As soon as Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne arrived at Lawendeghem, he
wrote a short letter to the King, and referred him for details to M. de
Vendome. But at the same time he wrote to the Duchess, very clearly
expressing to her where the fault lay. M. de Vendome, on his side, wrote
to the King, and tried to persuade him that the battle had not been
disadvantageous to us. A short time afterwards, he wrote again, telling
the King that he could have beaten the enemies had he been sustained; and
that, if, contrary to his advice, retreat had not been determined on, he
would certainly have beaten them the next day. For the details he
referred to Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne.
I had always feared that some ill-fortune would fall to the lot of
Monseigneur, le Duc de Bourgogne if he served under M. de Vendome at the
army. When I first learned that he was going to Flanders with M. de
Vendome, I expressed my apprehensions to M. de Beauvilliers, who treated
them as unreasonable and ridiculous. He soon had good cause to admit
that I had not spoken without justice. Our disasters at Oudenarde were
very great. We had many men and officers killed and wounded, four
thousand men and seven hundred officers taken prisoners, and a prodigious
quantity missing and dispersed. All these losses were, as I have shown,
entirely due to the laziness and inattention of M. de Vendome. Yet the
friends of that general--and he had many at the Court and in the army--
actually had the audacity to lay the blame upon Monseigneur le Duc de
Bourgogne. This was what I had foreseen, viz., M. de Vendome, in case
any misfortune occurred, would be sure to throw the burden of it upon
Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne.
Alberoni, who, as I have said, was one of M. de Vendome's creatures,
published a deceitful and impudent letter, in which he endeavoured to
prove that M. de Vendome had acted throughout like a good general, but
that he had been thwarted by Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne. This
letter was distributed everywhere, and well served the purpose for which
it was intended. Another writer, Campistron---a poor, starving poet,
ready to do anything to live--went further. He wrote a letter, in which
Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne was personally attacked in the tenderest
points, and in which Marechal Matignon was said to merit a court-martial
for having counselled retreat. This letter, like the other, although
circulated with more precaution, was shown even in the cafes and in the
theatres; in the public places of gambling and debauchery; on the
promenades, and amongst the news-vendors. Copies of it were even shown
in the provinces, and in foreign countries; but always with much
circumspection. Another letter soon afterwards appeared, apologising for
M. de Vendome. This was written by Comte d'Evreux, and was of much the
same tone as the two others.
A powerful cabal was in fact got up against Monseigneur de Bourgogne.
Vaudeville, verses, atrocious songs against him, ran all over Paris and
the provinces with a licence and a rapidity that no one checked; while at
the Court, the libertines and the fashionables applauded; so that in six
days it was thought disgraceful to speak with any measure of this Prince,
even in his father's house.
Madame de Bourgogne could not witness all this uproar against her
husband, without feeling sensibly affected by it. She had been made
acquainted by Monseigneur de Bourgogne with the true state of the case.
She saw her own happiness and reputation at stake. Though very gentle,
and still more timid, the grandeur of the occasion raised her above
herself. She was cruelly wounded by the insults of Vendome to her
husband, and by all the atrocities and falsehoods his emissaries
published. She gained Madame de Maintenon, and the first result of this
step was, that the King censured Chamillart for not speaking of the
letters in circulation, and ordered him to write to Alberoni and D'Evreux
(Campistron, strangely enough, was forgotten), commanding them to keep
silence for the future.
The cabal was amazed to see Madame de Maintenon on the side of Madame de
Bourgogne, while M. du Maine (who was generally in accord with Madame de
Maintenon) was for M. de Vendome. They concluded that the King had been
led away, but that if they held firm, his partiality for M. de Vendome,
for M. du Maine, and for bastardy in general, would bring him round to
them. In point of fact, the King was led now one way, and now another,
with a leaning always towards M. de Vendome.
