Causes of the Expedition to Candia--Court Intrigue--Turenne and the
Duke d’Albret--Preparations for the Expedition--Beaufort Commands
it--Departure of the Fleet--Its Arrival before Candia--State of
this Island--Description of the Place besieged--Last Council of
War--Plan of Attack, which is fixed for the Middle of the Night
of June 24, 1669--The First Movements are successful--Terrible
Explosion of the Magazine of a Battery--Fearful Panic--Rout of the
French--Re-embarkation of the Troops--Certainty of Beaufort’s Death.
The causes of the expedition to Candia have not been entirely
indicated. It is said[190] “that public opinion in France, having
received the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle badly, the army especially
complaining of it, Louis XIV. and Louvois eagerly seized the
opportunity of diverting this unquiet zeal, of making this flame burn
out, and that they willingly allowed themselves to be persuaded by
the Nuncio and the Venetian Ambassador to send assistance to Candia,
menaced by the Turks.” To this consideration, which certainly was of
great weight, it is necessary to add the influence of a court intrigue,
and to explain the very particular motives which Louis XIV. had for
pleasing the Pope.
Louvois having succeeded in causing his brother, Le Tellier, to be
appointed to the coadjutorship of Rheims, in preference to the Duke
d’Albret, nephew of Turenne, and the illustrious Marshal, not having
been more successful in getting his relation named coadjutor of the
Archbishop of Paris, Louis XIV., to appease his resentment, promised
the young abbé a cardinal’s hat. Madame de Montespan, related to the
d’Albret family, and already all-powerful, exerted herself with all her
influence to hasten the fulfilment of this promise. On the other hand,
the Prince d’Awersberg, one of the principal ministers of Leopold, had
received from Grémonville, the French Ambassador, the assurance of
Louis XIV.’s support to obtain from Clement IX. a cardinal’s hat, in
return for his assiduity in serving near the Emperor the interests of
the King in the great affair of the treaty for the partition of the
Spanish monarchy, signed secretly in 1668. The Pope knew how to turn
this double demand to his own profit.[191] He enlarged greatly upon
his extreme desire to satisfy the Most Christian King, but also upon
his fears of irritating the other Catholic nations by a preference
which would be insulting to them. He alleged the necessity which then
existed for him not to render any Power discontented, and for causing
them all to be united in repelling the common enemy of Christianity.
“Thus, Monseigneur,” wrote our envoy at Rome to De Lionne, “your
Excellency will very easily perceive that if I had something positive
to say as to what his Majesty has resolved to do with reference to the
affairs of Candia during next season, I should meet with more facility
here for the advancement of the promotion.”[192] That the piety and
religious sentiments of Louis XIV. may have counted for something in
his resolution to send troops to Candia to fight against the Turks,
is possible. That he may have been determined by the necessity of
offering glorious amends to the army, discontented at the peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, can certainly not be denied. But, nevertheless, one
must not overlook the influence which would have been exercised upon
Louis XIV.’s decision by the certainty of satisfying the Pope in so
tender a point, and by being able at one and the same time to keep his
engagements towards the Minister of the Empire, content Turenne, and
please Madame de Montespan. In any case it is impossible to reckon
among these numerous causes a pretended desire to get rid of Beaufort,
and there is no need to invoke so unlikely a motive, while so many
positive grounds exist to explain this expedition.
The Duke de Beaufort was naturally chosen to command it.[193] In
spite of his violence of character, everything called him to it; his
birth, his rank of High Admiral, the commands which he had already
held in several naval expeditions, and a certain aptitude which he
possessed for the sailor’s rude and perilous calling. Under his orders,
Rochechouart, Count de Vivonne, had the direction of the galleys, and
the Duke de Navailles was the commander of the landing forces. These
troops were 7,000[194] in number, and were officered by the _élite_ of
the nobility,[195] who made it a duty of chivalry to serve against the
infidel. It was in some sort a new crusade, and, if it excited less
enthusiasm than when people undertook to deliver the tomb of Christ,
if the powerful lever of a robust faith, which had formerly raised up
entire nations, had long since become weakened, French audacity and
valour found a certain romantic attraction in a distant expedition,
directed against a country and an adversary equally unknown.
