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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tourcoing, by Hilaire Belloc
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tourcoing
+
+Author: Hilaire Belloc
+
+Release Date: May 5, 2010 [EBook #32260]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOURCOING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TOURCOING
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+  TOURCOING
+
+
+  BY
+  HILAIRE BELLOC
+
+
+  MCMXII
+  STEPHEN SWIFT AND CO., LTD.
+  16 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN
+  LONDON
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  PART                                               PAGE
+
+    I. THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE                       9
+
+   II. THE GENERAL MILITARY SITUATION                  17
+
+  III. THE PLAN OF THE ALLIES                          28
+
+   IV. THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE BATTLE                 49
+
+    V. THE TERRAIN                                     57
+
+   VI. THE ACTION                                      67
+
+
+
+
+TOURCOING
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE
+
+
+The Battle of Tourcoing is one of those actions upon which European
+history in general is somewhat confused, and English history, in
+particular, ignorant.
+
+That British troops formed part of those who suffered defeat, and that a
+British commander, the Duke of York, was the chief figure in the reverse,
+affords no explanation; for the almost exactly parallel case of
+Fontenoy--in which another royal duke, also the son of the reigning King
+of England, also very young, also an excellent general officer, and also
+in command was defeated--is among the most familiar of actions in this
+country. In both battles the posture of the British troops earned them as
+great and as deserved a fame as they had acquired in victory; in both was
+work done by the Guards in particular, which called forth the admiration
+of the enemy. Yet Tourcoing remains unknown to the English general reader
+of history, while Fontenoy is one of the few stock names of battles which
+he can at once recall.
+
+The reason that British historians neglect this action is not, then, as
+foreign and rival historians are too inclined to pretend, due to the fact
+that among the forces that suffered disaster were present certain British
+contingents.
+
+Again, as will be seen in the sequel, the overwhelming of the Duke of
+York's forces at Tourcoing, by numbers so enormously superior to his own,
+was not due to any tactical fault of his, though it is possible that the
+faulty plan of the whole action may in some measure be ascribed to him.
+
+Now Tourcoing is a battle which Englishmen should know, both for its
+importance in the military history of Europe, and for the not unworthy
+demeanour which the British troops, though defeated, maintained upon its
+field.
+
+The true reason that Tourcoing is so little known in this country is to be
+discovered in that other historical fact attaching to the battle, which I
+have mentioned. It occupied but a confused and an uncertain place in the
+general history of Europe; though perhaps, were its military significance
+fully understood, it would stand out in sharper relief. For though the
+Battle of Tourcoing was not the beginning of any great military series,
+nor the end of one; though no very striking immediate political
+consequence followed upon it, yet it was Tourcoing which made Fleurus
+possible, and it was Fleurus that opened the victorious advancing march of
+the French which, looked at as a whole, proceeded triumphantly
+thenceforward for nearly eighteen years and achieved the transformation of
+European society.
+
+What, then, was the political circumstance under which this action was
+fought?
+
+The French Revolution, by the novelty of its doctrines, by the fierceness
+and rapidity of its action, and by that military character in it which was
+instinctively divined upon the part of its opponents, challenged, shortly
+after its inception, the armed interference of those ancient traditional
+governments, external to and neighbouring upon French territory, which
+felt themselves threatened by the rapid advance of democracy.
+
+With the steps that led from the first peril of conflict to its actual
+outbreak, we are not concerned. That outbreak took place in April 1792,
+almost exactly three years after the meeting of the first Revolutionary
+Parliament in Versailles.
+
+The first stages of the war (which was conducted by Austria and Prussia
+upon the one side, against the French forces upon the other) were
+singularly slow. No general action was engaged in until the month of
+September, and even then the struggle between the rival armies took the
+form not so much of a pitched battle as of an inconclusive cannonade known
+to history as that of VALMY. This inconclusive cannonade took place in the
+heart of French territory during the march of the invaders upon Paris.
+Disease, and the accident of weather, determined the retreat of the
+invaders immediately afterwards. In the autumn of the year, the French
+forces largely recruited by enthusiastic volunteer levies, but of low
+military value, poured over the country then called the Austrian
+Netherlands and now Belgium. But their success was shortlived. A mere
+efflux of numbers could not hold against the trained and increasing
+resistance of the Imperial soldiers. In the spring of 1793 the retreat
+began, and through the summer of that year the military position of
+Revolutionary France grew graver and graver. Internal rebellions of the
+most serious character broke out over the whole territory of the Republic.
+In Normandy, in the great town of Lyons, in Marseilles, and particularly
+in the Western districts surrounding the mouth of the Loire, these
+rebellions had each in turn their moment of success, while the great naval
+station of Toulon opened its port to the enemy, and received the combined
+English and Spanish Fleets.
+
+Coincidently with the enormous task of suppressing this widespread
+domestic rebellion, the Revolutionary Government was compelled to meet the
+now fully organised advance of its foreign enemies. It was at war no
+longer with Austria and Prussia alone, but with England, with Holland,
+with Spain as well, and the foreign powers not only thrust back the
+incursion which the French had made beyond their frontiers, but proceeded
+to attack and to capture, one after the other, that barrier of fortresses
+in the north-east which guarded the advance on Paris.
+
+The succession of misfortune after misfortune befalling the French arms
+was checked, and the tide turned by the victory won at Wattignies in
+October 1793. After that victory the immediate peril of a successful
+invasion, coupled with the capture of Paris, was dissipated. But it was
+yet uncertain for many months which way the tide would turn--whether the
+conflict would end in a sort of stale-mate by which the French should
+indeed be left independent for the moment, but the armed governments of
+Europe their enemies also left powerful to attack and in the end to ruin
+them; or whether (as was actually the case) the French should ultimately
+be able to take the offensive, to re-cross their frontiers, and to dictate
+to their foes a triumphant peace.
+
+As I have said, the great action from which history must date the long
+series of French triumphs, bears the name of Fleurus; but before Fleurus
+there came that considerable success which made Fleurus possible, to which
+history gives the name of TOURCOING (from the town standing in the midst
+of the very large and uncertain area over which the struggle was
+maintained), and which provides the subject of these pages.
+
+Fleurus was decided in June 1794. It was not a battle in which British
+troops were concerned, and therefore can form no part of this series.
+Tourcoing was decided in the preceding May, and though, I repeat, it
+cannot be made the fixed and striking starting-point from which to date
+the long years of the French advantages, yet it was, as it were, the seed
+of those advantages, and it was Tourcoing, in its incomplete and
+complicated success, which made possible all that was to follow.
+
+Tourcoing, then, must be regarded as an unexpected, not wholly conclusive,
+but none the less fundamental phase in the development of political forces
+which led to the establishment of the modern world. Its immediate result,
+though not decisive, was appreciable. To use a metaphor, it was felt in
+Paris, and to a less extent in London, Berlin, and in Vienna, that the
+door against which the French were desperately pushing, though not fully
+open, was thrust ajar. The defeat of a portion of the allied forces in
+this general action, the inefficacy of the rest, the heartening which it
+put into the French defence, and the moral effect of such trophies gained,
+and such a rout inflicted, were of capital import to the whole story of
+the war.
+
+This is the political aspect in which we must regard the Battle of
+Tourcoing, but its chief interest by far lies in its purely military
+aspect; in the indiscretion which so nearly led the French forces to
+annihilation; in the plan which was laid to surround and to destroy those
+forces by the convergence of the English, Prussian, and Austrian columns;
+in the way in which that plan came to nothing, and resulted only in a
+crushing disaster to one advanced portion of the forces so converging.
+
+Tourcoing is rather a battle for military than for civilian historians,
+but those who find recreation in military problems upon their own account,
+apart from their political connection, will always discover the accidents
+of this engagement, its unexpected developments, and its final issue to be
+of surpassing interest.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+THE GENERAL MILITARY SITUATION
+
+
+In order to understand what happened at the Battle of Tourcoing, it is
+first necessary to have in mind the general situation of the forces which
+opposed each other round and about what is now the Franco-Belgian
+frontier, in the spring of 1794.
+
+These forces were, of course, those of the French Republic upon the one
+hand, upon the other the coalition with its varied troops furnished by
+Austria, by Prussia, by England, and some few by sundry of the small
+States which formed part of the general alliance for the destruction of
+the new democracy.
+
+The whole campaign of 1794 stands apart from that of 1793. The intervening
+winter was a period during which, if we disregard a number of small
+actions in which the French took the offensive, nothing of moment was
+done upon either side, and we must begin our study with the preparations,
+originating in the month of February, for the active efforts which it was
+proposed to attempt when the spring should break.
+
+In that month of February, Mack, recently promoted to the rank of
+Major-General in the Austrian army, met the Duke of York, the young
+soldier son of George III., in London, to concert the common plan. It was
+upon the 12th of that month that this meeting took place. Mack brought the
+news to the British Cabinet that the Emperor of Austria, his master, was
+prepared to act as Commander-in-Chief of the allied army in the coming
+campaign, proposed a general plan of advancing from the Belgian frontier
+upon Paris after the capture of the frontier fortresses, and negotiated
+for the largest possible British contingent.
+
+Coburg, it was arranged, should be the General in practical command (under
+the nominal headship of the Emperor). Prussian troops, in excess of the
+twenty thousand which Prussia owed as a member of the Empire, were
+obtained upon the promise of a large subsidy from England and Holland, and
+with the month of April some 120,000 men were holding the line from Treves
+to the sea. This passed through and occupied Dinant, Bavai, Valenciennes,
+St Amand, Denain, Tournai, Ypres, and Nieuport. To this number must be
+added men in the garrisons, perhaps some 40,000 more. Of this long line
+the strength lay in the centre.
+
+The central army, under the general command of Coburg, who had his
+headquarters at Valenciennes, was, if we exclude men in garrisons,
+somewhat over 65,000 in strength, or more than half the whole strength of
+the long line. With Coburg in the central army was the Duke of York with
+some 22,000, and the Prince of Orange with a rather smaller contingent of
+Dutch.
+
+Over against this long line with its heavy central "knot" or bulk of men
+under Coburg, in the neighbourhood of Valenciennes, the genius of Carnot
+had mustered over 200,000 French troops, which, when we have deducted
+various items for garrisons and other services, counted as effective more
+than 150,000 but less than 160,000 men. This French line extended from the
+sea to Maubeuge, passing through Dunquerque, Cassel, Lille, Cambrai, and
+Bouchain.
+
+It was as a fact a little before the opening of April that the French
+began the campaign by taking the offensive on a large scale upon the
+29th of March.
+
+
+[Illustration: SKETCH MAP SHOWING THE OPPOSING FRENCH AND ALLIED LINES.
+APRIL 1794]
+
+
+Pichegru, who was in command of that frontier army, attacked, with 30,000
+men, the positions of the allies near Le Cateau, well to the right or
+south-east of their centre and his, and was beaten back.
+
+It was upon the 14th of April that the Emperor of Austria joined Coburg at
+Valenciennes, held a review of his troops (including the British
+contingent, which will be given later in detail), fixed his headquarters
+in the French town of Le Cateau, and at once proceeded to the first
+operation of the campaign, which was the siege of the stronghold of
+Landrecies. The Dutch contingent of the allies drove in the French
+outposts and carried the main French position in front of the town within
+that week. By the 22nd of April the garrison of Landrecies was contained,
+the beleaguering troops had encircled it, and the siege was begun.
+
+After certain actions (most of them partial, and one of peculiar
+brilliance in the history of the British cavalry), actions each of
+interest, and some upon a considerable scale, but serving only to confuse
+the reader if they were here detailed, Landrecies fell after eight days'
+siege, upon the 30th of April. An advance of the Austrian centre, after
+this success, was naturally expected by the French.
+
+That normal development of the campaign did not take place on account of a
+curious episode in the strategy of this moment to which I beg the reader
+to give a peculiar attention. It is necessary to grasp exactly the nature
+of that episode, for it determined all that was to follow.
+
+While the fate of Landrecies still hung in the balance, and before the
+surrender of the town, Pichegru had, in another part of the long line,
+scored one of those successes which in any game or struggle are worse than
+losing a trick or suffering a defeat. It was one of those successes in
+which one gets the better of one's opponent in one chance part of the
+general contest, but so triumphs without a set plan, with no calculation
+upon what should follow upon the achievement, and therefore with every
+prospect of finding oneself in a worse posture after it than before.
+
+To take an analogy from chess: Pichegru's error, which I will presently
+describe, might be compared to the action of a player who, taking a castle
+of his opponent's with his queen, thereby leaves his king unguarded and
+open to check-mate.
+
+Wherever men are opposed one to the other in lines, each line having the
+mission to advance against the other, it is a fatal move to get what
+footballers call "'fore side": to let a portion of your forces advance too
+far from the general line held by the whole, and to have the advanced part
+of that portion thus isolated from the support of its fellows. Such a
+formation invites a concentration of your opponents against the isolated
+body, and may lead to its destruction.
+
+It was precisely in this position that Pichegru placed a portion of his
+forces by the ill-advised advance he made down the valley of the Lys to
+Courtrai.
+
+Taking advantage of the way in which the main forces of the allies were
+tied to the siege of Landrecies, the French commander wisely moved forward
+the whole of his forces to the north and west, pushing the enemy back
+before him to the line Ypres-Menin, and besieging Menin itself. But most
+unwisely he not only permitted to advance, but himself directed and led, a
+body of 30,000 men (the command of General Souham) far forward of this
+general movement: he actually carried it on as far as the town of
+Courtrai.
+
+The accompanying sketch map shows how much too far advanced this wedge
+of men (so large a contingent to imperil by isolation!) was beyond the
+general line, and, to repeat the phrase I have just used, a metaphor which
+best expresses my meaning, Souham and his division, by Pichegru's direct
+orders, had got "'fore side."
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The only excuse that can be pleaded for Pichegru's folly in this matter,
+was the temptation presented by the weak garrison of Courtrai, and the
+bait which a facile temporary success always holds out for a man who has
+formed no consistent general plan. But that very excuse is the strongest
+condemnation of the inexcusable error, and this strategical fault of
+Pichegru's was soon paid for by the imperilling of all the great body of
+French troops within that rashly projected triangle.
+
+For the moment Pichegru may have foolishly congratulated himself that he
+had done something of military value, as he had certainly done something
+striking. Menin fell to the French on the same day that Landrecies did to
+the Austrians, and this further success doubtless tempted him to remain
+with the head of his wedge at Courtrai, when every consideration of
+strategy should have prompted him to retrace his steps and to recall the
+over-advanced division back into line.
+
+This isolated position down the valley of the Lys, this wedge thrust out
+in front of Lille, positively asked the allies to attack it.
+
+The enemy was a fortnight developing his plan, but his delay was equalled
+by Pichegru's determination to hold the advanced post he had captured; and
+when the allies did finally close in upon that advanced post, nothing but
+a series of accidents, which we shall follow in detail when we come to the
+story of the action, saved Souham from annihilation. And the destruction
+of Souham's division, considering its numbers and its central position,
+might have involved the whole French line in a general defeat.
+
+As I have said, it was at the end of April that this false success of
+Pichegru's was achieved, and a whole fortnight was to elapse before the
+allies concentrated to take advantage of that error, and to cut off
+Souham's division.
+
+That fortnight was full of minor actions, not a few of them interesting to
+the student of military history, and one again remarkable as a feat of
+English horse. I deliberately omit all mention of these lest I should
+confuse the reader and disturb his conception of the great battle that
+was to follow.
+
+That battle proceeded upon a certain plan thought out in detail, perfectly
+simple in character, and united in conception. It failed, as we shall see;
+and by its failure turned what should have been the cutting-off and
+destruction of Souham's command into a signal French victory. But before
+we can understand the causes of its failure, we must grasp the plan itself
+in its major lines, and with that object I shall discuss it in my next
+section under the title of "The Plan of the Allies."
+
+
+
+
+PART III
+
+THE PLAN OF THE ALLIES
+
+
+If the reader will look at the map opposite he will see in what
+disposition the armies of the allies were, at the end of April and the
+first days of May 1794, to carry into effect the plan which I proceed to
+describe.
+
+There, in its triangle or advanced wedge, with a base stretching across
+Lille and an apex at Courtrai, lay the exposed French division, Souham's.
+
+Clerfayt was to the north of that wedge. The French, in pushing their
+wedge up to Courtrai, had thus separated him from the rest of the allies.
+Clerfayt lay with his command round about the district of Roulers; he
+attempted to return and oust Souham, but he failed, and to the north of
+the French wedge, and separated from the rest of the allies by its
+intervening thousands, he remained up to, throughout, and after the great
+battle that was to follow.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Right away down south, nearly sixty miles as the crow flies, lay the bulk
+of the Austrian army, Coburg's command, round the town which it had just
+captured, Landrecies. The Duke of York's command, detached from this main
+army of Coburg, had been ordered north, and was, by May 3rd, at Tournai.
+To the east lay the Prussian forces together with a small body of
+Hanoverians, about 4000 in number, which last could be brought up on to
+the Scheldt River when necessary.
+
+It will thus be seen that the allies, at the moment when the plan was
+about to be formulated, lay on either side of the French wedge, and that
+any scheme for cutting off that wedge from the main French line must
+consist in causing a great force of the allies to appear rapidly and
+unexpectedly between Courtrai and Lille.
+
+In order to do this, it was necessary to get Clerfayt to march down south
+to some point where he could cross the River Lys, while the rest of the
+allies were marching north from their southern positions to join hands
+with him.
+
+When this larger mass of the allies coming up from the south and the east
+should have joined hands with Clerfayt, all the great French body lying
+advanced in the valley of the Lys round Menin and Courtrai would be cut
+off.
+
+Now the success of such a plan obviously depended upon two factors:
+synchrony and surprise. That is, its success depended upon the accurate
+keeping of a time-table, and upon carrying it out too quickly and
+unexpectedly for Souham to fall back in time.
+
+Clerfayt's force coming down from the north, all the rest of the allies
+coming up from the east and the south must march with the common object of
+reaching "R," a fixed rendezvous, agreed upon beforehand, and of meeting
+there together at some appointed time. If any considerable body lagged
+behind the rest, if part of the great force marching up from the south,
+for instance, failed to keep in line with the general advance, or if
+Clerfayt bungled or delayed, the junction would be imperfect or might even
+not take place at all, and the number of men present to cut off the French
+when a partial and imperfect junction had been effected, might be too
+small to maintain itself astraddle of the French communications, and to
+prevent the great French force from breaking its way through back to
+Lille.
+
+So much for synchrony: and as for surprise, it is obvious that for the
+success of this plan it was necessary to work both rapidly and secretly.
+
+Here was Souham with a body of men which recent reinforcement had raised
+to some 40,000, lying much too far ahead of the general French line and in
+peril of being cut off. Pichegru was foolish to maintain him in that
+advanced position, but, though that was an error, it was an error based
+upon a certain amount of calculation. Pichegru, and Souham under his
+orders, kept to their perilous position round Courtrai, because it did
+after all cut the allies in two, and because they knew that they could
+deal with Clerfayt's force upon the north (which was only half their own),
+while they also knew that the bulk of their enemies were tied down, far
+away to the south, by the operations round Landrecies.
+
+If Souham at Courtrai got news in time of the march northward of that main
+southern force, he had only to fall back upon Lille to be saved.
+
+It was not until the 10th of May that the plan was elaborated whereby it
+was hoped to annihilate Souham's command, and this plan seems to have
+occurred first to the Duke of York upon the evening of that day, after a
+successful minor action between his troops and the French just outside
+Tournai.
+
+The Duke of York had been at Tournai a week, having come up there from
+Landrecies after the fall of that fortress, though the mass of the
+Austrian forces still remained away in the south. The week had been spent
+in "feeling" the south-eastern front of the French advanced "wedge," and
+it was by the evening of the 10th that the Duke of York appears to have
+decided that the time was ripe for a general movement.
+
+At any rate, it was upon the morrow, the 11th, that the English Prince
+sent word to Clerfayt that he intended to submit to the Emperor, who was
+the ultimate authority upon the side of the allies, a plan for the general
+and decisive action he desired to bring about. On the next day, the 12th,
+a Monday, the Duke of York wrote to Clerfayt that he hoped, "on the day
+after the morrow" (that is, upon the Wednesday, the 14th), "to take a
+decisive movement against the enemy." And we may presume that the Duke had
+communicated to the Emperor the nature of his plan. For on the 13th, the
+Tuesday, the Emperor was in possession of it, and his orders, sent out
+upon that day, set out the plan in detail.[1] That plan was as follows:--
+
+Clerfayt, with his force, which was rather less than 20,000 all told, was
+to march south from Thielt, his headquarters for the moment, and advance
+upon the little town of Wervicq upon the River Lys. Here there was a
+bridge, and Clerfayt was also in possession of pontoons wherewith to pass
+the stream. Meanwhile, the southern mass of the allies was to concentrate
+upon the Scheldt in the following manner:
+
+The few thousand Hanoverians, under Bussche, were to take up their
+position at Warcoing, just upon and across that river. Two miles further
+south, Otto, with a larger Austrian force accompanied by certain English
+cavalry (the numbers will follow), was to concentrate at Bailleul.
+
+The Duke of York's own large force, which had been at Tournai for over a
+week, was to go forward a little and concentrate at Templeuve. Five miles
+to the south of Templeuve, at Froidmont, a column, somewhat larger than
+the Duke of York's, under Kinsky, was to concentrate.
+
+There were thus to be concentrated upon the south of the French wedge
+four separate bodies under orders to advance northward together.
+
+The first, under Bussche, was only about 4000 strong, the Hanoverians and
+Prussians; the second, under Otto, from about 10,000 strong; the third,
+under the Duke of York, of much the same strength, or a little less; and
+the fourth, under Kinsky, some 11,000.
+
+These four numbered nearly, or quite, 35,000 men, less than the "nearly
+40,000" at which certain French historians have estimated their strength.
+
+To these four columns (which I will beg the reader to remember by their
+numbers of first, second, third, and fourth, as well as by the names of
+their commanders, Bussche, Otto, York, and Kinsky) a fifth must be added,
+the appreciation of whose movements and failure is the whole explanation
+of the coming battle.
+
+The fifth column was a body of no less than 16,000 men coming from the
+main Austrian body far south, and ordered to be at St Amand upon the
+Scheldt somewhat before the concentration of the other four columns, and
+to advance from St Amand to Pont-à-Marcq. Upon reaching Pont-à-Marcq this
+fifth column would be in line with the other four at Warcoing, Bailleul,
+Templeuve, and Froidmont, and ready to take its part in the great forward
+movement towards the north.
+
+In order to appreciate the way in which the issue was bound to depend upon
+this fifth column, I must now detail the orders given to all six, the five
+columns in the valley of the Scheldt, and the sixth body, under Clerfayt,
+north of the Lys; for it is these orders which constitute the soul of the
+plan.
+
+Bussche, with his small body of 4000 Hanoverians, the first column, had
+the task of "holding" the apex of the French wedge when the attack should
+begin. That is, it was his task to do no more with his inferior forces
+than send one portion up the road towards Courtrai, so that the advanced
+French troops there should be engaged while another part of his small
+command should attack the little town of Mouscron, which the French held,
+of course, for it was within their wedge of occupation. It was obviously
+not hoped that this little body could do more than keep the French
+occupied, prevent their falling back towards Lille, and perhaps make them
+believe that the main attack was coming from Bussche's men.
+
+The second column, under Otto, was to advance upon Tourcoing, in those
+days a little town, now a great manufacturing city.
+
+The third column, that under the Duke of York, was to march side by side
+with Otto's column, and to make for Mouveaux, a village upon a level with
+Tourcoing upon this line of advance, and to be reached by marching through
+Roubaix (now also a great manufacturing town, but then a small place).
+
+None of these advances, Bussche's, Otto's, or York's, was of any
+considerable length. The longest march through which any of these three
+columns had to fight its way was that of the Duke of York from Templeuve
+to Mouveaux, and even this was not eight miles.
+
+The fourth column, under Kinsky, had a harder task and a longer march. It
+was to carry Bouvines, which was in the hands of the French and nearly
+seven miles from Froidmont (Kinsky's point of departure), and when it had
+done this it was to turn to the north with one part of its force in order
+to shelter the march of the Duke of York from attacks by the French troops
+near Lille, while another part of its force was to join with the fifth
+column and march up with it until both came upon a level with York and
+Otto in the neighbourhood of Tourcoing and Mouveaux.
+
+Now it was to this fifth column, the 16,000 men or more under the
+Arch-Duke Charles, that the great work of the day was assigned. From
+Pont-à-Marcq they must attack a great French body quite equal to their own
+in numbers, even when part of Kinsky's force had joined them, which French
+force lay in the camp at Sainghin. They must thrust this force back
+towards Lille, pour up northward, and arrive in support of Otto and York
+by the time these two commanders were respectively at Tourcoing and
+Mouveaux.
+
+In other words, the fifth column, that of the Arch-Duke Charles, was asked
+to make an advance of nearly fourteen miles, involving heavy fighting in
+its first part, and yet to synchronise with columns who had to advance no
+more than five miles or seven.
+
+Supposing all went well, Clerfayt--crossing the Lys at Wervicq at the same
+hour which saw the departure of the five southern columns from Warcoing,
+Bailleul, Templeuve, Froidmont, and Pont-à-Marcq respectively, was to
+advance southward from the river towards Mouveaux and Tourcoing, a
+distance of some seven miles, while the others were advancing on the same
+points from the south.
+
+If the time-table were accurately kept and this great combined movement
+all fitted in, Clerfayt would join hands with the second, third, fourth,
+and fifth columns somewhere in the neighbourhood of Tourcoing and
+Mouveaux, a great force of over 60,000 men would lie between the French
+troops at Lille and Souham's 40,000 in the "advanced wedge," and those
+40,000 thus isolated were, in a military sense, destroyed.
+
+Such being the mechanism or map of the scheme, we must next inquire the
+exact dates and hours upon which the working of the whole was planned.
+
+The Duke of York, as we have seen when he was arranging the business and
+writing to Clerfayt and the Emperor, had talked of moving upon the 14th,
+by which presumably he meant organising the attack on the 14th, and
+setting the first columns in motion from their places of rendezvous in the
+early hours of that day, Wednesday, before dawn.
+
+If that was in his mind, it shows him to have been a prompt and energetic
+man, and to have had a full appreciation of the place which surprise
+occupied in the chances of success. If, indeed, the Emperor got the Duke
+of York's message in time on the 12th, if he had at once accepted the
+plan, and had with Napoleonic rapidity ordered the bulk of his forces
+(which were still right away south and east) to move, he might have had
+them by forced marches upon and across the Scheldt, and ready to execute
+the plan by the 14th, or at any rate by the morning of the 15th.
+
+But from what we know of the family to which the Duke of York belonged, it
+is exceedingly improbable that this younger son of George III. had, on
+this one occasion only, any lightning in his brain; and even if he did
+appreciate more or less the importance of rapid action, the Emperor did
+not appreciate it. He committed the two contradictory faults of delaying
+the movement and of asking too much marching of his men, and it was not
+until the morning of the Wednesday, May the 14th, that the bulk of the
+Austrian army, which still lay in the Valenciennes and Landrecies
+district, broke up for its northward march, to arrive at the rendezvous
+beyond the Scheldt, and to carry out the plan.[2]
+
+It was not until Thursday the 15th of May that the Emperor joined the Duke
+of York at Tournai, and very late upon the same day the Arch-Duke Charles
+had brought up the main body of the Austrian forces from the south to the
+town of St Amand.
+
+We shall see later what a grievous error it was to demand so violent an
+effort from the men of the Arch-Duke Charles' command. From Landrecies
+itself to St Amand is 30 miles as the crow flies; and though, of course,
+the mass of the troops which the Arch-Duke Charles had been thus commanded
+to bring up northward in such haste were most of them well on the right
+side of Landrecies when the order to advance reached them, yet the
+average march undertaken by his men in little more than twenty-four hours
+was a full twenty miles, and some of his units must have covered nearer
+thirty. I will not delay further on this point here; its full importance
+will appear when we come to talk of the action itself.
+
+The Arch-Duke Charles being only as far as St Amand on the evening of
+Thursday the 15th, and his rendezvous, that of the fifth column in the
+great plan, being Pont-à-Marcq, a further good sixteen miles
+north-westward, it was evident that the inception of that plan and the
+simultaneous advance of all the five columns from their five
+starting-points of Warcoing, Bailleul, Templeuve, Froidmont, and
+Pont-à-Marcq, could not begin even upon the 16th. It would take the best
+part of a day to bring the Arch-Duke Charles up to Pont-à-Marcq; his men
+were in imperative need of rest during a full night at St Amand, and it is
+probable, though I have no proof of it, that he had not even fully
+concentrated there by the evening of the 15th, and that his last units
+only joined him during the forenoon of the 16th.
+
+The whole of that day, therefore, the 16th, was consumed so far as the
+first, second, third, and fourth columns were concerned, in merely
+gathering and marshalling their forces, and occupying, before nightfall,
+the points from which they were to depart simultaneously in the combined
+advance of the morrow. They _had_ to wait thus for the dawn of the 17th,
+because they had to allow time for the fifth column to come up.
+
+The time-table imposed upon the great plan by these delays is now
+apparent. The moment when all the strings of the net were to be pulled
+together round Souham was the space between midnight and dawn of Saturday
+the 17th of May. And the hour when all the six bodies of the allies were
+to join hands at "R" near Tourcoing was the noon of that day.
+
+Before day broke upon the 17th, Clerfayt was to find himself at Wervicq
+upon the River Lys and across that stream, while of the five southern
+columns the Arch-Duke Charles was to be attacking the French troops just
+in front of Pont-à-Marcq with the fifth column at the same moment; Kinsky,
+with the fourth, was to be well on the way from Froidmont to Bouvines
+where he was to attack the French also and cross the bridge; the Duke of
+York, with the third, was to be well on the way from Templeuve to Lannoy;
+Otto, with the second, was to be equally advanced upon his line, somewhere
+by Wattrelos in his march upon Tourcoing; while Bussche, with his small
+first column, on the extreme north, was to be getting into contact with
+the French posts south of Courtrai, which it was his duty to "hold,"
+impressing upon Souham the idea that a main attack might develop in that
+quarter, and so deluding the French into maintaining their perilously
+advanced stations until they were cut off from Lille by the rest of the
+allies.
+
+The morning would be filled by the advance of Clerfayt from Wervicq
+southward upon Mouveaux and Tourcoing, while the corresponding fighting
+advance northward upon Mouveaux and Tourcoing also, of Otto, York, Kinsky,
+and the Arch-Duke Charles, should result somewhere about noon in their
+joining hands with Clerfayt and forming one great body: a body cutting off
+Courtrai from Lille, and the 40,000 under Souham from their fellows in the
+main French line.
+
+With such a time-table properly observed, the plan should have succeeded,
+and between the noon and the evening of that Saturday, the great force
+which Souham commanded should have been at the mercy of the allies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Such was the plan and such the time-table upon which it was schemed. Its
+success depended, of course, as I have said, upon an exact keeping of that
+time-table, and also upon the net being drawn round Souham before he had
+guessed what was happening. The second of these conditions, we shall see
+when we come to speak of "The Preliminaries of the Action," was
+successfully accomplished. The first was not; and its failure is the story
+of the defeat suffered by the Duke of York in particular, and the
+consequent break-down of the whole strategical conception of the allies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But before dealing with this it is necessary to establish a disputed
+point.
+
+I have spoken throughout of the plan as the Duke of York's. Because it
+failed, and because the Duke of York was an English prince, historians in
+this country have not only rejected this conclusion, but, as a rule, have
+not even mentioned it. The plan has been represented as Mack's plan, as a
+typical example of Austrian pedantry and folly, the Duke of York as the
+victim of foolish foreigners who did not know their business, and it has
+even been hinted that the Austrians desired defeat! With the latter
+extravagant and even comic suggestion I will deal later in this study; for
+the moment I am only concerned with the responsibility of the Duke of
+York.
+
+It must, in the first place, be clearly understood that the failure of the
+plan does not reflect upon the judgment of that commander. It failed
+because Clerfayt was not up to time, and because too much had been asked
+of the fifth column. The Duke came of a family not famous for genius; he
+was exceedingly young, and whatever part he may have had in the framing of
+this large conception ought surely to stand to his credit.
+
+It is true that Mack, the Austrian General, drafted details of the plan
+immediately before it was carried into execution, and our principal
+military historian in this country tells us how "on the 16th, Mack
+prepared an elaborate plan which he designed."[3]
+
+Well, the 16th was the Friday.
+
+Now we know that on the 11th of May, the Sunday, the Emperor and his
+staff had no intention of making a combined attack to cut off Souham from
+Lille, for orders were given to Clerfayt on that day to engage Souham
+along the valley of the Lys for the purpose of holding the attention of
+the French, and in the hope of recovering Menin--the exact opposite of
+what would have been ordered if a secret and unexpected attempt to cut off
+Souham by crossing further up the river had been intended. It was at the
+same moment that the Duke of York was sending word to Clerfayt on his own
+account, to the effect that he intended to submit a plan to the Emperor,
+and it is worth noting that in the very order which was sent to Clerfayt
+by the Emperor he was told to refer to the Duke of York as to his future
+movements.
+
+The archives of the Ministry of War at Vienna have it on record that the
+Duke of York made a definite statement of a plan to Clerfayt, which plan
+he intended to submit to the Emperor immediately, and a letter dated upon
+the Monday, the 12th--four days before there is any talk of Mack's
+arranging details,--York writes to Clerfayt telling him that he hopes to
+make his decisive movement against the enemy on the Wednesday, the 14th.
+
+On the 13th, Tuesday, the orders of the Emperor to both Clerfayt and the
+Duke of York (which are also on record) set down this plan in detail,
+mentioning the point Wervicq at which Clerfayt was expected to cross the
+river Lys, and at the same time directing the Duke of York to march
+northward with the object of joining Clerfayt, and thus cutting off the
+French forces massed round Courtrai from their base. Further, in this same
+despatch, the initiative is particularly left to the Duke of York, and it
+is once more from him that Clerfayt is to await decisions as to the moment
+and details of the operation.
+
+The same archives record the Duke of York sending Lieut.-Colonel Calvert
+to Clerfayt upon the 14th, to tell him that he meant to attack upon the
+morrow, the 15th, and they further inform us that it was on the English
+Prince's learning how scattered were Clerfayt's units, and how long it
+would therefore take him to concentrate, that action was delayed by some
+thirty-six hours.
+
+Evidence of this sort is absolutely conclusive. The plan was not Mack's;
+it was York's.
+
+
+
+
+PART IV
+
+THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE BATTLE
+
+
+Tourcoing is an action the preliminaries of which are easy to describe,
+and need occupy little of our space, because it was a battle in which the
+plan of one side was developed and prosecuted almost to its conclusion
+without a corresponding plan upon the other side.
+
+As a rule, the preliminaries of a battle consist in the dispositions taken
+by each side for hours or for days--sometimes for weeks--beforehand, in
+order to be in a posture to receive or to attack the other side. These
+preliminaries include manoeuvring for position, and sometimes in the
+fighting of minor subsidiary actions before the main action takes place.
+
+Now, in the case of Tourcoing, there was none of this, for the French at
+Tourcoing were surprised.
+
+The surprise was not complete, but it was sufficiently thorough to make
+the whole of the fighting during the first day, Saturday (at least, the
+whole of the fighting in the centre of the field), a triumph for the
+allied advance.
+
+Let us first appreciate exactly how matters looked to Souham when, on the
+15th, the Thursday, the blow was about to fall upon him.
+
+He had under his orders, with headquarters now at Courtrai, now at Menin
+(see sketch map on p. 58), rather less than 40,000. In that dash upon
+Courtrai a fortnight before, which had led to the dangerous establishment
+of so large an advanced body in front of the main French line, one main
+effect of that advance had been to push back, away to the left beyond the
+Lys, more than 16,000, but less than 20,000 men under the Austrian
+General, Clerfayt. With that army, Clerfayt's body, Souham had remained
+continually in touch. Detachments of it were continually returning to the
+valley of the Lys to harass his posts, and, in a word, Clerfayt's was the
+only force of the enemy which Souham thought he had need to bear in mind.
+
+The bulk of the Austrian army he knew to be quite four days' march away to
+the south, at first occupied in the siege of Landrecies, and later
+stationed in the vicinity of that fortress.
+
+Of course, lying in his exposed position, Souham knew that a general
+attack upon him from the south was one of the possibilities of the
+situation, but it was not a thing which he thought could come
+unexpectedly: at any rate he thought himself prepared, by the use of his
+scouts and his spies, to hear of any such advance in ample time.
+
+In case he should be attacked, the attack might take one of many forms. It
+might try to drive him over the Lys, where Clerfayt would be ready to meet
+him; or it might be a general attack upon Courtrai as a centre; or it
+might be (what had, as we have seen, been actually determined) an attempt
+to cut him and all his 40,000 off from the main French line.
+
+This main French line ran through the town of Lille, and Lille not only
+had its garrison, but also at Sainghin, outside the fortifications to the
+south-east, a camp, under Bonnaud, of 20,000 men. If the attack from the
+south or from the north, or from both, managed to cut Souham off from
+Bonnaud's camp, and from the garrison at Lille, he was ruined, and his
+40,000 were lost; but he hoped to be kept sufficiently informed of the
+enemy's movements to fall back in time, should such an attempt be made,
+and to provide for it by effecting a junction with Bonnaud before it was
+delivered.
+
+Pichegru, the Commander of the whole French army of the north, who had
+ordered the advance on Courtrai, happened to be absent upon a visit to the
+posts away south upon the Sambre River. Souham was therefore temporarily
+in full command of all the troops which were to be concerned in the coming
+battle. But the position was only a temporary one, and that must account
+for the deference he paid to the advice of the four generals subordinate
+to him, and for the council which he called at Menin on the critical
+Saturday night which decided the issue. He himself quotes his commission
+in the following terms:--"Commander-in-Chief of all the troops from the
+camp at Sainghin to Courtrai inclusive."
+
+From the beginning of the week, when a detachment of his troops had but
+just recovered from a sharp action with the Duke of York's men towards
+Tournai, Souham appreciated that the forces of the enemy were gradually
+increasing to the south of him, and that the posts upon the Scheldt were
+receiving additional enforcements of men. But neither his judgment nor the
+reports that came in to him led him to believe that the mass of the
+Austrian army was coming north to attack him. And in this he was right,
+for, as we have seen, the Emperor did not make up his mind until Wednesday
+the 14th, which was the day when orders were sent to the Arch-Duke Charles
+to march northward.
+
+Souham's attitude of mind up to, say, the Thursday may be fairly described
+in some such terms as follows:--
+
+"I know that a concentration is going on in the valley of the Scheldt to
+the south and east of me; it is pretty big, but not yet exactly dangerous,
+though I shouldn't wonder if I were attacked in a few days from that
+quarter. What I am much more certain of is that active and mobile force
+which I beat off the other day, but which is still intact under the best
+General opposed to me, Clerfayt. I hear that it is marching south again,
+and my best troops and my offensive must be directed against that. I am
+far superior in numbers to Clerfayt, and if I can bring him to an action
+and break him, I can then turn to the others at my leisure: for the moment
+I have only one front to think of--that on the north."
+
+But the negligence which he or his informants were guilty of--a negligence
+that was to prove so nearly fatal to all those 40,000 French
+troops--consisted in the failure to discover what was up upon Friday the
+16th.
+
+During those twenty-four hours the Arch-Duke Charles had brought up his
+column to St Amand; the other four columns upon the Scheldt were
+concentrated, and upon the north of the Lys, Clerfayt had got orders to
+move upon Wervicq, and was, during the middle hours of Friday, actually
+upon the march. Yet, during all that day, Friday the 16th, Souham remained
+ignorant of the extremity of his peril.
+
+The orders which he dictated upon the Friday night, and largely repeated
+upon the following morning of Saturday the 17th of May, show how little he
+expected the general action that was upon him. He arranged, indeed, for a
+cordon of troops to be watching, in insufficient numbers, the side towards
+the Scheldt, and he sent to Bonnaud and the camp at Sainghin, outside
+Lille, orders to keep more or less in touch with that cordon. The
+instructions to this cordon of troops along the eastern side of the French
+position is no more than one of general vigilance. It is still to
+Clerfayt and towards the north alone that he directs an offensive and
+vigorous movement.
+
+In a word, he was a good twenty-four hours behind with his information. He
+was wasting troops north of the Lys in looking for Clerfayt at a time when
+that General was already on the march to Wervicq, and he was leaving a
+scattered line of insufficient bodies to meet what he did not in the least
+expect, the rapid advance of Bussche, Otto, and York during that Saturday
+upon Mouscron, Tourcoing, and Roubaix.
+
+Therefore it was that although Bussche's insufficient force was driven out
+of Mouscron at last by superior numbers, Otto and York succeeded in
+sweeping all the resistance before them, and, in the course of that
+Saturday, reached the first Tourcoing, the second Roubaix, and even
+Mouveaux.
+
+The whole problem of warfare consists in a comparison between the
+information that each side has of the movements of the other. The whole
+art of success in war pivots upon the using of your enemy's ignorance. Had
+the allies upon this occasion been more accurate in keeping to their
+time-table, and somewhat more rapid in their movements, they would have
+caught the French commander still under the illusion that there was no
+danger, save from the north, and would have succeeded in cutting off and
+destroying the main French force by getting in all together between
+Courtrai and Lille. For at that same moment, the early hours before
+daybreak of the 17th, the allies had begun their movement.
+
+
+
+
+PART V
+
+THE TERRAIN
+
+
+The terrain over which the plan of the allies was to be tested must next
+be grasped if we are to understand the causes which led to its ultimate
+failure.
+
+That terrain is most conveniently described as an oblong standing up
+lengthways north and south, and corresponding to the sketch map overleaf.
+That oblong has a base of twenty miles from east to west, a length from
+north to south of thirty-five.
+
+These dimensions are sufficient to show upon what a scale the great plan
+of the allies for cutting off Souham at Courtrai was designed.
+
+At its south-eastern corner the reader will perceive the town of St Amand,
+the furthest point south from which the combined movements of the allies
+began; while somewhat to the left of its top or northern edge, at the
+point marked "A," the northern-most body connected with that plan, the
+body commanded by Clerfayt, was posted at the origin of the movement.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The object of the whole convergence from the Scheldt on one hand, and from
+Clerfayt's northern position upon the other, being to cut off the French
+forces which lay at and south of Courtrai from Lille, and the main line of
+the French army, it is evident that the actual fighting and the chances of
+success or disaster would take place within a smaller interior oblong,
+which I have also marked upon the sketch map. This smaller or interior
+oblong measures about sixteen miles at its base by about twenty-five miles
+in length, and includes all the significant points of the action.
+
+The points marked 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively are the points at which
+the five columns advancing from the Scheldt valley northward were to find
+themselves before dawn on the morning of Saturday the 17th of May. We are
+already acquainted with them. They are Warcoing, Bailleul, Templeuve,
+Froidmont, and Pont-à-Marcq respectively; while the point marked 6 is
+Wervicq, from which Clerfayt was to start simultaneously with the five
+southern columns with the object of meeting his fellows round Tourcoing.
+
+The town of Courtrai will be perceived to lie in the north-eastern angle
+of this inner oblong, the town of Lille rather below the middle of its
+western side. In all the country round Courtrai, and especially to the
+south of it, within the triangle X Y Z, lay the mass of Souham's command
+of 40,000 men. There were many posts, of course, scattered outside that
+triangle, and connecting Courtrai with Lille; but the links were weak, and
+the main force was where I have indicated it to be.
+
+A large body of French troops being encamped just under the walls of Lille
+at B (by which letter I mark Sainghin camp), and that fortress also
+possessing a garrison, the plan of cutting both these off from the 40,000
+French that lay in the country near Courtrai involved getting the main
+part of the allies up from these points of departure on the south, and
+Clerfayt's body down from its point of departure on the north to meet upon
+the line drawn between Lille and Courtrai. Upon this line (which also
+roughly corresponds to the only main road between the two cities) may be
+perceived, lying nearer Lille than the centre of such line, the small town
+of Tourcoing and the village of Mouveaux. It was upon these two points
+that four of the five southern columns were to converge northward, the
+second and third column reaching them first, the fourth and fifth marching
+up from the left in aid; and it was also, of course, upon these two points
+that Clerfayt was to march southward from the post at Wervicq, that had
+been given _him_ as _his_ point of departure before dawn upon that
+Saturday morning. If everything went perfectly, the great mass of the
+allied army should have found itself, by noon of Saturday the 17th, as I
+have said, astraddle of the Lille-Courtrai road, and effectively cutting
+off the French troops to the north.
+
+What was the nature of the wide countryside over which these various
+movements were to take place?
+
+It was part of that great plain of Flanders which stretches from the River
+Scheldt almost unbroken to the Straits of Dover and the North Sea. In the
+whole of the great oblong represented by my sketch map there is hardly a
+point 150 feet above the water level of the main river valleys, while the
+great mass of that territory is diversified by no more than very broad and
+very shallow rolls of land, the crests of which are sometimes and
+exceptionally as much as fifty feet above the troughs, but the greater
+part thirty, twenty, or even less. Here and there an isolated hummock
+shows upon the landscape, but the general impression of one who walks
+across from the valley of the Lys to that of the Scheldt is of a flat,
+monotonous land in which one retains no memory of ascent or descent, and
+in which the eye but rarely perceives, and that only from specially chosen
+points, any wide horizon.
+
+To-day the greater part of this country suffers from the curse of
+industrialism and repeats--of course, with far less degradation--the
+terrible aspect of our own manufacturing towns. Roubaix and Tourcoing in
+particular are huge straggling agglomerations of cotton-spinners and their
+hands. A mass of railways and tramways cut the countryside, and the evil
+presence of coal-smoke mars it everywhere: at least within the region of
+Lille, Tourcoing, and Roubaix.
