assemblage, this constellation of excellencies, would be nothing more than a bright phantom, were not those excellencies consecrated by religion. God hath revealed to us, that he appoints the conquerors who are to subdue the world, and makes their conquests subservient to his designs. Was not the splendid designation of Cyrus made known two hundred years before his birth? Was not Alexander predicted in the most figurative manner, as coming from the west, "on the face of the whole earth, and not touching the ground;" like an Alpine deer, whose every movement is a bound; and whose rapid progress is not delayed by rugged acclivities, by rolling torrents, by gaping chasms, or by precipitous descents. The Persian monarch is already subdued. He ran unto him, says the prophet, in the fury of his power. He cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him. Do we not behold in this metephoric representation the semblance of our hero, blended with that of Alexander? Heaven, no doubt, sent him forth endowed with every martial accomplishment, to save his country. It was at the age of twentytwo that the comprehensive mind of our warrior conceived a design of such magnitude, that the most experienced commanders recoiled at the proposal, but which victory sanctioned before the walls of Rocroy! The enemy brought into the field the hardy veteran bands of Walloons, Spaniards, and Italians, who till that hour, were unacquainted with defeat, and whom renown had proclaimed invincible. Among our troops an uncommon intrepidity diffused itself, kindled, as it were, at the sight of our heroic youth, on whose eloquent and presageful eye victory sat enthroned! The renowned Don Francisco de Mellos waite: with undaunted brow for the approach of our army. Our heroic youth, inflamed with so vast an object, and impatient of celebrity, revealed at once the whole splendid energy of his mind. Yet then tran quillity, that faithful attendant on true greatness, possessed his soul: on the night preceding the important day, he is known to have resigned himself to rest with all the unruffled calmness of a sleeping infant. But now the eventful hour is come. Behold him hastening from rank to rank, diffusing his own ardour wherever he flies. Such was his activity, as if several Condes were in the field! Here was he seen forcing the right wing of the enemy, there supporting and encouraging our right that had given way: in one place spreading terror, in another reanimating defeat. The formidable Spanish infantry remained still unsubdued, which separating into several close-compacted battalions, stood like towers amidst the general ruin. Three times did our heroic youth, collecting his full force, rush on these intrepid combatants, and every time met with a repulse. The valiant Spaniard, the Count de Fuentes, displayed under the pressure of illness the most unconquerable mind: conveyed in a litter from danger to danger, he breathed defiance: but the efforts of this superior energy were doomed to prove ineffectual. In vain did the celebrated Bek, bursting from a wood, attempt with his daring cavalry, to surprise our exhausted troops: our young commander, with a preventive wisdom, a prophetic caution, placed a select body of his men in a position ready to resist this onset. The forcmost ranks of the enemy, finding themselves enveloped, threw down their arms and implored our mercy; while our prince was hastening to receive their submission, the other part of the hostile army, not adverting to the surrender of the advanced battalions (or instigated by whatever motive) discharged on our men the whole thunder of their artillery, which so incensed, so infuriated our troops, that an unutterable carnage ensued, till our hero, exerting every effort to calm the maddening rage of his soldiers, added to the pride of conquest the more soothing satisfaction of forgiveness. The valiant count de Fuentes now became the object of his humane anxiety, but he was found expiring amidst the thousands who were dying and bleeding round him! On this tremendous field our vir tuous youth with bended knee dedicated to the great disposer of events, the glory of the day. The security of Rocroy, the degraded menaces of a formidable enemy, the regency now standing on an immoveable basis, were the topics of this exulting day, to which was added the presentiment of the lustre that was to accompany a future reign, which presentiment was sanctioned as it were under the auspices of so glorious a commencement. Universal fame pronounced with admiration the name of our heroic youth! This military essay (as it might be denominated) which would have thrown an ample lustre round any other person, was to him only the preluding dawn of that meridian splendor which afterwards illumed the horizon! After this great achievement when he returned to his court, such was the delicacy, or rather the greatness of his mind, that, indecil to the voice of flattery, he received the applauses to which he was so entitled with a reluctant ear. Germany now demands his presence, to which place you must direct your attention; where you will behold the most formidable preparations; where the science of war (by multiplying her inventions, and by exerting her utmost efforts) is going to summon the abilities of our hero to the severest trial. The local scenery is present to my view! In the foreground rises a tremendous mountain ....cn one side of which are seen hideous chasms, and precipitous descents....on the other, an impenetrable forest, standing on a marshy ground. To impede the march of our army, several forts are erected, and bodies of trees of immense form are thrown across the roads, augmenting at once the difficulty of progress, and terror of situation. Behind the forest the intrepid Merci stands intrenched with his Bavarian troops......Merci, who never was known to make a retrogressive motion; whom the circumspective Turenne never detected in an irregular movement; in whose commendation Conde united with Turenne, and who frequently was heard to say that Merci never lost the fleeting occasion of a favoura ble moment, and that he entered into their plans with such a pervading wisdom, as would almost lead them to think he had assisted at their councils. In the space of 8 days four obstinate actions took place, in which were at once displayed the most impetuous attack, and the most determined resistance. Our troops had to struggle with