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READING HALLTHE DOORS OF WISDOM |
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ANNALS OF WAR
1706.
1. WAR IN ITALY. BATTLE OF CALCINATO. SIEGE OF
TURIN. 2. WAR IN THE LOW COUNTRIES.—3. THE BATTLE OF RAMILLIES BY
MARLBOROUGH AND DE VILLEROY.—4. CONSEQUENCES OF THE VICTORY.—6. WAR TN ITALY.—6.
BATTLE OF THE STURA. TURIN RELIEVED. 7. WAR IN SPAIN. —8. LORD GALWAY
TAKES ALCANTARA AND CIUDAD RODRIGO.—9. KING PHILIP QUITS AND KING CHARLES
ENTERS MADRID.—10. PETERBOROUGH IN DISGUST LEAVES SPAIN.—11. KING CHARLES GOES
BACK TO VALENCIA.—12. NAVAL WAR.—13. WAR IN SCANDINAVIA.
1. War in Italy. Battle of Calcinato. Siege of Turin.
At the end of the last campaign Prince Eugene had
thought it safe to establish his winter-quarters at the foot of the Alps,
between lakes Guarda and D’Isco, occupying Calcinato in the centre, with Carpendolo on the right flank and Montechristo on the left He left his army under the command of Count von Reventlow and set
off himself for Vienna. The Duke de Vendôme also quitted his command for Paris,
but, before he left, he desired the Count de Medain, who commanded in his
absence, to prepare every thing for a surprise of the enemy on his return.
Accordingly he came back to the army a few days before the expected return of
Prince Eugene, and determined to put his design into execution. At daybreak on
the 19th of April he advanced secretly with a detachment formed of 300 men by
battalion, and 400 or 500 cavalry, in all 15,000 men, and fell on Count
Reventlow’s line, who had not sufficient notice of the attempt to form. The
Count resisted with some success, but at length alarmed for his retreat on
Salo, he determined to retire on the Tyrol. Eugene met this flying army, and
having rallied them, brought them back to the bank of the Adige. Count
Reventlow, however, had lost 3000 men on the field, with six guns and all his
baggage.
Great exertions had been making by Louis XIV to bring
the war to a conclusion in Italy, and to punish the Duke of Savoy for his
tergiversation; and after the affair of Calcinato the allies were obliged to
relinquish every thing to the Duke de Vendôme, except Turin, which he proceeded
to besiege, whilst Eugene kept his army on the alert to disturb it. Victor
Amadeus implored Marlborough to come to his assistance, but the States General
would not part with him.
2. War in the Low Countries.
The King of France knew that he could at any moment
outnumber any army that the Margrave of Baden could assemble on the Rhine,
where Marshal Villars commanded the French forces; and he told the Marshal,
“Vous avez le secret de faire qu’un homme en vaut deux, quand il sert sous vous.” The great object was therefore to reinforce the army
in Flanders, so as to be in a condition to act offensively against the Duke of
Marlborough. Marshal Villeroy here commanded a splendid army, amounting to
80,000 men, burning to blot out the disgrace which all the French felt they had
sustained at Blenheim. His generals counselled him to remain on the defensive
in his intrenched camp on the Deule; but a hotheaded presumption was the great characteristic of Marshal Villeroy’s character, and this led him often into errors, though none so serious as that
which he now committed, to the irreparable loss of his reputation.
The Duke of Marlborough arrived on the continent on
the 25th of April. Marshal Villars had already taken the field, and being
reinforced by a corps under Marshal Margin, drove the Margrave of Baden back to
the Lauter, reduced some towns which contained the principal magazines, and was
preparing to overrun the Palatinate. This intelligence met Marlborough on his
arrival at the Hague, and infused such an alarm into the Dutch, that they
offered him the choice of the field-deputies, who should accompany his army on
the part of the States General, with implicit directions to obey his orders.
The Duke departed from the Hague on the 9th of May, and took the command. His
plan of campaign was to attempt the surprise of Namur. In this design he
combined two objects; that if he secured the fortress, he turned the right
flank of the enemy’s intrenched camp; and if Villeroy should endeavour to
prevent the attempt, the Duke brought him out of his lines, and gave him an
opportunity of forcing him to an engagement. With these views he advanced
towards Tirlemont. The plan succeeded to his most sanguine wishes. Villeroy and
the Elector of Bavaria passed the Deule, and anticipated the Duke by camping at
Tirlemont. On the 19th of May Marlborough sent the most pressing orders for the
immediate junction of all his forces. On the 20th he had collected 122
squadrons and seventy-four battalions, and had his head-quarters at Bilsen. The
whole force of the allies was estimated at 60,000, and that of the French at
62,000 men. On the 22nd Marshal Villeroy still anticipating Marlborough’s
movements, took up the position of Mont St. Andri, between the rivers called
the Great and Little Geete and the Mehaigne, the very ground the confederate
army hoped to occupy.
