soners, together with forty-six pieces of cannon, one hundred and sixteen pair of colours, and six hundred waggons23 A defeat so total overwhelmed the Imperial court with consternation. General Enkenford was ordered to make new levies with all possible expedition: Hasfeld and Wahl were sent for to Vienna; Goltaker and Galtz exerted their utmost diligence to join the archduke and Piccolomini in Bohemia, whither they had retired to re-assemble the wreck of their army. All the troops in the Austrian service were collected to stop the progress of the victorious Torstenson, That general had again invested Leipsic, and carried on his approaches with such vigour, that the place was under the necessity of surrendering, notwithstanding the valour of the garrison which excited the admiration of the besiegers. Torstenson was less fortunate in his attempt upon Fridburg, where he understood the enemy had collected large magazines: for although considerable breaches were made in the fortifications, and an assault given, the garrison sustained it with such unshaken resolution, that he was obliged to recall his troops, and while he was making preparations for a final effort, he learned that Piccolomini, at the head of a considerable army was approaching to the relief of the place. On this intelligence he ranged his troops in order of battle, and put himself in motion to meet the enemy; but Piccolomini penetrating his design, took a different route, threw supplies into the town, and retired with the utmost expedition. Now despairing of being able to reduce Fridburg, Torstenson marched into Lusatia, in order to wait for the reinforcements which he expected from Pomerania and Lower Saxony; and Guebriant, the French general, having passed the Maine at Gemund, established quarters of refreshment on the Taubet, and marched toward the Necker24. 23. Id. ibid. 24. Barre, tom. ix. Puffend. lib. xiv. While the confederates were thus making progress in Germany, the arms of France had been equally successful on the side of Spain. A French army had entered Roussilon, and reduced Colima and Perpignan. Meantime the affairs of the kingdom were in the greatest confusion, and Paris itself was in danger. Francisco de Milo, a man of valour and abilities, who had succeeded the cardinal Infant in the government of the low countries, having suddenly assembled a body of twenty-five thousand men, threatened France with two inroads; routed the count de Guiche, who attempted to oppose him, and would have appeared before the capital, to which he had opened a passage, had he not received a letter from Olivarez, ordering him to withdraw his troops, under pretence that the enterprize was too hazardous. But the true reason for such order was a secret treaty between the Spanish minister and the duke of Orleans; who, with the duke of Bouillon, Cinqmars master of the horse, and M. de Thou, had conspired the ruin of Richelieu, whom they had already brought into discredit with the king. Fortunately however for the cardinal, whose life was at once in danger from violence and disease, he got intelligence of the treaty with Spain, nearly at the same time that Louis received the news of Guiche's defeat. In the perplexity occasioned by that disaster, the king paid a visit to Richelieu. The cardinal complained of ill usage: Louis confessed his weakness; a reconciliation took place, and the conspirators were arrested. The duke of Orleans was disgraced; Cinqmars and de Thou lost their heads; and the duke of Bouillon, in order to save his life, was obliged to yield up the principality of Seden to the crown25. Thus victorious over all his enemies, Richelieu, though still on the verge of the grave, entered Paris in a kind of triumph, a breach being made in the walls, in order to admit the superb litter on which he was carried. While on his way, and hardly able to hold the pen, he wrote to the king the following short letter which is highly expressive of his haughty character; "Your enemies are dead, and your troops in possession of "Perpignan 26!" So many losses, the confederates expected, would have disposed the house of Austria sincerely to listen to terms of accommodation; but as the courts of Vienna and Madrid foresaw that France and Sweden, at such a juncture, would necessarily be high in theirdemands they seemed very indifferent about renewing the negociations. It was at length however, agreed to open the conferences for a general peace, in the month of July the year following; and the preliminaries being published, all the unhappy people who had been so long exposed to the calamities of war, congratulated themselves on the pleasing prospect of tranquility, when the death of cardinal Richelieu, and also of his masA. D. 1648. ter Lewis XIII. once more discoloured the scene. The Swedes, who were doubtful of the politics of the new administration, began to think