blue ribband, and the office of chancellor of the BOOK university of Oxford *. XX. the duke of the king of As the campaign of 1793 terminated very late 1791. in the year, that of 1794 did not commence Letter from early. On the 6th of January the duke of Brunswic to Brunswic addressed a remarkable letter to the Prussia king of Prussia, in which he announced the resignation of his command, stating as his motive "the unhappy experience that want of connection, distrust, egotism, and a spirit of cabal, had disconcerted the measures adopted during the two last campaigns." He speaks still more plainly in a subsequent part of the letter, saying "When, instead of the prevalence of an unanimous sentiment and the same principle, each army acts separate and alone, of its own accord, without any fixed plan, without unanimity and without principles, the consequences are such as we have seen at Dunkirk, at Maubeuge, and Landau. Heaven preserve your majesty from great misfortunes!" * The accumulation of honors and rewards conferred upon this nobleman, in consequence of the abandonment of his principles and his party, produced the following sarcastic epigram, in allusion to his grace's family motto, CRAIGNEZ HONTE :— When the first Bentinck warn'd his race Above all things to fear disgrace, PORTLAND, thy base apostasy? BOOK XX. the court of Berlin. It is probable that the king of Prussia, being totally disappointed in his selfish and unprin1791. cipled views of sharing in the spoils of vanquished France, had already determined to withdraw Intrigues of himself from the confederacy. In the month of February certain commissioners from the French republic arrived at Frankfort, under the pretext of negotiating for an exchange of prisoners: but the marked distinction with which they were treated, with the long and secret conferences which they held with general Kalkreuth, who was known to possess the entire confidence of the Prussian monarch, indicated a treaty of very different import and far higher moment. Fieldmarshal Mullendorf succeeded to the duke of Brunswic in the command of the Prussian army; and an intimation to the prince of Cobourg that he had received orders from his court to march towards Cologne was followed, on the 13th of March, by a proclamation addressed to the German empire, announcing his Prussian majesty's actual secession from the grand confederacy. His majesty stated "the incredible efforts he had made to oppose this almost unconquerable enemy; that he had made every possible sacrifice to the common cause which the natural strength of Prussia would permit ; and that he is able no longer to take an active part, from his own means, without ruining his XX. wn dominions, and entirely exhausting the pro- BOOK perty of his subjects. He concludes, therefore, with declaring his resolution to withdraw his 1794. troops from the protection of the empire, and to order them instantly to return to his own dominions." The British minister, whom it was well known that his Prussian majesty regarded as no statesman, at once fell into the snare, and that famous treaty of subsidy was concluded, conformably to which the sum of near two millions sterling was to be paid to the court of Berlin for the service of an army of 62,000 men, to be commanded by an officer of his Prussian majesty's own appointment. Every article in this treaty betrayed the folly and incapacity of the British ministry; and the circumstance alone of a Prussian general being placed at the head of the troops was suf ficient to render the agreement totally ineffectual. The wealth of Britain was exhausted to purchase the aid of, at best, a nominal, perhaps a treacherous, ally-one already known to be devoid equally of honor and of honesty. transactions. A general council of war was convened in the Military month of March at Ath, when the projected arrangements of the campaign, on the part of the court of Vienna, were brought forward by general Haddick. A main article of this plan was, that general Clairfait, an Austrian officer of great BOOK ability and experience, should be appointed to XX. the command of the auxiliary forces, and that 1794. the duke of York should act under his orders the prince of Cobourg continuing at the head of the grand Imperial army. This his royal highness refused with disdain; and, after much time lost in consulting the two courts, a compromise was at length effected, and it was determined that the emperor himself should take the field in person, and that in him should be vested the supreme command *. On the 9th of April his Imperial majesty arrived at Brussels, where he was solemnly inaugurated duke of Brabant. Thence he proceeded to Valenciennes, where his presence diffused at least the appearance of joy; and, on the 16th, the whole army was reviewed by him on the heights above Cateau. On the following day they marched in eight columns to invest Landreci. The French assembled in force at the camp of Cæsar, near Cambray, from which they were, on the 23d, * Possibly the duke of York had never heard that Peter the Great served as a private soldier in his own army; or possibly his ideas of greatness might be different. It does not indeed appear that his royal highness was subject to the orders even of the Emperor. His language in his dispatch of April 30th, is, "the emperor has desired me to march this evening to St. Amand:" and, May 2, "In consequence of the emperor's request I marched from the camp near Cateau, &c." XX. driven by the Confederates, and the investment BOOK of Landreci immediately took place. The very next day a general assault took place upon the 1794. different posts of the allies in this quarter on the part of the French, now under the command of general Pichegru, in consequence of a preconcerted plan, which embraced the whole line of frontier from Treves to the sea. They were for the most part repulsed; but the post of Moucron, where general Clairfait commanded, was attacked with far superior force by Pichegru in person, and carried, after a brave resistance. In consequence of this success Courtray and Menin fell into the hands of the republicans. In return, the fortress of Landreci, which had Landreci captured by repelled the utmost efforts of prince Eugene in the allies. 1712, fell into the hands of the prince of Cobourg, after a siege of no long duration. A variety of severe but indecisive conflicts took place in the course of the next two months, interesting only to readers of military history. About the middle of June, the French under general Jourdain, who commanded on the side of the Moselle, passed the Sambre, for the third time in the space of fourteen days, and after being twice repulsed laid siege to the town of Charleroi. The danger to which this important place, and eventually Brussels itself, was exposed, determined the prince of Cobourg to |