Marlborough: His Life and Times, 1934

Winston S. Churchill

• Publisher: RosettaBooks
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9780795329913
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

The second volume in the Nobel Prize winner's biography of John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough: "The greatest historical work written in our century" (Leo Strauss).
 
After the defeat of the Conservative government in the 1929 general election, Winston S. Churchill entered a period of political exile; a time he referred to as "the wilderness years." It was during this time that Churchill began his work on Marlborough: His Life and Times, widely considered to be one of his most ambitious and masterful literary works. Although not as well remembered as his more famous descendant—Churchill himself—Marlborough was an influential soldier and statesman of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Great Britain, known in his day as a gifted military commander who never lost a battle.
 
This second volume of Churchill's four-part biography brings Marlborough's military successes, political intrigues, and personal passions to life, while his descendant reflects "on the perplexities of alliances, the paradoxes of strategy, and the stresses of combat" ( Foreign Affairs).
 
"An inexhaustible mine of political wisdom and understanding, which should be required reading for every student of political science." —Leo Strauss

VOLUME TWO

Volume Two

PREFACE

Whereas the records of Marlborough’s earlier life are singularly scanty, we now enter a period where information is baffling because of its abundance. Lediard’s admirable biography presents a continuous account of all the campaigns told with spirit, in detail, and well documented. Archdeacon Coxe, writing in 1818–19, had access to all the Blenheim archives that were then known, and produced a comprehensive and monumental work in which large numbers of the personal letters of Marlborough and of his wife, as well as of Queen Anne and many other correspondents unknown to Lediard, were freely quoted. In 1842 a new discovery was made in remarkable circumstances. The sixth Duke of Marlborough in the course of repairing Blenheim built a muniment-room, and collected all the family papers in it. Some of these papers had been stored in Hensington House, at the gates of Blenheim Park, in a record-room used by former stewards. In this room were three large chests, unlocked, placed one upon another, which no one had troubled to open in living memory. The Duke’s solicitor, a Mr Whateley, was more curious. Although he was told that they contained nothing but useless accounts, he continued to pry. The first two chests were filled with old militia accounts and other papers of no importance, but in the third chest, which was undermost, “I found eighteen folio books bound in vellum.” These books contained the dispatches and official or secret letters written by John Churchill to the princes of the Grand Alliance; to the Ambassadors and agents of the various states; to the Ministers of the English Crown; to the leaders, agents, and generals of the Dutch Republic; and to the hostile commanders, during the whole of his ten campaigns.

His descendant was not unworthy of this amazing treasure-trove. He entrusted the editing and publishing of the papers to General Sir George Murray, one of Wellington’s Peninsular officers, who was at that time Master-General of the Ordnance. Three years later Murray published the greater part of this material, which might so easily have been consigned as rubbish to the flames, in five large, closely printed octavo volumes, comprising considerably over a million words. This enormous collection of original documents is called The Letters and Dispatches of John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough, from 1702 to 1712. It also contains the frequent bulletins of the Duke’s armies in the field, and affords a detailed record of the military operations as they actually occurred. A further examination of the Blenheim papers during the last five years has revealed a large number of letters of great historic interest which either escaped Coxe’s notice or were excluded from his history for want of space. Among these are the long series of holograph letters written by him to his two most profound intimates, Godolphin and Sarah. They reveal the personality of Marlborough, his inward hopes and fears, his secret thoughts, in a degree never before achieved; and they tell, in his own words, the story of his greatest enterprises far better than his ponderous official correspondence, conducted in the main by the immense abilities and labours of Cardonnel. In this work I have reprinted from Coxe only those documents which are essential to the story, and have used the dispatches only as a guide. These two copious sources, together with Lediard, should be resorted to by students to confirm, explain, and supplement what is written here. I have sought rather to throw a new light upon Marlborough’s character and toils by using whenever possible his own words which have remained up till now unknown, written under stress of events from camps and quarters to those who were dearest to him and were also his most trusted colleagues.

No one can read the whole mass of the letters which Marlborough either wrote, dictated, or signed personally without being astounded at the mental and physical energy which it attests. The entire range of European affairs, all the intricate personal relations of the heads of States and Governments, all the vital connexions with Holland, with the Empire, with Prussia, with the Archduke Charles, and with a score of minor potentates, all the anxious shifting combinations of English politics, all the ceremonious usage which surrounded the Queen, her husband, and her Court, are disposed of day after day by a general manœuvring equal or smaller forces in closest contact with a redoubtable enemy, who often might engage in a decisive battle “at no more than one hour’s notice.” After twelve or fourteen hours in the saddle on the long reconnaissances often under cannon-fire; after endless inspections of troops in camp and garrison; after ceaseless calculations about food and supplies, and all the anxieties of direct command in war, Marlborough would reach his tent and conduct the foreign policy of England, decide the main issues of its Cabinet, and of party politics at home. He thought for all, he acted for all. But when the longest day was done, and its hours of hazard had faded into the night, it was not seldom that he wrote his letter to his beloved Sarah, or to his great colleague and lifelong friend, Godolphin. It is these most interesting simple records, never meant for any eye but those to which they were addressed, that tell his tale in its most compulsive form, and vindicate alike the greatness, warmth, and virtue of his nature.