+
+In May 1794, though a considerable industry had begun to grow up in Lille
+itself, the wide, open countryside round the town was entirely
+agricultural. Much of it was what soldiers call "blind" country: that is,
+it was cut up into fields with numerous hedges; there were long farm walls
+and a great number of small watercourses fringed with trees. But, on the
+other hand, there was very little wood. Moreover, though there were few
+places from which one could overlook any considerable view, the
+"blindness" of the field, as a whole, has been much exaggerated in the
+attempt to excuse or explain the disaster of which it was the theatre. The
+southern part of it is open enough, and so is the north-eastern portion,
+in which the first column operated. Of the soil no particular mention is
+needed; most of the great roads were paved; the weather had created no
+difficulty in the going, and the only trouble in this respect lay in the
+northern part, where Clerfayt's command was condemned to advance over
+patches of loose and difficult sand, which made the road, or rather rare
+lanes, very heavy.
+
+It will at once be perceived that, in view of the operations planned, one
+principal obstacle exists in the terrain, the River Lys. Few bridges
+crossed this stream, and for the purpose of turning the French position
+and coming across the Lys from the north to the neighbourhood of Mouveaux,
+there was in those days no bridge save the bridge at Wervicq (at the point
+marked 6 on the plan at the beginning of this section); but this
+difficulty we have seen to be lessened by the presence in Clerfayt's
+command of a section of pontoons.
+
+At first sight one might perceive no other considerable obstacle save the
+Lys to the general movement of the allied army. But when the peculiar
+course of the little River Marque is pointed out, and the nature of its
+stream described, the reader will perceive that it exercised some little
+effect upon the fortunes of the battle, and might have exercised a much
+greater one to the advantage of the British troops had not the Duke of
+York blundered in a fashion which will be later described.
+
+In the first place, it should be noted that this little stream (it is no
+wider than a canal, will barely allow two barges to pass in its lower
+course, and will not float one to the southward of Lille) turns up quite
+close to Roubaix, and at the nearest point is not a mile from the
+market-place of that town.
+
+Now the significance of such a conformation to the battlefield of
+Tourcoing lay in the fact that it was impossible for any considerable
+force to manoeuvre between the third column (which was marching upon
+Roubaix) and the Marque River. Had the Marque not existed, Kinsky, with
+the fourth column, would have been free to march parallel with York, just
+as York marched parallel with Otto, while the Arch-Duke with his fifth
+column, instead of having been given a rendezvous right down south at
+Pont-à-Marcq (the point marked 5 on my sketch), would have gone up the
+main road from St Amand to Lille, and have marched parallel with Kinsky,
+just as Kinsky would have marched parallel with York. In other words, the
+fourth and the fifth columns, instead of being ordered along the dotted
+lines marked upon my sketch (the elbows in which lines correspond to the
+crossing places of the Marque), would have proceeded along the
+uninterrupted arrow lines which I have put by the side of them.
+
+The Marque made all the difference. It compelled the fifth column to take
+its roundabout road, and the fourth, detained by the delay of the fifth,
+was held, as we shall see in what follows, for a whole day at one of the
+crossings of the river.
+
+The little stream has a deep and muddy bottom, and the fields upon its
+banks are occasionally marshy. This feature has been exaggerated, as have
+the other features I have mentioned, in order to explain or excuse the
+defeat, but, at any rate, it prevented the use of crossing places other
+than bridges. The Marque has no true fords, and there is no taking an
+army across it, narrow as it is, save by the few bridges which then
+existed. These bridges I have marked upon the sketch.
+
+So far as the terrain is concerned, then, what we have to consider is
+country, flat, but containing low defensive positions, largely cut up,
+especially between the Scheldt and Roubaix, by hedges and walls, though
+more open elsewhere, and particularly open towards the north: a serious
+obstacle to the advance of one body in the shape of the River Lys; and
+another obstacle, irritating rather than formidable in character, but
+sufficient both by its course and its marshy soil to complicate the
+advance, namely, the little River Marque.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As to the weather, it was misty but fine. The nights in bivouac were
+passed without too much discomfort, and the only physical condition which
+oppressed portions of the allied army consisted in the error of its
+commanders, and proceeded from fatigue.
+
+
+
+
+PART VI
+
+THE ACTION
+
+
+At about ten o'clock in the morning of Friday the 16th of May, Clerfayt,
+in his positions right up north beyond the Lys--positions which lay at and
+in front of the town of Thielt, with outposts well to the south and west
+of that town,--received the orders of the Emperor.
+
+These orders were what we know them to be: he was to march southward and
+westward and strike the Lys at Wervicq. He was to arrive at that point at
+or before nightfall, for in the very first hours of the morrow, Saturday,
+and coincidently with the beginning of the advance of the five columns
+from their southern posts, he was to cross the Lys and to proceed to join
+hands with those columns in the following forenoon, when the heads of them
+would have reached the neighbourhood of Tourcoing and Mouveaux.
+
+Bussche, with the first column, his 4000 Hanoverians, had no task during
+that day but to proceed the mile and a half which separated Warcoing from
+the little village of St Leger, and, with the head of his column in that
+village, prepare to pass the night and be ready to march forward long
+before dawn the next day.
+
+Field-Marshal Otto, with the second column, was similarly and leisurely
+occupied marshalling his 10,000 Austrians and his contingent of British
+cavalry, so that the head of his column was at Bailleul ready also to
+advance with the early, dark, small hours of the ensuing morning.
+
+The Duke of York, with his third column of similar numbers, or somewhat
+less, was performing a precisely similar task, and ordering his men so
+that the head of that column should reach Templeuve by evening and be
+ready to march at the same moment as the others did, shortly after
+midnight.
+
+All these three, then, were absolutely ready, fresh from fatigue and in
+good order, upon that Friday evening at their appointed posts.
+
+It is here necessary, as we are chiefly concerned with the British forces,
+to detail the composition of this third column which the Duke of York
+commanded.
+
+It consisted of twelve battalions and ten squadrons, with a further
+reserve of sixteen British squadrons under General Erskine, which cavalry
+lay somewhat south of Templeuve, but ready to follow up the advance when
+it should begin. It was made of two portions, about equal in numbers,
+British and foreign. The foreign half was composed of four squadrons of
+Austrian Hussars and seven battalions of infantry, two Hessian and five
+Austrian. The British half was composed of a Brigade of Guards counting
+four battalions, with portions of the 14th, 37th, and 53rd Foot, while the
+British cavalry accompanying it (apart from the squadrons under Erskine)
+were six squadrons drawn from the 7th, 15th, and 16th Light Dragoons. It
+is to the credit of the young commander[4] that this third column was the
+best organised, the most prompt, and, as the event proved, the most
+successful during the advance and the most tenacious in the subsequent
+defeat.
+
+The fourth column, under Kinsky, about 11,000 strong, was also ready on
+that Friday, the 16th of May, concentrated at its point of departure,
+Froidmont, and ready to move at the same moment as all the others, shortly
+after midnight. But unlike the other three commanders upon his right,
+Kinsky was unfortunately handicapped by the position of the fifth column,
+that great body of 18,000 to 20,000 men, under the Arch-Duke Charles,
+which lay at St Amand, which was to advance next day parallel with Kinsky
+and upon his left, and which it was his duty to keep in touch with, and to
+link up with the Duke of York's upon the other side. He was handicapped, I
+say, by the situation of the fifth column, under the Arch-Duke Charles,
+the heavy strain already imposed upon which, and the accumulating
+difficulties it was about to encounter, largely determining the
+unfortunate issue of the battle.
+
+Kinsky got news on that Friday from the Arch-Duke at St Amand that it was
+hardly possible for his great body of men to reach the appointed post of
+Pont-à-Marcq at the arranged hour of daybreak the next morning. I have
+already suggested that this delay cannot only have been due to the very
+long march which had been imposed upon the Arch-Duke's command when it had
+been hurriedly summoned up from the south to St Amand, forty-eight hours
+before. It must also have been due to the fact that not all its units
+reached St Amand by the evening of Thursday the 15th. It seemed certain
+that there must have been stragglers or bad delays on the morning of the
+16th, for it was not until long after nightfall--indeed not until ten
+o'clock in the evening--of Friday the 16th that the Arch-Duke was able to
+set out from St Amand and take the Pont-à-Marcq road. This unfortunate
+body, therefore, the fifth column, which had all the hardest work before
+it, which had but one road by which to march (although it was double any
+of the others in size), was compelled, after the terrible fatigue of the
+preceding days, to push forward sixteen miles through the night in a vain
+attempt to reach Pont-à-Marcq, not indeed by daybreak, for that was
+obviously impossible, but as soon after as haste and anxiety could
+command. Kinsky was tied to Froidmont and unable to move forward until
+that fifth column upon his left was at least approaching its goal. For he
+had Bonnaud's 20,000 Frenchmen at Sainghin right in front of him, and
+further, if he had moved, his left flank would have been exposed, and,
+what is more, he would have failed in his purpose, which was to link up
+the Arch-Duke on one side with the Duke of York upon the other.
+
+This first mishap, then, must be carefully noted as one prime lack of
+synchrony in the origins of the combined movement, and a first clear cause
+of the misfortune that was to attend the whole affair. The delay of the
+fifth column was the chief cause of the disaster.
+
+Meanwhile, another failure to synchronise, and that a most grave one, was
+taking place miles away in the north with Clerfayt's command beyond the
+Lys.
+
+It is self-evident that where one isolated and distant body is being asked
+to co-operate with comrades who are in touch with the commander-in-chief,
+and with each other, the exact observation of orders on the part of that
+isolated body is of supreme importance to the success of the combination.
+_They_, all lying in much the same region and able to receive and transmit
+orders with rapidity, may correct an error before it has developed evil
+consequences. But the isolated commander co-operating from a distance, and
+receiving orders from headquarters only after a long delay, is under no
+such advantage. Thus the tardiness of the fifth column was, as we have
+seen, communicated to the fourth, and the third, second, and first, all in
+one line, could or should have easily appreciated the general situation
+along the Scheldt. But the sixth body, under Clerfayt, which formed the
+keystone of the whole plan, and without whose exact co-operation that plan
+must necessarily fail, enjoyed no such advantage, and, if it indulged in
+the luxuries of delay or misdirection, could not have its errors corrected
+in useful time. A despatch, to reach Clerfayt from headquarters and from
+the five columns that were advancing northward from the valley of the
+Scheldt, must make a circuit round eastward to the back of Courtrai, and
+it was a matter of nearly half a day to convey information from the
+Emperor or his neighbouring subordinates in the region of Tournai to this
+sixth corps which lay north of the Lys.
+
+Now it so happened that Clerfayt, though a most able man, and one who had
+proved himself a prompt and active general, woefully miscalculated the
+time-table of his march and the difficulties before him.
+
+He got his orders, as I have said, at ten o'clock on the Friday morning.
+Whether to give his men a meal, or for whatever other reason, he did not
+break up until between one and two. He then began ploughing forward with
+his sixteen thousand men and more, in two huge columns, through the sandy
+country that forms the plain north of the River Lys. He ought to have
+known the difficulty of rapid advance over such a terrain, but he does not
+seem to have provided for it with any care, and when night fell, so far
+from finding himself in possession of Wervicq and master of the crossing
+of the river there, the heads of his columns had only reached the great
+highway between Menin and Ypres, nearly three miles short of his goal.
+Three miles may sound a short distance to the civilian reader, but if he
+will consider the efforts of a great body of men and vehicles, pushing
+forward through the late hours of an afternoon by wretched lanes full of
+loose sand, and finding the darkness upon them with that distance still to
+do, he would perceive the importance of the gap. If he further considers
+that it was only the heads of the columns that had reached the high road
+by dark, and that two great bodies of men were stretched out two miles and
+more behind, and if he will add to all this the fact that fighting would
+have to be done before Wervicq, three miles away, could be occupied, let
+alone the river crossed, he will discover that Clerfayt had missed his
+appointment not by three miles only in space, but by the equivalent of
+half a day in time.
+
+Even so he should have pushed on and have found himself at least in
+contact with the French posts before his advance was halted. He did not do
+so. He passed the night in bivouac with the heads of his columns no
+further south than the great high road.
+
+So much for Clerfayt. The Republic would have cut off his head.
+
+While Clerfayt was thus mishandling his distant and all-important
+department of the combined scheme, the corresponding advance from the
+valley of the Scheldt northward was proceeding in a manner which is best
+appreciated by taking the five columns seriatim and in three groups: the
+first group consisting of the first column (Bussche), the second group of
+the second and third columns (Otto and York), the third group of the
+fourth and fifth (Kinsky and the Arch-Duke).
+
+
+I
+
+THE FIRST COLUMN UNDER BUSSCHE
+
+This column, as we have seen, consisted of only 4000 men, Hanoverians. Its
+function and general plan was to give the French the impression that they
+were being attacked by considerable forces at the very extremity of their
+advanced wedge, and thus to "hold" them there while the great bulk of the
+allies were really encircling them to the south and cutting them off from
+Lille.
+
+When we bear this object in view, we shall see that Bussche with his
+little force did not do so badly. His orders were to advance with
+two-thirds of his men against Mouscron, a little place about five miles in
+front of the village of St Leger where he was concentrated; the remaining
+third going up the high road towards Courtrai. This last decision, namely,
+to detach a third of his troops, has been severely criticised, especially
+by English authorities, but the criticism is hardly just if we consider
+what Bussche had been sent out to do. He was, of course, to take Mouscron
+if he could and hold it, and if that had been the main object of the
+orders given him, it would indeed have been folly to weaken his already
+weak body by the detaching of a whole third of it four miles away upon the
+high road to the eastward. But the capture of Mouscron was not the main
+object set before Bussche. The main object was to "hold" the large French
+forces in the Courtrai district and to give them the impression of a main
+attack coming in that direction, and with _that_ object in view it was
+very wise so to separate his force as to give Souham the idea that the
+French northern extremity was being attacked in several places at once.
+
+With the early morning, then, of Saturday the 17th, Bussche sent rather
+less than 1500 men up the high road towards Courtrai, and, with rather
+more than 2500, marched boldly up against Mouscron, where, considering the
+immensely superior forces that the French could bring against him, it is
+not surprising that he was badly hammered. Indeed, but for the fact that
+the French were unprepared (as we saw in the section "The Preliminaries of
+the Battle"), he could not have done as much as he did, which was, at the
+first onslaught, to rush Mouscron and to hold it in the forenoon of that
+day. But the French, thoroughly alarmed by the event (which was precisely
+what the plan of the allies intended they should be), easily brought up
+overwhelming reinforcements, and Bussche's little force was driven out of
+the town. It was not only driven out of the town, it was pressed hard down
+the road as far as Dottignies within a mile or two of the place from which
+it had started; but there it rallied and stood, and for the rest of the
+day kept the French engaged without further misfortune. A student of the
+whole action, careful to keep its proportions in mind and not to
+exaggerate a single instance, will not regard Bussche's gallant attempt
+and failure before Mouscron as any part of the general breakdown. On the
+contrary, the stand which his little force made against far superior
+numbers, and the active cannonade which he kept up upon this extreme edge
+of the French front, would have been one of the major conditions
+determining the success of the allies if their enormously larger forces in
+other parts of the field had all of them kept their time-table and done
+what was expected of them.
+
+
+II
+
+THE SECOND AND THIRD COLUMNS UNDER OTTO AND THE DUKE OF YORK
+
+On turning to the second group (the second column under Otto and the third
+under York), we discover a record of continuous success throughout the
+whole of that day, Saturday the 17th of May, which deserved a better fate
+than befell them upon the morrow.
+
+(A) THE SECOND COLUMN UNDER OTTO
+
+The second column under Otto, consisting of twelve battalions and ten
+squadrons, certain of the latter being English horse, and the whole
+command numbering some 10,000 men, advanced with the early morning of that
+same Saturday the 17th simultaneously with Bussche from Bailleul to Leers.
+It drove the French outposts in, carried Leers, and advanced further to
+Wattrelos. It carried Wattrelos.
+
+It continued its successful march another three miles, still pressing in
+and thrusting off to its right the French soldiers of Compere's command,
+until it came to what was then the little market-town of Tourcoing. It
+carried Tourcoing and held it. This uninterrupted series of successes had
+brought Otto's troops forward by some eight miles from their
+starting-point, and had filled the whole morning, and Otto stood during
+the afternoon in possession of this advanced point, right on the line
+between Courtrai and Lille, and having fully accomplished the object which
+his superiors had set him.
+
+From the somewhat higher roll of land which his cavalry could reach, and
+from which they could observe the valley of the Lys four miles beyond,
+they must have strained their eyes to catch some hint of Clerfayt's
+troops, upon whose presence across the river on their side they had so
+confidently calculated, and which, had Clerfayt kept to his time-table and
+crossed the Lys at dawn, would now have been in the close neighbourhood of
+Tourcoing and in junction with this successful second column.
+
+But there was no sign of any such welcome sight. The dull rolling plain,
+with its occasional low crests falling towards the river, betrayed the
+presence of troops in more than one position to the north and west. But
+those troops were not moving: they were holding positions, or, if moving,
+were obviously doing so with the object of contesting the passage of the
+river. They were French troops, not Austrian, that thus showed distinctly
+in rare and insufficient numbers along the southern bank of the Lys, and
+indeed, as we know, Clerfayt, during the whole of that afternoon of the
+17th, was painfully bringing up his delayed pontoons, and was, until it
+was far advanced, upon the wrong side of the river.
+
+Otto maintained his position, hoped against hope that Clerfayt might yet
+force his way through before nightfall, and was still master of Tourcoing
+and the surrounding fields when darkness came.
+
+(B) THE THIRD COLUMN UNDER YORK
+
+Meanwhile York, with his 10,000 half British and half Austro-Hessian, had
+marched with similar success but against greater obstacles parallel with
+Otto, and to his left, and had successively taken every point in his
+advance until he also had reached the goal which had been set before him.
+
+Details of that fine piece of work deserve full mention.
+
+Delayed somewhat by a mist in the dark hours before dawn, York's command
+had marched north-westward up the road from Templeuve, where now runs the
+little tramway reaching the Belgian frontier.
+
+The French troops in front of him, as much as those who had met Otto a
+mile or two off to the right, and Bussche still further off at Mouscron,
+were taken aback by the suddenness and the strength of the unexpected
+blow. They stood at Lannoy. York cannonaded that position, sent certain of
+the British Light Dragoons round to the left to turn it, and attacked it
+in front with the Brigade of Guards. The enemy did not stand, and the
+British forces poured through Lannoy and held it just as Otto in those
+same hours was pouring into and holding Leers and Wattrelos. Beyond
+Lannoy, a matter of two miles or so, and still on that same road, was the
+small town, now swollen to a great industrial city, called Roubaix. The
+Duke of York left a couple of battalions of his allied troops (Hessians)
+to hold Lannoy, and with the rest of the column pursued his march.
+
+Roubaix offered far more serious resistance than Lannoy had done. The
+element of surprise was, of course, no longer present. The French forces
+were concentrating. The peril they were in of being cut off was by this
+time thoroughly seized at their headquarters, and the roll of land
+immediately before Roubaix was entrenched and held by a sufficient force
+well gunned. A strong resistance was offered to the British advance, but
+once more the Brigade of Guards broke down that resistance and the place
+was taken with the bayonet.
+
+York's next objective, and the goal to which his advance had been ordered,
+was Mouveaux. Mouveaux is a village standing upon a somewhat higher roll
+of land rather more than two miles from the centre of Roubaix, in
+continuation of the direction which York's advance had hitherto pursued.
+From Mouveaux the eye could overlook the plain reaching to the Lys and to
+Wervicq, some seven odd miles away, a plain broken by one or two slight
+hummocks of which the least inconspicuous holds the village of Linselles.
+Mouveaux was the point to which Clerfayt was expected to advance from his
+side. It was on a level with Tourcoing, and lay, as Tourcoing did,
+precisely upon the line between Courtrai and Lille. To reach Mouveaux,
+therefore, and not to be content with the capture of Roubaix, was
+consistent with and necessary to the general plan of the allies. Moreover,
+as Otto with the second column had taken Tourcoing, it was necessary that
+the third column should proceed to Mouveaux, unless Otto's left or
+southern flank was to remain exposed and in peril. One may say, in
+general, that until Mouveaux was occupied the chance of joining hands with
+Clerfayt (supposing that General to have kept to his time-table and to be
+across the Lys and marching up to meet the columns from the Scheldt) was
+in peril. Therefore, until one has learnt what was happening to the fourth
+and the fifth columns, it is difficult to understand why the Duke of York,
+after the difficult capture of Roubaix, desired to make that point the
+utmost limit of his advance and for the moment to proceed no further.
+Without anticipating the story of the fourth and fifth columns, it is
+enough to say that the Duke of York's desire not to advance beyond Roubaix
+was sufficiently excused by the aspect of the country to the west and
+south upon his left.
+
+Roubaix overlooks from a slight elevation the valley of the Marque. Lest
+the word "valley" be misleading, let me hasten to add that that stream
+here flows at the bottom of a very slight and very broad depression. But,
+at any rate, from Roubaix one overlooks that depression for some miles;
+one sees five miles distant the fortifications of Lille, and the
+intervening country is open enough to betray the presence of troops.
+Indeed, once Roubaix was captured, the English commander could see across
+those fields, a couple of hours' march away, the tents of the great French
+camp at Sainghin under the walls of the fortress.
+
+Now, along that river valley and across those fields there should have
+been apparent in those mid hours of the day, when the Guards had stormed
+Roubaix, the great host of the fourth and fifth columns coming up in
+support of the second and third.
+
+If the time-table had been observed, the Arch-Duke and Kinsky, over 25,000
+men, should have been across the Marque before dawn, should have pushed
+back the French forces outside Lille, and should, long before noon, have
+been covering those fields between Roubaix and Lille with their advancing
+squadrons and battalions. There was no sign of them. If, or when, the
+French body near Lille were free to advance and attack the Duke of York's
+left flank, there was no one between to prevent their doing so. That great
+body of the third and fourth columns, more than half of all the men who
+were advancing from the Scheldt to meet Clerfayt, had failed to come up to
+time. That was why the Duke of York desired to push no further than
+Roubaix, and even to leave only an advance guard to hold that place while
+he withdrew the bulk of his command to Lannoy.
+
+But his decision was overruled. The Emperor and his staff, who, following
+up the march of this third column, were now at Templeuve, thought it
+imperative that Mouveaux should be held. Only thus, in their judgment,
+could the junction with Clerfayt (who, though late, must surely be now
+near at hand) be accomplished. And certainly, unless Mouveaux were held,
+Otto could not hold his advanced position at Tourcoing. The order was
+therefore sent to York to take Mouveaux. In the disastrous issue that
+order has naturally come in for sharp blame; but it must be remembered
+that much of the plan was already successfully accomplished, that Clerfayt
+was thought to be across the Lys, and that if the French around Courtrai,
+and hitherward from Courtrai to Tourcoing, were to be cut off, it was
+imperative to effect the junction with Clerfayt without delay. Had
+Clerfayt been, as he should have been at that hour in the afternoon of
+Saturday the 17th, between the Lys and the line Mouveaux-Tourcoing, the
+order given by the Austrian staff to the Duke of York would not only have
+been approved by the military opinion of posterity, but any other order
+would have been thought a proof of indecision and bad judgment.
+
+Upon receiving this order to take Mouveaux, York obeyed. The afternoon was
+now far advanced, very heavy work had been done, a forward march of nearly
+six miles had been undertaken, accompanied by continual
+fighting--latterly, outside Roubaix, of a heavy sort. But if Mouveaux was
+to be held before nightfall, an immediate attack must be made, and York
+ordered his men forward.
+
+Mouveaux stands upon one of those very slight crests which barely
+diversify the flat country in which Roubaix and Tourcoing stand. The
+summit of that crest is but little more than fifty feet higher than the
+bottom of the low, broad depression between it and the centre of Roubaix,
+of which swollen town it is to-day a western suburb. Slight as is the
+elevation, it does, as I have said, command a view towards the Lys and
+Wervicq; and the evenness and length of the very gentle slope upon the
+Roubaix side make it an excellent defensive position.
+
+I have pointed out how the columns of attack as they advanced could not
+fail to find an increasing resistance. Roubaix had held out more strongly
+than Lannoy, Mouveaux was to hold out more strongly than Roubaix. The
+position was palisaded and entrenched. Redoubts had even been hastily
+thrown up by the French at either end of it, but the weight of the
+attacking column told. It was again the Guards who were given the task of
+carrying the trenches at the bayonet, and after a sharp struggle they were
+successful. The French, as they retired, set fire to the village (which
+stands upon the very summit of that roll of land), and were charged in
+their retirement by Abercromby with the English Dragoons. They left three
+hundred upon the field, and three field-pieces as well. Despite the great
+superiority of numbers which York's columns still commanded over the enemy
+immediately before him, it was a brilliant feat, especially when one
+considers that it came at the very end of a day that was hot for the
+season, that had begun before one o'clock in the morning, and that had
+involved the carrying of three positions, each more stoutly defended than
+the last, within an advance of over seven miles.
+
+Mouveaux thus carried, the head of York's column was on a line with the
+head of Otto's, which held Tourcoing just two miles away. The heads of
+either column now occupied the main road between Lille and Courtrai (which
+passes through Mouveaux and Tourcoing), and the heads of either column
+also held the slight crests from which the belated advance of Clerfayt
+from the Lys could be watched and awaited.
+
+But though there was evidence of heavy fighting down in the river valley
+five miles to the north and west, and though it seemed probable from the
+sound of the firing that Clerfayt with the sixth body had crossed the Lys
+at Wervicq and was now on the right side of it, upon the southern bank,
+there was no sign of his advancing columns in those empty fields towards
+Linselles and the river over which the setting sun glared.
+
+Neither, as his troops prepared to bivouac for the night upon the slopes
+of Mouveaux, could York, looking southward, find any indication of the
+fourth and fifth columns under Kinsky and the Arch-Duke which should have
+come up to this same position at Mouveaux by noon seven hours before. The
+flat and marshy fields upon either bank of the Marque were anxiously
+scanned in vain as the twilight deepened. Down there, far off, the cannon
+had been heard all that afternoon round the French camp at Sainghin, but
+nothing had come through.
+
+It was therefore under a sense of isolation and of confusion, with the
+knowledge that their left flank was open, that Clerfayt in front of them
+was not yet in reach, that the second and third columns, which had so
+thoroughly accomplished their task, established their posts under the
+early summer night to await the chances of the morning.
+
+
+III
+
+THE FOURTH AND FIFTH COLUMNS UNDER KINSKY AND THE ARCH-DUKE CHARLES
+
+Now what had happened to the fourth and fifth columns under Kinsky and the
+Arch-Duke? I must describe their fortunes, show why they had failed to
+come up, and thus complete the picture of the general advance from the
+Scheldt, before I turn to conclude the explanation of the disaster by
+detailing the further adventures of Clerfayt after he had crossed the Lys.
+
+(A) THE FOURTH COLUMN UNDER KINSKY
+
+Kinsky with his 11,000 men had been delayed, as we have seen, at Froidmont
+by the message which the Arch-Duke had sent him from St Amand, to the
+effect that the fifth column could not hope to be at Pont-à-Marcq before
+dawn upon the 17th.
+
+At the moment, therefore, when in the small hours of Saturday the 17th
+Otto and the Duke of York started out simultaneously from Bailleul and
+Templeuve, Kinsky was still pinned to Froidmont. But he knew that the
+Arch-Duke had started with his great column some time after dark in the
+Friday night from St Amand, and when he estimated that they had proceeded
+far enough along the road to Pont-à-Marcq to be up level with him upon his
+left, Kinsky set his men in march and made for the Bridge of Bouvines,
+which was the crossing of the Marque immediately in front of him.
+
+The Bridge of Bouvines lay right in front of the great French camp. It was
+strongly held, and the hither side of the river, as Kinsky approached it,
+was found to be entrenched. His men drove the French from those
+entrenchments, they retired over the bridge, and as they retired they
+broke it down. Upon the far side of the river in front of their camp the
+French further established a battery of heavy guns upon that slight slope
+which is now crowned by the Fort of Sainghin, and Kinsky could not force
+the passage until the fifth column, or at any rate the head of it, should
+begin to appear upon his left.
+
+It will be seen upon the frontispiece map that when the Arch-Duke's men
+reached Pont-à-Marcq and crossed the river there, they would take the
+French camp and the main French forces there in reserve, weaken the power
+of the French resistance at the Bridge of Bouvines, afford Kinsky the
+opportunity of crossing at that point, and that, immediately after that
+crossing, Kinsky and the Arch-Duke, having joined hands, would be in
+sufficient strength to push back the French from Sainghin and to march up
+north together towards Mouveaux. The appearance of their combined force at
+Mouveaux by noon would fulfil the time-table, and at mid-day of Saturday,
+if the time-table were thus fulfilled, the whole combined force of the
+second, third, fourth, and fifth columns would have been astraddle of the
+Lille-Courtrai Road, would have cut off Souham's corps from Lille, and
+could await Clerfayt if he had not yet arrived. When, therefore, the
+Arch-Duke and the fifth column should have crossed the Marque at
+Pont-à-Marcq, the fortunes of the fourth column would have blended with
+it, and the story of the two would have been one. We may therefore leave
+Kinsky still waiting anxiously in front of the broken bridge at Bouvines
+for news of the Arch-Duke, and conclude the picture of the whole advance
+from the Scheldt by describing what had happened and was happening to that
+Commander and his great force of 17,000 to 18,000 men.
+
+(B) THE FIFTH COLUMN UNDER THE ARCH-DUKE CHARLES
+
+When the Arch-Duke Charles had let Kinsky know upon the day before, the
+Friday, that he could not be at the appointed post of Pont-à-Marcq by the
+next daybreak, he had implied that somewhere in the early morning of that
+Saturday, at least, he would be there. Exactly how early neither he nor
+Kinsky could tell. His troops had sixteen full miles to march; they had
+but one road by which to advance, and they were fatigued with the enormous
+exertion of that hurried march northward to St Amand, which has already
+been set down.
+
+Such were the delays at St Amand in preparing that advance, that the night
+was far gone before the fifth column took the road to Pont-à-Marcq, and
+the effort that was to be demanded of it was more than should have been
+justly demanded of any troops. Indeed, the idea that a body of this great
+size, tied to one road, could suffer the severe effort of the rush from
+the south to St Amand, followed by a night-march, that march to be
+followed by heavy fighting during the ensuing morning and a further
+advance of eight or nine miles during the forenoon, was one of the weakest
+points in the plan of the allies. No such weakness would have been
+apparent if the main body of the Austrians under the Arch-Duke had been
+called up on the 12th instead of the 14th, and had been given two more
+days in which to cover the great distance. But, as it was, the delay of
+the Emperor and his staff in calling up that main body had gravely
+weakened its effective power.
+
+The league-long column thrust up the road through the darkness hour upon
+hour, with its confusion of vehicles and that difficulty in marshalling
+all units which is the necessary handicap of an advance in the darkness.
+Long before their task was so much as half accomplished, it was apparent
+not only that Pont-à-Marcq would not be reached at dawn, but that the mass
+of the infantry would not be at that river-crossing until the morning was
+far spent.
+
+When day broke, though cavalry had been set forward at greater speed, the
+heads of the infantry column were but under the Hill of Beuvry. It was
+long after six before the force had passed through Orchies, and though
+Kinsky learnt, in the neighbourhood of eight o'clock, that the cavalry of
+the fifth column were up on a level with him and had reached the river,
+the main force of the fifth column was not available for crossing
+Pont-à-Marcq until noon, and past noon.
+
+Kinsky, thus tied to the broken Bridge of Bouvines until Pont-à-Marcq
+should be forced, saw mid-day come and pass, and still his force and that
+of the Arch-Duke upon his left were upon the wrong side of the stream.
+
+Yet another hour went by. His fourth column and the fifth should already
+have been nine miles up north, by Mouveaux, and they were not yet even
+across the Marque!
+
+It was not until two o'clock that the passage of the river at Pont-à-Marcq
+was forced by the Arch-Duke Charles, and that, as the consequence of that
+passage of the stream, the French were taken in reverse in their camp at
+Sainghin and were compelled to fall back northward, leaving the passage at
+Bouvines free. Kinsky repaired the bridge, and was free to bring his
+11,000 over, and the two extreme columns, the fourth and the fifth, would
+then have joined forces in the mid-afternoon of the Saturday, having
+accomplished their object of forcing the Marque and uniting for the common
+advance northward in support of Otto and the Duke of York.
+
+Now, had the Arch-Duke Charles' men been machines, this section of the
+general plan would yet have failed by half a day to keep its time-table:
+and by more than half a day: by all the useful part of a working day. By
+the scheme of time upon which the plan was based, the fifth column should
+have been across the Marque at dawn; by six, or at latest by seven o'clock
+the French should have been compelled to fall back from Sainghin, and the
+combined fourth and fifth columns should have been upon their northward
+march for Mouveaux. It was not seven o'clock, it was _between three and
+four_ o'clock by the time the Arch-Duke was well across the Marque and the
+French retired; but still, if the men of this fifth column had been
+machines, Kinsky was now free to effect his junction across the Bridge of
+Bouvines, and the combined force would have reached the neighbourhood of
+Mouveaux and Tourcoing by nightfall, or shortly after dark.
+
+But the men of the fifth column were not machines, and at that hour of the
+mid-afternoon of Saturday they had come to the limits of physical
+endurance. It was impossible to ask further efforts of them, or, if those
+efforts were demanded, to hope for success. In the Arch-Duke's column by
+far the greater part of the 17,000 or 18,000 men had been awake and
+working for thirty-six hours. All had been on foot for at least
+twenty-four; they had been actually marching for seventeen, and had been
+fighting hard at the end of the effort and after sixteen miles of road.
+There could be no question of further movement that day: they bivouacked
+just north of the river, near where the French had been before their
+retirement, and Kinsky, seeing no combined movement could be made that
+day, kept his men also bivouacked near the Bridge of Bouvines.[5]
+
+Thus it was that when night fell upon that Saturday the left wing of the
+advance from the Scheldt had failed. And that is why those watching from
+the head of the successful third column at Mouveaux and Roubaix, under the
+sunset of that evening, saw no reinforcement coming up the valley of the
+Marque, caught no sign of their thirty thousand comrades advancing from
+the south, and despaired of the morrow.
+
+
+SUMMARY OF SITUATION ON THE SOUTH BY THE EVENING OF SATURDAY, MAY 17th.
+
+If we take stock of the whole situation, so far as the advance of the five
+columns from the Scheldt was concerned, when darkness fell upon that
+Saturday we can appreciate the peril in which the second and third column
+under Otto and York lay.
+
+The position which the plan had assigned to the four columns, second,
+third, fourth, and fifth, by noon of that Saturday (let alone by
+nightfall), is that marked upon the map by the middle four of the six
+oblongs in dotted lines marked B. Of these, the two positions on the
+_right_ were filled, for the second and third columns had amply
+accomplished their mission. But the two on the _left_, so far from being
+filled, were missed by miles of space and hours of time. At mid-day, or a
+little after, when Kinsky and the Arch-Duke should have been occupying the
+second and third dotted oblong respectively, neither of them was as yet
+even across the Marque. Both were far away back at E, E: and these
+hopeless positions, E, E, right away behind the line of positions across
+the Courtrai-Lille road which the plan expected them to occupy by
+Saturday noon, Kinsky and the Arch-Duke pacifically maintained up to and
+including the night between Saturday and Sunday!
+
+
+[Illustration: THE ELEMENTS OF TOURCOING]
+
+
+It is evident, therefore, that instead of all four columns of nearly
+_sixty_ thousand men barring the road between Souham and Lille and
+effecting the isolation of the French "wedge" round Courtrai, a bare,
+unsupported _twenty_ thousand found themselves that night alone: holding
+Roubaix, Tourcoing, Lannoy, Mouveaux, and thrust forward isolated in the
+midst of overwhelmingly superior and rapidly gathering numbers.
+
+In such an isolation nothing could save Otto and York but the abandonment
+during the night of their advanced positions and a retreat upon the points
+near the Scheldt from which they had started twenty hours before.
+
+The French forces round Lille were upon one side of them to the south and
+west, in number perhaps 20,000. On the other side of them, towards
+Courtrai, was the mass of Souham's force which they had hoped to cut off,
+nearly 40,000 strong. Between these two great bodies of men, the 20,000 of
+Otto and York were in peril of destruction if the French awoke to the
+position before the retirement of the second and third columns was decided
+on.
+
+It is here worthy of remark that the only real cause of peril was the
+absence of Kinsky and the Arch-Duke.
+
+Certain historians have committed the strange error of blaming Bussche for
+what followed. Bussche, it will be remembered, had been driven out of
+Mouscron early in the day, and was holding on stubbornly enough, keeping
+up an engagement principally by cannonade with the French upon the line of
+Dottignies. It is obvious that from such a position he could be of no use
+to the isolated Otto and York five miles away. But on the other hand, he
+was not expected to be of any use. What could his 4000 have done to shield
+the 20,000 of Otto and York from those 40,000 French under Souham's
+command? His business was to keep as many of the French as possible
+occupied away on the far north-east of the field, and that object he was
+fulfilling.
+
+Finally, it may be asked why, in a posture so patently perilous, Otto and
+York clung to their advanced positions throughout the night? The answer is
+simple enough. If, even during the night, the fourth and fifth columns
+should appear, the battle was half won. If Clerfayt, of whom they had no
+news, but whom they rightly judged to be by this time across the Lys, were
+to arrive before the French began to close in, the battle would be not
+half won, but all won. Between 55,000 and 60,000 men would then be lying
+united across the line which joined the 40,000 of the enemy to the north
+with the 20,000 to the south. If such a junction were effected even at the
+eleventh hour, so long as it took place before the 20,000 French outside
+Lille and the 40,000 to the north moved upon them, the allies would have
+won a decisive action, and the surrender of all Souham's command would
+have been the matter of a few hours. For a force cut in two is a force
+destroyed.
+
+But the night passed without Clerfayt's appearing, and before closing the
+story of that Saturday I must briefly tell why, though he had crossed the
+Lys in the afternoon, he failed to advance southward through the
+intervening five or six miles to Mouveaux.
+
+
+CLERFAYT'S COLUMN.
+
+Clerfayt had, in that extraordinary slow march of his, advanced by the
+Friday night, as I have said, no further than the great high road between
+Menin and Ypres. I further pointed out that though only three miles
+separated that point from Wervicq, yet those three miles meant, under the
+military circumstances of the moment, a loss of time equivalent to at
+least half a day.
+
+We therefore left Clerfayt at Saturday's dawn, as we left the Arch-Duke at
+the same time, far short of the starting-point which had been assigned to
+him.
+
+Whereas the Arch-Duke, miles away over there to the south, had at least
+pushed on to the best of his ability through the night towards
+Pont-à-Marcq, Clerfayt did _not_ push on by night to Wervicq as he should
+have done. He bivouacked with the heads of his columns no further than the
+Ypres road.
+
+Nor did he even break up and proceed over the remaining three miles during
+the very earliest hours. For one reason or another (the point has never
+been cleared up) the morning was fairly well advanced when he set
+forth--possibly because his units had got out of touch and straggling in
+the sandy country, or blocked by vehicles stuck fast. Whatever the cause
+may have been, he did not exchange shots with the French outposts at
+Wervicq until well after noon upon that Saturday the 17th of May.
+
+When at last he had forced his way into the town (the great bulk of which
+lies north of the river), he found the bridge so well defended that he
+could not cross it, or, at any rate, that the carrying of it--the chances
+of its being broken after the French should have retired and the business
+of bringing his great force across, with the narrow streets of the town to
+negotiate and the one narrow bridge, even if intact to use--would put him
+upon the further bank at a hopelessly late hour. Therefore did he call for
+his pontoons in order to solve the difficulty by bridging the river
+somewhat lower down. The Lys is here but a narrow stream, and it would be
+easy, with the pontoons at his disposal, to pass his troops over rapidly
+upon a broader front, making, if necessary, two wide bridges. I say "with
+the pontoons at his disposal." But by the time Clerfayt had taken this
+decision and had sent for the pontoons, he found that they were not there!
+
+His section of pontoons had not kept abreast with the rest of the army,
+and their delay had not been notified to him. It was not until quite late
+in the day that they arrived; it was not until evening that the laying of
+the pontoons began,[6] nor till midnight that he was passing the first of
+his troops over.
+
+He did not get nor attempt to get the mass of his sixteen or seventeen
+thousand across in the darkness. He bivouacked the remainder upon the
+wrong side of the river and waited for the morrow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So that Saturday ended, with Otto and York isolated at the central
+meeting-place round Tourcoing-Mouveaux, which they alone had reached; with
+the Arch-Duke Charles and Kinsky bivouacked miles away to the south on
+either side of the Bridge of Bouvines; and with Clerfayt still, as to the
+bulk of his force, on the wrong side of the Lys.
+
+It was no wonder that the next day, Sunday, was to see the beginning of
+disaster.
+
+
+SUNDAY, MAY THE 18TH, 1794.
+
+I have said that, considering the isolated position in which York and Otto
+found themselves, with no more than perhaps 18,000 in the six positions of
+Leers, Wattrelos, and Tourcoing, Lannoy, Roubaix, and Mouveaux, the French
+had only to wake up to the situation, and Otto and York would be
+overwhelmed.
+
+The French did wake up. How thoroughly taken by surprise they had been by
+the prompt and exact advance of Otto and York the day before, the reader
+has already been told. Throughout Saturday they remained in some confusion
+as to the intention of the enemy; and indeed it was not easy to grasp a
+movement which was at once of such great size, and whose very miscarriage
+rendered it the more baffling of comprehension. But by the evening of the
+day, Souham, calling a council of his generals at Menin, came to a
+decision as rapid as it was wise. Reynier, Moreau, and Macdonald, the
+generals of divisions that were under his orders, all took part in the
+brief discussion and the united resolve to which it led. "It was," in the
+words of a contemporary, "one of those rare occasions in which the
+decision of several men in council has proved as effective as the decision
+of a single will."
+
+Of the troops which were, it will be remembered, dispersed to the north of
+the Lys, only one brigade was left upon the wrong side of the river to
+keep an eye on Clerfayt; all the rest were recalled across the stream and
+sent forward to take up positions north of Otto's and Kinsky's columns.
+Meanwhile the bulk of the French troops lying between Courtrai and
+Tourcoing were disposed in such fashion as to attack from the north and
+east, south and westward. Some 40,000 men all told were ready to close in
+with the first light from both sides upon the two isolated bodies of the
+allies. To complete their discomfiture, word was sent to Bonnaud and
+Osten, the generals of divisions who commanded the 20,000 about Lille,
+ordering them to march north and east, and to attack simultaneously with
+their comrades upon that third exposed side where York would receive the
+shock. In other words, the 18,000 or so distributed on the six points
+under Otto and York occupied an oblong the two long sides of which and the
+top were about to be attacked by close upon 60,000 men. The hour from
+which this general combined advance inwards upon the doomed commands of
+the allies was to begin was given identically to all the French generals.
+They were to break up at three in the morning. With such an early start,
+the sun would not have been long risen before the pressure upon Otto and
+York would begin.
+
+When the sun rose, the head of Otto's column upon the little height of
+Tourcoing saw to the north, to the north-east, and to the east, distant
+moving bodies, which were the columns of the French attack advancing from
+those quarters. As they came nearer, their numbers could be distinguished.
+A brigade was approaching them from the north and the Lys valley,
+descending the slopes of the hillock called Mont Halhuin. It was
+Macdonald's. Another was on the march from Mouscron and the east. It was
+Compere's. The General who was commanding for Otto in Tourcoing itself was
+Montfrault. He perceived the extremity of the danger and sent over to York
+for reinforcement. York spared him two Austrian battalions, but with
+reluctance, for he knew that the attack must soon develop upon his side
+also. In spite of the peril, in the vain hope that Clerfayt might yet
+appear, Mouveaux and Tourcoing were still held, and upon the latter
+position, between five and six o'clock in the morning, fell the first
+shots of the French advance. The resistance at Tourcoing could not last
+long against such odds, and Montfrault, after a gallant attempt to hold
+the town, yielded to a violent artillery attack and prepared to retreat.
+Slowly gathering his command into a great square, he began to move
+south-eastward along the road to Wattrelos. It was half-past eight when
+that beginning of defeat was acknowledged.
+
+Meanwhile York, on his side, had begun to feel the pressure. Mouveaux was
+attacked from the north somewhat before seven o'clock in the morning, and,
+simultaneously with that attack, a portion of Bonnaud's troops which had
+come up from the neighbourhood of Lille, was driving in York's outposts to
+the west of Roubaix.
+
+How, it may be asked, did the French, in order thus to advance from Lille,
+negotiate the passage of that little River Marque, which obstacle had
+proved so formidable a feature in the miscarriage of the great allied plan
+the day before? The answer is, unfortunately, easily forthcoming. York had
+left the bridges over the Marque unguarded. Why, we do not know. Whether
+from sheer inadvertence, or because he hoped that Kinsky had detached men
+for the purpose, for one reason or another he had left those passages
+free, and, by the bridge of Hempempont against Lannoy, by that of Breuck
+against Roubaix, Bonnaud's and Osten's men poured over.
+
+As at Tourcoing, so at Mouveaux, a desperate attempt was made to hold the
+position. Indeed it was clung to far too late, but the straits to which
+Mouveaux was reduced at least afforded an opportunity for something of
+which the British service should not be unmindful. Immediately between
+Roubaix and the River Marque, Fox, with the English battalions of the
+line, was desperately trying to hold the flank and to withstand the
+pressure of the French, who were coming across the river more than twice
+his superiors in number. He was supported by a couple of Austrian
+battalions, and the two services dispute as to which half of this
+defending force was first broken. But the dispute is idle. No troops could
+have stood the pressure, and at any rate the defence broke down--with this
+result: that the British troops holding Mouveaux, Abercrombie's Dragoons,
+and the Brigade of Guards, were cut off from their comrades in Roubaix.
