Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/223

] of Vendôme and Feuillade. A battle was fought at Cassano betwixt Vendôme and Eugene, which was indecisive; but the duke de Feuillade took Chivas and Nice. No town of any account was now left to the duke of Savoy but Coni and Turin, his capital; his army was reduced to twelve thousand men, and his duchess, the clergy, and the people generally, implored him to come to terms with France. Nothing, it was evident, but powerful reinforcements on the part of the allies, could save Savoy.

In Portugal the allies had far more brilliant success. The court of Philip had committed a great blunder in sending back to France the duke of Berwick, who had begun to display great talents as a general. On the part of the allies, they, too, were weakened by a want of unity betwixt the earl of Galway, who commanded the English forces, Fagel, who commanded the Dutch, and Das Minas, the general of the Portuguese. These generals invaded Spain by the different frontiers of Beyra and Alantejo. The Conde das Galveas, another general, operated principally from Alantejo. He besieged Valencia and Alcantara in May, and took them by assault. Albuquerque afterwards capitulated, and then the troops went into quarters during the heat. Das Minas, the leader of the Portuguese in the province of Beyra, took Salva-terra, burnt and plundered Sarca, but was obliged to fall back on Panamacos.

Meantime the Spaniards were making a desperate effort for the recovery of Gibraltar. Marshal Thessé laid siege to it, whilst De Pointes blockaded it by sea. These French officers pushed on the siege with great vigour, and the prince of Hesse Darmstadt sent a despatch to Lisbon, desiring Sir John Leake to hasten to his assistance. Sir John set sail at once with five ships of the line and a body of troops, and on the 10th of March came in sight of five ships of De Pointes, who was evidently aware of him and getting out of the way. Leake gave chase, took one, and drove the rest on shore to the west of Marbella. The rest of the French ships, in the bay of Malaga, made the best of their way for Toulon. The place being thus again open from the sea, the marquis de Thessé withdrew the greater part of his forces, leaving only sufficient to maintain the blockade on land. His presence was needed in another quarter, for the confederates, uniting their forces in Spain, were assuming a more menacing attitude. The earl of Galway had crossed the frontier of Estramadura to support Das Galveas, who, after the capture of Valencia, Alcantara, and Albuquerque, advanced to Badajoz. In the attack on that place, the hand of lord Galway was shot away, and the Spaniards made a desperate resistance until De Thessé could come up in force; and as Das Minas, who should have arrived, did not appear, the confederates were compelled to retire.

But a far more striking demonstration was made from another quarter. This was made on Valencia and Catalonia by the witty and accomplished, and equally unscrupulous earl of Peterborough, formerly known to the reader as lord Mordaunt. This dashing nobleman, become earl of Peterborough by the death of his uncle, was dispatched with reinforcements amounting to five thousand soldiers and a strong fleet under command of Sir Cloudesley Shovel. On the 20th of June they arrived at Lisbon, where they were joined by Sir John Leake and the Dutch admiral Allemonde. They proposed to put to sea with eight-and-forty ships of the line, and cruise betwixt Cape Spartel and the Bay of Cadiz to prevent the junction of the Toulon and Brest fleets. But the prince of Hesse Darmstadt, who had arrived from Gibraltar, assured them that the people of Catalonia and Valencia were strongly attached to king Charles, and only required the presence of a sufficient force to declare themselves. The adventure was just of the kind to charm the active spirit of lord Peterborough. It was proposed that king Charles should sail with them on board the fleet, and that they should make a descent on Barcelona. Charles, like his brother the emperor Joseph, was the very poorest of kings, but that mattered not: lord Peterborough was rich and equally munificent, and he willingly bore the charge of him and his suite. They sailed with the earl on board the Ranelagh, quitting the Tagus on the 28th of July. The earl of Galway by this time could spare them two regiments of English dragoons. At Gibraltar they put out two newly-raised battalions, and took, instead of them, the English guards and three old regiments. On the 11th of August they anchored in the bay of Altea, and issued a proclamation in the Spanish language, and found that the people flocked in to acknowledge king Charles. They took the town of Denia and garrisoned it for Charles with four hundred men under major Ramos.

Such was the enthusiasm of the inhabitants, that Peterborough proposed to make a forced march right for Madrid at once, and set Charles on the throne without further delay, declaring that he was confident of taking the capital by a coup de main; and there is little doubt but he would have succeeded had he had the sole command. But such daring projects, the flashes of genius, only confound matter-of-fact men; the plan was looked on as little short of madness, the adventure was overruled, the fleet sailed, and on the 22nd arrived in the bay of Barcelona. There was a garrison of five thousand men within the town and castle of Barcelona, and the English force amounted to little more than six thousand. But the inhabitants displayed the utmost loyalty to the new king; they received him with acclamations, and the English landed and invested the town. Here again, however, the erratic genius of lord Peterborough startled more orthodox commanders. By all the rules of war the town ought to be taken first, and the castle afterwards; but Peterborough saw that the castle commanded the town, and must be continually inflicting injury on them in the course of the siege. He determined, therefore, not by the laws of war, but of common sense, to take the castle first. None but the brave prince of Hesse Darmstadt took his view of the matter, and to none but him did he, therefore, communicate his plans; but he took a close survey of this strong castle of Montjuie, convinced himself that it was not so well garrisoned as was represented, and that it might be taken by address and promptitude. He instantly began to re-embark some of his troops, as if about to abandon the enterprise, so as to throw the Spaniards off their guard, and then suddenly, on the night of the 3rd of December, dispatched about fourteen hundred by two different routes to attack