24

Ch. 33.

1793

DESOLATION OF STRASBURG.

arrived from Paris. The Royalists at Strasburg were immediately put to death, together with every member of the Municipality. Not only the town, but the whole province, was laid under contribution. Many of the unoffending inhabitants were murdered, and nearly fifty thousand persons were driven, or fled into the German provinces on the Upper Rhine. A great army was formed on the Moselle; one division of which was commanded by Hoche, and the other by Pichegru. The Allies, having thus sacrificed Strasburg, laid siege to Landau; and the Austrian General Wurmser issued a proclamation, inviting the terrified and helpless Alsatians to renounce the dominion of France, and rejoin the Empire, to which Alsace had formerly belonged, in pursuance of the Treaty of Westphalia. This proclamation had nearly caused an open rupture between the Austrians and Prussians. The immediate result was that the siege of Landau was raised. The Prussians fell back, and the Allied armies no longer acted in concert. The enemy, united, and full of ardour, took prompt advantage of their dissensions; and, after a series of engagements, in which the losses on both sides were enormous, the Prussians retreated upon Mentz; the Austrians, finally abandoning Landau, evacuated the French territory; and, re-crossing the Rhine, encamped the shattered remains of their army under the guns of Mannheim and Philipsburg. At the end of the year, the great allied army of the Rhine

SELFISHNESS OF THE ALLIES.

Ch. 33.

retained possession only of their original conquest, the fortress of Mentz. The campaign was creditable to the discipline and bravery of the troops. They were engaged in numerous pitched battles, and in arduous military service of every kind; yet, had the conduct of the generals been equal to the courage and constancy of their soldiers, it is doubtful whether a different fortune would have attended the campaign. It was not by superior military skill that the Allies were worsted; the leaders of the Republican armies were seldom successful in their manœuvres. Wurmser, the Austrian General, was quite equal to the Hoches and the Pichegrus, who were sent against him. He was a veteran well versed in the arts of the old German school of war; and in the terrible campaign, when Napoleon led the army of Italy, Wurmser was his most respectable opponent. The Duke of Brunswick, though wanting in the higher moral qualities of decision and firmness, was an officer of skill and reputation. But while the German Sovereigns made the common cause subordinate to their own selfish objects, and were more jealous of the aggrandisement of each other than of the progress of the common foe, it was in vain that they contended against a great military people, defending their own soil, led, or driven on, by desperate men, conscious of inexpiable crimes, and animated by a mingled fear and hatred of their adversaries. Had prompt and effectual support been given to the Vendéans and the Lyonese, it is

1793

25

26

1793

BRITISH PROCEEDINGS.

Ch. 33. highly probable that a general insurrection would have welcomed the foreign armies, which came to deliver the French nation from the ignoble bondage in which it was held. But the fate of these generous rebels, abandoned, almost without an effort, to the vengeance of their infuriated tyrants, deterred others from following their example; while the baseness of the Austrians, in taking advantage of the helpless condition of a kinsman and ally, to despoil him of his dominions, under pretence of coming to his aid, revolted every lover of his country, and made him think that before he sought his deliverance from domestic thraldom, it behoved him to expel the foreign invader.

Captures in the West Indies.

In accordance with this brief summary of warlike operations, it remains only to notice the further proceedings of the British Government in the prosecution of the war. They were few and unimportant. In accordance with the precedents of wars with France, and, apparently from no other motive, an expedition was sent to the West Indies. Tobago was taken after a slight resistance. St. Pierre and Miquelon, which were defended neither by fortifications nor soldiers, yielded when summoned. An attack on Martinque failed; and a more ambitious attempt on St. Domingo was partially successful; a few forts were surrendered to the English; but not meeting with the co-operation which they had been led to expect from the Royalist inhabitants, they could not obtain a firm footing in that extensive island.

AFFAIRS IN INDIA.

1793

In the East Indies, the Governments of Bengal Ch. 33. and Madras took possession of the French factories. Pondicherry alone was in a condition to make any resistance; but after a short siege, the French Commandant was compelled to surrender at discretion.

27

first campaign.

Thus terminated the first year of a war in which End of the the three greatest powers in Europe were arrayed against France. A few minor fortresses on the frontiers of the Netherlands and a single town on the Rhine, were all the conquests which vast armies could achieve, with a lavish profusion of blood and treasure. Early in the campaign, jealousies sprung up between the two German Powers, frustrated their military plans, and ended in a premature dissolution of their alliance; while the French, distracted by domestic anarchy and treason, having entered upon the war with the energy of desperation, were already exulting in victory, and forming schemes for the chastisement of their insolent foes. England, though as yet she could boast of no brilliant, or even useful, achievement, had cherished no designs of aggrandisement; but had acted loyally in behalf of the cause for which she took up arms. It was, indeed, the desire of the British Government to adhere strictly and literally to the ground of their declaration; accordingly, the Duke of York was ordered to remain on the defensive in Holland; and his taking part in the siege of Valenciennes was without the orders of his Government, and contrary to the tenor of his

28

Ch. 33.

1793

DISASTROUS SIEGE OF DUNKIRK.

instructions. The siege of Dunkirk, the principal operation in which the British forces were particularly engaged, was undertaken rashly, and ended disastrously. Had it been completely successful, it would have been utterly useless. If the few troops which England was then prepared to send out, instead of being despatched in fruitless enterprises, had been employed in aiding the French people at those points where they had risen against their tyrants, the fate of France and Europe might have been changed. Timely reinforcements might have saved Toulon and La Vendée; but while the flower of the English army were rotting in the trenches before Dunkirk, or lodged in the mole of Domingo, a few Hessians were considered sufficient to relieve the terrible exigency of Toulon ; and the noblest people that ever rose in the cause of freedom were left to perish in their agony for want of timely succour.

On the part of the French, the war was conducted, at all points, with the utmost vigour and ability, at the time when Civil Government was nearly extinguished amidst the strife of faction in the capital. The Girondists, clever and accomplished, but with little knowledge of mankind, or the art of Government, had dreamed of a Republic, in which eloquence, and a fantastic profession of public virtue, were to guide the fortunes of the State. But they had neither skill nor courage to

& Sir J. B. BURGESS's Notes.-Locker MSS.