After this, Turenne established his winter quarters at Marendahl, his troops being dispersed in the neighbour ing villages. As soon as General Merci learned this, he marched rapidly against him, and gained a partial victory. The Duke of Enghien was again sent by the Cardinal to reinforce Turenne ; and the two generals resolved to bring the Bavarians to a general action. With this view, Turenne, whose clay it was to command, advanced at the head of his cavalry ; but the position of the enemy was so strong, that it was not deemed safe to attack them. As soon, how ever, as the command fell to the Duke, he resolved to march to the Danube, and had got as far as Nordlingen when the Bavarians came up with him. He immediately arranged his army in order of battle, on the very same plain where the Swedes had suffered a defeat soon after the death of Gustavus. The Bavarians were drawn up on an eminence of easy ascent. The action was begun by the French, who at first gave way, and suffered a great loss; nor could their utmost efforts turn the tide of battle, till De Merci was slain at the head of his conquering troops. Even after his death, the Duke would not have been able to have preserved his troops from destruction, had not Turenne attacked the right wing of the enemy, when a terrible conflict ensued, in which the first line of the Bavarians was broken ; but the second advancing, the French were ready to give way when the Duke came up ; and the Bavarians were obliged to retire, leaving behind them their cannon. Turenne now charged them in flank, and their route was complete. This obstinate and well contested battle produced few favourable consequences to the victors ; for though Nordlingen and some other places were reduced, they were soon recovered by the Bavarians, on their receiving a strong reinforcement. The Duke of Enghien returned to Paris; and Marshal Turenne had the honour of closing the campaign by re-establishing the Elec tor of Treves in his dominions.
In 1647, the Duke of Enghien succeeded to the title of Prince of Conde, by the death of his father. At this time, he seems to have excited the jealousy of Mazarine ; for lie was sent, with an inferior army, very ill equipped, into Catalonia, to effect the reduction of Lerida. The preced ing year this place had been besieged by Count D'Har court, viceroy of Catalonia ; who had suffered himself to be surprised by the Spanish general, in a manner that in curred the displeasure of Mazarine, and induced him to resign his comtnand. The Prince of Conde, on his arrival, found the lines of the Count D'Harcourt so little damaged, that he easily repaired and the trenches were open ed with a flourish of violins. The city was defended by the governor with very great skill and courage: be harn sed the besiegers with continual sallies, and disputed every inch of ground. In the mean time, the French found un expected difficulties in forming their mines, by the inter vention of a rock : the troops were diminished by fatigue ; the season was unfavourable for labour, and prejudicial to health, on account of its extreme heat ; the Spanish army advanced to the relief of the place, and the Prince of Conde was obliged to raise the siege.
Ilitherto the negociations at Munster and Osnaburgh had varied according to the fortune of war ; but the French and Swedes being now decidedly victorious, the Emperor, deserted by his allies, was obliged to receive the law from these powers ; and consented to purchase peace, by ceding to France the bishoprics of Metz, Told, and Verdun, and giving up his pretensions to Pigneral, Brisac, and Alsace.
This was the memorable peace of Westphalia, signed at Munster, on the 24th day of October 1648, which, till the French Revolution, was considered as a fundamental law of the empire, and the basis of all subsequent treaties.
France, however, was still at war with the Spanish branch of the House of Austria ; and as the United Pro vinces, jealous of the former power, had concluded a se parate treaty with Philip in 1647, the Cardinal found it necessary to exert all his talents at this crisis, especially as his influence was now seriously threatened by intestine dis orders.
In 1648, the Prince of Conde resumed the command in Flanders, where he reduced Ypres. He was opposed by the Archduke Leopold, who, to balance this acquisition, took Courtray and Furies, and advanced to the siege of Lens. This place the prince resolved to relieve if possi ble, but he had the mortification of beholding it surrender. Still he was determined to engage the enemy : immediate ly before the battle, lie addressed his soldiers in few but em phatic words : " Remember, my friends, Rocroy, Fribourg, and Nordlingen." The Spaniards, though superior, were defeated : 5000 were killed ; 3000 made prisoners ; and the Archduke himself escaped with difficulty.
The civil war in France now calls for our attention. The overthrow of Alazarine was the object of it : he was objec tionable to the French on many accounts ; in the first place he was a foreigner, and an Italian ; in the next place, though he had not the pomp and haughtiness of Richelieu, his fortune, his power, and the necessities of the nation, fur nished matter of complaint and discontent. The finances, which had been placed on such an excellent footing by the Duke of Sully, who had, moreover, rendered their collec tion and management so very simple and easy, that mode rate talents and attention, joined to economy, might have kept them so, were in a very dilapidated state. Seventy five millions,the amount of the revenue, were not sufficient for the expenditure ; and yet the armies were not nume rous ; the superintendance of the finances had been given to an obscure and rapacious Italian, who had recourse to money edicts. The money due to the magistrates was not paid-; some quarters of the annuities were retrenched ; murmurs broke out ; the parliament opposed the court ; and a civil war was on the point of being kindled. An ar ret of union between the courts of Paris gave the minister uneasiness, and was annulled by the council. The magis trates maintained that their union could not be regarded as unlawful, or reprehensible ; upon which Mazarine replied, " The king must be obeyed ; if he forbid wearing tassels to band strings, it is less the nature of the thing prohibited, than the prohibition, which constitutes the crime." The parliament abolished the situation of intendants of the pro vinces who were instituted by Louis XIII. ; on which the court, filled with indignation, resolved to have recourse to a very bold measure. During the celebration of Te DCUM for the victory of Lors, a president and counsellor who had distinguished themselves in the debates, were arrested by order of the Cardinal ; upon which the people rose, threw chains across the streets, formed barricades, fired on the chancellor's coach, killed some soldiers, and the two prison ers were liberated.