Memoir of the life and military services of Viscount Lake, baron Lake of Delhi and Laswaree, 1744-1808

Front matter

bituiiiiiiiti

.- 0'

t .

Introduction

Lord Lake's half century of military service, terminated by his death in 1808, took place at a time when the slow transmission of news made it difficult for home-keeping Englishmen to appreciate the achievements of their countrymen abroad. They were indeed, for the most part, ignorant of the creation of the Indian Empire, that triumph of the constructive genius of our race, and services of which the nation was but dimly aware could hardly arouse much gratitude.

To this ignorance must, in part, be attributed the oblivion into which Lake's career has fallen ; and a further explanation may be found in the period of his death, at the moment when the rising fame of Wellington swallowed, like Aaron's rod, the reputations of all contemporaneous soldiers.

VIU INTRODUCTION.

Yet of Lake the great Wellesley wrote these words : " His masterly operations, his unexampled alacrity and honourable zeal, the judgment, skill, and promptitude of decision which he has manifested in every crisis of difficulty or danger, combined with his irresistible spirit of enterprise and courage, entitle him to the gratitude and admiration of every loyal British subject, and of every heart and mind which can feel for the honour, or can understand the interests, of the British Empire."

This record of Lord Lake's life and services has been written in the hope of rescuing from an undeserved oblivion the memory of the soldier who earned from Wellesley so glowing an eulogium ; of describing, though inadequately, the methods and achievements of a commander who has rarely been excelled on the battle-field ; and of recalling to his countrymen the character of a man who had many great and no ignoble qualities, who was an honourable and disinterested English gentleman, and who played no small part in the creation of our Indian Empire.

The portrait of Lord Lake (frontispiece) is reproduced from a miniature in the possession of Lady Fludyer.

The map illustrating the French operations

INTRODUCTION. ix

in Ireland in 1798 is reproduced from 'The Times,' by kind permission of the manager of that paper.

The remaining maps are the work of Mr D. S. Home of the War Office.

Contents

CHAP.

I. FAMILY HISTORY

II. "the seven years' war"

Chapter I. Family History

Gerard Lake was born in the year 1744, the second son of Lancelot Charles Lake and Letitia his wife. The family of Lake is of undoubted antiquity, and although its descent from Lancelot of the Lake, the favourite knight of King Arthur, is of course merely traditional, there is clear proof that at the period of the birth of the future victor of Laswari the Lakes had for two centuries at least maintained themselves in a position of dignity, and had contributed a fair proportion of men of light and leading to their native land.

The written pedigree of the family makes no attempt to trace its descent from the fabled Lancelot, although the description of

A

" Almeric Lake or Du Lake " seems to hint at such a claim. The said Almeric is, however, the first person named in the pedigree, and of him no particulars are given save that he lived at Southampton in the second half of the sixteenth century, and was the father of two sons, both of whom rose to eminence.

The younger of these, whose career may be most conveniently taken first, was named Arthur, and received his early education in the free school in St Michael's parish, Southampton, and thence was " transplanted," as the record has it, "to Wykeham's school." Thence, in 1589, he was elected a Fellow ox New College, Oxford. Five years later Arthur Lake took holy orders, and in 1605 was installed Archdeacon of Surrey. In April 1608 he became Dean of Bristol, and in 1616 he was consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells, dying ten years later.

The character of Bishop Lake, as recorded in the genealogy, is worthy of all respect. After recording his various preferments, the author proceeds : "In these places of honour and employment he carried himself the same in mind and person, showing by his constancy that his virtues were virtues indeed ; in all kinds of which, whether natural, moral, theo-

SIR THOMAS LAKE. 3

logical, personal, or pastoral, he was eminent, and one of the examples of his time. He always lived a single man, exemplary in his life and conversation, and very hospitable. He was also well read in the Fathers and Schoolmen, and had such a command of the Scripture (which made him one of the best preachers) that few went beyond him in his time. . . . Over his grave was soon after laid a flat stone, neither marble nor free, with this engraven on a brass plate affixed to it — ' Here lieth Arthur Lake, Doctor in Divinity, late Bishop of Bath and Wells, who died on the 4th of May 1626.'"

