Important results followed this triumph over the forces of Louis XIV.; the states of Brabant and magistrates of Brussels renounced their allegiance to the Duke of Anjou; the principal towns of Brabant and several fortified places in Flanders were immediately delivered up, and others surrendered after short sieges. Thus provinces disputed for ages, and towns which had resisted powerful armies for months and years, were conquered in one campaign. After taking part in these splendid achievements, the SIXTEENTH marched into quarters at Ghent. [Sidenote: 1707] The regiment was in the field during the campaign of 1707; but the French avoided an engagement, and nothing of importance occurred. [Sidenote: 1708] In the spring of 1708 the King of France fitted out a fleet, and prepared a land force for the invasion of Great Britain in favour of the Pretender, and the SIXTEENTH were ordered to return to England to repel the invaders: they arrived at Tynemouth on the 21st of March; but the French fleet having been chased from the British coast by the English navy, the regiment returned to Flanders. After remaining a few weeks at Ghent, the regiment joined the army in the field, and took part in achieving another victory over the armies of Louis XIV., in the fields near _Oudenarde_, on the 11th of July. The SIXTEENTH formed part of a division of twenty battalions commanded by the Duke of Argyle, which traversed the Scheldt by the pontoon bridge between Oudenarde and the abbey of Eename, ascended the heights of Bevere, and, inclining to the right, engaged the enemy in the open grounds beyond the rivulet; when a fierce conflict of musketry ensued, and the French were driven from field to field, with great slaughter, until the darkness of the night rendered it impossible to distinguish friends from foes, when the troops were directed to cease firing. The wreck of the French army made a precipitate retreat. The siege of the important fortress of _Lisle_ was afterwards undertaken, and the SIXTEENTH were selected to take part in this gigantic enterprise, which excited universal attention throughout Europe; the strength of the place,--the garrison consisting of fifteen thousand men under the celebrated Marshal Boufflers, and being provided with everything necessary for a protracted defence,--gave an interesting character to this undertaking. When the besieging army appeared before Lisle, the French out-guards retired, and _Serjeant Littler_ of the SIXTEENTH regiment swam across the river with a hatchet, and cut the fastenings which held up a drawbridge to enable a party to pass the stream, for which act of gallantry he was rewarded with a commission in the third foot, or the Buffs.