The permission was not attended with the result that the young
prince's counsellors had hoped. For a time, James showed a lively
pleasure when Desmond rode over to Saint Germain, walked with him
in the gardens, and talked to him alone in his private apartments,
and professed a warm friendship for him; but Desmond was not long
in discovering that his first estimate of the prince's character
had been wholly erroneous, and that his outburst at their first
meeting had been the result of pique and irritation, rather than
any real desire to lead a more active life. Upon the contrary, he
was constitutionally indolent and lethargic. There were horses at
his command, but it was seldom, indeed, that he would take the
trouble to cross the saddle, although walking was distasteful to
him. Even when speaking of his hopes of ascending the throne of
England, he spoke without enthusiasm, and said one day:
"It is a pity that it cannot be managed without fuss and trouble.
I hate trouble."
"Nothing can be done worth doing, without trouble, Your Majesty,"
Desmond said sturdily. "It almost seems to me that, if everything
could be had without trouble, it would not be worth having."
"How do you mean, Mr. Kennedy?"
"I may illustrate it by saying, Sire, that no true fisherman would
care about angling in a pond, close to his house, and so full of
fish, that he had but to drop a baited hook into the water to
bring up one immediately. The pleasure of fishing consists largely
in the hard work that it demands. It is, perhaps, miles to a
stream across the hills, and a long day's work may produce but a
half dozen fish; but these the angler prizes in proportion to the
trouble he has had to get them. I think that, were I born heir to
a throne, I would rather that it should cost me hardship, toil,
and danger to obtain it, than walk into a cathedral, a few days
after my father's death, and there be crowned."
"I do not agree with you, at all," James said, shortly. "If
anything could not be had without toil, hardship, and danger, as
you say, I would willingly go without it."
"Then, Sire, I can only hope that the toil and danger may be borne
by your devoted followers, and that you may be spared them,
personally."
James looked sharply up at his companion, to gather whether the
words were spoken sarcastically, but Desmond's face, though
flushed, was calm and serious. Nevertheless, indolent as he was,
James felt that the words were a reproof; that, although he had at
first liked him, there was in reality little in common between him
and this energetic young fellow; and the next time he came, he
received him with much less cordiality than before; while Desmond,
who was beginning to tire of the companionship of one who lacked,
alike, the fun and humour, and the restless activity of his
comrades, Patrick and Phelim; and who saw that the professions of
James's friendship were but short lived, came over to Saint
Germain less frequently, until, at last, he only rode over with
his colonel, or when some duty called him there.
"So you have been a failure, Master Kennedy," the counsellor who
had first spoken to him said, one day, when the change in the
king's manner became evident to them all.
"I am afraid so, sir," Desmond replied with a smile. "I have no
doubt that it was my fault. Perhaps I was not patient enough with
him; but, indeed, my efforts to rouse him to take exercise, to
practise in arms, and so on, were so ill received, that I felt I
was doing more harm than good."
"I was afraid that it would be so," the other said, regretfully.
"You see, during his later years, his father gave up his time
almost entirely to religious observances; and, consequently, the
lad's life was very dull and monotonous. Constitutionally, he
undoubtedly takes after his father, who, with all his virtues, was
at once indolent and undecided. We have observed, with regret, his
disinclination to bestir himself in any way. Seeing that we, who
were his father's companions, are too old, or too much disheartened,
to be lively companions for him, we had hoped that the talk of one
of spirit, and of his own age, might have roused him to make some
exertions to overcome his disinclination for anything like active
exercise. I think now, however, that we were wrong; that the tonic
was too strong; that he could not but feel that your abundance of
spirits, and life, were too much for him; and that the companion he
needs is one who could, to some extent, sympathize with him, and
who could, perhaps, make more allowance for the manner in which he
has been brought up.
"We do not blame you at all. I am sure that you have done your
best. But it is evident that the contrast between you and himself
has been too strong a one; and that, feeling he cannot hope to
emulate your soldierly activity, he has come to resent it, as a
sort of reflection upon himself."
