Commodore Wager.) DEFEAT OF THE SPANIARDS. when Sir Charles opened fire on the Spanish admiral; and in about an hour and a half, it being then quite dark-night having come on with tropical rapidity-a sudden burst of red light shot over the sea, and the Spanish ship blew up with a dreadful concussion, and all on board of her perished save seventeen; and she with her treasure went to the bottom. At that time the commodore's ship, the Expedition, was within half pistol-shot of her, "so that the heat of the mighty blast came very hot upon her." Many timbers and other fragments in a blaze fell upon her deck and rigging, but were speedily thrown into the sea, which was so agitated by the crash that a succession of waves flowed into the lower-deck ports of the Expedition. Another account says that the San José was not blown upward; but that by the explosion the whole of that side which was towards the commodore was blown out. After this event the darkness seemed to deepen, and the galleons began to separate, so that Sir Charles could keep sight of but one, which seemed the largest, and proved, as he expected, the rearadmiral. By ten o'clock he was close to her; but so great was the darkness that he was unable to make out which way her head lay, so he poured a broadside into her at a venture, and as she received this in her stern, it would seem to have disabled her from making sail, and, from being to leeward, the commodore made a tack to get the weathergage of her. All this time nothing had been seen or heard of the Kingston or the Portland; but now, by the firing of his guns, as he continued to fight the Spaniard, and the lights he hung in his rigging, Sir Charles showed them his whereabouts; and their guns too were soon heard, as they opened on the rear-admiral, who called for "quarter" about two in the morning, just when the moon was rising from the Spanish main. 531 On the 30th of May, at four in the afternoon, the commodore, to nis surprise, found that those two vessels had relinquished the pursuit, and by nightfall were out of sight, leaving him to sail onward, accompanied only by the Vulture fire-ship, which had taken up in the night three of the San Jose's men who were floating on a piece of wreck. Eight more were picked up that day, and six elsewhere, "which were all that were saved out of 700 that were on board, including passengers." The loss of the Expedition in these two brief actions was only seventeen killed and wounded. The commodore was now compelled to lie-to for twenty-four hours, to put his prize in condition for making more sail, as her mizzenmast had been shot away, her topmasts rendered unserviceable and her lower-masts wounded. Next day Sir Charles was rejoined by the Kingston and Portland, whose captains reported that they not had relinquished the chase, and that the ship they had followed was that of the Spanish vice-admiral, as was manifest by the ensigns at her foretopmast-head; that they had been near enough to pour their broadsides into her, but at the same time were so near the dangerous Salmadinas, as the shoals are named off Carthagena, that they were forced to tack and leave. This excuse did not avail them afterwards, when brought before a court-martial, which proved that a pilot offered to take them within the shoals. The same day a small Swedish ship, which had been trading at Baru, told Sir Charles that one galleon had taken shelter there, so he immediately dispatched the Kingston and Portland to take or burn her. In a few days after, as the wind was blowing a gale, and water and provisions were falling short for the great number of people he had now on board, Sir Charles stood in shore, and landed at the Great Baru the conde and all the prisoners, save a few whom he required to navigate the prizes to Jamaica. By this time the Spaniard lay like a helpless log The galleon at Baru was a forty gun-ship, and her upon the water. The commodore sent his captain, crew, on seeing the Kingston and Portland apLong, on board, and that officer brought off the rear-proach, had run her ashore and set her on fire, so admiral, the Conde de la Vega Florida, with some of his staff, to the Expedition; the rest to remain on board, as disarmed prisoners, under a sure guard. Till day broke Sir Charles remained on deck, to see if he could discover which way the rest of the galleons had gone. Before sunrise one large vessel was descried on his weather-bow, and three more on his weather quarter. The wind unfortunately was too light for the impatience of the commodore, who instantly signalled to the Kingston and Portland to join with him in making all sail in chase. that she soon blew up; and the 8th of July saw the commodore's cruise ended in Port Royal harbour, where a court-martial sat for the trial of Captains Simon Bridges and Edward Windsor, with whose conduct the commodore had been much dissatisfied. For abandoning the chase when near the Salmadinas, after being within gun-shot of her, both these officers were sentenced to be dismissed from their ships, but not from the service. Sir Charles Wager died, First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1743. CHAPTER CII. MALPLAQUET, 1709. WITH unvarying success on the part of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, the war was still waged in Flanders. Tournay, the chief place in the province of Hainault, and one of the finest citadels in Europe, surrendered to them at discretion on the 3rd of September. They next resolved on the conquest of Mons, the condition of which at that time was such as to render it quite incapable, unless powerfully reinforced from without, of making any effectual resistance to a besieging force. In numbers the French garrison was weak and sickly; hence it had been regarded by Marshal Villars