In a few days collections, organized throughout the kingdom, had met
the expenses of fitting out the expedition; and June 5, 1669, the
fleet left Toulon during the finest possible weather, which lasted the
whole of the voyage, and rendered it extraordinarily quick. Composed
of twenty-two vessels of the line and of three _galiotes_,[196] the
fleet joined, on the 17th, fourteen Venetian boats charged with
horses, near Cape Sapienza, off the point of the Morea. On the 19th,
at five o’clock in the morning, the western extremity of the Isle of
Candia was sighted. At the head of the squadron sailed the flag-ship
_Le Monarque_, its poop covered with brilliantly-gilt carvings by
Puget, and at its mast-head the papal standard, richly embroidered
with the arms of the Holy See. At the sight of the land, which was in
possession of the Turks, ensigns of a thousand colours were displayed
on _Le Monarque_. Every other vessel in its turn immediately joined in
this proud salute. The French cannon burst forth, the Turkish batteries
replied to it from the port of Canea, and, amidst the uproar of this
inoffensive discharge, amidst the resplendent gleams of the rising sun,
the fleet passed majestically before the enemy; and, doubling the point
of the island, directed its course towards the capital, which it had
come to defend.
By degrees, as it approached, the delightful spectacle of fertile
meadows bounded afar off by green wooded hills, which but lately had
been offered to the sight, became changed to a picture of desolation
and mourning. During several years the Turks, commanded by the Grand
Vizier Mahomet-Kioprili, had little by little taken possession of
the entire island, with the exception of the principal town, which
the Venetians were holding by desperate efforts against an enemy
that unceasingly recruited its losses, and advanced slowly but with
indefatigable tenacity. The French fleet, continuing its course, sees
before it a country bearing traces of long and cruel devastation.
The mountains shorn of their forests to meet the necessities of war,
present their bare and ravaged sides to the view. The soil is untilled
and arid. Beside immense quarries rise lofty engines for throwing
stones upon the besieged. To the deep silence of these solitudes
succeeds the reverberations of artillery, whose detonations, at first
confused, soon become quite distinct. At times a flash of reddish
flames is suddenly perceived,--it is an advanced work blown up by
a mine; at others a shell rapidly traverses the air, and, perhaps,
lights upon and destroys a building of the town. At last, just as
the soldiers, crowded upon the decks, reach the end of their voyage,
their attentive looks discern the camp of the Turks, surmounted by
waving banners and protected by breastworks, sandy spots where the
cavalry are exercising, vast stores of arms, machinery at work, wounded
being carried on litters, a formidable army in a state of commotion,
animation, movement, and life; and, in the background, standing out
from the horizon, the ramparts of Candia overlooked by its silent
steeples, its almost deserted towers, with here and there some domes
which glitter in the sun.
The evening following their arrival, Beaufort, Navailles, and the
general officers, cautiously left the roadstead where the squadron had
cast anchor, and in a little row-boat, with carefully muffled oars,
succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the Turks, and in penetrating
into the port of the besieged town.[197] Their disappointment on
arriving there was extreme; and after having been witnesses, during
the day, of the energy and vigour displayed by the besiegers, they
convinced themselves, during the evening, of the dejection and
impotence of the defenders of Candia. Whilst the Ambassador of
the Venetian Republic had affirmed at Versailles that their number
still amounted to 14,000 men, it was, in reality, reduced to 6,000
combatants, who, discouraged and ill, considered the loss of the
town as inevitable, and continued to fight through duty, but without
hope.[198] The gunners had nearly all perished in the subterranean
galleries, where the Turks had pursued them with the implacability
of fanaticism. Of the two principal bastions of the place, one,
the Bastion Saint-Andrew, was already in the power of the enemy;
and the Venetians were too weak to preserve the other--that of the
Sablonnière--much longer. The streets, blocked up with rubbish,
scarcely afforded a passage for the troops. Here and there smoking
ruins, in the midst of an open space, bore witness to a recent fire.
