The THIRTY-NINTH, during the campaign of 1711, formed part of the army which assembled at Olivenza in May, and having passed the Guadiana by a pontoon bridge at Jerumenha, advanced against the enemy, who took refuge under the cannon of Badajoz. The regiment was afterwards engaged in the capture of several small towns, and in levying contributions in Spanish Estremadura; but the summer passed without any occurrence of importance, excepting a discovery made by the Earl of Portmore, who commanded the British troops in Portugal, of a clandestine treaty in progress between the crown of Portugal and the enemy, in which the former had agreed to separate from the Allies; to give an excuse for this, a mock battle was to have been fought, in which the British troops were to have been sacrificed. This treaty was broken off, but the British Government soon afterwards entered into negotiations with France. The claimant of the Spanish throne, Charles III., was in October 1711 elected Emperor of Germany by the title of Charles VI., his brother Joseph having died at Vienna in the preceding April. This circumstance materially affected the war, and inclined Great Britain to agree to peace, for the consolidation of Spain with the empire of Germany would have perilled the balance of power in Europe as much as the anticipated union of the crowns of France and Spain. The course of events had also shown, that a French, and not an Austrian prince, was the choice of the Spanish nation. [Sidenote: 1712.] The regiment remained in Portugal, and during the summer of 1712 was encamped on the pleasant plains of the Tarra. In the autumn a suspension of hostilities was proclaimed at the camp by Major-General Pearce, and the regiment went into cantonments. [Sidenote: 1713.] On the 11th of April 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, and by its provisions the fortress of _Gibraltar_ and the island of _Minorca_, which had been taken by the English during the war, were ceded to Great Britain. The THIRTY-NINTH proceeded in the first instance to Gibraltar; but in the course of the year 1713, the regiment was selected to form part of the garrison at Minorca.[9] [Sidenote: 1719.] Upon the decease of Lieut.-General Nicholas Sankey, in March 1719, His Majesty King George I. appointed, on the 11th of that month, Brigadier-General Thomas Ferrers to be Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment. The THIRTY-NINTH regiment remained at Minorca until the year 1719, when it embarked for Ireland, in which country it was stationed for some years. [Sidenote: 1722.] Colonel William Newton was appointed by King George I. to the colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 28th of September 1722, in succession to Brigadier-General Thomas Ferrers, removed to the Seventeenth regiment of foot. [Sidenote: 1726.]