Fortifications were afterwards constructed, with a causeway through the inundations, and the communication between the town of Bouchain and the troops on the heights of Wavrechin was cut off. The siege was prosecuted with zeal and energy, and Marshal Villiers and a numerous French army were spectators of the capture of this important fortress. After the works were repaired and the place put in a state of defence, the troops were placed in winter quarters.
The splendid successes of the army commanded by the Duke of Marlborough, who never fought a battle which he did not win, nor besieged a town which he did not capture, had effected a complete revolution in the affairs of Europe, and the King of France saw his generals over-matched,--his armies beaten and dispirited,--his possessions wrested from him,--the barriers of his kingdom trampled down,--his fortresses captured, and a powerful army, with an invincible leader, ready to carry all the horrors of war into the heart of France: with his designs thus frustrated, and his kingdom thus menaced, the ambitious Louis XIV., who had thought to have dictated laws to christendom, became a negociator for peace.
In the summer of 1712, while the conditions of the treaty were under consideration, the regiment again took the field, and, advancing to the frontiers of France, formed part of the army under the orders of the Duke of Ormond, and encamped at Cateau-Cambresis during the siege of _Quesnoy_.
A suspension of hostilities was soon afterwards published between the British and French, and the army retired from Cateau-Cambresis to Ghent, where the English CUIRASSIERS and several other corps were encamped for a short time, and afterwards were placed in quarters.
Political events connected with the amity which had been induced between the British and French courts, in consequence of a change of measures; the conditions of the treaty of peace then under consideration; and the disagreement between the Duke of Marlborough and Queen Anne; occasioned Lieutenant-General Cadogan, who was a stanch Protestant and a warm advocate for the succession of the house of Hanover, to be called upon to dispose of his commission; and he was succeeded in the Colonelcy of this regiment by Lieutenant-General GEORGE KELLUM, who had been many years the Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, and whose commission as Colonel was dated 22nd of December, 1712.