PROSPECTS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, &c.
At the commencement of this campaign, France had to combat 55,000 Austro-Sardinians from the Alps; 50,000 Spaniards from the Pyrenees; 66,000 Austrians, reinforced by 38,000 Anglo-Batavians, on the Lower Rhine and in Belgium; 33,000 Austrians, between the Meuse and the Moselle; and 112,000 Russians, Austrians, Prussians, and Imperialists, of the Middle and Upper Rhine. Against these formidable enemies the convention ordered a levy of 300,000 troops, and at the same time established a committee of public safety, with dictatorial power over persons and property. Meanwhile Dumouriez was occupied with an ambitious plan of reaction. Instead of remaining neutral between the contending factions composing the national convention, as was the duty of a general, he proposed to establish the constitutional monarchy of 1791. But first he intended to deliver Belgium from the rule of the Jacobins, to secure Holland by aid of the Batavian republicans, and to unite those two countries into a single state. With this end in view, Durnouriez moved from Antwerp and attacked the Dutch towns of Breda, Kiundert, and Gerbruydenberg, all which capitulated, after little more than a show of resistance from the garrisons. His plan was to penetrate into the heart of the United Provinces; but he was brought to a pause at the fortress of Williamstadt, That fort was occupied by the Dutch general Botzlarr, with some Dutch troops, who held no Jacobin principles, and by a strong detachment of English guards, who made an obstinate resistance; and while the French troops were still engaged in the siege of this fortress, intelligence arrived from the eastern frontier of the Netherlands, which materially changed the aspect of the war. Durnouriez had sent General Miranda, his second in command, to reduce the important town of Maestrecht, on the Maes or Meuse. On the 1st of March General Clairfait having suddenly passed the Roer in the night, attacked the French posts on that side, and compelled them to retreat, with the loss of 2,000 men; and this was followed by two successive victories over the French, on the 2nd and 8th of March; the one gained by the Archduke Albert, brother to the Emperor of Germany, and the other by the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg, who obtained a singular advantage over the main body of the French, in front of Aix-la-Chapelle, driving them from thence with the loss of 5,000 men, and twenty pieces of cannon. On hearing of these events, General Miranda gave orders for retreating to Tongres, whence the French armies were again compelled to fall back to Saint Tron. At Saint Tron Miranda was joined by General Valence, who had evacuated Liege and its territory, and they then moved towards Tirlemont, where Durnouriez soon after arrived to take the command in person, leaving the conduct of affairs on the northern frontier to General de Fluers. Dumouriez was attacked by the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg, at Tirlemont, with great spirit; but he kept his ground, and obliged the Austrians to fall back upon Neerwinden. This was on the 16th of March, and two days after Durnouriez moved to attack the Prince, but received a signal defeat; 4,000 killed and wounded remained on the field of battle, and ten thousand deserted, and scarcely paused in their flight until they reached the other side of the French frontier. Durnouriez attributed the origin of all his misfortunes to the Jacobin Club of Paris, and to the Mountain, which at this time was preparing to crush the Gironde. Half-crazed, he retreated towards Louvaine and Brussels, and in his route he was met by Danton and Lacroix, who came as commissioners from the convention to draw up a report on his conduct, both civil and military. He was devoted to destruction by the Jacobins, if they could get hold of him, for he had long ago offended Marat and Camus, two of the prime leaders of that fraternity. Dumouriez knew this, and the commissioners had scarcely left him, when he sent an officer of his staff to the head-quarters of the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg, to make some arrangements relative to the wounded and prisoners. This officer was referred to General Mack, who was considered to be a consummate politician, and it was agreed that Mack and Durnouriez should meet and confer together. When they met it was agreed that the Imperialists should not again attack the French army in force; that Durnouriez should be allowed to retire to Brussels; and that after the French should have evacuated Brussels the two generals should have another interview. All this was done, and at the future meeting, which took place at Ath, Durnouriez, knowing that there was nothing for him but a counter-revolution, or death, or flight, agreed with Mack to co-operate with the Imperialists against the Republicans; to give up to them the whole of Belgium; to march with his own army to Paris; and to call in the aid of the Austrians, if he should not prove strong enough to disperse the Jacobin rulers of France, and dictate the law at Paris. It is supposed that Dumouriez intended setting the Duke of Chartres on the throne of France, and that the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg assented to his project, hoping that if a counter-revolution could be effected, the young dauphin might be liberated from the Temple, and the regular line of the monarchy restored in him. The project seemed the more practicable, because the Prussians were preparing to invade France from the Moselle; the Spaniards, against whom the convention had declared war, were descending through the passes of the Pyrenees; an English army was collected in Holland to co-operate with the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg; and the royalists in the Vendee had gained several victories over the troops of the republican government. Dumouriez evacuated all the places he held in the Netherlands, and slowly retired towards the French frontier. In his route he met a great number of persons who were flying from Paris to escape the guillotine, many of whom encouraged him to persevere in the enterprise. The designs of Dumouriez, however, did not pass unsuspected at Paris, and three commissioners, friends of his mortal foe, Marat, were dispatched to watch his movements, under the pretence of conferring with him concerning the affairs of Belgium. In an interview