MONS SURRENDERED.

Considering the situation of the French, the number of their troops, and the manner in which they were fortified, nothing could be more rash and imprudent than the attack, which cost the lives of so many gallant men, and was attended with so little advantage to the conquerors. Perhaps the duke of Marlborough thought a victory was absolutely necessary to support his sinking interest at the court of Great Britain. His intention was to have given battle before the enemy had intrenched themselves; but prince Eugene insisted upon delaying the action until the reinforcement should arrive from Tournay. The extraordinary carnage is imputed to the impetuosity of the prince of Orange, whose aim through this whole war was to raise himself into consideration with the states-general by signal acts of military prowess. The French having retired to Valenciennes, the allies were left at liberty to besiege Mons, which capitulated about the end of October; and both armies were distributed in winter quarters. The campaign on the Rhine produced nothing but one sharp action, between a detachment of the French army commanded by the count de Borgh, and a body of troops under count Merci, who had passed the Rhine in order to penetrate into Franche-compte. The Imperial officer was worsted in this encounter, with the loss of two thousand men; obliged to repass the river, and retire to Fribourg. In Piedmont, velt-mareschal Thaun commanded the confederates in the room of the duke of Savoy, who refused to take the field until some differences, which had arisen between the emperor and him, should be adjusted. Thaun’s design was to besiege Briançon; but the duke of Berwick had taken such precautions as frustrated his intention, though part of the troops under the French general were employed in suppressing an insurrection of the Camisars, and other malcontents in the Vivaraz. These were entirely defeated in a pitched battle; and Abraham, one of their leaders, being taken, was broke alive upon the wheel; three-and-twenty were hanged, and the other prisoners sent to the galleys. The pope delayed acknowledging king Charles under various pretences, in hopes that the campaign would prove favourable to the house of Bourbon; till at length the emperor giving him to understand that his army should take up their winter quarters in the ecclesiastical state, his holiness solemnly owned Charles as king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily.