In the spring of 1692, Louis XIV. marched into the Netherlands with an immense army and besieged Namur, when the ROYAL Regiment was called from its cantonments, and advanced with the army, commanded by King William III. in person, to the relief of the place; but the march having been delayed by heavy rains, the garrison surrendered on the 20th of June. On the 23rd of that month, Colonel Sir Robert Douglas, with 2 captains, 2 lieutenants, 2 ensigns, and 120 private men, of the ROYAL Regiment, was detached, with other troops, to attempt the surprise of Mons. After marching all night, the detachment arrived about one o'clock on the following morning within a short distance of the town, when the troops were ordered to halt, and Sir Robert Douglas and Colonel O'Ffarrel, having proceeded to consult with the Prince of Wirtemberg, who commanded the party, mistook their way in the dark, and fell into the hands of a detachment of French cavalry, and were made prisoners. The enemy being found prepared to resist, the detachment returned to the camp at Mellé, and Sir Robert Douglas was released on payment of the regulated ransom, and rejoined the regiment on the 29th of June. After several changes of position, King William resolved to attack the French army commanded by Marshal Luxembourg, at its camp, near _Steenkirk_. On the evening of the 23rd of July (O.S.), the first battalion of the ROYAL Regiment, commanded by Sir Robert Douglas, the second battalion of the 1st Foot Guards, with the regiments of Fitzpatrick and O'Ffarrel, and two battalions of Danes, were ordered forward to commence the attack on the French army, and were accompanied by a detachment from each battalion of Brigadier-General Churchill's brigade, with hatchets and spades to make a passage through the woody grounds between the two armies. Between ten and eleven o'clock on the following morning these troops arrived in front of the French camp, and took post in a thick wood, beyond which there was a small valley intersected with hedges lined with French infantry, and on the opposite side of the valley appeared the French camp. About eleven o'clock two batteries opened their fire upon the enemy; and when the main body of the army had arrived within a mile of the wood, the leading regiments issued from amongst the trees and commenced the attack. "Certainly never was a more dreadful and at the same time bolder firing heard, which for the space of two hours seemed to be a continued thunder. Our van-guard behaved in this engagement to such wonder and admiration, that though they received the charge of several battalions of the enemy, one after another, yet they made them retreat almost to their very camp."[78] Amongst the foremost in this action was seen the brave Sir Robert Douglas at the head of the first battalion of the ROYAL Regiment, emulating the noblest actions recorded in the annals of war. Having led his battalion against the troops behind the first