Soon after this, Chamillart, who was completely of the party of M. de
Vendome, thought fit to write a letter to Monseigneur le Duc de
Bourgogne, in which he counselled him to live on good terms with his
general. Madame de Bourgogne never forgave Chamillart this letter, and
was always annoyed with her husband that he acted upon it. His religious
sentiments induced him to do so. Vendome so profited by the advances
made to him by the young Prince, that he audaciously brought Alberoni
with him when he visited Monseigneur de Bourgogne. This weakness of
Monseigneur de Bourgogne lost him many friends, and made his enemies more
bold than ever: Madame de Bourgogne, however, did not despair. She wrote
to her husband that for M. de Vendome she had more aversion and contempt
than for any one else in the world, and that nothing would make her
forget what he had done. We shall see with what courage she knew how to
keep her word.
While the discussions upon the battle of Oudenarde were yet proceeding,
a league was formed with France against the Emperor by all the states of
Italy. The King (Louis XIV.) accepted, however, too late, a project he
himself ought to have proposed and executed. He lost perhaps the most
precious opportunity he had had during all his reign. The step he at
last took was so apparent that it alarmed the allies, and put them on
their guard. Except Flanders, they did nothing in any other spot, and
turned all their attention to Italy.
Let us return, however, to Flanders.
Prince Eugene, with a large booty gathered in Artois and elsewhere, had
fixed himself at Brussels. He wished to bear off his spoils, which
required more than five thousand waggons to carry it, and which consisted
in great part of provisions, worth three million five hundred thousand
francs, and set out with them to join the army of the Duke of
Marlborough. Our troops could not, of course, be in ignorance of this.
M. de Vendome wished to attack the convoy with half his troops. The
project seemed good, and, in case of success, would have brought results
equally honourable and useful. Monseigneur de Bourgogne, however,
opposed the attack, I know not why; and M. de Vendome, so obstinate until
then, gave in to him in this case. His object was to ruin the Prince
utterly, for allowing such a good chance to escape, the blame resting
entirely upon him. Obstinacy and audacity had served M. de Vendome at
Oudenarde: he expected no less a success now from his deference.
Some anxiety was felt just about this time for Lille, which it was feared
the enemy would lay siege to. Boufflers went to command there, at his
own request, end found the place very ill-garrisoned with raw troops,
many of whom had never smelt powder. M. de Vendome, however, laughed at
the idea of the siege of Lille, as something mad and ridiculous.
Nevertheless, the town was invested on the 12th of August, as the King
duly learned on the 14th. Even then, flattery did its work. The friends
of Vendome declared that such an enterprise was the best, thing that
could happen to France, as the besiegers, inferior in numbers to our
army, were sure to be miserably beaten. M. de Vendome, in the mean time,
did not budge from the post he had taken up near Ghent. The King wrote
to him to go with his army to the relief of Lille. M. de Vendome still
delayed; another courier was sent, with the same result. At this, the
King, losing temper, despatched another courier, with orders to
Monseigneur de Bourgogne, to lead the army to Lille, if M. de Vendome
refused to do so. At this, M. de Vendome awoke from his lethargy. He
set out for Lille, but took the longest road, and dawdled as long as he
could on the way, stopping five days at Mons Puenelle, amongst other
places.
The agitation, meanwhile, in Paris, was extreme. The King demanded news
of the siege from his courtiers, and could not understand why no couriers
arrived. It was generally expected that some decisive battle had been
fought. Each day increased the uneasiness. The Princes and the
principal noblemen of the Court were at the army. Every one at
Versailles feared for the safety of a relative or friend. Prayers were
offered everywhere. Madame de Bourgogne passed whole nights in the
chapel, when people thought her in bed, and drove her women to despair.
Following her example, ladies who had husbands at the army stirred not
from the churches. Gaming, conversation ceased. Fear was painted upon
every face, and seen in every speech, without shame. If a horse passed a
little quickly, everybody ran without knowing where. The apartments of
Chamillart were crowded with lackeys, even into the street, sent by
people desiring to be informed of the moment that a courier arrived; and
this terror and uncertainty lasted nearly a month. The provinces were
even more troubled than Paris. The King wrote to the Bishop, in order
that they should offer up prayers in terms which suited with the danger
of the time. It may be judged what was the general impression and alarm.
