It is hardly to the honor of England
that it was both unprincipled enough to sanction and ratify the
occupation and ungrateful enough to leave unrewarded the general to
whose unscrupulous patriotism the acquisition was due. The Spaniards
keenly felt the injustice done to them, and the inhabitants of the
town of Gibraltar in great numbers abandoned their homes rather than
recognize the authority of the invaders. In October, 1704, the rock
was invested by sea and land; but the Spanish ships were dispersed by
Sir John Leake, and the Marquis of Villadarias fared so ill with his
forces that he was replaced by Marshal Tesse, who was at length
compelled to raise the siege in April, 1705. During the next twenty
years there were endless negotiations for the peaceful surrender of
the fortress, and in 1726 the Spaniards again appealed to arms. But
the Conde de la Torres, who had the chief command, succeeded no better
than his predecessors, and the defense of the garrison under General
Clayton and the Earl of Portmore was so effectual that the armistice
of June 23 practically put a close to the siege, though two years
elapsed before the general pacification ensued. The most memorable
siege of Gibraltar, indeed one of the most memorable of all sieges,
was that which it sustained from the combined land and sea forces of
France and Spain during the years 1779-1783.
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