but it being late before it was terminated, Dumouriez judged it prudent not to take possession of the town till the next morning. At nine o'clock he marched in, amidst the joy and acclamations of the people, who, as the General observed, were lively, sensible, and dignified. It appears, from the same letter to the minister at war, that desertion still continued amongst the Austrian troops; and, in justice to the General it ought to be noticed, that when he mentions the great disproportion in the killed and wounded between his army and that of his opponents, he accounts for it, by extolling the address and vivacity of his artillery. This siege was carried on with an extraordinary celerity; the trenches having been opened only on the 25th,. by General Miranda. This General found that La Bourdonnaye, far from pressing the citadel, had not even brought the artillery for the siege to the park: he immediately sent General Duval for it, and in the course of four days the artillery was brought to the spot; batteries and trenches were finished; and the citadel, after a violent attack, having been on fire, surrendered. La Bourdonnaye was much suspected of acting in concert with Dumouriez's enemies, such as Pache, minister of war, and others with whom he was very much connected, for the purpose of stopping Dumouriez in his career, and checking his success; which appeared pretty evident by his delays in marching forwards and taking the citadel of Antwerp. On the 29th of the month, the citadel of Antwerp surrendered to the forces under General Miranda; after he had set fire to and done considerable damage to the barracks and storehouses for provisions. General Valence continued unremittingly to prosecute the siege of Namur, and at the same time drove the Austrians, to the amount of 5,000 men, from a well entrenched camp on the Bois d'Asche, on the opposite side of the Meuse. Although the whole of this affair was a work of difficulty and danger, and likewise of very great enterprize, it was luckily effected by the French troops. Fortunately for Valence, a junction had been previously formed between the army under the command of d'Harville, otherwise he might have been attacked with great advantage by the enemy. The greatest praise is due to d'Harville for his ready co-operations, by which the fall of the fortress of Namur was secured. On the 2d of December, articles of capitulation were signed for the surrender of this important frontier, to the army under general Valence; the garrison being made prisoners of war. It would appear that at the same moment an equal spirit of energy and enterprize pervaded the armies of France, and that their leaders were only emulous who should exceed in not only forming, but in succeeding in new schemes of conquest and aggrandizement. Scarcely was the capture of the citadel finally settled, when General Miranda became anxious to push his victorious army into Austrian Gueldres. On the 1st of December, the next day after he had taken possession of the city of Antwerp, General Miranda sent La Marliere with the advanced guard of the army towards Maseyck to try, by a rapid march, to surprize the Austrian posts posts that were on this side of the Meuse, to secure some batteaux for the purpose of passing the river, and to examine the proper place for executing this passage. The rest of the army followed on the 3d, and executed the march thro' the Campine with great success, and arrived on the banks of the Meuse upon the 17th and 18th. General La Marliere had driven all the posts that the enemy had on this side of the river to the other: but, wanting resolution and activity, had let them take away all the batteaux that were upon the river Meuse, except two that General Miranda was fortunate enough to take near Wassein. In this place he conceived the passage might be executed; and in consequence, sent La Marliere with his avantguarde to threaten the enemy, opposite to Ruremonde, as if he had intended to pass the river thereabout; which stratagem called their attention to that quarter, while in the night, with the two batteaux aforesaid, General Miranda passed the river at Wassein with a body of 1,500 men, took possession of a wood that was opposite to Wassein, and protected the passage of his troops. When the number amounted to 4,000 men, he marched to the enemy that was behind the river Roire, forced all their advanced posts to repass this river, and attacked the bridges of Ruremonde and Orsbeck. As soon as the enemy perceived this resolute attack, they set on fire two bridges, and with the greatest precipitation began their retreat towards Wasseinberg. By a ford, pointed out by some of the scholars of the town of Ruremonde, drawn by curiosity to the opposite side of the river, two squadrons of French light cavalry crossed it, and seized some batteaux; by means of which the infantry also began to pass. With these two squadrons of cavalry and one battalion of infantry that followed, General Miranda entered the town of Ruremonde; where he found some of the enemy's baggage, and made a few prisoners. The magistrates delivered every thing with friendly dispositions, and informed him of the despondent situation in which the enemy, though stronger in force, were in at that time. General La Marliere was sent immediately with his avantguarde