were left in the place under the Command of Brigadier Offarrel The Army being newly separated into Quarters on both fides I shall only beg leave to make some Reflections upon the present state of Affairs which may serve to close up this Narrative The Scale of War had inclined very much in the former Campagnes to France and the French King has had very great success against the Allies but the Event of this Campagne is sufficient to convince them that if the French have had success it has been because they did not make their best Efforts in a vigorous prosecution of the common Cause For now that the Allies have been sensible of the necessity of augmenting their Forces we find the Scale to turn The Enemy who before were very stirring and active upon our Frontiers have been forced this Year to preserve their own and think they have made a good Campagne when they have been about Eleven Weeks of it imcamped under the Cannon of their own Garrisons a Month by Huy and above seven Weeks between Courtray and Menin and yet have not been able to act so far defensively as to hinder us from taking of Huy a Place of equal importance to both Sides The Mareschal de Lorges notwithstanding the great Matters the Turks expected from their Allie against the Empire has been forced to keep on this side of the Rhine almost all the Campagne and to suffer Prince Lovis of Baden to pass this River and raise Contributions in Alsatia and in all likelihood more would have been done if the apprehensions we had for Hungary at that time and the sudden Swelling of the Rhine had not obliged Prince Lovis to re pass the River The Mareschal of Catinat has done as little in Savoy he has acted wholly upon the defensive to secure Provence and Dauphine from an Invasion There was nothing left but Catalonia for the French King to talk of Conquests and Victories and the Success due to the Justice of his Arms which has been his last Shift where he has chosen rather to consume and ruine an Army by the intemperateness of a hot Climate than want a Te Deum in the Great Church of Paris to keep up the Hearts of his Subjects It has appeared by all that has passed in this War that the French King loves much more the Laurels that grow in Flanders upon the Rhine or in Piedmont than those which Catalonia affords so that Gironne and Palamos are but a Shift to cover a weakened Power And I believe that those who know the state of Spain don't think the French King much the greater Conquerour for it But yet we have had this Advantage by it That the French King has been forced to discover his Weakness at Sea in a Place where he had hitherto rid Neptune-like Lord and Sovereign of it and our Fleet no sooner appeared in the Mediterranean but the Mareschal de Tourville thought fit to leave that Sea to our Power and retired into the Habour of Thoulon If therefore it appears by the Event of this Campagne that the French Power and Greatness does begin to abate it ought to give the greatest incouragement in the world to the Allies to act so much the more vigorously in the prosecution of this present War If the Efforts of the Fren̄ch begin to lessen let not ours be the weaker for it but on the contrary let them be so much the stronger and the more powerful This will be the way to make a quick and happy End of the War and to procure a solid and lasting Peace which is the only design the Allies propose to themselves in this present War which is so just so good and laudable and so much becoming Christians that if we will act our part as we ought to do we may justly expect God's blessing upon it The Experience the World has had of Lovis XIV since the beginning of his Reign is sufficient to convince all Mankind that as long as his Power is so great as his Encroachments upon his Neighbours have made it 't is in vain to expect a solid and durable Peace If we survey his History from the beginning of this Monarch's Reign we shall find that the longest Peace he has had with his Neighbours has not lasted Seven Years which was from the Pyrenean Treaty to 1667. That all along he had invaded the Dominions and States of his Neighbours without any regard to Treaties though never so sacred and therefore if we should let this Opportunity slip can we expect a lasting Peace so long as he has Power sufficient to disturb it when he pleases I dare say that the French King 's own Subjects if they value the Peace and Quiet of Christendome must be concerned themselves and have an interest in the common Cause of the Allies which has no other end but to procure it and consequently that they themselves are sensible of the necessity of the French King's Power to be less in order to obtain it I shall yet beg leave to address my self to Englishmen in particular