strated the great strength of the Re-states to contribute anything to the publicans, and the desperate strife common cause, and the evident parwhich awaited the Allies, in any at- tiality of a large party amongst them tempt to conquer a country abounding for the French alliance, rendered it a in such defenders, produced an impor- matter of great doubt whether it was tant change in the Austrian councils. expedient on behalf of such distant, Thugut, who was essentially patriotic fickle, and disaffected subjects to mainin his ideas, and reluctantly embarked tain any longer a contest, which, if unin any contest which did not evidently successful, might engulf half the forces conduce to the advantage of the heredi- of the monarchy. These considerations tary states, had long nourished a secret were forcibly impressed upon the mind aversion to the war in Flanders. He of the young Emperor, who, born and could not disguise from himself that bred in Tuscany, entertained no parthese provinces, how opulent and im- tiality for his distant Flemish possesportant soever in themselves, contri- sions. Mack supported them with all buted little to the real strength of the the weight of his opinion, and strongly monarchy; that their situation, far re- "urged that it was better to retire altomoved from Austria, and close to gether across the Rhine, while yet the France, rendered it highly probable strength of the army was unbroken, that they would, at some no very dis- than run the risk of its being buried tant period, become the prey of that in the fields of Belgium. If Flanders enterprising power; and that the charge was of such value to the cause of of defending them, at so great a dis- European independence, it lay upon tance from the strength of the heredi- England, Prussia, and Holland, in the tary states, entailed an enormous and centre of whose dominions it lay, to proruinous expense upon the Imperial vide measures for its defence: but the finances. Impressed with these ideas, real interests of Austria lay nearer he had for some time been revolving home, and her battalions required to in his mind the project of abandoning be seen in dense array on the Maritime these distant provinces to their fate, Alps, or on the shores of the Vistula, and looking out for a compensation to where vast and fertile provinces were Austria in Italy or Bavaria, where its about to fall a prey to her ambitious new acquisition might lie adjacent to | neighbours. Should affairs in that the hereditary states. This long re-quarter assume a favourable aspect, mained a fixed principle in the Impe- and the revolutionary fervour of the rial councils; and in these vague ideas Republic exhaust itself, it would apis to be found the remote cause of the parently be no difficult matter to retreaty of Campo-Formio, and appro- cover the Belgic provinces, as Prince priation of Venice. Cobourg had done in the preceding campaign; or, if this should unhappily prove impossible, it was much more likely that a successful defensive war could be maintained with the resources of the Empire concentrated round its heart, than when they were so largely accumulated in a distant possession; or if peace became desirable, it could at any time be readily purchased by the cession of provinces so valuable to France, and the acquisition of an equivalent nearer the Austrian dominions." 41. Two days after the battle of Turcoing, a council of state was secretly held at the Imperial headquarters, to deliberate on the measures to be pursued for the future progress of the war. The opportunity appeared favourable to that able statesman to bring forward his long-cherished project. The inactivity and lukewarmness of the Prussians, notwithstanding the British subsidy, too plainly demonstrated that no reliance could be placed on their co-operation; the recent desperate actions in West Flanders sufficiently proved that no serious impression was to be made in that quarter; while the reluctance of the Flemish 42. The subject was debated with the deliberation which its importance deserved; and it was at length determined by the majority of the council, that the maintenance of so burdensome and hazardous a war for such disaffected the siege before Jourdan arrived with and distant possessions, was at variance the army of the Moselle, which was with the vital interests of the state. It hourly expected. The attack was made was resolved, accordingly, that the Im- on the 3d June, and attended with perial troops should, as soon as decency complete success, the French having would permit, be withdrawn from Flan- been driven across the Sambre, with ders; that this resolution should in the loss of two thousand men. But the mean time be kept a profound this check was of little importance: on secret, and, to cover the honour of the the day following Jourdan arrived from Imperial arms, a general battle should the Moselle with forty thousand fresh be hazarded, and on its issue should troops. depend the course thereafter to be adopted; but that, in the meantime, the Emperor should forthwith depart for Vienna, to take cognisance of the affairs of Poland, which called for instant attention. In conformity with this