Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/180

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A FRENCH VOLUNTEER


powers was misled, and the cause of the French Princes, the Bourbon Monarchy, and the unfortunate Louis XVI and his family counted for nothing. The Revolutionists alone were the only persons not deceived and misled, and they won the campaign without having to fight.

In this famous campaign of 1792, commanded by the first General in Europe, the celebrated Crown Prince, having under his orders 60,000 Prussians with the King of Prussia, and 20,000 Frenchmen with the King's brothers, both armies might have said that they never saw the enemy. A few skirmishes with outposts or with the advance guard were dignified by the Revolutionists into battles and victories. They were right, for these skirmishes were the only visible result of the war, and in fact all this invincible armament accomplished was the capture of Verdun. The magistrates presented Frederick with the keys of the town, and some confectioners' girls brought some anisette,—an attention for which they paid dearly, for the ferocious Jacobins afterwards sent these unoffending