As soon as the plain was cleared, general Churchill led his infantry towards the rear of the village, and extended his right flank to the Danube; while general Meredith, with the queen's regiment, took possession of a small barrier which had been formed to preserve a communication along the bank with Hochstadt. These movements roused the enemy from a state of sullen desperation. They first attempted to escape by the rear of the village, and being repulsed, rushed towards the road leading to Sonderheim. Here they were again checked by the Scotch greys, who were led forward to the crest of the acclivity by general Lumley. They finally attempted to emerge by the opening towards Oberglauh, when eight squadrons of horse, under general Ross, compelled them again to take refuge behind the houses and enclosures.

Though encompassed by inevitable perils, they obstinately maintained their post, and it became necessary to recur to a general attack on every accessible point of the village. Lord Cutts was ordered to occupy their attention on the side of the Nebel, while lord Orkney, with eight battalions, attacked the churchyard, and general Ingoldsby, with four more, supported by the dragoons of Ross, endeavoured to penetrate on the side of the opening towards Oberglauh. Several batteries, planted within musket shot, co-operated in these attacks, and one of the howitzers set fire to several houses and barns. A vigorous conflict appeared likely to ensue. But

on one side the prospect of a sanguinary though successful attack, and on the other, of a fruitless, though destructive defence, induced the contending parties to spare the effusion of blood. A parley took place, and the French proposed a capitulation, but general Churchill, riding forward, insisted on an unconditional surrender. No resource remained; to resist was hopeless, to escape impossible. With despair and indignation, the troops submitted to their fate, and the regiment of Navarre, in particular, burnt their colours, and buried their arms, that such trophies might not remain to grace the triumph of an enemy. Twenty-four battalions and twelve squadrons, with all their officers, surrendered themselves prisoners of war, and thus closed the mighty struggle of this eventful day.

The field being cleared of the enemy, and night approaching, the duke ordered the army to be drawn up, with the left extending to Sonderen, the right towards Morselingen, and the soldiers to lie all night under arms on the field of battle. They quickly possessed themselves of the enemy's tents, with great quantities of vegetables. Nearer the Danube lay about an hundred oxen, which were to have been distributed to the hostile troops. These were no unwelcome booty to the victorious soldiers after their long and hard service.

After this, his grace gave orders for dressing the wounded, and putting them under cover. He then made a repartition of the prisoners, who amounted to eleven or twelve thousand men. The enemy had at least as many more killed or wounded. These prisoners, with their generals, being divided and disarmed, were ordered to the adjacent villages in the rear of our army, guarded by several squadrons of horse and dragoons.

We may add, that from the subsequent letters of Marlborough, we find the total loss of the enemy to have been no less than 40,000 men, including deserters, and those who were killed in the retreat. The loss on the side of the confederates was also very considerable, being 4,500 killed, and 7,500 wounded; but few officers of note, except the prince of Holstein Beck and brigadier Rowe, were killed; and lord North and Grey, and lord Mordaunt wounded.

DEFOE.]

THE STORY OF CAPTAIN GREEN.

THE STORY OF CAPTAIN GREEN.

ONE OF THE CAUSES OF THE UNION WITH SCOTLAND.

DEFOE.

An English ship called the "Worcester," of London, captain Thomas Green, commander, homeward bound from the East Indies, put into Scotland, whether by contrary winds, or for convoy, or on what other occasion, is not to the purpose. The African Company there having had a ship formerly seized by the East India Company in London as she was fitting out in the river Thames, and for which they had in vain solicited restitution, they obtained of the government a power to seize Accordingly the ship was seized on and and stop this ship by way of reprisal. brought into Bruntisland, and some time passed while the ship lay under such circumstances. During this time some of the ship's crew, whether in their drink or otherwise, let fall some words implying that they had been pirating, and particularly some very suspicious discourses intimating that there had been blood in the case. This prompted further inquiries, and at last a plain and particular information was procured, that this captain Green with this ship "Worcester" had met with a Scots ship, commanded by one Drummond, in the East Indies, made a prize of the ship, These suspicions and dark speeches and murdered Drummond and all his crew. were so taken hold of and traced, that at last it came upon the stage, and brought Green and his ship's crew into the course of public justice; and after a very long trial, they were found guilty of piracy, robbery, and murder; and particularly the captain with two more were accordingly executed.

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It is not the work of this book to relate the story at its full length, but I cannot pass it here without a short abridgment of the proceedings, because as Scotland lies under much scandal on this account, which, as to the methods of public justice, I think she does not deserve; so the clearing up that point, and the relation it has to the present subject I am upon I think will come out hand in hand; and for that reason I engage in it. Some of Green's men either in their anger or in their cups, or both, having let fall words that rendered him very much suspected of having been guilty of great villanies; they were further watched in their discourse by some that had taken hold of their words, particularly two negroes, one Haines, and another, who, it seems, These being disgusted with the captain, frequently let fall such expressions as gave the hearers reason to suspect there had been great villanies among them. speeches are all to be seen in the depositions of the witnesses (too long to repeat here), and particularly in the printed trial, to which I refer.

more.

