Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/188

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Cadogan
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Cadogan

the battle to confer with the French commanders respecting provision for the wounded. Immediately afterwards he was detached with a corps of infantry, two hundred guns, and fifty mortars to commence the siege of Mons, where he was dangerously wounded in the neck and his aide-de-camp killed by his side while the troops were breaking ground. The lieutenancy of the Tower of London was conferred on him in December of the same year. In January 1710 he was present at a conference with the Dutch deputies at the Hague, after which he was again at Brussels. A volume of correspondence relating to affairs in 1709-10, chiefly autograph letters from Brussels in Cadogan's large, plain hand, is among the Foreign Office Records in the Public Record Office, London (F. O. Bee. Flanders, Nos. 132-5), in one of which he expresses his intention of following the fortunes, good or bad, of the great man to whom I am under such infinite obligations;' adding, 'I would be a monster if did otherwise.' Marlborough's influence was at this time fast declining. Cadogan shared his leader's unpopularity, and by the end of the year was removed from his diplomatic post, to Marlborough's great displeasure. Swift, who appears to have known Cadoffan's family, mentions in a 'Letter to Stella, in December 1710, that there was a rumour of his being dispossessed of the lieutenancy of the Tower to make way for Jack Hill, brother of the oueen's new favourite, Mrs. Masham (Swift, Works, ii. 477). Cadogan was lieutenant of the Tower from December 1709 to December 1715 (see De Ros, Memorials of the Tower of London, App.) Returning to his staff duties Cadogan rendered important services at the siege of Douay. At the head of some squadrons of his cuirassiers — cuirasses, laid aside at the peace of Ryswick, had by this time been resumed by Cadogan's and other regiments of horse — he took a prominent part in manoeuvring the enemy out of their lines at Arlieux, and so preparing the way for the important siege of Bouchain, the details of which were entrusted by Marlborough to Cadogan. The place capitulated in September 1711. Bouchain was Marlborough's last victory. When the Duke of Ormonde succeeded to the command of the army, Cadogan found his name omitted from the list of lieutenant-generals appointed to divisional commands; but, at his own request, he made the campaign of 1712 as quartermaster-general. When the troops reached Dunkirk on their homeward route, Cadogan retired to Holland. Marlborough followed him into exile in November 1712. For his share in the reception accorded to his old chief on setting foot upon Dutch soil Cadogan was called upon to resign his offices and employments under the crown. He appears to have sold the colonelcy of his regiment to Major-general Kellum, a veteran who had served with the regiment since its first formation in 1685, for the sum of 3,000l. (Cannon, Hist. Rec, 6th Drag. Gds.) As the recognised medium of communication between the English whigs and the German states interested in the Hanoverian succession, Cadogan was busily engaged in the political intrigues and counter-intrigues at home and abroad which marked the next two years.

Before the death of Queen Anne, on 1 Aug. 1714, he had returned to London. With the customary issue of commissions under the new sign-manual Cadogan was reinstated in his former rank as lieutenant-general. The commission, with the date left blank, probably by design, is still extant (Home Office, Mil. Commissions, i.) He was appointed master of the king's robes, lieutenant of the ordnance, which post he retained until 1718, and colonel of the Coldstream guards, the latter appointment bearing date 1 Aug. 1714. He was re-chosen for the fifth time for the borough of Woodstock, and was accredited as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the States General of Holland. On 16 Nov. (new style) 1715 he signed at the Ha^ue the (third) barrier treaty between England, Holland, and Germany, whereby the empire recognised the Hanoverian succession to the British crown. When the exceptionally severe winter of that year brought news of the rising in the north in favour of the Pretender, Cadogan obtained from the States a contingent of 6,000 Dutch troops, with which he embarked and pushed on to Scotland, to serve as second in command under the Duke of Argyll, whose forces had driven the rebels back, but whom Cadogan found unwilling to act vigorously. On the urgent representations of Marlborough Argyll was recalled, and Cadogan appointed to the chief command. The vigorous measures which followed speedily ended the rebellion, and early in May 1716 Cadogan handed over the command to Brigadier Sabine and proceeded to London, where, on 29 June, he was invested with the order of the Thistle at a chapter held at St. James's Palace. Next day, 30 June, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cadogan of Reading. The preamble of the patent, setting forth Cadogan's many services, is given in Collins's 'Peerage' (2nd ed. v. 412). In September Cadogan was appointed governor of the Isle of Wight. The same year he became high