



Produced by Brendan OConnor, Ron Stephens, Jonathan Ingram
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Library of Early
Journals.)








BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

NO. CCCLXXIII. NOVEMBER, 1846. VOL. LX.


CONTENTS.

    MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES. 1710-1711,            517

    MOHAN LAL IN AFGHANISTAN,                       539

    ON THE OPERATION OF THE ENGLISH POOR-LAWS,      555

    PRUSSIAN MILITARY MEMOIRS,                      572

    ADVICE TO AN INTENDING SERIALIST,               590

    A NEW SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY,                      606

    HONOUR TO THE PLOUGH,                           613

    LUIGIA DE' MEDICI,                              614

    THINGS IN GENERAL,                              625


EDINBURGH:

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW,
LONDON.

_To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._

SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.




BLACKWOOD'S

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

No. CCCLXXIII. NOVEMBER, 1846. VOL. LX.




MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES.

1710-1711.

Louis XIV. was one of the most remarkable sovereigns who ever sat upon
the throne of France. Yet there is none of whose character, even at this
comparatively remote period, it is more difficult to form a just
estimate. Beyond measure eulogised by the poets, orators, and annalists
of his own age, who lived on his bounty, or were flattered by his
address, he has been proportionally vilified by the historians, both
foreign and national, of subsequent times. The Roman Catholic writers,
with some truth, represent him as the champion of their faith, the
sovereign who extirpated the demon of heresy in his dominions, and
restored to the church in undivided unity the realm of France. The
Protestant authors, with not less reason, regard him as the deadliest
enemy of their religion, and the cruellest foe of those who had embraced
it; as a faithless tyrant, who scrupled not, at the bidding of bigoted
priests, to violate the national faith plighted by the Edict of Nantes,
and persecute, with unrelenting severity, the unhappy people who, from
conscientious motives, had broken off from the Church of Rome. One set
of writers paint him as a magnanimous monarch, whose mind, set on great
things, and swayed by lofty desires, foreshadowed those vast designs
which Napoleon, armed with the forces of the Revolution, afterwards for
a brief space realised. Another set dwell on the foibles or the vices of
his private character--depict him as alternately swayed by priests, or
influenced by women; selfish in his desires, relentless in his hatred;
and sacrificing the peace of Europe, and endangering the independence of
France, for the gratification of personal vanity, or from the thirst of
unbounded ambition.

It is the fate of all men who have made a great and durable impression
on human affairs, and powerfully affected the interests, or thwarted the
opinion of large bodies of men, to be represented in these opposite
colours to future times. The party, whether in church or state, which
they have elevated, the nation whose power or glory they have augmented,
praise, as much as those whom they have oppressed and injured, whether
at home or abroad, strive to vilify their memory. But in the case of
Louis XIV., this general propensity has been greatly increased by the
opposite, and, at first sight, inconsistent features of his character.
There is almost equal truth in the magniloquent eulogies of his
admirers, as in the impassioned invectives of his enemies. He was not
less great and magnanimous than he is represented by the elegant
flattery of Racine or Corneille, nor less cruel and hard-hearted than he
is painted by the austere justice of Sismondi or D'Aubigne. Like many
other men, but more than most, he was made up of lofty and elevated, and
selfish and frivolous qualities. He could alternately boast, with truth,
that there were no longer any Pyrenees, and rival his youngest
courtiers in frivolous and often heartless gallantry. In his younger
years he was equally assiduous in his application to business, and
engrossed with personal vanity. When he ascended the throne, his first
words were: "I intend that every paper, from a diplomatic dispatch to a
private petition, shall be submitted to me;" and his vast powers of
application enabled him to compass the task. Yet, at the same time, he
deserted his queen for Madame la Valliere, and soon after broke La
Valliere's heart by his desertion of her for Madame de Montespan. In
mature life, his ambition to extend the bounds and enhance the glory of
France, was equalled by his desire to win the admiration or gain the
favour of the fair sex. In his later days, he alternately engaged in
devout austerities with Madame de Maintenon, and, with mournful
resolution, asserted the independence of France against Europe in arms.
Never was evinced a more striking exemplification of the saying, so well
known among men of the world, that no one is a hero to his
valet-de-chambre; nor a more remarkable confirmation of the truth, so
often proclaimed by divines, that characters of imperfect goodness
constitute the great majority of mankind.

