BATTLE OF CAMPO-SANTO.
By this time France was deprived of her ablest minister, in the death of the cardinal de Fleury, who had for many years managed the affairs of that kingdom. He is said to have possessed a lively genius, and an insinuating address; to have been regular in his deportment, and moderate in his disposition; but at the same time he has been branded as deceitful, dissembling, and vindictive. His scheme of politics was altogether pacific; he endeavoured to accomplish his purposes by raising and fomenting intrigues at foreign courts; he did not seem to pay much regard to the military glory of France; and he too much neglected the naval power of that kingdom. Since Broglio was driven out of Germany, the French court affected uncommon moderation. They pretended that their troops had only acted as auxiliaries while they remained in the empire; being, however, apprehensive of an irruption into their own dominions, they declared that those troops were no longer to be considered in that light, but as subjects acting in the service of France. The campaign in Italy proved unfavourable to the Spaniards. In the beginning of February count Gages, who commanded the Spanish army in the Bolognese, amounting to four-and-twenty thousand men, passed the Penaro, and advanced to Cam-po-Santo, where he encountered the Imperial and Pied-montese forces, commanded by the counts Traun and Aspremont. The strength of the two armies was nearly equal. The action was obstinate and bloody, though indecisive. The Spaniards lost about four thousand men, killed, wounded, or taken. The damage sustained by the confederates was not quite so great. Some cannon and colours were taken on both sides; and each claimed the victory. Count Gages repassed the Penaro; retreated suddenly from Bologna; and marched to Rimini in the ecclesiastical state, where he fortified his camp in an advantageous situation, after having suffered severely by desertion. Count Traun remained inactive in the Modenese till September, when he resigned his command to prince Lobkowitz. This general entered the Bolognese in October, and then advanced towards count Gages, who, with his forces, now induced to seven thousand, retreated to Fano; but afterwards took possession of Pesaro, and fortified all the passes of the river Froglia. The season was far advanced before the Spanish troops, commanded by don Philip in Savoy, entered upon action. In all probability, the courts of Versailles and Madrid carried on some private negotiation with the king of Sardinia. This expedient failing, don Philip decamped from Chamberri in the latter end of August, and defiling through Dauphiné towards Briancon, was joined by the prince of Conti, at the head of twenty thousand French auxiliaries. Thus reinforced, he attacked the Piedmontese lines at Chateau Dauphine; but was repulsed in several attempts, and obliged to retreat with considerable loss. The French established their winter quarters in Dauphiné and Provence; and the Spaniards maintained their footing in Savoy.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRITISH FLEET.
The British fleet, commanded by admiral Matthews, overawed all the states that bordered on the Mediterranean. This officer, about the end of June, tinder-standing that fourteen xebecks, laden with artillery and ammunition for the Spanish army, had arrived at Genoa, sailed thither from the road of Hieres, and demanded of the republic that they would either oblige these vessels with the stores to quit their harbour, or sequester their lading until a general peace should be established. After some dispute, it was agreed that the cannon and stores should be deposited in the castle of Bonifacio, situated on a rock at the south end of Corsica; and that the xebecks should have leave to retire without molestation. The Corsicans had some years before revolted, and shaken off the dominion of the Genoese, under which their island had remained for many centuries. They found themselves oppressed, and resolved to assert their freedom. They conferred the sovereign authority on a German adventurer, who was solemnly proclaimed by the name of king Theodore. He had supplied them with some arms and ammunition, which he had brought from Tunis; and amused them with promises of being assisted by foreign powers in retrieving their independency; but as these promises were not performed, they treated him so roughly, that he had thought proper to quit the island, and they submitted again to their old masters. The troubles of Corsica were now revived. Theodore revisited his kingdom, and was recognised by the principal chiefs of the island. He published a manifesto; he granted a general pardon to all his subjects who should return to their obedience; he pretended to be countenanced and supported by the king of Great Britain and the queen of Hungary. He was certainly thought a proper instrument to perplex and harass the Genoese, and supplied at this juncture with a sum of money to purchase arms for the Corsicans; but a change soon happened in the British ministry, and then he was suffered to relapse into his original obscurity. Admiral Matthews, though he did not undertake any expedition of importance against the maritime towns of Spain, continued to assert the British empire at sea through the whole extent of the Mediterranean. The Spanish army under don Philip was no sooner in motion, than the English admiral ordered some troops and cannon to be disembarked for the security of Villa-Franca. Some stores having been landed at Civita-Vecchia, for the use of the Spanish forces under count Gages, Matthews interpreted this transaction into a violation of the neutrality which the pope had professed, and sent thither a squadron to bombard the place. The city of Eome was filled with consternation; and the pope had recourse to the good offices of his Sardinian majesty, in consequence of which the English squadron was ordered to withdraw. The captains of single cruising ships, by their activity and vigilance, wholly interrupted the commerce of Spain; cannonaded and burned some towns on the seaside, and kept the whole coast in continual alarm. [283] [See note 2 N, at the end of this Vol.]
FRUITLESS ATTEMPTS UPON THE SPANISH SETTLEMENTS.
In the West Indies some unsuccessful efforts were made by an English squadron, commanded by commodore Knowles. He attacked La Gueir on the coast of Carraccas, in the month of February; but met with such a warm reception, that he was obliged to desist, and make the best of his way for the Dutch island Curacoa, where he repaired the damage he had sustained. His ships being refitted, he made another attempt upon Porte Cavallo in April, which like the former miscarried. Twelve hundred marines being landed in the neighbourhood of the place, were seized with such a panic, that it was found necessary to re-embark them without delay. Then the commodore abandoned the enterprise and sailed back to his station at the Leeward Islands, without having added much to his reputation, either as to conduct or resolution. On the continent of America the operations of the war were very inconsiderable. General Oglethorpe having received intelligence that the Spaniards prepared for another invasion from St. Augustine, assembled a body of Indians, as a reinforcement to part of his own regiment, with the highlanders and rangers, and in the spring began his march, in order to anticipate the enemy. He encamped for some time in the neighbourhood of St. Augustine, by way of a defiance; but they did not think proper to hazard an engagement; and as he was in no condition to undertake a siege, he returned to Georgia. In October the princess Louisa, youngest daughter of his Britannic majesty, was married by proxy, at Hanover, to the prince-royal of Denmark, who met her at Altona, and conducted her to Copenhagen.