The war was brilliant, notwithstanding the deceptions with which Alberoni incessantly quieted his master. "The regent is able, whenever he desires, to send a French army," wrote the cardinal, on the 21st of November, 1718.
"Assure him publicly that he will not have a shot fired against him here, and that the king our master will have supplies ready for him." The army in fact entered Spain in March, 1719. The old Marshal Villars declined the honor of commanding against the grandson of Louis XIV. The Prince of Conti bore the title of general-in-chief. The Duke of Berwick, less scrupulous than Villars, accepted the effective functions; notwithstanding his former connection with Spain, the presence of his eldest son the Duke of Leria, in the Spanish ranks, and the services that Philip V. had just rendered to the head of the house of Stuart. { 161} Alberoni conducted the king, the queen, and the prince of Asturias to the camp. Philip V. expected the defection of the French army, en masse. No one moved; some refugees made an attempt with some officers; their messenger was hung. Fuenterabra, St. Sebastian, and the castle of Urgel soon fell into the hands of the French. Another division burned six vessels which were upon the docks. Everywhere the English brought ruin upon the Spanish navy. Their fleets, separate or united to the French, destroyed the Spanish vessels at Santona, at Centera, and in the port of Vigo; everywhere the magazines were delivered to the flames. This cruel and disastrous war against an enemy whose best troops were fighting at a distance, usefully served the passions as well as the interests of England.
"It is very necessary," wrote Berwick, "that the government be able to make the next Parliament believe that they have spared nothing in order to decrease the Spanish navy." During this time the English fleet, and the troops of the emperor, under the orders of the Count of Mercy, attacked the Spanish army in Sicily; it defended itself heroically, but was without resources, without reinforcements, and diminishing every day. After a momentary success at Franca Villa, the Marquis of Leyde held only Palermo and the environs of Etna.
An attempted insurrection, poorly seconded by some Spanish vessels, failed in Brittany. Three gentlemen and a priest perished upon the scaffold. "Never have I seen a plot more poorly organized," says Duclos, in his Memoirs; "many did not know what they were fighting for." The attempt of Alberoni to excite a revolt in England and France, did not succeed any better than the war in Spain or Sicily. { 162} The Spaniards were everywhere defeated, and the cardinal was vigorously attacked at home. He made overtures of peace at London and at Paris. Dubois wrote to Stanhope, who responded immediately: "We would commit a great error if we did not consolidate the peace by the overthrow of the minister who has caused the war. His insatiable ambition has been the only cause of hostilities; if he is compelled to accept the peace, he will yield momentarily to necessity, but with a confirmed resolution of seizing the first opportunity for vengeance. Thank God he does not know either what he can do or what he ought to attempt. He recognizes no other condition for peace than exhaustion and weakness; let us not leave him time to recover himself. Demand from the king that he be sent from Spain. No stipulation could be more advantageous for his Catholic Majesty and for his people. It is a good thing thus to give to Europe an example which may intimidate turbulent ministers, unfaithful to treaties, and who allow themselves to attack impudently the persons of princes."