Sir Thomas Lake, the elder brother of this worthy prelate, born at Southampton about the year 1567, was, it is stated in the genealogy, " bred a scholar, and afterwards taken into the service of Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State, as his amanuensis. By him he was recommended to Queen Elizabeth, to whom he read French and Latin. A little before her death she made him clerk of her signet, and after her death he was sent by the State to attend King James I. from Berwick." King James took Lake into his favour, knighting him on May 20, 1603, and entrusting him with the charge of our relations.

with France. Sir Thomas Lake's rise in the favour of Queen Elizabeth is attributed entirely to his own merits, but in gaining the favour of James I., Lake showed much suppleness and tact. He steadily championed the interests of the king's Scottish friends, and ignored the dislike of the English courtiers which he thus incurred. He also gave palatable advice to James in regard to financial matters. After Sir Robert Cecil was preferred to the administration of affairs, the ofl&ce of Secretary of State was divided, and Sir Thomas Lake was appointed to be the second Secretary, and " so continued," says the chronicler, " with honourable esteem of all men, till malice and revenge (two violent passions over -ruling the weaker sex), concerning his wife and daughter, involved him in their quarrel, the chief and only cause of his ruin."

In February 1616, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Lake, was married to William Cecil, Lord Roos, grandson of Thomas, first Earl of Exeter, and in July of the same year his title of Lord Roos, which had been disputed by the Earl of Rutland, was adjudged in his favour.

In August 1616 Lord Roos left England in a hurried and secret manner, leaving his estate

" THE BRITISH SOLOMON. 5

in great disorder, after having sent a challenge to his brother-in-law, Arthur Lake, who had violently assaulted him ; and, though he was required by the Lords of the Council to return, refused to comply with their order.

The story of the quarrel between Lord E-oos and the ladies of the Lake family is given in Saunderson's ' History of the Keign of James I.,' and is based on personal knowledge, the writer having been Secretary to Lord Koos's embassy. The story is not without interest, throwing, as it does, light on the shrewd methods of " the British Solomon," and it certainly illustrates the " malice and revenge " of the so-called weaker sex.

" Sir Thomas Lake's daughter," writes Saunderson, " marrying Lord Roos, this Baron, upon Lake's credit, was sent ambassador extraordinary into Spain, 1616, in a very gallant equipage, with hopes of his own to continue longer, to save charges of transmitting any other. In his absence there fell out a deadly feud ('tis no matter for what) between the Lady Lake and her daughter's step-mother, the Countess of Exeter,^ which was particularly described in a letter and

^ A mistake of Saunderson's. The lady in question was really widow of Lord Roos's grandfather. She was born in 1580, and consequently was thirty-six years old at this time.

sent from England for me at Madrid, and because of my near relations in that embassy I showed the same to my Lord Ambassador. A youthful widow this Countess had been and virtuous, the relict of Sir Thomas Smith, clerk of the council and register of the parliament, and so she became bed - fellow to this aged, gouty, diseased, but noble Earl ; and that preferment had made her subject to envy and malice.

" Home comes the Lord Koos from his embassy, when he fell into some neglect of his wife and her kindred, upon refusing to increase the allowance to her settlement of jointure, which was promised to be completed at his return. Not long he stays in England ; but away he gets into Italy, turned a professed Roman Catholic, being cozened into that religion there by his public confident Gondomar.

"In this last absence, never to return, the mother and daughter accuse the Countess of former incontinency with the Lord Roos whilst he was here ; and that therefore, upon his wife's discovery, he was fled from hence and from her marriage - bed, with other devised calumnies, by several designs and contrivements to have impoisoned the mother and daughter.

"This quarrel blazoned at Court to the

THE ''CONFIDING SERVANT. 7

King's ear, who, as privately as could be, singly examines each party. The Countess with tears and imprecations professes her innocency ; which to oppose, the mother and daughter counterfeit her hand to a whole sheet of paper, wherein they make her with much contrition to acknowledge herself guilty, crave pardon for attempting to impoison them, and desire friendship for ever with them all.