Desmond was, by no means, sorry at being relieved of the necessity
of paying frequent visits to Saint Germain. In the first place, he
begrudged the time that was taken from his fencing lessons, at
which he had worked enthusiastically; and in the next, he had
felt, after two or three visits, that between himself and the
young king there was really nothing in common. Full of life and
spirits himself, it seemed to him nothing short of disgraceful
that one, who aspired to rule, should take no pains whatever to
fit himself for a throne, or to cultivate qualities that would
render himself popular among a high-spirited people. And, as he
came to understand James more thoroughly, he had found his visits
increasingly irksome, all the more so, as he felt their inutility.
"Thank goodness," he said, to his two friends, when he went home
that day, "I have done with Saint Germain. I am as warm an
adherent as ever of the cause of the Stuarts, and should be
perfectly ready, when the time comes, to fight my hardest for
them; but I would vastly rather fight for the king, than converse
with him."
"I suppose, by what I have seen of him, that he must be somewhat
wearisome," Phelim O'Sullivan said, with a laugh. "Fortunately,
wit and gaiety are not essential qualities on the part of a
monarch; but I must own that, treasonable as it may sound, I fear
His Majesty is lacking in other qualities, far more essential in a
monarch. I should say that he is kindly and well disposed, he
wishes to be fair and just, and may turn out a wise ruler; but he
is altogether deficient in energy. I suppose there is no occasion
for a king, safely seated upon a throne, to be energetic; but a
prince in exile should possess the qualities that excite
enthusiasm, and bind men to him. Possibly, the qualities King
James possesses would be highly valued by the Scotch, but they
would certainly fail to inspire our people."
"Yes," Patrick O'Neil agreed. "His father did more to ruin his
cause, in Ireland, than all William's Dutch generals and troops,
together. It was disheartening to be risking life and possessions
for a man who would do nothing for himself, whose indecision
paralysed our leaders, and who, the moment a reverse came, sought
safety in flight, instead of taking his place among the men who
were devoted to his cause. I can understand that, in England,
where the majority of those who professed to be devoted to him
were betraying him, and were in secret communication with William,
he should be by turns obstinate and vacillating; but in Ireland,
where every man who surrounded him was risking his life in his
cause, he should have shown absolute confidence in them, listened
to their advice, set an example of personal gallantry and courage,
and, at least, remained among them until all was definitely lost.
It was the desertion of James, rather than the loss of the battle
of the Boyne, that ruined his cause.
"Well, I am glad you are out of it, for it was a pity that you
should be going without your work at the salle d'armes, when you
were making such progress that, the master reported, in a few
months you would become one of the best swordsmen in the
regiment."
There were, in Paris, many Irish officers besides those belonging
to Colonel O'Brien's regiment. These were, for the most part, men
who had been severely wounded in the preceding campaign, and who
now remained in the capital with the depots of their regiments.
These were constantly recruited by fresh arrivals from Ireland, by
which means the Irish Brigade was not only kept up to their
original strength, in spite of the heavy losses they suffered, in
the engagements in which they had taken part, but largely
increased its force, new regiments being constantly formed.
Naturally, O'Brien's corps, being the only complete regiment in
Paris, at the time, was regarded as the headquarters and general
meeting place of all the Irish officers there; and, as some of
these had campaigned in Flanders, in Italy, and in Spain, Desmond
learned, from their talk and anecdotes, far more of the doings of
the Brigade than he had hitherto known. From the first they had,
by their reckless bravery, in almost every engagement that had
taken place, so distinguished themselves that they received the
highest commendation from the French generals, and were almost
invariably selected for specially dangerous service.
"I think the hottest affair I was ever engaged in," a major, who
had served in Burke's regiment, said one evening, when some ten or
twelve of his companions had gathered, at the room which was the
general meeting place of the officers of the corps, "was at the
attack on Cremona by Eugene. You have all heard how our regiment,
and that of Dillon, distinguished themselves there, but you may
not have heard particulars. The place was a strong one, and it was
garrisoned by some 4000 men--all French, with the exception of our
two regiments. Marshal Villeroy was himself in command; an
excellent officer, but, as is often the case in the French army,
very badly served by his subordinates.
"Here, as you know, almost everything goes by influence; and the
generals are surrounded by men who have been forced upon them by
powerful persons, whom they cannot afford to disoblige. The
consequence was that, relying upon the strength of the place, no
proper watch was set. There were guards, indeed, at the gates, but
with no communication with each other; no soldiers on the
ramparts; no patrols were sent out beyond the town, or maintained
in the streets.
