In the mean while, the Duke of Marlborough having carried all before him in Flanders, and the Duke of Savoy having driven the enemy out of his dominions, it was resolved, that the army under his Highness's command in Italy, assisted by the fleet in the Mediterranean, should besiege Toulon: but the Emperor Joseph, who had succeeded his father Leopold, withdrawing his forces to besiege Naples, [Sidenote: August 4.] and the French making a successful sally, in which they burnt all the batteries, the Allies were obliged to raise the siege. Nothing remarkable was done in Spain in 1708. Our army was reinforced, and the enemy's distressed by the capture of a large convoy of provisions. Cagliari, the capital, and the whole island of Sardinia, submitted to King Charles; Minorca was taken by General Stanhope, and Naples surrendered to the Emperor. Next year, Alicant was taken by the enemy. The rock on which the citadel stood, was defended for several months, by Major General Richards, with the [Sidenote: April, 1709.] most romantic valour, but was at last undermined and blown up. The General, and most of the principal Officers, having purposely exposed themselves, to animate the garrison to stand the threatened shock, were lost in the explosion; but the survivors, under Colonel D'Allon, defended themselves till the British fleet arrived and carried them off. During the remainder of the war, Charles's affairs continued to decline; and his success at Sarragossa and Almanara was balanced by a defeat at Villa Viciosa, and the capture of General Stanhope's army at Brihuega. At this juncture, his brother died, and Charles, succeeding to the empire of Germany (1711), left Spain; but his partizans, assisted by the English under the Duke of Argyle, kept possession of Barcelona, and the greatest part of Catalonia, till the peace of Utrecht in 1713. By this treaty, Charles resigned his pretentions to Spain; but, in addition to the empire, he retained Sardinia, Naples, Milan, and the Spanish Netherlands. Sicily was given to the Duke of Savoy, with the title of King; together with Fenestrelles, and some other places taken from the French. The Dutch got their Barrier; the English, only Minorca and Gibraltar, with some settlements in North America. Prussia got Upper Gueldres. Philip, Duke of Anjou, was declared King of Spain: but, to prevent that kingdom and France from ever being united under one head, Philip was obliged to renounce every future claim to France; whilst the Dukes of Berry and Orleans were obliged to do the same by Spain. I wish much to enlarge on the gallant exploits of the Earl of Peterborough, the heroic defence of General Richards, and the noble spirit of the Catalonians after they were abandoned by the Emperor and Queen Ann to the chastisement of Philip; but the bounds prescribed to a journal will not permit me. LETTER III. TO CAPTAIN SMITH.