Rooke, who was detached on this service with twenty-three sail. During the winter, the French had made great exertions to increase their marine, and in the spring, by effecting a junction between the Brest and Toulon fleets, they mustered eighty sail. Rooke discovered the French in the neighbourhood of Cape St. Vincent, and a running fight took place which cost the English four ships-two taken and two burnt. Of the merchant ships about eighty were destroyed or captured, the remainder found safety in Faro, Cadiz, and Gibraltar. The loss sustained by the merchants amounted to about £1,000,000, and as it was believed to be the result of treachery or mismanagement, the English nation was generally discontented. Towards the close of the year, the national honor was slightly retrieved by Commodore Benbow, who with a small force destroyed some privateers at St. Maloes, and bombarded the town for three days, on account of its being a rendezvous of pirates, by which the English commerce had greatly suffered.

(b) The French ravage the Palatinate. May. This was the second time that the French disgraced themselves by barbarous warfare in the Palatinate. Marshal Delorges crossed the Rhine and invested Heidelburg, which being taken by storm was delivered up to savage fury, lust, and rapine. Even the sanctuary of the tomb was violated, and the remains of the old Electors and their families torn from their resting places, and scattered about the streets. Fifteen thousand of the inhabitants, of both sexes, were stripped and driven naked into the castle, to force the garrison the sooner to capitulate. When the fort surrendered, great numbers of the people died on the banks of the Neckar, from cold, hunger, anguish, and despair. A general cry of horror arose throughout Germany, and forces being raised, the infamous perpetrators were compelled to retreat into France.

In the South, the French under Catinat defeated the allies at Marsaglia, in the plains of Piedmont; Schomberg the younger, who commanded a few English allies fell in this battle. It is said that in this engagement bayonets were used on loaded muskets for the first time, and that this change was the cause of the success of the French. Pikes were soon after laid aside, and bayonets used in their place by all European forces. It may be mentioned here, that bayonets at first were a kind of short pike thrust into the bore of the musket, after it had been fired off; the change made by the French consisted in fixing the bayonet on the outside of the muzzle, which arrangement left the bore free.

(c) William defeated at Landen or Neerwinden. July 19. William arrived in Holland in April and gathered his forces at Parke, near Louvaine; after reinforcing his garrisons, he found himself at the head of sixty thousand men. Louis, who was in the field before the English king, returned to Paris, leaving his army under Luxemburg and Boufflers. After much manoeuvring, William found himself compelled to engage, or abandon the towns of Brabant to the French. The allied army extended its right to Neerwinden, its left to Neerlanden. After an obstinate contest, the allies gave way before overwhelming numbers. The loss on either side was about nine thousand in killed and wounded, besides a loss on the side of the allies of seventy pieces of artillery and many standards. Among the

slain were Count Solmes, who committed himself at Steinkirk, and the gallant Sarsfield, one of James's leaders in the Irish war. A singular event happened in connexion with this battle, James Duke of Berwick, was taken prisoner by his uncle Churchill, Earl of Marlborough.

(5) THE WAR IN 1694. The English bombard the coast-towns of France. The first attempt was in June, and had for its object the destruction of the arsenal and shipping at Brest, but the intention was betrayed to James by Godolphin and Marlborough, hence its miserable failure. Lord Berkeley commanded the fleet sent on this service, and general Tolemache the military force of six thousand men. But in consequence of the treachery of the Jacobites, Vauban the engineer was sent to raise defences, so that when the English made the attempt, they were exposed to a terrible fire from newly erected batteries. A part of the troops landed, though without hope of success; they were immediately assailed on all sides, the general fell mortally wounded, and near seven hundred soldiers were slaughtered or made prisoners. An additional loss was sustained of one ship and four hundred seamen. In July, the same ships and forces were employed in bombarding Dieppe and Havre, both of which places were nearly destroyed, as was also the shipping. In September, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, who now filled Berkeley's place, took his fleet over to Dunkirk and Calais, and at both places tried the effect of some machines called Infernals, which had been invented by a Dutchman. The trial was unsuccessful, and the English people murmured at the trifling results of so large an expenditure of public money.

