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ANNALS OF WAR. 1700-1815 |
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ANNALS OF WAR_ 1700-1815 A.D.
1712.
1. PRINCE EUGENE ARRIVES IN ENGLAND.—2.
NEGOTIATIONS.—3. WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS.--4. THE BRITISH ARMY QUIT THE ALLIED
CAMP.—6. EUGENE SURPRISED AT DENAIN.—6. THE ALLIES SURPRISE FORT KNOQUE.—7. WAR IN
THE PENINSULA. THE BRITISH TROOPS QUIT SPAIN.—8. THE WAR ENDS IN
PIEDMONT.—9. THE WAR IN THE NORTH. ECCENTRIC CONDUCT OF CHARLES XII.
AT BENDER.--10. DEATH AND MILITARY CHARACTERS OF MARSHAL DE CATINAT
AND MARSHAL DE VENDÔME.
1. Prince Eugene arrives in England.
For some time a negotiation for peace had been going
on privately; and terms had been under discussion not at all to the
satisfaction either of the States General or the Emperor. At this period
Prince Eugene arrived in England with instructions to propose a new
scheme for prosecuting the war. Although his errand was far from
being agreeable to the ministry of the day, he was treated with
extraordinary respect both by the Queen and others. The Lord
Treasurer Harley entertained the Prince at dinner, and declared that he
looked upon the occasion as the happiest day of his life, since he had
the honour to see in his house the greatest captain of the age.
The Prince replied, “If I am so, it is owing entirely to your
Lordship,” —alluding to the part he had taken in Marlborough’s disgrace.
2. Negotiations.
On the 29th of January the congress was opened at
Utrecht with a blessing from Robinson, Bishop of Bristol, who was English
plenipotentiary with the Earl of Strafford. Buys and Vanderdussen represented
the States General. Marshal de Uxelles, Cardinal
Polignac, and Menager were there on the part of France. The Emperor
and the other allies sent their plenipotentiaries. These negotiations did
not, however, retard the preparations for the campaign. The French had,
never been more active in their warlike preparations than they were now
while the congress was sitting at Utrecht. It seems that the Queen of
England and the King of France were both, in their private views, opposed
to any further bloodshed; and, accordingly, it was agreed between them
that their armies should not be brought to a general engagement, and the
Duke of Ormond, who was now invested with the supreme command of the
British forces in the place of the Duke of Marlborough, received strict
injunctions not to act on the offensive. This order was shown to the
confederates, and so much displeased them, that they refused to entrust
the command of their contingents to Ormond, and appointed Prince Eugene to
command them. The English army was discontented and discouraged by all
these arrangements. They resented the removal of a general who had so
often led them to conquest and victory, and never to defeat. Ormond was not
much known as a soldier, and Eugene despised him as much as he had revered
Marlborough in the held. Ormond seemed himself extremely uneasy at his
situation and desired permission to return home.
3. War in the Netherlands.
In the meantime the allies, deprived of the assistance
of the English, still continued in their animosity against the French. In
the beginning of March King William’s old friend, the Dutch Earl
of Albemarle, opened the campaign against Arras, having thirty-six
battalions under him, and reduced it to ashes by a terrible bombardment.
Marshal Villars was drawn up behind the formidable lines, which he had
strengthened since Marlborough broke through them in the preceding
campaign. Here he disciplined his numerous troops, and gathered
reinforcements and materials for war from nearly every part of France. In
May the Duke of Ormond announced to the States General that he had orders to
act vigorously in the prosecution of the war, and joined Prince Eugene at
Tournay, before a grand review of the allied army, that was now
assembled, near Douay. It was found to consist of upwards of 120,000 men.
