1643.] BATTLE OF ROCROY. 21 instant he collected all his cavalry, and determined to guide them all along the rear of the Spanish lines. Fortune favored his boldness; and arriving thus at the other wing, and taking Melo's troops in the rear, he snatched from them a victory which seemed almost secure. La Ferté and the other prisoners were set free, the lost artillery was not only recovered, but the enemy's too was taken, and the enemy were in their turn put to flight. There yet remained, however, to vanquish all the Spanish infantry which was posted in the centre, and had not yet joined in the conflict. Enghien was observing, not without some uneasiness, their haughty bearing and their immovable calmness, when news was brought him that General Beck, bringing to the enemy a reinforcement of six thousand fresh troops, was at a very little distance from the field of battle. The Duke, without hesitation, detached Gassion with a portion of the cavalry to delay this reinforcement as long as possible, while he presented himself at the head of the rest to fall upon the Spanish infantry before the junction could be effected. Then it was that the Conde de Fuentes proved how the powers of mind can triumph over the infirmities of the body. From his litter shone forth the lightning of a noble courage, tried in twenty battles, and exciting the admiration even of his enemies. He allowed the French cavalry to advance within fifty feet, then spreading out several of his battalions he disclosed a battery of guns charged with cartridges. This discharge, accompanied by a terrible volley of musketry, carried death and terror into the French ranks. They were repulsed in the greatest disorder; and even their own writers acknowledge that if Fuentes had.had a division of cavalry to second him, he might still perhaps have snatched the victory from the Duke d'Enghien.* For want of this Spanish cavalry, which was already put to flight, Enghien was able to rally his own; and seeing how every moment was becoming more precious, he led them a second time to the charge. In spite of his ardor and perseverance he was repulsed a second time. A third attack which he directed did not prove more successful; but during this time his reserve, for *Desormeaux, Hist., vol. i., p. 102. which he had sent, arrived, and by their means Enghien was able to surround on all sides the brave Spanish infantry. Besides, their best soldiers had fallen in the three murderous attacks, and their chief was expiring of several wounds he had received. Their officers then saw that they must yield to numbers, and they came forth from the ranks making signs with their hats, and asking for quarter. Enghien advanced towards them to receive their submission and give them his word; but when he was only at a few steps distance, the Spanish soldiers mistook his intention they fancied he was ordering a fresh attack, and they made a tremendous discharge. It was considered almost a miracle that the Duke, being so near them, had not either been killed or wounded. The French, however, taking the error of the Spaniards for an act of perfidy, fell upon them from all sides, and inflicted a most dreadful slaughter. In vaid did the Duke call to them with all his might to spare the vanquished. It was by the greatest efforts only that he succeeded in saving from this butchery some officers covered with blood, and already halfdead. : Meanwhile Enghien expected still to have to hold out against the corps under General Beck; but the runaway Spanish cavalry having joined that corps, and having communicated to it their own alarm, General Beck had retired with such precipitation that he had even abandoned some of his artillery. It was Gassion himself who came to announce this good news to the Duke. Then Enghien, assured of the most complete victory, threw himself on his knees at the head of his army, to return thanks to the God of battles. On rising from his knees he embraced Gassion with great emotion, as the principal instrument of his victory, and promised him, in the King's name, the bâton of a French Marshal, which Gassion accordingly received at the close of the campaign. On the other officers, and even on La Ferté Sennecterre, he lavished praises and rewards. One might have said, on hearing him, that he would not reserve for himself the smallest portion of the glory which he had just gained. In this battle, disputed with so much animosity for six hours, the loss of the French, according to their own computation, amounted to two thousand men killed or wounded, but was pro 1643.] MILITARY CRITICS. 23 bably still more considerable. That of the Spaniards was immense, and their infantry especially, which since the great day at Pavia had been considered invincible, was destroyed rather than conquered at Rocroy. Of eighteen thousand men which formed this infantry, nearly nine thousand were killed in the ranks assigned to them, and seven thousand were taken. Such was the pride of these old bands, celebrated all over Europe, that a French officer having the next day asked a Spaniard what were their numbers before the battle, "You have only," replied he, "to count the dead and the prisoners!" The old Conde de Fuentes, pierced with many wounds, was found expiring by the side of his broken litter. "Ah!" exclaimed Enghien, on contemplating these sad remains, "had I not conquered, I should have wished to die like him!" Fuentes' litter was for a long time preserved at Chantilly as the principal trophy of this brilliant victory. All the Spanish artillery, consisting of twentyfour cannon, and their standards, of which there were three hundred, fell into the hands of the