HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
to pay a contribution of two mil- 
lions of florins. ‘This General was 
energetic in the cause of liberty; 
and there is no doubt, had he been 
properly supported, but that he 
_would have penetrated to Coblentz, 
the grand emporium of aristocracy. 
But either there was a want of co- 
operation in Kellerman,* or it was 
not thought proper by that officer 
to leave the French frontier open to 
the incursions of the enemy. Gene- 
tal Custine also weakened his ar- 
my by continued detachments, and 
by the progress he had made in the 
country of the Prince of Hesse. 
The center army, underthe com- 
mand of Kellerman, continued un- 
ceasingly to harass the rear of the 
German troops; and General Va- 
lence, who commanded the ad- 
vanced guard in the room of Dil- 
lon, was particularly successful in 
driving the Prussians from the post 
of Pillon. It appears somewhat 
singular that the Duke of Bruns- 
wick, as he became more enfeebled 
in point of military force and equip- 
ment, and at the same time that his 
weakness was known to the enemy, 
became more urgent for negocia- 
tion than he had been in his former 
overtures. He could scarcely sup- 
jose that in the posture in which 
Prnirsthen stood, he would at all be 
attended to. Whatever were his 
views and motives, on the 17th of 
October, the Duke and General 
[iit 
Kalkreuth sent an aid-de - camp 
with a trumpeter, to request an 
interview with General Kellerman. 
The General understood from this 
aid-de-camp, that it was the in- 
tention of the Duke tc propose in 
the intended conference some ami- 
cable mode of terminating the dis- 
astrous war. The General treated 
the idea of a retreating and ruined 
army opening a negociation, with 
contempt:—neither was he au- 
thorised by the National Assembly 
or the executive power, to listen to 
any terms of accommodation. His 
orders were to chase the enemies of 
France fron the republic; and he 
prudently and properly replied, 
that he could not in his capacity en- 
ter into any parley, more especially 
while any part of the combined 
forces yet remained within the 
boundaries of the republic. 
The Duke of Brunswick remain- 
ed still in possession of Longwy, the 
only possession of any consequence. 
which the combined powers had, 
and on the very confines of France. 
It was suggested by General Kel- 
lerman, that this should be given 
up as a preliminary article, and pre-. 
viously to the French nation listen- 
ing to any terms or offers whatso-, 
ever, The Duke, willing to gain 
time in doing what he would ulti-~ 
mately and indeed very speedily be 
compelled to do, proposed that it 
shouldbe surrenderedtothe French 
_ * For the purpose of co-operation with Custine, Kellerman was employed ; but 
his genius and military talents were proved by the events, to have fallen short of 
the public expectations, 
He conducted himself with delay and timidity in the 
we. of the Prussians, throughout all their retreat ; and when his positive orders. 
€ to march towards the Rhine, to join Custine, and tosupport him in the 
pute 
of the Prussians, he led his army into cantonments, and stopt in the frontiers 
f France. 
For this fault, the Executive Council wanted to try him; but they con- 
tented themselves with suspending him from hig cammand, and appointed Bours 
nonvillein his place, 
QI 
on 
