Malplaquet - free ebook by Hilaire Belloc

MALPLAQUET

Malplaquet. Frontispiece....

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I

That political significance which we must seek in all military history, and without which that history cannot be accurate even upon its technical side, may be stated for the battle of Malplaquet in the following terms. Louis XIV. succeeding to a cautious and constructive period in the national life of France, this in its turn succeeding to the long impotence of the religious wars, found at his orders when his long minority was ended a society not only eager and united, but beginning also to give

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II

When the negotiations for peace had failed, that is, with the opening of June 1709, the King of France and his forces had particularly to dread an invasion of the country and the march on Paris. The accompanying sketch map will show under what preoccupations the French commander upon the north-eastern frontier lay. Lille was in the hands of the enemy. There was still a small French garrison in Ypres, another in Tournai, and a third in Mons. These of themselves (considering that Lille, the great

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III

With the end of the siege of Tournai both armies were free, the one for unfettered assault, the other to defend itself behind the lines as best it might. To make a frontal attack upon Villars’ lines at any point was justly thought impossible after the past experience which Eugene and Marlborough had of their strength. A different plan was determined on. Mons, with its little garrison, should be invested, and the mass of the army should, on that extreme right of the French position, attempt to br

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IV

The arrival of Louis Francis, Duke of Boufflers, peer and marshal of France, upon the frontier and before the army of defence, was one of those intangible advantages which the civilian historian will tend to exaggerate and the military to belittle, but which, though not susceptible of calculation or measurement, may always prove of vast consequence to a force, and have sometimes decided between victory and defeat. This advantage did not lie in Boufflers’ singular capacity for command, nor, as wi

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V

On the morning of Wednesday, the 11th of September, the allied army was afoot long before dawn, and was ranged in order of battle earlier than four o’clock. But a dense mist covered the ground, and nothing was done until at about half-past seven this lifted and enabled the artillery of the opposing forces to estimate the range and to open fire. In order to understand what was to follow, the reader may, so to speak, utilise this empty period of the early morning before the action joined, to grasp

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BRITISH BATTLE BOOKS

Later volumes will deal with Crecy, Poitiers, Corunna, Talaveras, Flodden, The Siege of Valenciennes, Vittoria, Toulouse. London: STEPHEN SWIFT &amp; CO., LTD., 10 John St., Adelphi BY HILAIRE BELLOC AND CECIL CHESTERTON Crown 8 vo. 3 s. 6d . net THE THOUGHTS OF THINKING MEN No book of the present season has been so much praised—and so much reviled: reviled by most of the Party organs, praised by independent papers. And yet mark the agreement of the following, as wide asunder as the poles

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THE PARTY SYSTEM

London: STEPHEN SWIFT &amp; CO., LTD., 10 John St., Adelphi BY WILFRED SCAWEN BLUNT 15 s. net PRIVATE AND INTIMATE This book follows the lines of the author’s works on Egypt and India, consisting mainly of a private diary of a very intimate kind, and will bring down his narrative of events to the end of 1885. The present volume is designed especially as an answer to Lord Cromer’s Modern Egypt , in so far as it concerned Gordon, and contains several important and hitherto unpublished docume

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GORDON AT KHARTOUM

BY JUVENAL Crown 8 vo. 5 s. net VIVID ORIGINALITY In these notes and studies on life in New York, Juvenal, by his vivid originality and his masterly deductions, has surpassed all other writers who have written on the same subject. Mr Eden Phillpotts writes of the Author: “The things seen are brilliantly set down. He writes with great force and skill.” London: STEPHEN SWIFT &amp; CO., LTD., 10 John St., Adelphi...

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AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK

A Poem with Prose Notes BY ARTHUR LYNCH Crown 8 vo. 5 s. net DIRECT—INSPIRING—COMPELLING The cry for something new in literature, the indefinable, the unexpected, has been answered. Prince Azreel comes to claim his place, not as one who has sounded the depths and shoals of the current modes of the day, but as one entirely careless of these things, discoursing freely of life, easily throughout its whole purport and scope. The Devil comes into the action, but he also is new—rather the Spirit of

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PRINCE AZREEL

BY CHARLES GRANVILLE F’cap 4 to. 5 s. net. REAL POETIC TALENT The present volume is composed of a selection from the previous poetical works of the Author, who is also well known as a writer of prose. The distinctive feature of the poems in this collection—the feature, indeed, that marks off and differentiates the work of this poet from the mass of verse produced to-day—is their spiritual insight. Mr Granville is concerned with the soul of man, with the eternal rather than the transitory, and

