ow, though heavy, was not aimed at the part
where it might have been mortal. Had hostilities been commenced on
the Batavian frontier, William and his army would probably have been
detained on the continent, and James might have continued to govern
England. Happily, Lewis, under an infatuation which many pious
Protestants confidently ascribed to the righteous judgment of God,
had neglected the point on which the fate of the whole civilised world
depended, and had made a great display of power, promptitude, and
energy, in a quarter where the most splendid achievements could produce
nothing more than an illumination and a Te Deum. A French army under
the command of Marshal Duras had invaded the Palatinate and some of the
neighbouring principalities. But this expedition, though it had been
completely successful, and though the skill and vigour with which it
had been conducted had excited general admiration, could not perceptibly
affect the event of the tremendous struggle which was approaching.
France would soon be attacked on every side. It would be impossible for
Duras long to retain possession of the provinces which he had surprised
and overrun. An atrocious thought rose in the mind of Louvois, who,
in military affairs, had the chief sway at Versailles. He was a man
distinguished by zeal for what he thought the public interests, by
capacity, and by knowledge of all that related to the administration
of war, but of a savage and obdurate nature. If the cities of the
Palatinate could not be retained, they might be destroyed. If the soil
of the Palatinate was not to furnish supplies to the French, it might be
so wasted that it would at least furnish no supplies to the Germans. The
ironhearted statesman submitted his plan, probably with much management
and with some disguise, to Lewis; and Lewis, in an evil hour for his
fame, assented. Duras received orders to turn one of the fairest regions
of Europe into a wilderness. Fifteen years earlier Turenne had ravaged
part of that fine country. But the ravages committed by Turenne, though
they have left a deep stain on his glory, were mere sport in comparison
with the horrors of this second devastation. The French commander
announced to near half a million of human beings that he granted them
three days of grace, and that, within that time, they must shift for
themselves. Soon the roads and fields, which then lay deep in snow, were
blackened by innumerable multitudes of men, women, an