The defeat at Blenheim, in 1704, was a first and terrible blow to the power of Louis XIV., as well as to the military prestige of France. The defeat at Ramillies, on the 23rd of May, 1706, was a second step towards ruin. The personal attachment of the king had always blinded him regarding the military talents of Villeroi. Defeated in Italy by Prince Eugene, Villeroi, as presumptuous as unskilful, hoped to distinguish himself before Marlborough. {100} "All the army long for battle. I know that it is the wish of your Majesty," wrote the marshal to Louis XIV., after his check. "How can I prevent exposing myself to an engagement which I believe expedient?" His lieutenants differed with him; they conjured him to change his order of battle. The troops engaged without confidence. The Bavarians fled within an hour; the French, heroic as at Blenheim, realizing the blunders of their commander, soon followed their example. The rout was complete, the disorder indescribable. Villeroi did not stop until he was under the walls of Brussels. He was soon obliged to evacuate that place. The Duke of Marlborough entered it in the middle of October, master of two-thirds of Belgium. The emperor offered to the victorious general the government of the Low Countries. Marlborough greatly desired to accept it, but the visible opposition of the Hollanders prevented him. "Assure the States that I have no desire to give them any embarrassment," wrote he to Heinsius; "since they do not think it expedient, I willingly decline to accept this commission." Marshal Villeroi was recalled. "No more happiness at our age," said the king with great kindness. The Duke de Vendôme was charged with the command of the army in Flanders, "in the hope that he would infuse that spirit of strength and audacity natural to the French nation," said Louis XIV. "All the world here is ready to take off its hat when the name of the Duke of Marlborough is mentioned," wrote Vendôme; "if the soldiers and the cavaliers are of the same mind, then one might as well take leave at once; but I hope to find better material." {101} All the efforts of Vendôme were not able to prevent the loss of Ménin, of Ath, and of Dendermonde. Prince Eugene defeated the Duke of Orleans before Turin on the 7th of September. Marshal Marsin was killed. "It is impossible to express the joy that I feel," said Marlborough, in a letter to his wife, "for I more than esteem, I love the Prince Eugene. This brilliant action ought to place France low enough to permit us, if our friends consent to continue the war for another year, to conclude a peace which will give us repose to the end of our days. But for the present I do not comprehend the Dutch."