SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

Waren, The Military Life of John Duke of Marlborough. By Archibald Alison, P.R.S., Author of " The History of Europe." Blackwood and Sons. Ticraori, Ernest Singleton.- By the Author of "Dr. Hookwell." In-three volumes.• •Bentky. Henry Domville; or the Younger Son. By Himself. In two volumes.

Perna, Chapman and Hall. The Eve of the Conquest, and other Poems. By Henry Taylor, Author of Philip

Van Artevelde." Moron.

ALISON'S MILITARY LIFE OP MARLBOROUGH.

Tuts work, a considerable part of which originally appeared in Black- wootre.Magaziale, was suggested by the publication of the Marlborough Despatches. Original documents of that voluminous and detailed charac- ter are uninteresting to the general reader, even when they relate to con- temporary actions ; but if by the lapse of time the events have become historical, they are often hardly intelligible. With somewhat of the pro- fessional feeling of the historian, Mr. Alison expatiates upon this obvious truth in his preface; and this professional feeling appears to have incited him to undertake a review of the campaigns of Marlborough, in which the recovered despatches should be a main authority. The subject, how- ever, grew under his hands ; the war of the Succession, in its general bearings, had frequently to be considered before the military events could be well understood ; and thus the review of the Marlborough Despatches was turned into The Military Life of Marlborough.

The research for this purpose does not seem to have been very exten- sive. Coxe's Life and Yammer's great military work appear to be the main authorities, beyond the common historical reading upon the subject. But though there is nothing very new in fact to he found in. Mr..Alison's pages, his book is a useful contribution to English literature. The only life we had of Marlborough was that by Coxe; and, independently of its voluminousness and the intermixture of topics, the style of the author and his tone of mind belong to another age. The military exploits do not stand out with sufficient distinctness to form a continuous military narrative ; besides which, the reverend Doctor was not so well qualified as Mr. Alison for the description of the stirring scenes of war and battle. In general history, Marlborough's exploits are of course presented on a contracted scale; and England has no military history really worthy of the name. The factious spirit which baffled the hopes and clouded the declining years of the great warrior seems to have pursued his memory in his own country. On the Continent it was indeed different, and Marl- borough received there an enlightened appreciation, which till of late years he lacked at home.

Supposing a work to have sufficient literary ability to be readable, many faults will not avail against it when it supplies a want, as The Military Life of Marlborough unquestionably does. Beyond Mr. Ali- son's usual rhetorical amplification and diffusiveness, however, this book has fewer of its author's usual defects, and very considerable merits. The plan is well conceived, and rigidly adhered to. The work is strictly what it professes to be, a military life. A brief introduction sketches the ca- reer of Marlborough to the breaking out of the war of the Succession ; which, with a masterly picture of the state of France and the character of LOUIS the Fourteenth, introduce the subject ; while a few pages after its close describe the decline and death of Marlborough. All beyond is the military life of the hero, with no unnecessary deviation to any other topic; and hence a unity is preserved throughout, which is rarely met in modern lives and times, especially among the rhetorical school of writers.