Eugene proposed that with this imposing force they
should immediately attack Villars in his lines, or invest Quesnoy if the lines
should prove too strong. Ormond consented, for it appeared he had
been duped, and really believed he was to fight. On the 26th of May
the allied army passed the Scheldt and encamped at Haspre and Solenne; but while Ormond was preparing to march with Eugene, he
received secret and positive orders that he was neither to engage in a
siege nor hazard a battle. Eugene and the deputies presented a strong
memorial to Ormond on the 5th of June, insisting upon being informed why
he was ruining the hopes of the campaign by his refusal to move, and
many of the allies scrupled not to say they were betrayed. The
English ministry now sent to Ormond to say, that he might assist at
sieges, and might therefore co-operate with Eugene, who invested Quesnoy
on the 8th of June. The Duke forthwith assumed an attitude as if he
would cover the siege with the whole English army, while the Prince
prosecuted it with the Dutch and imperial troops. Ormond sent seven battalions
and nine squadrons of the foreign troops maintained by Great Britain into
the trenches. But now Marshal Villars, who had been in friendly
communication with Ormond upon the understanding that they were not to
fight, expressed himself in very uncourtly terms of this perfidy, or of
the perfidy of the British Government. Prince Eugene on the other hand,
who wanted some active assistance, complained and remonstrated on his side; so
that Ormond knew not what to say in defence or excuse. But he was shortly
relieved from part of his difficulties by instructions to demand from
Villars the town and port of Dunkirk, as a previous condition of a
cessation of hostilities on the part of the English, and as a pledge that
France would fulfil her promises: and Villars received instructions to
put Dunkirk in the possession of the English troops. The Duke
of Ormond thereupon personally communicated to Prince Eugene and the
Dutch field-deputies, that he could no longer assist with his forces in
the siege of Quesnoy, or do any hostile act against the armies of the King
of France. The deputies desired be would delay his march to Dunkirk for
five days: and he granted three days without hesitation. Eugene was
indignant, and observed, that his marching off with the British troops
would leave the allies at the mercy of the enemy; but his choler rose when
he found that Ormond not only contemplated marching oft’ the British
troops, but likewise the foreign mercenaries, who were indeed in the pay
of England, but had entered the service out of hatred to the French, to
which they were induced by past injuries. Ormond treated clandestinely
with the commanders of these troops, who were mostly Germans, and who
alleged that they could not separate from the confederacy without
express directions from their masters, to whom they had despatched
couriers; but Eugene and the deputies had already tampered with these
men, and they one and all refused to march with the English troops, or
to abandon Prince Eugene, who by himself was too weak to cope
with Villars. Nearly all the little Princes of Germany, who had
furnished these auxiliaries, approved of the conduct of their soldiers,
calling God and man to witness that they had not hired out these troops
for the sake of the pay only, but also out of regard to the common safety
of the Empire: and they undertook to maintain them under the
command of Eugene for one month at their own expense; and that
afterwards they would share the expense with the Emperor and the States
General. But Ormond was pledged by the terms of the truce to make the
auxiliaries in British pay observe the truce, as well as the native troops of
Great Britain, and as these Germans would not obey him, Villars objected to
the giving up of Dunkirk. Consequently an English detachment, which had been
sent there, found the gates of the town shut in their faces. About the
middle of June, and in the midst of these transactions, Prince Eugene, in order
to dazzle the confederates with some bold enterprise, detached
Major-General Grovestein with 1500 cavalry, to
penetrate into the heart of France. This officer advanced into Champagne,
passed the Noire, the Maese, the Moselle, and the Saar, and extorted contributions
as far as the gates of Metz. The consternation produced by this irruption
reached the gates of Paris, and the King trembled for Versailles, and
called in all the troops in the neighbourhood of the capital to defend his
palace. Villars sent a detachment after Grovestein as soon as he learned his destination; but the French troops had always
the mortification of being a day’s march too late, although at the same
time they followed the enemy so close as to find the flames still burning
in the villages he had destroyed. He returned with a rich booty and a
great number of hostages. By way of retaliation, Major-General Pasteur, a
French partisan, made an excursion beyond Bergen-op-Zooin,
and plundered Tortole, an island belonging to
Zealand. On the 4th of July Quesnoy surrendered; and the garrison were
made prisoners of war. Prince Eugene now resolved to undertake the siege
of Landrecy, with a design to detain Ormond and
the British; but such a spirit of animosity had begun to prevail between
the English and the allies, that it was absolutely necessary to effect a
separation without delay; and on the 16th Prince Eugene broke up from his
camp at Haspre, and was followed by all the
auxiliaries in the British pay, except a few battalions and one regiment
of dragoons.
