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ther, and returned to Madrid, having put his army in cantonments; and, fearing that it would be impossible to retain his petty conquests, destroyed all their fortifications, except those of Salvatierra and Mervan, and abandoned them to their fate.

Though our troops were thus left in idleness, yet our admiral was determined to do something; accordingly he returned from Toulon towards Gibraltar, and captured that fortress on the 10th of July, after a siege of three days, having landed the Prince of Hesse with only 1,800 men. On the 13th of August the combined English and Dutch fleets defeated the united French squadrons from Toulon and Brest, and obliged them, in a most shattered condition, to retire to Toulon; a part of them, however, was enabled soon after to proceed to the southward when the combined squadrons had left the straits, and the Sieur de Pontis, with a considerable force, blockaded Gibraltar by sea, the Spaniards having commenced the siege of it in September.

In 1705 Gibraltar was relieved by Sir John Leake, who surprised and defeated the French squadron; and in May, the Portuguese and confederate forces, having commenced the siege of Alcantara, took it by storm after six days; Salvatierra and Albuquerque being soon after retaken. In the same month the Earl

of Peterborough was sent from England, with 5,000 additional troops, in a fleet commanded by Sir Cloudesley Shovel. After touching at Lisbon, where King Charles embarked along with him, they proceeded to Gibraltar, and afterwards to Altea Bay, where a manifesto was published; and the advices from Barcelona being very encouraging, the earl was induced to proceed there, where he landed the troops, accompanied by the king, and was soon reinforced by great numbers of Spaniards. On the 3d of September Monjuick was taken after a siege of three days, but the gallant Prince of Hesse fell in the attack; in three weeks afterwards Barcelona surrendered, and all Catalonia immediately declared for King Charles.

On the opposite side of Spain the allies had laid siege to Badajoz, but were obliged soon after to raise it by the Marshal du Thesse, the French general in command of the combined French and Spanish army; and, in the contest, the Earl of Galway lost his right hand.

The proceedings in Catalonia were, however, considered so important for the general cause, that both houses of parliament at home were induced to congratulate her majesty upon her message informing them of these events, in November, 1705. But the

progress of the allies on the eastern side was still circumscribed, little remarkable happening until the latter end of December, when a Catalonian colonel, of the name of Nebot, was induced to leave the opposite party, with about 950 cavalry, and to join King Charles at Denia, in Valencia, who soon after captured Xabea, a small place in that vicinity, which slight successes seem to have induced the whole kingdom of Valencia to declare in his favour, when his new friend, Colonel Nebot, took possession of its capital.

At the close of the year the French and Spanish ar mies proceeded to besiege Valencia; but the Earl of Peterborough having marched with the English army to its relief, this plan was given up, and an attack was made upon St. Mattheo; but Peterborough not only obliged them to decamp, but also took possession of Morviedro.

In the early part of 1706 a battle of some importance for the numbers engaged, but of little in its consequences to either party, took place at San Estevan de Libera, after which the Spanish and French troops, under du Thesse, commenced the siege of Barcelona; which was, however, so 'speedily raised, on the arrival of Sir John Leake from Lisbon to its

relief, that the assailants left behind them 106 brass guns, 23 mortars, and an immense quantity of provisions and ammunition. On the opposite side of the kingdom the allies took Alcantara, in which they found 47 pieces of brass cannon; and Moraliza and Coria having soon after fallen, the Earl of Galway published a manifesto in the name of his royal mistress, calling upon the Spaniards to acknowledge King Charles as their lawful monarch.

In May, in the same year, Ciudad Rodrigo was captured by the allies, after a siege of five days; and the news of the raising of the siege of Barcelona having just then arrived, the Portuguese were in high spirits, and the allies proceeded to push through Spain for Madrid, where King Philip returned with all possible expedition; but, soon finding that he had no troops on whom he could depend, he destroyed every thing of value which he could not carry off, and retired towards Burgos in order to be ready for a retreat into France.

On the 26th of May Carthagena declared for the Austrian claimant, and was secured by an English squadron; and in June the English and Portuguese confederate army, commanded by the Earl of Galway and the Marquis des Minas, pushed on for Ma

drid, which made such an impression upon the inhabitants, that deputies were sent out to acknowledge their submission and allegiance to their new monarch. On taking possession of the capital King Charles was proclaimed, and the example of the inhabitants of Madrid was voluntarily followed by Toledo, and several other places of importance, inclusive of the whole kingdom of Arragon. Charles, however, was still with the English army at Barcelona, and is accused of want of celerity in staying too long there, notwithstanding the repeated solicitations of the Earl of Peterborough, and the invitations of the generals in the capital, who were all anxious that he should repair to Madrid. But even when he set out for that place he occupied so much time in the siege of Saragossa, that the confederate forces, for some reason never sufficiently explained, had evacuated Madrid, whither King Philip soon after proceeded with a few forces, having had time to recover from his alarm at the former rapidity of movement on the part of his assailants.

In Valencia the war was still carried on with some briskness; and, in July, Sir John Leake proceeded with the English fleet before Alicant, which was immediately afterwards taken by storm, though the cas tle held out for a short time; but at length surrender

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