brought to undertake, upon paper, that they would maintain 50,000 men in the field, besides 10,000 in their garrisons; and that the Duke of Cumberland, who was to be put at the head of the British forces in the next campaign, should be appointed commander-in-chief of the whole confederate army. And though the Dutch, in reality, did much less than they had promised, it was yet much more than, from past experience, their British allies had any reason to expect. In March 1745, and before the close of the Session, Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, expired. The cause of his death was partly the stone, partly a quack medicine which he took to cure it. To the last, amidst severe bodily pain, which he bore with high fortitude and resignation, his mind retained all its wonted sagacity and clearness. Only a few days before he died, the Duke of Cumberland, having in vain remonstrated with the King against a marriage being concluded for him with a deformed Danish Princess, sent his governor, Mr. Poyntz, to consult Lord Orford how to avoid so hateful an alliance. After reflecting a few moments, Orford advised that the Duke should give his consent to the marriage, on condition of receiving an ample and immediate establishment; "and believe me," added he, "that the match will be no longer pressed." The Duke followed the advice, and' the result fulfilled the prediction. 66 In January, the same year, one principal obstacle to peace was removed in the Emperor Charles the Seventh, who died at Munich, worn down by disasters as much as by infirmities.* His son and successor in his hereditary states concluded a treaty at Fuessen, with the Queen of Hungary, by which the new Elector renounced all claims to the Austrian succession, engaged to recall his troops from the French army, and promised his vote for the Duke of Lorraine in the next Imperial Diet; while Maria Theresa acknowledged the validity of the late Emperor's *"Il n'avait été malheureux que depuis qu'il avait été Empereur. "La nature dès-lors lui avait fait plus de mal que la fortune.. "Il avait la goutte et la pierre; on trouva ses poumons, son foie et "son estomac gangrenés, des pierres dans ses reins, un polype dans 66 son cœur !" (Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XV. ch. xiv.) 1745. BATTLE OF FONTENOY. 193 election, and restored all the territory which she had conquered from Bavaria. In April, the campaign was opened on the side of Flanders, where the French had an army of 76,000 excellent troops, commanded by the Mareschal de Saxe. As to the Allies, England had furnished her full contingent of 28,000 men, but Holland less than half of the 50,000 she had stipulated; there were but eight Austrian squadrons, and the whole body scarcely exceeded 50,000 fighting men. The nominal leader was the young Duke of Cumberland, but subject in a great measure to the control of an Austrian veteran, Marshal Konigsegg, and obliged to consult the Dutch commander, Prince de Waldeck. Against these inferior numbers and divided councils the French advanced in full confidence of victory, and, after various movements to distract the attention of the Allies, suddenly, on the 1st of May, invested Tournay. This was one of the strongest fortresses in Flanders, well provided with stores and provisions of every kind, and garrisoned by no less than 9000 Dutch. To relieve this important city, immediately became the principal object with the Allies; and the States, usually so cautious, nay, timorous in their suggestions, were now as eager in demanding battle. Accordingly, the Duke of Cumberland, who had but lately arrived at the Hague from England, set out again for Brussels, and after a few days passed in preparations, put himself at the head of his troops and led them towards the enemy. On the other hand, the Mareschal de Saxe made most skilful dispositions to receive them. Leaving 15,000 infantry to cover the blockade of Tournay, he drew up the rest of his army, a few miles further, in an excellent position, which he strengthened with numerous works; and his soldiers were inspirited by the arrival of the King and Dauphin, who had hastened from Paris to join in the expected action. The three Allied Generals, on advancing against the French, found them encamped on some gentle heights, with the village of Antoin and the river Scheldt on their right, Fontenoy and a narrow valley in their front, and a small wood, named Barré on their left. The passage of the Scheldt, and, if needful, a retreat, were secured by the bridge of Calonne in the rear, by a TÊTE DE PONT, and by a reserve of the Household Troops. Abbatis were constructed in the wood of Barré; redoubts between Antoin and Fontenoy; and the villages themselves had been carefully fortified and garrisoned. The narrow space between Fontenoy and Barré seemed sufficiently defended by cross fires, and by the natural ruggedness of the ground in short, as the French officers thought, the strength of the position might bid defiance to the boldest assailant. Nevertheless, the Allied chiefs, who had already resolved on a general engagement, drove in the French piquets and outposts on the 10th of May, New Style, and issued orders for their intended attack at daybreak. The night was passed by all the troops under arms: ours, daunted neither by the strong position nor superior numbers of the enemy, but full of that calm self-reliance, that unboastful resolution, which are scarce ever found wanting in British soldiers. They have, truly indeed, that fear-nought feeling ascribed to them by a General who had often led them forward in former wars. When, in 1714, Cobham and Stanhope went together on an embassy to Vienna, a body of 10,000 excellent cavalry-deemed the best in Europe-was reviewed before them by Prince Eugene; who, turning to Stanhope, asked him," If he "thought that any 10,000 British horse could beat those "Austrians?" "I cannot tell, Sir," answered the General, "whether they could or not, but I know that five thousand "would try!"