po % Geo. I. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English, Book yl Ch

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27. Works,on the King’s and Prince’s Lines*and the Land Port; (u) Upon discover-ing of this* the eleventh, early in theMorning, the Governour wrote a Letterto him. (m)

The Conde not desisting from Work-ing, the Governour went on Board SirCharles Wager and communicated theContents of his Letter, and the Answerto it, to him ; And having called aCouncil of War, of all the commandingOfficers of the Regiments there, it wasunanimously agreed, to fire at the Ene-my’s Works. Accordingly, about fourin the Afternoon, a single Cannon, withShot, was fired over their Battery, as aSignal, and no more for an Hour after,that the Conde might have all reasonableNotice j But the Enemy continuing towork, all possible Obstruction was given

(«) Sir Charles , judging, by these Motions,that the Spaniards would very soon begin Hostili-ties, gave Orders to all the Ships to be on theirGuard, and to keep themselves in a constant Rea-diness for Service.

(x) It being my Intention to give no fartherAccount of this Siege, than of those Actions, inwhich our Fleet was concerned, I shall only insertthis Letter with the Conde'% Answer to it, whichwere, as it were, the Prelude to it.

Most Excellent Sir ,

'Perceiving, this Morning, that Your Excel-lency has opened the Trenches, in Order toattack this Place, which I think very contrary toail Treaties between qur Masters, and no Decla-ration of War being yet come to my Knowledge,I give your Excellency Notice, that if you do notimmediately desist, I shall be obliged to take suita-ble Measures.

I fend this by my Secretary, to whom I desireyour Excellency will please to give an Answer. Iam, Csc-

Gibraltar, Feb. 22,(11) 1727.

Jafpar Clayto

To which the Conde de las Torres returned thefollowing Answer :

Sir ,

T Acknowledge Yours, dated the twenty-secondInstant ; And, as to Trenches being opened,for the Attack of the Town of Gibraltar-, I an-swer, that what has been done hitherto is on ourown Ground, fortifying those Places where ourBatteries may be of Service ; With Respect towhich, that Place having no other District, thanthat of its Fortifications, according to the lameTreaties you alledge, you having taken Possessionof the two Towers, within our Jurisdiction, youmay be assured, that if you do not quit them, Iwill act in the same Manner as you intimate : Gi-ving you Notice, that to lay Siege to that Place,there was no Need to form the Attacks so far off,as you will find when Occasion offers. I am, (£c.

The Conde de las Torres.Camp at Gibraltar, Feb. 22, (i 1) 1727.

(y) The Spaniards, in their Account of thisSiege, will not own, that they began to open theirTrenches, till the Night, between the twenty-se

them, by the Fire of Cannon and smallArms, from the Mole-head,M'//L's andPrince’s Batteries. ( y) In the Evening,Sir Charles Wager sent the Durjley-Gs\-ly, and Tpger ,together the Solebay Bomb,which was come in from cruising, roundthe back of the Hill, where he thoughtthey might be of some Service; And theSpaniards having lodged about twoThousand Men, in the Night, near theDevil’s Tower j they were surprized inthe Morning, to find those Ships firinginto their Trenches, upon them, onthat Side. (zj

The next Morning, the Enemy firedfrom a Battery of fourteen Guns, whichthey had erected for that Purpose, atthe Bottom of the Bay, at the BritijhShip. (si) All this Day, the Cannonand Mortars, from His Majesty’s Ships,

cond and twenty-third (that is, between the eleventh and twelfth) and would thereby insinuate’that they did not begin to open their Trenches,'till after we had committed Hostilities, by firingupon them ; But the Falsity of this is too evident;For it was their Opening the Trenches, in theNight, between the tenth and the eleventh, whichoccasioned the Interchange of Letters, betweenColonel Clayton and the Spanijh General, and theHostilities which ensued j And these Hostilities,on our Side, were begun, pursuant to His Maje-sty's Orders, signified to theLieutenant Governour,by his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, in his Letterdated the twentieth of December, of the foregoingYear, in the following Words:

" If it should so happen, that the Spaniards ," in Order to annoy and distress the Garrison," should attempt to raise any Works, where no" such Works were heretofore raised, and at so“ near a Distance as might obstruct His Majesty’s" full and entire Possession of that Place, without" any Impediment, as yielded to him by Treaty," and might render the said Possession uneasy, and" insecure, you are, in that Case, to endeavour to" prevent any such Designs taking Effect.

(z) They cast up a Bank of Sand, to securethemselves, as well as they could ; But, it wasbelieved, the Cannon from the Ships did some Ex-ecution upon them, as well as the small Shot, andShells thrown down upon them from the Rock.

(a) The Portland, which in getting under Saildrove so far to Leewatd, as to be obliged to an-chor near them, only happened to be within theirReach ; They struck her twice, with their Shot;But, being at a Distance, she received no Damage;Upon this the Admiral hoisted a Red Flag, at theMain-top-mast Head. Their Fire was returned bythe Portland, and then she fell more towards theNew Mole. The Spanijh Accounts fay, their Firefrom the Battery obliged the Britijh Ships to re-tire to a farther Distance ; Nor (continue theseAccounts) could the cunning Precaution of theEnglijh, in placing four French Ships in a Line be-fore them, prove of any Advantage to them. Forthey having received Orders from our (the Spa-nip) General to withdraw, hoisted their Coloursand went off. That the Spaniards gave thisWarn-ing to the French is cemin ; But that the FrenchShips were designedly placed to screen ours is notvery probable.

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