Chapter IV: , VII (191)

The Prince of Orange, profiting by the murder of the De Witts,
rewarded the murderers, and is smirched by the deed, whether
primarily responsible for it or not; but the power which it
secured to him was used ably for Holland. The dykes had
already been cut, on the 18th of June, and "the sea poured in,
placing a waste of water between Louis and Amsterdam, and the
province of Holland at least was saved. The citizens worked
with the intensest energy to provide for their defence. …
Every fourth man among the peasantry was enlisted; mariners
and gunners were drawn from the fleet." Meantime, on the 7th
of June, the fleet itself, under De Ruyter, had been
victorious, in Southwold Bay, or Solebay, over the united
fleets of England and France. The victory was indecisive, but
it paralyzed the allied navy for a season, and prevented a
contemplated descent on Zealand. "All active military
operations against Holland were now necessarily at an end.
There was not a Dutch town south of the inundation which was
not in the hands of the French; and nothing remained for the
latter but to lie idle until the ice of winter should enable
them to cross the floods which cut them off from Amsterdam.
Leaving Turenne in command, Louis therefore returned to St.
Germain on August 1." Before winter came, however, the alarm
of Europe at Louis' aggressions had brought about a coalition
of the Emperor Leopold and the Elector of Brandenburg, to
succor the Dutch States. Louis was forced to call Turenne with
16,000 men to Westphalia and Condé with 17,000 to Alsace. "On
September 12 the Austrian general Montecuculi, the Duke of
Lorraine, and the Grand Elector effected their junction,
intending to cross the Rhine and join William;" but Turenne,
by a series of masterly movements, forced them to retreat,
utterly baffled, into Franconia and Halberstadt. The Elector
of Brandenburg, discouraged, withdrew from the alliance, and
made peace with Louis, June 6, 1673. The spring of 1673 found
the French king advantageously situated, and his advantages
were improved. Turning on the Spaniards in their Belgian
Netherlands, he laid siege to the important stronghold of
Maestricht and it was taken for him by the skill of Vauban, on
the 30th of June. But while this success was being scored, the
Dutch, at sea, had frustrated another attempt of the
Anglo-French fleet to land troops on the Zealand coast. On the
7th of June, and again on the 14th, De Ruyter and Van Tromp
fought off the invaders, under Prince Rupert and D'Estrees,
driving them back to the Thames. Once more, and for the last
time, they made their attempt, on the 21st of August, and were
beaten in a battle near the Zealand shore which lasted from
daylight until dark. The end of August found a new coalition
against Louis formed by treaties between Holland, Spain, the
Emperor and the Duke of Lorraine. A little later, the Prince
of Orange, after capturing Naarden, effected a junction near
Bonn with Montecuculi; who had evaded Turenne. The Electors of
Treves and Mayence thereupon joined the coalition and Cologne
and Munster made peace. By this time, public opinion in
England had become so angrily opposed to the war that Charles
was forced to arrange terms of peace with Holland,
notwithstanding his engagements with Louis. The tide was now
turning fast against France. Denmark had joined the coalition.
In March it received the Elector Palatine; in April the Dukes
of Brunswick and Lüneburg came into the league; in May the
Emperor procured from the Diet a declaration of war in the
name of the Empire, and on the 1st of July the Elector of
Brandenburg cast in his lot once more with the enemies of
France. To effectually meet this new league of his foes, Louis
resolved with heroic promptitude to abandon his conquests in
the Netherlands. Maestricht and Grave, alone, of the places he
had taken, were retained. But Holland still refused to make
peace on the terms which the French king proposed, and held
her ground in the league.

_O. Airy,
The English Reformation and Louis XIV.,
chapter 19._

ALSO IN:
_F. P. Guizot,
History of France,
chapter 44 (volume 5)._

_C. D. Yonge,
History of France under the Bourbons,
chapter 15 (volume 2)._

_A. F. Pontalis,
John de Witt,
chapters 12-14 (volume 2)._

_Sir W. Temple,
Memoirs,
part 2 (works, volume 2)._

See, also,
NEW YORK: A. D. 1673.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1673.
Reconquest of New Netherland from the English.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1673.

NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1673-1678.
Fresh conquests by Louis XIV.

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1672-1674, and 1674-1678;
also, NIMEGUEN, PEACE OF.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1674.
The Treaty of Westminster.
Peace with England.
Relinquishment of New Netherland.

