The campaign of 1708 opened badly. Ghent and Bruges opened their gates to the young prince, the Duke of Burgundy. "The States have used this country so ill," said Marlborough, "that all the towns are disposed to follow the example of Ghent when the opportunity offers."
Prince Eugene advanced to support Marlborough, but he set out too late; the Elector of Bavaria obstructed his march. "I do not wish to speak ill of Prince Eugene," said Marlborough, "but he will arrive at the rendezvous on the Moselle ten days too late." The English were unsupported when they encountered the French army in front of Kidenarde. The battle commenced without the presence of the Duke of Burgundy, who received the news too late. Vendôme, the commanding general, was defeated. Marlborough proposed to carry the war into France. Prince Eugene, and the deputies of the States-General, did not approve of the boldness of the project. The allies besieged Lille. Marshal Boufflers held the city until the 23rd of October, and the citadel until the 9th of December, without receiving any succor. When he surrendered. Prince Eugene permitted him to march out, with all the honors of war. Ghent and Bruges were delivered into the hands of the imperialists. "We have committed folly upon folly in this campaign," says Marshal Berwick, in his Memoirs, "but notwithstanding even this, if we had not abandoned Ghent and Bruges we would have had easy work the next year." The Low Countries were lost, and the French frontiers were encroached upon by the loss of Lille. The Duke of Orleans, weary of his forced inactivity in Spain, and suspected at the court of Philip V., resigned his command: he returned to France. The English Admiral Leake, and General Stanhope, took possession of Sardinia, the island of Minorca, and Port-Mahon. The archduke was master of the islands and of the Mediterranean sea. For a year past Philip V. had not possessed an inch of land in Italy. The exhaustion and misery of France were extreme, and Louis XIV. finally decided to negotiate for peace.
He first addressed himself to Holland, where there existed a general desire for peace; the war could bring the Dutch no other profit than a guarantee of security. The king offered this. "In the midst of the sufferings that hostilities had inflicted upon commerce, there was reason to hope," wrote the Marquis of Torcy, in his Memoirs, "that the grand pensionary, regarding principally the interests of his country, would desire the end of a war, the burden of which fell upon his own country. Authorized by the republic, he had no reason to fear any secret intrigue, nor any cabal to displace him from a post which he occupied to the satisfaction of his masters, and in which he conducted himself with moderation. Although the united provinces bore the principal weight of the war, the emperor alone gathered the fruits. It is said that the Dutch guarded the Temple of Peace and held the keys in their hands."
Torcy had counted too much upon the moderation of Heinsius. In vain President Rouillé, charged with the secret negotiations, proposed to abandon Spain, provided Naples, Sardinia and Sicily were assured to Philip V.: Louis XIV. thereby came back to the second treaty of partition, but recently concluded with the United Provinces, as well as with England. Heinsius, faithful to the Grand Alliance, ardent to avenge the past injuries of the republic, and justly suspicious regarding France, did not comprehend that he was destroying the work of William III., and the European equilibrium, if he assured to the house of Austria the preponderance of which he deprived the house of Bourbon; the conditions that he exacted, through his delegates, were such that Rouillé scarcely dared transmit them to Versailles.Each of the allies desired a share of the spoils. England claimed Dunkirk, Germany desired Strasbourg and the re-establishment of the Peace of Westphalia; Victor Amadeus wanted to recover Nice and Savoy, and the Dutch demanded that to the barrier stipulated at Reyswick should be added, Lille, Condé and Tournay. "The king will break off the negotiations, sooner than accept such exorbitant conditions," said the deputy of the States-General to Marlborough.—"So much the worse for France," replied the English general; "for the campaign once begun, things will go further than the king thinks. The allies will never relax their first demands."
The Duke was assured of the fidelity of his allies—he had made a trip to England. When he returned to the Hague, the Marquis of Torcy himself had arrived to pursue the negotiations, and was the bearer of new concessions. The king offered to recognize Queen Anne, to cede Strasbourg and Lille, and to content himself with Naples for his grandson. Marlborough protested his pacific intentions: "You also ought to desire peace for France," said he to the minister of Louis XIV.; "it is necessary to conclude it as soon as possible. But if you seriously desire it, be assured that it is necessary to renounce absolutely the Spanish monarchy; on this point my compatriots are unanimous. The English will never permit Naples and Sicily, or even one of those two kingdoms, to remain in the hands of a Bourbon. An English minister would not dare even to propose it."