But while the wars of Marlborough are set forth by his bulletins in full and continuous detail, we are singularly lacking in stories of his campaigns from those who served in them. The age of military diarists and memoir-writers had not begun. Very few officers on either side who fought in those brave armies have left records which have come down to us. There is, of course, in the first place the Journal of Marlborough’s Chaplain, Dr Francis Hare, which covers the campaign of 1704. This journal further contains eight long letters describing the campaign of 1705 which have not been published. There is the handful of letters of Colonel Cranstoun, of the Cameronians, in the Bath Papers, and the few but vivid letters of Lord Orkney. There are a few letters of Captain Richard Pope, of the 7th Dragoon Guards. Samuel Noyes, chaplain to Orkney’s Regiment, has left a hitherto unpublished diary of 1705 and 1706, now in the possession of his descendants. A number of Cardonnel’s letters have recently been acquired by the British Museum, while a series of Cadogan’s letters, chiefly covering the later years, has also been put at my disposal by the Hon. Edward Cadogan. There is the journal of Colonel Blackadder, which, as has been well said, tells us more about the state of his soul than the course of the war. But it would be difficult to paint a lively picture of these memorable campaigns were it not for three diarists who all served throughout with the Royal Regiment of Ireland. None of them published anything in his lifetime. Their writings lay forgotten in family chests. It was only in another generation and under the impulse of another war that they were printed. The accounts of Colonel, afterwards Major-General, Kane and Captain Robert Parker are in the main one. In page after page they follow each other textually. It would seem that they kept a joint regimental record which each embellished, expanded, or corrected for his own version. The third diarist, Sergeant John Millner, has left us a well-written soldierly account, especially valuable for its detail of marches, camps, and numbers.

Captain Robert Parker was a Protestant gentleman from Kilkenny whose heart in early youth was turned to a military life. He fought in all the campaigns of King William both in Ireland and in Flanders. He was now to serve almost continuously through the second great European war under Marlborough. His book is the more valuable because it was written with no thought of publication, and is singular for the aptness and pith of its style. It was penned only as a record for his friends. It lay neglected for many years after his death, and was published by his son in 1746, as a stimulus, according to the preface, for our army then fighting the French in the War of the Austrian Succession. The captain—for he rose no higher—tells us that he had no reason to like Marlborough, whom he often saw, but to whom apparently he never spoke, and who had, as he thought unjustly (though he did not blame him), passed him over for promotion. Yet if we had to choose one single record of Marlborough’s campaigns and of his personality we might well be content with the journals of this marching captain, whose grasp not only of the war, but of the great causes which stirred the world, so far exceeded his station. The testimony of ordinary regimental officers is often a truer guide to the qualities of generals than the inscriptions on their monuments. We shall often recur to him as we tramp the fields of Flanders behind “the surly drums.”

We also owe a debt to Ailesbury, whom we have already met in the personal circle around King Charles and King James, and whose troubles during the trial of Sir John Fenwick have been mentioned. This lord had been exiled for Jacobitism during the late King’s reign, and William had left a written direction that he should never be allowed to return to England. We find him therefore in the Low Countries, a figure of affluence and social distinction. He had been graciously received by Louis XIV, and shortly before the actual outbreak of the war had been hospitably entertained by the French in their camps in Belgium and at their headquarters in Liége. Indeed, flattering proposals had been made to him to throw in his lot with the Court of Saint-Germains and the party of the Two Crowns. But the old Earl had an English heart, and as the armies gathered and fighting drew near he detached himself from his French hosts with many frank explanations, which were accepted in good part, and betook himself within the Dutch lines. Henceforward Ailesbury was an agreeable figure in the society behind the front. Marlborough’s relations with him were characteristic. Ailesbury longed to return home, and perpetually entreated Marlborough to enable him to do so. As he was a banished man who steadfastly refused to take the Abjuration Oath, his return would have embarrassed the Government by laying them open to accusations of favouring the Jacobites. “So in plain English I was sacrificed out of State policy and for no other reason, and which lasted so very many years.” Marlborough liked the poor Earl and sympathized with him, and actually, as a letter at Blenheim reveals, played fairy godfather at his daughter’s marriage, but he had no wish to have the Government involved on his account. He treated him always with a personal courtesy and tenderness which captivated, if it did not console, the exile. Travelling to and from the army, he often dined with him and his amiable Belgian second wife, and paid him any small attention or service that was possible; but he never let him go home. On one occasion, when Ailesbury in exasperation omitted to call upon the Commander-in-Chief, it was Marlborough’s part the next day to visit him at his house and take great pains to soothe him. But on the public issue he was adamant. Thus for a series of years we have a number of contacts between these two former courtiers of Charles II, which Ailesbury in his Memoirs has set in a light that brings them near to us.

