William Shakespeare - "King Richard the Second"

Charles Kingsley - "Sir Walter Raleigh and his Time from"

Various - "Stories by English Authors: Ireland"

L. Frank Baum - "The Tin Woodman of Oz"

Won by the Sword

G >> G.A. Henty >> Won by the Sword




"You make a very good figure," he said, "and better, I can tell
you, than I did at your age, for I was but weakly, while you are
well grown and strong. Among your other exercises you have not
neglected the use of your sword. I could tell that as soon as my
eyes fell upon you."

"No, general, I have practised for two or three hours a day since
I was ten years old, and I think that almost every soldier in the
regiment has been my instructor in turn, and the maitre-d'armes of
the regiment himself gave me lessons twice a week."

"I have managed your business for you," the viscount said. "I saw
the cardinal yesterday and asked for a commission for you. He simply
asked for what regiment, and I said that at present I intended to
keep you about my own person, as I thought you would make a good
officer and would some day do me credit. He was busy at the time,
so he simply signed an appointment as a lieutenant and gave it
to me to fill in your name. I asked if I should bring you to his
levee tomorrow, but he said, 'There is no occasion, viscount, we
have both plenty on our hands; neither you nor I can waste time on
young lieutenants. You can present him to me when you return from
the war.' You know the cardinal by sight, I suppose?"

"Yes, general, I have seen him many times."

"He is a great man," Turenne said thoughtfully, rather as if
speaking to himself than to Hector; "the greatest that France has
ever known -- he is the soul of France. It is well, indeed, that
we have at present a king who recognizes how great a man he is,
and is wise enough to know that although he himself is somewhat
overshadowed, France is made greater and stronger and his own reign
more glorious by his genius." Then he broke off with a smile. "I
was talking to myself rather than to you. I shall ride to St. Denis
at two o'clock today; be here at that time. I will order the horse,
that I have purchased for you, to be brought round here."

Hector was about to express his gratitude, but the general at once
stopped him. "I need no thanks," he said. "I perceived in the
ardour with which you have studied military matters that you would
make a good officer, and you remind me of my own boyhood. I always
like to help forward officers who I see ready, not only to do their
actual business but to go beyond it, in order to acquire knowledge,
and I doubt not that I shall find this in you. But you must remember,
lad, that you are now no longer a civilian, but a soldier, that
you must be not only obedient but respectful to those above you in
rank, that discretion as well as courage is necessary for success,
that you must be thoughtful for the comfort of the soldiers, ready
to expose your life in battle to encourage them, and also to
set them an example of endurance, cheerfulness, and good spirits
in times of hardship and distress. Remember that, to the soldier,
there is no such thing as party; he fights for France and for
France only, and should hold himself aloof from even the smallest
expression of opinion on political matters. Then, at two o'clock."

Hector bowed deeply and left the room. When he returned to the hotel
at two o'clock, six grooms were standing with the horses before
the entrance; he waited outside until the viscount, followed by
four officers, came out.

"Oh, here you are, lieutenant!" he said, as his eye fell on Hector;
"I was afraid that punctuality was not among your virtues. Gentlemen,
this is Lieutenant Hector Campbell, son of a brave officer of the
Scottish regiment who fell at La Rochelle; he is, for the present,
attached to my household, and will ride with us for Italy the day
after tomorrow. Campbell, this gentleman is Colonel d'Estampes,
who is the head of my staff; this Major Mutton, who will have
the control of all matters connected with the artillery; these are
Messieurs de Lisle and Emile de Chavigny, who are my aides-de-camp.
Now, gentlemen, let us mount."

As the Scottish regiment was a mounted one, Hector had had ample
opportunities to learn to ride well, and he now fell in with the
two aides-de-camp, who were both young men of eighteen or nineteen
years of age, members of good families, and together they followed
the Viscount Turenne, who rode on ahead with the two staff officers.
While they were making their way through the narrow streets of
Paris they rode but slowly, but as soon as they passed through
the gates they went on at a brisk pace.

"You are fortunate," de Lisle said, "in having obtained a commission
so young, although I do not say that there are not many of similar
age in the army."

"I am fortunate indeed," Hector replied, "fortunate beyond anything
that I could have believed possible, thanks to the goodness of
Viscount Turenne."

