A RELATION Of the Most Remarkable Transactions Of the Last CAMPAIGNE IN THE Confederate Army Under the Command of His Majesty of GREAT BRITAIN AND AFTER Of the Elector of BAVARIA IN THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS Anno Dom. 1692. LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the King's-Arms in the Poultrey 1693. To the Right Honourable John Earl of Bathe Viscount LANS DOWNE Baron Granville of Kilkhampton and Biddiford Lord-Lieutenant of the Counties of Devon and Cornwall Governour of Their Majesties Royal Cittadel of Plimouth Colonel of one of the English Regiments of Foot in the Low-Countries and one of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council c. My LORD THE desire I have to do something as may express that Respect I owe to your Lordship is the chief reason that I have undertook the Relation of the last Campaigne for since those Years which your Lordship has so signally spent in the Service of the Crown and those important Governments you have in this Kingdom at this Juncture of time do not only dispence but even oblige your Lordship not to be present with your Regiment in the Low Countries I hope this Relation may be acceptable to your Lordship in which your Regiment has not had a small share in the most remarkable Occurrences of the Campaigne There may be some Solaecisms in Soldiery in this Relation but I hope your Lordship will be pleas'd to Pardon them since they proceed from a Clergy-man who may be allow'd such Mistakes and who ventures upon so Forreign an Undertaking to his Function which ought to have been perform'd by abler Pens to express the Honour of English-men to assure your Lordship that I am My LORD Your Lordship 's most humble and obedient Servant and Chaplain ED. D'AUVERGNE TO THE READER WHEN I drew up this Relation I was far from designing to publish it What I did was for the particular Satisfaction of some Persons to whom I am obliged But since I have finished it a great many Friends have desir'd Copies of it which I found both tedious and chargeable to get written over This is the particular Reason as makes me comply with their Desires to have it Printed For I declare that 't is with some Reluctancy that I appear in publick in this case However since 't is done I must needs let the Reader know that as I had no Design of having this Relation publick so first this is the Reason that it has been so late coming out when the French by their early and active Motions do already enter upon the following Campaign And besides this is the reason that I have expressed my self with more Freedom in the following Relation which though 't is an Argument of its being so much the more impartial yet it may be the less taking for it As I am a Clergy-man I think that there is a greater Obligation upon me to speak Truth and nothing but what is Truth And therefore if there is any thing in this Account that is not so or if I have said any thing that may detract from the Reputation of any Man or Country or if I have done them any Injustice in not publishing their Merits I shall be very ready to give both them and Truth Satisfaction as publickly as I do them wrong However I think my self obliged to declare that I have endeavoured to know the Truth and what I do not know of my self to be so I have in that made use of creditable Informations from Parties concerned If I say little of Foreign Nations concerned in the Alliance and which made by far the greater Number of our Army 't is not out of any Principle of Partiality to my own Countrey-men but 't is because I cannot be so well inform'd of their Actions as of our own they being Strangers to me What I say of Grandval concerning his having killed the Mares chal de Humieres Nephew and his Adventures in Savoy as also what I speak concerning the Prince of Brabancon and of the Elector's Design to take him into the Field the last Campaigne to withdraw him by this piece of Policy from the Government of Namur I would have no more stress laid upon the Truth of it but as a common Report If the Publick does kindly accept these my Endeavours it will oblige me to be more exact and curious the next Campaign if God grants me Life and Health and I shall be more early in satisfying my Countrey with it And I pray God so to unite the Hearts Counsels and Powers of our Allies under the Conduct of our glorious Monarch as may answer his Endeavours and our Expectations that we may see the French Power reduc'd to such Limits as may procure a lasting Peace to Christendom A RELATION Of