to him to poison or kill the Prince of Orange after examination of the matter the Baoliff was apprehended and put in Prison and altho he denied what was laid to his charge by throwing back the same crime upon his Accuser in order to justifie himself to the Prince and People nevertheless being confronted with the Chyrurgeon who still persisted in his Accusation which he confirmed by a promise that he said the Bailiff had made him of 300000 Franks for a recompence and of six Ducatoons which he had given him in hand and by several other circumstances usual in affairs of this nature the Court of Holland after they had maturely considered the report made by the Advocate General condemned Cornelius to be divested of all his dignities and employments and to be perpetually banished out of the Territories of Holland and Friezeland But the people seeing the States had pushed on the matter so far and imagining that a Criminal who was treated with so much severity wou'd have received a greater punishment if the Judges had not favoured him began to murmur at the Sentence as too mild and gentle and immediately ran towards the Prison with weapons in their hands It hapned at this moment that Iohn de Wit came in his Coach to take his Brother out of Prison when one of the Burghers dropping these words amongst the people Now the two Traytors are together and it is our fault if they scape us This was enough to animate the Mobb who were heated enough before but another thing happen'd that helped to exasperate them more which was that whilst the people were waiting for the coming out of the two Brothers some body or other had maliciously spread a report that above a thousand Peasants and Fishermen were marching towards the Hague to plunder it Upon which another Burgher saying Come along Gentlemen let us make these Traytors come out follow me and I will show you the way These words inflamed them to the highest degree so they immediately burnt the Prison-gates drew out the two Brothers by main violence dragg'd them about the streets murder'd them and cut them to pieces crying aloud Behold the Traytors that have betray'd their Country Thus fell Cornelius and Iohn de Witt two sworn Enemies of the House of Orange 'T is commonly pretended that Iohn was Author of these politic resolutions viz. the exclusion of his Royal Highness from all his Offices of the perpetual Edict and of the Qualities requisite for a Stadt-holder Min Heer Fagel succeeded the Pensioner in his place the Prince of Orange having approved his election The Elector of Brandenburgh writ a Letter to the States in favour of the Prince telling them that since he heard his R. Highness was re-established in the dignities of his Ancestors he did not doubt but Heaven would prosper a resolution so advantageous to the public especially since he knew the Prince inherited all the Vertues of his Glorious Predecessors protesting besides that he found himself obliged since his Elevation to contribute all that lay in his power to assist the Prince to recover and preserve what his Ancestors had acquired at the expence of their own blood with so much reputation to themselves About this time the Prince being resolved to dislodge the advanced Guards of the French made a Detachment of Horse and Foot and with them gives an Alarm to the Enemy whom he chased as far as their trenches before Utrecht disheartened with the loss of their own men before Cronemburgh While both Parties were thus busied in the Feild there was great changing of the Magistrates in most of the Cities to the great satisfaction of the Inhabitants who now hoped to see their Country enjoy its ancient Tranquillity His Highness not being any longer able to suffer the corruption of Military Discipline which had been so fatal to the Republic in general ordered several Officers to be punished for their Cowardice and Treachery But nothing touched him so sensibly as to see the Season almost past without any considerable action which made him resolve to attack Narden For this purpose he commands Coll. Zulestein and Count Horn to advance the first to take his quarters between Utrecht and Narden and the other to intrench himself at Polanen on the Mill side His Highness intrenched on that part near Bodegrave with four Regiments The Duke of Luxemburgh made all imaginable haste to relieve the besieged and with about eight or nine thousand men fell upon the quarter of Coll. Zulestein but was repulsed with loss and forced to retire The Town was afterwards batter'd in a very furious manner and reduced to such extremities that they sent Deputies to capitulate But in this interval the Duke of Luxemburgh having received a new reinforcement marched by a way full of water by the help of some Peasants who served him as Guides he once more attacqued when they least expected him the very same quarters of Coll. Zulestein from whence he had been beaten the night before and after a bloody resolute dispute wherein the Collonel was slain having refused quarter the Duke at last threw three thousand men by way of relief into the Town Nevertheless he was repulsed the second time by Count Horn and forced to leave his Prisoners behind him Of the French there were 2000 killed and fifty Officers who dyed of their wounds within 5 days after the engagement without reckoning those that lost their Arms and Legs upon this occasion Which caused so great a consternation amongst the French that were at Utrecht that after this time the Officers drew lots when they were go out in any Parties against the Prince of Orange Of the Hollanders were slain Six or Seven Hundred Men besides Coll. Zulestein and a Lieutenant Collonel His Highness seeing the City had received so considerable a relief retired to his own Quarters with the honor of a compleat Victory and raised the Seige without the least loss having defeated almost five entire Regiments the greatest part of their Officers being either slain or mortally wounded and having twice repulsed an old General who had never succeeded in his design had it not been for the perfidiousness of the Peasants After the unsuccessful attempt upon Narden his Highness assembled a Council of War at which the principal Officers of the Army assisted and having commanded the Horse that were quartered at Helden to hinder the English Merchandise from being transported from Rotterdam to Brabant he marched himself to Rosendael which was the place of the general Randezvous from whence with an Army composed of Twenty four Thousand Horse and Foot he took his march directly to the Country of Liege At his approach the Count de Duras who was at Moseyk retired with his Army to Vassemburgh and higher towards the River Roer 'T was believed that his Highness's principal design was to chase the French from their quarters near the Meuse and give battle to the Count de Duras who commanded the Enemy's Troops in
to see if he would not be willing to hazard a battle in open field Being therefore advanced within five or six mile of the French Camp they did all that in them lay to make him leave his strong scituation but 't was to no purpose for the Prince whether he had received orders from the King or this was his own proper sense of the affair would by no means quit it And now the Confederate Army finding that all their efforts were in vain resolved to attack some important place not doubting but the Prince would leave his post to come and relieve it and so they should bring their designs about This resolution being taken the Prince of Orange decamped from Senef and marched strait on the side of Bins The Imperialists had the Vanguard the Hollanders the Main Body and the Spaniards the Rear and because the passage was narrow the Cavalry marched on the left the Infantry in the midst and the Artillery with all the baggage on the left also and to secure their march the Prince de Vaudemont still kept behind with four Thousand Horse and some Dragoons The Prince of Conde being informed of their March and knowing perfectly well the difficulty of the ways through which the Confederates were to pass took care to range his Army in order However not thinking it safe for him to engage the whole Army of the Confederates he suffer'd the Vanguard with a considerable part of their Main Body to pass some leagues before and when he saw they were too far advanced to return soon enough he believed he might now fall upon the Rear Thus the Prince came out of his Trenches and attack'd Vaudemont's Horse who seeing himself in a Country where the Horse could do no great service by reason of the Hedges and Ditches sent presently to the Prince of Orange for two Battalions of his best Foot while he with his Horse kept the Enemy in play His Highness sent him three under the command of young Prince Maurice of Nassau who as soon as they came up were placed on the other side of Senef all before the Horse in a four square body And now the whole Army of the Prince of Conde being come out of their Trenches 't was judged convenient to send for the Troops that were on the other side of the River that runs by Senef and then they placed the three Battalions that before were posted in the Wood directly against the Bridge of Senef over which the French were to pass They were no sooner got thither but the French attack'd 'em all at once Horse Foot and Dragoons Tho they began this attack with wonderful vigor yet they were not able to force the Enemy from his Post so that they were forced to draw off and make a Bridge over the River somewhat higher Having by this means joyn'd all their forces together the Confederate Horse ranged themselves behind the Infantry but so that they might come upon occasion to their relief In the mean time the Foot fired so warmly upon the French that passed the River that abundance of them were killed but the Confederates being unhappily straitned for want of ground and the French setting upon them as they came out of the Wood on all sides their Foot was obliged to retreat being overwhelmed by the excessive number of their Enemies which was the reason that they lost several of their principal Officers Young Prince Maurice who commanded the Brigade was made a Prisoner with several Officers more and Coll. Macovits was killed As soon as the Infantry of the Confederates was retired the French fell with great vigour upon the Horse commanded by the Prince de Vaudemont and the Prince of Conde began to range his Army in form of battel commanding his Foot to march secretly under the covert of the Hedges and Bushes The Confederate Horse had orders to charge them and as they were going to do it found the way was so hollow between the Enemy and them that they were obliged to turn about to the right and joyn the rest of the Army lest the Enemy perceiving their retreat should charge them in the Flank The French observing this turn'd to the left and made so much hast to charge this body of Horse that Prince Vaudemont had only time enough to range his three Battalions to endeavour to make head against the Enemy This first onset proved unlucky to the Confederates for the three Commanders in chief of this Brigade were taken Prisoners with several other Persons of Quality as the Duke of Holstein the Prince de Solmes and Monsieur de Langerac and many more were there slain Whatever care was taken to make these four Battalions rally again it could never be effected for away they ran without making the least discharge upon the Enemy Prince Vaudemont gave convincing proofs of an extraordinary valour but all his efforts were to no purpose The Prince of Orange likewise discovered an undaunted bravery behaving himself in all respects like an Old experienced General for he got before these affrighted Troops with his Sword in his hand and endeavoured by all sorts of perswasions and by his own example to encourage them to renew the fight exposing himself frequently to the danger of being killed or made a Prisoner but he was not able to stop them till they met a body of Spanish Horse posted at the bottom of a little Hill between them and the Village of Fay. Another Party of these Runaways joyn'd themselves to sixteen Battalions commanded by the Duke de Villa Hermosa who marched at the head of his Troops to oppose the French who pursued them and did every thing that could be expected from a person of his valour and conduct in the miserable condition that things were then in The rest of the Confederates rallied togather with a body of Foot posted likewise at the Foot of the same Hill On the other side the Prince of Conde who had advanced so far in pursuing the fugitives fell with that fury upon the Spanish Horse and the Foot whom he chased that the Marquis d' Assentar was forced to send for four other Regiments from the Foot of the Hill to reinforce his Cavalry Which the Prince of Conde observing he ordered five or six Battalions to advance immediately with a Brigade of Horse and dividing his Troops on the right and the left he charged the Cavalry of the Confederates in the Front and put them in disorder The Marquess did all he could by his own example to rally his men and begin the Battel afresh till at last being wounded in seven places he was killed at the head of his own Troops The Cavalry being thus in disorder he attempted to break his way through four Battalions of Foot that were come to their relief and put them in great confusion notwithstanding the conduct of the Duke de Villa Hermosa and Prince Vaudemont who used all the means imaginable to make them rally They likewise disordered
the rest of the Infantry that were posted at the bottom of the Hill altho Count Waldeck did his best to stop their flight but seeing it was time thrown away he charged the victorious Enemy in the Flank with a fresh body of Horse that had joined him a little before And certainly there was all the reason in the world to expect a good effect of this onset under the conduct of so courageous and experienc'd a Commander if he had been but seconded but as he was overpower'd by great numbers of the Enemy he withdrew from the heat of the Action after he had slain two of the Enemy who had particularly set upon him and after he had rallied the rest of his Troops altho he was all over bloody with three wounds he had received In the heat of this Combat some Battalions of the Enemy had made themselves Masters of the Baggage belonging to the Dutch and had already pillaged part of it For the Leaders instead of fortifying and barricadoing themselves with their Waggons cut the harness of the Horses and fled away without ever looking behind them some towards Brussels and some to other places where they gave out that all was lost It must be confessed that the Prince of Conde had carried away all the advantages of victory in this Fight had he given over here but his natural impetuosity and ambition spurr'd him on to gain all or nothing which in the end proved fatal to him For after he had ranged his Guards du Corps Cuirassiers and the rest of the Army that stay'd behind in battel array he advanced towards the main body of the Confederates commanded by the Prince of Orange Prince Maurice the Rhingrave and Major General Vane At the same time General Souches who led the Vanguard and who was advanced some hours before the rest of the Army having received advice of what had passed made all the haste he could to joyn the main Body which he did at one a Clock in the Afternoon By which time his Highness had advantageously bestowed the Imperialists and the Spaniards on the left wing and his own on the right And now the Fight was renewed more furiously than ever The Duke of Luxemburgh commanded the right wing of the French and the Duke of Nouailles the left for the Marquess de Rochefort the Chevalier de Tourilles and the Count de Montal were all three wounded The first onset of the French was by far the most vehement that had been seen during the course of this war Honour Hatred Revenge Hope and Despair animated the courag of the two Parties Hope of Victory which as yet had declared her self in favour of neither side made them resolve to vanquish or dye The Prince of Orange show'd himself every where sparing nothing upon this occasion that might facilitate the victory sometimes he threw himself into the midst of his Enemies to the apparent hazard of his life and the Souldiers who being encouraged by his example strove to out-do one another sustained the fury of the Enemy with a bravery greater than could be expected from them Having thus frustrated the hopes of the Prince of Conde he endeavoured to wheel about to the left But Monsieur de Farjaux Major General of the Dutch Army being sent with some Battalions and seconded by the Count de Chavagnac who commanded a Squadron of Imperial Horse to prevent this design opposed the French with so much gallantry that they were forced to retire After this the Count sent for four pieces of Cannon with which he gauled the Enemy so advantageously that Count Souches with his Forlorn Hope broke into the strongest quarter of the Enemy and gave proofs of an extraordinary courage according to his custom upon such occasions Nor did the Prince of Lorrain sit idle but was seen to fight several times at the head of the first ranks altho he lost so much blood that at last he was obliged to withdraw from the battel Prince Pio who lay with his Brigade near Senef accompanied by the Marquess de Grana and Count Staremberg after he had signalized himself by a Thousand noble actions was wounded in the thigh by a Musquet-shot The Marquess de Grana and the Sons of Count Souches behaved themselves so valiantly at the head of their Squadrons that the French Swissers were not able to gain one inch of ground upon them which did not a little contribute to the gaining of the battel for the Confederates In the mean time the Prince of Conde charged the right wing of the Confederates with his Cuirassiers and the King's Houshold but without effect only about seven in the afternoon he broke two Battalions that were posted in a meadow at a small distance from thence But Prince Maurice here performed a signal piece of service to the States in stopping the Career of the Enemy and preventing the great disorder on that side with no less conduct than courage The Rhingrave behaved himself with great bravery and we may truly say that his valor and prudence did not inconsiderably promote the good success of this battel He was nevertheless constrained to leave the field by reason of a wound he had received Major General Vane and the Sieur de Villaumdire after having given remarkable testimonies of their valour were mortally wounded and died of their wounds The two Armies fought in this manner till night with unexpressible fury on both sides tho the ground was covered with the dead and wounded while the Combatants covered with blood and sweat encouraged one another by so terrible a spectacle One might have seen whole Battalions of one and t'other side sometimes give ground and then immediately rally by the good conduct of their respective Commanders amongst whom the Prince of Orange was chief who was all along to be seen in the heat of the battle encouraging his men by his own example He had near him the young Prince of Frizeland who was not above twenty years old and always engaged where the Enemies stood thickest and doing all that could be expected from so valiant and generous a Prince Thus the first heat and fire of the French which threatned to devour every thing that stood in its way began to slacken about ten at night The Infantry great part of which they lost kept off at some distance in spight of all the Prince of Conde could do to bring them back so that the Prince fearing a greater misfortune ordered his Horse to retreat leaving but a few Squadrons behind to favor their retreat and these he commanded to move off as soon as the rest of his Army was safe leaving the Victory and the Field of battle to the Prince of Orange who two hours after the retreat of the French made his Army draw off and put them into Winter Quarters Nevertheless he left Monsieur de Farjaux all night in the Field to observe the motion of the Enemy who tho they could not well digest the rude
