INTERIOR OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN 1742.

(From a Drawing by Gravelot engraved by W. J. White.)

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In January of 1745 died Charles VII., King of Bavaria and Emperor of Germany. His life had been rendered miserable, and his kingdom made the prey of war, by his unpatriotic mania of supporting the French in their attacks on Germany. His son and successor showed himself a wiser and a better man. He at once renounced all claims to the Austrian succession, and to the Imperial crown. He agreed to vote for the Prince of Tuscany, Maria Theresa's husband, at the next Diet, and never to support the French or the Prussian arms. On these terms a treaty was concluded between Austria and Bavaria at Füssen, and Austria therefore restored to him his rightful inheritance of Bavaria.

The campaign in Flanders opened in April. The British faithfully furnished their stipulated number of men (twenty-eight thousand), but both Austria and Holland had most disgracefully failed. Holland was to send fifty thousand into the field, and keep the other ten thousand in her garrisons; but she had sent less than half that number, and Austria only eight squadrons. The French had a fine army of seventy-five thousand men under the able general, Marshal Saxe; and the King of France and the Dauphin had come to witness the conflict, which gave a wonderful degree of spirit to their troops. On the part of the Allies, the Duke of Cumberland was chief in command, but, from his youth, he was not able to set himself free from the assumptions of the Austrian general, old Marshal Königsegg, and the Dutch general, the Prince of Waldeck. As it was, to march against the French before Tournay was to rush into a certain contest with the whole French army of nearly eighty thousand men, whilst the Allies could have only about fifty thousand. Saxe made the ablest arrangements for the coming fight. He left fifteen thousand infantry to blockade Tournay, drew up his army in a very strong position a few miles in advance, and strengthened it by various works.

The Allies, on coming near, found Saxe encamped on some gentle heights, with the river Scheldt and the village of Antoine on his right, and a wood named Barré on his left. In front lay a narrow valley, and, as at Dettingen, he had secured the passage of the river by the bridge of Calonne in his rear, defended by a tête-de-pont, and a reserve of the Household Troops. He had constructed abatis in the wood of Barré, thrown up redoubts between Antoine and Fontenoy, and strongly fortified those villages themselves. The narrow valley between Barré and Fontenoy was formidably defended by cross batteries, and by the natural ruggedness of the ground; and altogether the French officers confidently regarded their position as unassailable. Yet, inferior as they were in numbers, the Allies at once marched and attacked the French pickets and outposts, drove them in, and stood under arms, as it was growing dark, ready to renew the onset at daybreak.

At four o'clock in the morning (the 11th of May) the cannonade began. Prince Waldeck undertook to carry Fontenoy and Antoine with the Dutch, and the Duke of Cumberland, at the head of the English and Hanoverians, to bear down on the enemy's left. At the same time, the Duke sent General Ingoldsby with a division to clear the wood of Barré, and storm the redoubt beyond. When Ingoldsby reached the wood, he found it occupied by a body of sharpshooters, and instead of attacking them vigorously he paused and returned to the duke for fresh orders—a great neglect of duty by which much time was lost, and the enemy enabled to direct their undivided attention on that side to the main body of English and Hanoverians advancing under the duke. On the other hand, the Dutch, finding Fontenoy surrounded by a fosse, and the French mounted with their batteries on the rubbish of houses, which they had demolished for the purpose, were panic-struck, and instead of making a resolute rush to storm the place, having suffered considerably from the French batteries, fell back, and stood aloof, thus leaving the English and Hanoverians exposed to the whole fire of the hostile army.