1. THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES PROCLAIMED KING OF SPAIN.—2. WAR IN GERMANT.—3. MARLBOROUGH TAKES THE FIELD.—4. HE ADVANCES INTO THE EMPIRE.—5. THE MARSHALS VILLEROY AND TALLARD FOLLOW HIM.—6. BATTLE OF DONAUWORTH OR THE SCHELLENBERG. MARLBOROUGH DEFEATS THE ELECTOR.—7- THE ARMIES OF MARSHALS TALLARD AND VILLEROY SEPARATE.— 8. PRINCE EUGENE JOINS MARL­BOROUGH.—9. THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM OR BLINDflElM.—10. CON­SEQUENCES OF THE VICTORY.—11. THE WAR IN FLANDERS.—12. THE WAR IN ITALY.—13. THE REVOLT IN HUNGARY.—14. THE WAR IN SCANDINAVlI. 15. THE WAR IN SPAIN. 16. ADMIRAL SIR G.ROOKE CAPTURES GIBRALTAR.—17. NAVAL BATTLE OFF MALAGA.

 

 

 

1.The Archduke Charles proclaimed King of Spain.

The emperor, having renounced the succession to the throne of Spain for his eldest son Leopold and himself, declared his second son Charles the King of Spain, and the young prince immediately set out from Vienna, taking Holland and England on the way to his dominions. On the 4th of January he sailed from Portsmouth with a great fleet commanded by Sir George Rooke, having on board a body of land forces under the Duke of Schomberg. When the fleet had almost reached Cape Finisterre a violent storm drove it back to Spithead, where it was obliged to remain awaiting a fair wind till the middle of February, when he happily performed the voyage to Lisbon; but the young prince found the court overwhelmed with affliction for the death of the young infanta, to whom he was himself betrothed. He was nevertheless received with great splendour, though he found no preparations made for opening the campaign.

2. War in Germany.

The prospect offered in the low countries and Germany was very gloomy. The court of France had exerted its customary activity in collecting and preparing means for a great and decisive enterprise. Villeroy still commanded in the Netherlands, Tallard with 45,000 men was posted on the Upper Rhine and communicated with Bavaria. The elector freed from the overwhelming arrogance of Marshal Villars, who was sent by Louis XIV to exert it upon the hinds of the Cevennese rather than over a friendly sovereign, was encamped with an army of 45,000 men near Ulm, which he occupied with a strong garrison. Marshal Margin was also in the field at the head of 30,000 men. The French confederated forces thus held the Netherlands with one army, and threatened the circles of Suabia, Franconia, and the Rhine with another; whilst a third in communication with this last, commanded the country watered by the rivers Iller, Inn, and Lech, and held the course of the Danube from its source to the frontier of Austria. The defensive system of Germany was in a most deplorable state. An insurrection in Hungary paralysed the emperor’s means. Prince Rakoczi, the leader of the malcontents, spread alarm to the very gates of Vienna, the suburbs of which were penetrated by his adherent Karolyi. The empire was impoverished; the treasury exhausted. The force that could be collected to oppose the Elector of Bavaria did not amount to 20,000 men, and the army of the empire, which under the command of the Mar­grave of Baden guarded the lines of Stolhofen, was equally incompetent to maintain so important a barrier of the empire.

3. Marlborough takes the Field.

Marlborough had duly appreciated these perils, and before the close of the preceding campaign had entered into a secret correspondence with the Prince Eugene for the purpose of devising a remedy. The latter boldly penetrated the circle of devotees that surrounded the emperor, and obtained permission to treat direct with the duke. Together they formed the bold design of trusting the protection of Holland to the Dutch army, and leaving in the rear the numerous fortresses, and even the armies of the enemy, to hasten with all the disposable troops they could collect, to avert the storm impending over the emperor’s capital. In executing this extensive plan, the duke had difficulties of no ordinary magnitude to encounter; he had not only to baffle the penetration of a vigilant enemy, but to extort the consent of a divided cabinet in England and beat down the opposition of the Dutch to an enterprise of infinite peril. Marlborough and Eugene matured and carried into effect their plan with astonishing celerity, address, and secrecy. On the duke rested the great responsibility, as with him it had originated, and it was only by his astonishing personal exertions and influence that it could be accomplished. From the British Parliament the primary object was, to obtain the requisite pecuniary aids. In this having fully succeeded, he quitted London on the 15th of January for the Hague. Here he was obliged to employ all his arts to promote and yet conceal his designs; for he did not venture to confide to the States General, whose timidity and irresolution had so often thwarted him, the daring scheme, which, if they had known at once, they would have resolutely opposed. He could only obtain their consent to the modified proposal of opening the campaign on the Moselle with the British and foreign auxiliaries, whilst General Overkirk with the Dutch army maintained a defensive system in the Netherlands. But this included the mainspring of his scheme: and he was ably seconded by the Pensionary Heinsius, who promised to use his influence farther, when the intended plan should be developed. At the same time Marlborough induced the Dutch to grant some subsidies, which, with those granted by the British Parliament, were suffi­cient to set the campaign in motion, not only in Germany but in Italy and Portugal. The duke then embarked for England again on the 22nd of February. During his short stay in England Marlborough exerted himself in despatching recruits and reinforcements to the Continent and maturing all military arrangements. Conscious how much success depended on secrecy, he professed in England as well as in Holland his design of acting on the Moselle; and even to the queen and the minister Godolphin he appears to have made only a partial disclosure of his views. On the 19th of April he again left England for Holland. He still found extreme difficulty in persuading a timid commercial people, whose state views were confined to temporary safety, to engage even in the modified plan of campaign he had opened to them, which was peculiarly opposed by the provinces of Zealand and Friesland. But he had yet another difficulty to combat. The Margrave of Baden had a plan of his own which he had already laid before the States, and this plan the duke was obliged to affect to adopt. At length wearied with combating the alarms of some and the opposition of others, he resolved to extort that aid from their fears, which he could not obtain from their public spirit. He developed his plan to Godolphin, and on the 1st of May declared to the deputies his resolution to proceed to the Moselle with the British army, without consulting the States any further, and that he would quit the Hague the following Monday. The event answered his expectations; his declaration silenced some, and alarmed others, and he obtained powers which he deemed sufficient for the accomplishment of his design. It should here be noted in justification of the duke, that although what he contemplated was very rash and hazardous, and on that account ought not to have been undertaken without the full sanction of all, yet he was particularly famous for the gift of studying the dispositions and abilities of men : and in Marshal Villeroy, who was opposed to him in the low countries, he knew he left a general who would not understand how to avail himself of the occasion to carry the war across the Dutch frontier during his absence in the empire.

