[T.S.]] [Footnote 2: Walpole was not too obscure, however, to be then the object of Bolingbroke's attack; and in 1726, when Bolingbroke had again attacked Walpole, this time in a letter, the latter replied: "Whatever contradictions these gentlemen may have observed in my character; there is one which I'll venture to assure you, you will never discover, which is my ever being alarmed at an opposition from one in the impotence of disgrace, who could never terrify me in the zenith of his prosperity." "An Answer to the Occasional Writer." [T.S.]] Another part of the report concerned the Duke of Marlborough, who had received large sums of money, by way of gratuity, from those who were the undertakers for providing the army with bread.[3] This the Duke excused, in a letter to the commissioners, from the like practice of other generals: but that excuse appeared to be of little weight, and the mischievous consequences of such a corruption were visible enough; since the money given by these undertakers were but bribes for connivance at their indirect dealings with the army.

And as frauds, that begin at the top, are apt to spread through all the subordinate ranks of those who have any share in the management, and to increase as they circulate: so, in this case, for every thousand pounds given to the general, the soldiers at least suffered fourfold.
[Footnote 3: See "The Examiner," Nos.

17 and 28, in vol.ix.of this edition.

[W.S.J.]] Another article of this report, relating to the Duke, was yet of more importance.

The greatest part of Her Majesty's forces in Flanders were mercenary troops, hired from several princes of Europe.