ounced that now,
that the troops were placed under a true child of the Church, Providence
might be expected to smile. Soon, however, the imperial army, while
incautiously passing through a defile, was assailed by a strong force of
the Turks, and compelled to retreat, having lost three thousand men. The
Turks resumed the siege of Orsova; and the Duke of Lorraine, quite
disheartened, returned to Vienna, leaving the command of the army to
Konigsegg. The Turks soon captured the fortress, and then, ascending the
river, drove the imperial troops before them to Belgrade. The Turks
invested the city, and the beleaguered troops were rapidly swept away by
famine and pestilence. The imperial cavalry, crossing the Save, rapidly
continued their retreat. Konigsegg was now recalled in disgrace, as
incapable of conducting the war, and the command was given to General
Kevenhuller. He was equally unsuccessful in resisting the foe; and,
after a series of indecisive battles, the storms of November drove both
parties to winter quarters, and another campaign was finished. The
Russians had also fought some fierce battles; but their campaign was as
ineffective as that of the Austrians.

The court of Vienna was now in a state of utter confusion. There was no
leading mind to assume any authority, and there was irremediable
discordance of counsel. The Duke of Lorraine was in hopeless disgrace;
even the emperor assenting to the universal cry against him. In a state
almost of distraction the emperor exclaimed, "Is the fortune of my
empire departed with Eugene?" The disgraceful retreat to Belgrade seemed
to haunt him day and night; and he repeated again and again to himself,
as he paced the floor of his apartment, "that unfortunate, that fatal
retreat." Disasters had been so rapidly accumulating upon him, that he
feared for every thing. He expressed the greatest anxiety lest his
daughter, Maria Theresa, who was to succeed him upon the throne, might
be intercepted, in the case of his sudden death, from returning to
Austria, and excluded from the throne. The emperor was in a state of
mind nearly bordering upon insanity.

At length the sun of another spring returned, the spring of 1739, and
the recruited armies were prepared again to take the field. The emperor
placed a new commander, Marshal Wallis, in command of the Austrian
troops. He was a man of ability, but overbearing and morose, being
described by a contemporary as one who hated everybody, and