4. He advances into the Empire.

Marlborough accordingly took the command of his army at Maestricht, on the 10th of May, and on the 19th broke up from Bedburg, in the duchy of Juliers, the place of rendezvous, with fifty-one battalions and ninety-two squadrons of horse, which were to be joined on the line of march by Prussians, Hessians, Lunenburgers, and eleven Dutch battalions. The French imagined that the intention of the duke was to begin the campaign with the siege of Traerbach, in order that he might penetrate into France along the Moselle; and in this persuasion gave out that they intended to invest Huy. Marlborough however proceeded, although on the 20th, when in camp at Kerpen, he received an express from Overkirk, urging him to halt, as Villeroy had crossed the Meuse. The margrave, on the other hand, sent to the generalissimo to hasten his march, because Tallard intended to cross the Rhine; but to neither of these applications did the duke pay the least regard. He merely halted a single day to quiet the alarms of Overkirk; but he now deemed it expedient to disclose, more of his plan to the States General, and assured them that they had nothing to fear on the side of the Netherlands, for that Overkirk would be quite strong enough to cover their lines; and that he was sure his own sudden operations would fully occupy the attention of the enemy. He even ventured to ask for further reinforcements.

He instantly pushed forward, and finding Marshal Tallard had crossed the Rhine with 10,000 men. to assist the Elector of Bavaria, he accelerated his march, advanced with his cavalry on the 25th upon Coblentz, leaving General Churchill to follow with his infantry and artillery. He then redoubled his diligence, and crossed the Neckar on the 3rd of June, after having crossed the Mein on the 31st of May. On the 7th be encamped at Erpingen, to wait for his cannon and infantry, which were several marches behind him. In the mean time he learned that the Margrave of Baden, who was under British subsidy, had not only allowed the 10,000 men sent by Tallard to reinforce the Elector of Bavaria to pass him, but had neglected a most favourable opportunity of bringing the Gallo-Bavarians to battle. With 30,000 German troops under him he had permitted the elector to pass through their main body, and to effect a junction with the French troops, marching with a long line of carriages through the narrow and dangerous pass of Stockach. Tallard had also crossed the Rhine on the 12th of May, near Brisac. Marlborough, however, did not lose heart, but persuaded the Prince of Hesse to put his artillery at his disposal, and took up money to pay his troops, who, notwithstanding their fatigue, were extremely pleased with the expedition.

The duke’s rest at Erpingen was short. He again crossed the Neckar on the 9th of June, and advanced to Mondelsheim, where, on the 10th, he met for the first time Prince Eugene of Savoy, the future partner and rival of his glory. They then advanced to Great Hippach, where they halted three days to await the arrival of the infantry and artillery, who were still behind.

5. The Marshals Villeroy and Tallard follow him.

The French generals were completely bewildered by Marlborough’s advance; Villeroy followed him at a respectful distance from the Meuse, and Tallard descended to the Lauter, with the view of joining Villeroy, so as to protect Alsace. Marlborough, on hearing these movements, prevailed with Count Wratislaw to endeavour to make Prince Louis of Baden’s army available, so as to hinder the Marshal from crossing the Rhine. He himself wrote. “If Marshal de Villeroy can be kept on the other side of the Rhine, we must be contented to suffer him to do what he pleases there whilst we are acting in Bavaria.”

6.Battle of Donauwörth or the Schellenberg.

The Margrave of Baden came up and joined Marlborough at Hippach on the 13th. Of necessity the Prince was admitted to their councils and deliberations, and nearly deranged the whole plan by his differences and jealousies. This Prince was older in rank than Prince Eugene, and insisted on a right of supreme command on the Danube. It was not without difficulty that the obstinate German consented to share the command of the army on alternate days with the English general. The three commanders at length agreed that the two armies should unite under an alternate command, and that Eugene should command a separate force on the Rhine. The Prince accordingly set out for Philipsburg, and the Duke being now joined by the imperial army prosecuted his march to Ebersbach, where he rested two days. Here he learned that Overkirk, ambitious to sig­nalize his command by an important enterprise, had been baffled in an attempt upon the French line, and had lost an excellent opportunity upon the Meuse; also that some Prussian and Suabian corps, who were appointed to join the Duke, had mistaken their instructions and gone another way.

On the 15th of June, Marlborough, still hampered and delayed by the blunders of his allies, was preparing to cross the ranges of mountains which separated him from the valley of the Danube; and on the 20th he traversed the narrow and dangerous pass of Gieslingen with his entire force, and without accident. Beyond this defile he established a communication with the troops of Prince Louis, and on the 22nd the united camp was pitched between Westerstetten and Urspring. On the 24th they advanced to Elchingen, on the Danube, which obliged the Elector of Bavaria to withdraw from his poet at Ulm, and retire along the stream to an intrenched camp constructed by himself and his French allies in the preceding cam­paign, near Dillingen. On the 25th, Marlborough established his head-quarters at Langenau, and took up a position on the Brentz. Here, on the 27th, the combined army was united, consisting of ninety-six battalions and 202 squadrons, with a train of forty-eight pieces of artillery. Whilst he was waiting in this position, and the enemy were strengthening their intrenched camp on the left bank of the Danube, he observed that the Elector had skilfully detached 12,000 men under General d’Arco to occupy the Schellenberg, a commanding height overhanging the important town of Donauwörth, and which covered his own dominions. Marlborough penetrated his design, and saw that if time were lost, the enemy would be enabled to make an intrenched camp more formidable than the one he occupied among the morasses, so that he insisted on an immediate attack; but his col­league, the Margrave, hesitated. On the 1st of July, however, when the command came to Marlborough by turn, he defiled round the enemy, and directed his steps by Balmerschoffen to the foot of the Schellenberg.

On the 2nd of July, at three o’clock in the morning, a detachment consisting of 6000 foot and thirty squadrons of horse, with three regiments of Austrian grenadiers, preceded the main body under Marlborough in person, and at three o’clock the whole army crossed the Wernitz; the attacking column advanced about five o’clock, and were saluted by the enemy with a heavy cannonade; and the Duke was soon made aware of the very formidable nature of the attack he had undertaken. The Schellenberg is a height overhanging Donauwörth and the left bank of the Danube. It is rough and steep, and the summit was protected by an old fort and by intrenchments in rapid progress, though not completed. There lay between him and the summit the Borchberg, a thick wood stretching from the verge of the intrenchments. On the opposite side of the Danube and communicating with the town of Donauwörth and the acclivities of the mountain by a bridge, was a regular camp of the enemy occupied solely by a strong detachment of cavalry. The Margrave with his Imperialists were still in the rear; but without waiting for them, Marlborough sent forward the Dutch General Goor and the English General Ferguson, preceded by a forlorn hope under Lord Mordaunt, to commence the attack. The sudden appearance of the allies and the promptitude and decision of Marlborough confounded the Gallo-Bavarian commanders, whilst they doubted whether to defend their unfinished camp or retire. The conflict began. As soon as they arrived within range of grape shot the carnage was dreadful; General Goor and other officers fell; a momentary pause ensued and the column was obliged to give way, but other officers rallied the troops and they advanced to the ravine. Here General d’Arco plied them with every gun he could bring to bear upon them, and marched forward some French and Bavarian battalions, who charged with the bayonet, “au bout de fusil.” This charge was repulsed by a battalion of the English guards, who stood their ground almost alone, and maintained perfect order, though nearly all their officers were killed. D’Arco continued to ply the assailants all the while very actively, and again the allies began to waver and give way, when General Lumley came up with a body of horse, drove back the enemy, and reformed the ranks of the allies. The French and Bavarians had however suffered dreadfully; and at this critical time an accidental explosion spread a panic amongst them at the very moment when the English and Dutch were cheered by a sight of the Imperialists advancing towards the heights, led on by the Margrave in person. Lord John Hay had dismounted his dragoons to charge the enemy on foot when his highness went past them and entered the intrenchment. The French and Bavarians abandoning every part of the work, now fled in complete disorder down the hill-side, and across the Danube; they were followed by the allied cavalry and the hill was won. When the unhappy fugitives reached the bridge it broke down under their weight, and hundreds were drowned, amongst whom was the son of Count d'Arco, the French commander. Of the whole number detached to the Schellenberg only3000 rejoined the Elector: sixteen pieces of artillery, and all the tents and baggage were taken. In this desperate conflict the Duke of Marlborough, by the admission of his opponents, had all the glory of the action, having insisted that the attack should be made at once on the unfinished intrenchments—contrary to the advice of the other generals. Had he deferred it till the next morning, as the Prince of Baden desired, he would have assuredly failed, for the works would by that time have been completed, and Marshal d'Arco would have received the reinforcement, which arrived the very day after the action.

