red at Oudenarde, were at first too
weak to offer resistance, and were divided in counsels. Gradually
reinforcements came in, but still the Pragmatic army remained inactive
and was only saved from inevitable defeat by the invasion of Alsace by
the Imperialists. Marshal Saxe was compelled to despatch a considerable
part of the invading army to meet this attack on the eastern frontier,
and to act on the defensive in Flanders. Menin, Courtrai, Ypres, Knocke
and other places remained, however, in French hands.

All this time the Dutch had maintained the fiction that the States were
not at war with France; but in January, 1745, the pressure of
circumstances was too strong even for the weak-kneed Van der Heim and
his fellow-statesmen, and a quadruple alliance was formed between
England, Austria, Saxony and the United Provinces to maintain the
Pragmatic Sanction. This was followed in March by the declaration of war
between France and the States. Meanwhile the position of Austria had
improved. The Emperor Charles VII died on January 20; and his youthful
successor Maximilian Joseph, in return for the restoration of his
electorate, made peace with Maria Theresa and withdrew all Bavarian
claims to the Austrian succession. Affairs in Flanders however did not
prosper. The command-in-chief of the allied army had been given to the
Duke of Cumberland, who was no match for such an opponent as Maurice de
Saxe. The Prince of Waldeck was in command of the Dutch contingent.

The provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Overyssel and Gelderland had
repeatedly urged that this post should be bestowed upon the Prince of
Orange; and the States-General had in 1742 offered to give William the
rank of lieutenant-general in the army, but Holland and Zeeland steadily
refused. The campaign of 1745 was disastrous. The battle of Fontenoy
(May 11) resulted in a victory for Marshal Saxe over the allied forces,
a victory snatched out of the fire through the pusillanimous withdrawal
from the fight of the Dutch troops on the left wing. The British
infantry with magnificent valour on the right centre had pierced through
the French lines, only to find themselves deserted and overwhelmed by
superior forces. This victory was vigorously followed up. The Jacobite
rising under Charles Edward, the young Pretender, had necessitated the
recalling not only of the greater part of the English expeditionary
force, but also, under the terms of the treaties between Great Britain