Crap. XXIII. from the I. of James, I. to the Revolution. 491
*625. had Reason to complain of the Wantof Victuals. My Lord Marshal havingbrought the Army to this Extremity,then demanded Advice what to do, ofus that were present about him. Weadvised him to call a Council ; And,because some of the Council were goneback, and that there were besides theGeneral Officers, but three Colonelsthere, to call the Lieutenant-Colonelsto Council; But not until the Morning ;Because it was not well, in the Night,to call both the first: and second chiefOfficers so far from the Troops as hisHouse was.
A Council So, early in the Morning, the five
Cal hd. anc j twentieth of OBober , the Colonelsand the Lieutenant-Colonels assembledthere. My Lord Marshal opened thegreat Disorder the Army was in, anddemanded Advice what to do. (o) Itwas largely debated, whether to go for-wards or return, and generally conclud-ed, that whether my Lord Marjhal in-tended to besiege Cadiz , or not, it wasnot material to go to the Bridge : Bothbecause we had no Materials sufficientto break it down, and if we had, andcould break it, yet that would be noAdvantage to us for Besieging of Cadiz jFor we might, by possessing the Streightof Land, be more secured from anyDanger from the Continent, than bybreaking the Bridge. More Reasonswere declared against the going to theBridge; As that, if we could break it,which was not probable,, yet that was tosmall Purpose, unless we left two orthree Thousand Men to guard it, afterit was broken; Which, if we should,we knew no Means how to victual themthere, neither were they secure, it be-ing possible, that the Enemy might,withGallies, land greater Troops than they,betwixt them and us, and coming onthe Back of them defeat them; And wefar off could not know it, or assist them;Besides, thereby we should much lessenour Army: But besides all this, if it hadbeen for the Advantage of the Serviceto have gone to the Bridge, yet our Ar-my being then in such Disorder, for
(0) It was not my Proposition, to know whatto do when I called a Council. For that is untru-ly mistaken, as much as the Rest was ; For myProposition was, That seing this Disorder of theTroops, which had been that Night, to go to theBridge was of no great Consequence, and whe-ther it was not better to return.
Want of Victuals, and not any to be had 1625.but from our Ships, nor any from thencebut by going back, it was agreed by allto return, but Sir William St. Leger, They resolvewho would not vote at all. This we t0 return todid immediately, with Loss, as we ^eir Ships.think, of about sixty Men, who werestray’d out of the Quarter, and laysomewhere drunk. This Day, we cameback, and quartered by the two Regi-ments of Colonels Burgh and Bruce,which were a Guard upon the Town ofCadiz. This Evening, when the Troopswere quartered in the Field, theCouncil was assembled, on Horsebackwhere what has been said of the lastNights Disorder was mentioned, (/>) andthat the Enemy drew together, and fol-lowed us in great Troops, both Horseand Foot. Some affirm’d those theysaw could be no less than two or threeThousand; And it was assured, thatthose, who had the Guard towards theTown, had seen near a Thousand Men,at one Time, without the Town; Andthat the Gallies came continually to theTown without Hindrance. So it wasthen debated, and most Men inclined,to Ship the next Morning, and, after,to think what to attempt in some otherPlace : Because Cadiz was then thoughtby us all to be too strong to do anyGood on; And so that Council broke up,referring a Resolution ’till next Morning.
The six and twentieth, my LordMarjhal, leaving Colonel Harivood withhis Regiment, to stay with the othertwo of Colonel Burgh, and ColonelBruce, marched, with the Rest of theArmy, back to the Streight of Land,to recover certain Long-boats, whichwe had seen thereabout before, whenwe passed that Way, and returned thatNight to our former Quarter.
The seven and twentieth, early in r „jthe Morning, a Council was called, and led! *we all met at the Fort Puntal, wheremy Lord Marjhal demanded our Opini-ons, whether we thought his Army suf-ficient to besiege the Town of Cadiz ,and whether we would advise him to itor not. ( s) It was considered, our Army6 I consisted
{p) I Remeber no such Thing.
(q) There was no such Thing; For it wasasked on Horseback, and the Night before; Sothat I fee these Things come from one, who Ithink did so little, and understood not much, butwhat was told him.