It is true, that in the midst of this trepidation, the partisans of M. de
Vendome affected to pity that poor Prince Eugene, and to declare that he
must inevitably fail in his undertaking; but these discourses did not
impose upon me. I knew what kind of enemies we had to deal with, and I
foresaw the worst results from the idleness and inattention of M. de
Vendome. One evening, in the presence of Chamillart and five or six
others, annoyed by the conversation which passed, I offered to bet four
pistoles that there would be no general battle, and that Lille would be
taken without being relieved. This strange proposition excited much
surprise, and caused many questions to be addressed to me. I would
explain nothing at all; but sustained my proposal in the English manner,
and my bet was taken; Cani, who accepted it, thanking me for the present
of four pistoles I was making him, as he said. The stakes were placed in
the hand of Chamillart.
By the next day, the news of my bet had spread a frightful uproar. The
partisans of M. de Vendome, knowing I was no friend to them, took this
opportunity to damage me in the eyes of the King. They so far succeeded
that I entirely lost favour with him, without however suspecting it, for
more than two months. All that I could do then, was to let the storm
pass over my head and keep silent, so as not to make matters worse.
Meanwhile, M. de Vendome continued the inactive policy he had hitherto
followed. In despite of reiterated advice from the King, he took no
steps to attack the enemy. Monseigneur de Bourgogne was for doing so,
but Vendome would make no movement. As before, too, he contrived to
throw all the blame of his inactivity upon Monseigneur de Bourgogne. He
succeeded so well in making this believed, that his followers in the army
cried out against the followers of Monseigneur de Bourgogne wherever they
appeared. Chamillart was sent by the King to report upon the state and
position of our troops, and if a battle had taken place and proved
unfavourable to us, to prevent such sad results as had taken place after
Ramillies. Chamillart came back on the 18th of September. No battle had
been fought, but M. de Vendome felt sure, he said, of cutting off all
supplies from the enemy, and thus compelling them to raise the siege.
The King had need of these intervals of consolation and hope. Master as
he might be of his words and of his features, he profoundly felt the
powerlessness to resist his enemies that he fell into day by day. What I
have related, about Samuel Bernard, the banker, to whom he almost did the
honours of his gardens at Marly, in order to draw from him the assistance
he had refused, is a great proof of this. It was much remarked at
Fontainebleau, just as Lille was invested, that, the city of Paris coming
to harangue him on the occasion of the oath taken by Bignon, new Prevot
des Marchand, he replied, not only with kindness, but that he made use of
the term "gratitude for his good city," and that in doing so he lost
countenance,--two things which during all his reign had never escaped
him. On the other hand, he sometimes had intervals of firmness which
edificed less than they surprised. When everybody at the Court was in
the anxiety I have already described, he offended them by going out every
day hunting or walking, so that they could not know, until after his
return, the news which might arrive when he was out.
As for Monseigneur, he seemed altogether exempt from anxiety. After
Ramillies, when everybody was waiting for the return of Chamillart, to
learn the truth, Monseigneur went away to dine at Meudon, saying he
should learn the news soon enough. From this time he showed no more
interest in what was passing. When news was brought that Lille was
invested, he turned on his heel before the letter announcing it had been
read to the end. The King called him back to hear the rest. He returned
and heard it. The reading finished, he went away, without offering a
word. Entering the apartments of the Princesse de Conti, he found there
Madame d'Espinoy, who had much property in Flanders, and who had wished
to take a trip there.
"Madame," said he, smiling, as he arrived, "how would you do just now to
get to Lille?" And at once made them acquainted with the investment.
These things really wounded the Princesse de Conti. Arriving at
Fontainebleau one day, during the movements of the army, Monseigneur set
to work reciting, for amusement, a long list of strange names of places
in the forest.
"Dear me, Monseigneur," cried she, "what a good memory you have. What a
pity it is loaded with such things only!" If he felt the reproach, he
did not profit by it.