The Duke insisted that the Pretender should be compelled to leave France. An attempted descent upon Scotland, assisted by Louis XIV., although unsuccessful, owing to the bad weather, had excited the anger of the Whig ministry, and they demanded, in the negotiations, that France should cease to give her support to the young prince. "I would like to serve him," said Marlborough to Torcy—who had not left him in ignorance of the intrigues that were taking place at the Court of St. Germain; "he is the son of a king for whom I would have given my life," and he added: "my colleague Lord Townshend is a Whig: in his presence I am obliged to speak as the most of the English; but I would like, with all my heart, to serve the Prince of Wales. I sincerely believe it would be to his advantage, at this time, to leave France. Is not the success of the allies a miracle of Providence? When has it happened before that eight nations have spoken and acted as one man?"
Torcy had gone to the last limits of concession; he had renounced Sicily as well as Naples. The allies claimed Alsace, certain towns in Dauphiné and Provence, and they exacted that the conditions of the peace were to be executed during the truce of two months, that they were about to accord; besides Louis XIV. was to deliver immediately, to Holland, in case Philip V. refused to abdicate, three fortified cities. To this dishonorable proposition, the young king replied: "God has given me the crown of Spain; and while there remains a drop of blood in my veins, I will defend it."
The demands of the allies passed all reasonable bounds; imprudent even for the interests of Europe as well as for the maintenance of a durable peace, their propositions deeply wounded royal honor and patriotic sentiment in France and Spain. The prudent sagacity of William III. would have preserved the powers from this grave error, but the political obstinacy of Heinsius, the decided hatreds of Prince Eugene, and the avidity of the Duke of Marlborough for glory and fortune, served the cause that they at heart desired to ruin forever.Louis XIV. broke off negotiations and made a final effort. "If I must continue the war," said he, "I will contend against my enemies rather than against my own family." He wrote to all the governors of the provinces and cities:
"Gentlemen: The hope of an early peace has been so generally spread abroad in my kingdom, that I believe it due to the fidelity that my people have testified towards me, during the entire course of my reign, that I inform them of the reasons which still prevent their enjoying that repose which I had designed to procure for them. In order to re-establish peace, I would have accepted conditions strongly opposed to the safety of my frontier provinces; but the more readiness I have shown, and the more desire I have manifested to dissipate the fears of my power and of my designs that my enemies affect to entertain, the more they have multiplied their pretensions, refusing to make any other engagement than to discontinue all acts of hostility until the first of August, and reserving to themselves the liberty of then appealing to arms, if the King of Spain, my grandson, persists in his resolution to defend the crown which God has given him. Such a resolution is more dangerous to my people than war, for it assures to the enemy advantages more considerable than they would be able to gain by their armies. As I put my confidence in the protection of God, and as I hope the purity of my intentions will draw his benediction upon my arms, I wish my people to know that they would immediately enjoy peace if it depended only upon my will to procure for them a blessing that they so reasonably desire; but that it is necessary to acquire it by new efforts, since the enormous concessions that I would have accorded are useless for the re-establishment of the public peace.
Louis."
France might have reproached Louis XIV. for the arrogance which had drawn her, with him, to the borders of an abyss. Intoxicated as well as the monarch by an insensate ardor for glory, the French people had long served the royal passions. They cruelly expiated their faults, without however allowing themselves to be overwhelmed by their misfortunes. In France, as well as in Spain, the people and the army nobly responded to the appeals of the sovereigns. "It is a miracle that the firmness and the virtue of the soldier survives the sufferings of hunger," said Marshal Villars, who took command of the French army in the Low Countries. He encountered near Malplaquet, on the 11th of September, 1709, Prince Eugene and Marlborough, who had just taken possession of Tournay. In vain did Villars, for many days, implore the king for permission to give battle. When finally, to his great joy, the orders were given to engage the enemy, his troops were so eager for the combat that they threw away the rations which had just been distributed to them. "Vive le Roi! Vive le marechal!" cried the soldiers. Villars intrenched himself outside of a woods. "So we have still to fight against moles," angrily said Prince Eugene.
During the action Marshal Villars was seriously wounded. "I had my wound dressed upon the field, and placed myself upon a chair to give my orders," wrote he in his Memoirs, "but the pain caused me a swoon, which lasted so long that I was borne unconsciously to Quesnoy." Prince Eugene, also wounded, while attacking the centre of the French army, refused all care. "There will be time enough for that this evening, if I survive," said he calmly. He remained on his horse. Marshal Boufflers, who had served thus far as a volunteer, took the command of the French army. Its defeat was complete, although glorious. The retreat was conducted like a parade. The allies lost twenty thousand men. "If God vouchsafe that we should lose such another battle," wrote Villars to Louis XIV., "your Majesty could count your enemies destroyed." The king was not deceived; but he sadly renewed the negotiations by sending Marshal Uxelles, and the Abbé Polignac to Gertruydenberg.