of concluding a separate treaty with the emperor. But their fears were soon dispelled by the steady measures of cardinal Mazarine, who shewed himself no unworthy successor of Richelieu, whose plan he pursued with vigour. All the operations of war were concerted with as much judgment as formerly; supplies of every kind were furnished with equal punctuality: and a young hero sprung up to do honour to France during the minority of Lewis XIV. This hero was the celebrated duke d'Enguien, afterwards honoured with the title of the great Condé. He cut to pieces, in the plains of Rocroi, the famous Walloon and Castilian infantry, with an inferior army, and took Thionville, into which the Spanish general, Francisco de Melo, after his defeat, had thrown a reinforcement of ten thousand men. Nine thousand Spaniards and Walloons are said to have fallen in the battle of Rocroi27. 26. Auberi, Hist. du Gard. Rich. Mem. de Madame Moteville. The The arms of France were less fortunate in Germany. The duke of Lorraine renounced his alliance with that kingdom, and took upon himself the command of the Bavarian troops; and Guebriant being mortally wounded before Rotweil, which, however, was reduced, a misunderstanding after his death prevailed among the principal officers of the French army. This was followed by its natural consequence, a relaxation in discipline, the usual forerunner of a defeat. The count de Rantzau, who had succeeded Guebriant in the chief command, marched to the neighbourhood of Dutlingen, in Suabia. There the count de Merci, the Bavarian general, surprized, routed, and took him prisoner, with the greater part of his officers, and about four thousand private men. The remains of the French army retreated to Alsace, where they were happily collected by mareschal Turenne, who was sent thither for that purpose28. : The eyes of all Europe were now turned towards the negociations at Munster, and Osnabrug. The plenipotentiaries named by the emperor were the count d'Aversperg, and the baron de Krane, with Henry duke of Saxe-Lawenburg, who was chief of the embassy: France deputed the count d'Avaux and de Servien, counsellor of state; Sweden, Salvius, assisted by a son of the celebrated chancellor Oxenstiern and Spain, the marquis de Castel Roderigo and Diego de Saavreda. Deputies were also named by the other European powers interested in the negociations. The Swedish garrison quitted Osnabrug, which, together with Munster, was by the baron de Krane, released from the oath that the citizens had taken to the emperor; and the regencies of both cities swore that they would observe an exact neutrality, and protect the persons and effects of the negociators29. In the midst of these advances towards peace, Torstenson was ordered by the court of Sweden to carry war into the duchy of Holstein; the regency being incensed against the 28. Id, ibid. Barre, tom. ix. FOL. III, 29. Du Mont, Corps Diplom. tom. vi. да king king of Denmark, whom they accused of concealing all the hostile intentions of an enemy under the mask of a mediator. He had taken several Swedish vessels in the Sound, and refused to give satisfaction to the regency, which eomplained of these acts of hostility. It was therefore resolved in a general assembly of the states of Sweden, to make reprisls. That resolution, however, was not publicly known till the moment that Torstenson invaded Holstein. In that duchy he reduced Oldisloe, Kiel, and several other places of importance3o. t Christian IV. alarmed at this irruption, complained of it to Torstenson as a palpable infringement of the treaty lately concluded between Denmark and Sweden. But finding that the Swedish general, instead of paying any regard to such remonstrance, penetrated into Jutland, and made himself master of almost all the towns in that province, his Danish majesty had recourse to the emperor, who ordered Galas to march to his assistance in the depth of winter. The imperialists, though much retarded by the snow, which, rendered the roads almost impassable, at length appeared on the frontiers of Holstein; where a resolution was taken to starve the Swedes in Jutland, by occupying the defiles between Stockholm and Sleswick. This design, however, was rendered abortive by the vigilence of Torstenson, who marched toward Rendsburg with an intention to give Galas battle, in case he should dispute the passage: and as the Imperialists did not think proper to give him the least molestation, he quitted Holstein, intercepted some of their convoys, and encamped near Ratzburg3'. Meanwhile France finding the general negociations disturbed by the war between Sweden and Denmark, sent M. de la Thuillerie to Copenhagen, in order to bring about an accommodation. His proposals, however, met with little attention, until the retreat of the Imperialists, and an 3. Puffend. lib. 15. Barre, tom. ix. 31. Id. ibid. advantage |