"You could not enter the army under better patronage," de Chavigny
said. "We have both served under him for two years on the Rhine,
and had we been his brothers he could not have been more kind; but
the work, ma foi, was tremendous. The soldiers may well say that
the general is sleepless. Happily he does not expect us to go
altogether without rest. Frequently he is away all night by himself
in the saddle, sometimes he takes one or other of us with him,
but at any rate we get a night's sleep by turns. Much as he has to
worry him -- what with the ignorance of some and the carelessness of
others -- I have never seen him out of temper; but then a reproof,
however mildly spoken, by him, is more dreaded than a volley of
abuse from any other general. He was telling us before he came
out that you are already well up in drill, and in the use of arms."

"Yes; I have been brought up, I may say, in the Scottish regiment,
and after my father's death the officers and men were all very kind
to me, and I learnt my drill both as a soldier and an officer, to
fence, use my pistols, and ride. The officers lent me books on
military history and tactics."

"The viscount said you were wonderfully well read in such matters,"
de Lisle said. "I own that beyond the campaigns that I have taken
part in I have a very vague idea of such things. My time before
I joined was taken up with learning the use of arms, equitation,
and certain dry studies under an abbe. I wish now that instead
of Latin I had learned something of military history; it seems to
me that when one is intended for the army it is a good deal more
important than Latin or theology."

"I fancy, de Lisle," his companion said laughing, "that from what
I know of you your objection was not so much to the course of
study as to study altogether. I know that that was my case."

"Well, perhaps so; still, I might as well have been whipped into
learning something useful, instead of something that, so far as
I can see, will never be of any value whatever. Were you born over
here, lieutenant?"

"No, I was born in Scotland; but my father, who was a younger son, saw
no chance of making his way by his sword at home. It was certain
that James would never go to war, and as there was no regular
army, there seemed no opening for a penniless cadet in England or
Scotland, so he came over here and obtained a commission, and as
soon as he did so sent for my mother and myself. She died two years
later; he kept me with him. When he went on service I was left in
the charge of a Huguenot family, and it was well that it was so,
for otherwise I might have grown up unable to read or write. The
last time that I saw him was before he rode to La Rochelle. After
his death I was adopted by the regiment, for the good people I was
with left Paris to join their friends in the south. Had it been
otherwise I should have stayed with them. The good man would
probably have brought me up to be, like himself, a minister, and
I am afraid I should have made a very poor one."

The two young men laughed. "Just at present," de Lisle said, "the
two religions get on quietly together. The cardinal, churchman as
he is, knows that if France is to be great religious enmities must
cease, and that the wars of the last reign cost tens of thousands
of lives, and drove great numbers of men to take refuge in Holland
or England, to the benefit of those countries and our loss. Still,
his successor, whoever he may be, may think more of party and less
of France, and in that case you might have found your vocation of
a Huguenot minister as full of danger as that of a soldier."

"It would have been much worse," Hector said, "for it would not
have been a question of fighting, but of being massacred. I know
nothing of either religious disputes or of politics. In the regiment
these things were never talked about, either among the men or the
officers; all were for the king. But at the same time, as it seemed
to them that it was the cardinal who had stopped the persecution
of the Huguenots, and who had now gone to war with the Austrians
to prevent the Protestant princes of Germany being altogether
subjugated by the Imperialists, they felt grateful to him; for of
course Scotchmen are all on the side of the princes, and nigh half
the army of Gustavus Adolphus was composed of my countrymen."

"I do not suppose," Chavigny laughed, "that the cardinal would have
cared very much for the destruction of all the Protestant princes
of Germany, had it not been that their ruin would make Austria
more formidable than ever. As long as Gustavus lived and the
Swedes were able to hold their own against the Imperialists, France
troubled herself in no way in the matter; but when the Swedes were
finally routed at Nordlingen, and it seemed that the Imperialists
would triumph everywhere -- for most of the Protestant princes
were leaving the Confederacy and trying to make the best terms
they could for themselves -- Richelieu stepped in; and now we see
France, which for the past hundred years has been trying to stamp
out Protestantism, uniting with Protestant Holland and Sweden
to uphold the Protestant princes of Germany, and this under the
direction of a cardinal of the Church of Rome. And here are we
riding behind a Huguenot general, who perhaps more than any other
possesses the cardinal's confidence."

