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XIX.

commanded the general to preserve the strictest BOOK neutrality towards the United Provinces. No sooner was war decided upon than general Du- 1793. mouriez hastened to put into execution the plan he had formed, to advance with a body of troops posted at the Moerdyke, and masking Breda and Gertruydenburg on the right, and Bergen-opzoom, Klundert, and Williamstadt, on the left, to effect a passage over an arm of the sea to Dordt, and thus penetrate at once into the heart of Holland. In the mean time general Miranda had directions, leaving general Valence before Maestricht, to march with all expedition to Nimeguen, in order to oppose the expected invasion of the Prussians on that side.

mouriez en

General Dumouriez, assembling his army in General Du the neighbourhood of Antwerp, entered the tersHolland. Dutch territory on the 17th of February. On the 24th Breda surrendered, through the cowardice or treachery of its governor, count Byland, almost on the first summons. The fort of Klundert was taken, after a brave defence, on the 26th. Within nine days afterwards, Gertruydenburg followed the example of Breda; but Williamstadt made an obstinate resistance; and while the French troops were still engaged in the siege of this small, but strong, fortress, intelligence arrived from the eastern frontier of the Netherlands which materially changed the

XIX.

BOOK aspect of the war. On the 1st of March, general Clairfait, having suddenly passed the Roer in the night, attacked the French posts on that side, and compelled them to retreat as far as Alder

1793.

Successes

of general

Clairfait and haven, with the loss of 2000 men. The following

the prince of

Cobourg day the archduke Charles, brother to the reigning

emperor, carried several batteries, and took nine pieces of cannon. On the 3d, the prince of Saxe Cobourg, who had highly distinguished himself in the war with the Turks, obtained a signal advantage over general Valence and his army, driving them from Aix-la-Chapelle to the vicinity of Liege, with the loss of more than 5000 men and twenty pieces of cannon. The siege of Maestricht was immediately raised; and at midnight, on the 4th, general Miranda gave orders for retreating to Tongres, whence the French armies were again compelled to fall back to St. Tron, where Miranda was joined by general Valence, who had by this time evacuated French eva- Liege and its territory; and on the 8th they moved towards Tirlemont.

cuate Holland.

General Dumouriez himself now arrived to take the command in person, leaving the conduct of affairs on the northern frontier to general de Flers. But the army left to his care was wholly dispirited by the departure of Dumouriez. The Prussians advanced by way of Bois-le-duc. corps of 12000 Hanoverians, reinforced by seve

A

,

XIX.

ral thousand British troops, with the duke of BOOK
York at their head, arrived nearly at the same
time in Holland; and the siege of Williamstadt 1793,
Instead of proceeding to Dordt,

was raised.
De Flers was compelled to throw himself into
Breda, the main body of the army retiring pre-
cipitately to Antwerp.

Neerwin

The troops under Miranda and Valence felt Battle of all their confidence revive on seeing their former den. victorious commander at their head; but the caprice of fortune disappointed their hopes. On the 18th of March a general engagement took place on the Plains of Neerwinden, which continued with unremitting obstinacy from morning till evening, when the French were totally routed, with very considerable loss. Miranda was, upon this occasion, charged by Dumouriez with causing, by his misconduct, the loss of the battle; but that officer retorted with great spirit on his commander-in-chief, vindicating himself with great ability, and plainly intimating his suspicions of treachery on the part of Dumouriez. He declared that Dumouriez, who had never before failed to consult him upon every occasion, did not even mention to him the arrangements for the battle of Neerwinden; and that the position of the enemy had not been previously reconnoitred.

The French continued retreating; and, on the 21st, general Dumouriez was posted near Louvain.

BOOK Here a sort of tacit suspension of hostilities took XIX. place, and the French army was allowed to 1793. march back to their own frontier without any serious molestation, on condition of evacuating

Dumouriez.

Brussels, and all the other towns of Brabant, &c. still in their possession. On the 27th, general Defection of Dumouriez held a conference with an Austrian officer of high distinction, colonel Mack, from whom, as he tells us, he did not conceal his design of marching against Paris, with a view of re-establishing the constitutional monarchy of 1791 and it was agreed that the Imperialists should act merely as auxiliaries in the accomplishment of this plan; not advancing, except in case of necessity, beyond the frontier of France and that the troops to be eventually furnished by the prince of Cobourg should act entirely under the direction of general Dumouriez.

The designs of Dumouriez did not, however, pass unsuspected at Paris. Three commissioners from the executive power had therefore been dispatched to Flanders, under the pretence of conferring with the general concerning the affairs of Belgium. In this interview Dumouriez expressed himself with great violence against the jacobins. They would ruin France," said he; "but I will save it, though they should call me a Cæsar, a Cromwell, or a Monk." He styled

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XIX.

the Convention, "a horde of ruffians;" and de- BOOK clared, "that this assembly would not exist three weeks longer; that France must have a king:" 1793. adding, "that, since the battle of Gemappe, he had wept over his success in so bad a cause.'

"

On the return of the commissioners to Paris, suspicion being converted into certainty, general Dumouriez was summoned to appear at the bar of the Convention, and M. Bournonville appointed to supersede him. Four new commissioners also were deputed to the army of the north, with powers to suspend and arrest all officers who should fall under their suspicion. On their arrival at Lisle, March 28, the commissioners transmitted their orders to general Dumouriez, to appear before them, and answer the charges against him. But the general had fully arranged his plan, and the Rubicon was already passed. He replied, therefore, "that, in the present exigent circumstances, he could not leave the army for a moment; that when he did enter Lisle, it would be in order to purge it of traitors; and that he valued his head too much to submit it to an arbitrary tribunal.”

the French

The commissioners now adopted the daring Seizure of resolution to proceed to the camp; but they commisfound by experience how dangerous was the attempt to seize the person of a general at the

head of his army. On the first of April they ar

sioners.

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