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and rather kept upon the defensive; but still, when forced to engage, they fought with great obstinacy, and seemed to gather courage as the frontiers of their own country became more nearly threatened.

Peace had more than once been offered, and treaties had been entered upon, and frustrated. After the battle of Ramillies, the king of France had employed the elector of Bavaria, to write letters in his name to the duke of Marlborough, containing proposals for opening a congress. He offered to give up either Spain and its dominions, or the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, to Charles of Austria, and to give a barrier to the Dutch in the Netherlands. But these terms were rejected. The Dutch were intoxicated with success; and the duke of Marlborough had every motive to continue the war, as it gratified not only his ambition but his avarice; a passion that obscured his shining abilities.

The duke was resolved to push his good fortune. At the head of a numerous army, he approached (in June 1708) the village of Oudenarde, where the French, in equal numbers, were posted. A furious engagement ensued, in which the French were obliged to retire, and took the advantage of the night to secure their retreat. About three thousand were slain on the field of battle, seven thousand were taken prisoners, and the number of their deserters was not a few. In consequence of this victory, Lisle, the strongest town in all Flanders, was taken, after an obstinate siege. Ghent followed soon after; while Bruges and other Flemish towns were abandoned by their defenders. Thus this campaign ended with fixing a barrier to the Dutch dominions, and it now only remained to force a way into the provinces of the enemy.

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The repeated successes of the allies once more induced the French king to offer terms of peace. In these

he was resolved to sacrifice all considerations of pride and ambition, as well as the interests of his grandson of Spain, to a measure which had become so necessary and indispensable. A conference ensued, in which the allies rose in their demands, without, however, stipulating any thing in favour of the English. The demands were rejected by France; and that exhausted kingdom once more prepared for another campaign.

Tournay, one of the strongest cities in Flanders, was in the next campaign, the first object of the operations of the allied army, which now amounted to one hundred and ten thousand fighting men. Though the garrison did not exceed twelve thousand men, yet the place was so strong both by art and nature, that it was probable the siege might last a considerable time. Nothing could be more terrible than the manner of engaging on both sides. As the besiegers proceeded by sapping, their troops that were conducting the mines frequently met with those of the enemy under ground, and furiously engaged in subterraneous conflicts. The volunteers presented themselves, in the midst of mines and countermines, ready primed for explosion, and added new horrors to their gloomy situation. Sometimes they were killed by accident, sometimes sprung up by design; while thousands of those bold men were thus buried at once by the falling in of the earth, or blown up into the air from below. At length, after an obstinate resistance, the town was surrendered upon conditions, and the garrison of the citadel soon after were made prisoners of

war.

The bloody battle of Malplaquet followed soon after. The French army, under the conduct of the great marechal Villars, amounting to a hundred and twenty thousand men, were posted behind the woods of La Merte and Tanieres, in the neighbourhood of Malplaquet.

They had fortified their situation in such a manner with lines, hedges, and trees laid across, that they seemed to be quite inaccessible. The duke's motives for attacking them at such a disadvantage to himself are not well known; but certainly this was the most rash and illjudged attempt during all his campaigns. On the thirtyfirst of August, 1709, early in the morning, the allied army, favoured by a thick fog, began the attack. The chief fury of their impression was made upon the left of the enemy, and with such success, that, notwithstanding their lines and barricades, the French were in less than an hour driven from their entrenchments. But on the enemy's right the combat was sustained with much greater obstinacy. The Dutch, who carried on the attack, drove them from their first line, but were repulsed from the second with great slaughter. The prince of Orange, who headed that attack, persisted in his efforts with incredible perseverance and intrepidity, though two horses had been killed under him, and the greater part of his officers slain and disabled. At last, however, the French were obliged to yield up the field of battle; but not till after having sold a dear victory. Villars being dangerously wounded, they made an excellent retreat under the conduct of Boufflers, and took post near Le Quesnoy and Valenciennes. The conquerors took possession of the field of battle, on which twenty thousand of their best troops lay slain. Marechal Villars confidently asserted, that if he had not been disabled, he would have gained a certain victory; and it is probable, from that general's former successes, that what he said was true. The city of Mons was the reward of this victory, which surrendered shortly after to the allied army; and with this conquest the allies concluded the campaign.

Though the events of this campaign were more favour

able to Louis than he had reason to expect, he still continued desirous of peace, and once more resolved to solicit a conference. He employed one Petkum, resident of the duke of Holstein at the Hague, to negotiate upon this subject; and he ventured also to solicit the duke himself in private. However, as his affairs now were less desperate than in the beginning of the campaign, he would not stand to those conditions which he then offered as preliminaries to a conference. The Dutch inveighed against his insincerity for thus retracting his former offers; not considering that he certainly had a right to retract those offers which they formerly had rejected. They still had reasons for protracting the war, and the duke took care to confirm them in this resolution. Nevertheless, the French king, seeing the misery of his people daily increase, and all his resources fail, continued to humble himself before the allies; and by means of Petkum, who still corresponded from the Hague with his ministers, implored the Dutch that the negotiation might be resumed. A conference was at length begun at Gertruydenberg, under the influence of Marlborough, Eugene, and Zinzendorff; who were all three, from private motives, entirely averse to the treaty. Upon this occasion the French ministers were subjected to every species of mortification: spies were placed upon their conduct, their master was insulted, and their letters were opened. The Dutch deputies would hear of no relaxation, and no expedient for removing the difficulties that retarded the negotiation. The French commissioners offered to satisfy every complaint that had given rise to the war: they consented to abandon Philip of Spain; they agreed to grant the Dutch a large barrier; they even were willing to grant a supply towards the dethroning of Philip; but all their offers were treated with contempt: they were therefore compelled to return

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home, after having sent a letter to the states, in which they declared that the proposals made by their deputies were unjust and impracticable, and complained of the unworthy treatment they had received. Louis resolved to hazard another campaign, not without hope that some lucky incident in the event of war, or some happy change in the ministry of England, might procure him more favourable concessions.

But though the duke, by these arts, protracted his power on the continent, all his influence at home was at an end. The members of the house of commons, that had been elected just after Sacheverel's trial, were almost universally Tories. From all parts of the kingdom addresses were sent and presented to the queen, confirming the doctrine of non-resistance; and the queen did not scruple to receive them with some pleasure. But when the conferences were ended at Gertruydenberg, the designs of the Dutch and English commanders were too obvious not to be perceived. The writers of the Tory faction, who were men of the first rank in literary merit, and who still more chimed in with the popular opinion, displayed the avarice of the duke, and the self interested conduct of the Dutch. They pretended that, while England was exhausting her strength in foreign conquests for the benefit of other nations, she was losing her liberty at home. They asserted that her ministers were not contented with the plunder of an impoverished state, but, by controlling their queen, were resolved to seize upon its liberties also.

A part of these complaints were true, and a part exaggerated; but the real crimes of the ministry, in the queen's eye, were their pride, their combinations, and their increasing power. The insolence of the duchess of Marlborough, who had hitherto possessed more power than the whole privy-council united, was now become

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