Duke of Berwick

“ I cannot follow the brilliant career of those two captains. Brilliant as it was however, it came to nought, and chiefly by the soldiership which the duke of Berwick displayed in Spain itself. The English had landed an army there to which was added a contingent of Portuguese. Louis sent Berwick to oppose them with what few troops he could spare. It was now that{29} Berwick showed himself to be a past master of defensive warfare—a true Fabius. The English, superior in numbers, could advance nowhere against this adroit and sleepless adversary. ”

“ A French general was wanted to command this army. Madame des Ursins, who had been very intimate with the King of England (James II.) and his Queen, thought she would please them if she gave this post to the Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of King James. She proposed this therefore; and our King, out of regard for his brother monarch, and from a natural affection for bastards, consented to the appointment; but as the Duke of Berwick had never before commanded an army, he stipulated that Pursegur, known to be a skilful officer, should go with him and assist him with his counsels and advice. ”

“ He was the illegitimate son of the duke of York, afterwards James II., whom he accompanied in his flight from England, in 1688. His mother was Arabella Churchill, maid of honour to the duchess of York, and sister to the renowned Marlborough.
The duke of Berwick on quitting the country, entered into the service of France, and was engaged in several battles against the English or their allies in Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. At his death he was in the sixty-fourth year of his age. No general of his time excelled him in the art of war except his uncle, the duke of Marlborough. ”

“ During the siege of the new fort at Kinsale, Berwick and Sarsfield advanced as far as Kilmallock to its relief, but finding themselves so inferior in numbers to Marlborough, they were unwillingly compelled to leave its brave defenders to their fate,
Although the Duke of Berwick was the nominal Commander-in-Chief, his youth, and the distractions incident to youth, left the more mature and popular Sarsfield the possession of real power, both civil and military. Every fortunate accident had combined to elevate that gallant cavalry officer into the position of national leadership. ”

“ The scandal excited among the Jacobites by his abjuration, and the manner in which it was resented by his uncle, the Duke of Berwick, dispelled all suspicions as to the genuineness of his loyalty to the protestant succession, and his personal qualities soon recommended him very strongly to the Walpoles. ”

“ He received his education in France at the hands of the Jesuits, and at the age of fifteen, his father having succeeded to the throne, he was sent to learn the business of a soldier under the famous general of the empire, Charles of Lorraine. He served his first campaign in Hungary, and was present at the siege of Buda. He then returned to England, was made a colonel of the 8th Foot, and in 1687 created duke of Berwick, earl of Teignmouth and Baron Bosworth. ”

“ Powis and Bellasyse expressed, in coarse and acrimonious language, even at the Council board, their antipathy to the aliens. 447 Among English Protestants that antipathy was still stronger and perhaps it was strongest in the army. Neither officers nor soldiers were disposed to bear patiently the preference shown by their master to a foreign and a subject race. The Duke of Berwick, who was Colonel of the Eighth Regiment of the Line, then quartered at Portsmouth, gave orders that thirty men just arrived from Ireland should be enlisted. ”

“ No arts could, however, win the allegiance of the Camerons from those whom they considered as their rightful sovereigns. Towards the end of William's reign, the young chieftain John was sent privately [Pg 318] to France, where his early notions of loyalty were confirmed, and his attachment to the court of James enhanced, by the influence of the Duke of Berwick, who formed with him a sincere and durable friendship. ”

“ Berwick was made governor of the Limousin by the king of France, and the king of Spain arranged a marriage between Berwick's only son by his first marriage and Donna Catherina de Veraguas, the richest heiress in Spain, and created the boy Duke of Liria and a grandee of the first class. ”

“ The tide of success had now set in too strongly to be stemmed by any barrier opposed by the allies. On the plain of Almanza, De las Minas and Galway were signally defeated by the able Berwick. This victory established the throne of Philip: it inspired his adherents with confidence; in the same degree it dispirited his enemies, and it was followed by advantages of still greater moment. While the duke d’Orléans, who arrived with reinforcements from France, led an army into Aragon, Berwick proceeded to reduce the fortresses of Valencia. ”

