favor, after the restoration. The old man "haunted Whitehall, and made himself ridiculous by publishing a dull and affected folio long forgotten, in praise of monarchs and monarchy." His son John became page to the Duke of York, afterwards James II, and was given by him an ensigncy in the guards. The cause of this preferment was the fact that John's sister, Arabella, had become the mistress of the Duke of York; and, in the words of Macauley, the "only feeling of the Churchills about her seduction seems to have been joyful surprise, that so plain a girl should have obtained such high preferment." I mention this fact to show that his course began in baseness, which resulted in a life of dishonor. His first military life was at Tangier; but it is said his most successful feats were about the Court of St. James, "where his good looks and good manners interested les dames." About this time he won the heart of the Duchess of Cleveland, the favorite beauty of Charles II, and proved his devotion to her by leaping out of her chamber at the approach of the King; for which the Duchess gave him a present of £5,000, with which he bought a life annuity, These facts furnish a key to his life; he was the most sordid of men; he turned everything to gold; all his genius, glory, baseness, answered the same purpose. Charles concluded to send this expert leaper to the Low countries. Then began that great military career, in the attempt of England and France to subdue the Dutch provinces. Conde and Marshal Turenne predicted that he would be a great man one day. At the close of the war he returned to the service of the Duke of York; was made a Scotch Peer, and received various other honors. For a wife he married a Miss Jennings, who, in a worldly sense, was the blessing and the bane, and in every better sense, the curse of his life. She held a place in the family of the youngest daughter of James II, the Princess of Denmark, afterwards Queen Anne. Charles II had now died, James, Duke of York, had ascended the throne, and Churchill stood high in his favor. Churchill now served James II faithfully in all his well known designs to subject the English people to the yoke of Rome, until his keen eye saw that James must yield, must be overthrown, until he saw that, if James had his own way, none but Catholics would hold an office in the realm, that he himself must either turn Catholic or yield all his offices and, that which his soul above all things coveted, wealth. He did not wish to lose his wealth and could not turn Catholic. As England's great historian says, "So inconsistent is human nature that there are tender spots even in seared consciences. And thus this man, who owed his rise in life to his sister's shame, who had been kept by the most profuse, imperious, and shameless of harlots, and whose public life, to those who can look steadily through the dazzling blaze of genius and glory, will appear a prodigy of turpitude, believed implicitly in the religion which he learned as a boy, and shudered at the thought of formally abjuring it." He resolved to do neither, and in return to James for all his favors, for raising him to be Peer of Scotland and England, for loading him with offices and honors, he deserted him and joined his son-in-law, the Prince of Orange, who was then in England, by the request of many great nobles, to free the people from the thraldom of James. Up to the last moment he deceived James, and in addition to this, he caused his wife, who who was the favorite of Anne, James' daughter, to induce her to run away from the palace and declare in favor of her brother-in-law, the Prince of Orange. The result is known. James fled to France, and William and Mary became King and Queen of England. He was taken into the service of the new King. Neither time nor space will allow me to go into detail here as I would like to. Suffice it to say, that notwithstanding his avarice and base character, he rose rapidly as a warrior. In the wars that followed between the party of James and that of William III, he fought well for the latter and took Cork and Kinsale, in Ireland. But much as his glory shone his baseness more than eclipsed it. Fear of a counter-revolution came upon him, and with this, fear of losing his vast ill-gotten gains and his head with them. The banished king hated him above all his favorites who deserted him, and declared he never would forgive him. But the hope of gaining his vast influence caused him to change his mind, and Marlborough began a conspiracy against the government of William, apparently to restore James. And thus the friends of James believed until they found him attempting a double treason. He with them wished to overthrow King William; but he did not wish to replace James upon the throne; he desired to get possession of the army and then, proving traitor to the friends of James, as he had to those of William, to place Anne upon the throne, who was completely under the control of the Duchess of Marlborough. The Jacobites perceiving this, exposed his whole plan to their own enemies, the friends of William III. Then follows the disgrace of Marlborough and his retirement from politics and the loss of all his commands; but he succeeded, by his wife, in alienating the Princess Anne from her sister and brother-in-law, the royal pair, as he before had caused her to flee from her father and take