1 and the Ottomans, soon after restored him to a 27. pacific life, and the study of history, in which, in Italy and His campaigns above any other, he delighted. But on the break- Germany. ing out of the War of the Succession in 1701, he was restored to his military duties, and during two campaigns measured his strength, always with success, in the plains of Lombardy, with the scientific abilities of Marshal Catinat, and the learned experience of Marshal Villeroi, the latter of whom he made prisoner during a nocturnal attack on Cremona in 1703. In 1704 he was transferred to the north of the Alps, to unite with Marlborough in making head against the great army of Marshal Tallard, which was advancing, in so threatening a manner, through Bavaria; and he shared with the illustrious Englishman the glorious victory of Blenheim, which at once delivered Germany, and hurled the French armies, with disgrace, behind the Rhine. Then commenced that steady friendship, and sincere and mutual regard, between these illustrious men, which continued unbroken till the time of their death, and is not the least honorable trait in the character of each. But the want of his protecting arm was long felt in Italy. The great abilities of the Duke de Vendôme had wellnigh counterbalanced there all the advantages of the allies in Germany; and the issue of the war in the plains of Piedmont continued doubtful till the glorious victory of Eugene, on the 7th of September, 1706, when he stormed the French intrenchments around Turin, defended by eighty thousand men, at the head of thirty thousand only, and totally defeated Marshal Marsin and the Duke of Orleans, with such loss, that the French armies were speedily driven across the Alps. 28. And with Eugene was now received in the most flattering manner at Vienna; the luster of his exploits had put to silence, if not to shame, the malignity of his enemies. "I have but one fault to find with you," said the in Flanders. emperor, when he was first presented to him after his victory, "and that is, that you expose yourself too much." He was next placed at the head of the Imperial armies in Flanders, and shared with Marlborough in the conduct, as he did in the glories, of Oudenarde and Malplaquet. Intrusted with the command of the corps which besieged Lille, he was penetrated with the utmost admiration for Marshal Boufflers, and evinced the native generosity of his disposition by the readiness with which he granted the most favorable terms to the illustrious besieged chief, who had, with equal skill and valor, conducted the defense. When the articles of capitulation proposed by Boufflers were placed before him, he said immediately, without looking at them, "I will subscribe them at once, knowing well you would propose nothing unworthy of you and me.” The delicacy of his subsequent attentions to his noble prisoner evinced the sincerity of his admiration. When Marlborough's influence at the English court was sensibly declining, in 1711, he repaired to London, and exerted all his talents and address to bring the English council back to the common cause, and estore his great rival to his former ascendency with Queen Anne. When it was all in vain, and the English armies withdrew from the coalition, Eugene did all that skill and genius could achieve to make up for the great deficiency arising from the withdrawal of Marlborough and his gallant followers; and when it had become apparent that he was overmatched by the French armies, he was the first to counsel his Imperial master to conclude peace, which was done at Rastadt on the 6th of March, 1714. successes over Great as had been the services then performed by Eugene 29. for the Imperialists, they were outdone by those His astonishing which he subsequently rendered in the wars with the Turks. the Turks. In truth, it was he who first effectually broke their power, and forever delivered Europe from the sabers of the Osmanlis, by which it had been incessantly threatened for three hundred years. Intrusted with the command of the Austrian army in Hungary, sixty thousand strong, he gained at Peterwardin, in 1716, a complete victory over a hundred and fifty thousand Turks. This glorious success led him to resume the offensive, and in the following year he laid siege, with forty thousand men, to Belgrade, the great frontier fortress of Turkey, in presence of the whole strength of the Ottoman empire. The obstinate resistance of the Turks, as famous then as they have ever since been in the defense of fortified places, joined to the dysenteries and fevers usual on the marshy banks of the Danube in the autumnal months, soon reduced his effective force to twenty-five thousand men, while that of the enemy, by prodigious efforts, had been swelled to a hundred and fifty thousand around the besiegers' lines, besides thirty thousand within the walls. Narrow escape wonderful vic Every thing presaged that Eugene was about to undergo the fate of Marshal Marsin twelve years before 30. at Turin, and even his most experienced officers from ruin, and deemed a capitulation the only way of extricating tory at Belthem from their perilous situation. Eugene him- grade. self was attacked and seriously weakened by the prevailing dysentery, and all seemed lost in the Austrian camp. It was in these circumstances, with this weakened and dispirited force, that he