with these commissioners, Dumouriez expressed himself with great violence against the Jacobins, and denounced the republican constitution as too silly a thing to last. “Ever since the battle of Jemappe,” he observed “I have regretted every advantage I have gained in the field for so bad a cause.” Growing warm in conversation, he likewise remarked:—“The convention is composed of two hundred brigands and five hundred fools. As long as I have three inches of steel at my side, I will never suffer it to reign or to shed blood by means of the revolutionary tribunals they have just established.” All Dumouriez said was carefully treasured up in the minds of these commissioners, and, on their return, reported to the Jacobins. In the mean time, Dumouriez attempted to gain possession of the three important frontier fortresses of Lille, Condé, and Valenciennes. Some secret communication with friends was opened by him in these fortresses, but the convention had sent commissioners to each of them, and both the populace and the troops were declared republicans, so that his designs were frustrated. Thus unsuccessful, Dumouriez removed his head-quarters to the baths of Saint Arnaud. Meanwhile the convention had summoned him to their bar, and imagining that he would not come without compulsion, had despatched four of their members to bring him and win over his army. The commissioners transmitted their orders to Dumouriez, while they remained at Lille; and finding that he did not obey them, they resolved to proceed to the camp. Dumouriez received the commissioners at the head of his staff, but refused to quit his troops; at the same time he promised, at a calmer time, he would demand an investigation of his conduct, and give an explanation both of his actions and designs. In order to gain their point, the commissioners replied that no harm was meant to his person, and alleging the example of the ancient Roman generals, they contended that it was his duty to submit to the republic. To this Dumouriez rejoined, “Gentlemen, we are constantly committing mistakes in our quotations from the classics; we parody and disfigure Roman history in citing their virtues to excuse our crimes. The Romans did not kill Tarquin: the Romans had a well-regulated republic and good laws; and they had neither a Jacobin Club nor a revolutionary tribunal. We are plunged in anarchy; we are wading in blood.” “Citizen general,” said Camus, one of the commissioners, “will you obey the decree of the National Convention or not?” “Not exactly at this moment,” replied Dumouriez. “Well then,” continued Camus, “I declare, in the name of the convention, that you are no longer general of this army, and I order that your papers be seized, and that you be arrested,” “This is very strong,” replied Dumouriez, and calling for his German hussars, he ordered them to seize the commissioners, and to convey them to General Clairfait’s head-quarters at Tournay, as hostages for the safety of the royal family of France. During that night Dumouriez drew up a proclamation to his army and to all France, in which he called upon all true Frenchmen to rise and rally round him and the monarchical constitution of 1791. His troops were informed of all that had happened on the following morning, and the measure was enthusiastically approved by those of the line and the artillery. Dumouriez, however, had enemies in his camp. He had an appointment with Colonel Mack, the Archduke Charles, and the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg on the 4th of April, in order to regulate future operations; and at an early hour on the morning of that day he set off with his staff; but he and his party had scarcely got upon the road which led to Condé, when they met two battalions of volunteers who were marching without order, and apparently without instructions. The design of these volunteers was to arrest Dumouriez and his party; and on discovering this they quitted the high-road and struck across the country, towards the Austrian lines, for protection. They reached Rury in the evening, where they were soon after joined by Saxe-Cobourg and Mack, who, with Dumouriez, passed the night in preparing a proclamation to be issued in the name of the Austrians, and in further explaining and settling the treaty between the French army and that of the emperor. But Dumourez was doomed to be disappointed. He still imagined that his regular troops were faithful to his person, and on the morrow he resolved to throw himself among them. His army, however, was now no more. Instigated by some emissaries from Valenciennes, who told them that Dumouriez was either killed or drowned, the artillery had risen upon their officers in the night, and had marched, with all their guns, baggage, and ammunition, for Valenciennes, whither they were soon followed by the troops of the line. When, therefore, Dumouriez returned in the morning to Saint Arnaud, his army was no more; and he with the Duke of Chartres, the Duke of Montpensier, Colonel Thouvenot, and the rest of his numerous staff’, joined the Austrians. They were followed by the entire regiment of Berchingy, 1,500 strong, and some fragments of some French regiments, and the sons of Orleans. The rest of his army joined the camp at Famars, under Dampierre, who was now invested with the chief command. On the following day, Dumouriez issued a proclamation, which contained a recapitulation of his services to the French republic, and an animated picture of the outrages of the Jacobins and of the mischiefs to be apprehended from a continuation of anarchy in France; concluding with an exhortation to the French to restore the constitution of 1791, and a declaration on oath that he bore arms only for that purpose. This proclamation was accompanied by a manifesto on the part of Saxe Cobourg, now commander-in-chief of the armies of Austria, announcing that the allied powers were no longer to be considered as principals, but merely as auxiliaries of France; that they had no other object than to co-operate with the general in giving to France her constitutional king, and the constitution she formed for herself. These proceedings were no sooner known at Paris than the convention declared its sittings permanent, denounced Dumouriez as a traitor, and fixed a price on his head; banished all the Bourbons, and established that “committee of public safety,” which was destined to complete the crimes and destroy the chief authors of the revolution.
