Marching to the south-east, Spinola now laid siege to Groll (Groenlo), a fortified town in the county of Zutphen. This town was well garrisoned, and would doubtless have stood a long siege had not Spinola, maddened by his unsuccessful attempts to break through the chain which guarded the heart of the republic, attacked the place with such fury, piling on his soldiers with the recklessness which had in the end conquered Ostend, that the town surrendered after an eleven days' siege.1 The possession of Groll seemed hardly worth such a sacrifice of human beings, but it was a foothold for the enemy, and might perhaps serve as a stepping stone for future victories. Abandoning his schemes of conquest in the provinces beyond the Yssel, which were so near and yet so far, Spinola withdrew to the Rhine, and laid siege to Rhineberg on August 23. "This frontier place," says Motley, "had been tossed to and fro so often between the contending parties in the perpetual warfare, that its inhabitants must have learned to consider themselves rather as a convenient circulating medium for military operations than as burghers who had any part in the ordinary business of life. It had old-fashioned defences of stone, which, during the recent occupation by the States, had been much improved, and had been strengthened with earthworks. Before it was besieged Maurice sent his brother, Frederick Henry, with some picked companies into the place, so that the garrison amounted to three thousand effective men.3 Spinola, rapid in all his movements, had made a bridge from Ruhrort over the Rhine, somewhat above Rhineberg, and invested 'The inhabitants of Groll remained in the town when it was taken by Spinola, "as if satisfied with any religion and any government." Grotius, Hist. lib. xv. p. 693. 2 Spinola lost nearly 1,000 men. Davies, ii. p. 399. 3 p. 244. the town on all sides, having united his forces with those of Bucquoy. The Spaniards had the great advantage of obtaining supplies from Cologne, and we are told that "Spinola caused great store of fagots and other furniture to be brought to Bercke to assaile the trenches over the Rhine." In the meantime Prince Maurice, with an army of 15,000 men, which included the English regiments, was marching to Wesel, with the intention either to fight a battle or relieve Rhineberg. Sir John Ogle," writing to Salisbury from Eltem, Aug. 15/25, says of the defence of Rhineberg: "I fear Syr Wm Edmonds will return in no tryumphe from that place, though for his particular men doubt not but he will deserve honourably." The same writer, in a letter to Salisbury, written ten days later from the camp, near Wesel, says :— "The enemye is fortyfied on the Lippe, but if he were not I can not see that the best indgments do fynde it any way convenient to have attempted any thinge on that syde, the countrye is so full of broken wayes and narrow passages. Some of the Captaynes of the Enemyes camp lay wagers at Wesel that Berk will be lost in ten dayes, we hope better; but if he sodeynly gayne that forte wch he now assayles,3 I fear we shall come to late to releeve it, perhapps it will then be found fytt to make to this forte wch we are now about (of wch Syr Ed. Ceecyll hath the fyrst and mayden-garde, in the raysinge it), another on this syde the water, and so keep still the toll of the Rhene. Tyme will shew us. I hear of an enterprize in hand (but the particulars I know not) that if it take good success 1 Grimston, p. 1361. * Frequent mention has been made of this brave officer, who was for many years colonel of an English regiment in the States' service and governor of Utrecht, as will hereafter appear, in critical times. Colonel Ogle was fifth son of Thomas Ogle of Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, by Jane, daughter of Adlard Welby, of Gedney, in the same county. He was baptized at Pinchbeck Feby. 25, 1568-9; knighted at Woodstock Dec. 1, 1603. Died in March 1639-40, and was buried in Westminster Abbey on March 17. He left issue by his wife, who was a Dutch lady. Chester's Westminster Abbey Registers. Probably the Weert fort. will goe ner to turne Hannibal from Rome, and make him look to his owne countrye. These men had need pray for a good year of the next, for if they should remayne upon theyr defensive condicio" still, all the Callenders on this syde say theyr estate is desperate" 1 Maurice lost an opportunity of relieving Rhineberg by waiting for the arrival of a ship-bridge which he had sent for. For before he had got his bridge, and raised a redoubt on each side of the river Rhine to defend the passage, the garrison of Rhineberg had evacuated the Weert—a strongly intrenched suburb near the river-and retired within the town. This retreat-occasioned by the loss of Colonel Edmonds-gave Spinola great advantage. When Maurice's ship-bridge