" The King gets sight of this as in favour to them, and demands the time, place, and occasion when this should be writ. They tell him that all the parties met in a visit at Wimbleton (the Earl of Exeter's house), where in dispute of their differences, she confessed her guilt, desirous of absolution and friendship, consents to set down all under her own hand, which presently she writ at the window in the upper end of the great chamber at Wimbleton, in presence of the mother and daughter, the Lord Koos, and one Diego, a Spaniard, his confiding servant. But now they being gone and at Bome, the King forthwith sends Master Dendy, one of his sergeantsat - arms, some time a domestic of the Earl of Essex, an honest and worthy gentleman, post to Bome, who speedily returns with Boos's and Diego's hands and other testimonlals, that all the said accusation, confession, suspicions, and papers concerning the Countess were notoriously false and scandalous, and confirm it by receiving their eucharist, in assurance of her honour and his innocency. Besides several letters of her hand, compared with this writing, concluded it counterfeit.

" Then the King tells the mother and daughter that this writing being denied by her, their testimonies as parties would not prevail without additional witness. They then adjoin one Sarah Wharton, their chambress, who, they affirm, stood behind the hangings at the entrance of the room, and heard the Countess read over what she had writ. And to this she swears before the King.

" But after a hunting at New Park, the King entertained at Wimbleton and, in that room, observes the great distance from the window to the lower end, and placing himself behind the hangings (and so other Lords in their turn), they could not hear a loud voice from the window. Besides, the hangings wanted two feet of the ground, and might discover the woman, if hidden behind, the King saying, ' oaths cannot deceive my sight.' And the hangings had not been removed that room in thirty years before.

THE KINGS SENTENCE. 9

" Nay, more than all these, the mother and daughter counterfeit a confession in writing of one Luke Hutton, that for forty pounds the Countess should hire him to poison them, which man with wonderful providence was found out, and privately denies it to the King.

" And thus prepared the King sends for Lake, whom in truth he valued, tells him the danger to embark himself in this quarrel, advising him to leave them to the law, being ready for a star-chamber business. He humbly thanked his Majesty, but could not refuse to be a father and a husband ; and so put his name and theirs in a cross -bill, which at the hearing took up five several days, the King sitting in judgement. But the former testimonies and some private confessions of the Lady Roos and Sarah Wharton, which the King kept in secret, made the cause for some days of trial appear doubtful to the court, until the King's discovery, which concluded the sentence, pronounced upon several censures, — Lake and his Lady fined £10,000 to the King, £5000 to the Countess, £50 to Hutton ; Sarah Wharton to be whipped at a cart's tail about the streets, and to do penance at St Martin's Church. The Lady Roos for confessing the truth and plot in the midst of the trial, was pardoned by most voices from penal sentence. The King, I remember, compared their crimes to the plot of the first Sin in Paradise, the Lady to the Serpent, her daughter to Eve, and Sir Thomas to poor Adam, whose love to his Wife, the old Sin of our father, had beguiled him. I am sure he paid for all, which, as he told me, cost him £30,000, the loss of his master's favour, and ofl&ces of honour and gain, but truly with much pity and compassion at court, he being held an honest man."

Fuller, in his 'Worthies of England,' says that Sir Thomas Lake's dexterity of despatch and secrecy in business were incredible ; and it is also recorded that from his skill with the pen Lake was nicknamed "Swiftsure," after a well - known ship of the Royal Navy. Sir Thomas married Mary, daughter and heiress of Sir William Eyther, Lord Mayor of London, and died on September 17, 1630, at his seat at Canons, Whitchurch, County Middlesex, which he had bought in 1604. He left three children; Elizabeth, wife of Lord Boos, whose misadventures have been related ; and three sons, (1) Sir Thomas Lake of Canons, who died 13th May 1653, and (2) Sir Arthur, who died in December 1633. Both were knighted in 1617. The third son, Lancelot, who died in

CANONS. 1 1

1646, was father of Sir Lancelot Lake of Canons, who was knighted in 1660, and was M.P. for Middlesex in the Convention of that year and in the Parliament of 1661. Sir Lancelot died in 1680, leaving, by his wife Frances, with many other children, a son Warwick, of whom hereafter.

Sir Lancelot's eldest son. Sir Thomas Lake of Canons, knighted in 1670, married Rebecca, daughter of Sir James Langham, Baronet, and by her had seven children, who all died young with the exception of Mary, born in 1668, who married James Brydges, afterwards Duke of Chandos, to whom she carried the seat of Canons. The magnificence of Canons, on which the Duke is said to have spent nearly £200,000 about the year 1712, was proverbial in its day; but its glory soon departed, for it was pulled down and the materials sold by auction in 1747. Thus vanished a great portion of the fortune amassed by Sir Thomas Lake, the Secretary of State.

