The Spanish trenches were opened on the 12th of July; on the 3.0th a lodgement was made in the covert way; and by the 12th of August, breaches were effect ed in two of the bastions. After a struggle of three days, the assailants obtained a footing upon the ram part; and, while arrangements were making for a ge neral assault, the Duke of Berwick, anxious to prevent a farther effusion of blood in this unnatural contest, and to save the city from the horrors of a storm, re peated the offers of a general amnesty. His compas sionate efforts were treated with contumely, and serv ed only to add fuel to their enthusiasm. The signal for the assault was given on the morning of the !I th of September, " Fifty battalions of grenadiers," says Coxe, "commenced the dreadful work, and were sup ported by forty others. The French attacked the eastern bastion, the Spaniards that of St. Clara and the new gate. The resistance was obstinate even to ferocity. Cannon loaded with grape made the most dreadful carnage in the breaches. \Vithout being able to advance a single step, the assailants perished by hundreds. Fresh troops incessantly arriving, at length overpowered the weaker number of the besieg ed. The French and Spanish columns mounted the breaches at the same instant, and the French pushed forward into the town. But here the conflict really commenced. Every street was intersected with bar ricades; every inch of ground was purchased with the sacrifice of lives. Unprovided with means to force the barricades, or fill up the ditches, the assailants were swept away by an incessant fire from every house. At length all obstructions were overcome by torrents of blood. In the heat of the combat, the victors spared not; the Catalans, lavish of lire, demanded no quarter. When they were driven into the great square, the assailants deemed the conflict at an end, and dis persed for pillage. But the insurgents, profiting by the moment, returned to the charge; the assailants were driven back to the breach, and would have been again precipitated into the ditch, had they not been rallied by the bravery and exertions of their officers. Again the combat raged with aggravated fury, for the Spanish column, which had penetrated by the other breach, was driven back as the French retreated. Numbers and bravery at length vanquished all resist ance. The Spaniards turned their own cannon against them, and additional artillery was brought up to the breach. Yet, though thrown into disorder, they did not cease to combat. The assailants, galled with a continual and terrible fire, by a desperate effort forced the bastion of St. Peter, where the besieged made their principal stand, and turned its artillery against them. In this crisis, the chiefs led them to a new charge, but were repulsed, and Villaroel desperately wounded. Though discouraged by the misfortune of the commander, the besieged still maintained the struggle for twelA e hours, in every quarter of the town; and there was scarcely an inhabitant of any age, sex, or condition, who did not share in the de fence. The history of this century does not furnish an example of' a siege so long and bloody. The women at length retired into the convents; the populace, vanquished and straitened on every side, and unable to defend themselves, did not demand quarter; and the French massacred all without distinction. At this moment, some individuals raised a white standard; and Berwick seized the opportunity to suspend the carnage, ordering the troops to maintain their posts, till he had heard the proposals of surrender. But a sudden cry of "kill and burn" bursting from the ranks, revived the fury of the troops; the streets were again deluged with blood, and the authority of Ber wick himself scarcely sufficed to arrest the disorder. Night arrived, and with it new horrors; for in the short interval of suspense, the inhabitants resumed their arms, and again poured a destructive fire from the houses. Deputies at length advanced to the breach to parley with Marshal. Berwick, but required a gen eral pardon, and the restoration of their privileges_ The marshal contemptuously rejected the demand, and threatened to give no quarter, if they did not surren der before morning. Ilis answer inflamed the spirit of the insurgents; and the combat raged with re doubled fury, a storm of lire pouring upon the assail ants from the houses, which, by order of the marshal, had been respited rrom destruction. This night was one of the most horrible that imagination can form. The marshal ordered the dead and wounded to be removed, kept the troops tinder arms, and prepared to reduce the town to ashes. Day broke, and not withstanding the obstinacy of the insurgents, he granted a delay of six hours. This concession pro ducing no effect, the houses were set on fire. Apprised of their danger by the burst of the flames, the insur gents once more hoisted a flag of truce. The fire was extinguished, the deputies of the magistracy yielded the town without condition, and the offers of Berwick procured the immediate surrender of Montjuich and Cardona.
The lives and property of the inhabitants were spared; but twenty of the chiefs, among whom were Villaroel, Armengol, the Marquis of Peral, and Nebot, were consigned to perpetual imprisonment in the cas tle of and the bishop of Albaracin, with two hundred ecclesiastics, banished to Italy. Of the rest, the inferior officers were dismissed on taking the oath of allegiance. The standards of the town were publicly burnt, the privileges of the province annulled, and a new government established, accord ing to the constitution of Castile.