+Meanwhile, Tourcoing having been carried and the Austrians driven out from
+thence, the eastern and western forces of the French had come into touch
+in the depression between Mouveaux and Roubaix, and it seemed as though
+the surrender or destruction of that force was imminent. Abercrombie saved
+it. A narrow gap appeared between certain forces of the French, eastward
+of the position at Mouveaux, and leaving a way open round to Roubaix. He
+took advantage of it and won through: the Guards keeping a perfect order,
+the rear defended by the mobility and daring of the Dragoons. The village
+of Roubaix, in those days, consisted in the main of one long straight
+street, though what is now the great town had already then so far
+increased in size as to have suburbs upon the north and south. The
+skirmishers of the French were in these suburbs. (Fox's flank command had
+long ago retired, keeping its order, however, and making across country as
+best it could for Lannoy.) It was about half-past nine when Abercrombie's
+force, which had been saved by so astonishing a mixture of chance, skill,
+coolness, and daring, filed into the long street of Roubaix. The Guards
+and the guns went through the passage in perfect formation in spite of the
+shots dropping from the suburbs, which were already beginning to harass
+the cavalry behind them. Immediately to their rear was the Austrian horse,
+while, last of all, defending the retreat, the English Dragoons were just
+entering the village. In the centre of this long street a market-place
+opened out. The Austrian cavalry, arrived at it, took advantage of the
+room afforded them; they doubled and quadrupled their files until they
+formed a fairly compact body, almost filling the square. It was precisely
+at this moment that the French advance upon the eastern side of the
+village brought a gun to bear down the long straight street and road,
+which led from the market square to Wattrelos. The moment it opened fire,
+the Austrians, after a vain attempt to find cover, pressed into the side
+streets down the market-place, fell into confusion. There is no question
+here of praise or blame: a great body of horsemen, huddled in a narrow
+space, suddenly pounded by artillery, necessarily became in a moment a
+mass of hopeless confusion. The body galloped in panic out of the village,
+swerved round the sharp corner into the narrower road (where the French
+had closed in so nearly that there was some bayonet work), and then came
+full tilt against the British guns, which lay blocking the way because the
+drivers had dismounted or cut the traces and fled. In the midst of this
+intolerable confusion a second gun was brought to bear by the French, and
+the whole mob of ridden and riderless horses, some dragging limbers, some
+pack-horses charged, many more the dispersed and maddened fragments of the
+cavalry, broke into the Guards, who had still kept their formation and
+were leading what had been but a few moments before an orderly retreat.
+
+It is at this point, I think, that the merit of this famous brigade and
+its right to regard the disaster not with humiliation but with pride, is
+best established. For that upon which soldiers chiefly look is the power
+of a regiment to reform. The Guards, thus broken up under conditions which
+made formation for the moment impossible, and would have excused the
+destruction of any other force, cleared themselves of the welter,
+recovered their formation, held the road, permitted the British cavalry to
+collect itself and once more form a rearguard, and the retreat upon Lannoy
+was resumed by this fragment of York's command in good order: in good
+order, although it was subjected to heavy and increasing fire upon either
+side.
+
+It was a great feat of arms.
+
+As for the Duke of York, he was not present with his men. He had ridden
+off with a small escort of cavalry to see whether it might not be possible
+to obtain some reinforcement from Otto, but the French were everywhere in
+those fields. He found himself with a squadron, with a handful, and at
+last alone, until, a conspicuous figure with the Star of the Garter still
+pinned to his coat, he was chivied hither and thither across country,
+followed and flanked by the sniping shots of the French skirmishers in
+thicket and hedge; after that brief but exceedingly troubled ride,
+Providence discovered him a brook and a bridge still held by some of
+Otto's Hessians. He crossed it, and was in safety.
+
+His retreating men--those of them that remained, and notably the remnant
+of the Dragoons and the Guards--were still in order as they approached
+Lannoy. They believed, or hoped, that that village was still in possession
+of the Hessians whom York had left there. But the French attack had been
+ubiquitous that morning. It had struck simultaneously upon all the flanks.
+At Roubaix as at Mouveaux, at Lannoy as at Roubaix, and the Guards and the
+Dragoons within musket shot of Lannoy discovered it, in the most
+convincing fashion, to be in the hands of the enemy. After that check
+order and formation were lost, and the remaining fragment of the Austrian
+and British who had marched out from Templeuve the day before 10,000
+strong, hurried, dispersed over the open field, crossed what is now the
+Belgian border, and made their way back to camp.
+
+Thus was destroyed the third column, which, of all portions of the allied
+army, had fought hardest, had most faithfully executed its orders, had
+longest preserved discipline during a terrible retreat and against
+overwhelming numbers: it was to that discipline that the Guards in
+particular owed the saving from the wreck of so considerable a portion of
+their body. Of their whole brigade just under 200 were lost, killed,
+wounded or taken prisoners. The total loss of the British was not quite
+five times this--just under 1000,--but of their guns, twenty-eight in
+number, nineteen were left in the hands of the enemy.
+
+There is no need to recount in detail the fate of Otto's column. As it had
+advanced parallel in direction and success to the Duke of York's, it
+suffered a similar and parallel misfortune. As the English had found
+Lannoy occupied upon their line of retreat, so Otto's column had found
+Wattrelos. As the English column had broken at Lannoy, so the Austrian at
+Leers. And the second column came drifting back dispersed to camp,
+precisely as the third had done. When the fragments were mustered and the
+defeat acknowledged, it was about three o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+For the rest of the allied army there is no tale to tell, save with regard
+to Clerfayt's command; the fourth and the fifth columns, miles away behind
+the scene of the disaster, did not come into action. Long before they
+could have broken up after the breakdown through exhaustion of the day
+before, the French were over the Marque and between them and York. When a
+move was made at noon, it was not to relieve the second and third columns,
+for that was impossible, though, perhaps, if they had marched earlier, the
+pressure they would have brought to bear upon Bonnaud's men might have
+done something to lessen the disaster. It is doubtful, for the Marque
+stood in between and the French did not leave it unguarded.
+
+Bussche, true to his conduct of the day before, held his positions all day
+and maintained his cannonade with the enemy. It is true that there was no
+severe pressure upon him, but still he held his own even when the rout
+upon his left might have tempted him to withdraw his little force.
+
+As for Clerfayt, he had not all his men across the Lys until that very
+hour of seven in the morning when York at Mouveaux was beginning to suffer
+the intolerable pressure of the French, and Otto's men at Tourcoing were
+in a similar plight.
+
+By the time he had got all his men over, he found Vandamme holding
+positions, hastily prepared but sufficiently well chosen, and blocking his
+way to the south. With a defensive thus organised, though only half as
+strong as the attack, Vandamme was capable of a prolonged resistance; and
+while it was in progress, reinforcements, summoned from the northern parts
+of the French line beyond Lille, had had time to appear towards the west.
+He must have heard from eight o'clock till noon the fire of his retreating
+comrades falling back in their disastrous retreat, and, rightly judging
+that he would have after mid-day the whole French army to face, he
+withdrew to the river, and had the luck to cross it the next day without
+loss: a thing that the French now free from the enemy to the south should
+never have permitted.
+
+So ended the Battle of Tourcoing, an action which, for the interest of its
+scheme, for the weight of its results, and, above all, for the fine
+display of courage and endurance which British troops showed under
+conditions that should normally have meant annihilation, deserves a much
+wider fame in this country than it has obtained.
+
+
+PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS _that compel_
+
+_Supplementary Spring List, 1912_
+
+
+  _For him was levere have at his beddes heed
+  Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed ...
+  Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrye._
+
+                                  CHAUCER.
+
+_Telegrams "Lumenifer, London"_
+
+_Telephone 6223 City_
+
+
+  _STEPHEN SWIFT & CO. LTD.
+  16 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN
+  LONDON, W.C._
+
+_Complete list of "Books that Compel" post free on application_
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY
+
+=BRITISH BATTLE BOOKS.= By HILAIRE BELLOC. Illustrated with Coloured Maps.
+Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, 1s. net; leather, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+     HISTORY IN WARFARE
+
+     The British Battle Series will consist of a number of monographs upon
+     actions in which British troops have taken part. Each battle will be
+     the subject of a separate booklet illustrated with coloured maps,
+     illustrative of the movements described in the text, together with a
+     large number of line maps showing the successive details of the
+     action. In each case the political circumstances which led to the
+     battle will be explained; next, the stages leading up to it; lastly,
+     the action in detail. 1. BLENHEIM; 2. MALPLAQUET; 3. WATERLOO; 4.
+     TOURCOING. Later volumes will deal with Crecy, Poitiers, Corunna,
+     Talaveras, Flodden, The Siege of Valenciennes, Vittoria, Toulouse.
+
+=TRIPOLI AND YOUNG ITALY.= By CHARLES LAPWORTH and HELEN ZIMMERN. Demy
+8vo, cloth. Illustrated. Price 10s. 6d. net. A book of international
+importance. This is the first systematic account of the Tripoli expedition
+written from the Italian point of view which has yet been published in
+Europe. Italy's case against Turkey is fully stated, and the annexation of
+Tripoli, which has constantly been misrepresented by biassed critics as an
+arbitrary and capricious act of rapacity on the part of the Italian
+Government, is conclusively shown to have been an imperative political
+necessity. The highest authorities in Italy have heartily assisted the
+authors in their task of drawing up a reliable account of the inner
+history of the Tripoli expedition and of vindicating Italy from the many
+false accusations which have been levelled against her. The MSS. have been
+submitted to the Italian Prime Minister as well as the Minister of Foreign
+Affairs. The book is illustrated with portraits of leading Italians and
+with photographs of Libya.
+
+=PSYCHOLOGY, A NEW SYSTEM OF.= By ARTHUR LYNCH, M.P. 2 vols. 10s. 6d. each
+net. Based on the study of Fundamental Processes of the Human Mind. The
+principles established will afford criteria in regard to every position in
+Psychology. New light will be thrown, for instance, on Kant's Categories,
+Spencer's Hedonism, Fechner's Law, the foundation of Mathematics, Memory,
+Association, Externality, Will, the Feeling of Effort, Brain
+Localisations, and finally on the veritable nature of Reason.
+
+=AN INTRODUCTION TO METAPHYSICS=. By HENRI BERGSON. Translated by T. E.
+Hulme. Fcap. 8vo, Cloth, price, 2s. 6d. net. The "Introduction to
+Metaphysics," although the shortest, is one of the most important of
+Bergson's writings. It not only provides the best introduction to his
+thought, but is also a book which even those familiar with the rest of his
+work will find necessary to read, for in it he develops at greater length
+and in greater detail than elsewhere, the exact significance of what he
+intends by the word "intuition." Every expositor of Bergson has hitherto
+found it necessary to quote "An Introduction to Metaphysics" at
+considerable length, yet the book has never before been available in
+English.
+
+=AN INTRODUCTION TO BERGSON=. By T. E. HULME. 7s. 6d. Besides giving a
+general exposition of the better known parts of Bergson's philosophy, the
+author has discussed at some length Bergson's "Theory of Art," which may
+prove to many people the most interesting part of his whole philosophy,
+although it has so far been written about very little. At the same time
+this book is no running commentary on a great number of separate ideas;
+the author has endeavoured by subordinating everything to one dominating
+conception, to leave in the reader's mind a clearly outlined picture of
+Bergson's system. During the last few years the author has been able to
+discuss many points of difficulty with M. Bergson himself.
+
+
+SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SERIES
+
+=FROM THEATRE TO MUSIC-HALL=. By W. R. TITTERTON. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3s.
+6d. net. This book is neither a history of the drama nor a critical study
+of well-known playwrights. It is an attempt to account for the weakening
+of the dramatic sense in modern England, and to explain the enormous
+importance of the music-hall, and the desperate necessity of maintaining
+it as a means of popular expression. The theories put forward are bold,
+and are likely to excite great agreement and great opposition.
+
+=THE DOCTOR AND HIS WORK.= With a Hint of his Destiny and Ideals. By
+CHARLES J. WHITBY, M.D. Cantab., Author of "Triumphant Vulgarity," "Makers
+of Man," "A Study of Human Initiative," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 3s.
+6d. net. In this book the author has reviewed the existing position of the
+doctor and indicated the signs of a new sociological era in which he will
+be called upon to accept new and important functions. The profession has
+in the past consisted of a mere mob of unorganised units; that of the
+future will be a disciplined army of experts co-operating for the good of
+the State. "The Doctor and His Work" may be described as a summary of the
+modern medical point of view. It appeals not less to the lay than to the
+professional reader.
+
+=IRISH HOME RULE.= The Last Phase. By S. G. HOBSON. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
+
+=NATIONAL EDUCATION.= By BARON VON TAUBE, author of "Manual Training," "In
+Defence of America," "Only a Dog's Life," etc. Crown 8vo, Cloth. 3s. 6d.
+net. Two basic and dominating conceptions underlie the theory of education
+put forward in this treatise. The first is the necessity for a national
+education which will evoke, foster, develop and not level down and destroy
+all the peculiar and unique characteristics which go to make a nation a
+nation, and endow it with an individuality distinct from that of all other
+nations. The second is the necessity for the encouragement of originality
+and the full development of individual capacity, as contrasted with the
+mass-drill measures which are all too prevalent nowadays. The author's
+theories are based on ascertained sociological and psychological data and
+on numerous practical experiments in pedagogy which have been successfully
+carried out by him. Discontent with the modern stereotyped system of cram
+education is increasing daily, and this book should prove a valuable
+contribution to the literature on this vitally important subject.
+
+
+BELLES LETTRES
+
+=EPISODES OF VATHEK.= By WILLIAM BECKFORD. Translated by Sir Frank T.
+Marzials, with an Introduction by Lewis Melville. Medium 8vo, cloth. 21s.
+net. These Episodes or Eastern Tales, related in the Halls of Eblis, were
+discovered recently by Mr. Lewis Melville in the archives of Hamilton
+Palace. They were conceived by Beckford as three episodes complete within
+themselves, which he proposed to interpolate, in the manner of the
+"Arabian Nights," into his famous Oriental story of "Vathek." The original
+in French is given after the English translation, and the reader will find
+this volume extremely interesting both as treasure trove and literature.
+
+=SONNETS AND BALLATE OF GUIDO CAVALCANTI.= Translated by EZRA POUND. Crown
+8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d. net. We have had many translations of the Divina
+Commedia, a few of the Vita Nuova. Rosetti has translated a miscellany of
+"Early Italian Poets," but in these "Sonnets and Ballate" of Guido
+Cavalcanti we have a new thing, the endeavour to present a 13th century
+Tuscan poet, other than Dante, as an individual. More than one Italian
+critic of authority has considered Cavalcanti second to Dante alone in
+their literature. Dante places him first among his forerunners.
+
+
+=LEAVES OF PROSE=, interleaved with verse. By ANNIE MATHESON, with which
+are included two papers by May Sinclair. Crown 8vo. 5s. net. This volume
+is composed of a selection of those short studies for which Miss Matheson
+is so justly famous. Literature, Sociology, Art, Nature, all receive her
+attention in turn, and on each she stamps the impression of her own
+personality. The prose is soft and rhythmic, infused with the atmosphere
+of the country-side, while the lyrics scattered throughout the volume
+reflect a temperament that has remained equable under the most severe
+trials. No book more aptly expresses the spirit of Christianity and good
+fellowship as understood in England.
+
+=OFF BEATEN TRACKS IN BRITTANY.= By EMIL DAVIES. Crown 8vo, cloth. 7s. 6d.
+net. In this book the author, who has already won for himself a position
+in a surprisingly large variety of fields, goes off the beaten track in
+more than one direction. It is a book of travel, philosophy and humour,
+describing the adventures, impressions and reflections of two "advanced"
+individuals who chose their route across Brittany by ruling a straight
+line across the map from Brest to St. Malo--and then went another way!
+
+=IMAGINARY SPEECHES AND OTHER PARODIES IN PROSE AND VERSE.= By JACK
+COLLINGS SQUIRE. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d. net. This is probably the most
+comprehensive volume of Parodies ever issued. The author is as much at his
+ease in hitting off the style of Mr. Burns or Mr. Balfour, as he is in
+imitating the methods and effects of the new Celtic or Imperialist poets;
+whilst he is as happy in his series illustrating "The Sort of Prose
+Articles that modern Prose-writers write" as he is in his model newspaper
+with its various amusing features.
+
+=SHADOWS OUT OF THE CROWD.= By RICHARD CURLE. Crown 8vo, cloth. 6s. This
+book consists of twelve stories of a curious and psychological kind. Some
+deal with the West Indian and South American tropics, some with London,
+some with Scotland, and one with South Africa. The author's sense of
+atmosphere is impressive, and there is about all his stories the
+fatalistic spirit of the Russians. They have been written over a period of
+several years, and show signs of a close study of method and a deep
+insight into certain descriptions of fevered imagination. All are the work
+of a writer of power, and of an artist of a rare and rather un-English
+type.
+
+=LONDON WINDOWS.= By ETHEL TALBOT. Crown 8vo, cloth. 2s. 6d. net. In this
+little volume Miss Talbot, who is a well known and gifted singer in the
+younger choir of England's poets, pictures London in many moods. She has
+won themes from the city's life without that capitulation to the merely
+actual which is the pitfall of so many artists. London is seen grieving,
+sordid, grey, as well as magical and alluring. All who love the London of
+to-day must perforce respond to the appeal which lies in these moving and
+poignant verses.
+
+=BOHEMIA IN LONDON.= By ARTHUR RANSOME. Crown 8vo, cloth. Illustrated. 2s.
+net.
+
+=SOME ASPECTS OF THACKERAY.= By LEWIS MELVILLE. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. As
+a literary study the book incites interest, and commands attention as a
+further revelation of a brilliant and many-sided literary genius. There
+are admirably written chapters on "Thackeray as a Reader and Critic,"
+"Thackeray as an Artist," "Thackeray's Country," "Thackeray's Ballads,"
+"Thackeray and his Illustrators," "Prototypes of Thackeray's Characters,"
+etc. The volume is fully illustrated.
+
+=ENGLISH LITERATURE.= 1880-1905. Pater, Wilde, and after. By J. M.
+KENNEDY. Demy 8vo, cloth. 7s. 6d. net. Mr. J. M. Kennedy has written the
+first history of the dynamic movement in English literature between 1880
+and 1905. The work begins with a sketch of romanticism and classicism, and
+continues with chapters on Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde, who, in their
+different ways, exercised so great an influence on various poets and
+essayists of the time, all of whom are dealt with.
+
+=ONLY A DOG'S LIFE.= By BARON VON TAUBE. Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. net. This
+fascinating work was originally published in German, and is now issued in
+the author's own English rendering. It has been most favourably received
+in Germany. A Siberian hound, whose sire was a wolf, tells his own story.
+The book, in fact, is a very clever satire on human nature, a satire which
+gains much charm and piquancy from its coming from the mouth of a
+masterful self-respecting hound.
+
+=SOME OLD ENGLISH WORTHIES.= Thomas of Reading, George a Green, Roger
+Bacon, Friar Rush. Edited with notes and introduction by DOROTHY SENIOR.
+Medium 8vo, cloth. 10s. 6d. net.
+
+=BY DIVERS PATHS.= By ELEANOR TYRRELL, ANNIE MATHESON, MAUDE P. KING, MAY
+SINCLAIR, Professor C. H. HERFORD, Dr. GREVILLE MACDONALD, and C. C.
+COTTERILL. New Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt. 3s. 6d. net. A volume of
+natural studies and descriptive and meditative essays interspersed with
+verse.
+
+=IN DEFENCE OF AMERICA.= By BARON VON TAUBE. Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. net.
+This very remarkable book gives the American point of view in reply to
+criticisms of "Uncle Sam" frequently made by representatives of "John
+Bull." The author, a Russo-German, who has spent many active years in the
+United States, draws up about thirty "popular indictments against the
+citizens of Uncle Sam's realm," and discusses them at length in a very
+original and dispassionate way, exhibiting a large amount of German
+critical acumen together with much American shrewdness. Both "Uncle Sam"
+and "John Bull" will find in the book general appreciations of their
+several characteristics and not a few valuable suggestions.
+
+
+FICTION
+
+Crown 8vo, cloth. 6s. each
+
+=LADY ERMYNTRUDE AND THE PLUMBER.= By PERCY FENDALL. This is a tale
+fantastical and satirical, of the year 1920, its quaint humours arising
+out of the fact that a Radical-Socialist Government has passed an Act of
+Parliament requiring every man and woman to earn a living and to live on
+their earnings. There are many admirable strokes of wit dispersed
+throughout, not the least of these being the schedule of charges which the
+king is permitted to make, for he also, under the Work Act, is compelled
+to earn a living.
+
+=AN EXCELLENT MYSTERY.= By Countess RUSSELL. The scene opens in Ireland
+with a fascinating child, Will-o'-the-Wisp, and a doting father. A poor
+mother and a selfish elder sister drive her to a marriage which has no
+sound foundation. The husband turns out eccentric, unsympathetic, and even
+cowardly. Will-o'-the-Wisp has to face at a tender age and with no
+experience the most serious and difficult problems of sex, motherhood and
+marriage. Then with the help of friends, her own good sense and
+determination, and the sensible divorce law of Scotland, she escapes her
+troubles. This forms the conclusion of an artless but thrilling narrative.
+
+=A NIGHT IN THE LUXEMBOURG= (Une Nuit au Luxembourg). By REMY DE GOURMONT.
+Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. net. With preface and appendix by Arthur Ransome. M.
+Remy de Gourmont is, perhaps, the greatest of contemporary French writers.
+His books are translated into all languages but ours. "Une Nuit au
+Luxembourg" is the first of his works to appear in English, and will be
+followed by others. It will certainly arouse considerable discussion. It
+moves the reader with something more than a purely æsthetic emotion.
+
+=HUSBAND AND LOVER.= By WALTER RIDDALL. In this book is given a discerning
+study of a temperament. The author has taken an average artistic man and
+laid bare his feelings and impulses, his desires and innermost thoughts
+under the supreme influence of sex. Frankness is the key-note of the work;
+its truth will be recognised by everyone who faces the facts of his own
+nature and neither blushes nor apologises for them.
+
+=THE CONSIDINE LUCK.= By H. A. HINKSON. The Considine Luck is primarily a
+story of the Union of Hearts, an English girl's love affair with an
+Irishman, and the conflict of character between the self-made man who is
+the charming heroine's father and the Irish environment in which he finds
+himself. The writer can rollick with the best, and the Considine Luck is
+not without its rollicking element. But it is in the main a delicate and
+serious love story, with its setting in the green Irish country, among the
+poetical, unpractical people among whom Mr. Hinkson is so thoroughly at
+home.
+
+=A SUPER-MAN IN BEING.= By LITCHFIELD WOODS. Both in its subject-matter
+and craftsmanship this is an arresting piece of work. It is not, in the
+usual sense, a story of love and marriage. Rather, it is the biographical
+presentment of Professor Snaggs, who has lost his eyesight, but who is yet
+known to the outside world as a distinguished historian. The revelation of
+the Professor's home life is accomplished with a literary skill of the
+highest kind, showing him to be a combination of super-man and
+super-devil, not so much in the domain of action as in the domain of
+intellect. An extraordinary situation occurs--a problem in psychology
+intensely interesting to the reader, not so much on its emotional as on
+its intellectual side, and is solved by this super-man in the domain of
+intellect.
+
+=GREAT POSSESSIONS.= By Mrs. CAMPBELL. A story of modern Americans in
+America and England, this novel deals with the suffering bequeathed by the
+malice of a dead man to the woman he once loved. In imposing upon her son
+the temptations of leisure and great wealth he is a means of making him a
+prey to inherited weakness, and the train of events thus set in motion
+leads to an unexpected outcome. The author is equally familiar with life
+in either country, and the book is an earnest attempt to represent the
+enervating influences of a certain type of existence prevailing among the
+monied classes in New York to-day.
+
+=THE DARKSOME MAIDS OF BAGLEERE.= By WILLIAM KERSEY. A delightful novel of
+Somerset farming-life. Although a tragedy of the countryside, it is at the
+same time alive with racy country humour. The character drawing is clear
+and strong, and the theme is handled with the restraint of great tragedy.
+This book is of real literary value--in fact, it recalls to our minds the
+earlier works of Thomas Hardy.
+
+
+PLAYS
+
+=THE KING.= A Daring Tragedy. By STEPHEN PHILLIPS, Crown 8vo, cloth. 2s.
+6d. net. Don Carlos, heir to the throne of Spain, learns that Christina,
+a young lady of the Court, with whom he is secretly in love, is really his
+sister. The gloom of the tragedy is deepened by the discovery that
+Christina is about to be a mother. Brother and sister, who are at the same
+time husband and wife, die by the same dagger. The king, who has already
+abdicated in favour of his son, whom he desired to marry the Princess of
+Spain, resolves to put an end to his life also, but is persuaded by his
+minister that the task of living as king will be a greater punishment for
+all the misery he has created. The story is developed with skill,
+reticence, simplicity, in solemn harmonies and with tragic beauty.
+
+=SHAKESPEARE'S END AND TWO OTHER IRISH PLAYS.= By CONAL O'RIORDAN (Norreys
+Connell). Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net. Mr. O'Riordan, who is better known by
+his nom-de-guerre of "Norreys Connell," which has served him for twenty
+years, has brought together in this volume the three plays in which he has
+given expression to his view of the relation between England and Ireland.
+In a prefatory letter to Mr. Joseph Conrad he presents a synthesis of the
+trilogy, and explains why this, of his several books, is the first which
+he wishes to associate with his proper name.
+
+
+UNCLASSIFIED
+
+=OH, MY UNCLE!= By W. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE, author of "The Talking Master,"
+"D'Orsay," etc. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. Wit, fun, frolic, fairy tale,
+nonsense verses, satire, comedy, farce, criticism; a touch of each, an
+_olla podrida_ which cannot be classified. It certainly is not history,
+yet cannot fairly be put under the heading fiction; it is not realism, yet
+fairy-taleism does not fully describe it; it deals with well-known folk,
+yet it is not a "romance with a key"; it is not a love story, yet there is
+love in it; in short, again, it cannot be classified. It is a book for
+those who love laughter, yet it is not merely frivolous. It deals with the
+lights of life, with just a touch now and again of delicate shadow. One
+thing may safely be said--Miss Blue-Eyes and Uncle Daddy will make many
+friends.
+
+
+STEPHEN SWIFT & CO., LTD.
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] These dates are important in another aspect of the matter--the
+authorship of the plan. I will, therefore, return to them in more detail
+at the close of this section.
+
+[2] I pay no attention to the ridiculous suggestion that the delay was due
+to the contemporary peril in Poland, and to Thugut's anxiety to have
+Austrian troops in the east rather than on the western frontier. People
+who write modern history thus seem to forget that the electric telegraph
+did not exist in the eighteenth century. The more reasonable pretension
+that the Austrians hesitated between marching north to effect the plan
+against Souham, and marching east to relieve the pressure upon Kaunitz,
+who was hard pressed upon the Sambre, deserves consideration. But
+Kaunitz's despatch, telling how he had been forced to fall back, did not
+reach headquarters until the 12th, and if immediate orders had been given
+for the northern march, that march would have begun before the news of
+Kaunitz's reverse had arrived. The only reasonable explanation in this as
+in most problems in human history, is the psychological one. You have to
+explain the delay of George III.'s son, and Joseph II.'s nephew. To anyone
+not obsessed by the superstition of rank, the mere portraits of these
+eminent soldiers would be enough to explain it.
+
+[3] Fortescue, vol. iv., part i., p. 255.
+
+[4] After so many allusions to his youth, I may as well give the date of
+his birth. Frederick, Duke of York, the second son of King George III. of
+England, was not yet thirty when he suffered at Tourcoing, having been
+born in 1765. He had the misfortune to die in 1827.
+
+[5] The reader not indifferent to comedy will hear with pleasure that,
+among various accounts of Kinsky's communication with the Arch-Duke
+Charles at this juncture, one describes that Royalty as inaccessible after
+the fatigue of the day. His colleague is represented as asking in vain for
+an interview, and receiving from a servant the reply "that his Imperial
+Highness must not be disturbed, as he was occupied in having a fit."
+
+[6] At a point somewhat below Wervicq: much where the private ferry now
+plies.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
+
+Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tourcoing, by Hilaire Belloc
+
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tourcoing, by Hilaire Belloc.
+    </title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tourcoing, by Hilaire Belloc
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tourcoing
+
+Author: Hilaire Belloc
+
+Release Date: May 5, 2010 [EBook #32260]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOURCOING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
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+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>TOURCOING</h1>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p><a name="front" id="front"></a>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i004tmb.jpg" alt="" /><br />
+<a href="images/i004.jpg"><small>Larger Image</small></a></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>TOURCOING</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>BY</h3>
+<h2>HILAIRE BELLOC</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i005.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>MCMXII<br />
+STEPHEN SWIFT AND CO., LTD.<br />
+16 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN<br />
+LONDON</h4>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="contents">
+<tr><td><span class="smcaplc">PART</span></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span></td><td align="right"><span class="smcaplc">PAGE</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#PART_I">I.</a></td><td>THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#PART_II">II.</a></td><td>THE GENERAL MILITARY SITUATION</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#PART_III">III.</a></td><td>THE PLAN OF THE ALLIES</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#PART_IV">IV.</a></td><td>THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE BATTLE</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#PART_V">V.</a></td><td>THE TERRAIN</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#PART_VI">VI.</a></td><td>THE ACTION</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr></table>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+<h1>TOURCOING</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I</h2>
+<h3>THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE</h3>
+
+<p>The Battle of Tourcoing is one of those actions upon which European
+history in general is somewhat confused, and English history, in
+particular, ignorant.</p>
+
+<p>That British troops formed part of those who suffered defeat, and that a
+British commander, the Duke of York, was the chief figure in the reverse,
+affords no explanation; for the almost exactly parallel case of
+Fontenoy&mdash;in which another royal duke, also the son of the reigning King
+of England, also very young, also an excellent general officer, and also
+in command was defeated&mdash;is among the most familiar of actions in this
+country. In both battles the posture of the British troops earned them as
+great and as deserved a fame as they had acquired<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> in victory; in both was
+work done by the Guards in particular, which called forth the admiration
+of the enemy. Yet Tourcoing remains unknown to the English general reader
+of history, while Fontenoy is one of the few stock names of battles which
+he can at once recall.</p>
+
+<p>The reason that British historians neglect this action is not, then, as
+foreign and rival historians are too inclined to pretend, due to the fact
+that among the forces that suffered disaster were present certain British
+contingents.</p>
+
+<p>Again, as will be seen in the sequel, the overwhelming of the Duke of
+York&#8217;s forces at Tourcoing, by numbers so enormously superior to his own,
+was not due to any tactical fault of his, though it is possible that the
+faulty plan of the whole action may in some measure be ascribed to him.</p>
+
+<p>Now Tourcoing is a battle which Englishmen should know, both for its
+importance in the military history of Europe, and for the not unworthy
+demeanour which the British troops, though defeated, maintained upon its
+field.</p>
+
+<p>The true reason that Tourcoing is so little known in this country is to be
+discovered in that other historical fact attaching to the battle, which I
+have mentioned. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> occupied but a confused and an uncertain place in the
+general history of Europe; though perhaps, were its military significance
+fully understood, it would stand out in sharper relief. For though the
+Battle of Tourcoing was not the beginning of any great military series,
+nor the end of one; though no very striking immediate political
+consequence followed upon it, yet it was Tourcoing which made Fleurus
+possible, and it was Fleurus that opened the victorious advancing march of
+the French which, looked at as a whole, proceeded triumphantly
+thenceforward for nearly eighteen years and achieved the transformation of
+European society.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, was the political circumstance under which this action was
+fought?</p>
+
+<p>The French Revolution, by the novelty of its doctrines, by the fierceness
+and rapidity of its action, and by that military character in it which was
+instinctively divined upon the part of its opponents, challenged, shortly
+after its inception, the armed interference of those ancient traditional
+governments, external to and neighbouring upon French territory, which
+felt themselves threatened by the rapid advance of democracy.</p>
+
+<p>With the steps that led from the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> peril of conflict to its actual
+outbreak, we are not concerned. That outbreak took place in April 1792,
+almost exactly three years after the meeting of the first Revolutionary
+Parliament in Versailles.</p>
+
+<p>The first stages of the war (which was conducted by Austria and Prussia
+upon the one side, against the French forces upon the other) were
+singularly slow. No general action was engaged in until the month of
+September, and even then the struggle between the rival armies took the
+form not so much of a pitched battle as of an inconclusive cannonade known
+to history as that of <span class="smcap">Valmy</span>. This inconclusive cannonade took place in the
+heart of French territory during the march of the invaders upon Paris.
+Disease, and the accident of weather, determined the retreat of the
+invaders immediately afterwards. In the autumn of the year, the French
+forces largely recruited by enthusiastic volunteer levies, but of low
+military value, poured over the country then called the Austrian
+Netherlands and now Belgium. But their success was shortlived. A mere
+efflux of numbers could not hold against the trained and increasing
+resistance of the Imperial soldiers. In the spring of 1793 the retreat
+began, and through the summer of that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> year the military position of
+Revolutionary France grew graver and graver. Internal rebellions of the
+most serious character broke out over the whole territory of the Republic.
+In Normandy, in the great town of Lyons, in Marseilles, and particularly
+in the Western districts surrounding the mouth of the Loire, these
+rebellions had each in turn their moment of success, while the great naval
+station of Toulon opened its port to the enemy, and received the combined
+English and Spanish Fleets.</p>
+
+<p>Coincidently with the enormous task of suppressing this widespread
+domestic rebellion, the Revolutionary Government was compelled to meet the
+now fully organised advance of its foreign enemies. It was at war no
+longer with Austria and Prussia alone, but with England, with Holland,
+with Spain as well, and the foreign powers not only thrust back the
+incursion which the French had made beyond their frontiers, but proceeded
+to attack and to capture, one after the other, that barrier of fortresses
+in the north-east which guarded the advance on Paris.</p>
+
+<p>The succession of misfortune after misfortune befalling the French arms
+was checked, and the tide turned by the victory won at Wattignies in
+October 1793. After<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> that victory the immediate peril of a successful
+invasion, coupled with the capture of Paris, was dissipated. But it was
+yet uncertain for many months which way the tide would turn&mdash;whether the
+conflict would end in a sort of stale-mate by which the French should
+indeed be left independent for the moment, but the armed governments of
+Europe their enemies also left powerful to attack and in the end to ruin
+them; or whether (as was actually the case) the French should ultimately
+be able to take the offensive, to re-cross their frontiers, and to dictate
+to their foes a triumphant peace.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, the great action from which history must date the long
+series of French triumphs, bears the name of Fleurus; but before Fleurus
+there came that considerable success which made Fleurus possible, to which
+history gives the name of <span class="smcap">Tourcoing</span> (from the town standing in the midst
+of the very large and uncertain area over which the struggle was
+maintained), and which provides the subject of these pages.</p>
+
+<p>Fleurus was decided in June 1794. It was not a battle in which British
+troops were concerned, and therefore can form no part of this series.
+Tourcoing was decided in the preceding May, and though,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> I repeat, it
+cannot be made the fixed and striking starting-point from which to date
+the long years of the French advantages, yet it was, as it were, the seed
+of those advantages, and it was Tourcoing, in its incomplete and
+complicated success, which made possible all that was to follow.</p>
+
+<p>Tourcoing, then, must be regarded as an unexpected, not wholly conclusive,
+but none the less fundamental phase in the development of political forces
+which led to the establishment of the modern world. Its immediate result,
+though not decisive, was appreciable. To use a metaphor, it was felt in
+Paris, and to a less extent in London, Berlin, and in Vienna, that the
+door against which the French were desperately pushing, though not fully
+open, was thrust ajar. The defeat of a portion of the allied forces in
+this general action, the inefficacy of the rest, the heartening which it
+put into the French defence, and the moral effect of such trophies gained,
+and such a rout inflicted, were of capital import to the whole story of
+the war.</p>
+
+<p>This is the political aspect in which we must regard the Battle of
+Tourcoing, but its chief interest by far lies in its purely military
+aspect; in the indiscretion which so nearly led the French forces to
+annihilation;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> in the plan which was laid to surround and to destroy those
+forces by the convergence of the English, Prussian, and Austrian columns;
+in the way in which that plan came to nothing, and resulted only in a
+crushing disaster to one advanced portion of the forces so converging.</p>
+
+<p>Tourcoing is rather a battle for military than for civilian historians,
+but those who find recreation in military problems upon their own account,
+apart from their political connection, will always discover the accidents
+of this engagement, its unexpected developments, and its final issue to be
+of surpassing interest.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II</h2>
+<h3>THE GENERAL MILITARY SITUATION</h3>
+
+<p>In order to understand what happened at the Battle of Tourcoing, it is
+first necessary to have in mind the general situation of the forces which
+opposed each other round and about what is now the Franco-Belgian
+frontier, in the spring of 1794.</p>
+
+<p>These forces were, of course, those of the French Republic upon the one
+hand, upon the other the coalition with its varied troops furnished by
+Austria, by Prussia, by England, and some few by sundry of the small
+States which formed part of the general alliance for the destruction of
+the new democracy.</p>
+
+<p>The whole campaign of 1794 stands apart from that of 1793. The intervening
+winter was a period during which, if we disregard a number of small
+actions in which the French took the offensive, nothing of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> moment was
+done upon either side, and we must begin our study with the preparations,
+originating in the month of February, for the active efforts which it was
+proposed to attempt when the spring should break.</p>
+
+<p>In that month of February, Mack, recently promoted to the rank of
+Major-General in the Austrian army, met the Duke of York, the young
+soldier son of George III., in London, to concert the common plan. It was
+upon the 12th of that month that this meeting took place. Mack brought the
+news to the British Cabinet that the Emperor of Austria, his master, was
+prepared to act as Commander-in-Chief of the allied army in the coming
+campaign, proposed a general plan of advancing from the Belgian frontier
+upon Paris after the capture of the frontier fortresses, and negotiated
+for the largest possible British contingent.</p>
+
+<p>Coburg, it was arranged, should be the General in practical command (under
+the nominal headship of the Emperor). Prussian troops, in excess of the
+twenty thousand which Prussia owed as a member of the Empire, were
+obtained upon the promise of a large subsidy from England and Holland, and
+with the month of April some 120,000 men were holding the line from Treves
+to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> the sea. This passed through and occupied Dinant, Bavai, Valenciennes,
+St Amand, Denain, Tournai, Ypres, and Nieuport. To this number must be
+added men in the garrisons, perhaps some 40,000 more. Of this long line
+the strength lay in the centre.</p>
+
+<p>The central army, under the general command of Coburg, who had his
+headquarters at Valenciennes, was, if we exclude men in garrisons,
+somewhat over 65,000 in strength, or more than half the whole strength of
+the long line. With Coburg in the central army was the Duke of York with
+some 22,000, and the Prince of Orange with a rather smaller contingent of
+Dutch.</p>
+
+<p>Over against this long line with its heavy central &#8220;knot&#8221; or bulk of men
+under Coburg, in the neighbourhood of Valenciennes, the genius of Carnot
+had mustered over 200,000 French troops, which, when we have deducted
+various items for garrisons and other services, counted as effective more
+than 150,000 but less than 160,000 men. This French line extended from the
+sea to Maubeuge, passing through Dunquerque, Cassel, Lille, Cambrai, and
+Bouchain.</p>
+
+<p>It was as a fact a little before the opening of April that the French
+began the campaign by taking the offensive on a large scale upon the
+29th of March.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i020tmb.jpg" alt="" /><br />
+<a href="images/i020.jpg"><small>Larger Image</small></a></div>
+<p class="center">Sketch Map showing the opposing French and Allied lines. April 1794</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>Pichegru, who was in command of that frontier army, attacked, with 30,000
+men, the positions of the allies near Le Cateau, well to the right or
+south-east of their centre and his, and was beaten back.</p>
+
+<p>It was upon the 14th of April that the Emperor of Austria joined Coburg at
+Valenciennes, held a review of his troops (including the British
+contingent, which will be given later in detail), fixed his headquarters
+in the French town of Le Cateau, and at once proceeded to the first
+operation of the campaign, which was the siege of the stronghold of
+Landrecies. The Dutch contingent of the allies drove in the French
+outposts and carried the main French position in front of the town within
+that week. By the 22nd of April the garrison of Landrecies was contained,
+the beleaguering troops had encircled it, and the siege was begun.</p>
+
+<p>After certain actions (most of them partial, and one of peculiar
+brilliance in the history of the British cavalry), actions each of
+interest, and some upon a considerable scale, but serving only to confuse
+the reader if they were here detailed, Landrecies fell after eight days&#8217;
+siege, upon the 30th of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> April. An advance of the Austrian centre, after
+this success, was naturally expected by the French.</p>
+
+<p>That normal development of the campaign did not take place on account of a
+curious episode in the strategy of this moment to which I beg the reader
+to give a peculiar attention. It is necessary to grasp exactly the nature
+of that episode, for it determined all that was to follow.</p>
+
+<p>While the fate of Landrecies still hung in the balance, and before the
+surrender of the town, Pichegru had, in another part of the long line,
+scored one of those successes which in any game or struggle are worse than
+losing a trick or suffering a defeat. It was one of those successes in
+which one gets the better of one&#8217;s opponent in one chance part of the
+general contest, but so triumphs without a set plan, with no calculation
+upon what should follow upon the achievement, and therefore with every
+prospect of finding oneself in a worse posture after it than before.</p>
+
+<p>To take an analogy from chess: Pichegru&#8217;s error, which I will presently
+describe, might be compared to the action of a player who, taking a castle
+of his opponent&#8217;s with his queen, thereby leaves his king unguarded and
+open to check-mate.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>Wherever men are opposed one to the other in lines, each line having the
+mission to advance against the other, it is a fatal move to get what
+footballers call &#8220;&#8217;fore side&#8221;: to let a portion of your forces advance too
+far from the general line held by the whole, and to have the advanced part
+of that portion thus isolated from the support of its fellows. Such a
+formation invites a concentration of your opponents against the isolated
+body, and may lead to its destruction.</p>
+
+<p>It was precisely in this position that Pichegru placed a portion of his
+forces by the ill-advised advance he made down the valley of the Lys to
+Courtrai.</p>
+
+<p>Taking advantage of the way in which the main forces of the allies were
+tied to the siege of Landrecies, the French commander wisely moved forward
+the whole of his forces to the north and west, pushing the enemy back
+before him to the line Ypres-Menin, and besieging Menin itself. But most
+unwisely he not only permitted to advance, but himself directed and led, a
+body of 30,000 men (the command of General Souham) far forward of this
+general movement: he actually carried it on as far as the town of
+Courtrai.</p>
+
+<p>The accompanying sketch map shows how much too far advanced this wedge
+of men (so large a contingent to imperil by isolation!) was beyond the
+general line, and, to repeat the phrase I have just used, a metaphor which
+best expresses my meaning, Souham and his division, by Pichegru&#8217;s direct
+orders, had got &#8220;&#8217;fore side.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i024.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>The only excuse that can be pleaded for Pichegru&#8217;s folly in this matter,
+was the temptation presented by the weak garrison of Courtrai, and the
+bait which a facile temporary success always holds out for a man who has
+formed no consistent general plan. But that very excuse is the strongest
+condemnation of the inexcusable error, and this strategical fault of
+Pichegru&#8217;s was soon paid for by the imperilling of all the great body of
+French troops within that rashly projected triangle.</p>
+
+<p>For the moment Pichegru may have foolishly congratulated himself that he
+had done something of military value, as he had certainly done something
+striking. Menin fell to the French on the same day that Landrecies did to
+the Austrians, and this further success doubtless tempted him to remain
+with the head of his wedge at Courtrai, when every consideration of
+strategy should have prompted him to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> retrace his steps and to recall the
+over-advanced division back into line.</p>
+
+<p>This isolated position down the valley of the Lys, this wedge thrust out
+in front of Lille, positively asked the allies to attack it.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy was a fortnight developing his plan, but his delay was equalled
+by Pichegru&#8217;s determination to hold the advanced post he had captured; and
+when the allies did finally close in upon that advanced post, nothing but
+a series of accidents, which we shall follow in detail when we come to the
+story of the action, saved Souham from annihilation. And the destruction
+of Souham&#8217;s division, considering its numbers and its central position,
+might have involved the whole French line in a general defeat.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, it was at the end of April that this false success of
+Pichegru&#8217;s was achieved, and a whole fortnight was to elapse before the
+allies concentrated to take advantage of that error, and to cut off
+Souham&#8217;s division.</p>
+
+<p>That fortnight was full of minor actions, not a few of them interesting to
+the student of military history, and one again remarkable as a feat of
+English horse. I deliberately omit all mention of these lest I should
+confuse the reader and disturb<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> his conception of the great battle that
+was to follow.</p>
+
+<p>That battle proceeded upon a certain plan thought out in detail, perfectly
+simple in character, and united in conception. It failed, as we shall see;
+and by its failure turned what should have been the cutting-off and
+destruction of Souham&#8217;s command into a signal French victory. But before
+we can understand the causes of its failure, we must grasp the plan itself
+in its major lines, and with that object I shall discuss it in my next
+section under the title of &#8220;The Plan of the Allies.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="PART_III" id="PART_III"></a>PART III</h2>
+<h3>THE PLAN OF THE ALLIES</h3>
+
+<p>If the reader will look at the map opposite he will see in what
+disposition the armies of the allies were, at the end of April and the
+first days of May 1794, to carry into effect the plan which I proceed to
+describe.</p>
+
+<p>There, in its triangle or advanced wedge, with a base stretching across
+Lille and an apex at Courtrai, lay the exposed French division, Souham&#8217;s.</p>
+
+<p>Clerfayt was to the north of that wedge. The French, in pushing their
+wedge up to Courtrai, had thus separated him from the rest of the allies.
+Clerfayt lay with his command round about the district of Roulers; he
+attempted to return and oust Souham, but he failed, and to the north of
+the French wedge, and separated from the rest of the allies by its
+intervening thousands, he remained up to, throughout, and after the great
+battle that was to follow.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i029tmb.jpg" alt="" /><br />
+<a href="images/i029.jpg"><small>Larger Image</small></a></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>Right away down south, nearly sixty miles as the crow flies, lay the bulk
+of the Austrian army, Coburg&#8217;s command, round the town which it had just
+captured, Landrecies. The Duke of York&#8217;s command, detached from this main
+army of Coburg, had been ordered north, and was, by May 3rd, at Tournai.
