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lieu's old party, then led by his disciple Mazarin. We should not, however, attribute so great a change entirely to so frivolous an intrigue. The seed had long been sown, and Madame de Longueville's adventure only made it burst forth. The question was, whether the system of Richelieu was to be continued or abandoned a system tending to diminish the influence of the nobles for the aggrandizement of the Crown. The question was, according to the old expression of Louis XI., to put "la royauté hors de page." Besides, some new feelings had begun to arise in the heart of Anne of Austria. For several months she had been wearied by the boastings and embarrassed by the claims of her former friends. Already in her mind the new-born favor of Cardinal Mazarin was prevailing over the tried devotion of the Duke de Beaufort. In time Mazarin found means not only to gain her confidence, but also to touch her heart, and please her not only as a Queen, but as a woman; and the sequel will show what lasting, despotic, and complete power he found means to establish over the widow and mother of his Kings.

The campaign of 1644, however, was approaching, and Enghien eagerly solicited to be sent to Flanders, where the Spaniards had scarcely succeeded in gathering together an army since the disaster at Rocroy, and where consequently the most brilliant conquests might be expected. But Gaston Duke of Orleans, uncle to the young King, having put himself upon the ranks, obtained this command for himself. He was entirely wanting in talent as a general, and even in courage as a warrior; and his exploits during this campaign were confined to the siege and taking of Gravelines. As for the Duke d'Enghien, they gave him only a force of five or six thousand men, on the frontiers of Luxembourg. Notwithstanding these small numbers he was already thinking of the siege of Trèves, when the reverses of the French army in Germany obliged him to march to its assistance. But here we must retrace our steps a little.

The Maréchal de Guebriant having died in November, 1643, from the effects of a wound, the command devolved upon the Maréchal de Rantzau, a brave soldier, but a bad commander, and devoted to the pleasures of the table. Whilst he was quietly dining at Teutlingen, only four days after the death of Guebriant,

the Generals of the enemy, the famous Count de Mercy and John of Werth, were preparing for him another entertainment very hard of digestion: falling suddenly upon his army, they completely routed it. Rantzau himself fell into the hands of the conquerors, together with all his general officers, his artillery, and his equipages. To repair this loss the Court hastened to send Turenne-a name fated to rival that of Condé, and to illustrate that of France. Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, born ten years before the Duke d'Enghien, had therefore more experience, and as much courage and genius. It was the first time he had the command in chief, and he had to collect defeated and dispersed troops, without money and without arms.* Notwithstanding all his efforts he could not prevent the enemy from commencing the following campaign by the siege of Fribourg in Brisgau. Having only ten thousand men, and not being able to assist this fortress alone, he made the most earnest representations to the Court, and this latter sent orders to the Duke d'Enghien to join the army in Germany as quickly as possible and to take the command as generalissimo. These orders found the Duke d'Enghien at Amblemont, near Mouzon. Without losing a moment he put his army in march, leaving all his equipages, and made so much haste that in thirteen days he was at Brisach. On his arrival, he had the mortification of learning that Fribourg had already yielded after the weakest resistance. In his first transport of anger Enghien inveighed with fury against the cowardly governor, threatening to have him hanged: but this untoward event did not prevent him from following out his plans. Followed only by the Maréchal de Grammont, he crossed the Rhine, to see Turenne, who was encamped opposite Fribourg and the army of the enemy. The two Generals held a council together. As we have already said, Turenne had ten thousand men; Enghien, having had a reinforcement, brought as many. They had before them only fifteen thousand Bavarians; but those fifteen thousand were commanded by Mercy, and their position was nearly impregnable: a country covered with woods and rocks-a camp thick set with redoubts and chevaux-de-frise. Tu

Ramsay's History of Turenne, vol. i., p. 110, ed. 1783.

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renne, always courageous, but also always cold and calm, pointed out that it would be to the highest degree perilous to force them, and proposed to cut off their provisions. His opinion was shared by the Count d'Erlach and the Maréchal de Grammont; but Enghien, full of the recollections of Rocroy, was impatient of delay and determined to fight. He returned to make his army cross the Rhine, whilst he was revolving in his mind the best plan of attack. His combinations were as skilful as they were bold. On the 3d of August, at the dawn of day, he ordered the Vicomte de Turenne to march by a ravine, from whence he would be able, after a long circuit, to take the Bavarians upon their flank, and find the weakest point of their position; and calculating that Turenne would have arrived at 5 o'clock in the evening, he himself fell upon the front rank of the enemy at that hour. I will here borrow the pen of one of his descendants, whose exploits in the field of glory, even much more than his titles, marked him as the true blood of the Condés :—“ The Duke d'Enghien gave his orders: the troops immediately moved on, climbed the mountain through the vines, under the fire of the enemy, arrived at the abattis, attacked them, overcame them, notwithstanding the greatest resistance, and forced the Bavarians to retire into their last intrenchment. So many obstacles overcome had exhausted the strength of the soldiers, and seemed to have put a stop to their career. They remained immovable under the fire of the enemy; their courage was far from yielding the victory, but their reason well nigh despaired of it. The Duke d'Enghien arrived with the Maréchal de Grammont, and perceiving the astonishment which had seized his troops, he does not hesitate a moment in adopting the only means of bringing back their confidence. He dismounts, places himself at the head of the regiment of Conti, approaches the intrenchments, and throws beyond them his Marshal's bâton. This daring action was the signal for victory. The ardor and anxiety to snatch from the enemy this precious trophy, decided the soldiers to risk a thousand deaths rather than desert a hero who would command none but a conquering army. All move on at the same time: they attack, force

