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CHAPTER XVI: English
Among other great exploits of the war was the capture of Gibraltar by admiral Sir George Rooke and the prince of Hesse. This fortress, which had hitherto been deemed impregnable, has ever since continued in possession of the English, who have defeated every attempt made by the Spaniards towards its recovery.
In the following year (1705) the emperor Leopold died, and was succeeded by his son Joseph. In Italy the French obtained some considerable advantages; while in Spain nearly all Valencia and the province of Catalonia submitted to Charles III. The hopes and fears of the belligerents were thus kept alive by the various successes and defeats they experienced. Louis appeared to act with even more than his usual ardor: he sent an army into Germany, who drove the imperialists before them; while his Italian army besieged Turin, and marshal Villeroy was ordered to act on the offensive in Flanders. This general, with a superior force, gave battle to Marlborough at Ramillies, and was defeated, with a loss of 7,000 killed, 6,000 prisoners, and a vast quantity of artillery and ammunition. All Brabant, and nearly all Spanish Flanders, submitted to the conquerors. The allies, under Prince Eugene, were also successful in Italy; while, in Spain, Philip was forced for a time to abandon his capital to the united forces of the English and Portuguese. Louis was so disheartened by these reverses that he proposed peace on very advantageous terms; but the allies, instigated by the duke of Marlborough and prince Eugene, rejected it, although the objects of the grand alliance might at that time have been gained without the further effusion of blood. Thus refused, Louis once more exerted all his energies. His troops having been compelled to evacuate Italy, he sent an additional force into Spain, where the duke of Berwick (a natural son of James II.) gained a brilliant and decisive victory at Almanza, over the confederates who were commanded by the earl of Galway and the marquise de las Minas; whilst the duke of Orleans reduced Valencia, and the cities of Lerida and Saragossa. The victory of Almanza restored the cause of the Bourbons in Spain; and marshal Villars, at the head of the French army in Germany, laid the duchy of Wirtemberg under contribution.
The general results of the war hitherto had miserably disappointed the English; Marlborough felt that a more brilliant campaign was necessary to render him and his party popular. He therefore crossed the Scheldt, and came up with the French army, under Vendome, at Oudenarde. They were strongly posted; but the British cavalry broke through the enemy's lines at the first charge; and though the approach of night favored the retreat of the French, they were put to a total rout, and 9,000 prisoners fell into the hands of the English. Shortly after, Lisle was forced to surrender; and Ghent and Bruges, which had been taken by Vendome, were retaken. About the same time the islands of Sardinia and Minorca surrendered to the English fleet, and the pope was compelled to acknowledge the archduke Charles as the lawful king of Spain: A. D. 1708.
The treasury of Louis being greatly exhausted, and his councils distracted, he again expressed his willingness to make every reasonable concession for the attainment of peace, offering even to abandon the whole of the Spanish monarchy to the archduke; but his proffers being rejected, except on terms incompatible with national safety or personal honor, the French king, trusting to the affection and patriotism of his people, called upon them to rise in defence of the monarchy, and in support of their humbled and age king. His appeal was patriotically responded to. Every nerve was strained to raise a large army, and the salvation of France was confided to marshal Villars. The allied army was formed on the plains of Lisle; the French covered Douay and Arras. Eugene and Marlborough invested Mons. Villars encamped within a league of it, at Malplaquet. Elated with past success, the confederates attacked him in his intrenchments: the contest was obstinate and bloody: and though the allies remained masters of the field, their loss amounted to about 15,000 men; while that of the French, who retreated, was not less than 10,000: September 11, 1709. Louis again sued for peace; and conferences were opened at Gertruydenburg early in the following spring; but the allies still insisting upon the same conditions, the French monarch again rejected them with firmness. The war continued, and with it the successes of the allies in Flanders and in Spain, where the archduke again obtained possession of Madrid. But the nobility remaining faithful to Philip, and fresh succors arriving from France, the duke of Vendome compelled the allies to retire towards Catalonia, whither they marched in two bodies. The English general Stanhope, who commanded the rear division, was surrounded at Brighuega, and forced to surrender, with 5,000 men; and though the principal division, led by Staremberg, compelled Vendome to retreat, and continued their march in safety, they were unable to check the victorious progress of Philip's arms.