proved fatal to the interests of the queen of Hungary and the king of Sardinia. The armies of count de Gages and Don Philip, consisting of French, Spaniards, and Neapolitans, having formed a junction in the territories of that republic, from which they received a considerable reinforcement, amounted to eighty thousand men; while the Piedmontese and Austrians, under the king of Sardinia and count Schulenberg, who had been sent to supersede prince Lobkowitz, did not exceed forty-five thousand. There was no contending against such superior force.

Don Philip and Maillebois, who acted under him, hav ing succeeded the prince of Conti in the command of the French troops, obliged his Sardinian majesty and Schulenberg to retire beyond the Tanaro. Count de Gages invested and took Tortona, while the duke of Modena made himself master of Parma and Placentia. The city of Pavia was taken by assault, and Milan itself was forced to surrender, though the citadel continued to hold out.

Pushing his advantages, Don Philip passed the Tana ro, and compelled the Austrian and Piedmontese armies. to take shelter behind the Po. He reduced Valenza, Casal, Asti, Gabrano, and even Vienne, only twenty miles north-east of Turin: and the king of Sardinia was so apprehensive of his capital being bombarded, that he posted his army within cover of its cannon, and ordered the pave ment of the streets to be taken up. But Don Philip, instead of undertaking such an arduous enterprize, closed the campaign with a triumphant entry into Milan48.

The house of Bourbon and their allies were no less successful in other quarters. Lewis XV. had two leading objects in view; to obstruct the election of the grand duke, and to complete the conquest of Flanders. He ac cordingly assembled two great armies: one on the Maine under the prince of Conti, in order to prevent the queen

48. Voltaire. Millot.

of

of Hungary from employing a superior force against the king of Prussia, to over-awe the deliberations of the electors at Frankfort; the other, consisting of seventy-six thousand men, commanded by count Saxe, under whom the duke de Noailles condescended to serve as first aid-de-camp, invested Tournay, one of the strongest towns in the Austrian-Netherlands, and the most important in the Dutch barrier49. The king and the dauphin appeared in the camp, and animated by their presence the operations of the besiegers. The allied army amounted only to fiftythree thousand men; yet with these it was resolved to attempt the relief of Tournay. The Hanoverian and British troops were commanded by the duke of Cumberland, a brave but unexperienced young prince. The Austrians were conducted by old count Konigseg; and the Dutch by the prince of Waldeck, as young and inexperienced as the duke of Cumberland.

Mareschal Saxe, who, to a natural genius for war joined a profound knowledge of the military art, was no sooner informed of the purpose of the confederates, than he made the most masterly dispositions for receiving them. The French army was posted on a rising ground, with the vil lage of Antoine, near the Escaut, on its right; the wood of Barry on its left, and in front the village of Fontenoy. In the wood, and at both these villages, were erected form.idable batteries of heavy cannon, and the intermediate space was farther defended by strong redoubts. The confeder ates, however, who had but imperfectly reconnoitred the situation of the enemy, rashly persisted in their resolution of hazarding an attack. Nor were the French without their apprehensions of its consequences, from the known valour of the British troops. The bridge of Colonne, over which the king had passed the Escaut, was accordingly fortified with entrenchments, and occupied by a stout body of reserve,

49. The sovereignty of the barrier-towns belonged to the house of Austria; but they were garrisoned with Dutch troops, for the support of which the states were permitted, by the treaty of Utrecht, to levy certain impositions on the inhabitants.

VOL. V.

T

in

And to

in order to secure him a retreat, if necessary". this necessity he must have been driven, had the British troops been properly supported, and the duke of Cumberland's orders duly executed.

The allies were in motion by two o'clock in the morning, and the cannonading began as soon as it was light. By nine, both armies were engaged, and the action APRIL SO. lasted till three in the afternoon. Never was there a more desperate or gallant attack than that made by the British infantry, commanded by the duke of Cumberland in person, assisted by sir John Ligonier. Though the fire from the enemy's batteries was so heavy, that it swept off whole ranks at a single discharge, they continued to advance, as if they had been invulnerable, and drove the French infantry beyond their lines. The French cavalry in vain endeavoured to stop their progress. Forming themselves. into a column, they bore down every thing before them, and baffled every effort to put them into disorder. The village of Antoine was evacuated; and mareschal Saxe, concluding that all was lost, sent advice to the king to provide for his safety, by repassing the bridge of Colonne. But Lewis XV. who did not want personal courage, sensible that such a step would give a decided victory to the allies, refused to quit his post. His firmness saved his army from ruin and disgrace.