in pursuit of the enemy, and soon afterwards General Champmorin followed him with a second division of the army towards Wasseinberg and Bercheim: they made some prisoners, and took part of their baggage in their retreat. At this time General Miranda received an express from General Dumouriez, informing him, that some matters of the greatest importance made it necessary that General Miranda should come to him at Liege as soon as possible. General Miranda's intention was to follow the enemy to Cologne, join Dumouriez's army there, and to drive them to the other side of the Rhine, making this river their barrier for the winter season; but the news received from Dumouriez compelled him to alter his plan. However, he gave orders to La Marliere to invade all Prussian Guelders and the Duchy of Cleves, and lay a moderate contribution on his Prussian Majesty's territories, just to shew that the French army that had driven him from Champagne, had ended the campaign, by taking winter quarters upon his Prussian Prussian Majesty's dominions. He left his army under General Duval, and went to Liege to meet General Dumouriez about the 10th or 12th of December. When he arrived at Liege, he found General Dumouriez very much disheartened and displeased with the government and intrigues of Paris. A conference was held between the commissaries Camus, Gossouin, Danton, and La Croix, and the Generals Miranda, Valence, and Dumouriez. Commissaries had arrived for the purpose of settling the dispute between General Dumouriez, on the one part, and the minister Pache, and the contractors for the army, on the other. In this conference General Dumouriez spoke with asperity about the decree of the Convention (of the 15th of November) by which Belgium was deprived of the rights and advantage offered to them by Dumouriez's declaration, "That he would not obey any bad laws; and that the decree was impracticable." This proposition was very ill received by the commissaries, who however tried to sooth him. General Valence spoke next, and assented entirely to the opinion of Dumouriez. General Miranda then spoke in his turn, and gave an opinion in direct contradiction to the principles of Dumouriez; acknowledging, at the same time, the decree in question to be unjust,-in some measure impracticable, and very impolitic; but that if a General was permitted to say that he would not obey a law, passed according to the constitutional forms of the state, "because he thought the law bad," there was an end of all government. That his counsel was, to suspend the execution of the decree; to remonstrate with the go vernment on the impolicy and injustice of it: but if the government, after this, insisted upon the execution of it, their duty, as soldiers, was to obey, and to enforce it as far as their command extended.This declaration pleased the commissaries very much: Dumouriez felt the justness of it; and they all agreed to remonstrate and suspend the execution of the decree. This circumstance may confirm the opinion of those who think that the true principles of a free government were little understood in France, even by such enlightened men as Dumouriez. The motive upon which Dumouriez had written for General Miranda to join him was, a letter from a member of the Committee of General Defence, informing him that government had agreed to appoint General Miranda commander in chief ofthe French islands inthe West Indies, where an army of 12,000 regulars, 15,000 people of colour, and a fleet of some sail of the line, was collected, for the purpose of making the Spanish colonies in America free and independent: That General Miranda was to be entrusted with this command, and to act as he should think proper: That a frigate was waiting for him at Brest, and should immediately sail, &c. Though the object of this plan was not disapproved, (as that of the revolution of Spain had previously been) by General Miranda, yet he thought that the position of France at that moment was not safe; and above all, was less sanguine than many others in his expectations of the benefits to be expected from these political principles that began to be propagated in France at that period: He therefore remonstrated strongly against who had risen in arms for the purpose of repelling the invasions that had been made on their privileges by the house of Austria, in violation of an express compact called the Joyous Entry, between the sovereign and the people. The Emperor Joseph, confiding in his arbitrary power, attempted to impose on the Belgians innovations in their religion; and at the same time to deprive them of those fundamental privileges, on the condition of which they had originally put themselves under the protection of the house of Austria. This brave and constant people, though overpowered by the imperial arms, persevered still in claiming their rights and privileges. Though they had been unable to vindicate their claims by arms, the persisted still in their appeal to justice. The Austrian government, without contesting the legality or justice of their claims, had hitherto refused to grant their request, for no other apparent reason than the tyrannical pleasure of exercising uncontroulled authority. But after the battle of Jemmappe, and the consequent reduction of Mons, when all was fear and confusion at