The privy-council of Scotland was dissolved; the duke of Queensberry was created a British peer, by the title of baron of Ripon, marquis of Beverley, and duke of Dover; and the office of secretary at war, vacant by the resignation of Henry St.John, was bestowed upon Robert Walpole, a gentleman who had rendered himself considerable in the house of commons, and whose conduct Ave shall have occasion to mention more at large in the sequel.

About the same time a proclamation was issued for distributing prizes, in certain proportions, to the different officers and seamen of the royal navy; a regulation that still prevails.
THE FRENCH SURPRISE GHENT AND BRUGES.
The French king, not at all discouraged by the miscarriage of his projected invasion, resolved to improve the advantages he had gained on the continent during the last campaign, and indeed he made efforts that were altogether incredible, considering the consumptive state of his finances.

[154] _[See note 2 E, at the end of this Vol.]_ He assembled a prodigious army in the Netherlands, under the command of the duke of Burgundy, assisted by Vendome, and accompanied by the duke of Berry and the chevalier de St.George.The elector of Bavaria was destined to the command of the troops on the Rhine, where he was seconded by the duke of Berwick; and the mareschal de Villeroy was sent to conduct the forces in Dauphine.

About the latter end of March, the duke of Marlborough repaired to the Hague, where he was met by prince Eugene: these two celebrated generals conferred with the pensionary Heinsius, and the deputies of the states-general.

Then they made an excursion to Hanover, where they prevailed upon the elector to be satisfied with acting upon the defensive in his command on the Rhine, and spare part of his forces, that the confederates might be enabled to make vigorous efforts in the Netherlands.