treatment they received the day before durst attempt nothing the Prince of Conde having only left some Dragoons in his old Quarters and got above three hours march before lest the Confederates should pursue him This was the issue of this bloody battel wherein the Confederates were beat at first altho they got the victory at last For on the Enemies side there were seven thousand men killed upon the spot without reckoning the wounded whom the Prince of Conde left in the neighbouring villages to the number of more than fifteen hundred On the side of the Confederates the whole list of those that were slain wounded made Prisoners and deserted did not amount in all to above six Thousand five Hundred besides that abundance of their men after they had been dispersed on one side and t'other in the hurry of the Engagement returned to their Colours 'T is commonly reported that a Letter of the Prince of Conde to the King of France was intercepted wherein he acquaints him that after he had made a general review of his Army he found it in a very deplorable condition that he had lost the flower of his Infantry and the better part of his Horse and in fine did not look upon himself to be strong enough to hazard a second battel In effect besides three Regiments Seven Hundred Swissers of the Guards and the Swiss Regiment of Molandin were intirely defeated An infinite number of Officers of note were slain amongst whom were the Marquess de Chanvalon de Clemerant de Bourbon and d' Iliers three Counts two Cornets of the King's Guards more than Forty Officers of the Guards du Corps Forty three Officers of the King's Regiment Fourscore Officers of the Queen's Guards Nine Collonels Eight Lieutenant Collonels and Majors and a Hundred and Sixty five Captains without reckoning the subaltern Officers So that the Prince of Conde did not without reason complain that he had lost abundance of brave Officers in this bloody dispute and a certain truth it is that if he had not had the advantage in the beginning of the Fight his Army had been entirely defeated Amongst several other Standards a white one was carried to Brussels and hung up with a great deal of solemnity in the Church belonging to the Carmelites This Standard was embroider'd with Gold and Silver bearing a Sun in the Zodiac with these proud words Nihil obstabit eunti Nothing shall stop my Course The day after the battel his Highness marched with the whole Army by the way of Mons and put them in quarters at S. Guillain where he received five Regiments of new Recruits and the Imperialists retired to Queverain where they stayed without doing any considerable action till the eleventh or twelfth of September In the mean time General Rabenhaupt undertook the Siege of Grave which was one of the most memorable Sieges that had happened for a long time as well for the scituation of the place the strength of the Garrison the great abundance of Ammunition and Provisions as for the furious attacks and assaults of the Besiegers and the vigorous resistance of the Besieged And that which renders it still more famous is that it could never be ended till the arrival of the Prince of Orange who soon determined it The Garrison consisted of Fourscore and eleven Companies of Foot who made in all four Thousand men and of Nine Troops of Horse The Sieur de S. Louis an old experienced Captain commanded the Cavalry and the Marquess de Chamilly a valiant and expert Commander was Governor of the Town where were four Hundred and fifty pieces of Cannon a Hundred of which were mounted upon the Ramparts besides an infinite quantity of Powder Corn Granadoes and all sorts of Provisions for here the French had laid up all that they carried away from those places they first conquered and afterwards abandoned General Rabenhaupt laid Siege to this place which extremely incommoded all the Neighborhood with Twenty Regiments of Foot and some Horse which were soon after reinforced with two Regiments of Foot and two Hundred Horse commanded by Don Iohn de Pimentel and a Regiment of Foot of the Prince of Courland and two Regiments of Horse of the Elector of Brandenburg under the command of General Spaen Coll. Hundebeck posted himself behind the great Dike on that side which lay nighest the Velp Coll. Golstein on the side towards Overyssel The Brandenburg Cavalry posted themselves higher towards the Est to hinder any relief from coming into the Town And the General himself approached near the Castle de Vegesak The place being thus environ'd on all sides the Siege was pushed forward with as much violence on the side of the Besiegers as it was vigorously defended by the Besieged In the mean time his Highness and the Imperialists that were quarter'd upon the Frontiers of Henault having recovered the disorder of the last battel were thinking how to perform some remarkable action Upon this consideration as soon as the Grand Convoy was arrived from Brussels with the Spanish Army consisting of eight Thousand Foot without reckoning the Horse and Dragoons the Prince of Orange decamped with the whole Army on the 12th of September and passed the River Hayne near Tournay and Aeth and marched from thence to Oudenarde In the interim two Regiments of Foot and two Thousand five Hundred Horse near Ghent were sent to break the Bridges of Deinse and Harlebike upon the River Ley with orders after that to rejoyn the Army That Evening the same Regiments brought abundance of Barges laden with all sorts of Ammunition and Provisions and five Hundred Pioneers who were ordered to advance by the way of Oudenarde and were followed by a body of two Thousand five Hundred Horse that posted themselves that evening before the Town and shut up all the passages leading to the Garrison on that side The Prince of Orange and the Count de Souches arrived at the same time and took each of them their quarters the Prince in the Abby of Ename and the Count on the other side the River at Leupegem and Elare and the Spaniards câ—…mmanded by the Duke de Villa Hermosa posted themselves at Beverem and Moregem There were in the Town four Hundred Germans six Thousand Swissers a Thousand French and four Hundred Horse commanded by the Sieur de Rosquaire The Confederates having finished all their Works made themselves Masters of the Counterscarp when the Prince of Conde having decamped from before Beaumont began to approach with his whole Army which consisted of forty Thousand men and resolved to give battel to the Confederates in case he could not otherwise relieve the place It was therefore his Highness's advice to get all things in readiness and meet the Enemy that was fatigued and spent with so tedious a March But this resolution had no effect because Count Souches was not to be found all that day and thus the Army was constrained to keep within their Trenches In the mean
different interests and parties demanded to be satisfied was not to be so speedily concluded as those persons who impatiently wished for it did imagine The very preliminaries of this numerous Assembly at Nimeguen cou'd not be regulated in the compass of one winter and notwithstanding all the instances and application of the King of Great Britain those that reasoned solidly saw well enough that the Peace was in no great readiness Nor were their conjectures vain for no sooner was the year 1677 begun but tho it was the depth of winter the French marched directly into the Spanish Netherlands so that in a short time all the places about Valenciennes Cambray and St. Omers were covered with the Enemies Troops and these three Cities were in a manner blocked up at a distance The French openly boasting that they wou'd make themselves Masters of two important places before the Spaniards were in a condition to take the Field Valenciennes was the first place that was invested with a Army of 50 or 60 thousand men under the command of the Duke of Luxemburg and the Count de Montal and four days after the King himself arrived in person in the Camp There was in the City a Garrison of 2000 Spanish Walloon and Italian Foot with about 1000 Horse and Dragoons commanded by the Marquis de Risburg Brother to Prince d'Epinoy TheKing after his arrival view'd the posts gave orders for the Trenches to be opened and set up Batteries In fine the siege was so vigorously pushed on in a few days that the French were advanced as far as the Glacis of the Counterscrap and a Horn work that was one of the best defences the City had But the King not being willing to lose time in taking all the Out-works regularly order'd an Assault to be made on the Horn-work in four different places all at once by eight in the morning and to facilitate this enterprize alarmed the Besieged all the night with throwing of Bombs Granadoes and Carcasses which had the desired effect For after a short dispute the French enter'd the Town losing no more in this expedition than only Count de Barlemont a Collonel of the Regiment of Picardy three Musqueteers six Granadiers and some Souldiers The King having thus carried Valenciennes sate down before Cambray with part of his Army commanded by the Duke of Luxemburg and order'd the Mareschal d'Humieres to invest St. Omers with another part Cambray is one of the oldest Cities in the Low Countries built ever since the time of Servius Hostilius but the Castle was built by Charles the Fifth upon which account the Spaniards took great care to preserve it There were in Garrison fourteen hundred Horse four Regiments of Foot besides two Companies of old Spanish Souldiers under the command of Don Pedro de Laval the Governour The Cathedral was in so great veneration for the beauty of the structure that the Canons came out of the Town and presented a Petition to the King wherein they requested him not to fire at the Church which he freely granted The lines of Circumvallation were no sooner finished but the King commanded an Assault to be made on the two Half-moons on the Castle side which the French having soon made themselves Masters of they immediately began to undermine the Ramparts this put the Besieged into such a consternation that they desired to Capitulate and surrendred the Town on very honourable Conditions But tho the Town was lost the Castle held â—…ut still for the Governour taking advantage of the Cessation of Arms gave orders in the mean time to have some Cannon and other necessary provisions got ready commanded all the Horses to be slain only reserving ten for each Company and thus retired into the Castle with all his Souldiers before the French had the least suspicion of it being resolved to sell the Castle dearer than he had done the City The King was obliged to cease for some time not only because the French Pioneers were repulsed by the Besieged in a Sally they had made to prevent their approach but also because he was informed that the Prince of Orange was marching to the relief of St. Omers he sent the Duke of Luxemburg with a great part of his Army to reinforce his Brother the Duke of Orleance who had set Siege to that City and had already finished his Batteries For the news of the great success which the French King had at Valenciennes and Cambray and the Siege of St. Omers had so mightily alarmed the United Provinces that the Prince of Orange was forced to take the Field before the rest of the Confederates were ready to joyn him He assigned Ipres for the general Rendezvous of his Army which was composed of Dutch and some other Troops drawn out of the Spanish Garrisons and began his March on the 7th of April and on the 9th arrived at St. Mary Capel where he was informed that the D. of Orleans lay encamped on the great road to St. Omers and had only left a few Regiments in the Trenches to keep the City blocked up The straitness of the ways which he was to pass made his March very tedious so that after he had marched all the next day he advanced no farther than a small River called Pene on the other side of which he perceived the Enemy drawn up in battle The Prince having consulted his Guides and those that knew the Country they all assured him that there was no other passage than this to go to Bacque which they looked upon to be the only place by which St. Omers might be reliev'd Upon this consideration he resolved to pass the River and set upon the Enemy and having ordered some new Bridges to be made and repaired those that the French had broke down he accordingly passed it on the 11th of April by break of day so that all were got over before the Enemy was aware of them But when he had passed it with his Troops he was very much surprized to find that there was another River still between the French and him encumbred with Trees and Hedges altho those that were acquainted with the Country had assured him of the contrary so that he found himself strangely embarass'd as not having in the least expcteed this second Obstacle But this did not hinder him from making himself Master of the Abby de Pienes but in the mean time the Enemy having received a reinforcement of fifteen Thousand men came to attack the Abby where the Prince's Dragoons were posted who being supported by some Regiments of Foot received them so warmly that they were forced to retire After this the Prince set fire to the Abby least the Enemy should post themselves there At the same time the French advanced slowly with the right Wing of their Army to charge the Prince's left Wing in the Flank which was covered with abundance of Hedges where were likewise posted two Battalions The Prince perceiving that the Enemy had received some new
recruits on that side sent three fresh Battalions to support his own as likewise to guard the plain that was behind the Hedges But the two first Regiments basely quitted their Post upon the first approach of the Enemy so that the other three Regiments that were sent to their assistance having not sufficient time to adjust themselves and seeing the two first Battalions run away betook themselves to their Heels and breaking into their own Squadrons that stood there to cover them occasioned an extraordinary confusion Upon this the French Cavalry coming to advance and being supported by the Infantry that made perpetual firing the Prince's Squadrons were beaten back but they did not go far and soon rallied again and poured so vigorously upon the French that they made them fly in their their turn In the mean time the Enemy's Foot being advanced above and having possessed the Hedges where the Prince's men were posted before they cou'd not possibly make a long resistance nor hinder the rest of the Foot from being attacked in the Flank as well as the Front So that the Foot after they had done their duty extremely well saw themselves obliged to quit their post and the Prince repassing the Rivet retir'd in very good order to Steenword and from thence to Poperdingue the Enemy having been so rudely handled by Count Waldeck who commanded the Prince's Right Wing that they had no desire to pursue him And this was the issue of the battel at Mont cassel The Prince having retired in this manner as we have related it the French King pursued the Siege of the Cittadel of Cambray with all imaginable vigor and it fell out very unfortunately for the besieged that a Bomb set fire on one of their Magazines where the Granadoes and other warlike Provisions lay and utterly consumed it However the besieged continued to defend themselves bravely and recompenced their loss in some manner by the death of the Marquess de Renel one of the French King's Lieutenant Generals who was slain by a Cannon-shot from the Castle But at last the French having made several breaches and the Governour of the Cittadel being wounded they were constrained to yield to the great number and continual attacks of the Enemy and to surrender the Castle which was done on very honorable conditions To return to the Duke of Orleans altho victorious he was so afraid lest the Prince should once more attempt to throw relief into St Omers that he durst not quit the field where the battle was fought but kept himself upon his guard for eight days successively But when he received the News that his Highness had passed the Canal of Ghent with all his Forces he returned before the Town which he besieged with his whole Army and after a gallant resistance which cost him several of his best Officers they were forced against their will to surrender upon good terms After the taking of these places the French heat began to be somewhat abated and those that were so forward to attack others were now content to act on the defensive all the rest of the Summer and durst never put it to the hazard of a battle altho it was often presented to them So that after several tedious marches and counter-marches on both sides and the Confederates ineffectual laying Siege to Charleroy which for several weighty considerations they thought expedient to raise the Prince returned to the Hague being accompanied by the Earl of Ossory Don Carlos the Duke of Albemarle and several other Persons of Quality After he had given the States General an account of the last Campaign with the reasons that obliged him to raise the Siege of Charleroy and not to attack the Enemy who were not only superior to him in number but posted to the greatest advantage Their High and Mightinesses thanked him for his conduct and indefatigable pains humbly beseeching him still to continue his zeal for the public Interest A little after his return to the Hague several of the English Nobility arrived at the Prince's Court who in an Assembly of the States General gave them to understand that his Unkle the King of Great Britain earnestly desired him to make a Voyage into England in hopes that his presence there would not a little contribute to the Peace then in agitation which would be of such mighty advantage to the Republic Thus his Highness took his leave of the States and of all theColledges on the 17th of October and being accompany'd by the Earl of Ossory Monsieur d' Odyk the Count de Nassau and several other persons of condition he embarqued at Hellevoetsluys in one of his Majesties Yatchs and arrived at Harwich on the 19th about ten in the morning where the Duke of Albemarle and the Master of the Ceremonies attended him in the King's Coaches and conducted him the same evening to the King and his Royal Highness at Ipswich who received him with all the testimonies of a particular kindness and affection On the 23d he arrived with the two Royal Brothers at Whitehall and was lodged in the Duke of York's apartment who retired to St. Iames's What was at first nothing but a bare surmize was soon after confirmed by the King himself For on the first of November his Majesty acquainted the Council with his design to marry the Prince of Orange to his Royal Highness's eldest Daughter declaring that he hoped this Alliance would facilitate the accomplishment of a General Peace which his Majesty was resolved to advance as far as the Interest of his Kingdoms did engage him After this the whole Council went in a body to compliment the Princess and afterwards the Prince the rest of the Nobility did the same after their example The Prince of Orange acquainted the States with it by an Express giving them to understand that after he had maturely weigh'd the reasons which might incline him to marry he thought he could not make a better choice than the Princess Mary that he had already demanded her in Marriage of the King and his Royal Highness her Father who immediately gave their consent that he judged it advisable to inform them of it expecting their approbation of the Match with all speed that he might the sooner repair to them for the service of his Country Hereupon the States General were assembled and seriously considering the reasons of State upon which this Marriage was founded with the great advantages it might produce as for instance a confirmation of that strict Union that was between the King of Great Britain and the States of the United Provinces the establishment of the ancient House of Orange and the conclusion of the Peace so earnestly desired I say after they had seriously considered all this but especially the happy choice his Highness had made of a Princess who besides her natural sweetness possessed all the virtues that a Husband could desire testified their approbation by a public Edict in terms full of joy and satisfaction declaring
