The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh, by Daniel Defoe, Edited by Paula R. Backscheider This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh Author: Daniel Defoe Editor: Paula R. Backscheider Release Date: September 22, 2011 [eBook #37505] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND ACTIONS OF HIS GRACE JOHN, D. OF MARLBOROGH*** E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) Front cover THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY [DANIEL DEFOE] A SHORT NARRATIVE OF THE Life and Actions Of His GRACE JOHN, D. of Marlborough (1711) Introduction by Paula R. Backscheider PUBLICATION NUMBER 168 WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES 1974 GENERAL EDITORS William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles ADVISORY EDITORS Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan James L. Clifford, Columbia University Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago Louis A. Landa, Princeton University Earl Miner, Princeton University Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library James Sutherland, University College, London H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library CORRESPONDING SECRETARY Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Beverly J. Onley, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library Typography by Wm. M. Cheney INTRODUCTION Opinion is a mighty matter in war, and I doubt but the French think it impossible to conquer an army that he leads, and our soldiers think the same; and how far even this step may encourage the French to play tricks with us, no man knows. Swift's Journal to Stella, 1 January 1711 … the moment he leaves the service and loses the protection of the Court, such scenes will open as no victories can varnish over. Bolingbroke's Letters and Correspondence, 23 January 1711 The career of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, reflects the political battles of nearly thirty years of English politics. In an age when duplicity, intrigue, personality, and an immediate history of violence characterized politics, John Churchill was a constant, steady military success even while his political and personal fortunes alternately plunged and soared. His military ability insured his importance to the Grand Alliance and his victories brought the reverence of the European powers opposing Louis XIV as well as that of his own people, but, at the same time, his successes also assured his involvement with the fortunes of nearly every major English political figure and movement in the years 1688 to 1712. Marlborough's military career spanned two periods. Aware of the danger of the "exorbitant power of France" and the corresponding danger to the Protestant religion, disgusted with James's actions at the Gloucester shipwreck and in dealing with Scottish Protestants, Marlborough had joined the bloodless shift to William of Orange. For William, he led the English forces in Flanders in 1689 and in Ireland in 1690; in 1691 he was in charge of the British forces in Europe with the rank of lieutenant-general. In January, 1692, however, Marlborough was dismissed from all of his offices for a combination of reasons, each insufficient in itself but all too typical for him— open opposition to William's Dutch dominated army, rumors that he and Sarah, his ambitious and sometimes presumptuous wife, were plotting Anne's usurpation of the throne, and dissension aroused between Anne and her sister Queen Mary by the quixotic Sarah. When rumors of a Jacobite uprising began, Marlborough spent six weeks in the Tower. Although Marlborough was restored to political favor in 1698 partly as a placatory gesture to Anne, it was 1701 before he resumed his military career, this time as William's Commander-in-Chief and Ambassador Extraordinary to the United Provinces. In this second phase of his military career, he won every battle, took every fort that he besieged, held the Grand Alliance together, broke the threatening supremacy of France, and established England as a major power. Yet, during these ten years, Queen Anne's ministry and Parliament underwent several major upheavals: the resulting shifts in policy and personalities alternately inconvenienced and vexed Marlborough. The year 1711 marked the culmination of warring factions and clandestine arrangement, and Daniel Defoe's A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of his grace, John, Duke of Marlborough, published 20 February 1711, originated in this battle. (For discussion of authorship, please see Appendix.) Much that happened in these years can be unraveled back to Harley, Earl of Oxford. His influences and circuitous dealing emerge wherever a close examination of politics is made.[1] Hiding his activities from even his closest associates, employing spies and journalists whose purposes seem contradictory, manipulating the House of Commons' radical October Club while preaching a "broad bottomed" moderate government, and buzzing in the Queen's ear in a variety of ways, Harley was ready for any exigency. England had wanted peace since 1709 when their insistence on "no peace without Spain" and on the XXXVII Article asking for guarantees of three Spanish towns had rallied the French behind the war;[2] Marlborough's pleas that peace be made and Spain be dealt with later were ignored. Although Parliament voted Malplaquet a triumph, Marlborough's power and prestige were systematically shorn away, and embarrassing decisions contrived to force his resignation were effected.[3] Should Marlborough resign, a scapegoat for defeat or an unfavorable peace would be assured. By 1710, foreign policy had changed—a growing interest in trade and colonization urged Parliament to end a costly and now unnecessary war and had united the Tories, Jacobites, the Church party, as well as such diverse men as the Dukes of Argyll, Somerset, Newcastle, and Shrewsbury, a Whig. With the election of the radical Tory majority (240 new members were seated) to the Commons in 1710 and the creation of twelve new peers,[4] Harley's job of using diverse elements to form a moderate government became more complex. He found it expedient to establish and maintain influence with groups ranging from the radical Tory October Club to Swift's country squire and clergy Examiner readers to moderate Whigs such as Shrewsbury. Moreover, Defoe had impressed upon him the importance of assuring the nation that moderate and sensible men were at the bottom of all of the political changes.