achieved one of the most glorious victories ever gained by the Cross over the Crescent. With admirable skill he collected his little army together, divided it into columns of attack, and, though scarcely able to sit on horseback him self, led them to the assault of the Turkish intrenchments. The result was equal to the success of Cæsar over the Gauls at the blockade of Alesia, seventeen centuries before. The innumerable host of the Turks was totally defeated; all their artillery and baggage was taken, and their troops were entirely dispersed. Belgrade, immediately after, opened its gates, and has since remained, with some mutations of fortune, the great frontier bulwark of Europe against the Turks. The successes which he gained in the following campaign of 1718 were so decisive, that they entirely broke the Ottoman power; and he was preparing to march to Constantinople, when the treaty of Passarowitz put a period to his conquests, and gave a breathing time to the exhausted Ottoman empire.* 31. His character Napoleon. From this brief sketch of his exploits, it may readily be understood what was the character of Eugene as a as a general, general. He had none of the methodical prudence and parallel to of Turenne, Marlborough, or Villars. His genius was entirely different; it was more akin to that of Napoleon, when he was reduced to counterbalance inferiority of numbers by superiority of skill. The immortal campaigns of 1796 in Italy, and of 1814 in Champagne, bear a strong resemblance to those of Eugene. Like the French emperor, his strokes were rapid and forcible; his coup-d'œil was at once quick and just; his activity indefatigable; his courage undaunted, his resources equal to any undertaking. He did not lay much stress on previous arrangements, and seldom attempted the extensive combinations which enabled Marlborough to command success, but dashed fearlessly on, trusting to his own resources to extricate him out of any difficulty -to his genius, in any circumstances, to command victory. Yet was this daring disposition not without peril. His audacity often bordered on rashness, his rapidity on with which he haste; and he repeatedly brought his armies into situations all but desperate, and which, to a general of less capacity, would unquestionably have proved so. But in these difficulties no one could exceed him in the energy and vigor with which he extricated himself from the toils; and many of his greatest victories, particularly those of Turin and Belgrade, were gained under circumstances where even the boldest officers in his army had given him over for lost. He was prodigal of the blood of his soldiers, and, like Napoleon, indifferent to the sacrifices at which he purchased his successes; but he was still more lavish of his own, and never failed to share the hardships and dangers of the meanest of his followers. Engaged during his active life in thirteen pitched battles, in all he fought like a common soldier. He was, in consequence, repeatedly, sometimes dangerously, wounded; and it was extraordinary that he escaped the reiterated perils to which he was exposed. He raised the 32. Daring and skill extricated him self from dangers. Austrian monarchy by his triumphs to the very highest pitch. of glory, and finally broke the power of the Turks, the most persevering and not the least formidable of its enemies. But the enterprises which his genius prompted the cabinet of Vienna to undertake, were beyond the strength of the hereditary states; and for nearly a century after, it accomplished nothing worthy either of its growing resources, or of the military renown which he had achieved for it. 33. Frederic the FREDERIC II., surnamed THE GREAT, with more justice than any other to whom that title has been applied in modern times, was born at Berlin on the 24th of Early life of Great. His education was as much negJanuary, 1712. lected as ill directed. Destined from early youth for the military profession, he was, in the first instance, subjected to a discipline so rigorous, that he conceived the utmost aversion for a career in which he was ultimately to shine with such eclat, and, as his only resource, threw himself with ardor into the study of French literature, for which he retained a strong predilection through the whole of his subsequent life. Unfortunately, his knowledge was almost entirely confined to that literature. That of his own country, since so illustrious, had not started into existence. Of Italian and Spanish he was ignorant. He could not read Greek; and with Latin his acquaintance was so imperfect as to be of no practical service to him through life. To this unfortunate contraction of his education, his limited taste in literature, in subsequent life, is chiefly to be ascribed. He at first was desirous of espousing an English princess; but his father, who was most imperious in his disposition, decided otherwise, and he was compelled, in 1733, to marry the Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick. This union, like most others contracted under restraint, proved unfortunate; and it did not give Frederic the blessing of an heir to the throne. Debarred from domestic enjoyments, the young prince took refuge with more eagerness than ever in literary pursuits; the chateau of Rhinsberg, which was his favorite abode, was styled by him in his transport the "Pal FF |