1708
CONQUEST OF MINORCA.
The campaign in Catalonia was productive of a great event. Count Guido de Staremberg arrived at Barcelona on the last day of April; but the Imperial troops brought from Italy by admiral Leake did not land in time to relieve Tortosa, which the duke of Orleans besieged and took, together with Denia, the garrison of which were made prisoners of war, contrary to the articles of capitulation. These losses, however, were abundantly made up to the allies by the conquest of Sardinia and Minorca. Sir John Leake, having taken on board a handful of troops, under the conduct of the marquis d’Alconzel, set sail for Cagliari, and summoned the viceroy to submit to king Charles. As he did not send an immediate answer, the admiral began to bombard the city, and the inhabitants compelled him to surrender at discretion. The greater part of the garrison enlisted themselves in the service of Charles. The deputies of the states being assembled by the marquis d’Alconzel, acknowledged that prince as their sovereign, and agreed to furnish his army with thirty thousand sacks of corn, which were accordingly transported to Catalonia, where there was a great scarcity of provisions. Major-general Stanhope having planned the conquest of Minorca, and concerted with the admiral the measures necessary to put it in execution, obtained from count Staremberg a few battalions of Spaniards, Italians, and Portuguese; at the head of these he embarked at Barcelona with a fine train of British artillery, accompanied by brigadier Wade and colonel Petit, an engineer of great reputation. They landed on the island about ten miles from St. Philip’s fort, on the 26th of August, with about eight hundred marines, which augmented their number to about three thousand. Next day they erected batteries; and general Stanhope ordered a number of arrows to be shot into a place, to which papers were affixed, written in the Spanish and French languages, containing threats, that all the garrison should be sent to the mines if they would not surrender before the batteries were finished. The garrison consisted of a thousand Spaniards, and six hundred French marines, commanded by colonel la Jonquire, who imagined that the number of the besiegers amounted to at least ten thousand, so artfully had they been drawn up in sight of the enemy. The batteries began to play, and in a little time demolished four towers that served as out-works to the fort; then they made a breach in the outward wall, through which brigadier Wade, at the head of the grenadiers, stormed a redoubt, with such extraordinary valour as struck the besieged with consternation. On the second or third day they thought proper to beat a parley, and capitulate, on condition that they should march out with the honours of war: that the Spaniards should be transported to Murcia, and the French to Toulon. These last, however, were detained, by way of reprisal for the garrison of Denia. The Spanish governor was so mortified when he learned the real number of besiegers, that on his arrival at Murcia, he threw himself out of a window in despair, and was killed upon the spot. La Jonquire was confined for life, and all the French officers incurred their master’s displeasure. Fort St. Philip being thus reduced, to the amazement of all Europe, and the garrison of Fort Fornelles having surrendered themselves prisoners to the admirals Leake and Whitaker, the inhabitants gladly submitted to the English government, for king Philip had oppressed and deprived them of their privileges: general Stanhope appointed colonel Petit governor of Fort St. Philip, and deputy-governor of the whole island. After this important conquest he returned to the army in Spain, where an unsuccessful attempt to surprise Tortosa, finished the operations of the campaign.
RUPTURE BETWEEN THE POPE AND THE EMPEROR.
