A Very Murdering Battle by Edward Marston

Author:Edward Marston [Marston, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Action & Adventure, Fiction
ISBN: 9780749040222
Google: YTqKAgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2011-11-27T13:00:00+00:00

It was demeaning. It upset Daniel that he felt the snub more keenly than Marlborough himself. At the formal peace negotiations held at The Hague, there were two British plenipotentiaries and – in spite of his central role in the war – Marlborough was only the junior partner. It angered Daniel that the Whig Junto ruling England had appointed its own man above the captain-general. Charles, Viscount Townshend, still in his thirties, had neither the military experience nor the long association with French diplomacy that Marlborough enjoyed, yet he was given the senior role. To all intents and purposes, Marlborough was effectively an observer at the various sessions. Daniel, whose fluency in Dutch and French earned him a position as an interpreter, had to watch him being consigned to a secondary role. It made Daniel resentful.

There was never a better time for the Allies to enforce their demands. The harsh winter that had crippled France had been followed by a continuously wet spring, causing further disaster to French agriculture. The country was on the verge of collapse. As a result, the Marquis de Torcy, its foreign minister, seemed ready to concede anything to bring a ruinously expensive war to an end. So confident was he of the outcome that Marlborough was able to write to Godolphin, assuring him that ‘M.Torcy has offered so much that I have no doubt it will end in a good peace’. Daniel took the same view. The enemy had been beaten by a combination of superior military tactics and devastating weather. He fully expected that the War of the Spanish Succession would finally cease and that he would be able to see more of Amalia instead of having to prepare for yet another campaign season.

After long discussions, the Allies presented Torcy with their demands at the end of May. There were forty conditions in the catalogue and Louis XIV was given an ultimatum that he had to accept the formidable terms within a week or the war would resume. In a private moment with Daniel and Cardonnel, Marlborough was still anticipating success, in spite of the severity of the demands made on the French.

‘Louis will accept,’ he asserted. ‘He has no choice but to accept.’

‘I wish that I could feel more certain of that,’ admitted Cardonnel.

‘So do I,’ said Daniel, beginning to have reservations. ‘Will the French really cede the entire Spanish Empire without a fight? And can we imagine that they will agree to yield up fortresses in Flanders and on the Rhine as a gesture of good faith? I doubt it, Your Grace. It’s simply not in their nature to make such enormous concessions.’

‘We are asking too much of them.’

‘We have to press home our advantage, Adam,’ said Marlborough. ‘When you have an enemy by the throat, you must squeeze hard with all your might.’

‘French pride is at stake. It might yet wreck the negotiations.’

‘Then why do I feel so strangely optimistic?’

‘I hope that your optimism is not misplaced,’ said Daniel. ‘I know

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