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country, which must be ruined if such thoughts were put in execution; As for your poor unfortunate faithful Morley,' the letter continued, she could not bear it; for if ever you should forsake me, I would have nothing more to do with the world, but make another abdication; for what is a crown when the support of it is gone? Unfortunate, was an epithet which she always applied to herself, in her private letters, after the death of her She concluded by saying, that she never would forsake the Marlboroughs and Godolphin, but always be their constant and faithful friend :-'We four,' said she, 'must never part, till death mows us down with his impartial hand.' After such a letter, it was not possible for Marlborough to persist in his resignation. Some changes in the ministry also made his situation for a time less irksome, though they proved eventually in the highest degree injurious, both to himself and the interests of Europe. By his influence Harley and St. John were made Secretaries of State. Marlborough had the most implicit confidence in both these men; but they did not deceive the Duchess; she perceived their true character, and warned her husband against them: unhappily this was the only instance in which he did not suffer himself to be guided by her opinion in such cases.

Meantime the Emperor was in a situation of great danger. The well-concerted operations of the French and Bavarians in the preceding year, had failed through the resolute defence of the Tyrolese, who displayed the same loyal attachment to the House of Austria, and the same determined spirit of resistance to the Bavarians, by which they have distinguished themselves so heroically in our own days. The allies had also obtained a most important accession to their strength, in the Duke of Savoy. But on the side of Germany the French had obtained some important successes. M. Tallard had taken Brisac, which was the strongest bulwark of the empire on that side, and was regarded as one of the best fortresses in Europe, and he had recovered Landau. By these conquests they had a way open into the heart of the Empire; and the Elector of Bavaria, commanding the course of the Danube from its sources to the frontiers of Austria, communicated on the one side with the victorious French armies on the Rhine, and with the Hungarian insurgents on the other. The head-quarters were near Ulm. He had an army of 45,000 men, against which scarcely 20,000 could be brought by the exhausted means of the Emperor. Leopold even prepared his capital for a siege. The army of the Empire, under the Margrave of Baden, was employed to defend the lines of Stolhoffen, and was far from being competent to that important service. The defiles of the Black Forest were left to a handful of troops, who were to be supported by the mi

litia and the peasantry. On all sides the means of defence were miserably inadequate; and the French cabinet had good reason to believe, that while they amused the allies in the Netherlands, the next campaign would enable them to dictate their own terms at Vienna.

Marlborough comprehended the full extent of the danger, and perceived that there was only one means of averting it, which was by moving his army to the Danube, and saving the heart of the empire from a meditated blow, which would otherwise be fatal, not only to Austria and the empire, but to the protestant succession in England, and to the liberties of Europe. If this were not done, all would be lost; an attempt therefore for preventing it, though so hazardous that at other times it might be deemed temerity, became prudent now. The Emperor had one general in his service worthy, for his military talents, to co-operate with Marlborough in any plan of operations, however arduous, and generous enough to serve with him, or under him, with the perfect confidence of friendship, and perfect devotedness of duty. This was Prince Eugene, who had been removed from the command in Italy, to be made President of the Council of War at Vienna. With him Marlborough corresponded and concerted the scheme of a campaign, so bold in itself, and so unlike any thing to which the English had been accustomed, that he did not venture to communicate the whole design even to Godolphin, much less to the cabinet. In that quarter he contented himself with obtaining an augmentation of 10,000 men to the 40,000 already under his immediate command. At the Hague he proposed a campaign on the Moselle, with the British and part of the foreign auxiliaries, leaving the remainder, and the Dutch troops under General Overkirk, to protect the Netherlands. Even this plan, far as it fell short of that which he intended to pursue, appeared too bold for the States; but he was seconded by his friend the Pensionary, and their assent was finally given. He looked to. the interests of the various allies, and used every means to conciliate, as well as to serve them. To the King of Prussia he made a confidential communication of the proposed campaign on the Moselle and the Emperor, through Prince Eugene's agency, was induced to write a letter to the Queen, entreating an assistance proportioned to the emergency. Still the difficulties were so great, that he relied more upon the chance of circumstances, or, in wiser and more religious language, which better represents his own feelings, upon Providence, than upon the means which he could expect to command. Writing from the Hague in February, whither he had gone to concert measures, in the depth of winter, he says to the Duchess,For this campaign I see so very ill a prospect,

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prospect, that I am extremely out of heart; but God's will be done! In all the other campaigns, I had an opinion of being able to do something for the common cause; but in this I have no other hopes than that some lucky accident may enable me to do good.' And on informing Godolphin that he had concluded every thing in Holland, as far as could be done in a country where nobody had power to conclude any thing, he expressed a hope that the blessing of God would make them succeed much better than they could propose to themselves; for,' said he,

• Providence makes the wheel go round.'

