began his march for the same place about
nine in the evening. He proceeded with such expedition, that by five in
the morning he passed the river at Vitry. There he received intelligence
that Hompesch had taken possession of the passes on the Sanset and
Schelde without opposition, the enemy having withdrawn their detachments
from that side just as he had imagined. He himself, with his vanguard of
fifty squadrons, hastened his march towards Arleux, and before eight of
the clock arrived at Baca-Bachuel, where in two hours he was joined
by the heads of the columns into which he hadj divided his infantry.
Villars being certified of his intention, about two in the morning
decamped with his whole army, and putting himself at the head of the
king's household troops, marched all night with such expedition, that
about eleven in the forenoon he was in sight of the duke of Marlborough,
who had by this time joined count Hompesch. The French general
immediately retreated to the main body of his army, which had advanced
to the high road between Arras and Cambray, while the allies encamped
upon the Schelde, between Oisy and Estrun, after a march of ten leagues
without halting, scarce to be paralleled in history. By this plan, so
happily executed, the duke of Marlborough fairly outwitted Villars, and,
without the loss of one man, entered the lines which he had pronounced
impregnable. This stroke of the English general was extolled as a
masterpiece of military skill, while Villars was exposed to the ridicule
even of his own officers. The field-deputies of the states-general
proposed that he should give battle to the enemy, who passed the Schelde
at Crevecoeur in order to cover Bouchain; but the duke would not hazard
an engagement, considering how much the army was fatigued by the long
march; and that any misfortune, while they continued within the French
lines, might be fatal. His intention was to besiege Bouchain; an
enterprise that was deemed impracticable, inasmuch as the place was
situated in a morass, strongly fortified, and defended by a numerous
garrison, in the neighbourhood of an army superior in number to that of
the allies. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, and the dissuasions
of his own friends, he resolved to undertake the siege; and, in the
meantime, despatched brigadier Sutton to England with an account of his
having passed the French lines; which was not at all agreeable to his
enemies. They had prognosticated that noth