XVI. midst of a rigorous winter, and to render the severity CHAP. of the season the means of overcoming the natural defences of the Dutch provinces. 1794. The first object was to cross the Waal, and, after driving the Allied Forces over all the mouths of the Rhine, penetrate into Holland by the Isle of Bommel. For this purpose, boats had for some time past been collected at Fort Crevecour, and pontoons and other materials, for a bridge, at Bois le Duc; and the preparations having been completed, the passage was commenced, at daybreak, on the 12th November. But Nov. 12, the firm countenance of the Allies defeated all their attempts; and, after several ineffectual efforts, Moreau, whose sagacity clearly perceived the danger of persisting in the design, withdrew his troops, and the 1 Jom. vi. army was put into winter quarters, between the Meuse Toul. v.166. and the Rhine.1 1794. 182. Th. vii. 181. Pichegru. Early in December, the Duke of York, supposing the campaign finished, set out for England, leaving to General Walmoden the perilous task of protecting, with an inferior and defeated army, a divided country, against a numerous and enterprising enemy. But Winter a severe frost, which soon after set in, and rendered Campaign of that winter long memorable in physical annals, made the Republicans conceive the design of invading Holland, while the frost rendered the numerous canals and rivers, which intersected the country, passable for troops and artillery. The prospect of that danger excited the utmost alarm in the mind of General Walmoden, who, seeing the Meuse frozen in his front, while the Rhine and the Waal were charged with floating ice in his rear, was justly afraid that the same cold which exposed his line to the attacks of the enemy, would render the passage of the arms of the sea impracticable, in the event of retreat. Influenced by XVI. CHAP. these apprehensions, he passed his heavy cavalry to the other side of the Waal, evacuated his magazines 1794. and hospitals upon Dwenter, and ordered the Prince of Hesse d'Armstadt, cantoned with the most advan1 Jom. vi. ced corps in the Isle of Bommel, to abandon it, on the Toul.v. 167. first intelligence of the passage of the Meuse by the enemy.1 183, 184. Th. vii. 182, 183. Dec. 28, 1794. general At Allied Posi tion. At the end of December, the Meuse being entirely frozen over, and the cold as low as 17° of Reaumur, the French army commenced its winter campaign by He makes a an attack on two columns of the Dutch advanced posts. tack on the The result was what might have been expected from an irruption into a cordon of posts by concentrated forces; the Dutch troops, after a slight resistance, fled in confusion, some to Utrecht, and others to Gorcum, leaving sixty pieces of cannon, and sixteen hundred prisoners, in the hands of the invaders. In the general confusion the Republicans even made themselves masters of some forts on the Waal, and crossed that river; but the stream being not yet passable for heavy artillery, Pichegru withdrew his troops to the left bank. But meanwhile the right of the Dutch position was assailed by the French, one brigade driven into Williamstadt, another made prisoners, and Breda invested. On the following day Grave capitulated, after an honourable resistance of two months, and a bombardment of three weeks, from famine; a noble example, the more worthy of admiration, from its Jom. vi. having occurred in the middle of the general consterToul. v. 170. nation, and after numerous instances of shameful deTh. vii. 186 reliction of duty on the part of the Dutch troops.2 Dec. 29. 186, 188. -190. So many disasters produced their usual effect in sowing the seeds of dissension among the allied Generals. Walmoden was desirous to concentrate his forces on the Waal between Nemiguen and St Andrè, XVI. retires to to make head against the French, who were making CHAP. preparations to cross that river; but the Prince of, Orange insisted on the Allied Forces approaching 1794. Gorcum, in order to cover the direct road to Amsterdam, where the Republican agents had been long preparing a revolutionary movement, and an explosion was daily expected. Thus thwarted in the only ra- Walmoden tional mode of carrying on the campaign, Walmoden wards Haresolved to abandon the United Provinces to their nover. fate, and with a view to secure his retreat to Hanover, concentrated the English forces behind the Linge, and covered them on the left by the Austrian contingents. Orders were at the same time given to abandon the line of the Waal as soon as the enemy should present themselves in force for the passage of that river. But an unexpected panic having occurred in the division intrusted with the park of artillery near Thiel, it became evident that this position, in the dejected state of the