By JOHN Duke of MARLBOROUGH, The Hero not only of his Nation, but of his Age; Which no Rauk, no Authority, can give, Who, by military Knowledge, and irresistible Valour, When raised the highest, when exerted the most: Asserted, and confirmed the Liberties of EURope. Philip, a grandson of the house of France, united to the interest, directed by the policy, supported by the arms of that crown, was placed on the throne of Spain. King William III. beheld this formidable union of two great, and once rival monarchies. At the end of a life spent in defending the liberties of Europe, he saw them in their greatest danger. He provided for their security in the most effectual He took the Duke of Marlborough into his service. manner. 66 AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY TO THE "The Duke contracted several alliances, before the death of King William. He confirmed and improved these. He contracted others, after the accession of Queen Anne; and re-united the confederacy, which had been dissolved at the end of a former war, in a stricter and firmer league. CAPTAIN GENERAL AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE FORCES OF "The Duke led to the field the army of the Allies. He took with surprising rapi- From the Danube the Duke turned his victorious arms towards the Rhine and the Moselle. Landau, Treves, Traerbach, were taken. In the course of one campaign the very nature of the war was changed. The invaders of other states were reduced to defend their own. The frontier of France was exposed in its weakest part to the efforts of the Allies. "That he might improve this advantage, that he might push the sum of things to a speedy decision, the Duke of Marlborough led his troops early in the following year once more to the Moselle. They, whom he had saved, a few months before, neglected to second him now. They who might have been his companions in conquest, refused to join him. When he saw the generous designs he had formed frustrated by private interest, by pique, by jealousy, he returned with speed to the Maes. He returned, and fortune and victory returned with him. Liege was relieved: Huy retaken. The French, who had pressed the army of the states general with superior numbers, retired behind intrenchments which they deemed impregnable. The Duke forced these intrenchments with inconsiderable loss, on the seventh day of July, 1705. He defeated a great part of the army which defended them. The rest escaped by a precipitate retreat. If advantages proportionable to this success were not immediately obtained, let the failure be ascribed to that misfortune which attends most confederacies, a division of opinions where one alone should judge, a division of powers where one alone should command. The disappointment itself did honour to the Duke. It became the wonder of mankind how he could do so much under those restraints which had hindered him from doing more. "Powers more absolute were given him afterwards. The encrease of his powers multiplied his victories. At the opening of the next campaign, when all his army was not yet assembled, when it was hardly known that he had taken the field, the noise of his triumphs was heard over Europe. On the twelfth day of May, one thousand seven hundred and six, he attacked the French at Ramellies. In the space of two hours their whole army was put to flight. The vigour and conduct with which he improved the success were equal to those with which he gained it. Louvain, Brussels, Malines, Liere, Ghent, Oudenarde, Antwerp, Damme, Bruges, Courtray, surrendered. Ostend, Menin, Dendermond, Aeth, were taken. Brabant and Flanders were recovered. Places which had resisted the greatest generals for months, for years; provinces disputed for ages, were the conquests of a Summer. "Nor was the Duke content to triumph alone. Solicitous for the general interest, his care extended to the remotest scenes of the war. He chose to lessen his own army, that he might enable the leaders of other armies to conquer. To this must be ascribed, that Turin was relieved, the Duke of Savoy reinstated, the French driven with confusion out of Italy. "These victories gave the confederates an opportunity of carrying the war on every side into the dominions of France, but she continued to enjoy a kind of peaceful neutrality in Germany. From Italy, she was once alarmed, and had no more to fear. The entire reduction of this power, whose ambition had caused, whose strength supported the war, seemed reserved to him alone, who had so triumphantly begun the glorious work. "The barrier of France, on the side of the low countries, had been forming for more than half a century. What art, power, expense, could do, had been done, to render it impenetrable. Yet here she was most exposed: for here the Duke of