THE FRENCH ARE DEFEATED.

The next object that attracted the eyes of the confederates was the city of Mons, which they resolved to besiege with all possible expedition. They passed the Schelde on the third day of September, and detached the prince of Hesse to attack the French lines from the Haisne to the Sombre, which were abandoned at his approach. On the seventh day of September, mareschal de Boufflers arrived in the French camp at Quievrain, content to act in an inferior capacity to Villars, although his superior in point of seniority. The duke of Marlborough having received advice that the French were on their march to attack the advanced body under the prince of Hesse, decamped from Havre in order to support that detachment. On the ninth the allies made a motion to the left, by which the two armies were brought so near each other that a mutual cannonading ensued. The French army, amounting to one hundred and twenty thousand men, were posted behind the woods of La Merte and Tanières, in the neighbourhood of Malplaquet. The confederates, nearly of the same number, encamped with the right near Sart and Bleron, and the left on the edge of the wood of Lanière; the head quarters being at Blaregnies. The enemy, instead of attacking the allies, began to fortify their camp, which was naturally strong, with triple intrenchments. In a word, they were so covered with lines, hedges, intrenchments, cannon and trees laid across, that they seemed to be quite inaccessible. Had the confederates attacked them on the ninth, the battle would not have been so bloody, and the victory would have proved more decisive; for they had not then begun to secure the camp; but Marlborough postponed the engagement until they should be reinforced by eighteen battalions which had been employed in the siege of Tournay; and in the meantime, the French fortified themselves with incredible diligence and despatch. On the eleventh day of September, early in the morning, the confederates, favoured by a thick fog, erected batteries on each wing and in the centre; and about eight o’clock, the weather clearing up, the attack began. Eighty-six battalions on the right, commmanded by general Schuylemburgh, the duke of Argyle, and other generals, and supported by two-and-twenty battalions under count Lottum, attacked the left of the enemy with such vigour, that, notwithstanding their lines and barricadoes, they were in less than an hour driven from their intrenchments into the woods of Sart and Tanières. The prince of Orange and baron Fagel, with six-and-thirty Dutch battalions, advanced against the right of the enemy, posted in the wood of La Merte, and covered with three intrenchments. Here the battle was maintained with the most desperate courage on both sides. The Dutch obliged the French to quit the first intrenchment; but were repulsed from the second with great slaughter. The prince of Orange persisted in his efforts with incredible perseverance and intrepidity, even after two horses had been killed under him, and the greater part of his officers either slain or disabled. The French fought with an obstinacy of courage that bordered on despair, till seeing their lines forced, their left wing and centre giving way, and their general, Villars, dangerously wounded, they made an excellent retreat towards Bavay, under the conduct of Boufflers, and took post between Quesnoy and Valenciennes. The field of battle they abandoned to the confederates, with about forty colours and standards, sixteen pieces of artillery, and a good number of prisoners; but this was the dearest victory the allies had ever purchased. About twenty thousand of their best troops were killed in the engagement; whereas the enemy did not lose half that number, and retired at leisure, perfectly recovered of that apprehension with which they had been for some years inspired and overawed by the successes of their adversaries. On the side of the allies, count Lottum, general Tettau, count Oxienstern, and the marquis of Tullibar-dine, were killed, with many other officers of distinction. Prince Eugene was slightly wounded in the head; lieutenant-general Webb received a shot in the groin. The duke of Argyle, who distinguished himself by extraordinary feats of valour, escaped unhurt; but several musket-balls penetrated through his clothes, his hat, and periwig. In the French army, the chevalier de St. George charged twelve times with the household troops, and in the last was wounded with a sword in the arm. The mareschal de Villars confidently asserted, that if he himself had not been disabled, the confederates would certainly have been defeated.