This new victory elated the allies. Heinsius, charged with the conduct of the conferences, maintained his propositions. "The States-General were then the arbitors of Europe," wrote Torcy, in his Memoirs, "but they were so dazzled by the excess of glory to which the allies had raised them that they would not suffer it to be said to them that they were working for the aggrandizement of Austria and England."—"It is evident that you are not accustomed to conquer," bitterly remarked the Abbé Polignac to the Holland delegates. The king consented to give guarantees to engage his grandson to abdicate; he promised, in case of refusal, not only to sustain him no longer, but to furnish the allies a monthly subsidy of a million francs, and to grant a passage over French territory. He accepted the cession of Alsace and Lorraine, and the return of the three bishoprics to the empire. The abdication of Philip V. was to be assured, or else Louis XIV. was to aid, by force of arms, in dethroning him. The just pride of the king and of the father, revolted against this impudence, and severe ultimatum. The King of Spain absolutely refused all concessions. "Whatever may be the misfortunes which await me," wrote he to his grandfather, "I prefer to submit myself to whatever God may decide for me in battle, to deciding for myself by consenting to an accommodation which would force me to abandon a people upon whom my reverses, up to this time, have produced no other effect than to augment their zeal and their affection for me."Louis XIV. withdrew his propositions; the conferences at Gertruydenberg were abandoned on the 25th of July, 1710. The king was no longer able to assist his grandson, but he sent Vendôme.
On the 10th of December, the French general, constantly defeated during the first part of the campaign, gained over the Austrian contingent of the archduke, a disputed victory, at Villa Viciosa. Count Staremberg, who commanded, spiked his cannon, and retired, while the young king slept upon the field of battle. The allies now held only Cattalona. In vain had General Stanhope recently led the archduke to Madrid. "I was ordered to conduct him there," said he; "when he is once there, may God, or the devil maintain him there, or drive him out—that is not my business."
Stanhope had judged well the sentiments of the Spanish people, more and more attached to Philip V., and faithful to his cause; neither was he deceived regarding the position that the military and political successes—that England owed, above all, to the Duke of Marlborough—had assured to her in Europe. Long charged with the burden of the war, England had become, by her close alliance with the Dutch, as well as by her proper predominance, the veritable mistress of peace or war in Europe. "Our Henry and our Edward have left behind them an immortal renown," said Stanhope to the House of Lords, "because they humiliated and conquered the power of France. It is the glory of Queen Elizabeth to have humbled the pride of Spain. Turn by turn these two great monarchies have aspired to an universal domination in Europe; both have been upon the point of obtaining it, in spite of their mutual hostility, but no one had foreseen that an effectual resistance could be opposed to them in Europe, if the two monarchies were united. We have lived long enough to see these two formidable powers threatening, at the same time, all the liberties of Europe. Your Majesty was destined to struggle against these united forces. They have been attacked and compelled to ask for peace."
It was in fact from England that this peace, so desired by France and Spain, and now become indispensable to both powers, was to emanate. The great Whig ministry had been, for a long time, losing favor; the Queen was at length weary of the avidity and hauteur of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. New favorites cleverly alienated her and led her back to the friends of her youth. The Tories replaced the Whigs in power. I will soon tell by what maneuvres this cause was served. I wish here only to indicate the political modifications which already made peace foreseen. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Harley, subsequently Duke of Oxford, recently become a Tory, with no other passion than personal ambition; and the Secretary of State, St. John, known in history under the name of Bolingbroke, Jacobite to the depth of his soul, by restlessness of mind and taste for intrigue, equally urged England forward in the road to peace. The Abbé Gautier, but recently chaplain to Marshal Tallard, and now residing in England, was charged with a mission to Torcy at Versailles. "Do you wish for peace?" said the abbé to him. "I come to bring you the means of obtaining it, and of concluding it, independently of Holland—unworthy of the kindness of the king, and of the honor he has shown in addressing her regarding the pacification of Europe." "To ask a minister of his Majesty, if he desires peace," replied Torcy, "is to ask a dying man whether he would wish to be cured."
Negotiations were secretly opened with the English cabinet, and were often more confidential on the part of Harley and Bolingbroke than seemed compatible with the fidelity due to their sovereign, or with the engagements of England with her allies.
