nimity, the better to obtain the great ends proposed by her majesty.

{ANNE, 1701--1714}

DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH DISMISSED FROM ALL HIS EMPLOYMENTS.

The commissioners for examining the public accounts having discovered
that the duke of Marlborough had received an annual present of five or
six thousand pounds from the contractors of bread to the army, the queen
declared in council that she thought fit to dismiss him from all
his employments, that the matter might be impartially examined. This
declaration was imparted to him in a letter under her own hand, in which
she took occasion to complain of the treatment she had received. She
probably alluded to the insolence of his duchess; the subjection in
which she had been kept by the late ministry; and the pains lately taken
by the whigs to depreciate her conduct, and thwart her measures
with respect to the peace. The duke wrote an answer to her majesty,
vindicating himself from the charge which had been brought against his
character; and his two daughters, the countess of Sunderland and the
lady Railton, resigned their places of ladies in the bed-chamber.
The ministry, in order to ascertain a majority in the house of lords,
persuaded the queen to take a measure which nothing but necessity could
justify. She created twelve peers at once, [173] _[See note 2 F, at the
end of this Vol.]_ and on the second of January they were introduced
into the upper house without opposition. The lord-keeper delivered to
the house a message from the queen, desiring they would adjourn to the
fourteenth day of the month. The anti-courtiers alleged, that the queen
could not send a message to any one house to adjourn, but ought to have
directed it to both houses. This objection produced a debate, which was
terminated in favour of the court by the weight of the twelve new peers.

PRINCE EUGENE ARRIVES IN ENGLAND.

At this period prince Eugene arrived in England with a letter to the
queen from the emperor, and instructions to propose a new scheme for
prosecuting the war. His errand was far from being agreeable to the
ministry; and they suspected that his real aim was to manage intrigues
among the discontented party who opposed the peace. Nevertheless, he
was treated with that respect which was due to his quality and eminent
talents. The ministers, the nobility, and officers of distinction,
visited him at his arrival. He was admitted to an audience of the queen,
who received him with gre