resolution, he set out shortly after for that capital, leaving Cobourg in command of the army. 43. Meanwhile the commissioners of the Convention, little anticipating the favourable turn which their affairs were about to take from the divisions of the Allies, nothing daunted by the reverses the army of the Sambre had experienced, were continually stimulating its generals to fresh exertions. In vain they represented that the soldiers, worn out with fatigue, without shoes, without clothing, stood much in need of repose. "To-morrow," said St Just, "the Republic must have a victory choose between a battle and a siege." Constrained by authorities who enforced their arguments by the guillotine, the Republican generals prepared for a third expedition across the Sambre. Towards the end of May, Kléber made the attempt with troops still exhausted by fatigue, and almost starving. The consequences were such as might have been expected; the grenadiers were repulsed by the grape-shot of the enemy, and General Duhesme was routed with little difficulty. On the 29th, however, the indomitable Republicans returned to the charge, and, after an obstinate engagement, succeeded in forcing back the Imperialists, and immediately began the investment of Charleroi. But the arrival of the Emperor with ten thousand troops having raised the allied force in that quarter to thirty-five thousand men, it was resolved to make an effort to raise The 44. This great reinforcement, thrown into the scale when the contending parties were so nearly balanced, was decisive of the fate of the campaign, and proves the sagacity with which Carnot acted in accumulating an overwhelming force on this point. In a few days the Republicans recrossed the river with sixty thousand men, resumed the siege of Charleroi, and soon destroyed a strong redoubt which constituted the principal defence of the besieged. The imminent danger to which the city was reduced by the attack of this great force, induced the Allies to make the utmost efforts to raise the siege. But this required no less skill than intrepidity; for their army did not exceed thirty-five thousand men, while the French were nearly double that number. On this occasion, the system of attack by detached columns was for once successful. Republicans were pierced by a simultaneous effort of two of the allied columns, defeated and driven over the Sambre, with the loss of three thousand men. This success, highly honourable as it was to the Austrian arms, proved in the end prejudicial to their cause, as it induced Prince Cobourg to suppose that his left wing was now sufficiently secure, and to detach all his disposable troops to the succour of Clairfait and Ipres on the right, whereas it was against the other flank that the principal forces of the Republicans were now directed. In effect, on the 18th June, the French army recrossed the Sambre for the fifth, and commenced the bombardment of Charleroi for the third time. The great force with which this attack was made, amounting to seventy thousand men, rendered it evident that Prince Cobourg had mistaken the point which required support, and that it was on the Sambre, and under the walls of Charleroi, that the decisive battle for the protection of Flanders was to be fought. Accordingly, the major part of the allied forces were at length moved in that direction; the Duke of York, with the British and Hanoverians, being left alone on the Scheldt, at a short distance from Clairfait, who had recently experienced the most overwhelming reverses. This separation of the forces of the two nations contributed not a little to augment the misunderstanding which already prevailed between them, and was the forerunner of numberless disasters to all. 45. No sooner was the departure of the Emperor with reinforcements to the army on the Sambre known to Pichegru, than he resolved to take advantage of the weakness of his adversaries, by prosecuting seriously the long-menaced siege of Ipres. Clairfait, not feeling himself in sufficient strength to interrupt his operations, remained long firm in his intrenched camp at Thielt. At length, however, the positive orders of his superiors compelled that able officer, even with the insufficient forces at his disposal, to make an attempt to raise the siege. It was arranged that this attack should be aided by a movement of the centre of the allied army to his support. But the design, having been betrayed to the enemy at Lisle, was prevented from being carried into effect by a demonstration from the French centre by Pichegru. The consequence was, that the Austrian general was compelled to attack alone; and, though his corps fought with their wonted valour, he was again worsted, and compelled to resume his position in his intrenchments, without having disturbed the operations of the siege. This was the fifth time that this brave officer had fought unsupported, while thirty thousand Austrians lay inactive at Tournay, and six thousand British, under Lord Moira, were reposing from the fatigues of their sea voyage at Ostend. The consequence was, that Ipres capitulated a few days after, and its garrison, consisting of six thousand men, was made prisoners of war. Cobourg made a tardy movement for its relief; but, hearing of its fall, returned on the 19th to Tournay. 