+To the east lay the Prussian forces together with a small body of
+Hanoverians, about 4000 in number, which last could be brought up on to
+the Scheldt River when necessary.</p>
+
+<p>It will thus be seen that the allies, at the moment when the plan was
+about to be formulated, lay on either side of the French wedge, and that
+any scheme for cutting off that wedge from the main French line must
+consist in causing a great force of the allies to appear rapidly and
+unexpectedly between Courtrai and Lille.</p>
+
+<p>In order to do this, it was necessary to get Clerfayt to march down south
+to some point where he could cross the River Lys, while the rest of the
+allies were marching north from their southern positions to join hands
+with him.</p>
+
+<p>When this larger mass of the allies coming up from the south and the east
+should have joined hands with Clerfayt, all the great French body lying
+advanced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> in the valley of the Lys round Menin and Courtrai would be cut
+off.</p>
+
+<p>Now the success of such a plan obviously depended upon two factors:
+synchrony and surprise. That is, its success depended upon the accurate
+keeping of a time-table, and upon carrying it out too quickly and
+unexpectedly for Souham to fall back in time.</p>
+
+<p>Clerfayt&#8217;s force coming down from the north, all the rest of the allies
+coming up from the east and the south must march with the common object of
+reaching &#8220;R,&#8221; a fixed rendezvous, agreed upon beforehand, and of meeting
+there together at some appointed time. If any considerable body lagged
+behind the rest, if part of the great force marching up from the south,
+for instance, failed to keep in line with the general advance, or if
+Clerfayt bungled or delayed, the junction would be imperfect or might even
+not take place at all, and the number of men present to cut off the French
+when a partial and imperfect junction had been effected, might be too
+small to maintain itself astraddle of the French communications, and to
+prevent the great French force from breaking its way through back to
+Lille.</p>
+
+<p>So much for synchrony: and as for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> surprise, it is obvious that for the
+success of this plan it was necessary to work both rapidly and secretly.</p>
+
+<p>Here was Souham with a body of men which recent reinforcement had raised
+to some 40,000, lying much too far ahead of the general French line and in
+peril of being cut off. Pichegru was foolish to maintain him in that
+advanced position, but, though that was an error, it was an error based
+upon a certain amount of calculation. Pichegru, and Souham under his
+orders, kept to their perilous position round Courtrai, because it did
+after all cut the allies in two, and because they knew that they could
+deal with Clerfayt&#8217;s force upon the north (which was only half their own),
+while they also knew that the bulk of their enemies were tied down, far
+away to the south, by the operations round Landrecies.</p>
+
+<p>If Souham at Courtrai got news in time of the march northward of that main
+southern force, he had only to fall back upon Lille to be saved.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until the 10th of May that the plan was elaborated whereby it
+was hoped to annihilate Souham&#8217;s command, and this plan seems to have
+occurred first to the Duke of York upon the evening of that day,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> after a
+successful minor action between his troops and the French just outside
+Tournai.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of York had been at Tournai a week, having come up there from
+Landrecies after the fall of that fortress, though the mass of the
+Austrian forces still remained away in the south. The week had been spent
+in &#8220;feeling&#8221; the south-eastern front of the French advanced &#8220;wedge,&#8221; and
+it was by the evening of the 10th that the Duke of York appears to have
+decided that the time was ripe for a general movement.</p>
+
+<p>At any rate, it was upon the morrow, the 11th, that the English Prince
+sent word to Clerfayt that he intended to submit to the Emperor, who was
+the ultimate authority upon the side of the allies, a plan for the general
+and decisive action he desired to bring about. On the next day, the 12th,
+a Monday, the Duke of York wrote to Clerfayt that he hoped, &#8220;on the day
+after the morrow&#8221; (that is, upon the Wednesday, the 14th), &#8220;to take a
+decisive movement against the enemy.&#8221; And we may presume that the Duke had
+communicated to the Emperor the nature of his plan. For on the 13th, the
+Tuesday, the Emperor was in possession of it, and his orders, sent out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+upon that day, set out the plan in detail.<small><a name="f1.1" id="f1.1" href="#f1">[1]</a></small> That plan was as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Clerfayt, with his force, which was rather less than 20,000 all told, was
+to march south from Thielt, his headquarters for the moment, and advance
+upon the little town of Wervicq upon the River Lys. Here there was a
+bridge, and Clerfayt was also in possession of pontoons wherewith to pass
+the stream. Meanwhile, the southern mass of the allies was to concentrate
+upon the Scheldt in the following manner:</p>
+
+<p>The few thousand Hanoverians, under Bussche, were to take up their
+position at Warcoing, just upon and across that river. Two miles further
+south, Otto, with a larger Austrian force accompanied by certain English
+cavalry (the numbers will follow), was to concentrate at Bailleul.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of York&#8217;s own large force, which had been at Tournai for over a
+week, was to go forward a little and concentrate at Templeuve. Five miles
+to the south of Templeuve, at Froidmont, a column, somewhat larger than
+the Duke of York&#8217;s, under Kinsky, was to concentrate.</p>
+
+<p>There were thus to be concentrated upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> the south of the French wedge
+four separate bodies under orders to advance northward together.</p>
+
+<p>The first, under Bussche, was only about 4000 strong, the Hanoverians and
+Prussians; the second, under Otto, from about 10,000 strong; the third,
+under the Duke of York, of much the same strength, or a little less; and
+the fourth, under Kinsky, some 11,000.</p>
+
+<p>These four numbered nearly, or quite, 35,000 men, less than the &#8220;nearly
+40,000&#8221; at which certain French historians have estimated their strength.</p>
+
+<p>To these four columns (which I will beg the reader to remember by their
+numbers of first, second, third, and fourth, as well as by the names of
+their commanders, Bussche, Otto, York, and Kinsky) a fifth must be added,
+the appreciation of whose movements and failure is the whole explanation
+of the coming battle.</p>
+
+<p>The fifth column was a body of no less than 16,000 men coming from the
+main Austrian body far south, and ordered to be at St Amand upon the
+Scheldt somewhat before the concentration of the other four columns, and
+to advance from St Amand to Pont-&agrave;-Marcq. Upon reaching Pont-&agrave;-Marcq this
+fifth column would be in line with the other four at Warcoing, Bailleul,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+Templeuve, and Froidmont, and ready to take its part in the great forward
+movement towards the north.</p>
+
+<p>In order to appreciate the way in which the issue was bound to depend upon
+this fifth column, I must now detail the orders given to all six, the five
+columns in the valley of the Scheldt, and the sixth body, under Clerfayt,
+north of the Lys; for it is these orders which constitute the soul of the
+plan.</p>
+
+<p>Bussche, with his small body of 4000 Hanoverians, the first column, had
+the task of &#8220;holding&#8221; the apex of the French wedge when the attack should
+begin. That is, it was his task to do no more with his inferior forces
+than send one portion up the road towards Courtrai, so that the advanced
+French troops there should be engaged while another part of his small
+command should attack the little town of Mouscron, which the French held,
+of course, for it was within their wedge of occupation. It was obviously
+not hoped that this little body could do more than keep the French
+occupied, prevent their falling back towards Lille, and perhaps make them
+believe that the main attack was coming from Bussche&#8217;s men.</p>
+
+<p>The second column, under Otto, was to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> advance upon Tourcoing, in those
+days a little town, now a great manufacturing city.</p>
+
+<p>The third column, that under the Duke of York, was to march side by side
+with Otto&#8217;s column, and to make for Mouveaux, a village upon a level with
+Tourcoing upon this line of advance, and to be reached by marching through
+Roubaix (now also a great manufacturing town, but then a small place).</p>
+
+<p>None of these advances, Bussche&#8217;s, Otto&#8217;s, or York&#8217;s, was of any
+considerable length. The longest march through which any of these three
+columns had to fight its way was that of the Duke of York from Templeuve
+to Mouveaux, and even this was not eight miles.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth column, under Kinsky, had a harder task and a longer march. It
+was to carry Bouvines, which was in the hands of the French and nearly
+seven miles from Froidmont (Kinsky&#8217;s point of departure), and when it had
+done this it was to turn to the north with one part of its force in order
+to shelter the march of the Duke of York from attacks by the French troops
+near Lille, while another part of its force was to join with the fifth
+column and march up with it until both came upon a level<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> with York and
+Otto in the neighbourhood of Tourcoing and Mouveaux.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was to this fifth column, the 16,000 men or more under the
+Arch-Duke Charles, that the great work of the day was assigned. From
+Pont-&agrave;-Marcq they must attack a great French body quite equal to their own
+in numbers, even when part of Kinsky&#8217;s force had joined them, which French
+force lay in the camp at Sainghin. They must thrust this force back
+towards Lille, pour up northward, and arrive in support of Otto and York
+by the time these two commanders were respectively at Tourcoing and
+Mouveaux.</p>
+
+<p>In other words, the fifth column, that of the Arch-Duke Charles, was asked
+to make an advance of nearly fourteen miles, involving heavy fighting in
+its first part, and yet to synchronise with columns who had to advance no
+more than five miles or seven.</p>
+
+<p>Supposing all went well, Clerfayt&mdash;crossing the Lys at Wervicq at the same
+hour which saw the departure of the five southern columns from Warcoing,
+Bailleul, Templeuve, Froidmont, and Pont-&agrave;-Marcq respectively, was to
+advance southward from the river towards Mouveaux and Tourcoing, a
+distance of some seven miles, while the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> others were advancing on the same
+points from the south.</p>
+
+<p>If the time-table were accurately kept and this great combined movement
+all fitted in, Clerfayt would join hands with the second, third, fourth,
+and fifth columns somewhere in the neighbourhood of Tourcoing and
+Mouveaux, a great force of over 60,000 men would lie between the French
+troops at Lille and Souham&#8217;s 40,000 in the &#8220;advanced wedge,&#8221; and those
+40,000 thus isolated were, in a military sense, destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>Such being the mechanism or map of the scheme, we must next inquire the
+exact dates and hours upon which the working of the whole was planned.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of York, as we have seen when he was arranging the business and
+writing to Clerfayt and the Emperor, had talked of moving upon the 14th,
+by which presumably he meant organising the attack on the 14th, and
+setting the first columns in motion from their places of rendezvous in the
+early hours of that day, Wednesday, before dawn.</p>
+
+<p>If that was in his mind, it shows him to have been a prompt and energetic
+man, and to have had a full appreciation of the place which surprise
+occupied in the chances of success. If, indeed, the Emperor got the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> Duke
+of York&#8217;s message in time on the 12th, if he had at once accepted the
+plan, and had with Napoleonic rapidity ordered the bulk of his forces
+(which were still right away south and east) to move, he might have had
+them by forced marches upon and across the Scheldt, and ready to execute
+the plan by the 14th, or at any rate by the morning of the 15th.</p>
+
+<p>But from what we know of the family to which the Duke of York belonged, it
+is exceedingly improbable that this younger son of George III. had, on
+this one occasion only, any lightning in his brain; and even if he did
+appreciate more or less the importance of rapid action, the Emperor did
+not appreciate it. He committed the two contradictory faults of delaying
+the movement and of asking too much marching of his men, and it was not
+until the morning of the Wednesday, May the 14th, that the bulk of the
+Austrian army, which still lay in the Valenciennes and Landrecies
+district, broke up for its northward march, to arrive at the rendezvous
+beyond the Scheldt, and to carry out the plan.<small><a name="f2.1" id="f2.1" href="#f2">[2]</a></small></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>It was not until Thursday the 15th of May that the Emperor joined the Duke
+of York at Tournai, and very late upon the same day the Arch-Duke Charles
+had brought up the main body of the Austrian forces from the south to the
+town of St Amand.</p>
+
+<p>We shall see later what a grievous error it was to demand so violent an
+effort from the men of the Arch-Duke Charles&#8217; command. From Landrecies
+itself to St Amand is 30 miles as the crow flies; and though, of course,
+the mass of the troops which the Arch-Duke Charles had been thus commanded
+to bring up northward in such haste were most of them well on the right
+side of Landrecies when the order to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> advance reached them, yet the
+average march undertaken by his men in little more than twenty-four hours
+was a full twenty miles, and some of his units must have covered nearer
+thirty. I will not delay further on this point here; its full importance
+will appear when we come to talk of the action itself.</p>
+
+<p>The Arch-Duke Charles being only as far as St Amand on the evening of
+Thursday the 15th, and his rendezvous, that of the fifth column in the
+great plan, being Pont-&agrave;-Marcq, a further good sixteen miles
+north-westward, it was evident that the inception of that plan and the
+simultaneous advance of all the five columns from their five
+starting-points of Warcoing, Bailleul, Templeuve, Froidmont, and
+Pont-&agrave;-Marcq, could not begin even upon the 16th. It would take the best
+part of a day to bring the Arch-Duke Charles up to Pont-&agrave;-Marcq; his men
+were in imperative need of rest during a full night at St Amand, and it is
+probable, though I have no proof of it, that he had not even fully
+concentrated there by the evening of the 15th, and that his last units
+only joined him during the forenoon of the 16th.</p>
+
+<p>The whole of that day, therefore, the 16th, was consumed so far as the
+first, second,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> third, and fourth columns were concerned, in merely
+gathering and marshalling their forces, and occupying, before nightfall,
+the points from which they were to depart simultaneously in the combined
+advance of the morrow. They <i>had</i> to wait thus for the dawn of the 17th,
+because they had to allow time for the fifth column to come up.</p>
+
+<p>The time-table imposed upon the great plan by these delays is now
+apparent. The moment when all the strings of the net were to be pulled
+together round Souham was the space between midnight and dawn of Saturday
+the 17th of May. And the hour when all the six bodies of the allies were
+to join hands at &#8220;R&#8221; near Tourcoing was the noon of that day.</p>
+
+<p>Before day broke upon the 17th, Clerfayt was to find himself at Wervicq
+upon the River Lys and across that stream, while of the five southern
+columns the Arch-Duke Charles was to be attacking the French troops just
+in front of Pont-&agrave;-Marcq with the fifth column at the same moment; Kinsky,
+with the fourth, was to be well on the way from Froidmont to Bouvines
+where he was to attack the French also and cross the bridge; the Duke of
+York, with the third, was to be well on the way from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> Templeuve to Lannoy;
+Otto, with the second, was to be equally advanced upon his line, somewhere
+by Wattrelos in his march upon Tourcoing; while Bussche, with his small
+first column, on the extreme north, was to be getting into contact with
+the French posts south of Courtrai, which it was his duty to &#8220;hold,&#8221;
+impressing upon Souham the idea that a main attack might develop in that
+quarter, and so deluding the French into maintaining their perilously
+advanced stations until they were cut off from Lille by the rest of the
+allies.</p>
+
+<p>The morning would be filled by the advance of Clerfayt from Wervicq
+southward upon Mouveaux and Tourcoing, while the corresponding fighting
+advance northward upon Mouveaux and Tourcoing also, of Otto, York, Kinsky,
+and the Arch-Duke Charles, should result somewhere about noon in their
+joining hands with Clerfayt and forming one great body: a body cutting off
+Courtrai from Lille, and the 40,000 under Souham from their fellows in the
+main French line.</p>
+
+<p>With such a time-table properly observed, the plan should have succeeded,
+and between the noon and the evening of that Saturday, the great force
+which Souham<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> commanded should have been at the mercy of the allies.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<p>Such was the plan and such the time-table upon which it was schemed. Its
+success depended, of course, as I have said, upon an exact keeping of that
+time-table, and also upon the net being drawn round Souham before he had
+guessed what was happening. The second of these conditions, we shall see
+when we come to speak of &#8220;The Preliminaries of the Action,&#8221; was
+successfully accomplished. The first was not; and its failure is the story
+of the defeat suffered by the Duke of York in particular, and the
+consequent break-down of the whole strategical conception of the allies.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<p>But before dealing with this it is necessary to establish a disputed
+point.</p>
+
+<p>I have spoken throughout of the plan as the Duke of York&#8217;s. Because it
+failed, and because the Duke of York was an English prince, historians in
+this country have not only rejected this conclusion, but, as a rule, have
+not even mentioned it. The plan has been represented as Mack&#8217;s plan, as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+typical example of Austrian pedantry and folly, the Duke of York as the
+victim of foolish foreigners who did not know their business, and it has
+even been hinted that the Austrians desired defeat! With the latter
+extravagant and even comic suggestion I will deal later in this study; for
+the moment I am only concerned with the responsibility of the Duke of
+York.</p>
+
+<p>It must, in the first place, be clearly understood that the failure of the
+plan does not reflect upon the judgment of that commander. It failed
+because Clerfayt was not up to time, and because too much had been asked
+of the fifth column. The Duke came of a family not famous for genius; he
+was exceedingly young, and whatever part he may have had in the framing of
+this large conception ought surely to stand to his credit.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that Mack, the Austrian General, drafted details of the plan
+immediately before it was carried into execution, and our principal
+military historian in this country tells us how &#8220;on the 16th, Mack
+prepared an elaborate plan which he designed.&#8221;<small><a name="f3.1" id="f3.1" href="#f3">[3]</a></small></p>
+
+<p>Well, the 16th was the Friday.</p>
+
+<p>Now we know that on the 11th of May,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> the Sunday, the Emperor and his
+staff had no intention of making a combined attack to cut off Souham from
+Lille, for orders were given to Clerfayt on that day to engage Souham
+along the valley of the Lys for the purpose of holding the attention of
+the French, and in the hope of recovering Menin&mdash;the exact opposite of
+what would have been ordered if a secret and unexpected attempt to cut off
+Souham by crossing further up the river had been intended. It was at the
+same moment that the Duke of York was sending word to Clerfayt on his own
+account, to the effect that he intended to submit a plan to the Emperor,
+and it is worth noting that in the very order which was sent to Clerfayt
+by the Emperor he was told to refer to the Duke of York as to his future
+movements.</p>
+
+<p>The archives of the Ministry of War at Vienna have it on record that the
+Duke of York made a definite statement of a plan to Clerfayt, which plan
+he intended to submit to the Emperor immediately, and a letter dated upon
+the Monday, the 12th&mdash;four days before there is any talk of Mack&#8217;s
+arranging details,&mdash;York writes to Clerfayt telling him that he hopes to
+make his decisive movement against the enemy on the Wednesday, the 14th.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>On the 13th, Tuesday, the orders of the Emperor to both Clerfayt and the
+Duke of York (which are also on record) set down this plan in detail,
+mentioning the point Wervicq at which Clerfayt was expected to cross the
+river Lys, and at the same time directing the Duke of York to march
+northward with the object of joining Clerfayt, and thus cutting off the
+French forces massed round Courtrai from their base. Further, in this same
+despatch, the initiative is particularly left to the Duke of York, and it
+is once more from him that Clerfayt is to await decisions as to the moment
+and details of the operation.</p>
+
+<p>The same archives record the Duke of York sending Lieut.-Colonel Calvert
+to Clerfayt upon the 14th, to tell him that he meant to attack upon the
+morrow, the 15th, and they further inform us that it was on the English
+Prince&#8217;s learning how scattered were Clerfayt&#8217;s units, and how long it
+would therefore take him to concentrate, that action was delayed by some
+thirty-six hours.</p>
+
+<p>Evidence of this sort is absolutely conclusive. The plan was not Mack&#8217;s;
+it was York&#8217;s.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="PART_IV" id="PART_IV"></a>PART IV</h2>
+<h3>THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE BATTLE</h3>
+
+<p>Tourcoing is an action the preliminaries of which are easy to describe,
+and need occupy little of our space, because it was a battle in which the
+plan of one side was developed and prosecuted almost to its conclusion
+without a corresponding plan upon the other side.</p>
+
+<p>As a rule, the preliminaries of a battle consist in the dispositions taken
+by each side for hours or for days&mdash;sometimes for weeks&mdash;beforehand, in
+order to be in a posture to receive or to attack the other side. These
+preliminaries include man&oelig;uvring for position, and sometimes in the
+fighting of minor subsidiary actions before the main action takes place.</p>
+
+<p>Now, in the case of Tourcoing, there was none of this, for the French at
+Tourcoing were surprised.</p>
+
+<p>The surprise was not complete, but it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> was sufficiently thorough to make
+the whole of the fighting during the first day, Saturday (at least, the
+whole of the fighting in the centre of the field), a triumph for the
+allied advance.</p>
+
+<p>Let us first appreciate exactly how matters looked to Souham when, on the
+15th, the Thursday, the blow was about to fall upon him.</p>
+
+<p>He had under his orders, with headquarters now at Courtrai, now at Menin
+(see sketch map on p. <a href="#Page_58">58</a>), rather less than 40,000. In that dash upon
+Courtrai a fortnight before, which had led to the dangerous establishment
+of so large an advanced body in front of the main French line, one main
+effect of that advance had been to push back, away to the left beyond the
+Lys, more than 16,000, but less than 20,000 men under the Austrian
+General, Clerfayt. With that army, Clerfayt&#8217;s body, Souham had remained
+continually in touch. Detachments of it were continually returning to the
+valley of the Lys to harass his posts, and, in a word, Clerfayt&#8217;s was the
+only force of the enemy which Souham thought he had need to bear in mind.</p>
+
+<p>The bulk of the Austrian army he knew to be quite four days&#8217; march away to
+the south, at first occupied in the siege of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> Landrecies, and later
+stationed in the vicinity of that fortress.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, lying in his exposed position, Souham knew that a general
+attack upon him from the south was one of the possibilities of the
+situation, but it was not a thing which he thought could come
+unexpectedly: at any rate he thought himself prepared, by the use of his
+scouts and his spies, to hear of any such advance in ample time.</p>
+
+<p>In case he should be attacked, the attack might take one of many forms. It
+might try to drive him over the Lys, where Clerfayt would be ready to meet
+him; or it might be a general attack upon Courtrai as a centre; or it
+might be (what had, as we have seen, been actually determined) an attempt
+to cut him and all his 40,000 off from the main French line.</p>
+
+<p>This main French line ran through the town of Lille, and Lille not only
+had its garrison, but also at Sainghin, outside the fortifications to the
+south-east, a camp, under Bonnaud, of 20,000 men. If the attack from the
+south or from the north, or from both, managed to cut Souham off from
+Bonnaud&#8217;s camp, and from the garrison at Lille, he was ruined, and his
+40,000 were lost; but he hoped to be kept sufficiently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> informed of the
+enemy&#8217;s movements to fall back in time, should such an attempt be made,
+and to provide for it by effecting a junction with Bonnaud before it was
+delivered.</p>
+
+<p>Pichegru, the Commander of the whole French army of the north, who had
+ordered the advance on Courtrai, happened to be absent upon a visit to the
+posts away south upon the Sambre River. Souham was therefore temporarily
+in full command of all the troops which were to be concerned in the coming
+battle. But the position was only a temporary one, and that must account
+for the deference he paid to the advice of the four generals subordinate
+to him, and for the council which he called at Menin on the critical
+Saturday night which decided the issue. He himself quotes his commission
+in the following terms:&mdash;&#8220;Commander-in-Chief of all the troops from the
+camp at Sainghin to Courtrai inclusive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>From the beginning of the week, when a detachment of his troops had but
+just recovered from a sharp action with the Duke of York&#8217;s men towards
+Tournai, Souham appreciated that the forces of the enemy were gradually
+increasing to the south of him, and that the posts upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> Scheldt were
+receiving additional enforcements of men. But neither his judgment nor the
+reports that came in to him led him to believe that the mass of the
+Austrian army was coming north to attack him. And in this he was right,
+for, as we have seen, the Emperor did not make up his mind until Wednesday
+the 14th, which was the day when orders were sent to the Arch-Duke Charles
+to march northward.</p>
+
+<p>Souham&#8217;s attitude of mind up to, say, the Thursday may be fairly described
+in some such terms as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know that a concentration is going on in the valley of the Scheldt to
+the south and east of me; it is pretty big, but not yet exactly dangerous,
+though I shouldn&#8217;t wonder if I were attacked in a few days from that
+quarter. What I am much more certain of is that active and mobile force
+which I beat off the other day, but which is still intact under the best
+General opposed to me, Clerfayt. I hear that it is marching south again,
+and my best troops and my offensive must be directed against that. I am
+far superior in numbers to Clerfayt, and if I can bring him to an action
+and break him, I can then turn to the others at my leisure: for the moment
+I have only one front to think of&mdash;that on the north.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>But the negligence which he or his informants were guilty of&mdash;a negligence
+that was to prove so nearly fatal to all those 40,000 French
+troops&mdash;consisted in the failure to discover what was up upon Friday the
+16th.</p>
+
+<p>During those twenty-four hours the Arch-Duke Charles had brought up his
+column to St Amand; the other four columns upon the Scheldt were
+concentrated, and upon the north of the Lys, Clerfayt had got orders to
+move upon Wervicq, and was, during the middle hours of Friday, actually
+upon the march. Yet, during all that day, Friday the 16th, Souham remained
+ignorant of the extremity of his peril.</p>
+
+<p>The orders which he dictated upon the Friday night, and largely repeated
+upon the following morning of Saturday the 17th of May, show how little he
+expected the general action that was upon him. He arranged, indeed, for a
+cordon of troops to be watching, in insufficient numbers, the side towards
+the Scheldt, and he sent to Bonnaud and the camp at Sainghin, outside
+Lille, orders to keep more or less in touch with that cordon. The
+instructions to this cordon of troops along the eastern side of the French
+position is no more than one of general vigilance. It is still to
+Clerfayt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> and towards the north alone that he directs an offensive and
+vigorous movement.</p>
+
+<p>In a word, he was a good twenty-four hours behind with his information. He
+was wasting troops north of the Lys in looking for Clerfayt at a time when
+that General was already on the march to Wervicq, and he was leaving a
+scattered line of insufficient bodies to meet what he did not in the least
+expect, the rapid advance of Bussche, Otto, and York during that Saturday
+upon Mouscron, Tourcoing, and Roubaix.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore it was that although Bussche&#8217;s insufficient force was driven out
+of Mouscron at last by superior numbers, Otto and York succeeded in
+sweeping all the resistance before them, and, in the course of that
+Saturday, reached the first Tourcoing, the second Roubaix, and even
+Mouveaux.</p>
+
+<p>The whole problem of warfare consists in a comparison between the
+information that each side has of the movements of the other. The whole
+art of success in war pivots upon the using of your enemy&#8217;s ignorance. Had
+the allies upon this occasion been more accurate in keeping to their
+time-table, and somewhat more rapid in their movements, they would have
+caught the French commander still under the illusion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> that there was no
+danger, save from the north, and would have succeeded in cutting off and
+destroying the main French force by getting in all together between
+Courtrai and Lille. For at that same moment, the early hours before
+daybreak of the 17th, the allies had begun their movement.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="PART_V" id="PART_V"></a>PART V</h2>
+<h3>THE TERRAIN</h3>
+
+<p>The terrain over which the plan of the allies was to be tested must next
+be grasped if we are to understand the causes which led to its ultimate
+failure.</p>
+
+<p>That terrain is most conveniently described as an oblong standing up
+lengthways north and south, and corresponding to the sketch map overleaf.
+That oblong has a base of twenty miles from east to west, a length from
+north to south of thirty-five.</p>
+
+<p>These dimensions are sufficient to show upon what a scale the great plan
+of the allies for cutting off Souham at Courtrai was designed.</p>
+
+<p>At its south-eastern corner the reader will perceive the town of St Amand,
+the furthest point south from which the combined movements of the allies
+began; while somewhat to the left of its top or northern edge, at the
+point marked &#8220;A,&#8221; the northern-most body connected with that plan, the
+body commanded by Clerfayt, was posted at the origin of the movement.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i058tmb.jpg" alt="" /><br />
+<a href="images/i058.jpg"><small>Larger Image</small></a></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>The object of the whole convergence from the Scheldt on one hand, and from
+Clerfayt&#8217;s northern position upon the other, being to cut off the French
+forces which lay at and south of Courtrai from Lille, and the main line of
+the French army, it is evident that the actual fighting and the chances of
+success or disaster would take place within a smaller interior oblong,
+which I have also marked upon the sketch map. This smaller or interior
+oblong measures about sixteen miles at its base by about twenty-five miles
+in length, and includes all the significant points of the action.</p>
+
+<p>The points marked 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively are the points at which
+the five columns advancing from the Scheldt valley northward were to find
+themselves before dawn on the morning of Saturday the 17th of May. We are
+already acquainted with them. They are Warcoing, Bailleul, Templeuve,
+Froidmont, and Pont-&agrave;-Marcq respectively; while the point marked 6 is
+Wervicq, from which Clerfayt was to start simultaneously with the five
+southern columns with the object of meeting his fellows round Tourcoing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>The town of Courtrai will be perceived to lie in the north-eastern angle
+of this inner oblong, the town of Lille rather below the middle of its
+western side. In all the country round Courtrai, and especially to the
+south of it, within the triangle X Y Z, lay the mass of Souham&#8217;s command
+of 40,000 men. There were many posts, of course, scattered outside that
+triangle, and connecting Courtrai with Lille; but the links were weak, and
+the main force was where I have indicated it to be.</p>
+
+<p>A large body of French troops being encamped just under the walls of Lille
+at B (by which letter I mark Sainghin camp), and that fortress also
+possessing a garrison, the plan of cutting both these off from the 40,000
+French that lay in the country near Courtrai involved getting the main
+part of the allies up from these points of departure on the south, and
+Clerfayt&#8217;s body down from its point of departure on the north to meet upon
+the line drawn between Lille and Courtrai. Upon this line (which also
+roughly corresponds to the only main road between the two cities) may be
+perceived, lying nearer Lille than the centre of such line, the small town
+of Tourcoing and the village of Mouveaux. It was upon these two points
+that four of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> five southern columns were to converge northward, the
+second and third column reaching them first, the fourth and fifth marching
+up from the left in aid; and it was also, of course, upon these two points
+that Clerfayt was to march southward from the post at Wervicq, that had
+been given <i>him</i> as <i>his</i> point of departure before dawn upon that
+Saturday morning. If everything went perfectly, the great mass of the
+allied army should have found itself, by noon of Saturday the 17th, as I
+have said, astraddle of the Lille-Courtrai road, and effectively cutting
+off the French troops to the north.</p>
+
+<p>What was the nature of the wide countryside over which these various
+movements were to take place?</p>
+
+<p>It was part of that great plain of Flanders which stretches from the River
+Scheldt almost unbroken to the Straits of Dover and the North Sea. In the
+whole of the great oblong represented by my sketch map there is hardly a
+point 150 feet above the water level of the main river valleys, while the
+great mass of that territory is diversified by no more than very broad and
+very shallow rolls of land, the crests of which are sometimes and
+exceptionally as much as fifty feet above the troughs, but the greater<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+part thirty, twenty, or even less. Here and there an isolated hummock
+shows upon the landscape, but the general impression of one who walks
+across from the valley of the Lys to that of the Scheldt is of a flat,
+monotonous land in which one retains no memory of ascent or descent, and
+in which the eye but rarely perceives, and that only from specially chosen
+points, any wide horizon.</p>
+
+<p>To-day the greater part of this country suffers from the curse of
+industrialism and repeats&mdash;of course, with far less degradation&mdash;the
+terrible aspect of our own manufacturing towns. Roubaix and Tourcoing in
+particular are huge straggling agglomerations of cotton-spinners and their
+hands. A mass of railways and tramways cut the countryside, and the evil
+presence of coal-smoke mars it everywhere: at least within the region of
+Lille, Tourcoing, and Roubaix.</p>
+
+<p>In May 1794, though a considerable industry had begun to grow up in Lille
+itself, the wide, open countryside round the town was entirely
+agricultural. Much of it was what soldiers call &#8220;blind&#8221; country: that is,
+it was cut up into fields with numerous hedges; there were long farm walls
+and a great number of small watercourses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> fringed with trees. But, on the
+other hand, there was very little wood. Moreover, though there were few
+places from which one could overlook any considerable view, the
+&#8220;blindness&#8221; of the field, as a whole, has been much exaggerated in the
+attempt to excuse or explain the disaster of which it was the theatre. The
+southern part of it is open enough, and so is the north-eastern portion,
+in which the first column operated. Of the soil no particular mention is
+needed; most of the great roads were paved; the weather had created no
+difficulty in the going, and the only trouble in this respect lay in the
+northern part, where Clerfayt&#8217;s command was condemned to advance over
+patches of loose and difficult sand, which made the road, or rather rare
+lanes, very heavy.</p>
+
+<p>It will at once be perceived that, in view of the operations planned, one
+principal obstacle exists in the terrain, the River Lys. Few bridges
+crossed this stream, and for the purpose of turning the French position
+and coming across the Lys from the north to the neighbourhood of Mouveaux,
+there was in those days no bridge save the bridge at Wervicq (at the point
+marked 6 on the plan at the beginning of this section); but this
+difficulty we have seen to be lessened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> by the presence in Clerfayt&#8217;s
+command of a section of pontoons.</p>
+
+<p>At first sight one might perceive no other considerable obstacle save the
+Lys to the general movement of the allied army. But when the peculiar
+course of the little River Marque is pointed out, and the nature of its
+stream described, the reader will perceive that it exercised some little
+effect upon the fortunes of the battle, and might have exercised a much
+greater one to the advantage of the British troops had not the Duke of
+York blundered in a fashion which will be later described.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, it should be noted that this little stream (it is no
+wider than a canal, will barely allow two barges to pass in its lower
+course, and will not float one to the southward of Lille) turns up quite
+close to Roubaix, and at the nearest point is not a mile from the
+market-place of that town.</p>
+
+<p>Now the significance of such a conformation to the battlefield of
+Tourcoing lay in the fact that it was impossible for any considerable
+force to man&oelig;uvre between the third column (which was marching upon
+Roubaix) and the Marque River. Had the Marque not existed, Kinsky, with
+the fourth column, would have been free to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> march parallel with York, just
+as York marched parallel with Otto, while the Arch-Duke with his fifth
+column, instead of having been given a rendezvous right down south at
+Pont-&agrave;-Marcq (the point marked 5 on my sketch), would have gone up the
+main road from St Amand to Lille, and have marched parallel with Kinsky,
+just as Kinsky would have marched parallel with York. In other words, the
+fourth and the fifth columns, instead of being ordered along the dotted
+lines marked upon my sketch (the elbows in which lines correspond to the
+crossing places of the Marque), would have proceeded along the
+uninterrupted arrow lines which I have put by the side of them.</p>
+
+<p>The Marque made all the difference. It compelled the fifth column to take
+its roundabout road, and the fourth, detained by the delay of the fifth,
+was held, as we shall see in what follows, for a whole day at one of the
+crossings of the river.</p>
+
+<p>The little stream has a deep and muddy bottom, and the fields upon its
+banks are occasionally marshy. This feature has been exaggerated, as have
+the other features I have mentioned, in order to explain or excuse the
+defeat, but, at any rate, it prevented the use of crossing places other
+than bridges. The Marque has no true<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> fords, and there is no taking an
+army across it, narrow as it is, save by the few bridges which then
+existed. These bridges I have marked upon the sketch.</p>
+
+<p>So far as the terrain is concerned, then, what we have to consider is
+country, flat, but containing low defensive positions, largely cut up,
+especially between the Scheldt and Roubaix, by hedges and walls, though
+more open elsewhere, and particularly open towards the north: a serious
+obstacle to the advance of one body in the shape of the River Lys; and
+another obstacle, irritating rather than formidable in character, but
+sufficient both by its course and its marshy soil to complicate the
+advance, namely, the little River Marque.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<p>As to the weather, it was misty but fine. The nights in bivouac were
+passed without too much discomfort, and the only physical condition which
+oppressed portions of the allied army consisted in the error of its
+commanders, and proceeded from fatigue.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="PART_VI" id="PART_VI"></a>PART VI</h2>
+<h3>THE ACTION</h3>
+
+<p>At about ten o&#8217;clock in the morning of Friday the 16th of May, Clerfayt,
+in his positions right up north beyond the Lys&mdash;positions which lay at and
+in front of the town of Thielt, with outposts well to the south and west
+of that town,&mdash;received the orders of the Emperor.</p>
+
+<p>These orders were what we know them to be: he was to march southward and
+westward and strike the Lys at Wervicq. He was to arrive at that point at
+or before nightfall, for in the very first hours of the morrow, Saturday,
+and coincidently with the beginning of the advance of the five columns
+from their southern posts, he was to cross the Lys and to proceed to join
+hands with those columns in the following forenoon, when the heads of them
+would have reached the neighbourhood of Tourcoing and Mouveaux.</p>
+
+<p>Bussche, with the first column, his 4000<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> Hanoverians, had no task during
+that day but to proceed the mile and a half which separated Warcoing from
+the little village of St Leger, and, with the head of his column in that
+village, prepare to pass the night and be ready to march forward long
+before dawn the next day.</p>
+
+<p>Field-Marshal Otto, with the second column, was similarly and leisurely
+occupied marshalling his 10,000 Austrians and his contingent of British
+cavalry, so that the head of his column was at Bailleul ready also to
+advance with the early, dark, small hours of the ensuing morning.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of York, with his third column of similar numbers, or somewhat
+less, was performing a precisely similar task, and ordering his men so
+that the head of that column should reach Templeuve by evening and be
+ready to march at the same moment as the others did, shortly after
+midnight.</p>
+
+<p>All these three, then, were absolutely ready, fresh from fatigue and in
+good order, upon that Friday evening at their appointed posts.</p>
+
+<p>It is here necessary, as we are chiefly concerned with the British forces,
+to detail the composition of this third column which the Duke of York
+commanded.</p>
+
+<p>It consisted of twelve battalions and ten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> squadrons, with a further
+reserve of sixteen British squadrons under General Erskine, which cavalry
+lay somewhat south of Templeuve, but ready to follow up the advance when
+it should begin. It was made of two portions, about equal in numbers,
+
+British and foreign. The foreign half was composed of four squadrons of
+Austrian Hussars and seven battalions of infantry, two Hessian and five
+Austrian. The British half was composed of a Brigade of Guards counting
+four battalions, with portions of the 14th, 37th, and 53rd Foot, while the
+British cavalry accompanying it (apart from the squadrons under Erskine)
+were six squadrons drawn from the 7th, 15th, and 16th Light Dragoons. It
+is to the credit of the young commander<small><a name="f4.1" id="f4.1" href="#f4">[4]</a></small> that this third column was the
+best organised, the most prompt, and, as the event proved, the most
+successful during the advance and the most tenacious in the subsequent
+defeat.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth column, under Kinsky, about 11,000 strong, was also ready on
+that Friday,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> the 16th of May, concentrated at its point of departure,
+Froidmont, and ready to move at the same moment as all the others, shortly
+after midnight. But unlike the other three commanders upon his right,
+Kinsky was unfortunately handicapped by the position of the fifth column,
+that great body of 18,000 to 20,000 men, under the Arch-Duke Charles,
+which lay at St Amand, which was to advance next day parallel with Kinsky
+and upon his left, and which it was his duty to keep in touch with, and to
+link up with the Duke of York&#8217;s upon the other side. He was handicapped, I
+say, by the situation of the fifth column, under the Arch-Duke Charles,
+the heavy strain already imposed upon which, and the accumulating
+difficulties it was about to encounter, largely determining the
+unfortunate issue of the battle.</p>
+
+<p>Kinsky got news on that Friday from the Arch-Duke at St Amand that it was
+hardly possible for his great body of men to reach the appointed post of
+Pont-&agrave;-Marcq at the arranged hour of daybreak the next morning. I have
+already suggested that this delay cannot only have been due to the very
+long march which had been imposed upon the Arch-Duke&#8217;s command when it had
+been hurriedly summoned up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> from the south to St Amand, forty-eight hours
+before. It must also have been due to the fact that not all its units
+reached St Amand by the evening of Thursday the 15th. It seemed certain
+that there must have been stragglers or bad delays on the morning of the
+16th, for it was not until long after nightfall&mdash;indeed not until ten
+o&#8217;clock in the evening&mdash;of Friday the 16th that the Arch-Duke was able to
+set out from St Amand and take the Pont-&agrave;-Marcq road. This unfortunate
+body, therefore, the fifth column, which had all the hardest work before
+it, which had but one road by which to march (although it was double any
+of the others in size), was compelled, after the terrible fatigue of the
+preceding days, to push forward sixteen miles through the night in a vain
+attempt to reach Pont-&agrave;-Marcq, not indeed by daybreak, for that was
+obviously impossible, but as soon after as haste and anxiety could
+command. Kinsky was tied to Froidmont and unable to move forward until
+that fifth column upon his left was at least approaching its goal. For he
+had Bonnaud&#8217;s 20,000 Frenchmen at Sainghin right in front of him, and
+further, if he had moved, his left flank would have been exposed, and,
+what is more, he would have failed in his purpose,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> which was to link up
+the Arch-Duke on one side with the Duke of York upon the other.</p>
+
+<p>This first mishap, then, must be carefully noted as one prime lack of
+synchrony in the origins of the combined movement, and a first clear cause
+of the misfortune that was to attend the whole affair. The delay of the
+fifth column was the chief cause of the disaster.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, another failure to synchronise, and that a most grave one, was
+taking place miles away in the north with Clerfayt&#8217;s command beyond the
+Lys.</p>
+
+<p>It is self-evident that where one isolated and distant body is being asked
+to co-operate with comrades who are in touch with the commander-in-chief,
+and with each other, the exact observation of orders on the part of that
+isolated body is of supreme importance to the success of the combination.
+<i>They</i>, all lying in much the same region and able to receive and transmit
+orders with rapidity, may correct an error before it has developed evil
+consequences. But the isolated commander co-operating from a distance, and
+receiving orders from headquarters only after a long delay, is under no
+such advantage. Thus the tardiness of the fifth column was, as we have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+seen, communicated to the fourth, and the third, second, and first, all in
+one line, could or should have easily appreciated the general situation
+along the Scheldt. But the sixth body, under Clerfayt, which formed the
+keystone of the whole plan, and without whose exact co-operation that plan
+must necessarily fail, enjoyed no such advantage, and, if it indulged in
+the luxuries of delay or misdirection, could not have its errors corrected
+in useful time. A despatch, to reach Clerfayt from headquarters and from
+the five columns that were advancing northward from the valley of the
+Scheldt, must make a circuit round eastward to the back of Courtrai, and
+it was a matter of nearly half a day to convey information from the
+Emperor or his neighbouring subordinates in the region of Tournai to this
+sixth corps which lay north of the Lys.</p>
+
+<p>Now it so happened that Clerfayt, though a most able man, and one who had
+proved himself a prompt and active general, woefully miscalculated the
+time-table of his march and the difficulties before him.</p>
+
+<p>He got his orders, as I have said, at ten o&#8217;clock on the Friday morning.
+Whether to give his men a meal, or for whatever other reason, he did not
+break up until between one and two. He then began<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> ploughing forward with
+his sixteen thousand men and more, in two huge columns, through the sandy
+country that forms the plain north of the River Lys. He ought to have
+known the difficulty of rapid advance over such a terrain, but he does not
+seem to have provided for it with any care, and when night fell, so far
+from finding himself in possession of Wervicq and master of the crossing
+of the river there, the heads of his columns had only reached the great
+highway between Menin and Ypres, nearly three miles short of his goal.
+Three miles may sound a short distance to the civilian reader, but if he
+will consider the efforts of a great body of men and vehicles, pushing
+forward through the late hours of an afternoon by wretched lanes full of
+loose sand, and finding the darkness upon them with that distance still to
+do, he would perceive the importance of the gap. If he further considers
+that it was only the heads of the columns that had reached the high road
+by dark, and that two great bodies of men were stretched out two miles and
+more behind, and if he will add to all this the fact that fighting would
+have to be done before Wervicq, three miles away, could be occupied, let
+alone the river crossed, he will discover that Clerfayt had missed his
+appointment not by three miles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> only in space, but by the equivalent of
+half a day in time.</p>
+
+<p>Even so he should have pushed on and have found himself at least in
+contact with the French posts before his advance was halted. He did not do
+so. He passed the night in bivouac with the heads of his columns no
+further south than the great high road.</p>
+
+<p>So much for Clerfayt. The Republic would have cut off his head.</p>
+
+<p>While Clerfayt was thus mishandling his distant and all-important
+department of the combined scheme, the corresponding advance from the
+valley of the Scheldt northward was proceeding in a manner which is best
+appreciated by taking the five columns seriatim and in three groups: the
+
+first group consisting of the first column (Bussche), the second group of
+the second and third columns (Otto and York), the third group of the
+fourth and fifth (Kinsky and the Arch-Duke).</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>I</h3>
+<p class="center">THE FIRST COLUMN UNDER BUSSCHE</p>
+
+<p>This column, as we have seen, consisted of only 4000 men, Hanoverians. Its
+function and general plan was to give the French the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> impression that they
+were being attacked by considerable forces at the very extremity of their
+advanced wedge, and thus to &#8220;hold&#8221; them there while the great bulk of the
+allies were really encircling them to the south and cutting them off from
+Lille.</p>
+
+<p>When we bear this object in view, we shall see that Bussche with his
+little force did not do so badly. His orders were to advance with
+two-thirds of his men against Mouscron, a little place about five miles in
+front of the village of St Leger where he was concentrated; the remaining
+third going up the high road towards Courtrai. This last decision, namely,
+to detach a third of his troops, has been severely criticised, especially
+by English authorities, but the criticism is hardly just if we consider
+what Bussche had been sent out to do. He was, of course, to take Mouscron
+if he could and hold it, and if that had been the main object of the
+orders given him, it would indeed have been folly to weaken his already
+weak body by the detaching of a whole third of it four miles away upon the
+high road to the eastward. But the capture of Mouscron was not the main
+object set before Bussche. The main object was to &#8220;hold&#8221; the large French
+forces in the Courtrai district and to give them the impression of a main
+attack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> coming in that direction, and with <i>that</i> object in view it was
+very wise so to separate his force as to give Souham the idea that the
+French northern extremity was being attacked in several places at once.</p>
+
+<p>With the early morning, then, of Saturday the 17th, Bussche sent rather
+less than 1500 men up the high road towards Courtrai, and, with rather
+more than 2500, marched boldly up against Mouscron, where, considering the
+immensely superior forces that the French could bring against him, it is
+not surprising that he was badly hammered. Indeed, but for the fact that
+the French were unprepared (as we saw in the section &#8220;The Preliminaries of
+the Battle&#8221;), he could not have done as much as he did, which was, at the
+first onslaught, to rush Mouscron and to hold it in the forenoon of that
+day. But the French, thoroughly alarmed by the event (which was precisely
+what the plan of the allies intended they should be), easily brought up
+overwhelming reinforcements, and Bussche&#8217;s little force was driven out of
+the town. It was not only driven out of the town, it was pressed hard down
+the road as far as Dottignies within a mile or two of the place from which
+it had started; but there it rallied and stood, and for the rest of the
+day kept the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> French engaged without further misfortune. A student of the
+whole action, careful to keep its proportions in mind and not to
+exaggerate a single instance, will not regard Bussche&#8217;s gallant attempt
+and failure before Mouscron as any part of the general breakdown. On the
+contrary, the stand which his little force made against far superior
+numbers, and the active cannonade which he kept up upon this extreme edge
+of the French front, would have been one of the major conditions
+determining the success of the allies if their enormously larger forces in
+other parts of the field had all of them kept their time-table and done
+what was expected of them.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>II</h3>
+<p class="center">THE SECOND AND THIRD COLUMNS UNDER OTTO AND THE DUKE OF YORK</p>
+
+<p>On turning to the second group (the second column under Otto and the third
+under York), we discover a record of continuous success throughout the
+whole of that day, Saturday the 17th of May, which deserved a better fate
+than befell them upon the morrow.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>(A) <span class="smcap">The Second Column under Otto</span></p>
+
+<p>The second column under Otto, consisting of twelve battalions and ten
+squadrons, certain of the latter being English horse, and the whole
+command numbering some 10,000 men, advanced with the early morning of that
+same Saturday the 17th simultaneously with Bussche from Bailleul to Leers.
