Having particularized the events of the war which distinguished this year in America, Africa, and Asia—those remote scenes in which the interest of Great Britain was immediately and intimately concerned—it now remains to record the incidents of the military operations in Germany, supported by British subsidies, and enforced by British troops, to favour the abominable designs of an ally, from whose solitary friendship the British nation can never reap any solid benefit; and to defend a foreign elector, in whose behalf she had already lavished an immensity of treasure. Notwithstanding the bloodshed and lavages which had signalized the former campaign, the mutual losses of the belligerent powers, the incredible expense of money, the difficulty of recruiting armies thinned by sword and distemper, the scarcity of forage and provisions, the distresses of Saxony in particular, and the calamities of war, which desolated the greatest part of the empire—no proposition of peace was hinted by either of the parties concerned; but the powers at variance seemed to be exasperated against each other with the most implacable resentment. Jarring interests were harmonized, old prejudices rooted up, inveterate jealousies assuaged, and even inconsistencies reconciled, in connecting the confederacy which was now formed and established against the king of Prussia; and, on the other hand, the king of Great Britain seemed determined to employ the whole power and influence of his crown in supporting this monarch. Yet the members of the grand confederacy were differently actuated by disagreeing motives, which, in the sequel, operated for the preservation of his Prussian majesty, by preventing the full exertion of their united strength. The empress-queen, over and above her desire of retrieving Silesia, which was her primary aim, gave way to the suggestions of personal hatred and revenge, to the gratification of which she may be said to have sacrificed, in some measure, the interests of her family, as well as the repose of the empire, by admitting the natural enemies of her house into the Austrian Netherlands, and inviting them to invade the dominions of her co-states with a formidable army. France, true to her old political maxims, wished to see the house of Austria weakened by the divisions in the empire, which she accordingly fomented: for this reason it could not be her interest to effect the ruin of the house of Brandenburgh; and therefore she had, no doubt, set bounds to the prosecution of her schemes in concert with the court of Vienna. But her designs against Hanover amounted to absolute conquest. In pursuance of these, she sent an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men across the Rhine, instead of four and twenty thousand, which she had engaged to furnish by the original treaty with the empress-queen of Hungary, who is said to have shared in the spoils of the electorate. The czarina, by co-operating with the houses of Bourbon and Austria, gratified her personal disgust towards the Prussian monarch, augmented her finances by considerable subsidies from both, and perhaps amused herself with the hope of obtaining an establishment in the German empire; but whether she waivered in her own sentiments, or her ministry fluctuated between the promises of France and the presents of Great Britain, certain it is, her forces had not acted with vigour in Pomerania; and her general Apraxin, instead of prosecuting his advantage, had retreated immediately after the Prussians miscarried in their attack. He was indeed disgraced, and tried for having thus retired without orders; but in all probability, this trial was no other than a farce, acted to amuse the other confederates while the empress of Russia gained time to deliberate upon the offers that were made, and determine with regard to the advantages or disadvantages that might accrue to her from persevering in the engagements which she had contracted. As for the Swedes, although they had been instigated to hostilities against Prussia by the intrigues of France, and flattered with hopes of retrieving Pomerania, they prosecuted the war in such a dispirited and ineffectual manner, as plainly proved that either the ancient valour of that people was extinct, or that the nation was not heartily engaged in the quarrel.
When the Russian general Apraxin retreated from Pomerania, mareschal Lehwald, who commanded the Prussians in that country, was left at liberty to turn his arms against the Swedes, and accordingly drove them before him almost without opposition. By the beginning of January they had evacuated all Prussian Pomerania, and Lehwald invaded their dominions in his turn. He, in a little time, made himself master of all Swedish Pomerania, except Stralsund and the isle of Rugen, and possessed himself of several magazines which the enemy had erected. The Austrian army, after their defeat at Breslau, had retired into Bohemia, where they were cantoned, the head-quarters being fixed at Koningsgratz. The king of Prussia having cleared all his part of Silesia, except the town of Schweidnitz, which he circumscribed with a blockade, sent detachments from his army cantoned in the neighbourhood of Breslau, to penetrate into the Austrian or southern part of Silesia, where they surprised Troppau and Jaggernsdorf, while he himself remained at Breslau, entertaining his officers with concerts of music. Not that he suffered these amusements to divert his attention from subjects of greater importance. He laid Swedish Pomerania under contribution, and made a fresh demand of five hundred thousand crowns from the electorate of Saxony. Having received intimation that the duke of Mecklenburgh was employed in providing magazines for the French army, he detached a body of troops into that country, who not only secured the