In 1701 and 1702 the British army was being assembled in the Netherlands, and posted in the vicinity of Breda—the Guards forming an important part of the force. Meanwhile the Dutch and German auxiliaries were drawing together their several contingents. Difficulties arose amongst the confederates as to the officer who should assume the chief command. Happily, however, these were at length overcome. The Earl of Athlone, as the senior, waving his claim, the command of the allied army was conferred on Marlborough, who, in the campaigns which were about to open, should win laurels of a mighty fame. From the great number of strong fortresses which studded the plains of the Netherlands and guarded the frontier, the campaigns were, in consequence, largely made up of perplexing man[oe]uvres and sieges. It is, however, worthy of notice that in each year the might and energy of the combatants were concentrated into one great fight, rather than a succession of minor engagements. The character of the country, no doubt, helped to this mode of warfare. Thus we record, in succession, the great battles of Blenheim, in 1704; Ramilies, in 1706; Oudenarde, in 1708; Malplaquet, in 1709. It is unnecessary to detail the marchings and counter-marchings of the Guards as they waited upon the several sieges; sufficient be it to say, they did “the State some service.” At Nimeguen, with the First Royals, they rendered essential service in repelling an unexpected attack of an immensely superior French force, who had hoped to surprise and proudly capture the allied chiefs in the midst of their deliberations. In 1703 the strongholds of Huy and Limburg capitulated to the allies. During this campaign the Guards were brigaded with the Fifteenth, Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth Regiments under General Withers. But the succeeding year was destined to witness a far more magnificent achievement—the sudden and rapid transference of the British army from the plains of the Netherlands to the valley of the Danube; a movement which, affording timely succour, and graced by the triumphs of Schellenberg and Blenheim, restored the sinking fortunes of the Imperial arms, and proved the deliverance of Germany. Associated with the First Royals, the Twenty-third Regiment, with detachments from other corps, the Guards sustained a terrible fight and suffered a severe loss in storming the heights of Schellenberg. Their valour on this occasion was most conspicuous. The furious and repeated assaults of their gallant foe entailed frequent repulses; still their firmness was unconquerable; again and again they returned to the attack, until their perseverance was at length crowned with complete success in the utter rout of the enemy. But this defeat on the part of the French and Bavarians was only the prelude to a more terrible disaster. The allied army of Germans, Dutch, Prussians, and British, driving the enemy before them, at length