“ And being very jealous of our town of Berwick, the principal key of all our realm, we have determined to send with speed, succours both thitherward and to our frontier, as well horsemen as footmen, and do also send our right trusty and entirely beloved cousin, the Duke of Norfolk, to be our Lieutenant-General of all the North, from Trent forward. ”

“ In April 1417 he was appointed warden of the east marches towards Scotland, and captain of Berwick. He commanded a contingent of the army mustered in July for the king's second invasion of France, but, if he actually sailed, must have shortly afterwards returned, for the Scots under Archibald, fourth earl of Douglas [q. v.] , and the Duke of Albany, having invaded England in October, and made attempts on Berwick and Roxburgh, he, with other lords and with Henry Bowet [q. v.] , archbishop of York, raised a force which mustered on Barmoor, near Wooler in Northumberland. ”

“ In the list of prisoners to be exchanged on both sides, Luxembourg observed that the name of Berwick was wanting. He learned for what fate he was reserved; he seized the duke of Ormond one of his own prisoners, and sent William word that whatever measure was meted out to Berwick, should be measured again to Ormond. Ormond was a favorite of William, and Berwick was exchanged for him. [2]
{25}
In all this dreadful fighting the best soldier in Europe remains nearly inactive ”

“ The king's adherents in the northern counties had already surprised Berwick and Carlisle; and, to facilitate his entry, had for two months awaited with impatience his arrival on the borders. The approach of Lambeth, the parliamentary general, compelled them to seek shelter within the walls of Carlisle, and the necessity of saving that important place compelled the duke to despatch a part of his army to its relief. Soon afterwards [a] he arrived himself. Report exaggerated his force to thirty thousand men, though it did not in fact amount to more than half that number ”

“ Sir Patrick Gray of Kyneff had retired to the Castle of Broughty; Sir James Shaw of Sauchie had repaired to his fortress of Stirling, and Sir William Stirling of the Keir, animated by the same wisdom and prudence, had retreated to some fastness in the Highlands of Perthshire; while their worthy compatriot, Hew Borthwick—though as yet unsuspected and unknown—had concealed himself in Berwick, which was then garrisoned by English troops, and had been so since its betrayal by Alexander Duke of Albany, who was then an exile in France. ”

“ Berwick, Duke of (natural son of James II.) , does justice to Orry, 177; commands the French corps in Spain, 179; commands an Anglo-Portuguese army in Estramadura, 197; his hatred pursues Louis XIV. on every field of battle, 197; completely defeats the allies near Almanza, 252. Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Viscount, his remark to Voltaire concerning Marlborough, 212; his career, character, and abilities, 220; possessed the talents and vices which have immortalised as well as disgraced Mirabeau, 221. Bouillon, Duke de, advises an immediate attack on Condé at the Faubourg St. ”

“ As nothing is positively known respecting the origin of Berwick, it is impossible that an uninspired antiquary should be able to decide whether it was "undignified" or not. Its first "kirk and mill"—the primary conditions of a town—were more likely to be founded by a noble than by a serf.
In 1174, Berwick, with the castles of Jedburgh, Roxburgh, Stirling, and Edinburgh, was delivered up to Henry II. as security for payment of the ransom of William the Lion, King of Scotland, who had been taken prisoner when besieging Alnwick ”

“ His method of investigating speculative jurisprudence, i. 426 Bentley, Richard, his corrupt English style, ii. 307 Berkeley, Bishop, his erroneous notions of trade, i. 212 note Berthault, his method of writing history, ii. 270 Berwick, Duke of, appointed Generalissimo of the Spanish army, ii. 515. Gains the battle of Almansa, 516 Berwick destroyed by the English, iii. 13 Berwick, treaty of, iii. 81 Berzelius, his attempts to reduce mineralogical phenomena, ii. 399 Bichat, impetus given to the study of zoology by, ii. 376. Sketch of his method of investigation of the human frame, 379. ”

