CHAP. XXXIX.] THE GRAND ALLIANCE. 429 would not have caused this misery could he have seen it with his own eyes; a better security, perhaps, would have been that he should have felt some portion of it. The exasperation of the Germans may be better imagined than described. The Emperor Leopold, in confirming the Decree of the Diet of Ratisbon of January 24th, 1689, for war, denounced the King of France as the enemy not only of the Empire, but of all Christendom, and worthy to be regarded in the same light as the Turk.' The Diet decreed the expulsion of every Frenchman from Germany, and interdicted, under the penalty of high treason, all commerce with France. It was in the midst of these horrors and disasters that Leopold extended the bounds of the coalition against Louis XIV. by entering into an offensive and defensive treaty with the Dutch Republic, May 12th, 1689, in which both parties engaged not to lay down their arms, or separate from each other, till Louis should have been deprived of all his conquests, and reduced within the limits of the treaties of Westphalia and the Pyrenees.2 William III., as King of England, acceded to the treaty, December 30th, 1689, and his example was followed by the King of Spain (June 6th, 1690). The greater part of Europe was thus confederated against France, and the treaty obtained the name of the GRAND ALLIANCE. Frederick III. of Brandenburg-the Great Elector, Frederick William, had died April 29th, 1688-had also joined the party of his uncle William and the Emperor, and, following the footsteps of his father as protector of the Reformed Faith, had done all that lay in his power to promote the success of William's enterprise upon England. The death of Pope Innocent XI. (August, 1689) seemed to be the only event favourable to France. But although Louis XIV. expended three million livres to procure the election of Alexander VIII. (Cardinal Ottoboni), as Innocent's successor, and though he restored Avignon to that pontiff, and yielded on the subject of the ambassadorial franchise, yet he did not succeed in gaining his friendship. Alexander confirmed the election of Clement to the Archbishopric of Cologne, and continued to refuse bulls of investiture to the French bishops who had been parties to the declaration of 1682. Our limits will not permit us to describe at any length the war between Louis XIV. and the Grand Alliance, which lasted till the Peace of Ryswick, in 1697, but only to note some of the chief 2 Dumont, t. vii. pt. ii. p. 229. 1 Theatrum Europ. t. xiii. p. 657. 3 Ibid. pp. 241, 267. 430 CAMPAIGN OF 1690. [CHAP. XXXIX. incidents of the different campaigns. The Imperialists had, in 1689, notwithstanding the efforts it was still necessary to make against the Turks, brought an army of 80,000 men into the field, which was divided into three bodies, under the command of the Duke of Lorraine, the Elector of Bavaria, and the Elector of Brandenburg; while the Prince of Waldeck, in the Netherlands, was at the head of a large Dutch and Spanish force, composed, however, in great part of German mercenaries. In this quarter Marshal d'Humières was opposed to Waldeck, while Duras commanded the French army on the Rhine. In the south the Duke of Noailles maintained a French force in Catalonia. Nothing of much importance was done this year; but on the whole the war went in favour of the Imperialists, who succeeded in recovering Mentz and Bonn. 1690. This year Marshal d'Humières was superseded by the Duke of Luxembourg, who infused more vigour into the French operations. Luxembourg was a general of the school of Condé : that is to say, he achieved success by vigour and impetuosity rather than by cautious skill and scientific combinations. On the other hand, these last qualities, which were the characteristics of Turenne, were possessed in an eminent degree by Catinat, the first instance in France of a plebeian general. Belonging to a family of the Robe, or legal profession, and at first an advocate himself, Catinat had attained his military rank solely by his merit and almost in spite of the Court. Mild and simple in his manners, wary and prudent in his manoeuvres, he was beloved by his soldiers, who called him "Père La Pensée." Catinat was sent this year into Dauphiné to watch the movements of the Duke of Savoy, who was suspected by the French Court, and not without reason, of favouring the Grand Alliance. The extravagant demands of Louis, who required Victor Amadeus to unite his troops with the army of Catinat, and to admit a French garrison into Vercelli, Verrua, and even the citadel of Turin itself, till a general peace should be effected, caused the Duke to enter into treaties with Spain and the Emperor, June 3rd and 4th ;1 and on October 20th, he joined the Grand Alliance by a treaty concluded at the Hague with England and the States-General. This last step was taken by Victor Amadeus in consequence of his reverses. He had sustained from Catinat in the battle of Staffarda (August 17th) a defeat, which only the skill of a youthful general, his cousin the Prince Eugene, had saved from becoming a total rout. As the 1 Dumont, t. vii. pt. ii. p. 265 sqq. 2 Ibid. p. 272. CHAP. XXXIX.] CAMPAIGNS OF 1691, 1692. 431 fruits of this victory, Catinat occupied Saluzzo, Susa, and all the country from the Alps to the Tanaro. During these operations another French division had reduced, without much resistance, the whole of Savoy, except the fortress of Montmélian. The only other event of importance during this campaign was the decisive victory gained by Luxembourg over Prince Waldeck at Fleurus, July 1st. The captured standards, more than a hundred in number, which Luxembourg sent to Paris on this occasion, obtained for him the name of the Tapissier de Notre Dame. Luxembourg was, however, prevented from following up his victory by the orders of Louvois, who forbad him to lay siege to Namur or Charleroi. Thus, in this campaign, France maintained her preponderance on land as well as at sea by the victory off Beachy Head, already mentioned. The Imperialists had this year lost one of their best leaders by the death of the Duke of Lorraine (April). He was succeeded as commander-in-chief by Maximilian Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria; but nothing of importance took place upon the Rhine. 1691.