the Most Remarkable Transactions Of the Last CAMPAIGNE HIS Majesty endeavouring to be before-hand with the French this Campaigne came very early over from England to the Hague about the beginning of April where having spent some time in Conferences with the Ministers of the Allies His Majesty afterwards went to Loo to take some Divertisement before he enter'd upon the Fatigues of the ensuing Campaigne expecting till matters were in a readiness to take the Field which prov'd not so early as may be was design'd both by reason of the foul Weather that happen'd the latter end of April and the beginning of May and of the great remoteness as well as slow motion of some of our Confederate Forces The French King who owes his great Success chiefly to that quickness and activity wherewith he can execute his Undertakings and which is proper to the Nature of his Government began very early to move with his Forces threatning both Flanders with some considerable Siege and England with an Invasion to restore the late King to his pretended Dominions To this end he causes most of his Forces to march towards Flanders and to rendezvous about Mons leaving the Rhine entirely destitute of Troops to render the Army in Flanders the more powerful and formidable being pretty secure both by the slowness of the Germans to take the Field and that Interest he had among some of the Princes of the Empire that nothing could be undertaken upon the Rhine by the Confederates before the execution of his Designs in Flanders to compass these vast Undertakings the French King not only drew off his Forces from the Rhine but likewise most of those he had in Savoy and Piedmont leaving Monsieur Catinat so weak that he hath not been able to attempt any thing this Campaigne but even to suffer the Duke of Savoy to enter into Dauphiné and to leave it expos'd to the Fury of the Germans who have plunder'd burnt and destroy'd where-ever they have been in it By this means the French King has not only been able to bring a very numerous and powerful Army in Flanders to undertake so considerable an Attempt as the Siege of Namur but also to think of restoring the late King to the
Throne of England to this end he causes an Army to march towards the Coasts of Normandy pretending at first that it was to secure his Coasts from a Descent of which they spoke very much in England and for which they made some Preparations This Army consisted of between 16 and 20000 Men both French and Irish which encamp'd at the Hogue a little Village by the Sea-side between the Cape of Barfleur and the Bay of Caen. The French King to cover this Invasion as well as to help the transport of his Troops made all possible diligence to set out his Fleet to execute this great Design before ours and the Dutch Fleet cou'd be in a readiness to joyn which probably might have been if a contrary Wind had not kept Vice-Admiral Count D' Estrees in the Mediterranean twenty one days together with the Toulon Fleet. The French King therefore seeing that Tourville had already staid so long for the Toulon Fleet that the English and Dutch were ready to joyn order'd Admiral Count De Tourville to sail with what Fleet he had ready and to enter the Channel the Troops being embark'd in Normandy and he only expected to transport them over to England with this Order Tourville came into the Channel with Fifty four Men of War making strait to Normandy to joyn the Transport-ships In the mean while every body wonder'd to see the King so unconcerned at Loo and his Kingdoms so nearly threatned with an Invasion every body thought that His Majesty would not be so sollicitous for the Safety of the Low Countries but that he would at least go over for England and look after the preservation of his own which may be was the very thing the French King would have and which he more design'd in this Project than the Restauration of King James for 't is very plain that His Majesty's Presence and his English Troops in the Spanish Netherlands put a great stop to his Proceedings whereas in the other War when the English were not in the Alliance Cambray Valenciennes and St. Omer would be the work but of a Month's Campaigne but now his Conquests cannot go on so fast in a Country which he pretends of Right to belong to the Dauphiné However tho' His Majesty was at Loo yet his Cares were not from England in this dangerous Conjuncture but he sent my Lord Portland who in this Voyage was accompany'd by his Son-in-Law the Earl of Essex over to England with some Instructions to the Queen to