Cr

hap.

1722.

I jCathe-

U s Fort

“ken.

during the Reign of §iyeen Ann.

k

for several Days; The Plenty of Winefound there, having, as it was said j inJustification of the Officers, render’dthem ungovernable .' (t) Two HundredSpanish Soldiers who made a Feint ofdefending a strong House, surrender’dat Discretion.

The Disappointment of the Nation’sHopes,from this Expedition was certain-ly, in a great Measure owing to thisMismanagement, and Want of Disci-pline, at Port St. Mary's. To fall up-on a People, (says the Author of theLife of Queen Ann) in that Manner,whom they should have treated asFriends, to ravish the Nuns, plunderprivate Houses, and even Churches,was such an effectual Method of provok-ing that bigptted People, that no Suc-cess was to be expected afterwards, butwhat was to be obtained by downrightForce.

The twenty-second, a Party wassent back, under the Command of Co-

17026

lone! Peirce, from Port St. Mar y's t toSt. Catherine's Fort, which surrenderedafter some Opposition. From thisTime,to the seventeenth of September, wasspent in Councils of War, held, some-times of the Flags, and sometimes ofthe General-Ossicers, alone, and, at o-therTimes, of both together; In Repre-sentations and Proposals made from oneto the other; And in Exchanging of \

Letters (u) between the Duke of Or- \mond, the Admiral, and the Prince osHefje, (a tedious Repetition of which, asthey all ended in nothing, could notbut be disagreable to the Reader.) Dur-ing all which Time, nothing was done> j fruitlessbut a fruitless Attempt of Baron Spar's Attempt onon the Mattagorda, an inconsiderable^ J^ attaiFort over against the Puntals, I shall, g ° rtherefore, hasten to a Conclusion ofthis unsuccessful Expedition, to makeWay for a more particular Relation ofan Action, which succeeded it, andwhich ended more to the Advantage of9 E the

i.fife

of

who from Seconds, soon became Principals* andpilfered whatever they could lay Hands on, withmore Eagerness than the others. Nor did thePlundering stop here : For the Officers of theArmy themselves thought it Prudence, to sharethe Sweetness and Prosit of a Misdemeanor,whichthey could not hinder: Nay, some went so far,as to think themselves entitled, by their eminentStations, to engross the greater Part of the Booty.For which Purpose, they set Guards on the Ave-nues, and stopped all the meaner Sort, that werecarrying Goods to the Fleet, with which they sto-red their own Magazines, and afterwards retailedthem for ready Mony. Some Churches fared nobetter than private Houses, being despoiled oftheir most precious Ornaments. Insomuch thatthe Damage done the Enemy was computed atThree Millions Sterling. The Duke of Ormond(who had so strictly forbid Plundering) so highlyresented the Breach of his Commands, that SirHenry Bellasts , and Sir Charles 0 Haro were af-terwards put under Arrest for it-

(t) It has been farther said in Extenuation of theIrregularity committed there, that the Duke ofOrmond having sent a Letter to the Governour ofPort St- Mary’s , he returned a rude and unbecom-ing Answer, in a Paper unsealed, and no Namesubscribed to it, in these Words: Nosctros Espa-noles, no mudamos de Religion , ni de Rey. (WeSpaniards never change either our Religion or ourKing.)

(a) Of all these Letters, I shall only give myReaders a Copy of one, as it, in some Measure,obviates the Clamour made in England , upon theDisappointment of this Expedition, and particu-larly because the City of Cadiz was not bombard-ed, as had been resolved by the Sea- and Land-Officers themselves, in more than one Council ofWar. .

THE Prince of HeJJe being apprehensive thatthe Bombardment of Cadiz would totally alienatethe Spaniards (already sufficiently provoked bythe Plundering of Port St. Mary's) from theConfederates, his Highness sent the followi"^Letter to the Admiral, to diffwade him fromit.

SIR,

AS it is doubtless known to Your Excellency,with what Character from His Imperial Ma-jesty, I have the Honour to accompany this Ex-pedition, and that I am thereby obliged, where Ifind any Appearance against the Emperour’s, myMaster’s, Interest, to represent it to whom it mayconcern, I hope you will pardon this Freedom.The principal Point in View being to endeavour,by all Means, to make the Spaniards espouse, assoon as possible, the Austrian Cause (to which theywould have been easily moved, had it not beenfor the quite opposite Methods used to gainthem, which it is now too late to remedy) andhaving understood, that, by a general Determina-tion of all the Admirals, it is resolved to bom-bard Cadiz , I doubt much, if this may not over-set the Design of our Coming hither, and whetheryour Excellency has duly considered, that, afterthis, the Allies must never try to retrieve whathas been lost by this Campaign, both by Comingtoo late, and ill Management. I, therefore, en-treat Your Excellency, to do me the Honour ofacquainting me with the Reasons which weighedwith You to resolve the Destruction of thisTown,that I may not be answerable to the Emperour,my Master, for not discharging my Duty, input-ting this important Matter, to Your Excellency’sConsideration.

In Answer to this Letter, and a long Memo-rial sent by the Prince to the Admiral before, aCouncil of War did, indeed, resolve, That tho’they had a great Esteem for the Person of thePrinceos Hesse, and all due Respect and Honour to hisQuality, let, not finding his Name so much asmentioned in Sir George Rooker Instructions ,they could have no Regard to his Memorials: Butit is, nevertheless, highly probable, that theseConsiderations, added to a Reflection on the Ir-regularities committed at Port St. Marys, andsome Difficulties which would necessarily have at-tended the Bombardment, made them alter theirResolution.