Images de page
PDF
ePub

1704.

BOOK V. clares this to be done, "that it may more and more appear to all the world how much, as I freely own it, I and all the empire owe to the most serene queen of Great Britain, for having sent her powerful assistance as far as Augsburg and Bavaria itself under your conduct, when my own affairs and those of the empire were so much shaken and disordered by the perfidious defection of the Bavarians.-Past ages having never seen the like victory obtained over the French, it may reasonably be hoped that the full and perfect liberty of the Christian world shall be rescued from the power of France, which was so imminently impending over it*.'

* Mr. Addison's poem of the Campaign, written on this great occasion at the suggestion of lord Halifax, is still, at the distance of almost a century, well known to all poetical readers. That it is yet known and read is an indubitable proof of its possessing merit; notwithstanding the unfortunate panegyric of the Tatler, "that it is a chronicle as well as a poem," and the severe concurrent satire of Dr. Warton, "that it is a gazette in rhyme." Upon the whole, it is an animated and interesting production. From it may be extracted two very noble specimens of the author's poetic powers-first of the sublime, and secondly of the pathetic.

""Twas then great Marlborough's mighty soul was proy'd, That in the shock of charging hosts unmov'd,

Amid confusion, horror, and despair,

Examin'd all the dreadful scenes of war;

In peaceful thought the field of death survey'd,

To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid,

1704.

The elector of Bavaria, at the head of a small BOOK V. body of troops, effected a retreat, or rather made his escape, and joined maréchal Villeroi in Flanders, leaving the electorate at the mercy of the conquerors; on his way he met the elector of Cologne, his brother, driven likewise from his dominions, and they had the sad satisfaction of embracing and mingling their tears together. After Landau a reducing Ingoldstadt and the other fortresses of time capthe duchy, the imperial and allied army gloriously concluded the campaign with the sieges of Landau, Triers, and Traerbach; at the former of which the king of the Romans was a second time present in person. In the month of De

[blocks in formation]

Unfortunate Tallard! Oh! who can name

The pangs of rage, of sorrow, and of shame,
That, with mix'd tumult, in thy bosom swell'd,
When first thou saw'st thy bravest troops repell'd?
Thine only son, pierc'd with a deadly wound,
Choked in his blood, and gasping on the ground!
Thyself in bondage by the victor kept!—
The chief, the father, and the captive wept."

Second

tured.

BOOK V. cember (1704) the duke of Marlborough returned in triumph to England, where he was received with unbounded transports of joy.

1704.

The campaign in Brabant and Flanders, where veldt maréchal Auverquerque was opposed with great advantage and reputation to M. de Villeroi, being wholly defensive, affords no occurrence meriting other than military and professional notice.

The presence of king Charles in Portugal did not produce the effects expected from it, and nothing but weakness and confusion seemed to perOperations vade the councils of the court of Lisbon. The

in Portu

gal.

English and Dutch auxiliaries arrived early in the spring of 1704: but no preparations had been made for taking the field; and the duke of Schomberg, general of the British forces, saw them with astonishment and indignation distributed among the frontier garrisons. The duke of Berwick, who commanded for Philip V., entering Portugal in the month of May, reduced with little difficulty the towns of Sogura, Salvaterra, and Cebreros, with various other places. The marquis of Villa-darias, at the head of another army, penetrated into that kingdom by a different route leading directly to the metropolis, which seemed exposed to extreme danger. Passing the Tagus, the duke of Berwick, now joined by Philip the reigning monarch, invested Porta

1704.

legre, and afterwards Castel-Davide, both of BOOK V. which surrendered at discretion. A faint attempt was made to relieve the latter by the marquis das Minas, who had drawn together, after long delay, something like the appearance of an army, the kings of Portugal and Spain accompanying him in person. The intense heat of the weather, and not the resistance of the Portuguese, at length compelled the Spanish general to send his wearied troops into quarters of refreshment; and king Philip returned to Madrid. The duke of Schomberg was now superseded in the command by the earl of Galway, who carried with him large reinforcements. In the month of September the kings of Spain and Portugal joined the earl, then encamped near Almeida; but on marching to the banks of the river Agueda, which they intended to pass near Cividad Rodrigo, they found the enemy so strongly posted on the opposite side, that they would not risque the attack, and no enterprise of moment distinguished the latter period of the campaign. Such was the progress made by king Charles during the first year, towards achieving the conquest of the great and extensive monarchy of Spain.

The success of the English by sea during the present summer was upon the whole very great. Sir George Rooke, who commanded in the Mediterranean, appearing before Barcelona, sent a

1704.

BOOK V. flag of truce with a letter from the prince of Hesse Darmstadt, formerly viceroy of Catalonia, who was on board the fleet, to the governor don Francisco de Velasco, summoning him to surrender the town to his lawful sovereign king Charles III. But though the city was known to be well affected to the Austrian interests, the governor returned an haughty refusal, and secured divers of the principal citizens whom he suspected. On his return to Lisbon, in the month of July, sir George Rooke was joined by sir Cloudesley Shovel; and in a council of war it was resolved to make a sudden attempt upon the Gibraltar hitherto impregnable fortress of Gibraltar. After a furious cannonade, in which 15,000 shot were in a few hours fired into the town, the boats of the fleet were armed, and landed upon the peninsula; and a redoubt half-way between the mole and the town being taken by storm, the governor thought proper to capitulate. No sooner had this unwelcome intelligence reached Madrid, than the marquis de Villa-darias was detached with a large body of troops to retake this important place.

taken.

Naval
Engage-

ment off
Malaga.

-After furnishing the fortress with the necessary supplies for a vigorous defence, sir George Rooke, sailing again into the Mediterranean in conjunction with the Dutch admiral Callemberg, met off Malaga, August the 13th, (O. S.) the French

« PrécédentContinuer »