+It drove the French outposts in, carried Leers, and advanced further to
+Wattrelos. It carried Wattrelos.</p>
+
+<p>It continued its successful march another three miles, still pressing in
+and thrusting off to its right the French soldiers of Compere&#8217;s command,
+until it came to what was then the little market-town of Tourcoing. It
+carried Tourcoing and held it. This uninterrupted series of successes had
+brought Otto&#8217;s troops forward by some eight miles from their
+starting-point, and had filled the whole morning, and Otto stood during
+the afternoon in possession of this advanced point, right on the line
+between Courtrai and Lille, and having fully accomplished the object which
+his superiors had set him.</p>
+
+<p>From the somewhat higher roll of land which his cavalry could reach, and
+from which they could observe the valley of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> Lys four miles beyond,
+they must have strained their eyes to catch some hint of Clerfayt&#8217;s
+troops, upon whose presence across the river on their side they had so
+confidently calculated, and which, had Clerfayt kept to his time-table and
+crossed the Lys at dawn, would now have been in the close neighbourhood of
+Tourcoing and in junction with this successful second column.</p>
+
+<p>But there was no sign of any such welcome sight. The dull rolling plain,
+with its occasional low crests falling towards the river, betrayed the
+presence of troops in more than one position to the north and west. But
+those troops were not moving: they were holding positions, or, if moving,
+were obviously doing so with the object of contesting the passage of the
+river. They were French troops, not Austrian, that thus showed distinctly
+in rare and insufficient numbers along the southern bank of the Lys, and
+indeed, as we know, Clerfayt, during the whole of that afternoon of the
+17th, was painfully bringing up his delayed pontoons, and was, until it
+was far advanced, upon the wrong side of the river.</p>
+
+<p>Otto maintained his position, hoped against hope that Clerfayt might yet
+force his way through before nightfall, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> still master of Tourcoing
+and the surrounding fields when darkness came.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">(B) The Third Column under York</span></p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile York, with his 10,000 half British and half Austro-Hessian, had
+marched with similar success but against greater obstacles parallel with
+Otto, and to his left, and had successively taken every point in his
+advance until he also had reached the goal which had been set before him.</p>
+
+<p>Details of that fine piece of work deserve full mention.</p>
+
+<p>Delayed somewhat by a mist in the dark hours before dawn, York&#8217;s command
+had marched north-westward up the road from Templeuve, where now runs the
+little tramway reaching the Belgian frontier.</p>
+
+<p>The French troops in front of him, as much as those who had met Otto a
+mile or two off to the right, and Bussche still further off at Mouscron,
+were taken aback by the suddenness and the strength of the unexpected
+blow. They stood at Lannoy. York cannonaded that position, sent certain of
+the British Light Dragoons round to the left to turn it, and attacked it
+in front with the Brigade of Guards. The enemy did not stand, and the
+British forces poured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> through Lannoy and held it just as Otto in those
+same hours was pouring into and holding Leers and Wattrelos. Beyond
+Lannoy, a matter of two miles or so, and still on that same road, was the
+small town, now swollen to a great industrial city, called Roubaix. The
+Duke of York left a couple of battalions of his allied troops (Hessians)
+to hold Lannoy, and with the rest of the column pursued his march.</p>
+
+<p>Roubaix offered far more serious resistance than Lannoy had done. The
+element of surprise was, of course, no longer present. The French forces
+were concentrating. The peril they were in of being cut off was by this
+time thoroughly seized at their headquarters, and the roll of land
+immediately before Roubaix was entrenched and held by a sufficient force
+well gunned. A strong resistance was offered to the British advance, but
+once more the Brigade of Guards broke down that resistance and the place
+was taken with the bayonet.</p>
+
+<p>York&#8217;s next objective, and the goal to which his advance had been ordered,
+was Mouveaux. Mouveaux is a village standing upon a somewhat higher roll
+of land rather more than two miles from the centre of Roubaix, in
+continuation of the direction which York&#8217;s advance had hitherto pursued.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+From Mouveaux the eye could overlook the plain reaching to the Lys and to
+Wervicq, some seven odd miles away, a plain broken by one or two slight
+hummocks of which the least inconspicuous holds the village of Linselles.
+Mouveaux was the point to which Clerfayt was expected to advance from his
+side. It was on a level with Tourcoing, and lay, as Tourcoing did,
+precisely upon the line between Courtrai and Lille. To reach Mouveaux,
+therefore, and not to be content with the capture of Roubaix, was
+consistent with and necessary to the general plan of the allies. Moreover,
+as Otto with the second column had taken Tourcoing, it was necessary that
+the third column should proceed to Mouveaux, unless Otto&#8217;s left or
+southern flank was to remain exposed and in peril. One may say, in
+general, that until Mouveaux was occupied the chance of joining hands with
+Clerfayt (supposing that General to have kept to his time-table and to be
+across the Lys and marching up to meet the columns from the Scheldt) was
+in peril. Therefore, until one has learnt what was happening to the fourth
+and the fifth columns, it is difficult to understand why the Duke of York,
+after the difficult capture of Roubaix, desired to make that point the
+utmost limit of his advance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> and for the moment to proceed no further.
+Without anticipating the story of the fourth and fifth columns, it is
+enough to say that the Duke of York&#8217;s desire not to advance beyond Roubaix
+was sufficiently excused by the aspect of the country to the west and
+south upon his left.</p>
+
+<p>Roubaix overlooks from a slight elevation the valley of the Marque. Lest
+the word &#8220;valley&#8221; be misleading, let me hasten to add that that stream
+here flows at the bottom of a very slight and very broad depression. But,
+at any rate, from Roubaix one overlooks that depression for some miles;
+one sees five miles distant the fortifications of Lille, and the
+intervening country is open enough to betray the presence of troops.
+Indeed, once Roubaix was captured, the English commander could see across
+those fields, a couple of hours&#8217; march away, the tents of the great French
+camp at Sainghin under the walls of the fortress.</p>
+
+<p>Now, along that river valley and across those fields there should have
+been apparent in those mid hours of the day, when the Guards had stormed
+Roubaix, the great host of the fourth and fifth columns coming up in
+support of the second and third.</p>
+
+<p>If the time-table had been observed, the Arch-Duke and Kinsky, over 25,000
+men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> should have been across the Marque before dawn, should have pushed
+back the French forces outside Lille, and should, long before noon, have
+been covering those fields between Roubaix and Lille with their advancing
+squadrons and battalions. There was no sign of them. If, or when, the
+French body near Lille were free to advance and attack the Duke of York&#8217;s
+left flank, there was no one between to prevent their doing so. That great
+body of the third and fourth columns, more than half of all the men who
+were advancing from the Scheldt to meet Clerfayt, had failed to come up to
+time. That was why the Duke of York desired to push no further than
+Roubaix, and even to leave only an advance guard to hold that place while
+he withdrew the bulk of his command to Lannoy.</p>
+
+<p>But his decision was overruled. The Emperor and his staff, who, following
+up the march of this third column, were now at Templeuve, thought it
+imperative that Mouveaux should be held. Only thus, in their judgment,
+could the junction with Clerfayt (who, though late, must surely be now
+near at hand) be accomplished. And certainly, unless Mouveaux were held,
+Otto could not hold his advanced position at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> Tourcoing. The order was
+therefore sent to York to take Mouveaux. In the disastrous issue that
+order has naturally come in for sharp blame; but it must be remembered
+that much of the plan was already successfully accomplished, that Clerfayt
+was thought to be across the Lys, and that if the French around Courtrai,
+and hitherward from Courtrai to Tourcoing, were to be cut off, it was
+imperative to effect the junction with Clerfayt without delay. Had
+Clerfayt been, as he should have been at that hour in the afternoon of
+Saturday the 17th, between the Lys and the line Mouveaux-Tourcoing, the
+order given by the Austrian staff to the Duke of York would not only have
+been approved by the military opinion of posterity, but any other order
+would have been thought a proof of indecision and bad judgment.</p>
+
+<p>Upon receiving this order to take Mouveaux, York obeyed. The afternoon was
+now far advanced, very heavy work had been done, a forward march of nearly
+six miles had been undertaken, accompanied by continual
+fighting&mdash;latterly, outside Roubaix, of a heavy sort. But if Mouveaux was
+to be held before nightfall, an immediate attack must be made, and York
+ordered his men forward.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>Mouveaux stands upon one of those very slight crests which barely
+diversify the flat country in which Roubaix and Tourcoing stand. The
+summit of that crest is but little more than fifty feet higher than the
+bottom of the low, broad depression between it and the centre of Roubaix,
+of which swollen town it is to-day a western suburb. Slight as is the
+elevation, it does, as I have said, command a view towards the Lys and
+Wervicq; and the evenness and length of the very gentle slope upon the
+Roubaix side make it an excellent defensive position.</p>
+
+<p>I have pointed out how the columns of attack as they advanced could not
+fail to find an increasing resistance. Roubaix had held out more strongly
+than Lannoy, Mouveaux was to hold out more strongly than Roubaix. The
+position was palisaded and entrenched. Redoubts had even been hastily
+thrown up by the French at either end of it, but the weight of the
+attacking column told. It was again the Guards who were given the task of
+carrying the trenches at the bayonet, and after a sharp struggle they were
+successful. The French, as they retired, set fire to the village (which
+stands upon the very summit of that roll of land), and were charged in
+their retirement by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> Abercromby with the English Dragoons. They left three
+hundred upon the field, and three field-pieces as well. Despite the great
+superiority of numbers which York&#8217;s columns still commanded over the enemy
+immediately before him, it was a brilliant feat, especially when one
+considers that it came at the very end of a day that was hot for the
+season, that had begun before one o&#8217;clock in the morning, and that had
+involved the carrying of three positions, each more stoutly defended than
+the last, within an advance of over seven miles.</p>
+
+<p>Mouveaux thus carried, the head of York&#8217;s column was on a line with the
+head of Otto&#8217;s, which held Tourcoing just two miles away. The heads of
+either column now occupied the main road between Lille and Courtrai (which
+passes through Mouveaux and Tourcoing), and the heads of either column
+also held the slight crests from which the belated advance of Clerfayt
+from the Lys could be watched and awaited.</p>
+
+<p>But though there was evidence of heavy fighting down in the river valley
+five miles to the north and west, and though it seemed probable from the
+sound of the firing that Clerfayt with the sixth body had crossed the Lys
+at Wervicq and was now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> on the right side of it, upon the southern bank,
+there was no sign of his advancing columns in those empty fields towards
+Linselles and the river over which the setting sun glared.</p>
+
+<p>Neither, as his troops prepared to bivouac for the night upon the slopes
+of Mouveaux, could York, looking southward, find any indication of the
+fourth and fifth columns under Kinsky and the Arch-Duke which should have
+come up to this same position at Mouveaux by noon seven hours before. The
+flat and marshy fields upon either bank of the Marque were anxiously
+scanned in vain as the twilight deepened. Down there, far off, the cannon
+had been heard all that afternoon round the French camp at Sainghin, but
+nothing had come through.</p>
+
+<p>It was therefore under a sense of isolation and of confusion, with the
+knowledge that their left flank was open, that Clerfayt in front of them
+was not yet in reach, that the second and third columns, which had so
+thoroughly accomplished their task, established their posts under the
+early summer night to await the chances of the morning.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+<h3>III</h3>
+<p class="center">THE FOURTH AND FIFTH COLUMNS UNDER KINSKY AND THE ARCH-DUKE CHARLES</p>
+
+<p>Now what had happened to the fourth and fifth columns under Kinsky and the
+Arch-Duke? I must describe their fortunes, show why they had failed to
+come up, and thus complete the picture of the general advance from the
+Scheldt, before I turn to conclude the explanation of the disaster by
+detailing the further adventures of Clerfayt after he had crossed the Lys.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">(A) The Fourth Column under Kinsky</span></p>
+
+<p>Kinsky with his 11,000 men had been delayed, as we have seen, at Froidmont
+by the message which the Arch-Duke had sent him from St Amand, to the
+effect that the fifth column could not hope to be at Pont-&agrave;-Marcq before
+dawn upon the 17th.</p>
+
+<p>At the moment, therefore, when in the small hours of Saturday the 17th
+Otto and the Duke of York started out simultaneously from Bailleul and
+Templeuve, Kinsky was still pinned to Froidmont. But he knew that the
+Arch-Duke had started with his great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> column some time after dark in the
+Friday night from St Amand, and when he estimated that they had proceeded
+far enough along the road to Pont-&agrave;-Marcq to be up level with him upon his
+left, Kinsky set his men in march and made for the Bridge of Bouvines,
+which was the crossing of the Marque immediately in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>The Bridge of Bouvines lay right in front of the great French camp. It was
+strongly held, and the hither side of the river, as Kinsky approached it,
+was found to be entrenched. His men drove the French from those
+entrenchments, they retired over the bridge, and as they retired they
+broke it down. Upon the far side of the river in front of their camp the
+French further established a battery of heavy guns upon that slight slope
+which is now crowned by the Fort of Sainghin, and Kinsky could not force
+the passage until the fifth column, or at any rate the head of it, should
+begin to appear upon his left.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen upon the <a href="#front">frontispiece map</a> that when the Arch-Duke&#8217;s men
+reached Pont-&agrave;-Marcq and crossed the river there, they would take the
+French camp and the main French forces there in reserve, weaken the power
+of the French<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> resistance at the Bridge of Bouvines, afford Kinsky the
+opportunity of crossing at that point, and that, immediately after that
+crossing, Kinsky and the Arch-Duke, having joined hands, would be in
+sufficient strength to push back the French from Sainghin and to march up
+north together towards Mouveaux. The appearance of their combined force at
+Mouveaux by noon would fulfil the time-table, and at mid-day of Saturday,
+if the time-table were thus fulfilled, the whole combined force of the
+second, third, fourth, and fifth columns would have been astraddle of the
+Lille-Courtrai Road, would have cut off Souham&#8217;s corps from Lille, and
+could await Clerfayt if he had not yet arrived. When, therefore, the
+Arch-Duke and the fifth column should have crossed the Marque at
+Pont-&agrave;-Marcq, the fortunes of the fourth column would have blended with
+it, and the story of the two would have been one. We may therefore leave
+Kinsky still waiting anxiously in front of the broken bridge at Bouvines
+for news of the Arch-Duke, and conclude the picture of the whole advance
+from the Scheldt by describing what had happened and was happening to that
+Commander and his great force of 17,000 to 18,000 men.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span><span class="smcap">(B) The Fifth Column under the Arch-Duke Charles</span></p>
+
+<p>When the Arch-Duke Charles had let Kinsky know upon the day before, the
+Friday, that he could not be at the appointed post of Pont-&agrave;-Marcq by the
+next daybreak, he had implied that somewhere in the early morning of that
+Saturday, at least, he would be there. Exactly how early neither he nor
+Kinsky could tell. His troops had sixteen full miles to march; they had
+but one road by which to advance, and they were fatigued with the enormous
+exertion of that hurried march northward to St Amand, which has already
+been set down.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the delays at St Amand in preparing that advance, that the night
+was far gone before the fifth column took the road to Pont-&agrave;-Marcq, and
+the effort that was to be demanded of it was more than should have been
+justly demanded of any troops. Indeed, the idea that a body of this great
+size, tied to one road, could suffer the severe effort of the rush from
+the south to St Amand, followed by a night-march, that march to be
+followed by heavy fighting during the ensuing morning and a further
+advance of eight or nine miles during the forenoon, was one of the weakest
+points in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> the plan of the allies. No such weakness would have been
+apparent if the main body of the Austrians under the Arch-Duke had been
+called up on the 12th instead of the 14th, and had been given two more
+days in which to cover the great distance. But, as it was, the delay of
+the Emperor and his staff in calling up that main body had gravely
+weakened its effective power.</p>
+
+<p>The league-long column thrust up the road through the darkness hour upon
+hour, with its confusion of vehicles and that difficulty in marshalling
+all units which is the necessary handicap of an advance in the darkness.
+Long before their task was so much as half accomplished, it was apparent
+not only that Pont-&agrave;-Marcq would not be reached at dawn, but that the mass
+of the infantry would not be at that river-crossing until the morning was
+far spent.</p>
+
+<p>When day broke, though cavalry had been set forward at greater speed, the
+heads of the infantry column were but under the Hill of Beuvry. It was
+long after six before the force had passed through Orchies, and though
+Kinsky learnt, in the neighbourhood of eight o&#8217;clock, that the cavalry of
+the fifth column were up on a level with him and had reached the river,
+the main force of the fifth column was not available for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> crossing
+Pont-&agrave;-Marcq until noon, and past noon.</p>
+
+<p>Kinsky, thus tied to the broken Bridge of Bouvines until Pont-&agrave;-Marcq
+should be forced, saw mid-day come and pass, and still his force and that
+of the Arch-Duke upon his left were upon the wrong side of the stream.</p>
+
+<p>Yet another hour went by. His fourth column and the fifth should already
+have been nine miles up north, by Mouveaux, and they were not yet even
+across the Marque!</p>
+
+<p>It was not until two o&#8217;clock that the passage of the river at Pont-&agrave;-Marcq
+was forced by the Arch-Duke Charles, and that, as the consequence of that
+passage of the stream, the French were taken in reverse in their camp at
+Sainghin and were compelled to fall back northward, leaving the passage at
+Bouvines free. Kinsky repaired the bridge, and was free to bring his
+11,000 over, and the two extreme columns, the fourth and the fifth, would
+then have joined forces in the mid-afternoon of the Saturday, having
+accomplished their object of forcing the Marque and uniting for the common
+advance northward in support of Otto and the Duke of York.</p>
+
+<p>Now, had the Arch-Duke Charles&#8217; men been machines, this section of the
+general<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> plan would yet have failed by half a day to keep its time-table:
+and by more than half a day: by all the useful part of a working day. By
+the scheme of time upon which the plan was based, the fifth column should
+have been across the Marque at dawn; by six, or at latest by seven o&#8217;clock
+the French should have been compelled to fall back from Sainghin, and the
+combined fourth and fifth columns should have been upon their northward
+march for Mouveaux. It was not seven o&#8217;clock, it was <i>between three and
+four</i> o&#8217;clock by the time the Arch-Duke was well across the Marque and the
+French retired; but still, if the men of this fifth column had been
+machines, Kinsky was now free to effect his junction across the Bridge of
+Bouvines, and the combined force would have reached the neighbourhood of
+Mouveaux and Tourcoing by nightfall, or shortly after dark.</p>
+
+<p>But the men of the fifth column were not machines, and at that hour of the
+mid-afternoon of Saturday they had come to the limits of physical
+endurance. It was impossible to ask further efforts of them, or, if those
+efforts were demanded, to hope for success. In the Arch-Duke&#8217;s column by
+far the greater part of the 17,000 or 18,000 men had been awake and
+working for thirty-six<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> hours. All had been on foot for at least
+twenty-four; they had been actually marching for seventeen, and had been
+fighting hard at the end of the effort and after sixteen miles of road.
+There could be no question of further movement that day: they bivouacked
+just north of the river, near where the French had been before their
+retirement, and Kinsky, seeing no combined movement could be made that
+day, kept his men also bivouacked near the Bridge of Bouvines.<small><a name="f5.1" id="f5.1" href="#f5">[5]</a></small></p>
+
+<p>Thus it was that when night fell upon that Saturday the left wing of the
+advance from the Scheldt had failed. And that is why those watching from
+the head of the successful third column at Mouveaux and Roubaix, under the
+sunset of that evening, saw no reinforcement coming up the valley of the
+Marque, caught no sign of their thirty thousand comrades advancing from
+the south, and despaired of the morrow.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+<h3>SUMMARY OF SITUATION ON THE SOUTH BY THE EVENING OF SATURDAY, MAY 17th.</h3>
+
+<p>If we take stock of the whole situation, so far as the advance of the five
+columns from the Scheldt was concerned, when darkness fell upon that
+Saturday we can appreciate the peril in which the second and third column
+under Otto and York lay.</p>
+
+<p>The position which the plan had assigned to the four columns, second,
+third, fourth, and fifth, by noon of that Saturday (let alone by
+nightfall), is that marked upon the map by the middle four of the six
+oblongs in dotted lines marked B. Of these, the two positions on the
+<i>right</i> were filled, for the second and third columns had amply
+accomplished their mission. But the two on the <i>left</i>, so far from being
+filled, were missed by miles of space and hours of time. At mid-day, or a
+little after, when Kinsky and the Arch-Duke should have been occupying the
+second and third dotted oblong respectively, neither of them was as yet
+even across the Marque. Both were far away back at E, E: and these
+hopeless positions, E, E, right away behind the line of positions across
+the Courtrai-Lille road which the plan expected them to occupy by
+Saturday noon, Kinsky and the Arch-Duke pacifically maintained up to and
+including the night between Saturday and Sunday!</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i099tmb.jpg" alt="" /><br />
+<a href="images/i099.jpg"><small>Larger Image</small></a></div>
+<p class="center">The Elements of Tourcoing</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>It is evident, therefore, that instead of all four columns of nearly
+<i>sixty</i> thousand men barring the road between Souham and Lille and
+effecting the isolation of the French &#8220;wedge&#8221; round Courtrai, a bare,
+unsupported <i>twenty</i> thousand found themselves that night alone: holding
+Roubaix, Tourcoing, Lannoy, Mouveaux, and thrust forward isolated in the
+midst of overwhelmingly superior and rapidly gathering numbers.</p>
+
+<p>In such an isolation nothing could save Otto and York but the abandonment
+during the night of their advanced positions and a retreat upon the points
+near the Scheldt from which they had started twenty hours before.</p>
+
+<p>The French forces round Lille were upon one side of them to the south and
+west, in number perhaps 20,000. On the other side of them, towards
+Courtrai, was the mass of Souham&#8217;s force which they had hoped to cut off,
+nearly 40,000 strong. Between these two great bodies of men, the 20,000 of
+Otto and York were in peril of destruction if the French awoke to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+position before the retirement of the second and third columns was decided
+on.</p>
+
+<p>It is here worthy of remark that the only real cause of peril was the
+absence of Kinsky and the Arch-Duke.</p>
+
+<p>Certain historians have committed the strange error of blaming Bussche for
+what followed. Bussche, it will be remembered, had been driven out of
+Mouscron early in the day, and was holding on stubbornly enough, keeping
+up an engagement principally by cannonade with the French upon the line of
+Dottignies. It is obvious that from such a position he could be of no use
+to the isolated Otto and York five miles away. But on the other hand, he
+was not expected to be of any use. What could his 4000 have done to shield
+the 20,000 of Otto and York from those 40,000 French under Souham&#8217;s
+command? His business was to keep as many of the French as possible
+occupied away on the far north-east of the field, and that object he was
+fulfilling.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, it may be asked why, in a posture so patently perilous, Otto and
+York clung to their advanced positions throughout the night? The answer is
+simple enough. If, even during the night, the fourth and fifth columns
+should appear, the battle was half won. If Clerfayt, of whom they had no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+news, but whom they rightly judged to be by this time across the Lys, were
+to arrive before the French began to close in, the battle would be not
+half won, but all won. Between 55,000 and 60,000 men would then be lying
+united across the line which joined the 40,000 of the enemy to the north
+with the 20,000 to the south. If such a junction were effected even at the
+
+eleventh hour, so long as it took place before the 20,000 French outside
+Lille and the 40,000 to the north moved upon them, the allies would have
+won a decisive action, and the surrender of all Souham&#8217;s command would
+have been the matter of a few hours. For a force cut in two is a force
+destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>But the night passed without Clerfayt&#8217;s appearing, and before closing the
+story of that Saturday I must briefly tell why, though he had crossed the
+Lys in the afternoon, he failed to advance southward through the
+intervening five or six miles to Mouveaux.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>CLERFAYT&#8217;S COLUMN.</h3>
+
+<p>Clerfayt had, in that extraordinary slow march of his, advanced by the
+Friday night, as I have said, no further than the great high road between
+Menin and Ypres. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> further pointed out that though only three miles
+separated that point from Wervicq, yet those three miles meant, under the
+military circumstances of the moment, a loss of time equivalent to at
+least half a day.</p>
+
+<p>We therefore left Clerfayt at Saturday&#8217;s dawn, as we left the Arch-Duke at
+the same time, far short of the starting-point which had been assigned to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Whereas the Arch-Duke, miles away over there to the south, had at least
+pushed on to the best of his ability through the night towards
+Pont-&agrave;-Marcq, Clerfayt did <i>not</i> push on by night to Wervicq as he should
+have done. He bivouacked with the heads of his columns no further than the
+Ypres road.</p>
+
+<p>Nor did he even break up and proceed over the remaining three miles during
+the very earliest hours. For one reason or another (the point has never
+been cleared up) the morning was fairly well advanced when he set
+forth&mdash;possibly because his units had got out of touch and straggling in
+the sandy country, or blocked by vehicles stuck fast. Whatever the cause
+may have been, he did not exchange shots with the French outposts at
+Wervicq until well after noon upon that Saturday the 17th of May.</p>
+
+<p>When at last he had forced his way into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> the town (the great bulk of which
+lies north of the river), he found the bridge so well defended that he
+could not cross it, or, at any rate, that the carrying of it&mdash;the chances
+of its being broken after the French should have retired and the business
+of bringing his great force across, with the narrow streets of the town to
+negotiate and the one narrow bridge, even if intact to use&mdash;would put him
+upon the further bank at a hopelessly late hour. Therefore did he call for
+his pontoons in order to solve the difficulty by bridging the river
+somewhat lower down. The Lys is here but a narrow stream, and it would be
+easy, with the pontoons at his disposal, to pass his troops over rapidly
+upon a broader front, making, if necessary, two wide bridges. I say &#8220;with
+the pontoons at his disposal.&#8221; But by the time Clerfayt had taken this
+decision and had sent for the pontoons, he found that they were not there!</p>
+
+<p>His section of pontoons had not kept abreast with the rest of the army,
+and their delay had not been notified to him. It was not until quite late
+in the day that they arrived; it was not until evening that the laying of
+the pontoons began,<small><a name="f6.1" id="f6.1" href="#f6">[6]</a></small> nor till<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> midnight that he was passing the first of
+his troops over.</p>
+
+<p>He did not get nor attempt to get the mass of his sixteen or seventeen
+thousand across in the darkness. He bivouacked the remainder upon the
+wrong side of the river and waited for the morrow.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<p>So that Saturday ended, with Otto and York isolated at the central
+meeting-place round Tourcoing-Mouveaux, which they alone had reached; with
+the Arch-Duke Charles and Kinsky bivouacked miles away to the south on
+either side of the Bridge of Bouvines; and with Clerfayt still, as to the
+bulk of his force, on the wrong side of the Lys.</p>
+
+<p>It was no wonder that the next day, Sunday, was to see the beginning of
+disaster.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>SUNDAY, MAY <span class="smcap">the</span> 18<span class="smcap">th</span>, 1794.</h3>
+
+<p>I have said that, considering the isolated position in which York and Otto
+found themselves, with no more than perhaps 18,000 in the six positions of
+Leers, Wattrelos, and Tourcoing, Lannoy, Roubaix, and Mouveaux, the French
+had only to wake up to the situation, and Otto and York would be
+overwhelmed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>The French did wake up. How thoroughly taken by surprise they had been by
+the prompt and exact advance of Otto and York the day before, the reader
+has already been told. Throughout Saturday they remained in some confusion
+as to the intention of the enemy; and indeed it was not easy to grasp a
+movement which was at once of such great size, and whose very miscarriage
+rendered it the more baffling of comprehension. But by the evening of the
+day, Souham, calling a council of his generals at Menin, came to a
+decision as rapid as it was wise. Reynier, Moreau, and Macdonald, the
+generals of divisions that were under his orders, all took part in the
+brief discussion and the united resolve to which it led. &#8220;It was,&#8221; in the
+words of a contemporary, &#8220;one of those rare occasions in which the
+decision of several men in council has proved as effective as the decision
+of a single will.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Of the troops which were, it will be remembered, dispersed to the north of
+the Lys, only one brigade was left upon the wrong side of the river to
+keep an eye on Clerfayt; all the rest were recalled across the stream and
+sent forward to take up positions north of Otto&#8217;s and Kinsky&#8217;s columns.
+Meanwhile the bulk of the French troops lying between Courtrai and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+Tourcoing were disposed in such fashion as to attack from the north and
+east, south and westward. Some 40,000 men all told were ready to close in
+with the first light from both sides upon the two isolated bodies of the
+allies. To complete their discomfiture, word was sent to Bonnaud and
+Osten, the generals of divisions who commanded the 20,000 about Lille,
+ordering them to march north and east, and to attack simultaneously with
+their comrades upon that third exposed side where York would receive the
+shock. In other words, the 18,000 or so distributed on the six points
+under Otto and York occupied an oblong the two long sides of which and the
+top were about to be attacked by close upon 60,000 men. The hour from
+which this general combined advance inwards upon the doomed commands of
+the allies was to begin was given identically to all the French generals.
+They were to break up at three in the morning. With such an early start,
+the sun would not have been long risen before the pressure upon Otto and
+York would begin.</p>
+
+<p>When the sun rose, the head of Otto&#8217;s column upon the little height of
+Tourcoing saw to the north, to the north-east, and to the east, distant
+moving bodies, which were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> the columns of the French attack advancing from
+those quarters. As they came nearer, their numbers could be distinguished.
+A brigade was approaching them from the north and the Lys valley,
+descending the slopes of the hillock called Mont Halhuin. It was
+Macdonald&#8217;s. Another was on the march from Mouscron and the east. It was
+Compere&#8217;s. The General who was commanding for Otto in Tourcoing itself was
+Montfrault. He perceived the extremity of the danger and sent over to York
+for reinforcement. York spared him two Austrian battalions, but with
+reluctance, for he knew that the attack must soon develop upon his side
+also. In spite of the peril, in the vain hope that Clerfayt might yet
+appear, Mouveaux and Tourcoing were still held, and upon the latter
+position, between five and six o&#8217;clock in the morning, fell the first
+shots of the French advance. The resistance at Tourcoing could not last
+long against such odds, and Montfrault, after a gallant attempt to hold
+the town, yielded to a violent artillery attack and prepared to retreat.
+Slowly gathering his command into a great square, he began to move
+south-eastward along the road to Wattrelos. It was half-past eight when
+that beginning of defeat was acknowledged.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>Meanwhile York, on his side, had begun to feel the pressure. Mouveaux was
+attacked from the north somewhat before seven o&#8217;clock in the morning, and,
+simultaneously with that attack, a portion of Bonnaud&#8217;s troops which had
+come up from the neighbourhood of Lille, was driving in York&#8217;s outposts to
+the west of Roubaix.</p>
+
+<p>How, it may be asked, did the French, in order thus to advance from Lille,
+negotiate the passage of that little River Marque, which obstacle had
+proved so formidable a feature in the miscarriage of the great allied plan
+the day before? The answer is, unfortunately, easily forthcoming. York had
+left the bridges over the Marque unguarded. Why, we do not know. Whether
+from sheer inadvertence, or because he hoped that Kinsky had detached men
+for the purpose, for one reason or another he had left those passages
+free, and, by the bridge of Hempempont against Lannoy, by that of Breuck
+against Roubaix, Bonnaud&#8217;s and Osten&#8217;s men poured over.</p>
+
+<p>As at Tourcoing, so at Mouveaux, a desperate attempt was made to hold the
+position. Indeed it was clung to far too late, but the straits to which
+Mouveaux was reduced at least afforded an opportunity for something of
+which the British service should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> not be unmindful. Immediately between
+Roubaix and the River Marque, Fox, with the English battalions of the
+line, was desperately trying to hold the flank and to withstand the
+pressure of the French, who were coming across the river more than twice
+his superiors in number. He was supported by a couple of Austrian
+battalions, and the two services dispute as to which half of this
+defending force was first broken. But the dispute is idle. No troops could
+have stood the pressure, and at any rate the defence broke down&mdash;with this
+result: that the British troops holding Mouveaux, Abercrombie&#8217;s Dragoons,
+and the Brigade of Guards, were cut off from their comrades in Roubaix.
+Meanwhile, Tourcoing having been carried and the Austrians driven out from
+thence, the eastern and western forces of the French had come into touch
+in the depression between Mouveaux and Roubaix, and it seemed as though
+the surrender or destruction of that force was imminent. Abercrombie saved
+it. A narrow gap appeared between certain forces of the French, eastward
+of the position at Mouveaux, and leaving a way open round to Roubaix. He
+took advantage of it and won through: the Guards keeping a perfect order,
+the rear defended by the mobility and daring of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Dragoons. The village
+of Roubaix, in those days, consisted in the main of one long straight
+street, though what is now the great town had already then so far
+increased in size as to have suburbs upon the north and south. The
+skirmishers of the French were in these suburbs. (Fox&#8217;s flank command had
+long ago retired, keeping its order, however, and making across country as
+best it could for Lannoy.) It was about half-past nine when Abercrombie&#8217;s
+force, which had been saved by so astonishing a mixture of chance, skill,
+coolness, and daring, filed into the long street of Roubaix. The Guards
+and the guns went through the passage in perfect formation in spite of the
+shots dropping from the suburbs, which were already beginning to harass
+the cavalry behind them. Immediately to their rear was the Austrian horse,
+while, last of all, defending the retreat, the English Dragoons were just
+entering the village. In the centre of this long street a market-place
+opened out. The Austrian cavalry, arrived at it, took advantage of the
+room afforded them; they doubled and quadrupled their files until they
+formed a fairly compact body, almost filling the square. It was precisely
+at this moment that the French advance upon the eastern side of the
+village brought a gun to bear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> down the long straight street and road,
+which led from the market square to Wattrelos. The moment it opened fire,
+the Austrians, after a vain attempt to find cover, pressed into the side
+streets down the market-place, fell into confusion. There is no question
+here of praise or blame: a great body of horsemen, huddled in a narrow
+space, suddenly pounded by artillery, necessarily became in a moment a
+mass of hopeless confusion. The body galloped in panic out of the village,
+swerved round the sharp corner into the narrower road (where the French
+had closed in so nearly that there was some bayonet work), and then came
+full tilt against the British guns, which lay blocking the way because the
+drivers had dismounted or cut the traces and fled. In the midst of this
+intolerable confusion a second gun was brought to bear by the French, and
+the whole mob of ridden and riderless horses, some dragging limbers, some
+pack-horses charged, many more the dispersed and maddened fragments of the
+cavalry, broke into the Guards, who had still kept their formation and
+were leading what had been but a few moments before an orderly retreat.</p>
+
+<p>It is at this point, I think, that the merit of this famous brigade and
+its right to regard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> the disaster not with humiliation but with pride, is
+best established. For that upon which soldiers chiefly look is the power
+of a regiment to reform. The Guards, thus broken up under conditions which
+made formation for the moment impossible, and would have excused the
+destruction of any other force, cleared themselves of the welter,
+recovered their formation, held the road, permitted the British cavalry to
+collect itself and once more form a rearguard, and the retreat upon Lannoy
+was resumed by this fragment of York&#8217;s command in good order: in good
+order, although it was subjected to heavy and increasing fire upon either
+side.</p>
+
+<p>It was a great feat of arms.</p>
+
+<p>As for the Duke of York, he was not present with his men. He had ridden
+off with a small escort of cavalry to see whether it might not be possible
+to obtain some reinforcement from Otto, but the French were everywhere in
+those fields. He found himself with a squadron, with a handful, and at
+last alone, until, a conspicuous figure with the Star of the Garter still
+pinned to his coat, he was chivied hither and thither across country,
+followed and flanked by the sniping shots of the French skirmishers in
+thicket and hedge; after that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> brief but exceedingly troubled ride,
+Providence discovered him a brook and a bridge still held by some of
+Otto&#8217;s Hessians. He crossed it, and was in safety.</p>
+
+<p>His retreating men&mdash;those of them that remained, and notably the remnant
+of the Dragoons and the Guards&mdash;were still in order as they approached
+Lannoy. They believed, or hoped, that that village was still in possession
+of the Hessians whom York had left there. But the French attack had been
+ubiquitous that morning. It had struck simultaneously upon all the flanks.
+At Roubaix as at Mouveaux, at Lannoy as at Roubaix, and the Guards and the
+Dragoons within musket shot of Lannoy discovered it, in the most
+convincing fashion, to be in the hands of the enemy. After that check
+order and formation were lost, and the remaining fragment of the Austrian
+and British who had marched out from Templeuve the day before 10,000
+strong, hurried, dispersed over the open field, crossed what is now the
+Belgian border, and made their way back to camp.</p>
+
+<p>Thus was destroyed the third column, which, of all portions of the allied
+army, had fought hardest, had most faithfully executed its orders, had
+longest preserved discipline during a terrible retreat and against
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>overwhelming numbers: it was to that discipline that the Guards in
+particular owed the saving from the wreck of so considerable a portion of
+their body. Of their whole brigade just under 200 were lost, killed,
+wounded or taken prisoners. The total loss of the British was not quite
+five times this&mdash;just under 1000,&mdash;but of their guns, twenty-eight in
+number, nineteen were left in the hands of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>There is no need to recount in detail the fate of Otto&#8217;s column. As it had
+advanced parallel in direction and success to the Duke of York&#8217;s, it
+suffered a similar and parallel misfortune. As the English had found
+Lannoy occupied upon their line of retreat, so Otto&#8217;s column had found
+Wattrelos. As the English column had broken at Lannoy, so the Austrian at
+Leers. And the second column came drifting back dispersed to camp,
+precisely as the third had done. When the fragments were mustered and the
+defeat acknowledged, it was about three o&#8217;clock in the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>For the rest of the allied army there is no tale to tell, save with regard
+to Clerfayt&#8217;s command; the fourth and the fifth columns, miles away behind
+the scene of the disaster, did not come into action. Long before they
+could have broken up after the breakdown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> through exhaustion of the day
+before, the French were over the Marque and between them and York. When a
+move was made at noon, it was not to relieve the second and third columns,
+for that was impossible, though, perhaps, if they had marched earlier, the
+pressure they would have brought to bear upon Bonnaud&#8217;s men might have
+done something to lessen the disaster. It is doubtful, for the Marque
+stood in between and the French did not leave it unguarded.</p>
+
+<p>Bussche, true to his conduct of the day before, held his positions all day
+and maintained his cannonade with the enemy. It is true that there was no
+severe pressure upon him, but still he held his own even when the rout
+upon his left might have tempted him to withdraw his little force.</p>
+
+<p>As for Clerfayt, he had not all his men across the Lys until that very
+hour of seven in the morning when York at Mouveaux was beginning to suffer
+the intolerable pressure of the French, and Otto&#8217;s men at Tourcoing were
+in a similar plight.</p>
+
+<p>By the time he had got all his men over, he found Vandamme holding
+positions, hastily prepared but sufficiently well chosen, and blocking his
+way to the south. With a defensive thus organised, though only half as
+strong as the attack, Vandamme was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> capable of a prolonged resistance; and
+while it was in progress, reinforcements, summoned from the northern parts
+of the French line beyond Lille, had had time to appear towards the west.
+He must have heard from eight o&#8217;clock till noon the fire of his retreating
+comrades falling back in their disastrous retreat, and, rightly judging
+that he would have after mid-day the whole French army to face, he
+withdrew to the river, and had the luck to cross it the next day without
+loss: a thing that the French now free from the enemy to the south should
+never have permitted.</p>
+
+<p>So ended the Battle of Tourcoing, an action which, for the interest of its
+scheme, for the weight of its results, and, above all, for the fine
+display of courage and endurance which British troops showed under
+conditions that should normally have meant annihilation, deserves a much
+wider fame in this country than it has obtained.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h5>PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.</h5>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="adverts"><div class="adbox">
+<h2><i>BOOKS</i><br />
+<i>that</i><br />
+<i>compel</i></h2>
+<h3><i>Supplementary Spring List, 1912</i></h3></div></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="adverts"><div class="adbox">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="ad">
+<tr><td colspan="3"><i>For him was levere have at his beddes heed</i><br />
+<i>Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed ...</i><br />
+<i>Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrye.</i><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14em;"><span class="smcap">Chaucer.</span></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td><img src="images/i119.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><i>Telegrams</i><br /><i>&#8220;Lumenifer,</i><br /><i>London&#8221;</i></td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="center"><i>Telephone</i><br /><i>6223</i><br /><i>City</i></td></tr></table></div></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="adverts"><div class="adbox">
+<p class="center"><i>STEPHEN SWIFT &amp; CO. LTD.</i><br />
+<i>16 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN</i><br />
+<i>LONDON, W.C.</i><br />
+<i>Complete list of &#8220;Books that Compel&#8221; post free</i><br /><i>on application</i></p></div></div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY</h2>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>BRITISH BATTLE BOOKS.</b> By <span class="smcap">Hilaire Belloc</span>. Illustrated with Coloured Maps.
+Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, 1s. net; leather, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcaplc">HISTORY IN WARFARE</span></p>
+
+<p class="dent">The British Battle Series will consist of a number of monographs upon
+actions in which British troops have taken part. Each battle will be
+the subject of a separate booklet illustrated with coloured maps,
+illustrative of the movements described in the text, together with a
+large number of line maps showing the successive details of the
+action. In each case the political circumstances which led to the
+battle will be explained; next, the stages leading up to it; lastly,
+the action in detail. 1. <span class="smcap">Blenheim</span>; 2. <span class="smcap">Malplaquet</span>; 3. <span class="smcap">Waterloo</span>; 4.
+<span class="smcap">Tourcoing</span>. Later volumes will deal with Crecy, Poitiers, Corunna,
+Talaveras, Flodden, The Siege of Valenciennes, Vittoria, Toulouse.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>TRIPOLI AND YOUNG ITALY.</b> By <span class="smcap">Charles Lapworth</span> and <span class="smcap">Helen Zimmern</span>. Demy 8vo,
+cloth. Illustrated. Price 10s. 6d. net. A book of international
+importance. This is the first systematic account of the Tripoli expedition
+written from the Italian point of view which has yet been published in
+Europe. Italy&#8217;s case against Turkey is fully stated, and the annexation of
+Tripoli, which has constantly been misrepresented by biassed critics as an
+arbitrary and capricious act of rapacity on the part of the Italian
+Government, is conclusively shown to have been an imperative political
+necessity. The highest authorities in Italy have heartily assisted the
+authors in their task of drawing up a reliable account of the inner
+history of the Tripoli expedition and of vindicating Italy from the many
+false accusations which have been levelled against her. The MSS. have been
+submitted to the Italian Prime Minister as well as the Minister of Foreign
+Affairs. The book is illustrated with portraits of leading Italians and
+with photographs of Libya.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>PSYCHOLOGY, A NEW SYSTEM OF.</b> By <span class="smcap">Arthur Lynch</span>, M.P. 2 vols. 10s. 6d. each
+net. Based on the study of Fundamental Processes of the Human Mind. The
+principles established will afford criteria in regard to every position in
+Psychology. New light will be thrown, for instance, on Kant&#8217;s Categories,
+Spencer&#8217;s Hedonism, Fechner&#8217;s Law, the foundation of Mathematics, Memory,
+Association, Externality, Will, the Feeling of Effort, Brain
+Localisations, and finally on the veritable nature of Reason.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>AN INTRODUCTION TO METAPHYSICS</b>. By <span class="smcap">Henri Bergson</span>. Translated by T. E.
+Hulme. Fcap. 8vo, Cloth, price, 2s. 6d. net. The &#8220;Introduction to
+Metaphysics,&#8221; although the shortest, is one of the most important of
+Bergson&#8217;s writings. It not only provides the best introduction to his
+thought, but is also a book which even those familiar with the rest of his
+work will find necessary to read, for in it he develops at greater length
+and in greater detail than elsewhere, the exact significance of what he
+intends by the word &#8220;intuition.&#8221; Every expositor of Bergson has hitherto
+found it necessary to quote &#8220;An Introduction to Metaphysics&#8221; at
+considerable length, yet the book has never before been available in
+English.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>AN INTRODUCTION TO BERGSON</b>. By <span class="smcap">T. E. Hulme</span>. 7s. 6d. Besides giving a
+general exposition of the better known parts of Bergson&#8217;s philosophy, the
+author has discussed at some length Bergson&#8217;s &#8220;Theory of Art,&#8221; which may
+prove to many people the most interesting part of his whole philosophy,
+although it has so far been written about very little. At the same time
+this book is no running commentary on a great number of separate ideas;
+the author has endeavoured by subordinating everything to one dominating
+conception, to leave in the reader&#8217;s mind a clearly outlined picture of
+Bergson&#8217;s system. During the last few years the author has been able to
+discuss many points of difficulty with M. Bergson himself.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SERIES</h2>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>FROM THEATRE TO MUSIC-HALL</b>. By <span class="smcap">W. R. Titterton</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d.