The letters of Leopold, and the representations of the Imperial minister, produced the intended effect upon the English cabinet; and without yet entirely disclosing his views, even to Godolphin and the Queen, he obtained general powers for concerting with the States such measures as might be deemed proper for relieving the Emperor. The first hint of an effort in Germany awakened in England a party cry against hazardous enterprizes and continental connections; and the Dutch were so averse to go beyond a mere defensive system, that Marlborough declared he would lead the English troops alone to the Moselle, ceasing any further to consult with so inefficient and impracticable a government. This declaration alarmed the hostile faction; and the same timidity which had made the States refuse their assent before, induced them now to vest him with sufficient powers. He then apprized Godolphin that he thought it absolutely necessary to march into Germany, and take measures with the Margrave of Baden against the Elector of Bavaria; and in a subsequent letter he added, that if he found at Philipsburgh that the French had joined the Elector, he should make no hesitation at marching to the Danube. The main difficulties were now removed; the impediments that might be expected from a person with whom he was to cooperate seemed little in comparison to what he had overcome : he felt no doubt of success when he should reach the scene of action; and in that confidence looked forward to the good name which he should leave behind him. It is curious to contrast the feelings of the general relying thus hopefully upon Providence for the success of a good cause, with those of an officer in his army, who had been bred up among the Scotch covenanters, and whose melancholy temperament suited their austere opinions. 'Lord,' says this officer, a man as thoroughly brave as he was religious, I tremble to think on the profanity and wickedness of the army that I am in, and what judgments we are like to pull down upon our own heads. For the English army are sinners exceedingly before the Lord; and I have no hopes of success, or that this expedition shall prove to our honour. Howsoever much

we

we think of ourselves, Thou wilt humble us.' Nor was it merely because of the profligacy of the troops that he augured thus unhappily of the event; he thought it unlawful to act in behalf of the Emperor, because of his intolerance. When I consider this,' says he, that we are assisting those oppressors who have wasted the church and people of God, persecuted and oppressed them, it makes me afraid the quarrel is not right, and that we shall not prosper, though I be satisfied that our quarrel against France is a very just one. O Lord, it is sad to be in an army, where I have not confidence to pray for success, and dare not seek in faith.' If any thing could have made this brave man a coward, it would have been his wrong notions in religion.

Colonel Blackader, from whose journal these passages are extracted, describes the troops as the scum and dregs of mankindearthly devils, who seemed as if they were broke loose from hell. Allowing for the exaggeration of a man who says of himself, that all his comfort was poisoned by a melancholy temper, inclined to discontent; and who, in addition to this, had from his childhood been dosed with the essential acid of puritanism, it may be believed that the morals of the army were like those of all men whose moral and religious education has been totally neglected. The manner therefore in which Marlborough, without any extraordinary severity, (for of that, his nature was incapable,) made such an army a model for its discipline and good behaviour whereever it went, will not appear the least remarkable, nor the least meritorious part of his character. Wherever the French went, their armies were at free quarters, and the Germans followed the same cruel system. But Marlborough was particularly careful to spare the people whom he came to defend. He saw the men regularly paid, and duly provided with all things necessary (as far as was possible) for their well-being and comfort. And by the order which he established the inhabitants were conciliated, and the troops supplied better and more surely than could have been done by any measures of oppression and severity. In his first interview with Eugene, that Prince expressed his admiration at the appearance of the men. He had heard much of the English cavalry, he said, which were reviewed before him, and he found it to be the best-appointed and the finest that he had ever seen: money, of which there was no want in England, could buy clothes and accoutrements, but nothing could purchase the spirit which he saw in their looks; and that spirit was an earnest of victory.

It had not been possible for the enemy to perceive what were Marlborough's intentions for this campaign; the secret had been confined to himself and Prince Eugene till the latest moment; and

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the

the plan itself was so much beyond the usual policy of the English cabinet, and its vacillating allies, that the French were as little able to divine as to discover it. When they heard that he was at Coblentz, they apprehended an attack on the Moselle; when he advanced to Mentz, they feared for Alsace: lastly, they suspected that Landau was to be besieged; and when at length they knew that he was on his march toward the Danube, it was too late to take any measures for opposing him on the way. At Hippach the Margrave of Baden joined him. It was Marlborough's wish that this commander would remain with the army on the Rhine, and leave Eugene to be his colleague on the Danube; but as the Danube was likely to be the more brilliant scene of action, the Margrave claimed the privilege of seniority in rank, and it was not without great difficulty that he was prevailed upon to share the command with the English general by alternate days. Eugene therefore was sent to the Rhine, against his own inclination, and against the judgment of Marlborough, who had full confidence in the Prince, and rightly appreciated his generous character, as well as his military genius; but the Margrave was a man whom it was scarcely possible to guide, and by whom it might easily have been destruction to be guided. There were difficulties enough before him; the States, alarmed at a report that the Netherlands would be attacked, reclaimed a part of the auxiliary force: Villeroy and Tallard had had a meeting at Landau; and it was reasonable to suppose that they had concerted some important enterprize; and though he himself was not shackled as he had been by Dutch deputies, and generals who were more desirous to frustrate his plans than to execute his orders, he knew too well the evil which might result from an alternate command, when the moment for action was to be seized. But Marlborough was of a hopeful nature, without which no man is fit for the charge of an army, be his other qualifications what they may.

The first object, after the junction of the confederates, was to secure Donawerth as a place of arms for the invasion of Bavaria. This city, upon the frontiers of Bavaria and Swabia, is situated where the Wernitz flows into the Danube. The Elector, who occupied a strong position between Lawingen and Dillingen, and was waiting for reinforcements from France, had detached General D'Arco with 10,000 foot and 2500 horse, to protect this point by occupying the Schellenberg, a commanding height on the left bank of the river near the town, from which the course of the Danube may be seen as far as Ingolstadt. Its ascent is gradual, and on the summit, which is about half a mile wide, the enemy were encamped, and fortifying themselves with the utmost exertions. Marlborough well knew that if they arrived before