In spite of the shouts of triumph the allied camp this night presented a scene of horror. A heavy rain set in; 4000 men lay wounded, and 1500 killed. The loss in officers was particularly heavy. Eight generals, eleven colonels, and twenty-six captains were among the slain. The sufferings of the wounded were greatly aggravated by the state of the weather. Marlborough, it is said, had given orders, foreseeing that the camp could not be carried without much bloodshed, to establish an hospital for the wounded, an attention not as yet generally bestowed by military commanders on suffering humanity; and he desired that particular attention might be paid to the sufferers. Leaving a considerable force to keep possession of the Schellenberg, he withdrew the main body of the army to his camp on the Wernitz, establishing his head-quarters at Obermorgen. On the next day the Bavarians abandoned Donauworth, of which the confederates took immediate possession, whilst the Elector passed the Danube on his march to the river Lech, lest the victors should cut off his retreat to his own country. On the 5th of July Marlborough crossed the Danube, and on the 7th the whole confederate army passed the deep and rapid river Lech at Gundelfingen, and on this the Bavarian garrison at Neuburg abandoned that important place and retired to Ingolstadt. Ion the 10th Marlborough was encamped near Mittelstetten, where he remained a few days to reduce the town of Rain, which surrendered on the 16th. He had now entered the country of the Elector , who lay with his army strongly encamped at Ausburg. Here he was too strongly posted under the cannon of the city to be dislodged or attacked with any prospect of success. Ac­cordingly the allies encamped within a league of the enemy, having Friedberg in their centre, so as to cut off all communication between the Elector and his dominions. The Duke having reduced him to this situation, proposed very advantageous terms of peace, and his subjects seeing themselves at the mercy of the allies, pressed him to listen to an ambassador from the Emperor, who engaged to obtain for the Elector the restoration of the states and a subsidy, on condition of his breaking off from the French, and furnishing 12,000 men for the service of the empire. But whilst he hesitated, other influences prevailed. Instead of fulfilling his promise to meet the Emperor’s am­bassador, he sent his secretary with a message to say, that since the French were now advancing to his succour he could not desert his ally. Marshal Tallard had found means to communicate to the Elector by a woman who passed the mountains, that he had left Friedberg on the 10th of July, and was marching up to join him, and this mainly induced his highness to reject Marlborough’s propositions.

7. The Armies of Marshals Tallard and Villeroy separate.

The Marshals Villeroy and Tallard seeing now the designs of Marl­borough, agreed to separate their forces, and while the former remained to act on the Rhine, Tallard was despatched to join the Elector of Bavaria. Advices were received by Marlborough from Prince Eugene, that this Marshal had crossed the Rhine at Kehl, and was passing through the Black Forest: but in truth he occupied five days in a fruitless and absurd attempt on Villingen before he forded the Danube and emerged into the plains about Ulm.

8. Prince Eugene joins Marlborough.

Prince Eugene had been directed to divide his army when Tallard crossed the Rhine, and not to lose sight of that Marshal. As soon, therefore, as he learned the march of the French towards the passes of the Black Forest, he broke up from the lines of Stollhofen, merely leaving thirty battalions and twenty-seven squadrons under the command of the Count de Nassau to defend them and observe Marshal Villeroy: with the rest, consisting of eighteen battalions and seventy squadrons, he made a march parallel to the French, until he reached the plains of Hochstadt. Marshal Tallard offered battle, but the Prince resolutely refused to engage, and keeping the Danube between himself and his adversary, he brought up safely his 18,000 men nearly at the same time that Tallard effected bis junction with the Elector. Eugene was, however, at this time far apart from the confederate forces, having the Danube between him and them, and might have been readily crushed by an enterprising enemy.

Marlborough broke up from Friedberg and moved by Aicha towards Neuburg; on the 6th of August he encamped on the Paar, near Schrobenhausen. Here Prince Eugene galloped into his camp alone and almost unknown, to concert measures with the English commander. One of their first resolutions was to get rid of the conflicting voice and authority of the Margrave of Baden. Since the battle of Donauwörth great misunderstandings had prevailed between him and Marlborough. A feud was the consequence; which spread through the army and even to the States General, and might have proved very dangerous. Fortunately the Margrave now consented to go with twenty-three battalions and thirty-one squadrons to the siege of Ingoldstadt, a maiden fortress, the possession of which was indispensable to keep a footing in Bavaria. The Elector had been joined by Tallard at Biberach on the 5th, and on the 9th these commanders advanced to Dillingen with the evident intention of overwhelming Eugene’s little army. On the same day the Duke was at Exheim. Eugene fell back behind the Kessel, and the mass of the forces under Marlborough were put in motion to recross the Danube to be on the same side of the stream with those of Eugene, and to effect a junction if possible. The operation was exceedingly difficult, but was conducted with admirable skill and forethought. On the 10th the Duke pitched his camp between Mittelstetten and Peuchingen, close to Rain; on the same day he threw across the Danube twenty battalions and twenty-eight squadrons to reinforce Eugene, who was now at Donauwörth, whither Marlborough prepared to follow with his whole army, as soon as he should be assured that the Elector and the French Marshals bad passed the Danube with all their forces. On the 11th, at ten at night, the junction was effected, and the confederate army consisted of sixty-five battalions and 160 squadrons. The French made a boast of superiority of numbers, but Marlborough numbered 62,000 men and fifty-two pieces of artillery. The enemy had 56,000 or 57,000 of all arms, and some said 60,000. On the 12th the baggage and artillery joined, and the Prince and Duke rode out to reconnoitre in the direction of Schweningen. Presently, on ascending the tower of Tapfheim church, they discovered the enemy’s quarter­masters marking out a camp between Blindheim and Lutzingen, and they instantly resolved to give battle and commence the attack before the confusion inseparable from a change of camps should be over. The enemy’s forces were advantageously posted on a hill near Hochstadt; their right wing was covered by the Danube and the village of Blindheim; their left by the village of Lutzingen; and the front by a rivulet, the banks of which were steep, and the bottom marshy. Some officers seeing the superiority of the enemy’s forces and their advantageous position, ventured to remonstrate with Marlborough, but he replied, “A battle is absolutely necessary, and I rely on the bravery and discipline of the troops to make amends for our disadvantages.” He was further stimulated to the hazard of the undertaking by an intercepted letter from Marshal Villeroy to the Elector, giving him to understand that he had received orders to ravage the country of Würtemberg, and thus to intercept all communication between the Rhine and the allied army. In the evening orders were given for a general action on the morrow, Marlborough retired to sleep, and arose early to prayers, receiving the sacrament from Dr. Hare, his chaplain.