prevent this intended Invasion about which Her Majesty had already taken very effectual Cares in setting out our Fleet with all speed in raising the Militia of the Country and seizing such Persons as were most liable to suspicion in this matter His Majesty on this side of the Water took the same care of the Dutch Fleet and order'd Colonel Selwyn's Beveridge's and Lloyd's Regiments to be sent back to England to reinforce our Army there and likewise countermanded several Regiments of Horse which His Majesty had order'd over for Flanders Thus by the Cares of Their Majesties in England and Holland the two Fleets joyn'd time enough to oppose the execution of the French King's Designs upon England and sooner than His Most Christian Majesty expected for not thinking that the English and Dutch could be so soon joyn'd he order'd Monsieur Tourville to fight and engage with our Fleet where-ever he met it if they offer'd to oppose his Undertaking in England with that Number of Men of War he had then along with him which he afterwards did accordingly and I think pretty well to the French King's Cost Things began now to look with a little better aspect in England and to promise the French King but little success in his Invasion the English and Dutch Fleets being joyn'd and being in a better Condition than ever to do business considering the number and bigness of our Men of War and the Seamen they had on Beard whereas Tourville was in our Channel with about Fifty Four Men of War which could give us but little reason to fear his Undertaking This was the Posture of Affairs about the opening of the Campaign the King having left Loo and pass'd by Breda came to Duffel where his Majesty tarried two or three Days and the Elector of Bavaria went there to wait upon the King and to Complement him upon his Arrival in the Spanish Netherlands as well as to confer upon the present State of Affairs But the French Army growing daily in Number about Mons and the French King being come to head his Army in Person oblig'd the King to hasten to Brussels to forward the Rendezvous of our Forces which gathered part between Anderleck and Dilbeck having Anderleck upon the Left and the other part between Dendermonde and Ghendt under the Command of Major General Zuylesteyn and after a March or two they were joyn'd by Lieutenant General Mackay who took the Command of them The King coming to Brussels lay one Night at his own House l'autel d'Orange a Palace belonging of old to the Counts of Nassaw and Princes of Orange not far from the Court and which his Majesty has of late bestow'd upon Prince Vaudemont The next Day the King took his Quarters at Coukelbergh a little Chateau or Castle without Flanders Port where his Majesty remained till the marching of the Army from Brussels The French at this time gave us by their Motions equal Reasons to suspect Charleroy and Namur as the Place before which they would set to form a Siege wherefore the Elector of Bavaria order'd the Counts of Thian and Brouay the first to Namur to assist the Prince of Brabançon the Governour and the other to do the same thing at Charleroy with the Governour of that Place The Army having left Anderleck march'd this day through Brussels to Deegham towards Louvain whilst Lieutenant General Mackay with about 16000 English and Dutch which had rendezvous'd about Dendermonde and Ghendt came up very near the Army in order to joyn it the next March the French at this time leaving us but little reason to doubt but that Namur was the place they intended to attack This Day the Army march'd and came pretty near Louvain the King taking his Quarters at Bethlehem-Abbey This Day we were likewise Joyn'd with the Forces under the Command of Lieutenant General Mackay they incamping in the Line with the rest of the Army His Majesty was inform'd in this place of a Design against his Life which tho' it had miscarried the Year before was again set on foot by the same Persons viz. one Grandval Levendael and Du Mont of which we shall give an Account when we come to speak of the Execution of Grandval at Hall-Camp he being the only one of the Three that suffer'd the Punishment due to so villanous an Attempt The Second merited the King's Pardon by his discovering of the Plot to one of his Relations in Holland who immediately gave an