3. The Battle of Ramillies by Marlborough and De
Villeroy.
The morning of the 23rd of May broke in the midst of a
thick fog. It was already ten o’clock before the allied commanders could
reconnoitre the ground in the position the French had taken up. This is the
highest part in the plains of Brabant, but at the same time is so little
elevated, that the streams which take their rise in it have but a slow descent,
which renders their sources marshy and their whole course swampy. The surface
of the land above them is varied with gentle undulations, and dotted with
coppices. The Little Geete divides the ground into two portions, one called
Mont St. André and the other the plain of Jandrinoeuil.
On this occasion the former was the position occupied by the French and the
latter by the allies : the village of Ramillies lies between them, just above
the marsh that forms the source of the rivulet. The French left rested on the
villages of Anderkirk or Autre Église and Offuz, in a fork of swampy land between two branches which form the Little
Geete. The centre occupied the village of Ramillies, and the right occupied the
open space in front of the tomb of Ottomond, (from whence a view extended over
the whole field of battle,) and nearly rested on the Mehaigne. The defects of
the position were too obvious to escape the penetrating eye of the British
commander. The left of the enemy ensconced in swampy land would render the
troops placed there useless for any offensive movement during the battle. The
village of Ramillies was not included in the French line and was too distant
from it to receive effectual support; the village of Tavières still more in
advance and on the bank of the Mehaigne should either have been amply
garrisoned or not occupied at all. It was occupied at first merely by a
regiment of dragoons, but afterwards four battalions, who had lined the hedges
near Franqueray, and one posted on an old chaussée, called the Chaussée de
Brunehault, fell back and garrisoned Tavières. What was still more
extraordinary, Marshal Villeroy, who must have anticipated the battle about to
take place, never thought of sending away the baggage, which was accordingly
left between his lines, to the great embarrassment of his movements. The whole
of the French cavalry, comprising 100 squadrons, were in two lines in front of
the tomb of Ottomond.
Marlborough having made his reconnaissance, determined
to change the whole order of his attack, though it took him five hours to do
so. He saw it was not necessary for him to trouble himself about the French
left, which could do him no harm, and he determined, therefore, to fall with
all his force on the village of Ramillies in the centre. Villeroy might have
amended this vicious disposition in the time thus allowed him.
Lieutenant-General de Gassion, who, as next in rank,
commanded the left, observed its evil position, and entreated him to do so.
“You are lost if you do not at once change the order of battle; disengage your
left and march it against the enemy, who is only your equal in number; draw
your lines close; if you delay an instant you are lost.” But it was altogether
useless for M. de Gassion to propose any thing, the
Marshal would not listen to him, and ordered him not to quit his post without
express orders. “Toute la gauche,” said the
French general with a shrug, “reste inutile le nez dans le marais”.
It was Whit-Sunday, and the Elector of Bavaria was at
his devotions at Brussels, not in the least aware that a battle was expected.
He returned at a gallop as soon as he heard that an action was expected, but it
was too late for his advice to be attended to when he arrived, and all he could
do was to repair the lost opportunity by the most distinguished bravery.
Marlborough ordered the British, Dutch, and German
infantry to march down from the heights of Fouly,
and, sustained by infantry, to form a demonstration of attack on the villages
of Offuz and Anderkirk, in two lines. Villeroy, discovering his left to be
menaced, marched troops with the greatest celerity to reinforce those villages;
and as soon as this was perceived, the Duke directed the second line to march
rapidly to their left, and to form in rear of the left centre, near which
Ramillies was situated. Twelve battalions, under General Schulz, were told off
for the attack on this village. Colonel Wertmuller commanded the attack against
Tavières, and dislodged the French infantry who lined the hedges over
Franqueray. The Dutch guard who led the column encountered some resistance, the
enemy being covered by the enclosures; but the place was carried with vigour,
and fresh troops drawn from the second line, with the horse headed by Overkirk,
moved gradually up on the right wing of the enemy. Villeroy now perceived the
real point of attack, and ordered fourteen squadrons to dismount and hasten to
the support of the troops in Tavières, and to these were joined two regiments
of Swiss infantry, but it was too late. Before they could arrive, the village
was carried by storm, and the Danish horse intercepted this reinforcement on
their march, and either cut them in pieces or drove them into the Mehaigne.