46. The Austrians having now, in pursuance of their plan of withdrawing from Flanders, finally detached themselves from the British, moved all their forces towards their left wing, with a view to succour Charleroi, which was severely pressed by Jourdan. On the 22d, Prince Cobourg joined his left wing, but, though the united forces were seventy-five thousand strong, he delayed till the 26th to attack the French army. Jourdan, who was fully aware of the importance of acquiring this fortress, took advantage of the respite which this delay afforded him to prosecute the siege with the utmost activity. This he did with such success that, the batteries of the besieged having been silenced, the place capitulated on the evening of the 25th. Hardly had the garrison left the gates, when the discharge of artillery announced the tardy movement of the Austrians for its relief. The battle took place on the following day, on the plains of FLEURUS, already signalised by a victory of Marshal Luxembourg in 1690, and was attended by most important consequences. 47. The French army, which was eightynine thousand strong, was posted in a semicircle round the town of Charleroi, now become, instead of a source of weakness, a point d'appui to the Republicans. Their position nearly resembled that of Napoleon at Leipsic; but the superiority of force on that occasion secured a very different result to the Allies from that which now awaited their arms. The Imperialists, adhering to their system of attacking the enemy at all points, divided their forces into five columns, intending to assail at the same moment all parts of the Republican position-a mode of attack at all times hazardous, but especially so when an inferior is engaged with a superior force. The battle commenced on the 26th, at daybreak, and continued with great vigour throughout the whole day. The first column, under the command of the Prince of Orange, attacked the left of the French under General Montaigu, and drove them back to the village of Fontaine l'Evêque; but the Republicans, being there reinforced by fresh troops, succeeded in maintaining their ground, and repulsed repeated charges of the Imperial cavalry. During a successful charge, however, the French horse were themselves assailed by the Austrian cuirassiers, and driven back in confusion upon the infantry, who gradually lost ground, and at length were compelled to fall back to the heights in front of Charleroi. The moment was critical, for the Austrians, following up their success, were on the point of carrying the village of Marchiennes-au-Pont, which would have intercepted the whole communications of the Republican army; but Jourdan, alarmed at the advance of the enemy in this quarter, moved up Kléber to support his left. That intrepid general hastily erected several batteries to meet the enemy's fire, and moved forward BERNADOTTE, * the future king of Sweden, at the head of several battalions, to the support of Montaigu. The Allies, under Latour and the Prince of Orange, being unsupported by the remainder of the army, and finding themselves vigorously assailed both in front and flank, fell back from their advanced position, and before four in the afternoon all the ground gained in that quarter had been abandoned. and flank. The consequence of this was, that the great redoubt was on the point of being taken, and the French divisions in the centre were already in full retreat, when Jourdan hastened to the scene of danger with six battalions, who were formed in close columns, and checked the advance of the enemy. The French cavalry, under Dubois, made a furious charge upon the Imperial infantry, overthrew them, and captured fifty pieces of cannon; but, being disordered by their rapid advance, they were immediately after attacked by the Austrian cuirassiers, who not only retook the whole artillery, but routed the victors, and drove them back in confusion upon their own lines. 49. Meanwhile the allied left, under Beaulieu, made the most brilliant progress. After various attacks, the village of Lambusart was carried, and the enemy's forces, for the most part, driven across the Sambre; but the vigorous fire of the French artillery prevented the Allies from debouching from the village, or obtaining complete success in that quarter. As it was, however, the situation of the Republicans was disadvantageous in every quarter. The right, under Moreau, was driven back, and in great part had recrossed the river; the left, under Montaigu, had abandoned the field of battle, and retreated to Marchiennes-au-Pont; while the forces in the centre had been in part 48. While these events were going compelled to recede, and the great reforward on the left, the centre, where doubt was in danger of being carried. the village of Fleurus was occupied by Four divisions only, those of Lefebvre, sixteen thousand troops, and strongly Championnet, Kléber, and Daurier, strengthened by intrenchments, was were in a condition to make head against the scene of an obstinate conflict. The the enemy. At this critical moment, attack in front of