An offer from the Dutch to restore New Netherland to England
"was extorted from the necessities of the republic, and its
engagement with Spain. With the consent of the States General,
the Spanish ambassador offered advantageous articles to the
British government. Charles, finding that Louis refused him
further supplies, and that he could not expect any from
Parliament, replied that he was willing to accept reasonable
conditions. … Sir William Temple was summoned from his
retirement, and instructed to confer with the Spanish
ambassador at London, the Marquis del Fresno, to whom the
States General had sent full powers.
{2289}
In three days all the points were arranged; and a treaty was
signed at Westminster [February 19, 1674] by Arlington and
four other commissioners on the part of Great Britain, and by
Fresno on the part of the United Netherlands. The honor of the
flag, which had been refused by De Witt, was yielded to
England; the Treaty of Breda was revived; the rights of
neutrals guaranteed; and the commercial principles of the
Triple Alliance renewed. By the sixth article it was
covenanted that 'all lands, islands, cities, havens, castles
and fortresses, which have been or shall be taken by one party
from the other, during the time of this last unhappy war,
whether in Europe or elsewhere, and before the expiration of
the times above limited for the duration of hostilities, shall
be restored to the former Lord and Proprietor in the same
condition they shall be in at the time that this peace shall
be proclaimed.' This article restored New Netherland to the
King of Great Britain. The Treaty of Breda had ceded it to him
on the principle of 'uti possidetis.' The Treaty of
Westminster gave it back to him on the principle of reciprocal
restitution. Peace was soon proclaimed at London and at the
Hague. The treaty of Westminster delivered the Dutch from fear
of Charles, and cut off the right arm of Louis, their more
dreaded foe. England, on her part, slipped out of a disastrous
war. … By the treaty of Westminster the United Provinces
relinquished their conquest of New Netherland to the King of
England. The sovereign Dutch States General had treated
directly with Charles as sovereign. A question at once arose
at Whitehall about the subordinate interest of the Duke of
York. It was claimed by some that James's former American
proprietorship was revived. … The opinion of counsel having
been taken, they advised that the duke's proprietorship had
been extinguished by the Dutch conquest, and that the king was
now alone seized of New Netherland, by virtue of the Treaty of
Westminster. … A new patent to the Duke of York was
therefore sealed. By it the king again conveyed to his brother
the territories he had held before, and granted him anew the
absolute powers of government he had formerly enjoyed over
British subjects, with the like additional authority over 'any
other person or persons' inhabiting his province. Under the
same description of boundaries, New Jersey, and all the
territory west of the Connecticut River, together with Long
Island and the adjacent islands, and the region of Pemaquid,
were again included in the grant. The new patent did not, as
has been commonly, but erroneously stated, 'recite and confirm
the former.' It did not in any way allude to that instrument.
It read as if no previous English patent had ever existed. …
As his colonial lieutenant and deputy, the duke, almost
necessarily, appointed Major Edmund Andros, whom the king had
directed in the previous March to receive New Netherland from
the Dutch."

_J. R. Brodhead,
History of the State of New York,
volume 2, chapters 5-6._

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1674-1678.
Continued war of the Coalition against France.

"The enemies of France everywhere took courage. … Louis XIV.
embraced with a firm glance the whole position, and, well
advised by Turenne, clearly took his resolution. He understood
the extreme difficulty of preserving his conquests, and the
facility moreover of making others more profitable, while
defending his own frontier. To evacuate Holland, to indemnify
himself at the expense of Spain, and to endeavor to treat
separately with Holland while continuing the war against the
House of Austria,—such was the new plan adopted; an
excellent plan, the very wisdom of which condemned so much the
more severely the war with Holland. … The places of the
Zuyder-Zee were evacuated in the course of December by the
French and the troops of Munster. … The evacuation of the
United Provinces was wholly finished by spring. … Louis
resolved to conquer Franche-Comté in person; while Turenne
covered Alsace and Lorraine, Schomberg went to defend
Roussillon, and Condé labored to strengthen the French
positions on the Meuse, by sweeping the enemy from the
environs of Liege and Maestricht. On the ocean, the defensive
was preserved." Louis entered Franche-Comté at the beginning
of May with a small army of 8,000 infantry and 5,000 or 6,000
cavalry, but with Vauban, the great master of sieges, to do
his serious work for him. A small corps had been sent into the
country in February, and had already taken Gray, Vesoul and
Lons-le-Saulnier. Besançon was now reduced by a short siege;
Dole surrendered soon afterward, and early in July the
subjugation of the province was complete. "The second conquest
of Franche-Comté had cost a little more trouble than the
first; but it was definitive. The two Burgundies were no more
to be separated, and France was never again to lose her
frontier of the Jura. … The allies, from the beginning of
the year, had projected a general attack against France. They
had debated among themselves the design of introducing two
great armies, one from Belgium into Champagne, the other from
Germany into Alsace and Lorraine; the Spaniards were to invade
Roussillon; lastly, the Dutch fleet was to threaten the coasts
of France and attempt some enterprise there. The tardiness of
the Germanic diet to declare itself" frustrated the first of
these plans. Condé, occupying a strong position near
Charleroi, from which the allies could not draw him, took
quick advantage of an imprudent movement which they made, and
routed them by a fierce attack, at the village of Seneffe
(August 11, 1674). But William of Orange rallied the flying
forces—Dutch, German and Spanish now fighting side by
side—so successfully that Condé was repulsed with terrible
loss in the end, when he attempted to make his victory
complete. The battle was maintained, by the light of the moon,
until midnight, and both armies withdrew next morning, badly
crippled. Turenne meantime, in June, had crossed the Rhine at
Philippsburg and encountered the Imperialists, on the 16th,
near Sinsheim, defeated them there and driven them beyond the
Neckar. The following month, he again crossed the river and
inflicted upon the Palatinate the terrible destruction which
made it for the time being a desert, and which is the black
blot on the fame of the great soldier. "Turenne ordered his
troops to consume and waste cattle, forage, and harvests, so
that the enemy's army, when it returned in force, as he
foresaw it would do, could find nothing whereon to subsist."
In September the city of Strasburg opened its gates to the
Imperialists and gave them the control of its fortified
bridge, crossing the Rhine.
{2290}
Turenne, hastening to prevent the disaster, but arriving too
late, attacked his enemies, October 4, at the village of
Ensisheim and gained an inconclusive victory. Then followed,
before the close of the year, the most famous of the military
movements of Turenne. The allies having been heavily
reinforced, he retired before them into Lorraine, meeting and
gathering up reinforcements of his own as he moved. Then, when
he had completely deceived them as to his intentions, he
traversed the whole length of the Vosges with his army, in
December, and appeared suddenly at Belfort, finding their
forces scattered and entirely unprepared. Defeating them at
Mülhausen December 29, and again at Colmar, January 5, he
expelled them from Alsace, and offered to Strasburg the
renewal of its neutrality, which the anxious city was glad to
accept. "Thus ended this celebrated campaign, the most
glorious, perhaps, presented in the military history of
ancient France. None offers higher instruction in the study of
the great art of war." In the campaign of 1675, which opened
in May, Turenne was confronted by Montecuculi, and the two
masterly tacticians became the players of a game which has
been the wonder of military students ever since. "Like two
valiant athletes struggling foot to foot without either being
able to overthrow the other, Turenne and Montecuculi manœuvred
for six weeks in the space of a few square leagues [in the
canton of Ortnau, Swabia] without succeeding in forcing each
other to quit the place." At length, on the 27th of July,
Turenne found an opportunity to attack his opponent with
advantage, in the defile of Salsbach, and was just completing
his preparations to do so, when a cannon-ball from one of the
enemy's batteries struck him instantly dead. His two
lieutenants, who succeeded to the command, could not carry out
his plans, but fought a useless bloody battle at Altenheim and
nearly lost their army before retreating across the Rhine.
Condé was sent to replace Turenne. Before he arrived,
Strasburg had again given its bridge to the Imperialists and
they were in possession of Lower Alsace; but no important
operations were undertaken during the remainder of the year.
In other parts of the wide war field the French suffered
disaster. Marshal de Crequi, commanding on the Moselle, was
badly defeated at Konsaarbrück, August 11, and Treves, which
he defended, was lost a few weeks later. The Swedes, also,
making a diversion in the north, as allies of France, were
beaten back, at Fehrbellin.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1644-1697.

