resses of which were alike
valuable as a basis of offensive operations, and as affording asylums
all but impregnable in cases of disaster. The Allied generals, whether
they commenced their operations in Flanders or on the side of Germany,
had to begin on the Rhine, and cut their way through the long barrier of
fortresses with which the genius of Vauban and Cohorn had encircled the
frontiers of the monarchy.

War having been resolved on, the first step was taken by the Emperor,
who laid claim to Milan as a fief of the empire, and supported his
pretensions by moving an army into Italy under the command of Prince
Eugene of Savoy, who afterwards became so celebrated as the brother and
worthy rival of Marlborough in arms. The French and Spaniards assembled
an army in the Milanese to resist his advance; and the Duke of Mantua
having joined the cause, that important city was garrisoned by the
French troops. But Prince Eugene erelong obliged them to fall back from
the banks of the Adige to the line of the Oglio, on which they made a
stand. But though hostilities had thus commenced in Italy, negotiations
were still carried on at the Hague; though unhappily the pretensions of
the French king were found to be of so exorbitant a character, that an
accommodation was impossible. Marlborough's first mission to the
Continent, however, after the accession of Anne, was of a diplomatic
character; and it was by his unwearied efforts, suavity of manner, and
singular talents for negotiation, that the difficulties which attend the
formation of all such extensive confederacies were overcome. And it was
not till war was declared, on 4th May 1702, that he first took the
command as commander-in-chief of the Allied armies.

The first operation of the Allies was an attack on the small fort of
Kaiserworth, on the right bank of the Rhine, which belonged to the
Elector of Cologne, which surrendered on the 15th May. The main French
army, nominally under the direction of the Duke of Burgundy, really of
Marshal Boufflers, entered the Duchy of Cleves in the end of the same
month, and soon became engaged with the Allied forces, which at first,
being inferior in numbers, fell back. Marlborough reached headquarters
when the French lay before Nimeguen; and the Dutch trembled for that
frontier town. Reinforcements, however, rapidly came in from all
quarters to join the Allied army; and Marlborough, finding himself at
the head of a gallant force sixty thousand