Marlborough: His Life and Times, Volume IV

562 Pages·2014·6.32 MB·English

by  Winston S. Churchill

Marlborough
His Life and Times
Volume Four
Winston S. Churchill
Copyright
Marlborough
His Life and Times, Volume Four
First published 1933–38. © Estate of Winston S. Churchill
Cover art to the electronic edition copyright © 2014 by RosettaBooks, LLC.
Image of Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, home of the Dukes of Marlborough and birthplace of Winston
Churchill, reproduced by permission of Curtis Brown, London, on behalf of The Broadwater Collection, an
archive of photographs owned by the Churchill family and held at the Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from
the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Electronic edition published 2014 by RosettaBooks, LLC, New York.
Cover jacket design by Alexia Garaventa
ISBN Mobipocket edition: 9780795331626
ABBREVIATIONS
B.M. = British Museum Library.
H.M.C. = Report of the Royal Historical Manuscripts Commission.
P.R.O. = Public Record Office.
S.P. = State Papers at the Public Record Office, London.
Documents never before made public are distinguished by an asterisk (*) and
left for the most part in their original form.
All italics are the Author’s, unless the contrary is stated.
In the diagrams, except where otherwise stated, fortresses held by the Allies
are shown as black stars and those occupied by the French as white stars.
METHOD OF DATING
Until 1752 dates in England and on the Continent differed owing to our delay
in adopting the Reformed Calendar of Gregory XIII. The dates which prevailed
in England were known as Old Style, those abroad as New Style. In the
seventeenth century the difference was ten days, in the eighteenth century eleven
days. For example, January 1, 1601 (O.S.), was January 11, 1601 (N.S.), and
January 1, 1701 (O.S.), was January 12, 1701 (N.S.).
The method used has been to give all dates of events that occurred in England
in the Old Style, and of events that occurred abroad in New Style. Letters and
papers are dated in the New Style unless they were actually written in England.
In sea battles and a few other convenient cases the dates are given in both styles.
It was also customary at this time—at any rate, in English official documents
—to date the year as beginning on Lady Day, March 25. What we should call
January 1, 1700, was then called January 1, 1699, and so on for all days up to
March 25, when 1700 began. This has been a fertile source of confusion. In this
book all dates between January 1 and March 25 have been made to conform to
the modern practice.
CONTENTS
VOLUME FOUR
Preface
I. 00
II. THE WHIGS AND PEACE
III. THE GREAT FROST
IV. THE FATAL ARTICLE
V. THE LOST PEACE
VI. DARKER WAR
VII. TOURNAI
VIII. THE INVESTMENT OF MONS
IX. THE BATTLE OF MALPLAQUET
X. THE EBB-TIDE
XI. THE QUEEN’S REVENGE
XII. MORTIFICATIONS
XIII. SACHEVERELL AND SHREWSBURY
XIV. THE NINTH CAMPAIGN
XV. SUNDERLAND’S DISMISSAL
XVI. THE ALARM OF THE ALLIES
XVII. THE FALL OF GODOLPHIN
XVIII. MARLBOROUGH AND HANOVER
XIX. DISSOLUTION
XX. THE NEW RÉGIME
XXI. THE GOLD KEY
XXII. THE DEATH OF THE EMPEROR
XXIII. HARLEY AND ST JOHN
XXIV. GENERAL ONLY
XXV. NE PLUS ULTRA
XXVI. BOUCHAIN
XXVII. THE SECRET NEGOTIATIONS
XXVIII. HANOVER INTERVENES
XXIX. THE POLITICAL CLIMAX
XXX. THE VISIT OF PRINCE EUGENE
XXXI. THE PECULATION CHARGE
XXXII. THE RESTRAINING ORDERS
XXXIII. THE BRITISH DESERTION
XXXIV. MARLBOROUGH LEAVES ENGLAND
XXXV. EXILE
XXXVI. UTRECHT AND THE SUCCESSION
XXXVII. THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN
XXXVIII. MARLBOROUGH IN THE NEW REIGN
XXXIX. AT BLENHEIM PALACE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Endnotes
ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME FOUR
Facsimile of Letter
JOHN TO SARAH AFTER MALPLAQUET
Maps and Plans
THE SITUATION EARLY IN 1709
THE FEINT BEFORE TOURNAI
FORTRESSES AFTER THE FALL OF TOURNAI
THE MARCH FROM TOURNAI TO MONS
EVENING OF SEPTEMBER 7, 1709
EVENING OF SEPTEMBER 8
MARLBOROUGH’S PLAN OF ATTACK
THE ATTACK ON THE WOOD OF TAISNIÈRES
THE DUTCH ATTACK
THE ALLIED RIGHT IN THE WOODS
THE ALLIES REACH THE EDGE OF THE WOODS
ORKNEY’S ATTACK
THE CAVALRY ATTACK
THE BATTLE OF MALPLAQUET
ARTILLERY FIRE AT MALPLAQUET
THE FRENCH RETREAT
THE SIEGE OF MONS
THE CHOICE IN 1710
THE SITUATION IN APRIL 1710
THE ADVANCE: APRIL 19–22, 1710
THE SIEGE OF DOUAI
VILLARS’S CHOICE OF ACTION (MAY 1710)
MAY 27–30, 1710
JULY 12, 1710
SIEGES OF AIRE AND SAINT-VENANT
ALMENARA AND SARAGOSSA
BRIHUEGA AND VILLA VICIOSA
MAY 1711
THE NE PLUS ULTRA LINES
JULY 26, 1711
THE MARCH TO ARLEUX
AUGUST 6, 1711
AUGUST 9, 1711
THE SIEGE OF BOUCHAIN
MAY 1712
THE SURPRISE OF DENAIN
THE WESTERN NETHERLANDS
GENERAL MAP OF SPAIN
VOLUME FOUR
Volume Four
PREFACE
This volume upon the fall of Marlborough completes the story of his life which I
began nearly ten years ago. It exposes and explains the lamentable desertion by
England of her leadership of the Grand Alliance, or League of Nations, which
had triumphantly broken the military power of Louis XIV. It shows how when
victory has been won across measureless hazards it can be cast away by the pride
of a victorious War Party and the intrigues of a pacifist reaction.
In the spring of 1709 we see England, or Great Britain, as she had recently
become, at the summit of power and achievement. Queen Anne, seated securely
upon her throne, was the centre of the affairs of the then known world. The
smallest incident at her Court was studied with profound respect or attention by
all civilized countries. Louis XIV, old, broken, bereaved, brooded disconsolately
amid the stricken splendours of Versailles. The tyrant of Europe, who had let
loose a quarter of a century of war upon his neighbours, had become a suppliant.
The Whig Party in England, possessed of majorities in the Lords and Commons,
had forced themselves into power. They no longer sought the liberation of
Europe, but the destruction of France. They lost the victorious peace which
might have closed the struggle. In France they roused the patriotism with which
Frenchmen have always defended their soil, and in England they fell a prey to
the designs of their party foes. The terrible battle of Malplaquet, the bloodiest
and best contested for a hundred years, marked the climax of their efforts.
Thereafter all became shameful and confused. Queen Anne abandoned the
purposes of her reign. Abigail led Harley up the backstairs. The Queen devoted
her great power to driving out the Whigs. England was dominated by party
politics and the jealous emulation of great nobles. Marlborough and Godolphin
were undermined. The Whigs were ejected and chased from office, and a
Ministry was installed resolved upon peace at any cost. But by these very facts
the French were incited to continue their resistance, and after three more years of
conflict they found themselves, though exhausted, still erect.
This process depended upon the political drama in London, which in its