[5] Harley, therefore, prepared for at least three apparently exclusive possibilities— prosecuting the war for several more years, negotiating a peace with the Allies, or making a separate peace with France without the Allies. To keep all these possibilities alive, Harley had to remain in harmony with Marlborough. The general's popularity with the soldiers and the European powers and France's awe of his military prowess necessitated the appearance that Marlborough's command was secure. While the Examiner, with its Tory audience and its emphasis on pressure for peace, was essential to Harley, so were Swift's and Defoe's appeals for moderation at a time when sympathy for Marlborough was rampant and the call "no peace without Spain" was still defended even by the October Club; for the same reasons he was glad to have Bolingbroke openly associated with the Examiner. January of 1711 brought the decisive defeat at Brihuega which effectively took the issue of Spanish succession away; in the ensuing witch hunt, Almanza and the peace talks of 1709 were revived to distract the people. While these inquiries proceeded, England received word that France was ready to discuss terms. The delay between this (8 February) and France's formal proposal (2 May) was an anxious time for Harley and his schemers. Defoe was busy setting the stage for the outcome. While Swift, the high Tory, could easily set about discrediting Marlborough, the hero and standard bearer, and, by so doing, weaken the Whig's position, Defoe's readers required different handling. His most effective writing at this time was in pamphlets which reached a wider audience and which were not bound by the consistency of the Review. Defoe and Swift, primed with the Minister's inside knowledge, set about to discredit the Whig ministry in basically the same way. In the 15 February Examiner, Swift wrote, No Body, that I know of, did ever dispute the Duke of Marlborough's Courage, Conduct, or Success; they have been always unquestionable and will continue to be so, in spight of the Malice of his Enemies, or which is yet more, the Weakness of his Advocates. The Nation only wished to see him taken out of ill Hands, and put into better. But, what is all this to the Conduct of the late Ministry, the shameful Mismanagements in Spain, or the wrong Steps in the Treaty of Peace.... [6] Defoe remarks, "our General wants neither Conduct or Courage" and describes his greatest successes as "daughters to preserve his Memory" while dissociating him somewhat from the Jacobites, Whigs, and "business of [making] peace and war." When the Review finally discusses Marlborough's fall, Defoe suggests that the "greatest Guilt ... is the Error in Policy, and Prudence among his Friends."[7] Both writers presented the Duke as a means to an end and discredited him on personal grounds (avarice, ambition) thereby protecting the military hero and the newborn glory of England fathered by his victories.[8] Faced with Dissenters and moderate Whig readers, Defoe's Review had to seem to oppose Swift's Examiner with its sneers at trade; not only must it be consistent but it was obliged to shift its readers' attention more slowly to the earlier failures of the Whig ministry and the rich commercial advantages gained in the separate peace. The Life of Marlborough is part of a stream of pamphlets which Defoe wrote supporting the Harley administration; A Supplement to the Faults on Both Sides, a discussion of the Sacheverell case by two "displac'd officers of state," Rogues on Both Sides, a study in contrasts between old and new Whigs, and old, high flyer, and new Tories, and A Seasonable Caution to the General Assembly were published immediately before and after. That same year, his pamphlets discuss the October Club, the Spanish succession, "Mr. Harley," and the state of religion. By summer when the peace was nearly assured though still secret, Defoe was writing Reasons for a Peace; Or, the War at an End. Taken in chronological order, Defoe's 1711 pamphlets indicate two emerging directions: first, the reasons for ending the war become more positive and entirely unconcerned with the General, and, second, Defoe's comments about the Duke become less wholeheartedly admiring, especially in No Queen; Or, No General. Rogues on Both Sides is witty praise for moderate men who act "according to English principles of Law and Liberty regardless of People and Party" rather than believing any demagogue who "cries it rains butter'd Turnips." After this, the pamphlets become more informative and solemn—Defoe demonstrates Whigs and Tories want the same things and that the country bleeds to death. Armageddon; or the Necessity of Carrying on the War (30 October 1711), Reasons Why This Nation Ought to put a speedy End to this Expensive War (6 October), and Reasons for a Peace: or, the War at an End, for example, catalog the economic ailments—taxes, pirates, hard to replace sailors and soldiers killed, but far worse, a decline in trade resulting in closed shops and declining manufacturing increasing unemployment—"the whole Kingdom sold to Usury" and "Consumption of the Growth of the Country." As the year passed, Defoe mentioned Marlborough less and less, but the General's possible mistakes were progressively forced into balance with his victories. While seeming to be moderate, Defoe both tempers his readers' opinions of the Duke and turns their attention to other issues. The techniques and movement in No Queen: Or, No General (10 January 1712) parallel the techniques and movement in the 1711 pamphlets. In this 1712 pamphlet, Defoe's double-edged balance sheet is most obvious; in the first six pages he lists the charges against the General which he will not