+net. This book is neither a history of the drama nor a critical study of
+well-known playwrights. It is an attempt to account for the weakening of
+the dramatic sense in modern England, and to explain the enormous
+importance of the music-hall, and the desperate necessity of maintaining
+it as a means of popular expression. The theories put forward are bold,
+and are likely to excite great agreement and great opposition.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>THE DOCTOR AND HIS WORK.</b> With a Hint of his Destiny and Ideals. By <span class="smcap">Charles
+J. Whitby</span>, M.D. Cantab., Author of &#8220;Triumphant Vulgarity,&#8221; &#8220;Makers of
+Man,&#8221; &#8220;A Study of Human Initiative,&#8221; etc. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 3s. 6d.
+net. In this book the author has reviewed the existing position of the
+doctor and indicated the signs of a new sociological era in which he will
+be called upon to accept new and important functions. The profession has
+in the past consisted of a mere mob of unorganised units; that of the
+future will be a disciplined army of experts co-operating for the good of
+the State. &#8220;The Doctor and His Work&#8221; may be described as a summary of the
+modern medical point of view. It appeals not less to the lay than to the
+professional reader.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>IRISH HOME RULE.</b> The Last Phase. By <span class="smcap">S. G. Hobson</span>. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>NATIONAL EDUCATION.</b> By <span class="smcap">Baron von Taube</span>, author of &#8220;Manual Training,&#8221; &#8220;In
+Defence of America,&#8221; &#8220;Only a Dog&#8217;s Life,&#8221; etc. Crown 8vo, Cloth. 3s. 6d.
+net. Two basic and dominating conceptions underlie the theory of education
+put forward in this treatise. The first is the necessity for a national
+education which will evoke, foster, develop and not level down and destroy
+all the peculiar and unique characteristics which go to make a nation a
+nation, and endow it with an individuality distinct from that of all other
+nations. The second is the necessity for the encouragement of originality
+and the full development of individual capacity, as contrasted with the
+mass-drill measures which are all too prevalent nowadays. The author&#8217;s
+theories are based on ascertained sociological and psychological data and
+on numerous practical experiments in pedagogy which have been successfully
+carried out by him. Discontent with the modern stereotyped system of cram
+education is increasing daily, and this book should prove a valuable
+contribution to the literature on this vitally important subject.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>BELLES LETTRES</h2>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>EPISODES OF VATHEK.</b> By <span class="smcap">William Beckford</span>. Translated by Sir Frank T.
+Marzials, with an Introduction by Lewis Melville. Medium 8vo, cloth. 21s.
+net. These Episodes or Eastern Tales, related in the Halls of Eblis, were
+discovered recently by Mr. Lewis Melville in the archives of Hamilton
+Palace. They were conceived by Beckford as three episodes complete within
+themselves, which he proposed to interpolate, in the manner of the
+&#8220;Arabian Nights,&#8221; into his famous Oriental story of &#8220;Vathek.&#8221; The original
+in French is given after the English translation, and the reader will find
+this volume extremely interesting both as treasure trove and literature.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>SONNETS AND BALLATE OF GUIDO CAVALCANTI.</b> Translated by <span class="smcap">Ezra Pound</span>. Crown
+8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d. net. We have had many translations of the Divina
+Commedia, a few of the Vita Nuova. Rosetti has translated a miscellany of
+&#8220;Early Italian Poets,&#8221; but in these &#8220;Sonnets and Ballate&#8221; of Guido
+Cavalcanti we have a new thing, the endeavour to present a 13th century
+Tuscan poet, other than Dante, as an individual. More than one Italian
+critic of authority has considered Cavalcanti second to Dante alone in
+their literature. Dante places him first among his forerunners.</p>
+
+
+<p class="hang"><b>LEAVES OF PROSE</b>, interleaved with verse. By <span class="smcap">Annie Matheson</span>, with which are
+included two papers by May Sinclair. Crown 8vo. 5s. net. This volume is
+composed of a selection of those short studies for which Miss Matheson is
+so justly famous. Literature, Sociology, Art, Nature, all receive her
+attention in turn, and on each she stamps the impression of her own
+personality. The prose is soft and rhythmic, infused with the atmosphere
+of the country-side, while the lyrics scattered throughout the volume
+reflect a temperament that has remained equable under the most severe
+trials. No book more aptly expresses the spirit of Christianity and good
+fellowship as understood in England.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>OFF BEATEN TRACKS IN BRITTANY.</b> By <span class="smcap">Emil Davies</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth. 7s. 6d.
+net. In this book the author, who has already won for himself a position
+in a surprisingly large variety of fields, goes off the beaten track in
+more than one direction. It is a book of travel, philosophy and humour,
+describing the adventures, impressions and reflections of two &#8220;advanced&#8221;
+individuals who chose their route across Brittany by ruling a straight
+line across the map from Brest to St. Malo&mdash;and then went another way!</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>IMAGINARY SPEECHES AND OTHER PARODIES IN PROSE AND VERSE.</b> By <span class="smcap">Jack Collings
+Squire</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d. net. This is probably the most
+comprehensive volume of Parodies ever issued. The author is as much at his
+ease in hitting off the style of Mr. Burns or Mr. Balfour, as he is in
+imitating the methods and effects of the new Celtic or Imperialist poets;
+whilst he is as happy in his series illustrating &#8220;The Sort of Prose
+Articles that modern Prose-writers write&#8221; as he is in his model newspaper
+with its various amusing features.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>SHADOWS OUT OF THE CROWD.</b> By <span class="smcap">Richard Curle</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth. 6s. This
+book consists of twelve stories of a curious and psychological kind. Some
+deal with the West Indian and South American tropics, some with London,
+some with Scotland, and one with South Africa. The author&#8217;s sense of
+atmosphere is impressive, and there is about all his stories the
+fatalistic spirit of the Russians. They have been written over a period of
+several years, and show signs of a close study of method and a deep
+insight into certain descriptions of fevered imagination. All are the work
+of a writer of power, and of an artist of a rare and rather un-English
+type.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>LONDON WINDOWS.</b> By <span class="smcap">Ethel Talbot</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth. 2s. 6d. net. In this
+little volume Miss Talbot, who is a well known and gifted singer in the
+younger choir of England&#8217;s poets, pictures London in many moods. She has
+won themes from the city&#8217;s life without that capitulation to the merely
+actual which is the pitfall of so many artists. London is seen grieving,
+sordid, grey, as well as magical and alluring. All who love the London of
+to-day must perforce respond to the appeal which lies in these moving and
+poignant verses.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>BOHEMIA IN LONDON.</b> By <span class="smcap">Arthur Ransome</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth. Illustrated. 2s. net.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>SOME ASPECTS OF THACKERAY.</b> By <span class="smcap">Lewis Melville</span>. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. As a
+literary study the book incites interest, and commands attention as a
+further revelation of a brilliant and many-sided literary genius. There
+are admirably written chapters on &#8220;Thackeray as a Reader and Critic,&#8221;
+&#8220;Thackeray as an Artist,&#8221; &#8220;Thackeray&#8217;s Country,&#8221; &#8220;Thackeray&#8217;s Ballads,&#8221;
+&#8220;Thackeray and his Illustrators,&#8221; &#8220;Prototypes of Thackeray&#8217;s Characters,&#8221;
+etc. The volume is fully illustrated.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>ENGLISH LITERATURE.</b> 1880-1905. Pater, Wilde, and after. By <span class="smcap">J. M. Kennedy</span>.
+Demy 8vo, cloth. 7s. 6d. net. Mr. J. M. Kennedy has written the first
+history of the dynamic movement in English literature between 1880 and
+1905. The work begins with a sketch of romanticism and classicism, and
+continues with chapters on Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde, who, in their
+different ways, exercised so great an influence on various poets and
+essayists of the time, all of whom are dealt with.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>ONLY A DOG&#8217;S LIFE.</b> By <span class="smcap">Baron von Taube</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. net. This
+fascinating work was originally published in German, and is now issued in
+the author&#8217;s own English rendering. It has been most favourably received
+in Germany. A Siberian hound, whose sire was a wolf, tells his own story.
+The book, in fact, is a very clever satire on human nature, a satire which
+gains much charm and piquancy from its coming from the mouth of a
+masterful self-respecting hound.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>SOME OLD ENGLISH WORTHIES.</b> Thomas of Reading, George a Green, Roger Bacon,
+Friar Rush. Edited with notes and introduction by <span class="smcap">Dorothy Senior</span>. Medium
+8vo, cloth. 10s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>BY DIVERS PATHS.</b> By <span class="smcap">Eleanor Tyrrell, Annie Matheson, Maude P. King, May
+Sinclair</span>, Professor <span class="smcap">C. H. Herford</span>, Dr. <span class="smcap">Greville Macdonald</span>, and <span class="smcap">C. C.
+Cotterill</span>. New Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt. 3s. 6d. net. A volume of
+natural studies and descriptive and meditative essays interspersed with
+verse.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>IN DEFENCE OF AMERICA.</b> By <span class="smcap">Baron von Taube</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. net. This
+very remarkable book gives the American point of view in reply to
+criticisms of &#8220;Uncle Sam&#8221; frequently made by representatives of &#8220;John
+Bull.&#8221; The author, a Russo-German, who has spent many active years in the
+United States, draws up about thirty &#8220;popular indictments against the
+citizens of Uncle Sam&#8217;s realm,&#8221; and discusses them at length in a very
+original and dispassionate way, exhibiting a large amount of German
+critical acumen together with much American shrewdness. Both &#8220;Uncle Sam&#8221;
+and &#8220;John Bull&#8221; will find in the book general appreciations of their
+several characteristics and not a few valuable suggestions.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>FICTION</h2>
+<p class="center">Crown 8vo, cloth. 6s. each</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>LADY ERMYNTRUDE AND THE PLUMBER.</b> By <span class="smcap">Percy Fendall</span>. This is a tale
+fantastical and satirical, of the year 1920, its quaint humours arising
+out of the fact that a Radical-Socialist Government has passed an Act of
+Parliament requiring every man and woman to earn a living and to live on
+their earnings. There are many admirable strokes of wit dispersed
+throughout, not the least of these being the schedule of charges which the
+king is permitted to make, for he also, under the Work Act, is compelled
+to earn a living.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>AN EXCELLENT MYSTERY.</b> By Countess <span class="smcap">Russell</span>. The scene opens in Ireland with
+a fascinating child, Will-o&#8217;-the-Wisp, and a doting father. A poor mother
+and a selfish elder sister drive her to a marriage which has no sound
+foundation. The husband turns out eccentric, unsympathetic, and even
+cowardly. Will-o&#8217;-the-Wisp has to face at a tender age and with no
+experience the most serious and difficult problems of sex, motherhood and
+marriage. Then with the help of friends, her own good sense and
+determination, and the sensible divorce law of Scotland, she escapes her
+troubles. This forms the conclusion of an artless but thrilling narrative.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>A NIGHT IN THE LUXEMBOURG</b> (Une Nuit au Luxembourg). By <span class="smcap">Remy de Gourmont</span>.
+Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. net. With preface and appendix by Arthur Ransome. M.
+Remy de Gourmont is, perhaps, the greatest of contemporary French writers.
+His books are translated into all languages but ours. &#8220;Une Nuit au
+Luxembourg&#8221; is the first of his works to appear in English, and will be
+followed by others. It will certainly arouse considerable discussion. It
+moves the reader with something more than a purely &aelig;sthetic emotion.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>HUSBAND AND LOVER.</b> By <span class="smcap">Walter Riddall</span>. In this book is given a discerning
+study of a temperament. The author has taken an average artistic man and
+laid bare his feelings and impulses, his desires and innermost thoughts
+under the supreme influence of sex. Frankness is the key-note of the work;
+its truth will be recognised by everyone who faces the facts of his own
+nature and neither blushes nor apologises for them.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>THE CONSIDINE LUCK.</b> By <span class="smcap">H. A. Hinkson</span>. The Considine Luck is primarily a
+story of the Union of Hearts, an English girl&#8217;s love affair with an
+Irishman, and the conflict of character between the self-made man who is
+the charming heroine&#8217;s father and the Irish environment in which he finds
+himself. The writer can rollick with the best, and the Considine Luck is
+not without its rollicking element. But it is in the main a delicate and
+serious love story, with its setting in the green Irish country, among the
+poetical, unpractical people among whom Mr. Hinkson is so thoroughly at
+home.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>A SUPER-MAN IN BEING.</b> By <span class="smcap">Litchfield Woods</span>. Both in its subject-matter and
+craftsmanship this is an arresting piece of work. It is not, in the usual
+sense, a story of love and marriage. Rather, it is the biographical
+presentment of Professor Snaggs, who has lost his eyesight, but who is yet
+known to the outside world as a distinguished historian. The revelation of
+the Professor&#8217;s home life is accomplished with a literary skill of the
+highest kind, showing him to be a combination of super-man and
+super-devil, not so much in the domain of action as in the domain of
+intellect. An extraordinary situation occurs&mdash;a problem in psychology
+intensely interesting to the reader, not so much on its emotional as on
+its intellectual side, and is solved by this super-man in the domain of
+intellect.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>GREAT POSSESSIONS.</b> By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Campbell</span>. A story of modern Americans in
+America and England, this novel deals with the suffering bequeathed by the
+malice of a dead man to the woman he once loved. In imposing upon her son
+the temptations of leisure and great wealth he is a means of making him a
+prey to inherited weakness, and the train of events thus set in motion
+leads to an unexpected outcome. The author is equally familiar with life
+in either country, and the book is an earnest attempt to represent the
+enervating influences of a certain type of existence prevailing among the
+monied classes in New York to-day.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>THE DARKSOME MAIDS OF BAGLEERE.</b> By <span class="smcap">William Kersey</span>. A delightful novel of
+Somerset farming-life. Although a tragedy of the countryside, it is at the
+same time alive with racy country humour. The character drawing is clear
+and strong, and the theme is handled with the restraint of great tragedy.
+This book is of real literary value&mdash;in fact, it recalls to our minds the
+earlier works of Thomas Hardy.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>PLAYS</h2>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>THE KING.</b> A Daring Tragedy. By <span class="smcap">Stephen Phillips</span>, Crown 8vo, cloth. 2s. 6d.
+net. Don Carlos, heir to the throne of Spain, learns that Christina, a
+young lady of the Court, with whom he is secretly in love, is really his
+sister. The gloom of the tragedy is deepened by the discovery that
+Christina is about to be a mother. Brother and sister, who are at the same
+time husband and wife, die by the same dagger. The king, who has already
+abdicated in favour of his son, whom he desired to marry the Princess of
+Spain, resolves to put an end to his life also, but is persuaded by his
+minister that the task of living as king will be a greater punishment for
+all the misery he has created. The story is developed with skill,
+reticence, simplicity, in solemn harmonies and with tragic beauty.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>SHAKESPEARE&#8217;S END AND TWO OTHER IRISH PLAYS.</b> By <span class="smcap">Conal O&#8217;Riordan</span> (Norreys
+Connell). Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net. Mr. O&#8217;Riordan, who is better known by
+his nom-de-guerre of &#8220;Norreys Connell,&#8221; which has served him for twenty
+years, has brought together in this volume the three plays in which he has
+given expression to his view of the relation between England and Ireland.
+In a prefatory letter to Mr. Joseph Conrad he presents a synthesis of the
+trilogy, and explains why this, of his several books, is the first which
+he wishes to associate with his proper name.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>UNCLASSIFIED</h2>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>OH, MY UNCLE!</b> By <span class="smcap">W. Teignmouth Shore</span>, author of &#8220;The Talking Master,&#8221;
+&#8220;D&#8217;Orsay,&#8221; etc. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. Wit, fun, frolic, fairy tale,
+nonsense verses, satire, comedy, farce, criticism; a touch of each, an
+<i>olla podrida</i> which cannot be classified. It certainly is not history,
+yet cannot fairly be put under the heading fiction; it is not realism, yet
+fairy-taleism does not fully describe it; it deals with well-known folk,
+yet it is not a &#8220;romance with a key&#8221;; it is not a love story, yet there is
+love in it; in short, again, it cannot be classified. It is a book for
+those who love laughter, yet it is not merely frivolous. It deals with the
+lights of life, with just a touch now and again of delicate shadow. One
+thing may safely be said&mdash;Miss Blue-Eyes and Uncle Daddy will make many
+friends.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>STEPHEN SWIFT &amp; CO., LTD.</h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><b>Footnotes:</b></p>
+
+<p><a name="f1" id="f1" href="#f1.1">[1]</a> These dates are important in another aspect of the matter&mdash;the
+authorship of the plan. I will, therefore, return to them in more detail
+at the close of this section.</p>
+
+<p><a name="f2" id="f2" href="#f2.1">[2]</a> I pay no attention to the ridiculous suggestion that the delay was due
+to the contemporary peril in Poland, and to Thugut&#8217;s anxiety to have
+Austrian troops in the east rather than on the western frontier. People
+who write modern history thus seem to forget that the electric telegraph
+did not exist in the eighteenth century. The more reasonable pretension
+that the Austrians hesitated between marching north to effect the plan
+against Souham, and marching east to relieve the pressure upon Kaunitz,
+who was hard pressed upon the Sambre, deserves consideration. But
+Kaunitz&#8217;s despatch, telling how he had been forced to fall back, did not
+reach headquarters until the 12th, and if immediate orders had been given
+for the northern march, that march would have begun before the news of
+Kaunitz&#8217;s reverse had arrived. The only reasonable explanation in this as
+in most problems in human history, is the psychological one. You have to
+explain the delay of George III.&#8217;s son, and Joseph II.&#8217;s nephew. To anyone
+not obsessed by the superstition of rank, the mere portraits of these
+eminent soldiers would be enough to explain it.</p>
+
+<p><a name="f3" id="f3" href="#f3.1">[3]</a> Fortescue, vol. iv., part i., p. 255.</p>
+
+<p><a name="f4" id="f4" href="#f4.1">[4]</a> After so many allusions to his youth, I may as well give the date of
+his birth. Frederick, Duke of York, the second son of King George III. of
+England, was not yet thirty when he suffered at Tourcoing, having been
+born in 1765. He had the misfortune to die in 1827.</p>
+
+<p><a name="f5" id="f5" href="#f5.1">[5]</a> The reader not indifferent to comedy will hear with pleasure that,
+among various accounts of Kinsky&#8217;s communication with the Arch-Duke
+Charles at this juncture, one describes that Royalty as inaccessible after
+the fatigue of the day. His colleague is represented as asking in vain for
+an interview, and receiving from a servant the reply &#8220;that his Imperial
+Highness must not be disturbed, as he was occupied in having a fit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name="f6" id="f6" href="#f6.1">[6]</a> At a point somewhat below Wervicq: much where the private ferry now
+plies.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tourcoing, by Hilaire Belloc
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOURCOING ***
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+***** This file should be named 32260-h.htm or 32260-h.zip *****
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tourcoing, by Hilaire Belloc
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tourcoing
+
+Author: Hilaire Belloc
+
+Release Date: May 5, 2010 [EBook #32260]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOURCOING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TOURCOING
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+  TOURCOING
+
+
+  BY
+  HILAIRE BELLOC
+
+
+  MCMXII
+  STEPHEN SWIFT AND CO., LTD.
+  16 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN
+  LONDON
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  PART                                               PAGE
+
+    I. THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE                       9
+
+   II. THE GENERAL MILITARY SITUATION                  17
+
+  III. THE PLAN OF THE ALLIES                          28
+
+   IV. THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE BATTLE                 49
+
+    V. THE TERRAIN                                     57
+
+   VI. THE ACTION                                      67
+
+
+
+
+TOURCOING
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE
+
+
+The Battle of Tourcoing is one of those actions upon which European
+history in general is somewhat confused, and English history, in
+particular, ignorant.
+
+That British troops formed part of those who suffered defeat, and that a
+British commander, the Duke of York, was the chief figure in the reverse,
+affords no explanation; for the almost exactly parallel case of
+Fontenoy--in which another royal duke, also the son of the reigning King
+of England, also very young, also an excellent general officer, and also
+in command was defeated--is among the most familiar of actions in this
+country. In both battles the posture of the British troops earned them as
+great and as deserved a fame as they had acquired in victory; in both was
+work done by the Guards in particular, which called forth the admiration
+of the enemy. Yet Tourcoing remains unknown to the English general reader
+of history, while Fontenoy is one of the few stock names of battles which
+he can at once recall.
+
+The reason that British historians neglect this action is not, then, as
+foreign and rival historians are too inclined to pretend, due to the fact
+that among the forces that suffered disaster were present certain British
+contingents.
+
+Again, as will be seen in the sequel, the overwhelming of the Duke of
+York's forces at Tourcoing, by numbers so enormously superior to his own,
+was not due to any tactical fault of his, though it is possible that the
+faulty plan of the whole action may in some measure be ascribed to him.
+
+Now Tourcoing is a battle which Englishmen should know, both for its
+importance in the military history of Europe, and for the not unworthy
+demeanour which the British troops, though defeated, maintained upon its
+field.
+
+The true reason that Tourcoing is so little known in this country is to be
+discovered in that other historical fact attaching to the battle, which I
+have mentioned. It occupied but a confused and an uncertain place in the
+general history of Europe; though perhaps, were its military significance
+fully understood, it would stand out in sharper relief. For though the
+Battle of Tourcoing was not the beginning of any great military series,
+nor the end of one; though no very striking immediate political
+consequence followed upon it, yet it was Tourcoing which made Fleurus
+possible, and it was Fleurus that opened the victorious advancing march of
+the French which, looked at as a whole, proceeded triumphantly
+thenceforward for nearly eighteen years and achieved the transformation of
+European society.
+
+What, then, was the political circumstance under which this action was
+fought?
+
+The French Revolution, by the novelty of its doctrines, by the fierceness
+and rapidity of its action, and by that military character in it which was
+instinctively divined upon the part of its opponents, challenged, shortly
+after its inception, the armed interference of those ancient traditional
+governments, external to and neighbouring upon French territory, which
+felt themselves threatened by the rapid advance of democracy.
+
+With the steps that led from the first peril of conflict to its actual
+outbreak, we are not concerned. That outbreak took place in April 1792,
+almost exactly three years after the meeting of the first Revolutionary
+Parliament in Versailles.
+
+The first stages of the war (which was conducted by Austria and Prussia
+upon the one side, against the French forces upon the other) were
+singularly slow. No general action was engaged in until the month of
+September, and even then the struggle between the rival armies took the
+form not so much of a pitched battle as of an inconclusive cannonade known
+to history as that of VALMY. This inconclusive cannonade took place in the
+heart of French territory during the march of the invaders upon Paris.
+Disease, and the accident of weather, determined the retreat of the
+invaders immediately afterwards. In the autumn of the year, the French
+forces largely recruited by enthusiastic volunteer levies, but of low
+military value, poured over the country then called the Austrian
+Netherlands and now Belgium. But their success was shortlived. A mere
+efflux of numbers could not hold against the trained and increasing
+resistance of the Imperial soldiers. In the spring of 1793 the retreat
+began, and through the summer of that year the military position of
+Revolutionary France grew graver and graver. Internal rebellions of the
+most serious character broke out over the whole territory of the Republic.
+In Normandy, in the great town of Lyons, in Marseilles, and particularly
+in the Western districts surrounding the mouth of the Loire, these
+rebellions had each in turn their moment of success, while the great naval
+station of Toulon opened its port to the enemy, and received the combined
+English and Spanish Fleets.
+
+Coincidently with the enormous task of suppressing this widespread
+domestic rebellion, the Revolutionary Government was compelled to meet the
+now fully organised advance of its foreign enemies. It was at war no
+longer with Austria and Prussia alone, but with England, with Holland,
+with Spain as well, and the foreign powers not only thrust back the
+incursion which the French had made beyond their frontiers, but proceeded
+to attack and to capture, one after the other, that barrier of fortresses
+in the north-east which guarded the advance on Paris.
+
+The succession of misfortune after misfortune befalling the French arms
+was checked, and the tide turned by the victory won at Wattignies in
+October 1793. After that victory the immediate peril of a successful
+invasion, coupled with the capture of Paris, was dissipated. But it was
+yet uncertain for many months which way the tide would turn--whether the
+conflict would end in a sort of stale-mate by which the French should
+indeed be left independent for the moment, but the armed governments of
+Europe their enemies also left powerful to attack and in the end to ruin
+them; or whether (as was actually the case) the French should ultimately
+be able to take the offensive, to re-cross their frontiers, and to dictate
+to their foes a triumphant peace.
+
+As I have said, the great action from which history must date the long
+series of French triumphs, bears the name of Fleurus; but before Fleurus
+there came that considerable success which made Fleurus possible, to which
+history gives the name of TOURCOING (from the town standing in the midst
+of the very large and uncertain area over which the struggle was
+maintained), and which provides the subject of these pages.
+
+Fleurus was decided in June 1794. It was not a battle in which British
+troops were concerned, and therefore can form no part of this series.
+Tourcoing was decided in the preceding May, and though, I repeat, it
+cannot be made the fixed and striking starting-point from which to date
+the long years of the French advantages, yet it was, as it were, the seed
+of those advantages, and it was Tourcoing, in its incomplete and
+complicated success, which made possible all that was to follow.
+
+Tourcoing, then, must be regarded as an unexpected, not wholly conclusive,
+but none the less fundamental phase in the development of political forces
+which led to the establishment of the modern world. Its immediate result,
+though not decisive, was appreciable. To use a metaphor, it was felt in
+Paris, and to a less extent in London, Berlin, and in Vienna, that the
+door against which the French were desperately pushing, though not fully
+open, was thrust ajar. The defeat of a portion of the allied forces in
+this general action, the inefficacy of the rest, the heartening which it
+put into the French defence, and the moral effect of such trophies gained,
+and such a rout inflicted, were of capital import to the whole story of
+the war.
+
+This is the political aspect in which we must regard the Battle of
+Tourcoing, but its chief interest by far lies in its purely military
+aspect; in the indiscretion which so nearly led the French forces to
+annihilation; in the plan which was laid to surround and to destroy those
+forces by the convergence of the English, Prussian, and Austrian columns;
+in the way in which that plan came to nothing, and resulted only in a
+crushing disaster to one advanced portion of the forces so converging.
+
+Tourcoing is rather a battle for military than for civilian historians,
+but those who find recreation in military problems upon their own account,
+apart from their political connection, will always discover the accidents
+of this engagement, its unexpected developments, and its final issue to be
+of surpassing interest.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+THE GENERAL MILITARY SITUATION
+
+
+In order to understand what happened at the Battle of Tourcoing, it is
+first necessary to have in mind the general situation of the forces which
+opposed each other round and about what is now the Franco-Belgian
+frontier, in the spring of 1794.
+
+These forces were, of course, those of the French Republic upon the one
+hand, upon the other the coalition with its varied troops furnished by
+Austria, by Prussia, by England, and some few by sundry of the small
+States which formed part of the general alliance for the destruction of
+the new democracy.
+
+The whole campaign of 1794 stands apart from that of 1793. The intervening
+winter was a period during which, if we disregard a number of small
+actions in which the French took the offensive, nothing of moment was
+done upon either side, and we must begin our study with the preparations,
+originating in the month of February, for the active efforts which it was
+proposed to attempt when the spring should break.
+
+In that month of February, Mack, recently promoted to the rank of
+Major-General in the Austrian army, met the Duke of York, the young
+soldier son of George III., in London, to concert the common plan. It was
+upon the 12th of that month that this meeting took place. Mack brought the
+news to the British Cabinet that the Emperor of Austria, his master, was
+prepared to act as Commander-in-Chief of the allied army in the coming
+campaign, proposed a general plan of advancing from the Belgian frontier
+upon Paris after the capture of the frontier fortresses, and negotiated
+for the largest possible British contingent.
+
+Coburg, it was arranged, should be the General in practical command (under
+the nominal headship of the Emperor). Prussian troops, in excess of the
+twenty thousand which Prussia owed as a member of the Empire, were
+obtained upon the promise of a large subsidy from England and Holland, and
+with the month of April some 120,000 men were holding the line from Treves
+to the sea. This passed through and occupied Dinant, Bavai, Valenciennes,
+St Amand, Denain, Tournai, Ypres, and Nieuport. To this number must be
+added men in the garrisons, perhaps some 40,000 more. Of this long line
+the strength lay in the centre.
+
+The central army, under the general command of Coburg, who had his
+headquarters at Valenciennes, was, if we exclude men in garrisons,
+somewhat over 65,000 in strength, or more than half the whole strength of
+the long line. With Coburg in the central army was the Duke of York with
+some 22,000, and the Prince of Orange with a rather smaller contingent of
+Dutch.
+
+Over against this long line with its heavy central "knot" or bulk of men
+under Coburg, in the neighbourhood of Valenciennes, the genius of Carnot
+had mustered over 200,000 French troops, which, when we have deducted
+various items for garrisons and other services, counted as effective more
+than 150,000 but less than 160,000 men. This French line extended from the
+sea to Maubeuge, passing through Dunquerque, Cassel, Lille, Cambrai, and
+Bouchain.
+
+It was as a fact a little before the opening of April that the French
+began the campaign by taking the offensive on a large scale upon the
+29th of March.
+
+
+[Illustration: SKETCH MAP SHOWING THE OPPOSING FRENCH AND ALLIED LINES.
+APRIL 1794]
+
+
+Pichegru, who was in command of that frontier army, attacked, with 30,000
+men, the positions of the allies near Le Cateau, well to the right or
+south-east of their centre and his, and was beaten back.
+
+It was upon the 14th of April that the Emperor of Austria joined Coburg at
+Valenciennes, held a review of his troops (including the British
+contingent, which will be given later in detail), fixed his headquarters
+in the French town of Le Cateau, and at once proceeded to the first
+operation of the campaign, which was the siege of the stronghold of
+Landrecies. The Dutch contingent of the allies drove in the French
+outposts and carried the main French position in front of the town within
+that week. By the 22nd of April the garrison of Landrecies was contained,
+the beleaguering troops had encircled it, and the siege was begun.
+
+After certain actions (most of them partial, and one of peculiar
+brilliance in the history of the British cavalry), actions each of
+interest, and some upon a considerable scale, but serving only to confuse
+the reader if they were here detailed, Landrecies fell after eight days'
+siege, upon the 30th of April. An advance of the Austrian centre, after
+this success, was naturally expected by the French.
+
+That normal development of the campaign did not take place on account of a
+curious episode in the strategy of this moment to which I beg the reader
+to give a peculiar attention. It is necessary to grasp exactly the nature
+of that episode, for it determined all that was to follow.
+
+While the fate of Landrecies still hung in the balance, and before the
+surrender of the town, Pichegru had, in another part of the long line,
+scored one of those successes which in any game or struggle are worse than
+losing a trick or suffering a defeat. It was one of those successes in
+which one gets the better of one's opponent in one chance part of the
+general contest, but so triumphs without a set plan, with no calculation
+upon what should follow upon the achievement, and therefore with every
+prospect of finding oneself in a worse posture after it than before.
+
+To take an analogy from chess: Pichegru's error, which I will presently
+describe, might be compared to the action of a player who, taking a castle
+of his opponent's with his queen, thereby leaves his king unguarded and
+open to check-mate.
+
+Wherever men are opposed one to the other in lines, each line having the
+mission to advance against the other, it is a fatal move to get what
+footballers call "'fore side": to let a portion of your forces advance too
+far from the general line held by the whole, and to have the advanced part
+of that portion thus isolated from the support of its fellows. Such a
+formation invites a concentration of your opponents against the isolated
+body, and may lead to its destruction.
+
+It was precisely in this position that Pichegru placed a portion of his
+forces by the ill-advised advance he made down the valley of the Lys to
+Courtrai.
+
+Taking advantage of the way in which the main forces of the allies were
+tied to the siege of Landrecies, the French commander wisely moved forward
+the whole of his forces to the north and west, pushing the enemy back
+before him to the line Ypres-Menin, and besieging Menin itself. But most
+unwisely he not only permitted to advance, but himself directed and led, a
+body of 30,000 men (the command of General Souham) far forward of this
+general movement: he actually carried it on as far as the town of
+Courtrai.
+
+The accompanying sketch map shows how much too far advanced this wedge
+of men (so large a contingent to imperil by isolation!) was beyond the
+general line, and, to repeat the phrase I have just used, a metaphor which
+best expresses my meaning, Souham and his division, by Pichegru's direct
+orders, had got "'fore side."
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The only excuse that can be pleaded for Pichegru's folly in this matter,
+was the temptation presented by the weak garrison of Courtrai, and the
+bait which a facile temporary success always holds out for a man who has
+formed no consistent general plan. But that very excuse is the strongest
+condemnation of the inexcusable error, and this strategical fault of
+Pichegru's was soon paid for by the imperilling of all the great body of
+French troops within that rashly projected triangle.
+
+For the moment Pichegru may have foolishly congratulated himself that he
+had done something of military value, as he had certainly done something
+striking. Menin fell to the French on the same day that Landrecies did to
+the Austrians, and this further success doubtless tempted him to remain
+with the head of his wedge at Courtrai, when every consideration of
+strategy should have prompted him to retrace his steps and to recall the
+over-advanced division back into line.
+
+This isolated position down the valley of the Lys, this wedge thrust out
+in front of Lille, positively asked the allies to attack it.
+
+The enemy was a fortnight developing his plan, but his delay was equalled
+by Pichegru's determination to hold the advanced post he had captured; and
+when the allies did finally close in upon that advanced post, nothing but
+a series of accidents, which we shall follow in detail when we come to the
+story of the action, saved Souham from annihilation. And the destruction
+of Souham's division, considering its numbers and its central position,
+might have involved the whole French line in a general defeat.
+
+As I have said, it was at the end of April that this false success of
+Pichegru's was achieved, and a whole fortnight was to elapse before the
+allies concentrated to take advantage of that error, and to cut off
+Souham's division.
+
+That fortnight was full of minor actions, not a few of them interesting to
+the student of military history, and one again remarkable as a feat of
+English horse. I deliberately omit all mention of these lest I should
+confuse the reader and disturb his conception of the great battle that
+was to follow.
+
+That battle proceeded upon a certain plan thought out in detail, perfectly
+simple in character, and united in conception. It failed, as we shall see;
+and by its failure turned what should have been the cutting-off and
+destruction of Souham's command into a signal French victory. But before
+we can understand the causes of its failure, we must grasp the plan itself
+in its major lines, and with that object I shall discuss it in my next
+section under the title of "The Plan of the Allies."
+
+
+
+
+PART III
+
+THE PLAN OF THE ALLIES
+
+
+If the reader will look at the map opposite he will see in what
+disposition the armies of the allies were, at the end of April and the
+first days of May 1794, to carry into effect the plan which I proceed to
+describe.
+
+There, in its triangle or advanced wedge, with a base stretching across
+Lille and an apex at Courtrai, lay the exposed French division, Souham's.
+
+Clerfayt was to the north of that wedge. The French, in pushing their
+wedge up to Courtrai, had thus separated him from the rest of the allies.
+Clerfayt lay with his command round about the district of Roulers; he
+attempted to return and oust Souham, but he failed, and to the north of
+the French wedge, and separated from the rest of the allies by its
+intervening thousands, he remained up to, throughout, and after the great
+battle that was to follow.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Right away down south, nearly sixty miles as the crow flies, lay the bulk
+of the Austrian army, Coburg's command, round the town which it had just
+captured, Landrecies. The Duke of York's command, detached from this main
+army of Coburg, had been ordered north, and was, by May 3rd, at Tournai.
+To the east lay the Prussian forces together with a small body of
+Hanoverians, about 4000 in number, which last could be brought up on to
+the Scheldt River when necessary.
+
+It will thus be seen that the allies, at the moment when the plan was
+about to be formulated, lay on either side of the French wedge, and that
+any scheme for cutting off that wedge from the main French line must
+consist in causing a great force of the allies to appear rapidly and
+unexpectedly between Courtrai and Lille.
+
+In order to do this, it was necessary to get Clerfayt to march down south
+to some point where he could cross the River Lys, while the rest of the
+allies were marching north from their southern positions to join hands
+with him.
+
+When this larger mass of the allies coming up from the south and the east
+should have joined hands with Clerfayt, all the great French body lying
+advanced in the valley of the Lys round Menin and Courtrai would be cut
+off.
+
+Now the success of such a plan obviously depended upon two factors:
+synchrony and surprise. That is, its success depended upon the accurate
+keeping of a time-table, and upon carrying it out too quickly and
+unexpectedly for Souham to fall back in time.
+
+Clerfayt's force coming down from the north, all the rest of the allies
+coming up from the east and the south must march with the common object of
+reaching "R," a fixed rendezvous, agreed upon beforehand, and of meeting
+there together at some appointed time. If any considerable body lagged
+behind the rest, if part of the great force marching up from the south,
+for instance, failed to keep in line with the general advance, or if
+Clerfayt bungled or delayed, the junction would be imperfect or might even
+not take place at all, and the number of men present to cut off the French
+when a partial and imperfect junction had been effected, might be too
+small to maintain itself astraddle of the French communications, and to
+prevent the great French force from breaking its way through back to
+Lille.
+
+So much for synchrony: and as for surprise, it is obvious that for the
+success of this plan it was necessary to work both rapidly and secretly.
+
+Here was Souham with a body of men which recent reinforcement had raised
+to some 40,000, lying much too far ahead of the general French line and in
+peril of being cut off. Pichegru was foolish to maintain him in that
+advanced position, but, though that was an error, it was an error based
+upon a certain amount of calculation. Pichegru, and Souham under his
+orders, kept to their perilous position round Courtrai, because it did
+after all cut the allies in two, and because they knew that they could
+deal with Clerfayt's force upon the north (which was only half their own),
+while they also knew that the bulk of their enemies were tied down, far
+away to the south, by the operations round Landrecies.
+
+If Souham at Courtrai got news in time of the march northward of that main
+southern force, he had only to fall back upon Lille to be saved.
+
+It was not until the 10th of May that the plan was elaborated whereby it
+was hoped to annihilate Souham's command, and this plan seems to have
+occurred first to the Duke of York upon the evening of that day, after a
+successful minor action between his troops and the French just outside
+Tournai.
+
+The Duke of York had been at Tournai a week, having come up there from
+Landrecies after the fall of that fortress, though the mass of the
+Austrian forces still remained away in the south. The week had been spent
+in "feeling" the south-eastern front of the French advanced "wedge," and
+it was by the evening of the 10th that the Duke of York appears to have
+decided that the time was ripe for a general movement.
+
+At any rate, it was upon the morrow, the 11th, that the English Prince
+sent word to Clerfayt that he intended to submit to the Emperor, who was
+the ultimate authority upon the side of the allies, a plan for the general
+and decisive action he desired to bring about. On the next day, the 12th,
+a Monday, the Duke of York wrote to Clerfayt that he hoped, "on the day
+after the morrow" (that is, upon the Wednesday, the 14th), "to take a
+decisive movement against the enemy." And we may presume that the Duke had
+communicated to the Emperor the nature of his plan. For on the 13th, the
+Tuesday, the Emperor was in possession of it, and his orders, sent out
+upon that day, set out the plan in detail.[1] That plan was as follows:--
+
+Clerfayt, with his force, which was rather less than 20,000 all told, was
+to march south from Thielt, his headquarters for the moment, and advance
+upon the little town of Wervicq upon the River Lys. Here there was a
+bridge, and Clerfayt was also in possession of pontoons wherewith to pass
+the stream. Meanwhile, the southern mass of the allies was to concentrate
+upon the Scheldt in the following manner:
+
+The few thousand Hanoverians, under Bussche, were to take up their
+position at Warcoing, just upon and across that river. Two miles further
+south, Otto, with a larger Austrian force accompanied by certain English
+cavalry (the numbers will follow), was to concentrate at Bailleul.
+
+The Duke of York's own large force, which had been at Tournai for over a
+week, was to go forward a little and concentrate at Templeuve. Five miles
+to the south of Templeuve, at Froidmont, a column, somewhat larger than
+the Duke of York's, under Kinsky, was to concentrate.
+
+There were thus to be concentrated upon the south of the French wedge
+four separate bodies under orders to advance northward together.
+
+The first, under Bussche, was only about 4000 strong, the Hanoverians and
+Prussians; the second, under Otto, from about 10,000 strong; the third,
+under the Duke of York, of much the same strength, or a little less; and
+the fourth, under Kinsky, some 11,000.
+
+These four numbered nearly, or quite, 35,000 men, less than the "nearly
+40,000" at which certain French historians have estimated their strength.
+
+To these four columns (which I will beg the reader to remember by their
+numbers of first, second, third, and fourth, as well as by the names of
+their commanders, Bussche, Otto, York, and Kinsky) a fifth must be added,
+the appreciation of whose movements and failure is the whole explanation
+of the coming battle.
+
+The fifth column was a body of no less than 16,000 men coming from the
+main Austrian body far south, and ordered to be at St Amand upon the
+Scheldt somewhat before the concentration of the other four columns, and
+to advance from St Amand to Pont-a-Marcq. Upon reaching Pont-a-Marcq this
+fifth column would be in line with the other four at Warcoing, Bailleul,
+Templeuve, and Froidmont, and ready to take its part in the great forward
+movement towards the north.
+
+In order to appreciate the way in which the issue was bound to depend upon
+this fifth column, I must now detail the orders given to all six, the five
+columns in the valley of the Scheldt, and the sixth body, under Clerfayt,
+north of the Lys; for it is these orders which constitute the soul of the
+plan.
+
+Bussche, with his small body of 4000 Hanoverians, the first column, had
+the task of "holding" the apex of the French wedge when the attack should
+begin. That is, it was his task to do no more with his inferior forces
+than send one portion up the road towards Courtrai, so that the advanced
+French troops there should be engaged while another part of his small
+command should attack the little town of Mouscron, which the French held,
+of course, for it was within their wedge of occupation. It was obviously
+not hoped that this little body could do more than keep the French
+occupied, prevent their falling back towards Lille, and perhaps make them
+believe that the main attack was coming from Bussche's men.
+
+The second column, under Otto, was to advance upon Tourcoing, in those
+days a little town, now a great manufacturing city.
+
+The third column, that under the Duke of York, was to march side by side
+with Otto's column, and to make for Mouveaux, a village upon a level with
+Tourcoing upon this line of advance, and to be reached by marching through
+Roubaix (now also a great manufacturing town, but then a small place).
+
+None of these advances, Bussche's, Otto's, or York's, was of any
+considerable length. The longest march through which any of these three
+columns had to fight its way was that of the Duke of York from Templeuve
+to Mouveaux, and even this was not eight miles.
+
+The fourth column, under Kinsky, had a harder task and a longer march. It
+was to carry Bouvines, which was in the hands of the French and nearly
+seven miles from Froidmont (Kinsky's point of departure), and when it had
+done this it was to turn to the north with one part of its force in order
+to shelter the march of the Duke of York from attacks by the French troops
+near Lille, while another part of its force was to join with the fifth
+column and march up with it until both came upon a level with York and
+Otto in the neighbourhood of Tourcoing and Mouveaux.
+
+Now it was to this fifth column, the 16,000 men or more under the
+Arch-Duke Charles, that the great work of the day was assigned. From
+Pont-a-Marcq they must attack a great French body quite equal to their own
+in numbers, even when part of Kinsky's force had joined them, which French
+force lay in the camp at Sainghin. They must thrust this force back
+towards Lille, pour up northward, and arrive in support of Otto and York
+by the time these two commanders were respectively at Tourcoing and
+Mouveaux.
+
+In other words, the fifth column, that of the Arch-Duke Charles, was asked
+to make an advance of nearly fourteen miles, involving heavy fighting in
+its first part, and yet to synchronise with columns who had to advance no
+more than five miles or seven.
+
+Supposing all went well, Clerfayt--crossing the Lys at Wervicq at the same
+hour which saw the departure of the five southern columns from Warcoing,
+Bailleul, Templeuve, Froidmont, and Pont-a-Marcq respectively, was to
+advance southward from the river towards Mouveaux and Tourcoing, a
+distance of some seven miles, while the others were advancing on the same
+points from the south.
+
+If the time-table were accurately kept and this great combined movement
+all fitted in, Clerfayt would join hands with the second, third, fourth,
+and fifth columns somewhere in the neighbourhood of Tourcoing and
+Mouveaux, a great force of over 60,000 men would lie between the French
+troops at Lille and Souham's 40,000 in the "advanced wedge," and those
+40,000 thus isolated were, in a military sense, destroyed.
+
+Such being the mechanism or map of the scheme, we must next inquire the
+exact dates and hours upon which the working of the whole was planned.
+
+The Duke of York, as we have seen when he was arranging the business and
+writing to Clerfayt and the Emperor, had talked of moving upon the 14th,
+by which presumably he meant organising the attack on the 14th, and
+setting the first columns in motion from their places of rendezvous in the
+early hours of that day, Wednesday, before dawn.
+
+If that was in his mind, it shows him to have been a prompt and energetic
+man, and to have had a full appreciation of the place which surprise
+occupied in the chances of success. If, indeed, the Emperor got the Duke
+of York's message in time on the 12th, if he had at once accepted the
+plan, and had with Napoleonic rapidity ordered the bulk of his forces
+(which were still right away south and east) to move, he might have had
+them by forced marches upon and across the Scheldt, and ready to execute
+the plan by the 14th, or at any rate by the morning of the 15th.
+
+But from what we know of the family to which the Duke of York belonged, it
+is exceedingly improbable that this younger son of George III. had, on
+this one occasion only, any lightning in his brain; and even if he did
+appreciate more or less the importance of rapid action, the Emperor did
+not appreciate it. He committed the two contradictory faults of delaying
+the movement and of asking too much marching of his men, and it was not
+until the morning of the Wednesday, May the 14th, that the bulk of the
+Austrian army, which still lay in the Valenciennes and Landrecies
+district, broke up for its northward march, to arrive at the rendezvous
+beyond the Scheldt, and to carry out the plan.[2]
+
+It was not until Thursday the 15th of May that the Emperor joined the Duke
+of York at Tournai, and very late upon the same day the Arch-Duke Charles
+had brought up the main body of the Austrian forces from the south to the
+town of St Amand.
