28 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



Lord Moira had secured his junc- 

 tion with the army under General 

 Clairfa-t. 



In the mean time, the exultation 

 of the French at their uninter- 

 rupted successes, was boundless ; 

 the Convention resounded with 

 the applauses of their Generals ; 

 and they spoke of their enemies in 

 the most unqualified terms of indig- 

 nation and contempt. On the 4th 

 .of July, the celebrated Deputy Bar- 

 rere made a speech on occasion 

 of the victories gained by the 

 French, wherein he enumerated 

 them with great pomp, or rather 

 affcctedness of expression. By tlje 

 statements he laid before the Con- 

 ventionj it was asserted that in the 

 different engagements with the 

 .combined armies, these had lost 

 thirty thousand men shin in battle, 

 besides those who had been made 

 prisoners. It may be added, that 

 had he disclosed the numbers of 

 killed on the side of the French, 

 they would not probably have been 

 found less considerable. While 

 tjie people in Fratice consoled 

 themselves in their victories, for 

 the many calamities that had be- 

 fallen them in the progress of this 

 sanguinary revolution, the French 

 armies, elated at their superiority 

 to all the resistance the allies fruit- 

 lessly endeavoured to make, and 

 presuming on the constern^ion 

 which was daily encreasing among 

 the allies and their adherents, were 

 becoming more active and enter- 

 prising than ever. Instead of re- 

 laxing in their career, they new 

 exerted additional diligence in im- 

 proving their good fortune. This 

 indeed was their lending charac- 

 teristic at this period ; and to this 

 they were indebted for the sur- 

 prising prosperity that now at- 



tended them. Actuated by this 

 fundamental maxim of all perma* 

 nent success^ they pressed upon 

 their enemies in every- direction ; 

 they pursued them without inter- 

 mission, and afforded them no op^ 

 portunity of making any effectual 

 stand. After the battle of Fleurus, 

 Prince Cobourg having reassem- 

 bled his broken army at Halle, ex- 

 erted bis abilities to recover it from 

 the dejection as well as the disorder 

 into which it had been thrown, by 

 so terrible a defeat. He advanced 

 towards Mons, hoping to protect it 

 from the enemy, by taking an ad- 

 vantageous position in its neigL- 

 bourhood ; but he was on the 24 

 of. July attacked with relentless 

 fury by the French, who forced him 

 to abandon his post, and to evacu- 

 ate Mons, into which they made 

 their entrance at one of the gates, 

 while he was hurrying with all 

 speed out at another. 



Prince Cobourg, determined to 

 stand another trial to save Brussels 

 from the enemy, threw up strong 

 entrenchments in the forest of 

 Soignics, that lay between the 

 French and that capital of tlie 

 Austrian Netherlands. This being 

 the last effort he proposed, or would 

 indeed be able to make for its prer 

 servation, he resolved on the most 

 resolute defence. The Austrians 

 imder his command fought accordr 

 ingly, on this occasion, with great 

 courage and obstinacy 5 and partir 

 cularly made a vast slaughter of the 

 French, by means of a formidable 

 artillery; but the latter terminated 

 at length this bloody conflict, by 

 rushing on the Austrians with their 

 bayonets. Notwithstanding the 

 skill displayed by Prince Cobourg, 

 his troops were broken and their 

 batteries seized ; teyca thousand of 



tben> 



