and capture of Barcelona by the Earl of Peterborough, the city having
made one of the noblest and most desperate defences since the siege of
Numantia.

[Sidenote: Exertions and Necessities of Louis.]

The exertions of Louis were equal to his necessities; and, in 1707, he
was able to send large armies into the field. None of his generals
were able to resist the Duke of Marlborough, who gained new victories,
and took important cities; but, in Spain, the English met with
reverses. In 1708, Louis again offered terms of peace, which were
again rejected. His country was impoverished, his resources were
exhausted, and a famine carried away his subjects. He agreed to yield
the whole Spanish monarchy to the house of Austria, without any
equivalent; to cede to the emperor his conquests on the Rhine, and to
the Dutch the great cities which Marlborough had taken; to acknowledge
the Elector of Brandenburg as King of Prussia, and Anne as Queen of
England; to remove the Pretender from his dominions; to acknowledge
the succession of the house of Hanover; to restore every thing
required by the Duke of Savoy; and agree to the cessions made to the
King of Portugal.

And yet these conditions, so honorable and advantageous to the allies,
were rejected, chiefly through the influence of Marlborough, Eugene,
and the pensionary Heinsius, who acted from entirely selfish motives.
Louis was not permitted to cherish the most remote hope of peace
without surrendering the strongest cities of his dominions as pledges
for the entire evacuation of the Spanish monarchy by his grandson.
This he would not agree to. He threw himself, in his distress, upon
the loyalty of his people. Their pride and honor were excited; and, in
spite of all their misfortunes, they prepared to make new efforts.
Again were the French defeated at the great battle of Malplaquet, when
ninety thousand men contended on each side; and again did Louis sue
for peace. Again were his overtures rejected, and again did he rally
his exhausted nation. Some victories in Spain were obtained over the
confederates; but the allies gradually were hemming him around, and
the king-hunt was nearly up, when unexpected dissensions among the
allies relieved him of his enemies.

[Sidenote: Treaty of Utrecht.]

These dissensions were the struggles between the Whigs and Tories in
England; the former maintaining that no peace should be made; the
latter, that the war had been carried far enough, and w