Far apart were houses, their upper stories turned into casemates,
and looking like isolated citadels, where the unhappy inhabitants
had crowded to take refuge. In the open places were to be seen a few
soldiers pacing up and down in silence, or perhaps some wounded being
carried from the trenches and accompanied by a priest. Everywhere were
the certain signs of utter discouragement and of approaching defeat.
“The universal opinion is that the town can only be succoured by a
general engagement,” wrote the Intendant Delacroix to France.[199]
He expressed the opinion of the Council, which had assembled on the
20th at Candia. This was unanimous; and Saint-André-Montbrun,[200]
Beaufort, Morosini (the captain-general of the Venetians), as well as
Navailles, saw some chances of success only in a vigorous sortie from
the side of the Sablonnière. There, in truth, a portion of the Turks
were separated from their principal army, and exposed to the cross-fire
of the town and fleet, and ran, moreover, the danger of being driven
into the sea, which was close at hand.
The definitive plan of attack was determined on in a final Council
of War, held on the 24th, at seven o’clock in the evening, and its
execution fixed for the middle of the following night. Beaufort
assembled on board his ship all the captains of the army; and the
disembarkation of troops, which commenced at nine o’clock in large and
strong launches, was finished, without impediment, by midnight.[201] As
each company disembarked, it proceeded to the esplanade situated by the
side of the bastion of the Sablonnière. Surprise being the principal
condition of success, the officers gave their orders in a low voice,
and the soldiers advanced, with many precautions. The troops of Candia
not on duty in the bastions were only informed of the plan of attack at
one in the morning by their chiefs, who came to awake them, and lead
them to their post. When the clock of the church of Saint-Mark struck
two, the foot-soldiers were all assembled on the esplanade.[202]
In spite of their number, nothing save the pale reflection of their
muskets betrayed their presence. Immovable and silent, they awaited
the signal of departure; and on this calm and peaceful night, which
was about to be marked by a bloody struggle, one heard as yet only the
regular and monotonous footsteps of the sentinels on the ramparts.
Soon the dull trot of horses advancing over the sand is joined to
it. Two hundred of the King’s musketeers and five companies of
cavalry have come to reinforce the infantry, and are followed by
Beaufort, Navailles, and a numerous staff. After having given the
countersign,[203] and confided his young nephew, the Chevalier de
Vendôme, to the watchful care of the Marquis de Schomberg and the Baron
de Saint-Mark, charged to follow him everywhere in the fight,[204]
Beaufort addresses a few brave and energetic words, to those about
him,[205] and the command is given to advance in silence. The soldiers
placed under De Navailles’ orders went towards the right. Beaufort was
to occupy the left with a large portion of the marines and with his
guards, commanded by Colbert de Maulevrier, the Minister’s brother. It
was arranged that the two divisions should reunite at a signal to be
given by that of Navailles.[206]
Arrived at a point very near to the Turks, Beaufort’s troops, in order
to wait till the night should be less obscure, and to give Navailles,
who had a longer distance to traverse, time to reach the designated
spot, lay down on their stomachs, admiral, soldiers, and officers--the
latter occupying themselves only with the concealing of the links,
and with recommending, in a low voice, the most minute precautions.
Three-quarters of an hour before daybreak the drums of the Turks were
heard. Some sailors, at Beaufort’s orders, approached the Turkish
camp by crawling; and, returning in the same manner, brought the
intelligence that it was only the usual _réveillée_ which had just been
beaten, and that the enemy were in complete ignorance of the danger
which menaced them.[207] The troops remained extended on the ground,
silent and motionless, and Beaufort listened attentively to catch the
signal indicating that Navailles’ division had commenced the attack.
