Both parties prepared, with increased exertions, to renew the struggle in the peninsula. The Duke of Orleans was despatched from France, with a consi derable force, to take the command of the Spanish army; and the allied army in Portugal was reinforced by 12,000 men. But before the arrival of these suc cours, the fate of the campaign was decided by the battle of Almanza. The Earl of Galway, anxious to anticipate the expected supplies, attacked the Duke of Berwick in his quarters with 30,000 men; but that general, having hastily united his forces, took post in the plain of Almanza; and after a long and well contested action, the allies we, t routed with great slaughter, insomuch, that on their arrival at Tortosa, their forces scarcely amounted to 5000, of whom only 800 were infantry. The Duke of Orleans joined the army on the following day, and made such a rapid improvement of the victory, that in less than a month he recovered all Aragon and Valencia, and closed the campaign with the capture of Lerida in Catalonia. The joy for these successes at the court of Philip was heightened by the birth of a prince, who was named Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias.
The kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia, which had always been forward in embracing the cause of Charles, were made to atone, in some measure, for their rebellion. In Aragon, the city of Saragossa alone was obliged to pay 45,000 pistoles, and the rest of the kingdom 90,000. The ancient rights and privi leges of both kingdoms were abolished, and they were in future to be ruled by the same laws and customs as Castile.
The allies, notwithstanding their severe reverses, were no way backward in prosecuting the contest. The army in Catalonia was strengthened by the arri val of Count Staremberg with a body of imperial troops, and by additional reinforcements from England. But even these would not admit of any offensive ope rations. They were barely sufficient to fill the vacan cies occasioned by the late disasters; and, after de taching a corps to the northern frontier, the Count found them too weak to cope with the victorious army of Philip. On the other hand, however, the plans of conquest formed by the Duke of Orleans were thwart ed by the exhausted state of the Spanish treasury. France was able to afford but a scanty supply; and the arrival of the American fleet was anxiously look ed for to make up the deficiency. But while in this emergency, intelligence arrived that seventeen gal leons had been intercepted by the British squadron off Carthagena, when three of the richest were taken or destroyed, and the rest dispersed. The only fruit of the campaign, therefore, was the capture of Tor tosa. The duke then returned to Madrid; but owing to some suspicions of his having a design upon the crown of Spain, he was recalled to Paris.
The repeated reverses of the French monarch con strained hint to think seriously of an end to the war. The battle of Oudenarde, and the conse quent capture of Lisle, had opened a road to the very gates of his capital; and the alarms and discontents of his subjects were heightened by the pressure of fa mine and pestilence. In these circumstances, peace
seemed to be the only alternative; but the demands of the allies were so degrading and dictatorial, that he rejected them with indignation. They insisted, as the basis of a treaty, that the whole Spanish monar chy should be restored to the house of Austria, and that Louis should assist in compelling his grandson to abandon his crown. He, therefore, appealed to the loyalty and honour of his people to preserve him from such an unnatural and degrading condition. IIostili ties were continued, but he intimated to Philip his inability, from the distressed state of his own king dom, to furnish the requisite assistance for maintain ing. him upon the throne.
In this trying situation, Philip, at the instigation of the Princess Orsini, convened the chief ministers and grandees; and having stated to them the exorbitant pretensions of the allies, the withdrawing of the French troops, and his firm resolution to die in de fence of his crown, he appealed to their zeal and af fection, and demanded from them assistance and coun sel. A burst of enthusiasm broke from the assembly, and they protested, "that duty and affection, no less than allegiance, bound them to maintain the sove reign on his throne." They, however, recommend ed the immediate dismission of all the French, and the establishment of an administration entirely Span ish, at the head of which was placed the Duke of Medina Celi, who had always been strenuous in his opposition to foreign influence. The enthusiasm of the nobles spread through the nation. Levies of men, and contributions of money and plate, were poured in from all quarters; the clergy also lavished their trea sures in the cause, and the people every where flock ed to the royal standard. Spain, however, when left to herself, notwithstanding the reviving loyalty of her inhabitants, was too much exhausted to furnish adequate resources for the impending struggle. Phi lip was still directed by the court of Versailles; for although he avowed his determination of throwing himself into the arms of his Spanish subjects, he ne ver gave his confidence to his Spanish ministers, who soon began to discover that the pretended separation from France was merely an affected expedient to sti mulate the zeal of the nation. The preparations for the ensuing campaign were not therefore made with that vigour which the emergency required. The sys tem of finance, which had been planned and rendered efficient under the vigorous control of the French am bassador, became unproductive and even injurious under the unskilinl and negligent management of the new ministers; and it soon appeared, that the affairs of the government could not be conducted by them with that energy which was necessary. Some suspicions al so falling upon the Duke of Medina Celi, he was sud denly arrested and committed to the castle of Segovia; but his offence was never publicly investigated, and his death, which happened soon after, left this transac tion involved in mystery. His successor Ronquillo, upon coming into office, engaged to supply the defi ciency of the treasury and the wants of the army.