That he was a great man, as well as a successful sovereign, is
decisively demonstrated by the mighty changes which he effected in his
own realm, as well as in the neighbouring states of Europe. When he
ascended the throne, France, though it contained the elements of
greatness, had never yet become great. It had been alternately wasted by
the ravages of the English, and torn by the fury of the religious wars.
The insurrection of the Fronde had shortly before involved the capital
in all the horrors of civil conflict;--barricades had been erected in
its streets; alternate victory and defeat had by turns elevated and
depressed the rival faction. Turenne and Conde had displayed their
consummate talents in miniature warfare within sight of Notre-Dame.
Never had the monarchy been depressed to a greater pitch of weakness
than during the reign of Louis XIII. and the minority of Louis XIV. But
from the time the latter sovereign ascended the throne, order seemed to
arise out of chaos. The ascendancy of a great mind made itself felt in
every department. Civil war ceased; the rival faction disappeared; even
the bitterness of religious hatred seemed for a time to be stilled by
the influence of patriotic feeling. The energies of France, drawn forth
during the agonies of civil conflict, were turned to public objects and
the career of national aggrandisement--as those of England had been
after the conclusion of the Great Rebellion, by the firm hand and
magnanimous mind of Cromwell. From a pitiable state of anarchy, France
at once appeared on the theatre of Europe, great, powerful, and united.
It is no common capacity which can thus seize the helm and right the
ship when it is reeling most violently, and the fury of contending
elements has all but torn it in pieces. It is the highest proof of
political capacity to discern the bent of the public mind, when most
violently exerted, and, by falling in with the prevailing desire of the
majority, convert the desolating vehemence of social conflict into the
steady passion for national advancement. Napoleon did this with the
political aspirations of the eighteenth, Louis XIV. with the religious
fervour of the seventeenth century.

It was because his character and turn of mind coincided with the
national desires at the moment of his ascending the throne, that this
great monarch was enabled to achieve this marvellous transformation. If
Napoleon was the incarnation of the Revolution, with not less truth it
may be said that Louis XIV. was the incarnation of the monarchy. The
feudal spirit, modified but not destroyed by the changes of time,
appeared to be concentrated, with its highest lustre, in his person. He
was still the head of the Franks--the lustre of the historic families
yet surrounded his throne; but he was the head of the Franks only--that
is, of a hundred thousand conquering warriors. Twenty million of
conquered Gauls were neither regarded nor considered in his
administration, except in so far as they augmented the national
strength, or added to the national resources. But this distinction was
then neither perceived nor regarded. Worn out with civil dissension,
torn to pieces by religious passions, the fervent minds and restless
ambition of the French longed for a _national_ field for exertion--an
arena in which social dissensions might be forgotten. Louis XIV. gave
them this field: he opened this arena. He ascended the throne at the
time when this desire had become so strong and general, as in a manner
to concentrate the national will. His character, equally in all its
parts, was adapted to the general want. He took the lead alike in the
greatness and the foibles of his subjects. Were they ambitious? so was
he:--were they desirous of renown? so was he:--were they set on national
aggrandisement? so was he:--were they desirous of protection to
industry? so was he:--were they prone to gallantry? so was he. His
figure and countenance tall and majestic; his manner stately and
commanding; his conversation dignified, but enlightened; his spirit
ardent, but patriotic--qualified him to take the lead and preserve his
ascendancy among a proud body of ancient nobles, whom the disasters of
preceding reigns, and the astute policy of Cardinal Richelieu, had
driven into the antechambers of Paris, but who preserved in their ideas
and habits the pride and recollections of the conquerors who followed
the banners of Clovis. And the great body of the people, proud of their
sovereign, proud of his victories, proud of his magnificence, proud of
his fame, proud of his national spirit, proud of the literary glory
which environed his throne, in secret proud of his gallantries, joyfully
followed their nobles in the brilliant career which his ambition opened,
and submitted with as much docility to his government as they ranged
themselves round the banners of their respective chiefs on the day of
battle.

It was the peculiarity of the government of Louis XIV., arising from
this fortuitous, but to him fortunate combination of circumstances, that
it united the distinctions of rank, family attachments, and ancient
ideas of feudal times, with the vigour and efficiency of monarchical
government, and the lustre and brilliancy of literary glory. Such a
combination could not, in the nature of things, last long; it must soon
work out its own destruction. In truth, it was sensibly weakened during
the course of the latter part of the half century that he sat upon the
throne. But while it endured, it produced a most formidable union; it
engendered an extraordinary and hitherto unprecedented phalanx of
talent. The feudal ideas still lingering in the hearts of the nation,
produced subordination; the national spirit, excited by the genius of
the sovereign, induced unanimity; the development of talent, elicited by
his discernment, conferred power; the literary celebrity, encouraged by
his munificence, diffused fame. The peculiar character of Louis, in
which great talent was united with great pride, and unbounded ambition
with heroic magnanimity, qualified him to turn to the best account this
singular combination of circumstances, and to unite in France, for a
brief period, the lofty aspirations and dignified manners of chivalry,
with the energy of rising talent and the lustre of literary renown.

Louis XIV. was essentially monarchical. That was the secret of his
success; it was because he first gave the powers of _unity_ to the
monarchy, that he rendered France so brilliant and powerful. All his
changes, and they were many, from the dress of soldiers to the
instructions to ambassadors, breathed the same spirit. He first
introduced a _uniform_ in the army. Before his time, the soldiers merely
wore a banderole over their steel breast-plates and ordinary dresses.
That was a great and symptomatic improvement; it at once induced an
_esprit de corps_ and a sense of responsibility. He first made the
troops march with a measured step, and caused large bodies of men to
move with the precision of a single company. The artillery and engineer
service, under his auspices, made astonishing progress. His discerning
eye selected the genius of Vauban, which invented, as it were, the
modern system of fortification, and wellnigh brought it to its greatest
elevation--and raised to the highest command that of Turenne, which
carried the military art to the most consummate perfection. Skilfully
turning the