yet you speak of our having a corps to spare to defend England!”[88] Saxe’s plan for reducing the Allies was in fact uniformly the same throughout the whole of the war, namely to cut off their communications with the sea on one side and with Germany on the other. Even before he began to press Cumberland northward toward Antwerp, he had detached a force to lay siege to Ostend, which was the English base. Cumberland, on his side, had advised that the dykes should be broken down and the country inundated in order to preserve it, and both Dutch and Austrians had promised that this should be done; but as usual it was not done, and before the end of August Ostend had surrendered to the French. ◆Aug. 13/24.◆ The English base was then perforce shifted to Antwerp. But by this time the requests for the return of troops to England had become urgent and imperative orders. ◆Sept.–Oct.◆ First ten battalions were recalled, then the rest of the foot, and at last practically the whole of the army, including Cumberland himself.[89] The cause was the Jacobite rebellion which was stamped out by the victory of Culloden in April 1746. AUTHORITIES.—The official account of Fontenoy was drawn up by Ligonier in French and translated into English, with some omissions, for publication. The French version is far the better and will be found in the State Papers. The account in the _Life of the Duke of Cumberland_ is poor, though valuable as having been drawn up from the reports of the English Generals. Of the French accounts Voltaire’s is the best known, and, as might be expected from such a hand, admirably spirited. More valuable are the accounts in the _Conquête des Pays Bas_, in the _Mémoires du Maréchal de Saxe_, where Saxe’s own report may be read, in the _Campagnes des Pays Bas_, and in Espagnac. The newspapers furnish a few picturesque incidents of some value. VOL. II BOOK VII. CHAPTER VII ◆1746.◆