This prince reigned more or less badly under the name of Philip V,
and had a strong party against him abroad. Indeed, the preceding year,
the royal houses of Holland, Austria, and England had concluded
a treaty of alliance at the Hague, with the intention of plucking
the crown of Spain from the head of Philip V, and placing it
on that of an archduke to whom they prematurely gave the title
of Charles III.
"Spain must resist this coalition; but she was almost entirely unprovided
with either soldiers or sailors. However, money would not fail them,
provided that their galleons, laden with gold and silver from America,
once entered their ports. And about the end of 1702 they expected a rich
convoy which France was escorting with a fleet of twenty-three vessels,
commanded by Admiral Chateau-Renaud, for the ships of the coalition
were already beating the Atlantic. This convoy was to go to Cadiz,
but the Admiral, hearing that an English fleet was cruising in those waters,
resolved to make for a French port.
"The Spanish commanders of the convoy objected to this decision.
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