But next year (1676) Louis recovered all his prestige. His
navy, under the command of Duquesne and Tourville, fought the
Dutch and Spaniards on equal terms, and defeated them twice in
the Mediterranean, on the Sicilian coast. On land the main
effort of the French was directed against the Netherlands.
Condé, Bouchain and Aire were taken by siege; and Maestricht
was successfully defended against Orange, who besieged it for
nearly eight weeks. But Philippsburg, the most important
French post on the Rhine, was lost, surrendering to the Duke
of Lorraine. Early in 1677, Louis renewed his attacks on the
Spanish Netherlands and took Valenciennes March 17, Cambrai
April 4, and Saint-Omer April 20, defeating the Prince of
Orange at Cassel (April 11) when he attempted to relieve the
latter place. At the same time Crequi, unable to defend Lower
Alsace, destroyed it—burning the villages, leaving the
inhabitants to perish—and prevented the allies, who
outnumbered him, from making any advance. In November, when
they had gone into winter-quarters, he suddenly crossed the
Rhine and captured Freiburg. The next spring (1678) operations
began early on the side of the French with the siege of Ghent.
The city capitulated, March 9, after a short bombardment. The
Spanish governor withdrew to the citadel, but "surrendered, on
the 11th, that renowned castle built by Charles V. to hold the
city in check. The city and citadel of Ghent had not cost the
French army forty men." Ypres was taken the same month.
Serious negotiations were now opened and the Peace of
Nimeguen, between France and Holland, was signed August 11,
followed early the next year by a general peace. The Prince of
Orange, who opposed the peace, fought one bootless but bloody
battle at Saint-Denis, near Mons, on the 14th of August, three
days after it had been signed.

_H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.
(translated by M. L. Booth),
volume 1, chapters 5-6._

"It may be doubted whether Europe has fully realised the
greatness of the peril she so narrowly escaped on this
occasion. The extinction of political and mental freedom,
which would have followed the extinction of the Dutch
Republic, would have been one of the most disastrous defeats
of the cause of liberty and enlightenment possible in the then
condition of the world. … The free presses of Holland gave
voice to the stilled thought and agony of mankind. And they
were the only free presses in the world. But Holland was not
only the greatest book mart of Europe, it was emphatically the
home of thinkers and the birthplace of ideas. … The two men
then living to whose genius and courage the modern spirit of
mental emancipation and toleration owes its first and most
arduous victories were Pierre Bayle and John Locke. And it is
beyond dispute that if the French King had worked his will on
Holland, neither of them would have been able to accomplish
the task they did achieve under the protection of Dutch
freedom. They both were forced to seek refuge in Holland from
the bigotry which hunted them down in their respective
countries. All the works of Bayle were published in Holland,
and some of the earliest of Locke's writings appeared there
also; and if the remainder saw the light afterwards in
England, it is only because the Dutch, by saving their own
freedom, were the means of saving that of England as well. …
At least, no one can maintain that if Holland had been
annihilated in 1672, the English revolution could have
occurred in the form and at the time it did."

_J. C. Morison,
The Reign of Louis XIV.
(Fortnightly Review, March, 1874)._

ALSO IN:
_H. M. Hozier,
Turenne,
chapters 12-13._

_T. O. Cockayne,
Life of Turenne._

_Lord Mahon,
Life of Condé,
chapter 12._

See, also, NIMEGUEN, PEACE OF.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1689.
Invasion of England by the Prince of Orange.
His accession to the English throne.

