Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/94

80 sovereign they had sworn to serve, and from whom they had many of them just received the highest honours that the government could bestow, none equalled in infamy the detestable Marlborough. This man, who was professing allegiance at the same time to both William and James, and who would have betrayed either of them for his own purposes, was indefatigable in hunting out the king's secrets, and dispatching them with all haste, enforcing the disgrace of his own country and the massacre of his own countrymen with all his eloquence—the sole object being his own aggrandisement was the only general who could be compared with him in military talent. Tallmache betrayed and disgraced, Marlborough, who was suspected and rejected by William for his treason, must, he felt sure, be employed. Accordingly, he importuned Russell for a knowledge of the destination of the fleet; but Russell, who probably by this time had found it his interest to be true to his sovereign, refused to enlighten him. But Marlborough was not to be thus defeated in his burning thirst of treason. He was on the most intimate terms with Godolphin, and most likely obtained the real facts from him. Godolphin, indeed, had already warned the French through James of the intended blow, and Marlborough followed up the intelligence by a letter dated the 2nd of May, in which he informed James that twelve regiments of infantry and two regiments of marines were about to embark under command of Tallmache, in order to destroy Brest. "This," says Marlborough, "would be a great advantage to England; but no advantage can prevent, or ever shall prevent, me from informing you of all that I believe to be for your service; therefore you may make your own use of your intelligence." He then vents his vexation at Russell for not letting him into the secret. "Russell sails to-morrow with forty ships, the rest not being yet paid; but it is said that in ten days the rest of of the fleet will follow, and at the same time the land forces. I have endeavoured to learn this some time ago from admiral Russell, but he always denied it to me, though I am very sure that he knew the design for more than six weeks. This gives me a bad sign of this man's intentions."

This letter of Marlborough's was inclosed in another to the infamous Melfort by colonel Sackville, who says, "I have just now received the inclosed for the king. It is from lord Churchill; but no person but the queen and you must know from whom it comes; therefore, for the love of God, let it be kept a secret, even from lord Middleton. . . . . I send it by express, judging it to be of the utmost consequence for the service of the king my master, and, consequently, to the service of his most Christian majesty." He also adds—"You see I am not deceived in the judgment of admiral Russell, for that man has not acted sincerely, and I fear he never will act otherwise."

This diabolical treason had its full effect. Tourville had already sailed. He left Brest on the 25th of April, and was at this moment in the straits of Gibraltar, which he passed on the 4th of May. Brest was defenceless; but Louis, thus apprised of his danger, instantly dispatched the great engineer of the age, Vauban, to put the port into the best possible state of defence, and dispatched after him a powerful body of troops. The weather favoured the traitors and the French. The English fleet was detained by contrary winds; it did not quit St. Helen's till the 29th of May. On the 5th of June the fleet was off Cape Finisterre, where a council of war was held, and the next day Russell sailed for the Mediterranean with the greater part of the fleet, and lord Berkeley with the remainder, having on board general Tallmache and his six thousand troops, turned his prows towards Brest. But by this time the town was in full occupation by a great body of soldiers, and Vauban had planted batteries commanding the port in every direction, and more, eight large rafts in the harbour well supplied with mortars. In fact, there were no less than ninety mortars and three hundred cannons; all the passages under the castle were made bomb-proof, and there were at least five thousand infantry and a regiment of dragoons in the place.

The English had no friendly traitors amongst the French to act the Marlborough and apprise them of all these preparations; and they rushed blindly on the destruction which their own perfidious countrymen had organised for them.

Tallmache anchored his squadron just outside Camaret Bay, at the mouth of the harbour of Brest, and there he proposed to land his troops whilst the vessels bombarded the port. As volunteers in the fleet had gone young Danby, the son of the new duke of Leeds—now by courtesy bearing his father's old title of marquis of Caermarthen—and lord Mohun, so lately engaged in the disgraceful murder of Mountford the actor. These young nobles proposed to sail into the bay of Camaret and reconnoitre its condition. They reported that it was strongly defended by batteries. Tallmache, however, and Berkeley, ignorant of their design having been long betrayed, despised the danger, and ordered Caermarthen the next morning to enter the bay with eight vessels and batter the works they had seen, whilst Tallmache would land his men from a hundred boats.

But Caermarthen was scarcely in tho mouth of the bay when not only the batteries he had observed, but three masked ones, opened upon him with terrible effect. He sent in haste to warn Tallmache, but the general was landing nine hundred men from his boats, and exclaimed, "The die is cast; we cannot retreat with honour." But even as he spoke his men were mowed down from a deadly fire from both batteries and entrenchments. They stood well, however, to their arms, and returned the fire with such effect that the batteries began to slacken, and they gave a loud hurrah in anticipated triumph. But the hope was delusive. Caermarthen, with his ships endeavouring to cover their landing, was suffering a murderous slaughter; whole decks were cleared of their men, and at the same time the soldiers on land saw cavalry issuing from openings left purposely betwixt the entrenchments. The impetuous charge of these horse, combining with the raking fire from the batteries, threw the handful of soldiers into disorder. Tallmache, seeing the case hopeless, now exerted himself to get off his men; but many of the boats were left high on the sands by the receding tide. The greater part of the unhappy men were slaughtered, and Tallmache was shot through the thigh, and was borne off to the ships. Besides the loss of the soldiers, Caermarthen lost four hundred seamen. Tallmache died in a few days, exclaiming that he had been betrayed by his own countrymen. He was so, more absolutely than he or even most of his contemporaries were aware of. The object of