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POEMS

And Other Essays BY FRANCIS GRIERSON F’cap 8 vo. 3 s. 6 d. net CHARACTERISTICALLY INCISIVE This volume contains the latest work of the greatest Essayist of our time. Maurice Maeterlinck has said of the Author, “He has, in his best moments, that most rare gift of casting certain shafts of light, at once simple and decisive, upon questions the most difficult, obscure, and unlooked for in Art, Morals, and Psychology ... essays among the most subtle and substantial that I know.” This opinion has b

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THE HUMOUR OF THE UNDERMAN

BY FRANCIS GRIERSON F’cap. 8 vo. 3 s. 6 d. net PENSÉES PIQUANTES, INDÉPENDANTES Sully Prudhomme (de l’Académie Française):—“J’ai trouvé ces méditations pleines d’aperçus profonds et sagaces. J’ai été frappé de l’originalité puissante de la pensée de l’auteur.” Jules Claretie (de l’Académie Française):—“J’ai été charmé par les idées originales et justes.” L’Abbé Joseph Roux :—“Il y a là des vues originales, des appréciations neuves et frappantes.” Frédéric Mistral :—“Ces pensées m’ont paru neuv

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LA VIE ET LES HOMMES

Frédéric Mistral :—“Ces pensées m’ont paru neuves et piquantes, et indépendantes de cette ambiance de préjugés à laquelle il est si difficile d’échapper.” Le Père P. V. Delaporte, S.J. (Rédacteur des Etudes Religieuses):—“J’ai admiré dans ces pages délicates l’artiste, le penseur et l’écrivain, et j’ai été singulièrement touché de la façon dont vous appréciez le génie français. Vous avez su le comprendre et vous avez dit votre pensée franchement, je pouvais ajouter françaisement .” London: STEPH

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THE ROLL OF THE SEASONS

BY G. T. WRENCH, M.D. Lond. Demy 8 vo. 15 s. net OLD VALUES RE-VALUED This book is a review of the history of civilisation with the object of discovering where and under what conditions man has shown the most positive attitude towards life. The review has been based not so much upon scholarship as upon the direct evidence of the products and monuments of the different peoples of history, and the author has consequently travelled widely in order to collect his material. The author shows how the

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THE MASTERY OF LIFE

BY J. M. KENNEDY Crown 8 vo. Cloth. 3 s. 6 d. net LORDS, GOVERNMENT, LIBERALISM There are unmistakable indications that the system of politics at present pursued by the two chief political parties is not meeting with the approval of the electorate as a whole, though this electorate, as a result of the Caucus methods, finds it increasingly difficult to give expression to its views. In his book on Tory Democracy, Mr J. M. Kennedy, who is already favourably known through his books on modern philo

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TORY DEMOCRACY

BY ARTHUR LYNCH, M.A., C.E., L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S.E., M.P. AUTHOR OF “HUMAN DOCUMENTS,” ETC., ETC. Two Vols. Demy 8 vo. 10 s. 6 d. net each A BASIC WORK OF ANALYSIS This book is dynamic. It is new in the sense in which Schwann’s Cell Theory was new to Physiology, or Dalton’s Atomic Theory to Chemistry. The author has faced the problem in its widest extension: Can the entire realm of knowledge, and the whole possible scope of mental acts, be so resolved that we may formulate the unanalysable eleme

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PRINCIPLES OF A NEW SYSTEM OF PSYCHOLOGY

BY V. de BRAGANÇA CUNHA Demy 8 vo. 14 Pencil Portraits. 15 s. net THE TRUTH ABOUT PORTUGAL This book reveals the series of causes, both political and social, which have brought Portugal to its present condition and affected the character of its people. The entire history of Monarchical Portugal is reviewed in masterly fashion, and the work is based on a thorough knowledge and critical appreciation of all available sources. The author writes, not as an outsider, but as one who knows his country

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EIGHT CENTURIES OF PORTUGUESE MONARCHY

A BRIEF MEMORIAL OF A NOBLE LIFE By a Fellow of the Literary Society Crown 8 vo. Cloth. 1 s. net AN IRRESISTIBLE SATIRE The humour of this remarkable satire is irresistible. The truth concerning Sir Edward is gradually revealed by fantastic touches and sly suggestions, and with a manner so correct as almost to put the reader off his guard. Although the subject of this Æsopian biography is drawn in such a way as to suggest now one and now another familiar figure in modern life, yet these fleeti

