124] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1702. 
throwing aside all personal pique, 
pride, or animosity, wrote to Cus- 
tine, putting himself, although for- 
merly his senior, and all his army 
under the immediate command of 
that officer. It was indeed neces- 
sary that measures should be taken 
to strengthen the important position 
of Custine on the Rhine and Meuse; 
for the King of Prussia, after his 
defeat on the Lhan, with the loss 
of Limbourg, determined that his 
army should now be supported by 
that of Coblentz, the great centre 
of rendezvous of the combined 
powers. These armies, consisting 
of 50,000 men, obliged Custine to 
retreat to Mayence, which he had 
taken care to fortify in the most 
advantageous and formidable man- 
ner. The inhabitants of Frank- 
fort, not being satisfied with their 
new masters, took an opportunity 
of opening their gates to the Prus- 
sians; by which one-half of the gar- 
rison were made prisoners of war, 
and the rest were butchered by the 
Prussians and Hessians. At this 
juncture it was impossible for Cus- 
tine to give the smallest assistance, 
as the junction of Biron did not 
take place till next day. Some 
movements took place after this 
junction, on the part of Custine, in 
which the French troops behaved 
with the greatest bravery, and in the 
course of which, on one occasion, 
18,000 resisted for a considerable 
time 30,000 of the enemy. In this 
action the conduct of Colonel 
Houchard was highly extolled: 
with 2,000 men he had opposed 
12,000, had checked their pro- 
gress, and without the loss of a 
man, took from the enemy several 
prisoners. 
It has already been noticed, that 
General Bournonville had been ap- 
pointed to succeed Kellerman in 
the army of Metz, on the 13th of 
December. ‘The head quarters of 
this officer were at Cerf, and he 
then occupied the towns of Mest- 
zeig, Frendenberg, and Sarbruck. 
The latter, being a place of consi- 
derable importance, the possession 
of it occasioned several small en- 
gagements between the contending 
parties, all of which ended in fa- 
vour of the French. The loss ‘on 
their part was generally very trifling, 
from the enemy firing either too 
high or too low. The object of 
this expedition was, to get posses- 
sion of Treves. Bournonville had 
already conquered all the territory 
between the Sarre and the Moselle, 
as far as the bridge of Cosarebruck; 
and the republican troops were in’ 
actual possession of all the district 
between the confluence of these 
rivers. In the course of this busi- 
ness the armies were engaged ten 
times ; and what is extraordinary, 
the French in all these engagements 
had only ten men killed, and sixty 
wounded, 
The dominion of France was 
thus rapidly extended from the 
Alps to the Rhine, and from Ge- 
neva to the mouth of the Scheldt: 
and the most numerous and best 
appointed armies of Europe were 
at this period everywhere retreat- 
ing from the undisciplined but en- 
thusiastic troops of the victorious 
republic. 
It seldom happens that govern- 
ments possess the wisdom to an- 
ticipate the just demands, or vo- 
luntarily to yield to the wishes and 
claims of the people, so long as 
they think themselves sufficiently 
strong to resist them by” force. 
The house of Austria had but re- 
cently secured, by the power of 
the sword, the allegiance of the 
states of Brabant and Flanders, 
’ who 