See ENGLAND A. D. 1688 (JULY-NOVEMBER),
to 1689 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY).

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1689-1696.
The War of the League of Augsburg, or the Grand Alliance
against Louis XIV.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1689-1690, to 1695-1696.

{2291}

NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D; 1690-1691.
The Battle of Fleurus and the loss of Mons.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1689-1691.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1692.
The Naval Battle of La Hogue.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1692.

NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1692.
The loss of Namur and the Battle of Steenkerke.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1692.

NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1693.
The Battle of Neerwinden.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1693 (JULY).

NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1694-1696.
Campaigns without battles.
The recovery of Namur.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1694; and 1695-1696.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1697.
The Peace of Ryswick.
French conquests restored.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1697.

A. D. 1698-1700.
The question of the Spanish Succession.
The Treaties of Partition.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1698-1700.

NETHERLANDS: (The Spanish Provinces): A. D. 1701.
Occupied by French troops.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1701-1702.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1702.
The Second Grand Alliance against France and Spain.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1701-1702;
and ENGLAND: A. D. 1701-1702.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1702.
The War of the Spanish Succession: The Expedition to Cadiz.
The sinking of the treasure ships in Vigo Bay.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1702.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1702-1704.
The War of the Spanish Succession:
Marlborough's first campaigns.

"The campaign [of 1702] opened late in the Low Countries,
owing, doubtless, to the death of king William. The elector of
Bavaria, and his brother the elector of Cologne, took part
with France. About the middle of April, the prince of
Nassau-Saarbruck invested Keyserwerth, a place belonging to
the latter elector, on the Rhine; whilst Lord Athlone, with
the Dutch army, covered the siege, in pursuance of the advice
of Lord Marlborough to the states. The place was strong; the
French Marshal Boufflers made efforts to relieve it; after a
vigorous defence, it was carried by assault, with dreadful
carnage, about the middle of June. Boufflers, unable to
relieve Keyserwerth, made a rapid, march to throw himself
between Athlone and Nimeguen, with the view to carry that
place by surprise; was defeated by a forced and still more
rapid march of the Dutch, under Athlone, to cover it; and
moved upon Cleves, laying the country waste with wanton
barbarity along his line of march. Marlborough now arrived to
take the command in chief. It was disputed with him by
Athlone, who owed his military rank and the honours of the
peerage to the favour of king William. Certain representatives
of the states, who attended the army under the name of field
deputies, thwarted him by their caution and incompetency; the
Prussian and Hanoverian contingents refused to move without
the orders of their respective sovereigns. Lord Marlborough,
with admirable temper and adroitness, and, doubtless, with the
ascendant of his genius, surmounted all these obstacles. The
Dutch general cheerfully served under him; the confederates
were reconciled to his orders; he crossed the Meuse in pursuit
of the French; came within a few leagues of Boufflers' lines;
and, addressing the Dutch field deputies who accompanied him,
said, in a tone of easy confidence, 'I will now rid you of
these troublesome neighbours.' Boufflers accordingly
retreated,—abandoning Spanish Guelderland, and exposing
Venloo, Ruremonde, and even Liege, which he had made a
demonstration to cover. The young duke of Burgundy, grandson
of Louis XIV., and elder brother of the king of Spain, had
commanded the French army in name. He now returned to
Versailles; and Boufflers could only look on, whilst
Marlborough successively captured Venloo, Ruremonde, and
Liege. The navigation of the Meuse and communication with
Maestricht was now wholly free; the Dutch frontier was secure;
and the campaign terminated with the close of October. … The
duke of Marlborough resumed his command in the Low Countries
about the middle of spring. He found the French strong and
menacing on every side. Marshal Villars had, like Marlborough,
fixed the attention of Europe for the first time in the late
campaign. He obtained a splendid victory over the prince of
Baden at Fredlingen, near the Black Forest. That prince lost
3,000 men, his cannon and the field. … Villars opened this
year's campaign by taking Kehl, passed through the Black
Forest into Bavaria, and formed a junction with the elector;
whilst the prince of Baden was kept in check by a French army
under marshal Tallard. … The imperial general, Count Styrum
was now moving to join the prince of Baden with 20,000 men.
Villars persuaded the elector to cross the Danube and prevent
this junction; attacked the imperialists in the plain of
Hochstedt near Donawert; and put them to the rout. The capture
of Augsburg followed: the road was open to Vienna, and the
emperor thought of abandoning the capital. … Holland was
once more threatened on her frontier. Marshal Villeroi,
liberated by exchange, was again at the head of an army, and,
in conjunction with Boufflers, commenced operations for
recovering the ground and the strong places from which
Marlborough had dislodged the French on the Meuse. The
campaign had opened at this point of the theatre of war with
the capture of Rheinberg. It was taken by the Prussians before
the duke of Marlborough arrived. The duke's first operation
was the capture of Bonne. He returned to the main army with
the view to engage the French under Villeroi. That marshal
abandoned his camp, and retired within his lines of defence on
the approach of the English general. Marlborough was prevented
from attacking the French by the reluctance of the Dutch
generals and the positive prohibition of the Dutch field
deputies. … The only fruit of Marlborough's movement was the
easy capture of Huy. Boufflers obtained the slight advantage
of surprising and defeating the Dutch general Opdam near
Antwerp. Marlborough, still embarrassed by the Dutch field
deputies, to whose good intentions and limited views he bowed
with a facility which only proves the extent of his
superiority, closed the campaign with the acquisition of
Limburg and Guelders. … In the beginning of … [1704] the
emperor, threatened by the French and Bavarians in the very
capital of the empire, implored aid from the queen; and on the
19th of April, the duke of Marlborough left England to enter
upon a campaign memorable for … [the] victory of Blenheim.
… On his arrival at the Hague, he proposed to the states
general to alarm France for her frontier by a movement on the
Moselle.
{2292}
Their consent even to this slight hazard for their own
security, was not easily obtained. Villeroi, who commanded in
Flanders, soon lost sight of him; so rapid or so well masked
were his movements; Tallard, who commanded on the Moselle,
thought only of protecting the frontier of France; and
Marlborough, to the amazement of Europe, whether enemies or
allies, passed in rapid succession the Rhine, the Maine, and
the Necker. Intercepted letters, and a courier from the prince
of Baden, apprised him that the French were about to join the
Bavarians through the defiles of the Black Forest, and march
upon Vienna. He now threw off the mask, sent a courier to the
states, acquainting them that he was marching to the succour
of the empire by order of the queen of England, and trusted
they would permit their troops to share the glory of his
enterprise. The pensionary Heinsius alone was in his
confidence; and the states, though taken by surprise, conveyed
to him their sanction and confidence with the best grace. He
met Prince Eugene for the first time at Mindlesheim.
Marlborough and Eugene are henceforth associated in the career
of war and victory."