the difficulties and perils attending their position, as well as with the valour of the enemy. Conde was for some time under the apprehension of being deserted: but,like another Maccabæus, his own arm did not desert him; and his adventurous spirit, irritated by so many obstacles, surmounted them all. He led the way on foot up the severe ascent, and having with a persevering fortitude, laboured to the summit of the mountain, his own ardour accomplished the rest. Merci foresaw his own defeat; the advanced part of his army is suddenly vanquished, and the veil of night secures the remainder. I must not omit to say, that a heavy incessant rain fell during this memorable action, so that our hero had not only to climb a steep and rugged mountain, not only to combat a most formidable enemy, but even to contend with the warring elements! This victory lengthened out its effects to distant places: behold! Wormes, Spires, Mayence, Landau, throw open their gates. Astonished Europe saw our warrior at the early age of twenty-six obtain this immortal victory! The speed of execution allowed not sufficient time to the enemy to traverse his plans: this is the characteristic feature of a great commander. Swifter than eagles, bolder than lions, are the comprehensive allusions of David to the two celebrated warriors whose death he so forcibly laments: out of this compound imagery equally rises the characteristic form of our illustrious countryman. He was present at every scene, foremost in every peril; and as he flew from place to place, it seemed as if he multiplied himself, such was his velocity! the more rapidly he plunged into the scene of action, the more he seemed protected by the shield of heaven. It is now with extreme reluctance that I advert to that unfortunrte period of his life, when he was a state-prisoner. I will venture to repeat, even before that sacred altar, the words which I once heard him pronounce, which indicate the workings of a loyal heart. He observes to me, that he was perfectly innocent on the day he entered his prison, and exceedingly criminal on the day he was set at liberty. In the small compass of these few expressive words, are contained his self-reproaches, and the cause and extent of his error. But I will throw a veil over the exceptionable part of his conduct, and will only observe that where a crime in subsequent signal services is so illustriously lost, nothing should be recalled but the generous acknowledgment of the offender, and the clemency of the offended. In his first campaigns he had but one life to offer to his sovereign and his state; now he leads his son into the field, and there illustrates by the energy of example, the precepts he had inculcated in the cabinet. I omit dwelling on the passage of the Rhine, that miracle of our sovereign, and the stupendous transaction of the age in order to carry your attention to the young warrior in the battle of Senef, in which he saw his father fall, and beheld him struggling under his wounded horse, and Covered with blood: he wades through every danger to his assistance; and while he is raising him from the ground, receives a wound! happy to have served at the same moment the cause of glory, and of Bene filial piety! The prince of Conde, from that hour, entertained for his son an increased affection. But his affection was not confined within the pale of his family and relatives. It reached the circle of his friends, it reached the misfortunes of his distant acquaintance, it reached the whole human race. Far from my lips be the elogium of a conqueror devoid of humanity! When God first formed the heart of man, he placed benevolence there as the character istic of the Divine nature. volence then ought to be the most active principle of our heart; the charm of the most powerful attraction towards our neighbour. The splendor of birth, the accession of riches, far from depressing this active principle, will enable it the better to communicate itself; as a public fountain which the more it is elevated, the more easily can the stream be diffused. They to whose bosom benevolent communication is a stranger, are punished for their disdainful insensibility, being deprived of the gratification arising from mutual intercourse. Never was there a man whose compliant elegance of manners was better adapted to general society. Is this the conqueror who laid towns in ashes, and whose approach was announced by terror? Behold him mild, beneficent, cheerful, complacent, and yielding to every person: so the same river, which, rolling down some eminence, swells and enrages at every obstacle, approaches the precincts of a town with a calm and unequal flow, and then diffusing its course into various channels, communicates health and refreshment to every mansion. Let us now advert to the genius peculiar to the military department. As the art of war, so fatal to the human race, demands the most comprehensive capacity, let us examine his claims to that superior excellence. We have already observed that he was renowned for his preventive wisdom; one of his maxims was, that we should fear an enemy at a distance, and rejoice when he approaches: another maxim of his was, that an able general may be defeated; but he should never be taken by surprise. To this principle he perpetually directed his attention. At whatever hour, from whatever quarter, the enemy appeared, they found him upon his guard, as if he was expecting them. So an eagle sailing through the air, or stationed on a lofty rock, sends his excursive brilliant eye around, eager to behold and rush upon his prey. Though nature had endowed him with her best gifts, he still supplied and enriched his mind with study and reflection. He investigated Cæsar's military stations with a peculiar attention: I remember how accurately he pointed out to us one day, the spot on which, by the advantage only of situation, Cæsar compelled five Roman legions, commanded by two experienced generals, to lay down their arms, with out striking a blow. He had formerly examined every river and mountain which had co-operated to the completion of so great a plan. Never did a professor read so learned a lecture on the commentaries. The leaders of armies yet unborn will pay the same honours to the modern Cæsar. They will wander over with peculiar delight the plains, the eminences, the vallies, the forests which served, as it were, as so many theatres for the warlike exhibitions of