The New Hampshire Gazette

In several of our last Papers having given a general Account of the Kingdom of Spain, &c. some of the most remarkable Revolutions thereof, may not be disagreeable, as we are now at the beginning of the War with that Nation; and as we have made a good Beginning, doubt not we shall be able to give our Readers Accounts of the Reduction of some more of their strong Holds, as the Old English Spirit seems to be revived.

Spain was divided into many Kingdoms and Principalities; as it was recovered from the Moors, every General almost set up for a Sovereign with the Consent of the People, to whom they granted great Privileges; nothing of Importance was transacted in the State without the Consent of their respective Cortes or Parliaments; but Charles V. the most powerful Sovereign of that Age, partly by Places and Pensions, and creating Divisions among their Chiefs, and partly by Force, induced the several Cortes to part with their Privileges, and Spain has ever since been an absolute Monarchy.

The Spaniards renewed the War with the Dutch, Anno 1622, which continued until the Year 1648, when the Dutch were acknowledged Independent States at the Treaty of Westphalia.

In the mean Time the Catalans revolted to the French, Anno 1640. And in the same Year Portugal revolted. John IV. Duke of Braganza, having found Means to expel the Spaniards and ascend that Throne.

Naples was almost lost in the Year 1647, Masaniello, a Fisherman, raising an Insurrection on Account of some Duties that were laid on Fish and Fruit, reduced the whole Country to his Obedience; but the Spanish Governor found Means to get him taken off, and Naples was again reduced to the Obedience of Spain.

In the Year 1655, the English invaded the Island of Jamaica in America, and took it from the Spaniards.

And in the Year 1658, the English, with the Assistance of the French, took Dunkirk from Spain.

In the Year 1689, Spain entered into a Confederacy with the Emperor, and Empire, England, Holland, and the Northern Crowns, against France: but the Allies under Prince Waldeck were defeated at Fleurus in 1690, before the English had joined them. Mons was taken by the French 1691, and Namur in 1692; and the Confederates lost the Battle of Steinkirk the same Year, being betrayed by a Domestick of the Duke of Bavaria; for which he was hanged. In May 1692, the English and Dutch Fleets, commanded by Admiral Russell, totally defeated the French under Admiral Tourville, near Cherbourg, 21 of their largest Ships being burnt, sunk and destroyed. In the Year 1693, the French gained the Victory at Landen, took Huy and Charleroy, also Palamos and Girone in Catalonia. In the Year 1695, King William, who commanded the Confederates, retook Namur; the French on the other Hand, took Deynes and Dixmude, and bombarded Bruges, and made 14 Battalions of the Allies Prisoners of War.

The Confederate Fleet, commanded by Sir George Rooke, took Gibraltar on the 11th of July 1704, and on the 13th of August defeated the French Fleet near Malaga.

In the mean Time the Hungarian Malcontents and the Duke of Bavaria, joined by Part of the French Army, greatly distressed the Emperor and Empire. Whereupon the Duke of Marlborough, who commanded the Confederate Forces in Flanders (where he had taken so many Towns, that the Dutch were in no Danger of being surprised in his Absence) marched to the Banks of the Danube, and obtained that memorable Victory at Hochstet in 1704, where the French and Bavarians lost 40,000 Men, Prisoners included: and the Elector of Bavaria being driven out of his Dominions, the Imperialists took Possession of them.

On the 23d of July 1705, King Charles and the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, with a Body of Land Forces, embarked with the Confederate Fleet at Lisbon, commanded by Sir George Rooke, and, landing at Barcelona, attacked and took the Fort of Monjoy, after which the City surrendered to King Charles; but the Prince of Hesse was killed in the Attack of the Fort. The whole Province of Catalonia soon after declared for King Charles, as did the Province of Valencia, on the Earl of Peterborough's marching thither. The next Spring, 1706, King Philip laid Siege to Barcelona, in which King Charles remained; but Philip was obliged by the Earl of Peterborough to raise the Siege, and fly precipitately into France. Whereupon the Allied Army, on the Side of Portugal, marched to Madrid, where they proclaimed King Charles III. and invited him to come and take Possession of that Capital; but the Province of Arragon declaring for King Charles at the same Time, he marched thither, where he spent so much Time, that King Philip returned from France with a powerful Army, and obliged the Allies to retire from Madrid.