The first and most distinguishing quality of the volume is the author's historical mind and his power as a military describer. These, indeed, are the circumstances that chiefly give value to a work that has evidently been struck off rapidly. In point of composition, there is somewhat too much of the rhetorician, and of the theory-monger advancing his "idea." The book, however, is a more favourable specimen of composition than the greater History of Europe. Not distracted by so many ramifications as are there of necessity, the author brings the whole subject more completely under the reader. The topics, being chiefly particular de- scription, do not allow the writer to run away with himself, as he is apt to do when engaged in political speculations. The style is generally closer, with less tendency to hyperbole ; and in the battles and sieges the de- scription of the text is well carried out by the maps and plans. The theories, too, we regard as in the main sound ; at least they are better than the vulgar notions of high destinies influenced by bedchamberwo- men, and all the other claptrap extravagancies of the Disraeli school. In the view of Mr. Alison, the wars were really conflicts of opinion, in which something more than even the ambition of kings was embodied. According to him, Louis the Fourteenth represented the Romish, Wil- liam the Third the Protestant spirit, not in mere religious dogmas, but in that deeper feeling which not only influences belief, but gives its colour to actions, and in the end forms the character of nations. William from nature and education embodied constitutional government ; Louis, like Napoleon after him, individual despotism. These principles and their concomitants, Mr. Alison, holds, were always at work daring the wars of William and Anne, though personal or national interests often excited them to action. The author's " character " of Louis the Fourteenth is well worth perusal, especially by those persons who are apt to under- value the past because it does not resemble the present. The following is a portion .of that elaborate portrait. "Louis XIV. was essentially monarchical. That was the secret of his success: it was because he first gave the powers of unity to the monarchy that he rendered France so brilliant and powerfuL An his changes, and they were many, from the dress of soldiers to the instructions to ambassadors, were characterized by the Rune spirit. He first introduced a toifform in the army. Before his time, the soldiers merely wore a banderole over their steel breastplates and ordinary dresses. That was a great and symptomatic improvement; it at once induced an esprit de Serpa and a sense of responsibility. He first made the troops march with a mea- sured step, and caused large bodies of men to move with the precision of a single company. The artillery and engineer service, under his auspices, made astonis' la- ing progress. His discerning eye selected the genius of Vauban, which inventedr as it were, the modern system of fortification, and well-nigh brought it to its great- est elevation; and raised to the highest command that of Tnrenne, which carried the military art to the most consummate perfection. Skilfully turning the- martial and enterprising genius of the Franks into the career of conquest, be mai.. tiplied tenfold their power, by conferring on them the inestimable advantages of skilled discipline and unity of action. He gathered the feudal array around his banner; he roused the ancient barons from their chateaux, the old retainers from their villages. But he arranged them in disciplined battalions of regular troops, who received the pay and obeyed the orders of Government, and never left their banners. His regular army was all enrolled by voluntary enlistment, and served for pay. The militia alone was raised by conscription. When he summoned the. military forces of France to undertake the conquest of the Low Countries, he ap- peared at the head of a hundred and twenty thousand men, all regular and disci- plined troops, with a hundred pieces of cannon. Modem Europe bad never seen such an array. It was irresistible, and speedily brought the Monarch to the gates. of Amsterdam.

"The same unity which the genius of Louis and his ministers communicated to the military power of France, he gave also to its naval forces and internal strength. To such a pitch of greatness did he raise the marine of the monarchy, that it all but outnumbered that of England; and the battle of La Hogue, in 1692, alone determined, as Trafalgar did a century after, to which of these rival powers the dominion of the seas was to belong. His ordinances of the Marine, promulgated in 1781, [1681 ?) form the best code of maritime law yet known, and one which is still referred to, like the Code Napoleon, as a ruling authority in all commer- cial states. He introduced astonishing reforms into the proceedings of the courts of law; and to his efforts the great perfection of the French law, as it now appears in the admirable works of Pothier, is in a great degree to be ascribed. lie re- duced the government of the interior to that regular and methodical system of governors of provinces, mayors of cities, and other subordinate authorities, all re- ceiving their instructions from the Tuileries, which under no subsequent change of government, Imperial or Royal, has been abandoned, and which has in every succeeding age formed the main source of its strength. He concentrated around the monarchy the rays of genius from all parts of the country, and threw around its head a lustre of literary renown, which, more even than the exploits of his armies, dazzled and fascinated the minds of men. He arrayed the scholars, philo- sophers, and poets of his dominions, like soldiers and sailors: almost all the ace, demies of France, which have since become so famous, were of his institution; ha sought to give discipline to thought, as he had done to his fleets and armies, and rewarded distinction in literary efforts not less than warlike achievement. Net monarch ever knew better the magical influence of intellectual strength on gene: ral opinion, or felt more strongly the expedience of enlisting it on the side of, authority. Not less than Hildebrand or Napoleon, he aimed at drawing, not over. his own country alone, but the whole of Europe, the meshes of regulated and eon-. tmlized thought; and more durably than either he attained his object. The reli- gious persecution which constitutes the great blot on his reign, and caused itS brilliant career to close in mourning, was the result of the same desire. He longed to give the same unity to the church which he had done to the army, navy, and civil strength of the monarchy. He saw no reason why the Huguenots should not, at the Royal command, face about like one of Turenne's battalions. Schism in the church was viewed by him in exactly the same light as rebellion in the state. No efforts were spared by inducements, good deeds, and fair promises, to make proselytes; but when twelve hundred thousand Protestants resisted his se- ductions, the sword, the fagot, and the wheel, were resorted to without mercy for their destruction."

