He could not even prevent their retaking Quesnoy and Bouchain, of which places they were in possession before the tenth day of October.
The allies enjoyed no other compensation for their great losses, but the conquest of Fort Knocque, which was surprised by one of their partisans.
PROGRESS OF THE CONFERENCES AT UTRECHT.
The British ministers at the congress continued to press the Dutch and other allies to join in the armistice; but they were deaf to the proposal, and concerted measures for a vigorous prosecution of the war.
Then the earl of Strafford insisted upon their admitting to the congress the plenipotentiaries of king Philip; but he found them equally averse to this expedient.

In the beginning of August, secretary St.John, now created lord viscount Bolingbroke, was sent to the court of Versailles incognito, to remove all obstructions to the treaty between England and France.

He was accompanied by Mr.Prior and the Abbe Gualtier, treated with the most distinguished marks of respect, caressed by the French king and the marquis de Torcy, with whom he adjusted the principal interests of the duke of Savoy and the elector of Bavaria.

He settled the time and manner of the renunciation, and agreed to a suspension of arms by sea and land for four months between the crowns of France and England; this was accordingly proclaimed at Paris and London.
The negotiation being finished in a few days, Bolingbroke returned to England, and Prior remained as resident at the court of France.

The states-general breathed nothing but war; the pensionary Heinsius pronounced an oration in their assembly, representing the impossibility of concluding a peace without losing the fruits of all the blood and treasure they had expended.