nevertheless, for their satisfaction, "that her ma- BOOK VI jesty's intentions were, that her troops should act 1712. with the same vigor against France as if there were no negotiation on foot." And this declaration the earl repeated the same evening in a conference with prince Eugene and count Zinzendorf.

in Flanders.

In the month of April, the confederate army Campaign took the field under the prince of Savoy, whom their high mightinesses had appointed captain general of their forces. The duke of Ormond, arriving at the Hague nearly at the same time, gave all possible assurances to the pensionary of a cordial and confidential co-operation with the allies, and especially the Dutch. On the subsequent junction of the armies, a good understanding seemned to prevail between the two generals ; and about the middle of May, the prince proposing to pass the Scheldt and attack the French, or, if they appeared too strongly posted, to invest the town of Quesnoy, it was assented to by the duke without hesitation. But within a few days after this movement had taken place, the duke of Ormond received positive orders from Mr. secretary St. John to avoid engaging in any siege or hazarding a battle; and desiring him, at the same time, to disguise the receipt of this order-adding, that it had been communicated to the court of France; and if M. Villars should take any

BOOK VI. private notice of it, the duke was to answer ac1712. cordingly. It is impossible to conceive a more

difficult or delicate situation than that into which the duke of Ormond was thrown by these instructions; and had he not been most strongly attached to the present administration and their measures, he would doubtless have instantly resigned a command which he could no longer exercise with honor. And, indeed, notwithstanding the violence of his party zeal, his own noble and ingenuous nature recoiled from the execution of the infamous task imposed upon him. Though in his answer to Mr. St. John, May the 25th, he promised obedience and secresy, he declared "the difficulty of disguising the true reason of his conduct, having no excuse for delays." And the duke upon receiving a letter from M. Villars, congratulating him on the intelligence which had just reached him from Paris, "that they were to be no longer enemies," signified to the maréchal the orders he also had received from the queen of England.

On the 8th of June the duke, having been in the interval strongly pressed to co-operate actively with the allies, stated to Mr. St. John "the extreme uneasiness of his situation. Many of the allies scrupled not openly to say, they were betrayed. If he was restrained from action, he saw no use in remaining in his present situation,

and he desired leave to return to England. But BOOK VI. in all things he professed to submit to her ma- 1712. jesty's pleasure."

of the Eng

It was impossible that these extraordinary proceedings abroad should pass without notice or animadversion at home. On the 7th June, N. S. the baron de Hohendorf, on the part of the court of Vienna, and M. Van Borselen on that of the Hague, held conferences with the lord treasurer, Duplicity who gave them, as his manner was, very fair lish Miniswords. M. Van Borselen complaining of the "y. conduct of the bishop of Bristol, plenipotentiary at Utrecht, who had declared her majesty disengaged from all alliances and engagements with their high mightinesses, the lord treasurer said "the bishop was certainly in a very bad humour when he talked at that rate." In the result, orders were dispatched to the duke of Ormond to concur with the general of the allies in a siege.

the Earl of

the Orders

Duke of

On the same day the earl of Halifax moved, in Motion of the house of peers, an address to the throne, re- Halifax for questing a copy of the orders transmitted to the a Copy of duke of Ormond, and beseeching that he might sent to the be ordered to act offensively in concert with the Ormond. allies. In the debate which ensued, the lord treasurer being urged, declared the orders moved for not proper to be divulged; that he would however venture to say, that if the duke of Ormond had refused to act offensively he did not doubt

BOOK VI. but he had followed his instructions; but he could 1712. be positive he would not decline joining the allies in a siege. To the embarrassing objection of the duke of Marlborough that a siege necessarily implied the eventual risque of a battle in case an attempt were made on the part of the enemy to raise it, no answer was given. In vindication, however, of the honour of the ministry, who were suspected, and even publicly accused, of the design to make a separate peace, the lord treasurer assured the house "that nothing of that nature was ever intended, and that such a peace would be so base, so knavish, and so villainous a thing, that every one who served the queen knew they must answer it with their heads to the nation." The question being at length put, forty peers voted in support of the motion of lord Halifax, and sixty-eight in opposition to it, upon which a most animated protest was signed by twenty-five peers, declaring "the order of restraint under which they were convinced the duke of Ormond lay, to be derogatory to her majesty's honour, to public faith, and that justice which is due to her allies." This protest was immediately printed, and circulated on the continent in French and other languages, to the great chagrin of the government, which in vain offered a large reward for the discovery of the printer or publisher.

On the 17th June, N. S. the queen came in

person to the house of peers, and stated to the BOOK VL two houses, in a long speech, the terms on which 1712. peace might be made; for such was the caution of the lord treasurer that he was determined to conclude nothing without the previous sanction of parliament. An address of thanks and approbation was obtained from the commons without difficulty, But a very high debate took place in the house of peers. The duke of Marlborough affirmed that the measures pursued for a year past were directly contrary to her majesty's engagements with her allies, that they sullied the triumph, and glories of her reign, and would render the English name odious to all nations. The earl of Strafford insinuating in his reply that the lape commander in chief had maintained a secret cor→ respondence in Holland, which had much embar rassed the measures of her majesty's government, earl Cowper observed that "it could never be suggested as a crime in the meanest subject, much less in any member of that august assembly, to hold correspondence withour allies, whereas it would be a hard matter to justify and reconcile, either with our laws or the laws of honor and justice, the conduct of some persons in treating clandestinely with the common enemy." The proposed address contained an assurance "that the house did entriely rely on her majesty's wisdom to finish the great and good work of

peace."