arrived, he threw a bridge across the Rhine near Wesel, and erected a redoubt on each side "to keep the toll of the Rhine," as Sir John Ogle aptly expressed it. The English regiment, commanded by Colonel Edward Cecil, was employed, as Meteren tells us, in making earthworks to protect this bridge.3 Colonel Cecil was also employed, as Sir John Ogle has already told us, in raising a fort on the Rhineberg side of the river, of which he (Cecil) had the "mayden garde." A letter from Edward Cecil to Robert Sidney, Viscount L'Isle, written at this time, gives some idea of the passive state of Maurice's army when Rhineberg was being "taken in" before their eyes. SIR E. CECIL TO LORD L'ISLE. "MY WORTHY LORD, "Your Lordship's kind Letter, and your Choyse to reccommende your Friends to mee, hath made mee full of affection to 1 Sept. 4, stylo novo.-S.P. Holland. 2 A plan of Rhineberg, with the positions occupied by Spinola, Bucquoy, and the States' army, and the forts raised by Maurice on each side of the river, &c., is to be found among the S.P. Holland for August, 1606. 3 Fo. 594, book 28. doe you Servis; yet I must complane of want of Messengers and fulfill your Lordship's commandmente to let you know what we doe heare. It is told wee have not performed so much as we did expect ourselves; for wee marched hether with a Resolucione to fight a Battel, but wee fiend Spinola so far ingaged in the Seage of Rinebearke that he will not leave his hopes there to fight with us. Wee lighe by Wesbell (sic), and have made a Bridge over the Rind. Wee have mustered a fare army, 15,000 Foot and 3,000 Horse, and this night wee are making our passage over the Lipe; but what wee shall doe God knoweth, for I fear wee worke to suer and to leserly. And I am of the Miende that within these tenn Dayes you shall heare the Towne loste. The Enyme having gottone all the Outworkes, wheare Coronell Edmons' was slane; they of the Towne have made a sally of 2,000 menn upon the Quarter of the Count of Boccoye, his Horse having been oute upon a convoye, and had the execution of som 400 Menn. I will be no longer, but to desier some better occasion to showe how much I am, "Your Lordship's most affectionate, "From our Armye, by Wesbell, the last "to doe you service, of August, ould stile, 1606."" 3 The garrison of the beleaguered town made some desperate sorties and inflicted great loss on the enemy. The French volunteers who served at the defence of Rhineberg greatly distinguished themselves, and one of them, Count de la 1 Colonel Sir Wm. Edmonds was killed on Sept. 3d (new style) by a musket shot in the head. He was a very gallant and experienced officer, who had risen by merit from the ranks. 2 Given by Collins in his Sidney Papers, ii. p. 317. "We say here that the enemie hath suffered great loss of men before Berck." Ogle to Salisbury Sept. 8, also Sept. 14.—S.P. Holland. The Prince de Soubise, the Count de la Fleche, and other Frenchmen of rank were in Rhineberg.-Grimston, p. 1362. On 13th Fleche, was taken prisoner in one of the sorties.1 Sept. (new style) Maurice brought most of his forces over the Lippe, and assailed Spinola's fort at the mouth of that river, which was yielded up. Soon after this a deputation from the States-General came to Maurice's camp, and urged him very strongly to risk a battle with the enemy in order to relieve Rhineberg, which could not possibly hold out much longer. The Prince refused, giving as his reasons for his supineness that Spinola was too strongly intrenched and in too great force. He also declared that a successful battle could at the best only give them the town, while a defeat would put the whole country in danger.2 These arguments were quite unanswerable, and however disappointing and humiliating this cautious policy was to the States-General, and to Maurice's eager troops, they had to abide by the Prince's decision. On October 2nd Rhineberg capitulated and the garrison marched out with the honours of war. Sir Thomas Edmonds, in a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, says : "The Count Maurice hath laid all the time with an army of 13,000 foot and 3,000 horse within two leagues of Berk, but made no attempt for the succouring of the town, only at the same time of the rendering of Berk he went about to surprise the town of Venlo, which place if he could have carried, would have fully recompensed his other loss, but he failed of that enterprise." 3 It was at this low state of the tide in the affairs of the United Provinces that an unexpected ally came to the rescue. This ally was mutiny. Heavy failures on the Genoa Stock Exchange brought the credit of the Marquis Spinola, 'Ibid. Eighty French gentlemen, many of them of high birth, served at the defence of Rhineberg. 2 Meteren, p. 594. 3 Lodge's Illustration of British History, iii. p. 191. |