saw it free from any attempts of the Enemy where the nature of the Country did afford them an occasion to have fallen upon it We made a long march this day and the weather being warm made several Soldiers saint under their Armes The King took his Quarter at the Chateau of Sombref our Right went towards Fleury at St. Amand from whence it turned back almost in a right Angle to Marbais where the Elector of Bavaria had his Quarter and our Left went towards Gemblours as far as the Cense or Farm of Bretinchamp The Kings Quarter being in the Front of the Army was covered by all the English and Dutch Dragoons who incamped before it upon a Line The Enemy being sensible that they could not hinder us from this Camp and expecting our march to this place had ordered the small body of Horse and Dragoons commanded by Colonel Vaillac from Namur to march to Charleroy both to cover that place and to incommode our Foragers We halted here the next day we had made a long march and the Rear-guard could not come up till two or three of the Clock in the Morning and besides it was necessary to see what the French would do upon this march whether they would go back to Liege and endeavour to fall upon it though the want of Forage could not allow them to subsist there any longer or whether they would follow us and march upon the Sambre For if they had been obstinate to have kept on this side of the River then the Plain of Fleury was a very convenient place to try the Issue of another Battle and the odds were not so great between the two Armies but that the French if they depend so much on their boasted Bravery might very well have ventured it The Enemy out-did us in Foot by Two Battalions as it appears by the List of their Line of Battle and ours but we out-numbered them in Horse and Dragoons however it appeared by the Enemies behaviour at this time that they depend more upon the Number than the Bravery and Valour of their Soldiers The French had so many reports of our marching the day before in which they were deceived that though we made no secret of this days march yet they were not certain of it till about Noon their Right Wing of Horse was then gone to forrage The Dauphin caused several Pieces of Cannon to be fired to call them in the Resolution was taken to follow us and the Drums immediately beat the General to give notice of marching About Four in the Afternoon the Dauphin began to move with the Right Wing of Horse and Body of Foot and passed the Mehaigne at Falay directing their March up along the Meuse towards Namur The Right Wing of Horse Commanded by the Mareschal de Villeroy being returned from their Forrage followed the Dauphin about Eight that Evening and so they marched all Night and the next day that they came about the Evening between Spy and Masey and the Dauphin took his Quarter at the Chateau de Soye upon the Sambre but in leaving the Camp of Vignamont the French provided for the safety of Huy and left a Battalion to reinforce the Garrison When they were come up to this Camp we could discover part of their Left but the little River that runs from Gemblours into the Sambre covered them and remained between us However though we were so near one another and that the Plains of Fleury offered a very convenient field of battle yet the French were unwilling to hazard it but rather resolved to make a Retreat and pass the Sambre which they began that very Night The Infantry of the Kings House led the way and the next day the whole Army with the Right Wing of Horse Commanded by the Mareschal de Villeroy followed and incamped at Ausart l' Estrang about a League and a half from Charleroy between it and Namur but their Troops were so fatigued with the March which continued night and day that the Colours of their Battalions were almost left bare and Sixty Men made a good Battalion upon the March the rest being wearie stragled behind The Mareschal de Villeroy was detached from this place with a Body of Horse and Dragoons towards the Scheld where the Enemies were informed we did design to march with all speed and took his March by Maubeuge where he re-passed the Sambre and passed the Scheld the next day at Conde making all diligence to get to Tournay The Enemy upon our halt at Sombref the 9th fired several Pieces of Cannon at Charleroy I suppose for Signals of our halt but the King being informed that the French would pass the Sambre rather than venture the Issue of a Battle in the Plains of Fleury and that they did actually begin to pass it that very Night gave Orders for the Army to march the next day Accordingly the Army left the Camp of Sombref the day following and marched by Mellé towards Genap and Nivelle about noon we passed the Dyle at the Village and Chateau of Promel about Four in the Afternoon our Right was got to Arkennes upon the Senne that runs by Nivelle and Nostredame de Halte to Brusselles We incamped here this Night our Line went from Senne almost to the Dyle our Right at Arkennes the Elector of Bavaria's Quarter and our Left at Vaillantpont not far from Promel where we had passed the Dyle the King took his Quarter in the Town of Nivelle This is a neat little Town it lies in a Bottom and so cannot be made strong however it has ancient Walls and Roundels about it and is more particularly famous for the Abbey of Secular Chanonesses which are all to be Women of the first Quality of the Countrey they take no Vows but may marry if they please and leave their places In the Choice they have Robes and Furrs like Secular Canons and the Head-dress like Nuns but otherwise when they are out of the Church they dress themselves like other Ladies The design of the Foundation was for Women of the best Quality that had no considerable Fortunes to live here Honourably without incumbring the small Estate of the Family The Abbess of this Collegiate Church is Lady of the Town and the Army on both sides have been very favourable to this place for the sake of the Religious Ladies Upon this March to Nivelle the Colonel of the Dutch Train of Artillery visiting the Ammunition Waggons found a Stranger in one of them that could give no good account of himself He had got in by pretending himself to be of the Army that he was weary and could not march by which pretence and a little Drinking-Money to the Waggoner he got leave to get up in the Waggon The Dutch Colonel that came to visit the Waggons suspected him and caused him to be searched and found a lighted Match about him and besides he gave so ill an account of himself that he was soon discovered to be a Frenchman
