MONS SURRENDERED.

Considering the situation of the French, the number of their troops, and the manner in which they were fortified, nothing could be more rash and imprudent than the attack, which cost the lives of so many gallant men, and was attended with so little advantage to the conquerors. Perhaps the duke of Marlborough thought a victory was absolutely necessary to support his sinking interest at the court of Great Britain. His intention was to have given battle before the enemy had intrenched themselves; but prince Eugene insisted upon delaying the action until the reinforcement should arrive from Tournay. The extraordinary carnage is imputed to the impetuosity of the prince of Orange, whose aim through this whole war was to raise himself into consideration with the states-general by signal acts of military prowess. The French having retired to Valenciennes, the allies were left at liberty to besiege Mons, which capitulated about the end of October; and both armies were distributed in winter quarters. The campaign on the Rhine produced nothing but one sharp action, between a detachment of the French army commanded by the count de Borgh, and a body of troops under count Merci, who had passed the Rhine in order to penetrate into Franche-compte. The Imperial officer was worsted in this encounter, with the loss of two thousand men; obliged to repass the river, and retire to Fribourg. In Piedmont, velt-mareschal Thaun commanded the confederates in the room of the duke of Savoy, who refused to take the field until some differences, which had arisen between the emperor and him, should be adjusted. Thaun's design was to besiege Briancon; but the duke of Berwick had taken such precautions as frustrated his intention, though part of the troops under the French general were employed in suppressing an insurrection of the Camisars, and other malcontents in the Vivaraz. These were entirely defeated in a pitched battle; and Abraham, one of their leaders, being taken, was broke alive upon the wheel; three-and-twenty were hanged, and the other prisoners sent to the galleys. The pope delayed acknowledging king Charles under various pretences, in hopes that the campaign would prove favourable to the house of Bourbon; till at length the emperor giving him to understand that his army should take up their winter quarters in the ecclesiastical state, his holiness solemnly owned Charles as king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily.



CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN.

The military operations in Spain and Portugal were unfavourable to the allies. On the seventh of May, the Portuguese and English were defeated at Caya by the Spaniards, under the command of the mareschal de Bay. The castle of Alicant, guarded by two English regiments, had been besieged, and held out during a whole winter. At length the chevalier d'Asfeldt ordered the rock to be undermined, and having lodged two hundred barrels of gunpowder, gave Syburg the governor to understand, that two of his officers might come out and see the condition of the works. This offer being accepted, Asfeldt in person accompanied them to the mine: he told them he could not bear the thoughts of seeing so many brave men perish in the ruins of a place they had so gallantly defended, and allowed them four-and-twenty hours to consider on the resolution they should take. Syburg continued deaf to his remonstrances; and, with an obstinacy that savoured more of stupidity than of valour, determined to stand the explosion. When the sentinels that were posted on the side of the hill gave notice, by a preconcerted signal, that fire was set to the mine, the governor ordered the guard to retire, and walked out to the parade accompanied by several officers. The mine being sprung, the rock opened under their feet, and they falling into the chasm, it instantly closed, and crushed them to death. Notwithstanding this dreadful incident, colonel d'Albon, who succeeded to the command, resolved to defend the place to the last extremity. Sir Edward Whitaker sailed from Barcelona to the relief of the place; but the enemy had erected such works as effectually hindered the troops from landing. Then general Stanhope, who commanded them, capitulated with the Spanish general for the garrison, which marched out with all the honours of war, and was transported to Minorca, where the men were put into quarters of refreshment. On the frontiers of Catalonia, general Starem-berg maintained his ground, and even annoyed the enemy. He passed the Segra, and reduced Balaguer; having left a strong garrison in the place, he repassed the river, and sent his forces into winter quarters. The most remarkable event of this summer was the battle of Poultowa, in which the king of Sweden was entirely defeated by the czar of Muscovy, and obliged to take refuge at Bender, a town of Moldavia, in the Turkish dominions. Augustus immediately marched into Poland against Stanislaus, and renounced his own resignation, as if it had been the effect of compulsion. He formed a project with the kings of Denmark and Prussia to attack the Swedish territories in three different places; but the emperor and maritime powers prevented the execution of this scheme, by entering into a guarantee for preserving the peace of the empire. Nevertheless, the king of Denmark declared war against Sweden, and transported an army over the Sound of Schonen; but they were attacked and defeated by the Swedes, and obliged to re-embark with the utmost precipitation. The war still continued to rage in Hungary, where, however, the revolters were routed in many petty engagements.



FRENCH KING'S PROPOSALS OF TREATING REJECTED BY THE STATES-GENERAL.

Though the events of the summer had been less unfavourable to France than Louis had reason to expect, he saw that peace was as necessary as ever to his kingdom; but he thought he might now treat with some freedom and dignity. His minister, Torcy, maintained a correspondence with Mr. Petkum, resident of the duke of Holstein at the Hague: he proposed to this minister, that the negotiation should be renewed; and demanded passes, by virtue of which the French plenipotentiaries might repair in safety to Holland. In the meantime, the French king withdrew his troops from Spain, on pretence of demonstrating his readiness to oblige the allies in that particular; though this measure was the effect of necessity, which obliged him to recall those troops for the defence of his own dominions. The states-general refused to grant passes to the French ministers; but they allowed Petkum to make a journey to Versailles. In the interim king Philip published a manifesto, protesting against all that should be transacted at the Hague to his prejudice. Far from yielding Spain and the Indies to his competitor, he declared his intention of driving Charles from those places that were now in his possession. He named the duke of Alba and count Bergheyck for his plenipotentiaries, and ordered them to notify their credentials to the maritime powers; but no regard was paid to their intimation. Philip tampered likewise with the duke of Marlborough; and the marquis de Torcy renewed his attempts upon that general; but all his application and address proved ineffectual. Petkum brought back from Versailles a kind of memorial, importing, that those motives which influenced the French before the campaign was opened, no longer subsisted; that the winter season naturally produced a cessation of arms, during which he would treat of a general and reasonable peace, without restricting himself to the form of the preliminaries which the allies had pretended to impose; that, nevertheless, he would still treat on the foundation of those conditions to which he had consented, and send plenipotentiaries to begin the conference with those of the allies on the first day of January. The states-general inveighed against this memorial, as a proof of the French king's insincerity; though he certainly had a right to retract those offers they had formerly rejected. They came to a resolution, that it was absolutely necessary to prosecute the war with rigour; and they wrote pressing letters on the subject to all their allies.

{ANNE, 1701—1714}



ACCOUNT OF DE SACHEVEREL.

