Admiral Russell, on the first certain intelligence of the projected invasion, was ordered to repair to the Downs. Having hoisted his flag on board the Victory, he collected, with incredible diligence and dispatch, a fleet of fifty sail, with which he appeared before Calais; and although he found it impracticable to destroy the French shipping, or greatly to injure the town, he spread terror all along the coast, and convinced the enemy of the necessity of attending to their own safety, instead of ambitiously attempting to invade their neighbours 39. Thus were all the hopes of James and his adherents blasted, by what the French termed his MALIGNANT STAR. Covered with shame and confusion, and overwhelmed with disappointment and despair, he returned to St. Germains; where, laying aside all thoughts of an earthly crown, he turned his views solely toward heaven. Lewis XIV. who was an accomplished gentlemán as well as a magnificent king, treated the dethroned monarch, on every occasion, with much tenderness and respect. But some of the French courtiers were less polite than their sovereign: "There," said one of them, in the hearing of James, "is "a simpleton, who has lost three kingoms for a mass40 !"

We shall see, in the course of events, Lewis himself obliged to abandon the cause of this royal refugee, and to acknowledge the right of William to his dominions.

covered a cool courage, which does great honour to his memory. On some occasions he displayed even a generous magnanimity that claims admiration. He not only pardoned, but continued in employment, some of his principal servants after making them sensible that he was acquainted with their intrigues!—And he was rewarded with that fidelity which such 'heroic confidence deserved.

39. Id. Ibid.

40. Voltaire, Siecle, chap. xiv.

LETTER

LEAGUE OF AUGSBURG, TO THE PEACE OF RYSWICK, IN 1697, AND OF CARLOWITZ, IN 1699.

I HAVE already had occasion to observe, that Lewis XIV. threatened by the powerful confederacy formed in consequence of the league of Augsburg, made

himself master of Philipsburg and other places in A. D. 1688. 1688, as a prelude to more vigorous exertions; and that the alliance against him was completed, by the accession of England, in 1689. I have also had occasion to notice, that the emperor Leopold, the supposed head of this alliance, having subdued the male contents in Hungary, had got his son, Joseph, proclaimed king of that country, and the Hungarian crown declared hereditary in the house of Austria.

That revolution was not accomplished without the shedding of much blood, both in the field and on the scaffold. Leopold, the protector of Christendom, and the assertor of the rights of nations, was himself a tyrant and a persecutor. He was still engaged in hostilities with the Turks; but the taking of Belgrade by assault, joined to his other successes, enabled him to take part in the war against Lewis, whose vain-glorious ambition had alarmed all Europe. Beside a jealousy for the liberties of Germany, Leopold had other motives for entering into this war. He was sensible, that the most Christian king, while persecuting his own protestant subjects, for not conforming to the church of Rome, had supported the protestants in Hungary! that he had incited them to take arms in defence of those heretical opinions, which he abhorred! and that, by his intrigues, he had even encouraged the infidels to invade the holy Roman empire, the great bulwark of the Christian world!

The

The French monarch, trusting to his great resources, prepared himself to repel the storm which his ambition had raised, with a vigour proportioned to the occasion. He assembled two armies in Flanders: he opposed a

A. D. 1689.

FEBRUARY.

third to the Spaniards in Catalonia; and, in order to form a barrier on the side of Germany, he laid waste the Palatinate with fire and sword, after having made himself master of its principal towns. This barbarous policy, which has been justly and severely blamed, can never be held in too much detestation. Men, women and children, were driven, in a severe season, out of their habitations, to wander about the fields, and to perish of hunger and cold; while they beheld their houses reduced to ashes, their goods seized, and their possessions pillaged by the rapacious soldiery. The terrible execution began at Manheim, the seat of the electors; where not only the palaces of those princes were razed to the ground, but their very tombs opened in search of hidden treasures, and their venerable dust scattered in the air'. Twice, during the reign of Lewis XIV. was this fine country desolated by the arms of France; but the flames lighted by Turenne, however dreadful, were only like so many torches, compared with the present frightful conflagration, which filled all Europe with horror.

