nd brilliant
services. Four years a captain, four a colonel, three Marechal de
Camp, five lieutenant-general, he had served in all stations from the
ranks upward, and distinguished himself in them not only by military
talent, but by strict honor and trustworthiness; rare virtues in those
turbulent times, when men were familiar with civil war, and the great
nobility were too powerful to be peaceful subjects.

Soon after his promotion he was sent to Germany, to collect and
reorganize the French army, which had been roughly handled at
Duttlingen. It wanted rest, men, and money, and he settled it in good
quarters, raised recruits, and pledged his own credit for the
necessary sums. The effects of his exertions were soon seen. He
arrived in Alsace, December, 1643, and in the following May was at the
head of 10,000 men, well armed and equipped, with whom he felt strong
enough to attack the Imperial army, and raise the siege of Fribourg.
At that moment the glory which he hoped for, and was entitled to
obtain, as the reward of five months' labor, was snatched from him by
the arrival of the celebrated Prince de Conde, at that time Duc
d'Enghien, to assume the command. The vexation which Turenne must have
felt was increased by the difference of age (for the prince was ten
years his junior), and of personal character. Conde was ardent and
impetuous, and flushed by his brilliant victory at Rocroi the year
before; Turenne, cool, calculating, and cautious, unwearied in
preparing a certainty of success beforehand, yet prompt in striking
when the decisive moment was come. The difference of their characters
was exemplified upon this occasion. Merci, the Austrian commander, had
taken up a strong position, which Turenne said could not be forced;
but at the same time pointed out the means of turning it. Conde
differed from him, and the second in command was obliged to submit. On
two successive days two bloody and unsuccessful assaults were made;
on the third Turenne's advice was taken, and on the first
demonstration of this change of plan Merci retreated. In the following
year, ill supplied with everything, and forced to separate his troops
widely to obtain subsistence, Turenne was attacked at Mariendal, and
worsted by his old antagonist, Merci. This, his first defeat, he felt
severely; still he retained his position, and was again ready to meet
the enemy, when he received positive orders from Mazarin to undertake
nothing before the arriva