HEROISM OF THE DUTCH. 183 A. D. rass sage of the Rhine, and took Arnheim, Nimeguen, Utrecht, Ch.16 Naerden, and numerous other towns. The conqueror dictated the most cruel and unreasonable terms. When the Dutch 1672. embassy, headed by Grotius, came to his camp to solicit peace, and prepared to make any concession consistent with honor Embar(for the people were driven to extremities,-Amsterdam, and ments a few other cities being all that remained to the Dutch autho- of the Dutch. rities), the haughty Monarch demanded the unconditional surrender of every city and fortress in the land, the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion, and a tribute of twenty millions of livres for the expenses of the war. The Dutch, although in despair, refused his proposals, and resolved, under the advice of William, to defend their country to their very last ditch. ters of Whatever is truly heroic in the history of the 17th century, Their when viewed in connection with the wars of Louis XIV., now heroism. rises on the canvas. Never was a country compelled to make greater sacrifices than Holland, at this time. Never were sacrifices more willingly made. The Dutch now fought, not for victory or for fame, but for national existence. The dikes were opened, and their villages were overflowed; everything dear to them on earth was risked in order to repel the invaders. But Providence came to their rescue. A great storm de- Disasstroyed or scattered the ships of the enemy, so that the sea the remained open in case they were driven from the land. In French. view of such an emergency, fifty thousand families had prepared to embark for their colonies in the East Indies, where they had determined to establish a new empire. The inundation of the fields prevented the advance of the French troops; while the vast number of prisoners required nearly a third of the army to guard them. The invading forces were still further reduced by the large garrisons needed for the captured cities; so that when autumn approached, the country, contrary to all expectations, was still unconquered. Moreover, before rein- Asecond forcements could arrive, or a new campaign commence, the league Dutch had found powerful allies. A fresh league was formed formed. against Louis; he was compelled to withdraw part of his 184 CONQUESTS OF TURENNE. A. D. Ch. 16 forces in Holland to resist the Germans in Alsace; he was obliged to face new enemies on the Rhine; and at last he had 1675. to evacuate the provinces he had overrun, leaving behind him nothing but the deepest and most intense detestation. Assassination De Witts. The Pensionary De Witt, and his brother, having fallen of the victims to popular fury, William of Orange was now placed at the head of the Government as well as of the army. He immediately became the life and soul of the combination formed against the man who had disturbed the peace of Europe. If all his circumstances could be fully appreciated, he would at once be recognised as belonging to the first class of military leaders. Although doomed to defeats and disasters, since he fought against vastly superior numbers, he always kept his ground. At the terrible battle of Seneff, which terminated the military career of the Prince of Condé, twenty-five thousand men were left dead upon the field. Con of Tu In the third year of the war the eyes of Europe were quests diverted from the Prince of Orange, by the memorable camrenne. paign of Marshal Turenne in the Rhine provinces, when, with inferior forces, he expelled the Austrians from Alsace, under the Duke of Lorraine. In the following spring, that of 1675, he was arrayed against the celebrated Austrian general Montecuculi, and was preparing for a general action, when he was killed by a random shot, to the great grief of the army, and the vexation of his Sovereign. All France was thrown into mourning by the death of this great general, at once the idol of the army, and the pride of the people. His death ter. Turenne was distinguished for his private virtues as well as and for his public services. His family, like that of Condé, had charac- been Protestant, but, like Condé and Henry IV., he abjured his religion, from motives of expediency. His life, in other respects, was unsullied by great defects, if we are willing to forget his devastation of the Palatinate. But cruelties in war were little thought of in that age. Perhaps too they were inflicted by his Government, in which case Louvois, rather than Turenne, is to be condemned for them. The eloquent PEACE OF NIMEGUEN. 