The parliament of Great Britain being assembled on the fifteenth day of November, the queen in her speech told both houses that the enemy had endeavoured, by false appearances and deceitful insinuations of a desire after peace, to create jealousies among the allies: that God Almighty had been pleased to bless the arms of the confederates with a most remarkable victory and other successes, which had laid France open to the impression of the allied arms, and consequently rendered peace more necessary to that kingdom than it was at the beginning of the campaign. She insisted upon the expediency of prosecuting the advantages she had gained, by reducing that exorbitant and oppressive power which had so long threatened the liberties of Europe. The parliament were as eager and compliant as ever.. They presented congratulatory addresses: they thanked the duke of Marlborough for his signal services; while great part of the nation reproached him with having wantonly sacrificed so many thousand lives to his own private interest and reputation. In less than a month the commons granted upwards of six millions for the service of the ensuing year, and established a lottery, with other funds, to answer this enormous supply. On the thirteenth day of December, Mr. Dolben, son to the late archbishop of York, complained to the house of two sermons preached and published by Dr. Henry Sacheverel, rector of St. Saviour's in Southwark, as containing positions contrary to revolution principles, to the present government, and the protestant succession. Sacheverel was a clergyman of narrow intellects, and an overheated imagination. He had acquired some popularity among those who had distinguished themselves by the name of high-churchmen, and took all occasions to vent his animosity against the dissenters. At the summer assizes at Derby, he had held forth in that strain before the judges; on the fifth day of November, in Saint Paul's church, he, in a violent declamation, defended the doctrine of non-resistance; inveighed against the toleration and dissenters; declared the church was dangerously attacked by her enemies, and slightly defended by her false friends: he sounded the trumpet for the church, and exhorted the people to put on the whole armour of God. Sir Samuel Garrard, the lord mayor, countenanced this harangue, which was published under his protection, extolled by the tories, and circulated all over the nation. The complaint of Mr. Dolben against Sacheverel, was seconded in the house of commons by sir Peter King and other members. The most violent paragraphs were read: the sermons were voted scandalous and seditious libels. Sacheverel, being brought to the bar of the house, acknowledged himself the author of both, and mentioned the encouragement he had received from the lord mayor to print that which was entitled, "The Perils of False Brethren." Sir Samuel, who was a member, denied he had ever given him such encouragement. The doctor being ordered to withdraw, the house resolved he should be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors; and Mr. Dolben was ordered to impeach him at the bar of the house of lords, in the name of all the commons of England. A committee was appointed to draw up articles, and Sacheverel was taken into custody. At the same time, in order to demonstrate their own principles, they resolved that the reverend Mr. Benjamin Hoadly, rector of St. Peter-le-Poor, for having often justified the principles on which her majesty and the nation proceeded in the late happy revolution, had justly merited the favour and recommendation of the house; and they presented an address to the queen, beseeching her to bestow some dignity in the church on Mr. Hoadly, for his eminent service both to the church and state. The queen returned a civil answer, though she paid no regard to their recommendation. Hoadly was a clergyman of sound understanding, unblemished character, and uncommon moderation, who, in a sermon preached before the lord mayor of London, had demonstrated the lawfulness of resisting wicked and cruel governors, and vindicated the late revolution. By avowing such doctrines, he incurred the resentment of the high churchmen, who accused him of having preached up rebellion. Many books were written against the maxims he professed. These he answered; and, in the course of the controversy, acquitted himself with superior temper, judgment, and solidity of argument. He as well as Bishop Burnet and several other prelates, had been treated with great virulence in Sacheverel's sermon, and the-lord treasurer was scurrilously abused under the name of Volpone. The doctor being impeached at the bar of the upper house, petitioned that he might be admitted to bail; but this indulgence was refused, and the commons seemed bent upon prosecuting him with such severity as gave disgust to men of moderate principles. Meanwhile the tories were not idle. They boldly affirmed that the whigs had formed a design to pull down the church, and that this prosecution was intended to try their strength before they could proceed openly to the execution of their project. These assertions were supported, and even credited by great part of the clergy, who did not fail to alarm and inflame their hearers; while emissaries were employed to raise a ferment among the populace, already prepared with discontent, arising from a scarcity which prevailed in almost every country of Europe. The ministers magnified the dangers to which the church was exposed, from dissenters, whigs, and lukewarm prelates. These they represented as the authors of a ruinous war, which in a little time would produce universal famine; and as the immediate encouragers of those Palatine refugees who had been brought over, to the number of six thousand, and maintained by voluntary contributions, until they could be conveniently transported into Ireland and the plantations of America. The charity bestowed upon those unhappy strangers exasperated the poor of England, who felt severely the effects of the dearth, and helped to fill up the measure of popular discontent. The articles against Dr. Sacheverel being exhibited, his person was committed to the deputy-usher of the black rod, but afterwards the lords admitted him to bail. Then he drew up an answer to the charge, in which he denied some articles, and others he endeavoured to justify or extenuate. The commons having sent up a replication, declaring they were ready to prove the charge, the lords appointed the twenty-seventh day of February for the trial in Westminster-hall.



HIS TRIAL.

The eyes of the whole kingdom were turned upon this extraordinary trial. It lasted three weeks, during which all other business was suspended; and the queen herself was every day present, though in quality of a private spectator. The managers for the commons were sir Joseph Jekyl, Mr. Eyre, solicitor-general, sir Peter King, recorder of the city of London, lieutenant-general Stanhope, sir Thomas Parker, and Mr. Robert Walpole, treasurer of the navy. The doctor was defended by sir Simon Harcourt and Mr. Phipps, and assisted by Dr. Atterbury, Dr. Smallridge, and Dr. Friend. A vast multitude attended him every day to and from Westminster-hall, striving to kiss his hand, and praying for his deliverance, as if he had been a martyr and confessor. The queen's sedan was beset by the populace, exclaiming, "God bless your majesty and the church. We hope your majesty is for Dr. Sacheverel." They compelled all persons to lift their hats to the doctor as he passed in his coach to the temple, where he lodged; and among these some members of parliament, who were abused and insulted. They destroyed several meeting houses; plundered the dwelling houses of eminent dissenters; and threatened to pull down those of the lord chancellor, the earl of Wharton, and the bishop of Sarum. They even proposed to attack the bank, so that the directors were obliged to send to Whitehall for assistance. The horse and foot guards were immediately sent to disperse the rioters, who fled at their approach. Next day the guards were doubled at Whitehall, and the train bands of Westminster continued in arms during the whole trial. The commons entreated the queen, in an address, to take effectual measures for suppressing the present tumults, set on foot and fomented by papists, nonjurors, and other enemies to her title and government. She expressed a deep sense of their care and concern, as well as a just resentment at these tumultuous and violent proceedings. She published a proclamation for suppressing the tumults; and several persons being apprehended, were afterwards tried for high-treason. Two of them were convicted and sentenced to die, but neither suffered. The commons presented another address of thanks to her majesty for her gracious answer to their first remonstrance. They took this occasion to declare, that the prosecution of the commons against Dr. Henry Sacheverel proceeded only from the indispensable obligation they lay under to vindicate the late happy revolution, the glory of their royal deliverer, her own title and administration, the present established and protestant succession, together with the toleration and the quiet of the government. When the doctor's counsel had finished his defence, he himself recited a speech, wherein he solemnly justified his intentions towards the queen and her government, and spoke in the most respectful terms of the revolution and the protestant succession. He maintained the doctrine of "non-resistance" in all cases whatsoever, as a maxim of the church in which he was educated, and by many pathetical expressions endeavoured to excite the compassion of the audience. He was surrounded by the queen's chaplains, who encouraged and extolled him as the champion of the church; and he was privately favoured by the queen herself, who could not but relish a doctrine so well calculated for the support of regal authority.



DEBATES UPON IT IN THE LORDS.

On the tenth day of March, the lords being adjourned to their own house, the earl of Nottingham proposed the following question:—"Whether, in prosecutions by impeachments for high crimes and misdemeanors, by writing or speaking, the particular words supposed to be criminal are necessary to be expressly specified in such impeachments?" The judges being consulted, were unanimously of opinion, that, according to law, the grounds of an indictment or impeachment ought to be expressly mentioned in both. One of the lords having suggested that the judges had delivered their opinions according to the rules of Westminster-hall, and not according to the usage of parliament, the house resolved, that in impeachments they should proceed according to the laws of the land, and the law and usage of parliament. On the sixteenth day of the month, the queen being in the house incognita, they proceeded to consider whether or not the commons had made good the articles exhibited against Dr. Sacheverel. The earl of Wharton observed, that the doctor's speech was a full confutation and condemnation of his sermon: that all he had advanced about non-resistance and unlimited obedience was false and ridiculous: that the doctrine of passive obedience, as urged by the doctor, was not reconcileable to the practice of churchmen: that if the revolution was not lawful, many in that house, and vast numbers without, were guilty of blood, murder, rapine, and injustice; and that the queen herself was no lawful sovereign, since the best title she had to the crown was her parliamentary title, founded upon the revolution. He was answered by the lord Haversham in a long speech. Lord Ferrers said, if the doctor was guilty of some foolish unguarded expressions, he ought to have been tried at common law. The earl of Scarborough observed, the revolution was a nice point, and above the law; he moved that they should adjourn the debate, and take time to consider before they gave judgment. Dr. Hooper, bishop of Bath and Wells, allowed the necessity and legality of resistance in some extraordinary cases; but was of opinion, that this maxim ought to be concealed from the knowledge of the people, who are naturally too apt to resist; that the revolution was not to be boasted of, or made a precedent; but that a mantle ought to be thrown over it, and it should be called a vacancy or abdication. He said the original compact were dangerous words, not to be mentioned without great caution; that those who examined the revolution too nicely were no friends to it; and that there seemed to be a necessity for preaching up non-resistance and passive obedience at that time, when resistance was justified. The duke of Argyle affirmed, that the clergy in all ages had delivered up the rights and privileges of the people, preaching up the king's power, in order to govern him the more easily; and therefore they ought not to be suffered to meddle with politics. The earl of Anglesea owned the doctor had preached nonsense; but said, that was no crime. The duke of Leeds distinguished between resistance and revolution; for had not the last succeeded, it would have certainly been rebellion, since he knew of no other but hereditary right. The bishop of Salisbury justified resistance from the book of Maccabees; he mentioned the conduct of queen Elizabeth, who assisted the Scots, the French, and the states-general, in resisting their different sovereigns, and was supported in this practice both by her parliaments and her convocations. He observed that king Charles I. had assisted the citizens of Rochelle in their rebellion; that Manwayring incurred a severe censure from the parliament, for having broached the doctrine of the divine right of kings; and that though this became a favourite maxim after the restoration, yet its warmest asserters were the first who pleaded for resistance when they thought themselves oppressed. The archbishop of York, the duke of Buckingham, and other leaders of the tory interest, declared that they never read such a piece of madness and nonsense as Sacheverel's sermon; but they did not think him guilty of a misdemeanor. Next day, Dr. Wake, bishop of Lincoln, accused Sacheverel of having made a strange and false representation of the design for a comprehension, which had been set on foot by archbishop Sancroft, and promoted by the most eminent divines of the church of England. He was of opinion that some step should be taken for putting a stop to such preaching, as, if not timely corrected, it might kindle heats and animosities that would endanger both church and state. Dr. Trimnel, bishop of Norwich, expatiated on the insolence of Sacheverel, who had arraigned archbishop Grindal, one of the eminent reformers, as a perfidious prelate, for having favoured and tolerated the discipline of Geneva. He enlarged upon the good effects of the toleration. He took notice of Sacheverel's presumption in publishing inflammatory prayers, declaring himself under persecution, while he was prosecuted for offending against the law, by those who in common justice ought to be thought the fairest accusers, and before their lordships, who were justly acknowledged to be the most impartial judges. In discussing the fourth article, the bishop of Salisbury spoke with great vehemence against Sacheverel, who, by inveighing against the revolution, toleration, and union, seemed to arraign and attack the queen herself; since her majesty had so great a share in the first, had often declared she would maintain the second, and that she looked upon the third as the most glorious event of her reign. He affirmed that nothing could be more plain than the doctor's reflecting upon her majesty's ministers; and that he had so well marked out a noble peer there present, by an ugly and scurrilous epithet which he would not repeat, that it was not possible to mistake his meaning. Some of the younger peers could not help laughing at this undesigned sarcasm upon the lord-treasurer, whom Sacheverel had reviled under the name of Volpone; they exclaimed, "Name him, name him;" and in all probability the zealous bishop, who was remarkable for absence of mind and unguarded expressions, would have gratified their request, had not the chancellor, interposing, declared that no peer Was obliged to say more than he should think proper.