Overkirk now brought forward his cavalry, which was
encountered by the troops of the French King’s household, who roughly handled
them and drove them back in some confusion. The Bavarian cuirassiers profited
by the disorder to bear on their right, under the protection of the guns in
position at Ramillies; but the Duke in person now came up with fifteen or
twenty squadrons from the right, and the Danes were recalled from the left,
which re-established order in this quarter. In this endeavour Marlborough was exposed
to the most imminent peril. In leaping a ditch, his horse fell with him, and he
was in danger of being made prisoner. Captain Molesworth, his aid-de-camp,
dismounted and gave him his horse, but in mounting again, Colonel Bingfield, who held his stirrup for him, was struck with a
round shot, which carried off his head.
In the height of this conflict General Schulz had
advanced against Ramillies with the twelve battalions he commanded and
twenty-four guns. The Marquis de Maffei defended this post and plied the
advance with a heavy fire of shot and shell. This had the good effect of
drawing it off from the cavalry, which was in the act of rallying—nevertheless
Schulz advanced, and forcing back some battalions of Swiss, gained the skirts
of the village. The Bavarian foot guards were also driven by him through the
centre of the place, till they rallied round the Cologne guards, who were
there, and stood firm. The Marquis de Maffei, who commanded the Bavarians,
attempted to make a stand in the hollow road leading out of Ramillies towards
Ottomond, in the hope that the Gallo-Bavarian cavalry still held the plain
behind him, between the village and the main position upon Mont St. André; but,
as has been said, the distance was too great to receive assistance across the
plain. The troops were too few to maintain themselves in the village, so that
the allied infantry, reinforced with twenty battalions from their centre,
coming down upon them at this moment, the whole took to flight, and, together
with the Marquis de Maffei, were taken prisoners.
Marshal Villeroy’s cavalry,
consisting of twenty squadrons from his right, were now seen to arrive at full
speed into action. The view of so powerful a reinforcement rushing across the
plain produced a pause in the conflict. Marlborough moved forward his troops to
meet them, in four lines, and made use of a manoeuvre that could only be
adopted by troops of great coolness and admirable discipline. At the moment of
the charge, Marlborough ordered his first and third lines to break right and
left, and permit the second line to receive the enemy, when the former closed
upon the flanks and rear of the enemy’s advancing line and enveloped them; and
as he approached the French, he closed up the second and fourth lines so as to
oppose a close front to the enemy in two ranks of squadrons. This manoeuvre was
effected without confusion, and so close to the opposing squadrons that they
could not change their dispositions in time to meet them; and the allied
cavalry rushing on, passed through the intervals of the French squadrons and
carried all before them. The Danish cavalry led on by their undaunted leader,
the Duke of Würtemberg, penetrated between the Mehaigne and the right flank of
the household troops, whilst the Prince of Hesse with the Dutch guards passed
upon the rear, and drove them beyond the tomb of Ottomond off the field.
Marshal Villeroy and the Elector used their utmost exertions to rally the
fugitives, and exposed their persons with the utmost bravery. The Marshal was
seen running about distracted, perfectly ignorant what remedy to apply to so
many disasters.
The battle had now lasted three hours and a half. The
Elector and Villeroy, with the remaining portion of the cavalry on their left,
endeavoured to make a movement to cover the formation of the broken troops, but
the baggage which had been suffered to remain between the French lines impeded
all their attempts. Marlborough saw the confusion, and instantly ordered
forward the column of infantry which had carried Ramillies, to move to their
right and make a final blow. They penetrated through the swamp towards Offuz,
flanked by the British horse under General Wood, who, at the head of his own
regiment and that of Wyndham, advanced upon the rising ground which forms the
Mont St. André. The infantry regiments of Churchill and Mordaunt, and the
squadrons of Lumley, Hay, and Boss, who had hitherto continued on the heights
of Fouly to watch the French left, could not any
longer remain idle spectators of the conflict, but boldly forced their way
through the morass and ascended the acclivity between the two rivulets. Here
they at once charged and defeated the troops on this flank, under General de Gassion, and overtaking the régiment du Roi, compelled them to throw away their arms and surrender. General Wood
continued to press the retreating army, and came up with the Spanish and
Bavarian horse guards under the command of the Elector in person. They were
instantly charged, numbers were killed and taken prisoners, and the Elector
himself escaped with difficulty. The waving mass of the French army, which had
hitherto maintained some degree of order, now burst from all control and spread
in all directions tike a scattered swarm. The baggage
waggons broke down and obstructed the roads, and the British cavalry, being
quite fresh, overtook and captured vast numbers. Almost all the cannon and all
the baggage were captured, and the pursuit was continued till two in the
morning, when the Duke and Overkirk with the main army halted at Meldert, five leagues from the field. The actual loss in
killed and wounded to the conquerors was not great, and was as nothing to the
results of this battle in the utter and entire dispersion of the French army
which now ensued.
