876 Geo. I. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English, Book VI.

1718. The four and twentieth, Sir George-Arrives at arrived, with the Fleet under his Com-Cadiz. mand, in the Bay of Cadiz, and, thenext Day, sent his Secretary, with Dis-patches for Colonel Stanhope, His Ma-Sends Us jerry’s Bnvoy at Madrid. He arrivedSecretary to there, the thirtieth, and finding thatMadrid, rFL Envoy was gone that Morning tothe Efcurial, where the Spanish Courtthen was, he went directly thither withhis Dispatches; And the Briti/h Envoydelivered to His Catholick Majesty aLetter from Sir George Byng, ( 7 /) im-Sub stance of porting, in Substance ; That, as the Kinghis Message- of Great Britain was Guarantee of thePeace of Italy, he could not but maintainthe fame, and therefore His Admi-ral had Orders to a Si againji those,who should go about to violate it. Colo*nel Stanhope made the fame Declarationby Word of Mouth, to which the Courtof Spain made but a short Answer, viz.That the Admiral might follow his Or-ders. (t?)

With this Answer, he returned to theBritish Fleet, which came to an An-chor, the thirtieth, at Cape Molinos,within two Leagues of Malaga, to takein fresh Water, and, two Days after,put to Sea again. But being becalmed,

Answer ofthe SpanishCourt.

The Fleetarrives atPortMa-hon j

near a whole Week, it was the twelfthof July, before they arrived at Port-Mahon.

(/)The twenty-first, late at Night,

Sir George came to Anchor, in the a *Port of Naples 5 And, the next Morn- ^ing, went on Shoar, attended by seve-ral Officers, At his landing, he was sa-luted with a Discharge of all the Artil-lery of the Cafe ; And was received bythe German Vice-roy, with all Marks ofEsteem and Distinction, and had a Con-ference with him. (g)

PIis Imperial Majesty had no soonerreceived Advice of the Invasion of Sicily, Sails for tA"than he sent Orders to the Vice-roy of Clly ' •Naples, to give all possible Assistance tothe King Sicily'$ Troops in that Island.Accordingly, two Thousand Men wereimmediately embark’d, under the Com-mand of General JVetzel, for reinforc-ing the Garrisons of the Citadel andFort of Mejfina ; And, that the Trans-ports might go safe, Sir George causedthe Fleet to unmoor, the five and twen-tieth, in Order to proceed, that Night,to Sea, and secure their Pa stage. Thenine and twentieth, at Night, Sir George Arrives offcame off of the Point of Mejfina, and sentCaptain Saunders ashoar with a Letter

to

Treaty was signed in July, in London, and theStates General, afterwards acceeding to it, wascalled the Quadruple Alliance. The design of thisTreaty was to settle the Conditions of a solidPeace, between His Imperial Majesty and theKing of Spain , and between the Kings of Spainand Sicily And the main End of it seems to be,,to leave no Subterfuge for the eluding, hereafter,the Effect of the Renunciation of His CatholickMajesty to the Crown of France , under Pretence,that the Emperour reserves His Pretensions to theMonarchy of Spain, by prevailing with His Im-perial Majesty to subcribe thereto. Great Endea-vours were used, before the signing of this Treaty ,to dispose the King of Spain to accept the Condi-tions therein settled, and to enter into it jointlywith the other contracting Parties; But those En-deavours proving ineffectual was the Occasion ofthis Squadron being sent to the Mediterranean.

{d) I desire (were Sir George’s Words to Col.Stanhope) you will give me Leave, by you, to ac-quaint His Catholick Majesty of my Arrival, withthe Fleet, in the Mediterranean, and that lam In-structed, in the King my Master’s Name, to pro-mote all Measures that may contribute to the Com-posing all Differences that have arisen betweenHis Catholick Majesty and the Emperour.

But if His Catholick Majesty shall not please toaccept of the Mediation of our Master, nor Hisfriendly Officers, but continues in the Resolution,that His Troops shall attack the Emperour ’s Ter-ritories, in Italy, I must then. acquaint you, Sir,That, in such Case, I am commanded, by the Kingour Master, to use all the Power of His Fleet, andForces, with me, to maintain (as much as is possi-

ble for me to do) the Neutrality of Italy, and de-fend the Emperour’& Territories therein, by oppos-ing all Force that shall endeavour to attack him inhis Dominions there.

(e) The Spaniards had already violated thatPeace, not only by seizing Sardinia, as I have ob-served above ; But, on the second of July, N. 8.(and consequently before this Declaration) theSpanifi Fleet came to Palermo, in Sicily, where theForces, under the Command of the Marquis deLede, landed without any Opposition, and tookPossession of that Town, for the King of Spain,who suspecting, that the Duke of Savoy , as Kingof Sicily , was treating with the Emperour, to deli-ver that Island into His Hands, was resolved tobe before-hand with him-

(/) They immediately put on Shoar the Regi-ments they had on Board to exchange that Garri-son, and as those, whose Room they were to sup-ply, had Notice to be ready to embark (the Ad-miral having sent a Frigat before, for that Purpose)the Fkuit put to Sea again, two Days after, and fail-ed towards Naples-

(g) He presented him with a Sword set withDiamonds, and a very rich Staff of Command ; Andto the Admirals Son he made a present of a veryfine Sword. After the Conference, the Admiralwas splendidly entertained at Dinner, and then .lodged in the Palace of the Duke de Mateloneiwhich had been Magnificently fitted up for hi®Reception. The Viceroy likewise sent Refresh-ments to the Fleet, consisting of a Hundred Oxen,three Hundred Sheep, fix Hundred Pounds of Su-gar, seventy Hogsheads of Wine, forty Hogsheadsof Brandy, and several other Things.