But the question is not whether Pitt's confidence in the prowess of his allies was misplaced, but whether he had not abundant reason to justify him in entertaining it.

And, to judge fairly on this point, we must recollect the reputation which for the last forty years the Austrian and Prussian armies had enjoyed.

The result of the seven years' war had established the renown of the Prussians, and the Duke of Brunswick was understood to be a favorite pupil of the Great Frederic.

The same war had shown that the Austrians were not very unequal to the Prussians; while the reputation of the French troops had fallen to the lowest ebb, the most memorable event in their annals during the same war being the rout of Rosbach, when 60,000 of them fled before Frederic and 22,000.

At the breaking out of the Revolution, it might be said that De Bouille was the only French general of the slightest reputation, and since the sad journey to Varennes he had been an exile from his country.