ken the enemy's
power, the principal direction of military affairs would have been
entrusted to that consummate commander; and that the Allied cabinets,
without presuming to interfere in the management of the campaigns,
would have turned all their efforts to place at his disposal forces
adequate to carry into execution the mighty designs which he
meditated, and had shown himself so well qualified to carry into
execution. It was quite the reverse. The Allied cabinets did nothing.
They did worse than nothing--they interfered only to do mischief.
Their principal object after this appeared to be to cramp the efforts
of this great general, to overrule his bold designs, to tie down his
aspiring genius. Each looked only to his own separate objects, and
nothing could make them see that they were to be gained only by
promoting the general objects of the alliance. Relieved from the
danger of instant subjugation by the victory of Blenheim, and the
retreat of the French army across the Rhine, the German powers
relapsed into their usual state of supineness, lukewarmness, and
indifference. No efforts of Marlborough could induce the Dutch either
to enlarge their contingent, or even render that already in the field
fit for active service. The English force was not half of what the
national strength was capable of sending forth. Parliament would not
hear of any thing like an adequate expenditure. Thus the golden
opportunity, never likely to be regained, of profiting by the
consternation of the enemy after the battle of Blenheim, and their
weakness after forty thousand of their best troops had been lost to
their armies, was allowed to pass away; and the war was permitted to
dwindle into one of posts and sieges, when, by a vigorous effort, it
might have been concluded in the next campaign.[2]

It was not thus with the French. The same cause which had loosened
the efforts of the confederates, had inspired unwonted vigour into
their councils. The Rhine was crossed by the Allies; the French armies
had been hurled with disgrace out of Germany; the territory of the
Grand Monarque was threatened both from the side of Alsace and
Flanders; and a formidable insurrection in the Cevennes both
distracted the force and threatened the peace of the kingdom. But
against all these evils Louis made head. Never had the superior vigour
and perseverance of a monarchy over that of a confederacy been more
clearly evinced. Marshal Villars had been employed in t