4. The British Army quit
the Allied Camp.
On the t17h Ormond packed up his baggage and decamped.
France had already given up Dunkirk to a body of troops sent from England
under Brigadier Hill, who took possession of the place on the 7th of July.
As Ormond advanced in that direction he was refused admittance into Douay,
Bouchain, Tournay, Oudenarde, and Lille, all of
them places taken by British bayonets, but now garrisoned by the Dutch;
and Marshal Villars thought fit to give him notice, that in case he should
meet with any difficulty in his march, he would be welcome to a retreat
into France. The veterans who recollected the Duke of Marlborough and the
late glorious times were overwhelmed with shame and vexation, and actually
shed tears at these proceedings. This 17th of July was an inauspicious day,
that branded the British army with infamy and disgrace: nor in the century
and a half, which have rolled away since that inglorious day, have all
the arguments urged in its defence done aught to
prove that the transaction was otherwise than base and treacherous to our
allies, and opposed to every British sentiment. Ormond lay some time
at Ghent, of which, as well as Bruges, he took possession, in the name of
the Queen of England; but he detached troops with artillery and ammunition
from time to time to Dunkirk, from which place at the end of October the
main body of the British embarked for England.
Nevertheless, Eugene thought he might still cope with
Villars, and for a time fortune seemed to smile on the brave Prince. But
he was not strong enough to cover properly his far-extended
lines, and the want of the steady veterans of Britain was soon
grievously experienced.
5. Eugene surprised at Denain.
Notwithstanding this defection of the Duke of Ormond’s
army, Prince Eugene determined to lay siege to Landrecy.
Partisan troops had spread such consternation to the very gates of
Versailles, that this proceeding struck alarm into the heart of Louis XIV,
who loudly declared, that if Landrecy were
taken, he would himself take the field. Marshal de Villars received orders
to raise the siege at any risk. This was now carried on under the
direction of the Prince of Anhalt, and Eugene with his covering army was
encamped near Marchiennes, where was the great depot of artillery,
ammunition, and provisions. The Earl of Albemarle was at Denain with 8000
men to keep up the communication, and cover the passage from this
depot. Eugene had objected to the selection of Marchiennes for the
depot, recommending Quesnoy in preference, which was at half the
distance; but he could not persuade the Dutch deputies, who consulted
what they deemed the greater economy in that position. The Prince,
not having the equanimity of Marlborough, could not help saying,
with bitterness, “Parlez devant moi des conquêtes d’Alexandre! Il n’avait point de députés Hollandais a son armeé. (Talk to me about Alexander’s conquests! He didn't have any Dutch deputies in his army.) ” It was
necessary to deceive Eugene, in order to enable Marshal Villars to take
the step he meditated, of attacking Albemarle’s camp at Denain from the
side of Douay. The isolated position of the Earl of Albemarle was
said to have been first noticed by a priest and a lawyer, who walked
there together from Douay, and communicated their ideas to M. de
Montesquieu, who represented them to Villars. Accordingly, the Marshal brought
his camp near Gateau Cambraesis, and ordered
the Count de Coigny with 1500 men to lay bridges
over the Selle, and widen and level the roads leading towards the Sambre.
Upon these proceedings Eugene caused a deep intrenchment to be
raised before his left, and caused his right to move up, so as to be in
a condition to maintain the siege with all his forces. Meanwhile Villars
ordered the Marquis de Vieuxpont to lay bridges at
Neuville, across the Scheldt, between Bouchain and Denain, and to march
with thirty battalions: Count Albergotti was to follow with twenty
other battalions, and he himself with the whole army in four
columns. Vieuxpont could not lay his bridges
till the 24th of July at eight in the morning, when the Count de Broglie with
forty squadrons crossed the river. Villars had used such precautions to
conceal his true design and march, that Eugene had no intelligence of it
till seven in the morning of the 24th, when he hastened in person to the
camp at Denain, after leaving orders to some troops to follow him.
