Considering the situation of the French, the number of their troops, and the manner in which they were fortified, nothing could be more rash and imprudent than the attack, which cost the lives of so many gallant men, and was attended with so little advantage to the conquerors. Perhaps the duke of Marlborough thought a victory was absolutely necessary to support his sinking interest at the court of Great Britain. His intention was to have given battle before the enemy had intrenched themselves; but prince Eugene insisted upon delaying the action until the reinforcement should arrive from Tournay. The extraordinary carnage is imputed to the impetuosity of the prince of Orange, whose aim through this whole war was to raise himself into consideration with the states-general by signal acts of military prowess. The French having retired to Valenciennes, the allies were left at liberty to besiege Mons, which capitulated about the end of October; and both armies were distributed in winter quarters. The campaign on the Rhine produced nothing but one sharp action, between a detachment of the French army commanded by the count de Borgh, and a body of troops under count Merci, who had passed the Rhine in order to penetrate into Franche-compte. The Imperial officer was worsted in this encounter, with the loss of two thousand men; obliged to repass the river, and retire to Fribourg. In Piedmont, velt-mareschal Thaun commanded the confederates in the room of the duke of Savoy, who refused to take the field until some differences, which had arisen between the emperor and him, should be adjusted. Thaun’s design was to besiege Briançon; but the duke of Berwick had taken such precautions as frustrated his intention, though part of the troops under the French general were employed in suppressing an insurrection of the Camisars, and other malcontents in the Vivaraz. These were entirely defeated in a pitched battle; and Abraham, one of their leaders, being taken, was broke alive upon the wheel; three-and-twenty were hanged, and the other prisoners sent to the galleys. The pope delayed acknowledging king Charles under various pretences, in hopes that the campaign would prove favourable to the house of Bourbon; till at length the emperor giving him to understand that his army should take up their winter quarters in the ecclesiastical state, his holiness solemnly owned Charles as king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily.
CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN.
The military operations in Spain and Portugal were unfavourable to the allies. On the seventh of May, the Portuguese and English were defeated at Caya by the Spaniards, under the command of the mareschal de Bay. The castle of Alicant, guarded by two English regiments, had been besieged, and held out during a whole winter. At length the chevalier d’Asfeldt ordered the rock to be undermined, and having lodged two hundred barrels of gunpowder, gave Syburg the governor to understand, that two of his officers might come out and see the condition of the works. This offer being accepted, Asfeldt in person accompanied them to the mine: he told them he could not bear the thoughts of seeing so many brave men perish in the ruins of a place they had so gallantly defended, and allowed them four-and-twenty hours to consider on the resolution they should take. Syburg continued deaf to his remonstrances; and, with an obstinacy that savoured more of stupidity than of valour, determined to stand the explosion. When the sentinels that were posted on the side of the hill gave notice, by a preconcerted signal, that fire was set to the mine, the governor ordered the guard to retire, and walked out to the parade accompanied by several officers. The mine being sprung, the rock opened under their feet, and they falling into the chasm, it instantly closed, and crushed them to death. Notwithstanding this dreadful incident, colonel d’Albon, who succeeded to the command, resolved to defend the place to the last extremity. Sir Edward Whitaker sailed from Barcelona to the relief of the place; but the enemy had erected such works as effectually hindered the troops from landing. Then general Stanhope, who commanded them, capitulated with the Spanish general for the garrison, which marched out with all the honours of war, and was transported to Minorca, where the men were put into quarters of refreshment. On the frontiers of Catalonia, general Starem-berg maintained his ground, and even annoyed the enemy. He passed the Segra, and reduced Balaguer; having left a strong garrison in the place, he repassed the river, and sent his forces into winter quarters. The most remarkable event of this summer was the battle of Poultowa, in which the king of Sweden was entirely defeated by the czar of Muscovy, and obliged to take refuge at Bender, a town of Moldavia, in the Turkish dominions. Augustus immediately marched into Poland against Stanislaus, and renounced his own resignation, as if it had been the effect of compulsion. He formed a project with the kings of Denmark and Prussia to attack the Swedish territories in three different places; but the emperor and maritime powers prevented the execution of this scheme, by entering into a guarantee for preserving the peace of the empire. Nevertheless, the king of Denmark declared war against Sweden, and transported an army over the Sound of Schonen; but they were attacked and defeated by the Swedes, and obliged to re-embark with the utmost precipitation. The war still continued to rage in Hungary, where, however, the revolters were routed in many petty engagements.
FRENCH KING’S PROPOSALS OF TREATING REJECTED BY THE STATES-GENERAL.
Though the events of the summer had been less unfavourable to France than Louis had reason to expect, he saw that peace was as necessary as ever to his kingdom; but he thought he might now treat with some freedom and dignity. His minister, Torcy, maintained a correspondence with Mr. Petkum, resident of the duke of Holstein at the Hague: he proposed to this minister, that the negotiation should be renewed; and demanded passes, by virtue of which the French plenipotentiaries might repair in safety to Holland. In the meantime, the French king withdrew his troops from Spain, on pretence of demonstrating his readiness to oblige the allies in that particular; though this measure was the effect of necessity, which obliged him to recall those troops for the defence of his own dominions. The states-general refused to grant passes to the French ministers; but they allowed Petkum to make a journey to Versailles. In the interim king Philip published a manifesto, protesting against all that should be transacted at the Hague to his prejudice. Far from yielding Spain and the Indies to his competitor, he declared his intention of driving Charles from those places that were now in his possession. He named the duke of Alba and count Bergheyck for his plenipotentiaries, and ordered them to notify their credentials to the maritime powers; but no regard was paid to their intimation. Philip tampered likewise with the duke of Marlborough; and the marquis de Torcy renewed his attempts upon that general; but all his application and address proved ineffectual. Petkum brought back from Versailles a kind of memorial, importing, that those motives which influenced the French before the campaign was opened, no longer subsisted; that the winter season naturally produced a cessation of arms, during which he would treat of a general and reasonable peace, without restricting himself to the form of the preliminaries which the allies had pretended to impose; that, nevertheless, he would still treat on the foundation of those conditions to which he had consented, and send plenipotentiaries to begin the conference with those of the allies on the first day of January. The states-general inveighed against this memorial, as a proof of the French king’s insincerity; though he certainly had a right to retract those offers they had formerly rejected. They came to a resolution, that it was absolutely necessary to prosecute the war with rigour; and they wrote pressing letters on the subject to all their allies.
ANNE, 1701—1714