"No harm might have come of this, had it not been that treachery
was at work. There was a scoundrel, who was brother of the priest
of one of the parishes near the wall, and both were in favour of
the enemy. The priest's residence was near a sewer, which
communicated with the moat outside the walls. The entrance was
closed by an iron grating. Were this removed, troops could enter,
by the sewer, into the priest's wine cellar.
"The priest, being promised a large sum of money, set to work.
First, he laid a complaint before the governor that the sewer was
choked with filth, which might be a source of disease to the town
unless removed; and to do this, it was necessary that the grating
should be taken down. Being altogether unsuspicious of evil, the
governor granted his request.
"As soon as the grating was removed, Eugene despatched eight
miners, who crossed the moat at night, made their way up the
sewer, and opened a communication between it and the priest's
house. When all was ready, four or five hundred picked grenadiers
entered, and were concealed in the house of the priest, and other
adherents of the emperor.
"Eugene set two strong bodies of picked troops in motion. The one
was to enter by the Saint Margaret gate, which would be seized by
the force already in the city. This column consisted of five
thousand men. The second force, of two thousand infantry and three
thousand cavalry, under the Prince de Vaudemont, was to cross the
river by a bridge of boats.
"We slept like stupid dogs. Such watchmen as there were on the
walls gave no alarm. The gate of All Saints was seized, its guard
being instantly overpowered, and a party of engineers broke down
the gate of Saint Margaret, which had been walled up; and at
daylight Eugene rode into the town, followed by his troops and one
thousand cavalry; while another mounted force watched the gate,
and the country round, to prevent the escape of fugitives.
"Before any alarm was given, Eugene had established himself at the
Hotel de Ville, was master of the great street that separated half
the garrison from the other half, had taken possession of the
cathedral; and, in fact, the place was captured without a shot
being fired.
"Then the uproar began. Parties of troops, led by natives of the
town, seized a large number of officers at their lodgings; and as
the alarm spread, the troops seized their muskets and rushed out,
only to be sabred and trodden down by the enemy's cavalry. I was
asleep, and dreaming, when my servant rushed into my room, and
said:
"'The Germans are in possession of the town, Captain.'
"'You are a blathering idiot,' I said.
"'It's true, your honour. Get up and listen.'
"Very unwillingly, I got out of bed and opened the window, and, by
the holy poker, I found that Pat was right. There was a sound of
firing, shouting, and screaming, and I heard the gallop of a heavy
body of horsemen, and, directly afterwards, a squadron of German
cuirassiers came galloping down the street.
"'It is time for us to be out of this, Pat,' I said, and jumped
into my clothes, quicker than I had ever done before.
"We went downstairs, and I borrowed two overcoats that we found
hanging there, and put them on over our uniforms. Then we went
out, by the back door, and ran as hard as we could, keeping
through narrow lanes, to the barracks.
"On my way, I had to pass a barrier near a toll gate. Here there
were thirty-six of our men under a sergeant. Not knowing where the
enemy were, or whether they were between me and the barracks, I
thought it best to stay there, and of course took the command.
Just as I had done so, I heard the tramping of cavalry, and had
the gate shut. We were just in time, for two hundred and fifty
cuirassiers came galloping along.
"Their leader, Baron de Mercy, as soon as the troops began to
enter Saint Margaret's gate, was ordered to dash round and capture
the Po gate, through which Vaudemont's corps would, after crossing
the bridge, enter the town. He shouted to me to surrender,
promising us our lives. I told him that if he wanted the place, he
would have to come and take it. He used language which I need not
repeat, but he did not attack us, waiting for the arrival of four
hundred infantry, who had been ordered to follow him. They were
some time in coming up, having lost their way, owing to the
rascally native who was their guide being killed by a shot from a
window.
"I was not sorry for the delay, for it gave us time to look at
matters quietly, and prepare for defence. Another six hundred
cavalry now came up, and Mercy placed them so as to cut off,
altogether, the French cavalry, who were quartered away to the
right; then he ordered the infantry to attack us.
