The Cavaliers of Fortune; Or, British Heroes in Foreign WarsGrant, James
History
The Cavaliers of Fortune; Or, British Heroes in Foreign Wars
Grant, James
British -- Foreign countries; Great Britain -- History, Military
He gave out that he was a captain to lessen the price of his ransom,
and in this deplorable condition was discovered by an Irish gentleman,
who communicated his story to M. de Villeneuve, the French ambassador
at Constantinople, by whom he was generously ransomed for three hundred
ducats, and sent back to Russia, where he died a general and governor
of Riga, in 1789, in his eighty-eighth year.
The reverses on the side of Hungary overbalanced the success of Lacy
against the Crim Tartars; the Emperor lost heart, and the Czarina,
though victorious again at Choczim in Bessarabia, where, on the 31st
August, 1739, the forces of Munich defeated the Turks and swept the
right bank of the Dneister, fearing that she was about to lose her
ally, concluded a treaty of peace, by which Austria ceded to the Porte,
Belgrade, Sabatz, the island and fortress of Orsova, with Servia and
Wallachia, while the Danube and the Saave were to be the boundaries of
their empires; but the Czarina retained Azoph, the important conquest
of Marshal Lacy, who, in obedience to her orders, demolished the walls
and fortifications of the city. To commemorate the exploits of him
and Munich, she ordered a medal to be struck, having direct reference
to the war in the Crimea, which was thenceforward to be an independent
state. On one side of this medal was the legend--
"ANNAE IVANOWNA, D.G., RUSSLE IMPECUTRIX."
On the other was an eagle, with the words--
"PACE EUROPAE PROMOTA, TARTARIS, VICTIS, TANAI
LIBERATO, ANNO 1736."
Marshal Lacy ended his days in honour, and a noble monument was erected
to his memory; but his less fortunate compatriot, Marshal Munich,
incurred the displeasure of their capricious mistress, and was banished
for twenty years to the most northern confines of Siberia. Recalled in
his old age by the Czar Peter III., he was made Governor of Esthonia
and Livonia; but died at Riga almost immediately after receiving that
appointment, in his eighty-fifth year.
JOSEPH FRANCIS MAURICE COUNT LACY, one of the great captains of the
Seven Years' War, was the son of the preceding.
He was born at St. Petersburg, in the year 1718, and learned the art
of soldiering under the eye of his father, and in the camp of Marshal
Munich, in the service of the Czarina Anne, during her Crimean and
Bessarabian campaigns.
At the age of twenty he was a captain, and to his knowledge and love
of the art of war united a polished education, gained under the best
masters in Germany.
In 1740, on the accession of Maria Theresa to the Austrian throne,
he entered her service, with the permission of the Czarina, and
there, by his talents, courage, and gentle bearing won the esteem
of his soldiers; thus he soon attained a majority, and then the
rank of colonel. He served in the Italian campaign as aide-de-camp
to Count Brown, and at Viletri, had three horses shot under him. He
distinguished himself still more at the siege of Maestricht, and
obtained command of a regiment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account