9. The Battle of Blenheim of Blindheim.

It has been considered by French writers of consideration, that the great fault of the French at Blenheim was fighting the battle at all; because having failed to prevent the junction of Eugene and Marlborough, their obvious policy was to let the Duke suffer the conse­quences of his great imprudence in overmarching his supplies; and that he would have been very much put to it to supply his large army if, instead of fighting, the French army had harassed and hovered around him in a country not over friendly to him or his troops. But having committed this fault, their next was, their not understanding the absolute necessity that Marlborough was in to fight a battle. Yet so perniciously did they deceive themselves in this particular, that when he approached so near as he did on the night of the 12th, they sent no troops forward to watch his movements; and on the morning of the 13th, allowed their cavalry to go out to forage as usual: nay, even when the generals came forward to reconnoitre their position under a heavy escort of cavalry, they persuaded themselves that it was a mere flank movement to cover the march of the allies on Nordlingen, where they had established a magazine. The French army were, therefore, in a manner surprised into a general action. The great fault of all, however, was the divided command of the two Marshals. Both posted their troops as if they had their armies on a parade—the infantry in the centres, and the cavalry on the flanks of each; the consequence of which was, that in the centre there was a gap between the two armies, and thus this important part of their line was entirely occupied by cavalry, leaving the infantry wide apart from any possibility of supporting each other. Tallard had his head-quarters at Blindheim; Margin at Oberglauh; and the elector at Lutzingen.

The ground on which this celebrated battle took place is easily described. From the Schellenberg, where the conflict of the 2nd of July took place, to Tapfheim, where the allies were encamped on the night of the 12th, the mountains press close upon the Danube, but after passing the Kessel, near which Tapfheim is situated, the wooded hills recede from the river for seven or eight English miles in length, till they melt away altogether a few miles below Hochstadt. This quasi plain, which was the scene of the events we have now to describe, varies from half a mile to three miles in breadth, is intersected by many deep and rapid streams from the mountains, and the whole space is occupied by cultivation, and dotted with towns, villages, and dwellings.

On the memorable 13th of August, at two or three in the morning, the allied armies moved forward from their camp, leaving their tents standing, and crossed the Kessel in eight columns. The two brigades of Rowe and Ferguson formed a ninth column, which advanced along the great high road under the command of Lord Cutts. The Gallo-Bavarian army was drawn up in front of their tents ac­cording to the order of encampment. Their line extended along the crest of the eminence, from the village of Blindheim on the Danube to the rear of Oberglauh, and from thence to the wooded mountains about Lutzingen, having the little river Nebel and its tributaries along the whole extent of its front. The morning was hazy, and it was seven o’clock before the fog dispersing showed the advance of the allied columns. Signal guns were fired to recall the foragers, the advanced pickets were called in, and the French army, in much confusion, prepared to receive the attack of the allies.

When Marlborough and Eugene made their first reconnoissance of the enemy, they were accompanied by the Prussian General Natzmer, who had been made prisoner on this spot in the battle fought the preceding year between Marshal Villars and General Styrum, and who was, therefore, acquainted with the local peculiarities. They perceived at once the vicious arrangement of the armies of the two Marshals, and agreed that whilst Eugene should move to the right, to attack and turn the left flank of Marshal Marsin and the Elector’s army, Marlborough should move cavalry and infantry across the river Nebel, and force himself between the two armies in the centre; while, at the same time, every effort should be made to carry the villages of Blindheim and Oberglauh. They observed that the ground on their side the stream near Unterglauh was sufficiently high to protect the passage of the stream; that Blindheim and Oberglauh were too distant from each other to sweep the intervening space with a cross fire; and that the enemy’s cavalry on the ridge were too remote from the rivulet to obstruct their passage. On taking leave of his colleague to direct his separate attack, Eugene promised to give notice as soon as he was ready to attack, that the battle might begin on both wings at the same instant. While Marlborough waited for this communication, he sent forward officers to sound the Nebel and indicate the spots that were most passable, and the pontoons were brought forward for the construction of five bridges, whilst a stone bridge that had been damaged by the enemy was repaired. These troops then marched off to their several stations. General Churchill drawing up his infantry in two lines with intervals for the passage of the cavalry, moved down to Weilheim to be ready to pass the Nebel; then Rowe’s and Ferguson’s brigade of the British troops, with one of Hessians and one of Hanoverians, and the cavalry of Ross and Woods filed through Schweningen, destined for the attack of Blind­heim, under the command of Lord Cutts.

The French prepared for the contest with their accustomed activity and energy. Marshal Tallard confided to Lieutenant-General de Clérambaur the defence of the village of Blindheim, into which he sent twenty-seven battalions and twelve squadrons; the palisades round the gardens were strengthened, and boards, carts, and gates barricaded the streets and houses; the mills and adjacent houses, calculated to favour the approach of an enemy, were set on fire. To the left of the village he posted Zurlauben and his cavalry, with directions to charge the allies when they should have crossed the Nebel. To the left Marshal de Marsin occupied Oberglauh and Lutzingen with strong bodies of troops. The artillery was distributed with judgment under the command of the Marquis de la Freselliere. Four twenty-four-pounders were planted above Blindheim. Four eight-pounders were posted to bear on the road towards Unterglauh; another battery of twenty-four-pounders was posted between Oberglauh and Unterglauh, and the rest were disposed along the posts of the different brigades.

Prince Eugene’s columns were soon seen stretching along the elevated ground behind Berghausen, but he was obliged to make a considerable circuit, to avoid the destructive fire that was opened upon him; and he had great difficulty in bringing up his artillery, for the ground was intersected by ravines and rivulets, and covered with brushwood, while a heavy cannonade was opened from every part of the enemy’s right wing upon his advance. Marlborough ordered Colonel Blood to plant some guns upon the heights above Unterglauh, as the large masses, that were assembling above that village to pass the bridges across the Nebel, had already excited the attention of Marshal Tallard. That general, who now saw the attack that was meditated from that quarter, sent off an aid-de-camp to the Elector and Marshal Marsin, requesting that their reserve might be moved towards the centre; but his proposal was declined, from an apprehension that their whole force would be required to withstand the attack of Eugene. Marlborough was impatient at the long delay that intervened without hearing from the Prince, and sent repeated messengers to hasten his movements; but at length, about midday, an aid-de-camp arrived to say that the Prince was ready in position, and orders were sent in every direction to proceed to the attack.

