it was not fit for him to expofe his men, fince he believed, 1705. that the body which they were to attack, would be on much fuperior to him; for which reafon he refolved not to rifque a fally, but to keep within, and maintain the fort against them. Thus the earl of Peterborough continued quiet in the out-works, and being reinforced with more men, he attacked the fort, but with no great hopes of fucceeding, till throwing a few bombs into it, one of them fell into the magazine of powder, and blew it up, by which the governor and fome of the beft officers were killed; Sept. 7. and this ftruck the reft with fuch a confternation, that they N. N. delivered up the place.

This fuccefs was the more confiderable, as the town of Barcelona lay juft under the hill on which the fort stood. Upon this, the party in Barcelona that was well-affected to king Charles, began to refume their courage, and to fhew themfelves. Nor did the earl of Peterborough lofe any time. in improving his advantages, for, as foon as Stanhope's brigade, and fome other troops were come up, he caused the trenches to be opened, and four batteries of cannon, and two of mortars, to be erected; in which fervice, both the Miquelets and the English and Dutch feamen were very ufeful. In the mean time, the bomb-veffels threw about four hundred fhells into the town, which occafioned a great confternation among the people; and the batteries fired with fo much fuccefs, that, on the 4th of October, N. S. Don Francifco de Velafco confented to capitulate; and brigadier Stanhope was exchanged, with count de Ribeira, as hoftages. The viceroy made feveral extravagant demands, the debateing of which continued till the 9th, when it was agreed, that the garrifon fhould march out with all the parks of honour, be tranfported by fea to St. Felix near Palamos, and conducted from thence to Gironne. But, upon advice that Gironne had furrendered to king Charles III. it was agreed, that Velafco, with his garrifon, fhould be tranfported to Rofes, which, by this time, was the only place in Catalonia that had not declared for the houfe of Auftria, Thus was accomplished the conqueft of the largest and richest province cf Spain, with an army fcarce double the number of the garrison of Barcelona.

King Charles was received into that city with great expreffions of joy. In the first tranfport, the people feemed refolved to break through the articles granted to the garrison, and to make facrifices of the chief officers at leaft. Upon that, the earl of Peterborough, with brigadier Stanhope and

L 4

other

1705. other officers, rode about the streets to stop this fury, and to prevail with the people to maintain their articles religioufly; and, in doing this, they ran a greater hazard from the fhooting and fire, that was flying about in that disorder, than they had done during the whole fiege. They at laft quieted the people, and the articles of capitulation were punctually obferved.

King
Charles

fends the
queen an

Brigadier Stanhope was foon after fent to England, to give a full relation of this great tranfaction; by whom king Charles wrote to the queen a long and clear account of all account of his affairs, full of great acknowledgements of her affiftance, his affairs. with a high commendation of all her fubjects, efpecially of Burnet. the earl of Peterborough. This letter was all written with the king's own hand, and the French of it was fo little correct, that it was not like what a fecretary would have drawn for him, and therefore it was concluded, that it was penned by himself. The lord-treafurer had likewife another letter from him, all in his own hand; one correction in which feemed to make it evident, that the king compofed it himfelf (a). He wrote, towards the end of the letter, that he muft depend on his protection: upon reflection, that word feemed not fit for him to use to a subject, and therefore was dafhed out, but the letters were ftill plain; and, instead of it, application was writ over it. Thefe letters gave a great idea of fo young and unexperienced a prince, who was able to write with fo much clearness, judgment, and force. Nor could he receive much affistance from the prince of Lichtenftein, who was, by all accounts, a man of a low genius, who thought of nothing but the ways of inriching himself, even at the hazard of ruining his mafter's bufinefs.

A council of war being held at Barcelona, it was thought fit to comply with the king's refolution of venturing his own perfon with the Catalans; and that the earl of Peterborough Thould continue with that prince with the land forces, and as many of the marines as could be spared from the service of the fhips. The feafon of the year being far spent, it was, at the fame time, refolved, That Sir CloudeЛly Shovel and admiral Allemonde fhould return home immediately; that twenty-five English and fifteen Dutch men of war fhould winter at Lifbon, under the command of Sir John Leake and rear-admiral Waffenaer; and that four English and two Dutch frigates fhould be left at Barcelona. The Alect failed from thence a few days after; and Don Velasco, not thisking himself fafe at Rofes, and having defired to be transported

(a) Eifnop Burnet faw both thefe letters.

transported to Malaga, was landed there, with about a thousand men of the garrifon of Barcelona. The reft having readily lifted themselves in the fervice of king Charles, a regiment of five hundred dragoons was formed out of them for his guard; and fix other regiments were afterwards raised by the ftates of Catalonia.