After obstinate disputes, and much virulent altercation, Sacheverel was found guilty by a majority of seventeen voices; and four-and-thirty peers entered a protest against this decision. He was prohibited from preaching for the term of three years: his two sermons were ordered to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman, in presence of the lord mayor and the two sheriffs of London and Middlesex. The lords likewise voted that the executioner should commit to the same fire the famous decree passed in the convocation of the university of Oxford, asserting the absolute authority and indefeasible right of princes. A like sentence was denounced by the commons upon a book intituled, "Collections of Passages referred to by Dr. Sacheverel, in his Answer to the Articles of Impeachment." These he had selected from impious books lately published, and they were read by his counsel, as proofs that the church was in danger. The lenity of the sentence passed upon Sacheverel, which was in a great measure owing to the dread of popular resentment, his friends considered as a victory obtained over a whig faction, and they celebrated their triumph with bonfires and illuminations.

{1710}

On the fifth day of April, the queen ordered the parliament to be prorogued, after having, in her speech to both houses, expressed her concern for the necessary occasion which had taken up great part of their time towards the latter end of the session. She declared that no prince could have a more true and tender concern for the welfare and prosperity of the church than she had, and should always have; and she said it was very injurious to take a pretence from wicked and malicious libels, to insinuate that the church was in danger by her administration.



CONFERENCES AT GERTRUYDENBURGH.

The French king, seeing the misery of his people daily increase, and all his resources fail, humbled himself again before the allies, and by the means of Petkum, who still corresponded with his ministers, implored the states-general that the negotiation might be resumed. In order to facilitate their consent, he despatched a new project of pacification, in which he promised to renounce his grandson, and to comply with all their other demands, provided the electors of Cologn and Bavaria should be re-established in their estates and dignities. These overtures being rejected, another plan was offered, and communicated to the plenipotentiaries of the emperor and queen of Great Britain. Then Petkum wrote a letter to the marquis de Torcy, intimating, that the allies required his most christian majesty should declare, in plain and expressive terms, that he consented to all the preliminaries, except the thirty-seventh article, which stipulated a cessation of arms, in case the Spanish monarchy should be delivered to king Charles in the space of two months. He said the allies would send passports to the French ministers, to treat of an equivalent for that article. Louis was even forced to swallow this bitter draught. He signified his consent, and appointed the mareschal D'Uxelles and the abbe Polignac his plenipotentiaries. They were not suffered, however, to enter Holland, but were met by the deputies Buys and Vanderdussen, at Gertruydenburgh. Meanwhile, the states desired the queen of England to send over the duke of Marlborough to assist them with his advice in these conferences. The two houses of parliament seconded their request in a joint address to her majesty, who told them she had already given directions for his departure; and said she was glad to find they concurred with her in a just sense of the duke's eminent services. Both the letter and the addresses were procured by the interest of Marlborough, to let the queen see how much that nobleman was considered both at home and abroad. But she was already wholly alienated from him in her heart, and these expedients served only to increase her disgust.



PRIDE AND OBSTINACY OF THE DUTCH.

The French ministers were subjected to every species of mortification. They were in a manner confined to a small fortified town, and all their conduct narrowly watched. Their accommodation was mean: their letters were opened; and they were daily insulted by injurious libels. The Dutch deputies would hear of no relaxation, and no expedient for removing the difficulties that retarded the negotiation. In vain the plenipotentiaries declared, that the French king could not with decency, or the least regard to his honour, wage war against his own grandson: the deputies insisted upon his effecting the cession of Spain and the Indies to the house of Austria; and submitting to every other article specified in the preliminaries. Nay, they even reserved to them selves a power of making ulterior demands after the preliminaries should be adjusted. Louis proposed that some small provision should be made for the duke of Anjou, which might induce him to relinquish Spain the more easily. He mentioned the kingdom of Arragon; and this hint being disagreeable to the allies, he demanded Naples and Sicily. When they urged that Naples was already in possession of the house of Austria, he restricted the provision to Sicily and Sardinia. He offered to deliver up four cautionary towns in Flanders, as a security for Philip's evacuating Spain; and even promised to supply the confederates with a monthly sum of money, to defray the expense of expelling that prince from his dominions, should he refuse to resign them with a good grace. The substance of all the conferences was communicated to lord Townshend, and count Kinzendorf, the Imperial plenipotentiary; but the conduct of the deputies was regulated by the pensionary Heinsius, who was firmly attached to prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough, more averse than ever to a pacification. The negotiation lasted from the nineteenth day of March to the twenty-fifth of July, during which term the conferences were several times interrupted, and a great many despatches and new proposals arrived from Versailles. At length the plenipotentiaries returned to France, after having sent a letter to the pensionary, in which they declared that the proposals made by the deputies were unjust and impracticable; and complained of the unworthy treatment to which they had been exposed. Louis resolved to hazard another campaign, not without hope that there might be some lucky incident in the events of war, and that the approaching revolution in the English ministry, of which he was well apprized, would be productive of a more reasonable pacification. The states-general resolved, that the enemy had departed from the foundation on which the negotiation had begun, and studied pretences to evade the execution of the capital points, the restitution of Spain and the Indies: and, in short, that France had no other view than to sow and create jealousy and disunion among the allies. Lord Townshend, in a memorial, assured them that the queen entirely approved their resolution, and all the steps they had taken in the course of the negotiation; and that she was firmly resolved to prosecute the war with all possible vigour, until the enemy should accept such terms of peace as might secure the tranquillity of the christian world.



DOUAY, BETHUNE, AIRE, &c. TAKEN BY THE CONFEDERATES.

The conferences did not retard the operation of the campaign. Prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough set out from the Hague on the fifteenth day of March for Tournay, in order to assemble the forces which were quartered on the Maese, in Flanders, and Brabant. On the twentieth of April, they suddenly advanced to Pont-a-Vendin, in order to attack the lines upon which the French had been at work all the winter, hoping by these to cover Douay and other frontier towns, which were threatened by the confederates. The troops left for the defence of the lines retired without opposition. The allies having laid bridges over the scarp, the duke of Marlborough with his division passed the river and encamped at Vitri. Prince Eugene remained on the other side and invested Douay, the enemy retiring towards Cambray. Mareschal Villars still commanded the French army, which was extremely numerous and well appointed, considering the distress of that kingdom. Indeed, the number was augmented by that distress; for many thousands saved themselves from dying of hunger, by carrying arms in the service. The mareschal having assembled all his forces, passed the Schelde, and encamped at Boucham, declaring that he would give battle to the confederates: an alteration was immediately made in the disposition of the allies, and proper precautions taken for his reception. He advanced in order of battle; but having viewed the situation of the confederates, he marched back to the heights of St. Lawrence, where he fixed his camp. His aim was, by continual alarms, to interrupt the siege of Douay, which was vigorously defended by a numerous garrison, under the command of monsieur Albergotti, who made a number of successful sallies, in which the besiegers lost a great number of men. They were likewise repulsed in several assaults; but still proceeded with unremitted vigour until the besieged, being reduced to the last extremity, were obliged to capitulate on the twenty-sixth of June, fifty days after the trenches had been opened. The generals finding it impracticable to attack the enemy, who were posted within strong lines from Arras towards Miramont, resolved to besiege Bethune, which was invested on the fifteenth day of July, and surrendered on the twenty-ninth of August. Villars marched out of his intrenchments with a view to raise the siege; but he did not think proper to hazard an engagement: some warm skirmishes, however, happened between the foragers of the two armies. After the reduction of Bethune, the allies besieged at one time the towns of Aire and St. Venant, which were taken without much difficulty. Then the armies broke up, and marched into winter quarters.