magazines, but levied considerable contributions; and the duke retired to Lubeck, attended by the French minister. The states of Saxony having proved a little dilatory in obeying his Prussian majesty’s injunction, received a second intimation, importing that they should levy and deliver, within a certain time, eighteen thousand recruits for his army, pay into the hands of his commissary one year’s revenue of the electorate in advance; and Leipsic was taxed with an extraordinary subsidy of eight hundred thousand crowns, on pain of military execution. The states were immediately convoked at Leipsic in order to deliberate on these demands; and the city being unable to pay such a considerable sum, the Prussian troops began to put their monarch’s threats in execution. He justified these proceedings, by declaring that the enemy had practised the same violence and oppression on the territories of his allies; but how the practice of his declared enemies, in the countries which they had invaded and subdued in common course of war, should justify him in pillaging and oppressing a people with whom neither he nor his allies were at war, it is not easy to conceive. As little can we reconcile this conduct to the character of a prince, assuming the title of protector of the protestant religion, which is the established faith among those very Saxons who were subjected to such grievous impositions; impositions the more grievous and unmerited, as they had never taken any share in the present war, but cautiously avoided every step that might be construed into provocation, since the king of Prussia declared they might depend upon his protection.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
Before we proceed to enumerate the events of the campaign, it may be necessary to inform the reader, that the forces brought into the field by the empress-queen of Hungary, and the states of the empire, the czarina, the kings of France and Sweden, fell very little short of three hundred thousand men; and all these were destined to act against the king of Prussia and the elector of Hanover. In opposition to this formidable confederacy, his Prussian majesty was, by tha subsidy from England, the spoils of Saxony, and the revenues of Brandenbourg, enabled to maintain an army of one hundred and forty thousand men: while the elector of Hanover assembled a body of sixty thousand men, composed of his own electoral troops, with the auxiliary mercenaries of Hesse-Cassel, Buckebourg, Saxe-Gotha, and Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, all of them maintained by the pay of Great Britain. At this juncture, indeed, there was no other fund for their subsistence, as the countries of Hanover and Hesse were possessed by the enemy, and in the former the government was entirely changed.
In the month of December in the preceding year, a fanner of the revenues from Paris arrived at Hanover, where he established his office, in order to act by virtue of powers from one John Faidy, to whom the French king granted the direction, receipt, and administration of all the duties and revenues of the electorate. This director was, by a decree of the council of state, empowered to receive the reveiraes, not only of Hanover, but also of all other countries that should be subjected to his most christian majesty in the course of the campaign; to remove the receivers who had been employed in any part of the direction, receipt, and administration of the duties and revenues of Hanover, and appoint others in their room. The French king, by the same decree, ordained, that all persons who had been intrusted under the preceding government, with titles, papers, accounts, registers, or estimates, relating to the administration of the revenues, should communicate them to John Faidy, or his attorneys; that the magistrates of the towns, districts, and commonalties, as well as those who directed the administration of particular states and provinces, should deliver to the said John Faidy, or his attorneys, the produce of six years of the duties and revenues belonging to the said towns, districts, and provinces, reckoning from the first of January in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-one, together with an authentic account of the sums they had paid during that term to the preceding sovereign, and of the charges necessarily incurred. It appears from the nature of this decree, which was dated on the eighteenth day of October, that immediately after the conventions of Closter-Seven and Bremenworden,* the court of Versailles had determined to change the government and system of the electorate, contrary to an express article of the capitulation granted to the city of Hanover, when it surrendered on the ninth day of August; and that the crown of France intended to take advantage of the cessation of arms, in seizing places and provinces which were not yet subdued; for, by the decree above-mentioned, the administration of John Faidy extended to the countries which might hereafter be conquered.
* Six days after the convention was signed at Closter-Seven, another act of accommodation was concluded at Bremenworden, between the generals Sporcken and Villemur, relating to the release of prisoners, and some other points omitted in the convention.
With what regard to justice, then, could the French government charge the elector of Hanover with the infraction of articles? or what respect to good faith and humanity did the duke de Richelieu observe, in the order issued from Zell, towards the end of the year, importing, that as the treaty made with the country of Hanover had been rendered void by the violation of the articles signed at Closter-Seven, all the effects belonging to the officers, or others, employed in the Hanoverian army, should be confiscated for the use of his most christian majesty?
