Download PDF A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh

Free download. Book file PDF easily for everyone and every device. You can download and read online A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh file PDF Book only if you are registered here. And also you can download or read online all Book PDF file that related with A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh book. Happy reading A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh Bookeveryone. Download file Free Book PDF A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh at Complete PDF Library. This Book have some digital formats such us :paperbook, ebook, kindle, epub, fb2 and another formats. Here is The CompletePDF Book Library. It's free to register here to get Book file PDF A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh Pocket Guide.
A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John D of Marlborough () [Defoe D] on leondumoulin.nl *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.
Table of contents

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. To keep all these possibilities alive, Harley had to remain in harmony with Marlborough.

Customer Reviews

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 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 were revived to distract the people.


  • Getting Sh*t Done: How to Power through Your Tasks in One Sitting.
  • Exterra;
  • Mughal Gold (The Flight of the White Dove Trilogy);
  • The Future of Road-making in America?
  • Military Victories?

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.

Lot Details | Lyon & Turnbull

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.

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 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.

Deuxième partie. Aspects littéraires

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. Armageddon; or the Necessity of Carrying on the War 30 October , 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.

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 parallel the techniques and movement in the pamphlets. In this 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.

Marlborough, John Churchill Duke of 1650-1722

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. 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.

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. 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 , but he also knew that Harley's stakes in a moderate government were great. 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. Other forces used two alternative routes to the area near Philippsburg, where they crossed the Rhine on 5—8 September and established themselves in positions favourable for a resumption of operations on the upper Rhine and the MoselleRiver in the following year.

Next, in Amsterdam and then The Hague, he had extensive talks with Dutch leaders on allied plans for an offensive military campaign up the MoselleRiver and into Lorraine.

Why did this block occur?

On arrival at The Hague he immediately began to initiate the military campaign that had been planned at the end of The Dutch continued to refuse him the degree of independence he wanted in commanding allied troops, while other allies were slow in producing the promised number of men. At the same time England's continuing support for the Hungarian protestants had begun to be a major irritant in English relations with Catholic Austria, and slowed Austria's co-operation in supporting the broader aspects of allied grand strategy.

From there he and the allied army marched to Consaarbruck and then crossed the Moselle and Saar rivers. Between 6 and 11 July he successfully besieged Huy. That completed, he began operations to pass the fortified French positions and complex of earthworks, barricades, and entrenchments linking an extensive network of fortifications between Antwerp and Namur known as the lines of Brabant.

In completing this under cover of darkness on 17—18 July, he captured Tirlemont to the west of the lines and routed a Franco-Bavarian army at Elixheim. Owing to lack of forage he was unable immediately to exploit his victory, creating indecision and further delay within the allied command. He moved into camp at Meldert and waited until mid-August to begin a new offensive, moving to cross the River Yssche and to threaten Brussels.

After reaching the Yssche, he abandoned further offensives on 19 August and returned the army to Meldert, in the face of delays in bringing the artillery to bear and further indecision among the allied commanders on how to proceed. He then moved on to Regensburg and embarked in the emperor's barge on 6 November for a six-day journey down the Danube to Vienna.

The French army's early offensive moves in Italy and on the Rhine made a march from Flanders to Italy impossible. Meanwhile, the French had already moved out from their entrenched lines in the Southern Netherlands, expecting the allies to be as ineffective as they had been the previous year. Advance forces from both sides reported each other's presence on 19 May, but had no exact knowledge of each other's location. Two hours later the army broke camp and began to march, still unaware of the enemy nearby.

It was an unusual situation, not only in that each side was unaware of the other's movements, but also in that both sought a major battle at the opening of a campaign. The allies had some casualties, while the French lost about killed with an additional captured. Meanwhile the victory at Ramillies allowed the allies to retrieve the initiative lost the previous year.

Immediately after the battle the allies made additional conquests, as weak fortifications and local populations defected to them. Some places surrendered without a siege, handing over French provisions that sustained the allies as they pursued the French from one fortification to another. When the weak French positions had been overrun, the initial and limited defection of the local population was spent.

With Menin, the allies entered the French fortified zone, creating the need to conquer systematically French fortifications that threatened their own lines of communication. Among the remaining major French positions the allies could not attack Nieuwpoort, which had inundated its approaches and prevented the allies from undertaking a siege.

Neither initiative was successful. However, the Dutch made it clear that the appointment was entirely unacceptable. Godolphin, too, had been separated from the tories and was now dependent on whig support to continue in office.