KING CHARLES, OBTAINING A VICTORY AT SARAGOSSA, ENTERS MADRID.

The campaign on the Rhine was productive of no military event; nor was anything of consequence transacted in Piedmont. The duke of Savoy being indisposed and out of humour, the command of the forces still continued vested in count Thaun, who endeavoured to pass the Alps, and penetrated into Dauphine; but the duke of Berwick had cast up intrenchments in the mountains, and taken such precautions to guard them, as baffled all the attempts of the Imperial general. Spain was much more fruitful of military incidents. The horse and dragoons in the army of king Charles, headed by general Stanhope, attacked the whole cavalry of the enemy at Almennara. Stanhope charged in person, and with his own hand slew general Amessaga, who commanded the guards of Philip. The Spanish horse were entirely routed, together with nine battalions that escaped by favour of the darkness; and the main body of the army retired with precipitation to Lerida. General Starem-berg pursued them to Saragossa, where he found them drawn up in order of battle; and an engagement ensuing on the ninth day of August, the enemy were totally defeated: five thousand of their men were killed, seven thousand taken, together with all their artillery, and a great number of colours and standards. King Charles entered Saragossa in triumph, while Philip with the wreck of his army retreated to Madrid. Having sent his queen and son to Vittoria, he retired to Valladolid, in order to collect his scattered forces so as to form another army. The good fortune of Charles was of short duration. Stanhope proposed that he should immediately secure Pampeluna, the only pass by which the French king could send troops to Spain; but this salutary scheme was rejected. King Charles proceeded to Madrid, which was deserted by all the grandees; and he had the mortification to see that the Castilians were universally attached to his competitor.



BATTLE OF VILLAVICIOSA.

While his forces continued cantoned in the neighbourhood of Toleda, the king of France, at the request of Philip, sent the duke de Vendome to take the command of the Spanish army, which was at the same time reinforced by detachments of French troops. Vendome's reputation was so high, and his person so beloved by the soldiery, that his presence was almost equivalent to an army. A great number of volunteers immediately assembled to signalize themselves under the eye of this renowned general. The Castilians were inspired with fresh courage, and made surprising efforts in favour of their sovereign; so that in less than three months after his defeat at Saragossa, he was in a condition to go in quest of his rival. Charles, on the other hand, was totally neglected by the courts of Vienna and Great Britain, which took no steps to supply his wants, or enable him to prosecute the advantages he had gained. In the beginning of November his army marched back to Saragossa, and was cantoned in the neighbourhood of Cifuentes, where Staremberg established his head-quarters. General Stanhope, with the British forces, was quartered in the little town of Brihuega, where, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, he found himself suddenly surrounded by the whole Spanish army. As the place was not tenable, and he had very little ammunition, he was obliged, after a short but vigorous resistance, to capitulate and surrender himself and all his forces prisoners of war, to the amount of two thousand men, including three lieutenant-generals, one major-general, one brigadier, with all the colonels and officers of the respective regiments. He was greatly censured for having allowed himself to be surprised; for if he had placed a guard upon the neighbouring hills, according to the advice of general Carpenter, he might have received notice of the enemy's approach in time enough to retire to Cifuentes. Thither he had detached his aide-camp with an account of his situation on the appearance of the Spanish army; and Staremberg immediately assembled his forces. About eleven in the forenoon, they began to march towards Brihuega; but the roads were so bad that night overtook them before they, reached the heights in the neighbourhood of that place. Staremberg is said to have loitered away his time unnecessarily, from motives of envy to the English general, who had surrendered before his arrival. The troops lay all night on their arms near Villaviciosa, and on the twenty-ninth were attacked by the enemy, who doubled their number. Staremberg's left wing was utterly defeated, all the infantry that composed it having been either cut in pieces or taken; but the victors instead of following up the blow began to plunder the baggage; and Staremberg with his right wing fought their left with surprising valour and perseverance till night. Then they retired in disorder, leaving him master of the field of battle and of all their artillery. Six thousand of the enemy were killed on the spot; but the allies had suffered so severely that the general could not maintain his ground. He ordered the cannon to be nailed up, and marched to Saragossa, from whence he retired to Catalonia. Thither he was pursued by the duke de Vendome, who reduced Belaguer, in which he had left a garrison, and compelled him to take shelter under the walls of Barcelona. At this period the duke de Noailles invested Gironne, which he reduced notwithstanding the severity of the weather; so that Philip, from a fugitive, became in three months absolute master of the whole Spanish monarchy, except the province of Catalonia, and even that lay open to his incursions. Nothing of consequence was achieved on the side of Portugal, from whence the earl of Galway returned to England by the queen's permission. The operations of the British fleet, during this summer, were so inconsiderable as scarce to deserve notice. Sir John Norris commanded in the Mediterranean, and with a view to support the Camisars, who were in arms in the Cevennois, sailed to Port Cette, within a league of Marseilles, and at the distance of fifteen from the insurgents. The place surrendered, without opposition, to about seven hundred men that landed under the command of major-general Suissan, a native of Languedoc. He likewise made himself master of the town and castle of Eyde; but the duke de Noailles advancing with a body of forces to join the duke de Roquelaire, who commanded in those parts, the English abandoned their conquests, and re-embarked with precipitation. After the battle of Poultowa the czar of Muscovy reduced all Livonia; but he and king Augustus agreed to a neutrality for Pomerania. The king of Sweden continued at Bender, and the grand seignor interested himself so much in favour of that prince, as to declare war against the emperor of Russia. Hostilities were carried on between the Swedish and Danish fleets with various success. The malcontents in Hungary sustained repeated losses during the summer; but they were encouraged to maintain the war by the rupture between the Ottoman Porte and Russia. They were flattered with hopes of auxiliaries from the Turks; and expected engineers and money from the French monarch.

{ANNE, 1701—1714}



THE WHIG MINISTRY DISGRACED.

In England, the effects of those intrigues which had been formed against the whig ministers began to appear. The trial of Sacheverel had excited a popular spirit of aversion to those who favoured the dissenters. From all parts of the kingdom addresses were presented to the queen, censuring all resistance as a rebellious doctrine, founded upon anti-monarchial and republican principles. At the same time counter-addresses were procured by the whigs, extolling the revolution and magnifying the conduct of the present parliament. The queen began to express her attachment to the tories, by mortifying the duke of Marlborough. Upon the death of the earl of Essex, she wrote to the general desiring that the regiment which had been commanded by that nobleman should be given to Mr. Hill, brother to Mrs. Masham, who had supplanted the duchess of Marlborough in the queen's friendship, and was, in effect, the source of this political revolution. The duke represented to her majesty in person, the prejudice that would redound to the service from the promotion of such a young officer over the heads of a great many brave men, who had exhibited repeated proofs of valour and capacity. He expostulated with his sovereign on this extraordinary mark of partial regard to the brother of Mrs. Masham, which he could not help considering as a declaration against himself and his family, who had so much cause to complain of that lady's malice and ingratitude. To this remonstrance the queen made no other reply, but that he would do well to consult his friends. The earl of Godolphin enforced his friend's arguments, though without effect; and the duke retired in disgust to Windsor. The queen appeared at council without taking the least notice of his absence, which did not fail to alarm the whole whig faction. Several noblemen ventured to speak to her majesty on the subject, and explain the bad consequences of disobliging a man who had done such eminent services to the nation. She told them his services were still fresh in her memory; and that she retained all her former kindness for his person. Hearing, however, that a popular clamour was raised, and that the house of commons intended to pass some votes that would be disagreeable to her and her new counsellors, she ordered the earl of Godolphin to write to the duke to dispose of the regiment as he should think proper, and return to town immediately. Before he received this intimation, he had sent a letter to the queen desiring she would permit him to retire from business. In answer to this petition, she assured him his suspicions were groundless, and insisted upon his coming to council. The duchess demanded an audience of her majesty, on pretence of vindicating her own character from some aspersions. She hoped to work upon the queen's tenderness, and retrieve the influence she had lost. She protested, argued, wept, and supplicated; but the queen was too well pleased with her own deliverance from the tyranny of the other's friendship, to incur such slavery for the future. All the humiliation of the duchess served only to render herself the more contemptible. The queen heard her without exhibiting the least sign of emotion, and all she would vouchsafe, was a repetition of these words—"You desired no answer, and you shall have none;" alluding to an expression in a letter she had received from the duchess. As an additional mortification to the ministry, the office of lord chamberlain was transferred from the duke of Kent to the duke of Shrewsbury, who had lately voted with the tories, and maintained an intimacy of correspondence with Mr. Harley. The interest of the duke of Marlborough was not even sufficient to prevent the dismissal of his own son-in-law, the earl of Sunderland, from the post of secretary of state, in which he was succeeded by lord Dartmouth.