our conqueror. It was observed by those who accompanied him to the wars, and who approached his person in the field, that in the ardour of combat, in the imminent moment to which victory had affixed her only hope, he possessed an uncommon tranquillity. At another time he was docile to suggestion, and submissive to counsel: but now illumination flashed on his mind, unembarrassed by a multiplicity of pressing objects; he seizes his plan, and enforces it with his own personal intrepidity! On that day of terror, when at the gates of the town, in view of all its inhabitants, when he was opposed by an expert general at the head of his select troops; at that hour, when he seemed to be abandoned by capricious fortune, they who were fighting at his side have assured me, that, had they any important business to confer with him upon, they would have appointed for the time of their discussion the moments when he was surrounded by danger and destruction: so calm, so unruffled, was his exalted mind! like a high mountain, whose aspiring summit, piercing the clouds and midway storm, remains invested with a splendid serenity. It was reserved for these eventful times to bring to our view at the same period Conde and Turenne ! now commanding separate divisions, now acting in conjunction. What boldness of execution! What prophetic sagacity! what perils! what' resources! Were there ever seen two men of such a corresponding genius, stamped with such a diversity of character? One appeared to act by the slow impulse of profound reflection, the other by the sudden influx of illumination. One no sooner entered the field, than he excited the idea of the highest valour, and awakened expectation: yet leisurely advancing to the object in view, he gradually attained the summit of fame! And on a memorable day, prodigal of safety, and profuse, as it were, of life, we know how illustrious he fell! The other, impelled by an ardent instinctive intelligence, pregnant of inspiration, rivalled in the opening of his first campaign the achievements of experienced commanders. One, confiding in the resources of his inventive courage, challenged the most imminent danger, and turned even to his advantage the caprices of fortune. The other, by the prerogative of a sublime mind, and of a certain mysterious, infallible perception (the secret of which was unknown to other men), seemed born to control chance, and, as it were, to subjugate destiny. Such are the characters which the world sometimes displays, when God (for the purpose of revealing his own power or wisdom) ordains eminent personages to ascend the scene. Say, do his divine attributes, appear more illustrious in the wonderful creation of the expanded sky, than in those men on whom he confers such splendid intellectual endowments? What star in the firmament glows with more lustre than Conde among the exalted characters of Europe? It was not, however, to the art of war, alone, that he owes his celebrity. His comprehensive mind embraced every other science: with the works of literature, and with the authors, he was equally acquainted: and they acknowledged that they never quitted his society without carrying with them a pertion of his communicated wisdom, without being informed by his judicious reflections and pregnant questions, and without being illumined by the coruscations that flashed from his vivid imagination. These intellectual powers, flowing from the fountain of wisdom, demand cur esteem. Yet, to humble the pride of man, we see these mental distinctions bestowed by God even on those who were deprived of the knowledge of religion. Need I pronounce the names of Marcus Aurelius? of Scipio? of Cæsar? of Alexander? These illustrious personages were called into existence to illuminate society, as the sun was planted in the firmament to illuminate the world. Who does not admire the meridian glory of that splendid orb? Who is not delighted with the orient colours which adorn his rising, and with the gorgeous clouds and majectic pageantry that dignify his decline? So are renowned personages, those mental luminaries, ordained to shine forth for the purpose of decorating the moral world! Alexander, whose object was celebrity, transcended the boundary of his utmost wishes. A kind of glorious fatality attended this conqueror..... He glides in every panegyric, and no military genius can receive the crown of honour due to his memory without enwreathing it with the name of Alexander. If a remuneration formerly were due to the prowess of the Romans, God rewarded that prowess by giving them the empire of the world, as a present of no value: a present which does not actually reach them, because it is now contracted and shrunk to a renown, which lives on their medals and mutilated statues dug from a pile of ruins! a renown which lives on their monuments mouldering at the touch of time! a renown that is affixed to their idea, to their shadow, to that airy nothing their name! Behold, ye powers of the earth, O kings! O conquerors! the reward that attends the labours of your ambition: grasp to your bosom, if you can, this glorious phantom; she will deceive your expectation, and mock your wishes even in the hour of possession. From the pursuit of this phantom our warlike prince diverts his course: no longer now the ardent warrior in the noisy chase of ambition, he treads the walk of the obscure virtues, and of the retired graces of religion. The humble duties of domestic life, the government of your family, the edification given to your servants, acts of justice and indulgence to your dependants, attention, charity, consolation given to the simple inhabitants of the cottages which surround your mansion ....these lowly virtues will one day be lifted high, and will at the last day be exalted by the Saviour of the world, in the presence of angels and of his Father. Without waiting for the approach of illness, or the warning of caducity, Conde now dedicates his hours to religious reflections: an enlightened monk attends him in his recess : with this pious monitor he peruses the sacred page, and drinks at the fountain of true knowledge. Would to God that they who are now listening to this discourse would imitate his example! How improvident to wait till you are languishing on the couch of death! How improvident to delay the duties of religion, till, freezing under the cold touch of dissolution, you scarcely can be reckoned among the living! The |