4. Consequences of the Victory.
The Elector and Villeroy after escaping from the
perils of the day fled to Louvain. There they held a council in the
marketplace by torchlight, and hastily resolved to abandon the fortified towns
and open country, and to save their discomfited army by a hasty retreat behind
the canal at Brussels. The day after the battle, Marshal Marsin arrived and joined them with twenty-two battalions, sent to Villeroy by
Villars, and which he must have known were on their way to reinforce him. The
Marshal did not dare to write word of this defeat (which threw the whole court
into consternation) to his attached friend and Sovereign. When at last he
appeared amongst them, his Majesty, instead of reproaching him, remarked, “M.
le “Marechal, on n’est plus heureux a notre age.” The Monarch had an affection for
Marshal Villeroy, who was the son of his governor, and had been brought up with
him; nevertheless, after the battle of Ramillies, Villeroy was never again
employed in the field and never regained the confidence of the army.
The French were said not to have left more than 2000
or 2500 dead on the field. Nevertheless, those captured swelled their loss to
15,000 or 20,000 men, with from eighty to 100 guns, and colours and standards
without end. The troops were indeed so dispirited by this defeat that numbers
disbanded and returned to their homes across the frontier. M. de Chamillard,
the war minister, was sent by the King to stop this, but it could only be done
by the establishment of two camps, which M. de Vauban was ordered to lay out
and fortify. The allies lost 1066 killed, and 2867 wounded. Among those of
distinction, who fell in the action, are named the Princes of Soubise and
Rohan, and Marquis de la Baume, a son of Marshal Tallard. The Prince of
Hesse-Cassel was wounded, and General Pallavicini taken prisoner.
The intelligence of this victory excited as much
enthusiasm in England as that of Blenheim. The Queen wrote with her own hand to
the victorious general, “I want words to express my true sense of the great
service you have done to your country.” A proclamation was instantly issued for
a general thanksgiving, and on the 29th of June her Majesty in person attended
the solemnity in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
By this victory of Ramillies the French lost the whole
of the Spanish Netherlands. The allies took immediate possession of Louvain,
and next day encamped at Betlehem. Mechlin, Brussels, Ghent, and Bruges
submitted without resistance, and acknowledged King Charles. A schism having
broken out between the Walloon and French regiments, which composed the
garrison of Antwerp, the governor, the Marquis de Terracina, sent to
Marlborough to offer to surrender the place on conditions. Thus without the
loss of a life the Duke on the 6th of June became master of a fortress of
incalculable advantage in future arrangements. Overkirk had undertaken the
siege of Nieuport, but was ordered to raise it and
undertake that of Ostend, which at the same time that it was invested by the
allied troops by land was also blockaded by sea with a British squadron of
seven ships-of-the-line and four frigates under Vice-Admiral Sir Stafford Fairbone, and Marlborough moved his head-quarters to Rousselaer to superintend the operations. Trenches were
opened on the 28th—29th, and at daybreak on the 3rd of July, the bombketches began to throw in shells upon the town whilst
the land batteries opened on the fortifications. In a very short time the town
was observed to be on fire in several places, and before night most of the
cannon were dismounted. On the 5th the generalissimo came himself to the siege,
and his presence hastened the crisis—for on the 6th the place capitulated. The
same place had withstood the Spaniards nearly three years, and was now taken in
about fourteen days with a loss of some 500 men. The vessels lying in the
harbour were not included in the capitulation, and, accordingly, nine
ships-of-war and forty merchantmen became the substantial and valuable trophies
of the contest. Menin, fortified by all the skill of M. de Vauban, strong by
nature and now defended by a French garrison under M. de Caraman, was next
invested by the allies. The trenches were opened against it on the 4th—5th of
August General Schulz conducted the right attack and Lord Orkney that of the
left On the very same day the Duke de Vendôme, recalled from Italy to take the
command which Villeroy had mismanaged so fatally, arrived at Valenciennes, and
now threatened to interrupt the siege. Marlborough was with the covering army,
but on the 16th in some trifling affair between the armies, Cadogan was taken
prisoner. The French Marshal, knowing he was a friend of the Duke’s,
immediately sent him back on his parole, and Marlborough, not to be behind him
in such generosity, sent in the Baron de Pallavicini, who was a prisoner with
the allies. The siege continued, and on the 22nd M. de Caraman proposed terms
which were deemed exorbitant, and it was not till the 25th that General Walderen with five Dutch battalions got possession of the
place. Dendermonde surrendered to Churchill on the
1st of September, and Ath to Overkirk on the 4th of October. After these sieges
the allied army was reunited in the camp at Cambron with their headquarters at
the Abbaye de Lens. From thence on the 12th of October the victorious general
entered Brussels in triumph amidst the joyful acclamations of the inhabitants,
whose magistrates presented him with the keys of the city, and received him
with all the honours usually paid to the ancient Sovereigns. The Emperor, and
King Charles, as Duke of Burgundy, made an offer of the government of the
country to him who had won it, and Marlborough accepted the grant, subject to
the approval of the Queen of England; but the various interests and views, both
of the English and Dutch, jarred at this, and the Duke found himself eventually
obliged to decline this lucrative and honourable appointment.