The French having taken every Town of the Duke of Savoy's, except Turin, laid Siege to that Capital; whereupon Prince Eugene having joined the Duke, attacked the French, who were commanded by the Duke of Orleans, in their Trenches before Turin, and gained a most compleat Victory, September 7, 1706. And the French were soon after compelled to evacuate Savoy, Piedmont, Milan, and all the North of Italy.

The Queen of Spain, Maria Louisa, Daughter of the Duke of Savoy, dying in the Year 1714, the King the same Year married the Princess Elizabeth, Daughter of the Duke of Parma; which Match being negotiated by Alberoni an Italian Ecclesiastic, the Queen procured a Cardinal's Cap for him, and by her Influence he soon after became Prime Minister in the Spanish Court.

And the Venetians being attacked by the Turks in the Year 1715, the Cardinal, at the Instance of the Pope, sent a Squadron of Men of War to their Assistance, which saved the Island of Corfu, but the Venetians lost all the Morea.

The Spaniards having now increased their Navy, and being uneasy at the dismembering their Monarchy, Cardinal Alberoni, on Pretence that the Emperor had forfeited his Right to the Spanish Dominions in Italy, by not delivering up Catalonia and the Island of Majorca to King Philip, invaded and subdued the Island of Sardinia in 1717; and the next Year invaded Sicily, and reduced the greatest Part of that Island: Whereupon the Emperor, Great Britain, France, and Holland, entered into a Confederacy against Spain, which was called the Quadruple Alliance; and the English Admiral, Sir George Byng, was sent into the Mediterranean with a strong Squadron, to prevent the entire Loss of that Island. The Admiral coming up with the Spanish Fleet in the Strait of Messina, July 1718, took eleven and burnt six of their Men of War. He also transported a Body of Germans to Sicily, to oppose the Spanish General the Marquis De Lede: and several smart Engagements happened there between the Germans and the Spaniards.

[Present State of Spain.] The Spaniards have parted with almost all their European Dominions out of Spain, particularly Burgundy, and the Netherlands, Milanese, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia: but as the Princes of the House of Bourbon possess France, Spain, the Sicilies, and Parma, the Interests of Spain and France seem to be so firmly united, that they will probably join against any other Power in Europe, whenever either of them are attacked: I look upon Spain therefore, to be much more formidable at present, than it was before the Duke of Anjou mounted that Throne. We find France took this Kingdom under its Protection in the last War, and, thus united, they appeared an Overmatch for all the Allies at Land, though they were no Match for England alone at Sea. And as France is the great Support of Spain, no Doubt they will make the French some Return, by favouring their Traffick with Spanish America. Alliances are never more firmly established, than when it is the Interest of both the contracting Parties to observe the Terms they have agreed on.

Nor is the Alliance of France the only Benefit arising from Spain's having a Prince of French Extraction on the Throne. The Court of Spain have considerably improved their Revenues, and increased their Forces by Sea and Land; since that Event, the People are encouraged to apply themselves to Manufactures and Husbandry, and to shake off that idle and heavy Disposition, which had rendered them so contemptible in the Eyes of other Nations; and they may probably, in a few Years, make a more considerable Figure in Europe, than they did under their Native Princes; and it is not at all improbable, that Spain should on some Pretence or other, hereafter add Portugal to her Dominions again, since France will scarce ever make a Diversion in Favour of that Kingdom, as it used to do, when Portugal was invaded by Spain: No Nation beside France can protect Portugal against Spain, except Britain with its Fleet;
and should Portugal be reduced by the Spaniards, it will probably greatly affect the British Traffic. From the Junction of the Spanish and French Fleets, which are now increasing, we have a great deal to apprehend. I should have remembered, that the Spaniards are still Masters of Oran, Ceuta, and some other places in Africa, and are perpetually at War with the Algerines, and the rest of the Powers on the Coast of Barbary, which make frequent Descents on the Coast of Spain, and carry whole Villages into Captivity, as well as plunder all the defenceless Ships they meet with at Sea of that Nation.