and the trenches were armed; repeated sallies of the enemy to interrupt the operations were repulsed, and several of the outworks were carried between that time and the 21st, on which last occasion the besiegers succeeded in establishing themselves in the covered ways. The breaching batteries continued to thunder with terrible effect upon the walls; and on the 27th, a strong horn-work, called the Seven Fountains, was carried, and the allies were masters of nearly the whole line of the counterscarp. Meanwhile, Villars made no serious movement to interrupt the besiegers, contenting himself with making demonstrations between the Scarpe and the Scheldt to alarm the covering forces. Eugene, however, narrowly watched all his proceedings; and, in truth, the French marshal, far from really intending to disquiet the allies in their operations, was busied with an immense army of pioneers and laborers in constructing a new set of lines from Douay along the Scarpe to the Scheldt near Condé, in order to arrest their progress in the direction they had now taken. Seeing no prospect of being relieved, the governor, on the 29th, surrendered the town, and retired with the remains of the garrison, still four thousand strong, into the citadel.*

15.

On the surrender of the town, no time was lost in prosecuting operations against the citadel, and the line of Siege of the citadel, and circumvallation was traced out that very evening. its desperate But this undertaking proved more difficult than had been expected, and several weeks elapsed before any material

fear,

* Marlborough to Lord Galway, 4th of July, 1709; and to the Queen, 29th of July, 1709. Disp., iv., 530 and 556. CoXE, v., 8-13. Marlborough's private letters to the duchess at this period, as, indeed, throughout all his campaigns, prove how tired he was of the war, and how ardently he sighed for repose at Blenheim. "The taking of the citadel of Tournay will, cost us more men and time than that of the town; but that which gives me the greatest prospect for the happiness of being with you is, that certainly the misery of France increases, which must bring us a peace. The misery of the poor people we see is such, that one must be a brute not to pity them. May you be ever happy, and I enjoy some few years of quiet with you, is what I daily pray for."-Marlborough to the Duchess, July 30, 1709 COXE, v., 12.

progress was made in the operations, during which Villars made good use of his time in completing his new lines to cover Valenciennes and Condé. The garrison of the citadel, though unequal to the defense of the town of Tournay, was quite adequate to that of the citadel; and the vast mines with which the whole outworks and glacis were perforated, rendered the approaches in the highest degree perilous and difficult. The governor, M. De Surville, proposed, on the 5th of August, to capitulate in a month if not relieved; and to this proposition Marlborough and Eugene, with praiseworthy humanity, at once agreed; but the King of France refused to ratify the terms proposed, unless the suspension of arms was made general to the whole Netherlands, to which the allied general would not accede. The military operations consequently went on, and soon acquired a degree of horror hitherto unparalleled even in that long and bloody contest.

Alarms of the

subterraneous

The art of countermining, and of counteracting the danger of mines exploding, was then very imperfectly un- 16. derstood, though that of besieging above ground troops at the had been brought to the very highest degree of per- warfare. fection. The soldiers, in consequence, entertained a great and almost superstitious dread of the perils of that subterraneous warfare, where prowess and courage were alike unavailing, and the bravest, equally with the most pusillanimous, were liable to be at any moment blown into the air, or smothered under ground, by the explosions of an unseen, and, therefore, appalling enemy. The allies were inferior in regular sappers and miners to the besieged, who were singularly well supplied with that important arm of the service. The ordinary soldiers, how brave soever in the field, evinced a repugnance at engaging in this novel and terrific species of warfare; and it was only by the officers personally visiting the trenches in the very hottest of the fire, and offering high rewards to the soldiers who would enter into the mines, that men could be got to venture on the perilous service.*

* DUMONT'S Military History, ii., 104. CoXE, v., 15, 16.

Its real hor

It was not surprising that even the bravest of the allied 17. troops were appalled at the new and extraordinarors, August ry dangers which now awaited them, for they were 15-23. truly of the most formidable description. What rendered them peculiarly so was, that the perils in a peculiar manner affected the bold and the forward. The first to mount a breach, to effect a lodgment in a horn-work, to penetrate into a mine, was sure to perish. First a hollow, rumbling noise was heard, which froze the bravest hearts with horror; a violent rush as of a subterraneous cataract succeeded; and immediately the earth heaved, and whole companies, and even battalions, were destroyed in a frightful explosion. On the 15th of August a sally by M. De Surville was bravely repulsed, and the besiegers, pursuing their advantage, effected a lodgment in the outwork; but immediately a mine was sprung, and a hundred and fifty men were blown into the air. In the night between the 16th and 17th, a long and furious conflict took place below ground and in utter darkness, between the contending parties, which at length terminated to the advantage of the besiegers.* On the 23d a mine was discovered, sixty feet long by twenty broad, which would have blown up a whole battalion of Hanoverian troops placed above it; but while the allies were in the mine, congratulating themselves on the discovery, a mine below it was suddenly sprung, and all within the upper one were buried in the ruins. On the night of the 25th, three hundred men, posted in