About one Lord Cutts commenced the attack on Blindheim. The troops descending to the Nebel under a heavy fire of grape, deliberately advanced towards the enclosures, and the gallant General Rowe, who commanded the leading brigade, struck his sword into the palisades before he gave the word to fire. In a few minutes one-third of the brigade were killed or wounded, and Rowe himself amongst the number. Discouraged and broken, they fell back and were charged by three squadrons of gens d’armes, who seized their colours, but were repulsed by the Hessians, who recovered the colours and drove back the assailants. Lord Cutts instantly sent to General Lumley to send him up some cavalry, and five squadrons, under Colonel Palm, crossed the Nebel. These charged and drove back the French horse, but were so galled by the musketry that they must have gone back but for the brave Hessians. The brigades of Ferguson and Healson advanced to the left of the village, but could make no impression upon it. At length Marlborough perceived that Blindheim was occupied by a more powerful body than he had anticipated, and ordered Lord Cutts to convert his attack into a feigned one, in order to prevent any troops from being detached against him.

It was past four o'clock when Marlborough and Churchill had crossed the Nebel: the enemy observed them struggling for a passage and brought guns from their right to enfilade their crowded columns. It would have been well for Tallard if he had brought forward troops to prevent the passage of the stream, but with great superciliousness, he remarked, when they brought him word that Marlborough bad bridged the stream with pontoons, “Oh! M. le Duc, if you want pontoons you shall have mine, if you will come and fetch them.” Nay, so obstinate was he in undervaluing the importance of this step, that it is related further that he sat down coolly with his staff to his repast whilst the allies were crossing, and then rode off to the left wing to see what M. de Marsin was doing with Eugene. Zurlauben, the moment he saw the allied troops across the Nebel, attacked them, before they could disengage themselves. Several squadrons were driven back to the edge of the rivulet, but the infantry were sufficiently formed to repel the enemy’s cavalry by a heavy fire. The French Marshal at length returned and brought forward his second line of cavalry, and two battalions of the royal brigade, which, filing to the left of Unterglauh, opened a galling fire on the advancing troops; but notwithstanding the concentrated action of the enemy’s troops upon the fords the broken squadrons rallied, and by the exertions of General Lumley the whole passage of the Nebel was effected. Hompesch with the Dutch cavalry was now in line, and the Duke of Würtemberg with the Danes and Hanoverians spread towards Oberglauh. These last were charged by the right wing of Margin and driven back across the Nebel ; but the Prince of Holstein-Beck opportunely came up in support with eleven battalions above Oberglauh. Scarcely, however, did the head of this column appear beyond the rivulet, when the Irish brigade in the French service charged them, under the command of the Marquis de Blainville, who was killed, while the two foremost battalions were cut to pieces, and the Prince of Holstein was mortally wounded and taken prisoner. Still further to the right, the Danes and Prussians under the Prince of Anhalt carried a battery, and spread destruction on the hostile infantry, but the Bavarian cavalry coming up repulsed the imperial horse and fell on the flank of the Prussian infantry, recovered the battery and forced them to retreat. Anhalt, who commanded the infantry, rushed into the thickest of the combat, animated the men and rallied them in the wood. Eugene rallying the cavalry led them again to the charge. They were at first successful, but getting entangled between the cross fires from Oberglauh and Lutzingen, they fell back in disorder across the Nebel. Eugene again restored them to order and recrossed the rivulet. Four times did he rally his horse, who were at length so discouraged that their onset was feeble and undecisive. Leaving them in despair to the Prince of Hanover and the Duke of Würtemberg, he flew to his infantry, who still maintained their ground with incredible resolution. Stung by the prospect of defeat, Eugene exposed his person every where : he had a horse killed under him, and he says of himself, “Un dragon Bavarois me coucha en joue; un de mes Danois le prévint heureusement.” In this awful suspense when both parties were so close as to enable them to see each other in the face, the Elector of Bavaria was seen emulating the conduct of Eugene, and riding from rank to rank to encourage his troops. It was five o’clock, and neither the Prince on the right nor Lord Cutts on the left had made any impression upon the enemy. The battle drew to a crisis. Marlborough in the centre had marshalled his cavalry and infantry in such a manner as to leave intervals between the battalions, that they might be easily brought up to the support of one another. Tallard could only bring up to oppose him nine battalions of infantry from his second line, for it was one of the capital faults he committed in this action, to lock up all his infantry in the villages. Amidst a tremendous fire of cannon and musketry the allies moved up the ascent: they attained the summit of the hill, but failed to break the enemy. On the other hand the French cavalry tried in vain to break the English columns. Marshal Tallard, who had gone towards the left to see the course of events in that quarter, came back as soon as he heard that his centre was attacked, and placed himself at the head of a charge of his cavalry, where he was wounded, and his son fell dead by his side. In the confusion, and with his infirmity of sight, he here mistook the allied cavalry for his own and was taken prisoner. The nine battalions of infantry could no longer stand the force opposed to them, and at this moment no one was recognized as com­manding in the French army, who could take on himself to order up some of the twenty-seven battalions which were in Blindheim. Marlborough seized the opportunity to order a new charge of his cavalry, which broke the French horse, and their infantry, abandoned by them, were cut to pieces; here Zurlauben, who had distinguished himself throughout the day with great gallantry, was killed. The right wing of Marsin’s cavalry fell back to avoid a flank attack, and the allies established themselves in the centre of the French lines. The hostile cavalry fled on every side back towards Hochstadt, and thirty squadrons in the direction of Sondersheim and the Danube; Hompesch was detached after the first, whilst Marlborough himself pur­sued the latter and literally drove them into the river. Numbers were killed and taken prisoners, and hundreds were drowned.

From the verge of the road above Lutzingen, to which Eugene had hastened after his last attack, he observed the right of Marsin’s army filing towards the rear, and the Bavarian infantry moving into the village. Rightly judging that a tide in affairs had occurred and that the troops opposed to him were preparing to retreat, he, about seven o’clock, determined to renew the conflict with his infantry, and soon saw flames break forth from Lutzingen and Oberglauh, which proved that the enemy had abandoned those villages. His troops moved along the skirt of the wood beaming on the flank of the retreating army, which was mistaken in the dusk by Marlborough for the Bavarian portion of it. Having recalled Hompesch from the road to Hochstadt, he ordered him to charge these troops who were filing on Morselingen; and thus, by one of those common accidents which occur in the confusion of every battle at the fall of night, he might probably have finished with the ruin of Eugene’s army, as be had now effectually done with that of the Elector and Marshal Marsin.