There are scores of histories of Marlborough in the English language, but no modern English work on this subject can compete with Taylor’s Wars of Marlborough. This writer devoted the closing decade of his life to the most detailed study of the campaigns, which he invested with a colour and movement that lose nothing from his obvious admiration for his hero.

It is, however, the Continental historians who give the most complete picture of this world war, and who reveal upon a European background the dominating part which England played under Marlborough’s leadership. The standard French history by Pelet unrolls the panorama as it appeared from Versailles. The original documents of the highest consequence which are presented in this long series of massive volumes will repay the reader, apart altogether from the valuable comments by which they are pointed. The Histoire de Jean Churchill, by Madgett, assisted by the Abbé Dutems, is of interest because it was written by the direction and under the supervision of Napoleon, whose appreciation of Marlborough as a soldier was profound.

The Austrian Catholic historian Klopp in Der Fall des Hauses Stuart has bequeathed us a monumental work. For twenty years he trailed through the archives of Europe tormented by the inherent contradictions of his theme. As an Austrian patriot he championed the Empire, its statesmen, and its generals. As a convert to Rome his heart lay with the house of Stuart in exile at Saint-Germains. In fourteen volumes still preserved in Continental libraries he recorded his dislike of Marlborough as a foreigner and a Protestant. He can hardly bring himself to recount his victories. Blenheim was an accident caused by some French cavalry squadrons being pushed into the Danube and leaving their infantry cut off behind them. Ramillies, to which he devotes one paragraph in several thousand pages, was occasioned by a change of the wind. On the other hand, whole chapters are devoted to mocking at the correspondence about Marlborough’s principality, or proving him unfair in his treatment of the Imperial commander, Prince Louis of Baden. A whine and drone of baffled spite arises from these wearisome, laborious chronicles; but more curious still is Klopp’s lack of proportion in judging events and of responsibility to his country’s cause. Never for one moment does he perceive that but for the life-effort and tireless scheming of Marlborough the whole structure which resisted Louis XIV would have fallen to pieces. If the cannon-ball at Blenheim or the sabre-cut at Elixem, or any one of the hundred chances amid which Marlborough rode from day to day upon his duty, had removed him from the scene, the driving-force of the coalition was dead. His will and his craft alone drew the English, the Dutch, and the German states to the rescue of the Empire upon the Danube. His authority and comprehension sought to marshal an army upon the Moselle which might have dictated peace. Whenever he is for the time frustrated, the poor Klopp, fit scribe for an Empire which has sunk in the abyss, can only clap incontinent hands. Yet Marlborough had but to relax his efforts, so strenuous and intense year after year, for the Dutch, with all their wealth and armed power, to fall back eagerly, thankfully, behind their own fortress-barrier, and for England to wash her hands of Continental entanglements and blithely pursue trade and plantations across the seas. And that would have entailed the ruin of both the causes to which Klopp seems to bear a thin but persistent allegiance. The Holy Roman Empire would have crumbled to pieces before its time, and Gallican Catholicism would have dominated the Papacy.

The race of Klopps is not extinct in modern days, but few of them make so acceptable an apology for their existence as this writer, with his industry in unearthing and transcribing documents and with his magpie shrewdness in picking out all sorts of glittering novelties from among the dusty ruins of the past.

The German von Noorden is an authority of equal diligence, but with far greater discernment and literary power. His comprehension of English statesmen and politics is upon the highest level, and he is equally master of the European scene. An immense mass of original documents collected by the Dutch historian Lamberty affords a quarry in which very few English picks have clinked. But probably the most valuable work is the Austrian official history, the Feldzüge des Prinzen Eugen von Savoyen.⁴²⁷ I was fortunate enough by advertising in Germany to procure a copy of this very rare book, which contains so many of the original secret dispatches of Prince Eugene, Wratislaw, and other high personages written from the headquarters of the armies, and of the Imperial replies, as well as military comments based upon intimate knowledge of the gr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• ABBREVIATIONS
• CONTENTS
• ILLUSTRATIONS
• VOLUME TWO
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Endnotes