CHAPTER VII THE GRAND CONDÉ A WARRIOR ONCE MORE Shortly after this memorable visit of the Court to Chantilly the Prince de Condé was summoned by the King to Paris to give his opinion upon a possible conquest of Holland. The truth was that the youthful monarch, thirsting for military glory, had but recently uttered the celebrated statement that the only way to conquer the Spanish Netherlands was to subdue and annihilate the Dutch. Upon the death of Philip IV of Spain the French King had immediately asserted the Flemish rights of his wife Maria Theresa, daughter of the late King of Spain by his first wife. According to the ancient Statutes of Brabant there was no doubt about her title to this inheritance, but, since the long-drawn-out negotiations regarding it led to nothing, Louis XIV suddenly declared war. His Majesty had not forgotten Condé's successes at Rocroy, Nördlingen and Lens, and his admiration for the Prince's skill in strategy and geography was unbounded. In the exuberance of his imagination he even contemplated, with the aid of so great a hero, the subjugation of the whole of Europe. It was in this spirit that Louis, accompanied by Turenne, marched into Flanders, and made Lille a French town; whilst Condé once more surprised the world by his conquest of the whole of Franche-Comté in less than a month. England, Holland, and Sweden, terrified at the young King's ambition and the success of the French arms, promptly entered into a Triple Alliance, which arrested the conquering hero in full career and brought about the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, whereby he was forced to be content with Flanders alone. But such terms were scarcely calculated to satisfy the ambitions of either the King, his generals, or the French nation. Hostilities were therefore soon resumed. With an army of thirteen thousand men commanded by Condé and Turenne Louis advanced on Holland. He crossed the Rhine, devastating and conquering everything before him. No less than ninety-five towns and villages capitulated in ten days. Holland, conscious of her inability to resist, begged for peace, but the French, encouraged by their successes, refused to lend an ear to her entreaties.