and sentiments; that foreign troops, if few, would serve only to inflame hatred and discontent; and how to bring over at once, and maintain many (for no less than threescore thousand would be necessary to subdue the spirit and liberties of the nation), was very hard to imagine. These reasonings Temple endeavoured to enforce by the authority of Gourville, a French statesman, who had resided some time in England, and for whose judgment he knew Charles had great respect. "A king of England," said Gourville, on hearing of our dissensions, "who will be the "MAN of his people, is the greatest king in the world; but if "he will be something more, by God! he is nothing at all." The king, who had listened with impatience at first, seemed now open to conviction; and laying his hand on Temple's, said, with an air of sincerity-" And I will be the MAN of my people4?!" When Temple went abroad, he found a variety of circumstances likely to defeat the purpose of his embassy.— The allies in general, independent of their jealousy of Charles's mediation, expressed great ardour for the continuance of the war. Spain had engaged Holland to stipulate never to come to an accommodation, until all things in Flanders were restored to the same situation in which they were left by the Pyrenean treaty; the emperor had high pretensions on Alsace; and although the Dutch, oppressed by heavy taxes, might be desirous of peace, they could not, without violating all the principles of honour and policy, abandon those allies, to whose protection they had so lately been indebted for their safety. The prince of Orange, who had vast influence in their councils, and in whose family they had just decreed the office of Stadtholder to be perpetual, was beside ambitious of military fame, and convinced, that it would be in vain to negociate, till a greater impression was made upon France, as no equitable terms could otherwise be 41. Temple's Mem. patt ii. chap. i. 42. Id. Ibid. expected expected from Lewis43. The operations of the ensuing campaign did not contribute to this effect. Lewis XIV. astonished all Europe by the vigour of his exertions. He had three great armies in the field this summer: one on the side of Germany, one in Flanders, and one on the frontiers of Roussillon; and he himself, at the head of a fourth, entered Franche Comte, and subdued the whole province in six weeks. The taking of Besancon was matter of great triumph to the French monarch. He loved sieges, and is said to have understood them well; but he never besieged a town without being morally certain of taking it. Louvois prepared all things so effectually, the troops were so well appointed, and Vauban, who conducted most of the sieges, was so great a master in the art of taking towns, that the king's glory was perfectly safe. Vauban directed the attacks at Besancon, which was reduced in nine days, and became the capital of the province: the university and the seat of government being transferred to it from Dol44. Nothing of importance happened in Roussillon: but in Flanders, the prince of Conde, with an inferior army, prevented the prince of Orange from entering France by that quarter: and, after long avoiding an engagement, from motives of prudence, he attacked the rear of the confederates, when an opportunity offered, in a narrow defile near Seneffe, a village between Marimont and Nivelle; threw them into confusion, and took the greater part of their cannon and baggage. The prince of Orange, however, less remarkable for preventing misfortunes than for stopping its progress, rallied his disordered forces; led them back to the charge; pushed the veteran troops of France; and obliged the great Conde to exert more desperate efforts, and hazard his person more than in any action during his life, though now in an ad 43. Temple, ubi sup. Voltaire, Siecle, chap. x. vanced vanced age, and though he had been peculiarly distinguished in youth by the impetuosity of his courage. William did not expose his person less. Hence the generous and candid testimony of Conde, forgetful of his own behaviour: "The "prince of Orange has acted in every thing like an old "captain, except in venturing his life too much like a young "soldier45." The engagement was renewed three several times; and, after sun-set, it was continued for two hours by the light of the moon. Darkness at last, not the slackness of the combatants, put an end to the contest, and left the victory undecided46. Twelve thousand men lay dead on the field, and the loss on both sides was nearly equal47. In order to give an air of superiority to the allies, and to bring the French to a new engagement, the prince of Orange besieged Oudenarde; but Souches, the Imperial general, not being willing to hazard a battle, he was obliged to relinquish his enterprize, on the approach of