with his Niece formed of himself a project of Peace which he sent to his Ambassador at Nimeguen there to be distributed amongst the other Ambassadors and Mediators by those of England The chief of these propositions were That the King of Sweden and the Duke of Gottorp should be intirely satisfied That the Prince and Bishop of Stasburg should be restored to all his Demains Goods Honours and Prerogatives and that his Brother Prince William of Furstemberg should be set at liberty That as for the Emperour he should alter nothing in the public Declarations that were made at the Treaty of Westphalia only he offer'd either to keep Philipsburg and give up Friburg or else to keep Friburg and give up Philipsburg That as for Spain he would restore Charleroy Aeth Oudenard Courtray Ghent and St. Guillain with their dependances but in recompence demanded all the Franche Comté Valenciennes Bouchain Condè Cambray Aire and St. Omers with all their dependances In a word all the Places he was in possession off except those above mentioned Besides he consented to surrender Charlemont or Dinant to the Catholic King provided the Bishop of Leige and the Emperor agreed to it That as for what concerned the States General besides the satisfaction he gave them by what he yielded up to Spain he wou'd restore Maestricht to them and continue the same treaty of Commerce they enjoy'd before And as for the Interests of the Duke of Lorrain he was willing to re-establish him according to the Pirenean Treaty or to surrender all his Territories to him except the City of Nancy but that by way of recompence he would give him Toul reserving nevertheless to himself a passage from his Frontiers into Alsatia and the Roads that would be necessary to him from France to Nancy and from Nancy to Mets Brisac and the Franche-Comte That the Confines between Spain and the Low-Countries to begin from the Sea should be the Meuse Nieuport Dixmuyde Courtrdy Oudenard Aeth Mons Charleroy and Namur and that these Confines should be secured by these Places since they had cost him some Millions to fortify and by quitting them he deprived himself of the advantage of marching up to the Gates of Brussels whenever he pleased These Conditions were liked by some but disapproved by others The States General for instance had no reason to reject them but the Ministers of the Allies in a conference at the Hague absolutely rejected them as unjust and unreasonable After several warm disputes upon this occasion the Spaniards began at last to comply and that the more because they saw both England and Holland consented to the proposals of France Besides this their Affairs grew every day worse and worse by the considerable loss of Fort Leeuw which was much about this time unfortunately surprized by the French But what served wholly to determine them was the return of the French King who besides an Army he had near Brussels had two more not far off one upon the Rhine and the other between the Meuse and the Sambre which threatned nothing less than the entire loss of the Spanish Netherlands in case the Hollanders made a Peace without them and continued Neuters after it during the course of this war to which the King of France earnestly perswaded them The Spaniards therefore being constrained to yield to the necessity of their Affairs declared they were ready to accept these Conditions of Peace Upon which the States General were very urgent with the other Allies to give their consent and upon the delay of the Ministers who amused themselves with making Memorials and Replies dispatched express Orders to their Ambassadors at Nimeguen to conclude the Treaty out of hand But they were extreamly surprized when the Plenipotentiares of France refused to sign it for they demanded that intire satisfaction should be given to the King of Sweden protesting that in case of refusal the King their master would conclude nothing This started new difficulties and gave occasion to the States General to make fresh complaints of the procedure of the King of France after they had so frankly submitted to the Conditions which he himself had proposed That King's answer was that he should come to St. Quintin where he wou'd carry six days for the Commissioners whom they should send to adjust this difference But the States thinking they had done enough on their part resolved in the presence of the Prince of Orange to send no body till the Treaty was signed The News of this difference and of the resolution of the Hollanders to continue the war unless the King of France would somewhat abate the interests of Sweden being arrived into England the Parliament who before had voted to disband the Army which the King had raised both by Sea and Land were now resolved to keep it on foot His Majesty sent part of the Army over to Flanders and made a League offensive and defensive with the United Provinces wherein a very short time was limited for the French King to sign the Treaty or declare his further pretensions This resolute conduct of the King of Great Britain put an end to this troublesome affair so the Treaty of Peace between France and Holland was signed on the 11th of August at midnight 'T is certain the French King had done better not to have refined so much in his Politics for it had like to have cost him the entire loss of the D. of Luxemburg's Army Mons had been a long time blocked up by the French and was now in a manner reduced to the last extremities when the Prince of Orange receiving advice that the Confederates had joined the Army of Spain and Holland which was near the Canal of Brussels he parted by night from the Hague on the 26 of Iuly Immediately after his arrival he call'd a Council of War with the Generals of the Allies where it was resolved that they should decamp and pursue the Duke of Luxemburg who marched by Mons with a design to hinder any relief from being put into the Town Thus resolved the Prince parted with the whole Army at the beginning of August and no sooner had he left Brussels but General Spaen joyned him with a reinforcement of six thousand men of the Elector of Brandenburg and the Bishop of Munster The French who had rested some days at Soignes hearing of the Prince of Orange's March suddenly decamped and the Confederate Army encamped in the very same place where the Enemy had been the day before His Highness marching from thence on the side of Rocles advanced with his left Wing as far as the Abby of St. Denys where the Duke of Luxemburg had his quarter And as this post was in a manner inaccessible by reason of the Woods the Briars and Precipices it was encompass'd with the Duke so little dreamt of being attack'd that he was at dinner when they brought him word that the Prince of Orange was coming to surprize him and so he was forced
to retire in some disorder The Prince had Castrau before his right Wing which the Duke had gained in great precipitation and it was happy for him that this place was as hard to be got to as the other he quitted In the mean time his Highness whom these difficulties did not discourage had no sooner drawn out his Army to battel but he was resolved to beat the Enemy out of his new post and sending for his Artillery ordered it to play upon the French who were posted a little higher on one side of a Cloister near St. Denys which the Duke of Luxemburg thought he might defend well enough with his Cannon But it was impossible for them to sustain the shock of the Confederate Dragoons who beat them from this Post and made themselves Masters of the Cloister while General Collier advanced on the side of the Abby and seconded by General Delwick broke through the narrow ways and mounting these horrible precipices with an invincible courage routed the Enemiy who for some time made a vigorous resistance in their lines In the midst of this engagement the Prince accompanied by the Duke of Monmouth who fought by his side all the day and encouraged with his good success cried out follow me follow me to encourage those Regimens that were to second the first Both sides were very liberal of their Powder and Ball and all the Regiments of the left Wing seconded one another till night with the same vigour and resolution Count Horn on his side approached nearer with his Cannon and ordered it to play on the French Battalions in the Valley where he caused a terrible slaughter From thence his Highness advanced with speed to Castrau which was attack'd by the Spaniards on the side of the right Wing where the Prince's Regiment of Guards led the Van under the command of Count Solmes who being seconded by the Duke of Holstein's Regiment and by the English forced the Enemies at last to quit the place The Regiment of Foot Guards continued in action with the French for the space of five hours and pursued them a quarter of a League through fields and precipices 'T is certainly a thing hardly to be believ'd that men should be capable of making such brave efforts in places so extremely disadvantageous and several persons who have viewed and examined them since say there are few places in the world naturally so strong The Earl of Ossory did wonders with his English at a small distance from the Foot Guards where the French lost abundance of Men. But the Prince in the heat of the Action advanced so far that he was in great danger of being lost had not Monsieur Onwerkerk come seasonably to his relief and killed an adventurous Captain that was just going to let fly a Pistol at him The Cavalry did nothing all this while by reason of the uneven scituation of the place so that all the execution lay upon the Infantry and Dragoons Night put an end to the dispute by the favour of which the Duke of Luxemburg made his retreat without noise and retired towards Mons and covered himself with a Wood on one side and a River on the other leaving to his Highness as marks of Victory the Field where the Battle was fought the greatest part of the wounded abundance of Tents and Baggage with a world of Powder and other Warlike Ammunition The States General receiving the News of so great a Success sent Commissioners to the Prince to congratulate him for the victory he had gained with so much Glory and Reputation and for the signal Actions by him performed in this last Battle to the great hazard of his life And to testify what a value they set upon his preservation they presented Monsieur Onwerkerk who had so generously opposed himself to the danger that threatned his Highness with a Sword whose handle was of massy gold a pair of Pistols set with gold and a whole Horse Furniture of the same metal The Prince of Orange having thus obliged the Duke of Luxemburg to retire had without question pushed his point and thrown relief into the Town but as he was consulting how to effect it word was brought him that the King of France and the States General had accommodated all differences The success of this Battle hasten'd the conclusion of the Treaty between Spain and France which was signed on the 17th of September to the great praise of the King of England who having joyn'd the terrour of his Arms to the authority of his Mediation had for his recompence the satisfaction to see the peace and general welfare of Europe given as a Portion with his Neice while the two great Alliances between France and Holland and between Spain and France were the and happy effects of the conjugal Alliance between his Highness and the Princess Mary of England The war being thus ended between France and the United Provinces his Highness had time now to breath himself after the fatigues and hurries of the last Campaigns for after the Ratification of the Peace and the Restitution of Mastricht to the States the King of France no more disturbed the Low Countries with the terrour of his Arms so that when his Highness had reformed all those innovations that had been introduced by the French when they were Masters of the Country the people began to enjoy the repose and tranquillity they had so long desired But matters were not so soon adjusted between the Kings of France and Spain By the Treaty concluded between the two Crowns it was agreed that Commissioners should meet at Cambray to regulate any disputes that might happen about the limits This was in the Year 1679. But after several tedious contests occasioned by the excessive pretentions of the French who demanded whole Provinces in the nature of dependances to be delivered into their hands the war was like to have kindled afresh till at last by the unwearied Mediation of the States General a Treaty was signed at the Hague on the 29th of Iune 1684 after which his most Christian Majesty having accommodated all differences with the Emperour by some other Articles of the same Nature a Truce of twenty years was agreed upon which being ratified tho not without some delays on the side of the Spaniards all those devastations and ravages that for the course of several years had ruin'd the finest Country in Europe began to cease In the midst of all these negotiations which the States seldom or never treated of but in the presence of the Prince of Orange whom they still consulted in the most difficult affairs his Highness show'd an extraordinary generosity for when every one was minding his particular Interests he neglected his own and preferr'd the peace and welfare of his Country to that reparation he might justly expect for the great losses he sustain'd in his own Demains For while the King of France burnt and ravaged the Low Countries in order to force the Spaniards to accept his offers a great part of the Prince's patrimony in Brabant underwent the common calamities The same thing happen'd when Luxemburg and the Franche-Comte came to change their Masters Prince d'Isenguyn supported by the authority of France exposed to Sale by sound of Trumpet all the Lands Furniture and Goods of his Highness as having been adjudged to him by a formal Decree of the Parliament of that Country The Provinces of Gueldres Zealand and Utrecht made great complaints in his Highnesses name but were not able to get satisfaction done him Nor suffer'd he less injustice in the Principality of Orange where the Walls of his Capital City were demolished the University disfranchized the Inhabitants barbarously plundered forced to send the young Students home to their Parents and forbidden to educate any of the Reformed Religion for the future all which was directly contrary to the Faith of the late Treaty But when the States represented the great injustice of this procedure the Court of France return'd them no other answer save only this viz. That they had good reasons for what they did As soon as the Truce was confirmed the States were of opinion they might now disband their supernumerary forces and the Deputies of Amsterdam wou'd without any further delay reform the recruits they had made the year before but all the members coming to this conclusion that nothing ought to be done without the advice of the Prince of Orange his Highness upon the mention of this proposal assured them that no one more earnestly desired the ease of the people than himself but however he wou'd never consent till their affairs both at home and abroad were in a better posture of security to leave the Country naked and defenceless The States were soon perswaded to follow this advice and accordingly resolved to keep their Troops as long as the necessity of their affairs demanded it And now from the conclusion of the Peace till the year 1688 when his Highness made his wonderful Expedition into England we have nothing remarkable in this Prince's History What was the success of that prodigious Descent and by what means the ensuing Revolution was carried on which has occasioned so mighty an alteration in this Western part of the World as it is sufficiently known to every English Reader So a just narration of all the surprizing incidents requires a person of more leisure and greater abilities than my self FINIS ☞ Excuse the man and don 't pronounce his doom Poor Soul he left his Calepine at Rome * According to the new Stile which I have all along followed with my Author * A great and stately City upon the Scheld built as 't is commonly pretended by the Emperour Valentinian * Sir W. Temple in his Memoirs represents this matter otherwise for there we are told that K. Ch. the 2d was so far from courting the Prince to come to visit him that he was apprehensive of his arrival