their side in the great struggle of 1688. He now had no part in the government until the death of Mary and William and the reign of Queen Anne. He was then restored to power, as his wife had been the favorite of the new Queen from childhood. It is during this reign that the character of Lady Marlborough is clearly seen; it was then that she was the greatest blessing and the greatest curse to her husband. Her friendship for, and, with her domineering spirit, complete control of Anne, gained for her husband the highest place a subject could hold. "Though slenderly portioned, she brought with her a dower, which judiciously employed, made him at length a Duke of England, a sovereign Prince of the empire, the Captain General of a great coalition, the arbiter between mighty princes, and, what he valued more, the wealthiest subject in Europe." The " great coalition" referred to above, by Macaulay, was that formed by William III, against France, and especially against "Louis le Grande." Queen Anne determined to carry out the arrangements of her predecessor, with the allies, and Marlborough was the Captain General of all the united forces. Then began that series of exploits which will make his "name an echo" to all time; then were fought those battles, whose story we cannot stop to tell, which prove him, of all English captains, second only to Wellington, if second to any; then was displayed that courage which makes Schellenberg a rival of the Bridge of Lodi, and Blenheim's field an earlier Waterloo. A great man he was,-greatly mean, and greatly sordid. "All the precious gifts which nature lavished on him he valued chiefly for what they would fetch. At twenty he made money of his beauty and vigor. At sixty he made money of his genius and his glory." Loud complaints were heard of his avarice from all quarters. At the same time his wife domineered so thoroughly over the Queen and gave her such positive insults that she grew weary of it and cast her off. A party was formed against Marlborough, headed by Harley, St. John and others. Mrs. Marsham, a relation of Lady Marlborough, usurped her place in the palace and poisoned the mind of the Queen against the family. Then followed that memorable series of events which resulted in the complete overthrow of the Marlboroughs. The Duke's service was retained by government as long as they could not do without him, 4 YO! YY!V. and then he was cast completely off, and retired for a time, in disgrace, to the contineut. The monumental pile of Blenheim, presented by Anne, was not completed by her. The vast wealth, collected by a base and sordid life, completed this monument of his glory and shame. Thus ended a life gallant and chivalrous in the commencement, splendid in its meridian glory, but futile, perplexed and unhonored in conclusion; a life destitute of moral grandeur and all the nobler qualities of soul, and whose story will go down to future ages with fainter and yet fainter praise. I will not relate to you the story of Washington's life in order to form the contrast I designed. It is not necessary, it is known by all who read this article. I need not say that he was the captain general of a smaller force than Marlborough; but he fought for a more glorious cause and with a nobler motive, and he gained a more splendid success. He formed an army from a heterogeneous multitude, and with it conquered the organized army of England's king; he formed a nation from chaos, and founded a free government; he triumphed while he ruled, and lived to see the success of his lifelong plans; he did not reach the shores of eternity before he heard from those of time the praise and shouts of applause to his name which shall increase forever. Well might Guizot ask, "Who has succeeded like him?" In this point of view, he is a greater than Marlborough; but when we come to compare their moral characters, the contrast is still greater. As Blenheim Palace, with all its grandeur, and adorned with all the arts, is a monument of the sordidness, dishonesty and baseness of Marlborough; so Mt. Vernon, in all its simple humility, and adorned with no art, is a monument of the frugality, honesty and honor of Washington. Heaven is not more above earth, than is Washington's character above Marlborough's. Instead of licentiousness, treachery and sordidness, we have purity, honor and liberality. Instead of a "prodigy of moral turpitude," we have a miracle of human greatness and goodness. Writes Guizot, "Of all great men, he was the most virtuous and the most fortunate." In this world," God has no higher favors to bestow ;" and we doubt if they were ever bestowed on a worthier subject. His glory and praise, instead of growing fainter and fainter with the ages, shall increase and " widen with the process of the suns," and "Till the Future dares Forget the Past, his name and fame shall be G. H. C. A Pastoral, TO A MAIDEN WADING IN A BROOK. Gently, maiden, gently! The cowslip and the lily Of the smiling waters, While the stream before thee, In its envied duty, Mirrors forth thy beauty. Wavelets, treat her tenderly- Sunbeams, flicker through the shade, On the bosom of the maid; Laugh among her golden tresses. Dewdrop, as she passes by, Catch the twinkle of her eye- Sands, whose snowy wealth she presses, Gently pay her soft caresses. Earth and water, earth and air, Maiden gladsome, joyous, free, J. C. M. |