* At six o'clock on the morning of the 11th, the cannonade began. The Prince of Waldeck, and his Dutch, undertook to carry Antoin and Fontenoy by assault, while the Duke of Cumberland, at the head of the British and Hanoverians, was to advance against the enemy's left. His Royal Highness, at the same time with his own attack, sent General Ingoldsby, with a division, to pierce through the wood of Barré, and storm the redoubt beyond it. But *This reply has sometimes been ascribed to Sir C. H. Williams, Sir A. Mitchell, or others, at the Court of Frederick the Second. But the much earlier and respectable authority of Dr. King fixes it beyond all question, on "the English officer who accompanied Lord "Cobham in his embassy to Vienna," that is, General Stanhope. (See King's Anecdotes of his own Time, p. 130. and the first vol. of this History, p. 115.) 1745. BATTLE OF FONTENOY. 195 Ingoldsby, finding the wood occupied by some sharp-shooters, which he mistook for a considerable body, hesitateddisobeyed his positive orders-and returned to the Duke for fresh instructions; thus incurring an irreparable loss of time to the army, of honour to himself. On the other wing likewise, the Dutch were repulsed in their attacks, suffering so severely from the fire of the numerous batteries, that they retired in confusion to some distance from the field, where they remained sluggish and unmoved spectators of the remaining conflict. Nay, more; one of their Colonels (Appius was his name) rode away with the greater part of his men, some 15 or 20 miles, to Ath; and from thence, with an impudent folly equal to his cowardice, wrote a letter to the States, informing them that the Allied army had engaged the French, and been totally cut to pieces, except that part which he had prudently brought off safe!* While Ingoldsby and the Dutch were thus failing in duty, the British and Hanoverians had not forgotten theirs. These gallant troops, leaving their cavalry in the rear, from the ruggedness of the ground, but dragging forwards several field pieces, plunged down the ravine between Fontenoy and Barré, and marched on against a position which the best Marshals of France had deemed impregnable, and which the best troops of that nation defended. At their head was William of Cumberland, conspicuous for his courage, and whose want of experience was supplied by an excellent officer-his military tutor General Ligonier. The French and Swiss Guards stood before their front, and offered every resistance that brave men could make; while whole ranks of the British were swept away, at once, by the murderous fire of the batteries on their left and right. Still did their column, diminishing in numbers not in spirit, steadily press forward, repulse several desperate attacks of the French infantry, and gain ground on its position. Soon did they begin to retaliate upon the enemy the terrible slaughter they had themselves experienced. One of the first that fell dead * Mr. Yorke to H. Walpole, May 16. 1745. See Appendix. This regiment, though in the Dutch pay, was not of their country, but of Hesse Homburg. in the French ranks was the young Duke de Grammont, the same whose imprudent valour had hazarded and lost the day at Dettingen. At his side, when he fell, was his uncle De Noailles, an older Marshal than De Saxe, but who would not refuse to serve in any capacity that his King and country required; and who, in this battle, assisted his junior commander with all the skill of a veteran, with all the submission of an aide-de-camp.* The space between Fontenoy and the wood of Barré was so narrow, that the British, as much from necessity as choice, remained in a close and serried column. This mass-firm, solid, and compact, and all animated by the same spirit as though it formed but a single living frame, as though one mighty Leviathan of war-bore down every thing before it with irresistible impulse. The news of the Dutch retreat, indeed, and of Ingoldsby's return, struck a momentary damp upon their spirits, but was speedily repaired. Again did the British soldiers stand proudly on the French positions they had won, while charge after charge of the best French cavalry was urged at them in vain. Nay, they even continued to press forward in the rear of Fontenoy, threatening to cut off the communication of the enemy with the bridge of Calonne, and, therefore, his passage of the river. The battle appeared to be decided already did Marshal Konigsegg offer his congratulations to the Duke of Cumberland; already had Mareschal de Saxe prepared for retreat, and, in repeated messages, urged the King to consult his safety and withdraw, while it was yet time, beyond the Scheldt. Louis, with a spirit which could not forsake even the most effeminate descendant of Henri Quatre, as repeatedly refused to quit the field. "If," says a French historian, "the Dutch had now put themselves in movement, and "joined the English, there would have been no resource, 66 nay, no retreat for the French army, nor, in all probability, for the King and for his son."† 66 But The French Marshal now determined to make one last effort to retrieve the day. The inactivity of the Dutch enabled him to call away the forces that held Fontenoy *Mém. de Noailles, vol. vi. p. 112. |