The character of William is equally able; but we will leave it for a few passages more directly connected with Marlborough. The following is.* description of the memorable day at Waterloo, when the caution of the Dutch Deputies and the envy of some of the Dutch Generals stopped the Allies from engaging. These encumbrances to the army prevented Marl- borough from forcing the passage of the Dyle : he then deceived them by a series of skilful marches, and, interposing himself between Villeroi and France, came up with the French army on the aide afterwards occu- pied by Wellington, while Marlborough halted in Napoleon's position. " Marlborough, on the 18th August, anxiously reconnoitered the ground; and; finding the front practicable for the passage of troops, moved up his men in three columns to the attack. The artillery was sent to Wavre; the Allied columns tra- versed at right angles the line of march by. which Blucher advanced to the sup- port of Wellington on the 18th June 1815. " Had Marlborough's orders been executed; it is probhble he would have gained a victory which, from the relative position of the two armies, could not but have been decisive; and possibly the 18th August 1705 might have become as cele, brated in history as the 18th. June 1815. Overkirk, to whom he showed the ground at Over-Ische which he had destined for the scene of attack, perfectly concurred in the expedience of it; and orders were given to bring the artillery for- ward to commence a cannonade. By the malice or negligence of Slangenberg, who had again violated his express instructions, and permitted the baggage to in- termingle with the artillery train, the guns had not arrived, and some hours were lost before they could be pushed up. At length, but not till noon, the gene were brought forward; and the troops being in line, Marlborough rode along the front to give his last orders. The English and Germans were in the highest spirits, anticipating certain victory from the relative position of the armies; the French fighting with their faces to Paris, the Allies with theirs to Brussels. "But again the Dutch Deputies and Generals interposed, alleging that the enemy was too strongly posted to be attacked with soy prospect of success. Gentlemen,' said Marlborough to the circle of generals which surrounded him, 'I have reconnoitered the ground, and made dispositions for an attack. I am con,. vinced that conscientiously and as men of honour, we cannot now retire without an action. Should we neglect this opportunity, we must be responsible before God and man. You see the confusion which pervades the ranks of the enemy, and their embarrassment at our manoeuvres. 'leave you to judge whether we should attack today, or wait till tomorrow. It is indeed. late; but you must consider that by throwing up intrenchments during the night the enemy will render their ppooseition far more difficult to force.' Murder and massacre l' replied Slangen- . Marlborough upon this offered him two English for every Dutch battahon! but this too the Dutchman refused, on the plea that he did not understand Eng, lish. Upon this the Duke offered to give him German regiments: but even thus was declined, upon the pretence that the attack would be too hazardous. Marl- borough, upon this, turned to the Deputies, and said, I disdain to send troops to dangers which I will not myself encounter. I will lead them where the peril is most imminent. I adjure you, gentlemen, for the love of God and your country; do not letus neglect so favourable an opportunity,' But it.was all in vain; and; instead of acting, the Dutch Deputies and Generals spent three hours in debating, until night came on and it was too late to attempt anything. Such was Mar borough's chagrin at this disappointment, that he said, on retiring from the field, I am at this moment ten years older than I was four days ago.'"-

This conduct of the Dutchmen raised such a storm both in England and Holland, that it. quickly cost them their places. They were all removed, and more tractable persons appointed. The following picture of the terrors of mining is from the account of the siege of Tournay.