_Sir J. Mackintosh,
The History of England,
volume 9, chapter 4._

ALSO IN:
_L. Creighton,
Life of Marlborough,
chapters 6-7._

_G. Saintsbury,
Marlborough,
chapter 5._

_W. Coxe,
Memoirs of Marlborough,
chapters 11-22 (volume 1)._

_J. H. Burton,
History of the Reign of Queen Anne,
chapters 5-6 (volume 1)._

Sec, also,
GERMANY: A. D. 1702, and 1703.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1704.
The War of the Spanish Succession:
The campaign on the Danube and victory at Blenheim.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1704.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1705.
The War of the Spanish Succession: A campaign spoiled.

After his campaign in Bavaria, with its great victory on the
field of Blenheim (see GERMANY: A. D. 1704), Marlborough
passed the winter in England and returned in the spring of
1705 to the Low Countries, where he had planned to lead,
again, the campaign of the year. Prince Eugene was now in
Italy, and the jealous, incapable Prince Louis of Baden,
commanding the German army, was the coadjutor on whom he must
depend. The latter assented to Marlborough's plans and
promised co-operation. The Dutch generals and deputies also
were reluctantly brought over to his views, which contemplated
an invasion of France on the side of the Moselle. "Slight as
were the hopes of any effective co-operation which Prince
Louis gave, they were much more than he accomplished. When the
time came he declared himself sick, threw up his command and
set off to drink the waters of Schlangenbad. Count de Frise
whom he named in his place brought to Marlborough only a few
ragged battalions, and, moreover, like his principal, showed
himself most jealous of the English chief. … Marlborough
nevertheless took the field and even singly desired to give
battle. But positive instructions from Versailles precluded
Villars [the commander of the French] from engaging. He
intrenched himself in an extremely strong position at Sirk,
where it was impossible for an inferior army to assail him.
And while the war was thus unprosperous on the Moselle, there
came adverse tidings from the Meuse. Marshal Villeroy had
suddenly resumed the offensive, had reduced the fortress of
Huy, had entered the city and invested the citadel of Liege."
Marlborough, on this news, being applied to for immediate aid
by the Dutch General Overkirk—the ablest and best of his
colleagues—"set out the very next day on his march to Liege,
leaving only a 'sufficient force as he hoped for the security
of Treves." Villeroy "at once relinquished his design upon the
citadel of Liege and fell back in the direction of Tongres, so
that Marlborough and Overkirk effected their junction with
ease. Marlborough took prompt measures to re-invest the
fortress of Huy, and compelled it to surrender on the 11th of
July. Applying his mind to the new sphere before him,
Marlborough saw ground to hope that, with the aid of the Dutch
troops, he might still make a triumphant campaign. The first
object was to force the defensive lines that stretched across
the country from near Namur to Antwerp, protected by numerous
fortified posts and covered in other places by rivers and
morasses, … now defended by an army of at least 60,000 men,
under Marshal Villeroy and the Elector of Bavaria. Marlborough
laid his plans before Generals Overkirk and Slangenberg as
also those civilian envoys whom the States were wont to
commission at their armies. But he found to his sorrow that
for jealousy and slowness a Dutch deputy was fully a match for
a German Margrave." He obtained with great difficulty a
nominal assent to his plans, and began the execution of them;
but in the very midst of his operations, and when one division
of the Dutch troops had successfully crossed the river Dyle,
General Slangenberg and the deputies suddenly drew back and
compelled a retreat. Then Marlborough's "fertile genius
devised another scheme—to move round the sources of the river
[Dyle] and to threaten Brussels from the southern side. … On
the 15th off August he began his march, as did also Overkirk
in a parallel direction, and in two days they reached Genappe
near the sources of the Dyle. There uniting in one line of
battle they moved next morning towards Brussels by the main
chaussée, or great paved road; their head-quarters that day
being fixed at Frischermont, near the borders of the forest of
Soignies. On the French side the Elector and Villeroy,
observing the march of the allies, had made a corresponding
movement of their own for the protection of the capital. They
encamped behind the small stream of the Ische, their right and
rear being partly covered by the forest. Only the day before
they had been joined by Marsin from the Rhine, and they agreed
to give battle sooner than yield Brussels. One of their main
posts was at Waterloo. … It is probable, had a battle now
ensued, that it would have been fought on the same, or nearly
the same ground as was the memorable conflict a hundred and
ten years afterwards. … But the expected battle did not take
place." Once more the Dutch deputies and General Slangenberg
interfered, refusing to permit their troops to engage; so that
Marlborough was robbed of the opportunity for winning a
victory which he confidently declared would have been greater
than Blenheim. This practically ended the campaign of the
year, which had been ruined and wasted throughout by the
stupidity, the cowardice and the jealousies of the Dutch
deputies and the general who counselled them.