The troops still remained in the village of Blindheim. Their commander, De Clérambault, had gone out to obtain orders from Marshal Tallard, but had been carried away by the fugitives, and was drowned in the Danube, so that they were without a chief. Three times and in three different directions they endeavoured to rally, and escape, but they were hampered by the very means they had employed for their defence: they could not form in order of battle, and on every side, amongst the carts and palisades, they encountered a victorious cavalry commanded by Lumley and Ross, who compelled them to take refuge again behind their houses and enclosures. M. de Blanzac placing himself at the head of the regiments of Artois and Provence, and some others made a regu­lar sortie, but were encountered by Lord Cutts and Lord Orkney, who drove them back and entered the village with them. M. Denouville then went forward, and returning with Lord Orkney by his side, proposed to the troops to accept his offers of capitulation. With despair and indignation, the soldiers submitted to their fate, though the regiment of Navarre burned their colours to save them from capture; and twenty-four battalions and twelve squadrons, or 11,000 effective men, surrendered themselves prisoners of war and thus terminated the struggle of this eventful day.

The victory was no sooner decided, than Marlborough despatched his aid-de-camp, Colonel Parke, to England with this brief note, writ­ten in pencil on a slip of paper, torn out of a memorandum book, and which is still preserved in the family archives of the Duke of Marlborough. It is addressed to the Duchess :—

“ August 13th, 1704.

“ I have not time to say more but to beg you will give my duty to the Queen and let her know her army has had a glorious victory. Monsieur Tailard and two other generals are in my coach, and I am following the rest. The bearer, my aid-de-camp, Colonel Parke, will give her an account of what has passed : I shall do it in a day or two by another more at large.

“ Marlborough.”

The cabinet at Windsor Castle in which her Majesty Queen Anne was sitting, when this note was presented to her, remained known by tradition until George IV made it part of the new library of that royal residence. She received the news with piety and gratitude. The tidings of the defeat reached Versailles in the midst of rejoicings for the birth of the King’s great-grandson, and no one dared to announce it to Louis XIV, until at length Madame de Maintenon took courage to tell him. The battle being ended, the two commanders visited Marshal Tallard at the quarters of the Prince of Hesse. They found him very dejected, dispirited by defeat and by the death of his son, and wounded in one of his hands. He spoke immediately on the events of the day, and told the Duke that if his grace had deferred his visit (meaning his attack) a day longer, the Elector and he would have waited on him first. The Marshal congratulated the Duke that he had overcome the best troops in the world. “I hope, sir,” replied his grace,(t you will except those troops by whom they have been conquered.” Marlborough gave orders for dressing the wounded, and cover before he snatched a short interval of repose in a little water-mill near Hochstadt, in which he took up his head­quarters. In the night he ordered his army to be drawn up with the left extending to Sonderen and the right towards Morselingen, and that the soldiers should lie all night under arms. The soldiers quickly possessed themselves of all that was left in the enemy’s camp, and found no unwelcome booty in tents to cover them and food to eat. Such, says Voltaire, was the celebrated battle, which the French called the battle of Hochstadt, the English Blenheim, and the Germans Plintheim or Blindheim —the latter naturally enough the most correctly. It has no pretensions whatever to pass by the name of Hochstadt, with which the battle had nothing whatever to do; and although the voice of fame has immortalized the name of Blenheim without any question whether it be a real name, or, what may more properly be called, a nom de guerre, yet there is, in fact, no such village.

10. Consequences of the Victory.

The consequences of this battle were immense. The loss of the allies was nearly 5000 killed and 8000 wounded, but that of the confederates cannot be so easily calculated. Tallard’s army was wholly dispersed and ruined, and of the whole force of 60,000 which went into action, not above 20,000 were ever reassembled. The poor Elector of Bavaria, who might have saved himself but from a regard to his obligations to the King of France, lost his electorate, and fled to Brussels, where he met the Elector of Cologne, who had lost his likewise; in retreating from the field of battle he said to Marshal de Marsin, “I have sacrificed my possessions for your King, would I had also sacrificed my life.” The Elector sent for his wife to come to Ulm, but Marlborough and Eugene advanced to Sefelingen in the neighbourhood of that fortress, and entered into negotiations with the Electress to surrender it, and that she herself might remain undisturbed at Munich. During the period that the victorious gene­rals remained in this camp, they were joined by the Margrave of Baden, whom they persuaded to raise the siege of Ingoldstadt, in which he had made some progress, and convert it into a blockade, whilst detachments should be left under the command of General Thomgen for the reduction of Ulm and other places garrisoned by the Gallo-Bavarian forces. In the meanwhile the confederate forces were to hasten after the enemy and to carry the war into the country beyond the Rhine. On the 28th, Marlborough broke up from the camp at Sefelingen; on the 2nd of September he passed the Neckar at Laufen; and on the 7th the whole army had crossed the Rhine—the Margrave and Prince Eugene being with them. On the 9th they came up with the remains of the Gallo-Bavarian army, now under the command of Villeroy, and crossed the Queich, the enemy still retiring before the confederates until they reached a position behind the Lauter. Prince Louis marched on the 12th to invest Landau, which was to be besieged by the Margrave, while Marlborough and Eugene covered the operations. Taking into account the consternation that prevailed all over France, nothing could be more impolitic than this measure, which gave the enemy time for recovering and recruiting their forces. It was, however, a proposal on which the Prince of Baden insisted with uncommon obstinacy, not without the imputation of bad faith. Marlborough and Eugene were encamped at Croon Weissenberg, and Marshal Villeroy advanced his army towards Landau as if he intended to attack the confederates. Landau capitulated on honourable con­ditions on the 23rd of November, after having been defended with obstinate valour. The hereditary Prince of Hesse-Cassel invested the castle of Traerbach in the beginning of November, and in about six weeks this place also capitulated. Ulm also surrendered to Thomgen even before the trenches were opened.

The English general, who was at least as able in negotiations and court proceedings as he was in war, now repaired to Berlin to engage the King of Prussia to suspend certain claims he had upon the Dutch; to enter into the confederacy more earnestly; and to furnish 8000 men to serve under Prince Eugene in Italy in the next cam­paign-all which his Majesty promised; and the Duke thence pro­ceeded to Hanover, where, as in all other places, he was received with great distinction. From Hanover he went to the Hague, where he was congratulated by the States General on his victories at Schellenberg and Blenheim, and was as much considered as if he had become their stadtholder. Before Marlborough returned home, he received from the Emperor Leopold a letter couched in the warmest terms of acknowledgment, and announcing to him in form his elevation to a place among the Princes of the empire.