Brussels, and the Archduchess Mary had removed with her court to Ruremonde,* she addressed two manifestoes to the Belgian people; one announcing her intention to hold her court at Ruremonde; the other to communicate to them the confirmation of the charter of their liberties, the Joyous Entry. The gratitude of the Belgians for this concession, must no doubt have been not a little diminished by the time and circumstances in which it was made. The rapid progress of the French arms, not yet disgraced by pillage, outrage, and oppression, was a subject of joy and exultation to various parties of men, in various parts of Europe; and animated with new hope their efforts to obtain the redress of grievances. The Belgian patriots, as they were styled, triumphed in the success of their new masters. A similar party in Holland sought in the same source an alleviation of their grievances against the overgrown power of the Stadtholder, which the arms of Prussia, under the command of the Duke of Brunswick, in 1789, had increased. In England, the friends and supporters of a parliamentary reform, beheld, as they conceived, in the progress of the French influence and power, an earnest of greater popular influence and political power in their own country, In Scotland, the disappointed burgesses, who had so long persevered in fruitless endeavours to obtain a restoration of ancient rights, looked up to the successful invasion of the Netherlands for a correction of the abuses that had crept into the royal burghs. In Ireland, the Roman Catholics claimed a total emancipation from the penal laws; and what may appear very singular, perhaps, to some, not only were so fortunate as to escape the invectives, but even to obtain the countenance and favour of that great enemy, of late, to popular claims and all innovations, Mr. Burke. In the same kingdom, a great party among the dissenters connected the destruction of one abusive government, of mighty importance in the scale of the European nations, with the destruction of every government, founded on abuse and usurpation, * Her husband, the Duke of Saxe Teschen, was with the army. throwing aside all personal pique, pride, or animosity, wrote to Cus. tine, putting himself, although for merly his senior, and all his army under the immediate command of that officer. It was indeed necessary that measures should be taken to strengthen the important position of Custine on the Rhine and Meuse; for the King of Prussia, after his defeat on the Lhan, with the loss of Limbourg, determined that his army should now be supported by that of Coblentz, the great centre of rendezvous of the combined powers. These armies, consisting of 50,000 men, obliged Custine to retreat to Mayence, which he had taken care to fortify in the most advantageous and formidable man ner. The inhabitants of Frankfort, not being satisfied with their new masters, took an opportunity of opening their gates to the Prussians; by which one-half of the garrison were made prisoners of war, and the rest were butchered by the Prussians and Hessians. At this juncture it was impossible for Custine to give the smallest assistance, as the junction of Biron did not take place till next day. Some movements took place after this junction, on the part of Custine, in which the French troops behaved with the greatest bravery, and in the course of which, on one occasion, 18,000 resisted for a considerable time 30,000 of the enemy. In this action the conduct of Colonel Houchard was highly extolled: with 2,000 men he had opposed 12,000, had checked their progress, and without the loss of a man, took from the enemy several prisoners. It has already been noticed, that General Bournonville had been appointed to succeed Kellerman in the army of Metz, on the 13th of December. The head quarters of this officer were at Cerf, and he then occupied the towns of Mestzeig, Frendenberg, and Sarbruck. The latter, being a place of considerable importance, the possession of it occasioned several small engagements between the contending parties, all of which ended in fa vour of the French. The loss on their part was generally very trifling, from the enemy firing either too high or too low. The object of this expedition was, to get possession of Treves. Bournonville had already conquered all the territory between the Sarre and the Moselle, as far as the bridge of Cosarebruck; and the republican troops were in actual possession of all the district between the confluence of these rivers. In the course of this business the armies were engaged ten times; and what is extraordinary, the French in all these engagements had only ten men killed, and sixty wounded. The dominion of France was thus rapidly extended from the Alps to the Rhine, and from Geneva to the mouth of the Scheldt: and the most numerous and best appointed armies of Europe were at this period everywhere retreating from the undisciplined but enthusiastic troops of the victorious republic. It seldom happens that governments possess the wisdom to anticipate the just demands, or voluntarily to yield to the wishes and claims of the people, so long as they think themselves sufficiently strong to resist them by force. The house of Austria had but recently secured, by the power of the sword, the allegiance of the states of Brabant and Flanders, who |