Chapter IV (3)

It will now be necessary to describe the operations on the continent. In the middle of May king William arrived in Holland, where he consulted with the states-general. On the third day of June he repaired to Beth-lem-abbey near Louvain, the place appointed for the rendezvous of the army; and there he was met by the electors of Bavaria and Cologn. In a few days a numerous army was assembled, and every thing seemed to promise an active campaign. On the third day of June the dauphin assumed the command of the French forces, with which Luxembourg had taken post between Mons and Maubeuge; and passing the Sambre, encamped at Fleuras, but on the eighteenth he removed from thence, and took up his quarters between St. Tron and Wanheim; while the confederates lay at Roosbeck. On the eleventh of July, the dauphin marched in four columns to Oerle upon the Jaar, where he pitched his camp. On the twenty-second the confederates marched to Romale; then the dauphin took the route to Vignamont, where he secured his army by entrenchments, as his forces were inferior in number to those of the allies; and as he had been directed by his father to avoid an engagement. In this situation both armies remained till the fifteenth day of August, when king William sent the heavy baggage to Louvain; and on the eighteenth made a motion to Sombref. This was no sooner known to the enemy than they decamped; and having marched all night, posted themselves between Temploux and Masy, within a league and a half of the confederates. The king of England resolved to pass the Scheld, and with this view marched by the way of Nivelle and Soignes to Chievres; from thence he detached the duke of Wirtemberg, with a strong body of horse and foot, to pass the river at Oudenarde, while the elector of Bavaria advanced with another detachment to pass it at Pont de Espieres. Notwithstanding all the expedition they could make, their purpose was anticipated by Luxembourg, who being apprised of their route had detached four thousand horse, with each a foot soldier behind the trooper, to reinforce M. de Valette who commanded that part of the French line. These were sustained by a choice body of men, who travelled with great expedition without observing the formalities of a march. Mareschal de Villeroy followed the same route with all the cavalry of the right wing, the household troops, and twenty field-pieces; and the rest of the army was brought up by the dauphin in person. They marched with such incredible diligence, that the elector of Bavaria could scarce believe his own eyes when he arrived in sight of the Scheld and saw them intrenching themselves on the other side of the river. King William having reconnoitred their disposition, thought it impracticable to pass at that place; and therefore marched down the river to Oudenarde, where a passage had been already effected by the duke of Wirtemberg. Here the confederates passed the Scheld on the twenty-seventh day of the month; and the king fixed his head-quarters at Wanneghem. His intention was to have taken possession of Courtray, and established winter-quarters for a considerable part of his army in that district; but Luxembourg having posted himself between that place and Menin, extended his lines in such a manner that the confederates could not attempt to force them, nor even hinder him from subsisting his army at the enginse (expense ?) of the castellany of Courtray, during the remainder of the campaign. This surprising march was of such importance to the French king, that he wrote with his own hand a letter of thanks to his army; and ordered that it should be read to every particular squadron and battalion.

THE ALLIES REDUCE HUY.

The king of England, though disappointed in his scheme upon Courtray, found means to make some advantage of his superiority in number. He drafted troops from the garrison of Liege and Maestricht; and on the third day of September reinforced his body with a large detachment from his own camp, conferring the command upon the duke of Holstein-Ploen, with orders to undertake the siege of Huy. Next day the whole confederate forces passed the Lys, and encamped at Wouterghem. From thence the king with a part of the army marched to Roselsær; this diversion obliged the dauphin to make considerable detachments for the security of Ypres and Menin on the one side, and to cover Furnes and Dunkirk on the other. At this juncture, a Frenchman, being seized in the very act of setting fire to one of the ammunition waggons in the allied army, confessed he had been employed for this purpose by some of the French generals, and suffered death as a traitor. On the sixteenth day of the month the duke of Holstein-Ploen invested Huy, and earned on the siege with such vigour that in ten days the garrison capitulated. The king ordered Dixmuyde, Deynse, Ninove, and Tirelemont, to be secured for winter quarters to part of the army; the dauphin returned to Versailles; William quitted the camp on the last day of September; and both armies broke up about the middle of October.