Warwick Lake, born in 1661, sixth son of Sir Lancelot and uncle of the Duchess of Chandos, married Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Sir Charles Gerard, Baronet, of Flambard's, Harrow -on -the -Hill. Elizabeth Gerard possessed not only a good fortune but an illustrious pedigree. Her mother, Honora, Lady Gerard, was daughter of Charles, 2nd Lord Seymour of Trowbridge, great-grandson of Catherine, Countess of Hertford, who was granddaughter of Princess Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VIL^

By his marriage with Elizabeth Gerard, Warwick Lake became the father of Lancelot Charles Lake, born in 1711, who further re-

1 DESCENT OF LORD LAKE from HENRY VII.

KING HENRY VII.

I (1st) Louis XII., = Princess Mary m. — (2nd) Charles Brandon, King of France. | Duke of Suffolk, K.G.

I Lady Frances Brandon m. Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, _| K.G.

Lady Catherine Grey m. Edward Seymour, Earl of

Hertford (son of Edward, Duke of Somerset).

Edward, Lord Beauchamp m. Honora, dau. of Sir Richard

Francis, created, 1641, Lord Seymour m. Frances, dau. of Sir Gilbert of Trowbridge i Prinne of AUington, Wilts.

Charles, 2nd Lord Seymour of Trow- m. (as his second wife) Elizabeth, bridge I dau. of Wm., Lord AUington.

Charles, 6th Duke of Somerset. Honora m. Sir Charles I Gerard.

Elizabeth Gerard m. Warwick Lake.

I Lancelot Charles Lake m. Letitia Gumley.

GERARD, VISCOUNT LAKE.

BIRTH OF LORD LAKE. 13

stored the family fortunes by his marriage with Letitia Gumley, one of the three daughters and co-heiresses of John Gumley of Isleworth, Middlesex, — a gentleman who had made a large fortune as Commissary -General of the Army. Another daughter of Mr Gumley married the celebrated William Pulteney, Earl of Bath. Lady Bath inherited Gumley House, which at her death came to Lord Lake, who sold it. The third Miss Gumley married a gentleman named Colman, and was the mother of George Colman, the dramatic writer.

Lancelot and Letitia Lake had two sons, the elder, Warwick, a Commissioner of the Stamp Office and a member of the household of George IV. when Prince of Wales.

The second son, Gerard, born July 27, 1744, created Baron, and afterwards Viscount, Lake of Delhi and Laswari, is the subject of this memoir.

Gerard, Viscount Lake, married, June 26, 1770, Elizabeth Barker, only daughter of Edward Barker, Esq., of St Julian's, Hertfordshire, and by her (who died Feb. 20, 1788) had issue —

(1) Francis Gerard, 2nd Viscount Lake.

(2) George Augustus Frederick, killed, when

Lieutenant -Colonel of the 29th Kegiment, at the battle of Bolica, Auofust 17, 1808.

(3) Warwick, 3rd and last Viscount Lake.

(1) Anna Maria, married (August 21, 1799)

Sir Richard Borough, Baronet.

(2) Amabel, married (May 25, 1803) Major

(afterwards Major - General) Joseph Brooks, of the East India Company's service.

(3) Elizabeth, married (June 6, 1806) Colonel

(afterwards Lieut. - General) Sir John Harvey.

(4) Frances, unmarried.

(5) Anne, married (1812) Lieut. -Colonel (after-

wards Lieut. -General) John Wardlaw. The honours conferred on Lake expired on the death of his youngest son, Warwick, 3rd and last Viscount Lake, but his descendants are many in number, and are enumerated in the Appendix.

CHAPTER 11.

THE SEVEN YEARS WAR.