The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, being desirous of averting a like storm from his dominions, not only promised to renounce all connexion with the kings of Great Britain and Prussia, but even solicited the court of France to receive him among the number of its dependents; for, on the eighteenth day of October, the minister of the duke de Deuxponts, delivered at Versailles, in the name of the landgrave, the plan of a treaty founded on the following conditions: The landgrave, after having expressed an ardent desire of attaching himself wholly to France, proposed these articles—That he should enter into no engagement against the king and his allies; and give no assistance, directly or indirectly, to the enemies of his majesty and his allies: that he should never give his vote, in the general or particular assemblies of the empire, against his majesty’s interest; but, on the contrary, employ his interest, jointly with France, to quiet the troubles of the empire: that, for this end, his troops, which had served in the Hanoverian army, should engage in the service of France, on condition that they should not act in the present war against his Britannic majesty: that, immediately after the ratification of the treaty, his most christian majesty should restore the dominions of the landgrave in the same condition they were in when subdued by the French forces: that these dominions should be exempted from all further contributions, either in money, corn, forage, wood, or cattle, though already imposed on the subjects of Hesse; and the French troops pay for all the provisions with which they might be supplied; in which case the landgrave should exact no toll for warlike stores, provisions, or other articles of that nature, which might pass through his dominions: that the king of France should guarantee all his estates, all the rights of the house of Hesse-Cassel, particularly the act of assurance signed by his son, the hereditary prince, with regard to religion; use his interest with the emperor and the empress-queen, that, in consideration of the immense losses and damages his most serene highness had suffered since the French invaded his country, and of the great sums he should lose with England in arrears and subsidies by this accommodation, he might be excused from furnishing his contingent to the army of the empire, as well as from paying the Roman months granted by the diet of the empire; and if, in resentment of this convention, the states of his serene highness should be attacked, his most christian majesty should afford the most speedy and effectual succours.—These proposals will speak for themselves to the reader’s apprehension; and if he is not blinded by the darkest mists of prejudice, exhibit a clear and distinct idea of a genuine German ally. The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel had been fed with the good things of England, even in time of peace, when his friendship could not avail, nor his aversion prejudice, the interests of Great Britain; but he was retained in that season of tranquillity as a friend, on whose services the most implicit dependence might be placed in any future storm or commotion. How far he merited this confidence and favour might have been determined by reflecting on his conduct during the former war: in the course of which his troops were hired to the king of Great Britain and his enemies alternately, as the scale of convenience happened to preponderate. Since the commencement of the present troubles, he had acted as a mercenary to Great Britain, although he was a principal in the dispute, and stood connected with her designs by solemn treaty, as well as by all the ties of gratitude and honour; but now that the cause of Hanover seemed to be on the decline, and his own dominions had suffered by the fate of the war, he not only appeared willing to abandon his benefactor and ally, but even sued to be enlisted in the service of his adversary. This intended defection was, however, prevented by a sudden turn of fortune, which he could not possibly foresee; and his troops continued to act in conjunction with the Hanoverians.
The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel was not singular in making such advances to the French monarch. The duke of Brunswick, still more nearly connected with the king of Great Britain, used such uncommon expedition in detaching himself from the tottering fortune of Hanover, that in ten days after the convention of Closter-Seven, he had concluded a treaty with the courts of Vienna and Versailles; so that the negotiation must have been begun before that convention took place. On the twentieth day of September, his minister at Vienna, by virtue of full powers from the duke of Brunswick, accepted and signed the conditions which the French king and his Austrian ally thought proper to impose. These imported, that his most christian majesty should keep possession of the cities of Brunswick and Wolfenbuttel during the war, and make use of the artillery, arms, and military stores deposited in their arsenals: that the duke’s forces, on their return from the camp of the duke of Cumberland, should be disbanded and disarmed; and take an oath that they should not, during the present war, serve against the king or his allies: that the duke should be permitted to maintain a battalion of foot, and two squadrons of horse, for the guard of his person and castles; but the regulations made by mareschal Richelieu and the intendant of his army, should subsist on their present footing: that the duke should furnish his contingent in money and troops, agreeably to the laws of the empire: that his forces should immediately join those which the Germanic body had assembled; and that he should order his minister at Ratisbon to vote conformably to the resolutions of the diet, approved and confirmed by the emperor. In consideration of all these concessions, the duke was restored to the favour of the French king, who graciously promised that neither his revenues nor his treasure should be touched, nor the administration of justice invaded; and that nothing further should be demanded, but winter-quarters for the regiments which should pass that season in the country of Brunswick. How scrupulously soever the duke might have intended to observe the articles of this treaty, his intentions were frustrated by the conduct of his brother prince Ferdinand, who, being invested with the command of the Hanoverian army, and ordered to resume the operations of war against the enemy, detained the troops of Brunswick, as well as his nephew the hereditary prince, notwithstanding the treaty which his brother had signed, and the injunctions which he had laid upon his son to quit the army, and make a tour to Holland, The duke wrote an expostulatory letter to prince Ferdinand, pathetically complaining that he had seduced his troops, decoyed his son, and disgraced his family; insisting upon the prince’s pursuing his journey, as well as upon the return of the troops; and threatening, in case of non-compliance, to use other means that should be more effectual. 461 [See note 3 O, at the end of this Vol.] Notwithstanding this warm remonstrance, prince Ferdinand adhered to his plan. He detained the troops and the hereditary prince, who, being fond of the service, in a little time signalized himself by very extraordinary acts of bravery and conduct; and means were found to reconcile his father to measures that expressly contradicted his engagements with the courts of Vienna and Versailles.
