It had been
very short, but its effect had been great. Kaiserwerth had been
taken, and the Lower Rhine opened; four fortified places on the
Meuse had been captured; the enemy had been driven back from the
borders of Holland; and the allied army had, in the possession of
Liege, an advanced post in the heart of Flanders for the
recommencement of the campaign in the spring. And all this had been
done in the face of a large French army, which had never ventured
to give battle even to save the beleaguered fortresses.
The army now went into winter quarters, and Marlborough returned at
once to England.
Upon the voyage down the Meuse, in company with the Dutch
commissioners, he had a very narrow escape. The boat was captured
by a French partisan leader, who had made an incursion to the
river. The earl had with him an old servant named Gill, who, with
great presence of mind, slipped into his master's hand an old
passport made out in the name of General Churchill. The French,
intent only upon plunder, and not recognizing under the name of
Churchill their great opponent Marlborough, seized all the plate
and valuables in the boat, made prisoners of the small detachment
of soldiers on board, but suffered the rest of the passengers,
including the earl and the Dutch commissioners, to pass unmolested.
Thus, had it not been for the presence of mind of an old servant,
the Earl of Marlborough would have been taken a prisoner to France;
and since it was his genius and diplomatic power alone which kept
the alliance together, and secured victory for their arms, the
whole issue of the war, the whole future of Europe, would have been
changed.
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