The operations on the Rhine were preconcerted between king William and the prince of Baden, who had visited London in the winter. The dispute between the emperor and the elector of Saxony was compromised; and this young prince dying during the negotiation, the treaty was perfected by his brother and successor, who engaged to furnish twelve thousand men yearly, in consideration of a subsidy from the court of Vienna. In the beginning of June, mareschal de Lorges passed the Rhine at Philipsburgh, in order to give battle to the imperialists encamped at Halibron. The prince of Baden, who was not yet joined by the Saxons, Hessians, nor by the troops of Munster and Paderborn, dispatched couriers to quicken the march of these auxiliaries, and advanced to Eppingen, where he proposed to wait till they should come up; but on the fifteenth, receiving undoubted intelligence that the enemy were in motion towards him, he advanced to meet them in order of battle. De Lorges concluded that this was a desperate effort, and immediately halted to make the necessary preparations for an engagement. This pause enabled prince Louis to take possession of a strong pass near Sintzheim, from which he could not easily be dislodged. Then the mareschal proceeded to Viseloch, and ravaged the adjacent country, in hopes of drawing the imperialists from their intrenchments. The prince being joined by the Hessians, resolved to beat up the quarters of the enemy; and the French general being apprised of his design, retreated at midnight with the utmost precipitation. Having posted himself at Ruth, he sent his heavy baggage to Philipsburgh; then he moved to Gonsbergh in the neighbourhood of Manheim, repassed the Rhine, and encamped between Spires and Worms. The prince of Baden being joined by the allies, passed the river by a bridge of boats near Hagenbach, in the middle of September; and laid the country of Alsace under contribution. Considering the advanced season of the year this was a rash undertaking; and the French general resolved to profit by his enemy’s temerity. He forthwith advanced against the imperialists, foreseeing that should they be worsted in battle, their whole army would be ruined. Prince Louis, informed of his intention, immediately passed the Rhine; and this retreat was no sooner effected than the river swelled to such a degree that the island in the middle, and a great part of the camp he had occupied, was overflowed. Soon after this incident both armies retired into winter-quarters. The campaign in Hungary produced no event of importance. It was opened by the new vizier, who arrived at Belgrade in the middle of August: and about the same time Caprara assembled the imperial army in the neighbourhood of Peterwaraden. The Turks passed the Saave in order to attack their camp, and carried on their approaches with five hundred pieces of cannon; but made very little progress. The imperialists received reinforcements; the season wasted away; a feud arose between the vizier and the chain of the Tartars; and the Danube being swelled by heavy rains, so as to interrupt the operations of the Turks, their general decamped in the night of the first of October. They afterwards made an unsuccessful attempt upon Titul, while the imperial general made himself master of Giula. In the course of this summer the Venetians, who were also at war with the Turks, reduced Cyclut, a place of importance on the river Naranta, and made a conquest of the island of Scio in the Archipelago.

PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH.

We have already observed that the French king had determined to act vigorously in Catalonia. In the beginning of May, the duke de Noailles advanced at the head of eight and twenty thousand men to the river Ter, on the opposite bank of which the viceroy of Catalonia was encamped with sixteen thousand Spaniards. The French general passed the river in the face of this army, and attacked their intrenchments with such impetuosity, that in less than an hour they were totally defeated. Then he marched to Palamos, and undertook the siege of that place, while at the same time it was blocked up by the combined squadrons of Brest and Toulon. Though the besieged made an obstinate defence, the town was taken by storm, the houses were pillaged, and the people put to the sword, without distinction of age, sex, or condition. Then he invested Gironne, which in a few days capitulated. Ostalric met with the same fate, and Noailles was created viceroy of Catalonia by the French king. In the beginning of August he distributed his forces into quarters of refreshment along the river Ter-dore, resolving to undertake the siege of Barcelona, which was saved by the arrival of admiral Russel. The war languished in Piedmont, on account of a secret negotiation between the king of France and the duke of Savoy; notwithstanding the remonstrances of Rouvigny earl of Galway, who had succeeded the duke of Schomberg in the command of the British forces in that country. Casal was closely blocked up by the reduction of Fort St. George, and the Vaudois gained the advantage in some skirmishes in the valley of Ragclas; but no design of importance was executed.*

* In the course of this year, M. du Casse, governor of St.
Domingo, made an unsuccessful attempt upon the Island of
Jamaica; and M. St. Clair, with four men of war, formed a
design against St. John’s, Newfoundland; but he was repulsed
with loss by the valour of the inhabitants.

