Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/188

174 the Rhine, annoyed the besiegers of Kiesenwerth with his artillery, and managed to throw into the city fresh troops, ammunition, and supplies. Count Delamotte, and the Spanish marquis of Bedmar, covered the western frontier of the Spanish Netherlands, and the prince of Baden was posted on the upper Rhine.

Whilst in this position Cohorn marched into the Netherlands, destroyed the French lines betwixt the forts of Donat and Isabella, and levied contributions on the chatellanie of Bruges; but Bedmar and Delamotte advancing, he cut the dykes, inundated the country, and retired under the walls of Sluys. Meantime the duke of Burgundy, taking the command of the army of Boufflers at Zanten near Cleves, formed a design to surprise Nimeguen in conjunction with Tallard, who suddenly quitted his post near Kieserwerth, and joined Burgundy. Nimeguen was without a garrison, and ill supplied with artillery, and must have fallen an easy prey, had not Athlone, perceiving the object of the enemy, by a masterly march got the start of them, and had posted himself under the walls of the town before the arrival of the French guards.



Marlborough all this time was undergoing his first experience of the difficulties of acting at the head of a miscellaneous body of allies, and with the caution of Dutch burgomasters. He then blamed William severely for his slow movements, and now he was himself hampered by the same obstructions. It was the end of June before he could bring the necessary arrangements for taking the field into order. Nor could he have effected this so soon had not the near surprise of Nimeguen alarmed the Dutch for their frontiers, and quickened their movements. The fall of Kieserwerth was another circumstance in his favour. He collected the forces which had been engaged there, marched the English troops up from Beda, and in the beginning of July found himself at Nimeguen at the head of sixty thousand men. Even then he did not find himself clear of difficulties. His bold plans were checked by the presence of two field deputies which the Dutch always sent along with their generals, and who would not permit him to undertake any movement until they had informed the States-General of it and received their sanction. Thus, it was not the general in the field, but the States-General at a distance who really directed the evolutions of the war; and the only wonder is, that a general in such absurd leading-strings could effect anything at all. Besides the standing nuisance, Marlborough found Athlone, the prince of Saarbruck, and the other chief generals all contending for equal authority with him, and refusing to submit to his commands; and when the States-General freed him, by a positive order, from this difficulty, the Hanoverians refused to march without an order from Bothmar, their ambassador at the Hague. Instead of sending to Bothmar, Marlborough summoned him to the camp, as the proper place for him if he was to direct the movements of the Hanoverian troops, and got rid of this obstacle only to find the Prussians raising the same difficulties.

It was not till the 7th of July that he crossed the Waal and encamped at Druckeuburg, a little south of Nimeguen. It was the 10th when he crossed the Meuse and posted himself at Over-hasselt, with the French forces in front at the distance of two leagues and a half, entrenched betwixt Goch and Gedap. Here, in a letter to Godolphin, he complained that still the fears of the Dutch hampered his movements. He then recrossed the river below the Grave, and reached Gravenbroeck, where he was joined by the British train of artillery from Holland. Thus prepared, he advanced on the French; on the 2nd of August was at Petit Brugel in their front; but they retired before him, leaving Spanish Guelderland in his power. He determined to bring the French to an engagement, but was restrained by the fears of the Dutch deputies; but, fortunately for him, the French generals had their fears too, and the duke of Burgundy, finding Marlborough pressing on him in spite of his obstructions, resigned his command rather than risk a defeat, and returned to Versailles, leaving the command to Boufflers. The deputies of the States, encouraged by these symptoms, recommended Marlborough to clear the French from Spanish Guelderland, where the places which they still held on the Meuse interrupted the commerce of that river. Though the Dutch were