_Earl Stanhope,
History of England: Reign of Queen Anne,
chapter 6._

In Spain, a campaign of more brilliancy was carried on by
Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough, in Catalonia.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1705.

{2293}

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1706-1707.
The War of the Spanish Succession:
The Battle of Ramillies and its results.

"The campaign of 1706 was begun unusually late by Marlborough,
his long stay on the Continent in the winter and his English
political business detaining him in London till the end of
April, and when he finally landed at the Hague his plans were
still coloured by the remembrance of the gratuitous and
intolerable hindrances which he had met with from his allies.
… He had made up his mind to operate with Eugene in Italy,
which, if he had done, there would probably have been seen
what has not been seen for nearly two thousand years—a
successful invasion of France from the southeast. But the
kings of Prussia and Denmark, and others of the allies whom
Marlborough thought he had propitiated, were as recalcitrant
as the Dutch, and the vigorous action of Villars against the
Margrave of Baden made the States-General more than ever
reluctant to lose their sword and shield. So Marlborough was
condemned to action on his old line of the Dyle, and this time
fortune was less unkind to him. Secret overtures were made
which induced him to threaten Namur, and as Namur was of all
posts in the Low Countries that to which the French attached
most importance, both on sentimental and strategical grounds,
Villeroy was ordered to abandon the defensive policy which he
had for nearly two years been forced to maintain, and to fight
at all hazards. Accordingly the tedious operations which had
for so long been pursued in this quarter were exchanged at
once for a vigorous offensive and defensive, and the two
generals, Villeroy with rather more than 60,000 men,
Marlborough with that number or a little less, came to blows
at Ramillies (a few miles only from the spot where the lines
had been forced the year before) on May 23, 1706, or scarcely
more than a week after the campaign had begun. Here, as
before, the result is assigned by the French to the fault of
the general. … The battle itself was one completely of
generalship, and of generalship as simple as it was masterly.
It was in defending his position, not in taking it up, that
Villeroy lost the battle. … Thirteen thousand of the French
and Bavarians were killed, wounded, and taken, and the loss of
the allies, who had been throughout the attacking party, was
not less than 4,000 men. … The Dutch, who bore the burden of
the attack on Ramillies, had the credit of the day's fighting
on the allied side, as the Bavarian horse had on that of the
French. In hardly any of Marlborough's operations had he his
hands so free as at Ramillies, and in none did he carry off a
completer victory. … The strong places of Flanders fell
before the allied army like ripe fruit. Brussels surrendered
and was occupied on the fourth day after the battle, May 28.
Louvain and Malines had fallen already. The French garrison
precipitately left Ghent, and the Duke entered it on June 2.
Oudenarde came in next day; Antwerp was summoned, expelled the
French part of its garrison, and capitulated on September 7.
And a vigorous siege in less than a month reduced Ostend,
reputed one of the strongest places in Europe. In six weeks
from the battle of Ramillies not a French soldier remained in
a district which the day before that battle had been occupied
by a network of the strongest fortresses and a field army of
80,000 men. The strong places on the Lys and the Dender,
tributaries of the Scheldt, gave more trouble, and Menin, a
small but very important position, cost nearly half the loss
of Ramillies before it could be taken. But it fell, as well as
Dendermonde and Ath, and nothing but the recrudescence of
Dutch obstruction prevented Marlborough from finishing the
campaign with the taking of Mons, almost the last place of any
importance held by the French north of their own frontier, as
that frontier is now understood. But the difficulties of all
generals are said to begin on the morrow of victory, and
certainly the saying was true in Marlborough's case. … The
Dutch were, before all things, set on a strong barrier or zone
of territory, studded with fortresses in their own keeping,
between themselves and France: the Emperor naturally objected
to the alienation of the Spanish-Austrian Netherlands. The
barrier disputes were for years the greatest difficulty which
Marlborough had to contend with abroad, and the main theme of
the objections to the war made by the adverse party at home.
… It was in the main due, no doubt, to these jealousies and
hesitations, strengthened by the alarm caused by the loss of
the battle of Almanza in Spain, and by the threatened invasion
of Germany under Villars, that made the campaign of 1707 an
almost wholly inactive one. … The campaign of this year is
almost wholly barren of any military operations interesting to
anyone but the mere annalist of tactics."

_G. Saintsbury,
Marlborough,
chapter 6._

In Spain, several sharp changes of fortune during two years
terminated in a disastrous defeat of the allies at Almanza in
April, 1707, by the Duke of Berwick.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1706 and 1707;
see, also, GERMANY: A. D. 1706-1711.