The queen was generally applauded for thus asserting her just prerogative, and setting herself free from an arbitrary cabal, by which she had been so long kept in dependence. The duke of Beaufort went to court on this occasion, and told her majesty he was extremely glad that he could now salute her queen in reality. The whole whig party were justly alarmed at these alterations. The directors of the bank represented to her majesty the prejudice that would undoubtedly accrue to public credit from a change of the ministry. The emperor and the states-general interposed in this domestic revolution. Their ministers at London presented memorials, explaining in what manner foreign affairs would be influenced by an alteration in the British ministry. The queen assured them, that, whatever changes might be made, the duke of Marlborough should be continued in his employments. In the month of August the earl of Godolphin was divested of his office, and the treasury put in commission, subjected to the direction of Harley, appointed chancellor of the exchequer and under-treasurer. The earl of Rochester was declared president of the council in the room of lord Somers; the staff of lord steward being taken from the duke of Devonshire, was given to the duke of Buckingham; and Mr. Boyle was removed from the secretary's office to make way for Mr. Henry St. John. The lord chancellor having resigned the great seal, it was first put in commission, and afterwards given to sir Simon Harcourt. The earl of Wharton surrendered his commission of lord-lieutenant of Ireland, which the queen conferred on the duke of Ormond. The earl of Orford withdrew himself from the board of admiralty; and Mr. George Granville was appointed secretary of war in the room of Mr. Eobert Walpole. The command of the forces in Portugal was bestowed upon the earl of Portmore; the duke of Hamilton was appointed lord-lieutenant of the county palatine of Lancaster. In a word, there was not one whig left in any office of state, except the duke of Marlborough, who would have renounced his command, had not he been earnestly dissuaded by his particular friends from taking such a step as might have been prejudicial to the interests of the nation. That the triumph of the tories might be complete, the queen dissolved the whig parliament, after such precautions were taken as could not fail to influence the new election in favour of the other party.

To this end nothing so effectually contributed as did the trial of Sacheverel, who was used as an instrument and tool to wind and turn the passions of the vulgar. Having been presented to a benefice in North Wales, he went in procession to that country with all the pomp and magnificence of a sovereign prince. He was sumptuously entertained by the university of Oxford, and different noblemen, who, while they worshipped him as the idol of their faction, could not help despising the object of their adoration. He was received in several towns by the magistrates of the corporation in their formalities, and often attended by a body of a thousand horse. At Bridgenorth he was met by Mr. Creswell, at the head of four thousand horse, and the like number of persons on foot, wearing white knots edged with gold, and three leaves of gilt laurel in their hats. The hedges were for two miles dressed with garlands of flowers, and lined with people; and the steeples covered with streamers, flags, and colours. Nothing was heard but the cry of "The church and Dr. Sacheverel." The clergy were actuated by a spirit of enthusiasm, which seemed to spread like a contagion through all ranks and degrees of people, and had such an effect upon the elections for the new parliament, that very few were returned as members but such as had distinguished themselves by their zeal against the whig administration. Now the queen had the pleasure to see all the offices of state, the lieutenancy of London, the management of corporations, and the direction of both houses of parliament, in the hands of the tories. When these met on the twenty-fifth day of November, Mr. Bromley was chosen speaker without opposition. The queen, in her speech, recommended the prosecution of the war with vigour, especially in Spain. She declared herself resolved to support the church of England; to preserve the British constitution according to the union; to maintain the indulgence by law allowed to scrupulous consciences; and to employ none but such as were heartily attached to the protestant succession in the house of Hanover. The lords, in their address, promised to concur in all reasonable measures towards procuring an honourable peace. The commons were more warm and hearty in their assurances, exhorting her majesty to discountenance all such principles and measures as had lately threatened her royal crown and dignity—measures which, whenever they might prevail, would prove fatal to the whole constitution, both in church and state. After this declaration they proceeded to consider the estimates, and cheerfully granted the supplies for the ensuing year, part of which was raised by two lotteries. In the house of peers, the earl of Scarborough moved that the thanks of the house should be returned to the duke of Marlborough; but the duke of Argyle made some objections to* the motion, and the general's friends, dreading the consequence of putting the question, postponed the consideration of this proposal until the duke should return from the continent. The earl of Peterborough was appointed ambassador-extraordinary to the Imperial court; the earl of Rivers was sent in the same quality to Hanover; Mr. Richard Hill was nominated envoy-extraordinary to the United Provinces, as well as to the council of state appointed for the government of the Spanish Netherlands, in the room of lieutenant-general Cadogan. Meredith, Macartney, and Honey wood, were deprived of their regiments, because in their cups they had drank confusion to the enemies of the duke of Marlborough.



DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH INSULTED.

This nobleman arrived in England towards the latter end of December. He conferred about half an hour in private with the queen, and next morning assisted at a committee of the privy-council. Her majesty give him to understand that he needed not expect the thanks of the parliament as formerly; and told him she hoped he would live well with her ministers. He expressed no resentment at the alterations which had been made; but resolved to acquiesce in the queen's pleasure, and retain the command of the army on her own terms. On the second day of January, the queen sent a message to both houses, intimating that there had been an action in Spain to the disadvantage of king Charles; that the damage having fallen particularly on the English forces, she had given directions for sending and procuring troops to repair their loss, and hoped the parliament would approve her conduct. Both houses seized this opportunity of venting their spleen against the old ministry. The history of England is disgraced by the violent conduct of two turbulent factions, which, in their turn, engrossed the administration and legislative power. The parliamentary strain was quite altered. One can hardly conceive how resolutions so widely different could be taken on the same subject, with any shadow of reason and decorum. Marlborough, who but a few months before had been so highly extolled and caressed by the representatives of the people, was now become the object of parliamentary hatred and censure, though no sensible alteration had happened in his conduct or success. That hero, who had retrieved the glory of the British arms, won so many battles, subdued such a number of towns and districts, humbled the pride and checked the ambition of France, secured the liberty of Europe, and, as it were, chained victory to his chariot wheels, was in a few weeks dwindled into an object of contempt and derision. He was ridiculed in public libels, and reviled in private conversation. Instances were every where repeated of his fraud, warice, and extortion; his insolence, cruelty, ambition, and misconduct; even his courage was called in question; and this consummate general was represented as the lowest of mankind. So unstable is the popularity of every character that fluctuates between two opposite tides of faction.



INQUIRY INTO THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR IN SPAIN.

The lords, in their answer to the queen's message, declared, that as the misfortune in Spain might have been occasioned by some preceding mismanagement, they would use their utmost endeavours to discover it, so as to prevent the like for the future. They set on foot an inquiry concerning the affairs of Spain; and the earl of Peterborough being examined before the committee, imputed all the miscarriages in the course of that war to the earl of Galway and general Stanhope. Notwithstanding the defence of Galway, which was clear and convincing, the house resolved, that the earl of Peterborough had given a faithful and honourable account of the councils of war in Valencia: that the earl of Galway, lord Tyrawley, and general Stanhope, in advising an offensive war, had been the unhappy occasion of the battle of Almanza, the source of our misfortunes in Spain, and one great cause of the disappointment of the expedition to Toulon, concerted with her majesty. They voted that the prosecution of an offensive war in Spain was approved and directed by the ministers, who were therefore justly blameable, as having contributed to all our misfortunes in Spain, and to the disappointment of the expedition against Toulon; that the earl of Peterborough, during his command in Spain, had performed many great and eminent services; and if his opinion had been followed, it might have prevented the misfortunes that ensued. Then the duke of Buckingham moved, that the thanks of the house should be given to the earl for his remarkable and eminent services; and these he actually received from the mouth of the lord-keeper Harcourt, who took this opportunity to drop some oblique reflections upon the mercenary disposition of the duke of Marlborough. The house, proceeding in the inquiry, passed another vote, importing, that the late ministry had been negligent in managing the Spanish war, to the great prejudice of the nation. Finding that the Portuguese troops were posted on the right of the English at the battle of Almanza, they re solved, that the earl of Galway, in yielding this point, had acted contrary to the honour of the imperial crown of Great Britain. These resolutions they included in an address to the queen, who had been present during the debates, which were extremely violent; and to every separate vote was attached a severe protest. These were not the proceedings of candour and national justice, but the ebullitions of party zeal and rancorous animosity.

