The army of De Thermes was totally destroyed, and with it, the last hope of France for an honorable and equal negotiation.  She was now at Philip’s feet, so that this brilliant cavalry action, although it has been surpassed in importance by many others, in respect to the numbers of the combatants and the principles involved in the contest, was still, in regard to the extent both of its immediate and its permanent results, one of the most decisive and striking which have ever been fought.  The French army engaged was annihilated.  Marshal de Thermes, with a wound in the head, Senarpont, Annibault, Villefon, Morvilliers, Chanlis, and many others of high rank were prisoners.  The French monarch had not much heart to set about the organization of another army; a task which he was now compelled to undertake.  He was soon obliged to make the best terms which he could, and to consent to a treaty which was one of the most ruinous in the archives of France.

The Marshal de Thermes was severely censured for having remained so long at Dunkerk and in its neighborhood.  He was condemned still more loudly for not having at least effected his escape beyond Gravelines, during the night which preceded the contest.  With regard to the last charge, however, it may well be doubted whether any nocturnal attempt would have been likely to escape the vigilance of Egmont.  With regard to his delay at Dunkerk, it was asserted that he had been instructed to await in that place the junction with the Due de Guise, which had been previously arranged.  But for the criminal and, then, inexplicable languor which characterized that commander’s movements, after the capture of Thionville, the honor of France might still have been saved.

Whatever might have been the faults of De Thermes or of Guise, there could be little doubt as to the merit of Egmont.  Thus within eleven months of the battle of Saint Quentin, had the Dutch hero gained another victory so decisive as to settle the fate of the war, and to elevate his sovereign to a position from which he might dictate the terms of a triumphant peace.  The opening scenes of Philip’s reign were rendered as brilliant as the proudest days of the Emperor’s career, while the provinces were enraptured with the prospect of early peace.  To whom, then, was the sacred debt of national and royal gratitude due but to Lamoral of Egmont?  His countrymen gladly recognized the claim.  He became the idol of the army; the familiar hero of ballad and story; the mirror of chivalry, and the god of popular worship.  Throughout the Netherlands he was hailed as the right hand of the fatherland, the saviour of Flanders from devastation and outrage, the protector of the nation, the pillar of the throne.