_Earl Stanhope,
History of England: Reign of Queen Anne,
chapter 7 and 9._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1708-1709.
The War of the Spanish Succession: Oudenarde and Malplaquet.

To the great satisfaction of Marlborough, Prince Eugene of
Savoy was sent by the Emperor to co-operate with him, in the
spring of 1708. The two generals met in April to discuss
plans; after which Eugene returned into Germany to gather up
the various contingents that would compose his army. He
encountered many difficulties and delays, and was unable to
bring his forces to the field until July. Marlborough,
meantime, had been placed in a critical situation. "For whilst
the English commander and Eugene had formed the plan to unite
and overwhelm Vendome, the Court of Versailles had, on its
side, contemplated the despatch of a portion of the Army of
the Rhine, commanded by the Elector of Bavaria and the Duke of
Berwick, so to reinforce Vendome that he might overwhelm
Marlborough, and Berwick was actually on his march to carry
out his portion of the plan." Prince Eugene crossed the
Moselle on the 28th June, "reached Düren the 3rd July, and
learning there that affairs were critical, hastened with an
escort of Hussars, in advance of his army, to Brussels. On his
arrival there, the 6th, he learned that the French had
attacked and occupied the city of Ghent, and were then
besieging the castle."
{2294}
The two commanders having met at Assche, to concert their
movements, made haste to throw: "a reinforcement into the
fortress of Oudenarde, then besieged by the French; and,
convinced now that the conquest of that fortress by Vendome
would give him an unassailable position, they pushed forward
their troops with all diligence to save it. The two armies
united on the 8th. On the 9th they set out for Oudenarde, and
crossed the Dender on the 10th. Before daybreak of the 11th
Marlborough despatched General Cadogan with a strong corps to
the Scheldt, to throw bridges over that river near Oudenarde
and to reconnoitre the enemy. The main army followed at 7
o'clock." In the battle which ensued, Vendome was hampered by
the equal authority of the Duke of Burgundy—the king's
grandson—who would not concur with his plans. "One after
another the positions occupied by the French soldiers were
carried. Then these took advantage of the falling night to
make a retreat as hurried and disorderly as their defence had
been wanting in tenacity. In no pitched battle, indeed, have
the French soldiers less distinguished themselves than at
Oudenarde. Fighting under a divided leadership, they were
fighting virtually without leadership, and they knew it. The
Duke of Burgundy contributed as much as either Marlborough or
Eugene to gain the battle of Oudenarde for the Allies." The
French army, losing heavily in the retreat, was rallied
finally at Ghent. "The Allies, meanwhile, prepared to take
advantage of their victory. They were within a circle
commanded by three hostile fortresses, Ypres, Lille, and
Tournay. After some consideration it was resolved, on the
proposition of Eugene, that Lille should be besieged." The
siege of Lille, the capital of French Flanders, fortified by
the utmost skill and science of Vauban, and held by a garrison
of 10,000 men under Marshal Boufflers, was a formidable
undertaking. The city was invested on the 13th of August, and
defended heroically by the garrison: but Vendome, who would
have attacked the besiegers, was paralyzed by the royal youth
who shared his command. Lille, the town, was surrendered on
the 22d of October and its citadel on the 9th of December. The
siege of Ghent followed, and the capitulation of that city, on
the 2d of January, 1709, closed the campaign. "The winter of
1709 was spent mainly in negotiations. Louis XIV. was
humiliated, and he offered peace on terms which the Allies
would have done well to accept." Their demands, however, rose
too high, and the war went on. "It had been decided that the
campaign in the Netherlands should be continued under the same
skilful generals who had brought that of 1708 to so successful
an issue. … On the 23rd of [June] … the allied army,
consisting of 110,000 men, was assembled between Courtray and
Menin. Marlborough commanded the left wing, about 70,000
strong; Eugene the right, about 40,000. Louis, on his side,
had made extraordinary efforts. But even with these he had
been able to put in the field an army only 80,000 strong
[under Marshal Villars]. … Villars had occupied a position
between Douai and the Lys, and had there thrown up lines, in
the strengthening of which he found daily employment for his
troops." Not venturing to attack the French army in its strong
position, Marlborough and Eugene began operations by laying
siege to Tournay. The town was yielded to them on the 30th of
July and the citadel on the 3d of September. They next turned
their attention to Mons, which the French thought it necessary
to save at any cost. The attempt which the latter made to
drive the allied army from the position it had gained between
themselves and Mons had its outcome in the terribly bloody
battle of Malplaquet—"the bloodiest known till then in modern
history. The loss of the victors was greater than that of the
vanquished. That of the former amounted to from 18,000 to
20,000 men: the French admitted a loss of 7,000, but German
writers raise it to 15,000. Probably it did not exceed 11,000.
… The results … were in no way proportionate to its cost.
The French army retreated in good order, taking with it all
its impedimenta, to a new position as strong as the former.
There, under Berwick, who was sent to replace Villars, it
watched the movements of the Allies. These resumed, indeed,
the siege of Mons [which surrendered on the 20th of October].
… But this was the solitary result of the victory."

_Colonel G. B. Malleson,
Prince Eugene of Savoy,
chapters 10-11._

ALSO IN:
_W. Coxe,
Memoirs of Marlborough,
chapters 66-83 (volumes 4-5)._

_H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.
(translated by M. L. Booth),
volume 2, chapters 5-6._

_J. W. Gerard,
Peace of Utrecht,
chapters 17-19._

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1709.
The Barrier Treaty with England.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1709.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1710-1712.
The War of the Spanish Succession:
The last campaigns of Marlborough.

