the elector in person, reconnoitred the position BOOK II. of the enemy, and adjudged an attack impracti- 1694. cable. In the sequel, M. de Luxemburg posted his army between Courtray and Menin, in so masterly a manner that no impression could be made on the French frontier on that side; and the grand object of the campaign on the part of the confederates was wholly frustrated. The service thus performed by M. de Luxemburg was deemed so great, that the king of France wrote a letter with his own hand to the maréchal, acknowledging "that to the unparalleled zeal and diligence of the commander in chief, and to the officers and soldiers serving under him, he stood obliged for the preservation of the frontiers on that side." And by his majesty's express command this letter was read to every corps from the right to the left of the army.

tured by

As the French army was now totally withdrawn from the vicinity of the Maese, the king of England, in order to make some advantage of Huy cap. his superiority, detached a body of troops, to be the Allies. joined by other detachments drawn from the garrisons of Liege and Maestricht, to invest the town and castle of Huy, which surrendered after such resistance as could be made; and about the middle of October 1694 the armies separated, and went into winter quarters.

The prince of Baden, who had passed two

BOOK II months of the preceding winter in England, and 1694. had concerted measures with the king for an

on the

Rhine:

active campaign, now commanded on the Rhine. In June 1694 maréchal de Lorges passed the Rhine at Philipsburg, in order to force the allies to a battle before the army was completely formed. The prince having intelligence of his Campaign motions, possessed himself of a strong camp near Sintzheim, which the French general would not venture to attack: and being at length joined by the Saxons, &c. he not only compelled the maréchal to repass the Rhine, but, following him into Alsace, laid the whole country under contribution. At the approach of winter he retreated, not without some loss, in Germany, without any decisive advantage being gained on either side.

In Hungary:

In Spain.

In Hungary the war continued with an uninterrupted flow of success, though not great or rapid, on the part of the emperor and this year the fortress of Giulia surrendered after a long siege to the imperial army under generai Caprara -Temeswar alone now remaining in possession of the Turks, of all the towns and fortresses to the north of the Danube.

The principal scene of action this year was Spain. So early as the month of May, the maréchal duc de Noailles had forced the Spanish lines on the banks of the river Ter, and gained a com

plete victory; amongst the immediate fruits of BOOK 11, which was the reduction of the towns of Palamos, 1694. Gironne, Ostalric, and Castel Foletto: and haying been invested by his most christian majesty with the dignity of viceroy of Catalonia, he menaced the city of Barcelona with an immediate siege. This pompous title proved, however, to be somewhat prematurely conferred; for, on the arrival of admiral Russel with the combined squadrons of English and Dutch, M. de Tourville, who was to have co-operated with Noailles in an attempt upon the city of Barcelona, retired into Toulon; and the maréchal was, to his great chagrin, compelled to abandon his enterprise.

The duke of Schomberg had been succeeded in Campaign in Italy. the command of the British troops in Piedmont by the earl of Galway, but the campaign in Italy terminated without siege or battle; and the inactivity of the duke of Savoy was with reason supposed to originate in a clandestine negotiation which he had for some time past been carrying on with the court of Versailles.

Wheeler

wrecked.

The maritime operations of the year were upon Admiral the whole far from fortunate. Admiral Wheeler shiphad been detached with a strong squadron to the Straits to convoy the Mediterranean and Levant trade, and to cruize off Cadiz till the arrival of the Spanish flota. Having successfully

1694.

BOOK II. performed these commissions, it was his evil destiny, in the month of February 1694, to encounter off the Rock of Gibraltar one of the most violent tempests known in the memory of man. It began on the 17th, and continued with little or no remission to the 19th; in which dreadful interval admiral Wheeler himself in the Sussex man of war, and two other line-of-battle ships, were totally lost besides three of an inferior rate, and an incredible number of traders and coasting vessels.

Disastrous

Attempton

A still greater disaster occurred in the failure. Brest. of a grand expedition against Brest, respecting which the nation had formed the most sanguine expectation; nor, on the other hand, had any project framed by England during the present war occasioned so much alarm and apprehension to the court of France. In the beginning of June, a fleet of about thirty ships of the line, English and Dutch, commanded by lord Berkeley, having on board 6000 land forces under general Tollemache, an officer of approved courage and reputation, sailed from St. Helen's and came to anchor between Camaret and Bertheaume bays, lying on each side the entrance into Brest water, on the evening of the 7th. The defence of this important place had been committed to the famous M. Vauban, who, previous to the arrival of the English armament, had

written to the king of France," that his majesty BOOK II. needed to be under no apprehension; that he 1694. had made all the subterraneous passages under the castle bomb-proof; that he had disposed 90 mortars and 300 pieces of cannon in proper places; that all the ships were out of the reach of the enemy's bombs, and all the troops in good order; that there were 300 bombardiers in the place, 300 gentlemen, 4000 men regular troops, and a regiment of dragoons just arrived."

After a bold but ineffectual endeavour to silence the castle and forts which guarded the entrance into the harbour, general Tollemache made a desperate attempt to effect a landing with the troops in a small bay flanked to the right and left with cannon and entrenchments within halfmusket-shot of the water. No sooner had they gained the shore, but they were received so warmly by the French as to compel them to a precipitate and disorderly retreat to the boats; and it being now the tide of ebb, they could not clear themselves from the ooze in which they were bedded; and the greater part of the troops which had landed were either miserably slaughtered, or obliged to beg for quarter. General Tollemache, after displaying heroic valour, received a wound which proved mortal; and the whole armament returned immediately to England, perceiving with sensible chagrin that they