as a species of hospital, rather than a post, notwithstanding the vast strength of its fortifications, and that its position in reference to the lines at Douay rendered it in the highest degree important, and that there was a stern necessity for preventing its capture. Villars made strenuous efforts to protect it. Leaving a few brigades to watch the entrenchments, he drew the whole of his disposable force to the right, till he mustered in position between Montræl and Attiche 130 battalions of infantry, 260 squadrons of cavalry, with eighty pieces of cannon. There he was joined by Louis François, the Marshal Duke de Boufflers, who, though his superior in rank, volunteered on the present occasion to serve under him, and, not less than Villars himself, was a prodigious favourite with the French army, the enthusaism of which became excited to the highest degree. It was announced to the troops that "even a general action would not be shunned, should other means of relieving Mons fail;" and satisfaction at the prospect of bringing matters to a speedy issue was signified by a feu de joie along the whole line of the French camp. Meanwhile the Duke of Marlborough was ignorant neither of the designs of Villars nor of the high spirit that prevailed among his troops. In his own army he reposed the most perfect confidence; and he lost no time in moving all his corps within reach of each other, and disposing them along a plateau where they could all act with strength and in concert. The hostile armies amounted to about 90,000 men each; Voltaire states them at 10,000 less; Smollett at 120,000 each on the day of Malplaquet. Coxe makes the Allies amount to 129 battalions, 252 squadrons, with 101 pieces of cannon and four mortars, with a numerical force of 93,000 men; but from every rational estimate, the strength on both sides appears to have been nearly equal, though the Allies had the superiority in artillery. The 9th of September found them encamped within six miles of each other, on a plateau which may be described as forming an irregular parallelogram, with the great barrier towns of Mons and Bavay, and the pretty villages of Quevrain and Givray, as its angular points. The country presented somewhat the appearance of a hilly surface, through the greener hollows and pastures of which flowed four rivers, the Haine, the Trouille, the Hon, and the Honeau, while many lesser streams forced their way through the rushy marshes and rocky ravines. Extensive woods, already brown with the tints of autumn, clothed the face of the country, with here and there those extensive fields where crops of hemp, lint, and colza were raised by the industrious Hainaulters. Brickbuilt hamlets, with roofs of yellow thatch, and quaint farm-houses, half buried amid greenery, were scattered over it; and in the immediate vicinity of Malplaquet lay then a heath of great extent towards the French frontier. To the eye of the traveller, the ground then as now was beautiful; but to that of the soldier it presented peculiar features. There were only four defiles by which troops could attempt to make their way from the base between Bavay and Quevrain towards Mons; but there were two through which an army, after closing up the line of woodlands between Laniere and Bousou, could be assailed; "and hence, either for attack or defence, it were difficult to imagine a tract more fertile in strong military positions." Suspecting that Villars meant to reinforce Mons by the road that passes Jemappe, Marlborough detached a division of infantry, supported by guns and cavalry, to Quaregnon and the heights above St. Ghislain, while he personally occupied a line with his left at Quevy and his right at Ciply; and afterwards "columns of march" were detailed to cover the four grand defiles of Aulnoit and Blaregnies to the east, and those of Warmes and Bousou to the west; but as the whole army moved in magnificent array, with miles upon miles of bright Malplaquet.] "CORPORAL JOHN." bayonets and clear musket-barrels flashing in the sun over the green and undulating country, the advance guard fell in with a body of French hussars, advancing over the plain of Mons. These were driven in after a skirmish; and halting his whole force, Marlborough took up the position we have described. Villars was soon informed of the measures taken by Marlborough for blocking up the defiles. He was also informed that the passes on his left were covered, while those on the right were still open, and he determined to seize the latter, as a means of commanding the road to Trouville, a stream which adds so greatly to the strength of Mons, as when the sluices are opened it lays the whole country around it under water for miles. With this view he detatched a force about dusk in the evening, but nothing was achieved. After a trifling cavalry skirmish, and a cannonade productive of no decisive result, both armies pitched their tents, Marlborough establishing his headquarters at Blaregnies, while Villars took possession of Malplaquet, ten miles distant from Mons. His right extended to the village, which lay near the extensive and impenetrable wood of Saart; his left was covered by another thick wood; and his centre was defended by three lines of trenches, formed along a narrow plain; the whole being secured by an abatis de bois, or fortification of felled trees, with their branches outwards, until their camp resembled a veritable citadel, and thus they awaited that conflict which, in slaughter, was to surpass the battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, and Oudenarde put together. From the 9th to the 11th of September all remained quiet, and no two such armies as those which faced each other in fertile Hainault had yet been brought into the field. All the chivalry of modern