absolutely Commanded half the Roman Legions who governed all the World With these great forces and advantages they entred upon the Stage made their first Victories the fore-runners to the next pursued their blow and one overthrew the Empire of the Persians and the other the Roman Commonwealth But Prince William has equall'd the Glory of these great Conquerors by attaquing the formidable Power of King Philip of Spain without any Army or Forces and by maintaining himself many years against him His Courage was always greater than his Misfortunes and when all the World thought him ruin'd and he was driven out of the Netherlands he entred 'em again immediately at the Head of a new Army and by his great Conduct laid the foundations of a Commonwealth that covers the Ocean with its Fleets and over-matches all Europe in the number and strength of its Naval Forces His Enemies had no other way to ruin him but by a base Treachery which he might have avoided if he had reposed less confidence in the love of the People who served him instead of Guards and considered him as the Father and Tutelar God of their Country After having reflected on all the Illustrious Persons that have lived before him I can meet with no one that equall'd his profound Wisdom heroick Courage and Constancy under all his Adversities but Gaspar de Coligny Lord of Chastillon Admiral of France so great a Man that D'Avila his Enemy was forc'd to own that he was more talk'd of in Europe than the King of France himself This Admiral after the loss of four Battles was so far from being broken or ruin'd and continued still so powerfull that his Enemies were oblig'd to grant him a Peace and had it not been for a Treachery whose Memory will be eternally abhorr'd by all good Men he might have ended his days in Peace and done great service to his Country by the Conquest of the Low-Countries which he propos'd at so favourable a conjuncture that we might easily have made our selves masters of ' em But the ill maxims of those Divines who would conform all Religion to the humours and passions of Princes and the Doctrine That no Faith ought to be kept with Rebels and Hereticks and that 't is lawfull to do a small evil to bring about a greater good added to the powerfull Motive of Revenge prevail'd over all the Ties of Honour and Faith which ought always to be sacred and inviolable William of Nassaw Prince of Orange was Born in the Year 1533 at the Castle of Dillembourgh in the County of Nassaw He was Nine years Page of Honour to the Emperour Charles the Fifth who continually admired his extraordinary good sense and modesty This great Prince took delight to communicate his most important affairs to him and instruct him and has often declar'd to those he was most familiar with That this young Prince furnish'd him with Expedients and Counsels that surpriz'd him and which otherwise he had never thought of When he gave private Audience to Foreign Princes and Ministers and Prince William was about to retire with the rest of the Company he usually bid him stay All the World was surpriz'd to see this great and wife Monarch esteem him above all those that were about him and trust him at so tender an Age with all the secrets of his Empire the management of Affairs and the weightiest Negotiations He was scarce Twenty years old when Charles the Fifth chose him out among all the great Lords of his Court to carry the Imperial Crown which he resign'd to his Brother Ferdinand An Office which he discharged with much unwillingness assuring his good Master That 't was an unwelcome Task he had imposed on him of carrying that Crown to another which his Uncle Henry Count of Nassaw had put upon his Head And for a proof that Charles the Fifth set on less a value on his Courage than his Prudence when Philibert Emanuel Duke of Savoy was obliged by his own private affairs to be absent some time from the Netherlands tho' the Prince was but 22 years old and was in Breda at that time Charles the Fifth of his own accord against the advice of all his Counsel made him Generalissimo to the prejudice of so many experienc'd Captains and among the rest of Count Egmont who was Twelve years older at a time when he had to deal with two great Generals Mounsieur de Nevers and the Admiral of France But the Prince was so far from receiving any blow that Campagn that he built Charlemont and Philipville in sight of the French Armies I do not pretend to relate all the Actions of the Prince of Orange which would require a Volume and which so many Historians have done in several Languages 'T would be a strange itch of writing and a manifest robbery to publish what may be met with in particular Books My design is only to make some Reflections and Observations on this great Prince and acquaint the World with some particulars of his Life which I learn'd from my Father and other eminent Men of that Age. But in order to make my History more intelligible and agreeable to those who have not read his Life I was engaged contrary to my former intentions by an Illustrious Person to whom I have too many Obligations to refuse him any thing to make a short Abridgment of his Life enough to give a general Idea of him as Geographers present us at one view all the Old and New World in a little Map not doubting but a Narrow Portraicture of so extraordinary a Man will cause these Particulars I know of his Life to be read with greater pleasure and besides will show to all the World upon what foundations this Prince has erected the powerfull Commonwealth of the United Provinces Besides the esteem the Emperour had for his Vertue there was no Man at his Court whom he lov'd so tenderly as the Prince of Orange Which he made appear to the last moment of his Administration For at the famous Assembly at Brussels A. D. 1555 when the Emperour resign'd all his Kingdoms to his Son Philip 't was remarkable that in so considerable an Action he was supported by the Prince of Orange All these marks of Confidence and professions of Friendship which the Emperour made him were the cause of his Misfortunes For tho' at his departure into Spain the Emperour recommended him particularly to the King his Son the Spaniards who govern'd him for he had been bred always in Spain being jealous of the growing Greatness and good Fortune of this young Prince made the King entertain such suspicions of him that his most innocent words and actions had an ill interpretation put upon 'em and the refusel which the States made of complying with the demands of the King was laid to his charge He easily perceived by the cold receptions of the King that his Enemies had ruin'd him in his good opinion But he was confirm'd in his
Council of Troubles and by his Enemies The Council of Blood By the Establishment of this Council which was a supream Court of Judicature the Duke of Alva deprived all the other Councils of the Netherlands of their Power and Jurisdiction For all men without Exception were denied the Liberty of appealing even the Knights of the Golden Fleece who by the Statutes of their Order were to be tryed by their Peers alone in the Presence of the King Which was contrary to all Privileges The Judges of the Country were forbid to take cognizance of the last Troubles and all the Councils of the Provinces were to Answer before this Tribunal A rich Burgher was condemned to Death his hands being tyed behind his Back being bound to the Tail of a Horse and mercilesly dragged to the place of Execution The First and second Days of Iune Eighteen Lords and Gentlemen were barbarously executed at Brussels among the rest the two Barons of Battembourg Brothers Iohn de Montigny Lord of Villiers and the Lord de Huy a Bastard of the Counts of Namur Drums beating all the time of their Execution that their dying Speeches might not be heard nor the People stirred up to Compassion by hearing them complain of the Injustice which had been done to them The Fifth of Iune following were publickly executed at Brussels Count Egmont and Count Horn several Regiments of Native Spaniards being drawn up in the great Square to guard the Execution I may say that the Death of these two Lords cost the Spanish King the Low Countries so universally were they loved and esteemed The First won the Battle of St. Quintins and Gravelins The French Resident at Brussels writ to Court that he had seen that Head cut off which had twice made France tremble Cardinal Granville never feared any of the great Lords of the Netherlands but the Prince of Orange for the rest were not capable of forming or maintaining a Party and when the News was brought to Rome in general that the Duke of Alva had seized on all the great Lords of the Low Countries he asked whether Silence was taken meaning the Prince of Orange and when they told him No he replyed The Duke had done nothing The Prince of Orange who had put himself into a place of Security was Summoned to appear before the supream Council who condemned him for not obeying For he appeal'd to the States of Brabant his natural Judges and the King himself because he was Knight of the Golden Fleece and consequently could not be tryed by subdeligate and suspected Judges and his professed Enemies but by the King himself assisted by his Peers the Knights Which he represented at large in publick Manifesto's to the Emperour Maximilian and the German Princes who approved his Reasons and condemned the violence of the Council of Spain which went so far as to seize on his eldest Son William Count de Buren who was arrested in the College of Louvain at the Age of thirteen contrary to the privileges of the University and the Country of Brabant and afterwards carried Prisoner into Spain This hard usage made the Prince resolve to pass the Rubicon and hazard all as Caesar did and endeavour to do himself Justice and have satisfaction for his Injuries by way of Arms. He raised an Army in Germany and sent it into Friezland under the Command of Count Lodowick his Brother who made a happy beginning of the Compaign by the entire defeat of Iohn de Ligny Count of Aremberg Governour of the Province a famous Captain who the year before was sent General of a considerable Army into France to the Assistance of Charles the Ninth against the Huguenots who had the boldness to besiege him in Paris after having missed of surprizing him at Meaux This Count of Aremberg died upon the place But 't is said he revenged his Death by that of Count Adolphus of Nassau Brother to William Prince of Orange and Count Lodowick who remained Master of the Field of Battle of the Baggage and Artillery of the Spanish Army But Count Lodowick did not long enjoy the pleasure of this Victory for the Duke of Alva fell upon him in the same Country with old Disciplin'd Troops at a time when the Germans instead of preparing for a vigorous defence against so powerful an Enemy mutinied and demanded their Pay and routed his Army the most part of which were drown'd in the River Ems which lay behind them Count Lodowick with great difficulty saved his Life which he had certainly lost if he had not met with a little Boat and crossed the River which is very wide as it falling into the Seas leaving all his Baggage and Artillery in the hands of the Spaniards The Prince of Orange a man of a steady and unshaken Courage in all his misfortunes without being startled at this Blow raises another Army of Twenty four thousand German Horse and Foot which he joyned with a Body of Four thousand French Commanded by Francis de Hangest Lord of Genlis Before he entred into the Netherlands he published a Manifesto in which he lays open the Reasons he had to take up Arms clears himself of the Crimes he was charged with excepts against the Bloody Council and the Duke of Alva who pretended to be his Judge He owns that he had quitted the Church of Rome for a Religion which he thought more agreeable to the Holy Scripture declares that he was forced to make War for the preservation of his Country and to free it from the Slavery the Spaniards were preparing for it as in Duty bound being one of the great Lords of the Netherlands He hopes that King Philip whose good Inclinations were obstructed by the ill Counsels of the Spaniards will one day better consider the Fidelity of the Provinces and the Oath he publickly took of preserving their Privileges He says that the Laws of the Dutchy of Brabant dispense with the Subjects from paying that obedience to the Errors and Mistakes of their Princes which they only owe to their lawful Commands which ought to be conformable to the Customs of the Province He added that the Brabantines never suffered any Prince to take Possession of the Government before they had agreed with him That if the Prince breaks the Laws and the Constitutions of the Dutchy the Subjects shall be absolved from their Oath of Allegiance till their Injuries are redressed After this the Prince having passed the Rhine crossed the Meuse happily between Ruremonde and Mastreicht though the Duke of Alva was on the other side of the River to dispute the passage with him He passed his Foot over at a Ford whilst the Horse who stood above broke the force of the River in the same manner as Caesar passed the River Segre near Lerida in Catalonia The Duke of Alva would not believe the Count of Barlaymont who brought him the first News of it but asked him whether the Prince of Orange's Army were Birds Thus the Prince of
Canon But this proved a long and a bloody Siege having lasted from December 1572. to Iuly 1573. The Spaniards lost above Four thousand Men before it among others the Sieur Crossonier Great Master of the Artillery and Bartholomew Campi de Besoro an excellent Engineer There was so great a Famine in the City that a little Child Three years old was dug up by its Parents some days after it was buried to prolong their miserable Life During this Siege Don Frederick tired with its length and despairing of good Success talked of returning into Brabant but the Duke of Alva blaming his impatience sent him word that if he resolved to raise the Siege he himself would come in Person sick as he was to carry it on But if his Indisposition hindred him he would send into Spain for his Mother to supply the place of her Son This reproach made Don Frederick resolve to continue the Siege In the heat of the Siege the Spaniards having thrown into the City the Head of a Man with this Inscription The Head of Philip Konigs id est King who came to relieve Harlem with an Army of Two thousand Men and aftewards another with this Inscription The Head of Anthony le Peintre who betrayed Mons to the French The Inhabitants of Harlem put to Death eleven Spanish Prisoners and put their Heads into a Barrel which by Night they rolled into the Enemies Camp With this Inscription The Citizens of Harlem pay the Duke of Alva ten Heads that he may no longer make Waer upon them for the Payment of the Tenth penny which they have not yet paid and for Interest they give him the Eleventh Head As they had hopes that the Siege would be raised they suffered themselves to be transported to prophane Mockeries making the Images of Priests Monks Cardinals and Popes and then tumbled them down from the top of the Walls after they had stabbed them in a hundred places At last the City being reduced to the greatest extremity by an unheard of Famine which swept away above Thirteen thousand Persons and all hopes of relief being vanished by the defeat of the Succours which the Count de la Mark and the Baron de Balemberg were bringing to the City they were obliged to surrender at Discretion by the Crys of the Women and Children for the Men had resolved to Sally out in a Body and cut out an honourable passage with their Swords through the Enemies Army The Spaniards forced the Citizens to pay a great Summ of Money to hinder the entire Destruction of the place and hang'd and drown'd above Two thousand Persons in some few days among others all the Ministers the principal Men of the City and the Officers of the Troops Wibald Riperda Governour and Lancelot a Bastard Son to Brederode were both beheaded The Cruelty of the Spaniards at Harlem instead of doing their Cause Service ruin'd it and made the People resolve rather to suffer the last Miseries than submit to so Cruel and Tyrannical a Government Thus the little City of Alkmar bravely repulsed all their Attacks and the Prince of Orange surprized Gertrudemberg which belonged to him in his own Right and which covered Dordrecht About the same time Maximilian de Henin Count de Bossut a famous Captain and very much valued by the Duke of Alva who was made Governour of Holland was taken in the Zuider-Zee which is the Sea of Amsterdam and his Fleet defeated by that of the Prince of Orange His great Ship was also taken which he called the Inquisition to reproach the Dutch with the principal Cause of their revolt This Count was carried to Horn where he remained Prisoner Four years till the Pacification of Ghent The Spaniards having taken Prisoner at the Hague Philip de Marnix Sieur de St. Aldegonde Minister of State to the Prince of Orange he assured the Duke of Alva that he would treat the Count de Bossut in the same manner as he did St. Aldegonde The Prince of Orange can never be enough commended for his good Nature in treating the Count with so much Kindness and Civility though not long before he had corrupted a Burgomaster of Delft and prevailed upon him to betray the Prince and deliver him into his hands whilst he was walking out of the City But the Conspiracy was discovered by a Letter intercepted from the Count to the Burgomaster About that time the Duke of Alva and his Son were recalled into Spain King Philip having found out too late that their Cruelty confirmed the Low-Countries in their Rebellion Lewis de Requesens great Commander of the Order of St. Iames in Castile and Governour of Milan who had a great share in the famous Victory of Lepanto succeeded the Duke of Alva in the Government of the Netherlands The Duke at his Departure boasted that he had put to Death by the hands of the Hangman above Eighteen thousand Men yet cruel Vargas who returned into Spain with him cryed at parting that his Clemency and Gentleness had lost the King the Netherlands A. D. 1574. Middleburg the Capital City of Zealand having been a long time defended by that renowned Captain Christopher de Mondragon and endured a great Famine and after the defeat of the Spanish Fleets who attempted in vain to relieâ—…e it was reunited to the rest of the Province This Siege lasted two years and the Spaniards spent above Seven Millions in the several Fleets they set out to Succour it The Prince of Orange so successful at Sea had always ill Luck at Land For the fourth Army which Count Lodowick of Nassau brought him out of Germany to assist him in driving out the Spaniards from the rest of Holland was defeated near Nimeguen by Sancho D'Avila a General of great Experience who from a private Souldier had advanced himself through all the Degrees and Employments of War to that great Command The Germans of Count Lodowicks Army instead of providing for their own and their General 's Defences fell to Mutiny according to their usual Custom and demand their Pay In this Action Count Lodowick and his Brother Count Henry of Nassau and Christopher Count Palatine were all three killed D'Avila remained Master of the Field of Battel of Sixteen pieces of Canon and all the Baggage This Battel was fought in the beginning of the Government of Requesens The Prince of Orange who loved his Brothers tenderly was sensibly afflicted with this loss But he abated nothing of his Constancy and Courage A. D. 1575. the Spaniards encouraged by the defeat and death of the two Brothers of the Prince of Orange laid Siege to the City of Leyden which after a long and unparallell'd Famine was miraculously saved by breaking down the Banks which drowned a great many Spaniards and by the Succours which was conveyed into the City by an infinite number of Boats that swam on the Lands that were overflown When the Prince represented to the States the Damage which the breaking down the Dikes