This general had arrived with the same good luck at the extreme right.
After having been joined there by his reserve and his rearguard, he
sent the former, commanded by the Count de Choiseul, a little to the
westward of Candia, so as to prevent any communication between the two
Turkish camps, and kept his rearguard with him, in order to protect the
most threatened points. Then he led forward Dampierre’s corps, charged
to commence the attack, and creeping towards a little hill, which
afforded him a good view, he awaited the result.
Meanwhile, Beaufort, although sure of the quietude and inaction of the
Turks, was with difficulty restraining his fiery impatience, when,
half an hour before dawn, he heard at the extreme right a deafening
discharge of musketry. Immediately he arose, and all his troops with
him, ordered a salute to be beaten and the charge sounded, and
springing to the head of the first battalion, cleared the entrenchment
which defended the Turkish camp. Colbert, followed by the company of
Guards, rushed towards the left, with the intention of surrounding the
adversary. With equal impetuosity they all traversed a ravine which
they encountered in the rear of the entrenchment, and without suffering
themselves to be checked in their onslaught by the stony nature of
the soil, carried at the first attack the trenches of the enemy, who
abandoned them after having fired off their arms. The surprise and
fright of the Turks were extreme. They fled in disorder, pell-mell;
and many of those who escaped Beaufort threw themselves into the
sea, pursued by Dampierre’s troops. All at once, towards the right,
an immense flash of fire was seen, and a fearful explosion shook the
ground. The soldiers and sailors surrounding Beaufort stopped suddenly;
but he, without appearing alarmed by this noise, the cause of which he
did not know, exclaimed, “Courage, children! courage! Since they spring
a mine in our front, it is a sign that they are flying.” He succeeded
for a moment in overcoming the terror of his troops, and even prevailed
on them to advance a few paces.[208] But on the detachment commanded
by Dampierre the effects of this terrible catastrophe were something
very different. Caused by the explosion of a magazine, containing
twenty-five tons of powder, which had been set alight through the
imprudence of a musketeer, it had destroyed an entire battalion of
French Guards, and had produced everywhere an unspeakable terror. The
troops were persuaded that the enemy had undermined the whole of their
works, and that the ground they were marching over was about to open
under their feet. From point to point did this belief spread, until the
terrified soldiers threw away their arms and fled with precipitation.
It was in vain that Navailles, Dampierre, and the other general
officers endeavoured to restrain them. The panic became universal, and
the shameful and dreadful cry of “_Sauve qui peut!_” resounded from
all parts. This disorder was increased still more by an error which
even the obscurity of the night can scarcely explain. The fugitives,
meeting Beaufort’s sailors, threw themselves upon them as enemies.
The long garments of seven or eight Armenians who were at their head,
contributed, it seems, to confirm a fatal mistake.[209] In this
horrible _mêlée_ no one recognized any one else, and fellow-countrymen
killed one another in the belief that they were slaying the infidels.
Beaufort, utterly abandoned, endeavoured to correct this disastrous
error.[210] On his wounded horse, covered with blood and with his
clothes rent, he threw himself into the midst of the agitated groups,
exclaiming, “To me, my children! I am your admiral. Rally around
me!”[211] Heroic, but unavailing efforts! Supreme appeal of a voice
till then so dear, but now unrecognized--a voice which had just
uttered its last words! The bewildered soldiers remained insensible to
these generous supplications, and it was only when daylight began to
illumine this field of carnage that the confusion ceased with the cause
which had produced it. But then the Turks, who had had time to recover
their courage, and who proved themselves as prompt in rallying as they
had been alert in taking to flight, rushed on, shouting the name of
the Prophet, and with irresistible impetuosity became in their turn
assailants, and pursued the French to the very gates of Candia.[212]
When, under the shelter of the ramparts, an account was taken of the
loss, and after the wounded who had managed to reach the town had
been examined, Beaufort’s absence was perceived. Those who explain
this absence by an abduction which Colbert, his enemy, had ordered,
do not fail to note the presence of the Minister’s brother, Colbert
de Maulevrier, by the side of Beaufort during the battle, and they
see in the commandant of the Guards the executioner of the Minister’s
vengeance. But how can this singular belief be held, when a letter
from Maulevrier to his brother, the first which he wrote to him after
the battle, far from giving the Minister an account of Beaufort’s
abduction, contains these words:[213]--“The unhappy fate of M. l’Amiral
is the most deplorable thing in the world. As I was obliged to go
backwards and forwards during the whole time that the attack lasted,
in order to assemble what I could of the troops, there was no one of
whom I did not make inquiries respecting him,[214] and not one could
ever tell me anything of him.” It is true that these words, if they
destroy the supposition of an abduction ordered by Colbert, may still
allow it to be supposed that Beaufort was a prisoner of the Turks.