Admiral Russell however did better service. Being sent to the Mediterranean with a fleet of sixty-five liners, he cleared that sea of the French, relieved Barcelona, and by blockading Toulon, kept the French fleet inactive.

William went over to the continent as usual, but the campaign was one of marches and counter-marches, and ended in nothing of importance.

(6) THE WAR IN 1695. (a) Bombardment of the French coast. In July, Lord Berkeley, in command of a combined squadron of English and Dutch, commenced his operations on the French coast, by the bombardment of St. Malo, which was followed by that of Dunkirk, Calais, and other places, thereby inflicting great miseries upon the population of the French coasts, without effecting any other purpose.

(b) Siege and capture of Namur. July 2-Sept. 1. In this campaign, William had to contend with generals much inferior to his old antagonist, Luxemburg, who had died at the commencement of the year, leaving a reputation equal to any of the generals of that age. Ginckle, Earl of Athlone, was sent forward, with a large force to invest Namur, but he could not prevent Boufflers throwing himself into the place with a reinforcement, which brought up the garrison to fifteen thousand men. William brought up the rest of the forces, and the lines of circumvallation were began, under the direction of the celebrated engineer, general Coehorn. Namur surrendered, Aug. 4, but the citadel held out, and an attempt to storm it, was repulsed with great slaughter. The fire however became so hot, and the casualties so numerous, that Boufflers was under the necessity of

capitulating, Sept. 1; four days later, the Marshal marched out of the castle with the honors of war and five thousand five hundred men, which were all that remained of his garrison. The reduction of Namur cost the allies twelve thousand men.

(c) The bombardment of Brussels. Aug. Almost immediately on the commencement of the siege of Namur, Marshal Villeroy moved on Brussels with a large army. A letter sent in to the governor of the city, informed him that Louis his master had ordered the bombardment of the place by way of reprisals, because the Prince of Orange had sent his fleet upon the coast of France, to bombard and ruin the seaports, without any prospect of advantage to himself; and that his master would continue to bombard towns after the same manner, so long as his seaports were so treated. Thereupon, fire was opened on the city and kept up for forty-eight hours, during which time, fifteen hundred houses, beside churches and other public buildings, were laid in ruins,

(7) THE WAR IN 1696. (a) William's campaign_ unimportant. Before the arrival of William at the camp, Ginckle and Coehorn had destroyed an immense magazine of ammunition and military stores, which James had collected at Givet, on the supposition that a powerful diversion would be made by the proposed descent on England. Nothing further was done this season, for both sovereigns had nearly exhausted the wealth of their subjects; William and Villeroy were therefore compelled to content themselves with a campaign of

manœuvres.

(b) The French coasts repeatedly insulted by the English fleet. As it was known that transports and a large army were collected at Calais, to take advantage of a proposed Jacobite movement in England, admiral Russell stood over with a fleet of eighty sail, and discovered about four hundred transports drawn in shore, and eighteen ships of war at Dunkirk. Calais was bombarded but the ships were not molested, though a squadron of English blockaded the coast. But the famous adventurer, Du Bart, contrived to get out of Dunkirk under cover of a fog, and sailing to the eastward took fifteen Dutch vessels, with which he returned in safety to the same harbour. Berkeley, in command of a fleet, pillaged and burnt several small places, which kept the coast in continual alarm, and compelled Louis to order the erection of a hundred batteries, and to keep more than sixty thousand men in arms, for the defence of the coast towns.

(c) The Duke of Savoy withdraws from the alliance. The Duke had been some time engaged in secret negotiations with Louis, which terminated in a private treaty at Loretto, greatly to his advantage. To his dishonor, he put himself at the head of the French army in Italy, and uniting it to his own, invaded the duchy of Milan, then in the possession of Spain. Valencia was invested and after open trenches for thirteen days, a courier arrived with intelligence that the Spanish monarch agreed to the neutrality of Italy.