1705.

While the well-affected Miquelets and Catalans, headed by the count de Cifuentes, and affifted by the English and Dutch forces, fecured themselves in the cities and towns of Tarragona, Tortofa, Lerida, St. Mattheo, Gironne, and other places, don Raphael Nebot, a Catalan, having quitted king Philip's fervice, came with his whole regiment of five hundred horse, and one hundred and fifty horse more, that joined him, to Denia, where being reinforced by major-general Ramos, with part of the garrifon, they made themfelves mafters of Xabea, Oliva, Gandia, and Alxira, in the kingdom of Valencia. Flushed with thefe fucceffes, they marched to the capital city with a thousand horse, five hundred foot, and a great number of the militia, and, by the affiftance of fome of the inhabitants, made themselves mafters of that place, where they took the marquis de Villa-Garcia, the vice-roy, and the archbishop prisoners. Hereupon, the whole kingdom, the towns of Alicant and Penifola excepted, declared for king Charles III, who immediately raised colonel Nebot to the poft of a major-general; and, a few days after, appointed the count de Cifuen- Dec. 29, tes, viceroy of Valencia, at which the earl of Peterborough, N. S. who began to be jealous of that count, was not a little difgufted.

In the first confultation about the war, after the taking of CamBarcelona, the earl of Peterborough was of opinion, that paign in the forces fhould be divided, and the better half march im- Valencia. mediately into Valencia, the reft into Arragon. The Eng- Friend. lish and Dutch major-generals, Cunningham and Schratenbach, were against fatiguing and diminishing the troops; which they thought must be preferved with the utmost care, fince they were hardly fufficient to defend the places already poffeffed in Catalonia. The latter opinion prevailed; and reft could hardly be refused to troops, which had undergone fuch hardships at fea, and the fatigues of fuch a fiege. However, the earl of Peterborough obtained an univerfal confent to fend a good body to Lerida, and about one thoufand foot and two hundred horfe to Tortofa, the bordering city on the kingdom of Valencia. With this small force he impatiently preffed for marching into Valencia ; but

there

1705. there were fome at court, who were better pleased, that the reduction of that kingdom fhould be procured by their correfpondence and management, than that it fhould be owing to her majefty's arms. In the mean time, the city of Valencia was brought to declare for the houfe of Auftria; but the rejoicings upon this occafion were of fhort continuance, and the divifions at the court of Barcelona gave the enemy time to bring a body of three thousand horfe and as many foot into the kingdom of Valencia, under the command of the Conde de las Torres, a general of known courage and of long fervice, who laid fiege to St. Mattheo, where colonel Jones commanded fome hundreds of Miquelets. This place being of fo great importance by its fituation, in regard that all communication between Catalonia and Valencia must have been cut off, had it fallen into the enemy's hands, the news of its being befieged gave great alarms to the court. However, upon a report that the country-people of Catalonia, Valencia, and Arragon had taken up arms, to the number of fixteen thousand men, that they had furrounded count Tilly, who had with him one thousand horse and one thousand foot; and that there was nothing wanting to the intire deftruction of thofe troops before St. Mattheo, but a few officers, and fome of the difciplined troops, that were in Tortofa, to encourage and direct this multitude, Dec. 31. fo conveniently pofted,, the king ordered the earl of PeterN. S. borough to give fpeedy directions in it. The earl regretted the loft time too much to lofe one moment more; and, inftead of fending to a fubaltern the orders required, he immediately went poft to Tortofa; and, though St. Mattheo was above thirty leagues from Barcelona, in about eight days from his departure, he found ways to raife that fiege, though the report of the country's being up in arms was not true, and though he had nothing to depend upon but one thousand foot and two hundred dragoons. The methods taken in effecting this were as much out of the common road, as the refolution to attempt it (a).

(a) Dr. Friend gives a particular account of this affair, and fays, p. 206, that the enemy was before St. Mattheo with between two thoufand three hundred horfe, and about four thousand foot, whereas his

After

lordfhip had nothing to depend upon but one thousand foot and two hundred dragoons. It is not hard to guess what the general opinion was in these circumftances; neither did his lordship endeavour to perfuade

the

After the raifing of the fiege St. Mattheo, the earl of 1705. Peterborough refolved to make a fhew of pursuing the enemy, without intirely expofing his little body, if they fhould be better informed, and lay afide their panic fear;