This Was The Case In The Year 1744, When The French And
Spanish Armies Attacked Eighteen Piedmontese Battalions, Which
Were Posted On The Side Of Montalban.
The assailants were
repulsed with the loss of four thousand men, some hundreds of
whom perished in repassing the Paglion, which had swelled to a
surprising degree during the battle, in consequence of a heavy
continued rain.
This rain was of great service to the
Piedmontese, as it prevented one half of the enemy from passing
the river to sustain the other. Five hundred were taken
prisoners: but the Piedmontese, foreseeing they should be
surrounded next day by the French, who had penetrated behind
them, by a pass in the mountains, retired in the night. Being
received on board the English Fleet, which lay at Villa Franca,
they were conveyed to Oneglia. In examining the bodies of those
that were killed in the battle, the inhabitants of Nice
perceived, that a great number of the Spanish soldiers were
circumcised; a circumstance, from which they concluded, that a
great many Jews engage in the service of his Catholic majesty. I
am of a different opinion. The Jews are the least of any people
that I know, addicted to a military life. I rather imagine they
were of the Moorish race, who have subsisted in Spain, since the
expulsion of their brethren; and though they conform externally
to the rites of the Catholic religion, still retain in private
their attachment to the law of Mahomet.
The city of Nice is built in form of an irregular isosceles
triangle, the base of which fronts the sea. On the west side it
is surrounded by a wall and rampart; on the east, it is over-hung
by a rock, on which we see the ruins of an old castle, which,
before the invention of artillery, was counted impregnable. It
was taken and dismantled by marechal Catinat, in the time of
Victor Amadaeus, the father of his Sardinian majesty. It was
afterwards finally demolished by the duke of Berwick towards the
latter end of queen Anne's war. To repair it would be a very
unnecessary expence, as it is commanded by Montalban, and several
other eminences.
The town of Nice is altogether indefensible, and therefore
without fortifications. There are only two iron guns upon a
bastion that fronts the beach; and here the French had formed a
considerable battery against the English cruisers, in the war of
1744, when the Mareschal Duke de Belleisle had his headquarters
at Nice. This little town, situated in the bay of Antibes, is
almost equidistant from Marseilles, Turin, and Genoa, the first
and last being about thirty leagues from hence by sea; and the
capital of Piedmont at the same distance to the northward, over
the mountains. It lies exactly opposite to Capo di Ferro, on the
coast of Barbary; and, the islands of Sardinia and Corsica are
laid down about two degrees to the eastward, almost exactly in a
line with Genoa. This little town, hardly a mile in
circumference, is said to contain twelve thousand inhabitants.
The streets are narrow; the houses are built of stone, and the
windows in general are fitted with paper instead of glass. This
expedient would not answer in a country subject to rain and
storms; but here, where there is very little of either, the paper
lozenges answer tolerably well. The bourgeois, however, begin to
have their houses sashed with glass. Between the town-wall and
the sea, the fishermen haul up their boats upon the open beach;
but on the other side of the rock, where the castle stood, is the
port or harbour of Nice, upon which some money has been expended.
It is a small basin, defended to seaward by a mole of free-stone,
which is much better contrived than executed: for the sea has
already made three breaches in it; and in all probability, in
another winter, the extremity of it will be carried quite away.
It would require the talents of a very skilful architect to lay
the foundation of a good mole, on an open beach like this;
exposed to the swell of the whole Mediterranean, without any
island or rock in the offing, to break the force of the waves.
Besides, the shore is bold, and the bottom foul. There are
seventeen feet of water in the basin, sufficient to float vessels
of one hundred and fifty ton; and this is chiefly supplied by a
small stream of very fine water; another great convenience for
shipping. On the side of the mole, there is a constant guard of
soldiers, and a battery of seven cannon, pointing to the sea. On
the other side, there is a curious manufacture for twisting or
reeling silk; a tavern, a coffee-house, and several other
buildings, for the convenience of the sea-faring people. Without
the harbour, is a lazarette, where persons coming from infected
places, are obliged to perform quarantine. The harbour has been
declared a free-port, and it is generally full of tartans,
polacres, and other small vessels, that come from Sardinia,
Ivica, Italy, and Spain, loaded with salt, wine, and other
commodities; but here is no trade of any great consequence.
The city of Nice is provided with a senate, which administers
justice under the auspices of an avocat-general, sent hither by
the king. The internal oeconomy of the town is managed by four
consuls; one for the noblesse. another for the merchants, a third
for the bourgeois, and a fourth for the peasants. These are
chosen annually from the town-council. They keep the streets and
markets in order, and superintend the public works. There is also
an intendant, who takes care of his majesty's revenue: but there
is a discretionary power lodged in the person of the commandant,
who is always an officer of rank in the service, and has under
his immediate command the regiment which is here in garrison.
That which is here now is a Swiss battalion, of which the king
has five or six in his service.
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