manners of the veteran warrior and courtier. Under the influence of those impressions he wrote a letter to Queen Anne, to be delivered by his ambassador in London, Dom Ludovico De Conha, who had express orders to repeat viva voce the written assurances of activity and constancy in the alliance, whatever vicissitudes might happen. Nevertheless, Lord Galway could not be sanguine of success. Two influences were at work, which he well understood, namely, the Romish confessional and French money. The priests preached lukewarmness in a contest supported by English and Dutch heretics. Bribery won over many of the King of Portugal’s ministers to recommend inaction, and to prevent combined operations. Then, as to the supplies both of men and material, both Portugal and Spain expected everything to be done for them, while they merely looked on. The Portuguese troops were irregularly paid, and consequently desertions were numerous and incessant. And though no ally but England could be depended on for punctuality in sending promised reinforcements, yet British commanders were kept down as much as possible. Besides this, the Portuguese armies not only retired into quarters in winter, but would not fight in the heat of summer. Then, in the British army, there was a party of malcontent officers, sympathizers with the Earl of Portmore who had expected to be Schomberg’s successor. The Earl of Peterborough, who “prayed for no one but himself,” was also prepared to contribute fault-finding to a literally unlimited extent. Notwithstanding many discouragements, Lord Galway threw his whole mind and soul into his duty.
His old friend, Churchill, now the great Duke of Marlborough, had a uniform respect for his abilities and services, and had a responsible share in appointing him to his new command. Lord Galway received from him the following letter:—
“Camp at Schonefeldt, 10th August 1704. — My Lord, I am very sensibly obliged to you for your kind letter of the 4th past, and do heartily rejoice at the honour Her Majesty has done your lordship in putting you at the head of her troops in Portugal. All that wish well to the public good, I am sure, join very sincerely with me; for, without the assistance of your good conduct and the succours Her Majesty is sending over, all our hopes on that side would soon vanish. I am very sensible the poor Duke of Schomberg has lain under great difficulties by the unaccountable ill-conduct and mismanagement of the Court of Portugal. But we flatter ourselves that your lordship’s prudent care and foresight may soon put everything in a better posture. — I am, with much truth, &c, &c.
“Marlborough.”[1]
It has been lightly alleged that having no relatives, Lord Galway adopted his refugee countrymen as “his children,” and preferred them to British officers in the distribution of his patronage. It was only fair to the refugee officers, who, having been trained in the French service, were generally better officers than those of the English army of that time, that he should give them appointments for which they were qualified, as a conscientious and patriotic English general would have done in the case of his own sons. But the gallant exiles got no more than their fair share. Lord Galway was equally anxious to do justice to meritorious British officers. One of his first acts in Portugal was to give the adjutant-generalship, with the rank of colonel, to George Wade, an officer who, by his subsequent career, and by at length earning the rank of field-marshal, did justice to Lord Galway’s exercise of patronage.
When the army was in winter quarters, information was received that Gibraltar was in danger of being retaken by the enemy, that the garrison under the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt was too small, and especially that there were too few officers. Lord Galway accordingly resolved to send reinforcements, in advance of whom he despatched three officers. Colonel Lundy and Lieut-Colonels Rientore and Darcourt arrived at Gibraltar on the 24th December, having run a race with a French privateer that pursued their ship to the mouth of the Bay. In the spring he sent four foot regiments, and a large supply of ammunition and provisions. The siege was raised, and the enemy’s infantry was entirely ruined. A letter to him from the Duke of Marlborough, dated St. James’s, 25th March 1705, ends thus:— “We hope the succours you have sent with Sir John Leake may come in time to the relief of Gibraltar, and are daily expecting some good news from thence. I heartily wish your lordship a successful campaign, &c.”
Coxe, in his “Life of Marlborough,” relates that in Portugal, in 1705, “the campaign opened with more than usual activity, arising chiefly from Lord Galway, whose spirit seemed to infuse energy into the Portuguese.” The chief command was
- ↑ The “Marlborough Despatches,” edited by Sir George Murray: from this collection the letters from Marlborough to Galway are taken. The letters from Lord Galway to the English Government are (unless otherwise described) taken from Coxe’s “Life of Marlborough.”
