created after the Union; that they should be tried as peers of Great Britain, and enjoy all privileges of peers of England, except that of sitting in the House of Lords and the privileges depending thereon, and particularly the right of sitting upon the trials of peers; that the crown, sceptre, and sword of State, the records of Parliament, and all other records, rolls, and registers whatsoever, should still remain as they were in Scotland; that all laws and statutes in either kingdom inconsistent with these terms of Union should cease and be declared void by the Parliaments of the two kingdoms.

But though the Articles of the Union had received the sanction of the Commissioners, they had yet to receive that of the Scottish and English Parliaments, and no sooner did the matter come before the Scottish one than a storm broke out in Scotland against the Union, which convulsed the whole country, and threatened to annihilate the measure. The Jacobites and discontented, because unemployed, nobles set to work in every direction to operate on the national pride, telling the people they would be reduced to insignificance and to slavery to the proud and overbearing English, and arousing the _odium theologicum_ by representing that no sooner would the Union be complete than the English hierarchy would, through the English Parliament, put down the Presbyterian religion and set up Episcopacy again, and that the small minority of Scottish members in each House would be unable to prevent it.

On the 3rd of October the Duke of Queensberry, as Lord Commissioner for the queen, opened the last Session of the Scottish Parliament. Queensberry, who with the Earl of Stair, had been on the Commission, and had laboured hard to bring it to a satisfactory issue, now laid the Treaty before the Parliament, expressing his conviction that the queen would have it carried out with the utmost impartiality and care for the rights of all her subjects. He read a letter from Anne, assuring them that the only way to secure their present and future happiness, and to disappoint the designs of their enemies and her Majesty's, who would do all in their power to prevent or delay the Union, was to adopt it with as little delay as possible. The Commissioner then said, to appease any fears on account of the Kirk, that not only were the laws already in existence for its security maintained, but that he was empowered to consent to anything which they should think necessary for that object. He then read the Treaty, and it was ordered to be printed, and put into the hands of all the members of Parliament. No sooner were the printed copies in the hands of the public than the tempest broke. The Dukes of Athol and of Hamilton, the Lords Annandale and Belhaven, and other Jacobites, represented that the project was most injurious and disgraceful to Scotland; that it had at one blow destroyed the independence and dignity of the kingdom, which for two thousand years had defended her liberties against all the armies and intrigues of England; that now it was delivered over by these traitors, the Commissioners, bound hand and foot, to the English; that the few members who were to represent Scotland in the English Parliament would be just so many slaves or machines, and have no influence whatever; that all Scotland did, by this arrangement, but send one more member to the House of Commons than Cornwall, a single county of England; and that the Scots must expect to see their sacred Kirk again ridden over rough-shod by the English troopers, and the priests of Baal installed in their pulpits.

Defoe, who had the curiosity to go to Scotland and watch the circumstances attending the adoption of this great measure, has left us a very lively account of the fury to which the people were worked up by these representations. Mobs paraded the streets of Edinburgh, crying that they "were Scotsmen, and would be Scotsmen still." They hooted, hissed, and pursued all whom they knew to be friendly to the Treaty, and there was little safety for them in the streets. "Parties," he says, "whose interests and principles differed as much as light and darkness, who were contrary in opinion, and as far asunder in everything as the poles, seemed to draw together here. It was the most monstrous sight in the world to see the Jacobite and the Presbyterian, the persecuting prelatic Nonjuror and the Cameronian, the Papist and the Reformed Protestant, parley together, join interests, and concert measures together; to see the Jacobites at Glasgow huzzahing the mob, and encouraging them to have a care of the Church; the high-flying Episcopal Dissenter crying out the overture was not a sufficient security for the Kirk."

From the 3rd of October, when the Parliament opened, to the 1st of November, the fury of the people continued to increase, and the utmost was done to rouse the old Cameronian spirit in the West of Scotland by alarming rumours of the intention of England to restore Episcopacy by force. The whole country was in a flame. Under such circumstances the Articles of the Treaty had to be discussed in the Scottish Parliament. The opponents did not venture to denounce any Union at all, but they insisted that it ought only to be a federal one, by which they contended Scotland would still, whilst co-operating with England in everything necessary for the good of the realm at large, maintain her ancient dignity, retain her Parliament, her constitution, and ancient sovereignty. When they found themselves in a minority even on this point they contended that it was not in the power of Parliament to settle so momentous a question; that the Session ought to be adjourned for a short time, in order that members might go down to their constituents, and thus learn what was really the mind of the nation. Failing in this, they exerted themselves to get a host of petitions sent up from the boroughs, claiming to have a right on the part of the constituents to instruct and limit their representatives, and warning them, above all things, to go no further than a federal Union.

In order to lead to a popular demonstration, the opponents moved that there should be a day set apart for public prayer and fast, therein seeking the will of God as to the Union. The Parliament did not oppose this, and the 18th of October was settled for this purpose; but it passed off very well both in town and country, and the incendiaries were disappointed. Another mode of overawing the Parliament was then resorted to. Rumours were set afloat that the people would turn out all together, and come to the Parliament House and cry, "No Union!" They would seize on the regalia, and carry them to the castle for safety. And in fact a great mob followed the Duke of Hamilton, who was carried to and from the House in a chair, owing to some temporary lameness; but the Guards stopped them at the gates of Holyrood, whereupon they declared that they would return the next day a thousand times stronger, and pull the traitors out of their Houses, and so put an end to the Union in their own way. And the next day, the 23rd of October, they did assemble in dense crowds, filling the Parliament Close, and crowding the door, so that members had much difficulty in getting out at the close of the sitting. As soon as the Duke of Hamilton entered his chair, they raised loud hurrahs, and followed his chair in a body. But the alarm was given, a troop of soldiers appeared, cleared the street, and seized half a dozen of the ringleaders. More soldiers were obliged to be called out, and a rumour being abroad that a thousand seamen were coming up from Leith to join the rioters, the City Guard was marched into the Parliament Close, and took possession of all the avenues. A battalion of Guards was also stationed at the palace, the garrison in the castle was kept in readiness for action, and a troop of dragoons accompanied the Ministers wherever they went.

Defeated in their object of overawing the Parliament, the opposition now cried mightily that the Parliament was overawed by soldiers, and that the Treaty was being rammed down the throat of the public by bayonets; that this was the beginning of that slavery to which the country was about to be reduced. But Queensberry and his friends replied that there was much greater danger of coercion from an ignorant and violent mob than from the orderly soldiery, who made no attempt whatever to influence the deliberations. Every Article indeed was resisted _seriatim_. Hamilton, Athol, Fletcher of Saltoun, Belhaven, were vehement and persevering in their opposition; but still, with some modifications, the Articles were carried one after another. In the midst of the contention Hamilton was confounded by receiving a letter from Lord Middleton, at the Court of St. Germains, desiring, in the name of the Pretender, that the opposition to the Union should cease; for that his Grace (the Pretender) had it much at heart to give his sister this proof of his ready compliance with her wishes, nothing doubting but that he should one day have it in his power to restore Scotland to its ancient weight and independence. Hamilton was desired to keep this matter, however, a profound secret, as the knowledge of it at this time might greatly prejudice the cause and the interests of his master both in Scotland and England. Hamilton was thus thoroughly paralysed in his opposition, and at the same time was in the awkward position of not being able to explain his sudden subsidence into inaction.