*

A very striking incident occurred in the siege, which shows to what a height the heroic spirit with which the troops were animated had risen. An officer commanding a detachment was sent by Lord Albemarle to occu py a certain lunette which had been captured from the enemy; and though it was concealed from the men, the commander told the officer he had every reason to believe the post was undermined, and that the party would be blown up. Knowing this, he proceeded with perfect calmness to the place of his destination; and when provisions and wine were served out to the men, he desired them to fill their calashes, and said, "Here is a health to those who die the death of the brave." The mine was immediately after sprung; but, fortunately, the explosion failed, and his comrades survived to relate their commander's noble conduct.

a large mine discovered to the allies by an inhabitant of Tournay, were crushed in a similar manner by the explosion of another mine directly below; and on the same night, one hund red men posted in the town ditch were suddenly buried under a bastion blown out upon them.

But the citadel

Great was the dismay which these dreadful and unheardof disasters produeed among the allied troops. But 18. at length the resolution and energy of Marlbor- is at length tak ough and Eugene triumphed over every obstacle. en, Sept. 3. Early on the morning of the 31st of August, the white flag was displayed, and a conference took place between the two commanders in the house of the Earl of Albemarle; but the governor having refused to accede to the terms demanded— that the garrison should surrender as prisoners of war-the fire recommenced, and a tremendous discharge from all the batteries took place for the next three days. This compelled the brave De Surville to submit; and Marlborough, in consideration of his gallant defense, permitted the garrison to march out with the honors of war, and return to France, on condition of not serving again till they were exchanged. On the 3d of September the gates were surrendered, and the entire command of this strong fortress and rich city, which entirely covered Spanish Flanders, was gained by the allies.*

No sooner was Tournay taken than the allied generals turned their eyes to Mons, the next great fortress on the road to Paris, and which, with Va

19. Vigorous movements of Marlborough toward Mons.

lenciennes, constituted the only remaining strongholds that lay on that line between them and Paris. So anxious was Marlborough to hasten operations against this important town, that on the very day on which the white flag was displayed from the citadel of Tournay, he dispatched Lord Orkney with all the grenadiers of the army, and twenty squadrons, to surprise Ghislain, and secure the passage of

* Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, 31st of August and 3d of Sep tember, 1709. Disp., iv., 585-588. CoxE, v., 14-18. DUMONT'S Military History, ii., 103.

the Haine. On the 3d, the Prince of Hesse-Cassel was dispatched after him with four thousand foot and sixty squadrons. Lord Orkney, on arriving on the banks of the Haine, found the passage so strongly guarded that he did not deem it prudent to alarm the enemy by attempting to force it. The Prince of Hesse-Cassel, however, was more fortunate. He marched with such extraordinary diligence, that he got over forty-nine English miles in fifty-six successive hours; a rapidity of advance, for such a distance, that had never been previously surpassed, though it has been outdone in later times.* By this means he reached the Haine on the other side of Mons, and surprised the passage near Obourg, at two in the morning of the 6th, and at noon entered the French lines of the Trouille without opposition, the enemy retiring with precipitation as he advanced. He immediately extended his forces over the valley of the Trouille, fixed his head-quarters at the abbey of Belian, and with his right occupied in strength the important plateau of Jemappes, which intercepted the communication between Mons and Valenciennes. It was on this height that the famous battle was fought with the French Republicans under Dumourier in 1792: another proof, among the many which history affords, how frequently the crisis of war, at long distances of time from each other, takes place in the same vicinity. By this decisive movement, Marlborough gained an immense advantage; Mons was now passed and invested on the side of France; and the formidable lines, thirty leagues in length, on which Marshal Villars had been laboring with such assiduity during the two preceding months, were turned, and made of no avail.†

While the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with the advanced guard of the army, gained this brilliant success, Marlborough was rapidly following with the main body in the same direction.

* Mackenzie's brigade, which joined Wellington's army after the battle of Talavera, marched sixty-two English miles in twenty-six hours.—NAPIER, ii., 412.

+ Coxe, v., 20-25. Marlborough to Mr. Secretary Boyle, 7th of September, 1709. Disp., iv., 590.