each day continually so that when Count Mansfeldt said one day to a Trumpeter whom P. Maurice had sent him That he admired his Master who was a young Prince full of heat and courage would always contain himself within the covert of his own retrenchments the Trumpeter answered him That his Excellency of Nassau was a young Prince who desired to become one day such an old and experienced General as his Excellency of Mansfeldt was at present The year following he took the great and famous Town of Groninghen Capital of the Province he likewise took and retook Rimbergues and seized upon Maeurs and the Grave Towns belonging to his own Patrimony having by the death of several Spaniards revenged the public injuries and those of his Private Family The Reputation of Prince Maurice was very much increased by the long and memorable defence of Ostend where the Spaniards having lost more than Threescore Thousand Men in a Siege that continued above 3 Years and exhausted their Treasures by the expence of above two Millions at last became Masters of a bit of ground which might seem to be a burying place rather than a City At the time of this loss Prince Maurice was so happy and diligent that to return it with Usury in a few days he seized upon the Town of Sluise in Flanders which was of more consequence than Ostend that had cost so many Men so much Time and so vast a Treasure upon which Theophilus says very well in the Ode he made for the Prince of Orange Much time and many years the Spaniards spend Before their Forces gain Ostend But Sir when you resolve to seize a Town Few Days suffice to beat its Bulwarks down Each Day of yours much more importance bears Than all that space of time which mortal Men call Years This Ode did not displease Prince Maurice and tho he was naturally an Enemy to Flattery and Vain glory yet he recompenced this Poet with a Chain of Gold and his Medal to a very great value But this Prince showed at the battle of Newport where he overcame the Arch-Duke Albert that he knew as well how to defeat a numerous and well appointed Army in open field as to defend places or else to force and surprize them The Arch-Duke and the Duke d'Aumale were wounded in the fight Francis Mendoza Admiral of Arragon Maister de Campe was taken Prisoner with a great many other Commanders and even the Arch-Dukes Pages whom Prince Maurice sent him back very civâ—…illy without any Ransom All the Cannon the Baggage and above 100 Cornets and Colors remained in the hands of the Conqueror who saw above 6000 Enemies dead upon the place and had all other marks of a full and entire Victory which made several People say because this great Success happened upon the 2d day of Iuly that the Fortune of the House of Nassau was changed seeing that 300 years before upon the same day of Iuly the Emperor Adolphus of Nassau had lost his Life and Empire near Spire in a Battle against Albert of Austria and that the same day Maurice had revenged the disgrace of his Ancestors by the defeat of the Arch-Duke Albert who was a Descendant from the former Albert of Austria A little before the fight there was a dispute of Honor between Prince Maurice and Prince Henry Frederick his younger Brother who was then but 17 Years old for when the Elder desired him to retire into some place of Safety that in case of any misfortune he might defend his Family and his Country Prince Henry being offended said he would run the same fortune with himself and live or dye by him Prince Maurice showed that no ill success could daunt his courage for the Resolution he had taken to give Battle was not altered notwithstanding that the night before the Arch-Duke had defeated the Count Ernest whom the Prince had sent to seize a pass with 2 Regiments of Foot and 4 Troops of Horse that were all cut off and several Colors with 2 pieces of Cannon taken It is remarkable that the Prince to take away from his Army all hopes of a retreat and to show his Men that they had nothing to trust to but their Arms made all those Vessels that brought them into Flanders to be sent away for which he was much commended by the Admiral of Arragon as the thing which had gained him the Victory by the necessity that was laid upon his Soldiers to fight boldly as having no prospect of Life but in the defeat of the Spaniards so he told his Men before the fight that they must either overcome the Enemy or drink up all the water in the Sea There came out at that time a magnificent Inscription upon this Battle in honor of Prince Maurice which is this Anno 1600 secunda die Iulij Mauricius Aransionensium Princeps in Flandriam terram hospitem traducto exercitu cum Alberto Archiduce Austriae conflixit copias ejus cecidit Duces multos primumque Mendosam coepit reversus ad suos victor signa hostium centum quinque in Hagiensi Capitolio suspendit Deo Bellatori In the year 1600 the 2d day of July Maurice Prince of Orange having brought his Army into Flanders then possessed by his Enemy fought with Albert Arch-Duke of Austria slew his Forces took several Commanders and especially Mendoza then returning Conqueror to his Country he hung up 105 of the Enemies Colors in the Councel House at the Hague to the Honor of God the Disposer of Victory This was not his first Essay of a Field Battle for otherwise he might have passed for one that was good only at the taking of Towns but he had long before forced the Duke of Parma to raise the Seige of Knotsemburg over against Nimiguen having defeated 7 Troops of his best Cavalry a disgrace which the Duke lessen'd by the necessity laid upon him by Orders from Spain to go and succor Roan In the year 1594 he had likewise at the Battle of Tournhout defeated and slain the Lord de Balancon Count de Varax General of the Artillery of Spain who commanded a body of 6000 Foot and 600 Horse of which besides the General above 2000 were left upon the place with several Prisoners of Note amongst whom a Count of Mansfeldt was one there were 38 Ensigns taken with the Cornet of Alonzo de Mondragon which were all hung up in the great Hall of the Castle at the Hague for a perpetual Memorial And upon this occasion I shall here relate how an Ambassador of Poland being come from King Sigismond to exhort the States General to reconcile themselves to the King of Spain whose Power he magnified so far as that sooner or later it would entirely subdue them and speaking as if he would frighten them with lofty words full of Vanity and according to the Eloquence of his Nation Count Maurice who was then present at this Harrangue upon his going out of the Assembly led the Ambassador
the Cathedral Church of Paderburn This Saint Liberius had been Bishop of Mans. Such a beginning enticed him farther and knowing that at Munster there were 12 Apostles all of Silver of a prodigious bigness he went thither and seizing upon the place marched directly to the great Church called the Dome accompanied with all his Collonels and Captains made a Speech to these Apostles reproaching them with their Idleness and Disobedience in not observing the commands of their Master to go instantly through all the World in these words Go throughout all Nations swearing that he would make them Travellers and become obedient So he immediately commanded to coin them into Rix Dollars with which he paid his Army and so spread them throughout all Germany He had taken this for his Device Gottes freindt und der Psaffen feint which is to say Friend of God and Enemy of Priests whom he slew or at least guelt them without any remission at last this outragious Spirit departed in 1626 at Wolfenbottle of a burning Fever in the prime of his Youth After having raised the Seige of Berghen op Zoom Maurice Prince of Orange did nothing considerable besides the Project he laid for the surprize of Antwerp but Heaven and the Winds were opposite to his design he had given so good order for every thing the Undertaking was so well laid and he promised to himself such a happy Issue that he said that it was God alone that could hinder the Success Prince Maurice before he had resolved to ruine Mr. de Barneveld honored my Father with his esteem and confidence insomuch that he undertook his defence against those that had aspersed him as his elder Brother Prince Philip and his Princess had done before which was very well known to all those who were then in Holland and which appears evidently by a Letter which Prince Maurice writ to Monsieur de Villeroy after the Peace of Landau wherein he not only justifies my Fathers conduct but moreover tells him that the Court had no Person thereabouts who could serve France so much as my Father and that was so agreeable to him and the States General The Letter is this SIR AT my return from Zeland upon the instances that were made me by Monsieur de Maurier the Kings Ambassador for the Re-establishment of the French Officers in their Employments I used my endeavors for the satisfaction of their Majesties the States having taken the same Resolution their Act shall be executed I am very much pleased that the Troubles in your Kingdom have been so happily composed and particularly that your Labors have so well succeeded in it wishing that this repose may be of long continuance to the prosperity of their Majesties which is the thing that I desire besides although the Care and Diligence which Monsieur Maurier has show'd in his faithful Execution of the Kings Commands may speak sufficiently for themselves yet I must render this Testimony to his Behavior that it has been such as has served their Majesties heartily and to the purpose without giving any one reason to complain having managed all his Actions which are very well known to us with Modesty Respect and Honor and thus much I can give you certain assurance of whereas if any other reports may be spread to his Prejudice they must do great injustice to his Conduct and Integrity The States General and all of us are fully satisfied with his whole proceedings and think their Majesties cannot hereafter make use of any other Minister that will be more faithful and serviceable to themselves or more agreeable to this Commonwealth which as I have reason I must declare to be my own opinion and with that I shall conclude together with assurance of my desire to serve you and prayers to God to give you health and long life Sir your very affectionate Servant Maurice of Nassau This Letter and several others of the same Strain which Madam the Princess Dowager of Orange and the principal Persons in the Country had writ to Court contradicted the Aspersions of several Persons of Quality who had assured the Queen Mother and her Ministers that my Father was disagreeable to the Prince and States General In short Prince Maurice upon all occasions gave my Father very signal marks of his Esteem and Friendship so that in the Year 1615 having a Son born the Prince would be his Godfather and gave him his own name of Maurice with a little Picture of a great value this is he who has been known by the name of Villaumaine and who having past all his Life in Holland where he was born arriv'd by 40 years Service and his own Merit without any favor to the command of Collonel He had a mortal aversion for this last war for he drew his extraction from France where his Family was established on the other side he saw himself obliged to defend the place of his Birth where he had all his effects and where he was at last arrived to an honorable Post by an extraordinary Patience never Man had more true Friends than he and they of all Nations so that he gained the Esteem of all the considerable Frenchmen that had known him in Holland amongst others of Monsieur de Beringhen chief Querry to the King of Mr. de St. Romain who was Ambassador in Portugal and Switzerland and towards his latter days of the Princess of Tarentum He lived in great Esteem for his Valor and Fidelity and died at the Head of his Regiment in the Battle of Senef very much lamented by all that knew him and by the Prince of Orange himself who placed a great Confidence in him I hope I shall be pardoned for the tenderness I had for this only Brother that was left me which occasioned this digression But let us now come to the description of Prince Maurice's Person and Manners even to the secrets of his Life which have not hitherto been divulged as I have learnt them from my Father and several Noble Persons of that Country This Prince was very strong and indefatigable in Labor he appeared lesser than he was by being full and fat his Face was plump and ruddy his Beard fair which he wore very large and broad he always made use of little pleated Ruffs about his Neck He never clothed himself but after the same fashion with the same Stuff and that always of a sort of brown or musk color his Doublet was of Silk with Gold stripes the rest of his Cloaths were Woollen but his Cloaks or long Coats were faced with Velvet I speak of his common Habit and not of those that were designed for great Feasts and public Assemblies He often wore in his Hat a Band of Diamonds he was never without a Girdle to which was fastened a sort of Belt for his Sword that was gilt I never saw him in any other Habit and yet I have minded him a thousand times at the French Church in the Castle at the Hague
the injuries of Barnevelt's Party which revived itself in the persons of the two De-wits who were Brothers expecting with a silent patience which was greater much than that of his Ancestor the great Prince William what time would produce and what favorable occasions might occur at last for his Re-establishment for having by a solemn sentence been deprived of all the Employments of his Family after the sudden death of the Prince his Father he was restored to them again at the beginning of the last war by an Ordinance that was made on purpose for it His Rise and Re-establishment were owing to France which having made great Conquests for almost 8 years together the greatest part of the Frontier Towns and several capital places of the Provinces Utrecht and Zutphen among others were rendered up at the very sight of their Armies though these places were provided with large Garrisons yet being composed of Officers and Men without any experience the King of France became Master of more than 40 places in less than two months These misfortunes which seemed to be the presages of greater and had put the United Provinces into the utmost consternation gave occasion to the People to complain of the ill conduct of the two De Wits who governed till that time and furnished those who adhered to the House of Nassau with a reasonable pretext to affirm that the Princes of Orange were only able to uphold their tottering State and defend them against their most potent Enemies and that as heretofore they had protected them against the Tyranny of Spain so it was they alone who could preserve them from the Fury and Violence of the French Armies The Grand-mother of this young Prince who was a Woman of a Masculine courage and suffered the indignities that had been offered to the House of Orange with great impatience having beheld it in its greatest splendour was not a little serviceable in stirring up all the creatures and dependants on the House of Nassau who were very numerous these people being angry to see themselves fallen from their credit the principal employments being given to the Sons of Burgomasters and seconded by the fury of the people that were grown out of all patience at so many disasters and the sight of a victorious Army through the very bowels of the Countrey massacred the Enemies of the Young Prince who was afterwards restored to the possession of all the dignities that had belonged to his Ancestors which is to say that of General of their Forces Stadt-holder and Admiral which were moreover by a solemn decree made hereditary to his Family Upon this occasion it cannot but be admired how so powerful a State that had made head for Fourscore years against the Crown of Spain had taken such large Towns and gained so many Battels and had become formidable at Sea to all the Princes of the world having carried its Arms and Victory to the farthest part of the Earth that this State I say which had rendred itself so famous by the long defence of Ostend which has equall'd the reputation of the famous Sieges of Tire and the ancient Troy should be reduced in less than two months to the very brink of its ruine and it had assuredly been destroyed in the year 1672 if by a desperate resolution it had not resolved to save itself by drowning part of the Country as a Pilot who throws all his Cargo overboard during a furious Storm that so he may preserve his Men and Vessel But those who knew the constitution of these Provinces and were not ignorant that discord is the plague and certain destruction of the most flourishing States were not so much amazed considering it was more than Threescore years since that Country had been torn in pieces by two contrary Factions which threatned its subversion without any Foreign Forces This Gangreen likewise had so seized upon the most noble parts of the United Provinces that in the year 1672 by a strange fatality and an unaccountable passion the greatest part of the chief Persons in that Country desired the loss of their Land Army and the defeat of the Prince of Orange whose Rise and Power they so much envied For this reason they had not sufficiently provided his Army with necessary provisions whilst they applied their principal cares to increase the Fleet to resist the Kings of England and France who attacked them jointly with a Navy of above Fourscore Men of War But it is not less surprizing to consider the expedition the French made in this Campaign when as these people for fear of becoming subject to the House of Orange allied to these great Monarchs had committed a considerable fault in their Politicks for after the Peace of Munster imagining themselves to be in perfect security and that they had nothing more to be afraid of and being acknowledged Soveraigns by Spain they might rather give Laws than receive them from any body They disbanded the greatest part of their old Forces that were Strangers and those experienced Officers who had gained so great Glory to their Country imagining that the surest means of freeing themselves from the Slavery which they thought themselves threatened with was to take from the Prince of Orange the support of his Government by reforming those Troops which looked upon him as their Master having taken an Oath to him and were devoted perfectly to his service Besides the principal men in the Country had as they thought some interest in this change for they gave all the Commands in the Army and the Government of places to their own Relations thinking by the assistance of this Souldiery to sortifie themselves and at the same time to weaken the House of Orange but they found by sad experience that endeavoring to avoid one inconvenience they fell quickly into a greater For having given the great Employments in the Army and Government of places to Sons of Burgomasters and Deputies of Towns People without any experience and who wanted Tutors for themselves rather than to be Commanders when a strong and powerful Enemy made War against them these young men show'd none of their Northern courage in this storm and danger for there were places that were garrisoned with 5000 Foot and 800 Horse that rendred themselves all Prisoners of War at the very sight of the French Army without making any resistance My Brother de la Villaumaine who came into France a little before this last War giving me an account of the state of the Army in Holland told me that if a powerful Enemy should attack them the Officers must resolve to perish and bear the brunt in their own persons having no confidence in the Souldiers they commanded who did not know how to manage their Arms a Prophecy which was since accomplished at the expence of his Life A little before he told me likewise that the Dutch Horse were so ill equipped that 50 Reyters of Munster would put to flight two or three Hundred Dutch