THE HISTORY OF THE CAMPAGNE IN THE Spanish Netherlands Anno Dom. 1694. WITH The Journal of the SIEGE of HVY By EDWARD D'AUVERGNE M. A. Rector of St. Brelade in the Isle of JERSEY and Chaplain to Their Majesties Regiment of Scots Guards LONDON Printed for Matt. Wotton at the Three Daggers and John Newton at the Three Pigeons near Temple-Barr in Fleet-street 1694. Imprimatur Novemb. 20. 1694. EDWARD COOKE To the Honourable MAJOR-GENERAL RAMSAY Colonel of Their Majesties Regiment of Scots Guards c. SIR I Need not make an Apology for Presenting the Account of the Last Campagne to You for since Custom will have every Trifle that is publish'd attended with an Epistle Dedicatory I should be very Ungrateful if I did not embrace this Occcasion to acknowledge to the World the many Obligations I have to You Though to acquit my self of it I must put your Honourable Name to a Piece in which I am sensible You must find a great many Faults For 't is impossible that a Man should judge so Justly and Equally of the Affairs of War as to give an Account of them free from any Mistakes unless he has as great a share in the Management of them as You have However I am very glad it gives me the Opportunity to express in some measure my Gratitude for Your Favours When the Dean of Winchester whom I must acknowledge for the Author of my Happiness in belonging to You recommended me to be Chaplain to Your Regiment I cannot forget how willing you was to Receive me as if you had been long expecting an Opportunity of Doing Good to a Friend though I was then a Stranger to You This Favour was indeed more than I could expect But Your Generosity stopt not here You have treated me ever since with so much Civility and Obliging Kindness that I cannot be silent but must own the Thankful Sense I have of it as publickly as I can I must yet value Your Favours the more that they come from a Person of so much Worth and Merit that you excuse and free me from the common Fault of others in swelling an Epistle with Praise and Commendations the whole Army knows more of it than my mean Rhetorick can express Those who have been at the Siege of Maestricht and the Battel of St. Denis repeat with Pleasure to this day the early Proofs You gave of Your Martial Conduct and Courage Your Vertue and Valour has ever since encreas'd with Your Honour and this present War has done you Justice in raising You to such Considerable Posts in the Army as have given a better Light to Your Merit I could speak with Pleasure of Your Exploits in the Battle of Steenkirk where the Brigade under Your Conduct and Command did such Considerable Service And in that of Landen where You fought with so much Vigour and Bravery that notwithstanding the Inequality of the Number You often Regain'd Your Post and Repuls'd several times the victorious Enemy Your Brigade was then in the Right Wing where the Elector of Bavaria was a joyful Witness of Your Valour and Conduct which He express'd in the kindest and the most endearing manner But I remember I am writing an Epistle and not your History I shall say no more but That You are a Soldier of the KING 's Own Making and that You have been Train'd in His Service from Your Infancy His Majesty is an Excellent Judge of Merit which is the Standard by which He measures His Favours So that though Your Birth is Great and Noble yet 't is Your Own Personal Worth that has Rais'd You to be Major-General of Their Majesty's Forces If You owe a Noble Birth to the Earls of Dalhousy You sufficiently repay the Nobility of Your Extraction with Your Great Vertues and Accomplishments which make You now the Ornament of Your Family May You Live long to enjoy these Rewards of Your Worth and Vertue and whatever else is laid up in the Stores of a Great Just and Bountiful Monarch May You live to enjoy them for Their Majesty's Service the Comfort of Your Vertuous and Excellent Lady the Prosperity of Your Family the Joy of Your Friends and the Honour and Credit of Your Nation These are the Hearty Prayers and Wishes of SIR Your Most Obliged Humble and Obedient Servant Ed. D'Auvergne TO THE READER THIS being the Third Account I publish of this kind I would venture it without the Ceremony of of a Preface if I was not obliged to excuse some Faults which may happen in the Impression For I Write so ill my self that I have been forc'd to get it Copy'd to make it legible I could not get the same Hand that Transcrib'd the last It has now been Copy'd with some Faults which I could not Correct without making it as difficult to Read as the Original But I have recommended it to Friends who cannot only Correct the Faults of the Copyer but my Own too Which Favour I beg from them since my own Affairs here will not permit me to be in England to see it Printed I shall only add That I have us'd all possible Diligense to give an Exact and Impartial Account of Affairs to inform the People of England that have so great a share in the Burden of this Present War of the Truth and to