War be comes un England. BOOK VI. This negotiation, though unsuccessful, an1709. swered, nevertheless, a good purpose to the king of France, who, in an appeal to the French napopular in tion, stated the preliminaries insisted upon by the allies." I order you," says the Most Christian king in his circular letter to the archbishops and bishops of his kingdom, and governors of provinces, "to acquaint my people within the extent of your governments that they should enjoy peace if it had been in my power, as it was in my will, to procure them a good they wish for with reason; but which must be obtained by new efforts, since the immense concessions I would have granted are useless towards the restoring of the public tranquillity." This had a powerful effect upon that great and high-spirited people, who declared their readiness to suffer all, and to sacrifice all, rather than submit to such ignominy. Even in England the impression made was very visible. It seemed unnatural, and contrary to every feeling of humanity, to compel the king of France to become a party in dethroning a prince of his own blood. How long, it was asked, would Spain have been able to have resisted the united force of the allies without the assistance of France? Every proposal from that court, it was remarked, was condemned as unreasonable before it was examined; or if the reasonableness was so conspicuous that it could not be denied, then exclamations were raised against BOOK VL them for want of sincerity. But surely the sin- 1709. cerity of France was fully proved by an offer to surrender, immediately on the ratification of the articles, those fortresses which composed the Dutch barrier, and which might and probably would have taken years to conquer. In a word, all persons of moderation and reflexion saw clearly, from the terms now offered and refused, that the war was in future to be continued merely to gratify the immeasurable ambition of the house of Austria; and that, exclusive of the flagrant injustice of forcing on the Spaniards a sovereign who was the object of the national abhorrence, the policy of the measure was in present circumstances extremely doubtful. For, the power of France being so greatly reduced while the grandeur of the imperial family was elevated in the same proportion, no less danger was to be apprehended from transferring Spain and the Indies to the house of Austria, than by leaving them in possession of a prince of the house of Bourbon. From this æra the unpopularity of the war and of the existing whig administration may undoubtedly be dated. The tories saw and improved the advantage thus impoliticly afforded them*: and, to the * Vide Swift's Conduct of the Allies-a tract of great importance, as containing an excellent and admirable summary of the tory arguments against the war. BOOK VI. honor of the people of England, no sooner were 1709. they convinced of the injustice of the war than Campaign in Flanders. it became the subject of general reprobation. "There may," says lord chancellor Clarendon, "be better earth, better air, and a warmer sun in other countries; but England is an inclosure of the best people in the world, when they are well informed and instructed." All negotiation being now at an end, the campaign in Flanders was opened in June 1709 by the siege of Tournay, which surrendered at discretion, after a long and obstinate resistance. Parties of the besiegers were in repeated instances suddenly blown up by the springing of the mines, with which the fortifications were surrounded. Sometimes the soldiers from the garrison and the camp met under ground while employed in mining and countermining, and furious combats took place in those dark subterranean passages. The citadel of Tournay did not surrender till the 3d of September. The allies next prepared to attack Battle of the city of Mons: but the French army, now commanded by maréchal Villars, posting themselves behind the woods of La Merte and Tanieres, in the neighbourhood of Malplaquet, in order to obstruct this design, the duke of Marlborough and prince Eugene formed a resolution, September 11, to attack the French general in his camp, which, naturally strong, he had fortified with re Malplaquet, doubts behind redoubts, and entrenchments be- BOOK VL hind entrenchments, with such care and diligence 1709. as to make it apparently inaccessible. After an obstinate, fierce, and bloody engagement, however, the lines were forced; but not till more than 30,000 men were left dead upon the field—a horrid sacrifice to the insatiable dæmon of war. Maréchal Villars, after a signal display of skill and valor, was wounded, and compelled to retire from the scene of action: but maréchal Boufflers, second in command, made an excellent retreat and the loss of the victors was little less, and even by some accounts more, than that of the vanquished. The victory, however, was crowned by the taking of Mons, a conquest essential to the security of Brabant; after which both armies went into winter quarters. on the The elector of Hanover again took upon him Campaign the command of the army upon the Rhine; but Rhine. count Merci, being detached with a considerable body of troops to make an incursion into Franche Comté, was repulsed with loss by M. Harcourt, who conducted the opposite army and the remaining operations of the campaign were entirely defensive. A dispute arising between the courts of Vienna and Turin respecting the promised cession of some districts of the Milanese to the latter, the duke of Savoy refused to take the field this year 1709. BOOK VI. in person; and his general, count Thaun, after some feeble efforts to penetrate into the French territory, repassed the Alps, and marched back to Piedmont about the end of September. Military The Spanish and Portuguese armies on the in Spain. frontier of Portugal were prepared for action early 'Operations Fxtraordinary Defence of Alicant. in the spring; and the marquis das Minas, contrary to the advice of the earl of Galway, determining to pass the Coya in face of the enemy commanded by the marquis de Bay, was defeated with loss-the British infantry, as usual, fighting heroically, and being abandoned as usual by the Portuguese cavalry. The earl of Galway, as brave as unfortunate, had a horse shot under him, and very narrowly escaped being taken. This able general afterwards chose his posts along the Guadiana, to the banks of which he retreated so judiciously, that the marquis de Bay could make no advantage of his victory. On the eastern side, the town and castle of Alicant surrendered to the Spaniards, after a long and most pertinacious defence. The enemy, who had formed the blockade early in the month of December 1708, finding all other means ineffectual, resolved to blow up the rock on which the castle stands; and a mine being excavated with immense labor, was filled with 150 barrels of powder. The chevalier d'Asfeldt, who directed the operations of the siege, generously |