Troopers who would fly before these Germans as Sheep before a Wolf There happened the like inconvenience to the Swedes for having committed the same fault as the Hollanders because after the Peace of Munster they likewise disbanded the old Troops which had done such great actions and revived the antient Glory of the Goths who had conquered a great part of Europe being so bold as to attack the Elector of Brandenburg and his old Souldiers with their new Levies that never durst maintain their ground against him and were always beaten when he could joyn them so that if by an extraordinary good fortune they had not had so faithful and so mighty a Protector as the French King they had quite lost Pomerania and been sent back to their own cold Countries beyond the Baltick Sea All which shows us that a Prince ought always to keep a large body of old Troops to defend his State which without such a support runs the hazard of becoming a prey to the first Enemy that shall be bold and strong enough to attack it To these two causes of the extremities to which Holland was reduced in 1672 that is to say to the intestine divisions and to the disbanding of the old foreign Souldiers there may a third be likewise added which was the extraordinary and unheard of drowth that happen'd that year for it was so great that the Rhine one of the greatest Rivers in Europe that carries Men of War was so low that the French Troops were able to ford it so the Country being frightned to see itself attacked both by Sea and Land by the powers of France and England united to its ruine was reduced to the utmost despair seeing Heaven conspire to their destruction by taking away those Ramparts which Nature had designed for its preservation The French Army for the reasons before mentioned had penetrated into the very Heart of the Country and 40 places were taken in a small space of time whereas the State thought they might have found work for 20 years these people that were a little too haughty in their prosperity lay then under a terrible consternation almost in the same condition as the Venetians were heretofore when King Lewis the 12th made himself Master of the greatest part of the Territories which they had upon the Continent Being in this despair they were constrained to the last Remedy which was to overflow their Country and breaking down their Dykes to oppose a Sea to the French forces so hindring them from passing further they averted the ruine of the Commonwealth which else had assuredly run its period Heretofore seeing themselves reduced to a like extremity they made use of the same Remedy against the Spanish Army at the Siege of Leyden having succoured the place then at the very point of being lost with an innumerable company of Boats which swum upon the Land which they had overflow'd and then the United Provinces were reduced to so strange circumstances and to such a height of despair that the principal persons amongst them proposed in imitation of the ancient Switzers to burn all their Towns Villages and Castles and to spoyl the Country as much as they could and go on board their Ships to settle themselves in the Indies so to be delivered from the Spanish Tyranny but they had not Vessels enough to transport a fourth part of the people and were unwilling to leave the greater number to the mercy of so pityless an Enemy and for a Motto of the lamentable condition which this Country was then reduced to they engraved upon the Money which they coyned at that time a Vessel without Masts and Sayls tost by the waves and storm with these words Incertum quó fata ferant words which represented the extremity of their condition But to return to the Prince of Orange He appeared at the head of an Army at 22 years old as his Great Grandfather Prince William who was Generalissimo to the Emperour Charles the V. at the same Age and throughout the course of this great War he show'd so much Courage and Conduct both in Sieges and Battels that he had assuredly pass'd the Actions of his Illustrious Ancestors who for 200 years serv'd for a model to the greatest Generals if he had not had the misfortune to be born in the age of a King whose Genius and Power no common forces could stand against I do not design to make an exact Journal of the Actions of his Illustrious Father Prince Henry Frederick since they may be learnt from other Histories but speak of them in general and relate some certain passages not commonly known In the year 1626 he took Oldensell Capital of the Country of Tuiâ—…z in the Neighbourhood of Friezeland and Groninghen and the same year Peter Hein one of his Vice-Admirals in the Bay of Todos los Santos in the Road of St. Salvador took a Spanish Fleet laden with Sugar In the year 1627 he took Grolle before the face of Count Henry de Bergues General of a powerful Spanish Army that could put no succours into it nor make the Prince raise his Siege he being so well entrenched against the Enemies Army At the end of the year 1627 the same Peter Hein mentioned before took the Spanish Silver Fleet near the Isle of Cuba This prize without reckoning the Galeons and Vessels was esteemed at more than twenty Millions there were besides other Riches 356000 Marks of Silver and 300000 Marks of Gold abundance of Pearls Cochinele Jewels Bezoar Musk Ambergreese 250 Chests of Sugar and an infinite number of Stuffs and other merchandizes of great value This Vice-admiral Peter Hein arrived gloriously in Holland in the beginning of the year 1629 which was remarkable by the Conquest of the strong Town of Bolduc where by a Siege that was very long and difficult Prince Henry Frederick show'd by his conduct and valour that he could overcome that which had resisted his Brother Maurice who had heretofore attacqued that important place without success But what was more marvellous was that whilst Prince Henry Frederick lay before the place Count Henry de Bergues having pass'd the River Isell with a great Army ravaged all the Country of Utrecht where he seized upon Amersfort and put Holland into such a consternation that several people counselled the Prince to quit his enterprize upon Bolduc and succor the heart of his Country which was made desolate by the Enemy but he had the constancy to persevere till he had made himself Master of so considerable a Town without being moved by the Councels of his chief Officers or the Lamentations of the People that had been plundered At the same time the Prince by the vigilance and resolution of Otho de Guent Lord of Dieden Governour of Emeric having happily surprized the Town of Wesel where was the Magazine and Artillery of the Spanish Army which obliged Count Henry de Bergues to repass the Issel in all the haste imaginable he gained by this double
Cardinal having some difference with Mary de Medicis the Queen Mother who being of the house of Austria by the mothers side was upheld by all the power of Spain and Germany he was forced to have recourse to foreign Alliances and to caress those whom he had before despised and offended This storm which was raising against the Cardinal for his destruction as well within as without the Kingdom obliged him to seek the friendship of the Prince of Orange who tho he had not the title of Soveraign disposed of all things belonging to the United Provinces There was a Treaty concluded between France and the States General by which they were to attack the Spaniards and to divide the Conquest of the Low Countries which they had already devoured in their imaginations the Prince of Orange was to enter Holland with the Dutch Army and France was to joyn him with thirty thousand Men and the French Generals had orders from the King to obey the Prince of Orange so much it seems at that time they thought him necessary to their affairs In short the Spring following the year 1635 the French Army under the Command of the Marshals Chatillon and Breze enter'd the Low Countries and defeated the Spanish Forces at Avein commanded by Prince Thomas of Savoy who afterwards took the name of Prince of Carignon all the Baggage and Cannon remained in the possession of the French with abundance of Prisoners several of which that were of the best quality were carried to Maestricht These Generals after this Victory joined the Prince of Orange and sacked part of Brabant but the Prince who did not love the Neighbourhood of the French better than that of the Spaniard and had still the remembrance of the affair at Orange very fresh in his mind for want of victuals and subsistence ruin'd the French Army that had been so victorious which being retired into Holland after raising the Siege of Lovain under pretence of the approach of Picolomini with a German Army the greater part of it perished there with Hunger and Sickness the sixth part of it never returning back again into their own Kingdom The Prince of Orange looked upon Cardinal Richelieu as an Enemy that was reconcil'd to him only out of the necessity that he had for him in his present circumstances and for this reason he under-hand did him all the displeasure and gave him all the mortification that he could possibly granting a favourable reception to such as had been disgrac'd by him in France honouring them with his confidence and considerable imployments as amongst others it appeared by Mr. Hauterive and Mr. Beringhen whom he respected not only in spight of the Cardinal but because they deserved it and Cardinal Richelieu as powerful as he was was forced to swallow those Pills having necessary occasion for Holland to make some diversions which conduced to the good of his other affairs this made the Cardinal know that it was not good to offend people of courage and being a very great Politician he could dissemble so far as not to be angry at this ill treatment so he continued to seek the Prince of Orange's Friendship and it was agreed that each should attack the common Enemy from his own side he maintained a faithful and perfect correspondence with the French and the Prince who was sufficiently revenged and drew great advantages from his alliance with France executed the Treaties he had made with great sincerity The same year in which happened the battle of Avein and the Siege of Louvain the Spaniards surprized the Fort of Skink by means of Lieutenant Collonel Enhold who made himself Master of it by a party of the Garrison of Guelders whom he made use of to execute so bold an Enterprize The Sieur Veld the Governour being waked with the noise of the attack and rising in his Shirt had his Arm immediately broken and being in despair to see himself surprized would not render himself Prisoner whatever offers of quarter they could make him still defending himself till he was overwhelm'd with blows The Father of this Enhold had been beheaded at the Hague for some Crime and the Son to revenge the death of his Father quitted the Dutch service and put himself under the Spaniard which happened very luckily for him for by the surprize of so important a place beside the inward satisfaction which he had to cause so great a loss to the States the Cardinal Infant Ferdinand of Austria being newly arrived in the Low Countries where he had the Soveraign Command presented him for so bold and happy an action with a Chain of Gold of great value and gave him the summ of fifty thousand Livres But Prince Henry was so set upon the regaining of this place that he gave the Spaniards free entrance into the Countries of Guelders and Utrecht having besieged it in the month of August 1635 he re-took it in April 1636 by a Siege of six months In the year 1637 Cardinal Richelieu to oblige the Prince of Orange gave him the Title of Highness in a discourse made on purpose by Monsieur de Charnasse Ambassadour of France to Holland in the Name of his Majesty and at an Assembly of the States General which was soon after printed In which he was followed by the Ambassadors of all other Princes who before had used no other Title but that of Excellence In the same year 1637 Prince Henry by a Siege of four months re-took the Town and Castle of Breda which the Marquis Ambrose Spinola had conquered in the year 1625 by a long Blockade of a whole year with incredible Expences although this place was defended by France England and Denmark so the Marquis put over one of the Gates of the Town that he had carry'd it tribus Regibus frustra renitentibus notwithstanding the Resistance of three Kings It was at this last Siege of Breda that Monsieur de Charnasse was killed for though he was Ambassadour of France yet he would serve at the Head of his Regiment which he had in the Low Countries hoping to become a Mareschal of France by the favour of the Mareschal de Breze whose Aunt he had married and who had gained him his Employments In the year 1639 the Hollanders gained a considerable Victory at Sea over the Spaniards the Fleet of Don Antonio Doquendo consisting of 67 Men of War that had been equipping so long in Spain joyned to some Vessels from Dunkirk who were considerable in that time came for some great design which none yet have ever penetrated were stopped in St. George's Channel by the Renowned Admiral Martin Erpez Tromp with only-twelve Ships but being afterwards reinforced with ninety Men of War and several Fire-ships that came from diverse places he encompassed the Spanish Fleet that had put itself into the Downes near the Fleet of the King of Great Britain as thinking itself to be there in safety and then attacqued it with so great resolution that after a
the ordinary Souldiers but even the Guards of the deceased Prince should take an Oath of Fidelity to the States of Holland This was unanimously carry'd notwithstanding all the representations made by the Princess his Mother who ineffectually labored to preserve him in those Offices which her Husband possessed and before him the other Princes of Orange the Royal Family of Great Britain from whom principally she could expect any assistance being at that time under an Eclipse through the wicked Machinations of those execrable Parricides who after they had barbarously Murder'd their lawful Soveraing King Charles I. of Blessed Memory by a train of Hypocrisy and other Villanies peculiar to their Party shared the Soveraignty between themselves Our Prince who like Hercules was to encounter Snakes in his Cradle suffer'd a great deal from the intreagues and contrivances of Barnevelt's Party now re-established in the Persons of the Messieurs De Witt. But he bore all with incredible moderation still waiting for a favorable opportunity to be restor'd to those dignities and great Employments he had been deprived of by a publick decree obtained by a predominant Faction immediately after the death of his Father It must be confessed that France in some measure contributed to his re-establishment altho without the least design to favour the Prince Heaven so ordering it that that mighty Monarch should ravage and almost destroy this flourishing Republic to convince the world at the same time that only the Family of the Founders of this Republic was capable to repair its Ruines and restore it to its former Grandeur The Reader can scarce imagine with what a prodigions torrent the King of France over-ran and surprized all the United Provinces obliging the greatest part of the Frontier Towns and other Capital Cities to surrender themselves Amongst the rest Utrecht and Zutphen open'd their Gates at the first approach of the Enemy for altho there were large Garrisons in both those places yet being composed of Burghers and commanded by Officers of little or no experience they were frighted at the sight of a well disciplin'd couragious army that knew how to make the best advantage of the victory and the fright they had put their enemies in These calamities which had been foreseen long before by some of the most prudent persons of these Provinces as they occasioned a general consternation so they gave the people subject to complain of the ill conduct of the Mrs de Wit who at that time had all the authority of the Government in their hands and by this means furnished the friends of the House of Nassau with a favourable opportunity to speak their thoughts upon what passed at that time Which they did by way of advice to the People giving them to understand that the Princes of Orange were probably the only Persons that were able to support their tottering State and to defend them against their most puissant Enemies Adding that as these illustrious Princes