nne,
Keiserswaert, Philipsburgh, and Landau. They had blown up the castle of
Heildelberg, in the Palatinate, and destroyed Manheim. They had reduced
Worms and Spiers to ashes; and demolished Frankendahl, together
with several other fortresses. These conquests, the fruits of sudden
invasion, were covered with a numerous army, commanded by the mareschal
de Duras; and all his inferior generals were officers of distinguished
courage and ability. Nevertheless, he found it difficult to maintain
his ground against the different princes of the empire. The duke of
Lorraine, who commanded the imperial troops, invested Mentz, and took
it by capitulation; the elector of Brandenburgh, having reduced
Keiserswaert, undertook the siege of Bonne, which the garrison
surrendered after having made a long and vigorous defence. Nothing
contributed more to the union of the German princes than their
resentment of the shocking barbarity with which the French had
plundered, wasted, and depopulated their country. Louis having, by his
intrigues in Poland and at Constantinople, prevented a pacification
between the emperor and the Ottoman Porte, the campaign was opened in
Croatia, where five thousand Turks were defeated by a body of Croates
between Vihitz and Novi. The prince of Baden, who commanded the
imperialists on that side, having thrown a bridge over the Morava at
Passarowitz, crossed that river, and marched in quest of a Turkish
army amounting to fifty thousand men, headed by a seraskier. On the
thirteenth day of August he attacked the enemy in their intrenchments
near Patochin, and forced their lines, routed them with great slaughter,
and took possession of their camp, baggage, and artillery. They returned
to Nissa, where the general finding them still more numerous than the
imperialists, resolved to make a stand, and encamped in a situation that
was inaccessible in every part except the rear, which he left open
for the convenience of a retreat. Through this avenue he was, on the
twenty-fourth day of September, attacked by the prince of Baden,
who, after a desperate resistance, obtained another complete victory,
enriched his troops with the spoil of the enemy, and entered Nissa
without opposition. There he found above three thousand horses and a
vast quantity of provisions. Having reposed his army for a few days in
this place, he resumed his march against the Turks, who had chosen
an advantageous post at Widen, and seemed ambitious of retrie