The defeat of the French army at Rosbach, and the retreat of the Russians from Pomerania, had entirely changed the face of affairs in the empire. The French king was soon obliged to abandon his conquests on that sida of the Rhine, and his threats sounded no longer terrible in the ears of the Hanoverian and Prussian allies. As little formidable were the denunciations of the emperor, who had, by a decree of the Aulic council, communicated to the diet certain mandates, issued in the month of August in the preceding year, on pain of the ban of the empire, with avocatory letters annexed against the king of Great Britain, elector of Hanover, and the other princes acting in concert with the king of Prussia. The French court likewise published a virulent memorial, after the convention of Closter-Seven had been violated and set aside, drawing an invidious parallel between the conduct of the French king and the proceedings of his Britannic majesty; in which the latter is taxed with breach of faith, and almost every meanness that could stain the character of a monarch. In answer to the emperor’s decree and this virulent charge, baron Gimmengen, the electoral minister of Brunswick-Lunenbourg, presented to the diet, in November, a long memorial, recapitulating the important services his sovereign had done the house of Austria, and the ungrateful returns he had reaped, in the queen’s refusing to assist him, when his dominions were threatened with an invasion. He enumerated many instances in which she had assisted, encouraged, and even joined the enemies of the electorate, in contempt of her former engagements, and directly contrary to the constitution of the empire. He refuted every article of the charge which the French court had brought against him in their virulent libel, retorted the imputations of perfidy and ambition, and, with respect to France, justified every particular of his own conduct.
While the French and Hanoverian armies remained in their winter-quarters, the former at Zell, and the latter at Lemenbourg, divers petty enterprises were executed by detachments with various success. The Hanoverian general Juncheim, having taken post at Halberstadt and Quedlimbourg, from whence he made excursions even to the gates of Brunswick, and kept the French army in continual alarm, was visited by a large body of the enemy, who compelled him to retire to Achersleben, committed great excesses in the town of Halberstadt and its neighbourhood, and carried off hostages for the payment of contributions. General Hardenberg, another Hanoverian officer, having dislodged the French detachments that occupied Burgh, Vogelsack, and Ritterhude, and cleared the whole territory of Bremen, in the month of January the duke de Broglio assembled a considerable corps of troops that were cantoned at Ottersburg, Rothenburg, and the adjacent country, and advancing to Bremen, demanded admittance, threatening that, in case of a refusal, he would have recourse to extremities, and punish the inhabitants severely, should they make the least opposition. When their deputies waited upon him, to desire a short time for deliberation, he answered, “Not a moment—the duke de Richelieu’s orders are peremptory, and admit of no delay.” He accordingly ordered the cannon to advance; the wall was scaled, and the gates would have been forced open, had not the magistrates, at the earnest importunity of the people, resolved to comply with his demand. A second deputation was immediately despatched to the duke de Broglio, signifying their compliance; and the gates being opened, he marched into the city at midnight, after having promised upon his honour that no attempt should be made to the prejudice of its rights and prerogatives, and no outrage offered to the privileges of the regency, to the liberty, religion, and commerce of the inhabitants. This conquest, however, was of short duration. Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick being joined by a body of Prussian horse, under the command of prince George of Holstein-Gottorp, the whole army was put in motion, and advanced to the country of Bremen about the middle of February. The enemy were dislodged from Rothenburg, Ottersburg, and Verden, and they abandoned the city of Bremen at the approach of the Hanoverian general, who took possession of it without opposition.
By this time the court of Versailles, being dissatisfied with the conduct of the duke de Richelieu, had recalled that general from Germany, where his place was supplied by the count de Clermont, to the general satisfaction of the army, as well as the joy of the Hanoverian subjects, among whom Richelieu had committed many flagrant and inhuman acts of rapine and oppression. The new commander found his master’s forces reduced to a deplorable condition, by the accidents of war, and distempers arising from hard duty, severe weather, and the want of necessaries. As he could not pretend, with such a wretched remnant, to oppose the designs of prince Ferdinand in the field, or even maintain the footing which his predecessor had gained, he found himself under the necessity of retiring with all possible expedition towards the Rhine. As the allies advanced, his troops retreated from their distant quarters with such precipitation, as to leave behind all their sick, together with a great part of their baggage and artillery, besides a great number of officers and soldiers, that fell into the hands of those parties by whom they were pursued. The inhabitants of Hanover, perceiving the French intended to abandon that city, were overwhelmed with the fear of being subjected to every species of violence and abuse; but their apprehensions were happily disappointed by the honour and integrity of the duke de Randan, the French governor, who not only took effectual measures for restraining the soldiers within the bounds of the most rigid discipline and moderation, but likewise exhibited a noble proof of generosity, almost without example. Instead of destroying his magazine of provisions, according to the usual practice of war, he ordered the whole to be either sold at a low price, or distributed among the poor of the city, who had been long exposed to the horrors of famine: an act of godlike humanity, which ought to dignify the character of that worthy nobleman above all the titles that military fame can deserve, or arbitrary monarchs bestow. The regency of Hanover were so deeply impressed with a sense of his heroic behaviour on this occasion, that they gratefully acknowledged it, in a letter of thanks to him and the count de Clermont; and on the day of solemn thanksgiving to heaven for their being delivered from their enemies, the clergy, in their sermons, did not fail to celebrate and extol the charity and benevolence of the duke de Randan. Such glorious testimonies, even from enemies, must have afforded the most exquisite pleasure to a mind endued with sensibility; and this, no doubt, may be termed one of the fairest triumphs of humanity.
