The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-09-12
A glorious vlctOrv-

t-
Ihebattle of Esling; being the fourth off
cial account of the same battle, and which in
the genuine spirit of authorship, furnished in
every edition, " corrections additions. and
aiterQtionS"
The London Gaze ,te account hag the great
merit Of illustratingby detail, instead OF tue
stiff laoonic stvle of the French bulletins
which leave too much room for the exc gcise
of Judgment, by offering only bold outlines
ana naked results; whereas the movement,
of single column of the army. of the " first
captain OF the age" occupies more space than
dozen bulletins, containing all that is said
about such affairs as the battles of .4nster-
Htz or Jeno.
Moreover, we are taught By the London
Gazette, TO transfer he glory of forming this
plan of battle to the baron Wimtfen, disci.
pie OF the French school! Tins is treating
the first captain of the age AMI the last hope
Of the house OF Lorraine, rather scurvily !; il
is king a very duke OF Y TX of him, b, put,
ting him in leading strings. and in French
leading strings too. .,.
WHO is baron Wimkten2 If the curious
reader will refresh his memory by recurring
to the first stages OF the French revolution he
will lind baron Wimpfen; it will be ound
that he commanded the small, but strong and
important fortress of I'hlonviile in 1892, at
| the head Of a select band of French militia
and artillery; that he was summoned by the
Austrian general to surrender, and that his
| reply is recorded for its singularity and bre-
witty, in the annals OF that eyentful epoch
| wooden horse was exhibited on the ram
parts, and truss ofhay before it, the written
| answer was" when that horse eats his hay
,Thionville surrenders." Wimpfen with his
Frenchmen, retained his little fortress, and
during the whole campaign kept in check
force OF $4,000 men, and by several success
| ful sallies, harrassed the Austrians, & at the
close OF the campaign, general Wimpfen OBJ
| tanned all the honors and distinctions which
were in fashion among the French at that
period.
But the history Of b on WimpfeA does
not close upon us here, there is another
anecdote, in which he became not less dis
Itinguished but in different way.
BY some means the Sans culottes felt an
inclination to oveWimpfen to Normandy,
Kellerman (now duke of VaImy) commanded
the military district which comprehended
Thionville; but he was not inclined to go to
Normandy the following is an extract Of his
letter to the war committee, over which Car
not presided:
"I have need of repose; am no longer
" capable of acting. bu: for some great OBJECT
for example to prove to the Grand
" interest to form an alliance with us and
+" Prussia.
Z" / do not pretend to be an Alexander, but
" let him give me the command of his sans
cuiotteS against Russia and the emperor of
Germany, and if do not accomplish my
=" end, may the devil run away with me 20
stAs many good church going people may
be disinclined to believe, that the chief of the
staff I the first captain of the age was
leader OF sans cniottes, and so very ready 10
make wager of battle with Belphegor; we
refer them for the whole letter to British
publication, called the Political state of Eu-
rope, vol. ii. p. 725 726.
Wimpfen afterwards served under the
brave, unfortunate & sacrificed Cuisine, who
attributed his fate to an officer sold 10 Tie enc
my, but who is not named, and somehow
Wimpfen was taken prisoner; he was after
wards exchanged, and received All appoint
ment in Normandy; whence he wasordered
to Paris in June l799; but significantly in
timated that he could not conveniently 90
without carrying $4,000 men with him At
this period he was at the head of what
was called the army Of CaIvados, germ of
insurrecton fostered by the coalesced pow
ers-