wheel and the rack, as well as the stake, completed the work that the sabres of the dragoons had begun.

It is hardly to be wondered at, though it is much to be deplored, that the Camisards, when at length they turned upon their persecutors, retaliated with a fearful retribution. Cavalier himself was not

Retaliation.

cruel; but many of the bands of Camisards under other leaders took terrible and cruel revenge, nor was he able to stop it.

Severity down the

used to put

rebellion.

All the early attempts to put down the rebellion were by means of severity. There was a feeling of irritation, both amongst the local authorities and at the king's court, that so insignificant a body of peasants—for the insurgents seem never to have numbered 10,000-should dare to resist the royal authority. More troops to catch the rebels, more tortures for them when caught, were the only cures that occurred to their minds. As yet the external war did not press very heavily upon France, and it was thought that the rebellion could soon be crushed. Thus for about two years the insurrection continued with varying success; the insurgents making raids, the royalists sometimes intercepting them, but oftener failing.

Govern

ments.

'We arm

Meanwhile the Camisards, knowing about the war with the allies, made appeal to foreign Governments for assistance, and especially to England and Appeal to Holland. With touching simplicity they de- foreign clared that they were not rebelling against their prince, but exercising a right of nature. ourselves but to resist force. We follow but the dictates of conscience. We are not to be frightened by numbers. We will meet them. Yet will we harm no persons if they do not harm us. But just reprisals will we ever make upon our persecutors, and in this we are sanctioned by the law and by the Word of God, and the practice of all

English fleet sent.

nations.' At first the foreign Governments turned a deaf ear to their appeals; but it was evident that, if a force of the allies could effect a junction with these insurgents, a great blow would be struck at the French power. At length, in 1704, a force of ships was sent, under the command of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, a gallant and famous English admiral, who had risen to that dignity from the position of a cabin-boy. When the fleet arrived in the Gulf of Lyons the appointed signals were made, which were to be answered from the shore. But correct information had not been brought to Cavalier, and, though he saw the signals, he did not understand them. The admiral had received strict orders to land no troops unless the signals were answered. He, therefore, sailed away.

Marshal

Villars' clemency.

The rebellion had now lasted for so long a time (upwards of two years) that Lewis determined to send against the Camisards the first marshal of France. He, probably, selected Villars on account of his military skill; but the selection was good for other reasons. Villars was no bigot, and seems from his first appointment to have resolved upon a policy of clemency. He entertained a great admiration for young Cavalier. He opened negotiations with him at once, and the result was that a treaty was made, by which freedom of conscience, and liberty of worship, except in fortified towns, were granted, together with a free pardon for all the insurgents who accepted the treaty, and immunity from taxes for a certain period, until the district should have recovered from the effects of the war. Some of the Camisards were very indignant with Cavalier for signing this treaty, because the possession of certain

End of

the war.

strongholds was not granted as a guarantee for its fulfilment. They still held out; but by his acceptance of the treaty the rebellion was now very

much diminished, and was without great difficulty put down. The spirit of the treaty was not strictly observed, and a great many of the inhabitants of the Cevennes emigrated. The success of Lewis was in the spirit of the maxim-Solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant?'

Cavalier's later life.

Cavalier himself took service with the English Government, by whom he was sent into Spain. At the head of a regiment of his fellow-exiles he was engaged in the famous battle of Almanza. The story is told how in that battle the Camisards caught sight of a regiment of their former persecutors, and rushed upon them with the bayonet with a fury such as shocked even men accustomed to fierce battles. Of 700 Camisards only 300 survived, and Cavalier himself, severely wounded, was left among the dead. He afterwards became a general in the English army, was Governor of Jersey, then of the Isle of Wight, and died an old man at Chelsea.

Similar trouble in

Austria.

As France had a weak point in the disaffection of the Huguenots, so the Empire was weak on its eastern side. From one opponent-the Turks-it had, perhaps, not much to fear; for the Turks had suffered severely at the hands of Eugene in the last war, and were, moreover, obliged now to turn their eyes in another direction, towards the growing power of Russia. But in wars against the Empire the Turks had always found allies in Hungary and Transylvania. The disaffection in these two provinces was due, partly to the pressure of taxation, partly to differences in religion, but chiefly to that desire for separation from Austria which has so often shown itself in Hungary. The taxes were very heavy throughout all the Austrian dominions. The Protestants in Hungary had been persecuted by the Emperor, and this had led to the last Hungarian insurrection, when the

Hungary.

Turks, instigated by the Hungarians, had invaded Austria and besieged Vienna. The desire for separation was constant. During the War of the Succession, the condition of Hungary might be compared to a fire that is composed of smouldering embers, ready at any moment to break into a flame. Here and there flames showed themselves when a turbulent noble headed an insurrection. But, as the Empire was on the winning side elsewhere, these rebellions never became formidable.

Object of France in making the campaign.

CHAPTER VII.

BLENHEIM.

IN the spring of 1704 Lewis determined to make a great effort. He raised as many troops as he could, and sent different armies against different members of the Grand Alliance. But his chief attempt was to be against the Emperor. He determined to make a vigorous lunge at Vienna, the heart of the Empire, and to compel the Emperor to make peace under the walls of his own capital. To this object two things helped. Bavaria was Lewis's single ally; and Bavaria could be used by the French as an advanced outpost, in an attack on the Austrian dominions. over, whilst the Austrians were thus exposed in front, they were also weakened in the rear by the revolt of the Hungarians. The Hungarians had been long in revolt, which had been sedulously fomented with French gold. They were at present quiet; but it was hoped that the appearance of a French army before Vienna would be the signal for a general uprising of the Hungarians; and Hungary lies dangerously near Vienna. Already a French

More

army under Marshal Marsin was in Bavaria with the Elector; to this others were to join themselves, and then the advance was to be made.

Though this well-concerted plan was not divulged, Marlborough with the instinct of genius understood the meaning of the preparations, and determined

Marl

plan.

to defeat them. He communicated his design borough's to only one man, Prince Eugene, whom he promised to meet in Bavaria, that with their united armies they might face the invading French, and thus save the Empire and with it the Grand Alliance. Marlborough used his influence in England both to have 10,000 men added to the English army, and to have his instructions drawn up with some latitude. He turned the opposition of the States of Holland by marching with the allied army towards the Moselle, and only then revealing to the States his intention to march to Bavaria to help the Emperor-with the Dutch troops, if they gave the permission, but if not, without them. The States saw that it was too late to oppose, and not only gave the desired permission, but generously sent reinforcements and supplies. Across the Moselle, and across the Rhine, then up the valley of the Maine Marlborough marched; the enemy, and even his own soldiers, only conjecturing the object of the enterprise. In the Duchy of Wurtemburg he met Prince Eugene, and they spent

He joins three days together. It was the first time Eugene. they had seen each other; and now was laid the foundation of the lifelong and unclouded friendship which forms so noble a feature in the character of each.

Here they were joined by Prince Lewis of Baden, a German general of the old methodical school, who claimed precedence over the others. Marl- Lewis of borough proposed that he should devote himself to the task of watching the French frontier, and

Baden.