+
+We shall see later what a grievous error it was to demand so violent an
+effort from the men of the Arch-Duke Charles' command. From Landrecies
+itself to St Amand is 30 miles as the crow flies; and though, of course,
+the mass of the troops which the Arch-Duke Charles had been thus commanded
+to bring up northward in such haste were most of them well on the right
+side of Landrecies when the order to advance reached them, yet the
+average march undertaken by his men in little more than twenty-four hours
+was a full twenty miles, and some of his units must have covered nearer
+thirty. I will not delay further on this point here; its full importance
+will appear when we come to talk of the action itself.
+
+The Arch-Duke Charles being only as far as St Amand on the evening of
+Thursday the 15th, and his rendezvous, that of the fifth column in the
+great plan, being Pont-a-Marcq, a further good sixteen miles
+north-westward, it was evident that the inception of that plan and the
+simultaneous advance of all the five columns from their five
+starting-points of Warcoing, Bailleul, Templeuve, Froidmont, and
+Pont-a-Marcq, could not begin even upon the 16th. It would take the best
+part of a day to bring the Arch-Duke Charles up to Pont-a-Marcq; his men
+were in imperative need of rest during a full night at St Amand, and it is
+probable, though I have no proof of it, that he had not even fully
+concentrated there by the evening of the 15th, and that his last units
+only joined him during the forenoon of the 16th.
+
+The whole of that day, therefore, the 16th, was consumed so far as the
+first, second, third, and fourth columns were concerned, in merely
+gathering and marshalling their forces, and occupying, before nightfall,
+the points from which they were to depart simultaneously in the combined
+advance of the morrow. They _had_ to wait thus for the dawn of the 17th,
+because they had to allow time for the fifth column to come up.
+
+The time-table imposed upon the great plan by these delays is now
+apparent. The moment when all the strings of the net were to be pulled
+together round Souham was the space between midnight and dawn of Saturday
+the 17th of May. And the hour when all the six bodies of the allies were
+to join hands at "R" near Tourcoing was the noon of that day.
+
+Before day broke upon the 17th, Clerfayt was to find himself at Wervicq
+upon the River Lys and across that stream, while of the five southern
+columns the Arch-Duke Charles was to be attacking the French troops just
+in front of Pont-a-Marcq with the fifth column at the same moment; Kinsky,
+with the fourth, was to be well on the way from Froidmont to Bouvines
+where he was to attack the French also and cross the bridge; the Duke of
+York, with the third, was to be well on the way from Templeuve to Lannoy;
+Otto, with the second, was to be equally advanced upon his line, somewhere
+by Wattrelos in his march upon Tourcoing; while Bussche, with his small
+first column, on the extreme north, was to be getting into contact with
+the French posts south of Courtrai, which it was his duty to "hold,"
+impressing upon Souham the idea that a main attack might develop in that
+quarter, and so deluding the French into maintaining their perilously
+advanced stations until they were cut off from Lille by the rest of the
+allies.
+
+The morning would be filled by the advance of Clerfayt from Wervicq
+southward upon Mouveaux and Tourcoing, while the corresponding fighting
+advance northward upon Mouveaux and Tourcoing also, of Otto, York, Kinsky,
+and the Arch-Duke Charles, should result somewhere about noon in their
+joining hands with Clerfayt and forming one great body: a body cutting off
+Courtrai from Lille, and the 40,000 under Souham from their fellows in the
+main French line.
+
+With such a time-table properly observed, the plan should have succeeded,
+and between the noon and the evening of that Saturday, the great force
+which Souham commanded should have been at the mercy of the allies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Such was the plan and such the time-table upon which it was schemed. Its
+success depended, of course, as I have said, upon an exact keeping of that
+time-table, and also upon the net being drawn round Souham before he had
+guessed what was happening. The second of these conditions, we shall see
+when we come to speak of "The Preliminaries of the Action," was
+successfully accomplished. The first was not; and its failure is the story
+of the defeat suffered by the Duke of York in particular, and the
+consequent break-down of the whole strategical conception of the allies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But before dealing with this it is necessary to establish a disputed
+point.
+
+I have spoken throughout of the plan as the Duke of York's. Because it
+failed, and because the Duke of York was an English prince, historians in
+this country have not only rejected this conclusion, but, as a rule, have
+not even mentioned it. The plan has been represented as Mack's plan, as a
+typical example of Austrian pedantry and folly, the Duke of York as the
+victim of foolish foreigners who did not know their business, and it has
+even been hinted that the Austrians desired defeat! With the latter
+extravagant and even comic suggestion I will deal later in this study; for
+the moment I am only concerned with the responsibility of the Duke of
+York.
+
+It must, in the first place, be clearly understood that the failure of the
+plan does not reflect upon the judgment of that commander. It failed
+because Clerfayt was not up to time, and because too much had been asked
+of the fifth column. The Duke came of a family not famous for genius; he
+was exceedingly young, and whatever part he may have had in the framing of
+this large conception ought surely to stand to his credit.
+
+It is true that Mack, the Austrian General, drafted details of the plan
+immediately before it was carried into execution, and our principal
+military historian in this country tells us how "on the 16th, Mack
+prepared an elaborate plan which he designed."[3]
+
+Well, the 16th was the Friday.
+
+Now we know that on the 11th of May, the Sunday, the Emperor and his
+staff had no intention of making a combined attack to cut off Souham from
+Lille, for orders were given to Clerfayt on that day to engage Souham
+along the valley of the Lys for the purpose of holding the attention of
+the French, and in the hope of recovering Menin--the exact opposite of
+what would have been ordered if a secret and unexpected attempt to cut off
+Souham by crossing further up the river had been intended. It was at the
+same moment that the Duke of York was sending word to Clerfayt on his own
+account, to the effect that he intended to submit a plan to the Emperor,
+and it is worth noting that in the very order which was sent to Clerfayt
+by the Emperor he was told to refer to the Duke of York as to his future
+movements.
+
+The archives of the Ministry of War at Vienna have it on record that the
+Duke of York made a definite statement of a plan to Clerfayt, which plan
+he intended to submit to the Emperor immediately, and a letter dated upon
+the Monday, the 12th--four days before there is any talk of Mack's
+arranging details,--York writes to Clerfayt telling him that he hopes to
+make his decisive movement against the enemy on the Wednesday, the 14th.
+
+On the 13th, Tuesday, the orders of the Emperor to both Clerfayt and the
+Duke of York (which are also on record) set down this plan in detail,
+mentioning the point Wervicq at which Clerfayt was expected to cross the
+river Lys, and at the same time directing the Duke of York to march
+northward with the object of joining Clerfayt, and thus cutting off the
+French forces massed round Courtrai from their base. Further, in this same
+despatch, the initiative is particularly left to the Duke of York, and it
+is once more from him that Clerfayt is to await decisions as to the moment
+and details of the operation.
+
+The same archives record the Duke of York sending Lieut.-Colonel Calvert
+to Clerfayt upon the 14th, to tell him that he meant to attack upon the
+morrow, the 15th, and they further inform us that it was on the English
+Prince's learning how scattered were Clerfayt's units, and how long it
+would therefore take him to concentrate, that action was delayed by some
+thirty-six hours.
+
+Evidence of this sort is absolutely conclusive. The plan was not Mack's;
+it was York's.
+
+
+
+
+PART IV
+
+THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE BATTLE
+
+
+Tourcoing is an action the preliminaries of which are easy to describe,
+and need occupy little of our space, because it was a battle in which the
+plan of one side was developed and prosecuted almost to its conclusion
+without a corresponding plan upon the other side.
+
+As a rule, the preliminaries of a battle consist in the dispositions taken
+by each side for hours or for days--sometimes for weeks--beforehand, in
+order to be in a posture to receive or to attack the other side. These
+preliminaries include manoeuvring for position, and sometimes in the
+fighting of minor subsidiary actions before the main action takes place.
+
+Now, in the case of Tourcoing, there was none of this, for the French at
+Tourcoing were surprised.
+
+The surprise was not complete, but it was sufficiently thorough to make
+the whole of the fighting during the first day, Saturday (at least, the
+whole of the fighting in the centre of the field), a triumph for the
+allied advance.
+
+Let us first appreciate exactly how matters looked to Souham when, on the
+15th, the Thursday, the blow was about to fall upon him.
+
+He had under his orders, with headquarters now at Courtrai, now at Menin
+(see sketch map on p. 58), rather less than 40,000. In that dash upon
+Courtrai a fortnight before, which had led to the dangerous establishment
+of so large an advanced body in front of the main French line, one main
+effect of that advance had been to push back, away to the left beyond the
+Lys, more than 16,000, but less than 20,000 men under the Austrian
+General, Clerfayt. With that army, Clerfayt's body, Souham had remained
+continually in touch. Detachments of it were continually returning to the
+valley of the Lys to harass his posts, and, in a word, Clerfayt's was the
+only force of the enemy which Souham thought he had need to bear in mind.
+
+The bulk of the Austrian army he knew to be quite four days' march away to
+the south, at first occupied in the siege of Landrecies, and later
+stationed in the vicinity of that fortress.
+
+Of course, lying in his exposed position, Souham knew that a general
+attack upon him from the south was one of the possibilities of the
+situation, but it was not a thing which he thought could come
+unexpectedly: at any rate he thought himself prepared, by the use of his
+scouts and his spies, to hear of any such advance in ample time.
+
+In case he should be attacked, the attack might take one of many forms. It
+might try to drive him over the Lys, where Clerfayt would be ready to meet
+him; or it might be a general attack upon Courtrai as a centre; or it
+might be (what had, as we have seen, been actually determined) an attempt
+to cut him and all his 40,000 off from the main French line.
+
+This main French line ran through the town of Lille, and Lille not only
+had its garrison, but also at Sainghin, outside the fortifications to the
+south-east, a camp, under Bonnaud, of 20,000 men. If the attack from the
+south or from the north, or from both, managed to cut Souham off from
+Bonnaud's camp, and from the garrison at Lille, he was ruined, and his
+40,000 were lost; but he hoped to be kept sufficiently informed of the
+enemy's movements to fall back in time, should such an attempt be made,
+and to provide for it by effecting a junction with Bonnaud before it was
+delivered.
+
+Pichegru, the Commander of the whole French army of the north, who had
+ordered the advance on Courtrai, happened to be absent upon a visit to the
+posts away south upon the Sambre River. Souham was therefore temporarily
+in full command of all the troops which were to be concerned in the coming
+battle. But the position was only a temporary one, and that must account
+for the deference he paid to the advice of the four generals subordinate
+to him, and for the council which he called at Menin on the critical
+Saturday night which decided the issue. He himself quotes his commission
+in the following terms:--"Commander-in-Chief of all the troops from the
+camp at Sainghin to Courtrai inclusive."
+
+From the beginning of the week, when a detachment of his troops had but
+just recovered from a sharp action with the Duke of York's men towards
+Tournai, Souham appreciated that the forces of the enemy were gradually
+increasing to the south of him, and that the posts upon the Scheldt were
+receiving additional enforcements of men. But neither his judgment nor the
+reports that came in to him led him to believe that the mass of the
+Austrian army was coming north to attack him. And in this he was right,
+for, as we have seen, the Emperor did not make up his mind until Wednesday
+the 14th, which was the day when orders were sent to the Arch-Duke Charles
+to march northward.
+
+Souham's attitude of mind up to, say, the Thursday may be fairly described
+in some such terms as follows:--
+
+"I know that a concentration is going on in the valley of the Scheldt to
+the south and east of me; it is pretty big, but not yet exactly dangerous,
+though I shouldn't wonder if I were attacked in a few days from that
+quarter. What I am much more certain of is that active and mobile force
+which I beat off the other day, but which is still intact under the best
+General opposed to me, Clerfayt. I hear that it is marching south again,
+and my best troops and my offensive must be directed against that. I am
+far superior in numbers to Clerfayt, and if I can bring him to an action
+and break him, I can then turn to the others at my leisure: for the moment
+I have only one front to think of--that on the north."
+
+But the negligence which he or his informants were guilty of--a negligence
+that was to prove so nearly fatal to all those 40,000 French
+troops--consisted in the failure to discover what was up upon Friday the
+16th.
+
+During those twenty-four hours the Arch-Duke Charles had brought up his
+column to St Amand; the other four columns upon the Scheldt were
+concentrated, and upon the north of the Lys, Clerfayt had got orders to
+move upon Wervicq, and was, during the middle hours of Friday, actually
+upon the march. Yet, during all that day, Friday the 16th, Souham remained
+ignorant of the extremity of his peril.
+
+The orders which he dictated upon the Friday night, and largely repeated
+upon the following morning of Saturday the 17th of May, show how little he
+expected the general action that was upon him. He arranged, indeed, for a
+cordon of troops to be watching, in insufficient numbers, the side towards
+the Scheldt, and he sent to Bonnaud and the camp at Sainghin, outside
+Lille, orders to keep more or less in touch with that cordon. The
+instructions to this cordon of troops along the eastern side of the French
+position is no more than one of general vigilance. It is still to
+Clerfayt and towards the north alone that he directs an offensive and
+vigorous movement.
+
+In a word, he was a good twenty-four hours behind with his information. He
+was wasting troops north of the Lys in looking for Clerfayt at a time when
+that General was already on the march to Wervicq, and he was leaving a
+scattered line of insufficient bodies to meet what he did not in the least
+expect, the rapid advance of Bussche, Otto, and York during that Saturday
+upon Mouscron, Tourcoing, and Roubaix.
+
+Therefore it was that although Bussche's insufficient force was driven out
+of Mouscron at last by superior numbers, Otto and York succeeded in
+sweeping all the resistance before them, and, in the course of that
+Saturday, reached the first Tourcoing, the second Roubaix, and even
+Mouveaux.
+
+The whole problem of warfare consists in a comparison between the
+information that each side has of the movements of the other. The whole
+art of success in war pivots upon the using of your enemy's ignorance. Had
+the allies upon this occasion been more accurate in keeping to their
+time-table, and somewhat more rapid in their movements, they would have
+caught the French commander still under the illusion that there was no
+danger, save from the north, and would have succeeded in cutting off and
+destroying the main French force by getting in all together between
+Courtrai and Lille. For at that same moment, the early hours before
+daybreak of the 17th, the allies had begun their movement.
+
+
+
+
+PART V
+
+THE TERRAIN
+
+
+The terrain over which the plan of the allies was to be tested must next
+be grasped if we are to understand the causes which led to its ultimate
+failure.
+
+That terrain is most conveniently described as an oblong standing up
+lengthways north and south, and corresponding to the sketch map overleaf.
+That oblong has a base of twenty miles from east to west, a length from
+north to south of thirty-five.
+
+These dimensions are sufficient to show upon what a scale the great plan
+of the allies for cutting off Souham at Courtrai was designed.
+
+At its south-eastern corner the reader will perceive the town of St Amand,
+the furthest point south from which the combined movements of the allies
+began; while somewhat to the left of its top or northern edge, at the
+point marked "A," the northern-most body connected with that plan, the
+body commanded by Clerfayt, was posted at the origin of the movement.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The object of the whole convergence from the Scheldt on one hand, and from
+Clerfayt's northern position upon the other, being to cut off the French
+forces which lay at and south of Courtrai from Lille, and the main line of
+the French army, it is evident that the actual fighting and the chances of
+success or disaster would take place within a smaller interior oblong,
+which I have also marked upon the sketch map. This smaller or interior
+oblong measures about sixteen miles at its base by about twenty-five miles
+in length, and includes all the significant points of the action.
+
+The points marked 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively are the points at which
+the five columns advancing from the Scheldt valley northward were to find
+themselves before dawn on the morning of Saturday the 17th of May. We are
+already acquainted with them. They are Warcoing, Bailleul, Templeuve,
+Froidmont, and Pont-a-Marcq respectively; while the point marked 6 is
+Wervicq, from which Clerfayt was to start simultaneously with the five
+southern columns with the object of meeting his fellows round Tourcoing.
+
+The town of Courtrai will be perceived to lie in the north-eastern angle
+of this inner oblong, the town of Lille rather below the middle of its
+western side. In all the country round Courtrai, and especially to the
+south of it, within the triangle X Y Z, lay the mass of Souham's command
+of 40,000 men. There were many posts, of course, scattered outside that
+triangle, and connecting Courtrai with Lille; but the links were weak, and
+the main force was where I have indicated it to be.
+
+A large body of French troops being encamped just under the walls of Lille
+at B (by which letter I mark Sainghin camp), and that fortress also
+possessing a garrison, the plan of cutting both these off from the 40,000
+French that lay in the country near Courtrai involved getting the main
+part of the allies up from these points of departure on the south, and
+Clerfayt's body down from its point of departure on the north to meet upon
+the line drawn between Lille and Courtrai. Upon this line (which also
+roughly corresponds to the only main road between the two cities) may be
+perceived, lying nearer Lille than the centre of such line, the small town
+of Tourcoing and the village of Mouveaux. It was upon these two points
+that four of the five southern columns were to converge northward, the
+second and third column reaching them first, the fourth and fifth marching
+up from the left in aid; and it was also, of course, upon these two points
+that Clerfayt was to march southward from the post at Wervicq, that had
+been given _him_ as _his_ point of departure before dawn upon that
+Saturday morning. If everything went perfectly, the great mass of the
+allied army should have found itself, by noon of Saturday the 17th, as I
+have said, astraddle of the Lille-Courtrai road, and effectively cutting
+off the French troops to the north.
+
+What was the nature of the wide countryside over which these various
+movements were to take place?
+
+It was part of that great plain of Flanders which stretches from the River
+Scheldt almost unbroken to the Straits of Dover and the North Sea. In the
+whole of the great oblong represented by my sketch map there is hardly a
+point 150 feet above the water level of the main river valleys, while the
+great mass of that territory is diversified by no more than very broad and
+very shallow rolls of land, the crests of which are sometimes and
+exceptionally as much as fifty feet above the troughs, but the greater
+part thirty, twenty, or even less. Here and there an isolated hummock
+shows upon the landscape, but the general impression of one who walks
+across from the valley of the Lys to that of the Scheldt is of a flat,
+monotonous land in which one retains no memory of ascent or descent, and
+in which the eye but rarely perceives, and that only from specially chosen
+points, any wide horizon.
+
+To-day the greater part of this country suffers from the curse of
+industrialism and repeats--of course, with far less degradation--the
+terrible aspect of our own manufacturing towns. Roubaix and Tourcoing in
+particular are huge straggling agglomerations of cotton-spinners and their
+hands. A mass of railways and tramways cut the countryside, and the evil
+presence of coal-smoke mars it everywhere: at least within the region of
+Lille, Tourcoing, and Roubaix.
+
+In May 1794, though a considerable industry had begun to grow up in Lille
+itself, the wide, open countryside round the town was entirely
+agricultural. Much of it was what soldiers call "blind" country: that is,
+it was cut up into fields with numerous hedges; there were long farm walls
+and a great number of small watercourses fringed with trees. But, on the
+other hand, there was very little wood. Moreover, though there were few
+places from which one could overlook any considerable view, the
+"blindness" of the field, as a whole, has been much exaggerated in the
+attempt to excuse or explain the disaster of which it was the theatre. The
+southern part of it is open enough, and so is the north-eastern portion,
+in which the first column operated. Of the soil no particular mention is
+needed; most of the great roads were paved; the weather had created no
+difficulty in the going, and the only trouble in this respect lay in the
+northern part, where Clerfayt's command was condemned to advance over
+patches of loose and difficult sand, which made the road, or rather rare
+lanes, very heavy.
+
+It will at once be perceived that, in view of the operations planned, one
+principal obstacle exists in the terrain, the River Lys. Few bridges
+crossed this stream, and for the purpose of turning the French position
+and coming across the Lys from the north to the neighbourhood of Mouveaux,
+there was in those days no bridge save the bridge at Wervicq (at the point
+marked 6 on the plan at the beginning of this section); but this
+difficulty we have seen to be lessened by the presence in Clerfayt's
+command of a section of pontoons.
+
+At first sight one might perceive no other considerable obstacle save the
+Lys to the general movement of the allied army. But when the peculiar
+course of the little River Marque is pointed out, and the nature of its
+stream described, the reader will perceive that it exercised some little
+effect upon the fortunes of the battle, and might have exercised a much
+greater one to the advantage of the British troops had not the Duke of
+York blundered in a fashion which will be later described.
+
+In the first place, it should be noted that this little stream (it is no
+wider than a canal, will barely allow two barges to pass in its lower
+course, and will not float one to the southward of Lille) turns up quite
+close to Roubaix, and at the nearest point is not a mile from the
+market-place of that town.
+
+Now the significance of such a conformation to the battlefield of
+Tourcoing lay in the fact that it was impossible for any considerable
+force to manoeuvre between the third column (which was marching upon
+Roubaix) and the Marque River. Had the Marque not existed, Kinsky, with
+the fourth column, would have been free to march parallel with York, just
+as York marched parallel with Otto, while the Arch-Duke with his fifth
+column, instead of having been given a rendezvous right down south at
+Pont-a-Marcq (the point marked 5 on my sketch), would have gone up the
+main road from St Amand to Lille, and have marched parallel with Kinsky,
+just as Kinsky would have marched parallel with York. In other words, the
+fourth and the fifth columns, instead of being ordered along the dotted
+lines marked upon my sketch (the elbows in which lines correspond to the
+crossing places of the Marque), would have proceeded along the
+uninterrupted arrow lines which I have put by the side of them.
+
+The Marque made all the difference. It compelled the fifth column to take
+its roundabout road, and the fourth, detained by the delay of the fifth,
+was held, as we shall see in what follows, for a whole day at one of the
+crossings of the river.
+
+The little stream has a deep and muddy bottom, and the fields upon its
+banks are occasionally marshy. This feature has been exaggerated, as have
+the other features I have mentioned, in order to explain or excuse the
+defeat, but, at any rate, it prevented the use of crossing places other
+than bridges. The Marque has no true fords, and there is no taking an
+army across it, narrow as it is, save by the few bridges which then
+existed. These bridges I have marked upon the sketch.
+
+So far as the terrain is concerned, then, what we have to consider is
+country, flat, but containing low defensive positions, largely cut up,
+especially between the Scheldt and Roubaix, by hedges and walls, though
+more open elsewhere, and particularly open towards the north: a serious
+obstacle to the advance of one body in the shape of the River Lys; and
+another obstacle, irritating rather than formidable in character, but
+sufficient both by its course and its marshy soil to complicate the
+advance, namely, the little River Marque.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As to the weather, it was misty but fine. The nights in bivouac were
+passed without too much discomfort, and the only physical condition which
+oppressed portions of the allied army consisted in the error of its
+commanders, and proceeded from fatigue.
+
+
+
+
+PART VI
+
+THE ACTION
+
+
+At about ten o'clock in the morning of Friday the 16th of May, Clerfayt,
+in his positions right up north beyond the Lys--positions which lay at and
+in front of the town of Thielt, with outposts well to the south and west
+of that town,--received the orders of the Emperor.
+
+These orders were what we know them to be: he was to march southward and
+westward and strike the Lys at Wervicq. He was to arrive at that point at
+or before nightfall, for in the very first hours of the morrow, Saturday,
+and coincidently with the beginning of the advance of the five columns
+from their southern posts, he was to cross the Lys and to proceed to join
+hands with those columns in the following forenoon, when the heads of them
+would have reached the neighbourhood of Tourcoing and Mouveaux.
+
+Bussche, with the first column, his 4000 Hanoverians, had no task during
+that day but to proceed the mile and a half which separated Warcoing from
+the little village of St Leger, and, with the head of his column in that
+village, prepare to pass the night and be ready to march forward long
+before dawn the next day.
+
+Field-Marshal Otto, with the second column, was similarly and leisurely
+occupied marshalling his 10,000 Austrians and his contingent of British
+cavalry, so that the head of his column was at Bailleul ready also to
+advance with the early, dark, small hours of the ensuing morning.
+
+The Duke of York, with his third column of similar numbers, or somewhat
+less, was performing a precisely similar task, and ordering his men so
+that the head of that column should reach Templeuve by evening and be
+ready to march at the same moment as the others did, shortly after
+midnight.
+
+All these three, then, were absolutely ready, fresh from fatigue and in
+good order, upon that Friday evening at their appointed posts.
+
+It is here necessary, as we are chiefly concerned with the British forces,
+to detail the composition of this third column which the Duke of York
+commanded.
+
+It consisted of twelve battalions and ten squadrons, with a further
+reserve of sixteen British squadrons under General Erskine, which cavalry
+lay somewhat south of Templeuve, but ready to follow up the advance when
+it should begin. It was made of two portions, about equal in numbers,
+British and foreign. The foreign half was composed of four squadrons of
+Austrian Hussars and seven battalions of infantry, two Hessian and five
+Austrian. The British half was composed of a Brigade of Guards counting
+four battalions, with portions of the 14th, 37th, and 53rd Foot, while the
+British cavalry accompanying it (apart from the squadrons under Erskine)
+were six squadrons drawn from the 7th, 15th, and 16th Light Dragoons. It
+is to the credit of the young commander[4] that this third column was the
+best organised, the most prompt, and, as the event proved, the most
+successful during the advance and the most tenacious in the subsequent
+defeat.
+
+The fourth column, under Kinsky, about 11,000 strong, was also ready on
+that Friday, the 16th of May, concentrated at its point of departure,
+Froidmont, and ready to move at the same moment as all the others, shortly
+after midnight. But unlike the other three commanders upon his right,
+Kinsky was unfortunately handicapped by the position of the fifth column,
+that great body of 18,000 to 20,000 men, under the Arch-Duke Charles,
+which lay at St Amand, which was to advance next day parallel with Kinsky
+and upon his left, and which it was his duty to keep in touch with, and to
+link up with the Duke of York's upon the other side. He was handicapped, I
+say, by the situation of the fifth column, under the Arch-Duke Charles,
+the heavy strain already imposed upon which, and the accumulating
+difficulties it was about to encounter, largely determining the
+unfortunate issue of the battle.
+
+Kinsky got news on that Friday from the Arch-Duke at St Amand that it was
+hardly possible for his great body of men to reach the appointed post of
+Pont-a-Marcq at the arranged hour of daybreak the next morning. I have
+already suggested that this delay cannot only have been due to the very
+long march which had been imposed upon the Arch-Duke's command when it had
+been hurriedly summoned up from the south to St Amand, forty-eight hours
+before. It must also have been due to the fact that not all its units
+reached St Amand by the evening of Thursday the 15th. It seemed certain
+that there must have been stragglers or bad delays on the morning of the
+16th, for it was not until long after nightfall--indeed not until ten
+o'clock in the evening--of Friday the 16th that the Arch-Duke was able to
+set out from St Amand and take the Pont-a-Marcq road. This unfortunate
+body, therefore, the fifth column, which had all the hardest work before
+it, which had but one road by which to march (although it was double any
+of the others in size), was compelled, after the terrible fatigue of the
+preceding days, to push forward sixteen miles through the night in a vain
+attempt to reach Pont-a-Marcq, not indeed by daybreak, for that was
+obviously impossible, but as soon after as haste and anxiety could
+command. Kinsky was tied to Froidmont and unable to move forward until
+that fifth column upon his left was at least approaching its goal. For he
+had Bonnaud's 20,000 Frenchmen at Sainghin right in front of him, and
+further, if he had moved, his left flank would have been exposed, and,
+what is more, he would have failed in his purpose, which was to link up
+the Arch-Duke on one side with the Duke of York upon the other.
+
+This first mishap, then, must be carefully noted as one prime lack of
+synchrony in the origins of the combined movement, and a first clear cause
+of the misfortune that was to attend the whole affair. The delay of the
+fifth column was the chief cause of the disaster.
+
+Meanwhile, another failure to synchronise, and that a most grave one, was
+taking place miles away in the north with Clerfayt's command beyond the
+Lys.
+
+It is self-evident that where one isolated and distant body is being asked
+to co-operate with comrades who are in touch with the commander-in-chief,
+and with each other, the exact observation of orders on the part of that
+isolated body is of supreme importance to the success of the combination.
+_They_, all lying in much the same region and able to receive and transmit
+orders with rapidity, may correct an error before it has developed evil
+consequences. But the isolated commander co-operating from a distance, and
+receiving orders from headquarters only after a long delay, is under no
+such advantage. Thus the tardiness of the fifth column was, as we have
+seen, communicated to the fourth, and the third, second, and first, all in
+one line, could or should have easily appreciated the general situation
+along the Scheldt. But the sixth body, under Clerfayt, which formed the
+keystone of the whole plan, and without whose exact co-operation that plan
+must necessarily fail, enjoyed no such advantage, and, if it indulged in
+the luxuries of delay or misdirection, could not have its errors corrected
+in useful time. A despatch, to reach Clerfayt from headquarters and from
+the five columns that were advancing northward from the valley of the
+Scheldt, must make a circuit round eastward to the back of Courtrai, and
+it was a matter of nearly half a day to convey information from the
+Emperor or his neighbouring subordinates in the region of Tournai to this
+sixth corps which lay north of the Lys.
+
+Now it so happened that Clerfayt, though a most able man, and one who had
+proved himself a prompt and active general, woefully miscalculated the
+time-table of his march and the difficulties before him.
+
+He got his orders, as I have said, at ten o'clock on the Friday morning.
+Whether to give his men a meal, or for whatever other reason, he did not
+break up until between one and two. He then began ploughing forward with
+his sixteen thousand men and more, in two huge columns, through the sandy
+country that forms the plain north of the River Lys. He ought to have
+known the difficulty of rapid advance over such a terrain, but he does not
+seem to have provided for it with any care, and when night fell, so far
+from finding himself in possession of Wervicq and master of the crossing
+of the river there, the heads of his columns had only reached the great
+highway between Menin and Ypres, nearly three miles short of his goal.
+Three miles may sound a short distance to the civilian reader, but if he
+will consider the efforts of a great body of men and vehicles, pushing
+forward through the late hours of an afternoon by wretched lanes full of
+loose sand, and finding the darkness upon them with that distance still to
+do, he would perceive the importance of the gap. If he further considers
+that it was only the heads of the columns that had reached the high road
+by dark, and that two great bodies of men were stretched out two miles and
+more behind, and if he will add to all this the fact that fighting would
+have to be done before Wervicq, three miles away, could be occupied, let
+alone the river crossed, he will discover that Clerfayt had missed his
+appointment not by three miles only in space, but by the equivalent of
+half a day in time.
+
+Even so he should have pushed on and have found himself at least in
+contact with the French posts before his advance was halted. He did not do
+so. He passed the night in bivouac with the heads of his columns no
+further south than the great high road.
+
+So much for Clerfayt. The Republic would have cut off his head.
+
+While Clerfayt was thus mishandling his distant and all-important
+department of the combined scheme, the corresponding advance from the
+valley of the Scheldt northward was proceeding in a manner which is best
+appreciated by taking the five columns seriatim and in three groups: the
+first group consisting of the first column (Bussche), the second group of
+the second and third columns (Otto and York), the third group of the
+fourth and fifth (Kinsky and the Arch-Duke).
+
+
+I
+
+THE FIRST COLUMN UNDER BUSSCHE
+
+This column, as we have seen, consisted of only 4000 men, Hanoverians. Its
+function and general plan was to give the French the impression that they
+were being attacked by considerable forces at the very extremity of their
+advanced wedge, and thus to "hold" them there while the great bulk of the
+allies were really encircling them to the south and cutting them off from
+Lille.
+
+When we bear this object in view, we shall see that Bussche with his
+little force did not do so badly. His orders were to advance with
+two-thirds of his men against Mouscron, a little place about five miles in
+front of the village of St Leger where he was concentrated; the remaining
+third going up the high road towards Courtrai. This last decision, namely,
+to detach a third of his troops, has been severely criticised, especially
+by English authorities, but the criticism is hardly just if we consider
+what Bussche had been sent out to do. He was, of course, to take Mouscron
+if he could and hold it, and if that had been the main object of the
+orders given him, it would indeed have been folly to weaken his already
+weak body by the detaching of a whole third of it four miles away upon the
+high road to the eastward. But the capture of Mouscron was not the main
+object set before Bussche. The main object was to "hold" the large French
+forces in the Courtrai district and to give them the impression of a main
+attack coming in that direction, and with _that_ object in view it was
+very wise so to separate his force as to give Souham the idea that the
+French northern extremity was being attacked in several places at once.
+
+With the early morning, then, of Saturday the 17th, Bussche sent rather
+less than 1500 men up the high road towards Courtrai, and, with rather
+more than 2500, marched boldly up against Mouscron, where, considering the
+immensely superior forces that the French could bring against him, it is
+not surprising that he was badly hammered. Indeed, but for the fact that
+the French were unprepared (as we saw in the section "The Preliminaries of
+the Battle"), he could not have done as much as he did, which was, at the
+first onslaught, to rush Mouscron and to hold it in the forenoon of that
+day. But the French, thoroughly alarmed by the event (which was precisely
+what the plan of the allies intended they should be), easily brought up
+overwhelming reinforcements, and Bussche's little force was driven out of
+the town. It was not only driven out of the town, it was pressed hard down
+the road as far as Dottignies within a mile or two of the place from which
+it had started; but there it rallied and stood, and for the rest of the
+day kept the French engaged without further misfortune. A student of the
+whole action, careful to keep its proportions in mind and not to
+exaggerate a single instance, will not regard Bussche's gallant attempt
+and failure before Mouscron as any part of the general breakdown. On the
+contrary, the stand which his little force made against far superior
+numbers, and the active cannonade which he kept up upon this extreme edge
+of the French front, would have been one of the major conditions
+determining the success of the allies if their enormously larger forces in
+other parts of the field had all of them kept their time-table and done
+what was expected of them.
+
+
+II
+
+THE SECOND AND THIRD COLUMNS UNDER OTTO AND THE DUKE OF YORK
+
+On turning to the second group (the second column under Otto and the third
+under York), we discover a record of continuous success throughout the
+whole of that day, Saturday the 17th of May, which deserved a better fate
+than befell them upon the morrow.
+
+(A) THE SECOND COLUMN UNDER OTTO
+
+The second column under Otto, consisting of twelve battalions and ten
+squadrons, certain of the latter being English horse, and the whole
+command numbering some 10,000 men, advanced with the early morning of that
+same Saturday the 17th simultaneously with Bussche from Bailleul to Leers.
+It drove the French outposts in, carried Leers, and advanced further to
+Wattrelos. It carried Wattrelos.
+
+It continued its successful march another three miles, still pressing in
+and thrusting off to its right the French soldiers of Compere's command,
+until it came to what was then the little market-town of Tourcoing. It
+carried Tourcoing and held it. This uninterrupted series of successes had
+brought Otto's troops forward by some eight miles from their
+starting-point, and had filled the whole morning, and Otto stood during
+the afternoon in possession of this advanced point, right on the line
+between Courtrai and Lille, and having fully accomplished the object which
+his superiors had set him.
+
+From the somewhat higher roll of land which his cavalry could reach, and
+from which they could observe the valley of the Lys four miles beyond,
+they must have strained their eyes to catch some hint of Clerfayt's
+troops, upon whose presence across the river on their side they had so
+confidently calculated, and which, had Clerfayt kept to his time-table and
+crossed the Lys at dawn, would now have been in the close neighbourhood of
+Tourcoing and in junction with this successful second column.
+
+But there was no sign of any such welcome sight. The dull rolling plain,
+with its occasional low crests falling towards the river, betrayed the
+presence of troops in more than one position to the north and west. But
+those troops were not moving: they were holding positions, or, if moving,
+were obviously doing so with the object of contesting the passage of the
+river. They were French troops, not Austrian, that thus showed distinctly
+in rare and insufficient numbers along the southern bank of the Lys, and
+indeed, as we know, Clerfayt, during the whole of that afternoon of the
+17th, was painfully bringing up his delayed pontoons, and was, until it
+was far advanced, upon the wrong side of the river.
+
+Otto maintained his position, hoped against hope that Clerfayt might yet
+force his way through before nightfall, and was still master of Tourcoing
+and the surrounding fields when darkness came.
+
+(B) THE THIRD COLUMN UNDER YORK
+
+Meanwhile York, with his 10,000 half British and half Austro-Hessian, had
+marched with similar success but against greater obstacles parallel with
+Otto, and to his left, and had successively taken every point in his
+advance until he also had reached the goal which had been set before him.
+
+Details of that fine piece of work deserve full mention.
+
+Delayed somewhat by a mist in the dark hours before dawn, York's command
+had marched north-westward up the road from Templeuve, where now runs the
+little tramway reaching the Belgian frontier.
+
+The French troops in front of him, as much as those who had met Otto a
+mile or two off to the right, and Bussche still further off at Mouscron,
+were taken aback by the suddenness and the strength of the unexpected
+blow. They stood at Lannoy. York cannonaded that position, sent certain of
+the British Light Dragoons round to the left to turn it, and attacked it
+in front with the Brigade of Guards. The enemy did not stand, and the
+British forces poured through Lannoy and held it just as Otto in those
+same hours was pouring into and holding Leers and Wattrelos. Beyond
+Lannoy, a matter of two miles or so, and still on that same road, was the
+small town, now swollen to a great industrial city, called Roubaix. The
+Duke of York left a couple of battalions of his allied troops (Hessians)
+to hold Lannoy, and with the rest of the column pursued his march.
+
+Roubaix offered far more serious resistance than Lannoy had done. The
+element of surprise was, of course, no longer present. The French forces
+were concentrating. The peril they were in of being cut off was by this
+time thoroughly seized at their headquarters, and the roll of land
+immediately before Roubaix was entrenched and held by a sufficient force
+well gunned. A strong resistance was offered to the British advance, but
+once more the Brigade of Guards broke down that resistance and the place
+was taken with the bayonet.
+
+York's next objective, and the goal to which his advance had been ordered,
+was Mouveaux. Mouveaux is a village standing upon a somewhat higher roll
+of land rather more than two miles from the centre of Roubaix, in
+continuation of the direction which York's advance had hitherto pursued.
+From Mouveaux the eye could overlook the plain reaching to the Lys and to
+Wervicq, some seven odd miles away, a plain broken by one or two slight
+hummocks of which the least inconspicuous holds the village of Linselles.
+Mouveaux was the point to which Clerfayt was expected to advance from his
+side. It was on a level with Tourcoing, and lay, as Tourcoing did,
+precisely upon the line between Courtrai and Lille. To reach Mouveaux,
+therefore, and not to be content with the capture of Roubaix, was
+consistent with and necessary to the general plan of the allies. Moreover,
+as Otto with the second column had taken Tourcoing, it was necessary that
+the third column should proceed to Mouveaux, unless Otto's left or
+southern flank was to remain exposed and in peril. One may say, in
+general, that until Mouveaux was occupied the chance of joining hands with
+Clerfayt (supposing that General to have kept to his time-table and to be
+across the Lys and marching up to meet the columns from the Scheldt) was
+in peril. Therefore, until one has learnt what was happening to the fourth
+and the fifth columns, it is difficult to understand why the Duke of York,
+after the difficult capture of Roubaix, desired to make that point the
+utmost limit of his advance and for the moment to proceed no further.
+Without anticipating the story of the fourth and fifth columns, it is
+enough to say that the Duke of York's desire not to advance beyond Roubaix
+was sufficiently excused by the aspect of the country to the west and
+south upon his left.
+
+Roubaix overlooks from a slight elevation the valley of the Marque. Lest
+the word "valley" be misleading, let me hasten to add that that stream
+here flows at the bottom of a very slight and very broad depression. But,
+at any rate, from Roubaix one overlooks that depression for some miles;
+one sees five miles distant the fortifications of Lille, and the
+intervening country is open enough to betray the presence of troops.
+Indeed, once Roubaix was captured, the English commander could see across
+those fields, a couple of hours' march away, the tents of the great French
+camp at Sainghin under the walls of the fortress.
+
+Now, along that river valley and across those fields there should have
+been apparent in those mid hours of the day, when the Guards had stormed
+Roubaix, the great host of the fourth and fifth columns coming up in
+support of the second and third.
+
+If the time-table had been observed, the Arch-Duke and Kinsky, over 25,000
+men, should have been across the Marque before dawn, should have pushed
+back the French forces outside Lille, and should, long before noon, have
+been covering those fields between Roubaix and Lille with their advancing
+squadrons and battalions. There was no sign of them. If, or when, the
+French body near Lille were free to advance and attack the Duke of York's
+left flank, there was no one between to prevent their doing so. That great
+body of the third and fourth columns, more than half of all the men who
+were advancing from the Scheldt to meet Clerfayt, had failed to come up to
+time. That was why the Duke of York desired to push no further than
+Roubaix, and even to leave only an advance guard to hold that place while
+he withdrew the bulk of his command to Lannoy.
+
+But his decision was overruled. The Emperor and his staff, who, following
+up the march of this third column, were now at Templeuve, thought it
+imperative that Mouveaux should be held. Only thus, in their judgment,
+could the junction with Clerfayt (who, though late, must surely be now
+near at hand) be accomplished. And certainly, unless Mouveaux were held,
+Otto could not hold his advanced position at Tourcoing. The order was
+therefore sent to York to take Mouveaux. In the disastrous issue that
+order has naturally come in for sharp blame; but it must be remembered
+that much of the plan was already successfully accomplished, that Clerfayt
+was thought to be across the Lys, and that if the French around Courtrai,
+and hitherward from Courtrai to Tourcoing, were to be cut off, it was
+imperative to effect the junction with Clerfayt without delay. Had
+Clerfayt been, as he should have been at that hour in the afternoon of
+Saturday the 17th, between the Lys and the line Mouveaux-Tourcoing, the
+order given by the Austrian staff to the Duke of York would not only have
+been approved by the military opinion of posterity, but any other order
+would have been thought a proof of indecision and bad judgment.
+
+Upon receiving this order to take Mouveaux, York obeyed. The afternoon was
+now far advanced, very heavy work had been done, a forward march of nearly
+six miles had been undertaken, accompanied by continual
+fighting--latterly, outside Roubaix, of a heavy sort. But if Mouveaux was
+to be held before nightfall, an immediate attack must be made, and York
+ordered his men forward.
+
+Mouveaux stands upon one of those very slight crests which barely
+diversify the flat country in which Roubaix and Tourcoing stand. The
+summit of that crest is but little more than fifty feet higher than the
+bottom of the low, broad depression between it and the centre of Roubaix,
+of which swollen town it is to-day a western suburb. Slight as is the
+elevation, it does, as I have said, command a view towards the Lys and
+Wervicq; and the evenness and length of the very gentle slope upon the
+Roubaix side make it an excellent defensive position.
+
+I have pointed out how the columns of attack as they advanced could not
+fail to find an increasing resistance. Roubaix had held out more strongly
+than Lannoy, Mouveaux was to hold out more strongly than Roubaix. The
+position was palisaded and entrenched. Redoubts had even been hastily
+thrown up by the French at either end of it, but the weight of the
+attacking column told. It was again the Guards who were given the task of
+carrying the trenches at the bayonet, and after a sharp struggle they were
+successful. The French, as they retired, set fire to the village (which
+stands upon the very summit of that roll of land), and were charged in
+their retirement by Abercromby with the English Dragoons. They left three
+hundred upon the field, and three field-pieces as well. Despite the great
+superiority of numbers which York's columns still commanded over the enemy
+immediately before him, it was a brilliant feat, especially when one
+considers that it came at the very end of a day that was hot for the
+season, that had begun before one o'clock in the morning, and that had
+involved the carrying of three positions, each more stoutly defended than
+the last, within an advance of over seven miles.
+
+Mouveaux thus carried, the head of York's column was on a line with the
+head of Otto's, which held Tourcoing just two miles away. The heads of
+either column now occupied the main road between Lille and Courtrai (which
+passes through Mouveaux and Tourcoing), and the heads of either column
+also held the slight crests from which the belated advance of Clerfayt
+from the Lys could be watched and awaited.
+
+But though there was evidence of heavy fighting down in the river valley
+five miles to the north and west, and though it seemed probable from the
+sound of the firing that Clerfayt with the sixth body had crossed the Lys
+at Wervicq and was now on the right side of it, upon the southern bank,
+there was no sign of his advancing columns in those empty fields towards
+Linselles and the river over which the setting sun glared.
+
+Neither, as his troops prepared to bivouac for the night upon the slopes
+of Mouveaux, could York, looking southward, find any indication of the
+fourth and fifth columns under Kinsky and the Arch-Duke which should have
+come up to this same position at Mouveaux by noon seven hours before. The
+flat and marshy fields upon either bank of the Marque were anxiously
+scanned in vain as the twilight deepened. Down there, far off, the cannon
+had been heard all that afternoon round the French camp at Sainghin, but
+nothing had come through.
+
+It was therefore under a sense of isolation and of confusion, with the
+knowledge that their left flank was open, that Clerfayt in front of them
+was not yet in reach, that the second and third columns, which had so
+thoroughly accomplished their task, established their posts under the
+early summer night to await the chances of the morning.
+
+
+III
+
+THE FOURTH AND FIFTH COLUMNS UNDER KINSKY AND THE ARCH-DUKE CHARLES
+
+Now what had happened to the fourth and fifth columns under Kinsky and the
+Arch-Duke? I must describe their fortunes, show why they had failed to
+come up, and thus complete the picture of the general advance from the
+Scheldt, before I turn to conclude the explanation of the disaster by
+detailing the further adventures of Clerfayt after he had crossed the Lys.
+
+(A) THE FOURTH COLUMN UNDER KINSKY
+
+Kinsky with his 11,000 men had been delayed, as we have seen, at Froidmont
+by the message which the Arch-Duke had sent him from St Amand, to the
+effect that the fifth column could not hope to be at Pont-a-Marcq before
+dawn upon the 17th.
+
+At the moment, therefore, when in the small hours of Saturday the 17th
+Otto and the Duke of York started out simultaneously from Bailleul and
+Templeuve, Kinsky was still pinned to Froidmont. But he knew that the
+Arch-Duke had started with his great column some time after dark in the
+Friday night from St Amand, and when he estimated that they had proceeded
+far enough along the road to Pont-a-Marcq to be up level with him upon his
+left, Kinsky set his men in march and made for the Bridge of Bouvines,
+which was the crossing of the Marque immediately in front of him.