3. Results of the war with France, by the Treaty of Ryswick. Sept. 1697. As early as February certain preliminaries were signed, and at the suggestion of Louis, it was settled that the negotiations should be held at Newburg House, a palace belonging to William, close by the village of Ryswick. All the

principals appeared desirous of peace. Louis was tired of the war, on account of the distress of his subjects, and perhaps more so because he wanted to turn his attention towards the question of the Spanish succession. William too was anxious to put an end to a war, which had proved as expensive as it was unsuccessful. The negotiations nevertheless went on slowly, both the emperor and the king of Spain making large demands for restitution of territory. In September, after great concessions made by the French king, the treaty was signed by the different powers, the emperor excepted, who was still dissatisfied with the terms

offered.

By the treaty between England and France, the latter power agreed not to disturb the king of England in his possessions or kingdom: neither monarch was to countenance any conspiracies against the other free commerce was to be restored: commissioners to meet in London to settle their respective pretensions to Hudson's Bay and in case of rupture, six months to be allowed to the subjects of each power to remove their effects. By private articles, William engaged to pay a yearly stipend to Mary the wife of James.

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To the other powers, Louis restored the greater part of what had been taken from them, though he contrived to retain Strasburg, and some important fortresses along the Flemish frontier. The French people expressed much dissatisfaction at the concessions made by this treaty, a worse peace, they said, could not have been made had they been vanquished. Under the circumstances, it was however a good stroke of policy on the part of Louis, for by the peace the forces of the confederates were dispersed, and to collect them again would be a work of time. William divined the secret policy of the French king, and though prevented by the jealousy of the parliament from keeping up a strong military force, he contrived by means of the Partition Treaties to neutralise in part the designs of the French, and compel the ambitious monarch to consent to a division of the vast dominions of Spain.

SECTION XI, THE ENGLISH AID SWEDEN.

Rooke bombards Copenhagen. 1700. The king of Denmark, in league with his neighbours, had formed a design to take the crown of Sweden from the youthful Charles XII. Assistance was at once demanded by the Swedish ambassador, in virtue of a late treaty which bound England and Holland to supply naval aid. Rooke, with thirty sail, formed a junction with the Swedish fleet, and having driven in the Danish ships, bombarded Copenhagen and the fleet in shelter there, to neither of which however

much damage was done. Charles himself landed and in conjunction with the fleet, prepared for a regular siege. This alarmed the Danes, and a treaty was immediately concluded, under the guarantee of the maritime powers, at Travendal, by which the Danes agreed to renounce alliance with Russia, and restore Holstein.

SECTION XII. THE PARTITION TREATIES AND SECOND GRAND ALLIANCE.

1. The first Partition Treaty. 1698. It was the policy of William to prevent the union of two such powerful kingdoms as France and Spain, a design which Louis contemplated, though on his mrrriage with Maria Theresa, the sister of Charles II. of Spain, there was a formal renunciation made of all possible future pretensions to any of her father's dominions. Charles, the reigning monarch of Spain, was without direct heirs, and Louis resolved to claim in right of his wife. As William could not prevent it altogether, his policy was to make it as little mischievous as possible. To serve this end, negotiations were opened with the French monarch, and the following treaty of partition agreed to: That the Dauphin should, on the death of Charles, take Naples and Sicily, with the Spanish dependencies on the coast of Tuscany; the provinces of Final, Guipuscoa, and all places on the French side of the Pyrenees: That the Archduke Charles should take the duchy of Milan: And that the Electoral Prince of Bavaria should take the crown of Spain, with all its other dependencies. The three persons named were all descended from Philip IV. of Spain. Philip's daughter, Maria Theresa, married Louis XIV. from whom came the Dauphin. Another daughter, Margaret Theresa, married Leopold of Austria, whose son was the Archduke Charles, and whose daughter, Maria Antoinette, was the mother of the Electoral Prince of Bavaria.

2. The second Partition Treaty, 1700. The Electoral Prince, a child but six years of age when the previous arrangement was made, having died, it became necessary to redistribute the dominions of Spain. For this purpose private negotiations were again opened between William and Louis, and the following partition agreed to:-That the Archduke Charles should take Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, and her dependencies in India, America, and elsewhere: That the Dauphin should take as before arranged, and in addition, the duchies of Lorraine and Bar: And that the Duke of Lorraine should take the duchy of Milan in lieu of his own. When this division was made known to Charles II. he objected to it, as did also the Spanish nation. Councils were held which inclined to the French interest, and the matter being