PRINCE EUGENE OF SAVOY.*
THE gifted little gentleman who figures in French and English
war-books as Prince Eugene, who in the old German ballad is styled " Prinz Eugen der edle Ritter," and who quaintly signed himself, as his contemporaries observed, " in three
• Prince Eugene of Savoy. By Colonel G. B. Hallam, 0.8 I. London ason= and sal.
languages," " Eugenio von Savoye," is perhaps less familiar than he should be to the general reader, being known princi- pally as the faithful comrade of Marlborough in his wrestlings with the Marshals of Louis XIV. Colonel Malleson's little book about him is a clear and rapid sketch, which may help to spread the knowledge of his great deeds, and make him to the public something more than a name. The story of that varied and brilliant life was well worth the telling, and it is fairly told, on the whole, though the author has done what Eugene himself would never have thought of,—drawn a com- parison between the brothers-in-arms unfavourable to Marl- borough, who, it seems, was only or mainly a " splendid tactician," while Eugene was "a great tactician as well as a great strategist." But as we also read in these pages that John Sobieski was "the living impersonification " of no less a person than " Alexander the Great," we cannot accord so much respect as we might have done to the judgment of Colonel Malleson. There was, in truth, no reason to detract from the fame of Marlborough in order to enhance that of Eugene, whose reputation, founded on fine actions, is quite big enough to stand alone. Marlborough, however, can well afford to incur the censure of a pen which heaps such hyperbolical praise upon the valiant Polish King, who, excellent man, has never before been presented to the world in such an exalted position.
Eugene was the grandson of a French Princess and Prince Thomas of Savoy. His father, who derived his title, Count of Soissons, from his mother, married Olympia Mancini, and their youngest son was born at Paris in 1663. His natural place as a soldier, therefore, would have been in the French ranks, if they had not wanted him to be a Churchman. The star of Mazarin had long set when, having grown up to manhood, he drifted into the service of the Emperor Leopold; but if he had been able to remain in France, the haughty French noblesse would have never worked well with a son of the Cardinal's niece. Thus it was that he came to learn his business in the armies of Austria, and found there a field of distinction often open to Frenchmen, and always to Italians. He began young, having the good fortune to obtain the command of a regiment when the Turks burst upon Vienna In 1683, and to share in the relief of that city. " During the fight," says a curious and interesting Journal of the siege kept " by a principal officer," published by authority in Germany, and translated into English and printed in 1684, " the Marquess Lewis of Baden, with a body of Dragoons, and half the regi- ment of Wirtemberg, and some other troops, advanced as far as the Pallisadoes of the Town, and together with Count Staremberg, entered the approaches of the enemy who had them yet in possession, playing their artillery furiously as if they were either entire or victorious. They did not, however, stay for our attack." In that onset with Louis of Baden was the young Eugene, who had been engaged closely all the campaign. Conspicuous in the subsequent operations for his skill and prowess against the Turks, he was foremost and fell wounded in the storming of Belgrade. When recovered, he was next employed in Italy to help the Duke of Savoy, and his painful experience in contending with so able a soldier as Catinat developed and ripened his natural genius for war.
The nature and scope of that genius were seen at once when he obtained the supreme command of an army in 1697, and was sent against the Ottomans. They had snatched back Bel- grade, and were once more a terror to Hungary; and Eugene was selected to do what others had failed to accomplish. He did it, and won, at Zenta, a decisive victory. His success was due to the fact, first, that, with great promptness, he seized a moment when the Sultan had half the army over the Theiss ; and, next, that Eugene somehow always had his Generals heartily with him, and that he could make his army fight. Colonel Malleson seems to think that the Turk should have won Zenta by falling on the centre of the extended Austrian line. In the same way, Saxe suggests that Villars should have won Malplaquet,,Aand Eugene the fatal field of Denain, and these judgments apres coups are not worth much. Zenta, a mighty stroke, has been called the breaking of the Grand Turk's backbone ; but though we do not desire to underrate its value, least of all as an illustration of Eugene's qualities, we are inclined to think that the famous bone was not really smashed until the Prince, in so daring a manner, fought and won his great battle of Belgrade in 1716. It may be said that was a stroke of desperation, because he had dug himself in across the angle between the fortress and the rivers ; but how great the courage, how profound the knowledge of his adversaries, which made him to issue out of his entrenchments and anticipate the Ottoman onset, how sure the glance and quick the resolve which enabled him to win a battle begun in a fog, and subject during its course to the many unexpected incidents sure to happen in conflicts of that character ! Belgrade was the complement to Zenta, and really broke the Turk's offensive power. But Eugene's finest work of art was the Italian campaign of 1707, when, outwitting the French Marshal, VendOme, he astonished the Continent by relieving Turin. One large French army was before that capital, while another held, or believed it held, the Prince shut up in the mountains above Verona. But he managed so skilfully that he deceived Vendome, and when the Marshal expected and prepared for him on the Adige above Verona, he carried his army success- fully to the Lower Adige, crossed it, pushed on and passed the Po at Polesella before the French could concentrate. Then he ascended the right bank by rapid marches, reached and crossed the Tanaro, joined the Duke of Savoy before Turin, turned and stormed the French lines, and defeated their armies between the Sesia and the Dora. It is true that Vendome, summoned to Flanders after the defeat of Villeroi at Ramifies,' had been replaced by the Duke of Orleans ; yet none the less does this great march deserve the praise bestowed on it by Napoleon, who calls it a chef-dceuvre d'audace. Starting from the Adige in the middle of July, Eugene with his small army had traversed the intervening space by the end of August, and when the sun set on the 7th of September, he had routed the French out of their entrenchments before Turin. That campaign alone would entitle him to a high place in military annals ; but it did not stand alone, for the qualities which then gave him the mastery were conspicuous in all his fields. The surprise of Cremona, and the movements pre- ceding the furious fight at Cassano, showed how much he was to be dreaded. His boldness placed him in frequent peril of disaster, but, being tempered by sound judgment and firmness of mind under fire, it gave him victory where lesser men might have met with defeat. Moreover, he always made skilful pre- parations before he entered on his designs, so that there was less of hazard than the bare narrative implies; and he was also an instructed soldier from the beginning, and therefore able to profit by that large experience of warfare on varied fields which adds so much power to the born captain.
He was thwarted in his incursion into Provence and attack on Toulon, but that failure cast no discredit on him, because he was never strong enough to do the work, and he withdrew from an impossible yet useful enterprise in good order. His defeat at Denain, which Saxe implies should have been a victory, was far more due to that sudden defection of the English Government which saved France, and is called "a miracle " in her favour by St. Simon. The truth is, that every- body was tired of the long war; but it was a pity that they all displayed their weariness in a manner which left the bright and daring Imperialist General to perform a too difficult task.
and played into the hand of the French King. We have said little of the brotherly relations between the Prince and Marl- borough, and nothing of their joint campaigns. Nor is it needful, since the world is familiar with their splendid actions, has long recognised their conduct as a fine example of friend- ship, and has appreciated the share of each in the great exploits they performed. They were well matched, admirably fitted to work together, were always faithful in camp and council, and never knew what it was to be jealous of each other's renown. But it is something more than " island prejudice " which ranks the Duke as the greater captain.
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