without molestation, and drew up in order of BOOK V. battle on the other side. So unaccountably su- 1704. pine, or inexcusably presumptuous, were the French commanders on this occasion, that they suffered even the second line of cavalry to form without descending from the heights of which they were in possession, into the meadows, which occupied the interval between the camp and the rivulet. On being informed that the allies were throwing bridges over different parts of the stream, M. Tallard disdainfully replied, "If they have not pontoons enough, I will lend them some." The allies now ascending the hill in a firm compacted body, the enemy advanced with great spirit and resolution, and a furious and bloody contest ensued. The centre of the French army having been extremely weakened in consequence of the great force stationed at Bleinheim, they were at length overpowered; and giving way on all sides in extreme confusion, M. Tallard made an effort to gain the bridge thrown over the Danube, between Bleinheim and Hochstedt; but, being closely pursued, vast numbers were either killed or forced into the river, and the maréchal himself was made a prisoner. The troops inclosed in the village of Bleinheim, being now left destitute of support, were obliged to surrender at discretion. On the right, where prince Eugene commanded, though the success was not BOOK V. So decisive, the elector and M. Marsin were com→ 1704. pelled, after a severe conflict, to retreat in confu sion, and with very great loss: and, upon the whole, this was one of the most complete and important victories ever gained. The French force. in Germany was in effect annihilated. Exclusive of the prodigious carnage during the heat of the action, seventy entire squadrons and battalions were either captured at Bleinheim or drowned in the Danube; and the shattered remains of their army, after the loss of 40,000 veteran troops*, were utterly incapable of making head *This number is not exaggerated. The duke of Marlborough, in a letter to the duke of Shrewsbury, dated from the camp at Sefelingen, near Ulm, August 30, 1704, says "By several letters intercepted going from the enemy's camp at Duttingen to Paris, they own that this battle has cost them upwards of 40,000 men killed, prisoners, and by the desertion since, upon their hasty march or rather flight, towards the Rhine."SOMERVILLE'S Appendix. In speaking of this famous battle, M. Voltaire fairly says, "the French army was almost entirely destroyed: of 60,000 men, so long-victorious, not more than 20,000 could be reassembled. The news of this defeat arrived at Paris in the midst of public rejoicings, on the birth of a son of the duke of Burgundy. No one dared communicate to the king intelligence so terrible. Madame Maintenon at length took upon her to inform the monarch that he had ceased to be invincible. Astonishment and consternation," says this historian, "seized the court of Versailles, so long accustomed to prosperity. M. Villars, then employed in the Cevennes, having received a let 1704. against the victors. This day entirely changed BOOK V. the aspect of affairs in Europe. France was no longer formidable. After her long succession of triumphs, she now experienced a fatal and sudden. reverse of fortune, by which she was overwhelmed with amazement and consternation. The danger and difficulty of this attack, on a Superior army thus advantageously posted, was represented to the duke in strong colours by several of the general officers. But he told them, "he had weighed these objections in his mind, and he foresaw that inaction would be no less fatal than defeat-the empire was not to be saved without effort, and the attempt, however hazardous, was necessary." It appears that this great commander, perceiving the crisis to which ter written on the eve of the battle, and describing the situation of the adverse armies, declared that if M. Tallard ventured to give battle in that position, his defeat was inevitable*." M. de Feuquieres enumerates a whole catalogue of errors with which M. Tallard was on this occasion chargeable. The two fundamental ones seem to have been the weakening of his force by shutting up 12,000 men in the village of Bleinheim, and the great space interposed between the two wings of his army, so that the English general was enabled to penetrate between them, and completely surround the right of the French, commanded by the marshal in person, and then to cut off all communication between the marshal and the great body of troops inclosed in the village of Bleinheim. * Histoire Generale, vol. v. p. 281. BOOK V. matters had now arrived, knowing the fate of Eu1704. rope to be depending, and inflamed with that en thusiastic love and ambition of glory which constitute the hero, had determined to conquer or to die. On the eve of the battle he had, agreeably to that regard to religion which was a remarkable trait in his general character, devoted himself to the Almighty in the presence of his chaplain, and received the holy sacrament; and in the morning he was observed to be inspired with an extraordinary cheerfulness and alacrity, which diffused itself over the whole confederate army, who marched as if in confidence of victory. The most singular part of this business was the unconditional surrender of the forty battalions and squadrons posted at Bleinheim, and commanded by M. Clerambault, an officer of great reputed skill and courage. Maréchal Villars, in a letter written by him to his friend the abbé de St. Pierre, speaks not merely of this surrender itself in terms of the highest indignation, but even of the compassion expressed for the unfortunate captives. "These sentiments," says he, "are very little like those of the antient Romans after the battle of Cannæ. What could they do better? say some silly people.-It is upon such occasions as this that one must answer with old Horatius in Corneille, Qu'il mourut.'-The Spanish infantry at Rocroy chose rather to perish than to beg 1704. conferred of Marlbo quarter." The encomiums bestowed on the duke BOOK V. of Marlborough in consequence of this victory, the greatest and most decisive which had been fought for several ages in Europe, were unbounded and universal; and no one was more eager to do justice to his unrivalled merit than prince Eugene, who pretended only to the second honors of the day. In the letter of congratulation Honors written to the duke by the States General, their on the Duke high mightinesses declare, "that they never durst rough. carry their hopes so far as to think of so glorious. and complete a victory: they style it a day whose glory might have been envied by the greatest captains of past ages, and whose memory will endure through all ages to come:" and in their subsequent epistle to the queen, they acknowledge "that it was the bravery of the English troops that principally contributed to the victory-and that the duke of Marlborough had reaped laurels that could never fade." The emperor, who, previous to this glorious event, was reduced to a state of extreme peril, pressed by the Bavarian forces on the one side and the Hungarian insurgents on the other, wrote to the duke a letter filled with the warmest acknowledgments. After mentioning to this nobleman the honors so deservedly conferred upon him by his admission into the college of princes of the holy Roman empire, his imperial majesty, to transcribe his own words, de |