BOOK I. ter-marches, and stratagems; but, being in every 1691. attempt disappointed by the skill and caution of

Luxemburg, he relinquished the command to the prince of Waldeck, and retired in September to Loo. The campaign on the Rhine, where the elector of Saxony this year commanded, was equally inactive. In Catalonia, the duc de Noailles again renewed his unavailing incursions. Successes of But on the side of Italy, M. de Catinat made Catinat in himself master of Montalban, Villa Franca, Nice,

Marechal

Italy.

and Carmagnola, a place not more than nine miles distance from Turin. He then invested the strong fortress of Coni, situated on the summit of a steep and craggy mountain, and defended by a numerous garrison. At this critical period the king of England sent to the assistance of the duke of Savoy a body of auxiliary troops, commanded by a very able officer, the duke of Schomberg, son of the late famous maréchal Schomberg, preceded by a welcome and seasonable supply of money. A resolution being taken, in pursuance of the advice given by the new general, to attempt the relief of Coni, a large body of troops under the command of prince Eugene of Savoy, then rising into military eminence, was detached upon this hazardous expedition: which he executed with such address, that M. Bulonde, who directed the operations of the siege, after losing a great number of men before

BOOK I.

1691.

Fortune.

the walls, raised it in extreme haste and confusion, leaving behind him large quantities of stores and several pieces of artillery. Prince Eugene then attacked and captured Carmagnola, and obliged Reverse of M. Catinat to retire with his whole army beyond the Po. At this intelligence the court of Versailles was struck with great astonishment. Louvois appeared inconsolable; and shedding, or pretending to shed, tears when he related these disasters to the king, Louis told him with calmness, "that he was spoiled by good fortune." At the end of the campaign, nevertheless, M. de Catinat again retrieved his reputation, and in some degree his superiority, by taking the town and castle of Montmelian.

Policy of

ror.

Although the emperor had been repeatedly and Insidious seriously exhorted by the diet to conclude peace the Empe with the Turks, in order to carry on the war with greater effect against France; and the grand seignor had himself requested the mediation of England for that purpose; yet the tide of success which had attended the imperial arms in Hungary since the defeat of the Turks at Vienna incited him to prosecute the war, with the hope of adding each year something farther to his conquests. He was well pleased that the war in Flanders and on the Rhine should be carried on at the expence of England, Holland, and the Empire, while he was making such considerable acquisitions of power and territory in the provinces bordering on the Da

BOOK I. nube. Hatred of heresy and hatred of France 1691. being his ruling passions, he deemed himself in some sense a gainer whichever side should lose. Prince Louis of Baden had succeeded to the duke

of Lorraine in the command of the imperial arCampaign mies in Hungary, and acquired suddenly a most

inHungary. splendid reputation by defeating the Turks during

the course of the campaign of 1689, in three successive engagements, and taking the towns of Nissa, Widin, &c. His career of victory was, however, for a time impeded by the efforts of the grand vizier Kuiperli, lineally descended from the two former celebrated viziers of the same name; who alone had given to the Ottoman empire, since its foundation, the example of a family powerful and illustrious for successive generations. This able statesman and general, during the short term of his command, recovered Belgrade, and infused a new spirit into the Turkish armies. After giving a striking proof what great things may be efSuccesses of fected in a very short time by a man of extraorof Baden. dinary virtues and talents, he lost his life, A. D.

the Prince

1691, gloriously fighting in an engagement with the Germans, commanded by the Prince of Baden, at Salankaman on the Danube. His death was followed, as might be expected, by a total defeat of the Turkish army; and the emperor was now anew prompted to persevere in the prosecution of a war, in the course of which he

had risen from a state of the lowest political de- BOOK I. pression to so exalted a height of fortune. The 1691. apprehensions of his imperial majesty respecting the defection of his great ally the king of Poland, who was married to a French princess, and whose sentiments in relation to the object of the Augsburg confederacy had been regarded as somewhat doubtful, were now also happily removed. "Having," says the emperor, in a letter written by him to the king of Poland, dated March 18, 1689, "for what concerns a speedy and honorable peace with the Turks, already declared in our former letters our sentiments to your serenity" for the Austrian pride had ever refused to the elective kings of Poland the title of majesty and being glad to hear that your serenity is sending to us an envoy plenipotentiary; we have now thought fit, at the instance of the states of the Empire, and out of the fraternal confidence we have in your serenity, to write this; not that we think your serenity wants to be exhorted to prefer the friendship which for so many ages has continued without interruption between us, the Roman empire, and the crown of Poland, before the machinations of France; or that your serenity, after having fought so gloriously against the common enemy of Christendom, can now be induced to favor their abettors, adherents, and confederates, the French; or to assist

BOOK 1. directly or indirectly their designs-but amicably 1691. and brotherly to desire you, on our part, and in the name of the Empire, to take such measures and resolutions with the whole republic of Poland, that, proceeding with united counsels and forces, the horrid perfidiousness of France may be punished, and a firm and lasting peace at length established in Christendom."-And concluding in a style of unprecedented condescension, he says, "We doubt not your MAJESTY will return us an answer agreeable to our mutual friendship." A favorable answer being received from the king of Poland to this epistle; and the Poles and Venetians continuing faithful to the league against the infidels; the emperor still indulged sanguine hopes of new victories and conquests, and suffered himself to be amused and flattered by the circle of courtiers and parasites with the splendid dream of advancing to Constantinople, and of subverting the Turkish empire in Europe.

Parliament.

Towards the close of the autumn 1691, king Session of William returned to England, the parliament being summoned to meet on the 22d of October. The speech from the throne recommended in strong terms the vigorous prosecution of the war. Loyal addresses and great supplies were voted as usual but the nation at large was much disappointed and chagrined at the ill success of the