185 A. D. Fléchier pronounced the funeral oration of the hero, and his Ch.16 remains, by royal order, were consigned to the vaults of St. Denis, the resting place of the Kings of France. The monu- 1678 ment which commemorates his greatness is now placed in the chapel of the Invalides, close to the tomb of Napoleon. to 1688. Peace of This great contest, of which William of Orange and Turenne were the opposing leaders, was brought to a close by Nimethe peace of Nimeguen, in 1678, after all parties were ex- guen. hausted, and the objects aimed at by the aggressors were seen to be unattainable. By this peace the limits of the contending nations were re-established upon the basis of the treaty of Westphalia, made thirty years before, and all conquests mutually restored. Holland, by her heroic defence, had presented a barrier against the aggressions of a dangerous power, and had probably saved the liberties of Germany. hostili But Europe enjoyed only a brief respite after the peace of General Nimeguen. The hostility of the nations against Louis XIV. ties restill continued with unabated rancor,-an hostility which he newed. had himself provoked by his intolerance and pride. William of Orange was now, in consequence of the revolution which had hurled James II. from the throne, King of England, and as such, burning to avenge the wrongs he had endured. The protection which Louis extended to the dethroned monarch furnished the pretext for a new combination, which was encouraged by the Pope, and the various Italian States, in consequence of the indignities Louis had offered to them. More than half a million of Protestants, flying from France, in consequence of the revocation of the edict of Nantes, swelled the number of his enemies, until at length all Europe armed itself anew, and formed a league more powerful than any that had been seen since the days of the Crusades. It would be more difficult to find excuses for this war than Third combifor the one which preceded it, since it was undertaken rather nation. from revenge than from fear or necessity. Louis XIV. certainly did not court the contest; he probably did all he could to avoid it. His experiences had somewhat dispelled the 186 RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES. Ch. 16 illusions of his early days, and he had now learnt the vanity of military glory. He had nothing to gain, and much 1688. to lose by the renewal of the war, which would necessarily A. D. Calami war. subject him to enormous sacrifices. It is said that his minister Louvois intrigued with his enemies in order to plunge his master into new hostilities, hoping that war would divert his mind from palace building. Be that as it may, Louis was not the man to shrink from an enemy, when conflict became inevitable. He was too proud to make a concession, or to abandon a claim. For a period of nine years Europe was a scene of rapine, ties of conflagration, cruelty, and bloodshed, beyond all former precedent. Calamities of the most heart-rending character marked the course of political events. The renewed desolation of the Palatinate, the capture of Philipsburg and Namur, the burning of Heidelberg, Manheim, Worms, Spires, and Oppenheim, the sack of Tréves and Cologne, and the battles of Fleurus, Nurwinden, Steinkerque, and Marseilles-bloody, without being decisive, and attended with needless cruelties, followed each other in sad succession. Between three and four hundred thousand combatants on either side were arrayed against the each other, and in a single province on the Rhine four hunFrench. dred thousand persons were compelled to flee from their homes, Embar rass ment of many of whom perished miserably from famine and disease. PEACE OF RYSWICK. 187 at once responded to. Then were the allies in their turn made Ch. 16 to perceive the truth that a nation fully aroused to a sense of A. D. its danger, and willing to make needful sacrifices, cannot be 1697. subdued. The ruin of Louis XIV. was averted, and, in 1697, the treaty of Ryswick was made, in accordance with which the Peace of Rysrelations of the contending States were restored to nearly the wick. same position as before the war- -the usual result of international conflicts. The Rhine still remained the boundary between France and Germany. Louis XIV. acknowledged William III. as King of England. of Louis While, however, Louis preserved his territories and his honor, he suffered deeply and permanently from this last desperate conflict. The peace of Ryswick found him broken, old, and disappointed, the object of execration to his enemies, and dislike to his own subjects, who had been so severely taxed and cruelly decimated to advance his interests. The enthusiasm which had greeted his early victories had vanished away. HumiGloom and despondency affected all classes of the people. The liation great marshals, to whose genius he had been so much indebted, were dead, and had left no successors worthy of their fame. Isolated, in the midst of courtiers, with no friend except his wife; conscious of having inflicted irreparable evils on his country, he must have felt, most painfully, the contrast between his situation now and that which it had been twenty years before, when his flatterers styled him "The Great". title to which no powerful monarch ever had a more questionable claim. -a XIV more War of been the But Louis XIV. was doomed to engage in a still disastrous war than any to which allusion has yet Spanish made. The death of Charles II. of Spain, the last of the succesAustrian princes, which took place in 1700, led to new diffi- sion. culties. He had left no children, but bequeathed his throne to a grandson of the French King, by his wife Maria Theresa, eldest daughter of Philip IV., his nearest heir. The Emperor Leopold of Germany laid claim to this throne as grandson of the second daughter of Philip IV.; and the Elector of Bavaria, |