al on the part of the allies.
The proposal to contain Tournai and yet to have free their vast forces in
operation elsewhere, if a trifle crude, was certainly to their advantage,
and as certainly to the disadvantage of the French.

[6] This excellent phrase is Mr Fortescue's.

[7] Technically the line of defence was forced, for the line of Trouille
was but a continuation of the lines of La Bassee--Douai--Valenciennes. So
far as strategical results were concerned, the withdrawal of Villars
behind the forest barrier was equivalent to the reconstruction of new
lines, and in the event the action of Malplaquet proved that new defensive
position to be strong enough to prevent the invasion of France. On the
other hand, there is little doubt that if Villars had been in a little
more strength he would have elected to fight on the old lines and not
behind the woods.

It must further be remarked that if the operations had not been prolonged
as they were by the existence of the posts on the lines, notably at St
Ghislain, the defensive position of the French would probably have been
forced and their whole line broken as early as September 4th.

[8] It is remarkable that these two roads, which are the chief feature
both of the landscape and the local military topography, and which are of
course as straight as taut strings, are represented upon Mr Fortescue's
map (vol. i. p. 424) as winding lanes, or, to speak more accurately, are
not represented at all. In this perhaps the learned historian of the
British army was misled by Coxe's atlas to Marlborough's campaign, a
picturesque but grossly inaccurate compilation. The student who desires to
study this action in detail will do well to consult the Belgian Ordnance
Map on the scale of 1/40,000 contours at 5 metres, section Roisin, and the
French General Staff Map, 1/80,000, section Maubeuge, south-western
quarter; the action being fought exactly on the frontier between Belgium
and France, both maps are necessary. For the general strategic position
the French 1/200,000 in colours, sheet Maubeuge, and the adjoining sheet,
Lille, are sufficient.

[9] The reader who may compare this account of Malplaquet with others will
be the less confused if he remembers that the forest of Sars is called on
that extremity nearest to the gap the wood of Blaregnies, and that this
name is often extended, especially in English accounts, to the whole
forest.

[10] These 9000 found at St Ghislain a belated