He viewed the camp and intrenchments, and gave Lord Albemarle
such directions as he thought necessary. At the same time he
reinforced the eleven battalions of infantry in that post with the three
who had come up with him, and judging that fourteen squadrons of
dragoons would be useless in the intrenchments, he caused them to retire
with all the baggage away from Lord Albemarle's camp. After he
had made these arrangements he went away, about eleven o'clock, to
hasten the march of other troops. The Prince on quitting ordered the
men to dine, which they were doing, when, at two in the afternoon, M.
de Broglie attacked them, and finding the outposts weakly guarded,
he forced them almost without resistance—the Palatines and
German auxiliaries, who were posted there, throwing their arms away
upon the first discharge. Upon the first appearance of the
enemy, Albemarle advanced to sustain the German battalions, but
finding they had quitted their post, also that a great body of
French infantry was before him, he retired within his lines, to the
defence of which he brought up twelve pieces of cannon. Villars
made the disposition for an attack with thirty-six battalions in three columns,
distant 200 paces from each other, and a reserve of six battalions in a second
line, with cavalry to support them. Villars put himself on the right wing,
and placed Albergotti on the left. The troops advanced to the
intrenchments without firing a shot, nor did the cannon or musketry of the
allies disorder one battalion of the French advance. They came within
eighty paces of the lines, when they fired and leaped into the ditch, and
after a long resistance, entered the camp, cutting down all who made head
against them. Eugene had been induced to call in his troops from the
redoubt and bridge of Prouy to strengthen the
garrison; these works were immediately seized by Albergotti, which cut off the
retreat of the runaways. Eugene’s army was now seen advancing in columns
on the other side of the Scheldt, but was stopped at the bridge of Prouy by Albergotti with his troops, and accordingly
from the opposite side of the river he had the mortification to witness
the surrender of Albemarle. Another bridge was hastily constructed to
cross the river, but it broke down with the weight of the troops passing
over it, and Eugene was obliged to content himself with remaining
where he was. The loss of the French was stated not to have
exceeded 400. Of the allies it was reckoned that they had about 1000
killed, besides 1500 drowned in the river; among whom were Count Nassau-Wonderbourg and Count Dohna. Among the prisoners were
the Earl of Albemarle, the Prince of Anhalt, the Prince of Nassau-Secken, the Prince of Holstein, Count de la Lippe, and 2500
men.
The French Marshal immediately pushed into
Marchiennes, on the Scarpe, where the principal stores of the allies were
lodged; and although the place was garrisoned with 4000 men, it
surrendered on the last day of the month. Eugene immediately raised the
siege of Landrecy, but could not prevent
Villars from investing Douay. He would have hazarded an engagement in its
defence, but the States’ deputies would not run the risk, and the Prince
had the mortification to see Douay surrender after a short siege. Quesnoy,
which Eugene had so recently taken, made a somewhat better resistance, but
it also fell before Villars. And last, not least, Bouchain, the last prize
of Marlborough, was besieged and taken, after a few days’ open
trenches, on the 10th of October. The “Grand Monarque” ordered Te Deum to be sung in the cathedral of
Notre Dame fur these successes, and challenged them as visible marks of
the protection of God; who, he said, knew the rectitude of his intentions,
and his sincere desire for peace. Nevertheless, the demands of the French
at the conference increased with these successes,—the inevitable
consequence of the unwise and ungenerous measures adopted by the British
Government, in withdrawing from the confederacy and breaking up
its influence.