disabuse them of many Stories impos'd upon them some by the Enemies of the Present Government and Friends to the French Interest and others by some Bigotted National People who do their utmost to foment Hâ—aâ—s and Animosities between the several Nations concern'd in the Common Cause who therefore are as great Enemies to it as the Open and Profess'd Enemies of the Government I cannot excuse this nor any of the former Accounts from several Mistakes When a Man is stinted to a Time for the Publishing such Matters which would otherwise be out of season after so long Consulting of Friends which it may be would inform me better Errors in such a Case cannot be avoided But where I have been guilty of Mistakes I shall not think it shame but my Duty to own it I dare say this Present War now is drawing near to a happy End and if God grants me Life to have my share in the Blessings of Peace I will publish all the particular Accounts together of the several Campagnes I have seen in Flanders exactly Corrected and Amended with the Draughts and Planes of the Battles and Sieges and I will use my best Endeavours to free them from all Errors and Mistakes by a diligent Search into Authentick Papers and a strict Enquiry among all the Knowing Persons of the Army the Honour of whose Friendship and Kindness I may pretend to several of them having been very willing to assist me in what I have already done and I need not doubt of the same Favour when there shall be Time and Leisure to bring the Work to Perfection BRUGES Novemb. 5 15. 1694. THE HISTORY OF THE CAMPAGNE IN THE Spanish
Army And the same Day we brought in Eight Prisoners and an English Officer that was a Lieutenant in the Duke de Chartres his Regiment of Foot and has served many Years in the French Army the rest of his Party made their escape and some of them were wounded This Day the Spanish and Bavarian Forces left the Neighbourhood of Louvain and march'd up along the River Dyle as far as Neer Ische The Elector of Bavaria left Brussels at the same time to come and Head his Army in this Place I shall reserve the List of these Forces till we bring them all together at the Camp of Mount St. Andre His Brother the Elector of Cologne accompany'd him the most part of this Campagne being incognito in the Field so that no Honours were paid to him by the Army The same Day Ten Drums all of the Regiment of Piemont deserted together and came in their Livery-Coats to our Camp The 25th we worked again at the Retrenchment to make some of the Breast-works higher which were found too low and yet as bad as they were I heard several Officers say that they were infinitely better than those we had last Year at Landen which were made up hastily in one Night so that they could only serve to hinder Horse from riding into our Camp but not cover our Men either from Cannon or Small-shot a Man could easily have jump'd over them Ditch and all And yet these were call'd by some to magnifie the Victory Formidable Retrenchments The 26th the Regiments of Marton and Fuhnen were sent to reinforce Matthews his Dragons to cover the Village of Cumtich The 27th the Enemy made a great Forage hard by Leauwe and because they were to come very near our Camp and to forage just under the Garrison of Leauwe they had a strong Detachment of Twelve hundred Horse and Six Pieces of Cannon which the Dauphin Commanded himself in Person to take this Opportunity of viewing the Posts between the two Armies and the Field of Battle where we fought last Year at Landen The Enemy foraged so near the Garrison of Leauwe this Day that they fired Cannon upon them to oblige them to retire but Seventy of their Maroders were made Prisoners by a Detachment of ours upon the Left When the Soldiers go out of the Camp to gather Roots Fruits or Pulse or it may be to Plunder the Boors this is call'd Maroding Lieutenant-General Dewits Commanding the Elector of Brandenburg b's Forces employed in Flanders past the Meuse much about this time at Maseick coming from the Lower Rhine and the Dutchy of Cleves to joyn our Army with Twenty Squadrons of Horse of which I shall give a List hereafter and advanced as far as Diest to be at hand to reinforce our Army when the King should have Occasion for it The 28th in the Evening we heard a firing of Cannon and Small-shot in the French Camp which we guess'd to be for the Reduction of Gironne in Catalonia Of which we were inform'd the next Day The French were so much the more glad for this Conquest because that in 1684. the Mareschal de Belfonds suffered a Disgrace before this Place and was forc'd to raise the Siege when he had made a Breach in the Place and that his Forces in a general Assault had got into it but were beaten out again with a great slaughter by the Besieged that had fortified themselves in the Parade-place But the Mareschal de Noâ—ailles got a better Bargain this Bout and the Besieged did not think fit to stay to Surrender till Things should have been brought to this Extremity The 29th our Parties brought in Two hundred and fifty French Maroders We had taken so many Prisoners by this time that the Provosts Guard and Gaols of the neighbouring Towns were full of them though the Mareschal de Luxemburg had them reclaimed as fast as he could Their Pay is so small and for this Twelve-month past so ill receiv'd that their Soldiers could not subsist but by what they could gather in the Country so that they were forced to tollerate the Soldiers going out of the Camp to get wherewithal to live This is the reason that so many fell into the hands of our Parties and that we took so many Prisoners And though the French are more given to Deserting than any other Soldiers yet Deserting was never so much known among them as 't was at the Beginning of this Campagne not