As for Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne, Monseigneur (his father) was ill-
disposed towards him, and readily swallowed all that was said in his
dispraise. Monseigneur had no sympathy with the piety of his son; it
constrained and bothered him. The cabal well profited by this. They
succeeded to such an extent in alienating the father from the son, that
it is only strict truth to say that no one dared to speak well of
Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne in the presence of Monseigneur. From
this it may be imagined what was the licence and freedom of speech
elsewhere against this Prince. They reached such a point, indeed, that
the King, not daring to complain publicly against the Prince de Conti,
who hated Vendome, for speaking in favour of Monseigneur de Bourgogne,
reprimanded him sharply in reality for having done so, but ostensibly
because he had talked about the affairs of Flanders at his sister's.
Madame de Bourgogne did all she could to turn the current that was
setting in against her husband; and in this she was assisted by Madame de
Maintenon, who was annoyed to the last degree to see that other people
had more influence over the King than she had.
The siege of Lille meanwhile continued, and at last it began to be seen
that, instead of attempting to fight a grand battle, the wisest course
would be to throw assistance into the place. An attempt was made to do
so, but it was now too late.
The besieged, under the guidance of Marechal Boufflers, who watched over
all, and attended to all, in a manner that gained him all hearts, made a
gallant and determined resistance. A volume would be necessary in order
to relate all the marvels of capacity and valour displayed in this
defence. Our troops disputed the ground inch by inch. They repulsed,
three times running, the enemy from a mill, took it the third time, and
burnt it. They sustained an attack, in three places at once, of ten
thousand men, from nine o'clock in the evening to three o'clock in the
morning, without giving way. They re-captured the sole traverse the
enemy had been able to take from them. They drove out the besiegers from
the projecting angles of the counterscarp, which they had kept possession
of for eight days. They twice repulsed seven thousand men who attacked
their covered way and an outwork; at the third attack they lost an angle
of the outwork; but remained masters of all the rest.
So many attacks and engagements terribly weakened the garrison. On the
28th of September some assistance was sent to the besieged by the daring
of the Chevalier de Luxembourg. It enabled them to sustain with vigour
the fresh attacks that were directed against them, to repulse the enemy,
and, by a grand sortie, to damage some of their works, and kill many of
their men. But all was in vain. The enemy returned again and again to
the attack. Every attempt to cut off their supplies failed. Finally, on
the 23rd of October, a capitulation was signed. The place had become
untenable; three new breaches had been made on the 20th and 21st; powder
and ammunition were failing; the provisions were almost all eaten up
there was nothing for it but to give in.
Marechal Boufflers obtained all he asked, and retired into the citadel
with all the prisoners of war, after two months of resistance. He
offered discharge to all the soldiers who did not wish to enter the
citadel. But not one of the six thousand he had left to him accepted it.
They were all ready for a new resistance, and when their chief appeared
among them their joy burst out in the most flattering praises of him. It
was on Friday, the 26th of October, that they shut themselves up in the
citadel.
The enemy opened their trenches before the citadel on the 29th of
October. On the 7th of November they made a grand attack, but were
repulsed with considerable loss. But they did not flinch from their
work, and Boufflers began to see that he could not long hold out. By the
commencement of December he had only twenty thousand pounds of powder
left; very little of other munitions, and still less food. In the town
and the citadel they had eaten eight hundred horses. Boufflers, as soon
as the others were reduced to this food, had it served upon his own
table, and ate of it like the rest. The King, learning in what state
these soldiers were, personally sent word to Boufflers to surrender, but
the Marechal, even after he had received this order, delayed many days to
obey it.
At last, in want of the commonest necessaries, and able to protract his
defence no longer, he beat a parley, signed a capitulation on the 9th of
December, obtaining all he asked, and retired from Lille. Prince Eugene,
to whom he surrendered, treated him with much distinction and friendship,
invited him to dinner several times,--overwhelmed him, in fact, with
attention and civilities. The Prince was glad indeed to have brought to
a successful issue such a difficult siege.