The end was as reasonable as just; but the means employed to arrive at it were not indisputable. The Emperor Joseph had just died, leaving only daughters; the elevation of the Archduke Charles thenceforth threatened Europe with the preponderance of the house of Austria. England had the honor of first comprehending the danger, and of playing that part of moderator, which Holland had so recently exercised, and which had given her so much grandeur. The natural taste of Harley for secret intrigues prolonged the mystery for some time; inferior agents went back and forth between London and Versailles. The poet Prior, and a deputy from Rouen, named Mesnager, had the honor of seeing the queen in person. The fatal effects of the war had oftened saddened her. "It is a good work," said she, to the modest French plenipotentiary; "I pray God to give you his assistance; I hold the shedding of blood in horror."
The war, nevertheless, continued, and Marlborough remained at the head of the allied forces, notwithstanding the disgrace of his friends, and the withdrawal of his wife, who had definitively left the court, not however without efforts, as audacious as violent, to regain the influence which she so recently exercised over the queen. The campaign of 1711 had been unimportant; conferences were opened at Utrecht, and preliminaries were signed with England: they assured to English commerce immense advantages, besides the cession of Newfoundland and the remainder of the French territory in Acadia. When the communication was made to Holland, the negotiators prudently withheld some articles. Public feeling at the Hague was nevertheless aroused; the States-General sent a delegate to officially protest."England has borne the brunt of the war," bluntly replied St. John; "it is but just that she should be at the head of the parleys for peace." The Count of Gallas, ambassador of the emperor at London, was so incensed by the tone of the articles that he had them published immediately, in one of the daily journals. Queen Anne forbade his appearance at court. The preliminaries were unpopular, and the guarantees offered by France did not appear sufficient.
"On Friday the peace will be attacked in Parliament," wrote St. John, on the eve of the opening of the session. "I am very easy. I detest the remote dangers which threaten me; we will receive their fire and put them to rout once for all." The speech from the throne announced the opening of the conferences, "in spite of the efforts of those who take pleasure in war."
The queen created twelve new peers, in order to assure, in the upper house, a pacific majority.
In less than one year, from the 14th of April, 1711, to the 8th of March, 1712, the royal house of France was overwhelmed by sad afflictions of Providence. Louis XIV. lost by violent and rapid sicknesses his son, the Grand Dauphin; and the Duke of Burgundy, his grandson. Six days later the Duchess of Burgundy, the charming Marie Adelaide of Savoy; and finally his great grandson, the Duke of Brittany, four years of age. The little Duke of Anjou, only an infant in the cradle, and feeble and sickly, now represented the eldest branch of the House of Bourbon, and was to become the King, Louis XV. The allies became troubled, and added to their diplomatic exactions the renunciation by Philip V. of the crown of France. The good offices of England were not lacking to the old king, now overwhelmed by the weight of so many misfortunes, and who attracted the admiration of even his enemies, by the courageous firmness of his attitude.Louis XIV. wrote to his grandson: "You will be informed of the proposals of England, that you renounce the rights of your birth to preserve the crown of Spain and the Indies, or renounce the monarchy of Spain to preserve your rights to the succession of France, and receive in exchange for the kingdom of Spain, the kingdoms of Sicily and Naples, the states of the Duke of Savoy, Mont Ferrat and Mantua, permitting the Duke of Savoy to succeed you in Spain. I avow that notwithstanding the disproportion of the states, I have been sensibly touched by thinking that you would continue to reign, and that I might always regard you as my successor; assured if the Dauphin lives, of a regent accustomed to command, capable of maintaining order in my kingdom, and of stifling cabals. If this child should die, as his feeble appearance gives me but too much reason to believe, you will receive the succession according to the order of your birth, and I would have this consolation of leaving to my people a virtuous king, capable of commanding them, and who, on succeeding me, would unite to the crown of France, states as considerable as Naples, Savoy, Piedmont and Mont Ferrat. If gratitude and tenderness for your subjects are powerful motives inducing you to remain with them, I can say that you owe me the same sentiments. You owe them to your house, and to your country, before you owe them to Spain. All that I am able to do is to leave you the choice; the necessity of concluding the peace becomes each day more urgent."
The English negotiators were without doubt assured in advance of the choice of the King of Spain, when they allowed Louis XIV. to expect such enormous concessions. Philip V. did not hesitate an instant. He renounced all his rights to the succession of the throne of France, and the Cortes solemnly ratified his decision. "I will live and die a Spaniard," said the young king.
The English required that the Duke of Berry and the Duke of Orleans abandon their rights to the crown of Spain. The peace was the object of violent attacks in the English Parliament, above all in the House of Lords. Marlborough vigorously defended himself from having been hostile to it. "I can declare with a safe conscience," said he, "in the presence of her Majesty, of this illustrious assembly, and of the Supreme Being, who is infinitely above all the powers upon earth, and before whom, according to the ordinary course of nature, I must soon appear, to give an account of my actions, that I was ever desirous of a safe, honorable and lasting peace; and I was always very far from any design of prolonging the war for my own private advantage, as my enemies have most falsely insinuated. But at the same time, I must take the liberty to declare, that I can by no means give in to the measures that have lately been taken to enter into a negotiation of peace with France, upon the foot of the seven preliminary articles. I am of the same opinion with the rest of the allies, that the safety and liberties of Europe would be in imminent danger, if Spain and the West Indies were left to the House of Bourbon."