" The art-of countermining, and of counteracting the danger of mines exploding-,

was then very imperfectly understood, though that of besieging above ground had been brought to the very highest degree of perfection. The soldiers in conse- quence entertained a great and almost superstitious dread of the perils of that sabterraneous warfare, where prowess and courage were alike unavailing, and the bravest equally with the most pusillanimous were liable to be at any moment blown into the air, or smothered under ground, by the explosions of an unseen and therefore appalling enemy. The Allies were inferior in regular sappers and miners to the besieged, who were singularly well supplied with that important arm of the service. The ordinary soldiers, how brave soever in the field, evinced a repugnance at engaging in this novel and terrific species of warfare; and it was only by the officers personally visiting the trenches in the very hottest of the fire, and offering high rewards to the soldiers who would enter into the mines, that men could be got to venture on the perilous service.

"It was net surprising that even the bravest of the Allied troops were appalled at the new and extraordinary dangers which now awaited them; for they were truly of the most formidable description. What rendered them peculiarly so was, that the perils in a peculiar manner affected the bold and the forward. The first to mount a breach, to effect a lodgment in a horn-work, to penetrate into a mine, was sure to perish. First a hollow rumbling noise was heard, which froze the bravest hearts with horror; a violent rush as of a subterraneous cataract suc- ceeded; and immediately the earth heaved, and whole companies and even bat- talions were destroyed in a frightful explosion. On the 15th August, a sally by M. de Surville was bravely repulsed; and the besiegers, pursuing their advantage, effected a lodgment in the out-work: but immediately a mine was sprung, and a hundred and fifty men were blown into the air. In the night between the 16th and 17th, a long and furious conflict took place, below ground and in utter dark- ness, between the contending parties; which at length terminated to the advantage of the besiegers. On the 23d, a mine was discovered, sixty feet long by twenty broad, which would have blown up a whole battalion of Hanoverian troops placed above it; but while the Allies were in the mine, congratulating themselves on the discovery, a mine below it was suddenly sprung, and all within the upper one were buried in the rains. On the night of the 25th, three hundred men, posted in a large mine discovered to the Allies by an inhabitant of Tourney, were crushed in a similar manner by the explosion of another mine directly below; and on the same night, one hundred men posted in the town ditch were suddenly buried un-

der a bastion blown out upon them. • • •

"A very striking incident occurred in the siege, which shows to what a height the heroic spirit with which the troops were animated had risen. An officer com- manding a detachment was sent by Lord Albemarle to occupy a certain lunette which had been captured from the enemy; and though it was concealed from the men, the commander told the officer he had every reason to believe the post was undermined, and that the party would be blown up. Knowing this, he proceeded with perfect calmness to the place of his destination; and when provisions and wine were served out to the men, he desired them to fill their calashes, and said ' Here is a health to those who die the death of the brave.' The mine was im- mediately after sprang; but, fortunately, the explosion failed, and his comrades survived to relate their commander's noble conduct."

Two additional chapters follow the Life. One is a series of " compari- sons " between Marlborough, Eugene, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, and Wellington ; which have but little direct relation to the main object, and by consequence have more of the air of mere theme-writing than anything else in the book, however able the writing may be. The other chapter is on the peace of Utrecht ; in which Mr. Alison's object is to reiterate old views about the erection of Belgium into a kingdom—line of fortresses—tri- coloured flag at Antwerp—IQuadruple Alliance in Spain, schemes to abrogate the Salle law, and the expulsion of Don Carlos through the Quadruple Alliance. The Belgium question is mere talk ; for it is diffi- cult to see what else could have been done without an European war. In the Spanish business, Mr. Alison, without naming Lord Palmerston, cer- tainly contrives to show, that throughout his intrigues, interferences, expe- ditions, and what not, he was simply playing into the hands of Louis Philippe; and that but for the very clever abrogation of the Salic law and the expulsion of Carlos, the Montpensier marriage would not have taken place. There is some excuse for the soreness about the match at the Fo- reign Office : " the engineer hoist with his own petard " feels it anything but " sport."