HE OBTAINS A COMPLETE VICTORY OVER THE FRENCH.
Tourville therefore, in obedience to the first mandate, bore down alongside of Russel’s own ship, which he engaged at a very small distance. He fought with great fury till one o’clock, when his rigging and sails being considerably damaged, his ship, the Rising-Sun, which carried one hundred and four cannon, was towed out of the line in great disorder. Nevertheless the engagement continued till three, when the fleets were parted by a thick fog: when this abated, the enemy were descried flying to the northward, and Russel made the signal for chasing. Part of the blue squadron came up with the enemy about eight in the evening, and engaged them half an hour, during which admiral Carter was mortally wounded. Finding himself in extremity, he exhorted his captain to fight as long as the ship could swim, and expired with great composure. At length the French bore away for Conquet road, having lost four ships in this day’s action. Next day, about eight in the morning, they were discovered crowding away to the westward, and the combined fleets chased with all the sail they could carry, until Russel’s foretopmast came by the board. Though he was retarded by this accident, the fleet still continued the pursuit, and anchored near Cape La Hogue. On the twenty-second of the month, about seven in the morning, part of the French fleet was perceived near the Race of Alderney, some at anchor, and some driving to the eastward with the tide of flood. Russel and the ships nearest him immediately slipped their cables and chased. The Rising Sun having lost her masts, ran ashore near Cherbourg, where she was burned by sir Ralph Delaval, together with the Admirable, another first-rate, and the Conquérant of eighty guns. Eighteen other ships of their fleet ran into La Hogue, where they were attacked by sir George Rooke, who destroyed them and a great number of transports laden with ammunition, in the midst of a terrible fire from the enemy, and in sight of the Irish camp. Sir John Ashby, with his own squadron and some Dutch ships, pursued the rest of the French fleet, which escaped through the Race of Alderney by such a dangerous passage as the English could not attempt without exposing their ships to the most imminent hazard. This was a very mortifying defeat to the French king, who had been so long flattered with an uninterrupted series of victories; it reduced James to the lowest ebb of despondence, as it frustrated the whole scheme of his embarkation, and overwhelmed his friends in England with grief and despair. Some historians allege that Russel did not improve his victory with all advantages that might have been obtained before the enemy recovered their consternation. They say his affection to the service was in a great measure cooled by the disgrace of his friend the earl of Marlborough; that he hated the earl of Nottingham, by whose channel he received his orders; and that he adhered to the letter rather than to the spirit of his instructions. But this is a malicious imputation, and a very ungrateful return for his manifold services to the nation. He acted in this whole expedition with the genuine spirit of a British admiral. He plied from the Nore to the Downs with a very scanty wind through the dangerous sands, contrary to the advice of all his pilots; and by this bold passage effected a junction of the different squadrons, which otherwise the French would have attacked singly and perhaps defeated. He behaved with great gallantry during the engagement, and destroyed about fifteen of the enemy’s capital ships; in a word, he obtained such a decisive victory, that during the remaining part of the war the French would not hazard another battle by sea with the English.
Russel having ordered Sir John Ashby and the Dutch admiral Callemberg to steer towards Havre de Grace, and endeavour to destroy the remainder of the French fleet, sailed back to St. Helen’s that the damaged ships might be refitted, and the fleet furnished with fresh supplies of provisions and ammunition; but his principal motive was to take on board a number of troops provided for a descent upon France, which had been projected by England and Holland, with a view to alarm and distract the enemy in their own dominions. The queen was so pleased with the victory that she ordered thirty thousand pounds to be distributed among the sailors. She caused medals to be struck in honour of the action; and the bodies of admiral Carter and captain Hastings, who had been killed in the battle, to be interred with great funeral pomp. In the latter end of July seven thousand men, commanded by the duke of Leinster, embarked on board transports to be landed at St. Maloes, Brest, or Rochefort, and the nation conceived the most sanguine hopes of this expedition. A council of war, consisting of land and sea officers, being held on board the Breda to deliberate upon the scheme of the ministry, the members unanimously agreed that the season was too far advanced to put it in execution. Nevertheless, the admiral having detached sir John Ashby with a squadron to intercept the remains of the French fleet in their passage from St. Maloes to Brest, set sail for La Hogue with the rest of the fleet and transports; but in a few days the wind shifting, lie was obliged to return to St. Helen’s.
The queen immediately dispatched the marquis of Carmarthen, the earls of Devonshire, Dorset, Nottingham, and Rochester, together with the lords Sidney and Cornwallis, to consult with the admiral, who demonstrated the impracticability of making an effectual descent upon the coast of France at that season of the year. The design was therefore laid aside, and the forces were transported to Flanders. The higher the hopes of the nation had been raised by this armament, the deeper they felt their disappointment. A loud clamour was raised against the ministry as the authors of this miscarriage. The people complained that they were plundered and abused; that immense sums were extorted from them by the most grievous impositions; that, by the infamous expedient of borrowing upon established funds, their taxes were perpetuated; that their burdens would daily increase; that their treasure was either squandered away in chimerical projects or expended in foreign connexions, of which England was naturally independent. They were the more excusable for exclaiming in this manner, as their trade had suffered grievously by the French privateers which swarmed in the Channel. In vain the merchants had recourse to the Admiralty, which could not spare particular convoys while large fleets were required for the defence of the nation. The French king having nothing further to apprehend from the English armament, withdrew his troops from the coast of Normandy; and James returned in despair to St. Germain’s, where his queen had been in his absence delivered of a daughter, who was born in the presence of the archbishop of Paris, the keeper of the seals, and other persons of distinction.