The enemies of Marlborough were powerful around the queen, and also in the House of Commons. His military successes had given him a strength that it was necessary to take from him, at all hazards; his pecuniary avidity and the malversations of which he was suspected furnished a ready arm against him. He was accused before Parliament, and was at the same time deprived of all his offices, "in order," said the official note, "that the inquiry might be impartial and free." The Duke of Ormond, honest but feeble, and popular but without great military talents, was given the command of the army.The commotion was great among the allies. Prince Eugene himself came to England, eager to assist his companion-in-arms. The queen received him coldly, would accord him no private interview, excusing herself on the plea of ill-health, and sent him to her ministers. When the great Austrian general returned to the continent, recalled by the necessities of the war, which had recommenced in the spring of 1712, in spite of the negotiations, he soon learned that the Duke of Ormond had received orders to take no part in the military operations. St. John wrote to the duke, on the 10th of May: "Her Majesty has reason to believe that we shall come to an agreement upon the great article of the union of the two monarchies, as soon as a courier, sent from Versailles to Madrid, can return. It is therefore the queen's positive command to your grace, that you avoid engaging in any siege, or hazarding a battle, till you have further orders from her Majesty."
The duke was informed, at the same time, that these instructions were to be kept secret from Prince Eugene, but were nevertheless known to Marshal Villars.
It was virtually an armistice that England accorded to France, and this could not long be concealed. Prince Eugene began the siege of Quesnoy, and urged Ormond to take part; the latter finally consented. "My Lord Ormond was not authorized to risk a battle," said the Lord Treasurer Harley to the House of Commons, "but he could not refuse to sustain a siege." Marlborough arose: "I ask," said he, "how it is possible to reconcile the declaration of my Lord Treasurer with the laws of war, for it is impossible to undertake a siege without risking a battle; in case the enemy sought to succor the place, there would remain no other alternative than to shamefully raise the siege."
An armistice was signed with France. Orders were given to the Duke of Ormond to withdraw from the allied army, and to take possession of Dunkirk—placed as security in the hands of the English. The auxiliary regiments, recently in the pay of England, declared their intention of remaining in the service of the emperor. A certain discontent manifested itself among the English troops. The queen solemnly communicated to the two houses the conditions upon which she hoped to conclude peace. "I will neglect nothing to bring the negotiations to a happy and prompt issue," said her Majesty, "and I count upon your entire confidence and loyal co-operation."
The clever maneuvres of Harley and St. John, in Parliament, were crowned with success. Notwithstanding a protest from Marlborough, Godolphin, and some other peers, addresses favorable to the peace, were passed in both houses.
Louis XIV. had confided to Marshal Villars the last army and the last hopes of the French monarchy. When taking leave at Marley, the old king said: "You see my state. There are few examples such as mine, where one has lost in the same week, a grandson, a grand-daughter, and their child, all of very great promise and very tenderly loved. God punishes me, and I have well merited it. But I must suspend my griefs concerning my domestic misfortunes and see what can be done to prevent those which threaten the kingdom. If reverses happen to the army which you command, listen to what I propose; afterwards give me your opinion. I would go to Peronne or St. Quentin, mass there all my troops, and with you, make a last effort to save the state, or perish together. I will never consent to allow the enemy to approach my capital."
Louis XIV. was not deceived regarding the plans of his adversaries. Although enfeebled by the withdrawal of the English, Prince Eugene, who had taken Quesnoy on the 3rd of July, proposed to follow the former plan of the Duke of Marlborough, and to resolutely advance into the heart of France. Marshal Villars placed himself before him upon the road from Marchiennes to Landrecies, "the road to Paris," said the imperialists. He threw bridges over the Escaut, and on the 23rd of July, 1712, crossed the stream between Ponchain and Denain. The Duke of Albemarle, at the head of seventeen battalions of auxiliary troops, commanded this small town. Prince Eugene advanced by forced marches to relieve Denain. Villars lost no time in preparation: "We have only to make fascines," said he; "the first body of our men who shall fall in the trench, will hold the place for us."