He arrived at the palace of St. James in the middle of December, bringing with him Marshal Tallard and some others of his most distinguished prisoners, with the other trophies of his great victory. On the 15th, the day after his arrival, the Duke took his seat in the House of Peers, and was welcomed by the Lord Keeper with an address of congratulation. On the same day a committee of the House of Commons waited upon him with the thanks of their house for his glorious services. On the 3rd of January the trophies of his victories were removed from the Tower, where they were first deposited, to Westminster Hall. Amidst the thunder of artillery and the shouts of an exulting multitude, the procession moved through the streets of London in solemn pomp, and, traversing the Green Park, was viewed by the Queen from one of the windows of the palace. Since the defeat of the Spanish Armada, so triumphant a spectacle had never gladdened the eye of a British public; nor was the effect unworthy of the occasion; the pulse of the nation beat high with joy, and the names of Anne and Marlborough were mingled amidst the testimonies of tumultuous exultation which burst from all ranks and orders of society. Queen Anne sent a message to the House of Commons that she purposed to convey to the Duke of Marlborough and his heirs the interest of the Crown in the manor and honour of Woodstock, with the hundred of Wootton; and requested their aid in making the transfer. Her Majesty accompanied the grant with an order to the Board of Works to erect at the expense of the Crown a splendid palace, to bear the name of Blenheim; but the Duke did not live long enough to see the completion of this splendid monument to his fame—which, indeed, could never have been com­pleted stall, but for the increasing energy, and undiminished devotion to his person, of his celebrated wife, Sarah Duchess of Marlborough.

11. The War in Flanders.

In Flanders nothing of moment occurred during this campaign. Overkirk made two attempts upon the French lines, and actually penetrated them, but could not maintain the footing he had gained; and Baron Spaar bombarded Bruges and Namur with 9000 Dutch troops. Ou the other hand, the Elector of Bavaria, who had fled to Brussels after his defeat, assembled all his troops at Tirlemont, and formed a scheme for surprising the Dutch general; but the French court, apprehensive of his temerity, sent Villeroy to watch him, and the Mar­shal finding him intent on giving battle, represented the impossibility of success, and at length flatly refused to march, producing the French King’s order to avoid an engagement.

12. The War in Italy

In Italy the French met with no opposition. The Duke of Savoy was obliged to lie inactive. He witnessed the Duke de Vendôme reduce Vercelli and Ivre, and undertake the siege of Verac, whilst he posted his little army on the other side the Po at Crescentino, where he had a bridge of communication, by which he occasion­ally supplied the place with fresh troops and provisions, so that it held out five months against all the efforts of the French general.

13.The Revolt in Hungary.

Marlborough had employed his influence and address to bring about a reconciliation between the Emperor and his revolted subjects in Hungary, whose formidable insurrection, promoted by the French, had embarrassed the operations of the present campaign; and the ministers of the allies pressed the Emperor to enter into a negotiation for a peace with the rebels. Conferences were accordingly held on the subject, but on the one side Ragotski aimed at the principality of Transylvania, which the Emperor would not relinquish; and Leopold, who might have listened to terms in the moment of danger, would give ear to none when the danger was passed. He was not a little alarmed by a revolution at the Ottoman Porte, until the new Sultan sent him an assurance that he would give no assistance to the malcontents in Hungary.

14.The War in Scandinavia.

In Poland the diet assembled by the command of Charles of Sweden, who had by his victories deposed King Augustus, elected Stanislaus Leczinski, Palatine of Posnania, King of Poland, whilst Charles still maintained his army in the kingdom—more intent upon humbling his adversary than upon the government of his own dominions, or the progress of Peter the Great, who recovered Narva by assault after a regular siege, ravaged Livonia, and made incursions into Sweden itself.

15.The War in Spain

A considerable part of the contest of this year found a theatre in the peninsula; where an English force, under the command of the Duke of Schomberg and the Earl of Galway, consisting of 6000 English and Dutch troops, had been sent to assist the Archduke Charles, now called King Charles, in his bold enterprise of invading Spain and dethroning Philip, grandson of Louis XIV. Great pre­parations had been expected on the part of the King of Portugal, now a member of the confederacy; but the Portuguese ministry favoured the French in secret; and the people were averse to heretics; so that upon the arrival of the King and the allied troops at Lisbon, they found nothing prepared, and were obliged to distribute themselves among the garrisons on the frontiers. Here they were menaced by a force under the Marshal Duke of Berwick, natural son of James II, by the Duke of Marlborough’s sister, and now a grandee of Spain, and in command of the troops of the Bourbon King. The King of Portugal had promised to enter Spain with by the middle of May, but was not ready till the beginning of June, Charles when they reached Santarem. Berwick repaired to Alcantara on the 3rd of May, and advanced with an army composed of twenty-five battalions and forty squadrons. In two days he captured Salvatierra, and without delay Segura, Monsanto and Castelo Branco surrendered to them. Here he heard that General Fagel was encamped with two Dutch battalions seven or eight leagues distant, near Sobreira, and he forthwith detached a force under the Marquis de Thong to sur­prise them; which succeeded so effectually that all but Fagel himself were captured. He then pushed on to Portalegre, in which he captured two Portuguese and one English battalion. The Portuguese general, Las Minas (who shared the command with Lord Galway), with about eighteen battalions and as many squadrons, roused himself, started from Almeida, retook Monsanto, and afterwards defeated a body of French and Spaniards, commanded by Ronquillo, near the river Zarza, and drove them to Alcantara. Berwick advanced to their assistance, and on the retreat of the allies sat down before Castelo Da Vide. At the end of four days the governor offered to capitulate, but the English battalion in garrison resisted and tried to take the castle, but were at last obliged to submit to the terms conceded to the Portuguese governor. The whole army of the allies in Spain at this juncture was composed of thirty-six battalions, of which ten were English and Dutch, and of fifty squadrons.

Berwick had under his command eighteen weak battalions and thirty-seven weak squadrons, and was very badly supplied with pro­visions, but he was strongly posted with this force on the banks of the Aqueda, so that nothing could be attempted against him. On the other hand he could do nothing in consequence of the events that were occurring in the south of the peninsula. The great fault of the allied generals in Spain was in dividing their forces, one on one side the Tagus and one on the other, without even the precaution of a bridge of boats; but, besides this, Schomberg disagreed with the Dutch and Portuguese commanders, and this want of consent ruined the cause. He was, therefore, recalled, and was succeeded by Lord Galway in the command of the allied troops. This general was a Frenchman by birth, and thus by a singular chance the English were now headed by a French and the French by an English general.

16.Admiral Sir George Rooke captures Gibraltar.

Sir George Rooke after landing King Charles at Lisbon sent a squadron to cruise off Cape Spartel, under the command of Rear-Admiral Dilkes, who on the 12th of March took three Spanish ships-of-war bound from St. Sebastian to Cadiz. Pressed by King Charles, who bad been given to believe that the people of Barcelona and Ca­talonia would declare in his favour. Rooke took on board the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, who had been Viceroy of Catalonia, and sailed for Barcelona, where he invited the governor to declare for King Charles. The governor refused, and by the advice of Hesse-Darmstadt, who assured him that the inhabitants would oblige the governor to surrender, Rooke disembarked some marines, and fired a few bombshells into the place; but the governor was firm, and there was no sign of rising, so that the marines were re-embarked, and Rooke sailed away. Off Toulon he learned that vast preparations were making there to equip a fleet to join that of Brest, under the command of the Count de Toulouse, a natural son of Louis XIV. On this he returned towards the Straits, where he was joined on the 16th of June by a good squadron under Sir Cloudesly Shovel. On the 17th of July, when about seven leagues to the eastward of Tetuan, a council of war was called on board the “Royal Catharine,” wherein it was represented that Gibraltar, one of the most important fortresses in the world, was at that moment weakly garrisoned, and it was resolved that an attempt should be made to carry it by a sudden assault.

