Military Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton. Defoe Daniel

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СКАЧАТЬ and loud Acclamations of Viva Carlos tercero, Viva. There were no regular Troops in any of the Places round about it, or in the City it self. The nearest were those few Horse in Madrid, one hundred and fifty Miles distant; nor any Foot nearer than Barcelona, or the Frontiers of Portugal.

      On the contrary, Barcelona is one of the largest and most populous Cities in all Spain, fortify'd with Bastions; one Side thereof is secur'd by the Sea; and the other by a strong Fortification call'd Monjouick. The Place is of so large a Circumference, that thirty thousand Men would scarce suffice to form the Lines of Circumvallation. It once resisted for many Months an Army of that Force; and is almost at the greatest Distance from England of any Place belonging to that Monarchy.

      This short Description of these two Places will appear highly necessary, if it be consider'd, that no Person without it would be able to judge of the Design which the Earl of Peterborow intended to pursue, when he first took the Arch-Duke aboard the Fleet. Nevertheless the Earl now found himself under a Necessity of quitting that noble Design, upon his Receipt of Orders from England, while he lay in the Bay of Altea, to proceed directly to Catalonia; to which the Arch-Duke, as well as many Sea and Land Officers, were most inclin'd; and the Prince of Hesse more than all the rest.

      On receiving those Orders, the Earl of Peterborow seem'd to be of Opinion, that from an Attempt, which he thought under a Probability of Success, he was condemn'd to undertake what was next to an Impossibility of effecting; since nothing appear'd to him so injudicious as an Attempt upon Barcelona. A Place at such a Distance from receiving any Reinforcement or Relief; the only Place in which the Spaniards had a Garrison of regular Forces; and those in Number rather exceeding the Army he was to undertake the Siege with, was enough to cool the Ardour of a Person of less Penetration and Zeal than what the Earl had on all Occasions demonstrated. Whereas if the General, as he intended, had made an immediate March to Madrid, after he had secur'd Valencia, and the Towns adjacent, which were all ready to submit and declare for King Charles; or if otherwise inclin'd, had it not in their Power to make any considerable Resistance; to which, if it be added, that he could have had Mules and Horses immediately provided for him, in what Number he pleas'd, together with Carriages necessary for Artillery, Baggage, and Ammunition; in few Days he could have forc'd King Philip out of Madrid, where he had so little Force to oppose him. And as there was nothing in his Way to prevent or obstruct his marching thither, it is hard to conceive any other Part King Philip could have acted in such an Extremity, than to retire either towards Portugal or Catalonia. In either of which Cases he must have left all the middle Part of Spain open to the Pleasure of the Enemy; who in the mean time would have had it in their Power to prevent any Communication of those Bodies at such opposite Extreams of the Country, as were the Frontiers of Portugal and Barcelona, where only, as I said before, were any regular Troops.

      And on the other Side, as the Forces of the Earl of Peterborow were more than sufficient for an Attempt where there was so little Danger of Opposition; so if their Army on the Frontiers of Portugal should have march'd back upon him into the Country; either the Portugueze Army could have enter'd into Spain without Opposition; or, at worst, supposing the General had been forc'd to retire, his Retreat would have been easy and safe into those Parts of Valencia and Andahzia, which he previously had secur'd. Besides, Gibraltar, the strongest Place in Spain, if not in the whole World, was already in our Possession, and a great Fleet at Hand ready to give Assistance in all Places near the Sea. From all which it is pretty apparent, that in a little time the War on our Side might have been supported without entering the Mediterranean; by which Means all Reinforcements would have been much nearer at Hand, and the Expences of transporting Troops and Ammunition very considerably diminish'd.

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