Prince Eugene was unable to cross the Escaut, guarded by the French. Denain was taken under his very eyes. "I had not taken twenty steps in the town, when the Duke of Albemarle, and six or seven lieutenant-generals of the Emperor, halted my horse," says the Marshal in his Memoirs. The allies retreated. Marchiennes was invested by De Broglie, and Prince Eugene was unable to save it. His troops raised the siege of Landrecies. The Marshal seized Douai and recaptured Quesnoy and Ponchain. The imperialist, who had been unable to accomplish anything, retired towards Brussels. The fortune of war had once again inclined victory to the side of France; she profited by it to obtain an honorable peace. "The time to flatter the pride of the Dutch is past," wrote Louis XIV. to his plenipotentiaries at Utrecht; "but it is necessary, in treating with them, in good faith, that it be with a becoming dignity."
The delegates of the States-General themselves comprehended the necessities of the situation, and henceforth they also desired peace. "We take the position that the Dutch held at Gertruydenberg, and they take ours," said Cardinal Polignac: "it is a complete revenge."—"Gentlemen, we will treat for peace in your country, for you, and without you," said the French to the Dutch deputies. Heinsius had not known, in 1709, how to shake off the influence of Marlborough and of Prince Eugene, in order to take the initiative in a peace necessary to Europe; and in consequence of this ignorance he had delivered this power into the hands of Harley and St. John. Henceforth the history of Holland, as a great power, was ended. She owed her liberty, her independence, and her influence in Europe, to the superior men who had so long directed her destinies. William the Silent, John De Witt, and William III. were no more; able and faithful as Heinsius had been, he nevertheless was compelled to arrest the progress and glory of his country at that threshold of grandeur which God alone is able to pass. With the development of material resources, the day of small countries passes forever.
The peace which was signed at Utrecht on the 11th of April, 1713, and of which St. John—recently made Viscount Bolingbroke—determined the final conditions, in a journey which he made to Paris, has been often and bitterly attacked. It was concluded by France, England, the United Provinces, Portugal, the King of Prussia, and the Duke of Savoy. Louis XIV. consented to recognize the Protestant succession in the House of Hanover, although the Elector still refused to separate himself from the Emperor, and the Pretender was to leave France. This was a great bitterness for the king; the difficulty was aggravated by the obstinacy of the Chevalier St. George, who desired to live at Fontainebleau. "Let M. de Torcy recall his journey to the Hague," said Bolingbroke, "and let him compare the plans of 1709 and 1712."
England kept Gibraltar and Minorca; the fortifications of Dunkirk were to be razed. Sicily was given to the Duke of Savoy. Louis XIV. regained Lille and some cities in Flanders, by fortifying the barriers of the Dutch. The King of Spain protested for some days, but finally signed. The Emperor and the Empire alone resisted; the taking of Speyer, of Kaiserlautern, of Laudan and of Friburg—seized one after the other by Villars, triumphed over the anger and pretensions of the Germans. Villars and Prince Eugene negotiated together at Radstadt. On the 6th of March, 1714, peace was finally signed. All Europe was once more at peace. The terms of the treaty were more favorable to France than had been expected, and were glorious and profitable for England, notwithstanding the attacks of the Whigs and their violent protestations against the Treaty of Commerce.
The peace assured for a time the equilibrium and liberties of Europe, as well as the preponderance of England in the councils of Europe. It had been concluded by a bold decision on the part of the English ministry, to the detriment and against the will of their allies. The dangers which were permitted to still remain, were more apparent than real, but the Treaty of Commerce was unmistakably favorable to France. French wines threatened to replace the Portuguese. The city of London was violently agitated, and the bill for the execution of the treaty was rejected, on the 18th of June, 1713, by a majority of nine.
The address of the Queen, on the dissolution of Parliament, showed great anger. Triumphant in war with the Whigs, and in politics with the Tories, Queen Anne nevertheless failed on a commercial question before her Parliament. It was the precursory symptom of a great disquietude and profound distrust.
The general elections took place in August, 1713. The country vaguely felt, without fully realizing the serious reasons, the danger concealed under the indolence of the Earl of Oxford and the intrigues of Lord Bolingbroke, which threatened one of the questions which had gravely occupied it for fifteen years.
I have desired to recount without interruption the events of the continental war, and that series of successes which carried England to the summit of power and influence in Europe. I have shown her powerful enough to sustain the struggle against Louis XIV., and wise enough to put an end, for a time, to the evils which her people endured, without exacting the ruin of her enemies. I have not wished to mix in this recital the complications of her internal policy: active and powerful regarding the military affairs of Europe, while the Whigs remained and Marlborough was at the head of the armies, but without serious effect upon the fate of Europe. The Tories gave peace to France; this was their supreme effort and triumph. The two great internal questions which agitated the reign of Queen Anne: the Protestant succession and the political union of Scotland with England, were regulated at the foundation, by a tacit accord between the moderates of both parties.