discuss—this reminds his readers of every possible failing and, because of the language ("I'le forbear to lessen his Glorious Character by Reckoning the Number of the Slain, or counting the Cost of the Towns"), the significance of each "ignored" charge is increased. Defoe recounts the economic issues at stake and insists that when Marlborough's "blinded party" made him its representative, regardless of his intentions, he became a formidable threat to the Queen and had to be removed. The pamphlet gradually turns to the destructiveness of party factions and by the patriotic ending ("Alas, what a Condition were Britain in if her Fate depended upon the Life, or Gallantry, or Merit, of one Man"), Marlborough is no longer an issue. In the Life, Defoe defends the general from the charge of avarice, the most plausible charge that the journalists were propagating. Marlborough's courage and skill had also been called into question in such papers as The Post Boy, and a spurious debate raged which could only injure Marlborough over the gratitude of the nation. Defoe alludes to pamphlets which impugn great men and represent them as "unworthy of the Favour of the Prince" slanting the charge that Marlborough had been rewarded perhaps too bountifully in order to imply that such writers were malicious, uninformed, and ungrateful. Furthermore, Defoe says, Marlborough deserved his reward, having bought it at a dear rate, and it was no more than what "in all Times belong'd to Generals." Indeed, Marlborough's successor, the Duke of Ormond, received the same bread perquisite and percentage of foreign pay, but Defoe chooses to "defend" Marlborough not with comparable facts which would destroy the credibility of the attacking group, but rather with passing references to the two other generals with whom he had to divide the money and with the profits of sea captains and petty clerks in yards and stores! With descriptions of the fitting appearance for generals and Marlborough's sobriety in the field, Defoe tips the scales in Marlborough's favor. That he ends the section with Indeed Generals, tho' the most accomplish'd Heroes, are but Men, they are not Infallible, but may be mistaken as well as other Mortals, they are subject to Faults and Infirmities as well as their Fellow-Creatures; but then their great Services for the good of their Country ought to be cast into the Ballance, against their humane Mistakes; and not only Charity, but Self-consideration should give them very good Quarter, unless their Faults are prov'd to be Wilful and Contumacious.(38) is a paradigm of his technique. Coming immediately after this defense, the argument that his victories should be "cast in the Ballance" is somewhat degrading and implies that Marlborough may have been mistaken in what he did and even leaves the question open with the phrase "unless their Faults are prov'd Wilful and Contumacious." [9] The following paragraph, however, opens the subject of Marlborough's invincibility. Under the guise of wondering what an ungrateful nation would do should he lose a battle, Defoe brings Marlborough's perfect record, his piety, and the esteem France and his soldiers had for him to our attention. The paragraph before, then, may be taken to introduce Defoe's concern—even Marlborough could be mistaken in battle and lose, and what would such a nation do then? The paragraph on the whole reflects on the nation and is an eloquent defense of the Duke—he is human, human beings make mistakes and his great good should excuse him even more than an ordinary man's mistakes should be forgiven. Harley knew that Marlborough was essential until peace negotiations were secured. Marlborough had distrusted Harley throughout 1710, but he also knew that Harley's stakes in a moderate government were great. In 1711, Rochester and the October Club began to challenge Harley, and their demands alarmed even Queen Anne. The Queen, Bolingbroke, and Harley all wrote Marlborough conciliatory letters. Marlborough answered in kind and his letter after Harley was stabbed expresses deep concern. Harley became increasingly convinced that only peace would preserve his power, and Marlborough's power and reputation were essential for an acceptable peace. As late as July, Harley's letters to Marlborough are respectful and deceitfully warm: My lord; I received from the hands of lord Mar, just as I came from Windsor, the honour of your grace's letter, and I am not willing to let a post pass, without making your grace my acknowledgments. It is most certain, that you can best judge what is fit to be proposed upon the subject you are pleased to mention.... I hope it will be needless to renew the assurances to your grace, that I will not omit any thing in my power, which may testify my zeal for the public, and my particular honour and esteem for your grace; and I doubt not, but when the lord you mention comes, I shall satisfy him of the sincerity of my intentions towards your grace.[10] Harley's perfidy allowed him to assure Marlborough he would "never do any thing which shall forfeit your good opinion" while pretending to plan to restore Marlborough to the Queen's confidence. Further, when Marlborough appealed to him to silence the libellous attacks by journalists, Harley replied, "I do assure your grace I neither know nor desire to know any of the authors; and as I heartily wish this barbarous war was at an end, I shall be very ready to take my part in suppressing them."[11] Details about the financing of Woodstock and mutual friends crop up in the letters. So successful is Harley's deception that when Sir Solomon Medina accuses Marlborough of graft, Marlborough writes Harley: Upon my arrival here, I had notice that my name was brought before the commissioners of accounts, possibly without any design to do me a prejudice. However, to prevent any ill impression it might make, I have writ a letter to those gentlemen … and when you have taken the pains to read the inclosed copy, pray be so kind as to employ your good offices, so as that it may be known I have the advantage of your friendship. No one knows better than your lordship the great use and expence of intelligence, and no one can better explain it; and 'tis for that reason I take the liberty to add a farther request, that you would be so kind to lay the whole, on some fitting opportunity, before the queen, being very well persuaded her majesty, who has so far approved, and so well rewarded my services would not be willing they should now be reflected on.