Spain. In the former country the French forces were disposed in two divisions; one in Piedmont, whose object it was to take Turin, and the other in Lombardy, charged with preventing Eugene from marching to the assistance of the Duke of Savoy. This last object was accomplished by Vendôme in person, who, having defeated Eugene at Cassano (August 16th), finally compelled him to re-enter the Tyrol. But this success was achieved by abandoning for the present the attempt on Turin; though, in other respects, the war in that quarter was favourable to the French, who, in the course of the year, made themselves masters of Mirandola, Chivasso, Nice, and Montmelian. The last two places were dismantled.

While the French were thus successful in Italy, the still more important events in Spain were in favour of the allies. The Spaniards, sensible of the importance of Gibraltar, speedily made an effort to recover that fortress, and as early as October 1704, it was invested by the Marquis of Villadarias with an army of 8000 men. The French Court afterwards sent Marshal Tessé to supersede Villadarias, and the siege continued till April 1705; but the brave defence of the Prince of Darmstadt, and the defeat of the French blockading squadron under Pointis by Admiral Leake, finally compelled the raising of the siege.35 On the side of Portugal, the operations of the allies were confined to the taking of the unimportant towns of Valenza, Salvaterra, and Alburquerque on the borders of Estremadura, and an ineffectual attempt on Badajoz. This want of success, however, in the western boundary of Spain was more than compensated on the opposite quarter. Charles Mordaunt, the celebrated Earl of Peterborough, who, with some 5000 English and Dutch troops, had sailed from Portsmouth early in June with the fleet under Sir Cloudesley Shovel, was furnished with a sort of roving commission, well suited to his erratic and enterprising temper, either to aid the Duke of Savoy, or "to make a vigorous push in Spain," at Barcelona, Cadiz, or wherever an opportunity might offer. Peterborough, having taken on board at Lisbon the pretended Charles III., and at Gibraltar the Prince of Darmstadt, was by them persuaded to undertake the siege of Barcelona. On the way thither, the castle of Denia, in Valencia, was occupied without much opposition, where Charles III. was, for the first time, publicly proclaimed King of Spain and the Indies. The expedition arrived off Barcelona August 16th, and that important and strongly fortified city was at length reduced to

On these affairs see Quincy, Hist. milit. de Louis le Grand, t. iv. p. 400 sqq.; Mahon, War of the Succession, ch. iv.

190

CAMPAIGN OF 1706.

[Book V. surrender (Oct. 9th), through the bold and hazardous but successful operation of Peterborough in first capturing Mont Juich, an almost impregnable fort which commands the city. The Prince of Darmstadt was killed in the assault on Mont Juich. Charles III. entered Barcelona Oct. 23rd, amidst the acclamations of the people, and was again proclaimed King of Spain. The whole province of Catalonia now declared in his favour, and the example was soon followed by the greater part of Valencia.

1706. The military operations this year were still more disastrous for the French than those of 1704 had been. Philip V., in person, assisted by Marshal Tessé, made an attempt to recover Barcelona, assisted by a fleet under the Count of Toulouse; who however, on the approach of the English and Dutch fleets, was compelled to retreat, and the siege was then raised (May 12th). Philip V. and his army, afraid to retreat through Aragon amidst a hostile population, directed their march to Rousillon, and passing along the northern side of the Pyrenees, re-entered Spain through Navarre. The effect of this step was that all Aragon openly revolted, and proclaimed Charles III. The war on the Portuguese frontier was equally disastrous to Philip. The Duke of Berwick, who had assumed the chief command of the Spaniards in that quarter, was unable to arrest the progress of the allies. Alcantara and several other towns in Estremadura and Leon were rapidly taken; and on the news of the raising of the siege of Barcelona, the allies marched from Salamanca on Madrid. Philip V., who had regained his capital only a few days before, abandoned it on their approach (June 19th), having been preceded in his flight by the grandees, the councils of state, and the public tribunals; so that the allies on entering Madrid (June 25th), found it almost deserted. But the allied generals, Lord Galway and Das Minas, instead of pursuing and annihilating the Spanish forces, lost a whole month in the capital; while the Archduke Charles also delayed his march from Barcelona to Madrid, although he had been proclaimed King of Spain in that capital. Meanwhile the dormant loyalty, or rather, perhaps, the strong national feeling, of the Castilians and Andalusians was roused at seeing the capital of the monarchy in the possession of Portuguese and heretics. The Castilian cities rose against the garrisons which had been left in them by the invaders. At Toledo, where the Queen Dowager and Cardinal Portocarrero had taken up their residence, and forgetting their former quarrels in their common hatred of the new dynasty, had warmly welcomed the entry of the allies, the people rose in insurrection, tore down the Austrian standards which Portocarrero

