In the course of the war of the Spanish succession, however, it was
taken by a combined English and Dutch fleet under Sir George Rooke,
assisted by a body of troops under Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt.
The captors had ostensibly fought in the interests of Charles Archduke
of Austria (afterward Charles III.), but, though his sovereignty over
the rock was proclaimed on July 24, 1704, Sir George Rooke on his own
responsibility caused the English flag to be hoisted, and took
possession in name of Queen Anne. 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. The grand attack on the
place was made on the 13th September, 1782, and all the resources of