Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, No. 362, December 1845   By: Various

BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

No. CCCLXII. DECEMBER, 1845. VOL. LVIII.

CONTENTS.

MARLBOROUGH No. II., 649

THE STUDENT OF SALAMANCA Part II., 673

WHITE'S THREE YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE, 688

THE MOUNTAIN AND THE CLOUD, 704

THE SECOND PANDORA, 711

THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD, 713

A FEW PASSAGES CONCERNING OMENS, DREAMS, APPEARANCES, &C., 735

A MOTHER TO HER FORSAKEN CHILD, 752

SUMMER NOONTIDE, ib.

TO CLARA, 753

SECLUSION, ib.

THE LAST HOURS OF A REIGN. Part I., 754

THE SCOTTISH HARVEST, 769

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MARLBOROUGH. No. II.[1]

It might have been expected, that after the march into Bavaria had demonstrated the military genius of the Duke of Marlborough, and the battle of Blenheim had in so decisive a manner broken 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]