army, was not tenable, and the troops, with the exception of a small vanguard, were 189, 191. withdrawn behind the Rhine.1 1 Jom. vi. Th. vii. 191. for Peace in Despairing of their situation after the departure of the English army, the States-General made proposals Dutch sue of peace to the French government, offering, as an vain. inducement, to recognize the Republic, and pay down two hundred millions of francs. The proposals were in the highest degree desirable, as the success of the invasion depended entirely on the continuance of the frost, and an accommodation with Holland would disengage fifty thousand men for operations on the Rhine; but the Committee of Public Safety, carried away by suc cess, and desirous at all hazards of establishing a revolutionary government in Holland, haughtily rejected them, and ordered Pichegru instantly to invade that 2 Jom. vi. devoted country.2 192, 193. CHAP. XVI. The continuance of the frost, which had now set in with more severity than had been known for a hun1794. dred years, gave an unlooked-for success to this amJan. 8, 1795. bitious determination. On the 8th January the French French cross the Waal. army crossed the Waal, now almost completely frozen, at various points, which was facilitated by the capture of Thiel by General Moreau. A battle now could alone save the Dutch Republic; but the dejected state of the army, suffering under the extremity of cold and hardship, with the thermometer at 17° of Reaumur, rendered this a hopeless alternative. Walmoden, therefore, abandoned Holland altogether, and retiring to the line of the Issel from Arnheim to Zutphen, left the Jom. vi 196. United Provinces to their fate.1 1 Th. vii. 191. Toul. v. 171. The situation of the Stadtholder was now in the Stadtholder highest degree embarrassing. Abandoned by the arembarks for my of General Walmoden, unable with his single forces to make head against the torrent of the Republican forces, distracted by the divisions in all the great towns in his rear, and daily expecting a revolution at Amsterdam, the Prince of Orange resolved to abandon the Republic altogether, and embark for England. With this view he presented himself before the StatesGeneral, and after declaring that he had done his utmost to save the country, but without success, avowed his resolution of retiring from his command, and recommended to them to make a separate peace with the enemy. On the following day he embarked at Schevennigen, and the States immediately issued an order to their soldiers to cease all resistance to the invaders, and despatched ambassadors to the headquarJom. vi.199. ters of Pichegru to propose terms of peace.2 2 Th. vii. 191. Meanwhile the French generals, desirous to avoid the appearance of subjugating the Dutch, were pausing in their career of success, in expectation of revo CHAP. XVI. at Amster lutionary movements manifesting themselves in the principal towns. General Daendels wrote to the leaders of the insurrection: "The representatives of France 1794. are desirous that the Dutch people should enfranchise Revolution themselves; they will not subdue them as conquerors; dam. they are only waiting till the inhabitants of Haarlem, Leyden, and Amsterdam, rise in a body, and unite themselves to their brethren who have taken the lead at Bois le Duc." The receipt of this offer raised to the utmost height the public effervescence at Amsterdam. The popular party of 1787 assembled in great Jan. 18, numbers, and besiged the Burgomasters in the townhall; the advanced guard of the French army was already at the gates; terror seized the bravest hearts; Which adthe magistrates resigned their authority; the demo- French cratic leaders were installed in their stead; the tri- Troops. color flag hoisted on the Hotel de Ville; and the Re-1 Jom. vi. publican troops, amidst the shouts of the multitude, 200. entered the city.1 The conquest of this rich and powerful city, which had defied the whole power of Louis XIV., and imposed such severe conditions on France at the treaties of Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle, was of immense importance to the French government. Utrecht, Leyden, Haarlem, and all the other towns of the Republic, underwent a similar revolution, and everywhere received the French soldiers as deliverers; the power of the Convention soon extended from the Pyrenees to the northern extremity of Friesland. The immense naval resources, the vast wealth which ages of independence had accumulated in the United Provinces, lay at the mercy of the Convention. This great Revolution, to the honour of the democratic party be it recorded, was accomplished without bloodshed or any of the savage cruelty which had stained the first ef forts of a free spirit in France; a signal example of 1795. mits the Th. vii. 192. |