at at Brunswick the
man whom that age still acclaimed as its war-lord.

Malmesbury therefore proceeded to Brunswick for the double purpose of
arranging the marriage and urging the Duke to take the command of the
allied forces on the Lower Rhine. Overjoyed at leaving the atmosphere of
intrigue at Moellendorf's headquarters, the envoy journeyed into the
northern plain in hopes of assuring the safety of part of Holland. Early
in November Pitt and his colleagues received a refusal from the Duke,
but now they sent through Malmesbury an offer to subsidize a corps of
20,000 or 30,000 Austrians in that quarter. These, along with the
British, Hanoverian, and Hessian troops, when marshalled by Brunswick,
might surely be trusted to stay the French advance. The crisis was
momentous. Brunswick well understood that in reality the fate of North
Germany was at stake; for the French, if masters of the Rhine and Ems
valleys, could easily overrun the northern plain, including his own
duchy. Self-interest, pride in the German name, hatred of French
principles, and, finally, satisfaction at the marriage alliance, bade
the Duke draw his sword before it was too late.

But here again the malign influence of Berlin thwarted the plans of
Pitt. In vain did Malmesbury ply the Duke with arguments and the Duchess
with compliments. On 25th November the Duke informed him that, as a
Prussian Field-Marshal, he was bound to consult Frederick William: and
"the answer he had received was not of a nature which allowed him to
accept of an offer otherwise so highly honourable and flattering to
him." He then handed to the envoy his formal refusal.[359]

Whether the elderly Duke of Brunswick could have withstood the impetuous
onset of the ill-clad, half-starved, but unconquerable peasants now
following the French tricolour in its progress through Holland, who
shall say? The exploits of Pichegru and his levies border on the
miraculous until we remember that half of the Dutch laboured on their
behalf, while the troops of York and Clerfait distrusted or despised
those leaders. This consideration it was that led Pitt to take a step
which he deemed most necessary for the public service as well as for the
reputation of the Duke of York. On Sunday, 25th November, he wrote at
Holwood a very lengthy letter to the King, setting forth most
deferentially the reasons which impelled him and his colleagues to
request the withdrawal of the Duke from Holland.[360] He touched