We have seen King William III., in concert with his Parliament, in 1701, decide the question of the succession to the throne of England, by an act of foresight and political sagacity worthy of the monarch who inspired it, and resolutely maintained by the nation, in spite of great obstacles, and notwithstanding serious objections. The intrigues of the Jacobites had never entirely ceased; they had lessened during the first part of Queen Anne's reign, while the war absorbed all thoughts, and seemed to widen the gulf between England and that young prince who aspired to govern her, even though fighting in the ranks of the enemy at Malplaquet.The gradual enfeeblement of the health of the queen, who had lost her husband on the 28th of October, 1708, the interest which she manifested regarding her brother, and the indifference that she felt towards the House of Hanover, all contributed to revive the hopes of the Jacobites, as well as the anxieties of those who remained attached to the great work of William III.
Of the two questions which had occupied the last days of William of Orange, the one still remaining was noisily disputed, but without real or serious danger; the other, involving the honor and happiness of England and Scotland, had been regulated after long negotiations and alternate difficulties. The union of the two kingdoms was the object of the last message of the dying king to parliament, and was the last thought which had pre-occupied that clear and far-seeing mind, even to the very gates of death.
Party violence in Scotland, the jealousy of the feebler kingdom against the predominance of her ancient rival, and the religious questions, always inflammable, had more than once disturbed the conferences. The order of the succession to the throne, regulated by the English parliament, had been contested. The Scotch commissioners had attempted to assimilate the projected measure to an act of federation and not of union. The firm resolution of some wise minds, the prudent and moderate management of Lord Somers, at the head of the English commissioners, finally triumphed over all obstacles. The financial questions were difficult to regulate in regard to a poor country whose products were not over abundant. A uniform system of taxes was established upon equitable bases; Scotland was at first exempted from certain taxes, and a considerable sum was fixed upon as an indemnity for the new charges which were to be levied upon her.The representation of Scotland in the united parliament of Great Britain was appropriate to her historic dignity as an independent kingdom, rather than in proportion to her population: forty-five commoners and sixteen Scotch peers were to sit in parliament. The national sentiment exacted an Act of Security for the Presbyterian Church, everywhere troubled and anxious. The opposing passions of the Jacobites as well as of the Cameronians, excited popular movements, and many disturbances took place in Edinburgh. Even to the last moment, the vote on the Act of Union remained doubtful in the Scotch Parliament.
On the 16th of January, 1707, its partisans finally triumphed, at Edinburgh. Early in March the English Parliament, in its turn, passed the bill. The queen desired to give her assent to this great measure of national interest in person. She came to Westminster.
"I consider this union," said she, "as a matter of the greatest importance to the wealth, strength, and safety of the whole island; and, at the same time, as a work of so much difficulty and nicety in its own nature, that till now all attempts which have been made towards it in the course of above a hundred years have proved ineffectual. I therefore make no doubt but it will be remembered and spoken of hereafter, to the honor of those who have been instrumental in bringing it to such a happy conclusion. I desire and expect from all my subjects, of both nations, that from henceforth they act with all possible respect and kindness to one another, that so it may appear to all the world they have hearts disposed to become one people. This will be a great pleasure to me, and will make us all quickly sensible of the good effects of this union."
On the 23rd of October, 1707, the Parliament of Great Britain met for the first time. The work was accomplished: there had been bitter and continued opposition, not without corruption and rancor, but finally wise and powerful reasons of patriotic policy and morality triumphed, to the great and increasing advantage of both countries. Without losing any of their distinctive and persistent qualities, the English and the Scotch have equally served, since then, the honor and prosperity of their common country, without ever becoming either confounded or separated. The primitive thought of the union was the last title of glory of King William III. It was to the honor of the councillors of Queen Anne, Lord Somers in particular, that they accomplished the work, and affixed the seal to the undertaking, in spite of all violence and all obstacles.
