that it raised
Vendome's army again to an hundred thousand men. With this imposing
mass, that able general took post in a camp behind the canal of Bruges,
and near Ghent, which he soon strongly fortified, and which commanded
the navigation both of the Scheldt and the Lys. He rightly judged, that
as long as he was there at the head of such a force, the Allies would
not venture to advance into France; though it lay entirely open to their
incursions, as Marlborough was between him and Paris.[27]

Encouraged by this singular posture of the armies, Marlborough strongly
urged upon the Allied council of war the propriety of relinquishing all
lesser objects, passing the whole fortified towns on the frontier, and
advancing straight towards the French capital.[28] This bold counsel,
however--which, if acted on, would have been precisely what Wellington
and Blucher did a century after, in advancing from the same country, and
perhaps attended with similar success--was rejected. Eugene, and the
remainder of the council, considered the design too hazardous, while
Vendome with so great an army lay intrenched in their rear, threatening
their communications. It was resolved, therefore, to commence the
invasion of the territory of the Grande Monarque, by the siege of the
great frontier fortress of LILLE, the strongest and most important place
in French Flanders, and the possession of which would give the Allies a
solid footing in the enemy's territory. This, however, was a most
formidable undertaking; for not only was the place itself of great
strength, and with a citadel within its walls still stronger, but it was
garrisoned by Marshal Boufflers, one of the ablest officers in the
French service, with fifteen thousand choice troops, and every requisite
for a vigorous defence. On the other hand, Vendome, at the head of an
hundred thousand men, lay in an impregnable camp between Ghent and
Bruges, ready to interrupt or raise the siege; and his position there
extremely hampered Marlborough in bringing forward the requisite
equipage for so great an undertaking, as it interrupted the whole water
navigation of the country, by which it could best be effected. The
dragging it up by land, would require sixteen thousand horses.
Nevertheless it was resolved to undertake the enterprise, sanguine hopes
being entertained, that, rather than see so important a fortress fall,
Vendome would leave his intrenched camp, and give the Allies an
opportunity of