Page:Sketch of the life and character of His Royal Highness the late Duke of York (1).pdf/8

 8 trusted to His Royal Highness, while the Prince of Coburg covered it on the side of Bouehain. and Cambrai, on the left bank of the Scheldt. Valeneiennes having eapitulated on the 28th of July, the Duke of York joined the main army, and co-operated, on the 7th and 8th of August, in the movements against the enemy's positions of the Camp de Cesar, Bois de Bour- bon, &c, upon the line of the Scheldt, from all which they were dispossessed, or retired, al- though without material loss. The Prince of Coburgh, after these operations, laid siege to Quernoy, and subsequently invested Manbuege, while the Duke of York continued his march in the direction of Orchies, Toureoing, and Menin, with the British, Hanoverian, and Hessian troops, to which was added a body of Austrians, under the orders of Lieutenant-Gene- ral Alvintzy. The object of this separation was the siege of Dunkirk, which had been determined upon by the British Cabinet, and which was viewed with regret, not only by the Austrian Chiefs, but also by His Royal Highness, who had remonstrated against it, as far as he could; at the same time, when he found his representations unavailing, he proceeded with the utmost zeal to the execu- tion of a measure, from which may reasonably be dated the subsequent reverse of fortune on the French frontier. The Dutch troops were to cover the march of His Royal Highness's army by the frontier of West Flanders, but having, on the 18th of August, been driven with loss from several posts, which they occupied during the passage of the British troops through Menin, His Royal Highness ordered the Brigade of Guards to their