[12] Defoe points out that criticism of the Duke "may prove Dangerous and Fatal" and the joy in the French court at each step in Marlborough's fall reinforces Defoe's and Harley's opinion[13] Defoe recounts Marlborough's greatest military victories beginning as far back as his campaign in Brabant (reminding his readers of possible wealth gained through a shipwreck and of the betrayal of Dunkirk as he goes along), includes descriptions of his exemplary behavior including regular prayers for the Camp, and praises Marlborough as a "finish'd Hero." The conclusion to the pamphlet warns the nation again of Marlborough's importance; his battles are bringing the enemy to "reason," procuring "an honorable and lasting peace." References to the detrimental effect of discrediting the general are found intermittently throughout the pamphlet in allusion to Hannibal. Defoe, then, served Harley's purposes well. He defended Marlborough and shored up his prestige in a time when it was important for the French to think that Marlborough could prosecute the war freely. As a known employee of Harley's, Defoe furthered Marlborough's impression that Harley could be depended upon.[14] Finally, he began to prepare the moderate Whigs for peace by presenting the economic considerations and disassociating Marlborough from the Queen's and the ministry's "business of peace." The possibility that Defoe acted independently in this writing cannot be discounted.[15] Defoe had praised Marlborough since the beginning of his career and the extent to which he and Godolphin adopted William's policies added to Defoe's admiration; admiration is clear in this pamphlet. Defoe had worked for Godolphin and Sunderland, and may have used "by an Old Officer in the Army" as a disguise from Harley or even as a means of publishing independently. That Defoe resented attacks on his hero can hardly be doubted—the Review and his pamphlets are a catalog of the general's triumphs, and no where does he attack unequivocably; even in No Queen he puts chief blame on rumors and on Marlborough's party. Harley's failure to make permanent provisions for Defoe may suggest some dissatisfaction, but even if the possibility that the Life was not expressly ordered by Harley is considered, it is noteworthy that nothing in it is offensive to Harley, and, more important, remarkable that it serves Harley's needs and ends at the time so well. Definitely Defoe's, however, are veiled but telling attacks on Swift and his type. Although the purpose of the Examiner was to "furnish Mankind, with a Weekly Antidote to that Weekly Poison,"[16] Defoe parodied this by saying his pamphlet was to "undeceive the People." The "base Pamphleteers" are labeled uninformed and ungrateful; they have no way of making right judgments in the matter of perquisites and soldier's pay; they go out to see a battlefield as they might a well laid-out garden, and, of course, their "Mouths go off smartly with a Whiff of Tobacco" (an obvious ridiculing contrast to the cannon fire of the real fighters). Furthermore, compared to attacks on Marlborough in libels such as The Duke of M***'s Confessions to a Jacobite Priest, The Land-Leviathan: or, the Modern Hydra, and The Perquisite Monger, Defoe's pamphlet was exemplary in its moderation. Even Swift's attacks are moderate beside the majority of these 1711-12 pamphlets; not even he conjured up memories of regicide and rebellion as did the more numerous and libellous pamphleteers. For example, The Mobb's Address to my Lord M*** (1710) linked Marlborough to Sacheverell and assured the Duke his "most dutiful Mobb, will use our utmost Care and Diligence to raise all riotous and tumultous Assemblys, and with undaunted Vigour … oppose … all who will keep up the Authority of the Crown." Oliver's Pocket Looking Glass (1711) while more erudite was scarcely less inflammatory—shades of Cromwell were called up, a "Colossus" with an "Army compos'd of almost all nations" faced the "body politic." The Life exemplifies many of Defoe's life long interests and opinions and points to the fiction he was to write. Virtues espoused throughout his career are praised here. Ingratitude was a deplorable but all too common failing of mankind—that Marlborough should be "undervalued and slighted" was "no new Thing, all the Histories of the World are full of Examples to this purpose" and his greatness provides but a mark at which the envious may shoot. In Atalantis Major Defoe elaborates on the causes of the nation's ingratitude: the debt was too great for payment and resentment was the natural result. A second interest was the military hero; much of Defoe's fiction —Memoirs of a Cavalier, Captain Singleton, for instance—involved military men, and Marlborough along with King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, another soldier who scorned the conventional seventeenth century chess game tactics, furnished a model. The "finish'd Hero" described includes all of the virtues of Defoe's fictional leaders from Robinson Crusoe to John in Journal of the Plague Year to the Cavalier—"Prudent, and Vigilant, and Temperate, Alert, and industrious, with an humble Submission to the Will of the Almighty" (26), "Temperate, Sober, Careful, Couragious, Politick, Skilful, so he is Courteous, Mild, Affable, Humble, and Condescending to People of the meanest Condition" (45). The Duke's virtues as well as Gustavus's enable the reader of Memoirs of a Cavalier and The Memoirs of Captain George Carlton to judge the commanders as Defoe would have. Above all, the "assured Skill" and "daring Courage" appealed to Defoe—Robinson Crusoe's campaigns against the cannibals and in the Far East repeat the daring, risk-all quality of Ramilles. Defoe's enjoyment of marching vicariously over great battles has led biographers such as J. R. Moore to say that it was unfortunate his military genius was never used,[17] and is obvious in almost all of his fiction. So skillful are his descriptions that J. H. Burton pauses to note "the character and claims of a book (Memoirs of Capt. George Carlton, 1728) that has afforded him valuable instruction on the general character of the war, along with special instructions in its leading events."