THE ALLIES DEFEATED AT STEENKIRK.

Luxembourg having placed a strong garrison in Namur, detached Bounders with a body of troops to La Bassiere, and with the rest of his army encamped at Soignies. The king of England sent off detachments towards Liege and Ghent; and on the sixth day of July posted himself at Genap, resolved to seize the first opportunity of retrieving his honour by attacking the enemy. Having received intelligence that the French general was in motion and intended to take post between Steenkirk and Enghien, he passed the river Senne in order to anticipate his purpose; but in spite of all his diligence Luxembourg gained his point, and William encamped at Lembecq, within six miles of the French army. Here he resolved in a council of war to attack the enemy, and every disposition was made for that purpose. The heavy baggage he ordered to be conveyed to the other side of the Senne; and one Millevoix, a detected spy, was compelled by menaces to mislead Luxembourg with false intelligence, importing that he need not be alarmed at the motions of the allies, who intended the next day to make a general forage. On the twenty-fourth day of July, the army began to move from the left in two columns, as the ground would not admit of their marching in an extended front. The prince of Wirtemberg began the attack on the right of the enemy at the head of ten battalions of English, Danish, and Dutch infantry; he was supported by a considerable body of British horse and foot, commanded by lieutenant-general Mackay. Though the ground was intersected by hedges, ditches, and narrow defiles, the prince marched with such diligence that he was in a condition to begin the battle about two in the afternoon, when he charged the French with such impetuosity that they were driven* from their posts, and their whole camp became a scene of tumult and confusion. Luxembourg, trusting to the intelligence he had received, allowed himself to be surprised, and it required the full exertion of his superior talents to remedy the consequences of his neglect. He forthwith forgot a severe indisposition under which he then laboured; he rallied his broken battalions; he drew up his forces in order of battle, and led them to the charge in person. The duke de Chartres, who was then in the fifteenth year of his age, the dukes of Bourbon and Vendôme, the prince of Conti, and a great number of volunteers of the first quality, put themselves at the head of the household troops, and fell with great fury upon the English, who were very ill supported by count Solmes, the officer who commanded the centre of the allies. The prince of Wirtemberg had taken one of the enemies’ batteries, and actually penetrated into their lines; but finding himself in danger of being overpowered by numbers, he sent an aidecamp twice to demand succours from Solmes, who derided his distress, saying, “Let us see what sport these English bull-dogs will make.” At length, when the king sent an express order commanding him to sustain the left wing, he made a motion with his horse, which could not act while his infantry kept their ground, and the British troops, with a few Dutch and Danes, bore the whole brunt of the engagement. They fought with surprising courage and perseverance against dreadful odds; and the event of the battle continued doubtful, until Bouflîers joined the French army with a great body of dragoons. The allies could not sustain the additional weight of this reinforcement, before which they gave way, though the retreat was made in tolerable order, and the enemy did not think proper to prosecute the advantage they had gained. In this action the confederates lost the earl of Angus, general Mackay, sir John Lanier, sir Robert Douglas, and many other gallant officers, together with about three thousand men left dead on the spot, the same number wounded or taken, a great many colours and standards, and several pieces of cannon.