conquerors. The General-inchief himself, Don Francisco de Melo, was for a moment amongst the prisoners, but found means during the fray to escape, throwing away his General's staff, which was afterwards found and presented to the Duke d'Enghien. Two other Spanish officers, Don George de Castelui and the Conde de Garces, were taken by Enghien's own hand. The Duke received three shots during the battle two in his breastplate and another in his leg, which only bruised him-but his horse was wounded by two musket balls: so that one sees he was no less a good soldier than a great captain. In our days, however, a writer who has attained some reputation by dint of libels-I mean Paul Louis Courier-has set himself against the victor of Rocroy, and at the same time against all other military reputations. According to him :-"I am ready to believe, since everybody says it, that there is an art in war, but you must acknowledge that it is the only one which requires no apprenticeship. It is the only art one knows without ever having learnt it. In all others, study and time are requisite: one begins by being a scholar, but in this one is at once a master; and if one has the least talent for it, one accomplishes one's chef d'œuvre at the same time with one's coup d'essai. A young Prince of eighteen posts down from the Court, gives a battle, gains it, and then he is a great captain for the rest of his life, and the greatest captain of the world!"* But without pausing to observe that Enghien was nearly twenty-two, that he had studied the art of war with the greatest zeal, and that he had already served in three campaigns, may we not allow something to the sudden flash of heroic genius? Shall we not rather say with Cardinal de Retz, although the enemy of Condé, "Monsieur le Prince was born a captain, which never happened but to him, Cæsar, and Spinola. He has equalled the first-he has surpassed the second." Does not a simple narrative of the battle of Rocroy suffice to show that it was gained by skilful direction, and not by happy accident? It would be difficult to describe with what transports of joy the news of this victory was received at the Court, which was far from firmly established. It was considered, and with reason, to be the greatest battle the French had gained since that of Bouvines, four centuries before. Here then commenced that career of glory which distinguished the times of Louis XIV., and which ended only before the swords of Eugène and Marlborough; and if it was with good reason that Louis XIV. assumed the sun as his device, Rocroy may be said to have been its dawn, as Blenheim was its setting. On the 20th of May, the day after this great battle, Enghien made his triumphal entry into Rocroy. He allowed his troops to repose for two days, and then it was towards Guise that he directed his steps. He soon heard that Don Francisco de Melo had taken shelter at Philippeville, that he was trying to rally his cavalry, but that of all his infantry not above two thousand men remained to him, and they disarmed and nearly naked. No army any longer protected Flanders, and the youthful courage of Enghien already meditated its conquest But the Court which had expected to sustain war in its own pro * Conversation at the Countess of Albany's-Courier's Works, vol. ii., p. 152, ed. 128. † Memoirs of Retz, vol. i., p. 287, ed. 1817. 1643.] SIEGE OF THIONVILLE. 25 vinces, was not prepared to carry it into foreign countries. It became necessary to give up all idea of an invasion of Maritime Flanders and the siege of Dunkirk, with which Enghien had at first flattered himself. Then finding that the Spaniards had drawn off their troops from the fortifications on the Moselle, Enghien proposed to march thither, and take possession of them. He was still more animated to this undertaking in order to avenge a disgraceful defeat which the French army had sustained four years previously under the walls of Thionville. Although this project was very inferior to his first, its greatness surprised the Council of Ministers: they at first refused their consent, but the Duke insisted-and what could they refuse to the victor of Rocroy? Thionville was at that time considered to be one of the best fortresses in Europe. On arriving before its walls, after a seven days' march, Enghien hastened to send the Count de Grancey with a detachment of cavalry beyond the Moselle, to prevent the Spaniards from carrying succor into the town. Grancey acquitted himself but ill of this important commission. He was deceived by his spies, and allowed a reinforcement of two thousand men to enter. This disappointment greatly grieved the Prince, but did not discourage him. In spite of the frequent sallies of the besieged, he established his lines, erected bridges, raised redoubts, and opened a double line of trenches on the 25th of June. The French were several times repulsed, but always rallied; and everywhere the presence of Enghien either prevented or repaired the disorder. A new accident, however, appeared likely to snatch from him the victory. Towards the end of July, after a great storm, the Moselle overflowed its banks, carried away the bridges, and separated all the quarters. The troops on the other side of the river must have been destroyed if General Beck, who was encamped under the walls of Luxembourg, had fallen suddenly upon them; but the heavy German was still deliberating, when the activity of the young Prince had repaired the misfortune. The siege, therefore, went on, the attacks grew more and more frequent, and the obstinate resistance of the garrison obliged the French to have recourse to mines, which, by assiduous labor, they |