the other side of the Sambre whereabouts Boufflers lay encamp'd he began this Work on Sunday the 9th of October O. S. and continu'd till the Tuesday following where his Bombarding cost infinitely more to his Master than the Mischief he caus'd cou'd amount to this being the most inconsiderable part of Charleroy and the Fortifications of it altogether neglected that lying open to the Enemy Upon these motions of the French towards Charleroy the King who was lately come from Loo to the Hague went Post to Brussels where his Majesty arriv'd Octob. 9. and lay that night at his own Palace and return'd the next day to the Hague after having held a Council of War with the Elector of Bavaria and other great Officers of the Army my Lord of Athlone was thereupon detach'd from the Army with Ammunitions Provisions and other Necessaries for the Relief of Charleroy with an Escorte of 4000 Horse and Dragoons which his Lordship got safely into the Town Boufflers having left Charleroy the Armies on both sides began to separate towards their Winter-Quarters Great Garrisons have been put in Brussels Mecklen Ghent Vilvord and Dendermond and along the Canal so that in Four and twenty hours time upon any motion of the French we can have a considerable Army about Brussels His Majesty being come back to the Hague sail'd some days after for England where he arriv'd at Tarmouth the 18th day of October and thence went to London where His Majesty was receiv'd with universal Joy and Acclamation for his happy and safe return And thus I have brought the relation of the most remarkable Transactions of this Campaign in the King's Army to a conclusion whereby it appears that if other things did second the unwearied Pains the indefatigable Toyls and Labours His Majesty takes and the continu'd Dangers he exposeth himself to the French Arms would not flourish so much as they have done hitherto and whatever Advantages the French have really had or to which they pretend in this Campaigne yet the King's Subjects have not in the least disgrac'd the Renown and Glory of their Ancestors in it but have acquir'd to themselves such Reputation as has forc'd even a Commendation and I may safely say Fear from their Enemies We have a sort of People who in magnifying the French Greatness and how useless our Efforts have been in Flanders to suppress it would insinuate that because he is Great that it is best to yield to what we cann't resist and since we have had no more success in Flanders 't is best let it go and stand for the rest upon our own Defence which indeed is the only way to break the Alliance and have this very Power which they so much magnifie wholly upon our Arms so that a Man has reason to suspect that such Insinuations do underhand tend to introduce a French Power amongst us If the French King is so Great all as a rational Man can infer is that therefore our Efforts ought to be so much the greater and that we are to make use of the utmost of our Powers not only to resist but to endeavour to humble this formidable Power to which the way seems already open by our Signal Victory at Sea 't is very plain that if a stop can be put to the French King 's Proceedings it must be by an English Power and that 't is only by the Vigour and Greatness of our Efforts as he can be humbled which I am sure is a thing to be wish'd by all true English-men and to which every one that is such will contribute according to his Condition and Capacity to the utmost of his Power FINIS ERRATA PAge 4. line 3. Dauphiné read Dauphin p. 9. l. 12. Curiassers r. Curiassiers p. 10. l. 19. idem p. 17. last l. Perteys r. Perweys p. 18. l. 26. a River r. the River p. 28. l. 24. confiement r. confinement p. 30. l. 15. Farrel r. O Farrel p. 36. l. 10. Bois Seignerer Isaac r. Bois Seigneur Isaac p. 40. l. 29. was afterwards r. as afterwards p. 50. l. 18. Gislenhem r. Gislenghem p. 51. l. 11. Lanier r. de Liniere p. 63. l. 12. Bewark r. Bewack p. 64. l. 18. Mondny r. Monday May May 17. 27. 18. 28. May 22. June 1. May 23. June 2. 24. June 3. 26. June 5. 27. June 6. May 28. June 7. 29. June 8. 29. June 8. An. 1691. June 6. 16. June 7. 17. June 9. 19. Juns 10. 20. June 12. 22. 14. 24. 12. 22. June 20. 30. 20. 30. Vide du Maurier in the Life of William I. Prince of Orange June 22. July 2. June 2◠July 5. 26. 6. June 29. July 9. July 3. 13. July 10. 20. July 16. 26. 17. 27. July 21. 31. 22. Aug. 1. July 23. Aug. 2. July 24. Aug. 3 July 25. Aug. 4. 26. Aug. 5. July 27. Aug. 6. Aug. 1. 11. Aug. 2. 12. 3. 13. Aug. 9. 19. Aug. 14. 24. 15. 25. Aug. 16. 26. 17. 27. 21. 31. Aug. 23. Sept. 2. 24. Sept. 3. Aug. 25. Sept. 4. Aug. 26. Sept. 5. Sept. 7. 17. Sept. 8. 18. Sept. 10. 20 12. 22. Sept. 21. Octob. 1. 23. Octob. 3. Sept. 26. Octob. 6. 29. Octob. 9. Octob. 2. 12. Octob. 9. 19.