"Our position was a good one. The barricade was formed of square
piles, driven into the ground with small narrow openings between
them. I ordered the men to keep behind the timbers until the enemy
came up. The Germans opened a murdering fire as they approached,
but, though the bullets pattered like rain against the palisades,
and whistled in between them, not a man was touched. I waited till
they were within two paces, and then gave the word, and you may
well guess that there was not a bullet thrown away, and the
Germans, mightily astonished, drew back, leaving nigh forty of
their men behind them. Then, falling back a bit, they opened fire
upon us, but it was a game that two could play at. We could see
them, but they could not see us; and while we loaded our muskets
in shelter, they were exposed, and we picked them off by dozens.
"The firing had, of course, given the alarm to our two regiments,
who turned out just as they were, in their nightshirts. Major
O'Mahony, who was in command of Dillon's regiment, as Lally was
away on leave, luckily made his way in safety from his lodgings to
the barracks, got his own men in order, while Colonel Wauchop, who
commanded our regiment, took the command of the two battalions.
Fortunately, a portion of the regiment had been ordered to fall in
early for inspection, and this gave time for the rest to get into
their uniforms; and, as soon as they were ready, Wauchop led them
out and fell suddenly upon a portion of Mercy's force, poured in a
volley, and then charged them.
"Horse and foot fell back before the attack. Then they turned the
cannon on the ramparts, and thus secured possession of the Po
gate, and, pushing on, the guns helping them, drove the Austrians
from the houses they occupied, and so opened communications with
the French cavalry.
"A brigadier now came up, and ordered the battalions to barricade
all the streets they had won, with barrels and carts. A French
regiment arrived, and occupied the church of Saint Salvador, and
the battery which commanded the bridge, across which Vaudemont's
corps could now be seen approaching. The redoubt on the other side
of the bridge was only held by fifty men, and they were now
strengthened by a hundred of the French soldiers. The Austrians
approached, making sure that the town had already been taken, and
looking out for a signal that was to be hoisted. Their astonishment
was great, when a heavy musketry fire was opened upon them by the
garrison of the outpost, while the guns of the battery on the wall
plunged their shot in among them.
"The column was at once halted. Eugene had regarded the struggle
as over, when news was brought to him of the defeat of Mercy's
corps by the Irish. Everywhere else things had gone most
favourably. Marshal Villeroy had been wounded and made prisoner.
His marechal de camp shared the same fate. The Chevalier
D'Entregues, who advanced to meet the enemy, was defeated and
killed, as was Lieutenant General de Trenan, and the Spanish
Governor of the town mortally wounded.
"On receiving the news, Eugene at once sent an officer to inspect
the Irish position; but his report was that they were too well
placed to be driven from it. He then sent Captain MacDonnell, an
officer in his service, to offer, if the Irish would leave their
position, to enrol them in the Austrian service, with higher pay
than they now received. You may guess the sort of answer he
received, and he was at once arrested for bringing such a message
to them. Eugene then endeavoured to engage Marshal Villeroy to
order the Irish to lay down their arms, as further resistance
would only end in their slaughter. Villeroy simply replied that,
as a prisoner, he could no longer give orders.
"During this pause, the Count de Revel and the Marquis de Queslin
succeeded in gathering together a considerable number of the
scattered French infantry, and with these they marched to
endeavour to recover the gates that had been lost, and, having
occupied the church of Santa Maria, and a bastion near the gate of
All Saints, ordered the Irish to leave a hundred men at the
barricades, and with the rest to push forward to the gate of
Mantua. So I found myself in command of a full company.
"O'Mahony was now in command of the two regiments, as Wauchop had
been wounded. It was pretty hard work they had of it, and they
suffered heavily in carrying the guardhouse, held by two hundred
Austrians. Eugene now launched a great force against our people,
and attacked them on all sides; but O'Mahony faced them each way,
and received the charge of the cuirassiers with so heavy a fire
that they fled in disorder. Another corps of cuirassiers came up,
and these charged with such fury that their leader, Monsieur de
Freiberg, pushed his way into the middle of Dillon's regiment,
where he was surrounded, and, refusing quarter, was killed; and
his men, disheartened by the fall of their leader, fled, carrying
with them the infantry who were ranged in their rear.