“ This double epoch ought for ever to furnish a device for the Regiment de Berwick! It will henceforth be seen upon your colours; every faithful subject will there read his duty, and behold the model he ought to imitate."
"The colours of Berwick," added Charles Philippe the Comte d'Artois, "are, and always will be, in the path to honour, and we will march at their head!" [21]
The king perished, and then followed the campaign of 1793, a period most disastrous to the emigrants ”

“ We were in the golden age of bastards, and Berwick was a man who had reason to think so. Bastard of James II., of England, he had arrived in France, at the age of eighteen, with that monarch, after the Revolution of 1688. At twenty-two he was made lieutenant-general, and served as such in Flanders, without having passed through any other rank. At thirty-three he commanded in chief in Spain with a patent of general. At thirty-four he was made, on account of his victory at Almanza, Grandee of Spain, and Chevalier of the Golden Fleece. ”

“ All the country-side in this region is rich. At Long Houghton a grand church uprears its vast square tower, lonely and solemn in its place of graves. Royal Berwick comes next, stately and serene upon its ocean crag, with the white-crested waves curling on its beach and the glad waters of the Tweed kissing the fringes of its sovereign mantle, as they rush into the sea. The sun is sinking now, and over the many-coloured meadows, red and brown and golden and green, the long, thin shadows of the trees slope eastward and softly hint the death of day. ”

“ How we came gradually to establish, at the office of Household Words, that we knew all about Miss Berwick, I have never discovered. But we settled somehow, to our complete satisfaction, that she was governess in a family; that she went to Italy in that capacity, and returned; and that she had long been in the same family. We really knew nothing whatever of her, except that she was remarkably business-like, punctual, self-reliant, and reliable: so I suppose we insensibly invented the rest. For myself, my mother was not a more real personage to me, than Miss Berwick the governess became. ”

“ Sternly the earl called for a pair of handcuffs, and with his own hands fastened them on his captive. "It grieves me," he said, "to see a brave man thus manacled, but thine [Pg 276] own mad act hath brought it on thyself. And now, my Lord of Berwick, an it please thee to proceed, we demand admission to thy citadel in King Edward's name. Bring up the other prisoners."
Concealing his wrath with difficulty, the Earl of Berwick and his attendants dashed forward over the drawbridge into the castle at full speed, closing the gates and lowering the portcullis after them. ”

“ James determined to go on to Calais, and there to await the event of Barclay's plot. Berwick hastened to Versailles for the purpose of giving explanations to Lewis. What the nature of the explanations was we know from Berwick's own narrative. He plainly told the French King that a small band of loyal men would in a short time make an attempt on the life of the great enemy of France. The next courier might bring tidings of an event which would probably subvert the English government and dissolve the European coalition. ”

“ Berwick served the campaign of 1702 in Flanders under Marshal Boufflers, and in the following year became a naturalised Frenchman, in order to be eligible for the rank of marshal of France. In 1704 he was sent to Spain in command of a powerful French army, to support Philip V, and in an admirable campaign he prevented the far stronger forces of the allied English and Portuguese from invading Spain from the west. ”

“ Berwick was at once surrendered, and he offered privileges to English merchants and others who would colonise it. He received the homage of the Earl of March and other lords, and, having restored Baliol to the throne, returned southwards and visited several shrines, especially in Essex. In November he moved northwards, and kept Christmas at York. He was highly displeased with the pope for appointing Adam of Orlton by provision to the see of Winchester at the request of the French king. In February 1334 he received Baliols surrender of all Scotland comprised in the ancient district of Lothian. ”

“ But always, in such a case, there are to be found one or two bold spirits, or one or two so heedless of what is passing around them that they rush into danger unawares. Such there were at Berwick-on-Tweed, and to them the hunted soul spoke as he fled past, the hell-hounds slavering at his heels. "Until my body is burnt," he cried, "you folk of Berwick shall have no peace!" ”