His hopes ran high.
Alas! the Dutch had to be reckoned with. Eager to follow up his
advantage, Marlborough called for assistance, immediate and effective,
from them; in vain; the assistance did not come, or came too late.
With what help he could get from the Dutch, nevertheless, he went
forward to the Dyle. Here again the Dutch balked him, raising
objections to the crossing of that river. In despair the Duke gathered
his troops, as it happened, strangely enough, on the very spot where,
a hundred years later, another great Duke gained his most famous
victory over the French. Could Marlborough have but had his chance
with Villeroy in that spot, there is little doubt that Europe would
have seen an earlier Waterloo.
But it was not to be. Just as the Margrave of Baden had stopped his
advance along the Moselle into France the previous year, so now the
supineness and factious opposition of the Dutch prevented Marlborough
from dealing the French power a crushing blow. Deeply disgusted, he
threatened once more to resign his command. "Had I had the same power
I had last year," he wrote, "I could have won a greater victory than
that of Blenheim." It was a bitter trial for him.
The campaign of 1705 soon after came to a close, and the Duke set off
on what we may call a diplomatic tour among the allied states, his
travels and negotiations producing good results.
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