the line, and the most vigorous resistance at last gives way before the obstinacy of the French and their chief.”*

On the other side Turenne was equally engaged with the enemy. The obstacles of the road which he had to traverse had prevented him from making the attack at the appointed hour, but no sooner had he arrived at the enemy's trenches than he knew how to retrieve lost time. The Bavarians had begun to give way before him when daylight forsook him; the night was dark, the rain fell in torrents, and although he heard from the top of the mountain the trumpets and tymbals which Enghien caused to be sounded as a signal of his victory, neither of the French generals dared, for fear of a surprise in the dark, advance towards the other. Mercy took advantage of this interval to withdraw his troops, with a loss, it was said, of several thousand men. He did not, however, think of a flight: he took up his position a league beyond, on one of the heights of the Black Forest, and again began to intrench himself. It was therefore necessary to prepare for a second battle. The French rested themselves on the following day, but the sun had hardly risen on the 5th of August ere the Duke had arranged everything for the attack. Wishing to reconnoitre the enemy from a nearer point, he went with Turenne to climb a neighboring mountain, and forbade the officers to undertake anything in his absence. In spite of these orders, one of them, M. d'Espenan, caused a redoubt which he happened to meet on his march to be insulted. The soldiers fell upon each other; other soldiers hastened to the scene, and the fight commenced. Hearing the noise, Enghien returned at full speed, but it was too late to prevent the fault: all that could be done was to support it. The battle continued throughout the whole day, with equal animosity on both sides. The firing became terrible, but the success remained uncertain; and at night the Duke withdrew his troops, and made them re-enter his camp. Far from being discouraged, the young Prince thought only of a third attack, but it was necessary to give his army some repose.

1

* Essay on the Life of the Great Condé, by Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, p. 27, ed. 1807. See also Desormeaux's History, vol. i., p. 167. Thus to throw away one's General's staff proves how well it is deserved! † Ramsay's History of Turenne, vol. i., p. 122.

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35

In the second conflict he had lost at least two thousand men, and the Bavarians not half that number. For three days the French remained in the presence of the enemy in a camp covered with dead and dying. The compassionate heart of Turenne was touched by this sad spectacle, but a sally is attributed to Enghien which it is vainly attempted to excuse by urging his youth and the liveliness of his imagination. It must be owned that it appears unworthy of heroism, or even of humanity :-"One single night of Paris will suffice to repair our loss of men !"*

The Count de Mercy, however, weakened by two murderous conflicts, and foreseeing that sooner or later he should be obliged to yield, thought only of retreating with honor. Enghien, on his part, formed the design to cut off the Bavarians in their retreat; and for this purpose sent forward a detachment of eight hundred horse under M. de Rosen. Count de Mercy, watching his time, fell unawares and violently on Rosen; but this officer received speedy succor from Enghien, and the Bavarian had no other resource than to continue a headlong retreat, leaving behind him his artillery and baggage.

Such was the threefold battle of Fribourg-a battle ever worthy of remembrance for the torrents of blood which were shed and for the chivalrous valor which was displayed in it—a battle in which the glory was nearly equally balanced between the victorious and the vanquished generals; but the one, full of experience, and grown grey in arms, was already renowned as the first captain in Europe, and the other was but a Prince of twenty-three.

To besiege and retake Fribourg seemed the natural result of e victory gained under its walls; but the Duke d'Enghien nourished greater views, and wishing to make himself master of the whole course of the Rhine, led his army to undertake the conquest of Philipsbourg. In spite of numberless obstacles, he forced this town to capitulate after eleven days of open trenches. Worms, Oppenheim, and Mayence threw open their gates to him afterwards. He then caused Landau to be besieged by the Vicomte

* Id tamen damni Enguianus elevans plures unâ nocte Parisiis generari cavillabatur (Puffendorf, Rerum Suecicarum, lib. xvi., c. 27). Some careless historians have transposed this trait to the battle of Seneff.