Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/86

72 much adroitness that William was not able to prevent him. Charleroi capitulated on the 11th of October, and Louis ordered a Te Deum and other rejoicings for this fresh triumph. But though he professed to triumph, he had little cause to do so. He had formerly overrun Holland, Flanders, or Franche-Compte in a single campaign, and sometimes without a battle; now he had beaten the allies at Fleurus, Steinkirk, and Landen, and yet here they were as ready to fight him as ever. His country was sinking into the very depths of misery and destitution, the campaign had cost him ten thousand men, and, though he had taken sixty cannon, nine mortars, and a great number of colours and standards, he could not advance twenty miles in the direction of the United Provinces without running the risk of a similar decimation of his troops. It was a humiliating position, after all.

After the surrender of Charleroi, both armies went into winter quarters. On the Rhine, meantime, the French had been repeating those diabolical operations which had already made their names infamous all over the continent. De Lorges had again seized, plundered, and burnt the beautiful but unfortunate Heidelberg. They had broken open the tombs of the electors, and scattered their ashes into the streets; they had massacred the inhabitants, violated the women, and murdered the priests at their altars, and then ransacked the churches. To compel the garrison to surrender they had imitated the conduct of their countryman, Rosen, at the siege of Londonderry. They stripped fifteen thousand of the inhabitants naked, and drove them into the castle yard, and kept them there day and night till the garrison surrendered. Of course vast numbers of these poor people perished of cold and hunger; and all this was done by the express orders of Louis XIV., the monarch that so many base pens have glorified as the model of a great and Christian prince. The infamous De Lorges was next joined by the dauphin, so that their forces united amounted to seventy thousand; but, still afraid to engage an array of Germans which now appeared on the other side of the Neckar, they took up their quarters at Stutgard, and dispatched part of the troops to Luxembourg, in Flanders, and part to Piedmont.

In Piedmont the allies were as little successful as in Flanders. Catinat engaged the duke of Savoy and the duke of Leinster in the plain of Marsaglia, near his capital of Turin, and defeated them, killing Leinster (Schomberg), and wounding the earl of Warwick, his second in command. The allies lost eight thousand men, and their cannon; but, like Luxembourg in Flanders, Catinat was not able to follow up the advantage, and Louis immediately sent M. de Chanlais to Turin to endeavour to make terms with the duke, as he had already done with the pope, but did not yet succeed. The short resistance in Piedmont, however, had the effect of drawing some of the French forces from Spain, where they had compelled the surrender of Catalonia. In the east the Germans had invested Belgrade, but could not hold it; and Louis was active in bribing the Turks against the Austrians.

If the affairs of England had been unsuccessful by land, they had been most disastrous by sea. Before leaving for Holland William ordered that Killigrew and Delaval should, with their whole fleet, amounting to nearly a hundred sail, get out to sea early and blockade the French fleets in their ports, so as to allow our merchantmen to pursue their voyages with security. Our ports were crowded with trading vessels, which had long been waiting to sail to the Mediterranean and other seas with cargoes. About the middle of May the admirals united their squadrons at St. Helen's, and, being joined by a considerable number of Dutch men-of-war, they took on board five regiments of soldiers, intending to make a descent on Brest. No less than four hundred merchantmen were ready to start, and on the 6th of June the united fleet put out from St. Helen's to convoy them so far as to be out of danger of the French fleets, when Sir George Rooke was to take them forward to the Mediterranean under guard of twenty sail. But the French appear to have been perfectly informed of all the intentions of the English government from the traitors about the court, and the English to have been perfectly ignorant of the motions of the French. Instead of Tourville allowing himself to be blockaded in Brest, and D'Estrees in Toulon, they were already out and sailing down towards Gibraltar, where they meant to lie in wait for the English.

The united fleet of the allies having, therefore, accompanied Rooke and the merchantmen about two hundred miles beyond Ushant, returned. Rooke did not think they were by any means certain of their enemies being behind them, and earnestly entreated the admirals to go on farther, but in vain. They not only turned back, but went home, without making the slightest attempt to carry out the attack on Brest. When they reached England it was well known that Tourville had recently quitted Brest, and was pursuing his course south to join D'Estrees. The consternation and indignation were beyond bounds. A swift vessel was dispatched to overtake and recall Rooke and the merchant vessels if possible. But it is proverbial that a stern chase is a long chase. It was impossible to come up with Rooke; he had reached Cape St. Vincent, and there learnt that a French fleet was lying in the bay of Lagos; but, imagining that it was only a detached squadron, he went on, till on the 16th of June he perceived before him the whole French fleet, amounting to eighty vessels.

As to engaging such an unequal force, that would have been a wilful sacrifice of himself and his charge. The Dutch admiral Vandergoes agreed with him, that the best thing was for the merchant vessels to run into the Spanish ports Faro, St Lucar, or Cadiz, as best served them, others were too far out at sea; these he stood out to protect as long as he could, and they made, some for Ireland, some for Corunna and Lisbon. He himself then made all sail for Madeira, which he reached in safety. Two of the Dutch ships being overtaken by the French, ran in shore, and thus drawing the French after them, helped the others to get off. Captains Schrjver and Vander Poel fought stoutly so long as they could, and then surrendered. The French commander Coetlegon took seven of the Smyrna merchantmen, and sunk four under the rocks of Gibraltar. The loss to the merchants was fearful. The news of this great calamity spread a gloom over the city of London, and many were loud in attributing disloyalty to Killigrew and Delaval, probably not without cause, for that they were in correspondence with St. Germains is only too certain.