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272  of the treatment they had received. On the other hand, the States-General issued a memorial, declaring that France had retreated from the conditions first offered; had studiously evaded the grand point, that of giving up Spain and the Indies, and that it was evident that Louis had no serious intention, except to sow dissension amongst the allies. Lord Townshend assured the States-General that her Britannic majesty fully shared their sentiments on this head; that she was satisfied that everything possible had been done for peace, and that, on her part, she was resolved to prosecute the war with the utmost vigour. Louis, however, did not fail to represent himself before Europe as a deeply-injured and hardly-treated man, who in his old age had been called upon himself to take the field against his own children, and to perpetrate deeds that were unnatural and revolting to human feeling. And there were numbers, especially the tories and Jacobites of England, who were only too ready to echo this opinion, and ostensibly to sympathise with so amiable a grandfather. There was another point, too, in which Louis represented the allies as very unreasonable: he had magnanimously offered to surrender Alsace; but he had taken care to demand as an equivalent for this, that his German allies, the electors of Bavaria and Cologne, should be restored to all their territories and honours, with which, after the unpatriotic career of those princes, the confederates were not disposed to comply.

The campaign had not paused for the issue of the conference. Eugene and Marlborough left the Hague on the 15th of March, and assembled their troops, which quartered on the Meuse, at Tournai. The confederate army amounted to sixty thousand men, with which they invested Douay, and Eugene remaining to carry on the siege, Marlborough advanced to Vitri, where he encamped. Marshal Villars, at the head of an army numerous and well appointed, considering the distresses of France, and all the more numerous, because men, destitute of the means of livelihood, flocked to the royal banners, passed the Scheldt, and encamped at Boncham, declaring that he would engage the allies, but thought better of it. His aim was to embarrass the siege of Douay, in which there was a powerful French garrison, commanded by general Albergotti. The defence was vigorous, Albergotti making frequent sallies, and altogether the allies suffered severely before the town. It was compelled, however, to capitulate on the 26th of June. Eugene and Marlborough being again united, contemplated forcing the lines of the enemy betwixt Arras and Miramont, but finding them too strong, they resolved to besiege Bethune, which, in spite of the menacing attitude of Marshal Villars, who marched out of his entrenchments as if going to attack then, surrendered on the 29th of August. They afterwards took also the inconsiderable towns of Aire and Verrant, and there the campaign ended. The armies broke up and retired to winter quarters.

This was a poor result after the grand schemes of storming Boulogne and marching upon Paris. The fact was, that the anxious condition of affairs at home completely paralysed Marlborough. He was no longer the man he had been. His mind was dragged different ways, and was harassed with anxieties. He could no longer concentrate his attention on one great plan of warfare, and the consequence was, that his action was spiritless and indecisive. He seemed to have lost the secret of success, and met with annoyances which his vigilance and promptitude had hitherto prevented. On one occasion a great supply of powder and other stores was intercepted by the enemy, though under the guard of twelve hundred foot and four hundred and eighty horse. In a word he was discouraged, divided in his own mind, and the spell of victory, or rather of high enterprise, was broken.

In other quarters the scene was not more encouraging. Nothing of consequence was effected on the Rhine, and in Piedmont the duke of Savoy, still out of humour with the emperor, did nothing. The imperial forces were commanded by count Daun, who endeavoured to cross the Alps and penetrate into Dauphiné, but was effectually kept back by the duke of Berwick, who held the mountain passes. In Spain, after a brilliant commencement of the campaign, everything went to ruin. General Stanhope, having passed in his parliamentary character through the Sacheverel campaign, joined the imperial general, count Staremberg, in Catalonia, in May. On the 27th of July they encountered the army of king Philip at Almanara. Stanhope had the charge of the cavalry, killed with his own hand the commander of Philip's guards, general Amessaga, and routed the whole body of horse, upon which the infantry retired precipitately on Lerida. General Staremberg pursued the flying army to Saragossa, where king Philip made a stand, but was again defeated, with a loss of five thousand men, seven thousand taken prisoners, with all his artillery, and a great number of colours and standards. Charles and his confederates entered Saragossa in triumph, and Philip continued his flight to Madrid. Whilst victory was with them, general Stanhope urged king Charles to push on to Madrid, drive Philip into the Pyrenees, and secure the pass of Pampeluna, the only one by which Louis could send reinforcements. But the inert Austrian loitered away a whole month at Saragossa, and it was not till the middle of September that Stanhope could induce him to advance. On the 21st of that month Stanhope, still leading the way, entered Madrid without opposition, Philip and all the grandees having recreated to Valladolid. On the 28th Charles himself made his entry into Madrid, but general Stanhope soon perceived that he had no welcome. The Castillians to a man were for Philip, and did the army of Charles all the mischief they could, cutting off his supplies, attacking his outposts, and destroying all the stragglers and foragers that they could meet with. Stanhope still urged Charles to send on a detachment and secure Toledo, and to keep open the passage of the Tagus to facilitate an expected advance of Portuguese troops in his favour. The Portuguese, however, did not make their appearance: provisions failed in Madrid, for the peasantry held back the supply, and the whole army marched to Toledo, where it found itself still worse off. Philip, meantime, had sent in haste to request reinforcements from Louis under the command of the duke de Vendôme, and these approaching, the timid Charles hastened back into Catalonia as the only place of security.

Such was continually the fluctuating condition of the war in Spain. The Spaniards had no inclination to support