PHILIP OBLIGED TO ACCEDE TO THE QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE.

The admiral continued in the Mediterranean until he had seen the islands of Sicily and Sardinia evacuated by the Spaniards, and the mutual cessions executed between the emperor and the duke of Savoy, in consequence of which four battalions of Piedmontese troops were transported from Palermo to Sardinia, and took possession of Cagliari in the name of their master. In a word, admiral Byng bore such a considerable share in this war of Sicily, that the fate of the island depended wholly on his courage, vigilance, and conduct. When he waited on his majesty at Hanover, he met with a very gracious reception. The king told him he had found out the secret of obliging his enemies as well as his friends; for the court of Spain had mentioned him in the most honourable terms, with respect to his candid and friendly deportment in providing transports and other necessaries for the embarkation of their troops, and in protecting them from oppression. He was appointed treasurer of the navy, and rear-admiral of Great Britain: in a little time the king ennobled him, by the title of viscount Torrington: he was declared a privy-counsellor, and afterwards made knight of the bath at the revival of that order. During these occurrences in the Mediterranean, the duke of Berwick advanced with the French army to the frontiers of Spain, where he took Port-Passage and destroyed six ships of war that were on the stocks; then he reduced Fontarabia and St. Sebastian’s, together with Port Antonio in the bottom of the bay of Biscay. In this last exploit the French were assisted by a detachment of English seamen, who burned two large ships unfinished, and a great quantity of naval stores. The king of England, with a view to indemnify himself for the expense of the war, projected the conquest of Corunna in Biscay, and of Peru in South America. Four thousand men, commanded by lord Cobham, were embarked at the Isle of Wight, and sailed on the twenty-first day of September, under convoy of five ships of war conducted by admiral Mighels. Instead of making an attempt upon Corunna, they reduced Vigo with very little difficulty; and Point-a-Vedra submitted without resistance: here they found some brass artillery, small arms, and military stores, with which they returned to England. In the meantime captain Johnson, with two English ships of war, destroyed the same number of Spanish ships in the port of Ribadeo, to the eastward of Cape Ortegas, so that the naval power of Spain was totally ruined. The expedition to the West Indies was prevented by the peace. Spain being oppressed on all sides, and utterly exhausted, Philip saw the necessity of a speedy pacification. He now perceived the madness of Alberoni’s ambitious projects. That minister was personally disagreeable to the emperor, the king of England, and the regent of France, who had declared they would hearken to no proposals while he should continue in office: the Spanish monarch, therefore, divested him of his employment, and ordered him to quit the kingdom in three weeks. The marquis de Beretti Landi, minister from the court of Madrid at the Hague, delivered a plan of pacification to the states; hat it was rejected by the allies; and Philip was obliged at last to accede to the quadruple alliance.