The attempt was made on the morning of November 6. The raw troops who had landed in the island in July were by this time seasoned soldiers, and they advanced to the attack gallantly enough. But Toiras had been forewarned, probably owing to Buckingham’s want of reticence; and the assailants were received with a murderous fire, while huge stones were rained down upon them as they clambered up the rocky slope on which the fortress stood. When they reached the walls, their scaling-ladders were found to be too short; the troops from La Prée came out to threaten their rear, and they were obliged to retreat with the loss of several hundred men.
During the following night, Schomberg, who had been waiting his opportunity for some days, sailed out of the Charente, evaded the English fleet and disembarked at Sainte-Marie, in the south-east of Ré, with his relieving army. Then, having been joined by the troops at La Prée, at the head of over 6,000 men he advanced towards Saint-Martin. Buckingham, however, had already raised the siege and retreated towards the Île de Loix, a narrow tongue of land separated from the rest of Ré by marshes and a canal, where he intended to re-embark.
On Schomberg’s arrival at Saint-Martin, Toiras at once proposed that he should join him with all his men who were fit to take the field, and that they should follow and attack the English at once, declaring that the enemy was so demoralised and enfeebled by sickness that, in that case, not one of them would escape. Louis de Marillac, who commanded under Schomberg, strongly opposed this suggestion, and, though finally it was decided to follow Toiras’s advice, so much time had been lost in disputing that the greater part of Buckingham’s army had already gained the Île de Loix. The rearguard, however, were still defiling across a narrow wooden bridge which had been thrown across the marshes and the canal which separated Ré from the Île de Loix; and the French generals saw at a glance that, owing to the carelessness with which the preparations for retreat had been made, these hapless troops were entirely at their mercy.
An entrenchment had been constructed on the further side of the bridge, but, by some blunder, the causeway which led to the bridge was quite unguarded, except by a handful of cavalry. The French horse, who outnumbered this detachment by nearly four to one, charged and routed it, and the flying cavalry, galloping wildly towards the bridge, threw the infantry into hopeless confusion. Almost simultaneously a body of French infantry fell on the rear of the troops crossing the bridge, who were, of course, unable to offer any effective resistance. It was a massacre rather than a fight. Hundreds were killed, while a great number fell from the bridge, which was unprotected by a parapet, and were drowned. The troops who had been detached to guard the entrenchment on the Île de Loix were at first borne away by the rout; but they soon rallied and drove back the enemy, and when night fell were still in possession. Next morning the bridge was destroyed, and the remnant of Buckingham’s unfortunate army re-embarked without any interference from the French.
The English losses in this lamentable affair have been variously stated, but Bassompierre’s estimate of 1,200, which includes prisoners, is probably well within the mark. What is certain is that, although on October 20 6,884 men drew pay at Saint-Martin-de-Ré, only 2,989 were landed at Portsmouth and Plymouth three weeks later.
More than forty English standards which had been captured were displayed amid great rejoicings in Notre Dame on Christmas Day; and Paris saw in it a proud victory over her rival, on that rival’s own element.
CHAPTER XXXVI
Siege of La Rochelle begins—Immense difficulties of the undertaking—Unwillingness of the great nobles to see the Huguenot party entirely crushed—Remark of Bassompierre—Courage and energy of Richelieu—His measures to provide for the welfare and efficiency of the besieging army—The lines of circumvallation—Erection of the Fort of La Fons by Bassompierre—The construction of the mole is begun and proceeded with in the face of great difficulties—Responsibilities of Bassompierre—The Duc d’Angoulême accuses the marshal of a gross piece of negligence, but the latter succeeds in turning the tables upon his accuser—Louis XIII returns to Paris, leaving Richelieu with the title of “Lieutenant-General of the Army”—Critical state of affairs in Italy—Unsuccessful attempts to take La Rochelle by surprise—Intrigues of Marie de’ Medici and the High Catholic party against Richelieu—The King rejoins the army—Guiton elected Mayor of La Rochelle.
The departure of the English left Richelieu face to face with La Rochelle, “like a lion with his prey.” But the Cardinal was well aware that it was a prey which could not be secured without a long and terrible struggle. With its strong walls, covered on two sides by marshes and on a third by the harbour, and its brave and hardy population, largely composed of seafaring men inured to perils and hardships, La Rochelle was one of the most difficult places to subdue which it was possible to imagine. Old men remembered how the Duc d’Anjou (afterwards Henri III) had besieged the town for months after the St. Bartholomew, and had had nothing to show for his trouble but the graves of 20,000 of his soldiers, and predicted that Louis XIII and Richelieu would meet with no better fate. In fact, so long as La Rochelle retained command of the sea, it was deemed impregnable.
Richelieu, appreciating the immense difficulties of the enterprise, would fain have avoided it altogether; but the alliance of the Rochellois with the English had left him no alternative, and, once committed to it, he was resolved to carry it through, cost what it might. For this siege, in which, as he said, “he had to conquer three kings, those of France, England, and Spain,” he set aside all other work, and concentrated upon it all the resources of his genius. For this he closed his eyes momentarily to the death-struggles in Germany, to the Austrian menace on the eastern frontier, and to the intrigues of the Dukes of Savoy and Lorraine, and contented himself with merely holding Rohan’s rebellion in the South in check the while he was preparing to strike his decisive blows elsewhere.