e English coveted, not Paris but Dunkirk, and the Duke
of York withdrew with 37,000 men and laid siege to it. Coburg turned
aside in the opposite direction, to besiege Le Quesnoy. He proposed to
conquer the fortified towns, one after another, according to
Grenville's prescription, and then to join hands with the Prussians
whom it was urgent to have with him when penetrating to the interior.
The Prussians meanwhile had taken Mentz, the garrison, like that of
Valenciennes, making a defence too short for their fame. But the
Prussians remembered the invasion of the year before, and they were in
no hurry. The allies, with conflicting interests and divided counsels,
gave the enemy time. Some years later, when Napoleon had defeated the
Piedmontese, and was waiting for them to send back the treaty he had
dictated at Cherasco, duly signed, he grew excessively impatient at
their delay. The Piedmontese officers were surprised at what seemed a
want of self-restraint, and let him see it. His answer was, "I may
often lose a battle, but I shall never lose a minute."

The French put to good account the time their enemies allowed them.
Carnot took office on August 14, and on the 23rd he caused the
Convention to decree what is pleasantly called the levy _en masse_ but
was the system of requisition, making every able-bodied man a soldier.
The new spirit of administration was soon felt in the army. The forces
besieging Le Quesnoy and Dunkirk were so far apart that the French
came between and attacked them successively. The Dunkirk garrison
opened the sluices and flooded the country, separating the English
from the covering force of Hanoverians, and leaving the Duke of York
no means of retreat except by a single causeway. On September 8 the
French defeated the Hanoverians at Hondschooten and relieved Dunkirk.
The English got away in great haste, abandoning their siege guns; but
as they ought not to have got away at all, the French cut off the head
of their victorious commander. Jourdan, his successor, turned upon the
Prince of Coburg, and, by the new and expensive tactics, defeated him
at Wattignies on October 16. Carnot, who did not yet trust his
generals, arrived in time to win the day by overruling Jourdan and
his staff. And every French child knows how he led the charge through
the grapeshot, on foot, with his hat at the end of his sword. From
that day to the peace of Bale he held the army in his grasp. He had
stopped the invasion. No o