Marlborough put his army into winter-quarters in the
beginning of November, leaving the English at Ghent, the Danes at Bruges, and
the Germans along the river. He himself went to the Hague to concert measures
for the next year’s campaign. These misfortunes broke the spirit and
constitution of Louis XIV. At his court no mention was made any longer of
military transactions; all was grave, silent, and devout. The Duke de Vendôme
was recalled from Italy to take that command which Villeroy had mismanaged so
fatally; and the Duke of Orleans (afterwards the regent) was placed at the head
of the French army in Piedmont, under the tutorage and direction of Marshal
Margin.
5. War in Italy.
The Duke de la Feuillade was before Turin, which he
invested in the month of May, with 100 battalions, forty-six squadrons, and 140
pieces of cannon. Great preparations had been made for the siege, and 21,000
bomb-shells collected to bombard the town. Vauban had sent to offer his
services at this siege as a volunteer, but the presumptuous and over-confident
general responded with great impertinence, “ Qu’il esperait prendre Turin à la Cohorn.” The lines of vallation
and circumvallation had been finished by the beginning of June, and on the 7th,
before he commenced shelling the city, the Duke of Orleans courteously sent to
the Duke and Duchess of Savoy to offer passports, and a guard for the removal
of themselves and their children. The Duke declined to remove his family, but
when the siege and bombardment had continued with uncommon fury for a short
time, the ladies quitted Turin, and were conducted into the Genoese
territories. The Duke also forsook his capital in order to put himself at the
head of his cavalry. He behaved with singular firmness and fortitude at this
period, rejecting every offer that was made him by the French Monarch. Prince
Eugene, the sole buckler and defence of the falling state, was beyond the
Adige, and to all appearance kept in check by a long chain of intrenchments.
Turin made a noble defence, and the garrison destroyed 14,000 of the enemy in
the course of it; yet their defences were almost ruined, their ammunition began
to fail, and they appeared to have no prospect of relief. Eugene had numberless
difficulties to surmount in deciding on a march to the assistance of the
capital. The Duke de Vendome, before he quitted Italy, had secured all the
fords of the Adige, the Mincio, and the Oglio, and formed such lines and
intrenchments as he imagined would effectually hinder the imperial general from
arriving in time to relieve the city. Nevertheless, the Prince passed these
great rivers in despite of the enemy, and by an admirable intermixture of
military science, courage, and perseverance, he overcame all opposition, and
reached the neighbourhood of Turin on the 13th day of August. There, being
joined by the Duke of Savoy, he crossed the Po between Moncalieri and Carignano. On the 5th of September they took a convoy of
800 loaded mules, and next day passed the Dora and encamped, with the right on
the bank of the river below Pianessa, and the left on
the Stura before Veneria.
The French were intrenched, having the Stura on their
right, and the Dora on their left, and the Capuchin convent, called De la
Campagna, in their centre. The Duke of Orleans proposed to march out of his
intrenchments to give battle to Prince Eugene, and was seconded by all his
generals except Marsin, who on being pressed,
produced an order from the French King commanding them to follow the Marshal’s
advice, and he had private instructions to keep within the trenches; for the
court of Versailles was now become afraid of hazarding engagements.
6. Battle of the Stura.
Turin Relieved.
