HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



25 



pespairing of receiving relief from 

 him, the garrison of Ypres found 

 jt necessary to surrender. That 

 strong and important place capitu- 

 lated on the I7t'n of June to Gene- 

 ral Moreau, whose reputation and 

 valour were now greatly raised by 

 these various succesees. 



This reduction of Ypres, toge- 

 ther with the defeat of General 

 Clairfait, produced the same effect 

 in Flanders that had followed the 

 defeat of the allies at Fleurus and 

 the taking of Charleroy. It put 

 an end to all effectual resistance in 

 the Flemish districts, and so dis- 

 pirited the Austrian?) that theirop- 

 position to the French became 

 daily weaker, and of less avail. 

 Six thousand of their best troops 

 had fallen into the hands of the 

 French at Ypres, besides the num- 

 bers that had been lost in the dif- 

 ferent engagements between the 

 French and General Clairfait. 

 This brave but unfortunate offi- 

 cer was no longer able to ^fford 

 protection to the Spanish towns lyr 

 fng between Ghent and the sea : — 

 the most considerable of which wag 

 Bruges, one of the largest and most 

 opulent places in Flanders. The 

 garrison consisted of an inconsider- 

 able body of Hanoverians, under 

 General Walmoden, who, finding 

 his situation untenable against the 

 numbers that were approaching, 

 retreated towards the army under 

 the command of General Clairfait. 

 This evacuation induced the ma- 

 gistracy of Bruges to submit to the 

 French army, and to acknowledge 

 the sovereignty of the republic. 

 This submission was formally made 

 on the 2kh of June, to the great 

 satisfaction of the majority of the 

 ::: habitants, who had long har- 



boured discontents against the AuSr 

 trian government, and were hearti- 

 ly desirous of seeing it subverted. 



The defeat of General Clairfait 

 had proved no less detrimental to 

 the British forces commanded by 

 the Duke of York, which had been 

 posted atTournay, as the properert 

 centre of communication between 

 the army of General Clairfait in 

 Flanders, aud that under Prince 

 Cobourg, in the more eastern dis- 

 tricts. But the disasters that be- 

 fel the latter wholly disconcerted 

 the plan of operations intended j 

 and the Duke was now obliged to 

 move towards Oudenarde, in order 

 to act for its relief against the 

 French, who Jiad invested it with a 

 large force, and held another iu rea. 

 diness to support the siege, expect- 

 ing that the allies would not re- 

 main inactive spectators of its cap- 

 ture. By this mo\-ement the city 

 of Tournay was consigned to the 

 protection of a garrison totally in- 

 adequate to its defence against the 

 formidable strength that would in- 

 dubitably be employed in its re- 

 duction. The moment the 

 French perceived that the force 

 which had been stationed there had 

 quitted it, and was removed to a 

 sufficientdistance,to enable them to 

 cut off its communication with tha» 

 city, they marched towards Tour- 

 nay; which, if properly garrisoned, 

 would certainly have been able to 

 have made a resolute defence. It 

 had been strongly fortified by the 

 most skilful engineers, after it had 

 been taken by the French during 

 the reign of Lewis XIV. ; and had 

 cost many lives to the allies, who 

 retook it in the war for the Spanish 

 succession. But such at present 

 was its dcfencclcst situation, and so 



L'ttle 



