h's great diplomatic ability,
consummate address, and thorough devotion to the common good, stood
him in as good stead as his military talents had done him in the
preceding campaign with Villeroi and Vendome. In the beginning of
November, he repaired to the Hague, and though he found the Dutch in
the first instance so extravagant in their ideas of the barrier they
were to obtain, that he despaired of effecting any settlement of the
differences between them and the Emperor;[27] yet he at length
succeeded, though with very great difficulty, in appeasing, for the
time, the jealousies between them and the cabinet of Vienna, and
obtaining a public renewal of the alliance for the prosecution of the
war. The publication of this treaty diffused the utmost satisfaction
among the ministers of the Allied powers assembled at the Hague; and
this was further increased by the breaking off, at the same time, of a
negotiation which had pended for some months between Marlborough and
the Elector of Bavaria, for a separate treaty with that prince, who
had become disgusted with the French alliance. But all Marlborough's
efforts failed to make any adjustment of the disputed matter of the
barrier, on which the Dutch were so obstinately set; and finding them
equally unreasonable and intractable on that subject, he deemed
himself fortunate when he obtained the adjourning of the question, by
the consent of all concerned, till the conclusion of a general peace.

After the adjustment of this delicate and perilous negotiation,
Marlborough returned to England, where he was received with transports
of exultation by all classes of the people. He was conducted in one of
the royal carriages, amidst a splendid procession of all the nobility
of the kingdom, to Temple Bar, where he was received by the city
authorities, by whom he was feasted in the most magnificent manner at
Vintners' Hall. Thanks were voted to him by both Houses of Parliament;
and when he took his seat in the House of Peers, the Lord Keeper
addressed him in these just and appropriate terms--"What your Grace
has performed in this last campaign has far exceeded all hopes, even
of such as were most affectionate and partial to their country's
interest and glory. The advantages you have gained against the enemy
are of such a nature, so conspicuous in themselves, so undoubtedly
owing to your courage and conduct, so sensibly and universally
beneficial to the whole confederacy, that to attempt to