It was during the reign of Queen Anne, and in the full enjoyment of free institutions, without despotic or revolutionary interruptions, that the two great parties were formed, which have, since then, divided and disputed the government of Great Britain. The Tories, above all, attached to conservative principles and to the established Church, and the Whigs, on the other hand, partisans of progress and constant defenders of tolerant measures, succeeded each other in power, without violent shocks, under the authority of a queen personally favorable to the Tories and sincerely devoted to the Anglican Church. The intrigues of the court and the influence of the Duchess of Marlborough—long dominant, but finally supplanted in the favor of the queen, by Lady Masham, played their parts in the ministerial revolutions. The state of the parties, in the country and in Parliament, changed more often and more completely than was generally conceded or believed. Four ministries succeeded to power during the twelve years of Anne's reign.The first cabinet, which remained Whig in principle and in majority, even when Godolphin became Lord Treasurer, was overthrown soon after the declaration of war, in 1702. The Duke of Marlborough, already powerful, inclining sometimes towards the Tories and sometimes towards the Whigs, and solely occupied with military interests and his personal grandeur, embarrassed the new Tory ministry, and the enthusiastic majority that the new elections had assured it in Parliament, by his demands for the subsidies necessary for the prolongation of hostilities. The animosity of the party opposed to the revolution of 1688, manifested itself in the first address from the House of Commons to Queen Anne, congratulating her Majesty on having, by the hands of the Duke of Marlborough,raised upwith honor the ancient reputation and glory of England. At the same time, and in order to boldly testify their attachment to the Anglican Church, the Tories presented a bill againstOccasional Conformity, ordering prosecutions against all those who habitually frequented dissenting worship, althoughoccasionally conformingto the rites of the established Church, as exacted by law from all public functionaries. The queen was favorable to the bill, although Prince George of Denmark was among the delinquents. After having sustained numerous checks, the bill—as dangerous to the Church as it was unjust—was presented anew by the last Tory ministry of Queen Anne, and finally passed in 1711. During seven years it preserved the force of law. The queen, on her part, gave to the Church a touching testimony of sympathy, by renouncing the revenues from the "first fruits," recently given to the crown, in order to donate the same to the poor clergymen. The fund from which indigent curates are still to-day sustained bears the significant name of "Queen Anne's Bounty."
The Tories, with Lord Nottingham at their head, returned to their first principles; they were, in reality, hostile to the war. Violent and exacting, they wished to exclude from the council the Dukes of Somerset and Devonshire, the only Whig representatives. Upon the refusal of the queen, Nottingham retired, and the influence of Marlborough caused him to be replaced by Harley; the latter took with him St. John. That moderate ministry soon underwent a grave transformation by the entrance into power of Lord Sunderland.
In 1708, the Whigs having a majority in the new house, and always the true partisans of the war, firmly seized the power. The five Lords of the Junta, Somers, Oxford, Wharton, Halifax and Sunderland, found themselves reunited in the same cabinet with the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Cowper. Robert Walpole, who had been a member of the house since 1700, but who had as yet occupied only insignificant positions, replaced St. John as secretary of state. This was the beginning of a rivalry which was to last throughout their lives.
During two years the Whig ministry governed with a power which seconded the victories of the Duke of Marlborough. It was nevertheless constantly threatened by the want of personal liking of the queen, as well as by the intrigues of the court, which secretly undermined the influence of the Duchess of Marlborough. Handsome, imperious and brilliant, as well as arrogant and ambitious, Sarah Jennings had for a long time maintained over Queen Anne an authority which increased as her favors multiplied. That domination which she exercised to the very last over her illustrious husband, was slowly declining with the queen. Marlborough had for some time succeeded in maintaining his power by changing from the Whigs to the Tories, and from the Tories to the Whigs. He was sustained at first by the Whigs, formerly his adversaries; a Tory ministry that was to cause his fall was preparing.
Weary of the violences and inequalities of the temper of her haughty favorite, the queen had found some consolation in the affection of a young and adroit woman, a relative of the Duchess of Marlborough. Abigail Hill was simply a waiting-maid to the queen, who had married her, at the suggestion of her protectress, to a Mr. Masham, a poor gentleman of the chamber. At first she was not even admitted to the royal dressing-room. It was little by little, and through chance indiscretions, that the Duchess of Marlborough recognized that she was being supplanted in the confidence of the queen, who was naturally capricious. Notwithstanding her long fidelity to the duchess, the queen could not endure restraint. Mrs. Masham secretly introduced Harley; the anger of the duchess was to serve the ambition of the former Secretary of State, and the aspirations of the Tories towards power.
An unfortunate trial, begun against an insolent and declamatory clergyman. Dr. Sacherevel, embittered religious passions. The High Church and the fashionable world were ardent and pronounced in favor of the accused. His sermon upon the "False Brethren," had not formally attacked the revolution of 1688, but had extolled the absolutism of the prerogative in sustaining the doctrine of non-resistance. His suspension for three years, by the House of Lords, was equivalent to an acquittal. "This fatal trial makes me sick," said Godolphin; "the life of a galley-slave would be a paradise for me." The Tories triumphed. "The ministers have a curate to roast," ironically said St. John, "and they have made so great a fire that they have roasted themselves."