"It seems strange," de Lisle said, "but it is assuredly good
policy. While fighting Austria we are fighting Spain, for Austria
and Spain are but two branches of one empire. Spain is our eternal
enemy. True, she is not as formidable as she was. Henry of Navarre's
triumph over the Guises half emancipated us from her influence.
The English destroyed her naval power. Holland well nigh exhausted
her treasury, and brought such discredit on her arms as she had
never before suffered. Still, she and Austria combined dominate
Europe, and it is on her account that we have taken the place of the
Swedes and continued this war that has raged for so many years."



CHAPTER II: CHOOSING A LACKEY


The policy of the great cardinal had for its objects the aggrandizement
of France, as well as the weakening of the power of Austria. So
long as the struggle between the Protestant princes and the Swedes
against the Imperialists had been maintained with equal successes
on both sides, he had been well content to see Germany watering its
soil with the blood of its people. Nearly a third of the population
had been swept away during the terrible war. Many hundreds of
towns and villages had already disappeared, while large tracts of
country lay uncultivated, and whichever party won a victory France
gained by it. Her interest, however, lay with the Protestant
confederation. So long as Germany was cut up into a number of small
principalities, divided by religion and political animosity, she
could count for little against a foreign enemy.

France had for centuries suffered from the same cause. The families
of Lorraine, Bouillon, Enghien, Burgundy, the Guises, Longueville,
the Counts of Armagnac, and other powerful vassals of France, paid
but a nominal allegiance to the crown, and were really independent
princes. Louis XI had done much to break their power. Richelieu
continued the work, and under him France for the first time became
consolidated into a whole. Had he lived, the work would doubtless
have been completed, but his death and that of the king postponed
the work for years. The long regency, controlled by a minister
possessing none of the courage and firmness of Richelieu, and
personally obnoxious alike to the nobles and to the population of
Paris, again threw the power into the hands of the great nobles,
plunged France into civil strife, and the wars of the Fronde,
like those of the Roses in England, so weakened the nobles that
the crown under Louis XIV became absolutely dominant.

Had Austria succeeded in crushing the Protestant princes, that
empire, with all Germany under her control, would have become
a power greatly superior in strength and population to France. It
was principally to prevent this result that Richelieu after the
battle of Nordlingen threw himself into the struggle, but his aim
was also to carry the frontier of France up to the Rhine. Here the
territories of the Dukes of Lorraine, and Bouillon Prince of Sedan,
not only cut France off from the Rhine and the Moselle, but opened
a door by which she could at any time be invaded from Germany.
The Dukes of Lorraine had always borne themselves as independent
princes, giving, indeed, a nominal allegiance to France, but
as often allying themselves with German princes as with her. The
Duc de Bouillon, on the north of Lorraine, and the Duke of Savoy,
farther to the south, also regarded themselves as independent. The
former, as Huguenots, had a strong leaning towards the Protestant
Hollanders, and both were ready to furnish asylums to French nobles
who had incurred the wrath of their kings or ministers.

The Duc de Bouillon, father of Turenne, had fought bravely on the
side of Henry of Navarre through the wars of the League. He died
when the viscount was but ten years of age, and, his elder brother
being but six years older, his mother became regent of the little
state. After having greatly weakened the strength of the Huguenot
nobles by the siege and capture of La Rochelle, which had long been
the stronghold and bulwark of that religion, Richelieu obtained
from the duchess a treaty by which she engaged to remain always
attached to the interests of France, while the king undertook to
protect the house of Bouillon. The Duke of Savoy was next compelled
to hand over to France the town and province of Pignerol, and
Richelieu then turned his attention to Lorraine. The reigning
duke had entered into an alliance with Austria, and the invasion
of his territory was therefore the first step by which France
entered into the terrible struggle known as the Thirty Years' War.

The duke had given Richelieu an excuse for hostilities. He had
married his cousin, the nearest heir to the dukedom, but he treated
her so badly that she fled to France and begged the protection of
Louis XIII. This he gave her, a French army was at once set in
motion against Lorraine, and it was in this struggle that Turenne
had first fought under the French flag. He had always evinced the
strongest predilection for the life of a soldier, and when he
reached the age of fourteen, Richelieu being at the time engaged
in breaking the power of the Huguenots and in the siege of La
Rochelle, the boy's mother sent him to his uncle Maurice of Nassau,
who at the death of his father had become the leader of the Dutch
people. He was treated by his uncle in exactly the same way as
other gentlemen volunteers, carried a musket, and performed all
the duties of a private soldier.

