in an intellectual problem
which had to be solved by patience. "Patience will overcome all things,"
he writes again and again. "As I think most things are governed by
destiny, having done all things we should submit with patience."

[Sidenote: Opening of the War.]

As a statesman the high qualities of Marlborough were owned by his
bitterest foes. "Over the Confederacy," says Lord Bolingbroke, "he, a
new, a private man, acquired by merit and management a more decided
influence than high birth, confirmed authority, and even the crown of
Great Britain had given to King William." But great as he was in the
council, he was even greater in the field. He stands alone amongst the
masters of the art of war as a captain whose victories began at an age
when the work of most men is done. Though he served as a young officer
under Turenne, and for a few months in Ireland and the Netherlands,
Marlborough had held no great command till he took the field in Flanders
at the age of fifty-two. He stands alone too in his unbroken good
fortune. Voltaire notes that he never besieged a fortress which he did
not take, or fought a battle which he did not win. His difficulties
indeed came not so much from the enemy as from the ignorance and
timidity of his own allies. He was never defeated in the field, but
victory after victory was snatched from him by the incapacity of his
officers or the stubbornness of the Dutch. What startled the cautious
strategists of his day was the vigour and audacity of his plans. Old as
he was, Marlborough's designs had from the first all the dash and
boldness of youth. On taking the field in 1702 he at once resolved to
force a battle in the heart of Brabant. The plan was foiled by the
timidity and resistance of the Dutch deputies. But his resolute advance
across the Meuse drew the French forces from that river and enabled him
to reduce fortress after fortress in a series of sieges, till the
surrender of Liege closed a campaign which cut off the French from the
Lower Rhine and freed Holland from all danger of invasion.

[Sidenote: The French in Germany.]

The successes of Marlborough had been brought into bolder relief by the
fortunes of the war in other quarters. Though the Imperialist general,
Prince Eugene of Savoy, showed his powers by a surprise of the French
army at Cremona, no real successes had been won in Italy. An English
descent on the Spanish coast ended in failure. In Germany, where the
Bavarians join