who have so great an interest in the present War that our Religion and Liberties cannot be reckoned upon a sure Basis nor our Nation flourish so long as the French Power is so great therefore 't is absolutely our interest to use our utmost endeavours to make it less whatever it may cost us yet we cannot pay too dear for it If we should not take hold of this occasion and use our utmost endeavours to compass an End so beneficial to the Honour Safety and flourishing of the Nation what will our Posterity say of us when it may be they have those Fetters on which 't is now in our power to break nay which is worse which we may live to wear our selves and to be wise too late If such miserable Times should happen through our neglect of this present Occasion will not our Posterity curse our Memory if we do not live to blame our selves for it If we justly condemn our former Governments because they have suffered France to arrive to a Power so prejudicial to our Safety and Interest when they might and ought to have hindred it should not we justly deserve the most ignominious Character that can be printed upon paper if we neglect so fair an opportunity as this to assert the Honour and Credit of our Nation and to Establish our own Religion and Liberty upon a sure Foundation We make so considerable a Figure in this present War and England has such a share in it that by our vigorous prosecution of it we shall not only secure our Rights and Liberties but we shall have the Credit under the Care of our Wise Great and Just Monarch to free the rest of Christendom from Slavery which will gain our Nation such a Credit Renown and Reputation abroad as will make England flourish when we have compassed a Lasting and Solid Peace more than ever it has done hitherto and it will abundantly repay our present Charges with Interest And at the same time that the French King's Efforts are less since his Offers of Peace are dayly so much the greater we may reasonably expect that if we do our duty as we ought in this present Conjuncture we shall soon compass this wish'd for firm and Lasting Peace A List of the Winter Quarters for the King's Forces for the Year 1694. INFANTRY GHENDT The Three Battalions of English Guards Fitzpatrick Frederic Hamilton Collingwood La Meloniere Danish Guards Prince Frederic Prince George Zealand Fuknen Packmoer or Brandenbourg Nassau BRVGES Regiment of Scots Guards Royal Regiment Lloyd Cuts now Colonel Seymour Rada Brewer Titcomb Collier Castleton Ingoldesby Note that the Three Regiments of Seymour Rada and Collier came over from England the latter end of August and have not been in the Field this Year MALINES Churchil Trelawney Granville Erle DENDERMOND Selwyn Stanley OSTEND St. George Mackay Graham DIXMVYDE Belcastel Marton Queen of Denmark Prince Christian Jutland Aver DEINSE Offerrel Lauder Strathnaver George Hamilton DAMME Argyle In the Villages of Willebrook and near Canal of Brusselles the Two Battalions of Dutch Guards In the Camerling's ' Ambacht or Villages near the Canal of Newport Lesley Tiffeny Maitland Ferguson Buchan LEER St. Paul Lewenhaupt Guards of Hanover AVDENARDE Guards of Wolfembuttel Hering In the Villages of Musen and Heuens Cinquilles CAVALRY BREDA Portland Searborough Ormond Rivers Life-Guards HAGVE Auverquerque Life-Guards BOISLEDVC Horse-Granadiers GHENDT Lumley Schomberg Coy Langston Wood Galloway Windham Leveson Wirtemberg La Forrest Zeestadt BRVGES Zuglenstein Boncourt Schack Vittinghof Tennaghel Being the Regiment that was lately Scravenmoor ' s. St. GERTRVDENBERG Montpouillan In the Villages between Ghendt and the Sas Van Ghendt Eppinger Mathews Levingston Fairfax Essex Wynne Cunningham Dragoons FINIS * Bruges * So Countreymen and Farmers are call'd in Flanders ☞
for this Reason could not supply and fill his Stores with Corn a Thing absolutely necessary for a Winter Campagne His Subjects were Hungry and began to be Loud and Clamorous which if his Purveyors had bought up the Corn of the Countrey to fill the King's Stores might easily have been improved into a Revolt for Seditions and Tumults about it there had been many in several Provinces of his Kingdom The Second Reason was Because his own Infantry notwithstanding the Victory at Landen had been so well handled there and had been so fatigu'd in the Siege of Charleroy that his Battalions were so weak they could not be in a Condition to serve in a Winter Siege though the Misery of his Countrey supplied his Army with raw Soldiers enough to recruit them The Third was The ill Condition of his Cavalry which besides the Losses of the foregoing Campagne must be very much weaken'd by the want of Forage the necessary Consequence of the Famine at home insomuch that whereas the French Troups