"As soon as it became clear that the negotiations [at
Gertruydenberg] would lead to nothing, Eugene and Marlborough
at once began the active business of the campaign. …
Marlborough began … with the siege of Douai, the possession
of which would be of the greatest importance to him. … In
spite of Villars' boasts the French were unable to prevent the
capture of Douai. … The campaign of 1710 was full of
disappointment to Marlborough. He had hoped to carry the war
into the heart of France. But after Douai fell, Villars so
placed his army that [Marlborough] … was obliged to content
himself with the capture of Bethune, St. Venant, and Aire.
Heavy rains and a great deal of illness among his troops
prevented further operations. Besides this, his energy was
somewhat paralysed by the changes which had taken place in
England," where the Duchess of Marlborough and the Whig party
had lost the favor of the Queen, and the Tory opponents of
Marlborough and the war had come into power.

_L. Creighton,
Life of Marlborough,
chapters 15-16._

"In 1711, in a complicated series of operations round Arras,
Marlborough, who was now alone, Eugene having been recalled to
Vienna, completely outgeneraled Villars and broke through his
lines. But he did not fight, and the sole result of the
campaign was the capture of Bouchain at the cost of some
16,000 men, while no serious impression was made on the French
system of defence. … Lille had cost 14,000; Tournay a number
not exactly mentioned, but very large; the petty place of Aire
7,000. How many, malcontent Englishmen might well ask
themselves, would it cost before Arras, Cambrai, Hesdin,
Calais, Namur, and all the rest of the fortresses that studded
the country, could be expected to fall? … Marlborough had
himself, so to speak, spoilt his audience.
{2295}
He had given them four great victories in a little more than
five years; it was perhaps unreasonable, but certainly not
unnatural, that they should grow fretful when he gave them
none during nearly half the same time. … The expense of the
war was frightening men of all classes in England, and,
independently of the more strictly political considerations,
… it will be seen that there was some reason for wishing
Marlborough anywhere but on or near the field of battle. He
was got rid of none too honourably; restrictions were put upon
his successor Ormond which were none too honourable either;
and when Villars, freed from his invincible antagonist, had
inflicted a sharp defeat upon Eugene at Denain, the military
situation was changed from one very much in favour of the
allies to one slightly against them, and so contributed beyond
all doubt to bring about the Peace of Utrecht."

_G. Saintsbury,
Marlborough,
chapter 7._

ALSO IN:
_G. B. Malleson,
Prince Eugene of Savoy,
chapter 12._

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 3, chapter 11 (volume 3)._

See, also,
ENGLAND: A. D. 1710-1712.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1713-1714.
The Treaties of Utrecht.
Cession of the Spanish Provinces to the House of Austria.
Barrier towns secured.

See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1713-1715.
Second Barrier Treaty with England.
Barrier arrangements with France and the Emperor.

Connected with the other arrangements concluded in the
treaties negotiated at Utrecht, the States, in 1713, signed a
new Barrier Treaty with England, "annulling that of 1709, and
providing that the Emperor Charles should be sovereign of the
Netherlands [heretofore the 'Spanish Provinces,' but now
become the 'Austrian Provinces'], which, neither in the whole
nor in the part, should ever be possessed by France. The
States, on their side, were bound to support, if required, the
succession of the Electress of Hanover to the throne of
England. … By the treaty concluded between France and the
States, it was agreed that … the towns of Menin, Tournay,
Namur, Ypres, with Warneton, Poperingen, Comines and Werwyk,
Fumes, Dixmuyde, and the fort of Knokke, were to be ceded to
the States, as a barrier, to be held in such a manner as they
should afterwards agree upon with the Emperor." In the
subsequent arrangement, concluded with the Emperor in 1715,
"he permitted the boundary on the side of Flanders to be fixed
in a manner highly satisfactory to the States, who sought
security rather than extent of dominion. By the possession of
Namur they commanded the passage of the Sambre and Meuse;
Tournay ensured the navigation of the Scheldt; Menin and
Warneton protected the Leye; while Ypres and the fort of
Knokke kept open the communication with Fumes, Nieuport and
Dunkirk. … Events proved the barrier, so earnestly insisted
upon, to have been wholly insufficient as a means of defence
to the United Provinces, and scarcely worth the labour and
cost of its maintenance."

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
chapter 11 (volume 3)._

(NETHERLANDS: Holland): A. D. 1713-1725.
Continued Austro-Spanish troubles.
The Triple Alliance.
The Quadruple Alliance.
The Alliance of Hanover.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1713-1725;
also, ITALY: A. D. 1715-1735.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1729-1731.
The Treaty of Seville.
The second Treaty of Vienna.
The Ostend Company abolished.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1726-1731.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1731-1740.
The question of the Austrian Succession.
Guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1718-1738; and 1740.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1740-1741.
Beginning of the War of the Austrian Succession.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1740-1741.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland): A. D. 1743.
The War of the Austrian Succession: Dutch Subsidies and Troops.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1743; and 1743-1744.

NETHERLANDS: (Austrian Provinces): A. D. 1744.
Invasion by the French.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1743-1744.

NETHERLANDS: (The Austrian Provinces): A. D. 1745.
The War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy.
French conquests.