HE VISITS THE COURT OF VIENNA.
At this period the duke, in consequence of pressing letters from the emperor, set out for Vienna in order to concert the operations for the ensuing campaign, and other measures of importance, in which the concerns of the allies were interested. In his way he was magnificently entertained by the elector Palatine, and him of Triers, and complimented by the magistracy of Frankfort, where he conferred with prince Louis of Baden. On the twelfth of November he arrived at Vienna, where he was treated with the highest marks of distinction and cordial friendship by their imperial majesties. His son-in-law, the earl of Sunderland, had been sent thither as envoy-extraordinary; and now they conferred together with the emperor and his ministers. They resolved to maintain the war with redoubled vigour. The treaties were renewed, and provision made for the security of the duke of Savoy. The emperor, in consideration of the duke’s signal service to the house of Austria, presented him with a grant of the lordship of Mindel-heim in Suabia, which was now erected into a principality of the Roman empire. In his return with the earl of Sunderland he visited the courts of Berlin and Hanover, where he was received with that extraordinary respect which was due to his character; and arrived at the Hague on the fourteenth day of December. There he settled the operations of the next campaign with the states-general, who consented to join England in maintaining an additional body of ten thousand men reinforcement to the army of prince Eugene in Italy. While the allies were engaged in the siege of Santvliet, the elector of Bavaria sent a detachment, under the command of don Marcello de Grimaldi, to invest Diest, the garrison of which were made prisoners of war.
STATE OF THE WAR ON THE UPPER RHINE, IN HUNGARY, &c.
On the Upper Rhine, mareschal Villars besieged and took Homburgh, and passed the Rhine at Strasburgh on the sixth day of August. Prince Louis of Baden arriving in the camp of the Imperialists at Stolhoffen, not only obliged him to retire, but having passed the river, forced the French lines at Hagenau; then he reduced Drusenheim and Hagenau, but attempted no enterprise equal to the number of his army, although the emperor had expostulated with him severely on his conduct, and he had now a fair opportunity of emulating the glory of Marlborough, upon whom he looked with the eyes of an envious rival. In Italy a battle was fought at Casano, between prince Eugene and the duke de Vendôme, with dubious success. The duke de Feuillade reduced Chivas, and invested Nice, which, after an obstinate defence, surrendered in December. All the considerable places belonging to the duke of Savoy were now taken, except Coni and Turin; and his little army was reduced to twelve thousand men, whom he could hardly support. His duchess, his clergy, and his subjects in general, pressed him to submit to the necessity of his affairs; but he adhered to the alliance with surprising fortitude. He withstood the importunities of his duchess, excluded all the bishops and clergy from his councils; and when he had occasion for a confessor, he chose a priest occasionally either from the Dominicans or Franciscans. The campaign in Portugal began with a very promising aspect. The allies invaded Spain by the different frontiers of Beyra and Alentejo. Their army, under the command of the Condo das Galveas, undertook the siege of Valencia D’Alcantara in May, and took it by assault; Albuquerque surrendered upon articles, and then the troops were sent into quarters of refreshment. The marquis de las Minas, who commanded the Portuguese in the province of Beyra, reduced the town of Salva-terra, plundered and burned Sarca, but was obliged to retire to Panamacos at the approach of the enemy. Towards the end of September the confederates, being reassembled, invested Badajox, by the advice of the earl of Gal-way, who lost his right hand by a cannon ball, and was obliged to be carried off; so that the conduct of the siege was left to General Fagel. He had made considerable progress towards the reduction of the place, when the marquis de Thessé found means to throw in a powerful reinforcement, and then the confederates abandoned the enterprise. The war continued to rage in Hungary with various success. Ragotzki, though frequently worsted, appeared still in arms, and ravaged the country, which became a scene of misery and desolation. In Poland the old cardinal-primate owned Stanislaus, but died before the coronation, which was performed by the bishop of Cujavia. In the beginning of winter king Augustus had passed through Poland in disguise to the Muscovite army, which was put under his command in Lithuania; and the campaign was protracted through the whole winter season, notwithstanding the severity of the weather in that northern climate. In the spring the Swedish general, Reinchild, obtained a complete victory over the Saxon army, which was either cut in pieces or taken, with their camp, baggage, and artillery; yet the war was not extinguished. The king of Sweden continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of peace, and was become as savage in his manners, as brutal in his revenge.
THE FRENCH FLEET DESTROYED, &c.
At sea the arms of the allies were generally prosperous. Philip of Spain, being obstinately bent upon retaking Gibraltar, sent mareschal de Thessé to renew the siege, while de Pontis was ordered to block up the place by sea with his squadron. These French officers carried on the siege with such activity, that the prince of Hesse despatched an express to Lisbon with a letter, desiring sir John Leake to sail immediately to his assistance. This admiral having been reinforced from England by sir Thomas Dilkes, with five sail of the line and a body of troops, set sail immediately; and on the tenth day of March descried five ships of war hauling out of the bay of Gibraltar. These were commanded by de Pontis in person, to whom the English admiral gave chase. One of them struck, after having made a very slight resistance; and the rest ran ashore to the westward of Marbella, where they were destroyed. The remaining part of the French squadron had been blown from their anchors, and taken shelter in the bay of Malaga; but now they slipped their cables and made the best of their way to Toulon. The mareschal de Thessé, inconsequence of this disaster, turned the siege of Gibraltar into a blockade, and withdrew the greater part of his forces. While sir John Leake was employed in this expedition, sir George Byng, who had been ordered to cruise in soundings for the protection of trade, took a ship of forty guns from the enemy, together with twelve privateers, and seven vessels richly laden from the West Indies.