had before the same complement with ours yet the last Winter they were reduced to Forty a Troup which does sufficiently shew that the French King wanted Horses and that he could not re-mount his Cavalry The Fourth Reason was The want of Money which is justly called the Sinews of War and without which the best concerted Designs must miscarry And the Scarceness of Money was so great in his Army that they subsisted all the last Winter upon Credit in their several Quarters even the very Lieutenants and Ensigns were order'd to have Credit in the Publick-Houses and Vivandiers the first for a Groat and the latter for Three-pence a Day to subsist them I may write this for Truth because 't was the Report here last Winter and I enquired of Officers that were Prisoners this Summer in our Army who owned it to have been so Whilst the French King's Affairs were so at Home the Allies were encreasing their Forces and making new Levies in England the Empire Holland Flanders and Italy to endeavour to turn the Scale of the War which hitherto had turn'd so prosperously and successfully on the French King's side And the Event of this Campagne is a convincing Argument that they have not bestow'd their Money in vain That the French King has hitherto ow'd his Success more to the Number of his Troops than to their Bravery Though I do not say this to lessen the Praise and Commendation they deserve but only to fix and settle the Judgment of Things in an equal Ballance which is the right and just way of judging of Success in Military and other Affairs This was the State and Condition of Things the last Winter and towards the Opening of this Campagne about which time the King came over from England to put Himself at the Head of the Confederate Army in Flanders though later than His Majesty had done hitherto But the Settling of the Fund for the Army Navy and New Levies had drawn the Sessions of Parliament to such a length that the King could not come over sooner After the King's Arrival in Holland His Majesty having had some Conferences with the States-General and Ministers of the Allies at the Hague went for some few Days to take his usual Divertisements at Loo but Orders were sent to all Garrisons to be ready to March and take the Field though the French still continued very quiet in their Frontiers without making any Motions to form a Camp On the 17th of May Sir Henry Bellasis received Orders to March the next Day with the Garrisons of Bruges Ostend and those quarter'd upon the Canal of Newport to form a Camp by Ghendt The Cavalry march'd out some Days before to canton upon the Countrey for Forage and the Forces quarter'd in the Frontiers of Holland and the Garrison of Brussels received Orders about the same time to March and form a Camp at Bethlehem and Terbank near Louvain under the Command of the Duke of Holstein On the 18th of May Eleven Battalions marched out of the Garrison of Bruges and were joyn'd by the Four Regiments that had been upon the Canal of Newport Two Battalions from Ostend One from Damme and one from Sluys Those from Bruges were of the Scots Guards Two Battalions the Royal Regiment One Battalion the second was left in Garrison Granville Tidcomb Castleton Ingoldsby Mackay Graham Offarrell and Maitland from the Canal Tiffeny La Meloniere Belcastel and Marton from Ostend Lauder's and Ferguson's Argyle's Regiment remain'd in Garrison from Damme Lloyd from Sluys St. Amand being the Regiment lately Commanded by Count Horne These to the number of Nineteen Battalions march'd that day about half-way to Ghendt upon the Canal of Bruges being Commanded by Sir Henry Bellasis and Major-General Ramsay The next day they march'd on to Ghendt and encamp'd at Mary Kirk where the Duke of Wirtemberg and the Count de Nassau came out of the Town to see them where they halted till the 21st That day they march'd thorough Ghendt making their way to the Canal of Brussels And this same day the Garrison of Ghendt composed of Three Battalions of English Guards the Fusiliers and Seven Battalions of Danes march'd out of the Town and joyn'd them The Zealand Battalion of Danes remain'd in Garrison and Colonel Selwin was put in the Brigade Commanded by Sir David Collier The Regiments of St. George and Frederick Hamilton that had left their Garrison of Ostend to be more conveniently quarter'd near Ghendt upon the Canal of Bruges joyn'd them likewise this day and Count Nassau's Regiment from the Sas van Ghendt Count Nassau as Eldest Major-General put himself in this March at the Head of this Body of Foot and the Duke of Wirtemberg went on before to wait upon the King at his Arrival at the Camp at Bethlehem But out Train of English Artillery that had remain'd all the Winter in Ghendt was not yet