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."
The States-General had, in fact, received overtures from Louis XIV., which inclined them towards peace. "It is said publicly at the Hague," wrote Godolphin, "that France is humbled as much as is desirable, and that if the war is prolonged, it will end in making England stronger than she ought to be. All that they have as yet proposed, is a treaty of partition, dishonorable to the allies and deplorable for the future." War made the glory, the fortune and the power of the Duke of Marlborough, as well as of Prince Eugene; both influenced Heinsius, who had remained faithful to the policy of William III., but without that grandeur and breadth of mind which knows how to measure advantages with justice and moderation. The disputes of the States finally ended in the republic remaining faithful to the allies, and deciding not to accept any negotiation without their concurrence. Public opinion was nevertheless modified in Holland. "The Burgomasters of Amsterdam have passed two hours at my house this morning, endeavoring to convince me of the necessity of a prompt peace," wrote Marlborough, in 1708; "this, on the part of the most zealous Hollanders, has greatly disturbed me."
For a time the affairs of France, closely allied to those of Spain, appeared to improve in that kingdom; the victory at Almanza, won on the 13th of April, 1707, by Marshal Berwick over the Anglo-Portuguese army, and the taking of Lerida, which capitulated on the 11th of November, to the Duke of Orleans, revived the hopes of the partisans of Philip V., and turned popular sentiment in his favor. Lord Peterborough, dissatisfied and irritated, returned to England. Lord Galway, son of the old Marquis of Ruvigny, and like him a refugee in England, took command of the English troops. The campaigns of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene had not been brilliant. The Prince and the Duke of Savoy had been repulsed before Toulon, and the uprising of the peasants compelled them to precipitately evacuate Provence. Marshal Villars had driven back the Margrave of Bayreuth from the banks of the Rhine, and had advanced into Swabia; he also ravaged the Palatinate. All the negotiations of Marlborough in Sweden, at Vienna and at Berlin, had not been able to bring about, in time, a combined action of the allied forces; murmurs of dissatisfaction were heard in England as well as in Holland. The enemies of Marlborough accused him of designedly prolonging the war, by his insatiable avariciousness. The popularity of the duchess with the queen was visibly declining; all the audacity and cleverness of the great general were scarcely sufficient to turn aside parliamentary attacks. Godolphin was threatened in his power. "I am discouraged," wrote Marlborough to his wife, "and I am astonished at the courage of the Lord Treasurer. If I was treated as he is--and I probably will be--and was always upon the point of seeing myself abandoned by the Whigs, I would not remain at my post for all that the world might offer; I would not be the first to repent. When I say this I know well that while the war lasts, I ought to retain my command; but I do not wish to put my hand to another thing."