ventured too far into the Firth of Forth, was taken in returning with about 400 men; but the rest held on their course, the hindmost being not far pursued and but slightly attacked by Byng.

The Mars was the French Admiral's ship. On board her, besides the Chevalier de St. George, were some of the principal exiles of his cause from Scotland, the titular Duke of Perth, Lord Middleton, Colonel Hooke, and several more. These gentlemen earnestly advised that a landing might be made in Aberdeenshire. It was the country of the gallant Gordons and the Hays of Errol; and the appearance of the young Prince might work wonders. James himself when consulted joined in their request. He several times entreated Forbin to be put on shore, even if it must be so without the French troops, and although none were to follow him but his domestics. Forbin on the contrary declared that his instructions left him no such latitude, and that they having received no signal nor invitation from their friends on land there was nothing left for them but to return as they came. They had already rounded Buchan Ness when Forbin accordingly gave orders to steer back. Partly by his good seamanship, and partly perhaps by his good fortune, he avoided any encounter with the English fleet, and brought back his Armada safe to Dunkirk harbour on the 7th of April. Thus ingloriously ended an enterprise from which so much had been expected.1

The Parliament showed great zeal against it. No

For the proceedings on board | day "when His Britannic Majesty this squadron see especially two became very sick," and the other narratives, one by M. d'Andrezel by Marshal Matigon. (Secret Hiswho gives many minute particu- tory of Hooke, &c. p. 152 and 159, lars, as for instance the precise ed. 1760.)

sooner was it known and announced than both Houses voted loyal addresses to the Queen, and passed two Bills to strengthen Her Majesty's Government. The first Bill empowered Justices of the Peace in any part of Great Britain to summon before them any suspected person and tender to him an oath abjuring the Pretender; a person who declined such oath to be adjudged “a Popish recusant convict." The second Bill was to suspend the Habeas Corpus until the month of October following. Under this last enactment numerous arrests were made; the Duke of Hamilton the chief amongst them. His Grace was found by the Queen's Messenger in Lancashire on his way south from Scotland, but so cautious and reserved had been his whole conduct to the disaffected, who nevertheless relied on him as leader, that he had nothing now to dread beyond the inconvenience of a short imprisonment.-A third Bill of greater stringency was brought in by General Stanhope seconded by Sir David Dalrymple ; it was to discharge the clans of Scotland from their vassalage to such of their chiefs as should take up arms against the Queen; but this Bill, which might have gone far to avert the events of 1715 and 1745, was it would seem allowed to drop when the invasion itself collapsed. Anne herself showed great resentment at the audacious attempt to dethrone her; and a consequent variation in her style was observed. She had never in any previous speech mentioned “the Revolution" by that name; now on the contrary the phrase appeared in two of her answers to addresses. And when on the 1st of April she closed the Session with a speech from the Throne she willingly gave insertion to a paragraph denouncing "the designs of a Popish Pretender bred up in the principles of the

most arbitrary government." Hitherto she had not been so ready to refer to her brother in such terms.

Louis, however much disappointed at the result of the Scottish project, was only the more intent on achieving some successes in the next campaign. He had resolved to concentrate his main forces on his Flemish frontier, and instead of there remaining as of late on the defensive to make a forward movement and recover by surprise the great towns of Brabant. To inspirit the troops he would place at their head his grandson the Duke of Burgundy, a young Prince of no mean ability and heir-apparent to the Crown; while at his side would stand one of the ablest of the Marshals, the Duke de Vendome. But whatever advantages of military ardour might attend this junction were much more than counterbalanced, as will presently be seen, by the evils of divided command. Along the Alps of Piedmont would be stationed Villars to contend against the Duke of Savoy. The Duke of Orleans would be sent back to Spain. Berwick on the other hand would be retained in France to share with the Elector of Bavaria the command upon the Rhine.

On the part of the Allies we may observe in the first place that both Das Minas and Galway were recalled from Catalonia, and in the course of February came back by sea to Portugal. There Das Minas was permitted to retire into private life, while Galway, by the favor of his friends in England, was still maintained in command. He was left to head the scanty forces remaining on the Spanish frontier, in conjunction with another chief appointed by the Court of Lisbon. Stanhope was named in his place to command the British force in Catalonia, retaining at the same time his post as British Minister at the Court of Charles.

L

It had been found impossible to prevail upon the Emperor to send Prince Eugene to Spain. Instead of that great General who would have ruled the whole, His Majesty appointed Count Guido Staremberg to command the Imperial as Stanhope would the British troops. Count Guido was born in 1657, and trained by the Jesuits for the priesthood, but his destination changing he had entered the army, distinguished himself in the Turkish wars, and in 1704 attained the rank of Field Marshal.2 Both chiefs-the one from England and the other from Italy-arrived at Barcelona in the course of May, shortly after the decease at a great old age of the General for the Dutch, Count Noyelles. Count Belcastel became the successor of Noyelles in that post.

While Eugene was not to be spared for Spain, he could as little be employed in Northern Italy. The differences between him and his cousin the Duke of Savoy had risen after the siege of Toulon to such a pitch of hostility that it was impossible for them to serve together in the next campaign. The Duke was therefore left to cope singly with Marshal Villars, receiving from Vienna large promises of reinforcements, but in truth a most scanty supply. The post intended by the Emperor for Eugene was on the Moselle, with a new army to be formed in great part by detachments from that recently assigned to the Elector of Hanover upon the Rhine.

The excellent diplomacy of Eugene was at this period almost as requisite for the cause of the Allies as were his talents for war. Not one of the smaller German

2 Geschichte des Hauses Stahremberg, von J. Schwerdling, p. 323, ed. Linz, 1830.

Princes but had now, since the German reverses of last year, some fresh grievances to allege or some further advantages to claim. Such was the case more especially with the Elector Palatine, the Landgrave of Hesse, and King Augustus as Elector of Saxony. The Elector of Hanover also was vehemently chafing against any diminution of the army which he was expected to command. It might be requisite for Eugene to visit each of these Potentates at their own little Courts before the military operations recommenced. Still more was it essential that he should have a meeting with Marlborough, and determine the plan for the new campaign. With this view he repaired to the Hague and impatiently awaited the arrival of his English colleague.

Marlborough on his part was of course detained in England until the prospect of invasion had wholly passed away. Then at once taking his departure, he reached the Hague in the first days of April New Style. Acting in the closest concert with Prince Eugene, these two great men also called into their counsels their tried friend in Holland, Pensionary Heinsius. It was agreed between them that there should be two plans of campaign, the one ostensible to guard against murmurs and objections, and the other real. The ostensible project was that the army on the Scheldt under Marlborough,. and that on the Moselle under Eugene, should cooperate from different sides as though for the invasion of Lorraine. The real project was to unite these two armies by a rapid march and give battle to the French in the Netherlands.

The Deputies of the States, being duly consulted on the first of these designs, gave it their assent. It was as important, and it seemed more difficult, to obtain the concurrence also of the Elector of Hanover. Eugene