ready for want of Horses for which reason Sir David Collier was left there with Selwyn Granville Tidcomb Castleton Graham Offarrel Ferguson and la Meloniere's Regiment to guard the Train when it should come up to the Army Which Brigade of Foot encamp'd on the other side of the Town upon the Way to Dendermond All the English Horse and Dragoons march'd the same day out of Ghendt being joyn'd by the Foreign Horse upon English Pay that had quarter'd in Bruges and canton'd upon the Villages between Brussels and Dendermond being Commanded by Monsieur d' Auverquerque The Dutch Cavalry did the same in the Villages between Tongres Maestricht and Hassel Commanded by the Lord of Athlone General of the Horse The Boors had suffer'd so much between Brussels Louvain and the Meuse the former Campagnes in which their Countrey had been foraged by the Armies that this Year they had neglected the Tilling of the Ground being unwilling to work in vain This obliged us to canton our Cavalry which retarded very much the Operations of
Bavarian Foot and Dragoons to form a Camp of his own near Louvain The day following the King review'd all the Horse that had come up the day before the Electors being present And as the several Regiments were reviewed they march'd again to their respective Quarters where they had been before the English upon the Villages between Louvain Arschot and Tilmont and the Dutch towards Hassel and Leauwe and appear'd all of them both Men and Horse in very good Condition and Order We were very careful for the Conservation of Forage which was but scarce in this Countrey The Horse for this reason continued canton'd and the Foot had Orders to cut down no Corn upon pain of Death On the 8th the French march'd from Gemblours by One in the Morning to Bonef upon the Mehagine where the Dauphin had his Quarter For which reason the King ordered the Army to March the next day upon the Left towards Tilmont to be nearer to observe the French who were making their Motions between the Geet and the Jecker towards Liege Accordingly the Army march'd the next day towards Tilmont and encamp'd with the Right at Roosebeck where the King had his Quarter and the Left upon the Geet between Tilmont and Linther Our Front was cover'd upon the Left with the River Geet and the Town of Tilmont the Center with the Villages of Cumtich and the little River that runs into the Geet at Tilmont We had the little River Velpe in our Rear that falls into the Geet below Leauwe So that our Right only was open in the Camp between the Village of Cumtich and that of Roosebeck The whole Body of Foot consisting then of Eighty eight Battalions encamped upon Two Regular Lines and was dispos'd in the Brigades following Of the English and English Pay the Brigade of Guards upon both Lines Upon the First were the Brigades of Erle Collier and Alefeldt In the Second Line Stuart Offarrel and Haxhausen Of the Dutch Deden Anhalt and Heukelom In the First Line and Ratzauw Holstein-Norburg and Bernstort In the Second which made Thirteen Brigades of Foot Seven English and Six Dutch The King in the Winter had made the Brigadiers Churchill and Ramsey Major-Generals of his Forces But at this Camp the King declared Count Nassau that had been Major-General ever since His Majesty's coming over to England Lieutenant-General and the Colonels Fitz-Patrick and Offarrel Brigadiers And in the Dutch Army the Count de Noyelles was declared Lieutenant-General by the King and he made the Brigadiers Fagel Salich and l'Escluse Major-Generals in the Infantry and the Prince of Anhalt the Duke of Holstein-Norburg the Colonels Ratzauw and Dedem Brigadiers And of the Horse the Brigadiers Ittersum Warfusé Hubert and Stain were made Major-Generals and the Colonels Dompré Roo Lippe Zell Piper and Montigny were made Brigadiers In the English Dragoons Brigadier Eppinger was made Major-General and the Colonels Matthews and Wyne Brigadiers But because the Horse did not come into the Line of Battle in this Camp I shall omit the inserting the List of the Army till we come to the Camp at Mount St. André The 10th the French Army decamp'd from Bonef upon the Mehaigne and marched into the Paiis de Liege as far as St. Tron the Dauphin's Quarter with the Right at this Place the Left went along the Joar or Jecker almost as far as Warrem which River remain'd then in their Rear The same day the King review'd Brewer Lesley and Buchan's Regiments the last of our English Infantry that had come into the Field The 11th the Marshal de Boufflers whom we had left forming a small Body in the County of Chiney and who upon the Marching of the French Army into the Paiis de Liege had drawn nearer to Huy pass'd the Maes at Huy and encamp'd on the other side of the Jecker