Six months later Prince Maurice died, and his brother, Henry
Frederick, succeeded him in the government of the United Provinces.
He at once promoted his nephew, and the latter speedily rose to
the rank of captain of infantry. Here he was indefatigable in
his duties, and unlike most young men of good family, who left the
internal economy and discipline of their companies to subordinate
officers, Turenne saw to everything himself. He drilled and
instructed his soldiers, insisted not only upon strict military
discipline, but on good manners and conduct in every particular.
He won their respect and affection by his personal kindness, and
denied himself almost the necessities of life in order to be able
to add to their comforts. In the wars in the Netherlands there were
few pitched battles, and the operations consisted almost entirely
of the sieges of fortified towns or of measures for their relief.

In all these Turenne took much more than his full share, paying
attention not only to his own duties but to all that was being
done, spending his whole time in the batteries and the trenches,
and in learning all that was possible of war carried on under
such conditions. In the winter, operations were always suspended,
and Turenne spent his time in Paris, where his manner and conduct
won for him the favour of all with who he came in contact. He had
been severely brought up under a Calvinist tutor; his habits were
simple, his tastes quiet and almost ascetic, and he cared little
for the amusements of the brilliant and corrupt court. When the
war with Lorraine broke out, Turenne at once sought for employment
with the French army.

He recognized that there was comparatively little to be done in
the war of sieges in Holland, and longed to enter a wider field.
His request was gladly granted, for the presence of the Duc de
Bouillon's brother in the French army was in itself some guarantee
of the duke's fidelity to his engagements with France, and Turenne
was at once appointed to the colonelcy of a regiment. He devoted
himself as assiduously to his work as he had done in Holland, and
it was not long before his regiment gained the reputation of being
the best disciplined in the king's service. He took part in a short
expedition in 1630, but there was on that occasion no fighting,
and he first saw real service under Marshal de la Force in 1634.
After the siege of La Motte, the success of which was due to the
storming of the breach by Turenne and his regiment, and for which
exploit he was promoted to the rank of Marechal de Camp, a rank
equivalent to that of major general, he took part in several
sieges, until Lorraine was completely conquered and its duke driven
to abdicate and retire to Austria.

The battle of Nordlingen showed Richelieu that if France did not
resolutely enter into the conflict the Austrians would become
absolute masters of all Germany. He at once signed a treaty with
the Swedes, agreeing to grant them large subsidies to carry on the
war. By a similar treaty he promised subsidies and the province of
Alsace to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar. He entered into an arrangement
with the Dutch, who were to aid France to conquer Flanders, which
was to be divided between the two powers; while the Dukes of Savoy,
Parma, and Mantua agreed to undertake, in alliance with France,
the invasion of Milan, and to receive in return a portion of the
territory won from Spain. At the same time France declared war
against Spain. It was to the army commanded by Cardinal de la
Valette, which was to act with that of Saxe-Weimar against the
Imperialists, that Turenne was attached.

The campaign began unfavourably. The impetuosity of Saxe-Weimar,
who hoped to recover his own principality, induced Valette to cross
the Rhine; but he was forced to retire in all haste, and the army
suffered terribly in the retreat. Turenne was in command of the
advanced guard, and his courage and activity alone saved the army
from complete destruction -- seizing upon defiles, overthrowing the
enemy who barred the passages, and enabling the army to recross
the Rhine with numbers diminished only by sickness, fatigue, and
hunger. At the siege of Saverne, Turenne led the French troops to
the attack after three repulses, and succeeded in gaining a footing
in the town, but received himself a very severe wound in the arm
with a musket ball. During the following year several towns were
captured but no decisive operations took place.