only in Flanders but upon the Rhine and in Piemont where they all unanimously complained of their want of Pay so far that by this time 't was computed that above Five thousand of them had deserted from their Army here either to our Camp or to the Garrisons of Liege and Maestricht since the Beginning of the Campagne Which would be reckoned a great Loss in a Battle The 1st of this Month the French Army left their Camp at St. Tron and Brusten and marched towards the Jaar and the Meuse and encamp'd with their Right at Tongres and the Left at Fies along the Jaar which was in their Rear The Dauphin took his Quarter at Oerle upon the same River They had made great Preparations at Huy of Bombs Battering-Pieces and all other Necessaries for a Siege which now they had brought to their Camp and gave out That they designed to Bombard Liege and Maestricht And some were not content with this but would have a Formal Siege to one of these Places But though the French had heavy Cannon and Mortar-pieces brought to their Camp yet they had Bridges laid along the Jaar to pass that River Which shews That they were more afraid of being attack'd by us than of having any real Design to fall upon us We had above Forty Battalions in the Lines of Liege and a good Garrison in Maestricht and our own Army consisted now of Ninety Battalions after the arrival of the Two Regiments of Wolfembuttel to our Camp And if the French had not been cover'd by so many Rivers which we must have pass'd to come at them they had run a great risque of having been attack'd on all sides by our Army and the Liege Forces but the Nature of the Country gave Opportunity to the French of advancing so near to Maestricht having Rivers on all sides between them and us and between them and the Forces encamped in the Lines of Liege And besides there was a necessity of suffering the Enemy to consume the Forage about Liege for Reasons that we shall mention hereafter However the French made a great Noise of their Foraging under the Cannon of Maestricht The 4th the two Dominican Fryers and the Irish Priest that had been taken up in our Army for Spyes were set at Liberty The two first were found Guilty by the Court-Marshal and Sentenc'd to Die After which Judgment of the Court they were removed from the King's Quarters to the Provost's and laid in Irons But the King Pardon'd them out of his pure Mercy for the
Netherlands Anno Dom. 1694. OUR Last Year's History left Both Armies going into Winter-Quarters the French on their side flush'd with a considerable Victory and with the Success they had in the Siege of Charleroy with which they closed the Last Campagne and though they never had a greater Occasion to be stirring than during the last Winter-Quarters yet the French have not been so quiet all this War as they were at that time The French King knew very well that the Allies were unanimously resolved to augment considerably their Forces on all sides and to bring such Armies in the Field the following Campagne as might put a stop to the Progress of his Arms and oblige him to be now on the Defensive who before had been so Violent and so Successful an Aggressor And though Alliances are attended with great Inconveniences and that the Operations of Allied Armies cannot be so Active and Brisk as when they are the Results of one Single Wise and Absolute Head yet on the other side they have this great Conveniency and Advantage that when there is a good and perfect Correspondence between Allied Powers their very Defeats improve their Strength and they gather Power from their own Disadvantages because that makes them the more sensible of the Greatness of the Common Enemy and of the necessity of a Mutual and Vigorous Defence and the Spring and Sources of War both for Money and Men being many they can with so much the more Ease to their respective States not only recruit but augment their Forces We have had good experience of this Truth in the present War in which the Allies have kept a better Union and Correspondence than they had in any former Alliances The great Victory which the French had over Prince Waldeck in the Plains of Fleuri served to bring an Army into the Field even the latter end of the same Campagne of 70000 Men which has since oblig'd the French King to augment his Forces to so vast a Number to keep up the Credit of his successful Armies that he has entirely exhausted his Treasures and now finds himself push'd to such a non-plus that far from being able to augment his Forces as the Allies have done since the Battel of Landen he is hardly able to pay those he has now on foot and which is worst of all whereas before he supply'd the want of Money in some measure by making his Armies subsist in the Enemies Countrey he has had the Mortification this Campagne to see them eat and destroy his own Frontiers There was therefore a certain Necessity that the French should in common Prudence have undertaken something the last Winter which was the only Time they had left to keep up the Credit and Reputation of their Arms. And as there was a Necessity for them to have done something then so I may say they have not had a fairer Opportunity all this War if we consider either the State of our Army or the Posture and Condition of Affairs in this Countrey Our Army had been weaken'd by the Overthrow at Landen And though our Losses were far from being so considerable as the French made it yet no doubt it did very much disconcert our Affairs and besides the Soldiers wading thorough the Geet to make their escape and lying wet for several Days after caused many Sicknesses amongst them insomuch that our English and Scotch Forces never wanted more Recruits than they did the last Winter and they have not yet been later in bringing their Recruits over