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Prince Eugene followed him thither, with all expedition, determined to raise the siege. It therefore be came neceffary for the French now to refolve, whether A.D. 1706. they should wait for the enemy in their lines, or march out and meet him in the field. A council of war was accordingly called, confifting of the marefchal, de Marlin, the duke de Feuillade, Abbergotti, St. Fremont, and other lieutenant-generals. "If we remain "in our lines," said the duke of Orleans, "we fhall "certainly be defeated. They are fifty miles in

extent; and our numbers, though great, are not "fufficient to defend them. The Doria, which runs through our camp, will prevent our troops from fpeedily fuccouring each other. And, in waiting for an attack, the French lofe one of their

greatest advantages; that vehemence, and those "first movements of ardour, which fo often deter"mine the events of war. It is therefore, my opi"nion, we ought to march against the enemy." All the lieutenant-generals, with one voice, replied, "Let "us march!" but the marefchal de Marfin produced an order, figned by the king, commanding them not to offer, but to wait for battle 3.

THAT order, with which the duke of Orleans was obliged to comply, hurt his pride, and confused the measures of the French generals; who, being of dif ferent opinions, difputed long, without coming to any fixed determination, how to act. Meanwhile prince Eugene, having made his difpofitions, fell fuddenly on their entrenchments; and, after an obftinate struggle

53. Id. ibid. It was this timidity of the court of Versailles which made prince Eugene fay, in a complimentary letter to the duke of Marlborough, that he "felt the effects of the battle of Ramillies, even in Italy." Burnet, book vii,

of

PART II. of two hours, entered their camp, drove them from A.D. 1706, all their posts, and took their cannon, baggage, ammunition, and military cheft: The duke of Orleans was flightly wounded, and the marefchal de Marfin mortally. The whole French army was routed and dispersed; and, although the number of the killed did not exceed three thousand, such was the terror of the fugitives, that they retreated immediately toward Pignerol, and made the best of their way into Dauphiny 54: fo that the house of Bourbon loft, at one blow, the duchies of Milan and Mantua, the principality of Piedmont, and eventually the kingdom of Naples.

THE Confederates, notwithstanding some unfavoura ble circumstances, were no less fuccessful in Spain. The archduke Charles having established himself in that kingdom, during the winter, by the affiftance of the English troops, under the earl of Peterborough, Philip V. and the marefchal de Taffé, advanced against him in the fpring, with an army of twenty thousand men ; and obliged him to take fhelter in Barcelona, which they befieged, while the count de Touloufe, with a French fleet, blocked it up by fea. Fort Montjouy was taken; and the French and Spaniards were preparing for the affault of the town, a practicable breach being already made, when Sir John Leake, with a fuperior fleet, appearing on the coaft, the count de Toulouse judged it prudent to retire in the night. A reinforcement was thrown into the place; and Philip V. and the marefchal de Taffé raised the fiege with the utmost precipitation and disorder, leaving behind them their cannon, their provifions, and their implements

54. Barnet, Voltaire, Feuquieres, Hainault.

of

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of war, with all their fick and wounded men $. This disorder was partly occafioned by an almost total eclipfe of the fun, which happened as they were march A. D. 1706 ing off, and completed the confufion of the fuperftitious Spaniards 56.

WHILE Philip V. was returning in disgrace to his capital, with his broken and ruined army, the English and Portuguese, having entered Eftramadura with forty thousand men, under the command of the earl of Galway, and the marquis de las Minas, made themselves master of Alcantara, Cividad Roderigo, Salamanca, and the port of Efpinar. And the duke of Berwick, who was again appointed to the chief command in Spain, being too weak to obftruct their progrefs, they directed their march, and penetrated, without refiftance, to Madrid. Philip was obliged to remove, with his court, to Burgos: and the English and Portuguese, on the fame day that they entered his capital in triumph, received intelligence, that the count de Santa Cruz had delivered Carthagena and. the gallies into their hands.

THE archduke was proclaimed king of Spain, under the name of Charles III. and had he advanced imme. diately to the feat of power, the Spanish crown would have been transferred for ever from the houfe of Bourbon. But he loitered unaccountably in the neigh bourhood of Barcelona, while the English and Portuguefe diffolved in floth and debauchery at Madrid. In the mean time, Philip V. having collected a fuperior army, Galway and las Minas were forced to quit that city. The duke of Berwick hung close on their

55. Mem. de Noailles, tom. ii. Burnet, book vii. Duke of Berawick's Mım, vol, i. 56. Burnet, ubi fup.

rear,

PART II.

A, D. 1706.

rear, and gained fome advantages over them; yet they, having effected a junction with the earl of Peterborough and the archduke, paffed fafely into the kingdom of Valencia, and difpofed their quarters in fuch a manner as to cover the kingdoms of Arragon and Catalonia, and preserve, at the fame time, a free entrance into Caftile. Carthagena, however, was retaken before the clofe of the campaign. But that lofs was more than balanced by the acquifition of the islands of Majorca and Ivica, which the English fleet, under Sir John Leake, fubjected to the dominion of Charles III $7.

DURING these important transactions in the South and Weft of Europe, the affairs of the North and Eaft had undergone a confiderable change. The progrefs of that revolution it must now be our business to trace; as it began, about this time, to threaten the confederates by its confequences.

CHARLES XII. of Sweden, agreeable to that refolution which he had formed of dethroning the king of Poland, by means of the difcontents of his own fubjects, entered into a fecret correspondence with Rajoufky, the cardinal-primate, who was active in roufing the jealousy of the nobles; so that Augustus II. found, on calling a diet, which broke up in a tumultuous manner, in February 1702, that the malecontents composed the majority of that affembly. The fenate was not more loyally difpofed. Willing, therefore, to humble himself before the Swedish monarch, ra ther than fubmit to the infolent demands of his factious subjects, Augustus attempted fecretly to treat

57. Mem. de Noailles, tom. ii. Burnet, book vii. Duke of Beramisk's Mem. vol. i.

with that prince. But Charles, fufpecting his defign,

and ftill burning with revenge, obftinately refused

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to fee the countefs of Koningsmark, a Swedish lady, A.D. 1706. who was intrusted with the negociation, while he received with the highest marks of respect an embally from the fenate. He affured the deputies, that he took arms against Auguftus and the Saxons, not against the Poles, whom he should ever esteem his friends and allies. But instead of agreeing to a conference, as they propofed, he only told them bluntly, that he would confer with them at Warfaw $3.

CHARLES accordingly marched toward that capital, which opened its gates to him on the first fummons. The Polish nobility had chiefly retired to their country feats, and the king to Cracow. While Auguftus was there affembling his forces, the cardinal-primate, whofe treachery was yet undifcovered, appeared among the few perfons of diftinction who ftill adhered to their fovereign, and intimated to him, that the king of Sweden was believed to be very well inclined to liften to terms of accommodation. And he humbly begged leave to wait on the terrible warrior for that purpose. His infidious offer was accepted, and he and count Leczinski had an audience of Charles in the neighbourhood of Warfaw. They found the Swedish monarch clad in a coat of coarfe blue cloth, with brafs buttons, large jack-boots,. and buck-fkin gloves that reached to his elbows. After they had talked together standing, for about a quarter of an hour, Charles put an end to the conference, by faying aloud, "I will never grant the "Poles peace, till they have elected a new king 59 !” The primate, who expected fuch a declaration, ordered

58. Voltaire, Hiftory of Charles XII. VOL. IV.

59. Id. ibid.

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it