between Warrem and the Mehaigne where he flank'd the Left of the Army and cover'd the Communication with Namur which otherwise would have suffer'd very much by our Parties and Detachments which would have had very fair Play upon their Provisions which should have come to their Camp The List of his Army was as follows but I could not get it dispos'd into Brigades The Marshal de Bouffler's Army CAVALRY Lieutenant-General Monsieur de Bertillac Major-General Monsieur de Lanion Regim Squad Commissary-General 3 2 Anjou 3 La Duretiere 3 Courtebonne 3 Petitpierre 2 Royal Aleman 3 Dragons du Roy 3 de Gramont 3  Squadrons 25 INFANTRY Lieutenant-General Count de Gassé Major-General Baron de Bressey Regim Battal Poitou 2 Du Maine 2 La Reine 3 La Saar 1 Beauvesois 1 Foix 1 Nice 1 Berry 1 Arbauville 1 1 Royal Artillery 1  Battalions 15 The Gentleman from whom I had this List did not understand French so that he abused several Names in the Copy which I got rectified as much as I could by informing my self from Prisoners which I have done all to two Regiments which I could make nothing of However if there be any Mistake in the Names there is none in the Summ. By which it appears that the Marshal de Boufflers had according to our foregoing Computation 3000 Horse and 9000 Foot which amounts to 12000 Men. The Marquis de Harcourt had form'd another Body of Horse and Dragons in the Paiis de Luxembourg of between Twenty and Thirty Squadrons but I have not seen a List of them However upon the Mareschal de Boufflers's passing the Meuse he came with his Army and encamped in the Condros At the same time the Enemy formed another small Body between Harlebeck and Courtray under the Command of the Marquis de la Valette Lieutenant-General of the French Forces to cover their Line between the Lys and the Scheld in case we should endeavour to make another Attempt on that side as we had done the last Year I have had a List of this Army but with the same misfortune as the former to be a little mangl'd for want of knowing the Language however where the Names were not French or doubtful I have omitted them A List of the Army under the Command of the Marquis de la Valette Lieutenant-General CAVALRY Major-General Regim Squad  Dauriac 3  Condè 2  Bissy 3  Courcelle 3 Dragons Asfeildt Estranger 3 Sully 3   Squadrons 17 INFANTRY Major-General Count de Solré Regim Battal Orleans 2 Maulevrier 2 Anjou 2 Solré 1 Chivois 1 Fontenay 1 1  Battalions 10 Which as we have before computed must make 2040 Horse and 6000 Foot So that the French had in all of Foot in the Field in Flanders in the Dauphin Boufflers and La Valette's Army 107 Battalions which makes 64200 Foot And of Horse in these Three Armies and the Marquis de Harcourt's which we shall suppose to be 20 Squadrons which I dare say was the least 226 Squadrons which according to this Year's Computation of the French Squadrons amounts to 27120 Horse So that
taken by the French King in 1667 in that irruption he made in Flanders after the death of Philip the Fourth 'T was left to the French King by the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle and remain'd in their hands till the Peace of Nimeguen when it was given up again to the King of Spain and as all Spanish Towns are very much improved by coming into French hands so this place got a signal advantage by it It was before of a very irregular figure as appears by the Gates before the French had it which are left standing to this day and its chief Strength consisted in the Morass made by the Dender and Cambron River on the one side of it the other was fortified with weak Bastions of Earth-work commanded by the neighbouring ground But as soon as the French had it yielded to them by the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle Mounsieur de Vauban was ordered to use his Skill about it He new Model'd the Circuit of the place and brought it almost to the figure of a regular Heptagone it has one side longer than the rest upon which is the Port of Tournay which occasions an almost flat Bastion else all the rest of the Courtines and Works are near equal the Circuit of the Town and all the Works of it are faced with Free Stone the Fosse all about the place is fortified with Tenailles or Horn-work in it according to Monsieur de Vaubans Method of Fortification and faced with Free Stone and the River Dender joyned by the other passing through the Town keeps the Fosse always full of Water which they can stop in the Town by Sluices or let it out again in Frosty-weather at which time such a Fosse would otherwise be dangerous and because the grouud about the Town from the Port of Mons to that of Brussels is high and commands the place every Bastion has a good Cavalier raised upon it to remedy this