The war, though essentially a continuation of the former struggle, was begun, in so far at least as the naval side of it was concerned, in somewhat changed conditions. A grandson of King Louis now sat on the throne of Spain. It was the object of the allies, by whom, however, he had been at first recognised, to compel him to resign. Therefore it was sure that he would be their enemy to the extent of his power. An inevitable consequence of this change was that the allied English and Dutch fleets could no longer rely on being allowed to use Spanish ports. One of the earliest measures taken by the Queen’s Government was to send an officer, Captain Loades, to Cadiz to bring away the naval stores kept there for the use of our ships serving in the Straits and the Mediterranean. It shows to what an extent we had made use of this port, that the stores left there amounted to more than Loades could stow in the vessels with him. He was therefore compelled to sell part of them to the Spaniards at a loss. Two hulks belonging to us, and used for the purpose of “heaving down,” that is, lightening, and pulling on one side ships which it was necessary to clean when they returned foul from a cruise, were towed out to sea and sunk. An experience of this kind must have quickened our desire to obtain possession of a port entirely our own. Though Philip V. had been accepted by the Spaniards as their king, a party in favour of the Hapsburg dynasty was known to exist, and to be strong in the coast provinces. So upon the outbreak of the war in 1702, a fleet of fifty sail, of which thirty were English and twenty were Dutch, was sent to Cadiz under Rooke, carrying with it a strong force of soldiers under the Duke of Ormonde. It cleared the Channel on the 21st July, and after looking into Corunna went on to the south. On the 12th August it left Lisbon, which, since the Spanish ports were shut to us, and the King of Portugal was among the allies, had become our house of call and store magazine, as it had been in the Commonwealth wars. Very shortly the fleet was before Cadiz. The work to be done required, above all things, tact. It was the duty of the expedition to assail the Spaniards in so far as they were the armed supporters of King Philip V., but to propitiate them in so far as they were the potential supporters of the Hapsburg party. The chiefs so managed matters that they took no effectual steps against the armed forces of King Philip, while they allowed grievous wrong to be inflicted on the people of the country. Cadiz was bombarded to the injury of the inhabitants. Meanwhile the Puerto de Santa Maria, on the other side of the bay, was occupied by the English and Dutch, who applied themselves to drunkenness, the rape of women, and deliberate insults to the Roman Catholic religion—three kinds of violence exquisitely adapted to excite the scorn and hatred of the people of Andalusia. After a month and a