But the laconism of this portion of the letter is accounted for when
one discovers from the remainder of it that the writer was suffering
from his wounds, worn-out with fatigue, and solely preoccupied with
his restoration to health. It is true again that Navailles, in his
despatch, makes use of the word _perte_,[215] applicable equally to
the death of the Admiral and to the hypothesis that he was a prisoner
in the hands of the Turks. But how can a single doubt remain when the
account addressed to the Minister of Marine states that the Chevalier
de Flacourt, having been sent to the Turkish camp with a flag of
truce, for the purpose of making inquiries respecting the Admiral,
learned that he was not among the prisoners;[216] and when a report
addressed to Colbert on the 27th, not by a sick man, deprived of news,
but by a witness in a position to know everything, infers that the
Admiral was dead?[217] How can one have any further doubts, above
all, when the circumstances just related, and the courage displayed
by this bold adventurer, render this end so probable? That the age
of Beaufort, born in 1616, which would make the mysterious corpse
of 1703 a nonagenarian, almost suffices to overthrow the system of
Lagrange-Chancel and Langlet-Dufresnoy, is incontestable. But this
proof not having appeared sufficiently decisive to these writers, it
became essential to seek for every kind of testimony, in order, so far
as was just, to restore to this grandson of Henri IV. the glory of
having died with arms in his hand on the field of battle, and of having
thus crowned a life of adventures by an end worthy of his valour, his
race, and his country.
FOOTNOTES:
[190] M. Camille Rousset, _Histoire de Louvois_, already quoted, vol.
i. p. 257.
[191] Letter from the Abbé Bigorre to De Lionne, December 28,
1668:--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Rome, 1669.
[192] Letters from the Abbé Bigorre to De Lionne, December 28, 1668.
After the expedition to Candia, M. d’Albret alone received the hat. See
despatches from the Abbé Bigorre to De Lionne, July 9, 1669, and from
the Abbé de Bourlemont to De Lionne, August 9, 1669:--Archives of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Rome, 1669.
[193] _Instruction que le roi a résolu être envoyée à M. le duc de
Beaufort, pair, grand maître, chef et surintendant général de la
navigation et commerce du royaume, sur l’emploi de l’armée navale
que S. M. met en mer sous son commandement pendant la présente
campagne:_--Imperial Library, Manuscripts, Colbert’s Papers.
[194] Letters from De Lionne to the Cardinal Rospigliosi upon
the troops promised by Louis XIV., January 11 and February 26,
1669:--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Rome.
_État des armées de mer et de terre envoyées par le roi très-chrétien
en Candie, en la présente année_ 1669:--Archives of the Ministry
of Marine. Letter from Louvois to the Governors, February 20,
1669:--Archives of the Ministry of War.