The British fleet not only contributed to the reduction of Minorca, but likewise overawed the pope, who had endeavoured to form a league of the princes in Italy against the emperor. This pontiff had manifested his partiality to the house of Bourbon in such a palpable manner, that his Imperial majesty ordered monsieur de Bonneval to march with the troops that were in Italy, reinforced by those belonging to the duke of Modena, and invade the duchy of Ferrara. He accordingly took possession of Comachio and some other places, pretending they were allodial estates belonging to the duke of Modena, and fiefs of the emperor, to which the holy see had no lawful claim. The viceroy of Naples was forbid to remit any money to Rome; and the council of the kingdom drew up a long memorial, containing the pretensions of his catholic majesty, which struck at the very foundation of the pope’s temporal power. His holiness wrote a long remonstrance to the emperor on the injustice of those proceedings, and declared that he would assert his cause though he should lose his life in the contest. He forthwith began to raise an army, and revived a plan of forming a league among the princes and states of Italy for their mutual defence. Sir John Leake had received orders to bombard Civita-Vecchia, in resentment for the pope’s having countenanced the pretender’s expedition to Great Britain; but as the emperor and duke of Savoy hoped to effect an accommodation with the court of Rome, they prevailed upon the English admiral to suspend hostilities until they should have tried the method of negotiation. The marquis de Prie, a Piedmontese nobleman, was sent as ambassador to Rome; but the pope would not receive him in that quality. Elated with the promises of France, he set the emperor at defiance; and his troops having surprised a body of Imperialists, were so barbarous as to cut them all in pieces. The duke of Savoy having ended the campaign, the troops of the emperor, which had served under that prince, were ordered to march into the papal territories, and drove the forces of his holiness before them, without any regard to number. Bologna capitulated; and Rome began to tremble with the apprehension of being once more sacked by a German army. Then the pope’s courage failed; he was glad to admit the marquis de Prie as envoy from the emperor. He consented to disband his new levies; to accommodate the Imperial troops with winter quarters in the papal territories; to grant the investiture of Naples to king Charles; and to allow at all times a passage to the Imperial troops through his dominions. On the Upper Rhine the electors of Bavaria and Hanover were so weak, that they could not undertake any thing of consequence against each other. In Hungary the disputes still continued between the emperor and the malcontents. Poland was at length delivered from the oppression exercised by the king of Sweden, who marched into the Ukraine against the czar of Muscovy, notwithstanding the submission with which that monarch endeavoured to appease his indignation. During the course of this year the English merchants sustained no considerable losses by sea: the cruisers were judiciously stationed, and the trade was regularly supplied with convoys. In the West Indies, commodore Wager destroyed the admiral of the galleons, and took the rear-admiral on the coast of Carthagena. Had the officers of his squadron done their duty, the greatest part of the fleet would have fallen into his hands. At his return to Jamaica, two of his captains were tried by a court-martial and dismissed from the service.
DEATH OF PRINCE GEORGE OF DENMARK.
The court of England was about this time not a little disquieted by the consequences of an outrage committed on the person of the count de Matueof, the Muscovite ambassador. He was publicly arrested at the suit of a laceman, and maltreated by the bailiffs, who dragged him to prison, where he continued until he was bailed by the earl of Feversham. Incensed at this insult, he demanded redress of the government, and was seconded in his remonstrances by the ministers of the emperor, the king of Prussia, and several other foreign potentates. The queen expressed uncommon indignation against the authors of this violence, who were immediately apprehended, and orders were given to prosecute them with the utmost severity of the law. Matueof repealed his complaints with great acrimony; and Mr. Secretary Boyle assured him, in the queen’s name, that he should have ample satisfaction. Notwithstanding this assurance, he demanded a pass for himself and family; refused the ordinary presents at his departure; and retired to Holland. From thence he transmitted a memorial, with a letter from the czar to the queen, insisting upon her punishing with death all the persons concerned in violating the law of nations upon the person of his ambassador. Such punishment being altogether inconsistent with the laws of England, the queen and her ministry were extremely perplexed, and held several councils to deliberate upon the measures proper to be taken on such an occasion. On the twenty-eighth day of October, prince George of Denmark died of an asthma and dropsy, with which he had been long afflicted. He was a prince of an amiable rather than a shining character, brave, good-natured, modest, and humane, but devoid of great talents and ambition. He had always lived in harmony with the queen, who, during the whole term of their union, and especially in his last illness, approved herself a pattern of conjugal truth and tenderness. At his death the earl of Pembroke was created lord-high-admiral, the earl of Wharton promoted to the government of Ireland, and lord Somers appointed president of the council. Notwithstanding these promotions of the whig noblemen, the duke of Marlborough declined apace in his credit with the queen, who privately consulted and reposed her chief confidence in Mr. Harley, though he had no visible concern in the administration.