and in June, 1690, a general engagement took place at Fleurus, in which Luxemburg, by a display of great military talents, obtained the advantage; the confederate army being compelled to retreat with the lofs of 7 or 8000 men. The cavalry of the allies in this engagement behaved ill, and, having been once discomfited, could never be brought to rally but the infantry did wonders, and, deferted as they were, refifted all attacks, and at length quitted the field in fuch admirable order, that the duke of Luxemburg in rapture exclaimed, "that they furpaffed the Spanish foot at the battle of Rocroy. The prince of Waldeck," faid he, "ought ever to remember the French horse; and I shall never forget the Dutch infantry.”

Early in the present year (1690), the archduke Joseph had been unanimously elected king of the Romans, in conformity to the eager wishes of the emperor. The duke of Lorraine being now no more, the command of the Imperial army on the Rhine was conferred on the elector of Bavaria; and the French were conducted by the Dauphin : but the campaign on this fide was merely and mutually defenfive, and its operations too unimportant to relate. An inroad was a fecond time, made by M. de Noailles into Catalonia; but at the approach of the winter he abandoned , his conquests and retired to Roufillon.

Before the king of England had taken the field, in the spring of 1691, and even while the congrefs was still fitting at the Hague, the French fuddenly invested the city of Mons, which the prince of Waldeck attempted in vain to relieve. And the marechal de Luxemburg was on his march to surprise Bruffels, when the king of England put himself at the head of the allied army, by this time confeffedly superior to that of the enemy, and effectually covered Bruffels from attack; after which he sent a detachment to the relief of Liege, threatened by marechal Boufflers. The king, now paffing the Sambre, tried all poffible means to bring the enemy to a battle, exhausting

his

his invention in marches, counter-marches, and ftratagems; but, being in every attempt disappointed by the fkill and caution of Luxemburg, he reinquifhed 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. But on the fide of Italy, M. de Catinat made himself master of Montalban, Villa Franca, Nice, and Carmagnola, a place not more than nine miles diftant from Turin. He then invested the ftrong fortrefs of Coni, fituated on the summit of a steep and craggy mountain, and defended by a numerous garrison. At this critical period the king of England fent to the affiftance of the duke of Savoy a body of auxiliary troops commanded by a very able officer, the the duke of Schomberg, fon of the late famous marechal Schomberg, preceded by a welcome and seasonable supply of money. A refolution 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 emi-nence, was detached upon this hazardous expedition; which he executed with fuch addrefs, that M. Bulonde, who directed the operations of the fiege, after lofing a great number of men before the walls, raised it in extreme hafte and confufion, leaving being him large quantities of ftores, and feveral pieces of artillery. Prince Eugene then attacked and captured Carmagnola, and obliged M. Catinat to retire with his whole army beyond the Po. At this intelligence the court of Verfailles was ftruck with great aftonishment. Louvois appeared inconfolable; and shedding or pretending to fhed tears when he related thefe difafters to the king, Louis told him with calmnefs. "That he was fpoiled by good fortune." At the end of the campaign, nevertheless, M. de Catinat again retrieved his reputation, and in fome degree his fuperiority, by taking the town and castle of Montmelian.

Although

Although the emperor had been repeatedly and feriously exhorted by the diet to conclude peace with the Turks, in order to carry on the war with greater effect against France; and the grand feignor had himself requested the mediation of England for that purpofe; yet the tide of fuccefs which had attended the Imperial arins in Hungary fince the defeat of the Turks at Vienna incited him to profecute the war, with the hope of adding each year fomething farther to his conquefts. He was well pleased that the war in Flanders and on the Rhine fhould be carried on at the expence of England, Holland and the empire, while he was making fuch confiderable acquifitions of power and territory in the provinces bordering on the Danube. Hatred of herefy and hatred of France being his ruling paffions, he deemed himself in some sense a gainer whichever side should lofe. Prince Louis of Baden had fucceeded to the duke of Lorraine in the command of the Imperial armies in Hungary, and acquired fuddenly a moft fplendid reputation by defeating the Turks during the course of the campaign of 1689, in three fucceffive engagements, and taking the towns of Niffa, Widin, &c. His career of victory was, however, for a time impeded by the efforts of the grand vizier Kuiperli, lineally defcended from the two former celebrated viziers of the fame name; who alone had given to the Ottoman empire, fince its foundation, the example of a family powerful and illuftrious for fucceffive generations. This able ftatesman and general, during the short term of his command, recovered Belgrade ; and infused a new spirit into the Turkish armies. After giving a ftriking proof what great things may be effected in a very short time by a man of extraordinary virtues and talents, he loft his life, A. D. 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 perfevere in the pro

fecution

fecution of a war, in the courfe of which he had rifen from a ftate of the lowest political depreffion to fo exalted an height of fortune. The apprehenfions of his Imperial majefty respecting the defection of his great ally the king of Poland, who was married to a French princefs, and whofe fentiments in relation to the object of the Augsburg confederacy had been regarded as somewhat doubtful, were now also happily removed. «Having," fays 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 Auftrian pride had ever refused to the elective kings of Poland the title of Majefty" and being glad to hear that your Serenity is fending to us an envoy plenipotentiary; we have now thought fit, at the inftance 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 favour their abettors, adherents and confederates, the French; or to affist directly or indirectly their defigns-but amicably and brotherly to defire you, on our part, and in the name of the empire, to take fuch measures and refolutions with the whole republic of Poland, that, proceeding with united councils and forces, the horrid perfidiousness of France may be punished, and a firm and lasting peace at length established in Chriftendom."-And concluding in a ftyle of unprecedented condefcenfion, he fays, "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 epiftle; and the Poles and Venetians continuing faithful to the league

against

against the infidels; the emperor ftill indulged fanguine hopes of new victories and conquefts, and fuffered himself to be amused and flattered by the circle of courtiers and parafites with the fplendid dream of advancing to Conftantinople, and of fubverting the Turkish empire in Europe.

Towards the close of the autumn, 1691, king William returned to England, the parliament being fummoned to meet on the 22d of October. The speech from the throne recommended in ftrong terms the vigorous profecution of the war. Loyal addreffes and great supplies were voted as usual; but the nation at large was much disappointed and chagrined at the ill fuccefs of the laft campaign: and the more enlightened part of the public began extremely to doubt the policy of continuing the continental war at so enormous an expence and with fo little effect. It was faid, that the confederacy of continental princes, if they refolutely exerted their powers, was fully equal to check the ambitious projects of France; that England had but a remote and fecondary intereft in these contentions; that the emperor, depending on the strength and resources of Great Britain, purfued his victories in Hungary, apparently forgetful that he was himself the head of the league of Augsburg, and the chief of the grand alliance, It would have coft lefs," fays lord Delamere in his famous pamphlet styled Impartial Enquiry, &c. " than the money given, to have sent out yearly a royal fleet of an hundred fail for our defence and glory. This alone had fecured Europe from French tyranny, had given fafety and peace to England, and made all nations court our friendship. Surely these things could not have been forgotten, having been fo lately proved by thofe who pursued this course, who were without right and title to the government, and yet were submitted to by all the world. But, on the contrary, thefe advifers must needs understand, that when they counfelled the king to war against France at land, it must be upon very unequal terms both of expence and hazard.-Can we hope this fummer, or the

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