[195] Among them were the Count de Choiseul, MM. de Castellan and de
Dampierre, Marquis de Saint-Vallier, Duke de Château-Thierry, Marquises
d’O, d’Huxelles, and de Sevigné, &c. &c.:--Letter from Madame de
Sevigné to Bussy-Rabutin, August 18, 1669. At the end of 1668, Count
de Saint-Paul and Count de la Feuillade had gone to succour Candia at
the head of three hundred volunteers. But they returned after a very
murderous sally, having lent the Venetians an assistance more brilliant
than actually efficacious.
[196] [These were small vessels of light draught, without any
foremast.--_Trans._] The galleys, to the number of thirteen, commanded
by Vivonne, were delayed several days off the coasts of Italy, and only
arrived a week after Beaufort:--Archives of the Ministry of Marine.
[197] Letters of Saint-André-Montbrun:--Manuscripts of the Imperial
Library. Letters from Navailles to the King:--Archives of the Ministry
of Marine.
[198] Letter from Navailles to the King, July 5, 1669.
[199] Letter from Delacroix to Louvois, June 22, 1669:--Archives of the
Ministry of War.
[200] The Marquis de Saint-André-Montbrun, a French nobleman, had
been for several years in Candia, and by his courage and talents
had finished by becoming, under Morosini, the chief general of the
Venetians.
[201] _Rélation de ce qui s’est passé dans la sortie qui s’est faite
en Candie par toutes les troupes du roy, tant de terre que de mer,
pour l’attaque du camp de la Sablonnière, le 25 du mois de Juin,
1669:_--Archives of Ministry of Marine, Campagne 3. In my account I
have chiefly followed this unpublished manuscript, which has every sign
of authenticity.
[202] _Rapport adressé par le sieur Brodart à Colbert, à la radde de
Candie, à bord de la Princesse, le 27 Juin, 1669:_--Manuscripts of the
Imperial Library, _Papiers Colbert_, 153 _bis_. Unpublished document.
[203] The countersign was: “Louis and forward!”
[204] _Rélation de ce qui s’est passé dans la sortie_, &c., already
quoted. This was the nephew, who became the famous Vendôme. He
displayed on June 25, 1669, very great courage, and was rather
seriously wounded.
[205] _Le siège de Candie_, manuscript of Philibert de Jarry:--Imperial
Library.
[206] Letter from Colbert de Maulevrier to his brother Colbert. “At
Candie, this Sunday, the last day of June, at five o’clock in the
evening:”--Manuscripts, Imperial Library, _Papiers Colbert_, 153 _bis_.
[207] _Rélation_, &c., already quoted:--Archives of the Ministry of
Marine.
[208] _Rélation_, &c., already quoted:--Archives of the Ministry of
Marine.
[209] _Mémoires de Saint-André-Montbrun_, pp. 362, 363.
[210] _Rélation de ce qui s’est passé en la sortie faite sur le camp
des Turcs du côté de la Sablonnière, la nuict du 24ᵉ au 25ᵉ Juin,
1669, en Candie:_--Archives of the Ministry of War, 238. “M. l’Amiral
remained abandoned by all his marines, and did not have a single one of
his guards with him.”
[211] _Relation_, &c., already quoted:--Archives of the Ministry of
Marine.
[212] Navailles, despairing of being able to save Candia, re-embarked
his troops at the end of August, and set sail on the 31st; but as
we are only occupied here with Beaufort, there is no need to relate
the end of an expedition which the disaster of June 25 had caused to
miscarry.
[213] Manuscripts of the Imperial Library, _Papiers Colbert_, 153 _bis_.
[214] This was of course during the battle.
[215] Archives of the Ministry of War, 238.
[216] _Rélation_, &c., already quoted:--Archives of the Ministry of
Marine.
[217] Manuscripts of the Imperial Library, _Papiers Colbert_, _Rapport
adressé par le sieur Brodart à Colbert_, &c., already quoted. [The
biographies of the Duke de Beaufort say it was commonly believed at the
time that, according to the barbarous custom of the Turks, his dead
body was beheaded by them, which would account for its not having been
found on the field of battle.--See _Biographie Universelle_ of Michaud,
&c.--_Trans._]