6. The Allies surprise Fort Knoque.
While the French were before Bouchain, the allies, on
the 4th of October, surprised Fort Knoque,
near Ostend, in the following manner :—The garrison was very weak, and
Brigadier Caris, governor of Ostend, hearing of it, employed Captain La
Rue, a famous partisan, to take a detachment of 180 men, who found means
to hide themselves in some houses near the drawbridges, where they lay
all night. In the morning they rushed forward and killed the guard
at one bridge, and sent off parties, who successfully obtained
others. The French governor was seized in his bed and made prisoner,
with the four companies in garrison. La Rue immediately sent
to Governor Caris for additional men, and sent out men to bring provisions
from the villages in the neighbourhood, before the garrison of Ypres could
be informed of the loss of the place. These precautions were not useless, for
as soon as they heard of it they sent forward a body of troops on each
side towards the Lys; but they found the fort so seasonably guarded, that
they were forced to abandon the design.
7. War in the Peninsula.
The British Troops quit Spain.
The Marquis de Bay, who commanded King Philip’s forces
in Estremadura, marched with his army to invade Portugal; but
the Portuguese exerted themselves with such vigour and resolution
that De Bay was obliged to raise the siege of Campo-Maior, which he
had undertaken.
The English troops in Spain were ordered to separate
from the army of Count Stahremberg and march to the neighbourhood
of Barcelona, where they were embarked on board an English
squadron, commanded by Sir John Jennings, and transported to
Minorca. Stahremberg continued to blockade Gerona, but Marshal
Berwick arrived to its succour on the last day of the year.
8. The War ends in Piedmont.
On the side of Savoy, the Duke remained inactive, and
even allowed the French troops under Berwick to cross the Alps in July and
supply themselves from his country; but at length he acceded to the
propositions made to him to take part in the conferences at Utrecht, and
acquiesced in the offers of France.
9. The War in the North. Eccentric Conduct
of Charles XII at Bender.
The continued absence of Charles XII, at Bender,
induced the King of Denmark to attack Sweden. The Danes took Staden,
reduced Bremen, and laid Hamburgh under contribution. Count
Steenbock, however, the Swedish general, defeated the Danish army in
Mecklenburg, near Gadesbusk, where the Danish troops
and some Saxon cavalry suffered a total rout. The Swedish general
ravaged Holstein with great barbarity, and reduced the town of Altona
to ashes. Steenbock endeavoured to maintain himself in Tonningen, but
at last was forced to surrender; on the other hand, the Czar entered and
reduced Finland, where he became master of Abo, the capital; and Augustus,
King of Poland, penetrated into Pomerania, so that Sweden was struck with
a general consternation. Charles himself was all this time playing a farce
with the Turks, that was enough to make anyone doubt his sanity. The
Sultan negotiated for him a free passage to his dominions, through Vienna,
while the Emperor promised him a safe conduct. Taking some offence at
the message he rejected the proposal, fortified his house, and
prepared to defend himself to the last. The King suffered himself to
be besieged by 26,000 Turks and Tartars, with only 300 Swedes
to defend him. The slight intrenchments raised by this obstinate Monarch
were carried in an instant, and his 800 men surrounded, when Charles, who
was on horseback with three officers, Hord, Dardoff, and Spasse, cried, “us go and defend the house, we
will fight there pro aris et focis.” He, and his defenders with him,
fought with most frantic valour, and slew some hundreds of bis
assailants, but at last the Turks set fire to his house. One Walberg
proposed to the King a surrender. “What a strange fellow,” said Charles, “to
think it not better to be burned than to be made prisoner”. Another, a
private soldier named Rosen, proposed what pleased his Majesty better—that
they should cut their way to another house, a few paces off. “Spoken like
a true Swede”, said the King, and he made the man a colonel on the spot.
He then attempted to cut bis way through to the other house, with the
intention of still carrying on his defence, when a score of janizaries rushed
upon him, and carried him off in their arms. The scene must have been laughable
enough, when some taking hold of his arms, and others of his legs, he was
borne, struggling, to the Pacha’s quarters. The janizaries,
admiring such bravery, could not help shouting “Allah!” and treated him
with profound respect. He was now deprived of all his followers, who were
sold as slaves, and he himself remained prisoner. This event took place on the
12th of February, 1713, and it was near the end of 1714 before he regained his
liberty.