had blessed, and which the Queen had hoisted in her palace, and constituted her a prisoner of state.36 The Andalusians raised of their own accord 14,000 foot and 4000 horse for the cause of Philip. Towards the end of July, the Duke of Berwick, having united his small army with the troops which had returned through Navarre from the siege of Barcelona, as well as with some new levies, advanced upon Madrid; when the allied generals, seeing no hope of holding that capital in the midst of a disaffected population, marched out to meet the Archduke Charles and Peterborough, whom they joined at Guadalaxara, August 5th. Their united forces, however, were still unequal to those of Berwick; the men were suffering from sickness and want; dissensions arose among the generals, and Peterborough, disgusted with his position, set off for Italy to assist the Duke of Savoy, as he was authorised to do by his instructions. The allies now retreated, pursued by Berwick, into Valencia, where they took up their winter quarters. Thus terminated one of the most singular campaigns on record, in which Philip V., after being driven out of his kingdom, and seeing the allies in possession of his capital, regained it again in the space of a few months without a single general engagement; while the allied army, after beginning the campaign on the western frontier of Spain, closed it in the most eastern province of that kingdom.37 Other events of this year in Spain were the capture of Alicant and Cartagena by the English and Dutch fleets; which also induced the Isles of Iviça and Majorca to declare for Charles III. But Cartagena was retaken by Berwick in the autumn.

The fortune of war was still more adverse to the French arms

this year in Italy and Flanders. In the former country the campaign had indeed opened in favour of the French, and Vendôme had defeated the Austrian general, Reventlow, at Calcinato (April 19th), and prevented Eugene from penetrating beyond the district of Trent. But in the middle of June Vendôme was recalled from Italy to take the command in Flanders, and resigned his army on the 18th of the following month to the Duke of Orléans and Marsin; not, however, before he had been compelled by the advance of Eugene to abandon the line of the Adige and retire beyond the Mincio. Eugene continued to advance, Orléans retreating before him, till he joined the army of La Feuillade, which had invested Turin since May. Eugene having formed a junction with the Duke of Savoy near Carmagnola (August 29th),

36 The Queen Dowager was kept thirty years at Bayonne, and being subsequently allowed to return to Spain, died at Gua

dalaxara.

37 For this campaign, see Mémoires de Berwick, vol. i.

192

BATTLE OF RAMILLIES.

[Book V. their united forces attacked the French lines before Turin, Sept. 7th, and gained a complete victory, all the siege artillery, more than 100 guns, and 40 mortars, falling into their hands. In this battle Marsin was killed, and the Duke of Orléans twice wounded. By the mismanagement of the French generals the consequences of this victory were that all Lombardy submitted to the Imperialists. Eugene and Victor Amadeus entered Milan Sept. 24th, where "Charles III." was proclaimed; and in March 1707, a convention was signed by which the French agreed to evacuate almost the whole of Northern Italy. The Imperialists took possession of the Milanese and the Duchy of Mantua, ceding to the Duke of Savoy the Alexandrine and Lomelline, according to agreement.