Europe were serving under the banners on either side. 533 Boufflers, the valiant Pierre d'Artagnan, better known in future wars as the Marshal de Montesquieu; Antoine, Duke de Grammont; De Guiche, the Marquis de Puysegur; Montmorenci, De Coigny, the Count de Broglie, Nangis, Chaulnes, the Duke d'Isenghein, Duras, Albergotti, Pallavicini, and La Motte Houdancourt. There, too, were St. Hiliare, and the renowned Chevalier Folard; and, though last not least in rank, the hapless representative of the House of Stuart, James III. and VIII., the nephew of Queen Anne, serving as a simple volunteer! Before an engagement it was the usual custom of Marlborough to ride along the front of his line, and, with an air of more than usual cheerfulness, to tell the troops "to be steady-to go on, and keep up their fire, and the enemy would soon be disposed of." So entirely did this great leader possess the confidence of his men, that even when it seemed impossible to extricate them from a difficulty, they would make themselves easy and say "Well, it is no matter to us; old Corporal John" (for so they named him) "will find some way to bring us off." He had carefully reconnoitred the lines of the enemy, and saw that neither the right nor the centre of that most formidable position could be assailed with effect, so he resolved to attempt to turn it; and with this view a division under General Withers, en route from Tournay, received orders "not to join the camp, but to pass through the wood of Blangies by a by-path, and so gain the enemy's rear, or at all events their extreme left, and take them in reverse at the farm of La Folie." ments, or flanking breastworks. At the same time forty battalions from the army of Eugene, under the command of Baron Schulemberg, were to attack the left flank of the wood of Taisnieres, and force it at all hazards. To support them, forty pieces of cannon were to open fire upon the wood, while strong working parties were to In the ranks of the Allies we find, besides Marl-cover them from the effect of an enfilade by epauleborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Princes of Orange and Hesse-Cassel, with Count Tilly, the commander of the Dutch contingent; Generals Schulemberg, Lottum, Bulou, Albemarle, Fagel, and Vichleu; John, Duke of Argyle and Greenwich, K.T.; William, first Baron Cadogan; John, Marquis of Tullibardine; Lumley, the Prince d'Auvergne, Dohna, Oxenstiern, Baron Spar, Rantzau, Withers; John, Earl of Stair; Gravestein, and Lieutenant-General the Earl of Orkney, K.T. Each of these held the highest rank, and commanded divisions or brigades; while among the junior officers were the Prince Royal of Prussia, and Counts Saxe, Munich, and Scheverin. Among the French were to be found Marshal Simultaneously with these operations, a double attack was to be made upon the field-works which Villars had constructed in the wood of Taisnieres: one brigade was to pass by the Saart road, round a morass on the left; while a division, under Count Lottum, assaulted the opposite flank. Finally, the centre and right of the French were to be menaced, the former by cavalry, the latter by three infantry corps, under the Prince of Orange and Generals Welderen and Dohna, who were not to engage seriously without special orders; and amid these preparations the night of the 10th passed away. At three o'clock next morning divine service was performed with great solemnity in the allied camp, in open squares of divisions, and the moment it was over the rumble of artillery-wheels announced that the cannon were in motion. Save this all was silence there; but in the French camp all were excited, and in the still air of the morning cries' were heard of "Vive le Roi!" "Vive le Marshal Villars!" and though scantily supplied with rations, the French, in their eagerness to engage, began to throw their bread away. towards them the measured tramping of the dense masses of infantry, the clang of hoofs, the rattle of cavalry accoutrements, scabbards, and chainbridles, with the heavy lumbering sound of artillerywheels, till the fog-bank, as it ascended into mid-air like a vast curtain, suddenly revealed the dispositions Marlborough had made; and then a cannon-shot, fired from the grand battery of Villars on the ridge that commanded the ravine of Aulnoit, announced Meanwhile the Allies broke into order of march the commencement of the great battle of Malpla for the various points of attack. "All was done in profound silence and perfect order. Scarcely a word was spoken by officers or men, beyond the few sentences necessary for the purpose of directing the movements; for even the rude jokes which usually accompany similar openings were, as if by common consent, suspended." As day stole over the undulating landscape, a dense white mist continued for a time to mask the movements of one army from the other. Hence Marlborough was enabled, without molestation, to complete all his matured plans for a combined attack; but the enemy were left in no doubt that one was about to be made. For some hours the light morning wind wafted quet, the bloodiest action in the whole war, and the best fought in which the French were ever defeated. A Dutch division of nine battalions, led by the Prince of Orange, pushed doggedly on in silence against the angle of the enemy's works at the wood of Laniere, about half-past seven, just as the sun came forth; while twenty-two battalions, among which were two battalions of the Foot Guards, the Scots Royals, and the regiment of Argyle, under Count Lottum, made a similar movement upon the centre. As soon as he had come within the extreme range of grape shot, the Prince of Orange halted; while the count, wheeling forward his left flank, suddenly forced the right of the wood of Taisniere in three |