It was in this spirit that Louis, accompanied by Turenne, marched into Flanders, and made Lille a French town; whilst Condé once more surprised the world by his conquest of the whole of Franche-Comté in less than a month. England, Holland, and Sweden, terrified at the young King’s ambition and the success of the French arms, promptly entered into a Triple Alliance, which arrested the conquering hero in full career and brought about the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, whereby he was forced to be content with Flanders alone. But such terms were scarcely calculated to satisfy the ambitions of either the King, his generals, or the French nation. Hostilities were therefore soon resumed. With an army of thirteen thousand men commanded by Condé and Turenne Louis advanced on Holland. He crossed the Rhine, devastating and conquering everything before him. No less than ninety-five towns and villages capitulated in ten days. Holland, conscious of her inability to resist, begged for peace, but the French, encouraged by their successes, refused to lend an ear to her entreaties.
It was then that William of Orange conceived the daring plan of submerging the whole of Holland by piercing the dykes. In this way the French were brought up short in their destructive course by an inundation which lasted over two years. Louis, obliged by these circumstances to postpone for a time the conquest of Holland, retired to Saint-Germain and left to Turenne the arduous task of remaining with the army. Condé, meanwhile, led the advance-guard with a rapidity which in less than nine days made him master of six strong fortresses on the Rhine; and it apparently only remained for him to cross the Yssel to where the young Prince of Orange was stationed. Once more he displayed remarkable military strategy in crossing this river at a point where he was unexpected: and two Dutch regiments ordered to oppose him were cut to pieces by overwhelming numbers, so that the French troops there and then crossed the Rhine without hindrance. Montbas, the Dutch General, accused of treason, was supplanted at the last moment by de Wirty, in order to shield William of Orange himself, who recognized his mistake too late.
This easy victory, however, was marred by an event which proved most unfortunate in its consequences. When the French squadrons had reached the opposite bank of the river Condé, with his son and his nephew, the Duc de Longueville, also crossed immediately in a boat, followed by their men and horses. The Princes, on landing, promptly threw themselves into their saddles, and riding ahead fell in with a small body of Dutch soldiers, who begged for mercy. The young Duc de Longueville, without waiting for the decision of his chief, cried out: “Pas de quartier,” and fired off his pistol. The Dutch promptly replied with a volley, one shot of which struck de Longueville and mortally wounded him, whilst another seriously injured Condé himself. The Prince and his dead nephew were immediately transported to a fisherman’s hut. By a strange coincidence, the mourners were met by the Ambassador of Poland, who had come to offer the crown of the Jagellons—refused by Condé for his own son—to the unfortunate young Duke.
Condé’s wound changed the course of the whole campaign, since it incapacitated him at the supreme moment when he might have reaped the full advantages of his victory. The wound healed but slowly, and his son, Henri Jules, could not replace him at the head of his troops. Time lost to the French was time gained by William of Orange, who, as has been said, conceived the heroic plan of inundating Holland, whereby the French military operations became impossible. The auspicious moment for invading Holland being thus lost, Condé travelled slowly back to Chantilly, where he found a much-needed rest, and by degrees recovered his health.
On his way back he had an interview at Port Royal with his sister, the Duchesse de Longueville, who, on hearing of her bereavement, gave way to long but silent grief; and, retiring from the world, passed her days in prayer and fasting for the repose of the soul of her dead son. Subsequently she became a devout Jansenist.
Louis’ ambitious plans to conquer Europe, frustrated for the moment, had now roused Spain, Denmark, and some of the German Princes to take up arms to prevent possible renewed attacks upon their territories; and two great soldiers came forward to keep guard upon the Rhine: William of Brandenburg (a hero himself and ancestor of heroes), and Montecucoli (so named after his feudal castle), who took the command of the Imperial troops. Condé, hardly yet recovered, was summoned by his sovereign, and was requested once more to operate in the Netherlands. William of Orange began by attacking the French army at Senef, and in spite of the “fougue” of Condé the battle remained undecided. Turenne, meanwhile, was manœuvring on the Rhine against Montecucoli, who was marching on Alsace; he succeeded in repulsing the Imperial troops near the Neckar, taking Heidelberg and Mannheim, and forcing his way into the Palatinate. Suddenly, however, he had to change his tactics owing to the unexpected appearance of the Margrave of Brandenburg; and the French commander’s plans terminated in a campaign in Alsace, where he was victorious at Mulhouse and Schletstadt. In that same year he was also confronted by Montecucoli, and unfortunately met his death at Salzbach before any decisive battle had been fought. His loss was a severe blow to his soldiers. Condé was immediately sent for; and, inspired by the memory of the dead general, followed his tactics, and succeeded without a single battle in driving the Imperial troops back across the Rhine. This was precisely what the King and his minister, Louvois, desired; for Montecucoli was thus shut out of Alsace, and obliged to take up his winter-quarters on the far side of the Rhine. By these brilliant operations Condé preserved Turenne’s army, and terminated this great campaign, in which were engaged three of the most celebrated generals of the period: Montecucoli, the profound strategist, the sagacious Turenne, and the great Condé, who in the cause of France was always victorious.
These were his last exploits, and he returned to Chantilly, there to pass a life of peaceful quiet until his death in 1687. Madame de Sévigné, who was repeatedly invited to the Château, says in her Letters that Condé was quite admirable in his retreat, from which he only emerged occasionally to pay a visit to the King at Fontainebleau, Paris, or Versailles, where a splendid suite of apartments was always reserved for him. Chantilly at that time became a small Court in itself. Not only was it a resort for kings, princes, ambassadors, generals, and statesmen, who never omitted to pay their respects to the Grand Condé, but it was also a rallying-place for the most distinguished literary and scientific men of the day. Here Bossuet, Fénelon, and the philosopher Malebranche, the poets Corneille, Racine, and Molière discussed their works and their theories in that avenue in the park which to this day bears the name of “the Philosophers.”
The newest books and publications passed their first public ordeal at Chantilly; and at the theatrical representations which frequently took place there, the greatest actors of the day produced famous plays, or made their début. The Prince kept a special company of comedians in his own pay at Rouen for practice, so anxious was he that they should perform at Chantilly to the utmost perfection; and he himself distributed to them their various parts.
His interest in scientific discoveries was also very great, and he studied all the latest books upon these subjects. The humorous letters addressed to him upon such matters by that fantastic personage Bourdelot still exist. The famous waterworks at Chantilly, imitated later at Versailles, were to a great extent, as we have already remarked, planned and carried out according to his own designs. Nor was he lacking in artistic interest, for he made important additions to the collection of manuscripts founded by his ancestors, the Montmorencys; and during his stay in Holland he collected many Dutch pictures and some fine furniture, which may still be seen in his own rooms at the Petit Château. For him Charles Le Brun and Mignard worked assiduously, and some of the paintings by Paul Veronese, Guido, Guercino, the Carraccis, Van Dyck, and Antonio Moro which now adorn the walls of the Musée Condé were acquired by him.
His passion for the chase was notorious; and hunting and hawking in the woods of Chantilly were amongst his greatest pleasures. He revived the art of hawking, introduced into Europe from Arabia by the Crusaders, and he is said to have taken particular interest in his own hawks, conferring upon each of them individual names.