While the lords were employed in this inquiry, the commons examined certain abuses which had crept into the management of the navy; and some censures were passed upon certain persons concerned in contracts for victualling the seamen. The inhabitants of St. Olave's and other parishes presented a petition, complaining that a great number of Palatines, inhabiting one house, might produce among them a contagious distemper; and in time become a charge to the public, as they were destitute of all visible means of subsistence. This petition had been procured by the tories, that the house of commons might have another handle for attacking the late ministry. A committee was appointed to inquire upon what invitation or encouragement those Palatines had come to England. The papers relating to this affair being laid before them by the queen's order, and perused, the house resolved, that the inviting and bringing over the poor Palatines of all religions, at the public expense, was an extravagant and unreasonable charge to the kingdom, and a scandalous misapplication of the public money, tending to the increase and oppression of the poor, and of dangerous consequence to the constitution in church and state; and that whoever advised their being brought over was an enemy to the queen and kingdom. Animated by the heat of this inquiry, they passed the bill to repeal the act for a general naturalization of all protestants; but this was rejected in the house of lords. Another bill was enacted into a law, importing, that no person should be deemed qualified for representing a county in parliament, unless he possessed an estate of six hundred pounds a-year; and restricting the qualification of burgess to half that sum. The design of this bill was to exclude trading people from the house of commons, and to lodge the legislative power with the land-holders. A third act passed, permitting the importation of French wine in neutral bottoms: a bill against which the whigs loudly exclaimed, as a national evil, and a scandalous compliment to the enemy.



HARLEY STABBED AT THE COUNCIL BOARD.

A violent party in the house of commons began to look upon Harley as a lukewarm tory, because he would not enter precipitately into all their factious measures; they even began to suspect his principles, when his credit was re-established by a very singular accident. Guiscard, the French partisan, of whom mention hath already been made, thought himself very ill rewarded for his services, with a precarious pension of four hundred pounds, which he enjoyed from the queen's bounty. He had been renounced by St. John, the former companion of his pleasures; he had in vain endeavoured to obtain an audience of the queen, with a view to demand more considerable appointments. Harley was his enemy, and all access to her majesty was denied. Enraged at these disappointments, he attempted to make his peace with the court of France, and offered his services, in a letter to one Moreau, a banker in Paris. This packet, which he endeavoured to transmit by the way of Portugal, was intercepted, and a warrant issued out to apprehend him for high-treason. When the messenger disarmed him in St. James's Park, he exhibited marks of guilty confusion and despair, and begged that he would kill him directly. Being conveyed to the cockpit, in a sort of frenzy, he perceived a penknife lying upon a table, and took it up without being perceived by the attendants. A committee of council was immediately summoned, and Guiscard brought before them to be examined. Finding that his correspondence with Moreau was discovered, he desired to speak in private with secretary St. John, whom in all probability he had resolved to assassinate. His request being refused, he said, "That's hard! not one word!" St. John being out of his reach, he stepped up to Mr. Harley, and exclaiming, "Have at thee, then!" stabbed him in the breast with the penknife which he had concealed. The instrument broke upon the bone, without penetrating into the cavity; nevertheless he repeated the blow with such force that the chancellor of the exchequer fell to the ground. Secretary St. John, seeing him fall, cried out, "The villain has killed Mr. Harley!" and drew his sword. Several other members followed his example, and wounded Guiscard in several places. Yet he made a desperate defence, until he was overpowered by the messengers and servants, and conveyed from the council-chamber, which he had filled with terror, tumult, and confusion. His wounds, though dangerous, were not mortal; but he died of a gangrene occasioned by the bruises he had sustained. This attempt upon the life of Harley, by a person who wanted to establish a traitorous correspondence with France, extinguished the suspicions of those who began to doubt that minister's integrity. The two houses of parliament, in an address to the queen, declared their belief that Mr. Harley's fidelity to her majesty, and zeal for her service, had drawn upon him the hatred of all the abettors of popery and faction. They besought her majesty to take all possible care of her sacred person; and, for that purpose, to give directions for causing papists to be removed from the cities of London and Westminster. A proclamation was published, ordering the laws to be strictly put in execution against papists. When Harley appeared in the house of commons after his recovery, he was congratulated upon it by the speaker, in a florid and fulsome premeditated speech. An act was passed, decreeing, that an attempt upon the life of a privy-counsellor should be felony without benefit of clergy. The earl of Rochester dying, Harley became sole minister, was created baron of Wigmore, and raised to the rank of earl by the noble and ancient title of Oxford and Mortimer: to crown his prosperity, he was appointed lord-treasurer, and vested with the supreme administration of affairs.



DEATH OF THE EMPEROR JOSEPH.

The commons empowered certain persons to examine all the grants made by king William, and report the value of them, as well as the considerations upon which they were made. Upon their report a bill was formed and passed that house; but the lords rejected it at the first reading. Their next step was to examine the public accounts, with a view to fix an imputation on the earl of Godolphin. They voted that above five-and-thirty millions of the money granted by parliament remained unaccounted for. This sum, however, included some accounts in the reigns of king Charles and king William. One half of the whole was charged to Mr. Bridges, the pay-master, who had actually accounted for all the money he had received, except about three millions, though these accounts had not passed through the auditor's office. The commons afterwards proceeded to inquire into the debts of the navy, that exceeded five millions, which, with many other debts, were thrown into one stock, amounting to nine millions four hundred and seventy-one thousand three hundred and twenty-five pounds. A fund was formed for paying an interest or annuity of six per cent, until the principal should be discharged; and with this was granted a monopoly of a projected trade in the South Sea, vested in the proprietors of navy-bills, debentures, and other public securities, which were incorporated for this purpose. Such was the origin of the South Sea Company, founded upon a chimerical supposition that the English would be permitted to trade upon the coast of Peru in the West Indies. Perhaps the new ministry hoped to obtain this permission, as an equivalent for their abandoning the interest of king Charles, with respect to his pretensions upon Spain. By this time the emperor Joseph had died of the small-pox without male issue; so that his brother's immediate aim was to succeed him on the Imperial throne. This event was, on the twentieth day of April, communicated by a message from the queen to both houses. She told them that the states-general had concurred with her in a resolution to support the house of Austria; and that they had already taken such measures as would secure the election of Charles as head of the empire.

The house of commons, in order to demonstrate their attachment to the church, in consequence of an address from the lower house of convocation, and a quickening message from the queen, passed a bill for building fifty new churches in the suburbs of London and Westminster, and appropriated for this purpose the duty upon coals, which had been granted for the building of St. Paul's, now finished. This imposition was continued until it should raise the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand pounds. At the close of the session, the commons presented a remonstrance or representation to the queen, in which they told her that they had not only raised the necessary supplies, but also discharged the heavy debts of which the nation had so long and justly complained. They said that, in tracing the causes of this debt, they had discovered fraud, embezzlement, and misapplication of the public money; that they who of late years had the management of the treasury, were guilty of a notorious breach of trust and injustice to the nation, in allowing above thirty millions to remain unaccounted for; a purposed omission that looked like a design to conceal embezzlements. They begged her majesty would give immediate directions for compelling the several imprest accountants speedily to pass their accounts. They expressed their hope that such of the accountants as had neglected their duty in prosecuting their accounts, ought no longer to be intrusted with the public money. They affirmed, that from all these evil practices and worse designs of some persons, who had, by false professions of love to their country, insinuated themselves into her royal favour, irreparable mischief would have accrued to the public, had not her majesty, in her great wisdom, seasonably discovered the fatal tendency of such measures, and removed from the administration those who had so ill answered her majesty's favourable opinion, and in so many instances grossly abused the trust reposed in them. They observed, that her people could with greater patience have suffered the manifold injuries done to themselves, by the frauds and depredations of such evil ministers, had not the same men proceeded to treat her sacred person with undutifulness and disregard. This representation being circulated through the kingdom, produced the desired effect of inflaming the minds of the people against the late ministry. Such expedients were become necessary for the execution of Oxford's project, which was to put a speedy end to a war that had already subjected the people to grievous oppression, and even accumulated heavy burden s to be transmitted to their posterity. The nation was inspired by extravagant ideas of glory and conquest, even to a rage of war-making; so that the new ministers, in order to dispel those dangerous chimeras, were obliged to take measures for exciting their indignation and contempt against those persons whom they had formerly idolized as their heroes and patriots. On the twelfth day of June, the queen, having given the royal assent to several public and private bills, made an affectionate speech to both houses. She thanked the commons, in the warmest expressions, for having complied with all her desires; for having baffled the expectations of her enemies in finding supplies for the service of the ensuing year; in having granted greater sums than were ever given to any prince in one session; and in having settled funds for the payment of the public debts, so that the credit of the nation was restored. She expressed her earnest concern for the succession of the house of Hanover; and her fixed resolution to support and encourage the church of England as by law established. Then the parliament was prorogued.