inconveniency The French had made a Horn-work by the Port of Mons and another by the Port of Tournay but as we marched through this place they were pulling it down to make it a double Fosse and covered way between these two places with Redoubts in the Angles Saillants or Points jetting out which they found more convenient and defensible The place has now three very stately Gates that of Mons that of Tournay and that of Brussels done according to Modern Architecture with an Inscription above each of them in Letters of Gold in Latin French and Dutch upon the several Gates upon that of Mons 't is in Latin importing that the King of France took the place in the Expedition he made in Flanders in 1667 to assert the right of his Queen Mary Theresa and that he was content to establish the limits of his Empire here when Fortune promised him the Conquest of all Flanders All the other States of Christendom are so much under-valued in this piece of Flattery that it may very well be incerted here for the satisfaction of England in particular as I have translated it The Inscription upon Mons-Port at Aeth LOUIS the XIV King of France and Navarre finding nothing that could Resist His Armes in the Expedition He made for the Legal Pretensions of Mary Theresa His Wife was content to give Bounds to Himself to a Fortune that promised Him in a short time the Conquest of all Flanders Thus it is that this Prince truly Great has known how to Reconcile two Vertues so much opposed to one another as the Love of Glory and Moderation and to let the World see that in the very height of His Victories He desired Peace Being the onely One that could find the Art of Obliging all Europe even His Enemies by extending the Bounds of His Empire And that the Town of Aeth may be an Everlasting Monument of so many Glorious Actions He has been willing after He has had it Fortified that it should serve for a Limit and a Bulwark to his Empire in the Year 1670. Within each of the Gates is a very fine Piazza with the Corps de Garde at one end and the Officers of the Guards-Room and other Apartments at the other The Pillars of the Piazza support a very fine Store house built of Free Stone with a good Frontispiece that over looks the Gate upon the Chemin des rondes or way that goes round the Rampart it has an Italian Roof with Crowns of Flower-de-luces or Dolphins gilt upon it all the Sentry-boxes are built very pretty with Free Stone with like Crowns of Flower-de-luces and Dolphins gilt upon them There is a fine Arcade in the Market over the Conduit with the French Kings-Armes upon it supported by two Angels and adorned with Trophies In short as to its Fortifications 't is a noble place the Magnificence of the French King appears in it and deserves a better description than I can give it which has made me wander from the account I was giving of the Armies march by and through the Town That Evening we incamped by Leuse the place where the Mareschal de Luxemburgh fell upon Prince Waldecks Rear-guard with the Cavalry of the Houshold in 1691 our Left was at Lignes upon the Dender that runs from Leuse by Lignes and Irchonwetz to Aeth our Right made an elbow from the Center where we had Leuse upon our Front to Harquignies towards Tournay where the Elector of Bavaria had his Quarters and the King took his at Grames That same Evening Lieutenant-General Tettan Major-General L. Meleniere and two Brigadiers with a Detachment of 60 Men per Battalion was commanded to the Scheld to post himself over against the Village of Hanterive in order to pass the River We heard firing at Tournay for the arrival of the Mareschal de Villeroy who as we said before had been detach'd from the Camp at Ausart letong with a good Body of Horse and all the Dragoons of the Army to pass the Sambre at Maubeuge and the Scheld at Conde and so to make all possible diligence to joyn the Marquiss De la Valette who upon our march towards Flanders was ordered to leave Courtray and to post himself at Pont de Espieres where the French Line of which we have given a sufficient account in our last Years History does terminate it self upon the Scheld The Mareschal de Villeroy at his passing through the Town of Tournay found Monsieur de l' Arteloire ready with a Train of Artillery to go down the Scheld under his Convoy to Pont de Espieres When he had joyned the Marquiss de la Vallette they left Pont de Espieres and marched down the Scheld about a League lower and posted themselves at Hanterive where they arrived on the other side of the Scheld much about the same time that Lieutenant-General Tettan was got by Escanaffe on this betimes in the Morning We attempted to lay a Bridge of Boats upon the River but the French opposed it with their small Shot and