In 1638, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar gained some great successes,
defeated the Imperialists with heavy loss at Rheinfelden, and
besieged Breisach, the key of southern Germany. The Imperialist
army marched to relieve the place, but reinforcements were sent
from France under the command of Turenne and Longueville. Three
battles were fought and the Austrians driven off. After an assault
by Turenne, Breisach capitulated, and all Alsace had now fallen
into the hands of Saxe-Weimar. Having been promised Alsace he
refused, as Richelieu desired, to hand over Breisach to France; but
on the death of the duke in the following year, Richelieu bought
over his lieutenants, the French flag waved over the towns of Alsace,
and the Upper Rhine became the French frontier. Turenne returned
to court, where he was received with enthusiasm, and was a short
time afterwards ordered to Italy to assist De la Valette, who had
been faring but badly there.

Matters had not gone there as Richelieu had calculated. The Duke
of Savoy remained true to his engagement with France, but he died
in October, 1637. The Spaniards had captured Vercelli, and the
emperor had bestowed the regency of the duchy on the Cardinal of
Savoy and on Prince Thomas, brother-in-law of the duchess. These,
supported by the Duke of Modena and the Governor of Milan, the
Marquess of Leganez, declared that they were determined to protect
the people against the French and to deliver the young duke from
French domination. The duchess implored help from France, and la
Valette advanced to her aid.

While in Paris, Turenne had obtained from the cardinal permission
to raise a regiment of dragoons and also that a company of dragoons
should be attached to each regiment of cavalry. These troops were
not intended to fight on horseback, but were, in fact, mounted
infantry, an arm which, after being in disuse for many years, has
lately been recognized as a very valuable one, possessing as it
does the mobility of cavalry with the fighting power of infantry.
It was at the head of this regiment that the general started for
Italy. The position of affairs in Savoy was dark indeed, for the
whole of Piedmont had risen against the duchess. Many considerable
towns had been captured by the Spanish, others, including the city
of Turin, had opened their gates to them, and with the exception
of Susa, Carignano, Chivasso, Casale, and the citadel of Turin, the
whole country was lost to her. The French forces were, however,
too weak to take the offensive, and the ill health of La Valette
deprived him of his former energy and rendered him unwilling to
undertake any offensive movement. Nevertheless, Turenne's counsels
infused a new spirit into the army, and indeed the news that the
young general, whose name was already known throughout Europe,
had arrived, and the belief that his coming would be followed by
that of large reinforcements from France, at once reanimated the
remaining supporters of the duchess and dispirited the Piedmontese,
who began to fear that they had been too hasty in siding with
Spain.

But if, for the time, Turenne was not in a position to act in the
field, he began at once to take steps to prepare to meet the coming
storm. Early in October La Valette died. The general opinion was
that Turenne would have succeeded to the command, but his brother
the Duc de Bouillon had broken with Richelieu and joined the
party opposed to him. When in Paris, the duke had been on terms
of intimate friendship with the Count of Soissons and had invited
him to stay with him at Sedan. The invitation had been declined,
but the count, having been implicated in a plot against Richelieu,
had been obliged to fly and had taken refuge at Sedan, where he
had been most warmly received by the duke. Richelieu had at first
invited, and then in the name of the king commanded, Bouillon
to expel his guest. This the duke absolutely refused to do, and
becoming deeply offended at the manner in which he was pressed,
joined the party opposed to Richelieu.

It was for this reason that the cardinal decided not to appoint
Turenne to the command, knowing the warm affection that existed
between the brothers, and fearing that Turenne might be influenced
by Bouillon, and might, beloved as he was by the soldiers, lead
many of the troops away from their allegiance were he to join the
party opposed to him. He therefore appointed the Count d'Harcourt
to the command. He had proved himself a brilliant officer on many
occasions, and Turenne did not feel in any way aggrieved at his
being placed over him. He made a rapid journey to Paris to arrange
with the cardinal and d'Harcourt the general plan of the campaign,
and was now setting out again to make preparations for it.

Hector Campbell enjoyed the journey greatly. His duties were
nominal; and the party always halted at towns, where the troops
were billeted upon the inhabitants, and the viscount and his suite
entertained by the authorities. After crossing the Alps, however,
by the pass of Mount Cenis, and arriving at Susa, his work began
in earnest. Turenne himself was almost entirely occupied in
consultations with the duchess; his three aides-de-camp, however,
were kept hard at work carrying messages to the governors of towns
that still adhered to the duchess, with orders for the strengthening
of the defences and for the collection of stores and provisions
in case of siege. Each was provided with three horses, and almost
lived in the saddle.

Copyright (c) 2007. topbookz.net. All rights reserved.