BOOK rived, in company with M. Bournonville, at St. XIX. Amand, the head-quarters of general Dumou1793. riez; and, being admitted to his presence, explained to him the object of their mission. After a long conference, the general, finding them inflexible in their purpose, gave the signal for a body of soldiers who were in waiting, and ordered M. Bournonville and the four commissioners, in the number of whom was the noted M. Camus, immediately to be conveyed to general Clairfait's head-quarters at Tournay, as hostages for the safety of the royal family of France.

Notwithstanding the great popularity of general Dumouriez, symptoms soon appeared in the army of extreme dissatisfaction at this act of treachery and violence. On the morning of the 3d, Dumouriez repaired to the camp of Maulde, and harangued the troops, amidst the murmurs of many of the battalions. On the next day he departed with his suite for Condé, which fortress, with Valenciennes, he had engaged to put into the hands of the Austrians: but on the road he received intelligence that it would not be safe for him to enter the place; and, in making his retreat, he fell in with a column of volunteer guards, who called to him to surrender: but the general, trusting to the swiftness of his horse, made, with great difficulty, his escape to the

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quarters of general Mack, through a dreadful BOOK discharge of musquetry. His example was followed by general Lamorlière, the duc de 1793. Chartres, son of the duke of Orléans, and a few hundreds of private soldiers only out of the numerous army which he had commanded with such brilliant success. On the very next day appeared a proclamation from general Dumouriez, containing a recapitulation of his services to the French republic, a glowing picture of the outrages of the jacobins, and of the mischiefs to be apprehended from a continuation of anarchy in France; concluding with an exhortation to the French to restore the constitution of 1791, and a declaration on oath that he bore arms only for that purpose.

manifesto of

of Cobourg.

This proclamation was accompanied by a very Judicious judicious manifesto on the part of the prince of the prince Cobourg, now commander-in-chief of the armies of Austria. After passing some encomiums on the patriotic views of general Dumouriez, it announced, "that the allied powers were no longer to be considered as principals, but merely as auxiliaries, in the war; that they had no other object than to co-operate with the general, in giving to France her constitutional king, and the constitution she formed for herself." On his word of honor he pledged himself, "that he would not come upon the French territory to

BOOK make conquests, but solely for the ends above spe XIX. cified:" and his serene highness declared fur1793. ther, "that any strong places which should be

put into his hands would be considered as sacred deposits, to be delivered up when the constitutional government in France should be restored."

Such was the wise and generous policy of this heroic commander. But, by this time, Antwerp, Breda, and the other conquests of France on the Dutch frontier, were evacuated; and a fatally dazzling scene of ambition and aggrandisement began once more to open to the view of the allied powers. On the 8th of April a grand council was held at Antwerp, at which were present the prince of Orange, accompanied by the grand-pensionary Vander Spiegel, the prince of Cobourg, counts Metternich, Staremberg, &c. also the Prussian, Spanish, and Neapolitan ambassadors. Here the whole plan of operations was completely changed, and the prince of Cobourg was most reluctantly compelled to give the sanction of his name to a proclamation of the 9th of April, virtually rescinding all which was contained in that of the 5th.

France appeared at this time, it must be confessed, in a situation truly dangerous. She was in a state of open warfare with Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, Holland, Spain, Sardinia, and the Sicilies: her principal army had been driven,

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by a series of successful attacks, from all her BOOK recent conquests; and was now, by the defection of its commander, in a state of complete disor- 1793. ganisation: the Imperialists, assisted by the efforts of England and Holland, were established in great force on the frontier. On the side of the Rhine, the Prussians, under the duke of Brunswic, threatened the important city of Mentz: and, what was perhaps still more alarming to the French government, a most formidable insurrection at this period broke out in the ancient provinces of Brittany and Poitou, now distinguished by the names of the departments of La Vendée and La Loire. After gaining various advantages over the troops sent against them by the Convention, the insurgents, who professed to act under the authority of Monsieur (the count de Provence), as regent of France, held the city of Nantz itself in a state of siege; and the situation of the revolted provinces being highly favourable to their designs, and enabling them to receive supplies to any amount, and with the utmost facility, from England, little probability appeared of their suppression.

the court of

The extreme elation of the court of London Elation of in particular, at this moment, displayed itself London. most conspicuously in a singular memorial pre- memorial of sented by lord Aukland, April the 5th, to the land.

Sanguinary

lord Auk.

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BOOK States General*, in which his lordship stated, in allusion to the capture of M. Camus and the 1793. other Conventional commissioners, "that the DIVINE VENGEANCE, for the atrocious crime which had been by their High Mightinesses with horror foreseen, seemed not to have been tardy. Some of these detestable regicides are now," said his lordship, " in such a situation, that they can be subjected to the sword of the law; the rest are still in the midst of a people whom they have plunged into an abyss of evils, and for whom famine, anarchy, and civil war, are about to prepare new calamities. In short, every thing that we see happen induces us to consider as not far distant the end of these wretches, whose madness and atrocities have filled with terror and indignation all those who respect the principles of religion, morality, and humanity. The undersigned, therefore, submit to the enlightened judgment and wisdom of your High Mightinesses, whether it would not be proper to employ all the means in your power to prohibit from entering your states in Europe, or your colonies, all those members of the pretended National Convention, or of the pre

*It is true that count Staremberg, the Imperial ambassador at the Hague, also signed the memorial; but, from the shortness of the interval that had elapsed, it evidently could not have been in consequence of orders from his court.