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I shall not take upon me here to condemn nor acquit either side; I know the world's divided on the subject; some will have Green and his crew to be guilty of all that is charged on them; others say the company carried all against them, that they might have a good excuse for confiscating the ship. But be that as it will, it is most certain the folly and imprudence of the men hanged them, to say no * * This folly of theirs came at last to such a height that it could no longer be concealed, for it became public discourse that they had been guilty not of murder and piracy only, but of uncommon barbarities; and not that rd only, but that it was particularly on a Scots ship and Scots men, viz., captain At length it was brought to the ears of the governm Drummond aforesaid. as the public justice of all nations is obliged to take cognizance of things as were here suggested, the fellows were examined, and they The positive evide fessing, Green and five of his men were taken up. two negroes, but others so corroborated what they said, and circu: curring to make almost everybody believe the fact, at least in that hur upon a long hearing, severally found guilty of piracy and murder.

There are sometimes such crises, such junctures in matters, when all things shall concur to possess, not a man but a nation, even, with a belief of what at another time they would not believe, even upon the same evidence; and in this, man seems actuated by a kind of supernatural influence, as if invisibly directed to bring to pass some particular thing pointed out by Providence to be done, for reasons of His own, and known only to His inscrutable wisdom. Just such a case this seemed to be; the circumstances of Green and his crew were very unhappy for them; their being put into Scotland, where they had no manner of business, no distress to force them in; their being seized by the company; the men falling out among themselves, and being the open instruments of detecting what no one ever could have charged them with; their staying there when they might have gone and had no more business there, from whence some allege they had no power to depart; these and more concurring circumstances, which were observed by the most curious, and some of which were noted upon the trial, seemed to jump together so visibly, that all people seemed to acknowledge a wonderful and invisible hand in it, directing and pointing out the detecting some horrible crime which vengeance suffered not to go unpunished.

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On their being found guilty they were not immediately executed; but several applications were made from England for their reprieve; the council of Scotland reprieved them for some days and as some people began then to object that the evidence was but too slight, and that there was but one witness to matter of fact, and that the one witness was but a negro, that he was not capable of the impressions of an oath, that there was malice in it, and the like; on these and on other considerations the government was so tender of the blood of the men, that some have thought they had not died but for the rage of the common people, who, hearing that they were further to be reprieved, got together an unusual multitude on the day appointed for their execution, crying out for justice. On the day appointed for the execution the privy council was set, and the magistrates of Edinburgh were called to assist, when the point was debated whether the condemned persons should be executed or no. I will not say the rabble influenced the council in their determinations that way; but this is certain, that the discontent of the common people was well known, and that they were furiously bent upon some violent methods was very much feared; that a vast concourse of people was gathered at that instant in the parliament Close, at the Cross, at the prison, and throughout the whole city; that they publicly threatened the magistrates, and even the council itself in case they (the prisoners) were not brought out that day. And some talked of pulling down the Tolbooth, which, if they had attempted, they would have sacrificed them in a way more like that of De Witt than an execution of justice. However it was, the council determined the matter, that three of them, viz., the captain Thomas Green, John Mather, and James Simpson, who were thought to be principals in the murder, should be put to death that day. When the magistrates of Edinburgh came out, they assured the people that they (the prisoners) were ordered to be executed, and that if they would have a little patience, they would see them brought out; and this pacified them for the present. Soon after the council breaking up, my lord chancellor came out, and driving down the street in his coach, as he passed by the Cross somebody said aloud, "The magistrates had but cheated them, and that the council had reprieved the criminals." This running like wild fire, was spread in a moment among the people, immediately they ran in a fury down the street after the chancellor, stopped his coach just at the Trone church, broke the glasses, abused his servants, and forced him out of the coach; some friends that were concerned for the hazard he was in, got him into a house, so that he had no personal hurt. It was in vain for his lordship to protest to them that

the men were ordered to be executed; they were then past hearing of anything, the whole town was in an uproar, and not only the mob of the city, but even from all the adjacent country was come together. Nothing but the blood of the prisoners could appease them; and had not the execution followed immediately, it cannot he expressed what mischief might have happened.