On the 21st of July the whole fleet came to anchor in Gibraltar Bay. The marines, amounting to about 2000 men, were placed under the command of the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, and landed on that narrow, short, sandy isthmus, known by the name of the Neutral Ground. Having thus cut off all communications with the country, the Prince summoned the Spanish governor, who, weak as he was, declared that he would defend the place to the last. On the following day Rooke ordered Rear-Admirals Byng and Vauder Dussen to range their ships in line and batter the works, but the wind blew so hard, that they could not get into position and order. On the 23rd, however, soon after daybreak, the ships lay with their broadsides to the works. Rooke gave the signal, and the cannonading was commenced with tremendous effect, and kept up so briskly that in five or six hours the enemy were driven from many of their guns at a place called the South Mole Head; which being perceived by the admiral, he ordered Captain Whittaker to arm all the boats and assault that quarter. Captain Hicks and Captain Jumper, who happened to be nearest the Mole, immediately manned their pinnaces and landed, sword in hand, followed by their men, and by those in the other boats. The Spaniards sprung a mine, by which two lieutenants and about forty private soldiers were killed, and sixty wounded. The assailants, nevertheless, took possession of the great platform, and kept their ground until the arrival of Captain Whittaker and the rest of the seamen, who stormed a redoubt (now the eight-gun battery) between the Mole and the town. On the 24th the governor, Don Diego de Salinas, capitulated, and our men threw open the gates which led to the isthmus for the entrance of the Prince of Hesse and the marines. The garrison, consisting at most of 150 men, marched out with the honours of war. On entering the town Darmstadt hoisted the Spanish standard and proclaimed King Charles, but Sir George Rooke interposed and took possession of the place in the name of the Queen of England. The fortress was found very strong and was well provided with ammunition and military stores. This most important conquest was achieved with the loss of about sixty killed and 216 wounded on the part of the English. Thus was carried in three days the famous old rock which has since sustained sieges of many months’ duration ; a place so strong by nature and so fortified by modern science, by successive excavations, and other works, that it has baffled more than once the united power of France and Spain ; and can scarcely be taken so long as England remains sufficiently strong at sea to keep it well provisioned and garrisoned. Gibraltar has ever since remained in the possession of the English, and is of the utmost advantage for annoying an enemy in war, or sheltering the British trade in peace.

17. The Naval Battle off Malaga.

A sufficient garrison being left under the Prince of Hesse as governor, the admirals returned to Tetuan; and on the 9th of August descried the united fleets of Brest and Toulon, all clean fitted, and out of harbour in excellent condition, fifty-two in number, commanded by the Count de Toulouse. The allied fleet numbered in all, English and Dutch, fifty-three ships-of-the-line, but they were foul and thinly manned, having been long at sea, and not only weakened by ordinary casualties, but by the abstraction of nearly all the marines to form the garrison of Gibraltar. Rooke, however, determined to engage, and on Sunday, the 13th of August, (the same day on which Blenheim was fought,) he came up with the enemy about eleven leagues to the northward of Malaga. The battle began at ten o’clock by Rooke bearing down on the French, who were formed in line. The first to engage were the Count de Toulouse in the “Foudroyant” and Rooke in the “ Royal Catharine” and the French assert that their ship beat off the English. Admiral de Villette engaged Sir C. Shovel, and was set on fire and obliged to leave the line, but was not pursued; Admiral Belleisle’s ship shared the same fate. About two o’clock the French crowded all sail to force through the English line, but failed, and their van gave way. Byng and Bilkes in the “St. George” and “Shrewsbury” were both obliged to quit the line for want of shot. The fight was maintained at long shots until night set in, when Toulouse bore away to leeward under a light breeze. On the following morning the fleets were still in sight of each other and the wind favourable for the French attack, but they made no use of their advantage, and on the 15th they sailed away followed by Rooke, who would have renewed the combat had he been able. Not a ship was taken on either side, but the loss of human life was great. The loss of the English and Dutch was computed at nearly 3000 men; but as the French had lost 200 officers, it was assumed that they must have lost as many as 4000 men. The French ac­counts admit that seven of their ships were set on fire, but they nevertheless blame the Count de Toulouse for not renewing the fight the following morning: M. d’Estrées, the admiral in charge, did however call a council of war, which decided against it. The allied fleets were very much shaken, for besides other casualties, the Dutch flag-ship “Albemarle,” Admiral Kellenberg, blew up; and there were no less than ten jury-masts in the fleet; but Rooke continued to keep the sea, and did not lose sight of his enemy, till he saw them safe within three days in the harbour of Toulon. King Philip nevertheless assumed it as a victory, and sent his bastard cousin the Order of the Golden Fleece, with a letter written in the highest Castilian. Both sides fought with great bravery incontestably, but as the Count de Toulouse was not in a state to take the sea again that summer, nor did the French venture another great engagement at sea during the whole war, the victory has been decided for that party, who still kept the element. Louis XIV in the depth of his fortunes thought it politic to claim a victory, and struck a medal to record it, but there can be no question that the French ran into port and that the English kept the sea. Rooke sailed to Gibraltar to refit, and towards the end of the month he sailed for England, leaving a squadron with Sir John Leake to protect the coast of Portugal and to keep Gibraltar, threatened by the Spanish General Valladarias, who, towards the end of October, presented himself on the Neutral Ground with a view to invest the rock, and was shortly joined there by a French general of great activity and military science, the Marshal de Tessé; but neither the Frenchman nor the Spaniard could do any thing against the place, and after four or five months the siege was raised. The Prince of Hesse exhibited many proofs of valour, and resisted an attempt to scale the rock by the Spaniards. Thus not only was this great acquisition secured, but a timely and most important diversion effected in favour of the allied troops in the peninsula.

The two greatest men in England in the year 1704 were doubtless the Duke of Marlborough and Sir George Rooke. The one was generalissimo of the land forces, and the other admiral of the fleet of England; and both gained for their country (on the same day) victories which crippled the enemies of their country to the end of the war. Rooke, moreover, added the most important acquisition of Gibraltar as a conquest of his sword. Yet such is the unfathomable caprice of fortune, and such in England is the injustice of party spirit, that the one being a Whig and the other a Tory, and the Whigs being in power, Marlborough secured honours, wealth, and applause, whilst Rooke gained neither one nor the other. The former was suffered to enjoy his hour, though the same fate as Rooke’s came upon him when the ascendancy of his rivals prevailed; but now he beg­gared the gratitude of his Queen and country. Sir George Rooke on the contrary returned from his great services, to be received indeed by his Sovereign with great distinction in her palace, but in silence by the Parliament; and such was the ingratitude of his country that he thought himself obliged to resign all his employments and to retire into private life. The Duke had wealth as well as honours heaped upon him, but when Sir George died, a few years subsequently, he said, “I do not leave much, but what I leave was honestly gotten: “it never cost a sailor a tear, nor the nation a farthing.”