m Anne her consent in 1708 to the dismissal from office of
Harley and St. John with the whole of the moderate Tories whom they
headed. Their removal was followed by the complete triumph of the Whigs
in the admission of Lords Somers and Wharton into the ministry. Somers
became President of the Council, Wharton Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland,
while lower posts were occupied by younger men of the same party, who
were destined to play a great part in our later history, such as the
young Duke of Newcastle and Robert Walpole.

[Sidenote: Oudenarde.]

Meanwhile, the great struggle abroad went steadily against France,
though its progress was varied with striking alternations of success.
France rose indeed with singular rapidity from the crushing blow of
Ramillies. Spain was recovered for Philip in 1707 by a victory of
Marshal Berwick at Almanza. Marshal Villars won fresh triumphs on the
Rhine; while Eugene, who had penetrated into Provence, was driven back
into Italy. In Flanders Marlborough's designs for taking advantage of
his great victory were foiled by the strategy of the Duke of Vendome and
by the reluctance of the Dutch, who were now wavering towards peace. In
the campaign of 1708 however Vendome, in spite of his superiority in
force, was attacked and defeated at Oudenarde; and though Marlborough
was hindered from striking at the heart of France by the timidity of the
English and Dutch statesmen, he reduced Lille, the strongest of its
frontier fortresses, in the face of an army of relief which numbered a
hundred thousand men. The blow proved an effective one. The pride of
Lewis was at last broken by defeat and by the terrible sufferings of
France. He offered terms of peace which yielded all that the allies had
fought for. He consented to withdraw his aid from Philip of Spain, to
give up ten Flemish fortresses as a barrier for the Dutch, and to
surrender to the Empire all that France had gained since the Treaty of
Westphalia. He offered to acknowledge Anne, to banish the Pretender from
his dominions, and to demolish the fortifications of Dunkirk, a port
hateful to England as the home of the French privateers.

[Sidenote: Peace rejected.]

To Marlborough these terms seemed sufficient, and for the moment he
regarded peace as secure. Peace was indeed now the general wish of the
nation, and the longing for it was nowhere stronger than with the Queen.
Dull and sluggish as was Anne's temper, she had the pride and
stubbornness o