had formerly deliver'd them from the tyranny of the Spaniards so they alone could stop the fury and career of the French The Princess Dowager Grand mother to his Highness a Lady of incomparable prudence and of a courage above her Sex did not contribute a little by her address to awaken those Persons that were in her interests and who were not inconsiderable for their number These at last not being able to see themselves any longer despised or that all the great Offices of State shou'd be thrown away upon Persons that were not worthy of them and at the same time making use of the fury of the people who justly alarm'd to see a victorious Army in the bowels of their Country spoke of nothing but Sacrificing the De Witts managed their affairs so dexterouslâ—… that they attained their designs for after the Prince had made a Journey towards the beginning of the Year 1672 to visit the fortifications of some Places the States of Holland and West-Frizeland being assembled it was unanimously agreed that he should be chose General of their Army which was notified next day to the States General and on the 24th of February the Prince having accepted their offer took the Oaths before them with the accustomed Ceremonies It is very remarkable that the Peasants of West-Frizeland who make excellent Souldiers wou'd not take up Arms but with this condition that they should swear to be true to the Republic and to obey the States and his Highness the Prince of Orange The immoderate ambition of some Persons had formerly occasion'd two fatal Factions who to fortify their own particular interests weakned the Nerves of the public security which made those who had the greatest Credit with the People commit the greatest Solecism's in matter of Policy that any Party can be guilty of For these short-sighted Statesmen imagining that after the Peace of Munster there was nothing left them to fear and that no body cou'd hurt them in their Pretensions but the too great power of the House of Nassau by reason of its Alliances with France and particularly with England they casheer'd their Troops composed of old Soldiers and experienced Captains who had preserved the Country but were looked upon to be intirely devoted to the Prince of Orange and at the same time gave the greatest Posts in their Army and in their Garrisons to the Sons of Burgher Masters and Deputies of Cities People who however brave they might be in their own Persons were for the most part of little or no experience as having never seen a Battle and this was the reason that when they came to be surprized by a vigorous Enemy whole Cities altho they had in Garrison five thousand Foot and eight hundred Horse surrendred at discretion without discharging one Gun at the first sight and appearance of the Enemy Thus Faction and Interest that are commonly the destruction of the most flourishing Kingdoms having reduced the States General to the brink of despair they were constrained to have recourse to their last Asylum the Prince of Orange in order to avoid their approaching ruine and to place the little hope that was remaining in the hands of one person whom the prevailing party had formerly rejected with a great deal of ingratitude and who indeed did not deserve such a hard destiny for in fine Children ought not to be responsible for the actions of their Fathers when they have by no means justified them The Prince had no sooner accepted the high Charge of General of the Armies which was presented to him from the part of the States by Monsieur de Beverning Iohn de Wit and Gaspar Fagel but he immediately repaired to the Army which was then posted near Nieu Rop where all he couâ—…d do against the united forces of the French commanded by the King in person was to keep his post And this he performed with so much conduct that the Enemy as powerful as he was cou'd have no advantage over him on that side On the other hand thinking
case he found a favorable opportunity to do it To effect this having passed his Army upon a bridge of boats near Navagne and joyned the Auxiliaries which came to him from Spain he marched directly to Tongres and invested it on all sides with the Spanish Cavalry and his own He had no sooner done this but news was brought him that the Count de Duras had decamped upon which repassing the Meuse between Sittart and Maseik he encamped near Ainsberg where he continued two days to see if he cou'd engage the Count to give him battle but the River which was swell'd with the late rains not favouring his design he returned the same way to Mastricht from whence he detach'd a party of Horse and Foot to possess themselves of the Castle of Valcheron This Castle was strongly fortified but after some resistance surrendred at discretion They found in it great quantity of Hay and Corn and other Provisions After this his Highness marched to Lewick hoping to engage the Enemy but the Count had retired in mighty speed and was got at such a distance from the Princ's Army that it was impossible to overtake him At last perceiving that the Count de Duras had no mind to hazard a battle he ordered the Count de Marcin to invest Charleroy with the Van-guard while he himself followed with the main body of the Army but the weather was so violently cold that it was impossible to open the Trenches or to make the least circumvallation so that after he had made himself Master of Bins taking three Captains with Three Hundred Soldiers Prisoners pillaged and demollished the Town he marched back the same way and put his Army into Winter Quarters The Count de Montal who sometimes shut himself up in Tongres and sometimes in Charleroy because he was afraid for both these places and yet could not tell which of them the Prince would besiege was much mistaken to imagine that the Prince would undertake a long siege in the most rigorous season of the Year However it was very remarkable That a young General who commanded an Army composed of so many different Nations should be able to march in the midst of so violent a Winter into the Enemies Country to beat an old General from his post to offer him battle and for this purpose to follow him from place to place to alarm two strong Garrisons and return home with abundance of Prisoners and the booty of two fortified places and all this in the compass of nine days without the loss of any of his men or at least very few Not to mention the terror he put the Archbishop of Colen in who neither thought himself safe at Bonn or any other place within his own Territories while the Prince was so near him During the Prince's Expedition the Duke of Luxemburg got together an Army of Forty Thousand Horse and Foot with a resolution to conquer the Province of Holland and hoping to enrich himself and his men with the pillage of Leyden and the Hague designed to march upon the Ice with the Flower of the French Army towards the end of December but being arrived at Slinwetering he found the Waters so high that only Three Thousand five Hundred Foot could pass the rest being obliged to return to Naerden This party first attacked Nieucrop but was repulsed by the Peasants so that he marched toward Swammerdam where the Soldiers were the first that fled leaving the Inhabitants to the Mercy of the Enemy Nevertheless Count Koningsmark who commanded at Bodegrave having advice of the coming of the French made all imaginable haste to march by Leiden and posted a Regiment at Goursluys to hinder their incursions on that side This desperate and unexpected march of the French at first put the people into a great consternation particularly those of the Hague but nothing discouraged them so much as to hear that while the States took all imaginable care to prevent the Enemies returning Collonel Painvin had abandoned his Post at Niewerbourg and retired to Tergou By this means the Enemy had an open free passage to go home when they pleased whereas otherwise they must either have perished in the Water or else surrendred themselves at discretion by reason of the great Thaw which followed soon after But all their fears and apprehensions vanish'd at the Prince of Orange's return who having at Breda received advice of this enterprize of the French arrived with incredible diligence at Alfen and in a short time his presence re-established every thing as before All this while the Duke of Luxemburg ravaged the heart of the Country where he had like to have lost his life by a fall from his Horse into the water which was thaw'd his people saving him not without a great deal of difficulty But tho he made a shift to escape it did not fare so well with Six Hundred of his best Soldiers who there perished Thus ended this bold and hazardous Expedition It is certain the French committed unheard of cruelties at Swammerdam and all other places that fell into their hands ravishing the women stripping and wounding young and old and throwing Children into the Fire But these losses nevertheless were in some manner recompenced by the taking of Coeverden which is one of the strongest Cities in the Low Countries the Key of Friezland and Groningen encompassed on all sides with a Morass fortified with large deep double Ditches the Ramparts extreamly high and strong and defended by seven Bastions that carry the names of the seven United Provinces and a very regular Castle looked upon by ancient Writers to be impregnable This City fell into the hands of the Bishop of Munster in the fatal Year 1672 not without suspicion of Treachery But Fortune now declining to espouse the French Interest any longer since his Highness was restored to all his paternal dignities it was retaken with as much gallantry and courage as it had been lost with dishonor and cowardice For this very same place which Verdugo had in vain besieged for the space of one and thirty weeks together and which the Bishop of Munster after he had rendred himself Master of it had plentifully stored with provisions out of a prospect of making it the Magazine for those parts was by a party of Nine Hundred and Sixty men only commanded by M. de Rabenhaut retaken in less than an hour without the loss of more than Sixty men whereas the Enemy lost above an Hundred and fifty besides the Officers that were slain at the assault and four Hundred and thirty Prisoners taken of which number were six Captains eleven Lieutenants and fourteen Ensigns The rest of the Garrison for in all it consisted of Nine Hundred men saved themselves by a precipitate flight as soon as they saw the City was lost But what was most considerable there was found in this important Fortress such a prodigious quantity of all warlike Ammunitions and other Provisions that without question the Enemy
body to put in his or their place such Person or Persons as he should think fit provided they made profession of the Reformed Religion having a due regard to their Age Birth Estates and such other circumstances that after the first nomination and election of a Governour General all vacancies of Bailiffs of Towns Presidents Advocates and in short of all civil and military Offices should be at his disposal After this a form of an Oath was agreed upon which all that were present were to take without further scruple and all others should be obliged to do the same according to their several functions And when the following proposition was made whether it were advisable to confer the Charge of Governour General Captain and Admiral General of the Province upon his Highness and his heirs male lawfully begotten they all nemine contradicente approv'd the motion and so conserr'd that Dignity upon his Highness At the same time General Rabenhaupt with the Militia of Frizeland and Groningen reinforced with the Regiment of Bumarnia took the field and made himself master of Northom which he fortified with sixteen Companies of Horse and six of Foot and from thence advancing to Tuvent took several other places of less importance designing to chase all the Munsterians out of that part of the Country and to that end marched as far as Nienbuys The Enemy was no sooner informed of the General 's march but they invested Northom with five Regiments of Horse three Companies of Dragoons and three hundred Foot commanded by General Nagel and beat the advanced Guards back into the Town General Rabenhaupt had no sooner received intelligence of this but he came back the same way to relieve the place which he performed so happily that the Enemy was obliged to betake themselves to flight after they had lost a hundred and seventy of their men of which number sixscore were slain upon the place and the rest made prisoners The next day he return'd to Nienbuys and being resolved to make short work on 't gave orders to five Regiments to make an Assault in five several places all at the same time which they executed with that bravery that after a quarter of an hours resistance the enemy was forced to retire into the Castle which was encompassed but with one single Rampart and defended with no more than two pieces of Cannon The Besiegers who pushed the point home were now just ready to enter the Castle when the enemy begged quarter which was granted them The Garrison consisted of three hundred Foot thirteen Officers and two hundred and seventy Horse and Dragoons with fifteen Officers General Rabenhaupt after so happy a success put his small body of an Army into Winter quarters which news being brought to Nagel he came back again to Nyenbuys and retook it for the Bishop of Munster But the Bishop either dreading these uncertain chances of War or rather fearing the approach of the Imperialists made his peace with the Emperour Which so mightily alarm'd the French who were still in possession of their Frontier Towns in the Low-Countries that the Marquess de Bellefonds who succeeded the Mareschal d' Humieres in the Government of the Conquer'd Provinces resolved to abandon the rest pretending he had occasion for the men to preserve those Conquests they had made upon the Rhine Besides being informed that the Prince of Orange designed to march into Brabant with thirty Thousand men there to joyn the Spanish Army that was composed of twenty Thousand instead of fortifying the places of his Government he began to demolish them Thiel compounded for Twenty two Thousand Florins to preserve themselves from fire and plunder which they threatned them with and to save their Fortifications The Town of Zutphen promised Seventy Thousand and gave Hostages for the security of payment Arnheim paid Twenty six Thousand Florins and four Thousand Sacks of Corn and Meal which the Magistrates of the Town engaged to see carried to Grave Deventer paid six Thousand Rixdollars to the Bishop of Munster Thus the whole Province of Overyssel regained its ancient liberty and returned to its natural and lawful Soveraigns After which his Highness sent Commissioners thither to make some necessary alterations and regulate affairs till he had an opportunity to come himself in person and put a full conclusion to them The King of France seem'd to be exceedingly displeased with the conduct of the Marquis de Bellefonds so that he banished him to Bourges with a prohibition to come near the Court altho all the world knew this was only a meer pretence to conceal his present necessities and that he was forced to exhaust his Garrisons in the Low-Countries to reinforce his Army which he had designed for the Conquest of the Franche-Comte But the honour of all these desertions was justly attributed to the Prince of Orange for he like another Scipio carrying the war into the Enemy's Territories in less than two years forced all these French Hannibals to quit his own Country and seek their fortune elsewhere In the mean time the King of France endeavouring like the Sea to gain in one place what he had lost in another entred the Franche Comte with a prodigious Army which joyning with another that was commanded by the Prince of Conde became so formidable that in a short time he made himself Master of Besançon Dole Salins and in short of the whole Province While these two Armies were thus joyn'd the Prince of Orange repaired to his Army at Berghen op Zoom from whence he marched to Malines and kept himself on his guard in Brabant during all the time the French King was in the Neighbourhood but this Monarch being return'd to Paris after his new Couquest where he lost both abundance of brave Officers and of his best Souldiers the Imperialists threw themselves into Namur took the Castle and Dinant and the passage of the Meuse being by this means opened they went to joyn the Army of the Confederates towards the end of Iuly The three Generals after some conference order'd that the Count de Souches should lead the Van his Highness command the Main Body and the Count de Montery the Rear In this order the Confederates prepared to attack the Prince of Conde who with an Army of Fifty Thousand men was encamped on the other side the River Pieton to prevent the designs of the Enemy The Confederates who had an Army of Sixty Thousand men resolved to set upon the Prince and give him battle With this prospect they marched strait upon him having abundance of all sorts of provisions which came daily out of Brabant With this resolution the Confederate Army arrived at Nivelle by the beginning of August where they incamped for some days But because they saw the Prince of Conde was by no means disposed to quit his post but on the other hand was still fortifying himself more and more within his Trenches the Confederates judged it expedient to approach nearer to him