and in Compleating their Regiments so that in respect of our Army the French never had a greater Encouragement to put them upon some Action And as for the Posture and Condition of Affairs in relation to the Countrey the Death of the late Bishop of Liege and the following Dissentions of the Chapter gave the French King the happiest Opportunity he could wish for to have driven the Allies out of that Place which no doubt would have made room for the Cardinal of Bouillon's Pretensions in the following Election and would have given him a great share in the Suffrages of the Chapter And though the Pope has given so authentick a Confirmation of the Justice of the Elector of Cologne's Cause in the last disputed Election yet if the French had made themselves Masters of Liege the last Winter 't is very probable that the Cardinal of Bouillon would have found more Favour at the Court of Rome in this Suit and that the Committee of Cardinals deputed for that purpose would have found a great deal of Right on his side in the French Canon Law to have placed that Mitre upon his Head And the Cardinal de Bouillon being absolutely the French King's Creature he could then have look'd upon the Principality of Liege as in a manner his own and thus have advanc'd his Frontier to the very Gates of Maestricht which as to its Civil Government is equally divided between the States-General and the Bishop of Liege which then would have open'd to him an Inlet into the States Dominions the thing he has so much long'd for and has been so much endeavouring after all this present War As for Newport and the Frontiers in Flanders the King provided for their Safety by sending the last Winter a speedy Supply of Eight Battalions from England Tiffeny and the three French Regiments first who were quarter'd in the Camerlings Ambacht for so the Countrey is call'd about the Canal of Newport and afterwards Lloyd St. George Friderick Hamilton and Colonel Ingoldsby's Regiments which were dispos'd into Quarters for a time in Ostend and Newport but still I dare say that the rest of our Army was in no very good Condition to have taken the Field if the French had undertaken any Siege during the Winter All this being consider'd no other Reasons can be alledged why the French were so quiet all the last Winter and so contrary to their Interest which oblig'd them to some Action but these following First The Dearth and Famine that raigned in France and in the Conquer'd Countrey which was indeed greater than can be expressed or than can hardly be believ'd though the French Court and the King by his Edicts us'd all possible means to prevent it and to cover the inward Sufferings of his Kingdom We have seen in Bruges and in most of our Towns in Flanders very lamentable Instances of it where they fled from the neighbouring Parts of France and the Paiis Conquis for Bread and many of them had been so long without it that though they had Bread given them yet they could not eat it and died in the Streets They came in such Multitudes that the Magistrates have been forced to stand Centries at the Gates to hinder them from coming in But since they have had a fruitful Harvest in France his Edicts acknowledge in plain Terms what but some Months before they smother'd over with fine Words to amuse and deceive the People The French King
observe exactly the Field of Battel and returned late in the Evening to the Camp And there scarce happen'd a Day all along the Campagne but that the King rid out towards the Enemy Such are the Pains and Care His Majesty takes for the Welfare and Prosperity of the Common Cause The 15th Seven Battalions more were detached to reinforce the Dutch Foot that had been posted near the Abbey of Linther these were drawn out of our Forces and put under the Command of Brigadier Erle viz. Erle Lesley Lloyd Mackay Meloniere Jutland and Aver The same Day the Dauphin remov'd his Quarter from St. Tron to the Village of St. Brusten to settle here an Hospital for the Sick to be near the Army The same Day the King had Advice from Maestricht that no less than Four or Five hundred Swissers had deserted the French Army and were come to that Place Upon which Orders were given That these Regiments that wanted Recruits should send an Officer to Maestricht to get them among those Deserters Many of them were of Monim's Regiment which is the same as Brigadier Stouppa had that died of the Wounds he receiv'd at the Battel of Steenkirk That Stouppa was a Protestant and had been a Minister but I was told That Colonel Noâ—im who had the Regiment after him was a Roman-Catholick and had turn'd out the Minister that belong'd to the Regiment and put a Priest in his Place Which so disgusted his Soldiers that it occasion'd a general Desertion in his Regiment The 16th the King review'd Sir Thomas Levingstom's and Colonel Cunningham's Dragons that had lately come over from Scotland they were canton'd near the Town of Arschot The same Day the Mareschal de Boufflers march'd nearer to the Dauphin's Army and passed the Jecker at Warem where he encamp'd upon the Left of the French Army Forty Suisse Deserters more came at the same time from the Enemy and our Detachment brought in several Prisoners My Lord Athlone came up likewise nearer to our Army this same Day and took his Quarter upon the Left at the Abbey of Linther On the 17th because Bouffer's had now joyn'd the Dauphin's Army and that we had only Foot in our Camp the Horse being still canton'd in the Neighbourhood which might have given the French an Occasion to attack us 't was order'd to fortifie our Camp and to make a Retrenchment from the King's Quarter at the Village of Rooseheck to that of Cumtich the only Place open in our Camp the rest was well covered as we have before described We said