of active operations
in the field. Eugene had been summoned to Germany to watch over the
meeting of the Imperial Diet at Frankfort, and Marlborough was left with
an army considerably inferior in numbers to that of his opponent
Villars. Thus the only fruit of the campaign was the capture of
Bouchain. Meanwhile the French minister Torcy entered into secret
communications with St John, intimating that France was ready to
negotiate directly with England, but at first without the cognisance
of the States. The English ministry on their part, under the influence
of St John, showed themselves to be ready to throw over their allies, to
abandon the Habsburg cause in Spain, and to come to an agreement with
France on terms advantageous to England. For French diplomacy, always
alert and skilful, these proceedings were quite legitimate; but it was
scarcely honourable for the English government, while the Grand Alliance
was still in existence, to carry on these negotiations in profound
secrecy.

In August matters had so far advanced that Mesnager was sent over from
Paris to London entrusted with definite proposals. In October the
preliminaries of peace were virtually settled between the two powers.
Meanwhile the Dutch had been informed through Lord Strafford, the
English envoy at the Hague, of what was going on; and the news aroused
no small indignation and alarm. But great pressure was brought to bear
upon them; and, knowing that without England they could not continue the
war, the States-General at last, in fear for their barrier, consented,
on November 21, to send envoys to a peace congress to be held at Utrecht
on the basis of the Anglo-French preliminaries. It was in vain that the
Emperor Charles VI protested both at London and the Hague, or that
Eugene was despatched on a special mission to England in January, 1712.
The English ministry had made up their minds to conclude peace with or
without the emperor's assent; and the congress opened at the beginning
of the year 1712 without the presence of any Austrian plenipotentiaries,
though they appeared later. The Dutch provinces sent two envoys each.
The conferences at Utrecht were, however, little more than futile
debates; and the congress was held there rather as a concession to save
the _amour propre_ of the States than to settle the terms of peace. The
real negotiations were carried on secretly between England and France;
and after a visit by St John, now Viscount Bolingbroke, i