"Upon  the  letter  of  my  Lord  Godolphin  and  the
secretary  of  state,  the  King  of  Spain,  his  ministers,  and
my  Lord  Galway  and  myself  have  concluded  there
was  no  other  attempt  to  be  made  but  upon  Catalonia
where  all  advices  agree  that  6000  men  and  1200  horse

(338)  1


130  THE  FLEET  SAILS  FOR  BARCELONA.
are  ready  expecting  our  arrival  with  a  general  good-
will of  all  the  people.  The  Portuguese  have  entirely-
refused  to  join  in  any  design  against  Cadiz,  and  by  a
copy  of  my  Lord  Galway's  letter  you  will  find  he  is  in
an  utter  despair  of  their  attempting  anything  this
year,  and  that  by  our  instructions  it  will  appear  that
there  is  no  other  enterprise  left  for  our  choice."

Peterborough's  military  force  was,  however,  wholly
insufficient  for  such  an  enterprise.  He  prevailed  upon
Lord  Gal  way  to  give  him  a  part  of  Lord  Raby's  and
General  Cunningham's  regiments  of  English  dragoons,
although  the  Portuguese  strenuously  opposed  this  being
done.  Their  conduct,  indeed,  at  this  time  was  very
similar  to  that  which  they  adopted  a  hundred  years
later  towards  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  throwing  every
conceivable  obstacle  in  the  English  commander's  way,
and  opposing  every  plan  of  action  which  he  suggested.
Many  of  the  dragoons  were  without  horses,  but  Lord
Peterborough  mounted  them  on  animals  which  he
bought  with  some  of  the  money  he  had  procured  from
Curtisos.