THE FRENCH TAKE NAMUR IN SIGHT OF KING WILLIAM.
Louis had taken the field in the latter end of May. On the twentieth day of that month he arrived at his camp in Flanders with all the effeminate pomp of an Asiatic emperor, attended by his women and parasites, his band of music, his dancers, his opera, and, in a word, by all the ministers of luxury and sensual pleasure. Having reviewed his army, which amounted to about one hundred and twenty thousand men, he undertook the siege of Namur, which he invested on both sides of the Sambre with about one-half of his army, while the other covered the siege under the command of Luxembourg. Namur is situated on the conflux of the Meuse and the Sambre. The citadel was deemed one of the strongest forts in Flanders, strengthened with a new work contrived by the famous engineer Coehorn, who now defended it in person. The prince de Barbason commanded the garrison, consisting of nine thousand men. The place was well supplied, and the governor knew that king William would make strong efforts for its relief, so that the besieged were animated with many concurring considerations. Notwithstanding these advantages, the assailants carried on their attacks with such vigour that in seven days after the trenches were opened, the town capitulated and the garrison retired into the citadel. King William, being joined by the troops of Brandenburgh and Liege, advanced to the Mehaigne at the head of one hundred thousand effective men, and encamped within cannon shot of Luxembourg’s army, which lay on the other side of the river. That general however had taken such precautions, that the king of England could not interrupt the siege nor attack the French lines without great disadvantage. The besiegers, encouraged by the presence of their monarch, and assisted by the superior abilities of Vau-ban their engineer, repeated their attacks with such impetuosity that the fort of Cohorn was surrendered after a very obstinate defence, in which he himself had been dangerously wounded. The citadel being thus left exposed to the approaches of the enemy, could not long withstand the violence of their operations; the two covered ways were taken by assault. On the twentieth of May the governor capitulated, to the unspeakable mortification of king William, who saw himself obliged to lie inactive at the head of a powerful army, and be an eye-witness of the loss of the most important fortress in the Netherlands. Louis having taken possession of the place, returned in triumph to Versailles, where he was flattered with all the arts of adulation; while William’s reputation suffered a little from his miscarriage, and the prince of Barbason incurred the suspicion of treachery or misconduct.
THE ALLIES DEFEATED AT STEENKIRK.
Luxembourg having placed a strong garrison in Namur, detached Bounders with a body of troops to La Bassiere, and with the rest of his army encamped at Soignies. The king of England sent off detachments towards Liege and Ghent; and on the sixth day of July posted himself at Genap, resolved to seize the first opportunity of retrieving his honour by attacking the enemy. Having received intelligence that the French general was in motion and intended to take post between Steenkirk and Enghien, he passed the river Senne in order to anticipate his purpose; but in spite of all his diligence Luxembourg gained his point, and William encamped at Lembecq, within six miles of the French army. Here he resolved in a council of war to attack the enemy, and every disposition was made for that purpose. The heavy baggage he ordered to be conveyed to the other side of the Senne; and one Millevoix, a detected spy, was compelled by menaces to mislead Luxembourg with false intelligence, importing that he need not be alarmed at the motions of the allies, who intended the next day to make a general forage. On the twenty-fourth day of July, the army began to move from the left in two columns, as the ground would not admit of their marching in an extended front. The prince of Wirtemberg began the attack on the right of the enemy at the head of ten battalions of English, Danish, and Dutch infantry; he was supported by a considerable body of British horse and foot, commanded by lieutenant-general Mackay. Though the ground was intersected by hedges, ditches, and narrow defiles, the prince marched with such diligence that he was in a condition to begin the battle about two in the afternoon, when he charged the French with such impetuosity that they were driven* from their posts, and their whole camp became a scene of tumult and confusion. Luxembourg, trusting to the intelligence he had received, allowed himself to be surprised, and it required the full exertion of his superior talents to remedy the consequences of his neglect. He forthwith forgot a severe indisposition under which he then laboured; he rallied his broken battalions; he drew up his forces in order of battle, and led them to the charge in person. The duke de Chartres, who was then in the fifteenth year of his age, the dukes of Bourbon and Vendôme, the prince of Conti, and a great number of volunteers of the first quality, put themselves at the head of the household troops, and fell with great fury upon the English, who were very ill supported by count Solmes, the officer who commanded the centre of the allies. The prince of Wirtemberg had taken one of the enemies’ batteries, and actually penetrated into their lines; but finding himself in danger of being overpowered by numbers, he sent an aidecamp twice to demand succours from Solmes, who derided his distress, saying, “Let us see what sport these English bull-dogs will make.” At length, when the king sent an express order commanding him to sustain the left wing, he made a motion with his horse, which could not act while his infantry kept their ground, and the British troops, with a few Dutch and Danes, bore the whole brunt of the engagement. They fought with surprising courage and perseverance against dreadful odds; and the event of the battle continued doubtful, until Bouflîers joined the French army with a great body of dragoons. The allies could not sustain the additional weight of this reinforcement, before which they gave way, though the retreat was made in tolerable order, and the enemy did not think proper to prosecute the advantage they had gained. In this action the confederates lost the earl of Angus, general Mackay, sir John Lanier, sir Robert Douglas, and many other gallant officers, together with about three thousand men left dead on the spot, the same number wounded or taken, a great many colours and standards, and several pieces of cannon.