106] 
the French army, were at this 
time in circulation ; and, in con- 
sequence thereof, two battalions 
which had been ordered by Luck- 
mer to join Dumouriez from 
Chalons, refused to march. The 
real truth of the. unfortunate 
event which occasioned these re- 
ports, has not as yet been clearly 
ascertained ; or rather, they have 
been industriously concealed. Du- 
mouriez, in his letter, denounces 
vengeance onthe fugitives and those 
battalions who had basely deserted 
their guns,—at the same time, the 
General asserts, that he can answer 
for the safety of his country, and 
requests that the Assembly may be 
under no alarm. 
Montmedy, invested by Clairfait, 
-made an excellent defence, which, 
‘with that of Thionville, prevented 
-the combined armies from advanc- 
ing in their march towards the ca- 
pital of France. 
On the 11th of September, the 
army under Clairfait having quitted 
the camp at Romayne, posted itself 
on the heights above Barecourt and 
‘Besancy ; and a part of the Prussian 
troops made a movement in a paral- 
Jel direction. In consequence of 
‘these movements,’ partial actions 
took place between the armies; in 
which the French appear to have 
regained the credit they had lost 
in the action of Grand Pré. The 
forces of the French were now col- 
dected at the important points of 
Chalons, Rheims, and St. Mene- 
hould. The army of Dumouriez 
-was that of the advanced guard; 
and on whose particular exertions 
depended the fate of France. 
The combined armies, by their 
entrance into Champaign, would 
have obtained possession of the 
finest country in the kingdom, and 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792. 
the best adapted to the movements 
of regular troops; and more espe- 
cially of cavalry, with which the 
Austrian and Prussian armies so 
abounded. It would, in fact, have 
giveo the key of Paris, andthe cer 
tainty of its possession.—The eyes 
of ali were now turned to this im-— 
portant object: the defeat of Du-— 
mouriez’s army would instantly 
have broken up the body of raw, | 
undisciplined troops, stationed at_ 
Chalons; who, no doubt, would 
have fled to Paris, and whose arrival — 
would have created the greatest a-— 
larm and consternation. The friends _ 
of royalty would have rallied, and— 
have opened the gates of the capital - 
to the victorious enemy. © 
On the 20th of September, the 
combined armies attacked the ad- 
vanced guardof Kellerman,near to — 
Dampierre: —the Austrian and — 
Prussian armies were’ repulsed, — 
This attack took place on the 20th 
of September, when there was a 
very vigorous cannonade on both 
sides. Soon after a truce took 
place; and a negociation was’ open> 
ed between the King of Prussia and ~ 
Dumouriez. The Prussians were 
in the mean time taking measures 
for their retreat. The republican 
government was proclaimed by the — 
Convention; and all negociati if 
was of course at an end. The 
Duke of Brunswick sent bis second 
manifesto, as preposterous as the 
first, and in contradictionto the pros 
positions that had been made in the 
course of this suspension of arms, 
Kellerman, struck with asuddenter- 
ror, wanted to make pp 
this critical moment; and all t 
Dumouriez and other officers of in- 
flence of the army could do, wi 
to promise him that all the ba, 
of the army should be sent to the 
rear 