Nor did that cruel expedient, so disgraceful to the charac ter of the French monarch, answer the end proposed: it served only to increase the number and the rancour of his enemies. Though Lewis had near four hundred thousand men in the field, he found himself inferior to the allies. Eleven thousand English troops, commanded by the earl of Marlborough, augmented the army of Spain and the United Provinces, in Flanders, to near fifty thousand men. The Germanic body, united under the emperor, assembled three formidable armies, beside that opposed to the Turks ; namely, one under the elector of Bavaria, who commanded on

1. Voltaire, Siecle, chap. xv. Hainault, 1689.

the

the Upper Rhine; another, and the main army, led by the duke of Lorrain, who acted on the Middle Rhine: and a third, conducted by the elector of Brandenburg, appeared on the Lower Rhine.

The duke of Lorrain, passing the Rhine at Coblentz, and the Moselle of Alcken, pursued his march through the forest of Saon, and laid siege to Mentz; while the elector of Brandenburg, with his own troops, and those of Westphalia, invested Bonne. Both places were taken: and the French, under the mareschal d'Humiers, though determined to remain on the defensive in Flanders, were brought to an engagement by the Prince of Waldec, and worsted at Walcourt. Nor was Lewis more successful in Catalonia, where his troops were driven back to their own frontiers by the duke de Villa Hermosa; who, pursuing mareschal de Noailles, laid Roussillon under contribution, and obliged him to abandon Campredon, which he had taken in the beginning of the campaign3. The same bad fortune that seemed to persecute France, fell still with greater weight upon the grand seignior, her ally. The prince of Baden, who commanded for the emperor on the side of Hungary, defeated the Turks in three successive engagements. He forced their entrenchments, on the banks of the Morava, he routed them at Nissa, and he obtained a complete victory at Widin+; so that the most christian king, who had expected a great diversion of the Imperial forces by the infidels, now found himself obliged to rely on his own arms.

The enemies of France were still more numerous during the next campaign, but her generals were better chosen. The duke of Savoy having joined the allies, it became A. D. 1699. necessary for Lewis to send an army into Italy. This army was committed to the mareschal de Catinat, who united the fire of a hero to the coolness of a philosopher. Bred to the law, in which he would have excelled, he had quitted 4. Barre, tom. x. that

2. Id. Ibid.

3. Mem. de Noailles, tom. i,

that profession in disgust, and risen to the highest military rank by the mere force of merit. He every where shewed himself superior to his antagonist Victor Amadeus, though reputed an able general, and completely defeated him at Staf farada. In consequence of this victory, Saluces fell into the hands of the French; Suga, which commanded the passes between Dauphine and Piedmont, was taken; and all Savoy, except the fortress of Montmalian, was soon reduceds.

The same success attended the arms of France on the frontiers of Spain, where all Catalonia was thrown into confusion; and Luxembourg, who united the conduct of Turenne to the intuitive genius of Conde, gave a new turn to her affairs in Flanders. Being suddenly joined by the mareschal de Boufflers, he advanced against the Dutch and Spaniards under the prince of Waldec: and an obstinate battle ensued, at Fleurus, near Charleroy; where, by a bold and decisive motion of his cavalry, he gained a complete but bloody victory. Covered from the view of the enemy by a rising ground, the French horse fell upon the flank of the Dutch, while engaged in front with the infantry. The Dutch cavalry were broken, and fled at the first shock; but their infantry stood firm, and performed signal feats of valour. Seven thousand were killed on the spot, before they gave way; and Luxembourg declared, that the Spanish infantry did not behave with more gallantry at Rocroy6.

Nothing memorable happened during the campaign on the French side of Germany. The inaction of the allies in that quarter may partly be ascribed to the death of the duke of Lorrain. This gallant prince, whose high spirit induced him to abandon his dominions, and become a soldier of fortune, rather than submit to the hard conditions offered him by Lewis XIV. at the peace of Nimeguen, had greatly distinguished himself on many occasions, and was become a consummate general. His injuries seem always to have 5. Voltaire. Siecle, chap. xv. Hainault, 1699.

6. Id. Ibid.

been