M. d’Orleans joined M. de Vendome on the 17th of July, upon the Mincio.  The pretended hero had just made some irreparable faults.  He had allowed Prince Eugene to pass the Po, nearly in front of him, and nobody knew what had become of twelve of our battalions posted near the place where this passage had been made.  Prince Eugene had taken all the boats that we had upon the river.  We could not cross it, therefore, and follow the enemy without making a bridge.  Vendome feared lest his faults should be perceived.  He wished that his successor should remain charged with them.  M. d’Orleans, indeed, soon saw all the faults that M. de Vendome had committed, and tried hard to induce the latter to aid him to repair them.  But M. de Vendome would not listen to his representations, and started away almost immediately to take the command of the army in Flanders, leaving M. d’Orleans to get out of the difficulty as he might.

M. d’Orleans, abandoned to himself (except when interfered with by Marechal de Marsin, under whose tutelage he was), could do nothing.  He found as much opposition to his plans from Marsin as he had found from M. de Vendome.  Marsin wished to keep in the good graces of La Feuillade, son-in-law of the all-powerful minister, and would not adopt the views of M. d’Orleans.  This latter had proposed to dispute the passage of the Tanaro, a confluent of the Po, with the enemy, or compel them to accept battle.  An intercepted letter, in cypher, from Prince Eugene to the Emperor, which fell into our hands, proved, subsequently, that this course would have been the right one to adopt; but the proof came too late; the decyphering table having been forgotten at Versailles!  M. d’Orleans had in the mean time been forced to lead his army to Turin, to assist the besiegers, instead of waiting to stop the passage of the troops that were destined for the aid of the besieged.  He arrived at Turin on the 28th of August, in the evening.  La Feuillade, now under two masters, grew, it might be imagined, more docile.  But no!  He allied himself with Marsin (without whom M. d’Orleans could do nothing), and so gained him over that they acted completely in accord.  When M. d’Orleans was convinced, soon after his arrival, that the enemy was approaching to succour Turin, he suggested that they should be opposed as they attempted the passage of the Dora.

But his advice was not listened to.  He was displeased with everything.  He found that all the orders he had given had been disregarded.  He found the siege works bad, imperfect, very wet, and very ill-guarded.  He tried to remedy all these defects, but he was opposed at every step.  A council of war was held.  M. d’Orleans stated his views, but all the officers present, with one honourable exception, servilely chimed in with the views of Marsin and La Feuillade, and things remained as they were.  M. d’Orleans, thereupon, protested that he washed his hands of all the misfortunes that might happen