The Dutch deputies,
however, were altogether opposed to an assault on so formidable a
front. Finally a compromise was adopted--a compromise which, as is
often the case, was the very worst course which could have been
adopted. The army should neither fall back, as the Dutch wished;
nor attack at once, as Marlborough desired. It was resolved not to
abandon the siege of Mons, and to attack the enemy if they would
not take the offensive; but to wait until Saint Ghislain, which
commanded a passage on the Haine, was taken; and until twenty-six
battalions on the march from Tournai arrived.
It was two days before these conditions were fulfilled; and Villars
had used these two precious days in throwing up a series of
immensely strong works. The heights he occupied formed a concave
semicircle, enfilading on all sides the little plain of Malplaquet,
and this semicircle now bristled with redoubts, palisades, abattis,
and stockades; while the two trouees, or openings, by which it was
presumed that the allies would endeavour to force an entrance, were
so enfiladed by cross batteries as to be well-nigh unassailable.
Half the French army by turns had laboured ceaselessly at the
works, during the two days which the cowardly folly of the Dutch
deputies had given them; and the result was the works resembled
rather the fortifications of a fortress, than ordinary field works.
Marlborough and Eugene had seen from hour to hour the progress of
these formidable works, and resolved to mask their front attack by
a strong demonstration on the enemy's rear.
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