On the 7th of September the confederates marched up to
the French lines of circumvallation (in eight columns, with 30,000 men) through
a terrible fire from forty pieces of artillery, and were formed in order of
battle within half cannon shot of the enemy. They met with such a reception, as
seemed to check their progress, when Prince Eugene, perceiving it, put himself
at the head of the troops on the left and forced the intrenchments at the first
charge. The Duke of Savoy met with the same success in the centre, and on the
right near Lucengo. The horse posted for that purpose
advanced through the intervals of the infantry, and bursting in with vast
impetuosity, completed the confusion of the enemy, who were defeated on all
hands, and retired with precipitation to the other side of the Po, while the
Duke of Savoy entered his capital in triumph. During the heat of the attack
Eugene was wounded and fell, and the troops, supposing him to be killed, began
to lose courage; when he appeared again covered with blood, and gave his orders
with the utmost coolness. The Duke of Orleans exhibited repeated proofs of the
most intrepid courage, and received several wounds in the engagement. Marshal
Margin had his thigh shattered by a ball, of which he died a few hours after
amputation, whilst in the hands of the victors. Of 80,000 men, who are said to
have been in the trenches and the lines, the French are supposed to have lost
5000 slain on the field of battle, 7000 taken prisoners, and 245 pieces of
artillery, besides 180 mortars, and an incredible quantity of ammunition,
tents, and baggage. Marshal de Marsin was much blamed
for having neglected the proper defences of the camp on the side attacked by
Eugene; but it was said of him, “ La vie qu’il avait perdu sur le champ de bataille selon les lois de l’art militaire il l’aurait dû perdre sur un échafoud.” The loss of the confederates did
not exceed 3000 killed in the action, and about the same number of the garrison
had fallen in Turin since the beginning of the siege. This was such a fatal
stroke to the interests of Louis, that he was never informed that his army was
defeated and ruined, but merely that the siege of Turin had been raised at the
approach of Eugene. Marlborough felt the triumph of his old comrade as he
ought. “It is impossible,” he writes to the Duchess, “to express the joy it has
given me; for “ I do not only esteem, but I really love that Prince. This
glorious “ action must bring France so low, that if our friends could but be u
persuaded to carry on the war with vigour one year longer, we “cannot foil,
with the blessing of God, to have such a peace as will give us quiet all our
days.” The Duke of Orleans retreated into Dauphiné, while the French garrison
were driven out of every place they occupied in Piedmont. The Count de Medavi
however, who commanded a body of troops left in the Mantuan territories,
surprised the Prince of Hesse in the neighbourhood of Castiglione, and obliged
him to retire to the Adige, with the loss of 2000 men. Cremona, Valenza, and
the castle of Milan were blocked up by the confederate forces.
7. War in Spain.
In Spain, the affairs of France had been much less
unsuccessful, because on the side of the allies there was no unity of command
or purpose. Peterborough was checked and crossed by all kinds of mediocrity and
imbecility, or he might possibly have placed his name as high as those of
Marlborough and Eugene; but, as it was, he could do no more than perform
romantic exploits, which had no lasting result. The French King, on the
contrary, repaired the faults of the former year. He named the Duke de Berwick
Marshal of France, and sent him to command the army in Portugal, and the
Marshal arrived at Badajoz on the 27th of March. On the 6th of April King
Philip, at the head of a numerous army, invested Barcelona by land, while the
Count de Toulouse blockaded it by sea with a numerous squadron. His army
consisted of thirty-eight battalions and sixty squadrons. The Marshal de Tessé disapproved the project, which nevertheless nearly
succeeded. King Charles made a vigorous defence, but thus cooped up in the town
he implored Peterborough to come to his relief. The garrison was reinforced
with some troops from Gironne, and other places;
nevertheless the fort of Monjuich was taken, and the
place so hard pressed, that Charles ran the utmost risk of falling into the
hands of the enemy. The Earl flew to his assistance from Valencia, but had no
more than 2000 men with him, and found it impossible to enter the city. He
maintained his post, however, upon the hills, and with surprising courage and
activity kept the besiegers in continual alarm. Still he must have failed, but
for the timely arrival of the English fleet. Sir John Leake, with thirty
ships-of-the-line, appeared in sight of Barcelona on the 8th of May. The French
admiral no sooner received intelligence of his approach than he set sail for
Toulon, and in three days after his departure, King Philip abandoned the siege,
and retired to Madrid in great disorder, leaving behind him his tents standing,
and all his sick and wounded.
8. Lord Galway takes Alcantara and Ciudad Rodrigo.
On the side of Portugal the confederates had got
together forty-five battalions and fifty-six squadrons, well furnished in all
respects. The Duke de Berwick had thirty or forty squadrons of cavalry, and
there were ten battalions in Alcantara. The Earl of Galway having about 20,000
men undertook the siege of that town. On the 14th of April the place
surrendered. On the 20th the confederates crossed the Tagus, and proceeded to
Placentia, but Las Minas and the Portuguese would advance no farther until they
should know the fate of Barcelona. When they understood that the siege was
raised, they consented to march on Madrid. In the meanwhile Galway, who had
rested some days at Almaraz, marched back by Placentia and Coria and laid siege
to Ciudad Rodrigo, which surrendered on the 26th of May, and to Salamanca,
which capitulated on the 7th of June. He then proceeded to the capital—the
French army retiring before him.
9. King Philip quits and King Charles enters Madrid.
The news of the raising of the siege of Barcelona
reached the Duke de Berwick on the 1st of June; and he found that King Philip
had returned to Madrid instead of collecting all the forces of the French in
Castile. Accordingly Berwick repaired to the capital, to persuade the King to
leave it, and give up all idea of defending it; on this Philip and Berwick
retreated together to Burgos, after having destroyed every thing they could not
carry away; and on the 24th Lord Galway and the Portuguese took possession of
Madrid without resistance. King Charles loitered away his time at Barcelona;
and the Spaniards were not at all pleased to find their capital all this time
in the possession of Portuguese and foreigners, headed by a heretic. The
inhabitants of the two Castiles remained firm to Philip, and at Toledo the
citizens seized the Queen Dowager, who had proclaimed her nephew King Charles,
and tore down his standard. On the 28th Berwick had collected from different
quarters forty-nine battalions and seventy-eight squadrons; though the French
battalions were not of their full strength. Galway had with him forty
battalions and fifty-three squadrons, and was expecting ten or twelve
battalions and some twenty squadrons to join him, under Charles and Peterborough.