Marlborough threatened to attack her. "To cover what they had gained by surprise, or had been yielded to them by treachery, the French marched to the banks of the Schelde. At their head were the princes of the blood, and their most fortunate general, the Duke of Vendome. Thus commanded, thus posted, they hoped to check the victor in his course. Vain were their hopes. The Duke of Marlborough passed the river in their sight-he defeated their whole army. The approach of night concealed; the proximity of Ghent fa voured their flight. They neglected nothing to repair their loss, to defend their frontier. New generals, new armies appeared in the Netherlands. All contributed to enhance the glory, none were able to retard the progress of the confederate armies. "Lisle, the bulwark of this barrier, was besieged. A numerous garrison, and a marshal of France, defended the place. Prince Eugene, of Savoy, commanded; the Duke of Marlborough covered and sustained the siege. The rivers were seized, and the communication with Holland interrupted. The Duke opened new communications with great labour, and much greater art. Through countries overrun by the enemy, the necessary convoys arrived in safety. One alone was attacked-the troops which attacked it were beat-the defence of Lisle was animated by assurances of relief. The French assembled all their force-they marched towards the town-the Duke of Marlborough offered them battle, without suspending the siege-they abandoned the enterprise-they came to save the town: they were spectators of its fall. "From this conquest the Duke hastened to others. "The posts taken by the enemy on the river Schelde were surprised. That river was passed the second time, and notwithstanding the great preparations made to prevent it, without opposition. Brussels, besieged by the elector of Bavaria, was relieved. Ghent surrendered to the Duke in the middle of a Winter remarkably severe. An army, little inferior to his own, marched out of the place. "As soon as the season of the year permitted him to open another campaign, the Duke besieged and took Tournay. He invested Mons. Near this city, the French army, covered by thick woods, defended by treble entrenchments, waited to molest, nor presumed to offer battle. Even this was not attempted by them with impunity. On the last day of August, one thousand seven hundred and nine, the Duke attacked them in their camp. All was employed, nothing availed against the resolution of such a general, against the fury of such troops. The battle was bloody-the event decisive-the woods were pierced-the fortifications trampled down-the enemy fled the town was taken. “Doway, Bethune, Aire, St. Venant, Bouchain, underwent the same fate in two succeeding years. Their vigorous resistance could not save them. The army of France durst not attempt to relieve them. It seemed preserved to defend the capital of the monarchy. "The prospect of this extreme distress was neither distant] nor dubious. The French acknowledged their conqueror, and sued for peace. These are the Actions of the Duke of MARLBOROUGH, Performed in the Compass of a few Years, The Admiration of other Nations In the Histories even of the Enemies of BRITAIN. Was expressed In the most solemn, most effectual, most durable Manner. Of MARLBOROUGH's Glory, and Of BRITAIN'S Gratitude. The illustrious nobleman, in whose honour this Column was erected, was the eldest son of Sir Winston Churchill, and was born at Ashe, in Devonshire, in the year 1650; he commenced his military career as an ensign in the guards when he was about sixteen years of age. In 1672 he was a captain of grenadiers in a regiment commanded by James, Duke of Monmouth, and distinguished himself so much in the campaign against the Dutch and at the siege of Nimeguen, that he was particularly noticed by the celebrated Marshal Turenne, who bestowed on him the name of the handsome Englishman; and, at the reduction of Maestricht, the French King thanked him for his behaviour at the head of the line, and assured him, he would acquaint his sovereign with it, which the Duke of Monmouth also confirmed, telling the King, his father, how much he had been indebted to the bravery of Captain Churchill. His gallant conduct obtained him the post of Lieutenant-Colonel, but the war with the Dutch having terminated, he passed his time chiefly at court. In 1679 he attended the Duke of York to the Netherlands, and through all his peregrinations, till he was suffered to reside again in London. While he waited upon the Duke in Scotland he had a regiment of dragoons given him, and shortly after, in 1681, married Sarah, daughter and co-heir of Richard Jennings, Esq. of Sandridge, in Hertfordshire, and, by this match, strengthened the interest he had already at court. On Dec. 21, 