[18] Defoe's Life was his first biography; other "memoirs" of the Duke of Melfort (1714), Daniel Williams (1718), and Major Ramkins (1719) suggest the progression to The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719) and two other lives in that same year. Defoe's sometimes troublesome skill with narrative voices is, in the Life, a shadow of the competence displayed in Moll Flanders. Although the "old Officer's" voice is sustained and there are excellent touches, the distinctiveness and absorbing intimacy are only hinted at. The polemist appeals too apparently to his readers while the opening pages approach a declamation. The persona protests that he doesn't "pretend in this Narrative to Inform the great People at Court, concerning this thing," and that he writes only for the common people. Defoe does limit carefully his material to events which were common knowledge or would have been open to an old soldier—while he describes the key maneuver of Ramilles, he certainly lacks a complete overview. Many of the virtues praised would appeal most strongly to men who might have been common foot concerned with regular bread, a well-run camp, and a conscientious strategist, or to simple, pious women glad to hear that their general prayed and provided Sunday sermons. Allusions to Satan, "the cunning engineer," Solomon, and Moses were common enough, while those to Hannibal and Raleigh had been exploited in Defoe's other writing. Perhaps the most graphic section in this voice is the description of the common soldier's misery in a rainy season march and siege. A few passages have the confidential, gossipy tone of ordinary people around a tavern table—Sarah was admired abroad, but in her own country it was said she was "guilty of more Folly than a Retainer to the College in Moore-Fields,"[19] an experienced old general knows more coffeehouse quarterbacks, and the soldier naively speculates with relish how "my Lord" narrowly escaped being "torn in Pieces" for the rumor that he spoke words which would be "brutal from the mouth of a Porter." Naive arguments (no man would continue in so hard an undertaking from selfish motives), sincere patriotism (defense of his King and Queen and praise for a nation "with a generous Race of Warlike People" ready to risk their lives), and honest indignation at "barbarous Lies" authenticate the narrator. Defoe's writing—fiction and non-fiction—is all of a piece. The same subjects and opinions reoccur and the techniques and style are nearly indistinguishable. Expository material alternates with narrative examples (which may in turn be followed by a paragraph or two drawing a conclusion or a "moral") in all of his writing. The primary difference is in the length of the narrative examples—in the fiction they are naturally much longer. Over the years, they become increasingly dramatic as may be seen in books such as The Fortunate Mistress and Conjugal Lewdness. A Short Narrative conforms to this structural pattern. Sentences which direct the reader's attention to this structure are common. For instance, Defoe defends Marlborough's courage with descriptions of the battle of Brabant, Ramilles, references to Hannibal, and concludes, "And thus then you see, that our General wants neither Conduct or Courage." Defoe's skill with these short, dramatic, illustrative examples developed with the years. Defoe was always concerned with presenting a case clearly and persuasively. Clearly marked structure and "reasonable" conclusions alternate with anecdotes and reminiscences intended to hold the reader's interest and dramatize Defoe's points.[20] Defoe's Life of Marlborough serves as a kind of barometer for the age and for Defoe. A reliable if sketchy list of the Duke's military successes and the major charges raised against him at various times during his life may be matched to the struggles in the English government and on the continent. The time had nearly come for the Jacobites, whom Marlborough had offended by deserting James, and the Tories, who had long thought him a presumptuous general and a former Tory (or a lukewarm Tory as Marlborough might have thought himself) who had perverted a Tory Queen, brought the Bill of Occasional Conformity to defeat, and driven Tories out of office, to collect the debt that they felt Marlborough owed them. The biography, written in the interim between two foreign policies when so many momentous plans were proceeding backstage, mirrors the age. It is also a barometer by which Defoe's development can be measured; his journalistic involvement and employment, his non-fiction techniques as well as his progress toward the fiction are implied. Rollins College Winter Park, Florida NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION 1. Harley as a "trickster is a doctrine as deeply rooted in historical opinion as the military skill of Marlborough and the oratorical accomplishments of Bolingbroke." John Hill Burton, A History of the Reign of Queen Anne (New York: Scribner & Welford, 1880), iii, p. 71. See also Elizabeth Hamilton, The Backstairs Dragon: A Life of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1969). 2. Winston S. Churchill, Marlborough; His Life and Times (New York: Scribner's, 1938), vi, pp. 85-6. 3. Marlborough was systematically deprived of the men upon whom he relied most. The ministry took over Army promotions and dismissed existing officers under the guise of protecting the Queen. Churchill, vi, pp. 334-5. 4. Burton, iii, pp. 92-3. 5. Defoe to Harley, July 28, 1710. George Healey, ed., The Letters of Daniel Defoe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955). 