PRINCE FERDINAND ATTACKS THE FRENCH.

But the great object was to drive the enemy from Franckfort, before they should receive the expected reinforcements. Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick being determined upon this enterprise, assembled all his forces near Fulda, to the amount of forty thousand choice troops, and began his march on the tenth day of April. On the thirteenth he came in sight of the enemy, whom he found strongly encamped about the village of Bergen, between Franckfort and Hanau. Their general, the duke de Broglio, counted one of the best officers in France with respect to conduct and intrepidity, having received intelligence of the prince’s design, occupied this post on the twelfth; the right of his army being at Bergen, and his centre and flanks secured in such a manner, that the allies could not make their attack any other way but by the village. Notwithstanding the advantage of their situation, prince Ferdinand resolved to give them battle, and made his dispositions accordingly. About ten in the morning, the grenadiers of the advanced guard began the attack on the village of Bergen with great vivacity, and sustained a most terrible fire from eight German battalions, supported by several brigades of French infantry. The grenadiers of the allied army, though reinforced by several battalions under the command of the prince of Ysembourg, far from dislodging the enemy from the village, were, after a very obstinate dispute, obliged to retreat in some disorder, but rallied again behind a body of Hessian cavalry. The allies being repulsed in three different attacks, their general made a new disposition, and brought up his artillery, with which the village, and different parts of the French line, were severely cannonaded. They were not slow in retorting an equal fire, which continued till night, when the allies retreated to Windekin, with the loss of five pieces of cannon, and about two thousand men, including the prince of Ysembourg, who fell in the action. The French, by the nature of their situation, could not suffer much; but they were so effectually amused by the artful disposition of prince Ferdinand, that instead of taking measures to harass him in his retreat, they carefully maintained their situation, apprehensive of another general attack. Indeed, they had great reason to be satisfied with the issue of this battle, without risking in any measure the advantage which they had gained. It was their business to remain quiet until their reinforcements should arrive, and this plan they invariably pursued. On the other hand, the allies, in consequence of their miscarriage, were reduced to the necessity of acting upon the defensive, and encountering a great number of difficulties and inconveniences during great part of the campaign, until the misconduct of the enemy turned the scale in their favour. In the meantime, the prince thought proper to begin his retreat in the night towards Fulda, in which his rear suffered considerably from a body of the enemy’s light troops under the command of M. de Blaisel, who surprised two squadrons of dragoons and a battalion of grenadiers. The first were taken or dispersed, the last escaped with the loss of their baggage. The allied army returned to their cantonments about Munster, and the prince began to make preparations for taking the field in earnest.

While the French enjoyed plenty in the neighbourhood of Dusseldorp and Creveldt, by means of the Rhine, the allies laboured under a dearth and scarcity of every species of provisions, because the country which they occupied was already exhausted, and all the supplies were brought from an immense distance. The single article of forage occasioned such an enormous expense, as alarmed the administration of Great Britain, who, in order to prevent mismanagement and fraud for the future, nominated a member of parliament inspector-general of the forage, and sent him over to Germany in the beginning of the year, with the rank and appointments of a general officer, that the importance of his character, and the nature of his office, might be a check upon those who were suspected of iniquitous appropriations. This gentleman is said to have met with such a cold reception, and so many mortifications in the execution of his office, that he was in a very little time sick of his employment. An inquiry into the causes of his reception, and of the practices which rendered it necessary to appoint such a superintendent, may be the province of some future historian, when truth may be investigated freely, without any apprehension of pains and penalties.