Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, No. 362, December 1845 — John Shaqi
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, No. 362, December 1845Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, No. 362, December 1845
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
The trophies of the battle of Ramilies were immense; but they were
even exceeded by its results. The loss of the French in killed and
wounded was 7000 men, and, in addition to that, 6000 prisoners were
taken. With the desertion in the days after the battle, they were
weakened by full 15,000 men. They lost fifty-two guns, their whole
baggage and pontoon train, all their caissons, and eighty standards
wrested from them in fair fight. Among the prisoners were the Princes
de Soubise and Rohan, and a son of Marshal Tallard. The victors lost
1066 killed, and 2567 wounded, in all, 3633. The great and unusual
proportion of killed to the wounded, shows how desperate and hand to
hand, as in ancient battles, the fighting had been. Overkirk nobly
supported the Duke in this action, and not only repeatedly charged at
the head of his horse, but continued on horseback in the pursuit till
one in the morning, when he narrowly escaped death from a Bavarian
officer whom he had made prisoner, and given back his sword, saying,
"You are a gentleman, and may keep it." The base wretch no sooner got
it into his hand than he made a lounge at the Dutch general, but
fortunately missed his blow, and was immediately cut down for his
treachery by Overkirk's orderly.
The immediate result of this splendid victory, was the acquisition of
nearly all Austrian Flanders--Brussels, Louvain, Mechlin, Alort,
Luise, and nearly all the great towns of Brabant, opened their gates
immediately after. Ghent and Bruges speedily followed the example; and
Daun and Oudenarde also soon declared for the Austrian cause. Of all
the towns in Flanders, Antwerp, Ostend, Nieuport, and Dunkirk alone
held out for the French; and to their reduction the Duke immediately
turned his attention. The public transports in Holland knew no bounds;
they much exceeded what had been felt for the victory of Blenheim, for
that only saved Germany, but this delivered themselves. The wretched
jealousy which had so long thwarted the Duke, as it does every other
really great man, was fairly overpowered in "the electric shock of a
nation's gratitude." In England, the rejoicings were equally
enthusiastic, and a solemn thanksgiving, at which the Queen attended
in person at St Paul's, gave a willing vent to the general
thankfulness. "Faction and the French," as Bolingbroke expressed
it,[11] were all that Marlborough had to fear, and he had fairly
conquered both. But the snake was scotched, not killed, and he
replenished his venom, and prepared future stings even during the roar
of triumphant cannon, and the festive blaze of rejoicing cities.[12]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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