BOOK IV. the advantage of their commerce, and with an 1701. assurance of perpetual amity from the Most Second Grand Alliance. Christian king-The ambassador expressed the astonishment of his master, that the States should confound the interests of the emperor with those of the republic, and erect themselves into arbiters between the houses of France and Austriaand that they should even resolve in favor of the latter, to break those treaties which the republic had hitherto regarded as the confirmation, or rather the seal, of her sovereignty." Notwithstanding the earnest desire expressed by the States, onthe presentation of this memorial, to resume the conferences, the ambassador, in consequence of positive orders from his court, left the Hague, August 13 (1701), after paying the customary compliments to the States General, but without noticing the king of England or any of his court. Matters were now considered on both sides as having come to a crisis; and on the 7th September a new treaty of alliance, generally styled the second grand alliance, was signed between the emperor and the maritime powers, to which all kings, princes and states were invited to accede, for procuring satisfaction to the house of Austria in respect to the Spanish succession, and more particularly for recovering the Spanish Netherlands to be a barrier between Holland and 1701. France, as likewise the Spanish dominions in BOOK IV. *The words of the treaty are: "Neutri partium fas est, bello semel suscepto, de pace cum hoste tractare nisi conjunctim, et communicatis consiliis." Europe might indeed at this period reasonably be alarmed at the progress of the Gallic greatness. For more than half a century past she had been more or less a gainer by every treaty in which her name had appeared as a party. By the treaty of Westphalia or Munster, A. D. 1648, she acquired the Upper and Lower Alsace, and the three bishopricks of Metz, Toul, and Verdan, with their dependencies. By that of the Pyrénées, 1659, the whole of the province of Artois, excepting Aire and St. Omer, together with Gravelines, Landreci, Quesnoy, Thionville, Montmedi, &c. with their respective fiefs and appendages; also the county of Rousillon, with that part of Cedagne situated en deçà des Pyrénées." She had at different times usurped a great proportion of the important duchy of Lorraine; and by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1668, she gained Douay, Tournay, Lisle, Armentiers, St Venox, and Furnes, with the baillages, chatelanies, and territories thereunto pertaining. By the treaty of Nimeguen, 1678, she secured the whole of that BOOK IV. Even previous to the conclusion of this treaty, Transac tions in Italy. hostilities had actually commenced on the part of Military the emperor with a spirit and success wholly unexpected. A numerous army had been assembled early in the summer by the court of Vienna on the Italian frontier, the command of which was conferred upon prince Eugene of Savoy, so celebrated since the victory of Zenta. This general, entering Italy by the route of Vicenza, made a feint of passing the Po near Ferrara; and while the enemy were thus amused, he crossed the Adige (July 1701), and attacked and totally defeated a large body of troops posted at Carpi. The French and Piedmontese army, commanded by maréchal de Catinat and the duke of Savoy in person, retiring beyond the Mincio, the imperial general passed that river also in pursuit of them: and M. de Catinat, who acted under the restraint of an absurd defensive system, transmitted, province of the antient duchy of Burgundy, known by the appellation of Franche Comté, comprehending the cities of Dol, Besançon, Salines, Vesoul, &c. and more than 120 towns and villages; also the fortresses of Valenciennes, Bouchaine, Condé, Cambray, St. Omer, Ypres, Maubeuge, &c. &c, with their extensive dependencies; and by the treaty of Ryswick, 1697, the city of Strasburg, with its contiguous district or demesne on the left of the Rhine. All these were the acquisitions of a single reign; and, what seemed still more extraordinary, they were made in opposition to and defiance of the utmost efforts of almost all the other great powers of Europe acting in conjunction against her. to him from Versailles, making dispositions to BOOK IV. cover the Milanese, was astonished to find that 1701. the imperialists had, by a rapid movement on the opposite side, suddenly over-run the Mantuan, reduced the fortress of Castiglione, and laid the country under contribution. The court of Versailles, not comprehending the cause of these disasters determined to supersede M. Catinat, and to appoint as his successor M. de Villeroy, who had been particularly severe in his censures of that able commander, as haying, by his inactivity and supineness, sacrificed the honor of France. The rashness, vanity, and ignorance of the new general quickly produced the consequences which might be expected. M. Catinat, who still remained in the army, though in a subordinate capacity, received M. Villeroy's orders on the 29th August, to commence an attack on the imperialists, then encamped in an impregnable position at Chiari on Battle of the Oglio. He caused the aid de camp to repeat his message three times; after which he turned to the officers about him, and said " Allons donc messieurs, il faut obéir." During the fight the duke of Savoy, whose fidelity was somewhat suspected, displayed heroic bravery, and M. Catinat, who saw that success was impossible, seemed prodigal of life. The French were repulsed with prodigious slaughter, and M. Vil Chiari. 1701. BOOK IV leroy, destitute of all presence of mind, made no effort to save the wreck of his troops. M. Catinat at length, though wounded, gave the necessary orders for a retreat. Immediately after this engagement he resigned his commission, and repaired to Paris to vindicate his character from the imputations so unjustly thrown upon it. But it was remarked of this military philosopher, that in doing this he abstained from all reflections on the conduct of the Duc de Villeroy, whose presumption had thus occasioned the loss of 5000 men and the French army, being farther reduced by sickness and dispirited by defeat, retired early into their destined quarters. But prince Eugene kept his troops in almost constant motion during the whole of the winter, and was so successful in all his enterprises as to keep the French in perpetual alarm. Maréchal de Villeroy having fixed his head quarters at Cremona, which commands a bridge over the Po the prince formed, in the month of January 1702, a design to surprise the town. He conducted in person a strong detachment of troops from the Oglio, and ordered another corps from the Parmesan to force at the same time the passage of the bridge. Marching in profound silence and secrecy through the ruins of an old aqueduct, he gained possession of one of the gates of the city. M. de Villeroy, being awakened on the sudden, |