+
+The Bridge of Bouvines lay right in front of the great French camp. It was
+strongly held, and the hither side of the river, as Kinsky approached it,
+was found to be entrenched. His men drove the French from those
+entrenchments, they retired over the bridge, and as they retired they
+broke it down. Upon the far side of the river in front of their camp the
+French further established a battery of heavy guns upon that slight slope
+which is now crowned by the Fort of Sainghin, and Kinsky could not force
+the passage until the fifth column, or at any rate the head of it, should
+begin to appear upon his left.
+
+It will be seen upon the frontispiece map that when the Arch-Duke's men
+reached Pont-a-Marcq and crossed the river there, they would take the
+French camp and the main French forces there in reserve, weaken the power
+of the French resistance at the Bridge of Bouvines, afford Kinsky the
+opportunity of crossing at that point, and that, immediately after that
+crossing, Kinsky and the Arch-Duke, having joined hands, would be in
+sufficient strength to push back the French from Sainghin and to march up
+north together towards Mouveaux. The appearance of their combined force at
+Mouveaux by noon would fulfil the time-table, and at mid-day of Saturday,
+if the time-table were thus fulfilled, the whole combined force of the
+second, third, fourth, and fifth columns would have been astraddle of the
+Lille-Courtrai Road, would have cut off Souham's corps from Lille, and
+could await Clerfayt if he had not yet arrived. When, therefore, the
+Arch-Duke and the fifth column should have crossed the Marque at
+Pont-a-Marcq, the fortunes of the fourth column would have blended with
+it, and the story of the two would have been one. We may therefore leave
+Kinsky still waiting anxiously in front of the broken bridge at Bouvines
+for news of the Arch-Duke, and conclude the picture of the whole advance
+from the Scheldt by describing what had happened and was happening to that
+Commander and his great force of 17,000 to 18,000 men.
+
+(B) THE FIFTH COLUMN UNDER THE ARCH-DUKE CHARLES
+
+When the Arch-Duke Charles had let Kinsky know upon the day before, the
+Friday, that he could not be at the appointed post of Pont-a-Marcq by the
+next daybreak, he had implied that somewhere in the early morning of that
+Saturday, at least, he would be there. Exactly how early neither he nor
+Kinsky could tell. His troops had sixteen full miles to march; they had
+but one road by which to advance, and they were fatigued with the enormous
+exertion of that hurried march northward to St Amand, which has already
+been set down.
+
+Such were the delays at St Amand in preparing that advance, that the night
+was far gone before the fifth column took the road to Pont-a-Marcq, and
+the effort that was to be demanded of it was more than should have been
+justly demanded of any troops. Indeed, the idea that a body of this great
+size, tied to one road, could suffer the severe effort of the rush from
+the south to St Amand, followed by a night-march, that march to be
+followed by heavy fighting during the ensuing morning and a further
+advance of eight or nine miles during the forenoon, was one of the weakest
+points in the plan of the allies. No such weakness would have been
+apparent if the main body of the Austrians under the Arch-Duke had been
+called up on the 12th instead of the 14th, and had been given two more
+days in which to cover the great distance. But, as it was, the delay of
+the Emperor and his staff in calling up that main body had gravely
+weakened its effective power.
+
+The league-long column thrust up the road through the darkness hour upon
+hour, with its confusion of vehicles and that difficulty in marshalling
+all units which is the necessary handicap of an advance in the darkness.
+Long before their task was so much as half accomplished, it was apparent
+not only that Pont-a-Marcq would not be reached at dawn, but that the mass
+of the infantry would not be at that river-crossing until the morning was
+far spent.
+
+When day broke, though cavalry had been set forward at greater speed, the
+heads of the infantry column were but under the Hill of Beuvry. It was
+long after six before the force had passed through Orchies, and though
+Kinsky learnt, in the neighbourhood of eight o'clock, that the cavalry of
+the fifth column were up on a level with him and had reached the river,
+the main force of the fifth column was not available for crossing
+Pont-a-Marcq until noon, and past noon.
+
+Kinsky, thus tied to the broken Bridge of Bouvines until Pont-a-Marcq
+should be forced, saw mid-day come and pass, and still his force and that
+of the Arch-Duke upon his left were upon the wrong side of the stream.
+
+Yet another hour went by. His fourth column and the fifth should already
+have been nine miles up north, by Mouveaux, and they were not yet even
+across the Marque!
+
+It was not until two o'clock that the passage of the river at Pont-a-Marcq
+was forced by the Arch-Duke Charles, and that, as the consequence of that
+passage of the stream, the French were taken in reverse in their camp at
+Sainghin and were compelled to fall back northward, leaving the passage at
+Bouvines free. Kinsky repaired the bridge, and was free to bring his
+11,000 over, and the two extreme columns, the fourth and the fifth, would
+then have joined forces in the mid-afternoon of the Saturday, having
+accomplished their object of forcing the Marque and uniting for the common
+advance northward in support of Otto and the Duke of York.
+
+Now, had the Arch-Duke Charles' men been machines, this section of the
+general plan would yet have failed by half a day to keep its time-table:
+and by more than half a day: by all the useful part of a working day. By
+the scheme of time upon which the plan was based, the fifth column should
+have been across the Marque at dawn; by six, or at latest by seven o'clock
+the French should have been compelled to fall back from Sainghin, and the
+combined fourth and fifth columns should have been upon their northward
+march for Mouveaux. It was not seven o'clock, it was _between three and
+four_ o'clock by the time the Arch-Duke was well across the Marque and the
+French retired; but still, if the men of this fifth column had been
+machines, Kinsky was now free to effect his junction across the Bridge of
+Bouvines, and the combined force would have reached the neighbourhood of
+Mouveaux and Tourcoing by nightfall, or shortly after dark.
+
+But the men of the fifth column were not machines, and at that hour of the
+mid-afternoon of Saturday they had come to the limits of physical
+endurance. It was impossible to ask further efforts of them, or, if those
+efforts were demanded, to hope for success. In the Arch-Duke's column by
+far the greater part of the 17,000 or 18,000 men had been awake and
+working for thirty-six hours. All had been on foot for at least
+twenty-four; they had been actually marching for seventeen, and had been
+fighting hard at the end of the effort and after sixteen miles of road.
+There could be no question of further movement that day: they bivouacked
+just north of the river, near where the French had been before their
+retirement, and Kinsky, seeing no combined movement could be made that
+day, kept his men also bivouacked near the Bridge of Bouvines.[5]
+
+Thus it was that when night fell upon that Saturday the left wing of the
+advance from the Scheldt had failed. And that is why those watching from
+the head of the successful third column at Mouveaux and Roubaix, under the
+sunset of that evening, saw no reinforcement coming up the valley of the
+Marque, caught no sign of their thirty thousand comrades advancing from
+the south, and despaired of the morrow.
+
+
+SUMMARY OF SITUATION ON THE SOUTH BY THE EVENING OF SATURDAY, MAY 17th.
+
+If we take stock of the whole situation, so far as the advance of the five
+columns from the Scheldt was concerned, when darkness fell upon that
+Saturday we can appreciate the peril in which the second and third column
+under Otto and York lay.
+
+The position which the plan had assigned to the four columns, second,
+third, fourth, and fifth, by noon of that Saturday (let alone by
+nightfall), is that marked upon the map by the middle four of the six
+oblongs in dotted lines marked B. Of these, the two positions on the
+_right_ were filled, for the second and third columns had amply
+accomplished their mission. But the two on the _left_, so far from being
+filled, were missed by miles of space and hours of time. At mid-day, or a
+little after, when Kinsky and the Arch-Duke should have been occupying the
+second and third dotted oblong respectively, neither of them was as yet
+even across the Marque. Both were far away back at E, E: and these
+hopeless positions, E, E, right away behind the line of positions across
+the Courtrai-Lille road which the plan expected them to occupy by
+Saturday noon, Kinsky and the Arch-Duke pacifically maintained up to and
+including the night between Saturday and Sunday!
+
+
+[Illustration: THE ELEMENTS OF TOURCOING]
+
+
+It is evident, therefore, that instead of all four columns of nearly
+_sixty_ thousand men barring the road between Souham and Lille and
+effecting the isolation of the French "wedge" round Courtrai, a bare,
+unsupported _twenty_ thousand found themselves that night alone: holding
+Roubaix, Tourcoing, Lannoy, Mouveaux, and thrust forward isolated in the
+midst of overwhelmingly superior and rapidly gathering numbers.
+
+In such an isolation nothing could save Otto and York but the abandonment
+during the night of their advanced positions and a retreat upon the points
+near the Scheldt from which they had started twenty hours before.
+
+The French forces round Lille were upon one side of them to the south and
+west, in number perhaps 20,000. On the other side of them, towards
+Courtrai, was the mass of Souham's force which they had hoped to cut off,
+nearly 40,000 strong. Between these two great bodies of men, the 20,000 of
+Otto and York were in peril of destruction if the French awoke to the
+position before the retirement of the second and third columns was decided
+on.
+
+It is here worthy of remark that the only real cause of peril was the
+absence of Kinsky and the Arch-Duke.
+
+Certain historians have committed the strange error of blaming Bussche for
+what followed. Bussche, it will be remembered, had been driven out of
+Mouscron early in the day, and was holding on stubbornly enough, keeping
+up an engagement principally by cannonade with the French upon the line of
+Dottignies. It is obvious that from such a position he could be of no use
+to the isolated Otto and York five miles away. But on the other hand, he
+was not expected to be of any use. What could his 4000 have done to shield
+the 20,000 of Otto and York from those 40,000 French under Souham's
+command? His business was to keep as many of the French as possible
+occupied away on the far north-east of the field, and that object he was
+fulfilling.
+
+Finally, it may be asked why, in a posture so patently perilous, Otto and
+York clung to their advanced positions throughout the night? The answer is
+simple enough. If, even during the night, the fourth and fifth columns
+should appear, the battle was half won. If Clerfayt, of whom they had no
+news, but whom they rightly judged to be by this time across the Lys, were
+to arrive before the French began to close in, the battle would be not
+half won, but all won. Between 55,000 and 60,000 men would then be lying
+united across the line which joined the 40,000 of the enemy to the north
+with the 20,000 to the south. If such a junction were effected even at the
+eleventh hour, so long as it took place before the 20,000 French outside
+Lille and the 40,000 to the north moved upon them, the allies would have
+won a decisive action, and the surrender of all Souham's command would
+have been the matter of a few hours. For a force cut in two is a force
+destroyed.
+
+But the night passed without Clerfayt's appearing, and before closing the
+story of that Saturday I must briefly tell why, though he had crossed the
+Lys in the afternoon, he failed to advance southward through the
+intervening five or six miles to Mouveaux.
+
+
+CLERFAYT'S COLUMN.
+
+Clerfayt had, in that extraordinary slow march of his, advanced by the
+Friday night, as I have said, no further than the great high road between
+Menin and Ypres. I further pointed out that though only three miles
+separated that point from Wervicq, yet those three miles meant, under the
+military circumstances of the moment, a loss of time equivalent to at
+least half a day.
+
+We therefore left Clerfayt at Saturday's dawn, as we left the Arch-Duke at
+the same time, far short of the starting-point which had been assigned to
+him.
+
+Whereas the Arch-Duke, miles away over there to the south, had at least
+pushed on to the best of his ability through the night towards
+Pont-a-Marcq, Clerfayt did _not_ push on by night to Wervicq as he should
+have done. He bivouacked with the heads of his columns no further than the
+Ypres road.
+
+Nor did he even break up and proceed over the remaining three miles during
+the very earliest hours. For one reason or another (the point has never
+been cleared up) the morning was fairly well advanced when he set
+forth--possibly because his units had got out of touch and straggling in
+the sandy country, or blocked by vehicles stuck fast. Whatever the cause
+may have been, he did not exchange shots with the French outposts at
+Wervicq until well after noon upon that Saturday the 17th of May.
+
+When at last he had forced his way into the town (the great bulk of which
+lies north of the river), he found the bridge so well defended that he
+could not cross it, or, at any rate, that the carrying of it--the chances
+of its being broken after the French should have retired and the business
+of bringing his great force across, with the narrow streets of the town to
+negotiate and the one narrow bridge, even if intact to use--would put him
+upon the further bank at a hopelessly late hour. Therefore did he call for
+his pontoons in order to solve the difficulty by bridging the river
+somewhat lower down. The Lys is here but a narrow stream, and it would be
+easy, with the pontoons at his disposal, to pass his troops over rapidly
+upon a broader front, making, if necessary, two wide bridges. I say "with
+the pontoons at his disposal." But by the time Clerfayt had taken this
+decision and had sent for the pontoons, he found that they were not there!
+
+His section of pontoons had not kept abreast with the rest of the army,
+and their delay had not been notified to him. It was not until quite late
+in the day that they arrived; it was not until evening that the laying of
+the pontoons began,[6] nor till midnight that he was passing the first of
+his troops over.
+
+He did not get nor attempt to get the mass of his sixteen or seventeen
+thousand across in the darkness. He bivouacked the remainder upon the
+wrong side of the river and waited for the morrow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So that Saturday ended, with Otto and York isolated at the central
+meeting-place round Tourcoing-Mouveaux, which they alone had reached; with
+the Arch-Duke Charles and Kinsky bivouacked miles away to the south on
+either side of the Bridge of Bouvines; and with Clerfayt still, as to the
+bulk of his force, on the wrong side of the Lys.
+
+It was no wonder that the next day, Sunday, was to see the beginning of
+disaster.
+
+
+SUNDAY, MAY THE 18TH, 1794.
+
+I have said that, considering the isolated position in which York and Otto
+found themselves, with no more than perhaps 18,000 in the six positions of
+Leers, Wattrelos, and Tourcoing, Lannoy, Roubaix, and Mouveaux, the French
+had only to wake up to the situation, and Otto and York would be
+overwhelmed.
+
+The French did wake up. How thoroughly taken by surprise they had been by
+the prompt and exact advance of Otto and York the day before, the reader
+has already been told. Throughout Saturday they remained in some confusion
+as to the intention of the enemy; and indeed it was not easy to grasp a
+movement which was at once of such great size, and whose very miscarriage
+rendered it the more baffling of comprehension. But by the evening of the
+day, Souham, calling a council of his generals at Menin, came to a
+decision as rapid as it was wise. Reynier, Moreau, and Macdonald, the
+generals of divisions that were under his orders, all took part in the
+brief discussion and the united resolve to which it led. "It was," in the
+words of a contemporary, "one of those rare occasions in which the
+decision of several men in council has proved as effective as the decision
+of a single will."
+
+Of the troops which were, it will be remembered, dispersed to the north of
+the Lys, only one brigade was left upon the wrong side of the river to
+keep an eye on Clerfayt; all the rest were recalled across the stream and
+sent forward to take up positions north of Otto's and Kinsky's columns.
+Meanwhile the bulk of the French troops lying between Courtrai and
+Tourcoing were disposed in such fashion as to attack from the north and
+east, south and westward. Some 40,000 men all told were ready to close in
+with the first light from both sides upon the two isolated bodies of the
+allies. To complete their discomfiture, word was sent to Bonnaud and
+Osten, the generals of divisions who commanded the 20,000 about Lille,
+ordering them to march north and east, and to attack simultaneously with
+their comrades upon that third exposed side where York would receive the
+shock. In other words, the 18,000 or so distributed on the six points
+under Otto and York occupied an oblong the two long sides of which and the
+top were about to be attacked by close upon 60,000 men. The hour from
+which this general combined advance inwards upon the doomed commands of
+the allies was to begin was given identically to all the French generals.
+They were to break up at three in the morning. With such an early start,
+the sun would not have been long risen before the pressure upon Otto and
+York would begin.
+
+When the sun rose, the head of Otto's column upon the little height of
+Tourcoing saw to the north, to the north-east, and to the east, distant
+moving bodies, which were the columns of the French attack advancing from
+those quarters. As they came nearer, their numbers could be distinguished.
+A brigade was approaching them from the north and the Lys valley,
+descending the slopes of the hillock called Mont Halhuin. It was
+Macdonald's. Another was on the march from Mouscron and the east. It was
+Compere's. The General who was commanding for Otto in Tourcoing itself was
+Montfrault. He perceived the extremity of the danger and sent over to York
+for reinforcement. York spared him two Austrian battalions, but with
+reluctance, for he knew that the attack must soon develop upon his side
+also. In spite of the peril, in the vain hope that Clerfayt might yet
+appear, Mouveaux and Tourcoing were still held, and upon the latter
+position, between five and six o'clock in the morning, fell the first
+shots of the French advance. The resistance at Tourcoing could not last
+long against such odds, and Montfrault, after a gallant attempt to hold
+the town, yielded to a violent artillery attack and prepared to retreat.
+Slowly gathering his command into a great square, he began to move
+south-eastward along the road to Wattrelos. It was half-past eight when
+that beginning of defeat was acknowledged.
+
+Meanwhile York, on his side, had begun to feel the pressure. Mouveaux was
+attacked from the north somewhat before seven o'clock in the morning, and,
+simultaneously with that attack, a portion of Bonnaud's troops which had
+come up from the neighbourhood of Lille, was driving in York's outposts to
+the west of Roubaix.
+
+How, it may be asked, did the French, in order thus to advance from Lille,
+negotiate the passage of that little River Marque, which obstacle had
+proved so formidable a feature in the miscarriage of the great allied plan
+the day before? The answer is, unfortunately, easily forthcoming. York had
+left the bridges over the Marque unguarded. Why, we do not know. Whether
+from sheer inadvertence, or because he hoped that Kinsky had detached men
+for the purpose, for one reason or another he had left those passages
+free, and, by the bridge of Hempempont against Lannoy, by that of Breuck
+against Roubaix, Bonnaud's and Osten's men poured over.
+
+As at Tourcoing, so at Mouveaux, a desperate attempt was made to hold the
+position. Indeed it was clung to far too late, but the straits to which
+Mouveaux was reduced at least afforded an opportunity for something of
+which the British service should not be unmindful. Immediately between
+Roubaix and the River Marque, Fox, with the English battalions of the
+line, was desperately trying to hold the flank and to withstand the
+pressure of the French, who were coming across the river more than twice
+his superiors in number. He was supported by a couple of Austrian
+battalions, and the two services dispute as to which half of this
+defending force was first broken. But the dispute is idle. No troops could
+have stood the pressure, and at any rate the defence broke down--with this
+result: that the British troops holding Mouveaux, Abercrombie's Dragoons,
+and the Brigade of Guards, were cut off from their comrades in Roubaix.
+Meanwhile, Tourcoing having been carried and the Austrians driven out from
+thence, the eastern and western forces of the French had come into touch
+in the depression between Mouveaux and Roubaix, and it seemed as though
+the surrender or destruction of that force was imminent. Abercrombie saved
+it. A narrow gap appeared between certain forces of the French, eastward
+of the position at Mouveaux, and leaving a way open round to Roubaix. He
+took advantage of it and won through: the Guards keeping a perfect order,
+the rear defended by the mobility and daring of the Dragoons. The village
+of Roubaix, in those days, consisted in the main of one long straight
+street, though what is now the great town had already then so far
+increased in size as to have suburbs upon the north and south. The
+skirmishers of the French were in these suburbs. (Fox's flank command had
+long ago retired, keeping its order, however, and making across country as
+best it could for Lannoy.) It was about half-past nine when Abercrombie's
+force, which had been saved by so astonishing a mixture of chance, skill,
+coolness, and daring, filed into the long street of Roubaix. The Guards
+and the guns went through the passage in perfect formation in spite of the
+shots dropping from the suburbs, which were already beginning to harass
+the cavalry behind them. Immediately to their rear was the Austrian horse,
+while, last of all, defending the retreat, the English Dragoons were just
+entering the village. In the centre of this long street a market-place
+opened out. The Austrian cavalry, arrived at it, took advantage of the
+room afforded them; they doubled and quadrupled their files until they
+formed a fairly compact body, almost filling the square. It was precisely
+at this moment that the French advance upon the eastern side of the
+village brought a gun to bear down the long straight street and road,
+which led from the market square to Wattrelos. The moment it opened fire,
+the Austrians, after a vain attempt to find cover, pressed into the side
+streets down the market-place, fell into confusion. There is no question
+here of praise or blame: a great body of horsemen, huddled in a narrow
+space, suddenly pounded by artillery, necessarily became in a moment a
+mass of hopeless confusion. The body galloped in panic out of the village,
+swerved round the sharp corner into the narrower road (where the French
+had closed in so nearly that there was some bayonet work), and then came
+full tilt against the British guns, which lay blocking the way because the
+drivers had dismounted or cut the traces and fled. In the midst of this
+intolerable confusion a second gun was brought to bear by the French, and
+the whole mob of ridden and riderless horses, some dragging limbers, some
+pack-horses charged, many more the dispersed and maddened fragments of the
+cavalry, broke into the Guards, who had still kept their formation and
+were leading what had been but a few moments before an orderly retreat.
+
+It is at this point, I think, that the merit of this famous brigade and
+its right to regard the disaster not with humiliation but with pride, is
+best established. For that upon which soldiers chiefly look is the power
+of a regiment to reform. The Guards, thus broken up under conditions which
+made formation for the moment impossible, and would have excused the
+destruction of any other force, cleared themselves of the welter,
+recovered their formation, held the road, permitted the British cavalry to
+collect itself and once more form a rearguard, and the retreat upon Lannoy
+was resumed by this fragment of York's command in good order: in good
+order, although it was subjected to heavy and increasing fire upon either
+side.
+
+It was a great feat of arms.
+
+As for the Duke of York, he was not present with his men. He had ridden
+off with a small escort of cavalry to see whether it might not be possible
+to obtain some reinforcement from Otto, but the French were everywhere in
+those fields. He found himself with a squadron, with a handful, and at
+last alone, until, a conspicuous figure with the Star of the Garter still
+pinned to his coat, he was chivied hither and thither across country,
+followed and flanked by the sniping shots of the French skirmishers in
+thicket and hedge; after that brief but exceedingly troubled ride,
+Providence discovered him a brook and a bridge still held by some of
+Otto's Hessians. He crossed it, and was in safety.
+
+His retreating men--those of them that remained, and notably the remnant
+of the Dragoons and the Guards--were still in order as they approached
+Lannoy. They believed, or hoped, that that village was still in possession
+of the Hessians whom York had left there. But the French attack had been
+ubiquitous that morning. It had struck simultaneously upon all the flanks.
+At Roubaix as at Mouveaux, at Lannoy as at Roubaix, and the Guards and the
+Dragoons within musket shot of Lannoy discovered it, in the most
+convincing fashion, to be in the hands of the enemy. After that check
+order and formation were lost, and the remaining fragment of the Austrian
+and British who had marched out from Templeuve the day before 10,000
+strong, hurried, dispersed over the open field, crossed what is now the
+Belgian border, and made their way back to camp.
+
+Thus was destroyed the third column, which, of all portions of the allied
+army, had fought hardest, had most faithfully executed its orders, had
+longest preserved discipline during a terrible retreat and against
+overwhelming numbers: it was to that discipline that the Guards in
+particular owed the saving from the wreck of so considerable a portion of
+their body. Of their whole brigade just under 200 were lost, killed,
+wounded or taken prisoners. The total loss of the British was not quite
+five times this--just under 1000,--but of their guns, twenty-eight in
+number, nineteen were left in the hands of the enemy.
+
+There is no need to recount in detail the fate of Otto's column. As it had
+advanced parallel in direction and success to the Duke of York's, it
+suffered a similar and parallel misfortune. As the English had found
+Lannoy occupied upon their line of retreat, so Otto's column had found
+Wattrelos. As the English column had broken at Lannoy, so the Austrian at
+Leers. And the second column came drifting back dispersed to camp,
+precisely as the third had done. When the fragments were mustered and the
+defeat acknowledged, it was about three o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+For the rest of the allied army there is no tale to tell, save with regard
+to Clerfayt's command; the fourth and the fifth columns, miles away behind
+the scene of the disaster, did not come into action. Long before they
+could have broken up after the breakdown through exhaustion of the day
+before, the French were over the Marque and between them and York. When a
+move was made at noon, it was not to relieve the second and third columns,
+for that was impossible, though, perhaps, if they had marched earlier, the
+pressure they would have brought to bear upon Bonnaud's men might have
+done something to lessen the disaster. It is doubtful, for the Marque
+stood in between and the French did not leave it unguarded.
+
+Bussche, true to his conduct of the day before, held his positions all day
+and maintained his cannonade with the enemy. It is true that there was no
+severe pressure upon him, but still he held his own even when the rout
+upon his left might have tempted him to withdraw his little force.
+
+As for Clerfayt, he had not all his men across the Lys until that very
+hour of seven in the morning when York at Mouveaux was beginning to suffer
+the intolerable pressure of the French, and Otto's men at Tourcoing were
+in a similar plight.
+
+By the time he had got all his men over, he found Vandamme holding
+positions, hastily prepared but sufficiently well chosen, and blocking his
+way to the south. With a defensive thus organised, though only half as
+strong as the attack, Vandamme was capable of a prolonged resistance; and
+while it was in progress, reinforcements, summoned from the northern parts
+of the French line beyond Lille, had had time to appear towards the west.
+He must have heard from eight o'clock till noon the fire of his retreating
+comrades falling back in their disastrous retreat, and, rightly judging
+that he would have after mid-day the whole French army to face, he
+withdrew to the river, and had the luck to cross it the next day without
+loss: a thing that the French now free from the enemy to the south should
+never have permitted.
+
+So ended the Battle of Tourcoing, an action which, for the interest of its
+scheme, for the weight of its results, and, above all, for the fine
+display of courage and endurance which British troops showed under
+conditions that should normally have meant annihilation, deserves a much
+wider fame in this country than it has obtained.
+
+
+PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS _that compel_
+
+_Supplementary Spring List, 1912_
+
+
+  _For him was levere have at his beddes heed
+  Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed ...
+  Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrye._
+
+                                  CHAUCER.
+
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+
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+
+_Complete list of "Books that Compel" post free on application_
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY
+
+=BRITISH BATTLE BOOKS.= By HILAIRE BELLOC. Illustrated with Coloured Maps.
+Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, 1s. net; leather, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+     HISTORY IN WARFARE
+
+     The British Battle Series will consist of a number of monographs upon
+     actions in which British troops have taken part. Each battle will be
+     the subject of a separate booklet illustrated with coloured maps,
+     illustrative of the movements described in the text, together with a
+     large number of line maps showing the successive details of the
+     action. In each case the political circumstances which led to the
+     battle will be explained; next, the stages leading up to it; lastly,
+     the action in detail. 1. BLENHEIM; 2. MALPLAQUET; 3. WATERLOO; 4.
+     TOURCOING. Later volumes will deal with Crecy, Poitiers, Corunna,
+     Talaveras, Flodden, The Siege of Valenciennes, Vittoria, Toulouse.
+
+=TRIPOLI AND YOUNG ITALY.= By CHARLES LAPWORTH and HELEN ZIMMERN. Demy
+8vo, cloth. Illustrated. Price 10s. 6d. net. A book of international
+importance. This is the first systematic account of the Tripoli expedition
+written from the Italian point of view which has yet been published in
+Europe. Italy's case against Turkey is fully stated, and the annexation of
+Tripoli, which has constantly been misrepresented by biassed critics as an
+arbitrary and capricious act of rapacity on the part of the Italian
+Government, is conclusively shown to have been an imperative political
+necessity. The highest authorities in Italy have heartily assisted the
+authors in their task of drawing up a reliable account of the inner
+history of the Tripoli expedition and of vindicating Italy from the many
+false accusations which have been levelled against her. The MSS. have been
+submitted to the Italian Prime Minister as well as the Minister of Foreign
+Affairs. The book is illustrated with portraits of leading Italians and
+with photographs of Libya.
+
+=PSYCHOLOGY, A NEW SYSTEM OF.= By ARTHUR LYNCH, M.P. 2 vols. 10s. 6d. each
+net. Based on the study of Fundamental Processes of the Human Mind. The
+principles established will afford criteria in regard to every position in
+Psychology. New light will be thrown, for instance, on Kant's Categories,
+Spencer's Hedonism, Fechner's Law, the foundation of Mathematics, Memory,
+Association, Externality, Will, the Feeling of Effort, Brain
+Localisations, and finally on the veritable nature of Reason.
+
+=AN INTRODUCTION TO METAPHYSICS=. By HENRI BERGSON. Translated by T. E.
+Hulme. Fcap. 8vo, Cloth, price, 2s. 6d. net. The "Introduction to
+Metaphysics," although the shortest, is one of the most important of
+Bergson's writings. It not only provides the best introduction to his
+thought, but is also a book which even those familiar with the rest of his
+work will find necessary to read, for in it he develops at greater length
+and in greater detail than elsewhere, the exact significance of what he
+intends by the word "intuition." Every expositor of Bergson has hitherto
+found it necessary to quote "An Introduction to Metaphysics" at
+considerable length, yet the book has never before been available in
+English.
+
+=AN INTRODUCTION TO BERGSON=. By T. E. HULME. 7s. 6d. Besides giving a
+general exposition of the better known parts of Bergson's philosophy, the
+author has discussed at some length Bergson's "Theory of Art," which may
+prove to many people the most interesting part of his whole philosophy,
+although it has so far been written about very little. At the same time
+this book is no running commentary on a great number of separate ideas;
+the author has endeavoured by subordinating everything to one dominating
+conception, to leave in the reader's mind a clearly outlined picture of
+Bergson's system. During the last few years the author has been able to
+discuss many points of difficulty with M. Bergson himself.
+
+
+SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SERIES
+
+=FROM THEATRE TO MUSIC-HALL=. By W. R. TITTERTON. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3s.
+6d. net. This book is neither a history of the drama nor a critical study
+of well-known playwrights. It is an attempt to account for the weakening
+of the dramatic sense in modern England, and to explain the enormous
+importance of the music-hall, and the desperate necessity of maintaining
+it as a means of popular expression. The theories put forward are bold,
+and are likely to excite great agreement and great opposition.
+
+=THE DOCTOR AND HIS WORK.= With a Hint of his Destiny and Ideals. By
+CHARLES J. WHITBY, M.D. Cantab., Author of "Triumphant Vulgarity," "Makers
+of Man," "A Study of Human Initiative," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 3s.
+6d. net. In this book the author has reviewed the existing position of the
+doctor and indicated the signs of a new sociological era in which he will
+be called upon to accept new and important functions. The profession has
+in the past consisted of a mere mob of unorganised units; that of the
+future will be a disciplined army of experts co-operating for the good of
+the State. "The Doctor and His Work" may be described as a summary of the
+modern medical point of view. It appeals not less to the lay than to the
+professional reader.
+
+=IRISH HOME RULE.= The Last Phase. By S. G. HOBSON. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
+
+=NATIONAL EDUCATION.= By BARON VON TAUBE, author of "Manual Training," "In
+Defence of America," "Only a Dog's Life," etc. Crown 8vo, Cloth. 3s. 6d.
+net. Two basic and dominating conceptions underlie the theory of education
+put forward in this treatise. The first is the necessity for a national
+education which will evoke, foster, develop and not level down and destroy
+all the peculiar and unique characteristics which go to make a nation a
+nation, and endow it with an individuality distinct from that of all other
+nations. The second is the necessity for the encouragement of originality
+and the full development of individual capacity, as contrasted with the
+mass-drill measures which are all too prevalent nowadays. The author's
+theories are based on ascertained sociological and psychological data and
+on numerous practical experiments in pedagogy which have been successfully
+carried out by him. Discontent with the modern stereotyped system of cram
+education is increasing daily, and this book should prove a valuable
+contribution to the literature on this vitally important subject.
+
+
+BELLES LETTRES
+
+=EPISODES OF VATHEK.= By WILLIAM BECKFORD. Translated by Sir Frank T.
+Marzials, with an Introduction by Lewis Melville. Medium 8vo, cloth. 21s.
+net. These Episodes or Eastern Tales, related in the Halls of Eblis, were
+discovered recently by Mr. Lewis Melville in the archives of Hamilton
+Palace. They were conceived by Beckford as three episodes complete within
+themselves, which he proposed to interpolate, in the manner of the
+"Arabian Nights," into his famous Oriental story of "Vathek." The original
+in French is given after the English translation, and the reader will find
+this volume extremely interesting both as treasure trove and literature.
+
+=SONNETS AND BALLATE OF GUIDO CAVALCANTI.= Translated by EZRA POUND. Crown
+8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d. net. We have had many translations of the Divina
+Commedia, a few of the Vita Nuova. Rosetti has translated a miscellany of
+"Early Italian Poets," but in these "Sonnets and Ballate" of Guido
+Cavalcanti we have a new thing, the endeavour to present a 13th century
+Tuscan poet, other than Dante, as an individual. More than one Italian
+critic of authority has considered Cavalcanti second to Dante alone in
+their literature. Dante places him first among his forerunners.
+
+
+=LEAVES OF PROSE=, interleaved with verse. By ANNIE MATHESON, with which
+are included two papers by May Sinclair. Crown 8vo. 5s. net. This volume
+is composed of a selection of those short studies for which Miss Matheson
+is so justly famous. Literature, Sociology, Art, Nature, all receive her
+attention in turn, and on each she stamps the impression of her own
+personality. The prose is soft and rhythmic, infused with the atmosphere
+of the country-side, while the lyrics scattered throughout the volume
+reflect a temperament that has remained equable under the most severe
+trials. No book more aptly expresses the spirit of Christianity and good
+fellowship as understood in England.
+
+=OFF BEATEN TRACKS IN BRITTANY.= By EMIL DAVIES. Crown 8vo, cloth. 7s. 6d.
+net. In this book the author, who has already won for himself a position
+in a surprisingly large variety of fields, goes off the beaten track in
+more than one direction. It is a book of travel, philosophy and humour,
+describing the adventures, impressions and reflections of two "advanced"
+individuals who chose their route across Brittany by ruling a straight
+line across the map from Brest to St. Malo--and then went another way!
+
+=IMAGINARY SPEECHES AND OTHER PARODIES IN PROSE AND VERSE.= By JACK
+COLLINGS SQUIRE. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d. net. This is probably the most
+comprehensive volume of Parodies ever issued. The author is as much at his
+ease in hitting off the style of Mr. Burns or Mr. Balfour, as he is in
+imitating the methods and effects of the new Celtic or Imperialist poets;
+whilst he is as happy in his series illustrating "The Sort of Prose
+Articles that modern Prose-writers write" as he is in his model newspaper
+with its various amusing features.
+
+=SHADOWS OUT OF THE CROWD.= By RICHARD CURLE. Crown 8vo, cloth. 6s. This
+book consists of twelve stories of a curious and psychological kind. Some
+deal with the West Indian and South American tropics, some with London,
+some with Scotland, and one with South Africa. The author's sense of
+atmosphere is impressive, and there is about all his stories the
+fatalistic spirit of the Russians. They have been written over a period of
+several years, and show signs of a close study of method and a deep
+insight into certain descriptions of fevered imagination. All are the work
+of a writer of power, and of an artist of a rare and rather un-English
+type.
+
+=LONDON WINDOWS.= By ETHEL TALBOT. Crown 8vo, cloth. 2s. 6d. net. In this
+little volume Miss Talbot, who is a well known and gifted singer in the
+younger choir of England's poets, pictures London in many moods. She has
+won themes from the city's life without that capitulation to the merely
+actual which is the pitfall of so many artists. London is seen grieving,
+sordid, grey, as well as magical and alluring. All who love the London of
+to-day must perforce respond to the appeal which lies in these moving and
+poignant verses.
+
+=BOHEMIA IN LONDON.= By ARTHUR RANSOME. Crown 8vo, cloth. Illustrated. 2s.
+net.
+
+=SOME ASPECTS OF THACKERAY.= By LEWIS MELVILLE. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. As
+a literary study the book incites interest, and commands attention as a
+further revelation of a brilliant and many-sided literary genius. There
+are admirably written chapters on "Thackeray as a Reader and Critic,"
+"Thackeray as an Artist," "Thackeray's Country," "Thackeray's Ballads,"
+"Thackeray and his Illustrators," "Prototypes of Thackeray's Characters,"
+etc. The volume is fully illustrated.
+
+=ENGLISH LITERATURE.= 1880-1905. Pater, Wilde, and after. By J. M.
+KENNEDY. Demy 8vo, cloth. 7s. 6d. net. Mr. J. M. Kennedy has written the
+first history of the dynamic movement in English literature between 1880
+and 1905. The work begins with a sketch of romanticism and classicism, and
+continues with chapters on Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde, who, in their
+different ways, exercised so great an influence on various poets and
+essayists of the time, all of whom are dealt with.
+
+=ONLY A DOG'S LIFE.= By BARON VON TAUBE. Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. net. This
+fascinating work was originally published in German, and is now issued in
+the author's own English rendering. It has been most favourably received
+in Germany. A Siberian hound, whose sire was a wolf, tells his own story.
+The book, in fact, is a very clever satire on human nature, a satire which
+gains much charm and piquancy from its coming from the mouth of a
+masterful self-respecting hound.
+
+=SOME OLD ENGLISH WORTHIES.= Thomas of Reading, George a Green, Roger
+Bacon, Friar Rush. Edited with notes and introduction by DOROTHY SENIOR.
+Medium 8vo, cloth. 10s. 6d. net.
+
+=BY DIVERS PATHS.= By ELEANOR TYRRELL, ANNIE MATHESON, MAUDE P. KING, MAY
+SINCLAIR, Professor C. H. HERFORD, Dr. GREVILLE MACDONALD, and C. C.
+COTTERILL. New Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt. 3s. 6d. net. A volume of
+natural studies and descriptive and meditative essays interspersed with
+verse.
+
+=IN DEFENCE OF AMERICA.= By BARON VON TAUBE. Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. net.
+This very remarkable book gives the American point of view in reply to
+criticisms of "Uncle Sam" frequently made by representatives of "John
+Bull." The author, a Russo-German, who has spent many active years in the
+United States, draws up about thirty "popular indictments against the
+citizens of Uncle Sam's realm," and discusses them at length in a very
+original and dispassionate way, exhibiting a large amount of German
+critical acumen together with much American shrewdness. Both "Uncle Sam"
+and "John Bull" will find in the book general appreciations of their
+several characteristics and not a few valuable suggestions.
+
+
+FICTION
+
+Crown 8vo, cloth. 6s. each
+
+=LADY ERMYNTRUDE AND THE PLUMBER.= By PERCY FENDALL. This is a tale
+fantastical and satirical, of the year 1920, its quaint humours arising
+out of the fact that a Radical-Socialist Government has passed an Act of
+Parliament requiring every man and woman to earn a living and to live on
+their earnings. There are many admirable strokes of wit dispersed
+throughout, not the least of these being the schedule of charges which the
+king is permitted to make, for he also, under the Work Act, is compelled
+to earn a living.
+
+=AN EXCELLENT MYSTERY.= By Countess RUSSELL. The scene opens in Ireland
+with a fascinating child, Will-o'-the-Wisp, and a doting father. A poor
+mother and a selfish elder sister drive her to a marriage which has no
+sound foundation. The husband turns out eccentric, unsympathetic, and even
+cowardly. Will-o'-the-Wisp has to face at a tender age and with no
+experience the most serious and difficult problems of sex, motherhood and
+marriage. Then with the help of friends, her own good sense and
+determination, and the sensible divorce law of Scotland, she escapes her
+troubles. This forms the conclusion of an artless but thrilling narrative.
+
+=A NIGHT IN THE LUXEMBOURG= (Une Nuit au Luxembourg). By REMY DE GOURMONT.
+Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. net. With preface and appendix by Arthur Ransome. M.
+Remy de Gourmont is, perhaps, the greatest of contemporary French writers.
+His books are translated into all languages but ours. "Une Nuit au
+Luxembourg" is the first of his works to appear in English, and will be
+followed by others. It will certainly arouse considerable discussion. It
+moves the reader with something more than a purely aesthetic emotion.
+
+=HUSBAND AND LOVER.= By WALTER RIDDALL. In this book is given a discerning
+study of a temperament. The author has taken an average artistic man and
+laid bare his feelings and impulses, his desires and innermost thoughts
+under the supreme influence of sex. Frankness is the key-note of the work;
+its truth will be recognised by everyone who faces the facts of his own
+nature and neither blushes nor apologises for them.
+
+=THE CONSIDINE LUCK.= By H. A. HINKSON. The Considine Luck is primarily a
+story of the Union of Hearts, an English girl's love affair with an
+Irishman, and the conflict of character between the self-made man who is
+the charming heroine's father and the Irish environment in which he finds
+himself. The writer can rollick with the best, and the Considine Luck is
+not without its rollicking element. But it is in the main a delicate and
+serious love story, with its setting in the green Irish country, among the
+poetical, unpractical people among whom Mr. Hinkson is so thoroughly at
+home.
+
+=A SUPER-MAN IN BEING.= By LITCHFIELD WOODS. Both in its subject-matter
+and craftsmanship this is an arresting piece of work. It is not, in the
+usual sense, a story of love and marriage. Rather, it is the biographical
+presentment of Professor Snaggs, who has lost his eyesight, but who is yet
+known to the outside world as a distinguished historian. The revelation of
+the Professor's home life is accomplished with a literary skill of the
+highest kind, showing him to be a combination of super-man and
+super-devil, not so much in the domain of action as in the domain of
+intellect. An extraordinary situation occurs--a problem in psychology
+intensely interesting to the reader, not so much on its emotional as on
+its intellectual side, and is solved by this super-man in the domain of
+intellect.
+
+=GREAT POSSESSIONS.= By Mrs. CAMPBELL. A story of modern Americans in
+America and England, this novel deals with the suffering bequeathed by the
+malice of a dead man to the woman he once loved. In imposing upon her son
+the temptations of leisure and great wealth he is a means of making him a
+prey to inherited weakness, and the train of events thus set in motion
+leads to an unexpected outcome. The author is equally familiar with life
+in either country, and the book is an earnest attempt to represent the
+enervating influences of a certain type of existence prevailing among the
+monied classes in New York to-day.
+
+=THE DARKSOME MAIDS OF BAGLEERE.= By WILLIAM KERSEY. A delightful novel of
+Somerset farming-life. Although a tragedy of the countryside, it is at the
+same time alive with racy country humour. The character drawing is clear
+and strong, and the theme is handled with the restraint of great tragedy.
+This book is of real literary value--in fact, it recalls to our minds the
+earlier works of Thomas Hardy.
+
+
+PLAYS
+
+=THE KING.= A Daring Tragedy. By STEPHEN PHILLIPS, Crown 8vo, cloth. 2s.
+6d. net. Don Carlos, heir to the throne of Spain, learns that Christina,
+a young lady of the Court, with whom he is secretly in love, is really his
+sister. The gloom of the tragedy is deepened by the discovery that
+Christina is about to be a mother. Brother and sister, who are at the same
+time husband and wife, die by the same dagger. The king, who has already
+abdicated in favour of his son, whom he desired to marry the Princess of
+Spain, resolves to put an end to his life also, but is persuaded by his
+minister that the task of living as king will be a greater punishment for
+all the misery he has created. The story is developed with skill,
+reticence, simplicity, in solemn harmonies and with tragic beauty.
+
+=SHAKESPEARE'S END AND TWO OTHER IRISH PLAYS.= By CONAL O'RIORDAN (Norreys
+Connell). Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net. Mr. O'Riordan, who is better known by
+his nom-de-guerre of "Norreys Connell," which has served him for twenty
+years, has brought together in this volume the three plays in which he has
+given expression to his view of the relation between England and Ireland.
+In a prefatory letter to Mr. Joseph Conrad he presents a synthesis of the
+trilogy, and explains why this, of his several books, is the first which
+he wishes to associate with his proper name.
+
+
+UNCLASSIFIED
+
+=OH, MY UNCLE!= By W. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE, author of "The Talking Master,"
+"D'Orsay," etc. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. Wit, fun, frolic, fairy tale,
+nonsense verses, satire, comedy, farce, criticism; a touch of each, an
+_olla podrida_ which cannot be classified. It certainly is not history,
+yet cannot fairly be put under the heading fiction; it is not realism, yet
+fairy-taleism does not fully describe it; it deals with well-known folk,
+yet it is not a "romance with a key"; it is not a love story, yet there is
+love in it; in short, again, it cannot be classified. It is a book for
+those who love laughter, yet it is not merely frivolous. It deals with the
+lights of life, with just a touch now and again of delicate shadow. One
+thing may safely be said--Miss Blue-Eyes and Uncle Daddy will make many
+friends.
+
+
+STEPHEN SWIFT & CO., LTD.
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] These dates are important in another aspect of the matter--the
+authorship of the plan. I will, therefore, return to them in more detail
+at the close of this section.
+
+[2] I pay no attention to the ridiculous suggestion that the delay was due
+to the contemporary peril in Poland, and to Thugut's anxiety to have
+Austrian troops in the east rather than on the western frontier. People
+who write modern history thus seem to forget that the electric telegraph
+did not exist in the eighteenth century. The more reasonable pretension
+that the Austrians hesitated between marching north to effect the plan
+against Souham, and marching east to relieve the pressure upon Kaunitz,
+who was hard pressed upon the Sambre, deserves consideration. But
+Kaunitz's despatch, telling how he had been forced to fall back, did not
+reach headquarters until the 12th, and if immediate orders had been given
+for the northern march, that march would have begun before the news of
+Kaunitz's reverse had arrived. The only reasonable explanation in this as
+in most problems in human history, is the psychological one. You have to
+explain the delay of George III.'s son, and Joseph II.'s nephew. To anyone
+not obsessed by the superstition of rank, the mere portraits of these
+eminent soldiers would be enough to explain it.
+
+[3] Fortescue, vol. iv., part i., p. 255.
+
+[4] After so many allusions to his youth, I may as well give the date of
+his birth. Frederick, Duke of York, the second son of King George III. of
+England, was not yet thirty when he suffered at Tourcoing, having been
+born in 1765. He had the misfortune to die in 1827.
+
+[5] The reader not indifferent to comedy will hear with pleasure that,
+among various accounts of Kinsky's communication with the Arch-Duke
+Charles at this juncture, one describes that Royalty as inaccessible after
+the fatigue of the day. His colleague is represented as asking in vain for
+an interview, and receiving from a servant the reply "that his Imperial
+Highness must not be disturbed, as he was occupied in having a fit."
+
+[6] At a point somewhat below Wervicq: much where the private ferry now
+plies.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
+
+Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tourcoing, by Hilaire Belloc
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #32260 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32260)