10. Death and Military Characters of
the French Marshals
Marshal de Catinat.
Marshal Catinat was born in 1637, and died in 1712, at
the age of seventy-four. He was brought up to the bar, but forsaking it,
commenced a military career in 1667. In 1688 he attained the rank
of lieutenant-general, in 1690 he defeated the Duke of Savoy at Staffarde, and at Marseille, in 1693, and made himself
master of great part of his dominions. In 1693 he was made Marshal of
France, and in 1697 he besieged and took the fortress of Ath. In 1700, on
the breaking out of the war, the court was undecided whom to oppose in
Italy to Prince Eugene, and vacillated between Catinat, Vendôme, and
Villeroy. The circumstance came to be talked of at the Emperor's court,
at Vienna. “If Villeroy has the command,” said Prince
Eugene, “I shall beat him; if Vendôme be appointed, we shall have a
sharp struggle; but if it be Catinat, I shall be beaten.” The latter
was sent out, with the strictest orders, to dispute the Prince’s entry
into Italy; but when, in spite of him, the Imperialists established
themselves between the Adige and the Adda, the Marshal was superseded by
Villeroy. He bore this injustice like a man superior to fortune; and in a
letter he wrote at this time, said, “I strive to forget my misfortunes,
that my mind may be more at ease in executing the orders of Marshal
Villeroy;” but when this presumptuous and incompetent Marshal was urged, by
those who did not like him, to attack Prince Eugene, the honest Catinat,
instead of rejoicing to see his rival defeated by his imprudence, urged
him not to fight, but to retire; he could, however, no longer bear the
reproach of being superseded by an officer, both his junior and a very
inefficient commander, and Catinat obtained leave to retire to France. The
King named him to his order, but he declined the honour; and
when some of his family expressed some displeasure at this proceeding,
he replied, “Well then, strike me out of your genealogy.” He
is spoken of by his contemporaries as a man of singular wisdom,
virtue, and modesty; and was called by his soldiers, “Le père de la Pensèe” (The Father of Thought). He was a man
of great simplicity and frugality, and after the mortification imposed on him
by the last service he was ever called on to perform, is said to have
revived “le souvenir de ces grands hommes, qui,
après les triomphes les mieux merités, retournaient tranquillement à leurs charrues, toujours amoureux de leur patrie et peu sensibles à l’ingratitude du Roi, qu’ils avaient si bien servi” (the memory of those great men, who, after the
most well-deserved triumphs, calmly returned to their plows,
always in love with their homeland and hardly affected by the king’s
ingratitude, whom they had served so well.)
Marshal Duke of Vendôme.
The Marshal de Vendôme was born in 1654, and served at
the age of eighteen, in Holland, under the eyes of Louis XIV. After
distinguishing himself in many battles and sieges, he was made
Marshal, and obtained a command in Catalonia in 1697, when he took
Barcelona, and afterwards won the decisive battle of Villaviciosa,
which established King Philip on the throne of Spain. He was a magnificent
figure of a man, but of an indolence and sensualism beyond all
record. After the battle of Oudenarde, he is
said to have retired to a house in Ghent, and without informing himself of
anything concerning his defeated army, threw himself on a bed, and slept
for thirty hours, to recover himself from his fatigues! He died, at
Vinaroz, of indigestion, after eating some fish, at the age of fifty-six, on
the 11th of June, 1712. His death-bed is recorded to have been a sad
scene. Every one of his
attendants being about to desert him, “il leur cria pitoyablement de ne le pas laisser au moins mourir à nud sur
la paillasse » (he pitifully yelled at them not to at least
leave him to die naked on the straw mat)
To compensate his death, he received the funeral of a
Prince. He had, as has been shown, commanded in Spain, and almost his last
victory was that which established the crown on the head of Philip V. The
Princess des Ursins accordingly “pour faire la cour au
Roi Louis XIV” ordered the body to be brought to the Escurial, to
be buried in the mausoleum of the Kings of Spain, although no other
private person bad been ever buried there.
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