before that the Elector of Bavaria expected some of his own Forces which he had sent for to augment his Army this Campagne they were now come to the Neighbourhood of Louvain and consisted of Three Squadrons of Dragons of Count Philippe d' Areo Three of Monasterol Two Squadrons more of Cuirassiers of Weychel Two Battalions of his Guards Two Battalions of Riviera and One of Horthansen these joyn'd the Spanish Horse and the Bavarian Cuirassiers and made a Body near Louvain The 18th they were review'd by the Elector where the King was invited and receiv'd with Three Salutes of Cannon and Small-shot and afterwards treated by the Elector The 19th a Detachment of Danish Horse took Fifty six Prisoners and brought them into the Camp with their Officers And the same Day we had the first Forage by Order before the Horses gras'd in the Day-time in the neighbouring Fields and in Meadows and the Men cut down Hay which they brought along with them in the Evening just enough for the Horses to subsist on in the Night Standing Corn was scarce and there was a Necessity of Preserving it else we should have had no Occasion for Retrenchments The 20th a great many Deserters more came from the Enemy and indeed there hardly pass'd a Day but there came in some of them to our Camp more or less The same Day a Detachment of our Dragons brought in Seventy seven Prisoners They fired upon the Vanguard not thinking it had been the whole Detachment but the rest rid up immediately being a strong Detachment and surrounded the Wood where the French had posted themselves in Ambuscade and so they all yielded themselves Prisoners of War At the same time we took Two Dominican Fryers Prisoners and an Irish Priest that were come as Spyes into our Army A Soldier of the late King James's Guards that had deserted to us some Days before and had taken Service in our English Guards discover'd them He knew they had pass'd between both Armies several times particularly the two Dominicans and that they had engaged to debauch as many as they could of our English Soldiers to recruit the late King's Regiments in France for which they were to receive a Luy d'ore a Man for as many as they could bring over They had an Irish Young Man with them who being press'd to confess own'd the Truth and was afterwards an Evidence against them After being Examined they were Committed Prisoners severally in Tents at the King's Quarter and Centries continually set over them On the 21st a Detachment of our Foot posted at the Abbey of Linther brought in Fourscore Prisoners of which some of them were Gensd'arms and of the French King's Life-guards The Detachment from this Post did very much incommode the French Army and they seldom had a Forageday but that they brought in several Prisoners The 22nd the King review'd Brigadier Matthews and the Lord Fairfax's Dragons which had come up to the Camp the Day before Brigadier Matthews's Regiment encamped on the other side of the Village of Cumtich which was without the Retrenchment to cover Monsieur d' Auverquerque's and other General Officers Quarters there My Lord Fairfax's Dragons encamped without the Defiles of the Village of Roosebeck to cover the King's Quarter on that side The same Day several of the Enemy's Squadrons came in sight of our Camp in the Plain on the other side of Tilmont Upon which the Major of the several Regiments upon the Right had Orders to come to take the Posts of their Regiments upon the Retrenchment in case the French should come and attack us and to see if the Retrenchments of their several Posts were well made with a good defensible Breast-work I forgot to say That the Town of Tilmont the Dutch call it Tienen which in this Camp was before the Left of our Army was guarded by a Detachment of Three hundred Men under the Command of a Field-Officer and other Officers proportionably which relieved one another every other Day It is situated upon the greater Geet which comes from Judoigne and has several petty Cloysters and publick Buildings in it with an old decayed Wall and ruin'd Retrenchments about it There is no Water near it but the little River Geet and 't is commanded by the Countrey about it for which reason 't is not capable of any good Fortification The 24th One of the French King's Carabiners deserted and came to our
were much superiour to our Detachment for according to the French account the Marquiss de la Valette had then 15 Battalions 9 Regiments of Horse and 2 of Dragoons and besides was now joyned by the Mareschal de Villeroy Lieutenant General Tettan had 15 pieces of Cannon sent with him which was disposed in 3 several Batteries which begun to play upon the Enemy their Cannon was not come up so soon as ours but they intrenched themselves just upon the other side of the River where our Cannon did them some considerable damage Of Maulevriers Regiment by their account 1 Lieutenant was killed and 25 Men. Our own people could easily see our Cannon do execution upon them being so near one another A little after the French began to fire upon us from 2 Batteries on their side but I have not heard of any execution or damage they did us at that time The same Morning the Duke of Wirtemberg had passed the Scheld at Audenarde with the 7 Brigades of Horse and the 2 of Foot of which we have given an account already for which reason as the Mareschal de Villeroy had intrenched upon the River to hinder our passage he was also obliged to fortifie his Rear with a Retrenchment to cover himself from the Duke of Wirtemberg who upon His Majesties Orders was marching up to attack him in the Rear whilst we should force our passage in the Front I shall now leave things in this disposition upon the Scheld and return to both the Armies The 14 th we decamped from Grames and marched