6. Examiner, February 15, 1711. Herbert Davis, ed., The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1940), p. 87. 7. Defoe's Review, January 22, 1712. 8. Cf. discussions of this in John Ross, Swift and Defoe: A Study in Relationship (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1941); Richard I. Cook, Jonathan Swift as A Tory Pamphleteer (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1967), and Irvin Ehrenpreis, Swift: The Man, His Works and the Age (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967), ii, pp. 450ff. and 526ff. 9. This is similar to an argument Defoe uses to distinguish between types of debtors in the Review (iii, 83-4 and 397-400). Whether or not the crime was "Wilful" was very important to Defoe; perhaps his revised opinion of Marlborough as most obvious in his tribute to him at his death is the result of his change of opinion about Marlborough's motives and removing him from the list of heroes who possessed the "courage of honor" as described in An Apology for the Army. 10. William Coxe, Memoirs of John, Duke of Marlborough with his Original Correspondence (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1820), vi, p. 48. 11. Coxe, vi, p. 123. 12. Coxe, vi, 126. 13. The advantage France gained from Marlborough's fall and their complete awareness of it is discussed in Churchill, vi, pp. 462-69. 14. Coxe, vi, p. 126; Hamilton, p. 172, and The Letters and Dispatches of John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough (London: John Murray, 1845), v. 15. J. R. Moore, Daniel Defoe: Citizen of the Modern World (Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1958), pp. 255- 56; Defoe's An Appeal to Honor and Justice; and Chalmers says Defoe wrote what "either gratified his prejudices or supplied his needs." 16. Davis, "A Letter to the Examiner," p. 221. 17. Moore, pp. 58-61. 18. Burton, ii, p. 171. 19. Bedlam and Grub Street as the colleges in the vicinity of Moorefields were standard jokes. Moorfields was also associated with cheap lodging, prostitution, theft, and the Pesthouse Burying Ground, altogether an unhealthy environment. 20. Defoe discusses this in Robinson Crusoe, Serious Reflections, and a Collection of Miscellaney Letters and several other places. He says, for example: The custom of the ancients in writing fables is my very laudable pattern for this; and my firm resolution in all I write to exalt virtue, expose vice, promote truth, and help men to serious reflection, is my first moving cause and last directed end. (Preface to the Review) Things seem to appear more lively to the Understanding, and to make a stronger Impression upon the Mind when they are insinuated under the cover of some Symbol or Allegory, especially where the moral is good, and the Application obvious and easy. (Collection of Miscellaney Letters, iv, 210) 21. For this and many other examples of Defoe's distinguishing qualities in this appendix, I am deeply indebted to the late Professor John Robert Moore. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The facsimile of Defoe's A Short Narrative of … Marlborough (1711) is reproduced from a copy (Shelf Mark: *PR3404/S5451) in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. The total type-page (p. 7) measures 153 x 79 mm. A SHORT N ARRAT I VE OF THE Life and Actions Of His GRACE J O H N , D. of Marlborough, FROM THE Beginning of the REVOLUTION, to this present Time. WITH SOME Remarks on his Conduct. By an Old Officer in the Army. LONDON, Printed for JOHN BAKER, at the Black-Boy in Pater-noster-Row, 1711. Price Six-Pence. A short NARRATIVE OF THE S AC T I O N S Of his GRACE John, Duke of Marlborough. EEING the Press is open, and every body dares Write and Publish what he pleases, and Persons of the highest Honour and Virtue, to the great Shame and Scandal of our Country, are expos'd to the World, in base Pamphlets; and according to the Malice or Misunderstanding of the Authors, are represented to the World unworthy of the Favour of the Prince, as well as Obnoxious to the Common-Wealth, in which they live: It becomes every honest Man, who knows more of the Matter, to set things in a true Light, to undeceive the People, as much as he is able, that they may be no longer impos'd on by such false Reports, which in the end may prove Dangerous and Fatal. There is nothing new, saith Solomon, under the Sun; the same Causes will always produce the same Effects; and while Mankind bear about them, the various Passions of Love and Joy, Hatred and Grief, the cunning Engineer, that stands behind the Curtain, will influence and work these Passions according to his Malice, to the destruction of Persons of highest Worth. I shall therefore give a short Narrative of the Actions of the most Illustrious John Duke of Marlborough, with some Reflections on them, that People may not wonder how it comes to pass, that such a Great Captain, equal no doubt to any in all Ages, considering the Powers whom he has Oppos'd, after all his Victories, should be represented in the publick Writings of the Town, as over-Honoured and over-Paid for all his past Services, and neglected and almost forgotten in the midst of all his Triumphs, and his Name almost lost from the Mouths of those People, who for several Years last past, and not many Months since, have been fill'd with his Praises. The first time that I had the Honour of seeing John, Earl of Marlborough, (for so I shall call him till he was created a Duke) was at a place call'd Judoigne in Brabant, where our Army was Encamp'd, I think about three Months after the late King was Crown'd. He was sent over the King's Lieutenant, with the British Forces under his Command, which could then be spared for that Service. Our united Forces were Commanded in general, by the Old Prince Waldeck. After several Marches, we came to the Confines of Haynault, within a League of a small Town call'd Walcourt, and on St. Lewis's Day, a Saint suppos'd to be prosperous to the French Nation, their Army, Commanded by Mareschal d'Humiers, very betimes in the Morning, Marched to Attack us. An English Colonel guarded a Pass towards the aforesaid little Town, to