England had continued very quiet under the queen’s administration, if we except some little commotions occasioned by the practices, or pretended practices, of the Jacobites. Prosecutions were revived against certain gentlemen of Lancashire and Cheshire, for having been concerned in the conspiracy formed in favour of the late king’s projected invasion from Normandy. These steps were owing to the suggestions of infamous informers, whom the ministry countenanced. Colonel Parker and one Crosby were imprisoned, and bills of treason found against them; but Parker made his escape from the Tower, and was never retaken, though a reward of four hundred pounds was set upon his head. The king having settled the affairs of the confederacy at the Hague, embarked for England on the eighth of November, and next day landed at Margate. On the twelfth he opened the session of parliament with a speech, in which he observed that the posture of affairs was improved both by sea and land since they last parted; in particular, that a stop was put to the progress of the French arms. He desired they would continue the act of tonnage and poundage, which would expire at Christmas; he reminded them of the debt for the transport ships employed in the reduction of Ireland; and exhorted them to prepare some good bill for the encouragement of seamen. A majority in both houses was already secured; and in all probability he bargained for their condescension by agreeing to the bill for triennial parliaments. This Mr. Harley brought in by order of the lower house immediately after their first adjournment; and it kept pace with the consideration of the supplies. The commons having examined the estimates and accounts, voted four millions, seven hundred sixty-four thousand, seven hundred and twelve pounds, for the service of the army and navy. In order to raise this sum they continued the land tax; they renewed the subsidy of tonnage and poundage for five years, and imposed new duties on different commodities.* The triennial bill enacted, that a parliament should be held once within three years at least; that within three years at farthest after the dissolution of the parliament then subsisting, and so from time to time for ever after, legal writs under the great seal should be issued by the direction of the crown for calling, assembling, and holding another new parliament; that no parliament should continue longer than three years at farthest, to be accounted from the first day of the first session; and that the parliament then subsisting should cease and determine on the first day of November next following, unless their majesties should think fit to dissolve it sooner. The duke of Devonshire, the marquis of Halifax, the earls of Weymouth and Aylesbury, protested against this bill, because it tended to the continuance of the present parliament longer than, as they apprehended, was agreeable to the constitution of England.

* They imposed certain rates and duties upon marriages,
births, and burials, bachelors, and widows. They passed an
act for laying additional duties upon coffee, tea, and
chocolate, towards paying the debt due for the transport
ships: and another, imposing duties on glass ware, stone,
and earthen bottles, coal, and culm.

DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON AND OF QUEEN MARY

While this bill was depending, Dr. John Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury, was seized with a fit of the dead palsy in the chapel of Whitehall, and died on the twenty-second day of November, deeply regretted by the king and queen, who shed tears of sorrow at his decease; and sincerely lamented by the public, as a pattern of elegance, ingenuity, meekness, charity, and moderation. These qualities he must be allowed to have possessed, notwithstanding the invectives of his enemies, who accused him of puritanism, flattery, and ambition; and charged him with having conduced to a dangerous schism in the church, by accepting the archbishopric during the life of the deprived Sancroft. He was succeeded in the metropolitan See by Dr. Tennison, bishop of Lincoln, recommended by the whig-party which now predominated in the cabinet. The queen did not long survive her favourite prelate. In about a month after his decease she was taken ill of the smallpox, and the symptoms proving dangerous, she prepared herself for death with great composure. She spent some time in exercises of devotion and private conversation with the new archbishop; she received the sacrament with all the bishops who were in attendance; and expired on the twenty-eighth day of December, in the thirty-third year of her age, and in the sixth of her reign, to the inexpressible grief of the king, who for some weeks after her death could neither see company nor attend to the business of state. Mary was in her person tall and well-proportioned, with an oval visage, lively eyes, agreeable features, a mild aspect, and an air of dignity. Her apprehension was clear, her memory tenacious, and her judgment solid. She was a zealous protestant, scrupulously exact in all the duties of devotion, of an even temper, and of a calm and mild conversation. She was ruffled by no passion, and seems to have been a stranger to the emotions of natural affection; for she ascended without compunction the throne from which her father had been deposed, and treated her sister as an alien to her blood. In a word, Mary seems to have imbibed the cold disposition and apathy of her husband; and to have centered all her ambition in deserving the epithet of an humble and obedient wife. [056] _[See note L, at the end of this Vol.]_

RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE KING AND THE PRINCESS OF DENMARK.

The princess Anne being informed of the queen’s dangerous indisposition, sent a lady of her bed-chamber to desire she might be admitted to her majesty; but this request was not granted. She was thanked for her expression of concern; and given to understand, that the physicians had directed that the queen should be kept as quiet as possible. Before her death, however, she sent a forgiving message to her sister; and after her decease, the earl of Sunderland effected a reconciliation between the king and the princess, who visited him at Kensington, where she was received with uncommon civility. He appointed the palace of St. James for her residence, and presented her with the greater part of the queen’s jewels. But a mutual jealousy and disgust subsisted under these exteriors of friendship and esteem. The two houses of parliament waited on the king at Kensington, with consolatory addresses on the death of his consort; their example was followed by the regency of Scotland, the city and clergy of London, the dissenting ministers, and almost all the great corporations in England.*

* The earls of Rochester and Nottingham are said to have
started a doubt, whether the parliament was not dissolved by
the queen’s death; but this dangerous motion met with no
countenance.