(Maurice count of), was born the 13th October 1696. He was the natural son of Frederic Augustus II. elector of Saxony, and king of Poland, and of the countess of Königsmarck, a Swedish lady, celebrated both for her wit and beauty. He was educated along with Frederic Augustus the electoral prince, afterwards king of Poland. His infancy announced the future warrior. Nothing could prevail on him to apply to his studies but the promise of being allowed, after he had finished his talk, to mount on horseback, or exercise himself with arms.
He served his first campaign in the army commanded by prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough, when only twelve years old. He signalized himself at the sieges of Tournay and Mons, and particularly at the battle of Malplaquet. In the evening of that memorable day, he was heard to say, "I'm content with my day's work." During the campaign of 1710, prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough made many public encomiums on his merit. Next year the young count accompanied the king of Poland to the siege of Stralsund, the strongest place in Pomerania, and displayed the greatest intrepidity. He swam across the river in flight of the enemy, with a pistol in his hand. His valour shone no less conspicuously on the bloody day of Gaedelburg, where he commanded a regiment of cavalry. He had a horse killed under him, after he had three times rallied his regiment, and led them on to the charge.
Soon after that campaign, his mother prevailed on him to marry the countess of Lubin, a lady both rich and beautiful. This union lasted but a short time. In 1721, the count procured a dissolution of the marriage; Count Saxe, thus stript of his territories, devoted himself for some time to the study of mathematics. He composed also, in 13 nights, and during the intervals of anague, his Reveries, which he corrected afterwards. This book is written in an incorrect but forcible style; it is full of remarks both new and profound, and is equally useful to the soldier and the general.
The death of the king of Poland his father, in 1733, kindled a new war in Europe. His brother, the elector of Saxony, offered him the command of all his forces, but he preferred the French service, and repaired to the maréchal of Berwick's army, which was encamped on the Rhine. "Count," said that general, who was preparing to attack the enemy's entrenchments at Ettingen, "I was going to send for 3000 men, but your arrival is of more value than theirs." When the attack began, the count, at the head of a regiment of grenadiers, forced the enemy's lines, and by his bravery decided the victory. He behaved at the siege of Philippsburgh with no less intrepidity. For these services he was, in 1734, rewarded with the rank of lieutenant-general. Peace was concluded in 1736; but the death of Charles VI., emperor of Germany kindled a new war almost immediately.
Prague was besieged by the count of Saxe in 1741, near the end of November, and taken the same month by assault. The conquest of Egra followed that of Prague. It was taken a few days after the trenches were opened. This success gave so much joy to the Emperor Charles VII. that he wrote a congratulatory letter to the conqueror with his own hands.
In 1744 he was made maréchal of France, and commanded a part of the French army in Flanders. During that campaign he displayed the greatest military conduct. Though the enemy was superior in number, he observed their motions so skilfully that they could do nothing.
In January 1745, an alliance was concluded at Warsaw between the queen of Hungary, the king of England, and the States of Holland. The ambassador of the States General, meeting maréchal Saxe one day at Versailles, asked his opinion of that treaty. "I think (says he), that if the king my master would give me an unlimited commission, I would read the original at the Hague before the end of the year." This answer was not a bravado; the maréchal was capable of performing it.
He went soon after, though exceedingly ill, to take the command of the French army in the Low Countries. A gentleman seeing the feeble condition in which he left Paris, asked him how he could in that situation undertake so great an enterprise? "The question (replied he) is not about living, but setting out."—Soon after the opening of the campaign, the battle of Fontenoy was fought. Maréchal Saxe was at the point of death, yet he caused himself to be put into a litter, and carried round all the posts. During the action he mounted on horseback, though he was so very weak that his attendants dreaded every moment to see him expire. The victory of Fontenoy, owing entirely to his vigilance and capacity, was followed by the reduction of Tournay, Bruges, Ghent, Oudenarde, Ostend, Ath, and Brussels. This last city was taken on the 28th February 1746; and very soon after the King sent to the maréchal a letter of naturalization conceived in the most flattering terms. flattering terms. The succeeding campaigns gained him additional honours. After the victory of Raucox, which he gained on the 11th October 1746, the king of France made him a present of six pieces of cannon. He was, on the 12th of January of the following year, created marshal of all the French armies, and, in 1748, commander-general of all those parts of the Netherlands which were lately conquered.
Holland now began to tremble for her safety. Maastricht and Bergen-op-Zoom had already fallen, and nothing but misfortunes seemed to attend the further prosecution of the war. The States General, therefore, offered terms of peace, which were accepted, and a treaty concluded on the 18th October 1748.
Marshal Saxe retired to Chambord, a country seat which the king of France had given him. Some time after he went to Berlin, where the king of Prussia received him as Alexander would have received Caesar.—On his return to France, he spent his time among men of learning, artists, and philosophers. He died of a fever, on the 30th November 1750, at the age of 54.
Some days before his death, talking to M. Senac his physician about his life, "It has been (says he) an excellent dream." He was remarkably careful of the lives of his men. One day a general officer was pointing out to him a post which would have been of great use. "It will only cost you (says he) a dozen grenadiers." "That would do very well," replied the marshal, "were it only a dozen lieutenant-generals."
It was impossible for marshal Saxe, the natural brother of the king of Poland, elected sovereign of Courland, and possessed of a vigorous and restless imagination, to be destitute of ambition. He constantly entertained the notion that he would be a king. After losing the crown of Russia by his inconstancy in love, he formed, it is said, the project of assembling the Jews, and of being the sovereign of a nation which for 170 years had neither possessed chief nor country. When this chimerical idea could not be realized, he cast his eyes upon the kingdom of Corica. After failing in this project also, he was busily employed in planning a settlement in some part of America, particularly Brazil, when death surprised him.
He had been educated and died in the Lutheran religion. "It is a pity (said the queen of France, when she heard of his death) that we cannot say a single De profundis (prayer for the dead) for a man who has made us sing so many Te Deums." All France lamented his death.
By his will, which is dated at Paris, March 1, 1748, he directed that his body should be buried in quicklime: "that nothing (says he) may remain of me in this world but the remembrance of me among my friends." These orders, however, were not complied with; for his body was embalmed, put into a leaden coffin, which was inclosed in another of copper, and this covered with one of wood, bound about with iron. His heart was put into a silver gilt box, and his entrails into another coffin. Louis XV. was at the charge of his funeral. By his order his corpse was interred with great pomp and splendor in the Lutheran church of St Thomas, at Straßburg, on the 8th February 1751.
The marshal was a man of ordinary stature, of a robust constitution, and extraordinary strength. To an aspect, noble, warlike, and mild, he joined the excellent qualities of the heart. Affable in his manners, and disposed to sympathize with the unfortunate, his generosity sometimes carried him beyond the limits of his fortune. On his deathbed he reviewed the errors of his life with remorse, and expressed much penitence.
The best edition of his Reveries was printed at Paris 1757, in 2 vols 4to. It was compared with the greatest attention with the original manuscript in the king's library. It is accompanied with many designs exactly engraved, and a Life of the Author. The Life of marshal Saxe was written by M. d'Epagnac, 2 vols. 12mo. This history is written in the panegyrical style. The author is, however, impartial enough to remark, that in the three battles upon which the reputation of marshal Saxe is founded, he engaged in the most favourable circumstances. "Never did a general (says he) stand in a more advantageous situation. Honoured with the confidence of the king, he was not restrained in any of his projects. He always commanded a numerous army: his soldiers were steady, and his officers possessed great merit."