PROCEEDINGS IN THE CONVOCATION.

Of the convocation which was assembled with the new parliament, the lower house chose Dr. Atterbury their prolocutor. He was an enterprising ecclesiastic, of extensive learning, acute talents, violently attached to tory principles, and intimately connected with the prime minister Oxford; so that he directed all the proceedings in the lower house of convocation in concert with that minister. The queen, in a letter to the archbishop, signified her hope that the consultations of the clergy might be of use to repress the attempts of loose and profane persons. She sent a license under the broad seal, empowering them to sit and do business in as ample a manner as ever had been granted since the reformation. They were ordered to lay before the queen an account of the excessive growth of infidelity and heresy, as well as of other abuses, that necessary measures might be taken for a reformation. The bishops were purposely slighted and overlooked, because they had lived in harmony with the late ministers. A committee being appointed to draw up a representation of the present state of the church and religion, Atterbury undertook the task, and composed a remonstrance that contained the most keen and severe strictures upon the administration, as it had been exercised since the time of the revolution. Another was penned by the bishops in more moderate terms; and several regulations were made, but in none of these did the two houses agree. They concurred, however, in censuring some tenets favouring Arianism, broached and supported by Mr. Whiston, mathematical professor in Cambridge. He had been expelled the university, and wrote a vindication of himself, dedicated to the convocation. The archbishop doubted whether this assembly could proceed against a man for heresy: the judges were consulted, and the majority of them gave in their opinion that the convocation had a jurisdiction. Four of them professed the contrary sentiment, which they maintained from the statutes made at the reformation. The queen, in a letter to the bishops, said, that as there was now no doubt of their jurisdiction, she expected that they would proceed in the matter before them. Fresh scruples arising, they determined to examine the book, without proceeding against the author, and this was censured accordingly. An extract of the sentence was sent to the queen; but she did not signify her pleasure on this subject, and the affair remained in suspense. Whiston published a work in four volumes, justifying his doctrine, and maintaining that the apostolical constitutions were not only canonical, but also preferable in point of authority to the epistles and the gospels.

{ANNE, 1701—1714}



THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH CONTINUES TO COMMAND THE ALLIED ARMY.

The new ministry had not yet determined to supersede the duke of Marlborough in the command of the army. This was a step which could not be taken without giving umbrage to the Dutch and other allies. He therefore set out for Holland in the month of February, after the queen had assured him that he might depend upon the punctual payment of the forces. Having conferred with the deputies of the states about the operations of the campaign, he, about the middle of April, assembled the army at Orchies, between Lisle and Douay; while mareschal de Villars drew together the French troops in the neighbourhood of Cambray and Arras. Louis had by this time depopulated as well as impoverished his kingdom; yet his subjects still flocked to his standard with surprising spirit and attachment. Under the pressure of extreme misery they uttered not one complaint of their sovereign; but imputed all their calamities to the pride and obstinacy of the allies. Exclusive of all the other impositions that were laid upon that people, they consented to pay the tenth penny of their whole substance; but all their efforts of loyalty and affection to their prince would have been ineffectual, had not the merchants of the kingdom, by the permission of Philip, undertaken repeated voyages to the South Sea, from whence they brought home immense treasures; while the allies took no steps for intercepting these supplies, though nothing could have been more easy for the English than to deprive the enemy of this great resource, and convert it to their own advantage. Had a squadron of ships been annually employed for this purpose, the subjects of France and Spain must have been literally starved, and Louis obliged to submit to such terms as the confederates might have thought proper to impose. Villars had found means to assemble a very numerous army, with which he encamped behind the river Sanset, in such an advantageous post as could not be attacked with any prospect of success. Meanwhile the duke of Marlborough passed the Scarpe, and formed his camp between Douay and Bouchain, where he was joined by prince Eugene on the twenty-third day of May. This general, however, did not long remain in the Netherlands. Understanding that detachments had been made from the army of Villars to the Rhine, and that the elector of Bavaria intended to act in the empire, the prince, by order from the court of Vienna, marched towards the upper Rhine with the Imperial and Palatine troops, to secure Germany. The Duke of Marlborough repassing the Scarpe, encamped in the plains of Lens, from whence he advanced towards Aire, as if he had intended to attack the French lines in that quarter. These lines beginning at Bouchain on the Schelde, were continued along the Sanset and the Scarpe to Arras, and thence along the Upper Scarpe to Canche. They were defended by redoubts and other works in such a manner, that Villars judged they were impregnable, and called them the Ne plus ultra of Marlborough.

This nobleman advancing within two leagues of the French lines, ordered a great number of fascines to be made, declaring he would attack them the next morning; so that Villars drew all his forces on that side, in full expectations of an engagement. The duke, on the supposition that the passage of the Sanset by Arleux would be left unguarded, had ordered the generals Cadogan and Hompesch to assemble twenty battalions and seventeen squadrons from Douay and the neighbouring garrisons, to march to Arleux, where they should endeavour to pass the Sanset. Brigadier Sutton was detached with the artillery and pontoons, to lay bridges over the canal near Groulezen and over the Scarpe at Vitry, while the duke with the whole confederate army began his march for the same place about nine in the evening. He proceeded with such expedition, that by five in the morning he passed the river at Vitry. There he received intelligence that Hompesch had taken possession of the passes on the Sanset and Schelde without opposition, the enemy having withdrawn their detachments from that side just as he had imagined. He himself, with his vanguard of fifty squadrons, hastened his march towards Arleux, and before eight of the clock arrived at Baca-Bachuel, where in two hours he was joined by the heads of the columns into which he hadj divided his infantry. Villars being certified of his intention, about two in the morning decamped with his whole army, and putting himself at the head of the king's household troops, marched all night with such expedition, that about eleven in the forenoon he was in sight of the duke of Marlborough, who had by this time joined count Hompesch. The French general immediately retreated to the main body of his army, which had advanced to the high road between Arras and Cambray, while the allies encamped upon the Schelde, between Oisy and Estrun, after a march of ten leagues without halting, scarce to be paralleled in history. By this plan, so happily executed, the duke of Marlborough fairly outwitted Villars, and, without the loss of one man, entered the lines which he had pronounced impregnable. This stroke of the English general was extolled as a masterpiece of military skill, while Villars was exposed to the ridicule even of his own officers. The field-deputies of the states-general proposed that he should give battle to the enemy, who passed the Schelde at Crevecoeur in order to cover Bouchain; but the duke would not hazard an engagement, considering how much the army was fatigued by the long march; and that any misfortune, while they continued within the French lines, might be fatal. His intention was to besiege Bouchain; an enterprise that was deemed impracticable, inasmuch as the place was situated in a morass, strongly fortified, and defended by a numerous garrison, in the neighbourhood of an army superior in number to that of the allies. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, and the dissuasions of his own friends, he resolved to undertake the siege; and, in the meantime, despatched brigadier Sutton to England with an account of his having passed the French lines; which was not at all agreeable to his enemies. They had prognosticated that nothing would be done during this campaign, and began to insinuate that the duke could strike no stroke of importance without the assistance of prince Eugene. They now endeavoured to lessen the glory of his success; and even taxed him with having removed his camp from a convenient situation to a place where the troops were in danger of starving. Nothing could be more provoking than this scandalous malevolence to a great man who had done so much honour to his country, and was then actually exposing his life in her service.



BOUCHAIN REDUCED.

