David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ The Portuguese were afraid that Barcelona would be recaptured by the French, and allow the enemy to oppose them at Madrid. Lord Galway replied that at the worst there would be time for a safe retreat, after having won both glory and booty. The Portuguese having indicated that they might advance if good news came from Barcelona, Lord Galway remained with them. A party, who were for laying aside all thoughts of occupying Madrid, proposed to besiege Badajoz. A majority were willing to attack Ciudad-Rodrigo. That town being on the route to the capital, Lord Galway sided with the majority. ”

“ It is to be hoped there will be no Spaniards of reputation that will not make use of so favourable an occasion of having the honour to free their country from a slavery truly ignominious, and of gaining the peculiar esteem of their lawful monarch, King Charles III.
“Dated at Alcantara, April 20, 1706.”
Lord Galway, supported by the King of Portugal, determined to march to Madrid immediately. In this determination he had expected the Portuguese generals loyally to persevere. ”

“ Our Noble Allies [the Portuguese] have been very humoursome ever since the taking of Rodrigo, and have been for going back several times. The last time they proposed it was two days ago, when we were within three leagues of Madrid; and their only quarrel was that K. Charles had writ a letter to my Lord Galway, and none to the Marquis das Minas, and in the superscription called him The General Commanding the Army, which (they urged) was not only a slight but a reflection on the Portuguese generals. ”

“ He daily makes new difficulties and doubts, and expresses much unwillingness to go on. I give my lord ambassador notice of it, that he may get the king’s positive orders repeated to him, which I hope he may receive at Placentia, to which place I reckon I may persuade him to march, though not without difficulty.”
The confederate army halted at Placentia on April 28th, a fortnight before the relief of Barcelona, and about a month before the intelligence arrived. Lord Galway still insisted on marching to Madrid. ”

“ With the utmost cordiality, King Pedro consented to the march to Madrid. On the 26th of March the allied army set out for Alcantara, under the command of the Portuguese General, the Marquis das Minas. The enemy, under the Duke of Berwick, having thrown ten regiments of foot into Badajoz, marched with 4000 cavalry and seven regiments of infantry, and with the latter reinforced the garrison of Alcantara. ”

“ He heartily engaged in King William’s service, and has been ever since employed in many eminent posts, in all which he has acquitted himself with that great reputation both for capacity, integrity, courage, and application, as well as success in most of his undertakings, that he is justly reckoned among the great men of the age ”

“ And the news they tell us this evening is, that Seville has certainly declared for us, and the garrison of Pampelona has murdered a great many of the French and turned the rest out of the gates. We hope to have the king with us in eight or ten days.”
Lord Galway sent his aide-de-camp, Captain Montague, nephew of Lord Halifax, to England with despatches. His fame had now reached the highest point which the discordant elements of a confederate army would allow. ”

“ Another is mentioned by Burnet, who, after saying that “his life was in great danger,” adds, “the miscarriage of the design [against Badajoz] heightened the fever that followed his wound, by the vexation that it gave him.” ”