In this siege the English have an interest, the duke of York, second
son of George III., having had the command of the besiegers.
The allies, having taken Condé in the month of April, directed their
forces against Valenciennes. General Ferrand commanded in the place,
with a garrison of nine thousand men. To favour the siege, the allies
posted an army of observation in the plains of Hérin, in front of the
city, a strong force on the other side of Valenciennes, and a third
between Lille and Tournay. At the moment that city was invested, these
faubourgs were attacked; that named Marli was set fire to on the 24th
of May, and taken the day following. The allies opened the attack very
close to the place. The duke of York summoned the city on the 14th of
June. The governor replied: “The garrison and myself will sooner bury
ourselves beneath the ruins than surrender the city.” The bombardment
instantly commenced. When the Tournay side was in ashes, the allies
transported their bombs to the south-west, and then the conflagration
became general; there seemed to be no wish entertained to preserve
either the walls or fortifications. An opinion was general in the city,
that destruction rather than conquest was the object of the allies, and
despair became more tenacious than courage. During the conflagration,
the fire caught the arsenal, which blew up. Treachery was suspected,
and the subdirector of the artillery, Monestier, destroyed himself.
The object of this was to raise the inhabitants, which it succeeded
in doing; but order was quickly restored by the two representative
commissioners. The works of the besiegers came up to the walls by the
21st of July. A breach was made in the bastion called the Huguenots,
and a first assault upon the covered way was repulsed. There was
a second on the 26th, whilst the allies, with another body of ten
thousand men, assaulted in a different point, in which they gained
possession of an advanced work, which was blown up by three mines.
The fire drove them from the ramparts, and the work was retaken; but
a panic seized upon the garrison, they became deaf to the voices of
their officers, rushed _pêle-mêle_ into the city, and nothing could
bring them back to the advanced work, which had been retaken and
abandoned by both parties. At this time, the duke of York addressed
a proclamation to the inhabitants and the soldiers, whilst he sent
a second to the municipality and the general. From that moment the
disorder was irreparable; the assembled inhabitants, supported by the
soldiers, compelled the council of war to enter into a capitulation:
it was signed on the 28th of July. The companies of the cannoniers of
Douai and Valenciennes alone took no part in this riot: they had served
with distinction. The allies lost a great many men in the sieges of
Condé, Cateau Cambresis, and Valenciennes.