On the tenth day of August Bouchain was invested, and the duke of Marlborough exerted himself to the utmost extent of his vigilance and capacity, well knowing the difficulties of the undertaking, and how much his reputation would depend upon his success. Villars had taken every precaution that his skill and experience could suggest, to baffle the endeavours of the English general. He had reinforced the garrison to the number of six thousand chosen men, commanded by officers of known courage and ability. He made some efforts to raise the siege; but they were rendered ineffectual by the consummate prudence and activity of the duke of Marlborough. Then he laid a scheme for surprising Douay, which likewise miscarried. If we consider that the English general, in the execution of his plan, was obliged to form lines, erect regular forts, raise batteries, throw bridges over a river, make a causeway through a deep morass, provide for the security of convoys against a numerous army on the one side, and the garrisons of Conde and Valenciennes on the other, we must allow this was the boldest enterprise of the whole war; that it required all the fortitude, skill, and resolution of a great general, and all the valour and intrepidity of the confederate troops, who had scarce ever exhibited such amazing proofs of courage upon any other occasion as they now displayed at the siege of Bouchain. In twenty days after the trenches were opened, the garrison were obliged to surrender themselves prisoners of war; and this conquest was the last military exploit performed by the duke of Marlborough: the breaches of Bouchain were no sooner repaired than the opposite armies began to separate, and the allied forces were quartered in the frontier towns, that they might be at hand to take the field early in the spring. They were now in possession of the Maese, almost as far as the Sambre; of the Schelde from Tournay; and of the Lys as far as it is navigable. They had reduced Spanish Guelderland, Limburg, Brabant, Flanders, and the greatest part of Hainault; they were masters of the Scarpe; and by the conquest of Bouchain, they had opened to themselves a way into the very bowels of France. All these acquisitions were owing to the valour and conduct of the duke of Marlborough, who now returned to the Hague, and arrived in England about the middle of November.



DUKE OF ARGYLE COMMANDS THE BRITISH TROOPS IN SPAIN.

The queen had conferred the command of her forces in Spain upon the duke of Argyle, who was recalled from the service in Flanders for that purpose. He had long been at variance with the duke of Marlborough; a circumstance which recommended him the more strongly to the ministry. He landed at Barcelona on the twenty-ninth of May, and found the British troops in the utmost distress for want of subsistence. The treasurer had promised to supply him liberally; the commons had granted one million five hundred thousand pounds for that service. All their hopes of success were fixed on the campaign in that kingdom; and indeed the army commanded by the duke de Vendome was in such a wretched condition, that if Staremberg had been properly supported by the allies, he might have obtained signal advantages. The duke of Argyle, having waited in vain for the promised remittances, was obliged, to borrow money on his own credit, before the British troops could take the field. At length Staremberg advanced towards the enemy, who attacked him at the pass of Prato del Key, where they were repulsed with considerable damage. After this action the duke of Argyle was seized with a violent fever, and conveyed back to Barcelona. Vendome invested the castle of Cardona, which was vigorously defended till the end of December, when a detachment being sent to the relief of the place, defeated the besiegers, killed two thousand on the spot, and took all their artillery, ammunition, and baggage. Staremberg was unable to follow the blow; the duke of Argyle wrote pressing letters to the ministry, and loudly complained that he was altogether unsupported; but all his remonstrances were ineffectual: no remittances arrived; and he returned to England without having been able to attempt any thing of importance. In September, king Charles, leaving his queen at Barcelona, set sail for Italy, and at Milan had an interview with the duke of Savoy, where all disputes were compromised. That prince had forced his way into Savoy and penetrated as far as the Rhine; but he suddenly halted in the middle of his career, and after a short campaign repassed the mountains. Prince Eugene, at the head of the German forces, protected the electors at Frankfort from the designs of the enemy, and Charles was unanimously chosen emperor; the electors of Cologn and Bavaria having been excluded from voting, because they lay under the ban of the empire. The war between the Ottoman Porte and the Muscovites was of short duration. The czar advanced so far into Moldavia, that he was cut off from all supplies, and altogether in the power of his enemy. In this emergency, he found means to corrupt the grand vizier in private, while in public he proposed articles of peace that were accepted. The king of Sweden, who was in the Turkish army, charged the vizier with treachery, and that minister was actually disgraced. The grand seignor threatened to renew the war; but he was appeased by the czar's surrendering Azoph.



EXPEDITION TO CANADA.

The English ministry had conceived great expectations from an expedition against Quebec and Placentia, in North America, planned by colonel Nicholson, who had taken possession of Nova Scotia, and garrisoned Porte Royal, to which he gave the name of Anapolis. He had brought four Indian chiefs to England, and represented the advantages that would redound to the nation in point of commerce, should the French be expelled from North America. The ministers relished the proposal. A body of five thousand men was embarked in transports, under the command of brigadier Hill, brother to Mrs. Masham; and they sailed from Plymouth in the beginning of May, with a strong squadron of ships commanded by sir Hovenden Walker. At Boston in New England, they were joined by two regiments of provincials; and about four thousand men, consisting of American planters, Palatines, and Indians, rendezvoused at Albany, in order to march by land into Canada, while the fleet sailed up the river of that name. On the twenty-first day of August they were exposed to a violent storm, and driven among rocks, where eight transports perished, with about eight hundred men. The admiral immediately sailed back to Spanish-river bay, where it was determined, in a council of war, that as the fleet and forces were victualled for ten weeks only, and they could not depend upon a supply of provisions from New England, they should return home without making any further attempt. Such was the issue of this paltry expedition, intrusted to the direction of an officer without talents and experience.

In the Irish parliament held during the summer, the duke of Ormond and the majority of the peers supported the tory interest, while the commons expressed the warmest attachment to revolution principles. The two houses made strenuous representations, and passed severe resolutions against each other. After the session, sir Constantine Phipps, the chancellor, and general Ingoldsby, were appointed justices in the absence of the duke of Ormond, who returned to England in the month of November. In Scotland the Jacobites made no scruple of professing their principles and attachments to the pretender. The duchess of Gordon presented the faculty of advocates with a silver medal, representing the chevalier de St. George; and on the reverse the British islands, with the motto "Redditte." After some debate, it was voted, by a majority of sixty-three voices against twelve, that the duchess should be thanked for this token of her regard. This task was performed by Dundas of Arnistoun, who thanked her grace for having presented them with a medal of their sovereign lord the king; hoping, and being confident, that her grace would very soon have an opportunity to compliment the faculty with a second medal, struck upon the restoration of the king and royal family, upon the finishing rebellion, usurping tyranny, and whiggery. An account of this transaction being laid before the queen, the lord-advocate was ordered to inquire into the particulars. Then the faculty were so intimidated that they disowned Dundas, and Home his accomplice. They pretended that the affair of the medal had been transacted by a party at an occasional meeting, and not by general consent; and, by a solemn act, they declared their attachment to the queen and the protestant succession. The court was satisfied with this atonement; but the resident from Hanover having presented a memorial to the queen, desiring that Dundas and his associates might be prosecuted, the government removed sir David Dalrymple from his office of lord-advocate, on pretence of his having been too remiss in prosecuting those delinquents; and no further inquiry was made into the affair.



NEGOTIATION BETWEEN THE COURTS OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

For some time the negotiation for peace had been carried on between the court of France and the new ministers, who had a double aim in this measure; namely, to mortify the whigs and the Dutch, whom they detested, and to free their country from a ruinous war, which had all the appearance of becoming habitual to the constitution. They foresaw the risk they would run by entering into such measures, should ever the opposite faction regain the ascendency; they knew the whigs would employ all their art and influence, which was very powerful, in obstructing the peace, and in raising o popular clamour against the treaty. But their motives for treating were such as prompted them to undervalue all those difficulties and dangers. They hoped to obtain such advantages in point of commerce for the subject? of Great Britain, as would silence all detraction. They did not doubt of being able to maintain the superiority which they had acquired in parliament; and perhaps some of them cherished views in favour of the pretender, whose succession to the crown would have effectually established their dominion over the opposite party. The earl of Jersey, who acted in concert with Oxford, sent a private message to the court of France, importing the queen's desire of peace, representing the impossibility of a private negotiation, as the ministry was obliged to act with the utmost circumspection, and desiring that Louis would propose to the Dutch a renewal of the conferences, in which case the English plenipotentiaries should have such instructions that it would be impossible for the states-general to prevent the conclusion of the treaty. This intimation was delivered by one Gualtier, an obscure priest, who acted as chaplain to count Gallas the Imperial ambassador, and had been employed as a spy by the French ministry, since the commencement of hostilities. His connexion with lord Jersey was by means of that nobleman's lady, who professed the Roman catholic religion. His message was extremely agreeable to the court of Versailles. He returned to London with a letter of compliment from the marquis de Torcy to the earl of Jersey, in which that minister assured him of his master's sincere inclination for peace, though he was averse to a renewal of the conferences with the states-general. Gualtier wrote a letter to Versailles, desiring, in the name of the English ministry, that his most christain majesty would communicate to them his proposals for a general peace, which they would communicate to the states-general, that they might negotiate in concert with their allies. A general answer being made to this intimation, Gualtier made a second journey to Versailles, and brought over a memorial, which was immediately transmitted to Holland. In the meantime, the pensionary endeavoured to renew the conferences in Holland. Petkum wrote to the French ministry, that if his majesty would resume the negotiation, in concert with the queen of Great Britain, he should certainly have reason to be satisfied with the conduct of the Dutch deputies. This proposal Louis declined, at the desire of the English ministers.