This defection of Dumouriez gave great advantage to the Jacobins. They exclaimed that he was leagued with the Girondists, and that all were loyalists and traitors. Robespierre attacked many of them by name in the convention, and Marat denounced them in the popular assemblies. The committee of public safety, to which the plots of their enemies gave rise, seemed to promise advantage to the Girondists; but it served only to excite their adversaries more violently against them. The struggle between these contending parties at length approached a crisis. At this time Lyons, Orleans, Bordeaux, Marseilles, and La Vendee, indignant against the anarchists, were all declaring themselves for the party of moderation and the Girondists. These were startling events to the Jacobins, and they prepared to strike a blow which should prostrate their antagonists. A plot had been devised for their destruction, but it was discovered, and the infamous Hébert, who was at the head of it, was thrown into prison. Tumults in the assembly and commotion in the city now became the order of the day; and at length, on the 25th of May, a furious multitude assembled at the hall of the convention, and loudly demanded the suppression of the committee of public safety and the liberation of Hébert. These proposals were resisted, but the Girondists could not long sustain the conflict with the Jacobins. On the 27th, the Sans-culotte bands of the anarchists appeared in a body at the door of the convention, bearing a general petition of the sections, and despite the expostulations of the assembly, they took their seats with the members, and, under the influence of terror, the commission of twelve was broken, and Hébert set at liberty. On the morrow, however, the convention boldly reversed this compulsory vote; at the same time seeking a compromise with the populace. But it was in vain that the Girondists sought to conciliate an enraged populace. On the 2nd of June, the mob, under the command of Henriot, surrounded the hall of the convention, and thirty of the leaders of the Girondists were arrested. The political career of the Girondists, indeed, was now over: henceforth they were known only as individuals by their courage in the midst of calamity and death. Many of them saved themselves by concealment, others by flight, while many fell by their own hands, or were cut off by the axe of the executioner. Twenty-one of them languished in long imprisonment, until a decree of accusation was issued against them, and the guillotine ended their sufferings.
With the Girondists, the last bulwark against the inbreaking tyranny fell. All the good lamented their fall, while the evil-disposed rejoiced. On their ruin the revolutionary government was formed. Robespierre, who directed all acts in the committee of public safety, became dictator, while his associates divided the departments among themselves, and the superintendence of the police was vested in a committee of general safety, possessed of formidable authority. One of the first results of this new order of things was a change in the divisions of the year, and the names of the months and of the days, which republican calendar soon led to the abolition of public worship. One of the prime leaders of this new movement was Marat, who did not long enjoy his triumph over the Girondists. He was assassinated by a young Norman girl, named Charlotte Corday, who fancied that by cutting him off she could destroy his party.
The tyranny displayed in the capital, and the appearance of some of the proscribed Girondist deputies, stirred up the spirit of war in the provinces. The people of Normandy at once declared against the anarchists, and raised an army which, under General Wimpfen, pushed forward to Evreux, within a day’s journey of Paris. The victorious insurgents of La Vendee also marched upon Nantes, in order to procure themselves a stronghold and a sea-port. Moreover, Bordeaux, indignant at the arrest of the deputies, despatched a remonstrance to Paris, and began to levy an army to second it; and Toulouse, Lyons, and Marseilles all arrayed themselves against the Jacobins. Their fall seemed inevitable, and they themselves anticipated such a consummation. Rendered desperate, thereby, they prepared to ward off the blow. In a brief period the republicans had on foot fourteen armies, consisting in the whole of 1,200,000 soldiers and the whole of the hostile provinces cowered before their arms.