The two grand divisions of the French army, quartered at Zell and Hanover, retired in good order to Hamelen, where they collected all their troops, except those that were left in Hoya, and about four thousand men placed in garrison at Minden, to retard the operations of the combined army. Towards the latter end of February, prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, having received intelligence that the count de Chabot was posted with a considerable body of troops at Hoya, upon the Weser, detached the hereditary prince of Brunswick, with four battalions, and some light troops and dragoons, to dislodge them from that neighbourhood. This enterprise was executed with the utmost intrepidity. The hereditary prince passed the Weser at Bremen with part of his detachment, while the rest advanced on this side of the river: and the enemy, being attacked in front and rear, were in a little time forced, and thrown into confusion. The bridge being abandoned, and near seven hundred men taken prisoners, the count de Chabot threw himself, with two battalions, into the castle, where he resolved to support himself, in hope of being relieved. The regiment of Bretagne, and some detachments of dragoons, were actually on the march to his assistance. The hereditary prince being made acquainted with this circumstance, being also destitute of heavy artillery to besiege the place in form, and taking it for granted he should not be able to maintain the post after it might be taken, he listened to the terms of capitulation proposed by the French general, whose garrison was suffered to march out with the honours of war; but their cannon, stores, and ammunition were surrendered to the victor. This was the first exploit of the hereditary prince, whose valour and activity on many subsequent occasions shone with distinguished lustre. He had no sooner reduced Hoya, than he marched to the attack of Minden, which he invested on the fifth day of March, and on the fourteenth the garrison surrendered at discretion. After the reduction of this city, the combined army advanced towards Hamelen, where the French general had established his head-quarters; but he abandoned them at the approach of the allies, and leaving behind all his sick and wounded, with part of his magazines, retired without halting to Paderborn, and from thence to the Rhine, recalling in his march the troops that were in Embden, Cassel, and the land-graviate of Hesse, all which places were now evacuated. They were terribly harassed in their retreat by the Prussian hussars, and a body of light horse, distinguished by the name of Hanoverian hunters, who took a great number of prisoners, together with many baggage-waggons, and some artillery. Such was the precipitation of the enemy’s retreat, that they could not find time to destroy all their magazines of provision and forage; and even forgot to call in the garrison of Vecht, a small fortress in the neighbourhood of Diepholt, who were made prisoners of war, and here was found a complete train of battering cannon and mortars. The count de Clermont, having reached the banks of the Rhine, distributed his forces into quarters of cantonment in Wesel and the adjoining country, while prince Ferdinand cantoned the allied army in the bishopric of Munster; here, however, he did not long remain inactive. In the latter end of May he ordered a detachment to pass the Rhine at Duysbourg, under the command of colonel Scheither, who executed his order without loss, defeated three battalions of the enemy, and took five pieces of cannon. In the beginning of June the whole army passed the Rhine on a bridge constructed for the occasion, defeated a body of French cavalry, and obtained divers other advantages in their march towards Wesel. Keiserwaert was surprised, the greater part of the garrison either killed or taken; and prince Ferdinand began to make preparations for the siege of Dusseldorp. In the meantime, the count de Clermont, being unable to stop the rapidity of his progress, was obliged to secure his troops with strong intrenchments, until he should be properly reinforced.
