Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/486

472 of war with Spain without the thing, and war with France without the name!"

The genius of lord Stair was anything but military, and soon led him into a dilemma. Instead of waiting, as he had first determined, for the reinforcements of Hessians and Hanoverians, he recalled the forces which he had sent across the Maine, and advanced up the river on the same side as the French, with the intention of drawing supplies from Franconia. He advanced to Aschaffenburg, which he reached on the 16th of June; but Noailles had rapidly followed him, and adroitly seized on the fords of both the Upper and Lower Maine, thus cutting off Stair both from his own stores at Hanau, and from the expected supplies of Franconia. At this critical moment king George arrived at the camp, and found Noailles lying in a strong position near Gross Ostheim, and Stair cooped up with his army in a narrow valley betwixt the wild and hilly forest of Spessart, which extends from Aschaffenburg to Dettingen and the river Maine. To render his case the more desperate, he had quarelled with Aremberg, who had let him pursue his march alone; and Stair now lay, with only thirty-seven thousand men, in the very grasp, as it were, of Noailles and his sixty thousand men. The Hessians and Hanoverians had now reached Hanau, and had Stair lain still there, he would have had them united to his army. As it was, they were not only prevented joining him, but were in danger of being surrounded and taken by the French. "England is famous for negligence," Marlborough had said in one of his letters, but the fact was never more conspicuous than now. The position of the English army was enough to have driven troops of any less determined nation to despair. They were not only hemmed in between the Spessart woods and the Maine, with a superior army ready to attack them, move which way they would, but they were totally cut off from supplies, and so destitute of forage, that in two more days they must sacrifice their horses.

In this awkward dilemma the king resolved to cut his way through the French; superior as they were, and regain communication with their magazines and their auxillaries at Hanau. But Noailles was closely watching their movements; and being aware of what was intended, took instant measures to preveht the retreat. He immediately advanced from their front to their rear; threw two bridges over the Maine at Selingenstadt, and dispatched his nephew, the duke de Grammont, to secure the defile of Dettingen, through which the English must pass in their retreat. He also raised strong batteries on the opposite bank of the Maine, so as to play on the English as they marched along the river. These preparations being unknown to the English, and still supposing Noailles principal force lay betwixt them and Aschaffenburg, instead of betwixt them and Dettingen, on the 27th of June, at daybreak, the king struck his tents, and the march on Dettingen began. George showed a stout heart in the midst of these startling circumstances, and the soldiers, having the presence of their king, were full of spirits. George took up his position in the rear of his army, expecting the grand attack to come from that quarter; but presently he beheld his advanced posts repulsed from Cettingen, and the French troops pouring over the bridge of the Maine. He then perceived that Noailles had anticipated their movements, and galloping to the head of his column, he reversed the order of his march, placing the infantry in front and the cavalry in the rear. His right extended to the bosky hills of the Spessart, and his left to the river. He saw at once the difficulty of their situation. Grammont occupied a strong position in the village of Dettingen, which was covered by a swamp and a ravine. There was no escape but by cutting right through De Grammont's force, no easy matter; and whilst they were preparing for the charge, the batteries of the French on the opposite bank of the Maine, of which they were previously unaware, began to play murderously on their flank. With this unpleasant discovery came at the same instant the intelligence that Noailles had secured Aschaffenburg in their rear, with twelve thousand men, and was sending fresh reinforcements to De Grammont in front. Thus they were completely hemmed in by the enemy, who were confidently calculating on the complete surrender of the British army, and the capture of the king.

George and his soldiers, however, lost no atom of heart; they determined to cut a way through the enemy or die on the ground; and lucidly at this moment the enemy committed almost as great an error as Stair had before. Noailles quitted his post in front of the king's army, and crossed the Maine bridge to give some further orders on that side; and no sooner did he depart than his nephew, De Grammont, eager to seize the glory of defeating the English, and not aware that the whole British army were at that moment about to bear down upon him, ordered his troops to cross the ravine in their front, and assault the English on their own side. The order was executed, and had instantly the unforeseen effect of silencing their own batteries on the other side of the river, for, by this movement, the French came directly betwixt their fire and the English, which it had been till that moment mercilessly mowing down.

At this moment, the horse which George II. was riding, taking fright at the noise made by the French in their advance, became unmanageable, and plunged forward furiously, nearly carrying the king into the midst of the French lines. Being, however, stopped just in time, the king dismounted, and placing himself at the head of the British and Hanoverian infantry on the right, he flourished his sword and said, "Now, boys! now for the honour of England! Fire, and behave bravely, and the French will soon run!"

The first charge, however, was not so encouraging. The French made an impetuous onset, and threw the advanced guard of the English into confusion; but the king and his son, the duke of Cumberland, who commanded on the left, and, like his father, took his stand in the front line, displayed the highest courage, and inspired their troops with wonderful courage. The duke of Cumberland was wounded in the leg, but refused to quit the field. The tide of battle was quickly turned, and Noailles, from the other side, saw with astonishment and alarm his troops in action contrary to his plans. He returned in all haste to give fresh support to his soldiers, but it was too late. Gallantly as the French fought, the presence of the king and prince on the other side made the English and Hanoverians irresistible. King, and prince, and army, all showed an enthusiastic courage and