THE STATES-GENERAL ALARMED AT THE PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH.
The flame of war on the continent did not expire at the election of an emperor, and the re-establishment of peace among the princes of the empire. On the contrary, it raged with double violence in consequence of these events; for the force that was before divided being now united in one body, exerted itself with great vigour and rapidity. The states-general were overwhelmed with consternation. Notwithstanding the pains they had taken to avoid a war, and the condescension with which they had soothed and supplicated the French monarch in repeated embassies and memorials, they saw themselves striped of their barrier, and once mere in danger of being overwhelmed by that ambitious nation. The city of Brussels had been reduced during the winter; so that the enemy were in possession of all the Austrian Netherlands, except a few fortresses. Great part of the forces belonging to the republic were restricted from action by capitulations, to which they had subscribed. The states were divided in their councils between the two factions which had long subsisted. They trembled at the prospect of seeing Zealand invaded in the spring. The Orange party loudly called for an augmentation of their forces by sea and land, that they might prosecute the war with vigour. The common people, fond of novelty, dazzled by the splendour of greatness, and fully persuaded that nothing but a chief was wanting to their security, demanded the prince of Orange as a stadtholder; and even mingled menaces with their demands. The opposite faction dreaded alike the power of a stadtholder, the neighbourhood of a French army, and the seditious disposition of the populace. An ambassador was sent to London with representations of the imminent dangers which threatened the republic, and he was ordered to solicit in the most pressing terms the assistance of his Britannic majesty, that the allies might have a superiority in the Netherlands by the beginning of the campaign. The king was very well disposed to comply with their request; but the rebellion in his kingdom, and the dissensions in his cabinet, had retailed the supplies and embarrassed him so much, that he found it impossible to make those early preparations that were necessary to check the career of the enemy.
COUNT SAXE SUBDUES ALL FLANDERS, BRABANT, AND HAINAULT.
The king of France, with his general the count de Saxe, took the field in the latter end of April, at the head of one hundred and twenty thousand men, and advanced towards the allies, who, to the number of four-and-forty thousand, were intrenched behind the Demer under the conduct of the Austrian general Bathiani, who retired before them, and took post in the neighbourhood of Breda, the capital of Dutch Brabant. Mareschal Saxe immediately invested Antwerp, which in a few clays was surrendered. Then he appeared before the strong town of Mons in Hainault, with an irresistible train of artillery, and an immense quantity of bombs and warlike implements. He carried on his approaches with such unabating impetuosity, that, notwithstanding a very vigorous defence, the garrison was obliged to capitulate on the twenty-seventh day of June, in about eight-and-twenty days after the place had been invested. Sieges were not now carried on by the tedious method of sapping. The French king found it much more expeditious and effectual to bring into the field a prodigious train of battering cannon, and enormous mortars, that kept up such a fire as no garrison could sustain, and discharged such an incessant hail of bombs and bullets, as in a very little time reduced to ruins the place with all its fortifications. St. Guislain and Charleroy met with the fate of Mons and Antwerp; so that by the middle of July the French king was absolute master of Flanders, Brabant, and Hainault.
Prince Charles of Lorraine had by this time assumed the command of the confederate army at Terheyde, which being reinforced by the Hessian troops from Scotland, and a fresh body of Austrians under count Palfi, amounted to eighty-seven thousand men, including the Dutch forces commanded by the prince of Waldeck. The generals, supposing the next storm would fall upon Namur, marched towards that place, and took post in an advantageous situation on the eighteenth day of July, in sight of the French army, which was encamped at Gemblours, Here they remained till the eighth day of August, when a detachment of the enemy, commanded by count Lowendahl, took possession of Huy, where he found a large magazine belonging to the confederates; and their communication with Maestricht was cut off. Mareschal Saxe, on the other side, took his measures so well, that they were utterly deprived of all subsistence. Then prince Charles, retiring across the Maese, abandoned Namur to the efforts of the enemy, by whom it was immediately invested. The trenches were opened on the second day of September; and the garrison, consisting of seven thousand Austrian-s, defended themselves with equal skill and resolution; but the cannonading and bombardment were so terrible, that in a few days the place was converted into a heap of rubbish; and on the twenty-third day of the month the French monarch took possession of this strong fortress, which had formerly sustained such dreadful attacks. Meanwhile the allied army encamped at Maestricht, were joined by sir John Ligonier with some British and Bavarian battalions; and prince Charles resolved to give the enemy battle. With this view he passed the Maese on the thirteenth day of September, and advanced towards mareschal Saxe, whom he found so advantageously posted at Tongres, that he thought proper to march back to Maestricht. On the twenty-sixth day of September he crossed the Jaar in his retreat; and his rear was attacked by the enemy, who were repulsed. But count Saxe being reinforced by a body of troops under the count de Clermont, determined to bring the confederates to an engagement. On the thirteenth day of the month he passed the Jaar; while they took possession of the villages of Liers, Warem, and Roucoux, drew up their forces in order of battle, and made preparations for giving him a warm reception. On the first day of October the enemy advanced in three columns; and a terrible cannonading began about noon. At two o’clock prince Waldeck on the left was charged with great fury; and, after an obstinate defence, overpowered by numbers. The villages were attacked in columns, and as one brigade was repulsed another succeeded; so that the allies were obliged to abandon these posts, and retreat towards Maestricht, with the loss of five thousand men and thirty pieces of artillery. The victory, however, cost the French general a much greater number of lives; and was attended with no solid advantage. Sir John ligonier, the earls of Crawford [301] [See note 2 O, at the end of this Vol.] and Rothes, brigadier Douglas, and other officers of the British troops, distinguished themselves by their gallantry and conduct on this occasion. This action terminated the campaign. The allies passing the Maese, took up their winter-quarters in the duchies of Limeburgh and Luxembourg; while the French cantoned their troops in the places which they had newly conquered.
THE FRENCH AND SPANIARDS ABANDON PIEDMONT AND THE MILANESE.
The campaign in Italy was altogether unfavourable to the French and Spaniards. The house of Austria being no longer pressed on the side of Germany, was enabled to make the stronger efforts in this country; and the British subsidy encouraged the king of Sardinia to act with redoubled vivacity. Mareschal Maillebois occupied the greater part of Piedmont with about thirty thousand men. Don Philip and the count de Gages were at the head of a greater number in the neighbourhood of Milan; and the duke of Modena, with eight thousand, secured his own dominions. The king of Sardinia augmented his forces to six-and-thirty thousand; and the Austrian army, under the prince of Lichtenstein, amounted to a much greater number; so that the enemy were reduced to the necessity of acting on the defensive, and retired towards the Mantuan. In February, baron Leutrum, the Piedmontese general, invested and took the strong fortress of Aste. He afterwards relieved the citadel of Alexandria, which the Spaniards had blocked up in the winter, reduced Casal, recovered Valencia, and obliged Maillebois to retire to the neighbourhood of Genoa. On the other side, Don Philip and count Gages abandoned Milan, Pavia, and Parma, retreating before the Austrians with the utmost precipitation to Placentia, where they were joined on the third of June by the French forces under Maillebois.