which the Enemy bent their Course; and being in Distress, was reliev'd by my Lord in Person, who ordred his Retreat to such an Advantage, that he flank'd the Enemy with perpetual Fire; and this was the first Cause that cool'd them in their Design of pushing our Army. At his return, the Prince receiv'd him with a great deal of Satisfaction, and assured him that he would let the King know that he saw into the Art of a General more in one Day, than others do in a great many Years. At the end of this Campaign, my Lord Marlborough was ordered, with half of the Forces under his Command, to Embark for Ireland; where I come to relate what he performed there: As soon as he arrived in the Harbour of Kingsale, having Landed his Forces, without the least loss of Time, Marched directly to the Fort or Citadel of that Place, which is a strong Fortification, and at that time, well provided with a good Garrison, and all things necessary for a strong Defence. My Lord did not stand to use Forms with them, which might look like a Siege; but with a conquering Resolution, and perpetual Volleys, so terrified them, that they soon Surrendred. And now at this Place it was where the Duke's Actions began to be Envied, and evil Reports touching his good Name and Reputation were industriously spread abroad; and I am apt to believe, such back Friends as these will hardly leave him so long as he remains in the World. There was a Ship at that time in the said Harbour, which 'twas reported had some Money on Board for paying of the Forces in these Parts; which Ship, by some untimely Accident, was blown up and lost; and presently after it was given out by some ill People there present with my Lord, and by them sent into England to their Party, that he had gotten the Money beforehand to himself, and that the Ship was destroyed by his Contrivance; that he had vast Sums of Money in Holland, and at Venice; nay, some went farther and affirmed, that he had settled a good Fund, upon Occasion, at Constantinople: And I am sure some such like Reports and palpable Falsities are continued on him to this very Day. And now I suppose it could not be in this Year that the strong City of Dunkirk was to be betrayed by the Governour of it, and Surrendred to some of the King's Forces. In the next Campaign in Flanders, the Old Waldeck was severely beaten by Duke Luxembourg, at the Battle of Flerus: We were only Six Battalions of British left in Ghent, under the Command of the then Brigadier Talmach: We had Orders to march, and to join the grand Army at least a Fortnight before the Fight happened; but as we were about to march out of the City, the City Gates were shut against us by the People of that Place, because we had no Money to pay our Quarters. Mr. Sizar, whom my Lord brought over with him the Year before, was our Pay-Master-General, and at this time was gone down into Holland to get some Money upon Credit, till our Supply was returned from England; and then I remember there was a barbarous Lie spread up and down among us, that our Money was kept in the Hands of Merchants by the contrivance of my Lord and Mr. Sizar, that they might reap such a particular Benefit, which could not be much, for the use of it. Waldeck being beaten, the Elector of Brandenbourg, for supporting of him, was oblig'd by long Marches, to come and join us; after which, nothing more of Consequence happened this Year. And now I suppose it could not be in this Year that Dunkirk was to be given up to some party of the King's Forces; both his Majesty and my Lord Marlborough being absent from us, and we had no Marches towards that part of the Country, and good Reason for it, for we could not if we would. I come now to our third Campaign, which was made in Flanders; and if ever Dunkirk was to be betrayed in some secret manner to the late King; and if ever the Secret thereof was reveal'd by his Majesty to the Earl of Marlborough; and if my Lord did reveal the same weighty Secret to his Wife; and if by her it was discovered to her Sister at St. Germans, and by her to the French King, it must be placed in this Year, or else it must be extra anni solisque Vias, the Lord knows when and where. I am sure that the pretended Discovery of this same Secret hath lain hard on my Lord's Name for a great many Years; and upon most Discourses of the Affairs in Flanders, that business of Dunkirk is trump'd up against my Lord to this very Day. For as soon as this Story was sent abroad, it flew like Lightening, and like the sham tragical Report which was put upon the Irish at the Revolution, it was scattered over all the Kingdom in an instant. The loss of Dunkirk is not to be forgotten, and 'tis fresh in the Minds of the common People, both in Town and Country; and not only the Farmers over a Pot of Ale at Market, will shake their Heads at Malbur, (for so they call him) for losing of Dunkirk; but also Gentlemen of good Rank and Condition believe it to be true, and talk of it with a great deal of Regret to this very time. I don't pretend in this Narrative to Inform the great People at Court, concerning this thing; without doubt they very well know there was no great matter in this mighty Secret; but most of it a design to Disgrace my Lord Marlborough, that he might the more easily be turn'd out of his Places at Court and in the Army: I write this to the common People only; to vindicate the Innocent, and to undeceive a good part of the Nation, who have not had an Opportunity to be better Informed. This Summer then being our Third Campaign, the King came to the Army, and with Him my Lord Marlborough, and several other Persons of Quality: Among the rest was Count Solmes, a nigh Relation to his Majesty, and Colonel of the great Regiment of Dutch Blue Guards; and then it was after two or three Marches that my Lord was observ'd to be somewhat neglected, and his Interest in the Army to decay and cool; and upon a certain Morning, as we were in full March, a Man might judge by what then happened that it was so: For it seems the Count had ordered his Baggage and Sumpters to take Place of my Lord's, and to cut them out of the Line; of which Affront