Mack that a great general had
recently arrived at London whose appointment to the command of the
British force in Flanders would doubtless meet with his warm approval.
After a little more fencing, Pitt gave the name of the Marquis
Cornwallis, who had just returned from his Viceroyalty in India. Mack by
no means welcomed the proposal, and made the irreverent remark that the
best General, after fighting elephants in India, would be puzzled by the
French. Pitt thereupon observed that the Duke of York had not the
confidence of the army, to which Mack and Merveldt replied by praising
his character, and decrying his critics as a set of influential but
inexperienced youths.

The matter then dropped, and the Duke was present at the conference on
the morrow. Finally, Austria and England bound themselves to make great
efforts, the latter with at least 40,000 men, either British or German
auxiliaries. The Prussian and Dutch forces were to be increased so as to
bring the grand total to 340,000 men. Of this large number 170,000 were
to operate in Flanders with a view to a march on Paris; 35,000 held the
country along the right bank of the Meuse; 15,000 protected Luxemburg;
65,000 Prussians prolonged the line eastwards to the Rhine, which was
guarded by 55,000 Austrians. Certainly the plan called for a third of a
million of men, if all the frontier strongholds of Flanders were to be
taken before the march to Paris began. In regard to details, Pitt,
Grenville, and Dundas urged that Cornwallis should command the British
and subsidiary forces defending West Flanders--a suggestion which
George III warmly approved, on condition that the Duke of York, serving
with the main body nearer the centre of the long line, had a number of
troops proportionate to his rank and talents.

Thus the effort of Pitt and his colleagues to shelve the Duke of York
was foiled. On another and weightier matter he had his way. Coburg's
conduct had been so languid and unenterprising as to lead to urgent
demands for his recall; and it was understood that the Emperor Francis
would take the command, with Mack as Chief-of-Staff and virtual director
of the campaign. Pitt expressed to Mack his marked preference of this
arrangement to the alternative scheme, the appointment of the Archduke
Charles; for the extreme youth of the Archduke might hinder a good
understanding between him and his subordinate and senior, the Duke of
York. Seeing, then, that Mack declined absolute