ints, and appeared
wholly inexplicable, is now fully revealed by the published despatches.
The Dutch were absolutely set on getting an accession of territory, and
a strong line of barrier towns, set apart for them out of the _Austrian_
Netherlands; and as the Emperor, not unnaturally, objected to being
shorn of his territories, as a remuneration for his efforts in favour of
European independence, they resolved to thwart all the measures of the
Allied generals, in the hope that, it the end, they would in this manner
prevail in their demands with the Allied cabinets.[15]

It was not, however, in the Low Countries alone that the selfish views
and jealousies of the Allies prevented any operation of importance from
being undertaken, and blasted all the fair prospects which the brilliant
victories of the preceding campaign had afforded. In Spain, the Allies
had suffered a fearful reverse by the battle of Almanza, which in a
manner ruined the Austrian prospects in the Peninsula, and rendered some
operation indispensable, to relieve the pressure felt by the Allies in
that quarter. Peterborough, whose great military abilities had hitherto
nearly alone sustained their sinking cause in Spain, had been deprived
of his command in Catalonia, from that absurd jealousy of foreigners
which in every age has formed so marked a feature in the Spanish
character. His successor, Lord Galway, was far from possessing his
military abilities, and every thing presaged that, unless a great effort
was immediately made, the crown of Spain, the prize for which all
contended in the war, would be lost to the Allied powers. Nor was the
aspect of affairs more promising on the Rhine. The Margrave of Baden had
there died; and his army, before a successor could be appointed,
sustained a signal defeat at Stodhoffen. This disaster having opened the
gates of Germany, Marshal Villars, at the head of a powerful French
army, burst into the Palatinate, which he ravaged with fire and sword.
To complete the catalogue of disasters, the disputes between the King of
Sweden and the Emperor were again renewed, and conducted with such
acrimony, that it required all the weight and address of Marlborough to
prevent a rupture, threatening fatal consequences, from breaking out
between these powers.

Surrounded by so many difficulties, Marlborough wisely judged that the
most pressing danger was that in Spain, and that the first thing to be
done was to stop the progress of the