1682, he was created Baron Churchill, of Eymouth, in Scotland, and the next year being now a General Officer, he obtained the command of the 1st Regt. of Dragoon Guards, then newly raised. He was continued in all his posts upon the accession of James II., who nominated him ambassador to the court of France to notify that event: on his return, his lordship walked, as one of the Lords of the bed-chamber, at His Majesty's coronation, and, in May following, was created a peer of England, by the title of Baron Churchill, of Sandridge, in Hertfordshire. In June, being then Lieutenant-General of His Majesty's forces, he was ordered into the West to suppress Monmouth's rebellion, being next in command to Lewis Duras, Earl of Feversham. When the Prince of Orange landed in 1685, he was amongst the first who went over to his Highness; and, in the convention, voted for the vacancy of the throne, and for filling it with the Prince and Princess of Orange. After their being declared king and queen, Lord Churchill was advanced to the rank of Earl of Marlborough; a title which seems to have been chosen on account of a family connection with the last Earls of that name. The same year he was sent to command the English forces in the Netherlands, under Prince Waldeck, General of the Dutch troops, who, speaking in his commendation to King William, declared, that he saw more into the art of war in a day than some generals in many years." He served the king also in Ireland and in Flanders, but, in 1692, upon a surmise of an insurrection in England, he was divested of all his employments, and apprehended by a warrant from the privy council, and, together with the Earl of Huntingdon, sent prisoner to the Tower, from whence he was shortly after released; the reason of this commitment has never been fully understood; but it is now believed, that a correspondence had been carried on between the Earl of Marlborough and the exiled king; and, consequently, during Queen Mary's life, he kept at a distance from court, attending principally with his lady on the Princess Anne. Upon Queen Mary's death he was restored to favour; and, in June, 1698, appointed by the King, governor to the Duke of Gloucester, with this extraordinary compliment, "My lord, make him but what you are, and my nephew will be all I wish to see him." When King William was forming the grand alliance, he declared the Earl of Marlborough, on June 1, 1701, General of Foot, and Commander-in-chief of all his forces in Holland; and also, on the 28th of that month, constituted him ambassador and plenipotentiary for the negociations carrying on at the Hague. Queen Anne succeeding King William on March 8, 1702, appointed his lordship, on the 15th, Captain-General of all her forces in England, and of those employed abroad in conjunction with her allies; and, on the 28th, nominated him ambassador extraordinary to the states general. War was declared against France and Spain May 4; the general issue of which, and the share the Duke had in the glorious result, is amply detailed in the foregoing inscription on the monumental column. The history of ten eventful campaigns, evinces that nothing was expected from him which he did not perform; and that there was not a single accomplishment of a general, in which he did not excel. His comprehensive and various capacity was equally adapted to complicated and detached objects. In the several departments of plan and stratagem, of enterprize and action, he was alike successful. The general arrangement of the campaign, and the dispositions which he made in the day of battle; the choice of ground; his composure and presence of mind in the heat of an engagement; his improvement of victory, and his ready expedients under bad fortune--for a defeat he never knew-were all evidences of such a diversity of talent, and such a stupendous pitch of military genius, as never were surpassed by those of the greatest commanders in ancient and modern times. His grace had one son, born January 13, 1690, who died of the small-pox at Trinity College, in Cambridge, Feb. 20, 1703, but his honours and certain estates, being settled upon his heirs female successively, and their issue male respectively, they at length have enjoyed them. The Duke had four daughters, viz. the Lady Henrietta Churchill, married to Francis, Earl of Godolphin, who, on the death of his Grace in 1722, succeeded as Duchess of Marlborough; she dying in 1733 without issue male, her titles devolved on her nephew Charles, Earl of Sunderland. Lady Anne Churchill, the second daughter of his Grace, was married to Charles Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, and died in 1716, leaving issue Charles, who succeeded as second Duke of Marlborough. The Lady Elizabeth, the third daughter, married Scroop |