towards the Scheld which was now but 2 Leagues from the Right of our Army We passed not far from the foot of Mount Trinite and the Left Flank of our Columns was reckoned within 4 English Miles of Tournay We heard in the Morning upon our march great firing at this place which at first was supposed to be Signals for their Army and neighbouring Garrisons but by the regularity of the fire we found it to be rather a Salute In effect the Dauphine passed this Morning through the Town and was saluted with a triple discharge of the Cannon round the place the Army followed him which in two nights and one day had marched from Mons to this place We left them at Mons the 12 th where they were got betimes in the Morning they refreshed themselves the best part of that day except the Brigade of Guards that was sent to Condé where it was put on board of Bilanders to come down the Scheld to Tournay by water where I suppose it arrived as soon as the Mareschal de Villeroy and with him joyned the Marquis de la Valette The 12 th in the Evening the French Army left Mons and marched night and day only halting for rest now and then and so came to Tournay the 14 th early in the Morning but the Waggons of the Country were ordered all along to take up the Sick and the Weary and upon every halt there was a provision of Brandy ready to refresh the Men. The 14 th about Noon our Right Wing came up near the River but it was then too late to have undertaken to force the passage and for the Army to have gone over for which reason 't was ordered to halt and the Weather proved so bad just at that time that it would have been impossible to have undertaken it though there had been day enough left for it We had this Evening and most of the Night following a violent storm of Rain and Wind which made the wayes very deep and heavy the Army was ordered to incamp in the ground where it stood upon the halt and every Brigade to incamp the most conveniently it could without any regard to the niceness of a Line the King took his Quarters this Night at the Chateau de Cordes and the Elector at Chastelet And the Dauphine being now come up with the Body of the French Army to joyn the Mareschal de Villeroy so that though we had forced the passage of the River yet still we could not prevent the French Army from incamping between Harleber and Courtray where they covered their Country in Flanders and besides the French having drawn all their Forces in this side of the Country which gave the King way for another undertaking may be of as great consequence His Majesty did not think it convenient to attempt the passage here where there might have been a great deal of Blood shed but no advantage on our side though we had forced it because the Enemy would still have been Masters of the Camp at Courtray which equally covered their Lines on both sides of the Lys. The King therefore resolved to leave the French where they were and to pass the Scheld about two Leagues below at Audenarde The French very much magnified their speedy Marches to prevent our passage of the Scheld before them that in Four Days they should with their whole Army pass and re pass the Sambre and pass the Scheld at Tournay and be the fifth incamped on the other side of the River to oppose the passage of our Army 'T is said that the Mareschal de Luxembourg valued it more than the Battle of Landen but if he valued it more it did not cost him much less for 't is supposed that this violent March has cost him at least Three Thousand Men and his Cavalry has been almost ruined by it so far that the French King is now forced to reform his Cavalry as he did the last Year and to reduce the Troops yet to a less Number which the last Winter he had brought to Forty I have heard that he has reduced them to Twenty Five a Troop The French Army might have been followed by the Scent which they left behind of dead Men and Horses which were to be found all along the Road it went so that we may say The French have suffered as much in this March as they could have done in a Battle either in Men or Horses It has been reported that the French King has writ a Letter to the Army to be read at the Head of every Regiment by which he thanked the Dauphine the Mareschal of France the Lieutenant-General and other Generals and all the Army but more particularly the Suisse and French Infantry for the great Services they had done him in this speedy March by which they have saved his Country in Flanders from the Invasion intended by the Enemies This indeed is a very different Language from what we had last Year from him after the Battle of Landen there was nothing then but what he could expect after so considerable a Victory and there was nothing but what his Enemies ought to fear after so great a Defeat but now he seems to recant in his Letter and own that he was mistaken and thanks his Army for running as fast as they could and so fast that it has suffered as much as in a Battle to save his conquered Country from