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SIR EDWARD

BY FRANCIS GRIERSON F’cap 8 vo. 2 s. 6 d. net AN APPRECIATION OF FRENCH GENIUS These profoundly sagacious studies and finely drawn portraits are of the greatest interest, not only in virtue of the author’s intimate knowledge of Paris and Parisian life (dating from 1869), but also because Mr Grierson is one of the few living Englishmen who thoroughly understand and appreciate the French Genius. The book will be an enduring delight to all lovers of fine literature. Mr Richard Le Gallienne says:—

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PARISIAN PORTRAITS

BY FRANCIS GRIERSON Second Edition. Demy 8 vo. 6 s. net MEMORIES OF LINCOLN’S COUNTRY In this book Mr Grierson recalls in vivid memories the wonderful romance of his life in Lincoln’s country before the war. “ The Valley of the Shadows is not a novel,” says Mr W. L. Courtney in the Daily Telegraph , “yet in the graphic portraiture of spiritual and intellectual movements it possesses an attraction denied to all but the most significant kind of fiction.... With a wonderful touch Mr Grierson depi

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THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS

And Other Essays By FRANCIS GRIERSON F’cap. 8 vo. 2 s. 6 d. net ORIGINAL, INCISIVE, SUBTLE, ACUTE This book embodies profound thinking expressed in an original and happy style. Mr Maurice Maeterlinck says:—“This volume is full of thoughts and meditations of the very highest order.... Mr Grierson has concentrated his thought on the profound and simple questions of life and conscience.... What unique and decisive things in ‘Parsifalitis,’ for example, what strange clairvoyance in ‘Beauty and Mor

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MODERN MYSTICISM

Mr A. B. Walkley says:—“A delectable book.... I shall keep it on the same shelf as ‘Wisdom and Destiny’ and ‘The Treasure of the Humble.’” London: STEPHEN SWIFT &amp; CO., LTD., 10 John St., Adelphi BY FRANCIS GRIERSON F’cap 8 vo. 2 s. 6 d. net CHARMING AND FULL OF WISDOM The late Professor William James said:—“I find ‘The Celtic Temperament’ charming and full of wisdom.” The Glasgow Herald says:—“A remarkable book, and by a remarkable man.... This book will be read and re-read by all who

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THE CELTIC TEMPERAMENT

STORIES, SKETCHES, AND STUDIES BY CHARLES GRANVILLE Second edition. Crown 8 vo. 6 s. FULL OF CLEVER CHARACTERISATION A fine vein of poetic feeling runs through all these stories, sketches, and studies, which are, without exception, highly entertaining and full of clever characterisation. Mr Granville’s style is by turns naïve, deliberate and restrained, but always attractive. The Times. —“A pleasant book ... prettily conceived and told....” The Scotsman. —“The stories are always interesting, b

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SOME NEIGHBOURS

The Morning Leader. —“The treatment is invariably fresh and individual ... thoroughly readable.” Eastern Morning News. —“There can be nothing but praise—and that of a high quality—for a man who writes with Mr Granville’s sympathy and charm ... his art is so sure that he puts a world of life and reality into a few pages.” Liverpool Daily Post. —“Mr Granville is a writer possessing literary gifts very much above the average, and the versatility of his gifts is very fully indicated in the book unde

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CIVIL WAR

Daily News :—“His ‘Civil War’ has a strong motive, and, best of all, there is humanity and understanding in his treatment of it.... It is rarely indeed that we are given a play in which the drama is made inevitable by a clash of temperament and ideas.” London: STEPHEN SWIFT &amp; CO., LTD., 10 John St., Adelphi A Chivalric Romance in Thirteen Chapters Crown 8 vo. 3 s. 6 d. net UNIQUE London: STEPHEN SWIFT &amp; CO., LTD., 10 John St., Adelphi...

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THE MAID’S COMEDY

Footnotes: [1] From which little place the lines as a whole take the name in history of “Lines of La Bassée.” [2] As is common in the history of military affairs, the advocates of either party present these confused movements before the lines of La Bassée upon the eve of the siege of Tournai in very different and indeed contradictory lights. The classical work of Mr Fortescue, to which I must, here as elsewhere, render homage, will have the whole movement, from its inception, to be deliberately

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