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At last the prisoners were brought out and led through the streets down to Leith, the place of execution being by the laws appointed there for crimes committed upon the seas. The fury and rage of the people was such that it is not to be expressed; and hardly did they suffer them to pass, or keep their hands off them as they went, but threw a thousand insults, taunts, and revilings. They were at last brought to the gibbet, erected at the sea mark, and there hanged. Nor can I forget to note that no sooner was the sacrifice made and the men dead, but even the same rabble -so fickle is the multitude--exclaimed at their own madness, and openly regretted what they had done, and were ready to tear one another to pieces for the excess. It was not acted there with more fury than it was with the utmost indignation resented in England. * * * It was said the rabble had cried out to hang them because they were Englishmen; that they had said they wished they could hang the whole nation so, and that they insulted them as they went to execution with the name of English dogs. Never was such an unfortunate circumstance to exasperate the common people upon both sides, and to fill them with irreconcilable aversions that might prepare them for blood; and if England had gone a little higher, it would not have been safe for a Scotsman to have walked the streets. * To exasperate the people yet more, it was reported that captain Drummond was yet living, that neither he nor any of his men was ever touched by Green or his crew, and some seamen landed in England made affidavit directly contrary to the evidence that hanged them.

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I shall no further enter into the merits of the case that serves to the matter of national heats. The thing was generally thought to be a hasty execution, but the argument that it ought to be no ground for a national quarrel prevailed in England, and the rest of the prisoners in Scotland were reprieved from time to time, and at last let go.

In both these cases the mischief of tumult and rabbles is to be observed, and how easy it is to set nations on a flame by the violent fomenting the passions and humours of the people, and how much those sort of men are to be detested who blow the coals of strife and dissension in a nation, prompt the fury of an enraged multitude to fly in one another's faces, and insult the laws and government of both countries

at once.

The end of this account is to make out what I at first noted, concerning the causes which wrought these two nations up to such a necessity of an union, that either it must have been an union or a war; the animosities on both sides being raised to such a pitch that they could no longer have remained in the usual medium of peace.

The principal obstacle to a union, so far as England was concerned, narrow-minded view of the commercial interests of the nation, and a fear of which might accrue by admitting the Scots to a share of their plantation trade other privileges. But it was not difficult to show, even to the persons most in

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ested, that public credit and private property would suffer immeasurably more by a war with Scotland, than by sacrificing to peace and unity some share in the general commerce. It is true, the opulence of England, the command of men, the many victorious troops which she then had in the field, under the best commanders in Europe, seemed to ensure final victory, if the two nations should come to open war. But a war with Scotland was always more easily begun then ended; and wise men saw it would be better to secure the friendship of that kingdom, by an agreement on the basis of mutual advantage, than to incur the risk of invading, and the final necessity of securing it as a conquered country, by means of forts and garrisons. In the one case, Scotland would become an integral part of the empire, and, improving in the arts of peaceful industry, must necessarily contribute to the prosperity of England. In the case supposed, she must long remain a discontented and disaffected province, in which the exiled family of James II., and his allies the French, would always find friends and correspondents. English statesmen were therefore desirous of a union. But they stipulated that it should be of the most intimate kind; such as should free England from the great inconvenience arising from the Scottish nation possessing a separate legislature and constitution of her own and in order to blend her interests indelibly with those of England, they demanded that the supreme power of the state should be reposed in a parliament of the united countries, to which Scotland might send a certain proportion of members, but which should meet in the English capital, and be, of course, more immediately under the influence of English counsels and interests.

The Scottish nation, on the other hand, which had, of late, become very sensible of the benefits of foreign trade, were extremely desirous of a federative union, which should admit them to the commercial advantages which they coveted. But, while they grasped at a share in the English trade, they desired that Scotland should retain her rights as a separate kingdom, making, as heretofore, her own laws, and adopting her own public measures, uncontrolled by the domination of England. Here, therefore, occurred a preliminary point of dispute, which was necessarily to be settled previous to the farther progress of the treaty.

In order to adjust the character of the proposed union-treaty in this and other particulars, commissioners for both kingdoms were appointed to make a preliminary inquiry, and report upon the articles which ought to be adopted as the foundation of the measure, and which report was afterwards to be subjected to the legislatures of both kingdoms.

The English and Scottish commissioners being both chosen by the queen, that is, by Godolphin and the queen's ministers, were indeed taken from different parties, but carefully selected, so as to preserve a majority of those who could be reckoned upon as friendly to the treaty, and who would be sure to do their utmost to remove such obstacles as might arise in the discussion.

I will briefly tell you the result of these numerous and anxious debates. The Scottish commissioners, after a vain struggle, were compelled to submit to an incorporating union, as that would alone ensure the purposes of combining England and Scotland into one single nation, to be governed in its political measures by the same parliament. It was agreed, that in contributing to the support of the general expenses of the kingdom, Scotland should pay a certain proportion of taxes, which were adjusted by calculation. But in consideration that the Scots, whose revenue, though small, was unencumbered, must thereafter become liable for a share of the debt which England had incurred since the Revolution, a large sum of ready money was to be advanced to Scotland as an equivalent for that burden: which sum, however, was to be repaid to England gradually from the Scottish revenue. So far all went on pretty well between the two sets of commissioners. The English statesmen