In the meantime several engagements had taken place between the republican forces of France and those of the allied powers. After succeeding to the command, General Dampierre threw himself into the fortified camp of Famars, which covered Valenciennes, He made some attempts to cover Condé also, but that important fortress was securely invested by a part of the Austrian army; and the Duke of York soon after arriving with some English troops, it was resolved to make a vigorous attack along all that part of the French frontier, and to reduce Valenciennes, Condé, and Lisle. The supreme command of the armies, which consisted of. Austrians, Prussians, English, and Dutch, was held by General Clairfait. Against these Dampierre issued from his camp at Famars, on the eighth of April, but his best troops were beaten at all points, and he himself received a mortal wound. After this defeat the republicans fell into a lamentable state of discouragement and disorganization; General Lamarche, who had succeeded to the command, being a man of neither skill nor energy. Had the allied powers pushed forward, they might have carried the fortified camp of Famars without any difficulty; but they allowed a whole fortnight to elapse before they made the attempt; and then, reinforcements having been received, it was not carried before many lives were lost on both sides, and after all Lamarche was allowed to retire and occupy another fortified camp between Valenciennes and Bouehain. The allied armies now laid siege to Valenciennes, and it was in vain that General Custine, who had arrived to take the command of the French army, sought to relieve the place; it was captured towards the end of July, and the Duke of York took possession of it in the name of the Emperor of Germany. About the same time the garrison of Condé yielded themselves prisoners of war, and Mayence submitted to the Prussian arms. A few days later the French were driven from a strong position near the Scheldt, called Caesar’s Camp.
At this point the success of the allied armies during this campaign closed. Jealousies and dissensions had long existed in their camp; and after the French were driven from their position behind the Scheldt, a grand council of war was held, wherein it was determined that the British, Hanoverians, Dutch, and Hessians should form a distinct army, not dependent upon the co-operation of the Austrians. This was the origin of sad disasters; had they held together, and had they acted vigorously against the enemy’s masses, which were weakened and depressed by defeat, it is probable that the object of the war would have been gained. The Prince of Saxe-Coburg and General Clairfait strongly opposed the fatal step; but the British army, conducted by the Duke of York, decamped, and moved towards Dunkirk, while the Imperialists sat down before Quesnoy. The Austrians were successful in their enterprise: after fifteen days the garrison of Quesnoy capitulated. A different fate awaited the British army. The Duke of York arrived in the vicinity of Menin on the 18th of August, where several severe contests took place, and the post of Lincelles, lost by the Dutch, was recovered by a gallant charge of the English guards, led on by General Sir John Lake. His royal highness now laid siege to Dunkirk, where he was attacked by Houchard and Jourdan, and from whence, after losing a great number of his forces, he was compelled to make a precipitate retreat. This victory excited great joy at Paris, and changed the aspect of the war from the German Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Relieved from the immediate danger of invasion, the convention had now time to mature its plans of conquest, and to organise its numerous troops. Houchard, however, did not follow up his success as a skilful general would have done. He neglected to concentrate his forces and to attack the English, and after a series of actions against detached corps and gaining a victory over the Dutch, he was defeated at Courtray by General Beaulieu, and driven behind the Lys. His army sought shelter under the cannon of Lisle, but he was exposed to the fury of the convention; he was accused by his own officers, brought before the revolutionary tribunal, condemned, and executed.
By this time the French had formed an overwhelming force on the Belgian frontier. Had they made a series of single concentrated attacks on the divided forces of the allies, they could scarcely have failed of crushing them in detail. Instead of acting thus, however, a scattered enemy was attacked by separate corps, and there was fighting from Dunkirk to Maubeuge, and from Maubeuge to Luxembourg.
After the retreat of the Duke of York, the French attacked every post on that long frontier line, but were everywhere repulsed. They were more successful at Maubeuge. The Austrians, after the capture of Quesnoy, laid siege to this place, but the French under General Jourdan, attacked them in their trenches on the 15th of October, and after sustaining a great loss, forced them to raise the siege. Nothing more of importance was undertaken in Flanders, and both parties went into winter-quarters: the Austrians at Bavay, and the French at Guice. Jourdan was removed from the chief command, and it was conferred on Pichegru, who had all the talent, energy, and enterprise which the situation of the republicans demanded.