At the time of Gerard Lake's birth, the fortunes of his family, grievously maimed by the marriage of his cousin Mary to the Duke of Chandos, and the consequent alienation of the estate of Canons, had been restored by the prudent marriages of his father and grandfather. Gerard Lake, though the second son, was heir to a sufficient fortune, and on May 7, 1758, at the age of thirteen years and nearly ten months, he was appointed an Ensign in the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards. Lake's entry into a military career was therefore made under favourable circumstances and in a happy moment, for Europe in 1758 was ringing with the fame of Rosbach and Leuthen, and the genius of Frederick the Great was astonishing the world and forming a great school for soldiers. England had already been engaged over two years in what was after-

16 "the seven yeaes' war."

wards named " The Seven Years' War," that long struggle against the power of France in which Pitt found the means of realising the colonial expansion which his genius saw to be essential to the development of England. The attitude of our people towards the war was at first dubious. On the one hand, they hated France with a hearty antipathy, the growth of centuries ; moreover, they dreaded a Trench invasion. On the other hand, they disliked spending English blood and treasure for the protection of the German possessions of their German king, who openly showed them that he preferred Hanover to England. The earlier enterprises of the war in Europe, too, were on a small scale, and met with no satisfactory results ; and it was not until the glorious achievements of Wolfe in Canada and of Hawke at Quiberon showed England what she might achieve, that Pitt was enabled to launch out with serious operations on the Continent of Europe.

Until, indeed, he was placed at the head of affairs, England played but a half-hearted game. The attack on Frederick of Prussia, primarily initiated by France (incredible as it may seem) with the intention of punishing him for his scornful treatment of Madame de

ENGLAND GOES TO WAR. l7

Pompadour, involved a menace to Hanover. Frederick was attacked on his left and front by the Saxons, Austrians, and Russians, all at that time the obedient allies of France ; and if he were left unaided while the great French army, the most powerful in Europe, fell upon his right, the English king saw that Prussia would be overwhelmed. The destruction of Prussia might have been endured, but that of Hanover, which must have followed, was a contingency not to be contemplated by George II., a Hanoverian to the backbone. Born and bred in that country, the king, like his father, took but a faint interest in England. His whole heart was devoted to Hanover, and so, being a man of dauntless courage, he resolved to defy France. Thus did England embark on the war which, when entrusted to the guiding genius of Pitt, transferred to her the possessions of France in India and America, and transformed her from a small kingdom to a great empire. The early incidents of the war were far from encouraging. The imagination of King George did not of itself soar beyond the defence of Hanover and the guarding of Frederick's right flank from the armies of France. This was indeed a sufficiently serious undertaking, and, as events quickly showed,,

B

18 "the seven ybivrs' war."

beyond the capacity of the Duke of Cumberland. This Prince, who was entrusted by his father with the command of the Hanoverian army, though possessed of a full share of the courage of his house, was an inexperienced commander. His enterprising spirit led him to take up a dangerously advanced position, and the result of his operations was his defeat by Marshal D'Estrees at Hastenbach on July 26, 1757, followed by the Convention of Klosterseven in September of that year. By the terms of this Convention the Hanoverian army was to be disarmed and to take no further part in the war, and the position of King Frederick became perilous, until he saved himself by his victories of Rosbach, won from the French, and that of Leuthen, by which he reconquered Silesia from the Austrians.

The failure of the Duke of Cumberland had been strongly resented in England, and Frederick, after Rosbach, became "the Protestant Hero," for whom the nation was ready to make any sacrifice.

Pitt, who saw that Prussia must be effectively helped, repudiated the Convention of Klosterseven, extracted from Parliament an annual subsidy of £670,000 for Frederick, and resolved to put the army of Hanover again in the field.

PRINCE FERDINAND OF BRUNSWICK. 19

What was evidently wanted was a capable general, and as Amherst and Wolfe were doing good work in America and could not be spared, the services of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, the most capable of Frederick's subordinates, were secured for the Hanoverian army. Ferdinand was a man of thirty-six, with seventeen years of war experience, — " a soldier of approved excellence, and, likewise, a noble-minded, prudent, patient, and invincibly valiant and steadfast man." ^ Service under him was of inestimable value to our army, and to his precepts and guidance may be traced the military skill of a large number of our best ofl&cers of later wars. The measure of Prince Ferdinand's excellence as a commander may best be taken from his achievements in fighting five campaigns successfully, always with one army against two, always against superior numbers, commanding troops of different nationalities, and afflicted by a considerable number of subordinate generals who by stupidity or other bad qualities often caused his best plans to fail.

On the Hanoverian army again taking the field, Prince Ferdinand began operations by driving the French garrisons westward out of Hanover. The French, having been taken by

^ Carlyle's * History of Frederick II. of Prussia.'

