This talented and brave nobleman attained the summit of military fame, and was equally celebrated for sound judgment in the cabinet, and for persuasive eloquence in conversation; while he swayed the councils of foreign courts, and reconciled conflicting interests among the states of Christendom, he led their armies to battle and to victory, acquiring a renown which will live in the page of history to the remotest ages, and the record of his achievements serves as a monument to commemorate the national glory. He was born on the 24th of June, 1650, and before he was sixteen years of age he was page of honour to the Duke of York, who procured him the commission of ensign in the first foot guards in 1666. Being an enthusiast in his profession, he resigned the pleasures of the court to engage in actual warfare on the shores of Africa, and distinguished himself as a volunteer against the Moors under the walls of Tangier. In 1672 he was appointed captain of a company in the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of foot, and served with the French army, commanded by Louis XIV. in person, against the Dutch, where he signalized himself by a regular attention to duty, and volunteered his services on every occasion of difficulty and danger. He soon attracted the attention of the celebrated Marshal Turenne; distinguished himself at the siege of Nimeguen in 1672; and, in 1673, added to his rising honours by his gallantry at the siege of Maestricht, where he was wounded. In the following campaign he served with the French army on the Rhine, and was rewarded on the 3rd of April, 1674, with the colonelcy of an English regiment in the pay of Louis XIV., with which corps he continued to serve in the German war. In 1678 his regiment was recalled from France; and he proceeded to Flanders in command of a brigade of infantry; but the peace of Nimeguen taking place, he returned to England, and his regiment was disbanded. He continued in the suite of the Duke of York, whose constant attendant he became, and was employed in several delicate missions between His Royal Highness and the King, in which he evinced signal address. In 1633, he raised a troop of dragoons, and was appointed colonel of the royal regiment of dragoons,--a corps formed of two newly-raised troops of dragoons and four troops of Tangier horse. He was also elevated to the peerage of Scotland by the title of Baron Churchill of Aymouth; and soon after the accession of the Duke of York to the throne, he was created an English peer by the title of Baron Churchill of Sundridge, and promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. On the breaking out of the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, in June, 1685, Lord Churchill was detached with a body of troops against the insurgents, and his excellent conduct at the battle of Sedgemoor was rewarded with the colonelcy of the third troop of Life Guards, which gave him the privilege of taking the court duty of gold stick; but his devotion to the Protestant cause