Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/302

288 nothing which had not been the established perquisites of the commander-in-chief of the army in the low countries both before the revolution and since; and that, whatever sums he had received from those sources, he had employed in the service of the public in keeping secret correspondence, and in getting intelligence of the enemy's motions and designs; and that he could certainly say it with justice, he had employed this money so successfully, that he had on no occasion suffered himself to be surprised, but had often been able to surprise and defeat the enemy. To this cause, next to the blessing of God and the bravery of the troops, be attributed most of the advantages of the war.



There can be little doubt that Marlborough made the best of the power granted him for appropriating these sums; that was his weak point; but he does not appear to have exceeded the letter of his warrant; and the truth is that the system itself was more in fault than the general. This enormous power of raising money at the cost of the comfort of the troops had long existed, and has, in fact, come down to our own times, as the exposures subsequent to the Crimean war have shown. And, whilst condemning Marlborough, there is no evidence that the ministers, in their virtuous indignation against him, took the slightest measures to prevent similar abuses in future. They were merely using these charges to destroy the great commander, at a moment when the country had more than ever occasion for his services to complete what he had so well done to that point; and the Jew contractors were now made to turn upon him in the house of commons, in order to win the favour of the new ministers, and future pickings from them in consequence. It must also be added that, when the soldiers were examined whether they had not been supplied with very bad bread, they denied it. Marlborough complained in his letter to the queen that he thought his dismissal and the attempt to load him with such calumnies was a poor return for his long services, and that he felt that he had yielded to the malignity of his enemies rather than to her better sentiments. His two daughters, the countess of