Ashamed to desert their sovereign, the French infantry returned to the charge; the cavalry renewed their efforts; and other circumstances contributed to give a turn to the battle. The Dutch, under the prince of Waldeck, having failed in an attack upon the village of Fontenoy, which valour might have rendered successful, had shamefully left the field. An English and Hanoverian detachment, under brigadier Ingoldsby, had also miscarried, through mistake, in a practicable attempt to take possession of a redoubt at the corner of the wood of Barry, and immediately opposite 51. Voltaire, ubi sup.

50. Voltaire, Siecle Louis XV. chap xv.

Fontenoy;

Fontenoy; so that the British cavalry, by the cross fire of the enemy's cannon, were prevented from coming up to the support of the infantry52. This victorious body, now assailed on all sides, fatigued with incessant firing, and galled by some field-pieces unexpectedly planted in front, was therefore obliged to retire, with the loss of seven thousand men, after having successfully routed almost every regiment in the French army53. The loss of the Hanoverians, who behaved gallantly, was also very great, in proportion to their numbers, but that of the Dutch and Austrians inconsiderable.

The French had near ten thousand men killed, and, among these, many persons of distinction; yet was their joy at their good fortune extravagantly high. Their exultation in the hour of triumph, seemed to bear a proportion to the danger they had been in of a defeat. The princes of the blood embraced one another on the field of battle and dissolved in tears of mutual congratulation54. They had, indeed, much reason to be satisfied with their victory, which was followed by the most important consequences. For, although the duke of Cumberland had led off his troops in good order, and without losing either colours or standards, the allies were never afterward able, during the campaign, to face the enemy; but lay entrench

52. Id. ibid.

53." All the regiments,” says Voltaire, who is very circumstantial in his account of this battle," presented themselves one after another; and "the English column facing them on all sides, repulsed every regiment "that advanced." (Siecle Louis. XV. chap. xv.)" From the moment the "French and Swiss guards were routed," adds he, "there was nothing

but astonishment and confusion throughout the French army. Mareschal "Saxe ordered the cavalry to fall upon the English column; but their "efforts were attended with little effect against a body of infantry so unit"ed, so disciplind, and so intrepid." (Id. ibid.) "If the Dutch" con"tinued he," had passed the redoubts that lay between Fontenoy and An"toine: if they had given proper assistance to the English, no resource "had been left for the French; not even a rereat perhaps for the king and "the dauphin." Siecle, ubi sup. 54. Voltaire. Millot,

ed,

ed, between Antwerp and Brussels, while mareschal Saxe and count Louendahl reduced, by stratagem or force, Tournay, Oudenarde, Ath, Dendermond, Ghent, Ostend, Newport, and every other fortified place, in Austrian-Flanders.

But the king of France, though so highly favoured by fortune, was not able to prevent the queen of Hungary from obtaining the great object of her wishes, in the elevation of her husband to the Imperial throne. The French army on the Maine, under the prince of Conti, who had superseded Maillebois in the command, not being able to face the Austrians under Bathiani, the electors assembled in perfect security at Frankfort, and raised to the head of the empire the grand-duke of Tuscany, under the name of Francis I. Meanwhile the king of Prussia gained two bloody victories over the Austrians under the prince of Lorrain: one near Fridburg, on the confines of Silesia, the other at Slandentz, in Bohemia. And not satisfied with these advan tages, though he had already entered into a pacific convention with his Britannic majesty at Hanover, he invaded Saxony, and made himself master of Dresden.

SEPT. 13.

The king of Poland now found himself under the necessity of suing for peace, and the king of Prussia was heartily tired of the war. A treaty was accordingly concluded at Dresden, between Augustus III.

DEC. 14.

as elector of Saxony, and Frederic III. by which Augustus agreed to pay to his Prussian majesty, for the evacuation of his hereditary dominions, one million of German crowns at the next fair of Leipsic. Another treaty, confirming that of Breslaw, was at the same time concluded between the king of Prussia and the queen of Hungary. This treaty secured to Frederic III. the pos session of Silesia, on condition of his acknowledging the validity of the emperor's election. The elector Palatine, who was included in the latter treaty, also consented to make the same acknowledgment55.

55. Tindal's Contin. vol. ix. Smollett, yol. xi.

These