Character.

It will be evident, from the above sketch, that if we begin with Marlborough's bad qualities, that which taints all his character and all his actions is selfseeking, which did not hesitate to use even treachery as its instrument. Nor was his treachery only a willingness to shift allegiance. The generation amongst which he had been brought up, which had seen the days of the Commonwealth, and of the restored Stuarts, and, finally, had consigned the Stuarts again to exile, must have held but lightly by the duty of allegiance. But Marlborough's was no common treachery, no ordinary laxity of principles in high places. If others left James easily, gratitude should have kept him, at least, by his side. The imparting of information of a military expedition to the rulers of a country with which his own was at war can be excused by no blaze of glory; nor can we palliate the sending of money to assist a rival to his sovereign's throne. The self-interest, which seems to have been the leading motive of conduct both in Marlborough and in his wife, sometimes assumed the baser shape of an inordinate love of money. A nobleman, who was once mobbed by mistake for Marlborough in the time of his unpopularity, indulged in this sarcasm at his expense -'I will easily convince you that I am not my Lord Marlborough. In the first place, I have only two guineas about me, and, in the second place, they are very much at your service.' Marlborough even grudged a pension to a servant who had saved his life.

Yet let no one imagine that Marlborough was altogether a bad man. His great vices tainted his public

His virtues.

and his private life; but he had qualities which went far to redeem these, and which enabled him to render almost priceless services to his country and to Europe. He was possessed of consummate military genius, and courage dauntless yet not rash.

He

He was always ready

was never defeated in any battle. to expose himself to danger provided that it was necessary. He had, also, a virtue more useful than courage to soldier or to statesman--calm patience; he showed no excitement in the heat of battle; he was calm and serene in danger as in a drawing-room. Closely allied with this calmness was a suavity of mind and of manners, which fascinated the most critical judge. Marlborough was a singularly handsome man, gifted with a beautiful face and a most perfect figure. It has been said that his calmness proceeded, to a great extent, from a want of heart; but his affection for his wife was so remarkable that he has often been taunted with being too much under her influence. If she wrote angrily to him, no success in war could make him happy until she had relented. Moreover, as a general, Marlborough was remarkable for his humanity; before the battle he would point out to the surgeons their stations, and would take measures to ensure the proper treatment of the wounded. No general was so courteous and considerate to his prisoners.*

Many a character has been written of Marlborough, varying from the strongest praise to the severest blame. It would seem the true course not to temper the praise with the blame, and produce a verdict that should be neither hot nor cold, but to adopt and combine the strong features from each account, and to leave it to the moral philosopher to decide how it came to pass, as it assuredly did, that one man could combine the blackest treachery and the greediest avarice with the courage, the calmness, and the sweetness of Marlborough.

Amongst English statesmen Marlborough had most sympathy with Sydney, Lord Godolphin; and he insisted that Godolphin should be appointed to the office of Lord High Treasurer. This office is now in abeyance, or, rather, as the expression runs, it is

Lord Go

dolphin.

in commission, that is to say, instead of one minister there are five, who are called the Lords of the Treasury, of whom the Prime Minister is one, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer another. From this time forward Marlborough and Godolphin were firm allies. Lord Godolphin, however, was not a statesman of a high order, but one that would be best described as a shrewd man of business. He was able to give Marlborough very useful support, for an army depends on its supplies, and money is the sinews of war. But in private life Godolphin was not superior to the country squires of his time. He had no taste for literature or art, and his favourite pursuits were racing and cock-fighting.

Prince

In the work which now lay before Marlborough he was very materially assisted by two men, Prince Eugene and Heinsius. Prince Eugene was a younger Eugene. son of the House of Savoy. He was born in France, and educated for the priesthood; but he showed even in his studies a taste for the life of a soldier. Instead of theological works he was fond of reading Plutarch's Lives. He was a youth of slender figure, and King Lewis on that account refused him the commission for which he asked, and spoke contemptuously of the little abbé. This insult Eugene never forgot. He immediately left France, and entered the service of the emperor. He was thus an Italian, born in France, and living in Germany. In his signature he united the languages of the three countries, 'Eugenio von Savoye.'.

The empire had for many years been engaged in constant wars with the Turks. In these wars Eugene so distinguished himself that he came to be regarded as the first general of the empire. Between him and Marlborough a very warm friendship sprang up, which never cooled. There was no jealousy between them, but, whether they were working together in the same cam

paign, or at a distance at the head of separate armies, they were always one-minded in their aims and policy. Yet Eugene was very different from Marlborough. He had not the same calmness. His courage was mixed with daring. He was like a Fury in the day of battle, and as prodigal of the lives of his soldiers as he was careless of his own.

The third in this triumvirate, which broke the power of Lewis and delivered Europe, was not a general, but a statesman. As such, his work is in the background, and has not been much noticed

Heinsius.

in histories. Yet, though not so visible, the work which he did in holding the members of the Grand Alliance together, in keeping Holland faithful to the cause, and in helping Marlborough with advice, was as true and valuable as the more brilliant exploits of others. Anthony Heinsius was a Dutch statesman. Shortly after William of Orange had carried the English Revolution to a successful issue, he became Grand Pensionary, a title which we may translate into our own political language by calling him Prime Minister of Holland. On entering public life he had preferred for his country a close alliance with France, and had been hostile to the princes of the House of Orange. But a visit to Versailles opened his eyes to the fact that the Dutch could have no lasting friendship with the French, who despised their government, and persecuted their religion. He changed sides, joined himself closely to William, and became one of his warmest friends and most trusted advisers. And William felt that there was no man whom he would leave behind him so competent and so willing to carry out his policy as Heinsius.

CHAPTER IV.

THE GRAND ALLIANCE.

THE Grand Alliance being duly formed, it will be well to consider its component parts.

At its head we must place the emperor, rather on account of the ancient dignity of the empire than because of its actual power. The office was still The Emperor. nominally elective. At each vacancy the Electors met at Frankfort-on-Maine, and all the forms of an election were gone through. Sometimes there was a show of opposition, but the empire had now become practically hereditary in the House of Hapsburg. For nearly three centuries no emperor had been elected who did not belong to that family. Though the empire gave dignity to the family, it did not give them power. Whatever they had of power came to them from their proper hereditary dominions, which were very heterogeneous. They were kings, and nominally elective, in Bohemia and in Hungary; archdukes in Austria and in the Tyrol. The family was by no means incapable, but was selfish, and unable to rise to the conception of a union of Germany. Earlier, the princes of this House had been bigoted Roman Catholics, who, indeed, had brought about the Thirty Years' War by this very bigotry. But now the danger of encroachment on the part of France was great, and they were ready to join and to take advantage of the Alliance, although its members were chiefly Protestant. Lewis XIV. was declared 'Heriditary Foe of the Holy Empire.' Leopold I. was the emperor at the outbreak of the war, having been emperor for nearly fifty years. Shortly after the commencement, in the year after Blenheim, he died, and was