-The campaign of this year was singularly barren of events, though both the French and English Kings took a personal part in it. In March, Louis and Luxembourg laid siege to Mons, the capital of Hainault, which surrendered in less than three weeks. King William, who was in the neighbourhood, could not muster sufficient troops to venture on its relief. Nothing further of importance was done in this quarter, and the campaign in Germany was equally a blank. On the side of Piedmont, Catinat took Nice, but being confronted by superior numbers, was forced to evacuate Piedmont; though, by way of compensation, he completed the conquest of Savoy by the capture of Montmélian. Noailles gained some trifling successes in Spain; and the celebrated French corsair, Jean Bart, distinguished himself by his enterprises at sea. One of the most remarkable events of the year was a domestic occurrence, the death of Louvois. That minister had become altogether insupportable to Louis by his insolence, and by the errors and even crimes into which he had led him; and the French King could not help expressing the satisfaction he felt at his death. Nevertheless, in spite of all his faults, Louvois had great administrative abilities, and particularly a wonderful talent for military organization, the loss of which in the present embarrassing war, it was impossible to supply. 1692.-Louis had made extraordinary exertions for the campaign of this year. The French armies were estimated at nearly 432 BATTLE OF LA HOGUE. [CHAP. XXXIX. So great 450,000 men, while 100,000 were levied for the navy. a force had never before been raised in France. Enraged by the loss of Ireland in the preceding year, Louis had resolved to make a grand attempt for the restoration of James II. by a descent upon England. For this purpose, and for an attack upon the Spanish Netherlands, his whole power was to be concentrated, whilst in Germany, Piedmont, and Catalonia his armies were to stand on the defensive. Five hundred transports, calculated to convey 30,000 men, chiefly Irish and British emigrants, were assembled at La Hogue, Cherbourg, and Havre; and their pas sage was to be covered by a French fleet of fifty ships of the line under Tourville. The frustration of this attempt by Admiral Russell's victory over Tourville, May 19th, and the subsequent destruction of great part of the French ships which had taken refuge at La Hogue, are well known to the English reader. With this defeat vanished James's last chance of ever regaining the English throne. Louis's success on land afforded him some compensation for this misfortune. In May, the King and Luxembourg undertook the siege of Namur with upwards of 100,000 men. The town surrendered in less than a week, but one of the forts constructed for its protection by the celebrated Dutch engineer Cohorn, and defended by himself, held out nearly a month. William III., who was in the neighbourhood with about 70,000 men, was unable to render Namur any assistance. After the fall of that place, Louis returned to Versailles, leaving Luxembourg with a much reduced force to make head against William. On August 3rd, he was attacked, almost surprised, by William, near Steinkirk. The day was obstinately contested; both sides suffered enormous loss, and though William was at length obliged to retire, he conducted his retreat in good order and without molestation." On the side of the Rhine, and on that of the Pyrenees, the war was altogether insignificant. In the Alps the French suffered some reverses. The Duke of Savoy crossed into Dauphiné, took Embrun, burnt Gap, and devastated the surrounding country, by way of reprisal for the destruction committed by the French in Piedmont and the Palatinate. Here a youthful heroine, Mdlle. de la Tour-du-Pin, directed against the invaders a partisan warfare in a way which procured for her a military pension, and a trophy in St. Denis near that of Joan of Arc. 1 The inconvenient match-lock was still partially used by the French infantry, but seems to have been abandoned after this battle. The allies appear to have been in advance of the French in using the flint-lock. Martin, t. xiv. p. 166. CHAP. XXXIX.] BATTLE OF NEERWINDEN. 433 1693.-Early in June, for the campaign opened late, the kings of France and England found themselves almost in presence in the neighbourhood of Louvain. William III. was encamped at the Abbaye du Parck, Louis at Gemblours; William had scarcely 50,000 men, Louis had more than double that number. The defeat of William would have insured the conquest not only of Liége and Brussels, but of the whole Spanish Netherlands. The French army was impatiently awaiting the order of attack, when Louis suddenly set off for Versailles, and dismembered his army by despatching part of it into Germany, under pretence of making a diversion in favour of the Turks. In fact Louis, who was fond of besieging towns that were sure to be taken, was afraid of risking his military reputation in the open field, and in spite of the earnest intreaties of Luxembourg, flung away one of those opportunities which fortune never offers twice. This conduct, said to have been counselled by Madame de Maintenon, who had accompanied Louis to Namur, rendered him the object of derision not only to his enemies, but also to his own subjects, and deprived him of the confidence and respect of his soldiers. He never again appeared at the head of his troops. The French army was in some degree compensated for its disappointment by Luxembourg's victory over William at Neerwinden, July 29th; purchased, however, by an enormous loss on their side as well as on that of the allies.1 William, as usual, conducted his retreat with skill and safety, so that Luxembourg, who was momentarily expected at Brussels, did not venture to follow him, and was fain to content himself with the capture of Charleroi. Meanwhile the campaign in Germany, for the sake of which Louis had relinquished the prospect of conquering the entire Spanish Netherlands, was almost null. Here a fine army, nominally under the command of the Dauphin, but in reality of Marshal De Lorges, achieved only the re-conquest of the ruins of Heidelberg, and disgraced itself by pillaging and burning what had escaped the former devastation, and by exercising the most ruthless barbarity on the miserable inhabitants. In Piedmont, Catinat, now a marshal, gained a great victory over the Duke of Savoy at Marsaglia, October 4th, but was unable to follow it up for want of money and siege materials. Prince Eugene commanded the allied infantry This is said to have been the first battle decided by a charge with the bayonet, which was then nothing but a sword thrust into the barrel of the musket. The modern method of fixing III. it was, however, invented about this time either by Vauban, or the Scotch general Mackay. Martin, t. xiv. p. 176. The Duke of Berwick was captured in this action. See his Mémoires, vol. i. p. 120. F F |