Conde. Before the close of the campaign, however, after an obstinate siege, he took Grave, the last town which the French held in any of the Seven Provinces48. Turenne, who commanded on the side of Germany completed that high reputation which he had already acquired, of being.the greatest general of his age and nation. By a long and hasty march, in order to prevent the junction of the different bodies of German troops, he passed the Rhine at Philipsburg, and defeated the old duke of Lorrain, and Caprara, the Imperial general, at Sintzheim. With twenty thousand men, he possessed himself of the whole Palatinate, by driving the allied princes beyond the Neckar and the Maine. They returned, however, during his absence in Lorrain, with a prodigious army, and poured into Alsace, where they meant to pass the winter. He came back 45. Temple's Mem. part ii. chap. i. 47. Voltaire, Siecle, chap. xi. 46. Id. Ibid. 48. Temple, ubi. sup. upon upon them unexpectedly; routed the Imperialists at Mulhausen, and chased from Colmer the elector of Brandenburg, who commanded the troops of the allied princes. He gained a farther advantage at Turkheim; and having dislodged all the Germans, obliged them to pass the Rhine. But the glory of so many victories, was stained by the cruelties committed in the Palatinate; where the elector beheld, from his castle at Manheim, two cities and five and twenty towns in flames49, and where lust and rapine walked hand in hand with fire and sword. Stung with rage and revenge at such a spectacle, he challenged Turenne to single combat. The mareschal coolly replied, that he would not accept such a challenge without his master's leave ; but was ready to meet the Palatine in the field, at the head of his army against any which that prince and his new allies could bring together50. These events inspired the people of England with the most melancholy apprehensions, but gave sincere satisfaction to the court; and Charles, at the request of the king of France, prorogued the parliament, which was to have met on the 10th of October, to the 13th of April in the following year, lest the commons should force him to take part with the United Provinces. One hundred thousand pounds was the price of this prorogations1. Lewis, notwithstanding his successes, was alarmed at the number of his enemies; and therefore, beside purchasing the neutrality of England, he endeavoured, though in vain, to negociate a peace with Holland. The events A. D. 1675. of the next campaign shewed that his fears were well founded. Though he made vast preparations, and entered Flanders with a numerous army, commanded by himself and the prince of Conde, he was able to gain no advantage of any consequence over the prince of Orange, who 49. Voltaire, Siecle, chap. xi. 50. Temple's Mem. part ii. 51. Dalrymple's Append. Macpherson, Hist. Brit. chap. iv. VOL. IV. opposed opposed him in all his motions. Neither party was willing without some peculiarly favourable circumstance, to hazard a general engagement, which might be attended with the utter loss of Flanders, if victory declared for the French, and with the invasion of France if the king should be defeated. Disgusted at his want of success, Lewis returned to Versailles about the end of July, and nothing memorable happened in the Low Countries during the campaign. The campaign was still less favourable to France in other quarters. Turenne was opposed, on the side of Germany, by his celebrated rival Montecuculi, who commanded the forces of the empire. The object of Montecuculi was to pass the Rhine, and penetrate into Alsace, Lorrain, or Burgundy; that of Turenne, to guard the frontiers of France, and disappoint the schemes of his antagonist. The most consummate skill was displayed on both sides. Both had reduced war to a science, and each was enabled to discover the designs of the other, by judging what he himself would have done in like circumstances. Turenne, by posting himself on the German side of the Rhine, was enabled not only to keep Montecuculi from passing the river, but to seize any opportunity that fortune might present. Such a happy moment he thought he had discerned, and was preparing to take advantage of it, by bringing the Germans to a decisive engagement, and his own generalship and that of Montecuculi, to a final trial, when a period was put to his life by a cannon-ball, as he was viewing the position of the enemy, and taking measures for erecting a batterys2. The consternation of the French on the loss of their general was inexpressible. The same troops, that a moment before were assured of victory, now thought of nothing but flight. A dispute relative to the command, between the count de Lorges, nephew to Turenne, and the marquis de 52. Temple's Mem. part ii, chap. i. Henault, 1675. Voltaire, Siecle, chap. xi. Vaubrun, |