to come to their relief. The defection of Cavallier. and the negotiations of the rest with the Mareschal de Villars.and the appearances of the entire submission of the whole party, made it impossible for me to embark mes enfans perdus, till I had assurances to shew them, from a man whom I had sent on purpose to Languedoc, that Ravenal and a great party held out still.” [This expedition failed.]
With regard to Cavalier at Lusanne, Mr. Hill writes to Sir Charles Hedges from Turin, 9th September 1704:—
“The last week his Royal Highness received a letter from Cavallier, who had formerly done so good service in Languedoc. He said he had saved himself from the hands of his enemies, who were leading him to Brisach; that he was come to Lausanne, and that he would come on to offer his services to his Royal Highness if they might be agreeable; that he had 100 of his own men with him who would follow him anywhere. I went to the camp immediately, and desired his Royal Highness to accept the offers of a man who had been so useful and might still be so; that I would answer for the sincerity of his intentions; that if his Royal Highness would take him immediately into his service, and employ him with his troop in the Valleys, I hoped he might augment his number and form a battalion: that the encouragement which was given him might animate the Camisards, and keep their party alive in the Cevennes, and give new zeal and vigour to the levies which the Queen and the States were about to make in England and Holland; that the refusal of Cavallier’s good offers would have the contrary effects; and, lastly, that I would write to London, and did not doubt but that I should have such orders from the Queen as would take these people off his Royal Highness’s hands, if he found they were not for his purpose. His Royal Highness did consent very generously to receive them, sent a gracious letter to Cavallier to invite him hither, settled a route for him and for all the men he had or could bring with him, and sent him 100 pistoles to bear his expenses over the mountains. I must say that I look upon him at present as his Royal Highness’s officer; but I shall receive him here as if he were to be the Queen’s officer upon occasion.”
The following is the Duke of Savoy’s letter:—
“Monsieur Cavallier, — We have received with pleasure the letter you wrote to us from Lausanne, the 31st of last month. Being well pleased with the testimony of your zeal for our service, we send you money by the courier, in order that you repair with your men to the city of Aosta, where you will apply to the Marquis De Cirie, governor of the province, who will shew you the route you must take to go into the Valleys of Luzerne with your people, which you must endeavour to increase as much as you can with sure and choice men upon whom one may safely depend. We are very glad you have experienced how little foundation there is in the promises of France, which reckons the greatest violences as nothing. Assure yourself that, upon all occasions, we shall willingly contribute to all your advantage; and, in the meanwhile, we pray God to have you in His holy keeping.
“V. Amede.
J. Cullat.”
“From the Camp at Crescentino,
The 5th of September 1704.”
Cavallier immediately sent off Lieut.-Colonel Billard with a detachment to Aosta, and was lingering to raise recruits, where the alarm of the French cutting off his communication with Piedmont, compelled him to set out in a Swiss costume, and with two Swiss gentlemen as fellow-travellers. On his reaching Aosta, the Marquis De Cirie sent him to join the troops at La Tuille, which the French were on the eve of assaulting. Unfortunately, the General, Baron De St. Remis, had an army of Swiss recruits and Savoyard militia, very unlike the intrepid Camisards. The entrenchments were strong, and Cavallier, at his post, was expecting a good fight, when, to his surprise, he was almost surrounded by the French, the above-mentioned army having surrendered without fighting. He had to draw off his men precipitately into a wood; soon they sprang out and routed a party that had taken De Cirie and St. Remis prisoners, and rescued them, but as these chiefs would not fall back on Aosta, Cavallier and his men made with all haste for Turin, and got the start of the French, who would have intercepted his party if he had delayed but an hour.
Mr Hill wrote to the Duke of Marlborough on the 3rd October, “I have got the famous Cavalier to me now, with about sixty-seven of his Camisards, good men and true. I carry him to-day to his Royal Highness in hopes to place him in his service, till the Marquis de Mircmont comes.” Again he wrote to Sir Charles Hedges, 8th October:—