The court of Versailles, though equally mortified and confounded at the turn of their affairs in Germany, did not sit tamely and behold this reverse; but exerted their usual spirit and expedition in retrieving the losses they had sustained. They assembled a body of troops at Hanau, under the direction of the prince de Soubise, who, it was said, had received orders to penetrate, by the way of Donawert, Ingoldstadt, and Arnberg, into Bohemia. In the meantime, reinforcements daily arrived in the camp of the count de Clermont; and, as repeated complaints had been made of the want of discipline and subordination in that army, measures were taken for reforming the troops by severity and example. The mareschal duke de Belleisle, who now acted as secretary at war with uncommon ability, wrote a letter, directed to all the colonels of infantry, threatening them, in the king’s name, with the loss of their regiments, should they connive any longer at the scandalous practice of buying commissions; an abuse which had crept into the service under various pretexts, to the discouragement of merit, the relaxation of discipline, and the total extinction of laudable emulation. The prince of Clermont having quitted his strong camp at Rhinefeldt, retired to Nuys, a little higher up the river, and detached a considerable corps, under the command of the count de St. Germain, to take post at Creveldt, situated in a plain between his army and the camp of the allies, which fronted the town of Meurs. After several motions on both sides, prince Ferdinand resolved to attack the enemy, and forthwith made a disposition for this purpose. He assigned the command of the whole left wing, consisting of eighteen battalions and twenty-eight squadrons, to lieutenant-general Sporcken; the conduct of the right wing, composed of sixteen battalions and fourteen squadrons, was intrusted to the hereditary prince and major-general Wangenheim; the squadrons, with the addition of two regiments of Prussian dragoons, were under the immediate direction of the prince of Holstein, while the hereditary prince commanded the infantry. The light troops, consisting of five squadrons of hussars, were divided between the prince of Holstein and lieutenant-general Sporcken. Major Luckner’s squadron, together with Scheither’s corps, were ordered to observe the flank of the enemy’s right, and with this view were posted in the village of Papendeick; and a battalion of the troops of Wolfenbuttel were left in the town of Hulste, to cover the rear of the army. Prince Ferdinand’s design was to attack the enemy on their left flank; but the execution was rendered extremely difficult by the woods and ditches that embarrassed the route, and the numerous ditches that intersected this part of the country. On the twenty-third day of June, at four in the morning, the army began to move; the right advancing in two columns as far as St. Anthony, and the left marching up within half a league of Crevelt. The prince having viewed the position of the enemy from the steeple of St. Anthony, procured guides, and having received all the necessary hints of information, proceeded to the right, in order to charge the enemy’s left flank by the villages of Worst and Anrath; but, in order to divide their attention, and keep them in suspense with respect to the nature of his principal attack, he directed the generals Sporcken and Oberg to advance against them by the way of Crevelt and St. Anthony, and, in particular, to make the most of their artillery, that, being employed in three different places at once, they might be prevented from sending any reinforcement to the left, where the chief attack was intended. These precautions being taken, prince Ferdinand, putting himself at the head of the grenadiers of the right wing, continued his march in two columns to the village of Anrath, where he fell in with an advanced party of the French, which, after a few discharges of musketry, retired to their camp and gave the alarm. In the meantime, both armies were drawn up in order of battle; the troops of the allies in the plain between the villages of Anrath and Willich, opposite to the French forces, whose left was covered with a wood. The action began about one in the afternoon, with a severe cannonading on the part of prince Ferdinand, which, though well supported, proved ineffectual in drawing the enemy from their cover; he therefore determined to dislodge them from the wood by dint of small arms. The hereditary prince immediately advanced with the whole front, and a very obstinate action ensued. Meanwhile, the cavalry on the right in vain attempted to penetrate the wood on the other side, where the enemy had raised two batteries, which were sustained by forty squadrons of horse. After a terrible fire had been maintained on both sides till five in the afternoon, the grenadiers forced the intrenchments in the wood, which were lined by the French infantry. These giving way, abandoned the wood in the utmost disorder; but the pursuit was checked by the conduct and resolution of the enemy’s cavalry, which, notwithstanding a dreadful fire from the artillery of the allies, maintained their ground, and covered the foot in their retreat to Nuys. The success of the day was in a good measure owing to the artillery on the left and in the centre, with which the generals Sporcken and Oberg had done great execution, and employed the attention of the enemy on that side, while prince Ferdinand prosecuted his attack on the other quarter. It must be owned, however, that their right wing and centre retired in great order to Nuys, though the left was defeated, with the loss of some standards, colours, and pieces of cannon, and six thousand men killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.*
* Among the French officers who lost their lives in this engagement, was the count de Gisors, only son of the mareschal duke de Belleisle, and last hope of that illustrious family, a young nobleman of extraordinary accomplishments, who finished a short life of honour in the embrace of military glory, and fell gallantly fighting at the head of his own regiment, to the inexpressible grief of his aged father, and the universal regret of his country.