the least thoughts of a Peace So that during the winter his Highness was sufficiently employed to get his Army ready against the opening of the Campaign for it was an easy matter to foresee that there would be occasion for very considerable forces to oppose the common Enemy as soon as the season was approached The French on their part began before the midst of April to make a review of several of their Troops under Mareschal de Crequi near Charleville and Mareschal d' Humieres was in the Field with a body of fifteen Thousand men near Courtray putting all the Country to contribution because the Spaniards were not strong enough to resist them Before the Prince of Orange could come and join the Duke de Villa Hermosa which he did at Cambron on the 26th of April the Mareschal de Crequi had blocked up Conde with an Army of sixteen Thousand men Upon the receit of this news the King of France parted immediately from Paris and was soon after followed by the Duke of Orleance who brought with him a reinforcement of ten Thousand men The place was so furiously attack'd and batter'd on all sides that unable to hold out any longer they were constrained to surrender at discretion altho the Prince of Orange was advanced as far as Granville to relieve it The King of France having given orders to repair the Fortifications of Conde and to place a Garrison of 3000 men in the Town commanded the Duke of Orleance to besiege Buchain This was a small Town but exceeding strong scituate between Cambray and Valenciennes and defended the communication between those two places for this reason it had a good Garrison under the command of a Governor who had the reputation of a brave and prudent Captain But the Duke with such an Army did not find the Siege to be a work of great difficulty and so much the less because the King of France who commanded the Army in person was not far from him and all this while kept the Dutch and Spanish Army in breath The Prince who was now encamped in view of the Enemy near Valenciennes and was resolved to attack him the day following in case Bouchain had not been taken would not quit his Post till the French King had decamped first and having sent a considerable number of Horse and Foot to seize all the passes and bridges upon the River Dender hinder'd him from ravaging the Country of Alost About the beginning of Iune the King returned to Paris and gave the command of his Army in the Spanish Netherlands to Mareschal de Schomberg and the Prince of Orange encamped before Maestricht On the other side the Mareschal to make a powerful diversion sent Humieres with 15000 men to besiege Air a place of prodigious strength for it is encompassed with a deep Morass and excellent Fortifications on three sides so that it can be entred only at one way which was defended by a Fort called St. Francis having five Bastions two Half-Moons and a very deep Ditch Nevertheless all this did not hiâ—…der him from making himself soon Master of the Fort the Governour not having men enough to oppose the great numbers of the French who threw such a prodigious quantity of Bombs and Granadoes into the place that most of the houses were afire So that the Burghers having without the Governours privity demanded to capitulate he was obliged to surrender the Town which nevertheless he did on very honourable conditions that were easily agreed to by the French because they were informed that the Duke de Villa Hermosa was on his way to attempt to raise the Siege All this while the Prince of Orange never stirr'd from before Maestricht which he had invested with his own Army and the Troops of the Confederates to each of whom he assigned their proper quarter Amongst the rest of these Troops the English under Col. Fâ—…wick Col. Widdrington and Col. Ashley to the number of two thousand six hundred then without reckoning the Volunteers and Reformades presented a Request to his Highness wherein they petition'd him to assign them a particular quarter and that they might be commanded separately that so if they behaved themselves like valiant men they might have all the honour and if otherwise all the shame to themselves it not being reasonable that they should suffer for the faults of other men This the Prince readily granted and gave them a separate post over against his own Regiment of Guards under the Command of Col. Fenwick the eldest Collonel of the three and they were as good as their word as they really made it appear by their desperate attacques where they signalized themselves by their extraordinary valour as long as the Siege lasted And in truth never was Siege carried on with greater vigour and resolution than this was the Prince continually encouraging the Souldiers with his presence till he received a slight hurt in his arm by a Musquet-shot but two things hindered them from taking the Town which might otherwise have fallen into their hands First the River was so low that the Prince was forced to stay some days till his Cannon came from Ruremond for want of water In the second place the forces he expected from the Bishop of Munster and the Dukes of Lunenburg came not to his relief On the other side Schomberg having received express orders to succour the Town and for that purpose having marched as far as Tongres his Highness summoned a Council of War to consider what was to be done in this conjuncture where after they had reflected upon the present condition of the Army which was extremely lessen'd and fatigued and found it was impossible to shut up the passes and avenues to the City on the side of Wick and that the French would infallibly throw some relief into it notwithstanding all their endeavours to the contrary In short after they saw their Horse cou'd not subsist any longer in the Trenches for want of forrage it was unanimously resolved to raise the Siege So the Prince commanded the Horse to join Count Waldeck and sent the Artillery Ammunition and Provisions with the sick and wounded to Ruremond by water keeping his Foot in a posture of fighting till the Vessels were out of all danger Soon after this judging the Campaign was ended for this year he left his Army under the Command of Count Waldeck and returned to Holland to assist at the General Assembly of the States He gave them an account of the last expedition which so highly satisfied them that the President congratulated him upon the score of his happy return and in the name of the whole Assembly thanked him for the extraordinary pains and fatigues he had undergone for the safety of the Republic The Campaign being thus finished all the world was in great hopes that a Peace wou'd be soon concluded but as it is a much easier matter to kindle a fire than to extinguish it a Peace like this where so many
moreover the mighty esteem they had of so glorious an Alliance and their sincere resolution to cultivate the ancient Friendship and good Correspondence which had always been and was between his Britanic Majesty and them This answer arriving at London on the 14t h of November which was his Highness's Birth-day the Marriage was celebrated at eleven at night but with so little noise that the People knew nothing of it till the next morning when they gave all public testimonies of their joy by Ringing of Bells and Bone fires But amidst all this rejoycing and feasting the Prince knowing how necessary his presence was in Holland made all possible expedition to arrive thither He parted from London on the 29th of November with his Princess and landed at Terheyde from whence he went to Hounslaerdyk where they tarried some time till they made their public Entry into the Hague which was a few days after performed with extraordinary Magnificence But I pass all these ceremonies over in silence in order to come to matters of greater importance Towards the beginning of the year 1678 tho it was the midst of Winter the French King made such mighty preparations of War that all Europe was alarmed at them but particularly Holland and the Consederates This made the King of Great Britain send the Earl of Feversham to his Most Christian Majesty with a project of Peace by which Charleroy Aeth Oudenard Courtray Tournay Conde Valenciennes St. Guillain and some other Towns were to be surrendred to the Spaniards and the King of France to keep all the Franche-Comte in his possession but he would not hearken to it and as for the King of England he was as unwilling to abate any thing in his propositions Which obliged his Britannic Majesty to sent orders to my Lord Hyde his Ambassador at Nimeguen to make a strict alliance with the States-General which being concluded he dispatched My Lord Montague into France to press the King to accept his terms and gave out Commissions at the same time for raising an Army but the French King rejected these conditions of Peace and made great provisions for the war on all sides but especially in his new acquisitions in the Low Countries Upon which the King of England recalled the Troops he had in the service of France which besides their other ill treatment were sent home without their pay The King of Great Britain held firm to his resolution and summoning a Parliament communicated to them the late alliance he had made with Holland for the public benefit and repose of Christendom protesting he was resolved to force the French King to a Peace and therefore desired them to furnish him with a summ of Money necessary for such a design The Lower House thanked his Majesty for the great care he took of the Protestant Religion in marrying his Niece to a Protestant Prince beseeching him not to consent to any conditions of Peace with France unless they were better than those at the Pyrenean Treaty To which the King having consented the Commons after a long deliberation resolved to equip a Fleet of Fourscore and ten Men of War and to raise an Army of 29870 Land Men and nominated Commissioners to compute the expence Whilst these things lay under debate the French King who was sensible what designs the Consederates were forming against him resolved to render them all ineffectual by being before hand with them For this effect he left Paris on the 7th of February and marching by the side of Mets entred Flanders no one being able to determine where the storm would fail All the World was of opinion that the design was upon Mons or Namur or some other place of like importance and Ghent which never expected to be attack'd had so weakned itsGarrison by drawing out their men and distributing them in other places that the French King who knew this very well sate down before it on the 1st of March with an Army of Threescore orFourscore Thousand men It was impossible for a City of so large a compass which had not above four or five Hundred Soldiers in Garrison besides the Inhabitants to defend themselves long against a vain-glorious Prince who valued the taking of a Half-moon more than the loss of a Thousand men and who by his assaults and batteries had extreamly weaken'd it So Ghent was forced to surrender nine days after it was besieged from thence the Enemy came before Ipres but that City being much stronger than Ghent and besides furnished with a better Garrison the Besiegers met so warm an opposition there and lost so many Officers and Soldiers before they took it that the King put the greatest part of his Army immediately into Garrison and returned to Paris whether he thought his Army sufficiently harrass'd by these two Sieges or whether he thought he had humbled his Enemies enough to incline them now to accept his own proposals of a Peace or lastly whether he was afraid of the English who had sent considerable Forces into Flanders For about this time the D. of Monmouth was arrived at Bruges with three thousand Horse and Foot which the K. of Great Britain had sent to re-inforce the Prince of Orange's Army and the Parliament was so earnestly bent to pursue the War against France that they petitioned the King to declare open War against it promising to stand by him with their lives and fortunes and to furnish him from time to time with sufficient summs to carry on so generous an undertaking In the mean time all the world was astonished to â—…ear that the French King had intirely abandon'd Messina and all Sicily The more able Politicians imagined that now there were no hopes of a Peace since this Prince had abandon'd his Conquests in Italy as he had lately done those in Holland for no other end but that he might the better compass his designs upon Spain and the Empire But others said it was an infallible sign he was not so strong as he pretended to be and that what he had done was rather out of meer necessity than for any other end However it was the Parliament of England were of belief that France was resolved to continue the War in Germany and the Low Countries and therefore to stop his Career granted his Majesty a Poll-bill and by the same Act prohibited the Importation of all French commodities King Charles who was desirous to enter into a League with the Empire Spain and the United Provinces would oblige them to make the same prohibition in relation to French goods in their own respective Dominions But while the Hollanders were demurring upon the last point believing that such a prohibition would ruine their trade an unexpected accident fell out that changed the whole face of affairs The King of France after his return to Paris seeing his Britannic Majesty was resolved to support the Interests of his Nephew the Prince of Orange particularly since his Voyage into England and his Marriage
time the French still advanced on that side where the Imperialists lay posted but Count Souches instead of ranging his men in Battel quitted his post and passed the River in so much haste that he left some pieces of Cannon behind him which his Highness had sent him and cou'd not be recover'd without extream danger By this means the Prince of Conde having an open passage entred the Town with part of his Army and he had certainly gained that Advantage as to cut off all mannâ—… of Communication between the Confederates had it not been for a great Fog that arose on the sudden and prevented his design The Prince of Orange considering the present state of his affairs was of opinion that it was the best way to draw off and so followed after the Imperialists and the Spaniards whom he joyn'd within a league of Oudenard but finding that by reason of the great opiniatrete of the former he should be able to effect nothing here he was resolved to return the same way to Grave where his presence was so necessary to carry on the Siege leaving Count Waldeck to command the Army in his absence The Prince arrived befor this place on the ninth of October with sixty Troops of Horse and tho the Besieged who were now reduced to great extremities defended themselves with great vigour and resolution till the 25th of the same month yet the Marquess de Chamilly seeing it was impossible to hold out against a general assault because of the great breaches in the works demanded a cessation of Arms for three or four hours and after Hostages on both sides the City surrendred on very honourable conditions and thus ended this Campaign The year 1675 began with the Addresses of the Burghers wherein they thanked his Highness for the mighty services he had done them in delivering them from the calamities and miseries they had suffered under the tyranny of a foreign Enemy In consideration of which they offer'd him the Soveraignty of the Dutchy of Gueldres and Earldom of Zutphen with the Titles of Duke of Gueldres and Count of Zutphen But the Prince reflecting with himself that the accepting of this offer would give matter of jealousy to some persons and give others occasion to infer that he only aimed at his own Grandeur in this war to convince the world of the sincerity of his intentions he judged it the best way to refuse these Honours but at the same time did not refuse the offer they made him of being hereditary Governour of that Province This he readily accepted and after he had taken the Oaths reformed several abuses that had got footing during the Enemy's usurpation there And now by reason of the continual alarms the People were in upon the occasion of the French King's resolutions who was to open the Campaign himself in Person in the beginningâ—… of the Spring he continually applied his thoughts upon the war and for that end always assisted at those Conferences where they debated upon their military affairs He was at Cleve to confer with the Elector of Brandenburgh who entertained him with great magnificence and soon after his arrival at the Hague fell ill of the Small-pox which news caused so much the greater consternain the United Provinces because that disease had been fatal to his Family in the Person of his Father his Mother and the Duke of Glocester but by the care and prudence of an able Physician and by the assistance of some remedies which the Elector of Brandenburgh sent him he recovered his health to the universal joy not only of Holland but all the Confederates No sooner was he perfectly recovered but he repaired to the general rendezvous at Rosendael for the King of France being now upon his march in Brabant it was necessary for the Prince to observe his motions and so much the more because Limburg which was besieged by the Marquis de Rochefort demanded a speedy relief For this reason his Highness parting with his Army from Duffel joyn'd the Dukes of Lunenburg and Lorrain at Gangelt with a resolution to raise the Siege And in all probability it had come to a Battel between the French King and the Prince since the King who was then at Maestricht having received advice of the Prince's march had repassed the Meuse at Viset to oppose his design but the City not being any longer able to sustain the great numbers of their Enemies surrendred sooner than was expected After the taking of Limbug the King of France encamped near Tillemont ravaging all the Country round about Louvain Brussels and Malines He had a mighty desire to make himself master of Louvain but his Highness and the Duke de Villa Hermosa watched him all along so narrowly that he durst not undertake it so that finding he was able to do no more content with having gained Limburg he returned to Paris leaving the Prince of Conde to observe the Prince of Orange And to say the truth both these wary Generals watched one another so carefully that they cou'd not gain the least advantage one over the other But the Prince of Conde was soon commanded to go into Alsatia after the death of the Mareschal de Turenne Our Prince therefore had now to do with a new General the Duke of Luxemburgh but who in prudence and conduct was by no means inferiour to his great Predecessor His Highness had nevertheless this advantage over him that he hindred him from ravaging the territory of Triers so that after the fatal and entire routing of Monsieur de Crequi that City fell into the hands of the Imperialists France having thus sustained two mighty losses in the death of Turenne and the Defeat of Crequi the D. of Luxemburg rather than run the hazard of receiving a third which perhaps might have proved mortal suffer'd the Prince of Orange to take Bins before his face when there were 350 men in Garrison and great store of Provisions His Highness ordered all its Fortifications to be demolished to render it unserviceable to the Enemy and finding the season now well advanced dispersed his Army and came back to the Hague The calamities of war which had for some years afflicted and depopulated the greatest part of Europe were so extremely great and deplorable that several Princes moved with compassion did deliberate of the most proper means to stop the progress of those miseries under which the people languished Tho this design was so highly advantageous to Christendom in general yet it did but slowly advance till at last the K. of Great Britain having concluded a peace with Holland resolved to offer his Mediatorship to procure an universal peace amongst all the Christian Princes which having at last been submitted to the City of Nimeguen was chosen for the place of Treaty where all the Plenipotentiaries met towards the beginning of the year 1676. This hindred neither party from making as mighty preparations to renew the War in the Spring as if there were not