being invaded by the Enemies who last Year were to fear every thing after the loss of the Battel of Landen This is a very different Note from the first and would make but a very ill concert with it Such a thing must make his Subjects sensible either that the state of Affairs is very much altered to their disadvantage or that their King is strangely transported with success Whether this Letter was read or no at the Head of every Regiment I cannot tell but such a Letter has been Published at Paris Because the French made so quick and diligent a March to prevent our passage of the Scheld it has given occasion to several Men who are generally rash in giving their Judgments of things to extol very much the Enemies Conduct in this Occasion and as much to blame our own without examining the different circumstances of the one and of the other What I shall say at present is not to lessen the Wisdom and Conduct of our Enemies or the Commendation they deserve for their March was as wisely contrived and managed with as little loss as the great diligence they used was capable of I shall only shew that considering our circumstances and those of the Enemy 't is no wonder they could make such diligence as to get before us to defend the passage of the Scheld and it could be no want of Conduct on our Side if they could make so much larger Marches than we as to be able to be there before us for the French had wholly the advantage of the Country on their side From the Meuse to Audenarde we met with no Garrison of ours upon the March but that of Aeth the French they had in their way Namur Charleroy Mons Conde Valencionnes and Tournay and unless when we passed by the Plain of Cambron and the Town of Aeth we marched upon the Enemy's Country but the French still near their own numerous Garrisons From whence the Enemy had this advantage over us for a speedy March that the Boors were all fled to their Garrisous with their Effects from whence they could not onely get Supplies of Refreshments for their Infantry upon every halt but also Waggons to bring the Baggage the Sick and the wearied Soldiers after them in so much that though their Battalions were not of One Hundred Men each at their coming up to a Camp or Halt yet still by Night all the rest were brought up in Waggons who could not march and follow the Army and the Soldiers Bagagge being carried in the same Waggons they marched only with their Arms so much lighter than ours This is a conveniency the French had and which 't is plain we wanted Besides the French marching by so many of their Garrisons could be supplied with fresh Battalions which had suffered no Fatigues in the Field but could hasten with so much the more ease to the Scheld Another conveniency the French marched without their Baggage which was brought up afterwards by the Waggons of the Countrey who had retired generally to to the neighbouring Garrisons but our Baggage must march with us or be left to the Enemies over whose Country we marched or it must have been sent so far about that we must have laid many more Nights than the French without Tent or Cover The French had no occasion to march with their Artillery being to act upon the defensive They had a sufficient Train ready at Tournay to defend the Passage of the Scheld so that they left their Train in their Garrisons to come up leasurely after them but we were obliged to have our Train along with us and to proportion our Marches to the Fatigues the Artillery Horses could endure or else leave them exposed to the Enemies Garrisons by which we passed The French had another great advantage of the Scheld for when once they were come up between Mons and Condé they could send down by water from Condé to Tournay upon the Scheld any thing that might incumber the March of their Army or any Detachment of Forces which they thought sufficient to oppose our passage of the Scheld till they themselves could come up they sent this way the Brigade of Guards according to their own account and may be more which sail'd down the River night and day till they had joyned the Mareschal de Villeroy and the Marquiss De la Valette Now any impartial Reader must own these to be great advantages which the French had over us in this March and such as may very well equal the difference there was between the way the French had to go to the Scheld and we which at most cannot amount to one part in three which the Reader may observe if he will be pleased to consult the Map Nothing can be alledged against our diligence but the Halt we made at Sombref the 9 th but of that we have given an account above And at last these who so willingly pass their Judgments upon the Conduct of our Army don't know whether their was at bottom any other Design but to bring the French from the Meuse to the Scheld to make room for the Siege of Huy whith as it shall hereafter appear was a place of great consequence to us and if it was so then the French by their speedy March helped our very Designs instead of opposing them Or if the French would keep a Body near the Meuse for the conservation of Huy then that would have made way for some Siege in Flanders because the French were not able to act defensively on both sides Whatever was the design it appears that we did what we could to make the French believe it was upon Flanders because upon our March from Mount St. André Major-General Cohorne was commanded from Liege with Twelve Battalions and Six Squadrons of Liege-Dragoons to march by Brusselles towards Ghendt This was sufficient to give the French the Alarm in Flanders and accordingly they left Huy open to a Siege rather than leave their Countrey in Flanders exposed to an Invasion Thus I have endeavoured to state as justly as possibly I could the account of this great March which has made so much noise in the World and in which the French have so much applauded their diligence I shall now return to both the Armies which we have left on both sides of the Scheld Our Army as we said before had incamped the 14 th with the Right near the Scheld the Elector's Quarter upon the Right at Chastelet and the King 's at Cordes The Dauphine having passed the Scheld this Day at Tournay could not be hindred of the Camp of Courtray and besides the Evening proved so bad that though we would then have endeavoured to have passed the Scheld at Hanterive yet we could not The next day the Army was ordered to march towards Audenarde We came at Escanaffe in presence of the French Army incamped with the Right at Hanterive and the Left at Avelghem all along the Scheld though I