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for the Prussians, who were not inclined to move, in a grand council of
war, they determined to envelope the left, or chief and victorious part
of the French army on the Maine, by moving upon it in five attacking
columns, from the various points they occupied. The success of these
movements depended upon the celerity and good understanding among the
commanders; and in these requisites they were sadly deficient. The Duke
of York pushed forward towards the appointed centre round which all the
columns were to meet, but when he arrived at Turcoing, where he expected
to meet General Clairfait, he was surrounded by the republican forces,
under Souham and Bonnaud, and completely defeated. The other columns now
fell into confusion, and, from the heights of Templenor, the Emperor of
Austria had the mortification of witnessing the retreat of the entire
army of the allies; after which he returned, first to Brussels, and then
to Vienna, leaving the Prince of Saxe Cobourg to command in his inline.

Although the English and Hanoverian column had suffered great loss in
the battle of Turcoing, it soon rallied, and even foiled Pichegru in
an attempt to seize upon Tournay. The Austrian general, Kaunitz, also
gained another victory over the republicans, on nearly the same ground,
and drove them across the Sambre. But these victories only served to
allure the allies on to their ruin. Every day fresh masses of men from
the armed hive of France advanced towards the Sambre, now the theatre of
war. Even Jourdan, who had been watching the Prussians on the Moselle,
finding that they would not move, repaired thither. At the same time the
reinforcements of the allies, having to be brought from great distances,
and being difficult to raise, arrived but slowly and in few numbers.
Such was the situation of the belligerents when Pichegru, after some
manouvres which perplexed the allies, struck off to the left and laid
siege to Ypres. General Clairfait marched to the relief of the besieged
town and defeated Pichegru; but he recovered the ground he had lost,
drove back his opponent, and took the town; the strong garrison therein
opening the gates to him, as so many traitors or cowards. In the
meantime Jourdan laid siege to and captured Charleroi; although in the
route thither he had been defeated in a pitched battle and driven across
the Sambre, by the hereditary Prince of Orange, who had been dispatched
with a part of the army of the coalition to oppo