Page:The Queens of England.djvu/553

 AXXE. 501 temperaments, impressed on the world a deep sense of the Brit- ish national vigor. Such again was the ease under Queen Anne. The victories of Marlborough and of Lord Peterborough on the continent, the administrations of Sunderland, Godolphin, Harley, and Bol- ingbroke at home, and the number and splendor of the literary and scientific men who flourished during her reign of only twelve years, elevate it so far above those which preceded and succeeded it, that it stands aloft, an object of national distinc- tion, meeting with no points of comparison between Elizabeth's reign on the one hand, and others which followed. Anne assumed the throne with a full determination to pursue with all energy the policy of William the Third for reducing the power of France on the continent. She made alliances with Holland and Germany ; and her general, Lord Marlborough, placed at the head of the combined armies, achieved a series of victories so great and so ruinous to the power and reputation of France, that even Crecy and Agincourt grew dim before them. Blenheim, Ramilies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet are names that still testify to the military genius of England under Queen Anne, though the envy of the Tory faction robbed the Whigs and the country by the treaty of Utrecht of any really solid advantage from these dazzling, but costly and sanguinary, achievements. By the simple fact of a change of ministry, Louis the Fourteenth was rescued from the depth of humiliation and from the danger of actual invasion by Marlborough and Prince Eugene, and the Whig triumphs were resolved into a mere fact of military fame. That fame, however, existed and remained casting, its protecting influence over England long after Anne had ceased to exist. In Spain the extraordinary victories of Lord Peterborough had given equal evidence of the warlike genius of this country ; and had not political faction here again operated, and effected his recall, that age might have seen what a later has witnessed — the allied armies of England and Germany advancing upon France from two opposite quarters and entering Paris in triumph. As it was. no nation of that epoch won such military renown : and the domestic felicity of Anne was marked by the accomplishment of a victory as grand, as difficult, and immense- ly more conducive to the prosperity and ultimate fame of the nation. — The Union of Exglaxd axd Scotlaxd. Had Anne left no result of her rule but that, she would deserve the ever- lasting: gratitude of the nation. It is onlv bv referring: to the