This victory, however, which cost the allies about fifteen hundred men, was not at all decisive in its consequences; and, indeed, the plan seemed only calculated to display the enterprising genius of the Hanoverian general. True it is, the French army took refuge under the cannon of Cologn, where they remained without hazarding any step for the relief of Dusseldorp, which prince Ferdinand immediately invested, and in a few days reduced, the garrison being allowed to march out with the honours of war, on condition that they should not, for the space of one year, carry arms against the allies.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
It was at this period that count de Clermont resigned his command, which was conferred upon M. de Contades, and the French army was considerably reinforced. He even threatened to attack prince Ferdinand in his turn, and made some motions with that design, but was prevented by the little river Erff, behind which the prince resolved to lie quiet, until he should be joined by the body of the British troops under the command of the duke of Marlborough, the first division of which had just landed at Embden. He flattered himself that the prince of Ysembourg, at the head of the Hessian troops, would find employment for the prince de Soubise, who had marched from Hanau, with a design to penetrate into the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel: his vanguard had been already surprised and defeated by the militia of the country; and the prince Ysembourg was at the head of a considerable body of regular forces, assembled to oppose his further progress. Prince Ferdinand therefore hoped that the operations of the French general would be effectually impeded, until he himself, being joined by the British troops, should be in a condition to pass the Maese, transfer the seat of war into the enemy’s country, thus make a diversion from the Rhine, and perhaps oblige the prince de Soubise to come to the assistance of the principal French army commanded by M. de Contades. He had formed a plan which would have answered these purposes effectually, and, in execution of it, marched to Ruremond on the Maese, when his measures were totally disconcerted by a variety of incidents which he could not foresee. The prince of Ysembourg was, on the twenty-third day of July, defeated at San-garshausen by the duke de Broglio, whom the prince de Soubise had detached against him with a number of troops greatly superior to that which the Hessian general commanded. The duke de Broglio, who commanded the corps that formed the vanguard of Soubise’s army, having learned at Cassel that the Hessian troops, under the prince of Ysembourg, were retiring towards Munden, he advanced, on the twenty-third of July, with a body of eight thousand men, to the village of Sangarshausen, where he found them drawn up in order of battle, and forthwith made a disposition for the attack. At first his cavalry were repulsed by the Hessian horse, which charged the French infantry, and were broke in their turn. The Hessians, though greatly inferior in number to the enemy, made a very obstinate resistance, by favour of a rock in the Fulde that covered their right, and a wood by which their left was secured. The dispute was so obstinate, that the enemy’s left was obliged to give ground; but the duke de Broglio, ordering a fresh corps to advance, changed the fortune of the day. The Hessians, overpowered by numbers, gave way; part plunged into the river, where many perished, and part threw themselves into the wood, through which they escaped from the pursuit of the hussars, who took above two hundred soldiers and fifty officers, including the count de Canitz, who was second in command. They likewise found on the field of battle seven pieces of cannon, and eight at Munden; but the carnage was pretty considerable, and nearly equal on both sides. The number of the killed and wounded, on the side of the French, exceeded two thousand; the loss of the Hessians was not so great. The prince of Ysembourg, having collected the remains of his little army, took post at Eimbeck, where he soon was reinforced, and found himself at the head of twelve thousand men; but, in consequence of this advantage, the enemy became masters of the Weser, and opened to themselves a free passage into Westphalia.
The progress of prince Ferdinand upon the Maese, had been retarded by a long succession of heavy rains, which broke up the roads, and rendered the country impassable; and now the certain information of this unlucky check left him no alternative but a battle or a retreat across the Rhine: the first was carefully avoided by the enemy; the latter resolution, therefore, he found himself under a necessity to embrace. In his present position he was hampered by the French army on one wing, on the other by the fortress of Gueldres, the garrison of which had been lately reinforced, as well as by divers other posts, capable of obstructing the convoys and subsistence of the combined army; besides, he had reason to apprehend, that the prince de Soubise would endeavour to intercept the British troops in their march from Embden. Induced by these considerations, he determined to repass the Rhine, after having offered battle to the enemy, and made several motions for that purpose. Finding them averse to an engagement, he made his dispositions for forcing the strong pass of Waehtendonck, an island surrounded by Niers, of very difficult approach, and situated exactly in his route to the Rhine. This service was performed by the hereditary prince of Brunswick, who, perceiving the enemy had drawn up the bridge, rushed into the river at the head of his grenadiers, who drove them away with their bayonets, and cleared the bridges for the passage of the army towards Rhinebergen. At this place prince Ferdinand received intelligence that M. de Chevert, reputed one of the best officers in the French service, had passed the Lippe with fourteen battalions and several squadrons, to join the garrison of Wesel, and fall upon lieutenant-general Imhoff, who commanded a detached corps of the combined army at Meer, that he might be at hand to guard the bridge which the prince had thrown over the Rhine at Rees. His serene highness was extremely desirous of sending succours to general Imhoff; but the troops were too much fatigued to begin another march before morning; and the Rhine had overflowed its banks in such a manner as to render the bridge at Rees impassable, so that M. Imhoff was left to the resources of his own conduct and the bravery of his troops, consisting of six battalions and four squadrons, already weakened by the absence of different detachments. This general having received advice, on the fourth of August, that the enemy intended to pass the Lippe the same evening with a considerable train of artillery, in order to burn the bridge at Rees, decamped with a view to cover this place, and join two battalions which; had passed the Rhine in boats, under the command of general Zastrow, who reinforced him accordingly; but the enemy not appearing, he concluded the information was false, and resolved to resume his advantageous post at Meer. Of this he had no sooner repossessed himself, than his advanced guards were engaged with the enemy, who marched to the attack from Wesel, under the command of lieutenant-general de Chevert, consisting of the whole corps intended for the siege of Dusseldorp. Imhoffs front was covered by coppices and ditches, there being a rising ground on his right, from whence he could plainly discern the whole force that advanced against him, together with the manner of their approach. Perceiving them engaged in that difficult ground, he posted one regiment in a coppice, with orders to fall upon the left flank of the enemy, which appeared quite uncovered; and as soon as their fire began, advanced with the rest of his forces to attack them in front. The bayonet was used on this occasion, and the charge given with such impetuosity and resolution, that after a short resistance, the enemy fell into confusion, and fled towards Wesel, leaving on the spot eleven pieces of cannon, with a great number of waggons and other carriages; besides the killed and wounded, who amounted to a pretty considerable number, the victor took three hundred and fifty-four prisoners, including eleven officers; whereas, on his part the victory was purchased at a very small expense.
