used to increase the fears of the faint-hearted. It was now the cry that His Royal Highness was abandoned by his continental allies, who had never anything better than fair words to give him, and that the King of England, who was his last resource, had sent him the Duke of Schomberg, with a magnificent retinue; but what was that without an effective army? The suggestion was evident that if Victor Amedeo did not wish to be extinguished, he should throw himself at the feet of His Most Christian Majesty, the King of France.
Schomberg began his duties by studying the country, and the habits and manners of the court, where everything was new to him. When he had collected his thoughts, his first advice was that His Royal Highness’s army should show no symptoms of despondency, and that the troops should be encouraged to display some animation, and to move about. The Duke of Savoy was doing nothing; watching the enemy from the hill of Montcallier, and looking on, while towns were surrendering, and his palace of Rivoli was being destroyed. Turin having been threatened, he had removed the court from that city, and left the citizens in dismay. By Schomberg’s advice, the infantry descended to the foot of the hill, the cavalry were extended to the right, and parties were sent hither and thither. The French, in open defiance, had been in the habit of foraging in the view of the Duke’s grand guard. “You should advance and insult them the very next time,” said Schomberg. Accordingly, on the 22nd of June, His Royal Highness, with the general officers, and about 3000 horse, advanced towards the enemy’s forage, and the French precipitately retired, Catinat being unwilling to sustain his foragers, and to bring on a general engagement. An anecdote is told as to that very day. The Duke of Savoy overheard Schomberg speaking in German, and said, “I tried once to learn that language, but was discouraged by its difficulty.” Schomberg offered to teach him. “No, my Lord,” replied His Royal Highness, “it is the trade of war that I intend to learn from you.”
In the meantime the garrison of Coni continued to hold out against the French. The French Protestant Refugees got the credit of the vigorous defence. At headquarters a council of war was held as to the most effectual and striking manner of raising the siege. The French were both at Coni prosecuting the siege, and also in the valley of Aosta, where an army of observation, commanded by La Hoguette, lay within sight of the confederate army. A third French force under Catinat was near Carignan. Schomberg’s advice was to march against Catinat and force him to fight, while La Hoguette, supposing that they had gone to relieve Coni, would leave the country. The Duke of Savoy and Prince Eugene approved of the plan. But the Spanish generals pressed the relieving of Coni, which was agreed to. The army moved and La Hoguette decamped. On the 27th of July, the enemy made an assault upon Coni, and were repulsed with great loss. The allies under Prince Eugene came up next day, and the French besiegers moved off. But Catinat, being untouched, threw reinforcements into Casale, a step which Schomberg’s counsel might have prevented. It was so far well that Coni was relieved. The Duke of Savoy presented the French Protestant Colonel Julien with a diamond ring in admiration of his successful defence of the place.
The many disappointments in the confederate warfare, in the reigns both of William and Anne, arose partly from the jealous rivalry among generals of different nations, which produced suicidal divisions and deliberate mismanagement — partly also from the enmity of Roman Catholics against their Protestant comrades. These evils began to be felt in the Piedmontese campaigns. The Duke of Schomberg found that King William’s money, intended principally for Vaudois and Huguenot regiments, had been often withheld from them and grossly misapplied. This he set to work to rectify. He also applied himself to improve the discipline of the troops under his special command. Matters at last improved. Although the duchy of Savoy was entirely lost at the end of this year’s campaign, yet much of the Piedmontese territory was recovered. This arose from the arrival on the 19th August of 18,000 Germans commanded by the Elector of Bavaria. Marshal Catinat, in the midst of some disappointments, relieved his chagrin by sending 3,000 men to lay waste the Waldensian Valleys. He missed his revenge; for his detachment was routed by the Vaudois, assisted by the French refugees. The Duke of Schomberg undertook to relieve Montmelian, which was the last place in Savoy that fell into the hands of the French. But the Imperialists (says Burnet) and even the Court of Turin, “seemed to be more afraid of the strength of heresy than of the power of France, and chose to let that important place fall into the enemy’s hands rather than suffer it to be relieved by those they did not like.” Schomberg’s services were