20 "the seven years' wah."

surprise by the secrecy with which the Hanoverians had been rearmed and set in motion, were unable to make an effective resistance, and by the end of March 1758 they had all been pressed across the Rhine. Prince Ferdinand followed them up, and on June 23 gained a signal victory at Crefeld. This triumph had a great effect in England, and Pitt decided to reinforce the Prince's army by the despatch of 2000 cavalry and 7000 infantry from England, soon followed by 3000 more troops, and further endeavoured to check the despatch of French reinforcements to the Rhine by the employment of combined naval and military expeditions on a small scale against the west coast of France. This experiment had no good results, the first expedition, under the command of the 3rd Duke of Marlborough, with Lord George Sackville as second-in-command, doing nothing ; while the second, under General Bligh, not only did nothing, but sustained serious losses during its re-embarkation. The Duke and Lord George did not accompany the second expedition, having used all their interest to be sent to the field of action in Germany. Unhappily for both of them, they obtained their wish, the Duke of Marlborough dying at Miinster on October 28, 1758, very soon after the arrival

JOHN, MARQUIS OF GRANBY 21

of the English contingent at that place, while the fate of Lord George - Sackville was, as we shall see, a worse one. The third senior English general in Germany was the famous John, Marquis of Granby, who, in consequence of the Duke of Marlborough's death, became second - in - command to Lord George. Lord Granby was thirty -seven years old, and had held the rank of Major - General for thirteen years, but his experience of war was as yet limited.

The winter months of 1758 were passed quietly in quarters, but in March 1759 Prince Ferdinand made a bold advance on Frankfort, which city the French had made their base. This enterprise proved a failure, and the Prince was compelled to fall back on the line of the Weser. It was now the turn of the French to take the offensive, and in June 1759 they advanced in great strength in four divisions. Prince Ferdinand found himself in a most difficult position, for to hold his ground safely he was compelled to defend Miinster and Lippstadt, two distant points, and could not tell which of them the French would make their main objective. Miinster was of vital importance, as if the French were to capture it they would thereby be able to cut Ferdinand's line of supply both from Germany and England. Lippstadt, though less important, covered his communications on the other flank. In July, Marshal Contades, thanks to his great preponderance of strength, was besieging both towns with detached corps, his light troops had entered Hanover and were levying contributions, while he with his main body was in an impregnable position south of Minden. Ferdinand now set about a design of drawing Marshal Contades, the French commander-in-chief, from this position. By threatening Contades' line of supply, and by placing a small force in an apparently dangerous but really strong position in Contades' front, he thoroughly succeeded. On August 1, 1759, Contades left his secure position and threw his army across the Bastau, a tributary of the Weser, in order to destroy the small force that seemed to be at his mercy. The result of this imprudence was the glorious victory of Minden, in which six regiments of British infantry earned undying distinction. The most notable description of their achievement was that written by their generous antagonist. Marshal Contades himself. " I never thought to see a single line of infantry," he wrote, " break through three lines of cavalry, ranked in order of battle, and tumble them to

MINDEN. 23

ruin." Minden was a great day for the British infantry, and hardly less so for their artillery, whose efficiency and handling alike attracted general admiration ; but unhappily, through no fault of its own, the fine body of cavalry, consisting of twenty - four squadrons, were held back by their commander. Lord George Sackville. The cause of Lord George's failure has never been clearly proved. He had shown personal courage in previous campaigns, notably at Fontenoy, where he was wounded and thrown for dead into a waggon. Eleven years after Minden he showed conspicuous coolness in a duel. Sackville came, indeed, of a fighting stock on both sides, for his paternal grandfather was Charles, Lord Buckhurst, the model of gay courage in his day ; and his maternal grandfather was Field-Marshal Colyear, a veteran of the sieges and battles of the reign of William III. The proceedings of Sackville's court-martial show, however, only too clearly that at Minden he in no way played the part of a cavalry commander. He made no attempt to ascertain when he could use his fine force to assist the commander-in-chief; he disputed the meaning of the three orders to advance that were sent to him ; and his inactivity was carried so far that Prince Ferdinand was robbed of the full results of his victory. The French army lost 6000 men, 30 guns, and 17 colours and standards, but it should have been annihilated.