the Allies was suc- when decisive success was within his cessfully repulsed, after passing the vil-grasp, Cobourg, hearing of the fall of lage, by the fire of artillery on the heights in the rear: but General Beaulieu, with the left wing of the Allies, having attacked and carried the post of Lambusart on the French right, the Republicans on the left were compelled to give way, and the important post of Fleurus, with its great redoubt, stood prominent in the midst of the allied forces, exposed to attack both in front Charleroi, and fettered by the secret instructions he had received, to risk as little as possible before retiring from Flanders, ordered a retreat at all points. Without detracting from the merit of Jourdan, it may safely be affirmed that, if the Prince of Orange, instead of drawing back his wing when he found it too far advanced, had united with the centre to attack Fleurus and the main body of ed them on the other side, the success the French army, while Beaulieu press would have been rendered complete, | ernment to prevent them, that these and a glorious victory achieved. 50. But nothing is so perilous as to evince any symptoms of vacillation after a general engagement. The battle of Fleurus, paralysed as success had been to the Austrians, was, in fact, a drawn engagement; the loss on both sides was nearly equal, being between four thousand and five thousand men to each side: the French had given way on both wings, the centre with difficulty maintained its ground; and the Imperialists only retreated because the fall of Charleroi had removed the object for which they fought; and the secret instructions of their general precluded him from adopting any course, how brilliant and inviting soever, which promised to be attended with any hazard to the army. Nevertheless, it was attended with the most disastrous consequences. The loss of Flanders immediately followed a contest which an enterprising general would have converted into the most decisive triumph. Cobourg retired to Nivelles, and soon after took post at Mont St Jean and Waterloo, at the entrance of the forest of Soignies, little dreaming of the glorious event which, under a firmer commander, and with the forces of a very differently united alliance, was there destined to counterbalance all the evils of which his prescribed retreat formed the commencement. Two days afterwards, the French issued from their intrenchments round Charleroi, and at Mount Paliul defeated the allied rearguard, which fell back to Braine le Comte. Mons was shortly after evacuated, and the Allies, abandoning the whole fortresses which they had conquered to their own resources, drew together in front of Brussels. Several actions took place in the beginning of July, between the rearguard of the Allies and the French columns at Mont St Jean, Braine l'Alleud, and Sambre; but at length, finding himself unable to maintain his position without concentrating his forces, Prince Cobourg abandoned Brussels, and fell back behind the Dyle. 51. It was not without the most strenuous exertions of the British gov VOL. III. ruinous divisions broke out among the allied powers in Flanders. Immediately after the treaty of 19th April was signed, Lord Malmesbury, the British ambassador, set out from the Hague for Maestricht, where conferences were opened with the Prussian minister, Haugwitz, and the Dutch plenipotentiaries. Their object was to induce the Prussian forces to leave the banks of the Rhine, and hasten to the scene of decisive operations in Flanders. These demands were so reasonable, and so strictly in unison with the letter as well as spirit of the recent treaty, that the Prussian minister could not avoid agreeing to them, and engaged to procure orders from the cabinet of Berlin to that effect. But Moellendorf, acting in obedience to secret orders from his court, declined to obey the requisition of the plenipotentiaries, and engaged in a fruitless and feigned expedition towards Kayserslautern and Sarre Louis, at the very time that he was well aware that his antagonist, Jourdan, with forty thousand men, was hastening by forced marches to the decisive point on the banks of the Sambre. When the danger became more threatening, and the Emperor himself had repaired to the neighbourhood of Charleroi, to make head against the accumulating masses of the Republicans, the same requisitions were renewed, in a still more pressing strain, by the British and Dutch ministers.* But it was all in vain. The Prussian general betook himself to one subterfuge after another, alleging that, by menacing Sarre Louis and Landau, he succoured the common cause more effectually than if he brought his whole forces to the walls of Charleroi; and at length, when driven from that pretext, he peremptorily refused to leave the banks of the Rhine. The ministers of the maritime powers upon this broke wallis and Kinckel, the Dutch minister, *"It is not for nothing," said Lord Corn"that we pay you our subsidies, nor in order that the subsidised power should employ the If the paid forces for its own purposes. Prussian troops do not act for the common cause, they depart from the chief object of the treaty."-HARD. iii. 65. K |