Immediately after this action, general Wangenheim passed the Rhine with several squadrons and battalions, to reinforce general Imhoff, and enable him to prosecute the advantage he had gained, while prince Ferdinand marched with the rest of the army to Santen: from whence he proceeded to Rhinebergen, where he intended to pass; but the river had overflowed to such a degree, that here, as well as at Rees, the shore was inaccessible; so that he found it necessary to march farther down the river, and lay a bridge at Griethuyzen. The enemy had contrived four vessels for the destruction of this bridge; but they were all taken before they could put the design in execution, and the whole army passed on the tenth day of August, without any loss or further interruption. At the same time the prince withdrew his garrison from Dusseldorp, of which the French immediately took possession. Immediately after his passage he received a letter from the duke of Marlborough, acquainting him that the British troops had arrived at Lingen, in their route to Coesfeldt: to which place general Imhoff was sent to receive them, with a strong detachment. Notwithstanding this junction, the two armies on the Rhine were so equally matched, that no stroke of importance was struck on either side during the remaining part of the campaign. M. de Contades, seeing no prospect of obtaining the least advantage over prince Ferdinand, detached prince Xaverius of Saxony with a strong reinforcement to the prince de Soubise, who had taken possession of Gottengen, and seemed determined to attack the prince of Ysembourg at Eimbeck. That this officer might be able to give him a proper reception, prince Ferdinand detached general Oberg with ten thousand men to Lipstadt, from whence, should occasion require, they might continue their march, and join the Hessians. The whole body, when thus reinforced, did not exceed twenty thousand men, of whom general Oberg now assumed the command: whereas the troops of Soubise were increased to the number of thirty thousand. The allies had taken post upon the river Fulde at Sangarshausen, where they hoped the French would attack them; but the design of Soubise was first to dislodge them from that advantageous situation. With this view, he made a motion, as if he had intended to turn the camp of the allies by the road of Munden. In order to prevent the execution of this supposed design, general Oberg decamped on the tenth of October, and, passing by the village of Landwernhagen, advanced towards Lutten-berg, where, understanding the enemy were at his heels, he forthwith formed his troops in order of battle, his right to the Fulde, and his left extending to a thicket upon an eminence, where he planted five field-pieces. The cavalry supported the wings in a third line, the village of Luttenberg was in the rear, and four pieces of cannon were mounted on a rising ground that flanked this village. The French having likewise passed Landwernhagen, posted their left towards the Fulde, their right extending far beyond the left of the allies, and their front being strengthened with above thirty pieces of cannon. At four in the afternoon the enemy began the battle with a severe cannonading, and at the same time the first line of their infantry attacked major-general Zastrow, who was posted on the left wing of the allies. This body of the French was repulsed; but in the same moment, a considerable line of cavalry advancing, charged the allies in front and flank. These were supported by a fresh body of infantry with cannon, which, after a warm dispute, obliged the confederates to give way; and general Oberg, in order to prevent a total defeat, made a disposition for a retreat, which was performed in tolerable order; not but that he suffered greatly, in passing through a defile, from the fire of the enemy’s cannon, which was brought up and managed under the direction of the duke de Broglio. Having marched through Munden by midnight, the retiring army lay till morning under arms in the little plain near Grupen, on the other side of the Weser; but at day-break prosecuted their march, after having withdrawn the garrison from Munden, until they arrived in the neighbourhood of Guntersheim, where they encamped. In this engagement general Oberg lost about fifteen hundred men, his artillery, baggage, and ammunition. He was obliged to abandon a magazine of hay and straw at Munden, and leave part of his wounded men in that place to the humanity of the victor. But, after all, the French general reaped very little advantage from his victory.