THE KING OF SARDINIA DECLARES FOR THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA.

The court of Versailles were now heartily tired of maintaining the war in Germany, and had actually made equitable proposals of peace to the queen of Hungary, by whom they were rejected. Thus repulsed, they redoubled their preparations; and endeavoured, by advantageous offers, to detach the king of Sardinia from the interest of the house of Austria. This prince had espoused a sister to the grand duke, who pressed him to declare for her brother, and the queen of Hungary promised to gratify him with some territories in the Milanese; besides, he thought the Spaniards had already gained too much ground in Italy; but, at the same time, he was afraid of being crushed between France and Spain, before he could be properly supported. He therefore temporized, and protracted the negotiation, until he was alarmed at the progress of the Spanish arms in Italy, and fixed in his determination by the subsidies of Great Britain. The Spanish army assembled at Rimini under the duke de Montemar; and being joined by the Neapolitan forces, amounted to sixty thousand men, furnished with a large train of artillery. About the beginning of May, they entered the Bolognese; then the king of Sardinia declaring against them, joined the Austrian army commanded by count Traun; marched into the duchy of Parma; and understanding that the duke of Modena had engaged in a treaty with the Spaniards, dispossessed that prince of his dominions. The duke de Montemar, seeing his army diminished by sickness and desertion, retreated to the kingdom of Naples, and was followed by the king of Sardinia as far-as Rimini.

Here he received intelligence that Don Philip, third son of his catholic majesty, had made an irruption into Savoy with another army of Spaniards, and already taken possession of Chamberri, the capital. He forthwith began his march for Piedmont. Don Philip abandoned Savoy at his approach, and retreating into Dauphiné, took post under the cannon of fort Barreaux. The king pursued him thither, and both armies remained in sight of each other till the month of December, when the marquis de Minas, an active and enterprising general, arrived from Madrid, and took upon him the command of the forces under Don Philip. This general’s first exploit was against the castle of Aspremont, in the neighbourhood of the Sardinian camp. He attacked it so vigorously, that the garrison was obliged to capitulate in four-and-forty hours. The loss of this important post compelled the king to retire into Piedmont, and the Spaniards marched back into Savoy, where they established their winter quarters. In the meantime the duke de Montemar, who directed the other Spanish army, though the duke of Modena was nominal generalissimo, resigned his command to count Gages, who attempted to penetrate into Tuscany; but was prevented by the vigilance of count Traun, the Austrian general. In December he quartered his troops in the Bolognese and Romagna; while the Austrians and Piedmontese were distributed in the Modenese and Parmesan. The pope was passive during the whole campaign; the Venetians maintained their neutrality, and the king of the two Sicilies was overawed by the British fleet in the Mediterranean.

The new ministry in England had sent out admiral Matthews to assume the command of this squadron, which had been for some time conducted by Lestock, an inferior officer, as Haddock had been obliged to resign his commission on account of his ill state of health. Matthews was likewise invested with the character of minister-plenipotentiary to the king of Sardinia and the states of Italy. Immediately after he had taken possession of his command, he ordered captain Norris to destroy five Spanish galleys which had put into the bay of St. Tropez; and this service was effectually performed. In May he detached commodore Rowley, with eight sail, to cruise off the harbour of Toulon; and a great number of merchant ships belonging to the enemy fell into his hands. In August he sent commodore Martin with another squadron into the bay of Naples, to bombard that city, unless his Sicilian majesty would immediately recall his troops, which had joined the Spanish army, and promise to remain neutral during the continuance of the war. Naples was immediately filled with consternation; the king subscribed to these conditions; and the English squadron rejoined the admiral on the road of Hieres, which he had chosen for his winter station. Before this period he had landed some men at St. Remo, in the territories of Genoa, and destroyed the magazines that were erected for the use of the Spanish army. He had likewise ordered two of his cruisers to attack a Spanish ship of the line which lay at anchor in the port of Ajaccio, in the island of Corsica; but the Spanish captain set his men on shore, and blew up his ship, rather than she should fall into the hands of the English.