"But our men were now exhausted by their exertions, and suffered
heavily; and O'Mahony, seeing that he was likely to be attacked by
fresh troops, and that my post guarding the approach of the Po
gate would then be left altogether unsupported, returned to it. I
was glad enough when I saw them coming, for it was mighty trying
work being left there, and hearing the storm of battle going on
all round, and knowing that at any moment we might be attacked.
"They did not stop long, for orders came from Revel, who had
captured the gate of All Saints, and was preparing to attack Saint
Margaret's, to march again to the gate of Mantua. It seemed a
hopeless enterprise. Captain Dillon, of Dillon's regiment, marched
out and, after hard fighting, drove the Austrians from house to
house; but, on reaching a spot where the ground was open, he was
attacked on all sides, and for a time the enemy and our men were
mixed up together in a melee.
"I could hear by the sound of the firing that our men were
returning, and posted my fellows so as to cover their retreat; and
as they came back, hotly pressed by the enemy, we opened so warm a
fire that they passed in through the gate of the barrier in
safety, but only half as strong as they had gone out.
"As soon as they were in, they aided us in strengthening the
position. Seeing that Vaudemont's corps was on the point of
attacking the redoubt, the Marquis de Queslin sent orders to the
little garrison there to withdraw across the bridge, and destroy
the boats. This they effected, in spite of the heavy fire kept up
by the enemy.
"In the meantime, fighting had been going on all over the town.
The gate of Mantua had been held by Captain Lynch, of Dillon's
battalion, and thirty-five men. As soon as he heard the din of
battle in the town, he collected a few fugitives, entrenched his
position at the guardhouse, and maintained it for the whole day;
not only that, but, finding that his position was commanded by a
party of Austrians, who had taken post in the church of Saint
Marie, close by, he sallied out, drove them from the church, and
maintained possession of that as well; until, late in the
afternoon, he was reinforced by two companies of our regiment, who
made their way this time without opposition.
"The enemy fell back, but not unmolested, as, sallying out, we
pressed hotly upon them. There now remained only the gate of Saint
Margaret in the hands of the Austrians. Here a large body of
troops had been stationed, and succeeded in repulsing the repeated
attacks made upon them by Revel's force.
"The fight had now lasted for eleven hours, and the position of
the Austrians had become critical. The desperate resistance of our
men had entirely changed the position. They had repulsed every
attack upon them, had given time for the scattered French to
gather, and the one gate remaining in Eugene's possession was
seriously threatened. Vaudemont's corps was helpless on the other
side of the river, and could render no assistance, and Eugene gave
the order for his troops to retire, which they did in good order.
"It had been a hot day, indeed, for us, and we were only too glad
to see them go. We had lost three hundred and fifty men, out of
the six hundred with which we began the fight; altogether, the
garrison had lost, in killed, wounded, and in prisoners, fourteen
hundred men and officers, while Eugene's loss was between fifteen
and sixteen hundred.
"Personally, I have had hotter fighting, but taking the day
altogether, it was the most terrible through which I have ever
passed. Throughout the day we were in total ignorance of what was
going on elsewhere, though we knew, by the firing in other parts
of the town, that the French there had not been overpowered, and,
each time the regiments left us, I was expecting every moment to
be attacked by an overwhelming force. Faith, it was enough to make
one's hair white! However, I have no reason to grumble. I obtained
great praise for the defence of the barrier, and was given my
majority; and, if it had not been for the wound I received, two
years ago, which incapacitated me from active service, I might now
be in command of the regiment."
"Yes, indeed," another officer said. "It was truly a gallant
affair; and, although our men had fought equally as well in many
another engagement, it was their conduct at Cremona that attracted
the greatest attention, and showed the French the value of the
Brigade. I would we had always been employed in actions on which
we could look back, with the same pride and pleasure, as we can
upon Cremona and a long list of battles where we bore the brunt of
the fighting; and never failed to be specially mentioned with
praise by the general.
"The most unpleasant work that I ever did was when under Marshal
de Catinat. Eight Irish battalions were sent up, in 1694, from
Pignerolle into the valley of La Perouse, to oppose the Vaudois,
who had always offered a vigorous resistance to the passage of our
troops through their passes. They were wild mountaineers, and
Huguenots to a man, who had, I believe, generations ago been
forced to fly from France and take refuge in the mountains, and
maintained themselves sturdily against various expeditions sent
against them.