Had Lord Galway, instead of stopping idly at Madrid, followed King Philip
across the Ebro, he would have given Peterborough an opportunity of joining
him; but losing this opportunity, Marshal Berwick played his cards so well,
that he manoeuvred him out of Madrid, and Philip returned to his capital on the
4th of August, the very day which had been fixed upon for King Charles’s entry.
10. Peterborough in disgust leaves Spain.
It was the 6rh of August before King Charles and
Peterborough joined Lord Galway at Guadalajara with six battalions and sixteen
squadrons. Peterborough now aspired to the chief command, and quarrelling with
the Prince of Lichtenstein, (the confidential friend of Charles), and Galway,
he threw up the cards he was not allowed to play, quitted the army in disgust,
and went back to Valencia, where he embarked on an expedition to conquer the
Island of Minorca. He did indeed return again to Spain, but only remained a
short time to press the siege of Alicante; and then he embarked in a
ship-of-war for Genoa and sailed for England, never to return to Spain again.
King Charles was of course indignant at this desertion, and transmitted charges
against him to England, where his conduct was inquired into by Parliament, and
cleared up to their entire satisfaction.
11. King Charles goes back to Valencia.
Upon the departure of Peterborough the leaders again
quarrelled with one another, but joined in a general complaint against the
tardiness of King Charles. They were without money, without magazines or
provisions, and Berwick was hovering near them with a superior force. About the
middle of August they resolved to retire by the only road that yet remained
open to them, and on the 20th of September, after considerable hardships, they
reached Requena and the mountains of New Castile, where they went into
quarters. King Charles proceeded to Valencia, where he was well received; the
allies had taken Alicante on the 8th of August, after a vigorous defence by
Governor O’Mahon; and Majorca, Minorca, and Ibiza had
submitted to their arms. On the other hand the Duke de Berwick sat down before
Carthagena on the 11th of November, and it surrendered to his arms on the 17th.
12. Naval War.
The movements of the English fleet in the Mediterranean
this year were badly concerted. The Marquis de Guiscard, in consequence of a
family quarrel, had abandoned his country; and insinuating himself into the
confidence of the confederate leaders, had laid before them a scheme for
invading France. In compliance with his representations, about 11,000 men were
embarked, under the command of Earl Rivers, with a large train of artillery;
and the combined squadrons, commanded by Sir Cloudesly Shovel, set sail from
Plymouth on the 13th of August. After sailing about from place to place, they
discovered that Guiscard’s plan was altogether chimerical, and founded on such
slight assurances and conjectures as were not sufficient to justify their
attempted execution. In the meantime the news of Galway’s retreat from Madrid
arrived; and orders were accordingly given to land Guiscard and his officers;
and that the fleet should sail for Lisbon, where they arrived towards the
latter end of October; but finding a new King just ascended the Portuguese
throne, who was not disposed to favour the allies, Admiral Shovel sailed for
Alicante in the beginning of January.
On the 9th of March Captain Overfield, on board the
Dutch line-of-battle-ship “Great St. Christopher,” engaged two Algerine pirates
and beat themoff, and on the 2nd of October the Dutch
commander Braak encountered off the Dogger Bank a French squadron, under
Chevalier de Forbin. Braak was killed early in the
action and his ship burned. Captain Meyer was also killed and his ship taken,
but Captain Corlee captured his adversary and then went to the assistance of
Captain Gouvenaar, whose ship was so crippled that it
sunk, but the two captains united their crews and were saved. The remainder
also drove off their adversaries, and the fleet entered the Texel with their
merchant vessels in convoy.
