sentation to the queen, by whom Mr. Molesworth BOOK VI. was, to the disgrace of the present advisers of the 1713. crown, removed from the privy council.

The proceedings of the Irish parliament being extremely disliked by the English ministers, the duke of Shrewsbury received orders to prorogue them, and they were suffered to meet no more during this reign. The lord lieutenant himself began to be very uneasy at his present situation, where he now found himself little better than a state pageant. He knew the queen's health to be extremely impaired; and, having certain measures to keep, and views to answer, he desired and obtained leave to return to England: the lord chancellor Phipps, the primate Lindsey, and the archbishop of Tuam, being in his absence appointed lords justices of the kingdom.

Europe.

When the treaty of Utrecht was signed, count State of Zinzendorf, ambassador from the court of Vienna, declared the resolution of the emperor to carry on the war, and hazard all rather than submit to the prescribed conditions. But in the following summer, A. D. 1713, M. Villars entered Germany with a prodigious army, consisting of 200 battalions and 300 squadrons. And prince Eugene, who commanded a very inferior force, remaining reluctantly inactive within the lines of Etlingen, while the French captured the cities of Landau and Friburgh, the imperial pride began to listen

Baden.

BOOK VI. seriously to the overtures of France; and the two 1713. generals being constituted plenipotentiaries, a Treaty of treaty was towards the close of the year set on foot at Rastadt, and articles of peace finally sigred at Baden, March 1714; conformably to which, Naples, Milan, Sardinia, and the Low Countries, were ceded to the house of Austria. The evacuation of Catalonia was agreed to, and a suspension of arms with Spain; but Charles refused to recognise the title of his rival, king Philip and the important fortresses of Landau, Strasburg and New Brisac, which the emperor might have secured by acceding to the terms formerly offered, now remained with France, with the sovereignty of the province of Alsace. Soon after this were exchanged the ratifications of the treaty between Great Britain and Spain; by which it was stipulated, that the commerce of the two nations should be replaced on its former basis, as in the reign of the late king Charles II.; that the Assiento contract for supplying the Spanish colonies with negroes should be granted to England for the term of thirty years; that no part of the Spanish West Indies should ever be alienated from the crown of Spain to France or any other nation. Gibraltar and Minorca were ceded for ever to England: Sicily was yielded to the duke of Savoy, but to revert to Spain in case of a failure of the line of Savoy.

Catalans.

The Catalans, who, on the most solemn assur- BOOK VI. ances of friendship and protection from Eng- 1713 land, had engaged with the utmost zeal, and had Case of the persevered with the most unshaken fidelity, in the cause of the archduke Charles, were merely to receive a pardon on submission, and to enjoy, in the treacherous words of the conventional treaty, "the privileges of the king's best-beloved subjects, the inhabitants of the Castiles." These privileges consisted only in some commercial advantages; in return for which they were to be divested of their constitutional liberties, which they prized as far dearer to them than their lives. In pursuance of the agreement entered into by their imperial and catholic majesties, count Staremberg did in fact deliver up Terragona and Ostalric, and in the month of December 1713 embarked at Barcelona with his troops. The people of that great city, the most rich and flourishing in Spain, resolved nevertheless to defend themselves to the last extremity, unless they were assured of freedom and security. The blockade of Barcelona was forthwith commenced, and the duke of Berwick arrived in June 1714 from France, to invest the place in due form. The court of Madrid, incensed at the obstinate resistance of the Catalans, talked of nothing but sackings and executions; and sent express orders to M. Berwick, not to receive them on any other terms, after the batteries

1713.

fence of

BOOK VI. were once begun, than those of submitting at discretion: "for the Spanish ministers never spoke," as M. Berwick assures us, "but of the grandeur of the monarch and the justice of his cause. All those who had revolted were to be put to the sword; all those who did not take part against his competitor were to be treated as enemies; while those who assisted him were supposed Heroic de- merely to have done their duty." Had more moBarcelona. derate language been used, Barcelona would, as he affirms, have capitulated immediately after the departure of the imperialists: but the barbarous policy adopted by the court of Madrid made them furious and desperate*. Appealing to Heaven, and hanging up at the high altar of their cathedral the queen of England's solemn declaration to protect them, they defended themselves with incredible resolution, till seven breaches were made in the body of the place; their provision also being almost wholly consumed, while no possibility remained of receiving succours. In this state a formal summons was sent by M. Berwick previous to a general assault; to which M. Villaroel, the governor, replied, that he would assemble the councils to deliberate upon it. A final answer was in a short time returned by an officer to M. d'Asfield, deputed for that purpose by the

* M. Berwick's Memoirs, vol. ii, p. 158.

duke of Berwick, "that the people of Barcelona BOOK VI. would listen to no proposal whatever for the sur- 1713. render of the place;" the citizen-officer adding

of himself, Vuestra excellentia quiere algo mas? Does your excellency desire any thing more?" M. Berwick, astonished and grieved, then ordered the assault (September 13, 1714); and after prodigies of valor on the part of the besieged, the city was carried sword in hand with dreadful slaughter: but, by the good conduct and vigilant efforts of the commander, the houses of the inhabitants were preserved from plunder, and the excesses of the soldiery effectually restrained. According to the acknowledgment of the duke of Berwick, the loss of the besieging army did not amount to less than ten thousand men. On the surrender of the city, the ancient and popular form of government was immediately abolished, and many examples of severity made; though the sanguinary and remorseless revenge of the court was sensibly mitigated by the wisdom and humanity of the hero who achieved the con quest a conquest honorable indeed to himself, but most disgraceful to Spain, as yet fast bound in the chains of political and intellectual thraldom; but which, at the appointed period awaking from its slumber, shall undoubtedly arise to its lofty destiny.

The war in the north of Europe still continu