"I own the business was not at all to my taste, and many others of
our officers shared my opinions. It was too much like what we
remembered so bitterly at home, when William's troopers pursued
our fugitives to the hills, burning, destroying, and killing, and,
above all, hunting down the priests. This was the other way, but
was as cruel and barbarous. The poor people had given no offence,
save that they held to their own religion. An Irishman should be
the last to blame another for that, and, seeing they had
successfully opposed the efforts of the French to root them out,
it was much against my will that I marched with my regiment. I
hope that, when it comes to fighting against regular troops, of
whatever nationality, I am ready to do my work; but to carry fire
and sword among a quiet people, in little mountain villages, went
against the grain.
"It seemed to us that it was to be a massacre rather than
fighting, but there we were mistaken. It was the hardest work that
I ever went through. It was impossible in such a country to move
in large bodies, and we were broken up into small parties, which
advanced into the hills, each under its own commander, without any
fixed plans save to destroy every habitation, to capture or kill
the flocks of goats, which afforded the inhabitants their chief
means of subsistence, and to give no quarter wherever they
resisted.
"Even now, I shudder at the thought of the work we had to do;
climbing over pathless hills, wading waist deep through mountain
torrents, clambering along on the face of precipices where a false
step meant death, and always exposed to a dropping fire from
invisible foes, who, when we arrived at the spot from which they
had fired, had vanished and taken up a fresh position, so that the
whole work had to be done over again. Sometimes we were two or
even more days without food, for, as you may imagine, it was
impossible to transport provisions, and we had nothing save what
we carried in our haversacks at starting. We had to sleep on the
soaked ground, in pitiless storms. Many men were carried away and
drowned in crossing the swollen torrents. Our clothes were never
dry. And the worst of it was, after six weeks of such work, we
felt that we were no nearer to the object for which we had been
sent up than we were when we started.
"It was true that we had destroyed many of their little villages,
but as these generally consisted of but a few houses, only rough
buildings that could be rebuilt in a few days, the gain was not a
substantial one. We had, of course, killed some of the Vaudois,
but our loss had been much heavier than theirs, for, active as our
men were, they were no match in speed for these mountaineers, who
were as nimble as their own goats, knew everything of the country,
and could appear or disappear, as it seemed to us, almost by
magic. It was a wretched business, and once or twice, when our
parties were caught in the narrow ravines, they were overwhelmed
by rocks thrown down from above; so that, on the whole, we lost
almost as many men as we should have done in a pitched battle,
gaining no credit, nor having the satisfaction that we were doing
good service to France.
"I hope I may never be employed in a business like that again. It
was not only the Vaudois that we had to fight, for, seeing that at
first we were pushing forward steadily, the Duke of Savoy, under
whose protection they lived, sent six hundred regular troops to
assist them, and these, who were well commanded, adopted the same
tactics as the peasants, avoiding all our attempts to bring on an
engagement, and never fighting except when they had us to great
advantage.
"As a rule, our men were always dissatisfied when they received
orders to fall back, but I think that there was not a man among us
but was heartily glad, when we were recalled to rejoin Catinat at
Pignerolle."
The expedition, however, although altogether unsuccessful in
rooting out the Vaudois, created such terrible devastation in the
mountains and valleys that the Irish name and nation will long
remain odious to the Vaudois. Six generations have since passed
away, but neither time nor subsequent calamities have obliterated
the impression made by the waste and desolation of this military
incursion.
"You were at Blenheim, were you not, Captain O'Donovan?"
"Yes. A tough fight it was, and a mismanaged one. I was in the
Earl of Clare's regiment, which, with Lee and Dorrington's
battalions, was stationed with the force in Oberglau in the centre
of our position. It seemed to us, and to our generals, that our
position was almost impregnable. It lay along a ridge, at the foot
of which was a rivulet and deep swampy ground. On the right of the
position was the village of Blenheim, held by twenty-seven
battalions of good French infantry, twelve squadrons, and
twenty-four pieces of cannon. Strong entrenchments had been thrown
up round our position, but these were not altogether completed.