my Lord being inform'd by his Servants, soon found him out, and having caus'd his Baggage to enter the Post which was his due, with his Cane lifted up, and some hard Words in French, 'twas thought by a great many that it would end in a single Combat; but the Count thought fit to shear off, and we heard no more of it. All this Summer was spent in a great many Marches after the French, to bring them to a Battle, but they Industriously and Artfully declin'd it. The Summer being spent, the King committed the Army again to Prince Waldeck, and went in haste to the Hague. Our Regiment was sent to Garrison at Mechlen, where came the Dutch Foot Guards to Winter also. Count Solmes, as he designed for Holland, took this City in his way, and there he assured a certain English Colonel, who not long before had been check'd by my Lord, about some Disorders in his Regiment, that the Earl of Marlborough had made his Peace with France, and in a short time he would hear, that he would be call'd to an Account for it. When I went to England that same Winter, my Lord's Appartments were at the Cock-pit. 'Twas fine to see them full of Gentlemen and Officers of all Ranks, as they are now to be seen every Day at his Levee at St. James's; but no sooner had my Lord Sidney brought him word from the King, that His Majesty had no farther Service for him in the Court, or in the Army, but my Lord was forsaken by all his Shadows, and his House left in a profound Silence. Now a Person of my Lord's high Posts, especially having been so eminently instrumental in the Revolution, could not be well laid aside from all his Employments, without some Reasons were given to the People for it; and in a short time the pretended Reasons were produced, and they prevailed mightily. The first was, That at the King's Levee at the putting on of the Shirt, my Lord should speak scornfully of the Person of the King, who at the same time having made a great Spitting (for his Majesty was a long time troubled with a Consumptive Cough) that my Lord should say to some Gentlemen nigh him, that he wish'd it might be his last. As soon as this gross Affront was made known to the King, by a certain Party, who can calumniate stoutly, and blast as well as blacken, it was in a Moment all over the Court and Town; and 'tis a wonder my Lord was not torn in Pieces. But now to the Truth of this Matter. My Lord has been always esteem'd a nice Courtier, well guarded in his Words, and one of the most Mannerly best-bred Men of the Nation; and no Man of Sense can believe that a Man of his Character could be so Indiscreet, as to drop such Words, which would be Barbarous and Brutal from the Mouth of a Porter, much more from the Lips of a Noble-Man and a General. The other Reason was, That through his or his Lady's Treachery or Indiscretion, the contrivance about Dunkirk was discovered to the French, or else 'tis very probable it would have been in our Possession. And now to clear this Aspersion also. Dunkirk is suppos'd to be one of the strongest Fortresses of Europe, either by Sea or Land, the French King, by vast Labour, Art and Cost, having made it to be so, and accordingly regards it with a careful Eye, always keeping in it a good Garrison, with all manner of Plenty for the Defence of it. The next Garrisons of ours towards that Place, were Bruges, Ostend, and Newport, the nighest is Newport, a small Fortress on the Sea, and about twenty Miles from Dunkirk; we had no Marches towards any of these Places all this Campaign, neither was it known that any Detachment was sent that way, either in Summer or Winter: Scarce less than a body of Three Thousand Men would suffice to secure that City if it were to be betrayed to them; now how such a Party could march over so many Canals, Morasses, and Trenches in that low Country, some part of the Enemy's, & most part of it their Friends, unobserved, and not look'd after, especially a Royal Army of theirs being at Hand, is not easie to be conceived by any Person who understands the Business of a Soldier. 'Tis a great Hazzard, a nice Difficulty for a French Governour to betray a strong City; unless all his Officers be in the Secret, and then 'tis wonderful, if by some one or other it is not revealed, or else he has with him in the Place several good Officers, who understand the Duty as well as himself, and very probable that one or more of them may have private Instructions to have an Eye upon him, and to keep him in View. Every one that has a Command, knows his Alarm-Post, and every hour, Night and Day, the Majors, or their Aids, or some other Officers, go their Rounds upon the Walls all the Year long, in Places of so great Importance. As for the betraying of it to any Naval Forces, I suppose 'twas never thought on, unless the whole Garrison, with the Burghers, should give their Consent, and stand idly gazing on whilst the Ships were approaching: Indeed there was once a Design upon some Sea-port of this Garrison, to shake and shatter it with a Vessel, which was called for that purpose The Terrible Machine; it made a horrible Crack when it was Fired, and so the Engine and the Design vanish'd in Smoak. But now admitting that all this was true, and that there was a Contrivance to put Dunkirk into our Hands, and the Plot was discovered, and the Governour was hang'd, (which upon strict Enquiry no one could tell whom he was, or when or where he was Executed) yet why must my Lord Marlborough, or his Lady, be the Betrayers of this weighty Secret? If it was for a good Reward, I suppose no one living can tell how, or when, or where it was paid. And what great Services my Lord has done for the French King, for a great many Years to this very Day; let the World judge. But to put all this Matter out of doubt, our most Gracious Sovereign Lady the QUEEN, who was then Princess, was at that time the best Judge of this Untruth cast upon them; for notwithstanding the high displeasure of the Court, she always gave them Umbrage and Protection, which without doubt she would not have done, unless she was thoroughly persuaded of their Innocence. To be short, my Lord was a true Lover of the Inte...