The chief event of the campaign in Flanders in 1706 was Marlborough's decisive victory over Marshal Villeroi at RAMILLIES, near Tirlemont, May 23rd. The result of this battle, in which more than 13,000 French were either killed, wounded, or made prisoners, and 100 guns and 120 colours were captured, was the conquest of all Brabant and the greater part of Flanders, by the allies in a fortnight. In consequence of this disaster, Villeroi was superseded by Vendôme, who was recalled from Italy, as already related; but though that general succeeded in covering Ypres, Lille and Tournai, he could not prevent Marlborough from taking Menin, Dendermond, and Ath. The campaign closed with the fall of the last-named place, October 2nd, which gave the allies the command of the line of the Dender. The jealousy of the Dutch had prevented Marlborough from besieging Dunkirk. On the side of the Rhine, where Villars commanded the French forces, nothing of much importance was attempted this year, either by that commander or by the Imperialists.

These reverses induced Louis XIV. to renew the offer for a peace which he had already indirectly made at the close of the preceding campaign. He had then proposed to certain members of the States-General that Spain should cede Naples, Sicily, and Milan; he now reverted pretty nearly to the terms of the Second Treaty of Partition, and offered that Philip V. should cede Spain and the Indies to Charles III., and the Spanish Netherlands to the Dutch, thus retaining only the Italian States. These offers were regarded with suspicion by the Imperial and English Cabinets as too favourable to be sincere, though the Dutch were inclined to accept them; but the Pensionary Heinsius yielded to the influence of Marlborough, and it was agreed to demand from Louis, as sole preliminary, the cession of the whole Spanish inheritance. Nay, the Austrian Cabinet went still further and hinted at the erection

of the two Burgundies into a kingdom, to be given by way of compensation to Philip V., and the restoration of the three bishoprics (Metz, Toul, and Verdun) to the Duke of Lorraine. It could hardly be expected that these terms should be accepted by the French King. Louis afterwards attempted, but with like success, to open a separate negociation with the Austrian Cabinet through Pope Clement XI., offering to cede the Italian provinces on condition that Philip V. should retain Spain and the Indies.38

1707. The events of the following year were more favourable to Louis and his grandson. The campaign in Spain was opened by the memorable BATTLE OF ALMANZA, April 25th, which proved fatal to the cause of Charles III. in that country. Peterborough, who had returned to Valencia in the spring, but was soon afterwards recalled to England, had counselled the allies to remain on the defensive; but Galway and Das Minas resolved to attack Berwick, in the hope that they could do so before he had been joined by his reinforcements; in which, however, they were disappointed. Charles, by an unaccountable whim, had set off for Barcelona before the battle, taking with him several thousand Spanish and Dutch soldiers, so that when the allies arrived on the vega, or plain of Almanza, they had scarcely 12,000 infantry, whilst the enemy had double that number, besides being superior in cavalry.39 The battle ended in the entire defeat of the allies, nearly the whole of whose infantry was either killed, wounded, or made prisoners; together with the loss of all their baggage and artillery and 120 standards. The bulk of the cavalry succeeded in escaping to Tortosa. This victory was purchased, on the part of the French and Spaniards, with the loss of only about 2000 men. It was remarked that on this occasion the French were commanded by the Duke of Berwick, an Englishman, and the English by a Frenchman, Ruvigni, a Hugonot refugee, who had been made Earl of Galway; and that neither of the kings, whose crown depended on the issue, appeared on the field of battle. The consequence of this victory was the submission of nearly all Valencia and Aragon to Philip V. Philip punished the Aragonese for their revolt by abolishing what still remained to them of their Fueros, or provincial privileges. The campaign was terminated by the siege and capture of Lerida, the bulwark of Catalonia, by the French

39

Respecting these negociations see Lamberty, t. iv.; Martin, Hist. de France, t. xiv. p. 471.

"Coxe (who does not mention the departure of the Archduke), Memoirs of the Bourbon Kings of Spain, vol. i. p. 406,

VOL. III.

as well as the French historians (Martin, Ibid. p. 473), make the Anglo-Portuguese infantry at least double the number here given but see Lord Mahon, War of the Succession, p. 230.