Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/84

70 Patrick Hume, who had ruined the expedition of Argyll by his wrong-headed pugnacity, now figured as lord Polwarth. The general assembly, before dispersing, showed more spirit than the parliament; declared themselves, as representatives of the church, independent of all secular powers, and appointed their own time for meeting again.

William left instructions with the admirals for their conduct of the coming naval campaign against France. He visited the fleet himself, and examined the new fortifications at Fortsmouth; and then, leaving all domestic affairs in the hands of the queen and the ministers, he embarked near Gravesend on the last day of March, and landed in Holland on the 3rd of April. By all parties the most stupendous exertions were made for this so ruinous contest. Exhausted as was France, Louis displayed a strength of preparation such as he had never yet put forth. No one, seeing the amount and equipment of his army, the number of new ships of war, and the muster and fitting out of the old, would have deemed that agriculture, trade, everything in the domestic condition of France, were in the last condition of misery, stagnation, and exhaustion. But the signal defeat which his fleet had suffered at La Hogue, and the liberal manner in which the English parliament had supplied William with money, convinced him that he had not only to wipe out his maritime disgrace, but to encounter as formidable a force in the Netherlands as ever. He seems to have resolved to strain every nerve, and, if possible, to bear down the enemy by absolute weight of numbers. At sea he beheld again, under D'Estrees and TourviUe, seventy-one first-rate men-of-war, besides bomb-ketches, fire-ships, and fenders. His army in Flanders alone amounted to a hundred and twenty thousand men.

William, on his part, had more than his usual difficulty in bringing his allies into the field. As usual, they were far more occupied in their petty feuds than thinking of presenting a sufficient front to the great enemy who, if successful, would tread them all down in their own territories as Buonaparte has since trodden their posterity. The courts of Baden and Saxony, of Saxony and Austria, and of the lesser powers, were all quarrelling amongst themselves. The Horthern powers were still trying to weaken the allies, and so form a third party; and on the side of Italy, Savoy was menaced by numerous forces of France, and ill-supported by Austria. The prince of Hesse had neglected to furnish his quota, and yet wanted a chief command. The prince of Baden and the elector of Saxony were at strife for the command of the army of the Rhine. When William had brought all these wretched and provoking allies into some degree of order, he mustered seventy thousand men in the field, and Louis came against him with a hundred and twenty thousand.

Louis marched himself with his array with all the pomp and splendour that he could assume. He brought all his court with him, as if his officers should be stimulated to the utmost by having to fight under the very eyes of their king and all the courtiers and ladies, madame Maintenon amongst them. Louis's plan of action was precisely what it had been in the two previous campaigns. As he had suddenly invested Mons and Namur by overwhelming forces, before his enemy could approach, he now proposed to surprise and take Brussels or Liege, and so carry off the glory of the exploit both from the allies and his own general, Luxembourg. This was a cheap and easy way of securing fame without danger; but this time William was too quick for him. Louis arrived at the commencement of June at Namur, where his ladies held a brilliant court. But William had taken up a strong position at Parke, near Louvain, and thrown reinforcements into Maestricht, Huy, and Charleroi. Louis perceived that he was checkmated, and his desire of stealing a new accession of martial honour suddenly evaporated. Nothing but hard fighting could make an impression on his stubborn antagonist, and for that Louis had no fancy. He determined, therefore, to return to Versailles with his ladies and his court, and leave Luxembourg to fight it out. The alarm at this proposal in the camp was intense. Luxembourg represented to Louis that it would have the certain effect of damping the spirits of the soldiers, and raise those of the enemy. He reminded him that now he had nothing to do but to bear down upon the allies with all his powers, and sweep them away by mere momentum, and put an end to the war. But all his representations and entreaties were lost on the Grand Monarque, who had rather steal a victory than win one. He not only persisted in going, but he weakened the forces of Luxembourg by dispatching the division of Boufflers, amounting to twenty thousand men, which he had taken under his own especial command, under Boufflers and the dauphin, to join marshal de Lorges, who had orders again to ravage the palatinate. Having done this, this monarch, who was the admiration of the age in which he lived, but who was as cowardly as he was vain, and as vain as he was cruel, hastened back again in a week towards France, with all his tinsel courtiers and women, and cooks and parasites.

But, in reality, Luxembourg was better without the pompous and voluptuous king. He had no one now to come betwixt himself and his real military genius, in which he infinitely excelled William; and he immediately brought his skill into play. Before attacking the allies he resolved to divide them on the true Machiavellian principle, "divide et impera." He therefore made a feint of marching upon Liege. Liege was one of the places that it was expected that the French would aim at securing this campaign, and the inhabitants had very cavalierly declined to take any measures for defending themselves, saying it was the business of the allies. William, therefore, put his forces in motion to prevent this catastrophe. He had advanced as far as Neer-Hespen; there, however, he heard that Luxembourg had obtained possession of Huy, which had been defended by a body of troops from Liege and Count Tilly, but which, though supported by another division under the duke of Würtemberg, had been compelled to return to Liege.

William now dispatched twenty thousand men to reinforce Liege, and thus accomplished the very thing at which Luxembourg was aiming. The moment he learnt that William had reduced his force by this detachment, he marched from Huy on the 28th of July, and passed the Jaar near its source with an army exceeding that of the allies by thirty-five thousand men. William, now aware of Luxembourg's design, committed one of those blunders in strategy, which, except for his indomitable tenacity of purpose, would