Blenheim, moreover, had been surrounded by very heavy and strong
palisades, altogether impassable by infantry, and, as the allies
could not hope to get cannon across the stream and swamps, it
seemed to defy any attack. From Oberglau the army of Marshal de
Marcin and the Elector stretched to the village of Lutzingen. We
had some five-and-twenty cannon at Oberglau.
"The weak point, as it afterwards turned out to be, was the crest
between us and Blenheim. Considering that both the artillery and
musketry fire from both villages swept the slope, and as in
numbers we equalled the enemy, it was thought well-nigh impossible
for him to cross the swamps and advance to the attack; and almost
the whole of the French cavalry were massed on the crest, in order
to charge them, should they succeed in crossing and try to ascend
the slope.
"At first the battle went altogether favourably. We had opposite
to us the English, Dutch, Hanoverians, and Danish troops under
Marlborough, while facing our left were Prussians, Imperialists,
and other German troops under Eugene. Marlborough's Danish and
Hanoverian cavalry first crossed, but were at once charged and
driven back. Then they tried again, supported by English infantry.
Then Marlborough led up a still stronger force, drove back our
light cavalry, and began to ascend the hill. We were attacked by
ten battalions--Hanoverians, Danes, and Prussians, while the
English bore against Blenheim. The fighting at both places was
desperate, and I must do the Germans the justice to say that
nothing could have exceeded the gallantry they showed, and that,
in spite of the heavy fire we maintained, they pressed up the
slope.
"We remained in our entrenchments, till it could be seen that the
English were falling back from Blenheim, whose palisade, manned by
twenty-seven battalions of infantry, offered an obstacle that
would have defied the best troops in the world to penetrate.
"Immediately this was seen, nine battalions, headed by our three
regiments, leapt from the trenches and poured down on the Germans.
The enemy could not withstand our onslaught. Two of their
regiments were utterly destroyed, the rest suffered terribly, and
were driven back. On the left, Marcin held his ground against all
the attacks of Eugene, and it seemed to us that the battle was
won.
"However, it was not over yet. While the fierce fighting had been
going on in front of Oberglau and Blenheim, Marlborough had passed
the whole of his cavalry and the rest of his infantry across the
rivulet, and, in spite of artillery and musketry fire, these moved
up in grand order, the infantry inclining towards the two villages
as before, the cavalry bearing straight up the slope, and, when
they reached the crest, charging furiously upon our horse
stationed there. They were superior in numbers, but on this head
accounts differ. At any rate, they overthrew our cavalry, who fled
in the greatest disorder, pursued by the allied horse.
"The infantry poured into the gap thus made, Blenheim was entirely
isolated, and we were exposed to assault both in front and rear.
Nevertheless, we repulsed all attacks, until Marcin sent orders
for us to retire; then we sallied out, after setting fire to the
village, flung ourselves upon the enemy, and succeeded in cutting
our way through, our regiment forming the rear guard. The whole of
Marcin's army were now in full retreat, harassed by the allied
cavalry; but whenever their squadrons approached us, we faced
about and gave them so warm a reception that they attacked less
formidable foes. As for the garrison in Blenheim, you know they
were at last surrounded by Marlborough's whole force, with
artillery; and with the Danube in their rear, and no prospect of
succour, they were forced to surrender.
"It was a disastrous day, and I have not yet recovered from the
wound I received there. Had five thousand infantry been posted in
a redoubt, halfway between Blenheim and Oberglau, so as to give
support to our cavalry, the result of the battle would have been
very different. Still, I suppose that most battles are lost by
some unlooked-for accident--some mistake in posting the troops. We
can only say that, had the allied forces been all composed of such
troops as those Eugene commanded, they would have been beaten
decisively; and that had, on the contrary, Eugene commanded such
troops as those under Marlborough, Marcin would never have held
his ground."
"How many British troops were there in the battle, Captain
O'Donovan?"
"Somewhere about twelve thousand, while the Continental troops
were forty-seven or forty-eight thousand. There is no doubt that
they were the backbone of the force, just as we flatter ourselves
that our three regiments were the backbone of the defence of
Oberglau."