13. War in Scandinavia.
Poland was at length delivered from the presence of
Charles XII, who on the 1st of September of this year took possession of
Saxony, and laid the whole electorate under contribution. The confederates were
not a little alarmed to find Charles in the heart of the empire; and the diet
of Ratisbon, representing Germany, declared the King an enemy to the empire if
he should pass the Oder with his army. King Augustus, deprived at once of his
kingdom and his electorate, sent a confidential messenger to the King of Sweden
to obtain terms. All he could get were, 1st, to resign his kingdom of Poland to
Stanislaus; 2ndly, to renounce all treaties with the Russians; 3rdly, to
deliver up all prisoners and all deserters from the Swedish camp. While this
treaty was in progress, Augustus, who had with him still 6000 Polish and Saxon
troops, was surprised at the advent into his camp of Prince Menschikoff, who
had come to his assistance with30,000 Russian troops. Fearful lest the Prince
should discover his negotiation with the Swedish King, Augustus was at once in
dread of being dethroned by bis enemy, and taken prisoner by his ally. The
Swedish General Mardefeld was at this time at Kalisch
with 10,000 men. Menschikoff pressed Augustus to join him and give battle to
the Swedes. In his hesitation what to do, he sent a person of confidence to
apprise Mardefeld of the treaty, who deeming it a
trap, determined himself to risk a battle. The Russians now conquered the
Swedes in a set battle for the first time; and Augustus, against his will, was
carried in triumph to Warsaw, once his own capital. He had just assisted in
chanting a Te Deum for the victory when his messenger
returned to him from Charles, with the treaty of peace that deprived him of his
crown. He signed it and at once resolved to repair in person to Charles. He met
him, for the first time in his life, at Güntersdorf.
The two Kings dined together twice, but Augustus could obtain no diminution of
Charles’s hard terms: on the contrary, he was peremptorily required to write to
his successor and rival, Stanislaus, a letter of congratulation on his
accession, and to deliver to him all the jewels of the crown. Under the last
provision of the treaty of Alt-Ranstädt, he was also constrained to surrender Patkul. This man was a Swede who had dared to resist the
oppression which his country suffered from the power of Charles XI and XII, and
to appear in person with six other deputies to lay a statement of their
grievances at the feet of their Sovereign in 1689. He had in consequence been
forced to fly his country to Russia, and Peter had now clothed him with the
authority of an ambassador and sent him to Saxony. The Czar formally reclaimed
him, but Augustus was obliged to deliver him into the hands of Charles, who had
him broken on the wheel and quartered at Casimir on the 10th of October.
Against this unjustifiable act the Czar wrote to remonstrate at every court of
Europe; but Charles’s star was now in the ascendant, and at Alt-Ranstädt he
received ambassadors from almost every Christian state to court his alliance.
Among them came the Duke of Marlborough on the part of Queen Anne. This able
man was as great a negotiator as general, and remarkable for his power of
discovering and disentangling the motives and characters of the men he had to
deal with. The details of this interview with Charles of Sweden have come down
to us on the authority of the Duchess his wife. The King was not prepossessed
with the Duke’s first appearance: he thought him too well dressed for a
warrior. Marlborough paid him a compliment, which obtained no remark; but was
in no hurry to make propositions. He quietly set himself to study Charles, and
soon found that he hated the French, and spoke with pleasure of the victories
of the allies. He therefore had no reason to dread the bias of his mind; he
also observed that whenever the name of the Czar was mentioned he saw the
King’s eyes sparkle. Moreover he saw a map of Russia on the table. He became
convinced that the only object of Charles was to dethrone Peter, as he had
dethroned Augustus; he felt satisfied accordingly that it was quite enough to
leave Charles XII to his own fancies; and therefore entered into no
negotiations whatever with him. This consummation was thought by the diplomacy
of the day to be so unreasonable and incredible, that it was asserted at the
time, that the Duke had been bribed to this result, but such an imputation is
without any foundation.
Marlborough was at this moment the arbiter of Europe.
Even Louis XIV, humbled by the continued victories of the allies, employed the
Elector of Bavaria to write to the Duke with proposals for opening a congress.
The court of Vienna was of course made acquainted with these, and was so much
alarmed at the offers made by the King, that the Emperor resolved to make
himself master of Naples before the allies should have it in their power to
close with the proposals of France. This was the true motive of the Emperor’s
concluding a treaty with the court of Versailles in the succeeding winter, by
which the Milanese was entirely evacuated, and the French left at liberty to
employ their troops in making strong efforts against the confederates in Spain
and the Netherlands. The Dutch were intoxicated with success, but entirely
influenced by Marlborough, who is accused of finding his account in the
continuance of the war, in order to gratify both his avarice and ambition. It
must indeed be confessed that he had a sordid passion for accumulating wealth.
This was the chief drawback of all the Duke’s great qualities; whether justly
or unjustly, he had the character in his generation of being a money-loving
man, not averse to peculation. During the whole war the allies never had such
an opportunity as now of securing by a peace the great objects of the war,
which was to Bet bounds to the power of France, and to establish an equal
balance between the great houses of Austria and Bourbon. Other motives
unfortunately prevailed. The ambition of making conquests, the desire of
indemnification for the immense Bums expended in the war, and perhaps other
reasons, induced Queen Anne and the States General to reject the offers of
France, and every preparation was forthwith made for a new campaign.
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