l of Marlborough, on the accession of William, was a moderate
Tory, and was soon suspected of not being true to his sovereign. His
treason might have resulted in the return of the Stuarts but for the
energy and sagacity of Queen Mary, in whose hands the supreme executive
power was placed by William when absent from the kingdom. She summoned
at once the Parliament, prevented the defection of the navy, and
ferreted out the hostile intrigues, in which the lord-treasurer
Godolphin was also implicated. But for the fortunate naval victory of La
Hogue over the French fleet, which established the naval supremacy of
England, the throne of William and the Protestant succession would have
been seriously endangered; for William was unfortunate in his Flemish
campaigns.

When the King was apprised of the treasonable intrigues which endangered
his throne, he magnanimously pardoned Godolphin and the Duke of
Shrewsbury, but sent Marlborough to the Tower, although he soon after
released him, when it was found that several of the letters which
compromised him had been forged. For some time Marlborough lived in
comparative retirement, while his wife devoted herself to politics and
her duties about the person of the Princess Anne, who was treated very
coldly by her sister the Queen, and was even deprived of her guards. But
the bickerings and quarrels of the royal sisters were suddenly ended by
the death of Mary from the small-pox, which then fearfully raged in
London. The grief of the King was sincere and excessive, as well as that
of the nation, and his affliction softened his character and mitigated
his asperity against Marlborough, Shortly after the death of his queen,
William made Marlborough governor of the Duke of Gloucester, then (1698)
a very promising prince, in the tenth year of his age. This prince, only
surviving son of Anne, had a feeble body, and was unwisely crammed by
Bishop Burnet, his preceptor, and overworked by Marlborough, who taught
him military tactics. Neither his body nor his mind could stand the
strain made upon him, and he was carried off at the age of eleven by
a fever.

The untimely death of the Prince was a great disappointment to the
nation, and cast a gloom over the remaining years of the reign of
William, who from this time declined in health and spirits. One of his
last acts was to appoint the Earl of Marlborough general of the troops
in Flanders, knowing that he was the only man who could successfully
o