Thus ended a conflict which recalls to recollection the fate of the ancient Numantia and Saguntum, and in recent times finds a parallel in the immortal defence of Saragossa. The royalists purchased their victory with the loss of no less than 6,000 men in the siege, and 4,000 in the assault; and the besieged were equally sufferers.
The fate of Barcelona ensured the submission of Majorca; and Philip now reigned undisputed monarch of Spain. The death of the queen, and the marriage of Philip to Elizabeth Farnese, a princess of Parma, was followed by the disgrace of the Princess Orsini, and her French adherents; and the death of Louis XIV. to whose will Spain had hitherto been subser vient, led to the removal of a foreign domination, which gave universal satisfaction to the Spanish peo ple, and produced a temporary tranquillity in the court and kingdom which had long been unknown.
Philip, being now relieved from the control of his grandfather, directed his efforts to the improvement and welfare of his adopted country. The distant branches of the monarchy, which had always been supported at the expense of Spain, and in defence of which she had often lavished her treasure and her population, being lopt off, his attention was confined to the peninsula; and it required only a few years or peace to recruit his resources, and consolidate his power. A hypochondriac malady, however, had weakened his faculties, and had induced such indolent habits, as prevented him from prosecuting his pur pose with any degree of consistency or firmness. He was consequently led by those who at any time were fortunate enough to gain his confidence. The new queen had succeeded to all the power possessed by her predecessor and the Princess Orsini, and by her talents and intrigues, governed her doting husband with such authority, that, without seeming to rule, she was, during the whole of his reign, the actual sovereign of Spain. Her chief guide and confidant in the science of politics was Alberoni, one of her own countrymen, and to whom she principally owed her own elevation. This person, by his talents and address, had raised himself from being the son of a poor gardener at Placentia, to the friendship and con fidence of Vendome, and after the death of that gen eral, became minister from Parma at the court of Madrid. By his discriminating and intriguing spirit, he soon obtained an ascendency over the sovereigns of Spain; and though he held no other public charac ter than that of agent from Parma, he in fact held the reins of the Spanish government.
As the emperor still persisted in retaining the title and assuming the honours attached to the crown of Spain, Philip was anxious for an opportunity of hum bling his rival, and wresting from him his Italian ter ritories, which had been separated from Spain by the treaty of Utrecht. In the prosecution of this scheme, Alberoni endeavoured to obtain the co-operation of Britain, and for this purpose restored to that power all the commercial advantages which it had enjoyed under the former sovereigns of Spain. But profes sions of amity were all that he could obtain in return; and Britain soon after formed with the emperor and France the triple alliance, which had for its object the preservation of public tranquillity, and the confir mation of the possessions in the treaty of Utrecht, concerning the succession to the two crowns. When informed of this treaty, Philip was filled with indig nation, and reproached Alberoni with betraying him; but the wily statesman soothed the irritation of his master with the hope of soon detaching Britain from the alliance; and laboured to protract a rupture until he was better prepared for hostilities. The allies immediately endeavoured to mediate an accommoda tion calculated to satisfy both parties. Philip, how ever, refused to renounce his pretensions in Italy, and hastened his hostile preparations. But, while Albe roni continued to temporize with the allies, the war was accelerated by the arrest of the Spanish ambassador at Rome on his return through Italy by the Austrian governor, who confined him in the castle of Milan, and having seized his papers, transmitted them to Vienna. This insult from such a quarter destroyed all hopes of a reconciliation; and Alberoni, having been raised to the dignity of cardinal, pressed the requisite preparations for an expedition against Sar dinia, which was completely successful, and that island was again added to the crown of Spain. The war, once commenced, required great exertions, and called forth all the energy of Alberoni. The enthu siasm of the nation was awakened by the success of the Spanish arms; and contributions of money and troops were furnished by the different towns and pro vinces. By these means he was enabled to make a successful attack upon Sicily. Palermo submitted, and the restoration of the Spanish government was hailed both by the nobles and the people. But the fur ther progress of the Spanish arms was stopt short by the defeat of the Spanish fleet by Admiral Byng in the hay of Naples. The allies still pressed upon Spain the necessity of an accommodation, and Britain even offered the restoration of Gibraltar provided that her sovereign would accede to the alliance. Philip, however, was inexorable, and declared that he would never lay down his arms until Sicily and Sardinia were ceded to Spain. Three months were allowed for the acceptance of their terms, accom panied with a threat, that any farther delay would be followed by a declaration of war.